1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:03,560 Speaker 1: Aw Zon Media. 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 2: Hello, Well, welcome to Better Offline. 3 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:21,080 Speaker 3: I'm your host ed zitron, of course, and I want 4 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:23,080 Speaker 3: to start you off with a little bit of a question. 5 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 3: Have you ever heard Sam Moltman, the CEO of Open 6 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 3: AI speak, you ever heard the words come out of 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 3: his mouth? Look, I'm gonna share with you today some 8 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 3: of the trench and insights from Sam Moortman. I'm gonna 9 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 3: start with this agonizing thirty seven minute long podcast conversation 10 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 3: he had with his brother Jack Oltman from last month. 11 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 3: I warn you he really is an annoying and stupid dickhead. 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 4: Well, I think there will be incredible like other products, 13 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 4: like there will be crazy new social experiences. There will 14 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 4: be like Google Docs style AI workfloths that are just 15 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 4: way more productive. You'll start to see like you'll have 16 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 4: these like virtual employees. But the thing that I think 17 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 4: will be the most impactful on that five to ten 18 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 4: year time for him is a I will actually discover 19 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 4: new science. 20 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 3: Yes, this tech podcast is now actually a food podcast, 21 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,760 Speaker 3: and today's special is the word salad. When asked why 22 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 3: he believes AI will discover new science, Altman says, I 23 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 3: think we've cracked reasoning in the models, adding that we've 24 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:21,639 Speaker 3: got a long way to go and that he thinks 25 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 3: we know what to do, adding the open AI's three 26 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 3: model is already pretty smart, and that he's heard people say, wow, 27 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 3: this is like a good PhD. And that's the entire answer. 28 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 3: By the way, it's a completely nonsensical answer. Sam Altman, 29 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 3: the CEO of open Ai, a company allegedly worth three 30 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 3: hundred billion dollars to venture capitalists and soft bank, can 31 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 3: he kind of sounds like a huge fucking idiot. But 32 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 3: head you cry, you can't just call Sam Altman an idiot. 33 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 3: He isn't stupid. He runs a big company, he's super successful. 34 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 3: My counter to that is, firstest I can, I'm actually 35 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 3: doing it right now. And second, if Altman didn't want 36 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 3: to be called stupid, he wouldn't say stupid shit with 37 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 3: a straight face to a massive global audience now when 38 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 3: he's rather Jack asked, so reasoning will lead to science 39 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 3: going faster or just new stuff or both? And by 40 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 3: the way, that is the question, Sam Oltman said. 41 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 4: I mean, you already hear scientists who say they're faster 42 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 4: with AI, Like we don't have AI maybe autonomously doing science. 43 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 4: But if a human scientist is three times is productive? 44 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 4: Using three that's still a pretty big deal. 45 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 2: Yeah. 46 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 4: And then as that keeps going and the AI can 47 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 4: like autonomously do some science figure out novel physics. 48 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 3: At this point, Jack Oltman asked if and I quote, 49 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 3: that is all happening as a co pilot now, And 50 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 3: I know it sounds like I may have maybe misunderstood him. 51 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,639 Speaker 3: Maybe I read the transcription. 52 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:41,359 Speaker 2: I didn't. Actually I listened to the whole thing. 53 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,959 Speaker 3: In fact, Matasowski, my producer, please play the clipping question. 54 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,119 Speaker 4: Is it all that happening as a copilot right now? Yeah, 55 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 4: there's there's definitely not like you definitely can't go say 56 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 4: like hey CHATGYBT figure out new physics and expect that 57 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 4: to work. So I think it is currently copilot. Like 58 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 4: but I've ever heard like anecdotal reports from biologists where 59 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 4: it's like, wow, it really did figure out an idea. 60 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 4: I had to developed it a little bit more, but 61 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 4: it made like a fundamental leap. 62 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 3: Now, this is a nonsensical conversation, and both of them 63 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 3: sound very, very stupid. To be clear, none of this 64 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 3: is like poorly put into context, like they sound like 65 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 3: this with the entire thirty seven minutes. I didn't have 66 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,359 Speaker 3: to do anything. I didn't need to make many moves 67 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:26,960 Speaker 3: to make them sound like stupid dickheads. They sound like 68 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 3: it on their own. Now let's go to some of 69 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 3: the more quotes. So, so this is going to make 70 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 3: new science or make science faster, asked Jack Altman. 71 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 2: Yeah. 72 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 3: I hear scientists are using AI to go faster and 73 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 3: citation needed there, Sammy. But if a human scientist goes 74 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 3: three times faster and need another citation there using my model, 75 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 3: that would be good. Also, I heard from a guy 76 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 3: that he heard a guy who did biology who said 77 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 3: this helped. And that's what Sam Mortman fucking said. Even 78 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 3: even reading back the transcript, I feel what little of 79 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 3: my sanity remains kind of stripping away. All of this 80 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,119 Speaker 3: is so good and so phenomenal. Let's give this man 81 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 3: forty billion dollars or more every year until he creates 82 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 3: super intelligence. 