WEBVTT - Tech News: Microsoft Scrambles to Save Activision Deal 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.319 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.840 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:18.920 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.720 are you. It's time for the tech news for Tuesday, 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:24.880 July eighteenth, twenty twenty three, and let's get to it. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.720 CNBC reports that Amaud Mustok, who is the CEO of 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:34.440 Stability AI, has predicted that artificial intelligence will eliminate coder 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.800 jobs that previously had been outsourced to India. That AI 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:43.239 is going to require a smaller human staff, and artificial 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.320 intelligence will do a lot of work at a pace 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.440 that's far faster than humans typically can match, and thus 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:53.840 will be more economically viable for companies. Moreover, Mustok's point 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.920 indicates the level of protection workers can expect based on 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:02.240 where they live. In the India, such protections are scarce, 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.639 so it isn't a stretch to imagine a future where 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.600 tech companies downsize to cut costs related to staffing and 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.600 start to lean heavily on AI. But most Stock says 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.600 other places such as France will take efforts to protect 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.640 human employees, and so tech companies in France won't have 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:23.960 the same options as those in India. Mustoc also clarified 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.680 his prediction. He said that coders will be an obsolete 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.000 job in a few years, but that programmers will not be. 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:35.000 He says, the programmers of the future will rely heavily 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.800 on AI to actually write the code, but things like 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:43.280 ideation or testing bugs, that kind of stuff that's still 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.360 going to need human counterparts. So while certain aspects of 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.680 programming could be eliminated, AI wouldn't be able to take 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:53.960 on all the roles that a programmer traditionally performs. Still, 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.320 I imagine we're going to see a lot more disruption 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:01.880 across multiple industries as companies experiment with AI. I imagine 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.360 more than a few companies will give into the temptation 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.280 to eliminate a large number of jobs in favor of 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:12.440 artificial intelligence. And once again I sigh, because this kind 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:16.080 of strategy is ultimately self defeating in the long run 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.680 in my opinion. By that, I mean, if AI ends 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.560 up displacing lots of people and those people now find 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.920 it difficult to land a job that pays a living wage, 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.280 then you begin to drain the consumer base. And once 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.519 the consumer base is gone, well, now there's no one 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:36.560 left to buy products and services. And once that happens, 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.680 the businesses which were so good at cutting costs and 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:45.640 maximizing profits while revenue perhaps remained steady, they're gonna see 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:47.679 revenue drop because no one will be able to buy 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.720 their stuff because no one has a job anymore, because 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.560 the robots took them all. And before you know it, 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.000 the robots are just making stuff for other robots, and 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.360 the rest of us are going, what the heck do 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.760 we do now? Meanwhile, advocates for universal basic income will 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:08.040 go bonkers. What a world. Reuter's reports that Microsoft is 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:13.120 working to extend its acquisition agreement with Activision Blizzard. So 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.440 the original agreement between these two companies set today as 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:21.440 the deadline for completing the deal. But we have seen 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:26.280 opposition from regulatory authorities that have introduced lots of hiccups 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.120 along the way. And last week a court dismissed the 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:33.640 US Federal Trade Commission's request for an injunction to at 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:38.520 least temporarily block this deal. That request was denied, and 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.520 that removed one impediment, But there's still a roadblock in place, 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:45.360 and that's the UK's Competition in Market's Authority or CMA, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.840 which previously voted to block this acquisition, so that block 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.280 is still in effect, and while Microsoft and Activision Blizzard 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.640 attempt to persuade UK regulators that the deal will not 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.760 decrease competition in the video game space and the c 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.600 gaming space in particular, the deadline for the deal is 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:06.800 still in effect, and so according to Reuter's, Microsoft is 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.400 trying to work out a deal with Activision Blizzard to 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.800 extend this contract to give more time to clear those 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:17.000 regulatory hurdles in the UK. So what are the possible 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:20.560 outcomes here, Well, the one I think that is most 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.760 likely is that Activision Blizzard will agree to an extension. 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:28.360 Maybe the company will negotiate some additional terms in the process, 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.040 but I think that's what's going to happen. Another possibility 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.160 is that Activision Blizzard walks away and just remains its 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:37.800 own company. A third possibility is that Activision Blizzard, sensing 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.400 that it has increased importance and value in the market, 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.440 looks for a different suitor, one that we'll spend even 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.840 more money to acquire it than Microsoft would. I think 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.400 that last possibility is the least likely, but I'm also 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.360 no expert on corporate maneuvers, so it's entirely possible I'm 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:59.400 missing something obvious. Anyway, the agreement to extend the contract 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:02.360 will need to have or not happen by the end 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:07.200 of today. A new law in Norway will take aim 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:11.520 at Meta's main revenue strategy when it goes active in