1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:03,560 Speaker 1: Zone Media. 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 2: What is a podcast a miserable little pile of secrets? 3 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 2: I'm met Zeitron, and welcome to the conclusion of our 4 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 2: three part episode of Better Offline and the phenomena known 5 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 2: as the business Idiot. In the first episode, we met 6 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 2: our first business idiot. The real princes of them sat 7 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 2: in Adela and talked about the origin of the business 8 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 2: idiot and the rotten ideology that drives them. Then we 9 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 2: talked about the enablers of the business idiots, particularly those 10 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 2: in the media. In this episode, I want to tell 11 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 2: you about where all this goes. Nothing I've said in 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 2: this three part should suggest that the business idiot is weak. 13 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 2: In fact, business idiots are in full control. We have 14 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 2: too many managers, and our most powerful positions are valorized 15 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 2: for not knowing stuff, for having a general view that 16 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 2: we can take the big picture from, not realizing that 17 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 2: the big picture is usually made up of lots of 18 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 2: little brushstrokes. Business idiots have a cultural cachet. Then we 19 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 2: aspire to be business idiots, and our education pushes people 20 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 2: to careers where the goal is to climb from the 21 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 2: worker class of the oxygen starved apex of business idiot Mountain. 22 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 2: Yet there are eventually consequences for everything being controlled by 23 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 2: business idiots. Our current society, an unfair, unjust one dominated 24 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 2: by half broken tech products that make their owners billions 25 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 2: and that manipulate and mislead by design, is the real 26 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 2: punishment wrought by growth, A brain draining corporate society, one 27 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 2: that leads it to doing illogical things and somehow making 28 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 2: money doing so. It doesn't make any fucking sense that 29 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 2: generative AI got this big. The returns aren't there, the 30 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 2: outcomes aren't there, and any sensible society would have put 31 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 2: a gun to chat GPT's head and aggressively pulled the trigger. 32 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 2: Generative AI is symbolic of the future of capitalism, one 33 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 2: that celebrates mediocrity and costs billions of dollars, one that 34 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 2: surrenders every human work the model can consume, and that 35 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 2: accepts the destruction of our planet, all because everybody kind 36 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 2: of agreed that this is what we're all doing now, 37 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 2: with nobody able to give a convincing expert nation of 38 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 2: what that even is or why we're doing it. Generative 39 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 2: AI is revolting, both in how overstated its abilities are 40 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 2: and in how continually it tests how lower standards somebody 41 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 2: will take for a product, both in its outputs and 42 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 2: in the desperate companies trying to integrate it into everything, 43 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 2: and its proliferation throughout society and organizations is already fundamentally harmful. 44 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 2: We're not just drowning in a sea of slop. We're 45 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 2: in a constant state of corporate AI beta test. New 46 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 2: features sprouting out of our products, like new limbs that 47 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 2: sometimes function normally but often attempt to strangle us. You 48 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 2: know what the stand in that episode of JoJo's Stop It. 49 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 2: It's unclear of companies forcing these products on us have 50 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 2: contempt for us, or simply don't know what good looks like, 51 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 2: or perhaps it's both, with the business idiot resenting us 52 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 2: for not scarffing down whatever they serve us, as that's 53 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 2: what's generally worked before. They don't really understand their customers. 54 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:51,519 Speaker 2: They understand what a customer pays for and how a 55 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 2: purchase is made, you know, like the leaders of banks 56 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 2: and asset managers during the subprime mortgage crisis didn't really 57 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 2: think about whether people could pay those mortgages, just that 58 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 2: they needed lot of them to put in a cedo. 59 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 2: The business Idiot's economy is one run and built for 60 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,799 Speaker 2: other business idiots. They can only make things that sell 61 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 2: to companies that must always be in flux, which is 62 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 2: the preferred environment of the business idiot, because if they're 63 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 2: not perpetually starting new initiatives and jumping on new innovations, 64 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 2: they'd actually have to interact with the underlying production of 65 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,399 Speaker 2: the company and the people actually doing the work. Does 66 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,079 Speaker 2: the software work? Sometimes the successful companies exist that sell 67 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:26,919 Speaker 2: like this. Sure, but look at today's software and tell 68 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:29,239 Speaker 2: me with a straight face that things feel good to use. 69 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 2: And something like generative AI was always inevitable. An industry 70 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 2: claiming to change the world that never really does so, 71 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 2: full of businesses that don't function as businesses, full of 72 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 2: flim flamm half truths used to impress people who will 73 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 2: likely never interact with it, or do so only in 74 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 2: a passing way, by chasing out the people that actually 75 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 2: build things in favor of the people that sell them. 76 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 2: Our economy is built on production puppetry. Just like GENERATIVEAI, 77 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 2: and especially like chat, GPT and Claude. These people are 78 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 2: antithetical to what's good in the world, and their power 79 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 2: deprives us of happiness, the ability to thrive and honestly, 80 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 2: any true innovation. The business city it thrives on alienation, 81 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 2: on distancing itself from the customer and the thing that 82 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 2: they consume, and in many ways, from society itself. Mark 83 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 2: Zuckerberg wants us to have fake friends, and he said 84 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 2: that to the Wall Street Channel Samuel and wants us 85 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 2: to have fake colleagues in the form of the agency 86 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,040 Speaker 2: makes that don't fucking work and increase and an increasingly 87 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,280 Speaker 2: loud group of executives salivated the idea of replacing us 88 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 2: with a fake version of us that will make a 89 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 2: shittier version of what we make for a customer that 90 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 2: said executive doesn't give a fuck about. And yeah, that 91 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 2: is describing a form of slave, especially if it's conscious. 