The DISRUPTED SCIENCE Podcast

Caldera Information Solutions LLC

From the authors of the forthcoming book ”How the Internet Disrupted Science” comes this view of science and society from where the action is — the scientific claims and publishing space. Hosted by Kent Anderson and Joy Moore, listeners receive analyses of current events, updates about the book, and opinions on various topics of interest. Book pre-sales available now. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-the-Internet-Disrupted-Science/Kent-Anderson/9781493094400

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S2 · E25
August 26 · 48 min
August 26, 2026 — Starting Your Journal’s Digital Detox
We have a chapter in our book (“Trapped in the Tech Shrine”) about how scientific publishers became habituated to taking publishing and business advice from technology vendors. It became so entrenched that some might wonder who’s in charge. Today, we find ourselves in the midst of a palpable tech backlash against: Big Tech oligarchs Data centers Techno-authoritarians Lawsuits are everywhere as extraction and exploitation are challenged, as the energy and economic disruptions of data centers are sparking increasingly organized protests to thwart them, and AI and tech valuations and futures are in flux. Through their embrace of digital tech, publishers became accustomed to platforms and templates, which were developed in large extent to spread the higher costs of digital publishing. As a result, today we have code bases full of business risks, incentives to set it and forget it for as long as possible, and distractions built in a decade ago that too often go unquestioned. It seems time to say that tech often distracts from substance, is too quickly elevated for no good reason, and can easily mislead us about what matters to our audiences. Is it time to question assumptions? To begin a digital detox? Is it all vaporware, selling us on a future that will never come? As automakers replace massive touchscreens with knobs and dials, do we need to do our own program of digital detox? We finish with our “Discoveries of the Week.” Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E22
August 19 · 39 min
August 19, 2026 — Scientific Publishing’s Fauci Reckoning
Today, we want to talk about Anthony Fauci, and our role in making life difficult for him — and, beyond his current travails, for society at large. In 2021, healthcare expert Paul Keckley noted five flaws in the response to Covid-19, three of which ended up at our doorstep: Covid-19 science has been compromised by political self-interests The influence of social media has been underestimated The scientific community has confused the public The scientific publishing system was at the heart of what some called an “infodemic,” with hundreds of papers posted or published per day, most from inexpert research teams and nearly all from inexpert authors, part of the “more information will solve this faster” mentality. When speed was prioritized over quality or relevance or even sound public health messaging, misinformation purveyors had a field day. Preprints dominated the news and were seen at the White House. The My Pillow guy started a Covid-19 grift with a preprint. The myocarditis myth was started with a bad preprint. Steve Bannon catalyzed the lab leak conspiracy with two preprints he funded. Fake information from anti-vaxxers and others went mainstream. And, worse, the seeds of MAHA were planted, created a beanstalk that RFK, Jr., and Jay Bhattacharya among others would climb to positions of power. All of this — and more — undermined what could have been a good pandemic response if messaging had been consistent, uniform, and science-based and delivered mainly by trained public health leaders. Instead, our eagerness to chase attention undermined these efforts while helping to make MAHA and empowering the very people who attacked Anthony Fauci recently. It’s time to have this uncomfortable conversation — our Fauci reckoning. We can’t make things better if we don’t accept that scientific publishing played a role in public health’s struggles to do right by us during a pandemic, in Fauci’s woes during that time and subsequently, and in society’s science-addressable problems ever since. We end on a more cheerful note with our “Discoveries of the Week.” Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E21
August 7 · 35 min
August 7, 2026 — Interview with Colette Delawalla
