WEBVTT - What We're Fighting For

0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:03.920
<v Speaker 1>Zone media.

0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:18.040
<v Speaker 2>Fix off look sharp, I'm edzetron, this is better offline.

0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.360
<v Speaker 2>In the last episode, I know, I know, we talked

0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:24.440
<v Speaker 2>about something I talk about all the time, the growing

0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:26.479
<v Speaker 2>shittiness of tech, and now the media is kind of

0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:28.400
<v Speaker 2>playing into it. And the fact that all of this

0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:30.520
<v Speaker 2>is caused by the rock economy, which is the growth

0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:34.920
<v Speaker 2>of all costs mindset that means everything must grow, revenue, engagement,

0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.640
<v Speaker 2>time on app everything at all costs, at all times.

0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.680
<v Speaker 2>And how well the things you change to make growth happen.

0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.159
<v Speaker 2>They're pretty terrible, and they hit you everywhere, and they

0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.400
<v Speaker 2>hit you in a manifest ways and manifold ways and

0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.480
<v Speaker 2>ways that just fill you full of little poisons every day.

0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.640
<v Speaker 2>And it's these little things that are mostly overlooked, mostly

0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.920
<v Speaker 2>by the media. See the modern tech clash narrative pushed

0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.400
<v Speaker 2>by the media hasn't been focused on anything other than

0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:05.319
<v Speaker 2>big MEATI problems like METS Cambridge Analyticals scandal, while ignoring

0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:07.880
<v Speaker 2>the gradual destruction of the products we use every day.

0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.000
<v Speaker 2>In the space of a decade, Google made its ads

0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.080
<v Speaker 2>on search look near identical to regular search results, and

0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.959
<v Speaker 2>only a few websites like search engine Land, for example,

0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.520
<v Speaker 2>seemed to take that and the other changes made to

0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.200
<v Speaker 2>the algorithm of one of the single most important sources

0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.080
<v Speaker 2>of information in the world with any kind of seriousness.

0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:27.920
<v Speaker 2>The fact that I, a part time blogger with a

0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.520
<v Speaker 2>podcast that runs a PR firm during the day, was

0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:32.759
<v Speaker 2>the one to on cover and discuss how the ads

0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.280
<v Speaker 2>team made Google Search worse for money nine months after

0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.360
<v Speaker 2>the associated emails were made public. It's just a glaring

0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:41.600
<v Speaker 2>example of the misalignment of the tech media with what

0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:45.000
<v Speaker 2>actually affects people on a daily basis. But let me

0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.960
<v Speaker 2>give you another example. In Nvidia, one of the most

0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:51.320
<v Speaker 2>single covered tech companies of the last year, has effectively

0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.800
<v Speaker 2>lied about the launch of its RTX fifty eighty and

0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.240
<v Speaker 2>RTX fifty ninety graphics cards, doing something called a paper launch,

0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:00.000
<v Speaker 2>where stores like Microcenter received as few as two hundred

0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:05.120
<v Speaker 2>thirty three RTX fifty ninety graphics cards nationwide, while Nvidia

0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.320
<v Speaker 2>did warn of stock shortages. It's laughable to even call

0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:10.240
<v Speaker 2>this a launch, and I'd argue that the tech media

0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:14.160
<v Speaker 2>as well basically no interest in covering it, despite this

0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.160
<v Speaker 2>being a very very significant story about how in Nvidia

0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.120
<v Speaker 2>is misleading people about its consumer and procemer graphics cards,

0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.000
<v Speaker 2>which by the way, make up billions of dollars of

0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.240
<v Speaker 2>revenue and a large percentage of it. And that and

0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:28.200
<v Speaker 2>it does not appear to be able to deliver them

0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.120
<v Speaker 2>on time or in any kind of value or volume.

0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.040
<v Speaker 2>These events hit millions of consumers in a tangible way.

0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.880
<v Speaker 2>In Vidia, despite all its financial success selling AI chips

0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.200
<v Speaker 2>to companies like Microsoft and Amazon, appears to be spurning

0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:44.639
<v Speaker 2>one of its core customer bases, the one it built

0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:46.840
<v Speaker 2>its name on, by the way, and the response from

0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.400
<v Speaker 2>the consumer tech media has been steppit. The Verge covered this,

0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:52.280
<v Speaker 2>by the way, tom Hardware has done it like there

0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.880
<v Speaker 2>are people covering it. And this is all despite the

0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.200
<v Speaker 2>fact that PC gaming revenue is comparable insights to console gaming.

0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:00.840
<v Speaker 2>It's forty three point two billion in two four compared

0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:03.160
<v Speaker 2>to the fifty one point nine billion dollars the console

0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.600
<v Speaker 2>gaming brought in, and according to research from new Zoo

0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:07.360
<v Speaker 2>and PC gaming, by the way, is one of the

0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.519
<v Speaker 2>only things that's growing right now. It's growing four percent

0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:11.639
<v Speaker 2>year of a year, compared to a one percent contraction

0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:16.040
<v Speaker 2>in console revenue. This shit's really important. But things are worse.

0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.880
<v Speaker 2>Things are worse than I'm even saying in Vidius fifty

0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.480
<v Speaker 2>eighty graphics cards, well they kind of suck, and they

0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:24.240
<v Speaker 2>represent how in Video is treating PC gamers in twenty

0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.880
<v Speaker 2>twenty five. According to Paul's Hardware, a fantastic YouTube channel,

0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.800
<v Speaker 2>and they skewered in video for slowly reducing the amount

0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.280
<v Speaker 2>of performance gains you'll get out of mid range graphics

0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.680
<v Speaker 2>cards like the fifty eighty and the previous generation. And

0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:38.560
<v Speaker 2>this is a cynical attempt to make it so that

0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.280
<v Speaker 2>anyone looking for a real upgrade to their graphics card

0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:43.320
<v Speaker 2>has to spend upwards of two thousand dollars and a

0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:48.040
<v Speaker 2>fifty ninety A can't that they can't find. And there's more,

0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:49.920
<v Speaker 2>by the way, And I can't really speak to this

0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:52.760
<v Speaker 2>fully as I'm not super into the hardware spaceball. I'll

0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.720
<v Speaker 2>include a YouTube right now. There is a massive scandal

0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:59.800
<v Speaker 2>going on that Technedia really isn't jumping on. In Vidos

0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.120
<v Speaker 2>few fifty ninety graphics cards may have been poorly load balanced.

0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.240
<v Speaker 2>Sounds technical right. It means all the powers going into

0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.800
<v Speaker 2>like two wires and literally melting cards. This may lead

0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:13.480
<v Speaker 2>to a recall. This is significant. I don't see anything

0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.599
<v Speaker 2>on the new York Times about it. Guess guess something

0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:20.480
<v Speaker 2>else is happening. I guess they're busy. But anyway, this

0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.680
<v Speaker 2>is significant. This is really significant. This is like Apple

0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:26.320
<v Speaker 2>slowly over the course of years reducing the efficiency and

0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.240
<v Speaker 2>performance of the regular iPhone in the hopes of deucing

0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.120
<v Speaker 2>sales of the iPhone Pro. Yet the only people that

0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.640
<v Speaker 2>are taking stories like these seriously appear to be video

0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.239
<v Speaker 2>creators like Paul's Hardware who I've mentioned, and Game is Nexus.

0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.320
<v Speaker 2>Stephen Burke, the fucking legend. Stephen, come on my show please.

