WEBVTT - Part One: Tech Bros Have Built A Cult Around AI 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:08.240 Media, Well, come back to Behind the Bastards. I don't 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:09.880 know why I did that, kind of like it was 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:12.480 like I was doing a Halloween opening. Didn't work at all, 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:16.919 horrible idea. But I'm very happy to announce our guest 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:20.840 today back after a long hiatus from this show, but 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:23.119 not from our hearts, Iffy and whatdy Wall. 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.200 How's it going going to be back? 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.560 Yeah? Oh so happy to have you back. If he 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:34.199 you are a significant part of the dropout, a wonderful 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.960 channel on YouTube that is the survivor of college humor, 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:41.040 which is kind of like we're ken in the comedy 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:42.200 internet comedy world. 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:45.760 Yeah, and you guys have been doing some really cool 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.760 stuff lately, like some of the funnest, like most interesting 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:53.479 like quasi game show comedy bits like I've watched hours 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:53.640 of it. 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.360 Yeah, yeah, I was, you know, I was talking to 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.880 Sam and Dave's the kind of like higher ups there, 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:05.119 which is, you know, which is a testament to how 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:07.880 cool the company is, because no, I haven't spoke to 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.679 the higher ups at ICC or any of the other companies, 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.200 but I was like, oh yeah, this is like where 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:18.000 like Panel Comedy lives and now after Midnight's back. But 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:20.880 I feel like Americans run away from panel comedy shows 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.280 and I like an excuse to riff and goof with friends. 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.240 Yes, I think, and I think that YouTube and the 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:29.240 kind of what people get out of a lot of 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.000 like streaming stuff too, like not like streaming TV, but like, 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:36.600 you know, streamers is that goofing with friends thing. Like 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:38.560 I watch red letter media stuff for a lot of 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.480 the same reason, and I feel like there's a way 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:43.680 to save that stuff. It's just not putting it on 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.200 television at eleven thirty at night necessarily. 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah, people should be a little more lucid 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:54.160 when they're taking in that kind of media. But yeah, 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:57.800 where else are you gonna watch? You know, a block 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.520 trying to think of the name of the show it was. 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:03.480 It was the one with the guy he has the 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.560 it's not a top hat, it's like a fedora almost, 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:10.440 and he's a detective and all dads love it. 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:17.880 Bosh Yes, oh god, I don't even use the tools 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:24.400 that Bosh makes. They love Bosh the Bosh heads. Yeah, 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:27.000 I would laugh. But I just got into Reacher, which 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.720 is like it's, you know, it's the stupidest thing on TV, 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.200 but I love it. It's like, it's like I used 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.840 to watch a lot of Walker Texas Rangers again the 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.200 inheritor of that, but not racist or as racist, I 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:39.960 guess exactly say not at all. 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:42.120 Look, that's why I'm not even going to judge, because 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.640 I remember one time, me and em we were up 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.919 in the cabin in right Wood and we needed to 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.480 kill Tom and we were like, let's watch this nine 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.119 to one one show whatever, just see and we were 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.400 like seven episodes in locked. You're like, hold on, this 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.440 is this? This kind of goes Angela Bassid know what 0:02:59.520 --> 0:02:59.919 she's doing. 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.880 Mm hm oh yeah, no, she's she's a pro. And 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.520 you know, you can't get work like that or work 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.519 like you and your colleagues do at the dropout without 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.919 human beings actually doing things. Which is why today we're 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.520 here to talk about AI, and particularly we're going to 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.519 talk about how a lot of the conversation and a 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.880 lot of the fandom around AI has turned into more 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.160 or less occult. So that's that's that's the premise of 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:28.000 this episode. Iffie, I want to start by going back 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.480 to a place I was about a week ago as 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:34.760 we record this, the Consumer Electronics Show. Every year they've 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.720 been holding it for a long time now, and it's 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.360 kind of how the tech industry talks about itself and 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.840 what it has planned for the future. A lot of 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:44.880 it's hype, you know, they're kind of talking up what's 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.280 coming out that they're hoping we'll get buzzed, we'll make money, 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:49.240 but you also get an idea of like what do 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:51.520 you think we want and what are you trying to 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:54.160 get us excited about? And I think the most revealing 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.040 product that I saw this year was the Rabbit R 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.480 one and it's it's a little square shaped gadgets a screen, 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.760 it's got a little camera that can swivel, and it's 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.960 an AI that basically you talk to it like you 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.880 would an Alexa, but it can use your apps and 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.520 it's supposed to reduce friction in your life by basically 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.800 routing every move you make online through this machine intelligence. 