92 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:34,479 Speaker 2: I mean, if it's not conscious, it isn't. But the 93 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 2: moment you make AGI, you've got a real fucking problem 94 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 2: on your hands. 95 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 3: They're never going to do it. 96 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 2: Also, what if the AGI is just dumb? What if 97 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:41,920 Speaker 2: it doesn't want to work? 98 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 3: Anyway? 99 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 2: The business IDI it's a building products for other people 100 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 2: that don't interact with the real world. We're no longer 101 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,239 Speaker 2: the real customers and so we're worth even less than before, 102 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 2: which is as is the case in the world dominated 103 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 2: by shareholder supremacy, not all that much to begin with. 104 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 2: They don't exist to make us better. The business IDY 105 00:04:58,040 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 2: it doesn't really care about the real world or what 106 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 2: you do do, or who you are, or anything other 107 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 2: than your contribution to their power and wealth. This is 108 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 2: why so many squealing little middle managers look up to 109 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 2: the Musks and Altman's of the world, because they see 110 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 2: in them the same kind of specious corporate authoritarian, somebody 111 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 2: who's above work and thinking and knowledge and doing stuff disgusting. 112 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:18,559 Speaker 2: But one of the most remarkable things about the business 113 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 2: IDIA is their near in vulnerability. Modern management is resource control, 114 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 2: shifting blame away from the manager, who should hold responsibility. 115 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 2: After all, if you don't, why do you have a 116 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 2: fucking job onto the laborer, knowing that the organization and 117 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 2: the media will back them up. Or you may think 118 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 2: I'm making a generalization, the twenty twenty one to twenty 119 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 2: twenty three anti remote work push in the media was 120 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 2: grow tesque proof of where the media's true allegiance lies. 121 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 2: The media happily manufactured consent for return to office mandates 122 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 2: from large companies by framing remote workers some sort of 123 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 2: destructive force doing all they can to discuss how modern 124 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 2: management has no fucking idea how the workplace actually works now. 125 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 2: These articles were effectively written as fan fiction for managers 126 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 2: and bosses demanding that we return to the office, ridiculous 127 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,239 Speaker 2: statements about how remote work failed young people, which it didn't, 128 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 2: or how employees needed remote work more than their employers 129 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 2: because the chit chat and lunches and happy hours are 130 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 2: so important that they're really not. I'm also going to 131 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 2: link to these and in the notes, I've written a 132 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 2: lot about the remote work push and the people who 133 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 2: were pushing for us to return the office. It's actually 134 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 2: where I got started, and it really was the ultimate 135 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 2: jokification for me. It's what actually set me on the 136 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 2: path the better offline, because it's when you saw both 137 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 2: how little the bosses knew what was going on and 138 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 2: how willing people in the media were to support them. 139 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 2: And these were people people writing these stories were journalists 140 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:39,119 Speaker 2: that were going to be forced back to the office 141 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 2: and ended up being so, and they were like, yeah, 142 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 2: this is actually it's actually good that we go into 143 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 2: the office. And when you ask the journalists, hey, what 144 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 2: do you get to the office, they say well, one 145 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:51,840 Speaker 2: time I ran into someone and we had a good idea, 146 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,280 Speaker 2: or it was quicker to walk over to someone's desk. 147 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 2: Does that mean the work was better? No, but the 148 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 2: vibes felt better, I guess. I also't know way more 149 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 2: people who just fucking hated working in the office. But 150 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 2: these articles rarely, if ever, cared about whether remote work 151 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 2: was more productive or the disconnect appeared to be between 152 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 2: managers and workers. Now, had any of those reporters every 153 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 2: spoken to an actual worker, they'd say that they valued 154 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 2: more time with their families rather than the grind of 155 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 2: a daily commute, so often with the promise of an 156 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,160 Speaker 2: occasional company pizza party, which usually happens outside of the 157 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 2: typical working hours. Anyway, and these articles and this period, 158 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 2: it was from the very beginning about crushing the life 159 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 2: out of a movement that gave workers more flexibility and 160 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 2: mobility while suppressing managers' ability to hide how little work 161 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 2: they actually did. I do give credit to CNBC in 162 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 2: twenty twenty three for saying the quiet part out loud 163 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 2: that and I quote, the biggest disadvantage of remote work 164 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 2: that employeers cide is how difficult it is to observe 165 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 2: and monitor employees, because when you can't do that, you 166 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 2: have to hear, actually know what they're doing and understand 167 00:07:55,560 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 2: their work. Jesus Christ. Now I'm with the managers, how discussing. 168 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 2: But yet higher up the chain the invulnerability continues. CEOs 169 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,239 Speaker 2: may get fired I mentioned it before, and more getting 170 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 2: fired than ever. It turns out, although sadly not the 171 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 2: ones we want, they always receive a golden parachute at 172 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 2: the end before walking into another role at another organization 173 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 2: doing exactly the same level of nothing. Yet before that happens, 174 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 2: CEO is allowed to pull basically every lever before they 175 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 2: make they face any kind of accountability. They can lay 176 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 2: people off, they can freeze pay, they can move from 177 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 2: people from salary to contracted workers. They can close down sites, 178 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 2: they can offshore, they can cut certain products. They can 179 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,319 Speaker 2: even spend more fucking money so they lose less. If 180 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 2: you or I misallocated billions of dollars on stupid ideas, 181 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:42,959 Speaker 2: we'd be fired and we'd have real trouble finding more employment. 