Colette Delawalla is the Founder and CEO of Stand Up for Science (SUFS), an organization that has been at the heart of our national — and now international — defense of independent science as an independent truth-seeking pursuit. With the organization recently notching a win by getting the proposed OMB funding rules — which would have given political appointees discretion over spending decisions, among other affronts — potentially delayed, Colette and her team are now working to ensure these proposals are shut down entirely while activating a larger coalition to reinvent science in ways that will auger well for the future. But we get to let her explain . . . You can donate and support SUFS in many ways. They and others are fighting the good fight. We are extremely grateful that Colette took the time to speak with us. Along with Beth Jacobs, who we interviewed last December, and many others, science is being defended by some great people and well-aligned teams. Please do your part whenever you can! We also share our “Discoveries of the Week.” Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E20
August 5 · 41 min
August 5, 2006 — Shopify Your Pseudoscience
OA publishing and social media gave pseudoscience information a business model, but how do those people actually sell and fulfill products? The media keep missing this story, focusing on the products and not the businesses, as we found with a recent WIRED story about “natural” alternatives to Adderall. It’s not that they’re pushing these as much as how easily they’re able to push them in the first place. Shopify is a central operator, with templates, stock photos, profitability calculators, e-commerce, and fulfillment services. Just pick your poison, so to speak, and watch the money start to flow. The family behind Shopify, based in Canada, is also trying to build a media empire called True North. And, since their politics tilt to the right, it’s no surprise their stock price also responds to the political winds of their most lucrative market, the US. From “slopfluencer” grandmas to AI monks, it seems no taboo is off-limits when it comes to scamming people. There are retail competitors, including Amazon and TikTok, but one in particular seems focused on undercutting Shopify — another platform that feels even griftier called Swell. We’ll walk you through what we’ve found. It’s not definitive, and we can only speculate about some things, but it’s worth knowing about. Of course, we share our “Discoveries of the Week.” Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E18
July 29 · 28 min
July 29, 2026 — Tales From the Bookstores
We’re back from our first signings, and we have a few stories to share. The signings occurred prior to the book’s official publication date, creating some extra interest but also some challenges the bookstores helped us navigate. Overall, it was a great experience, getting better and better as we settled in and got used to the format. The people we met were all fantastic and interesting. The stores we visited (and our helpful hosts): Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA: Tuesday, July 21st Host: Taylor Jabberwocky Books in Newburyport, MA: Friday, July 24th Hosts: Shauna, Grace, and Sue (and Chaucer) Northshire Books in Manchester, VT: Saturday, July 25th Host: Kendall In addition to some highlights from the signings, we also discuss recent and upcoming podcast interviews, and why we’re excited for people to finally read our book. Finally, we share our “Discoveries of the Week.” Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E17
July 8 · 1 hr 23 min
July 8, 2026 — Eugenics: Our Interview with Anita Chan Revisited
In 2025, Anita Say Chan’s book, Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future, was published by the University of California Press. This led to a review here, and we became immediate fans of her insights and research trajectory. We also conducted an email interview with Chan back in June 2025, before we were any good at podcasting. That interview is absolutely riveting, with dozens of insights that will give you pause. Then, in September 2025, we had the chance to do a podcast interview with Chan, where we discussed: the path from Big Data to eugenics to the surveillance economy the role academia has played in enabling much of this our lurch toward tech-led authoritarianism our confusion of metrics with merit Big Tech’s monoculture and paranoia It’s a great interview. Given renewed attention on both “soft eugenics” and eugenics in scientific publications — preprints and otherwise — we thought it would be a good idea to revisit this. We’d also like to mention a recent paper by Helen Burn about Galton and the history of eugenics in statistics and at University College London (UCL). Chan references the history, as well. Discoveries of the Week (also revisited) Sniffing out the platypus [video] Subscribe today Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E16
July 1 · 46 min
July 1, 2026 — Book Time Approacheth
