WEBVTT - Week in Tech: Cast Your Ballot On Discord 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.000 From Kaleidoscope and iHeart podcasts. This is tech stuff. 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.080 I'm as Voloscian and I'm Carera Price. 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:23.040 Today we'll get into the headlines this week, including Nepal's 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:28.240 failed social media band turned government takeover, and a look 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:32.919 at the newest generation of tech founders. Then on chatting me. 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.480 Chasubt has become kind of like a partner that makes 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:39.640 managing health and lifestyle simple. 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.599 All of that On the Week in Tech. It's Friday, 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:43.920 September twenty sixth. 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.000 Hello, Cara Hias. 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:50.840 Nice to see you. It's been a couple of weeks 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:55.920 where we've been remote, you've abandoned me. It's good to 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:56.960 be back with you in person. 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:58.600 Dirty gritty New York City. 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.320 Speaking of dirty grit in New York City, how often 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:02.200 you go to Brian Park? 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:04.240 Why not to go inside Brian Park? But I take 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.920 the subway to Brian Park once a week on Thursday's 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.640 Goo Therapy. But this week and you're trying not to 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:14.959 go anywhere because this un week has completely unga, snarled 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:17.000 traffic and the. 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.720 Dirtiest word in the New york Er Dictionary unga. 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:22.760 Why do you ask, though, because. 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.560 Brian Park is not where the Center of Fashion is 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.479 in Manhattan. It is where I found my most beloved 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:31.759 new toy. Her name is Belonce. 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:32.720 Belonce. 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:35.080 She's actually not she doesn't belong to me, but she 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:37.880 is the robot lawnmower of Brian Park. 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:39.000 Well, she's got a good name. 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:41.680 I wish I came up with the name Belonce. 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:42.160 I did not. 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:44.560 I read about it in the Washington Post and then 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:46.720 I actually went to the park to check it out. 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:47.560 You did some reporting. 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.320 She's gorgeous. How in the flesh she's gorgeous? 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:54.640 Is there anything significant about Belonce other than her fabulous name? 0:01:55.200 --> 0:02:00.480 Nothing is insignificant about Belonce. She's a four thousand dollars rumba, essentially, 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.040 and she's run via an app which tells her when 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.600 and where to mow. So you tell her where to go, 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.640 she does her thing, and then very cutely, she rolls 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:12.160 herself back to her charger after a few hours. And 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.040 I think it goes without saying that all of these 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:18.359 electric robot lawnmowers are much in quotes greener than their 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:20.560 gas guzzling human controlled counterparts. 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:25.440 My mother also has a semi autonomous robot lawnmower at 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.200 her house. I'm not sure if that's because of her 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.320 concern for gas guzzling. But it is interesting how these 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.240 kind of almost sci fi type robots have become so 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.840 normalized that people think you're crazy for going to look 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.520 at one in action. I am curious though. Obviously in 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.560 the previously owned garden, you know, a Belonce going about 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.400 her business is racally safe. But I can imagine the 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:48.960 cut in trust of New York City, you know, vandalism, theft. 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.560 All dirt, the grimy crime of New York City. Actually, 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:54.360 that Belonce wouldn't be safe. 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:55.440 Yeah, I was worried about her. 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:56.600 Well, she is safe. 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:59.040 You want to know why there's a ton of security 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:03.640 in brime. She's also not the first she has peers. 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:08.239 There were several others tested, including l lawn James got. 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.280 Who comes up with this? Mum? If you're listening, Karen, 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.400 do you have any suggestions for what the garden lawnmower 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:15.519 could be rechristened? 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.800 Okay, so I have actually five because one of our 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:22.040 genius producers asked an AI chatbot for a few more 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:23.079 lawn pun names. 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.919 Here we go. My favorite, Trimothy Shallome. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:36.960 Mozart, Yeah, fine, eh, post Malone, ye ye grass, light Year, 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.840 and fine, another great one a lawn musk. 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.040 That's my favorite. MS. Okay, we got it. 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:47.840 So that is my lighthearted contribution for today. If you 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.080 are in New York City, go check out belonce. She'll 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:55.120 be waiting for you. I have to switch gears a 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.360 little bit for my next story. How familiar are you 0:03:58.400 --> 0:03:59.040 with Discord. 