182 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 2: We would be well known for our incompetence, and indeed 183 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 2: we would be in real trouble and there would be 184 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 2: real problems finding more work. If we were a big 185 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 2: stupid piece of shit. 186 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: Yeah. 187 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 2: When CEOs do that, they get board placements, they get 188 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 2: other positions. They can run companies head into the ground. 189 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 2: Let me give you an example. Microsoft CEO Sachan Nedella 190 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 2: said and I quote that the ultimate computer is the 191 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 2: mixed reality world, and that Microsoft would be inventing new 192 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 2: computers and new computing in twenty sixteen, pushing his senior 193 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 2: executives to tell reporters that Hololenz was Microsoft's next wave 194 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 2: of computing in twenty seventeen, selling hundreds of millions of 195 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 2: dollars worth of headsets to the military in twenty nineteen, 196 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,320 Speaker 2: then debuting HoloLens two at Bill twenty nineteen, only for 197 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 2: the on stage demo to break in real time, calling 198 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,679 Speaker 2: for a referendum on capitalism in twenty twenty, then saying 199 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,199 Speaker 2: he couldn't overstate the breakthrough of the metaverse in twenty 200 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 2: twenty one. Now let's hear what Nadella had to say 201 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,240 Speaker 2: about it, and massive prompts the Preston Growler of Computer 202 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,400 Speaker 2: World for writing this piece. AHM. Nadella in that twenty 203 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 2: twenty one keynote made big promises. When we talk about 204 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 2: the metaverse, we're describing both a new platform and a 205 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:49,679 Speaker 2: new application type, similar to how we talked about the 206 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:51,960 Speaker 2: web and websites in the early nineties. In a sense, 207 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 2: the metaverse enables us to embed computing into the real 208 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 2: world and to embed the real world into computing. Fucking 209 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 2: what bringing real presence to any digital space. Years we've 210 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 2: talked about creating the digital representation of the world, but 211 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 2: now we actually have the opportunity to go into that 212 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 2: world and participate on it. I just want to be clear, 213 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 2: at this time, Microsoft had nothing of the sort. They 214 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:13,800 Speaker 2: had like websites, They had Microsoft Teams. They tried to 215 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 2: claim Microsoft Teams was a matter of us fucked up, 216 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 2: and as Grella notes, Nedella made big promises beefing up 217 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:24,040 Speaker 2: development in projects such as its Mixed Reality tool Kit MRTK, 218 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 2: the virtual reality workspace project all Space VR, which it 219 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 2: brought back in twenty seventeen, It's HoloLens Virtual Realities headset, 220 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:33,959 Speaker 2: and its Industrial Metaverse unit, among others, before firing all 221 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:36,480 Speaker 2: members of its Industrial Metaverse core team, along with those 222 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 2: behind MRTK, and shutting down it's all Space VR in 223 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:45,079 Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, before discontinuing Hololenz two entirely in twenty 224 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 2: twenty four. Guess that wasn't anything then, Just you know, 225 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 2: it's like like a friend of yours is in a 226 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:55,319 Speaker 2: really chaotic relationship and they just the next stage tag 227 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 2: like it's not happening, or someone tells you they've had 228 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 2: a big moment in their life and they just pretend 229 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 2: it doesn't happen. It was hundreds of millions of dollars 230 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:05,680 Speaker 2: and tons of media coverage where people said, this is 231 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 2: what Microsoft's doing next, this is what happened. It's so 232 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:13,320 Speaker 2: insane that that happened. We really don't talk enough about 233 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,640 Speaker 2: how fucking insane. The metaverse thing was just like a 234 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:21,079 Speaker 2: year or so where everyone just played make believe, completely insane. 235 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:22,679 Speaker 2: I of course was right about it at the time, 236 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 2: and it was very fucking clear, and there are a 237 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,320 Speaker 2: few people that were negative as well. There were also 238 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:28,960 Speaker 2: some people who claim they were negative who weren't. Their 239 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 2: time will come now. Nadella was transparently copying meta and 240 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 2: Mark Zuckerberg's ridiculous metaverse play, and absolutely nothing happened to 241 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 2: him As a result. The media outlets like The Vergin 242 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 2: Independence like Ben Thompson, happily boosted the Metaverse idea when 243 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 2: it was announced, and conveniently forgot about it the second 244 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 2: that Microsoft and Meta wanted to talk about AI. Not really. 245 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:50,320 Speaker 2: Both the verg and Ben Thompson were ready in waiting 246 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 2: to do literally the same interview, but about a different subject, 247 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 2: no consideration of what was previously said at all. A 248 00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 2: true business city it never admits wrongdoing, and the more 249 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:01,200 Speaker 2: powerful the business city is, the more likely there are 250 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 2: power structures that exist to avoid them having to do so. 251 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 2: The media, captured by other business idiots, has become powerfully 252 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 2: poisoned by power, referring to its whims and ideals and 253 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:12,839 Speaker 2: treating CEOs with more respect, dignity, and intelligence than anyone 254 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,440 Speaker 2: who ever worked for them. When a big company decides 255 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 2: they want to do artificial intelligence, the media's natural reaction 256 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 2: is to ask how and why and write down the answer, 257 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 2: rather than to think about whether it's possible whether the 258 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 2: company might profit, say by increasing their shareholder price by 259 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 2: having whatever they say printed advobatim. These people aren't challenged 260 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 2: by the media or their employees because their employees are 261 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 2: vulnerable all the time and often are encouraged to buy 262 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 2: into whatever bullshit dju there is, like hostage is held 263 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 2: captive until the media and corporate culture give them Stockholm syndrome. 