We’re finally in the long-awaited tunnel to people buying and reading our book. It seems like forever, yet the book also strikes us as more relevant than ever. As with most things set into motion, the path has contained some surprises. One was that the initial publication date (July 21st) was pushed back to August 4th due to supply chain issues. However, three book signings had already been scheduled, so the publisher has arranged for books to be available early at these pre-publication signings: Porter Square Books in Cambridge, July 21st — more information/RSVP Jabberwocky Books in Newburyport, July 24th — more information/RSVP Northshire Books in Manchester, VT, July 25th — more information/RSVP This week, we discuss having a “platform” for the book, recording podcast interviews, drafting potential op-eds, dealing with reviews and early feedback, and some fun experiences we’ve already had. We also discuss a mental challenge that sneaked up on us — so much time has passed and so much has changed since we put pens down, we have to become comfortable about talking about the book as if it’s a new thing, when for us it’s more than a year or two old. We also share our “Discoveries of the Week.” Link to Kent’s discovery about frogs. PNAS paper discussed. Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E18
June 18 · 52 min
June 18, 2026 — Let’s Talk Impact Factor
Quantification as proxy for qualification of scientific and academic publications has been around for a very long time. Today, we touch a little on the history of bibliometrics and scientometrics, but not as much as in the chapter in our book, where we go into the metrics of it all over the last 30 years. Griping about the JIF has been going on for decades. “Responsible use” or “don’t count it” per DORA “should” statements, etc., and to no avail because in the end it is a commercial product that influences careers, university rankings, and provides fodder for profit-driven publishers all over the world. Constraints on publication made it a reliable measure of centrality in a community. Disrupting constraints on publication via cascading portfolios, pop-up journals, special issues, AI slop, and preprints has compromised the JIF. Researchers no longer recognize lists of high impact journals in their fields. Clarivate has not addressed in their marketing copy how their 2026 product accounts for what is actually happening in scientific publishing today. They highlight “transparency,” “publisher-neutral,” “6th decade of trust,” and “responsible use,” but the reality is that what they are selling includes fake citations, fake papers, real citations to fake papers, real papers citing fake papers, paid-for authorships, author appropriations, journals that have gone hybrid or OA getting rankings boosts because they are easier to be cited, including by AI, etc. What’s different today, even moreso than a year ago, is that the tricks and schemes to use scientific papers as currency for various reasons are known, and turbo-charged by AI. We’ll be talking more about this in the coming months. But we wanted for now to have a frank conversation about the JIF during “announcements week.” It’s our effort to make you a little more aware of what’s going on in the trust marker and metrics space from our point of view. Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E16
May 27 · 54 min
May 27, 2026 — Relevance Check
We turned the manuscript for our book in almost a year ago now, but we were working feverishly on it around this time given that MAHA was busy undermining vaccine science even then. Now, a year later, how is our book looking? More or less relevant? In this episode, we take a walk of some key chapter to find out: Trapped In the Tech Shrine An Ad Model for Scientific Claims Everything Counts, Nothing Matters Amateur Hour “Code Is Law” The Price of “Free” Feudalism Makes a Comeback Not the Same as the Old Boss What Does an LLM “Know”? Unnatural Science Bottom line? The book is more obviously relevant, but perhaps like other books we’ve heard authors reflecting upon after publication, we didn’t go far or hard enough. We also include our “Discoveries of the Week.” Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E14
May 13 · 30 min
May 13, 2026 — The Podcast Pivot
We’ve been doing our podcast for nearly a full year, starting right as we were putting our pencils down from writing the book. We didn’t know quite what to expect, but we were excited to try something new, and we learned how to do a podcast, which felt like an accomplishment. We’ve also has some great interviews: AI experts (the professor kind) Librarians (who serve communities of students and faculties) Historians (who put today things into context) Business professors (who talked about incentives) Artists (who create) Scientists (who study and learn) Up-and-coming leaders (who have perspective for the next generation) Public health experts (who are having to fight for the right to do their jobs) Silicon Valley insiders (who know where the money comes from) Philosophers (who think about the big picture) Editors (who do the work) We’ve covered a few very active topics in a variety of ways: MAHA AI OA This all allowed us to keep