August, 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:17.839 and that is personalized advertising. Meta famously leverages the gargantuan 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.440 amount of information it collects from users as they interact 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:26.320 on platforms like Instagram and Facebook and beyond. To learn 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.160 more about that, read up on Meta Pixel. That'll tell 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:32.200 you about how Meta has a tool that can be 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:38.800 imprinted in someone else's web page that delivers information to them, 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:42.640 but also to Meta itself. Anyway, all this information is 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.640 gold to advertisers. They want to deliver just the right 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.240 message to just the right audience to maximize effectiveness, and 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:51.719 so for years now, Meta has been in the business 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:55.920 of selling premier ad services to companies with the implication 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.520 that the advertising campaigns are going to be far more 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:02.280 effective than if you just put out messaging in front 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:05.520 of a randomized crowd of people. If you want to 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.440 sell backpacks and tents, well, Meta knows which people are 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.120 keen to go outdoors and rough it do you want 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.920 to sell baby accessories and supplies? Well, Meta knows which 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.320 users are new parents. But Norway has now passed a 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:23.440 law making it illegal for Meta to practice targeted advertising, 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:27.560 and should it utilize that strategy in Norway, it could 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:31.640 face a daily fine of one hundred thousand dollars, so 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:36.120 one hundred grand every day unless Meta changes its approach, 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.120 at least its approach in Norway. Now, some people are 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:43.880 estimating already that while one hundred thousand dollars is really 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:49.039 nothing to Meta, a multi billion dollar company, the amount 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.679 that it makes while operating in Norway is likely less 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.760 than one hundred thousand dollars a day. So that means 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.680 that to operate in Norway, Meta would be doing so 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.200 at all loss. And what's more, Norway is urging other 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:06.080 countries to form similar legislation. Now this really kind of 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:10.800 dates back to in twenty twenty two, the Irish Data 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:14.720 Protection Commission, which is a major regulator in the European Union, 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:20.040 decided that Meta's approach to quote unquote behavioral advertising breaks 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.760 EU law. Metta subsequently made some adjustments to the way 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:28.000 it does business, but according to various people, including the 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.880 Irish regulators. Those changes failed to fix the problem and 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.800 they did not bring META into compliance with the law, 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:39.080 so Norwegian legislators, seeing a need for action, created this approach. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.120 I should also add Norway is not part of the 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.960 European Union. They are part of the European Single Market, 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.560 but not in the EU. They're not a member of 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:50.360 the EU. It will be interesting to see how META 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:53.880 response to this and if other countries in Europe follow 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:58.000 Norway's lead. Tesla's board of directors has decided to settle 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.480 a lawsuit brought against it a retirement fund that represents 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:08.120 police and firefighters. The group accused Tesla of paying themselves 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.920 too much in Tesla stock and by Tesla, I mean 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.320 specifically they're board of directors. So as a consequence, the 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:20.280 directors are collectively returning seven hundred and thirty five million 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:24.120 dollars worth of stock options. So the lawsuit had argued 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.360 that these directors had voted to award themselves far more 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:32.280 stock options than a board typically would receive. And on 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.520 that board are well Elon Musk is on it, his 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:39.400 brother Kimball is on it. James Murdoch, the son of 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.680 Rupert Murdoch, The media Mogul, he's on it. Joe Grebia, 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:46.760 one of the co founders of Airbnb, he's on it. 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:51.520 And finally JB. Strabel, who was previously Tesla's chief technology officer, 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.840 is on the board. So Tesla reps said that the 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.880 idea was to align the board of directors with the 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:01.920 needs and successes of the company. Right, because your compensation 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:07.440 is a stock option, then your compensation increases in value 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:11.760 if the company's stock price increases, So that was the logic, 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:15.439 they said. Also, I should mention that Elon Musk is 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:18.800 facing a separate legal challenge relating to his own compensation 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:22.160 package at Tesla. That's a package that awards Musk fifty 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:26.240 six billion with a B dollars, which I can't even 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:30.120 begin to comprehend that amount of money. No wonder must 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:34.480 doesn't seem too fussed with the continuing descent of Twitter's value, 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.840 and he's got Tesla just totally to fall back on. 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.160 But Tesla also faces other challenges. This week, the US 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:48.040 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, announced it was 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.800 launching a new investigation into an old crash, a crash 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:55.000 that happened in twenty eighteen that involved a Tesla Model 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.880 three that may have been in advanced driver assists mode 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.680 at the time of the act. The NHTSA typically will 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:06.079 engage in around one hundred crash investigations in a year 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:09.680 for cases where emerging technology had played a part in 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.880 the crash. While this accident happened five years ago, there 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.199 have sadly been no shortage of accidents involving Tesla vehicles 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.079 in some form of self driving mode now. According to 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:22.880 the Washington Post, since twenty nineteen, there have been seven 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.680 hundred and thirty six accidents with seventeen fatalities that involved 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.680 a Tesla either in autopilot or full self driving mode. 