83 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 2: That'll fucking work. 84 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 3: But I want to share with you some of the 85 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 3: other incredible quotes from the genius mind of Sam Ortman, 86 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,560 Speaker 3: A person with the integrity of Deepak Chopra and the 87 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 3: ability to dismount innane, vapid shit. That sounds impressive to 88 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,600 Speaker 3: morons like well, Depak Chopra. 89 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 4: You know, you hear these stories of people who like 90 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,920 Speaker 4: use AI to do market research and like figure out 91 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 4: new products and then like email some manufacturer and get 92 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 4: some dumb thing made and sell it on Amazon and 93 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 4: run ads. Like there are people that have actually figured 94 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 4: out a small scale and the most point ways possible 95 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 4: how to like put a dollar into AI and get 96 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 4: the AI to like run a toy business. But it's 97 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 4: actually working. Yeah, so that'll climb the gradient. 98 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 3: Now, you may wonder if the gradient is mentioned at 99 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 3: some point elsewhere it's it's not but isn't clip. 100 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 4: So every year before the last like maybe up until 101 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 4: last year, I would have said, like, hey, I think 102 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 4: this is going to go really far, but it still 103 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 4: seems like there's a lot that we've got to figure 104 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 4: out and is another clip if something goes wrong, I 105 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 4: would say, like somehow it's that we build legitimate superintelligence 106 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 4: and it doesn't make the world much better, doesn't change 107 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:22,720 Speaker 4: things as much as it sounds like it should, and 108 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:25,920 Speaker 4: just one more so, Yeah, I think the relativistic point 109 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 4: is really important. But like you know, to us, our 110 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 4: jobs feel incredibly important and stressful and satisfying, and if 111 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 4: we're all just making better entertainment for each other in 112 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 4: the future, maybe that's kind of what at least one 113 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 4: of us is doing right now. 114 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 3: It's goba doogook. It's nonsense. It's bullshit peddled by a 115 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 3: guy who is only the most tangential understanding of the technologies, 116 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 3: companies building that made him a billionaire. Every single interview 117 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 3: with Sam Oltman is like this, every single one ever 118 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 3: since he became a prominent tech investor and founder, without 119 00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 3: fail every time. And the sad part is that so 120 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 3: Mortman is alone in this sunda. Pishai, when asked one 121 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 3: of Neli Patel's patented one hundred word plus questions about 122 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 3: Jonie Ivan Sam Wultman's new and likely heavily delayed hardware stop, 123 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 3: had this the same. 124 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: I think AI is going to be bigger than the Internet. 125 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: There are going to be companies, products, category is created 126 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: which we aren't aware of today. So I think the 127 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: future looks exciting. I think there's a lot of opportunity 128 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: to innovate around, innovate around hardware form factors at this 129 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: moment with this platform shift, So I'm looking forward to 130 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: seeing what they do you know we are going to 131 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: be doing a lot as well, and I think you know, 132 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: it's an exciting time to be a consumer, it's an 133 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: exciting time to be a developer, So I think looking 134 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: forward to it. 135 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 2: The fuck are you on about, Sundar? 136 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 3: Your answer to a question about whether you're anticipating more 137 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 3: competition is to say, yeah, I think people are going 138 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 3: to make the ship we haven't come up with yet, 139 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 3: in a hardware of some sort will be involved. Well, 140 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 3: I think Pashai is likely a little bit smarter than 141 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,040 Speaker 3: Clammy Sammy, in the same way that such A and 142 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:01,919 Speaker 3: the Della is a little bit smarter. That's sun up 143 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:03,679 Speaker 3: for Shai, and in the same way that a golden 144 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 3: triever is smarter than the chiuahua. Well, that said, none 145 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 3: of these men are superintelligences, nor when pressed, do they 146 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 3: appear to have any actual answers or regular intelligences. Now, 147 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 3: if you've read the newsletter version of this episode, you'll 148 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 3: come across a multi paragraph answer from satching Adella when 149 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 3: asked on Dwarkesh Patel's podcast how Microsoft will reach one 150 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 3: hundred and thirty billion dollars in revenue from AGI. I'm 151 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 3: not going to read it out here, and I don't 152 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 3: hate you enough to include a clip. But the question was, 153 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 3: how do you get Microsoft to one hundred and thirty 154 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 3: billion dollars in revenue and such? In this the dello's 155 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 3: answer is like one hundred and fifty words, and it's 156 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 3: like abundance explosion. GDP will grow industrial revolution inflation adjusted percentages. 