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:03.200 I've had about Discord for many years. I've never actually 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.640 used it a gamer. I'm not a gamer. I know 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.120 it's kind of like a live platform for simultaneous discussion, 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:13.920 and unfortunately, my life is so sad that the closest 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.920 analogy I can think of is the work productivity tool Slack. 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:19.359 Slack is a game for you. 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:23.040 Unfortunately, you're like, oh, you mean Slack's Ega Genesis. Well, 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:24.680 the reason I ask you, and I think you'll be 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.720 interested in this. Discord recently played a very big role 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:30.440 in a revolution. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.279 I actually I actually heard about this a little bit 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:35.680 intil some headlines. This is in Nepal, that's right. 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.559 So in the course of a week, the country banned 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.040 social media, erupted in gen z led protest, ousted, their 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.880 prime minister, solicited recommendations for an interim replacement on chat GBT, 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:49.599 and then elected an interim leader on discord. 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:50.320 Talk about tech stuff. 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:53.680 It really is a tech stuff story. 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:55.960 Yeah, I don't know that much about Nepal. I know 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.640 it's in the Himalayas. I know it's where Mount Everest is. Yes, 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:05.120 it borders China and India. But why did this happen there? Like, 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:06.359 what's the background? 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:11.000 So actually Nepal was traditionally a monarchy, right, but a 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.719 democratic government was founded less than twenty years ago. Nepal 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.520 is the second poorest country in South Asia, the first 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.440 being Afghanistan. And a few weeks ago there was a 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:26.360 massive TikTok trend among youth and Nepal called hashtag Nepo kids. 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:31.080 So social media users were posting videos showing the wealthy 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:35.600 lifestyles of the children of Nepal's leaders. So think images 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.640 of politicians' kids posing in front of Christmas trees made 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.800 out of Louis Vuitton and Cardier boxes. These images were 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:45.240 being juxtaposed with images of the day to day struggles 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.000 of regular people in Nepal. So there are images of 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:51.880 malnourished children, floods, decimated housing, and overall poverty. 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.440 Yeah, that's quite a stark juxtaposition. And I can't imagine 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.600 government ministers felt too good about their children being juxtaposed 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.560 with children suffering malnourishment and poverty. No, and it. 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:06.200 Actually it led to the government banning twenty six social 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:10.680 media platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, purportedly in the 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:13.679 name of battling fake news, hate speech, and online fraud, 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.000 which obviously people are not buying. 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.560 Yeah, I wouldn't buy that either. When did the band 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:20.240 come into effect? 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:21.200 On my birthday? 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:22.680 September fourth, hap your birthday? 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.520 The following Monday, Thousands of young people took to the streets. 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.920 So some government buildings were burned down, including the Prime 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:33.400 Minister's office, and according to Reuter's there was a violent 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.680 crackdown and about seventy two people were actually killed in 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:38.280 the protest and subsequent fires. 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.040 Yeah, this sounds like, I mean, eerily familiar in terms 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.719 of the Arab Spring of fifteen years ago. What happened 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:45.679 next in Nepal? 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:49.760 So the social media ban was reversed almost immediately after 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.560 protests began, and on Tuesday, September ninth, the Prime minister 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.960 resigned and fled the country. Then the military pretty much 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.839 took over and put a curfew in place. And so 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:02.680 you know, what do people do when they're force to 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:04.840 stay inside, They go back on life, That's right, they 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:08.400 go online. So over one hundred thousand people, including a 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:12.160 number of organizing groups, spent several days on Discord working 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:14.840 to come up with an interim leader who the military 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:18.920 would actually cooperate with and accept. There were discussions taking 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:22.360 place on Discord, filled with you know, everything you'd expect 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:27.000 on discord, memes, insults, and there were some genuinely earnest 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.480 you know, suggestions and polls. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:29.800 Right. 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.720 Young activists argued over the future leadership of the country, 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:36.320 and some even turned to chat GPT for help. You know, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.720 one group asked chat to identify potential candidates for the 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:43.040 interim leadership position, and so when they were provided a 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.960 list of qualified candidates, they went back to chat gpt 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.480 and asked it to debate the strengths and weaknesses of 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:49.120 each candidate. 