0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.680
<v Speaker 2>If you know Stephen, email me at my web zone,

0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:46.359
<v Speaker 2>easy at Better offline dot com. There's e Z at

0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.760
<v Speaker 2>Better Offline dot com. Please Stephen. By the way, these

0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.520
<v Speaker 2>these are not small channels. One point five million subscribers

0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.560
<v Speaker 2>on Paul's Hardware, two point four million on Game is Nexus,

0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.240
<v Speaker 2>and time and time again. These guys, specifically, they can

0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.160
<v Speaker 2>on real stories that affect real consumers, like gaming PC

0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.200
<v Speaker 2>builder NZXT creating a PC rental program that actively conned

0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:10.440
<v Speaker 2>consumers with rates worse than a payday loan company. And

0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:13.960
<v Speaker 2>they act like Stephen and Paul. They protect consumers from

0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.640
<v Speaker 2>active harm as the mainstream media chases their tales about

0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.680
<v Speaker 2>whatever half broken bullshit Sam Moultman has farted out on

0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.040
<v Speaker 2>their heads in video, a company discussed by what it

0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.920
<v Speaker 2>feels like every single business and tech out there has

0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:30.080
<v Speaker 2>a documented pattern of misleading and shortchanging customers. Why is

0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.040
<v Speaker 2>this not everywhere? Huh? It's almost as if the only

0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.039
<v Speaker 2>reason that anyone's talking about in video is that there's

0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.640
<v Speaker 2>a herd mentality in what stories are important to the

0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.320
<v Speaker 2>modern media, rather than any kind of relationship to the

0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.960
<v Speaker 2>effects that these companies might have on actual customers. The

0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.159
<v Speaker 2>mainstream media, especially when it comes to technology, does not

0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:52.279
<v Speaker 2>seem capable or willing to discuss the real, tangible, obvious

0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.679
<v Speaker 2>problems with the modern tech ecosystem, instead choosing to attack

0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.960
<v Speaker 2>things piecemeal or blandly, reporting news with as little context

0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:03.320
<v Speaker 2>as necessary, how with as many company quotes as possible. Look,

0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:05.960
<v Speaker 2>people are pissed off at the tech industry because the

0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.919
<v Speaker 2>tech industry is actively pissing them off. They are getting

0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:11.039
<v Speaker 2>less value from the products they pay for, and they're

0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.000
<v Speaker 2>paying more for them too, and they're aware that the

0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.159
<v Speaker 2>free products they use are getting worse as a means

0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.680
<v Speaker 2>of making them more profitable. Stories about distrust and big

0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.680
<v Speaker 2>tech continually failed to talk about the simplest, most obvious problems.

0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:27.440
<v Speaker 2>Facebook sucks, Instagram sucks, Our apps suck, Microsoft teams sucks,

0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:32.040
<v Speaker 2>Zoom sucks, Google Meet sucks. It sucks. They suck. They're

0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.040
<v Speaker 2>all like, I'm not even being polemic here, these are

0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:41.000
<v Speaker 2>factual statements. These products are worse. They are worse. Everything

0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.400
<v Speaker 2>feels like it's built to subtly fuck with us. And

0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.200
<v Speaker 2>this is a problem that affects billions of people, one

0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:49.640
<v Speaker 2>that's discussed so rarely that I am considered creative for

0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.520
<v Speaker 2>writing a thousand words about the literal experience of using

0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.200
<v Speaker 2>a shitty laptop, as I did in my newsletter. Never

0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:57.680
<v Speaker 2>forgive them, which are turned into the invisible war criminals.

0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.680
<v Speaker 2>You know how the process goes, Folks more fun when

0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:04.880
<v Speaker 2>I read it. Anyway, these problems are everywhere. They're everywhere,

0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:08.320
<v Speaker 2>and they're real, meaningful stories, ones that are more important

0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:12.400
<v Speaker 2>than Dario amideo anthropic farting into a microphone about how

0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.560
<v Speaker 2>in maybe two years AI will be smarter than humans.

0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:19.239
<v Speaker 2>These fucking assholes just go on bloviate, and the media

0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.680
<v Speaker 2>lines up like fucking idiots to go, Oh, mister Amiday,

0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.920
<v Speaker 2>tell me how smart you are? Fuck you. I'm referring

0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:27.800
<v Speaker 2>to AMIDE. I'm not telling the tech need to go

0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:33.400
<v Speaker 2>fuck themselves. Regular people are not really, in my opinion

0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:35.400
<v Speaker 2>from my experience from talking to people, not pissed off

0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:39.040
<v Speaker 2>a big tech for any complex or multifaceted series of

0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.800
<v Speaker 2>events that made them pissed off. The shit they pay

0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.640
<v Speaker 2>for sucks. The shit they use sucks. The shit they

0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:47.960
<v Speaker 2>trade their data for sucks. The products are broken or

0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:50.720
<v Speaker 2>in the process of actively breaking. And when consumers look

0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:54.400
<v Speaker 2>at to these companies, they're told, yeah, well, what if

0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:56.840
<v Speaker 2>you had some generative AI. What do you think? Do

0:07:56.880 --> 0:07:58.640
<v Speaker 2>you like it? What do you think?

0:07:58.760 --> 0:07:59.040
<v Speaker 3>M M?

0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.360
<v Speaker 2>And the customer is like, I fucking hate that? Can

0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.560
<v Speaker 2>I take it off? And they go no, But let

0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.400
<v Speaker 2>me give you another example, and this one for my listeners.

0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.080
<v Speaker 2>By the real Edhead's going back to the beginning. You're

0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:13.840
<v Speaker 2>finally getting it. I'm finally going in on fucking Apple.

0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:18.200
<v Speaker 2>The app store is a complete mess. On loading it up.

0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.840
<v Speaker 2>The first ad I received is for truth Social, you know,

0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.559
<v Speaker 2>the Donald Trumps social network, followed by popular iPhone apps

0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.520
<v Speaker 2>including Bumble, which is a micro transaction heavy dating app,

0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.640
<v Speaker 2>Paramount plus Zoom Max that's HBO Max I don't know,

0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:35.160
<v Speaker 2>Amazon Prime Video, and of course Tinder, another micro transaction

0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:39.040
<v Speaker 2>heavy dating app, followed by another micro transaction heavy mobile

0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:42.320
<v Speaker 2>gaming app, madd in NFL twenty five Mobile football, followed

0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:46.440
<v Speaker 2>by another micro transaction heavy mobile game, Clash of Clans,

0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:51.080
<v Speaker 2>followed by another micro transaction game, Artro, followed by helpful

0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.480
<v Speaker 2>apps for every day, which included Strava, a fitness at

0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:55.840
<v Speaker 2>that I use, letter Bogs, the social network for people

0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.280
<v Speaker 2>to review movies, StoryGraph and app for tracking books you've read,

0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.840
<v Speaker 2>Peanut and from others to connect with each other. And

0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.120
<v Speaker 2>then some sort of app for discovering irl plans near

0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:07.080
<v Speaker 2>you called Pie and part of Ale, and app for

0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.880
<v Speaker 2>planning parties, immediately followed by an ad for Apple's own

0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.880
<v Speaker 2>party and by app that specifically competes with them. It'd

0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.240
<v Speaker 2>be so cool if we had antitrust now. The next

0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.640
<v Speaker 2>carousel is for ten great dating apps, the first of

0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:20.560
<v Speaker 2>which is okay Cupid, a dating app with a one

0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.160
<v Speaker 2>out of five star rating on trust Pilot, but the

0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.840
<v Speaker 2>first review is saying that and I quote, everything is

0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.439
<v Speaker 2>designed to force you into paying, and even when you do,

0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.520
<v Speaker 2>you quickly realize it's not worth it. Okay Cupid is