264 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 2: They're only challenged by shareholders ru agnostic about idiocy because 265 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:46,600 Speaker 2: it's not core to value in any meaningful sense, as 266 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 2: we've seen with crypto, the metaverse, and AI, and shareholders 267 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 2: will tolerate infinite levels of idiocy if it boosts the 268 00:12:51,800 --> 00:13:06,440 Speaker 2: value of their holdings. It goes further too. Twenty twenty 269 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 2: one saw the largest amount of venture capital invested in 270 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:11,439 Speaker 2: the last decade, a record breaking six hundred and forty 271 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 2: three billion dollars, with a remarkable three hundred and twenty 272 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 2: nine point five billion dollars of that invested in the 273 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,559 Speaker 2: US alone. Some of the biggest deals include Amazon reseller 274 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 2: aggregate e Thrasio, which raised a billion dollars in October 275 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,240 Speaker 2: twenty twenty one and file for bankruptcy in February twenty 276 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 2: twenty five. Cloud security company lace Work, which raised five 277 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,319 Speaker 2: hundred and twenty five million dollars in January twenty twenty one, 278 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,199 Speaker 2: then one point three billion dollars in October twenty twenty one, 279 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:35,959 Speaker 2: and was rumored to be up for sale to Whiz, 280 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:39,319 Speaker 2: only for the deal to collapse and then they ended 281 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:41,880 Speaker 2: up selling for about two hundred million dollars to another company. 282 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 2: And then, of course there was autonomous car company Crews, 283 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 2: which had hundreds of headlines about being the future, raised 284 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 2: about two point seventy five billion dollars in twenty twenty one, 285 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 2: and was killed off in December twenty twenty four. Suddenly, 286 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 2: the people who lose their livelihoods those who took stock 287 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 2: in low of cash compensation, those who end up getting 288 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:00,679 Speaker 2: laid off at the end are always work while people 289 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 2: like Lacework co CEO j Perick, who oversaw reckless spending 290 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 2: and management dysfunction according to the information, can walk into 291 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 2: highly paid positions at companies like Microsoft, as Jay did 292 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 2: in October twenty twenty four, a few months after a 293 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,679 Speaker 2: file sale and the one I mentioned before, the two 294 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 2: hundred million dollar one even to a company for fourt 295 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 2: in it. Yeah, this is the behind the actor studio 296 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 2: A bit. I got a little ahead of myself, But 297 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 2: I'm not editing it. Why would I? It doesn't matter 298 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 2: if these people are wrong or if they run their 299 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 2: companies badly, because the business idiot is infallible and judged 300 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 2: too by fellow disconnected business idiots. In a just society, 301 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 2: nobody would ever want to touch any of the C 302 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 2: suite that oversaw a company that handed out Nintendo switches 303 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 2: to literally anyone who booked a meeting, as was the 304 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 2: case with Lacework. Instead, the stank remains on the employees alone. 305 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 2: One point about this, just an aside. Maya's most recent 306 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,880 Speaker 2: layoffs were explicitly said to target low performers, needlessly harming 307 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 2: the future job prospects of those handed the pink slip 308 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 2: in an already fucked tech job market. It was cruel 309 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 2: and pointless, and I'm certain of big fat Meta is 310 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 2: spending big on AI and has spent big on the metaverse, 311 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 2: which went nowhere and owns two dying platforms Instagram and Facebook, 312 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 2: and one that's hard to monetize in WhatsApp. It needs 313 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 2: to get costs down and improve margins. Layoffs are one 314 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:13,920 Speaker 2: way to go, and things are getting bad enough to 315 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 2: matter is now, according to the information walking around Silicon Valley, 316 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:19,360 Speaker 2: begging other big tech companies for money to train their 317 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 2: open source Lama LLM as shit is. That is, the 318 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 2: low performance Jive is an unnecessary twist of the knife 319 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 2: demonstrating the metal would gladly throw its workers under the 320 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 2: bus if it serves their interests, because the optics of 321 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 2: firing low performers is different to say, firing a bunch 322 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 2: of people because she keep spunking money on dead end 323 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 2: vanity projects and me too products that nobody wants or 324 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 2: wants to use or can understand. Mark Zuckerberg I add 325 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 2: owns an island on Hawaii. The idea that he even 326 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 2: thinks this much about meta is disgraceful. Go outside, you 327 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 2: fucking freak. Anyway, It's so easy, and perhaps inevitable, to 328 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 2: feel a sense of nihilism about this. Nothing matters, It's 329 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 2: all symbolic. Wild is filled with companies run by people 330 00:15:57,680 --> 00:15:59,400 Speaker 2: who don't interact with the business and that raise money 331 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 2: from venture that neither run businesses nor really have any 332 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 2: experience doing so. And despite the fact that these people 333 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:08,000 Speaker 2: exist several extractions from reality, the things that they do 334 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 2: and the decisions they make impact us all, and it's 335 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 2: hard to imagine how to fix it. I don't want 336 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 2: you to live without hope. Understanding how evil these people 337 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 2: are is the first step to things changing, and more 338 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 2: people understanding is genuinely important. But we really do live 339 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 2: in a system of inequity dominated by people that do 340 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 2: not interact with the real world, who have created an 341 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 2: entire system run by their fellow business idios. The rot 342 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 2: economy's growth at all costs manor is a symptom of 343 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 2: the grander problem of shareholders supremacy, and the single minded 344 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 2: economic focus on shareholder value inevitably ends at an economy 345 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 2: run by and for business idios. There is a line, 346 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 2: and it ends here with layoffs, the destruction of our 347 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 2: planet and our economy and our society, and a rising 348 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 2: tide of human misery that nobody really knows where it 349 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 2: comes from, and so we don't know who to blame 350 00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 2: and for what. If our economy actually works as a 351 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 2: true mayor autocracy where we didn't have companies run by 352 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:04,360 Speaker 2: people who don't use their products or understand how they're made, 353 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,639 Speaker 2: and who hire similarly specious people, these people would collapse 354 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 2: under the pressure of having to know their ass from 355 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 2: their ear hole. Yet none of this would be possible 356 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:14,119 