Apr 3, 2026
Lou Perez is joined by Harris Sockel, lead editor at Pirate Wires — the tech media company that covers Silicon Valley without hating it. They cover a lot of ground in this one.
TOPICS INCLUDE:
- What Pirate Wires is and why it started on Substack during the
pandemic
- Why AI doom coverage is dishonest (and why the doomers won't go
full prepper)
- Lou's experience using Claude AI for press kits, pricing, and
writing courses
- Can AI actually replace long-form journalism? Harris says not yet
— and explains why
- AI chatbots, teen suicide cases, and the litigation playbook
against tech companies
- Humanoid robots: cooking, sex, and whether to charge yours in the
hallway
- The data center water myth, debunked — they use less water than
golf courses
- Nuclear power's comeback and what went wrong with Biden's AI
regulation approach
- Harris's doctor pulled up ChatGPT mid-appointment and told him to
read it
- Waymo self-driving cars and the future of driving as a
rich-person hobby
- Harris goes to a Starbucks strike in Brooklyn — almost nobody
worked at Starbucks
- California's wealth tax, billionaire flight, and one very
quotable anonymous billionaire
- SAG-AFTRA dues and the gap between union theory and union
reality
GUEST:
Harris Sockel — Lead Editor, Pirate Wires
https://www.piratewires.com
LOU'S LINKS:
Book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r
Website: https://www.thelouperez.com
Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thelouperez