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:18.720 So you tell it what you want to do and 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.000 it does it instead of like you using like physically 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:24.600 using your smartphone as much. You still have to click 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:26.960 it sometimes. And I want to play you a clip 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:31.040 of this where this is the CEO Jesse Lu's keynote speech. 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.599 Our smartphones has become the best device to kill time. 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.920 Instead of saving them. It's just harder for them to 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:44.240 do things. Many people before us have tried to build 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.200 a simpler and more intuitive computers with AI. A decade ago, 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:55.200 companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon made Siri, Contana and Alixa. 0:04:55.480 --> 0:05:00.159 With these smart speakers, often they either don't know what 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:03.960 you're talking about or failed to accomplish the past. We 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:10.000 ask for recent achievements in large language models, however, or LMS, 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:14.160 a type of AI technology, have made it much easier 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:19.640 for machines to understand you. The popularity of LM chatbots 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.640 over the past years has shown that the natural language 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.400 based experience is the pass forward. 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:31.040 Now. I don't know that I entirely agree with that, 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.520 because I think the biggest influence that these chatbots have 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:35.600 had on me is that whenever I try to deal 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.719 with like an airline or something, I get stuck on 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.640 chat GPT and it's a pain in the as to 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:41.400 do anything. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:46.119 What's so funny about the rise in AI right now 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:49.559 is like, if we really think about it, and god 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.839 damn it, Robert, you threaded the needle right there. When 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.240 you really think about it, all AI is is just 0:05:56.400 --> 0:06:01.960 the evolution of the shittiest part of calling. Yes, yes, all, 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:04.760 the one thing that we do as soon as we 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.000 call is like zero zero zero, let me get straight 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:07.679 to a human. 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:08.560 Let me talk to a human. 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.720 And the and these these like eggheads were like, what 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.560 if we did more of that? What if we remove 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:22.000 your solace from this sad eyes of your life? 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:24.960 And it's it's the kind of thing he seems so 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.159 off from my experience where he's like the problem with 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:30.480 phones is that it's too hard to do things. No, 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.360 it's too easy for me to order a bunch of 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:34.960 junk food and have a stranger deliver it. That's been 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.159 a problem for me, right, Oh yeah, it's too easy 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:40.800 for me to waste six hours on Twitter, Like that's 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:41.760 what the issue is. 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:47.080 Do you know how much the easiness of everything has 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:49.760 made me wake up the next morning with cold food 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:51.320 on my porch that I never touched. 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.720 Yes, because it's too easy, It was too easy. 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.880 Sometimes we need those those those like bumps in the 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:04.000 road to keep drunk stone diffy from ordering a like 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.360 triple double burger that I'm hoping gets to me and 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:09.080 before I fall asleep, it never does. 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.720 I've had so many problems as with my phone, but 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:13.160 I don't think I've ever had the problem of like 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.880 this thing's just too hard to use. Yeah, that's just 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.560 not a problem I know that anyone has. But but 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:24.360 Jesse complains that, you know, there's too much friction with 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.080 smartphones and his device. That rabbit is going to let you, 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:29.679 Like you can just tell it book me a flight 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.600 or a hotel on Expedia and you don't even have 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.000 to know, like it'll just pick a hotel for you 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.160 a lot of the time, or like what flight you 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.560 know it thinks is the most efficient. Jesse's goal is 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.240 to basically create AI agents for customers, which like live 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.280 in this little device you wear and act as you 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:50.240 online to handle tasks you normally use your phone to do. So, 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:51.840 you can tell your rabbit to book you an uber, 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:53.160 you can have a book you a flight, or you 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.560 can have it plan your trip to a foreign country. 0:07:56.080 --> 0:08:01.120 Nobody sounds really bad. It sounds so fucking bad. 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:03.760 Rabbit's like, hey, how would you like a middle speech 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:04.320 seed on. 