Speaker 2: without their enabling layers, and those layers are teeming with 357 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,160 Speaker 2: both business idiots and those unfortunate enough to have learned 358 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,399 Speaker 2: from them. The tech media has enabled every single bubble 359 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:25,439 Speaker 2: without exception, accepting every single narrative fed to them by 360 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 2: vcs and startups, with even critical reporters still accepting the 361 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,160 Speaker 2: lunacy of companies like open Ai just because everyone else 362 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 2: does too, and because the standard has been set of 363 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:38,320 Speaker 2: if a company raises money, they're real. Let's be honest 364 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 2: when you remove all the money. Our current tech industry 365 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:44,159 Speaker 2: is kind of a disgrace. Our economy is held up 366 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,480 Speaker 2: by Nvidia, a company that makes most of its money 367 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 2: selling GPUs to other companies, primarily so that they can 368 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 2: start losing money selling software that might eventually make them money, 369 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 2: just not today, and they're not sure how. In video 370 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 2: is defined by massive peaks and valleys as it jumps 371 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,360 Speaker 2: on trends and bandwagons at the right time, despite knowing 372 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,440 Speaker 2: that these bandwagons always come to some sort of halt. 373 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 2: The other companies feature Tesla, a meme stock car company 374 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:12,119 Speaker 2: with a deteriorating brand and a chief executive famous for 375 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 2: his divorces from both reality and multiple women, along with 376 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:18,119 Speaker 2: a flagrant racism that may cost the company its life, 377 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:20,480 Speaker 2: a company that we're watching die in real time with 378 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,400 Speaker 2: a snagnant lineup, and an actual fucking competition from companies 379 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,200 Speaker 2: that are spending on innovation in Europe and elsewhere. Bid 380 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 2: is eating Tesla's lunch, offering better products for half the 381 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 2: price and with far less racism. And this is just 382 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:36,439 Speaker 2: the first big Chinese automotive brand to go global. Others 383 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 2: like Cherry are enjoying rapid growth outside of China because 384 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 2: these cars are actually good and affordable and even when 385 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,160 Speaker 2: you factor in the things like tariffs. Hey, remember when 386 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,959 Speaker 2: Tesla fired all those people and it's charging network despite 387 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:49,879 Speaker 2: the fact that it's one of the most profitable and 388 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 2: valuable parts of the business, and they meant to then 389 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 2: went and had to hire them back because it turns 390 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,280 Speaker 2: out they actually needed them. This is a good example 391 00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 2: of managerial alienation decisions made by non workers elon Musk 392 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 2: who don't understand their customers, their businesses, or the work 393 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,760 Speaker 2: their employees do. And let's not forget about the cyber 394 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 2: truck and monstrosity, both in how it looks and how 395 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:11,960 Speaker 2: it's sold. It's illegal to drive in the majority of 396 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,440 Speaker 2: developed countries because it's a death trap for drivers and 397 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,879 Speaker 2: pedestrians alike. Oh and nobody actually wants it. With Tesla 398 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 2: sitting on a quarters worth of inventory they can't sell 399 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:24,439 Speaker 2: elsewhere is Meta a collapsing social network of ninety nine 400 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 2: percent of its revenue based on an advertising model to 401 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 2: an increasingly aged population, and a monopoly so flagrantly abusive 402 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 2: in its contempt for its customers that at times it's 403 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 2: difficult to call Instagram or Facebook a social network. Mark 404 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,399 Speaker 2: Zuckerberg had to admit to the Senate Judiciary Committee that 405 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 2: people don't use Facebook as a social network anymore. The 406 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,440 Speaker 2: reason why is because the platform is so fucking rotten 407 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 2: run by a company alienated from its user base. It's 408 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 2: the crepit product, actively hostile to anybody trying to use it. 409 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 2: And more fundamentally, what's the point of posting on Facebook 410 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 2: if your friends won't see it? Because metas algorithm decided 411 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 2: it wouldn't drive engagement, monument to disconnection. A company that 412 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 2: runs encounter to its own mission to connect people, run 413 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:06,920 Speaker 2: by Mark Zuckerberg, a man who hasn't had a good 414 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 2: idea since he stole it from the Winkle Brothers. I'm 415 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 2: meant to say that Winklevoss Brothers, I'm actually going to 416 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 2: keep him the solution to all that ails him adding 417 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 2: generative AI to every part of Meta, which are shit. 418 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,159 Speaker 2: It was meant to do something other than burn seventy 419 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 2: two billion dollars in capital expenditures in twenty twenty five. Right, 420 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 2: it isn't clear what was meant to happen, but the 421 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 2: Wall Street Journals Jeff Horwitz reports that metas ai chatbots 422 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,360 Speaker 2: are and I quote empowered to engage in romantic roleplay 423 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 2: that can turn explicit, even with children. In a civil society, 424 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 2: Zuckerberg would be ousted immediately for creating a pedophile chatbot. Instead, 425 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:43,680 Speaker 2: four days after the story ran, everyone cheered they're better 426 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 2: than expected earnings report in Redmond. Microsoft sits atop multiple monopolies, 427 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,919 Speaker 2: using tariffs as I mean toduce flailing Xbox revenue, as 428 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 2: it invests billions of dollars into open Ai so that 429 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 2: open Ai can spend billions of dollars on cloud compute, 430 00:20:57,119 --> 00:21:00,439 Speaker 2: losing billions of dollars in the process, requiring Microsoft inverst 431 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,160 Speaker 2: further money to keep them alive, all because Microsoft wanted 432 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 2: generative Ai'm bing what a fucking waste. And they're also 433 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,240 Speaker 2: raising the costs of their office suite too, while which 434 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 2: is only something they've been able to hold on to 435 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,479 Speaker 2: because of an underhanded bullshit fest from their antitrustrial from 436 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 2: the nineties. Amazon lumbers listlessly through life. It's giant labor 437 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 2: abusing machines, shipping things overnight at whatever cost is necessary 438 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:25,880 Speaker 2: to crush the life out of any other possible source 439 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,640 Speaker 2: of commerce. It's cloud services and storage arm on shore 440 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:31,480 Speaker 2: of who to copy next, dumping billions into anthropic as 441 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 2: a means of creating revenue for their dead end products. 