0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.760
<v Speaker 2>owned by the publicly traded Match Group, which owns three

0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.760
<v Speaker 2>of the other apps on the list, Hinge, Tinder, and

0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.400
<v Speaker 2>plenty of Fish. And the reason I'm agonizingly breaking down

0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:41.559
<v Speaker 2>these problems is because that I believe the problems of

0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.160
<v Speaker 2>the modern tech industry are far simpler and far more

0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:58.000
<v Speaker 2>pervasive than the media will face. Apple's App Store, a

0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.480
<v Speaker 2>trillion dollar marketplace where Apple take thirty percent of almost

0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.719
<v Speaker 2>every buck of developer makes, actively promotes and profits off

0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.760
<v Speaker 2>of exploitative free to play mobile games that academics believe

0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:11.800
<v Speaker 2>rob consumers of their right to self determination, And an

0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.800
<v Speaker 2>online dating industry that has adopted these very same ideas

0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:16.840
<v Speaker 2>to turn romance into its own kind of free to

0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:19.839
<v Speaker 2>play a game. I'm saying ale. By the way, my

0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.760
<v Speaker 2>single friends all experience this. These apps are insane. These

0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.520
<v Speaker 2>apps are completely bonkers. They are asking you for money constantly.

0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:32.280
<v Speaker 2>They very clearly hide the best matches behind pay wars.

0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:35.400
<v Speaker 2>This is what online dating is now. It's a fucking

0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.840
<v Speaker 2>gatcha game. It's a slot machine. It's a mess. It's

0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.760
<v Speaker 2>absolutely abominable. And you know who makes a shit ton

0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:48.360
<v Speaker 2>of money off of that abominability. Mister Timothy Cook of Apple.

0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.040
<v Speaker 2>The App Store largely promotes apps and their associated features

0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:54.680
<v Speaker 2>from public companies with billions or trillions of dollars in

0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:58.160
<v Speaker 2>market capitalization, and much like Google Search, only functions to

0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:02.160
<v Speaker 2>bring you results that are convenient Apple and they no

0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:05.640
<v Speaker 2>longer highlight apps based on anything other than shadowy partnerships

0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.440
<v Speaker 2>and profit incentives. No, I do not believe the App

0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.640
<v Speaker 2>Store editorial group is going, huh, what if we advertise

0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.400
<v Speaker 2>the literal apps that everyone has, the apps that people

0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.640
<v Speaker 2>know about already, or maybe they just want more micro

0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.440
<v Speaker 2>transaction revenue. It's that it's so obvious, and this is

0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:21.360
<v Speaker 2>the way that tens, if not hundreds of millions of

0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.600
<v Speaker 2>people are introduced to software, and the software they're introduced

0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.160
<v Speaker 2>to is inherently exploitative. It's like if every Kroger store

0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.160
<v Speaker 2>sold bread that costs an extra three dollars, if you

0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.840
<v Speaker 2>wanted to cut it into slices, or bacon that required

0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.160
<v Speaker 2>you to subscribe to Bacon Plus, if you kept it

0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.600
<v Speaker 2>in the fridge for longer than two days. I'm not

0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:40.320
<v Speaker 2>even being facetious. This is the actual scale of the

0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.240
<v Speaker 2>harms being done against actual consumers by a company with

0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:47.280
<v Speaker 2>a market capitalization of three point five trillion dollars. When

0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.560
<v Speaker 2>somebody buys a new iPhone, they're not thinking like me

0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:52.120
<v Speaker 2>or you or someone else deeply aware of the incentives

0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.720
<v Speaker 2>behind these companies. They blindly, because nobody really explains this

0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.600
<v Speaker 2>year or takes it seriously in the media, download whatever

0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.200
<v Speaker 2>apps they see promoted by Apple. Consumers trust Apple, and

0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.079
<v Speaker 2>as a result, trust the companies that Apple chooses to promote,

0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.640
<v Speaker 2>at which point whatever malevolent mechanisms these companies use are

0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:11.920
<v Speaker 2>more effective because consumers believe that Apple, a company with

0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:16.040
<v Speaker 2>a multi trillion dollar market cap, wouldn't allow nakedly explodedive

0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.480
<v Speaker 2>apps on their phones. Except they do. They don't just

0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.280
<v Speaker 2>let them in. They give them a comfy fucking chair

0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.400
<v Speaker 2>to beat the shit out of your wallet. Apple could

0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.480
<v Speaker 2>very easily use its unilateral control over the entire app

0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:30.839
<v Speaker 2>store to prevent these companies from existing, or at least

0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.560
<v Speaker 2>choose not to promote them. Instead, they choose to both

0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.120
<v Speaker 2>ensure and profit from their success by putting them in

0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.200
<v Speaker 2>front of millions and millions of consumers every day. And

0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:43.000
<v Speaker 2>I want to be explicit here. Apple could just not

0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:46.640
<v Speaker 2>accept dating apps they use microtransactions. They could say, hey,

0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.800
<v Speaker 2>this seems like it's just fucking with consumers. They could

0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.840
<v Speaker 2>do the same with these mobile games that use manipulative

0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:57.440
<v Speaker 2>psychological tricks to make you do these things, and it's ridiculous.

0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:02.559
<v Speaker 2>It's ridiculous because they it's not that they just allow it.

0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.200
<v Speaker 2>It's not like this is just a we're being a galitarian.

0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:07.240
<v Speaker 2>We let these companies in. We let everyone in, and

0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.079
<v Speaker 2>as long as they apply to our standards. Also what standards,

0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:14.200
<v Speaker 2>that's fine. They're like, yeah, baby, it's it's Apple time.

0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.240
<v Speaker 2>Join the Apple wagon. You want to be on the

0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:19.080
<v Speaker 2>front of the app store. Fuck, yeah, I hope you

0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.960
<v Speaker 2>scam someone give us that thirty percent. Baby. While micro

0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.839
<v Speaker 2>transactions aren't inherently evil when I'm restrained, they naturally lead

0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:31.000
<v Speaker 2>to evil outcomes. As I've repeatedly said, modern dating apps

0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:34.280
<v Speaker 2>effectively require users to buy both a monthly subscription and

0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.200
<v Speaker 2>piecemeal items that make your message your profile more prominent

0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:41.360
<v Speaker 2>in an app dominated by spam profiles. Mobile gaming, an

0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.840
<v Speaker 2>industry that makes tens of billions of dollars of yearly revenue,

0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:47.520
<v Speaker 2>has become dominated by free to play games that require

0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.880
<v Speaker 2>you to spend money to progress, using deceptive psychological techniques

0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.120
<v Speaker 2>to push users into spending money in small amounts that

0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.320
<v Speaker 2>naturally add up to much more than a triple a

0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.440
<v Speaker 2>gaming title and a console or a computer. I hammer

0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.120
<v Speaker 2>so hard and repetitively on because they make up the

0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:05.200
<v Speaker 2>majority of the promoted content on Apple's app store. Good Lord,

0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:11.200
<v Speaker 2>good fucking lord. We would scream if a city was

0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:15.079
<v Speaker 2>dominated by people just selling drugs at every corner, if

0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:19.320
<v Speaker 2>our streets were unsafe. Even if they're not unsafe, Republicans

0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:21.240
<v Speaker 2>still go on TV and talk about harn's safe. They

0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.280
<v Speaker 2>are somehow this is okay. Though, somehow this is okay,

0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.320
<v Speaker 2>despite this being a direct portal into people's lives and

0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.120
<v Speaker 2>into people's wallets. It's just disgusting. It pisses me off.

0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.520
<v Speaker 2>And as I've said, to be abundantly clear, Apple had

0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:38.160
<v Speaker 2>and has the power to kill any of these industries

0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:41.040
<v Speaker 2>are at the very least limit their harms. Apple controls

0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.360
<v Speaker 2>every single thing that goes on the app Store, and

0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:47.240
<v Speaker 2>could very easily make dark patterns that manipulate consumers, which

0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.720
<v Speaker 2>are by the way, in the majority of subscription apps.

0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.920
<v Speaker 2>You can just make them against the rules and harshly

0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:55.320
<v Speaker 2>penalize the apps that use microtransactions. Apple could do this tomorrow.

0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.520
<v Speaker 2>They could do it today. Apple could easily take a

0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:02.320
<v Speaker 2>stand against these companies. The combined micro transactions with loop boxes,

0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.320
<v Speaker 2>which are essentially in game content that you don't know

0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.080
<v Speaker 2>what you're buying ahead of time. You hit bun, money

0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.400
<v Speaker 2>goes in, thing pops out. They could get rid of that.

0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.000
<v Speaker 2>And by the way, this is a way of introducing

0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:14.560
<v Speaker 2>kids to gambling. What do you think these kids go

0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:16.960
<v Speaker 2>and use games like Fortnite and they just fucking Fortnite

0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:20.240
<v Speaker 2>have loop boxes. I'm one hundred years old. Nevertheless, Robox

0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:24.359
<v Speaker 2>another title on there principally aimed at children with micro transactions.

0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.040
<v Speaker 2>All of this is great. It's so good. I love

0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.800
<v Speaker 2>watching this. This makes me happy. And one could argue

0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:33.040
<v Speaker 2>that it's the companies themselves, not Apple, choosing to make

0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:36.840
<v Speaker 2>these decisions. But at the scale at which Apple operates,

0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.080
<v Speaker 2>they're effectively a kind of government, and any government regulation

0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.480
<v Speaker 2>controls the kinds of products and services that can be

0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:46.160
<v Speaker 2>offered to a consumer. But Apple's app store isn't like

0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.240
<v Speaker 2>a regular government or a democracy. It's a kleptocracy where

0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.440
<v Speaker 2>sleazy companies like the Match Group who as I mentioned,

0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:53.960
<v Speaker 2>they own Hinge, tinder match dot Com and OkCupid and

0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:57.520
<v Speaker 2>Supercell who makes clash of plans they can make Apple

0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.640
<v Speaker 2>billions of dollars in app store fees by tricking and

0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:04.440
<v Speaker 2>hurting consumers. Apple, through sheer scale, dictates exactly how the

0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.360
<v Speaker 2>economics of apps and consumer purchasing at large, to an extent, operate,

0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:12.920
<v Speaker 2>and it's their decisions that have allowed these poisonous flowers

0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.040
<v Speaker 2>to bloom. This, i'd argue is one of the largest

0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:20.320
<v Speaker 2>scale consumer harms in existence. There are hundreds of millions

0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:23.400
<v Speaker 2>of people with iOS devices, and Apple has perpetuated and

0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:27.480
<v Speaker 2>profited off of economics that are actively harmful, manipulative, and cruel,

0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.760
<v Speaker 2>and will continue to do so unless meaningful regulation or

0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.800
<v Speaker 2>media pressure makes them do otherwise. The latter would require

0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.080
<v Speaker 2>the media to actually discuss this problem. I can find

0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.240
<v Speaker 2>no major media outlet that's run anything even close to

0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:43.800
<v Speaker 2>an evaluation of the state of the modern app store,

0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.600
<v Speaker 2>Nor can I find any condemnation of the very obvious

0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.360
<v Speaker 2>harms perpetuated by Apple or Google with their app stores,

0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.160
<v Speaker 2>outside of the lawsuit between Epic and Apple, which hasn't

0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.280
<v Speaker 2>so much been about the harms themselves, but the extent

0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:57.560
<v Speaker 2>to which Apple has profited off of them, and stopped

0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:02.080
<v Speaker 2>other people from profiting themselves. Similarly, there's little coverage of

0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.800
<v Speaker 2>the destruction of Google Search or the horrifying state of

0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.439
<v Speaker 2>Instagram and Facebook. While outlets have had dalliances and little

0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:10.879
<v Speaker 2>flirtations with the collapse of Search, Charlie wallzer that the

0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.160
<v Speaker 2>Atlantic was earlier than most myself included. These are usually

0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.000
<v Speaker 2>one and dumb features, the momentary hmm in the slop

0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:20.280
<v Speaker 2>of breaking news and hot takes. If these stories even

0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:22.840
<v Speaker 2>happen at all, you might argue that one could not

0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.760
<v Speaker 2>simply write these stories again and again, to which I say,

0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.880
<v Speaker 2>skill issue the destruction of the products at the core

0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:32.680
<v Speaker 2>of society, the fabric of society. It's real important. It

0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:35.480
<v Speaker 2>should be in the news constantly. And like I said,

0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:39.639
<v Speaker 2>they talk about crime all the time in modern metropolitan areas.

0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.920
<v Speaker 2>This is a crime. It's not illegal, but I consider

0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.840
<v Speaker 2>it criminal in the zytron justice system. I will now

0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.280
<v Speaker 2>be building and please on the Reddit let me know

0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:52.040
<v Speaker 2>other things that need to be in the zitron justice system.

0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.720
<v Speaker 2>Companies like Google, Meta and Apple have been allowed to

0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:57.000
<v Speaker 2>expand their wealth and influence to the point that they're

0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.399
<v Speaker 2>effectively nation states, and I believe they should be ported

0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.880
<v Speaker 2>on As such, the manifold ways in which Mark Zuckerberger's

0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.720
<v Speaker 2>manipulated Facebook's users as a means to express growth to

0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:11.800
<v Speaker 2>the public markets is a perpetual act of abuse, globally perpetuated.

0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.320
<v Speaker 2>Yet it remains relatively undiscussed because the media refuses to

0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:18.359
<v Speaker 2>discuss technology in a way that actually affects people. The

0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:20.760
<v Speaker 2>same ghost for Apples app store, and the same ghost

0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:22.960
<v Speaker 2>of a Google search and shit, I'd argue most of

0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.320
<v Speaker 2>them onder the internet? How is it not a bigger

0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.840
<v Speaker 2>story that the mobile browsing experience on most websites ranges

0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.640
<v Speaker 2>from awful to impossible to use because your browser crashed.

0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.000
<v Speaker 2>And I think this is the thing that really confuses me.

0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.040
<v Speaker 2>How the fuck is this not being written about? You

0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.040
<v Speaker 2>see it any time you use your phone. It's everywhere, always,

0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.600
<v Speaker 2>all the time. There's so many examples, Yet tech coverage

0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.000
<v Speaker 2>is always about news or how to do something on

0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:50.040
<v Speaker 2>your computer or phone that isn't obvious without any acknowledgment

0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.280
<v Speaker 2>that the reason that that piece has to exist, The

0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.560
<v Speaker 2>reason that something isn't obvious is because user interface design

0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.520
<v Speaker 2>is terrible. They don't care anymore. And also, you want

0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.560
<v Speaker 2>your website to rank high on Google Search, And I'd

0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.520
<v Speaker 2>argue that regular people are experiencing these pains at scale,

0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.000
<v Speaker 2>and they're so frustrated because they know, beneath the layers

0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:10.800
<v Speaker 2>of abstraction, of worrying incentives and abusive you why choices,

0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.080
<v Speaker 2>there's something they want or something they need. And I'm

0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:16.719
<v Speaker 2>not just angry at Mark Zuckerberg for turning Facebook into

0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.600
<v Speaker 2>an actively harmful product. I'm angry that he's done so

0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:21.520
<v Speaker 2>in a way that took away something that made the

0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.480
<v Speaker 2>Internet magical in the same way, and I despise Probagar

0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:26.640
<v Speaker 2>Ragavan and suned up a Shai for doing the same

0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.520
<v Speaker 2>with Google Search. And I'm not just angry at one

0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.440
<v Speaker 2>of the many different quarter page sized ads that block

0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.760
<v Speaker 2>an article I want to read. I'm angry that one

0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.119
<v Speaker 2>of the coolest things on the Internet, access to very

0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.439
<v Speaker 2>media sources on the toilet, is literally obfuscated by the

0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:57.399
<v Speaker 2>demands of growth. The Internet allows us to do so

0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:59.359
<v Speaker 2>many things, and what we see today is both a

0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:03.200
<v Speaker 2>technological marvel and a disgrace to humanity. We right now

0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.680
<v Speaker 2>have the ability to talk to somebody thousands of miles away,

0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:07.560
<v Speaker 2>to send them a photo of a video of what

0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:10.000
<v Speaker 2>we're doing, to meet people we'd never meet in real

0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:14.040
<v Speaker 2>life and build meaningful relationships with them. As a creator,

0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.359
<v Speaker 2>a writer, whatever hell you call me, I'm able to

0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.040
<v Speaker 2>shoot the shit with my buddy Casey and Socow or

0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.600
<v Speaker 2>my editor Matt Hughes in Liverpool, and I'm able to

0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:24.840
<v Speaker 2>do so about the same speed and as a result,

0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:27.480
<v Speaker 2>right thousands of words of ideas and perform these long

0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:31.840
<v Speaker 2>podcasts where I get extremely mad that well Matt Asowski

0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:34.399
<v Speaker 2>or Matt Hughes ends up editing all with a few clicks,

0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.120
<v Speaker 2>and I can distribute my newsletter to fifty five thousand

0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:39.879
<v Speaker 2>people and the podcast to a number larger or smaller

0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.359
<v Speaker 2>that I can't say than that it's kind of cool.

0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:44.120
<v Speaker 2>I can go on Boo Sky and shoot the shit

0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:45.720
<v Speaker 2>with people I know well or who I've just met

0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:47.359
<v Speaker 2>or never met in my life and have a blast

0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:49.199
<v Speaker 2>doing so. I can sit in my living room and

0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:51.080
<v Speaker 2>play a video game while I stream music to my

0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.159
<v Speaker 2>phone from my phone to a big speaker and a

0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:55.200
<v Speaker 2>few taps, and this technology has become more and more

0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:59.080
<v Speaker 2>accessible as the years have gone on. It's really cool,

0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:01.679
<v Speaker 2>and we live in a time where technology does really

0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:04.800
<v Speaker 2>really cool things that help billions of people these companies

0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:08.679
<v Speaker 2>can innovate, and they can make our lives better. The

0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:11.760
<v Speaker 2>problem is that software may have actually eaten the world,

0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:16.080
<v Speaker 2>and growth hold software's leash. The rot economy sits above

0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.119
<v Speaker 2>all things. It's not enough for Apple to make iterations

0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:21.560
<v Speaker 2>of the iPhone that are better and faster. It must

0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.080
<v Speaker 2>sell more of them every quarter, and the software sitting

0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:27.520
<v Speaker 2>in those iPhones must continue to generate monthly or quarterly

0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:32.439
<v Speaker 2>revenue or annual revenue imperpetuity. The websites you read that

0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:34.919
<v Speaker 2>have page wide ads, they're all run by people that

0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.040
<v Speaker 2>don't read anything and must see revenue numbers increase. And

0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:40.960
<v Speaker 2>they're doing so because they're looking for startup metrics in media,

0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:44.080
<v Speaker 2>which has never ever worked. And that's the same way

0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:46.760
<v Speaker 2>that the Match group must always find new ways to

0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.520
<v Speaker 2>increase quarterly revenues for their dating apps, even if they

0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:52.080
<v Speaker 2>way they do so is to make them cost more

0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:54.760
<v Speaker 2>money to connect with people and to officscate the connections

0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:57.800
<v Speaker 2>that we log on to find. Each of these ideas

0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:00.240
<v Speaker 2>a miniature little computer that sits in our and it

0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:02.400
<v Speaker 2>gives us access to the world's information, or an app

0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.080
<v Speaker 2>for falling in love. They're extremely cool, Yet the reckless

0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:08.240
<v Speaker 2>incentives of the rot economy and growth of poison them.

0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:11.280
<v Speaker 2>And like I've said, I don't hate this stuff. I

0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:14.320
<v Speaker 2>love it. I'm a broken hearted romantic. The internet made

0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:16.080
<v Speaker 2>me who I am, and it allowed me to thrive

0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:18.800
<v Speaker 2>both this as a person and a professional, and it

0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:20.840
<v Speaker 2>continues to do so every day, except now I have

0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:23.560
<v Speaker 2>the fight seemingly every app and service to get them

0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:26.240
<v Speaker 2>to do what I want. As I've said before, I

0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:29.240
<v Speaker 2>will never forgive these people for what they've done to

0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:31.800
<v Speaker 2>the computer, as I love what the computer has done

0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:33.960
<v Speaker 2>for me, and I hate what the computer now does

0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.160
<v Speaker 2>to other people and myself. Because Apple, Google and Meta

0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:41.280
<v Speaker 2>need to increase quarterly revenues. Well, look, it's easy to

0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:43.440
<v Speaker 2>give in too pessimism here, but I'd argue the better

0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:46.359
<v Speaker 2>alternative is to be loud and annoying and extremely verbal

0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:49.800
<v Speaker 2>about the problems you see. Every single website you use

0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:51.879
<v Speaker 2>has a feedback form, and I really encourage you to

0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:54.199
<v Speaker 2>use them, as I encourage you to complain about these

0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:57.000
<v Speaker 2>problems on social media and to regularly say the names

0:22:57.000 --> 0:22:59.520
<v Speaker 2>of the people who cause these problems to everybody you know.

0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:03.320
<v Speaker 2>If you're feeling particularly spicy, perhaps right you're elected officials

0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:05.359
<v Speaker 2>that you believe the quality of digital products you're using

0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:07.720
<v Speaker 2>is getting worse as a means of increasing stock prices,

0:23:08.000 --> 0:23:11.040
<v Speaker 2>and add that doing so is anti democratic, anti competitive,

0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:14.640
<v Speaker 2>and an American and very harmful. But really, just say

0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:17.600
<v Speaker 2>on American, say to them, look like, look, this isn't

0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:21.679
<v Speaker 2>real business, this isn't what America's for. And I realized

0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:23.560
<v Speaker 2>why that might not sound so good right now, But

0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:26.840
<v Speaker 2>maybe you listen to this in the future. And there's

0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:29.320
<v Speaker 2>another idea. I think a lot of these executives have

0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:31.679
<v Speaker 2>email accounts. Why not let them know how you feel.

0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:34.920
<v Speaker 2>I'm not saying be horrible or rude like Jeff Atamazon

0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:37.000
<v Speaker 2>dot Com. I think like, you don't need to. Don't

0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:40.480
<v Speaker 2>be horrible to these people, really please don't. But I

0:23:40.520 --> 0:23:42.439
<v Speaker 2>think you should look them up and let them know

0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:45.000
<v Speaker 2>how bad things have become and mention how long you've

0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:47.880
<v Speaker 2>used them and how bad they are, and how you're

0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:50.520
<v Speaker 2>going to keep emailing them every couple weeks. Let them know.