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:10.920 Sufficient as hell? Yeah, spirits so cheap. Now you can 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.040 you can direct it more. But then that just seems like, well, yeah, 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:16.120 that's what I'm already doing on my computer. Why is 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.760 it easiest just to like work through a vocal chatbot 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.800 that might not understand me, or at least will be 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.360 as much friction as like, Yeah, when I touch my 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:26.200 phone and it hits the wrong thing, right, I just 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.840 don't see that I'm saving much here. No one also 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.920 seems to know how Rabbit's going to integrate with all 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.920 these apps, because that means their device has to have 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.120 access to them for you, and that's kind of a 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.120 big ask for all of these different companies. That said, 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:41.920 and no one knows, by the way, how secure it's 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.000 going to be. But no one at CES was listening either, 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.480 because the first ten thousand pre order models that opened 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:51.079 at CES sold out instantly. How does it mean? That 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:53.400 doesn't mean a lot of normal people are going to 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.880 buy it? It means a lot of tech freaks wanted 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.079 this thing. Yeah, that is the thing. 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:00.959 Too, is like, yeah, if you're at c you're already 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:03.840 you're already drinking the kool aid. Yes, I you know, 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:07.079 And I'm very much It's so funny because I'm very 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.480 much that guy, or I was very much that guy 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.080 who wanted to be on that cusp of technology. And 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.760 I feel like, you know, in my early twenties, it 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:17.960 seems so cool because you're like, yeah, I want to 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.920 be iron man, I want to just have full control. 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.080 And then you kind of get to the point where 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.840 you start if you have enough self reflection, you notice 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.160 that you're just kind of you're using technology to do 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:34.400 things that you could just do for much simpler and cheaper, Like, 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:38.400 for example, like when you get these apps and then 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:41.280 I'm like sitting in a photo editor for like fifty 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.400 minutes just to make it look like it was shot 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:44.760 on film, And I was like, I can buy a 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:50.000 disposable camera like that exists. And what's great is when 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.920 you now when you develop them, they put it, they 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.160 email it to you so it can go on Instagram. 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:58.480 It's going to take longer, but arguably you might get 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.760 some post flip clarity that pick that didn't look good 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:05.679 isn't now on the internet, or you know, you can 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.840 like spread it out. But yeah, I am getting. 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.079 Very you are, like, you are so much more thoughtful 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.120 in that than like anybody involved in this product has 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:18.320 been over the course of their entire life. Now, a 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:21.640 couple of skeptics who have given reviews have already noted problems. 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.320 Richard Lawler of the verbs was like, this thing is 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:26.360 not built for left handed people to use, Like they 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.600 forgotten that left handed people existed, and so they designed 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.880 it in a way that's specifically a pain in the ass. Which, yes, 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:36.559 there's also they brag they have this camera that can 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:38.640 like move on its own, so we can cover stuff 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.080 in front of it or behind it, And a commenter 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.120 on Lawler's article was like, it's a pretty fundamental design 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.680 principle that you don't add moving parts if you don't 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.000 need them. And there's plenty of space in this for 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:50.880 a camera in the front and the back, which is 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:53.040 one less point of failure, one less thing for shit 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.120 to get gunked up in. This is actually bad design. 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.520 They're bragging about this, but it's a bad idea. 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:58.240 Yeah. 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.560 Yeah, there's a couple of other issues in there. You know, 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:01.719 we'll see it looks like it's going to be a 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.080 lot thicker than a smartphone. I just don't know the 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.160 degree to which a regular it's the same Google glass issue, Right, 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:09.080 do you want a second thing that you have to 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.760 keep on you like alongside your you know. 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.000 Just going to be my question. So I'm glad, So 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.520 is this a something that should be replacing your phone 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.600 or is this another thing that you are supposed to 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:21.679 be holding on to. 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.040 I think the goal is for it to eventually replace it, 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.360 but at this point you will still need to have both, 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.920 so like carry another thing, you know. 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.480 You know, walking around like a drug dealer. You have 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:35.200 two different It's kind of bit. 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:37.760 It's a big device and it's it's not tiny and 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:39.679 it has a big screen. So it's just like, well, 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.480 you just made a different kind of smartphone. Again, what 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.920 am I gaining? Yeah? What he's holding in this video? Correct? Yeah? 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:50.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, well and what ye what more 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.960 is like that? On top of tech person, it's definitely 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.680 the person who carries a power bank with them. So 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:00.720 that is a thirst and that's me. So that's three 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:04.080 things you're rocking with. I know I have so many 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:08.760 power banks and have and ADHD has blocked every single 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:10.520 one of them from being useful because you do, I 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.560 forget to charge them or I forget to bring them. 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.760 It also just doesn't look comfortable. It's bigger than his hand. 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.640 Oh yes, he's not a teenage We'll get a better 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:22.880 look at in a second, because I want to show 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:24.880 you when he's talking he's trying to make the case 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:26.959 for this and one of like, he spends a significant 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.559 portion of his not very long keynote on him Rick 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:32.880 rolling himself in the most iffy You've gotta fucking watch this. 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.439 It is so painful. 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:39.720 R One has an eye, an onboard camera designed for 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:44.640 advanced computer vision. It can analyze surroundings and take actions 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:48.800 in real time. To activate the eye, just double tap 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:55.840 the button. Oh funny seeing you here, Rick. 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.840 It's a picture of Rick Astley that he points it at. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:10.640 Let me take a look. I'm never gonna get you off. 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:19.160 Enjoy what am I getting? Rip roll in my own keynotes? 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:27.720 The next one okay tech keynotes spe to take impromt. 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:33.120 Class one like and I don't recommend that to normal people. 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.839 Because like you're you're like, no, selling your own joke, 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.959 just like what you're not even laughing at it? Why 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:42.800 am I gonna laugh? 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.080 I will say this that was scripted almost exactly the 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:52.559 way Tim Robinson would have written it. Oh man, But 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.320 I bet Sam Richardson could have delivered that bit better. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.560 So that is very funny. But I find this next 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.880 clip more disturbing because it shows this kind of desire 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.280 that the people that are the early adopters here have 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.080 not just for more convenience, but to hand over like 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.640 the power to choose to a robot that's basically just 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:18.760 pulling the first advertised result from Google Like it's kind 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:19.360 of messed up. 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:22.920 Ooh, I can also use our one to order foot 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.120 get me a twelve inch pizza from Pizza Huts. Denvers 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.440 will hear the most ordered option on the app. 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:32.440 Is fine ordering a twelve inch pizza from Pizza Hut. 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:35.680 Since you mentioned that the most ordered option is fine, 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:41.880 I will select that for you. I just created an 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.680 order for a twelve inch pizza. It's going to be 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.360 hand tossed with a classic marinara sauce and topped with 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.560 regular cheese. Please confirm your order. 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:53.720 That sounds really good. I just come from an order. 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:55.920 He has to click it again, just like on a smartphone. 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:57.600 He guess, like, look at the device and click it. 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:02.560 Here's a freebie for any of even Richard Lawlor, who 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:04.920 has been in the game for a long time, but 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:08.400 like any of you tech bloggers, I just do a 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:12.600 side by side with this video and physically do everything 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:17.880 he's doing and the real time, because a pizza would 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.480 have been ordered way faster if you would have just 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:21.760 pulled out your phone. 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:23.840 Well and you could get the pizza you want. Yeah, 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:25.720 I like the twelve. 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.760 Inch Classic marinera most ordered pizza. 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.640 I want this shit. I actually like that's so weird. 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.160 Yeah yeah. Also, who orders a twelve inch pizza from 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:35.840 Pizza Hut? 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:37.320 Nobody? Yeah? 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.000 Then no way? Is that the most ordered product from 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:42.520 Pizza Hut. I don't believe it. 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.240 It was definitely paid nonsense. 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.480 Yes, yeah, it's just like yeah, and they're the next clip. 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:51.520 I don't think we'll actually play it, but like it is, 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:53.880 it's him saying, hey, plan out like a three day 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:56.560 vacation in London for me, And as far as I 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.520 can tell, the AI goes for like the first top 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:01.840 ten list of things to do in London that it finds, 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.120 which was probably written by an AI, and then makes 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.040 an itinerary based on those and it's like, first off, 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.720 are you that basic? Second, planning a vacation is fun? 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.000 Is that not a thing that you want to do? 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:18.680 Yeah? You're so right? Why would you? Because I look, 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.040 the reason you would go to like a travel agent 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:24.480 is because they are experts at it. They're gonna find 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.600 the most fun thing for you outside of that, Yeah, 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.360 I want to plan the cool stuff I'm gonna do, 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.240 you know, And and yeah, what about people with fears, 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.560 you know? Or people without skills, which is definitely going 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.440 to be a large margin of people who do this. 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.000 So you you're in London, now you're you're, you're, you're, 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.320 And then it takes you on a trip to Malta 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.239 to go scuba diving. You don't even know how to swim, 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.120 and now you sit in therey like you already paid 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:52.760 for bro, Yeah. 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:56.400 You let your fuck for you. It's on you. It's silly, right, 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:58.440 and I don't want to be I'm gonna say this 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.040 is not the most direct parallel to cult shit will have, 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.440 But watching this, I couldn't help but think about a 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:06.080 cult that was like the subject of our second episode 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.720 for this year, The Finders, And it was one of 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:10.840 those things. The guy Marion Petty who ran it was 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.080 like running games is the way he framed it. And 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.640 people would join the cult and give up their agency, 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:18.480 and he'd tell them go take a job in this city, 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.119 or like go follow this guy and take notes on 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.320 him for a year, or like have a kid and 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:26.160 raise it. This way, and this is stuff like this 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.800 is really common within cults. One of the appeals of 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:30.760 a cult to a lot of people is that you 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.920 both get a sense of purpose by following the cult 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.040 and whatever things that says it going to do, and 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:38.520 you give up the burden of having to choose a 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:40.880 life for yourself. And this is such a common thing 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.200 in cult dynamics that psychologist Robert Lifton, who's kind of 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.639 one of the foundational minds and studying cults, described it 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:51.560 as voluntary self surrender, and it's a major characteristic of 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.560 a cult. Many of the finders, we're not you know, 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.040 these are not dumb people. These are not like rubes. 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.439 These are not hillbillies as they're often portrayed in our 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.520 popular media. A lot of the finders had Ivy League degrees. 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:06.880 One of them owned an oil company, and these guys 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:10.480 still handed their lives over to a cult leader. Haruki Murakami, 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.120 writing about ohm Shinriko, which is the cult that set 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.640 off a bunch of poison gas in the Tokyo subway, 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.919 noted that many of its members were doctors or engineers 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.800 who quote actively sought to be controlled. I found a 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.840 lot of this really information on the fundamental characteristics of 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.760 what makes something a cult In an article by Zoe 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.160 Heller published for The New Yorker back in twenty twenty one. 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.400 At the time, she was kind of looking at QAnon 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:36.160 and trying to decide, there's not like a clear guy 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:38.280 and that's the cult leader, and there's not like a 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:41.119 geographic center to this, and usually there is with cults 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.040 in history. Does this still qualify? And I think a 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:45.840 lot of people would agree that, like Yad does. I 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.080 think a lot of experts tend to agree that Yead does. 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:50.719 And when she was looking at the QAnon movement as 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.520 a cult, Heller noted this. Robert Lifton suggests that people 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:56.800 with certain kinds of personal history are more likely to 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:00.280 experience such a longing, those with quote an early sense 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.679 of confusion or dislocation, or at the opposite extreme, an 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:07.520 early experience of unusually intense family milieu control. But he 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:10.439 stresses that the capacity for totalist submission lurks in all 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.320 of us and is probably rooted in childhood, the prolonged 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.480 period of dependence during which we have no choice but 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:19.280 to attribute to our parents and exaggerated omnipotence. And I 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:22.160 found particularly the bit where he's talking about like, yeah, 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.200 if you an early sense of confusion or dislocation makes 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:27.959 people crave this kind of to give up this kind 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.840 of control and responsibility. The people running these AI companies 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.280 and maybe not necessarily the very top, because I think 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:37.119 those tend to be pretty cynical, realistic human beings. But 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:38.680 like a lot of the people who are in them, 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:40.760 and a lot of the people who are latching onto 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:44.560 AI as a fandom online are people whose childhoods and adolescences, 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:46.280 like all of ours, were shaped by nine to eleven, 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.719 the dislocation and change that that caused, and their young adulthoods. 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:51.240 A lot of these people, like us, will have come 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:52.879 of age around the time of the two thousand and 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.720 eight crash. Many of the people who are younger in 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.560 the AI fan base are you know, maybe zoomers and stuff, 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.600 and you know, a lot of them are people who 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.199 have really ugly ideas about like artists shouldn't charge for 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.560 shit or whatever. Yes, but also these are people who 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.000 a lot of them came into their careers went into 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.920 stem fields because they were told coming up the tech 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.000 industry is the safest place to make, you know, a 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.720 good living for yourself and that all fell apart a 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:19.720 couple of years ago, right, it started to at least 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:23.879 tech laughs began so again dislocation, chaos, the sense that 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.639 like what else am I going to entrust my life to? 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:28.760