Rehash

Have a conversation about astrology without descending into solipsistic navel-gazing challenge? Impossible. In this episode, Hannah and Maia fail this task at every turn as they attempt to discuss Co-Star, the app that delivers highly-bespoke, aesthetically-pleasing horoscopes with the click of a button. Co-Star came ablaze onto the scene back in 2017 and captured the hearts and imaginations of every well-groomed gay and tatted-up corporate baddie across the land. A high-tech descendent of daily newspaper horoscopes, Co-Star uses AI technology and NASA data to predict the viability of your romantic prospects, the true meaning of your friendships, and maybe even your future. In these Godless times, where control slips away from us hour by hour, a daily horoscope in sleek serif font feels like just the cure. Sometimes, like Fleabag, we just need to be told what to do and who we are. But going off of Theodor Adorno’s own early 20th century prediction that horoscopes were nothing more than “disoriented agnosticism,” one must ask whether this astrological technology really is a port in a storm, or a mirage in the desert. Is our obsession with astrology priming us for becoming the perfect fascist subjects? Tangents include: going to plays, Hannah’s theatrical debut as Old Man 3, and Adorno as 9/11 baby. 
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Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:
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What if Greatness in the wizarding world is not achieved by a mastery of magic, but of being really good at reasoning and rationality? Such is the discovery of Harry Potters Evans-Verres, a character dreamed up by fedora-wearing automaton, Eliezer Yudkowsky. Yudkowsky is not only the writer of a popular 660,000 word Harry Potter fan fiction - he also helmed a movement known widely in Silicon Valley as “Rationalism.” And so the Bay Area, which for years has attracted autistic computer engineers and finance bros in gilets working in meaningless start up jobs, has finally discovered a religion to hang its technology on. Their church? A forum website called LessWrong.com, where nerds come together to openly debate their ideas of the future, strategize how to hack their own minds, and hatch a plan to build AI as safely as possible. In this season premiere, Hannah and Maia discuss whether the Rationalist philosophy, which turns every aspect of the human condition into a game of 0s and 1s, is actually paving the way for a better future, or actively destroying it. With such ghouls as Sam Bankman-Fried, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Peter Thiel as its disciples, and a fringe death cult blaming LessWrong for their crimes, one has to think, maybe not? Tangents include: the Lindsay Clancy trial, Hannah’s hard-on for John Oliver, and Maia’s hard-on for John Steinbeck. 
Support us on Patreon and get juicy bonus content:
⁠https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast⁠
Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:
⁠https://linktr.ee/ianmillsmusic
SOURCES
Tara Isabella Burton, “Rational Magic,” The New Atlantis (2023).
Greg Epstein, Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, MIT Press (2024).
Klint Finley, “Geeks for Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries,” Tech Crunch (2024).
Cade Metz, “Silicon Valley’s Safe Space,” The New York Times (2021).
Cade Metz, “The Rise of Silicon Valley’s Techno-Religion,” The New York Times (2025).
Evan Ratliff, “The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians,” Wired (2025).
Emily Shugerman, “This one internet subculture explains murder suspect Luigi Mangione’s odd politics,” San Francisco Standard (2024).
Tessa Stuart, “None of the So-Called Zizians Have Told Their Story: Until Now,” Rolling Stone (2026).
David Whelan, “The Harry Potter Fan Fiction Author Who Wants to Make Everyone a Little More Rational,” Vice (2015).

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You’re twelve. You just got back from a horrific pool party where the boys made fun of your swimsuit. You also just got the news that Michael Jackson died. How are you going to self-soothe? Well, light up that family desktop computer and read some Perez Hilton of course. In his prime, Perez Hilton was something like the Little Finger of Hollywood. Keep him close and he’ll get you into Hyde Lounge, cross him and he’ll share a upskirt photo of you for all the internet to see with a crude drawing of a dick hitting you in the forehead. In this bonus episode, Hannah and Maia discuss Perez Hilton’s meteoric rise into the stratosphere of populist, venomous gossip blogging, and his equally meteoric downfall on the much different internet of today. But one has to ask whether the internet is really as different today as it appears? It seems the guilt of Perez’s shameful past has infiltrated his unconscious and sent him spiralling in a violent and very public crash out. But is the public’s glee at his demise really a fitting punishment to his crimes? Or is Perez simply the golem of an equally venomous public? Tangents include: Maia being the resident bitch of Rehash, and Hannah’s dream show: Vanderpump Rules in Space. 
Full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast/posts/bonus-perez-171020042

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Can AI have taste? Such is the question trend forecaster Emily Segal, progenitor of “normcore,” set out to ask in a recent Substack post. In her comprehension breakdown of the concept, Segal asserts that to possess the intangible essence of good taste, one must be discerning, idiosyncratic, and be able to recognize patterns. Good taste, for Segal, is not a numbers game. It cannot simply be aggregated. But how do we account for bad taste? Such is the question Hannah and Maia set out to ask. They’re joined by the hosts of the Polyester podcast, Ione Gamble and Gina Tonic, whose recent collection of essays, The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste, may just have all the answers. What if Maia loves Showgirls? What if Ione likes My Chemical Romance? If bad taste is low culture, how do we explain Rick Owens? If good taste is high culture, how do we explain everyone owning the same chrome coffee table? Find out about this and more in this extra special bonus episode, available in full on Patreon. 
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Imagine a world where you can bet on anything. Celebrity breakups? Bet. Oil prices changing with the winds? Bet on it. Foreign leaders deposed seemingly out of nowhere? Bet on that too. Ballistic missile strikes? Go for it. In this Patreon bonus episode, Hannah and Maia cover Polymarket and Kalshi - not quite prediction markets, not quite gambling websites, where users are encouraged to “bet on their beliefs”. If there was ever a sign of the times, it would be this. As gambling addiction skyrockets among younger and younger demographics, and governments scramble to regulate, Polymarket and Kalshi are doubling down via influencer marketing campaigns and college campus merch. They also justify their existence with a troubling philosophy: that money speaks to truth. But with only a tiny number of accounts collecting the majority of the profits, and certain users betting correctly on once-impossible odds, one has to wonder whether “truth” was ever the objective. Tangents include: a review of Backrooms. 
FULL episode available on Patreon:
⁠https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast⁠

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Quince and use my code REHASH for a great deal: https://www.quince.com
* Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/REHASH for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands