Everything Is Under Control — A Special Report

Everything is under control—or at least that’s what the broadcast says. In this special report, calm anchors deliver absurd news as reality quietly unravels behind them. A satirical look at certainty, reassurance, and collapse. This episode presents a familiar format behaving exactly as expected… even when the world doesn’t. Potatoes organize. Time pools at airports. An asteroid approaches. AI quietly leaves. Sports continues. If this stayed with you, you probably know someone else who might appreciate it. Another great episode on Argument, Disagreement, and contempt. “Why Winning Arguments Can Cost You Everything”: 00:00 Everything Is Under Control 00:27 Local News: The Potatoes Are Organized 01:02 Transportation Alert: Time Is Pooling 01:50 Asteroid Impact: Experts Say “Wait” 02:31 Technology Update: AI Quietly Leaves 03:11 Sports: Civilization Ends, Playoffs Continue 03:46 An Ounce — Submitted for Your Consideration 📚 FURTHER READING & LISTENING — CUT & PASTE (TMI EDITION) If this episode made you smile—and then pause—here are a few places the ideas brush up against other work. Not answers. Just adjacent thoughts. Fear, Panic, and Calm Certainty • The Gift of Fear — why fear exists and why ignoring it can be more dangerous than panic • Thinking, Fast and Slow — how confidence often outruns understanding • Daniel Gilbert — research on affective forecasting and why we misjudge future distress Reassurance Culture & “Everything Will Work Out” • Four Thousand Weeks — limits of control and the myth of eventual order • Man's Search for Meaning — meaning without illusion or denial • The Antidote — happiness via negative thinking Media, Authority, and Performed Calm • Amusing Ourselves to Death — how format shapes belief more than content • The War of the Worlds — authority, format, and belief (not the panic myth) • The Attention Merchants — certainty as a product Cognitive Bias, Normalcy, and “This Is Fine” • The Black Swan — rare events and misplaced confidence • Normal Accidents — complex systems and inevitable failure • Risk — why societies tolerate obvious dangers Artificial Intelligence: Limits, Not Apocalypse • You Look Like a Thing and I Love You — clear, funny demonstrations of AI failure modes • Gary Marcus — why current AI lacks understanding and grounding • Artificial Unintelligence — bias, overconfidence, and misplaced trust in AI • Prediction Machines — what AI actually does well (and what it doesn’t) Music, Irony, and Cheerful Collapse • It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) — by R.E.M., a cheerful apocalypse as cultural reflex • It's Alright — Mother Mother. reassurance layered over unease

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Everything Is Under Control — A Special Report is an episode from An Ounce by Jim Fugate.

This episode is 4:23 long.

This episode was published on Feb 4, 2026.

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