0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:52.480
<v Speaker 2>You don't want to spam them, you don't want to thrown,

0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:54.200
<v Speaker 2>you don't want to be nasty. You just want to

0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:59.040
<v Speaker 2>very patiently let them know. Because these people, they're insulated,

0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:01.840
<v Speaker 2>they're safe they don't have anything that really scares or

0:24:01.920 --> 0:24:04.600
<v Speaker 2>upsets them. They read their emails. That's the one thing

0:24:04.640 --> 0:24:06.960
<v Speaker 2>I know. But another thing you can do is be

0:24:07.080 --> 0:24:09.560
<v Speaker 2>less useful. If you use Instagram, use it in a

0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:13.119
<v Speaker 2>way that actively generates less engagement. Click through a few stories,

0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:15.080
<v Speaker 2>then drop off the app. Don't use the feed, avoid

0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:18.199
<v Speaker 2>clicking or staying on any ads, go through them quickly,

0:24:18.320 --> 0:24:20.919
<v Speaker 2>and as Jeff Fowler at The Washington Post recommends, reset

0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:23.600
<v Speaker 2>your feed regularly. Delete the data that these companies have

0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:25.560
<v Speaker 2>on you regularly, and they'll be links. By the way

0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:27.880
<v Speaker 2>to this, and anytime a company asks you for feedback

0:24:27.920 --> 0:24:30.320
<v Speaker 2>that isn't about a customer service w app, skip it,

0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:33.520
<v Speaker 2>close the browser. That data is only useful for them.

0:24:33.840 --> 0:24:36.719
<v Speaker 2>In general, engage with apps less, both in the amount

0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:38.320
<v Speaker 2>of time you spend on them and the amount of

0:24:38.359 --> 0:24:41.720
<v Speaker 2>time you interact with their features and obsessively read every

0:24:41.720 --> 0:24:45.640
<v Speaker 2>single privacy policy. These companies make billions of dollars off

0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:48.920
<v Speaker 2>idle muscle memory based use of their software. So get

0:24:49.000 --> 0:24:51.119
<v Speaker 2>used to letrics and work against them. And if you

0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:54.160
<v Speaker 2>really don't use the service, stop using it. By the way,

0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:55.720
<v Speaker 2>I'm not going to judge you for staying on an

0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:57.480
<v Speaker 2>oath of them. I'm still on Instagram because it's where

0:24:57.480 --> 0:24:58.840
<v Speaker 2>a lot of my friends are and I like seeing

0:24:58.840 --> 0:25:02.040
<v Speaker 2>what they're up to. Again, not against these products in principle,

0:25:02.040 --> 0:25:04.639
<v Speaker 2>I just hate what they've become. But more importantly, I

0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:07.840
<v Speaker 2>want you to find solidarity with others against the rot economy.

0:25:08.119 --> 0:25:10.840
<v Speaker 2>Every single person you meet is a victim. Every single

0:25:10.920 --> 0:25:13.800
<v Speaker 2>person you meet faces similar problems to you, and every

0:25:13.840 --> 0:25:16.760
<v Speaker 2>single person you know is likely pissed off at email spam,

0:25:16.960 --> 0:25:19.720
<v Speaker 2>the collapse of social networks and Google, and or the

0:25:19.720 --> 0:25:23.680
<v Speaker 2>abulnerable state of modern business software. We all have this.

0:25:23.680 --> 0:25:26.120
<v Speaker 2>This is a thing that all of us deal with.

0:25:26.880 --> 0:25:29.840
<v Speaker 2>It's bipartisan, it's cross culture, it's cross class. Though I

0:25:29.880 --> 0:25:32.679
<v Speaker 2>would argue it hurts people the lower their income is

0:25:32.800 --> 0:25:36.840
<v Speaker 2>much like most of America, and this is something we

0:25:36.880 --> 0:25:38.879
<v Speaker 2>all face. I know it sounds kind of smaltzy' to

0:25:38.880 --> 0:25:40.840
<v Speaker 2>be like, oh, you're fellow man, but really it is.

0:25:41.200 --> 0:25:42.760
<v Speaker 2>I don't know how else you connect with people, but

0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:46.280
<v Speaker 2>I guarantee their software pisces them off. But the reason

0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:48.520
<v Speaker 2>that these companies have been able to penetrate and poison

0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:51.080
<v Speaker 2>so many things using software as a combination of lacks

0:25:51.160 --> 0:25:54.120
<v Speaker 2>regulation and a dose style society or approach to technology.

0:25:54.400 --> 0:25:57.280
<v Speaker 2>They want no no, They need you to feel hopeless.

0:25:57.720 --> 0:25:59.560
<v Speaker 2>They need you to think that they're too big, that

0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:01.760
<v Speaker 2>they can grow oh forever, or do whatever they want

0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:03.800
<v Speaker 2>to you, and that there'll never be enough negative sentiment

0:26:03.840 --> 0:26:06.440
<v Speaker 2>to change their ways. The reality is these people are

0:26:06.480 --> 0:26:09.840
<v Speaker 2>extremely vulnerable, extremely unprepared, and they don't know how to

0:26:09.880 --> 0:26:13.639
<v Speaker 2>deal with pushback. Tech executives are poorly media trained, thin skinned,

0:26:13.640 --> 0:26:16.959
<v Speaker 2>and have never faced any meaningful negative consumer sentiment, largely

0:26:17.000 --> 0:26:21.080
<v Speaker 2>because they've never faced any meaningful competition. They simply do

0:26:21.119 --> 0:26:22.840
<v Speaker 2>not believe you will act in a way that doesn't

0:26:22.880 --> 0:26:25.159
<v Speaker 2>benefit them, because they've done literally everything they can to

0:26:25.160 --> 0:26:28.719
<v Speaker 2>make it difficult to avoid or leave their systems. They

0:26:28.840 --> 0:26:31.280
<v Speaker 2>need you to think that things will always be this bad,

0:26:31.480 --> 0:26:33.199
<v Speaker 2>or that they'll get worse, and for you to just

0:26:33.240 --> 0:26:35.520
<v Speaker 2>sit there and take it, rather than screaming in their

0:26:35.560 --> 0:26:39.720
<v Speaker 2>fucking faces about what they're doing and saying it's unacceptable.

0:26:40.119 --> 0:26:43.480
<v Speaker 2>They want you to give up. Don't let them destabilize you.

0:26:44.160 --> 0:26:47.200
<v Speaker 2>Do not let them pump you full of cynicism, of pessimism,

0:26:47.280 --> 0:26:49.560
<v Speaker 2>of the belief that there's nothing good and thus that

0:26:49.640 --> 0:26:51.879
<v Speaker 2>there can be nothing that will ever change that we're

0:26:51.920 --> 0:26:56.040
<v Speaker 2>in this unchanging hell. We are not going forward. One

0:26:56.080 --> 0:26:58.080
<v Speaker 2>of my missions with this podcast is to give you

0:26:58.160 --> 0:27:00.439
<v Speaker 2>the language to describe what is being done to you

0:27:00.480 --> 0:27:03.119
<v Speaker 2>and the names of those responsible for doing it to you.