157 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 3: The winners will be the people who do stuff, and 158 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 3: then productivity will go up. I will link to this 159 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 3: in of you in the episode notes because it's fucking nonsense, 160 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 3: just like the rest of them. 161 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 2: And I have this idea. 162 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 3: I have this concept I've come up with, and it's 163 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 3: that we need to stop idolizing these speciously informed goobers. 164 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 3: Well kind of souls or Zitron haters may hear this 165 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 3: and say, I am actually Satannadanna's very smart. Stop I 166 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 3: want to stop there, and I suggest that you have 167 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 3: a smart person who comes along and tells you what 168 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 3: smart sounds like. A smart don't mean long words and nothing. 169 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 3: It means actually knowing the sheet you're talking about. And look, really, 170 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 3: a truly smart person should be able to speak clearly 171 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 3: enough that their intent is obvious and clear. Now it's 172 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 3: tempting to believe that there's some sort of intellectual barrier 173 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 3: between you and the powerful, that these confusing and obtuse 174 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 3: things they say, that's the sound of genius, rather than 175 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 3: somebody who has learned a lot of smart sounding words 176 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 3: without ever learning what they mean, but ed they're trained 177 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 3: to do this. I am someone who has media trained 178 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 3: hundreds of people, and there's only so much you can 179 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 3: do to steer someone's language. You can't say to one, hey, man, 180 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 3: can you sound more confusing? You can, however, tell them 181 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 3: what not to talk about and hope for the best. 182 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 3: Sure you can make them practice, Sure you can give 183 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 3: them feedback. But people past a certain stage of power 184 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 3: or popularity, you're going to talk or whatever they want. 185 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:14,959 Speaker 3: And if they're big stupid idiots pretending to be smart, 186 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 3: they're going to sound exactly like this. Why because nobody 187 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 3: in the media ever asked them to explain themselves. When 188 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 3: you've spent your entire career being asked friendly or friendly 189 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 3: adjacent questions and never having someone say, wait, what does 190 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 3: that mean, you'll continue to mutate into a pseudo communicator 191 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 3: that spits out information adjacent bullshit. I am to be clear, 192 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 3: being very specific about the question what does that mean? 193 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 3: Powerful CEOs and founders never ever, ever get asked to 194 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 3: explain what they're saying, even when what they're saying barely 195 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,959 Speaker 3: resembles a sentence, let alone an answer. But let's get 196 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 3: clear here. Let's think about a hypothetical scenario where your 197 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 3: friend just said the dog died. You'd say something like, oh, no, 198 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:58,200 Speaker 3: what happened? And they, let's say, they responded with, well, 199 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 3: my dog had a tragic yet on ultimately final distinction 200 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 3: between their ideal and non ideal stage due to the 201 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,439 Speaker 3: involvement of a kind of automatic mechanical device. And when 202 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 3: that happened, we realized we'd have to move on from 203 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:10,679 Speaker 3: the current paradigm of dog ownership and into a new 204 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 3: era which we both feel a great deal of emotion about, 205 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 3: and see the opportunities With them. You'd probably be a 206 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:17,679 Speaker 3: little confused and ask them to explain what they meant. 207 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 3: You'd ask, what do you mean by an automatic mechanical device? 208 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 3: What does that mean? They then reply with yeah, exactly, 209 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 3: And that was part of the challenge. You see, like 210 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,600 Speaker 3: the various interactions we have in our day that are challenging. 211 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 3: We see a lot of opportunities in their sailing those challenges. 212 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 3: But part of the road to getting around them is 213 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 3: facing them head on, which is ultimately what happened here. 214 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 2: And while we were. 215 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 3: Involved, we didn't want to be and so we had 216 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 3: to make some dramatic changes. At this point, you still 217 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 3: don't really know what happened. Did a car hit their dog? 218 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 3: Did they hit their dog with their car in this scenario, 219 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 3: would you not say, damn man, that sucks. I'm glad 220 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 3: I have such a smart friend. I don't know what 221 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 3: happened They're dog though, or would you ask them to 222 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 3: explain what they're saying? Would you perhaps ask what it 223 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 3: is they meant? Look, Pajai Altman, Nadella, They've always given 224 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 3: this kind of empty brained, intellectual slop in response to 225 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 3: questions because the media coddles them. These people are product 226 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,440 Speaker 3: managers or management consultants, and, in Altman's case, a savvy 227 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:20,199 Speaker 3: negotiator and manipulator known for and I quote and absenteeism 228 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 3: that rankled his peers and some of the startups he 229 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,199 Speaker 3: was supposed to nurture as an investor at y Combinator. 