442 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,320 Speaker 2: Is it Microsoft? Is it Google? Who knows? Who knows 443 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,200 Speaker 2: what Amazon is anymore? But one analyst believes it's making 444 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 2: five whole billion dollars in revenue from AI in twenty 445 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:45,200 Speaker 2: twenty five. And you know how much they've put in 446 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 2: capital expenditures this year, one hundred and five billion dollars 447 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 2: in capital expenditures. There are slot machines with better ROI 448 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 2: than this bullshit. Again, Amazon is a company that's totally 449 00:21:57,119 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 2: exploitive its customers, no longer acting as a platform that 450 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,439 Speaker 2: helps people find the shit they need, but directing them 451 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,480 Speaker 2: to products that pay the most for prime advertising real estate, 452 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:08,800 Speaker 2: no matter whether they're good or safe. Let's be clear, 453 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:13,440 Speaker 2: Amazon's recklessness will kill someone if it hasn't already. The 454 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:16,399 Speaker 2: products they allow on their are not safe. They do 455 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 2: not give a fucking shit. But then there's the worst 456 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,680 Speaker 2: of them, Google, most famous for its namesake, a search 457 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,440 Speaker 2: engine that has been reduced as hard as possible and 458 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 2: will continue to be juced before the inevitable anti trust 459 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 2: sentencing that will rob Google of its power, along with 460 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 2: the severance of its advertising monopoly along with them. But 461 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 2: don't worry. Google has a generative AI think for some reason, 462 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,399 Speaker 2: and no, you don't have a choice about using it, 463 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 2: because they've now replaced Google Assistant with Google Gemini and 464 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,359 Speaker 2: Google Search all but requires you to use their AI. 465 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,479 Speaker 2: They burn money for no reason. It sucks, and at 466 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 2: no point do any of these companies seem to be 467 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,760 Speaker 2: focused on making our lives better or selling us any 468 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 2: kind of real future. They exist to maintain the status 469 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:23,400 Speaker 2: quo where cloud computing allows them to retain their previous fifdoms. 470 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 2: They're alienated from people, they're alienated from workers, they're alienated 471 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 2: from consumers, and they're alienated from the world. They're deeply antisocial, 472 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 2: they're narcissistic, they're sociopathic, and they're misanthropic, as demonstrated by 473 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:39,880 Speaker 2: zux moronic aisocial network comments, and AI is a symptom 474 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 2: of a reckoning of the stupidity in hubris. They cut, 475 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 2: they cut, they cut, the cut, they cut some more, 476 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,159 Speaker 2: and then they stagnated. Their hope is a product that 477 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,480 Speaker 2: will be adopted by billions of imaginary customers and companies 478 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:55,920 Speaker 2: and will allow them to cut further without becoming just 479 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,480 Speaker 2: a peer box and a domain name. We have to 480 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,200 Speaker 2: recognize that what we're seeing right now with generative AI 481 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 2: isn't a fluke or a bug, but a feature of 482 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,679 Speaker 2: a system that's rapacious and short, termed by its very 483 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,920 Speaker 2: nature and doesn't define value as we do. Because value 484 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 2: gets defined by a faceless shareholder as growth, the system 485 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 2: can only exist with the contribution of the business idiot. 486 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,119 Speaker 2: These are the vanguard, the foot soldiers of this system 487 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:22,719 Speaker 2: and a key reason why everything is so terrible all 488 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 2: the time and why nothing seems to be getting better. 489 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 2: Breaking from that status quo would require a level of 490 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:31,120 Speaker 2: bravery that they do not have and perhaps isn't possible 491 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 2: in the current economic system. These people are powerful and 492 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,920 Speaker 2: they have big platforms. They're people like Derek Thompson, famed 493 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,960 Speaker 2: co author of the Abundance Agenda, who celebrates the idea 494 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,879 Speaker 2: of a fictitious version of chat GPT that can entirely 495 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 2: plan and execute a five year old's birthday party, or 496 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:49,880 Speaker 2: his co author Ezra Klein, who, while recording a podcast 497 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,080 Speaker 2: where his researchers likely listened, talk proudly about replacing their 498 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 2: work with open ais broken deep research product because anything 499 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 2: that can be outsourced must be and all researches is 500 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 2: looking at stuff. It's relevant if you're a fucking idiot, 501 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,679 Speaker 2: and really that's the most grotesque part of the business idiom. 502 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 2: They see every part of our lives as a series 503 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,680 Speaker 2: of inputs and outputs. They boast about how many books 504 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,360 Speaker 2: they've read rather than content, have said books the way 505 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:14,880 Speaker 2: they made them feel, About how many hours they work, 506 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 2: even though they never ever ever work that many, About 507 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:19,639 Speaker 2: how high level they are in a video game they 508 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,399 Speaker 2: don't actually play, about the money they've ated than the 509 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 2: scale they've raised it at, and about how expensive and 510 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,359 Speaker 2: fancy their kitchen gadgets are, even if they use the 511 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 2: wrong oils. Everything is dominance, acquisition, growth, and possession over 512 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 2: any lived experience because their world is one where the 513 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 2: journey does not matter, because their journeys are riddled with 514 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 2: privilege and persecution of others in the pursuit of success. 515 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:42,959 Speaker 2: These people don't want to auter make work, They want 516 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 2: to automate existence. They fantasize about hitting a button and 517 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:50,239 Speaker 2: something happening, because experiencing living is beneath them, or at 518 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,719 Speaker 2: least your lives and your once and your joys are. 519 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:55,439 Speaker 2: They don't want to plan their kids birthday parties. They 520 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 2: don't want to research things. They don't value culture or 521 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,679 Speaker 2: art or beauty. They want to give to the end. 522 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 2: They want to hit fast forward on anything, because human 523 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 2: struggle is for the poor, the unworthy, and the uneducated. 