0:27:03.680 --> 0:27:06.680
<v Speaker 2>I fundamentally believe that anyone can understand the stuff I'm

0:27:06.720 --> 0:27:09.080
<v Speaker 2>talking about, and that the tech behind it is not magic,

0:27:09.119 --> 0:27:11.280
<v Speaker 2>and that the terrible things being done to you are

0:27:11.320 --> 0:27:13.399
<v Speaker 2>being done in the name of the rot economy and

0:27:13.440 --> 0:27:16.640
<v Speaker 2>perpetual growth, and that none of these things are mystical

0:27:16.760 --> 0:27:20.320
<v Speaker 2>or requires some insane background. You can do this. I

0:27:20.359 --> 0:27:22.840
<v Speaker 2>talk to so many of you over email, and it's

0:27:22.880 --> 0:27:26.960
<v Speaker 2>awesome because your teachers, robbers, your people that drive into

0:27:27.040 --> 0:27:29.399
<v Speaker 2>banks and with a big car. No no, no, no

0:27:29.480 --> 0:27:31.719
<v Speaker 2>more criminal stuff. Please keep that off the Reddit. But

0:27:31.840 --> 0:27:34.160
<v Speaker 2>generally most of the people that contact me, and non

0:27:34.160 --> 0:27:36.240
<v Speaker 2>tech people, you all seem to fucking get out. I

0:27:36.280 --> 0:27:38.199
<v Speaker 2>don't know what the problem is, and I want you

0:27:38.240 --> 0:27:40.800
<v Speaker 2>to understand this stuff so you can make better decisions

0:27:40.880 --> 0:27:42.600
<v Speaker 2>and also understand that you are the victim of a

0:27:42.680 --> 0:27:45.080
<v Speaker 2>con where you've been convinced that you were behind the times,

0:27:45.240 --> 0:27:47.879
<v Speaker 2>when the tech industry just actually gave up on serving you.

0:27:48.720 --> 0:27:51.280
<v Speaker 2>Our economy and the majority of public companies are run

0:27:51.320 --> 0:27:53.520
<v Speaker 2>by people who do not face any real problems or

0:27:53.560 --> 0:27:56.040
<v Speaker 2>do any real work, and the tech industry, run by

0:27:56.040 --> 0:27:59.720
<v Speaker 2>similar people, has oriented itself around building products and services.

0:27:59.760 --> 0:28:02.479
<v Speaker 2>To say, album these people do not use their own products,

0:28:02.560 --> 0:28:04.040
<v Speaker 2>or if they do, they do so in such a

0:28:04.080 --> 0:28:07.400
<v Speaker 2>distant way that it doesn't really matter if they suck. It's

0:28:07.440 --> 0:28:10.240
<v Speaker 2>time to speak about these companies and this softer and

0:28:10.280 --> 0:28:13.840
<v Speaker 2>plain terms. We are in an era of rot our markets,

0:28:13.880 --> 0:28:16.879
<v Speaker 2>dominated by a growth obsessed death cult so powerful that

0:28:16.960 --> 0:28:19.440
<v Speaker 2>it's just accepted that the only good stocks are those

0:28:19.440 --> 0:28:23.000
<v Speaker 2>that grow every single quarter. A good company is no

0:28:23.119 --> 0:28:25.560
<v Speaker 2>longer one that provides a good service or that will

0:28:25.600 --> 0:28:28.080
<v Speaker 2>be around in ten years. No, it's one that provides

0:28:28.280 --> 0:28:29.960
<v Speaker 2>a service in such a way that they can jack

0:28:30.040 --> 0:28:33.280
<v Speaker 2>up the prices or upsell customers while also somehow getting

0:28:33.359 --> 0:28:36.800
<v Speaker 2>more customers. If anything, the rot economy is kind of

0:28:36.840 --> 0:28:39.280
<v Speaker 2>like a global Ponzi scheme, where the only companies that

0:28:39.320 --> 0:28:42.200
<v Speaker 2>succeed are the ones that can continually get more customers

0:28:42.680 --> 0:28:45.040
<v Speaker 2>and come up with new ways to get more customers

0:28:45.080 --> 0:28:47.440
<v Speaker 2>that don't exist yet. Even if the service or the

0:28:47.440 --> 0:28:50.560
<v Speaker 2>goods provided are bad, it doesn't matter to these companies

0:28:50.640 --> 0:28:52.920
<v Speaker 2>that the only thing that grows forever is cancer, and

0:28:52.960 --> 0:28:56.240
<v Speaker 2>the perpetual growth could very well falter and then crash everything.

0:28:56.960 --> 0:29:00.280
<v Speaker 2>It's short term thinking all the time. I want you

0:29:00.400 --> 0:29:02.960
<v Speaker 2>to start seeing everything through the lens of growth, and

0:29:03.040 --> 0:29:05.920
<v Speaker 2>I believe everything will start making more sense as a result.

0:29:06.200 --> 0:29:08.160
<v Speaker 2>And these companies don't even have to do it this

0:29:08.240 --> 0:29:11.440
<v Speaker 2>way success and being a decent in the moral sense

0:29:11.480 --> 0:29:14.760
<v Speaker 2>of the word sparingly in the case of capitalism, you

0:29:14.800 --> 0:29:16.800
<v Speaker 2>can do this as a company. These things are not

0:29:16.880 --> 0:29:20.360
<v Speaker 2>mutually exclusive. These companies could have modest two to five

0:29:20.360 --> 0:29:22.920
<v Speaker 2>percent growth each quarter. They could make good software that

0:29:22.960 --> 0:29:24.720
<v Speaker 2>people like. They could do all of these things, but

0:29:24.760 --> 0:29:28.120
<v Speaker 2>they choose not to. They'd rather hurt us because growth

0:29:28.160 --> 0:29:30.600
<v Speaker 2>is more important to them than whether our lives fucking suck.

0:29:30.920 --> 0:29:33.680
<v Speaker 2>They'd rather refuse to maintain a rigorously test their products,

0:29:33.760 --> 0:29:36.920
<v Speaker 2>especially their software, because investing in customers doesn't grow your

0:29:36.920 --> 0:29:39.680
<v Speaker 2>customer base as fast as focusing on finding new ones.

0:29:40.320 --> 0:29:42.480
<v Speaker 2>And these things have been happening for over a decade,

0:29:42.640 --> 0:29:45.240
<v Speaker 2>and being able to explain them for you, I mean,

0:29:45.960 --> 0:29:47.680
<v Speaker 2>it's important. You need to be able to do this

0:29:47.720 --> 0:29:51.000
<v Speaker 2>in plain English. Having conversations about this is important too.

0:29:51.280 --> 0:29:53.440
<v Speaker 2>Talk to your friends and your family and your coworkers

0:29:53.480 --> 0:29:55.560
<v Speaker 2>about this stuff. They're all dealing with it too. I

0:29:55.600 --> 0:29:57.960
<v Speaker 2>don't care if my work's involved. Just tell them what's

0:29:58.000 --> 0:30:01.720
<v Speaker 2>fucking happening. Look, you can't change the world on your own,

0:30:01.760 --> 0:30:03.840
<v Speaker 2>and you may very well go through the world without

0:30:03.880 --> 0:30:06.520
<v Speaker 2>changing much at all. But in your own small way,

0:30:06.600 --> 0:30:09.240
<v Speaker 2>you can, at the very least, contribute to a greater

0:30:09.320 --> 0:30:12.600
<v Speaker 2>hope and positivity in the bubble around you. The ideas

0:30:12.640 --> 0:30:15.640
<v Speaker 2>you have of a fair or better, more inclusive world,

0:30:15.800 --> 0:30:18.160
<v Speaker 2>one where people are not vilified for being who they are,

0:30:18.280 --> 0:30:21.280
<v Speaker 2>are shared by most people. We outnumber them, and we

0:30:21.320 --> 0:30:24.960
<v Speaker 2>outnumber them by an overwhelming margin. The demands you make