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:35.440 The NHTSA numbers are actually lower than that. They identify 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:40.000 two hundred and seventy three crashes and launched investigations into 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.520 more of forty of those. Fourteen of those crashes resulted 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.760 in fatalities. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:48.920 When we come back, we've got some more tech news 0:10:48.960 --> 0:11:01.640 to talk about. We're back. Reddit is still feeling the 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.880 consequences of the platform's change in its API policy. So 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.720 quick reminder, Reddit, but in a new fee structure for 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:14.400 developers who use the platform's API to develop third party apps, 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.120 so developers have to pay Reddit based upon the number 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.199 of times their apps reference Reddit, which can include stuff 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:25.600 like pulling information or posting information to Reddit. The decision 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:27.960 pushed a lot of developers to shut down their apps. 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.960 They explained they just couldn't afford to pay those fees 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.960 because of the number of times their apps would reference 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.640 Reddit and the popularity of those apps. So a ton 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:40.240 of Reddit users got really mad because they depended on 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.920 those apps to access Reddit. The platform's own mobile app 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:48.600 doesn't have the best reputation among a lot of redditors anyway. 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.679 The latest brew haha the site is that Reddit has 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:55.080 changed its chat system, and as a consequence of that, 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.560 users can now only look at their chat histories from 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:02.280 January first, twenty three up to the present day. Anything 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.840 that was older, anything that was posted before January first 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:10.880 of this year is gonzo. Understandably, this has upset a 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.480 lot of people for various reasons. You know, some folks 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:16.679 were holding on to older messages as a touchstone of 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.280 a friend or loved one that they had no longer 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.360 been in touch with for whatever reason. Some were keeping 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.760 information for the purposes of future work, and now all 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:31.400 of that information is unavailable when you access your chat history. Now, 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.000 this change didn't happen out of the blue. Reddit actually 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.080 communicated it late last month in a change log, but 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.960 that didn't get that much attention or coverage at that time, 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.040 and Reddit didn't exactly take steps to reach out to 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.600 users and let them know it's coming. So in a way, 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:48.720 this is a bit like that Hitchhiker's Guide to the 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.720 Galaxy segment where Arthur Den explains that the plans for 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:56.520 demolishing his house were technically on quote unquote public display, 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.600 but they were stored in a disused lavatory that had 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.280 a sign on it reading Beware of the Leopard. Anyway, 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.960 the good news is that, according to AndroidPolice dot Com, 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:10.960 redditors can get their chat history by sending a data 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:13.440 request to Reddit to get a download of all of 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.600 your messages, which should include the ones that are no 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:19.120 longer accessible in chat. So there is a way to 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.680 still get that information, but you do have to reach 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.440 out and submit a data request to Reddit in order 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:26.880 to get it. The New York Police Department announced it 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:32.040 will test out a new emergency announcement system courtesy of drones, 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:37.080 So if you had flying robots warning of imminent danger 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:41.080 on your dystopian bingo card. Congratulations, you can mark that 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:45.000 square off. The plan, the police say is to deploy 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:49.000 the drones to high risk areas that emergency situations like 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:53.079 a severe weather event could impact. So recently, New York 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.640 has had problems with flooding as heavy rains have moved 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.560 through the city, and more flooding is expected this weekend, 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.040 so that prompted the NYPD to announce the test of 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:05.760 the system. While alerting locals to potential threats is important, 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.800 there's another concern that these drones could pull double duty 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:12.880 and serve as surveillance devices, and that's not nearly as cool. 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.240 And in fact, there are laws meant to protect citizens 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.440 in New York from such surveillance, and that includes the 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.600 requirement that the NYPD issue an impact statement on its 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.880 website and open up the policy to public comment, and 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.920 that that has to happen at least ninety days before 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.920 the NYPD actually deploys the technology. Now, there are questions 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.800 as to whether this particular use of drones would trigger 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.080 that policy. It's possible that NYPD doesn't need to go 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.440 to those steps, because if this is just a case 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.480 of the organization using existing tech in a new way 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:50.160 as opposed to rolling out an entirely new system. They 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.920 don't have to follow the same requirements anyway. Critics say 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.280 there are plenty of other ways that law enforcement can 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.960 reach out to citizens without throwing flying robots into the mix, 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.000 and that the use of such text seems like it's 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.400 trying to fix a problem with the wrong kind of tool. 