learning while we put the finishing touches on the book and got closer to publication date. But now, we are going to pivot . . . Our book is coming out, so we’re focusing on everything that goes into that, while leaving coverage of developments to “The Geyser” and writing there. We also have some other projects in the works that are going to require a lot of focus, so we’re using the time saved doing this to focus on those. Basically, we’re not sure what the podcast will be now. Here are some possibilities: Once in a while, we may have episodes like the ones you’ve heard before We may make some announcements about the book or have interviews with people involved with it in some way We may podcast from an event like a signing or talk We may have announcements about the other big projects we’re working on We may just jump on it if something crazy happens and we want to talk with you about it So, stay subscribed to the feed, and we’ll show up soon enough with something we hope you’ll find interesting — we’re just not entirely sure what it might be! We also will continue to have our “Discoveries of the Week” every time. This week, they include a history of jaywalking: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/10/nx-s1-5813709/diving-deep-into-the-fascinating-history-of-americas-jaywalking-laws Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E15
April 29 · 43 min
April 29, 2026 — Eric Topol’s Misdiagnosis
Today we take a deep dive into a fake paper involving Eric Topol, one of the most prominent names in what we have to call “mainstream medicine” today. We’re going to offer our second opinion on what we know to be his misdiagnosis of what should be done to cure this “problem.” A clue to the real source of the problem is the only “real” thing about the paper — the DOI. CrossRef has failed to realize that the DOI is a brand asset being exploited across scientific publishing as a fake certification code. Predatory publishers boast when they get a DOI. Pseudoscience grifters litter their citation lists with DOIs to make it appear as if certifying bodies have signed off on their claims. So, it’s no wonder that usage of DOIs is spiking as MAHA and other fake science grifts accelerate. This points out a lack of serious governance of certification in general, even accidental certification via technological tools that can be made to look validating and certifying to those outside science. We start with a side-quest into the papers offered to the Trump Administration by Joe Rogan to get an executive order about psychedelics rolling. Finally, we have our “Discoveries of the Week.” Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E14
April 15 · 1 hr 8 min
April 15, 2026 — The Authors’ Interview
This week, guest host Michael Magoulias takes the reins to conduct a lighthearted interview of your intrepid authors, partly to take the sting out of this being tax day in the US. Michael has worked in scholarly publishing at the University of Chicago Press and is currently at Elsevier. He’s a trenchant observer of the scene and mutual friend. We tackle some introductory questions and then . . . the Colbert Questionert! What is the best sandwich? The scariest animal? So many topics. Enjoy this lighthearted episode, including three “Discoveries of the Week.” We’ll be back with more interviews and serious topics next week. Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E13
April 8 · 53 min
April 8, 2026 — Interview: Susan Wise Bauer
Susan Wise Bauer is a historian and author of The Great Shadow: A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy. I reviewed her book a few weeks ago, and Joy attended a talk she gave William & Mary. Her engaging book seems to come from an era when the history of science existed outside of politics, restoring a calm sense of historical perspective much needed in these troubled times. In addition teaching for 18 years at William and Mary and writing books, Bauer is a farmer and a publisher. We discuss a grab-bag of topics, including: Kleenex How physicians evolved out of acolytes at temples The English sweat The library book panic Copernicus and corpses We also share our “Discoveries of the Week:” Susan’s: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/?lens=little-brown Kent’s: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242976013-how-the-internet-disrupted-science Joy’s: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=slow+vacuuming Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S1 · E12
April 1 · 50 min
April 1, 2026 — Science Is Not Media
