AT/Through Episode 1: About At/Through and “Ask Anything”

This is our first episode in our series At/Through!

In the inaugural episode of “At Through,” Dan and Ryan introduce Richard Lanham’s 1990s “at/through” paradigm for understanding emerging technologies, emphasizing that analysis requires oscillating between surface features and deeper implications. Using chatgpt.com as a test case, they “look at” the inviting blank prompt box (“Ask anything”) and “look through” it to examine technical, ideological, economic, and environmental layers, including energy costs and the potential arrival of advertising. They discuss frictionless-ness as both a design promise and a mask for real costs, and consider how educators might reintroduce productive friction for students, often via language-based prompting. They contrast free use with $20/month Plus features like custom GPTs and system prompts, noting how even free chats can learn user preferences. The conversation raises concerns about anthropomorphism, shifting model behavior via updates, and the value of ethnographic observation to detect unseen changes and constraints.

We hope you enjoy this introduction and the many episodes to come!