230 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 3: According to The Washington Post and by Coddle, I mean 231 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 3: that these people are deliberately engaging in a combination of 232 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:33,960 Speaker 3: detective work and amnesia, where the reader or the listener 233 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 3: is forced to simultaneously try and divine the meaning of 234 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,839 Speaker 3: their answer while also not thinking too hard about the 235 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,959 Speaker 3: question the interviewer asked. Most importantly, because the interviewer forgot already. 236 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 3: Look at most modern business interviews. They involve a journalist 237 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:49,439 Speaker 3: asking a question, somebody giving an answer, and the journalists 238 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 3: saying okay and moving on to the next question. Occasionally 239 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 3: he's saying, but what about this, when the appropriate response 240 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:56,839 Speaker 3: to many of the answers is to ask them to 241 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,840 Speaker 3: simplify them so that their meaning is clearer. Look at 242 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,920 Speaker 3: to them, Listen to them now. A common response to 243 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:06,320 Speaker 3: all of this stuff is to say that interviewers can't 244 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,079 Speaker 3: be antagonistic, and I just don't think a lot of 245 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 3: people understand what that actually means. It isn't antagonistic to 246 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,439 Speaker 3: say that you don't understand what someone said, or that 247 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 3: they didn't answer the question you asked. If this is 248 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 3: antagonistic to you, you are intellectually speaking a giant, fucking coward, 249 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:27,200 Speaker 3: because what you're suggesting is that somebody cannot ask somebody 250 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:31,319 Speaker 3: to explain themselves, which is what an interview is. And 251 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 3: I imagine nobody really wants to do this because if 252 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 3: you actually put these people on the spot, you'd realize 253 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 3: the dark truth that I spoke of a few weeks ago, 254 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 3: that the reason the powerful sound like idiots is because 255 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 3: they're idiots. They sound like business idiots and create products 256 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,120 Speaker 3: to sell to business idiots, because business idiots run most 257 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:48,960 Speaker 3: companies and by solutions based on what the last business 258 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,440 Speaker 3: idiot told them. Now, I know some of you might 259 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:53,560 Speaker 3: hear this and say, these people can't be stupid. These 260 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 3: people run companies, they make big deals, they read all 261 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 3: these books. And my answer is that some of the 262 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 3: stupidest people I have met in my life, I have 263 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 3: read more books than you or I will read in 264 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 3: a lifetime. Well, they might sound smart, or they might 265 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:07,599 Speaker 3: be smart when it comes to corporate chess moves or 266 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 3: saying this product category should do this. None of these men, 267 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 3: not Altman Pshire on the Della, actually has a hand 268 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 3: in the design of the creation of the things that 269 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 3: their companies make, and they never ever, ever, ever, ever 270 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 3: ever have Regardless, though I have a larger point, I 271 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 3: believe it's high time we started mocking these people and 272 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,560 Speaker 3: tearing down their legends as geniuses. They're not better than us, 273 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 3: nor are they responsible for anything that their companies build 274 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 3: other than their share price, which is a meaningless figure, 275 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,240 Speaker 3: and the accumulation of power and resources. These men are 276 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 3: neither smart nor intellectually superior, and it's time to start 277 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 3: treating them as such. These people are powerful because they 278 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 3: have names that are protected by the press. They are 279 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 3: powerful because it is seen as a kind of unseemly 280 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:51,080 Speaker 3: to mock them because they're rich and running a company, 281 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 3: a kind of corporate fealty that I find deeply unbecoming 282 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:57,559 Speaker 3: of an adult. We are, at most customers. We do 283 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 3: not owe these people anything. We are long past the 284 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 3: point when any of the people running these companies actually 285 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:07,120 Speaker 3: invented anything they sell, if anything, they owe us something 286 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,560 Speaker 3: because they're selling us a product, even if said product 287 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 3: is free and monetized by advertising. While reporters, as anyone, 288 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,360 Speaker 3: should have some degree of professionalism in interviews or covering subjects, 289 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 3: there's no reason to treat these people as special, even 290 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:20,760 Speaker 3: if they have managed to raise a lot of money 291 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 3: or their popular product is used by a lot of people. 