Technology and media have become entangled and confused, so much so that the free speech of “no, thanks, not for us” is now called “censorship” and discussing public officials or people on the public payroll in accountable roles is being equated to “doxxing.” Meanwhile, it’s becoming clearer AI isn’t about knowledge, it’s about power. Media manipulation is what tech has become all about — from social media to AI. President Trump has been a media manipulator since the beginning: John Barron, John Miller, David Dennison as his fake personas to plant stories National Enquirer “catch and kill” stories (Stormy Daniels) Ghost-authored Art of the Deal The Apprentice First Twitter President First TikTok President Truth Social Which brings us to the new President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which is mostly a who’s who of media manipulators masquerading as technologists: Marc Andreessen — VC, on Meta board Sergey Brin — Alphabet, in the Epstein files (island, Ghislaine) Safra Catz — Oracle Larry Ellison — Oracle Michael Dell — Dell Jacob DeWitte — Oklo Investors (nuclear power) Fred Ehrsam — Coinbase David Friedberg — Investor (sold business to Monsanto) Jensen Huang — NVIDIA John Martinis — quantum physicist, UCSB, 2025 Nobel Prize Bob Mumgaard — fusion energy Lisa Su — AMD (on Biden’s PCAST before) Mark Zuckerberg — Meta These CEOs have a combined wealth in excess of US$900 billion. Overall, it looks like a group formed to deliver the Singularity and realize Adam Becker’s worst nightmare — nuclear power, fusion, compute, AI, and techno-authoritarianism. How are these people being propped up? “CEO Said a Thing!” journalism: https://karlbode.com/ceo-said-a-thing-journalism/ Attention economy conceits: https://www.altmetric.com/solutions/altmetric-attention-digest/ We discuss where science fits or doesn’t, and share our zero-gravity “Discoveries of the Week.” Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E11
March 25 · 58 min
March 25, 2026 — Interview with Amanda Licastro
Today, we’re joined by Amanda Licastro, Head of Digital Scholarship Strategies and Visiting Associate Professor in English at Swarthmore College. Amanda recently participated in one of Rick Anderson’s debates at the Researcher to Reader conference in London. This one was titled, “Resolved: AI Tools Will Provide a Net Benefit to Scholarly Communication.” Amanda took the side of opposing that statement. In these debates, a poll is taken before the participants speak to gauge audience sentiment at the outset. Then, after the speakers exchange opening statements and responses, the poll is repeated. Before the start of the debate, 80% of the audience believed AI would be a net benefit to scholarly communications. After a professional and well-natured presentation of facts, 52% of the audience came to believe that AI would not be a net benefit to scholarly communications. We discuss a variety of great and relevant topics, including use of AI in colleges, the dark downsides, and fears of skill, cognitive, and information degradation, as well as tricks and techniques companies are using to force these on us or convince them of their benign value. It’s a great conversation. “Discoveries of the Week” Amanda’s discovery: https://searchengineland.com/google-search-ai-headline-rewrites-test-472146 Kent’s discovery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busta_Rhymes_Island Joy’s discovery: https://www.phl.org/newsroom/Longestlinecheesesteaks Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E10
March 18 · 58 min
March 18, 2026 — More Harm Than Good
A recent episode of Paris Marx’s “Tech Won’t Save Us” podcast featured Tim Schwab, author of the 2023 book, The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire. Recent revelations about Gates and Jeffrey Epstein have led to a reckoning at the Gates Foundation, making Schwab’s book more relevant and causing us to pause and revisit the role of the Gates Foundation and funders in general in the scientific and scholarly publishing space. Started to reputation-wash himself after Microsoft lost its 2001 anti-trust case — with Gates himself testifying in a memorable set of exchanges — the Gates Foundation’s reputation has been eroding for some time. The Epstein Files may be the end of the line for this effort to rehabilitate Gates’ reputation. As we write in our upcoming book, Gates is not alone in trying to use money to influence priorities in science, medicine, and scientific publishing: Five funders rose to prominence in “open” scientific publishing relatively quickly — Max Planck, HHMI, Wellcome, Gates, and CZI — representing an interesting historical trajectory of wealth shifting from nation-states to manufacturing to chemistry to computer science to social media. In some ways, it is the preceding century in a nutshell. They are all proving problematic. We discuss Phase 1 of funder involvement, and how this has created a bridge into a more dire potential Phase 2 as MAHA grifters have learned the tricks of sheltering cash and spending on grifter science. We also share our Discoveries of the Week. Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E9
March 4 · 42 min
March 4, 2026 — Why Should We Trust You?
