The Basement: Joseph Matheny | The Man Who Hacked Reality Before the Internet Existed
6/1/20262 hr 54 min
For a limited time, our listeners get 50% off FOR LIFE, Free Shipping, AND 3 Free Gifts at Mars Men at https://Mengotomars.com. Get 25% off Cowboy Colostrum with code WHYFILES at https://cowboycolostrum.com/WHYFILES. Joseph Matheny invented something in 1989 that nobody had a name for yet. He called it a story. The internet called it the first alternate reality game. The Navy called him to ask how he did it. He turned them down. Tonight he's in the basement explaining how he built an early AI, game-mastered Robert Anton Wilson at Esalen, and why QAnon looks so familiar to him. Some things are better understood when you know how the trick works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Speaker 20:29
Today I'm talking with Joseph Matheny, a writer and storyteller who built the internet's first alternate reality game. He built a story so convincing it made people believe a portal to another dimension was hidden in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
Hecklefish· Host0:43
That, that, that, that, that whole state is another dimension.
Speaker 20:46
Be nice. I've got family in Jersey.
Hecklefish· Host0:49
Uh, once you cross the GWB and hit Fort Lee, hey, it's like an alternate universe where every left turn is a jug handle and you're not allowed to pump your own gas.
Speaker 20:58
That story was Ong's Hat, not published as a novel, but scattered across bulletin boards, websites, phone lines, pamphlets. The story felt real. Today we'll talk about where that ARG came from and how it got weaponized. And we'll get into his chatbot from the '90s. You see, he built Google before Google. He built ChatGPT before OpenAI, 30 years ago.
Hecklefish· Host1:22
Ah, this guy was spreading disinformation when Facebook was just a twinkle in Mr. Zuckerberg's eye. His lizard eye. Respect.