292 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 3: Because if that were the case, we'd have far more 293 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:30,240 Speaker 3: coverage of defense contract to Lockheed Martin. They made one 294 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,920 Speaker 3: point seventy one billion dollars in profit last quarter and 295 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 3: haven't had a single quarter under a billion dollars in 296 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 3: the last year. I realize them being a little glib, 297 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 3: but the logic behind covering open ai is at this 298 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 3: point they make a lot of money and they have 299 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 3: a popular product, which is also a fitting description of 300 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 3: Lockheed Martin. The difference is that open ai has a 301 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 3: conceiverer product that loses billions of dollars and Lockheed Martinis 302 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 3: products that make billions of dollars by removing consumers from 303 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:57,080 Speaker 3: the earth. Both of them are environmentally destructive. Covering open 304 00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,080 Speaker 3: ai doesn't seem to be about the tech, because if 305 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 3: you looked at the tech, you'dn't to understand the tech. 306 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 3: You'd see that the user numbers weren't there outside of 307 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 3: the five hundred million people using chat GPT and of 308 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:09,920 Speaker 3: course referring to the general AI industry, and of those 309 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 3: five hundred million people, very few are actually paying for 310 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 3: the product, and that the term user encompasses everything from 311 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 3: the most occasional person who looks at chatgpt dot com 312 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 3: out of curiosity or the people using it as part 313 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 3: of their daily lives. If covering Open Eye was about 314 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 3: the tech, you'd read about how the tech itself doesn't 315 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 3: seem to have a ton of mass market use cases, 316 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 3: and that those use cases aren't really the kind of things. 317 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 2: That people pay for. 318 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 3: If they did, there'd be articles that definitively discuss them, 319 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:39,440 Speaker 3: versus articles in the New York Times about everybody using AI. 320 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 3: The boil down to I use chat gpt as search 321 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,320 Speaker 3: now and I heard a guy who asked it to 322 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 3: teach him about modern art. 323 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 2: Yet man like. 324 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,720 Speaker 3: Warrio, Dario Amide and Clammy sam Altman continue to be 325 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 3: elevated because they're building the future, even if they don't 326 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 3: seem to have built it yeah, or of the ability 327 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 3: to clearly articulate what the future actually looks like. Anthropic 328 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 3: has now put out multiple stories suggest that it's generative 329 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 3: AI will blackmail people as a means of stopping use 330 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 3: and from turning off the system, something which is so 331 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 3: obviously the company prompting its models to do so. Every 332 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 3: member of the media covering this uncritically should feel ashamed 333 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 3: of themselves. Sadly, this is all the result of the 334 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 3: halo effect of being a guy who raised money or 335 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 3: a guy who runs big company. We must, as human beings, 336 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 3: assume these people are smart, that they've never mislead us, 337 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 3: because if we accept that they aren't smart and they 338 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 3: will willingly mislead us, we'd have to accept that the 339 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 3: powerful are well bad and possibly unremarkable assholes, And if 340 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 3: they're untrustworthy people that don't seem to be smart, we 341 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 3: have to accept that the world is deeply unfair and 342 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 3: caters to people like them far more than it kates 343 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 3: to people like us. We do not oh Saturn and 344 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 3: Della any respect just because he's the CEO of Microsoft. 345 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 3: If anything, we should show him outright scorn for the 346 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:50,760 Speaker 3: state of Microsoft's products. Microsoft Teams is an insulting mess 347 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 3: that only sometimes works, leaving workers spending fifty seven percent 348 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,280 Speaker 3: of their time either in teams, chat teams, meetings, or 349 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:00,640 Speaker 3: sending emails, according to a Microsoft study. Mis dot com 350 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 3: is an abomination read by hundreds of millions of people 351 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 3: a month, bloated with intrusive advertisements, attempts to trick you 352 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 3: into downloading an app, and course ey content that may 353 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 3: or may not be AI generated. There are few products 354 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,879 Speaker 3: on the modern Internet that show more contempt for the user, 355 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 3: other than, of course, the former Skype, a product that 356 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,080 Speaker 3: Microsoft languished for more than a decade, so thoroughly in 357 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:23,399 Speaker 3: gorged with spam that leaving it unattended for more than 358 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 3: a month left you with one hundred undread messages from 359 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:29,200 Speaker 3: Eastern European romance scammers, and Microsoft has finally killed it 360 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 3: in May. Great jobs, sature your fucking platt Anyway, products 361 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 3: like Word and Excel don't need improving, but that doesn't 362 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 3: stop Microsoft from trying to bloat them with odd user 363 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 3: interface choices and forcing users to fight with prop ups 364 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 3: that use an AI powered copilot that most of them hate. 365 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 3: Why exactly am I meant to show these people respect 366 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 3: because they run a company that provides a continually disintegrating service. 