Pulped

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About this episode

AI companies are buying up used books, scanning them, and destroying the originals. At least, that's the headline... the real story is weirder. Charlie Becker, a seventh-generation bookseller in Houston, went viral for tracing one of these mysterious bulk orders - following overlooked books into Amazon warehouses filled with entire categories of obscure human knowledge. Today we're taking the plunge into a mystery that spans artificial intelligence, culture, and the LTV of a "rare" book. -- Timestamps: (00:00) - Episode setup and guest intro (01:22) - Mic check and welcome (02:01) - Viral post and lawsuit context (04:05) - Who is Charlie Becker (10:40) - Amazon warehouse mystery (13:02) -…