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.640 Now in the department of driving Jonathan insane, we have 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.680 our penultimate story of Chuck Schumer, the leader of the 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.720 political majority in the US Senate, and Senator Mike Rownds, 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.720 who have jointly proposed an amendment to the National Defense 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:23.160 Authorization Act. This amendment would require the Executive branch to 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:28.520 share records relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAPs, and 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:31.160 that the Executive branch would have to share the information 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:34.680 with Congress. So essentially, the way the story is being reported, 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.760 at least in some circles, is that Chucky boy here 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.600 wants to know about the aliens, or at least stuff 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:44.040 made by non human intelligence, which could include aliens, but 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.240 I guess it could also include stuff like I don't know, 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:51.840 robots or alternate dimension, Nicola Tesla's or something. Anyway, the 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.200 amendment argues that the executive branch is quote hiding that 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.960 information from both Congress and the public at large end quote, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.400 and Schumer's that the public has quote a right to 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:07.280 learn about technologies of unknown origins, non human intelligence, and 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:14.400 unexplainable phenomena end quote. Now, y'all, you don't know this 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.680 because I edited it out, but I followed that last 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:22.000 sentence with a really, really long sigh because I think 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.840 this is just gonna fuel countless French theories about alien 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.240 civilizations and the like, when the truth of the matter 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.280 is that UAP is just really a catch all category 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.600 to describe situations in which someone saw something and where 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.640 they were unable to identify what it was, and that's 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:43.040 pretty much it. So that something could be incredibly mundane. 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.480 And I'm not just talking about like the old weather 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.440 balloons and swamp gas stuff that you hear, but even 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.240 things like I don't know the reflection of the moon 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:56.560 on the water, so UAP's that doesn't even necessarily imply 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:00.560 any sort of vehicle or technology, and the cases where 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.600 we are talking about technology that can include, you know, 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:09.600 prototypes of things like spy planes or military drones, and 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.159 that's the sort of stuff that countries don't like to 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.879 publicize because you know, they plan on using that on 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.679 other countries, so they tend to keep quiet about it. 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.760 But that doesn't mean that other people don't occasionally see 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.359 that stuff, and of course they can't identify it because it, 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.879 up to that point had been a secret vehicle. So 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:32.439 it's really not necessary that any of this stuff was 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.399 of non human origin. I also think if we're talking 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.399 non terrestrial, like if we're saying alien, I still think 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.919 that that is incredibly unlikely, almost to the point of 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.359 being impossible, because you have to keep in mind the 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.800 vast distances in space and how long it takes even 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:54.000 light to travel those vast distances. That's a lot. And 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.240 as long as we as a species have been able 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.240 to make radio waves, which is, you know, a little 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.840 more than a century, and most of those radio ways 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.800 wouldn't have reached very far out into space before they 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.440 got to a point where they weren't even really detectable. 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.439 It's just not realistic that anyone would have even noticed 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.720 we were here, let alone made the trip out here 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:18.840 to see what was up. Maybe it would involve technologies 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:20.840 that we just can't even imagine yet that would break 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:22.920 the laws of physics as we understand them, but that 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.600 would probably require so much energy as to raise the 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:27.879 question of why would you go to that kind of 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:31.960 effort to see the chuckle heads who occupy this planet? 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:36.199 It just it doesn't add up to me, Like it 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:41.159 doesn't make sense as a possibility. So I think this 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:46.879 is really just gonna create more suspicion and conspiracy theories 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.360 and fringe theories and that kind of stuff, and it's 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:54.280 not gonna really amount to anything substantial, But I guess 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.679 we'll see. Okay. The last bit I have for you 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:01.359 is an article recommendation. So other board over Advice has 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.520 posted an article titled Amazon told drivers not to worry 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:08.879 about in van surveillance cameras now footage is leaking online. 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.159 It was written by Jewles Roscoe. It's a great article 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.160 that reinforces something I mentioned in yesterday's tech Stuff episode 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:18.280 that even if the technology itself is benign, I would 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:21.800 argue surveillance equipment does not fall into that category. There 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:24.239 are still people who will behave as people and they 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.560 will do the wrong thing on occasion. So in this case, 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:30.080 it involves watching and at least in some cases, leaking 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.760 or sharing in vehicle surveillance footage, which Amazon claimed was 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.520 only meant to monitor drivers for the purposes of safety. 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:40.919 So there you go. That's your article recommendation. And as always, 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.080 I have no connection with Motherboard or Vice or Jewels Roscoe. 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:46.160 I just thought it was a good article and it's 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:49.440 worth your attention. That's it for the news for Tuesday, 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.800 July eighteenth, twenty twenty three. I hope you are all 0:19:52.920 --> 0:20:03.040 well and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:07.520 Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:11.560 visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:12.679 to your favorite shows.