367 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:54,879 Speaker 3: Because that service is such a powerful monopoly that it 368 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 3: is difficult to leave it if you're interacting with other 369 00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 3: people or businesses. I think it's because we live in hell. 370 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:05,120 Speaker 3: The mong tech ecosystem is utterly vile. Every single day, 371 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,880 Speaker 3: our tech breaks in new and inventive ways. Our iPhones 372 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 3: resetting at random, random apps not accepting button presses, our 373 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 3: Bluetooth disconnecting our word process is harassing us to try 374 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:16,960 Speaker 3: and use AI while no longer offering us suggestions for 375 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 3: typos and I'm referring to Google Docs. You're not insane, 376 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 3: it's happening, and our useful products replaced with useless shit, 377 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,679 Speaker 3: like how Google's previously functional assistance were replaced with generative 378 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,240 Speaker 3: AI that makes them tangibly worse, so that Google can 379 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 3: claim that they have three hundred and fifty million monthly 380 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,920 Speaker 3: active users on fucking Gemini. Yet the tech and the 381 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 3: business media acts like everything is fine. It isn't fine. 382 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:42,440 Speaker 3: It's all really fucked. You can call me a cynic 383 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 3: or a pessimist, or throw trash at me, or throw tomatoes, 384 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 3: or try and hose me down when I go outside, 385 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,159 Speaker 3: or call me every name under the sun. But the 386 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 3: steaks have never been higher and the damage never more widespread. 387 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:59,200 Speaker 3: Everything feels broken and covering these companies as if it is, 388 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:01,760 Speaker 3: and these insulting to your readers and your own intelligence. 389 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,399 Speaker 3: Look at the state of your computer or phone and 390 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 3: tell me anything feels concruent or intentional rather than an 391 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 3: endless battle of incentives. Look at the notifications on your 392 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 3: phone and count the number of them that have absolutely 393 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 3: nothing to do with information you actively need. 394 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 2: Now. 395 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:33,840 Speaker 3: As I wrote the newsletter version of this and this script, 396 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:36,399 Speaker 3: I got a bunch of notifications, and I'm gonna recount 397 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,359 Speaker 3: them because most of them are still on my phone. 398 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,200 Speaker 3: I have a notification for Adobe Lightroom, and app I 399 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,560 Speaker 3: use occasionally to edit photos that tells me to elevate 400 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 3: any scene now, enhance people's skywater and more with quick actions. 401 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,399 Speaker 3: I don't know zero Cam, an app that brands itself 402 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:55,919 Speaker 3: as the first anti AI camera app where you capture moments, 403 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 3: not megapixels, and got a ton of press about being 404 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:01,680 Speaker 3: this stripped down append notification asking if I took a 405 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,440 Speaker 3: photo today. Amazon notified me that there's a deal pick 406 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,040 Speaker 3: just for me a battery pack that I bought several 407 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 3: months ago. Every single company that sends notifications like these 408 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:15,640 Speaker 3: should be mocked and possibly put in prison. But if 409 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,960 Speaker 3: we have accepted such vile conditions as the norm, I 410 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 3: just believe that society is kind of lost. Apple should 411 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 3: be target and feathered for allowing companies to send spam notifications, 412 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 3: Yet they're not because by and large, Apple is less 413 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:31,680 Speaker 3: vile and exploitative than Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, who also 414 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 3: get pretty much a free ride. Now, if you're listening 415 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 3: to this as a member of the tech press, seriously, 416 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 3: please look at your daily experience with tech. 417 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 2: I'm begging you. 418 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,119 Speaker 3: Count the number of times that your day or a 419 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,720 Speaker 3: task is interrupted by poorly designed software or hardware, such 420 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 3: as the many many times zoom or teams as a 421 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,440 Speaker 3: problem with Bluetooth, or a website just doesn't load, like 422 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 3: sometimes Google youtype Google dot com into the bar and 423 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 3: it just doesn't load. This also happens with other websites, 424 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 3: like type something into your browser, it just doesn't work. 425 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:02,840 Speaker 2: Just happens. So cool. 426 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 3: How about when software you're are the using either actively 427 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:09,159 Speaker 3: impedes you, like did you want to use AI who 428 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,040 Speaker 3: just refuses to work in a logical way, such as 429 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 3: Google Drive? Look at this, you're covering tech, right, maybe 430 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 3: you should cover that the tech ain't working so good. 431 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 3: There are tens of thousands of stories like this every day, 432 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:22,679 Speaker 3: and if you talk to actual people you'd see how 433 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 3: widespread it is, or maybe I don't know, see that 434 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 3: it's happening to you. Look, I'm not trying to call 435 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 3: anyone out, which is why I'm not using specific names, 436 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 3: but there are people responsible here and the tech media 437 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 3: writes about them every day? I realize it seems weird 438 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 3: to constantly vent that a company is releasing broken, convoluted software. 439 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:44,719 Speaker 3: But hey, if you can write three hundred thousand stories 440 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 3: about how crime ridden New York City is, why can't 441 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:50,280 Speaker 3: we write three of them about how fucked Microsoft Office 442 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:54,360 Speaker 3: is or Google searches, or even just one like one 443 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 3: a month one? 444 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 2: And why can't we. 445 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,800 Speaker 3: Talk to the people in power about it? Why can't 446 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,280 Speaker 3: we ask them questions? Is it because the questions are 447 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:05,920 Speaker 3: too hard to ask? Is it because it feels icky 448 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,639 Speaker 3: to interrupt Sachin and Deliacy waffles on about using co 449 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 3: pilot his entire life by saying, hey, man, Microsoft teams 450 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,119 Speaker 3: is broken. Tons of people feel this way. Why is 451 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,880 Speaker 3: it so fucked? Or why have you let MSN dot 452 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 3: com turn into an aislop hub or just a hub 453 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 3: of disinformation? 