Permanently Moved

An audio essay podcast about digital culture, internet culture, artificial intelligence and the changing shape of the web. Written, recorded and edited by Jay Springett since 2018, the show explores social media, games, online communities, world-running and life in the shadow of the stack. Part personal journal, part cultural analysis, episodes explore technology, media and life online.

Episode 303: Internet Operator 08/11/2026

Episode 303: Internet Operator Who-or what-are you online? A profile, handle, podcast, avatar, or AI persona can be addressed, remembered, praised, criticised, and made socially present. But it is not quite identical to the person behind it. This episode of Permanently Moved is an hour-long audio essay on digital identity, personal branding, social media, puppetry, platform culture, and AI. It argues that online identity is best understood not as performance or authenticity, but as animation: a figure brought to life through an operator, audience, and apparatus. Moving from The Brand Called You and main character energy to Bunraku theatre, VTubers, icons and idols, automata, platform metrics, and ChatGPT, Jay Springett asks what it means to be responsible for a figure online without being consumed by it. SHOW NOTES https://thejaymo.net/2026/08/11/303-internet-operator-permanently-moved/ START SELECT RESET Issue 16 of Start Select Reset, the print companion to this episode, contains the full essay plus extra material not included in the audio. Membership (£5/month, shipping included): Buy the zine while copies last: CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:06) DRAMATIS IDEAE (00:02:20) Part 1. The Brand Called You (00:09:34) Part 2. Main Character Energy (00:16:21) Part 3. Figure and Function (00:20:42) Part 4. The Booth and the Stage (00:26:43) Part 5. The Suppressed Metaphor (00:32:16) Part 6. The Animated Equation (00:38:25) Part 7. The Face, the Mask, the Person (00:40:47) Part 8. Metonymy, Icon, Idol (00:46:16) Part 9. The Self-Moving Figure (00:53:25) Part 10. Where the Operator Stands (00:58:24) Part 11. The Speaking Image (01:04:34) Part 12. Internet Operator (01:08:03) Afterward (01:08:44) Support the Show (01:09:29) Credits Mentioned in this episode Tom Peters — “The Brand Called You” Teri Silvio — Puppets, Gods and Brands Kevin Munger — “The YouTube Apparatus” Henryk Jurkowski — Aspects of Puppet Theatre Charles Taylor Heinrich von Kleist — “On the Marionette Theatre” Mindar at Kōdai-ji ChatGPT Gordon White Permanently Moved is a quarterly podcast written, recorded, and edited by Jay Springett. /episode/index/show/permanentlymoved/id/42388320

Episode 302: Monsters In The Mirror 03/02/2026

Episode 302: Monsters In The Mirror What are large language models, really? A genuinely different frame for what AI is, where it came from, and what it means to live alongside it. This episode of Permanently Moved is an hour-long audio essay on artificial intelligence, agency, and the history of computing that made LLMs possible. The essay moves from the invention of the mirror to double-entry bookkeeping, the printing press, the Manhattan Project, the transistor, and the particular civilisational strangeness of ChatGPT and its successors. It argues that the question everyone is asking about AI "is it intelligent?" is a trap, and it tries to ask a better one. Issue 15 of SSRZ, the print companion to this episode, is available to pre-order now until Monday 16th March. 36 pages, A5, containing the full transcript plus an introduction and afterword not in the audio. Membership (£5/month) shipping included: Pre-order the zine (£18 + shipping): CHAPTERS (00:00:02) Introduction (00:00:34) Monsters In The Mirror (00:01:00) Part 1. The Mirror of Modernity (00:05:33) Part 2. The State’s Gaze (00:11:28) Part 3. Paper Truths (00:17:27) Part 4. Crystal Fire (00:26:13) Part 5. The Silicon Mirror (00:31:54) Part 6. World(view) in the West (00:35:28) Part 7. Haunted Habitats (00:40:45) Part 8. Thinking Machines (00:49:28) Part 9. Abracadabra (00:54:26) Part 10. Monsters in the Mirror (00:59:03) Afterward (01:00:05) Support the Show (01:00:48) Credits Mentioned in this episode Tyson Yunkaporta — Sand Talk James C. Scott — Seeing Like a State Marion Fourcade & Kieran Healy — The Ordinal Society Marek Poliks & Roberto Alonso Trillo — Exocapitalism Marshall McLuhan — The Gutenberg Galaxy Walter Ong — Orality and Literacy Jean Baudrillard — Simulacra and Simulation Nick Land — Fanged Noumena Monica Gagliano — Thus Spoke the Plant Benedict Anderson — Imagined Communities Bayo Akomolafe Gordon White — Rune Soup Permanently Moved is a quarterly podcast written, recorded, and edited by Jay Springett. --- SHOW NOTES FIND EVERYTHING ELSE thejaymo.net: Experience.Computer: Worldrunning.guide: Subscriber Zine support the show! /episode/index/show/permanentlymoved/id/40279185