What the Hack? Episode 237: The Internet is Groundhog Day
6 snips
Feb 2, 2026 
Virginia Heffernan, writer and cultural critic who wrote Magic and Loss, explores Groundhog Day as an allegory for the internet. They discuss surveillance, how platforms reward repetition over reflection, personal data becoming identity, and AI’s performance of empathy. The conversation also touches on oversharing, social engineering risks, and ways to break the loop through genuine care.
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Internet As Repetition And Leverage
- The internet repeats and leverages our behavior rather than performing magic or fate.
- That repetition plus memory is what enables large-scale surveillance and influence.
Targeted Harassment And Data Removal
- Virginia Heffernan describes being targeted by Tucker Carlson's audience and receiving threats including to her children.
- She credits DeleteMe with making her less findable and stopping the harassment.
Small Facts Build Predictive Identities
- Phil Connors memorizes the town by repeated observation and uses that knowledge to predict behavior.
- This mirrors how platforms collect tiny personal facts to construct predictive identities.