454 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 2: Oh no, you say, Oh no, I won't get my access. 455 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 2: Oh we lose my access? Who gives a shit? 456 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,959 Speaker 3: Write a story about how Microsoft has become so unbelievably 457 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 3: profitable as it products get worse, and talk about how 458 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 3: weird and bad that is from the world. Ask the 459 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,120 Speaker 3: della those tough questions or published that Microsoft pr won't 460 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,800 Speaker 3: let you. These people are neither articulate nor wise, and 461 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 3: whatever intelligence they may claim to have doesn't seem to 462 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,960 Speaker 3: manifest in good products or even intelligent statements. So I 463 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 3: treat them like they're smart. Why show them any deference 464 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 3: or pleasantries? These people have crapped up our digital lives 465 00:22:56,359 --> 00:23:00,240 Speaker 3: at scale, and they deserve contempt, or at least earn 466 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:04,680 Speaker 3: fucking reception. Harry doesn't repeating myself again and again and again. 467 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 3: But why is there such a halo around these fucking bozos? 468 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,040 Speaker 2: I'm serious? Why are we so protective of these people? 469 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 2: Why we're more than happy to. 470 00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:18,040 Speaker 3: Criticize celebrities, musicians, professional sports players, and politicians fucking barely, 471 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,440 Speaker 3: but the business class is somehow protected, outside of the 472 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 3: usual willingness to say that Elon Musk might have maybe 473 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,240 Speaker 3: done something wrong. I'm also not denying their are critics. 474 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 3: We have Molly White, We've got Edward and Guaso Junior, 475 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,159 Speaker 3: Brian Merchant, and a major outlet, no less CNN, one 476 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 3: of the greatest living business writers in Alesson Morrow. I 477 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,199 Speaker 3: believe that tech criticism is a barely explored and hugely 478 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 3: profitable industry if we treat tech journalism less like the 479 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 3: society pages and more like a force to hold the 480 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 3: most powerful people in the world accountable as they continually 481 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,959 Speaker 3: harm billions of people in subtle ways. People are angry, 482 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:51,680 Speaker 3: and they aren't stupid, and they want to see that 483 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,360 Speaker 3: anger reflected in the stories they read, and the meek 484 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 3: deference we show to the dumb, fucking tech assholes is 485 00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 3: the opposite of that. 486 00:23:58,160 --> 00:23:59,520 Speaker 2: As I've said before, we live in. 487 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 3: An era of digital tenatus, nagged by notifications, warring with 488 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:05,399 Speaker 3: software ostensibly built for us that acts as if we're 489 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:07,680 Speaker 3: the enemy. And if we're the enemy, we should treat 490 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 3: those building this software as the enemy. In return, we're 491 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 3: their customers and they failed us. The entire approach to 492 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 3: business owners in the tech media is ridiculous. These people 493 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:18,960 Speaker 3: are selling us a product, and the product fucking sucks. 494 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 3: Put aside, however you feel about generative AI for a 495 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,120 Speaker 3: second and face one very simple point. 496 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 2: It doesn't do enough. 497 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 3: It's really not cool at all, and we're all being 498 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 3: forced to use it rather than the obvious benefits that 499 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:33,119 Speaker 3: everyone claims it has, just making us do so. Now 500 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,320 Speaker 3: I realized some members of the tech media may want 501 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 3: these people to succeed or want to be the person 502 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 3: who tells everybody that they did so. I get that 503 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:43,119 Speaker 3: there are rewards for your promotions, new positions, TV appearances 504 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,440 Speaker 3: repeating exactly what the powerful did and why they did it, 505 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:48,160 Speaker 3: or a plush roll as a company's head of communications. 506 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 3: But I am telling you your readers and viewers are 507 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:51,800 Speaker 3: waking up to it, and they feel like you have 508 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,800 Speaker 3: contempt for them and contempt for the truth. It's easy 509 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,080 Speaker 3: and common to try and dismiss my work as some 510 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 3: sort of hater's bullshit, a cynical approach to a technustry 511 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 3: that's trying brave new things, or some other such shit. 512 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 3: In my opinion, there's nothing more cynical than watching billions 513 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,359 Speaker 3: of people get shipped increasingly shitty and expensive solutions and 514 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 3: then get defensive of the people shipping them and hostile 515 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 3: to the people who are complaining that the products they 516 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 3: use suck. I'm angry at these companies because they have 517 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 3: at scale torn down a tech industry that allowed me 518 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 3: to be who I am today, and their intentional disgrace 519 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 3: will moves film me for the disgust I've watched the 520 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,560 Speaker 3: tech media move away from covering technology and more toward 521 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,040 