524 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 2: When you're steeped in privilege and have earned everything basically 525 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 2: through a mixture of stolen labor and office pantomime, the 526 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 2: idea of effort is always a negative. The process of 527 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,960 Speaker 2: creation of a fiction of love, of kindness, of using 528 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,920 Speaker 2: time not just for an action or output, is disgusting 529 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 2: to the business idiot, because those are the times that 530 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,760 Speaker 2: could be focused on themselves or some nebulous, self serving 531 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 2: vision that is, when stripped back to its fundamental truth, 532 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:33,280 Speaker 2: either moronic or malevolent. They don't realize that you hire 533 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 2: a worker not just for the output, but for their 534 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,680 Speaker 2: actual labor and their experience in creating that labor and 535 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 2: their understanding of the world around it, which is why 536 00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 2: they don't see why it's so insulting to outsource their 537 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:48,400 Speaker 2: interactions with human beings. You'll notice that these people never 538 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 2: bring up actual examples of automating actual work, the mind 539 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 2: numbing grunt work that we all face in the workplace, 540 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,520 Speaker 2: because they either don't really know what that is, or 541 00:26:57,560 --> 00:26:59,200 Speaker 2: they don't really give a shit about what it is. 542 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,879 Speaker 2: They are the things that frustrate them, like dealing with 543 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,200 Speaker 2: other people, or existing outside of the gilded circles of 544 00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:08,920 Speaker 2: socialite fucks and pleurocrats, or just things that are inevitable 545 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 2: facets of working life, like reading an email, your son's 546 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:14,920 Speaker 2: birthday part or a conflict with a friend. Can indeed 547 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,879 Speaker 2: be stressful, but these are not problems to be automated. 548 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 2: These are the struggles that make us human, the things 549 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,400 Speaker 2: that make us grow, the things that make us who 550 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 2: we are, which isn't a problem for anybody other than 551 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,040 Speaker 2: somebody who doesn't believe they need to change in any way. 552 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,359 Speaker 2: It's both powerful and powerless at the same time. A 553 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 2: nihilistic way of seeing our lives is a collection of 554 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,159 Speaker 2: events we accept or dismissed like a system, prompt the 555 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,879 Speaker 2: desperate pursuit of such efficient living that you barely feel 556 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaker 2: a thing until you die. I spent years talking about 557 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,280 Speaker 2: these people without giving them a name, because categorizing anything 558 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 2: is difficult. I can't tell you how long it took 559 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 2: me to synthesize the rot economy from the broader trends 560 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:52,800 Speaker 2: I saw in tech and elsewhere. How long it took 561 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 2: me to thread that particular needle to identify the various 562 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,120 Speaker 2: threats that unified events that are otherwise separate and distinct. 563 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,119 Speaker 2: I am but one person. Everything you've read in my 564 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 2: newsletter or artclesse I've written or heard on my podcast 565 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:06,680 Speaker 2: to this point has been something I've had to learn. 566 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:09,840 Speaker 2: Building an argument and turning it into words, often at 567 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:12,399 Speaker 2: the same time that other people read, doesn't really come 568 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,120 Speaker 2: naturally to anyone. It's something you have to work deliberately out. 569 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,399 Speaker 2: You might have talent, but you have to work towards them. 570 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 2: It's imperfect. There are fuck ups. I sometimes mispronounced names 571 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 2: and words, including my own name, which Metasowski has always 572 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,880 Speaker 2: been kind enough not to laugh at me. About these 573 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,359 Speaker 2: podcasts and newsletters, they increase in length and breadth and 574 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:31,800 Speaker 2: have so many links, and I'll never change my process 575 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:36,400 Speaker 2: because part of said process is learning, relearning, processing, messaging 576 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 2: Casey saying Casey, I don't understand this, arguing with Casey 577 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 2: a little bit, coming up with another idea and a 578 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 2: chord is by text. Matt Hughes, I talk with Robert Evans, 579 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 2: I go back and forth with everyone. I get more 580 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:48,600 Speaker 2: pissed off. Then I write, and I really write, and 581 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 2: I speak, and so on and so forth. This process 582 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 2: makes what I do possible, and the idea of someone 583 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 2: automating it discuss me not because I'm special or important, 584 00:28:58,120 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 2: but because my work is not the result of me 585 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 2: reading a bunch of links or writing a bunch of words. 586 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:04,959 Speaker 2: The script for this piece is not just about thirteen 587 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 2: thousand words long. It's the result of more than a 588 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 2: million words, probably more than that that I wrote before it, 589 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 2: the hundreds of stories I've read in the past, the 590 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 2: hours and hours of conversations with friends and editors, years 591 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 2: of accumulating knowledge, and yes, growing with the work itself. 592 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 2: I as a person have grown with this show thanks 593 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 2: to the wonderful feedback I get from all of you, 594 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 2: from the conversations we have on the Reddit or just 595 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 2: the emails. I get the occasional one of you who 596 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 2: finds myself on which is really quite scary, but not 597 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 2: many of you do, and please don't look. The thing is, 598 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,640 Speaker 2: imperfections are what make us human. Imperfections are what make 599 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 2: art so great. The fun things that happen in our 600 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:46,280 Speaker 2: life are never from a moment of perfection or from 601 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 2: crystallizing something that is immacular. Perhaps the timing is perfect, 602 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 2: perhaps we're in the right place at the right time, 603 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 2: but nothing about us is perfect. And through those imperfections 604 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 2: we grow and we thrive. Business idiots don't give a 605 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,920 Speaker 2: fuck about that. Sam Mortman doesn't give a fuck about that. 606 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,160 Speaker 2: Satchinnidella doesn't give a fuck about that. They think they're 607 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 2: fucking perfect. But true art and true joy and true 608 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 2: solidarity is what's needed to dispatch with these people and 609 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 2: to stop what they're doing. And really, the biggest thing 610 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 2: that we can do early on the real starting block 611 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:23,680 Speaker 2: is anyone within the tech media listen to this. We 612 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 2: need to change. We need to change how we cover 613 