John Wiley & Sons is at it again with its “date anyone with a cute AI” approach, announcing yesterday a deal with OpenEvidence (OE). This is nothing new for Wiley, a company that seems more infatuated with tech than it is with science and scholarship, a massive departure from its roots. OE is certainly happy to make the deal, but not for the quality of the content. Rather, it keeps their targeted ad business growing. Platforming medical and health content is simply laying the groundwork for making a Facebook of medical information — a platform designed to sell user-targeted ads with the quality of content barely registering as a concern. OE has proven susceptible to eugenics-adjacent pay-to-play misinformation, pay-to-play articles placed to help shill colostrum, and pay-to-play articles published to promote “functional medicine,” a MAHA-related pseudo-specialty. And nobody at OE seems to care, because that’s just part of the Section 230 platform game — don’t interfere in the content, just use it to get qualified leads to interact with your ad system. While Facebook leveraged the trust of your social network — friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances — to get users into their ad platform, OE is leveraging trust markers in medical science, from brands to the concepts of peer review and evidence. Bottom line? OE is an advertising platform being rolled out to target physicians with premium targeted ads, likely selling for a cost-per-view (CPV) of $500-$800. With major agencies backing it and others suffering FOMO, OE is positioned to clean up. However, with only about $7 billion in annual pharma ad spending, is this enough to justify their massive valuation? And will they be able to unseat actual point-of-care tools like UpToDate? Or will they just be a second-rate sideshow after the dust settles, the fundamental flaws become clear, and the short-term wins have been pocketed? We also share our “Discoveries of the Week.” Fish doorbells: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-dutch-fish-doorbell-helps-migrating-fish-each-spring/ Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E8
February 25 · 54 min
February 25, 2026 — Insurgents vs. Incumbents
The last 25 years in scientific publishing has been about privileging technology-backed insurgents — business models, philosophies, belief systems, information theories. Natural science empowered by digital tools flipped to “digital science” at the expense of funding for natural science. Things are more complicated now in the sciences. Insurgents are coming from all directions, so we have to distinguish between bad insurgents and good insurgents — and some of the new bad ones are playing an updated version of the tech game, too. Disruption is so embedded now that normies are insurgents. Good insurgents want to align with pro-science players for the long-term and to the benefit of all. Bad insurgents continue to exploit communication channels and others, primarily for their own enrichment and benefit. In addition, bewildering controversies have emerged between the science-aligned incumbents and science-aligned insurgents, in particular AAAS and Stand Up for Science. We discuss the value of the newer, unencumbered insurgents vs. encumbered incumbents, how the battle is against anti-science players unencumbered by rules, norms, or bureaucratic process, and how we need to support the good insurgents who are focused beyond the horizon of crazy in-fighting. The incumbents have the power to influence, and they have a choice to make. We also share our “Discoveries of the Week.” The Murder of Jane Stanford: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-murder-of-jane-stanford/id278981407?i=1000751170391 Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
S2 · E7
February 18 · 1 hr 8 min
February 18, 2026 — Martina Linnenluecke and Carl Rhodes
Carl Rhodes is Professor of Business and Society at The University of Technology Sydney Business School. Carl researches the relationship between liberal democracy and contemporary capitalism. Martina Linnenluecke is an internationally recognized scholar who conducts research on corporate adaptation and resilience to global climate change. She is also at The University of Technology Sydney Business School. Their work caught our attention when we saw their January 5, 2026, article in The Conversation entitled “The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing.” It was related to their 2025 “speaking out” article in the journal Organization entitled “The junkification of research.” From academic capitalism to the secondary market for careerist OA publishing, the discussion is wide-ranging and lively, with a focus on their five stages of junkification/enshittification: The commodification of research The proliferation of pay-to-publish journals A decline in quality and integrity The sheer volume of publications Enshittification We also share our “Discoveries of the Week.” Tony Hawk’s “Ollie 720 Challenge” won by a 12-year-old from Japan, Ao Nishikawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGScJcp-Y3c Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/
#33
February 11 · 1 hr 2 min
February 11, 2026 — Maxwell K. Riggsbee, Jr.
Maxwell K. Riggsbee, Jr., is a technologist currently specializing in developing machine learning systems around content serving US government policy-makers and related stakeholders via his company Gadget Software. Max is also well-known for the cartoons he puts out on LinkedIn. Inspired by his love of 19th century political cartoons, these are timely, well-designed encapsulations of current events. One he did in honor of my post about “Rachel So” and aixiv.org was particularly lovely. We wanted to talk to Maxwell about his career, his cartoons, and his vision for where this is all going. We also discuss his idea for “compute-ready documents,” and share our “Discoveries of the Week.” Show Notes “Then Is Now Diaries:” https://thenisnow.substack.com/p/1954-from-here-to-there “Goldie & Frenchie” YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@dogpackapp Skyride maintenance: https://liftblog.com/aeronaut-skyride-busch-gardens-williamsburg-va/comment-page-1/ Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Amazon Music/Audible Subscribe on YouTube Music provided by Provoke the Truth — https://provokethetruth.net/

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