Speaker 3: covering the people behind technology, to the point that the 522 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 3: actual outputs, the software and the hardware we use every 523 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 3: day have taken a backseat to stories about whether or 524 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 3: not Elon Musk's used as a computer, which is meaningless, 525 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 3: empty gossip journalism built to be shared by peers and 526 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 3: nothing else. And please please do not talk to me 527 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 3: about optimism. If you are blindly saying that everything open 528 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 3: ai does is cool and awesome and interesting, you want 529 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 3: being optimistic, you're telling other people to be optimistic about 530 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,560 Speaker 3: a company's success. It isn't optimistic to believe that a 531 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 3: company is going to build powerful AI despite it failed 532 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,040 Speaker 3: to do so. It's propaganda. And yes, this is also 533 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 3: the case if you simply don't do the research to 534 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:08,640 Speaker 3: form a real opinion. I am not a pessimist because 535 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 3: I criticize these companies, and framing me as one is 536 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,440 Speaker 3: cowardly and ignorant. If you're so weak willed and speciously 537 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:17,200 Speaker 3: informed it you can't see somebody criticizing a company without 538 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,000 Speaker 3: outright dismissing them as a hater or a pessimist. You're 539 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,200 Speaker 3: an insult to journalism or analysis, and you know it 540 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,119 Speaker 3: in your wretched little heart. My art sings with a 541 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,960 Speaker 3: firm belief in the things I think, founded on rigorous 542 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,879 Speaker 3: structures of knowledge that I've gained from reading things and 543 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,879 Speaker 3: talking to people, because something in me is incapable of 544 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 3: being swayed by something just because everybody else's. You're assuming 545 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 3: people are right because it's inconvenient and uncomfortable to accept 546 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 3: that they may not be, because doing so requires you 547 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,879 Speaker 3: to reckon with a market wide hysteria founded on desperation 548 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 3: and a lack of hypergrowth markets left in the tech industry, 549 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 3: we're still in engaging with faux optimism. You're failing to 550 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,680 Speaker 3: protect your readers in the general public. And if that's 551 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,520 Speaker 3: what you want to do, ask yourself, why why do 552 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:01,879 Speaker 3: you want these companies to win? What is it you 553 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 3: want them to win? Do you want them to be rich? 554 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 3: Do you want to be the person that told people 555 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 3: they would be first? What is it that you want? 556 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 3: What is the world you want and what does it 557 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 3: look like? And how does doing your job in this 558 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 3: way work towards creating that world? This is an optimism. 559 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 3: It's horse trading or strategic alignment behind powerful entities. It 560 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 3: is choosing a side because your side isn't the reader 561 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:29,679 Speaker 3: of the truth if it was, even if you believe Generati, 562 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,440 Speaker 3: if AI was powerful, and that they simply didn't understand, 563 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 3: your duty would be to educate the reader in a clear, certain, 564 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:37,200 Speaker 3: obvious way, and if you can't find a way to 565 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 3: do so, acknowledging that and explaining why. True optimism requires 566 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,480 Speaker 3: you to have a deep, meaningful understanding of things so 567 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:46,920 Speaker 3: that you can engage in real hope, a magical feeling, 568 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 3: one that could bore you through the most challenging times. 569 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:52,399 Speaker 3: What many claim is optimism is actually blind faith, the 570 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:54,200 Speaker 3: likes of which you'll see at a roulette or a 571 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 3: crab's table, or of course, knowingly peddling propaganda. 572 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 2: Breathehead, breathe. 573 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 3: They can't get you behind the microphone anyway. 574 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 2: We live in hell. 575 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,919 Speaker 3: As I've said before, just like Churchill once said, when 576 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 3: you're going through hell, keep going. 577 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:13,120 Speaker 2: You're in the middle of a good rant. 578 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 3: Keep ranting tube into the next episode while we'll pick 579 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:17,239 Speaker 3: this right back up. 580 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to Better Offline. 581 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:29,760 Speaker 3: The editor and composer of the Better Offline theme song 582 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 3: is Matttersowski. You can check out more of his music 583 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 3: and audio projects at Mattasowski dot com m A T 584 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 3: T O s O W s ki dot com. You 585 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 3: can email me at easy at better offline dot com 586 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,560 Speaker 3: or visit better offline dot com to find more podcast 587 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,960 Speaker 3: links and of course, my newsletter. I also really recommend 588 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 3: you go to chat dot Where's youreaed dot at to 589 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 3: visit the discord, and go to our slash. 590 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 2: Better Offline to check out our reddit. Thank you so 591 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 2: much for listening. 592 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:00,560 Speaker 4: Better Offline is a production of call Zone Media. For 593 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 4: more from cool Zone Media, visit our website Coolzonemedia dot 594 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:06,520 Speaker 4: com or check us out on the iHeartRadio 595 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 2: App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.