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,440 Speaker 2: these companies. We need to change that. Honestly, everything needs 614 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 2: to be inverted. Trusting a company based on how much 615 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 2: money it has and how big it is is the 616 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 2: wrong way to go about this business. Business idiots have 617 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,480 Speaker 2: learned that, and they have moved their marketing strategies to 618 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 2: create metrics that journalists accept and will print, and then 619 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:48,840 Speaker 2: they will sound good for people that don't know what 620 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 2: they're talking about, because the journalists don't even bother to 621 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 2: pull the metrics apart themselves. And I understand why everyone's 622 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:57,720 Speaker 2: doing what everyone else is doing. But we can change things, 623 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:00,760 Speaker 2: But you, as a listener, how can you change things 624 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 2: You're already doing it. Over the last year, I've seen 625 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 2: a remarkable growth in just regular people being willing to 626 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 2: push back against these narratives, in pushing back in their businesses. Also, 627 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:14,800 Speaker 2: those of you with children can teach them not to 628 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,760 Speaker 2: aspire to be a fucking manager or an executive unless 629 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 2: they know their fucking work. It is that simple. And 630 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 2: I know it feels kind of bleak right now with 631 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 2: everything going on in California, with everything going on with 632 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 2: the government, with everything going on with Open AI, with 633 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:29,920 Speaker 2: the amount of stories about how AI is going to 634 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 2: take everything and take everything we have and recreate it 635 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 2: in a shitty way. The fact that they're so desperate 636 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:39,040 Speaker 2: means that they're scared, and they're scared of the fact 637 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 2: that you are willing to talk about this and you 638 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 2: are willing to spit in their face. If you don't 639 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 2: want to use AI, don't use AI. If you are 640 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:50,600 Speaker 2: curious about what it does, don't bother looking or fuck 641 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:52,320 Speaker 2: around with the free version of bit so that you 642 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 2: only lose the money. If these things would automate you, 643 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,960 Speaker 2: they'd be automating you already, if they were close to 644 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 2: doing so, they would be previewing the world in which 645 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 2: they do. So they're fucking scared. Well, the era of 646 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 2: the business idiot is happening right now. It could potentially 647 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 2: be coming to an end because as this movement ends, 648 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 2: and I said this in the rock Kom bubble a 649 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 2: year ago, they don't have any more growth markets. This 650 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 2: is the end for them. I'm not saying the end 651 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,560 Speaker 2: of the companies. They'll work something out, but they don't 652 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:20,960 Speaker 2: have double digit growth in them past the next year. 653 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,239 Speaker 2: The revenues are small, and you the listener who've been 654 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 2: sitting there the whole time saying, why the fuck does 655 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 2: everyone say this thing is amazing whenever they use jet 656 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 2: GPT and not really understanding why you're not the weird one. 657 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 2: They are. They cannot beat us because we actually do things. 658 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,240 Speaker 2: If you're a business city yourself listening to this, open 659 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 2: a book, go and learn something, Go and talk to 660 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 2: a customer, Well, start your current in the garage. I 661 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 2: don't really know. I really don't encourage you to do 662 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 2: that necessarily. But the point I'm making is this middle 663 00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 2: managers ruin lives, business city. It's ruined lives. I think 664 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:02,920 Speaker 2: everyone listening to this is going to have experienced several 665 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 2: of them. The fact that management as a concept and 666 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:09,560 Speaker 2: that management as a discipline has died is a big 667 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 2: part of this as well. Labor is really fucking hurting 668 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:16,320 Speaker 2: right now. I realize them kind of rambling, but I'll 669 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:20,040 Speaker 2: end on the simpler note. If you are around people 670 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,200 Speaker 2: who are scared, be scared with them, Offer them kindness, 671 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 2: Offer them solidarity and a generous ear. Support their work, 672 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 2: Support independent creators. Support people at the Vox Union who 673 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 2: are currently battling against the company that saw for to 674 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,640 Speaker 2: give Kara Swish to tens of millions of dollars, that 675 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,440 Speaker 2: continually pushes powerful people at the CEO of Airbnb, which 676 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 2: is company which is ruined pretty much rentals everywhere. Don't 677 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:46,480 Speaker 2: know why Neli Pittella to talk to him about his 678 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:50,920 Speaker 2: house and the catskills, because that happened. When you hear 679 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,360 Speaker 2: these stories, push back on them, say I don't like this, 680 00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,040 Speaker 2: Say fuck this. Support the Vox Union. In the event 681 00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:00,360 Speaker 2: that the Vox Union does not get their contract, do 682 00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:04,000 Speaker 2: not visit a single fucking Vox site. You must walk 683 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,920 Speaker 2: away from that. Support workers, support artists, support creators, support 684 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,960 Speaker 2: the people who actually do work, and fuck the business idiots. 685 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to Better Offline. The editor and 686 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,880 Speaker 2: composer of the Better Offline theme song is Metasowski. You 687 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 2: can check out more of his music and audio projects 688 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,800 Speaker 2: at Matasowski dot com, M A T T O S 689 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,560 Speaker 2: O W s ki dot com. 690 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,799 Speaker 3: You can email me at easy at better offline dot com, 691 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:40,320 Speaker 3: or visit better offline dot com to find more podcast 692 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,720 Speaker 3: links and of course, my newsletter. I also really recommend 693 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 3: you go to chat dot Where's youreed dot ad to 694 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,560 Speaker 3: visit the discord, and go to our slash Better Offline 695 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:49,640 Speaker 3: to check out our reddit. 696 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:53,680 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. Better Offline is a 697 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 1: production of cool Zone Media. For more from cool Zone Media, 698 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: visit our website cool zonemedia dot com, or check us 699 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,040 Speaker 1: out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 700 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:03,960 Speaker 1: get your podcasts.