0:30:25.000 --> 0:30:28.280
<v Speaker 2>of the world do not necessarily need to be realistic,

0:30:28.480 --> 0:30:31.280
<v Speaker 2>but they can be fair. It's not unfair to demand

0:30:31.280 --> 0:30:33.520
<v Speaker 2>a tech industry that is worth I don't know, a

0:30:33.560 --> 0:30:36.160
<v Speaker 2>few hundred billion dollars while providing a service that largely

0:30:36.200 --> 0:30:38.960
<v Speaker 2>benefits the world around us. At the very least, we

0:30:38.960 --> 0:30:42.480
<v Speaker 2>can ask for shit that works. Discussing ideas what a

0:30:42.480 --> 0:30:45.600
<v Speaker 2>better world might look like. It's eternal. It's the root

0:30:45.600 --> 0:30:48.600
<v Speaker 2>of humanity. It's what gives us light in the darkest times,

0:30:48.640 --> 0:30:50.240
<v Speaker 2>and what the darkest people in the world wish to

0:30:50.320 --> 0:30:53.120
<v Speaker 2>rob of us, not simply hope, but the ingredients of hope,

0:30:53.160 --> 0:30:55.360
<v Speaker 2>the stuff that builds the foundation that allows us to

0:30:55.360 --> 0:30:58.840
<v Speaker 2>truly believe. This isn't to say any of this will

0:30:58.880 --> 0:31:01.840
<v Speaker 2>be an easy process, nor one without deep dark moments,

0:31:01.880 --> 0:31:03.720
<v Speaker 2>but at the very least we can have standards and

0:31:03.720 --> 0:31:07.840
<v Speaker 2>beliefs in ourselves of what better looks like. And now

0:31:08.160 --> 0:31:09.840
<v Speaker 2>it kind of feels a little silly to hold up

0:31:09.880 --> 0:31:12.360
<v Speaker 2>better software and technology is such a serious concept, but

0:31:12.400 --> 0:31:15.160
<v Speaker 2>I think the world as it stands is suffering due

0:31:15.160 --> 0:31:17.960
<v Speaker 2>to the tolerance we've had for the horrifying conditions of

0:31:18.000 --> 0:31:21.520
<v Speaker 2>modern software, which has now been deeply penetrated into every

0:31:21.600 --> 0:31:24.240
<v Speaker 2>part of our lives, in some cases leaving trash lying

0:31:24.280 --> 0:31:26.640
<v Speaker 2>around that we find ourselves tripping over all the time.

0:31:27.240 --> 0:31:30.800
<v Speaker 2>Software has, to some extent, truly improved humanity, all having

0:31:30.960 --> 0:31:33.360
<v Speaker 2>levels of connection that are truly special, both with those

0:31:33.360 --> 0:31:35.720
<v Speaker 2>we know and those we barely know. It has, however,

0:31:35.800 --> 0:31:39.200
<v Speaker 2>grown without restraint, without true accountability for those who write

0:31:39.200 --> 0:31:41.800
<v Speaker 2>it and deploy it, and let's be honest, barely maintain

0:31:41.840 --> 0:31:46.000
<v Speaker 2>it or actively and consciously striving to undermine it. I

0:31:46.040 --> 0:31:48.520
<v Speaker 2>cannot promise you that will ever have solutions to any

0:31:48.560 --> 0:31:51.240
<v Speaker 2>of these problems. But I can, as you can, say

0:31:51.280 --> 0:31:53.640
<v Speaker 2>what a better world looks like. And a better world

0:31:53.720 --> 0:31:56.520
<v Speaker 2>is one where software works for, not against, the people

0:31:56.520 --> 0:31:59.200
<v Speaker 2>that use it. There's no harm in liking or even

0:31:59.240 --> 0:32:02.160
<v Speaker 2>loving technology. Ges Liking it allows you to more articulately

0:32:02.240 --> 0:32:04.560
<v Speaker 2>explain why you fucking hate what they've made of it.

0:32:05.280 --> 0:32:08.280
<v Speaker 2>Expressing what good looks like what you love allows you

0:32:08.360 --> 0:32:10.240
<v Speaker 2>to cut deeper with your hatred for those who have

0:32:10.320 --> 0:32:14.000
<v Speaker 2>caused you so much harm. This starts, by the way,

0:32:14.040 --> 0:32:16.960
<v Speaker 2>with naming those responsible for poisoning the world with software.

0:32:17.240 --> 0:32:20.520
<v Speaker 2>Sundopeshi of Google, satch In the Della of Microsoft, Tim

0:32:20.560 --> 0:32:22.920
<v Speaker 2>Cook and Phil Schiller who runs the app store of Apple,

0:32:23.160 --> 0:32:25.880
<v Speaker 2>Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, and the other invisible war criminals

0:32:26.080 --> 0:32:29.000
<v Speaker 2>responsible for the destruction of our digital lives. They have

0:32:29.160 --> 0:32:32.240
<v Speaker 2>nothing but their names. The tech industry is so woefully

0:32:32.280 --> 0:32:34.840
<v Speaker 2>unprepared to deal with regular people having the language and

0:32:34.960 --> 0:32:38.560
<v Speaker 2>understanding of their horrible acts. Crisis p Arthentek does not

0:32:38.720 --> 0:32:40.760
<v Speaker 2>know how to deal with real people saying why did

0:32:40.760 --> 0:32:43.560
<v Speaker 2>you fuck up my website? In the thousands or millions,

0:32:44.080 --> 0:32:47.320
<v Speaker 2>These people have never ever dealt with real accountability, or

0:32:47.360 --> 0:32:49.640
<v Speaker 2>even a real conversation about what they're doing and why

0:32:49.640 --> 0:32:53.080
<v Speaker 2>they're doing it. We deserve better, so we should fucking

0:32:53.160 --> 0:33:04.320
<v Speaker 2>ask for it. Thank you for listening to Better Offline.

0:33:04.480 --> 0:33:06.880
<v Speaker 4>The editor and composer of the Better Offline theme song

0:33:06.960 --> 0:33:09.640
<v Speaker 4>is Matasowski. You can check out more of his music

0:33:09.640 --> 0:33:13.280
<v Speaker 4>and audio projects at Matasowski dot com, M A T

0:33:13.280 --> 0:33:14.440
<v Speaker 4>T O S O.

0:33:15.040 --> 0:33:17.640
<v Speaker 2>W s ki dot com.

0:33:17.680 --> 0:33:20.000
<v Speaker 4>You can email me at easy at Better Offline dot

0:33:20.000 --> 0:33:22.239
<v Speaker 4>com or visit Better Offline dot com to find more

0:33:22.280 --> 0:33:25.640
<v Speaker 4>podcast links and of course, my newsletter. I also really

0:33:25.680 --> 0:33:27.960
<v Speaker 4>recommend you go to chat dot Where's youreaed dot at

0:33:28.000 --> 0:33:30.480
<v Speaker 4>to visit the discord, and go to our slash.

0:33:30.160 --> 0:33:33.320
<v Speaker 2>Better Offline to check out our reddit. Thank you so

0:33:33.440 --> 0:33:34.160
<v Speaker 2>much for listening.

0:33:35.000 --> 0:33:37.720
<v Speaker 3>Better Offline is a production of cool Zone Media. For

0:33:37.800 --> 0:33:41.000
<v Speaker 3>more from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool Zonemedia

0:33:41.040 --> 0:33:43.920
<v Speaker 3>dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,

0:33:43.920 --> 0:33:45.560
<v Speaker 3>Apple Podcasts, or wherever.

0:33:45.360 --> 0:34:03.200
<v Speaker 1>You get your podcasts. In wh smash