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:51.680 Well and chat gate good advice, it seemed to you know. 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:56.120 Chat gpt actually provided many qualified candidates, including one woman 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:58.960 who had been selected by a dominant gen Z collective 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.520 to lead negotiations with the military. This was Sushila Karki. 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.920 She's seventy three years old. She's not, you know, a 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.640 young discord user herself. She's a former Chief Justice and 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.720 well known anti corruption crusader, and according to the Sri 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:16.200 Lankan Guardian, Chatchept advised the quote, she seems likely to 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:20.160 command trust across different groups and could help oversee reforms 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:21.760 and the path to fare elections. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:23.679 And so far, so good. 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.440 You know, after some chaos, the discord community decided to 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.400 have her be the new interim leader of Nepal. And 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.160 she's actually putting together a cabinet right now and will 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:35.800 hold elections for a new prime minister in about six months. 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.479 This is an amazing story. This is uncanny online, offline 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:44.199 metaverse discord chatchpt, real life protests, new leaders. I mean, 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.200 what's so interesting to me about this story is just 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.680 how borderless it is. For example, the mascot of this 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:55.120 revolution is the pirate flag from the Japanese anime series 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.400 One Piece. Have you watched One Piece? 0:08:57.920 --> 0:08:59.440 I know about it, I'm aware of it. 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:03.400 So CNN describes it as quote the swashbuckling story, and 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.560 I always loved the swashbuckling story. To the swashbuckling story 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:10.320 of the charming pirate captain Monkey d Loofy and his 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.600 misfit straw hat crew. CNN continues to one piece fans. 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.760 The flag symbolizes Lufi's quest to chase his dreams, liberate 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:23.720 oppressed people, and fight the autocratic world government. That flag, 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.319 from a Japanese anime series has now been seen flying 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.760 not just in Nepal, but also in Indonesia and the Philippines, 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.160 countries that are both recently had their own gen Z 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.600 uprisings over government corruptions. I was in an uber this 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.800 morning in gridlock traffic in Midtown, so got chatting. My 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:45.520 driver was from Nepal, Lucky, and so I asked him, 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.000 you know, what do you think about this story? He said, Look, 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.360 this isn't really a story about Nepal. This is much 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.400 bigger than Nepal. This is about a group of people, 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:57.120 young people who refuse to be bound by the political conventions, 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.800 the political institutions, or the political establishment of their country 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:05.000 and instead insisted on having their voice and on a 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.920 new political reality. And his point was this is really borderers. 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.320 And he even said it could happen here. I don't 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.479 know if it really could happen here, but the optimism 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.000 which he brought in the excitement reminded me of the 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.080 early days of the Arab Spring, which obviously followed by 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.000 what people talk about as the Arab Winter. But it'll 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:22.360 be interesting to see what happens next. 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.840 Yeah, you know, for year, social media companies talked about 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.560 how their platforms could democratize the Internet and bring people together. 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.839 And in the US, as we know, they've mostly proven 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.959 to be divisive and polarizing, you know, que the recent 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:39.120 discussion about the rhetoric and online communities that motivated Tyler 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.800 Robinson who is now in custody for killing Charlie Kirk. 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.880 But in Nepal they were able to have a transparent 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.960 exercise in direct democracy, of course, with the help of 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.480 Discord and unbelievably generative AI. 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.160 And this brings me to our next stories. So while 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.120 gen Z and Nepal is interested in using AI and 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:02.000 discord a topple government and bring more direct experience of democracy, 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.520 gen Z in America is focused on getting rich. 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:09.160 Who isn't true? 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.480 Who isn't So basically, there was a great story in 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:14.400 the Wall Street Journal that I read. I mean, the 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:19.199 headline was AI startup founders taut a winning formula, no booze, 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:24.160 no sleep, no fun. And what the story is really 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.800 about is how back in the early two thousands there 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.920 was this like hustle culture there was. It was celebrated 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.400 in the movie The Social Network. You know, it was 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.480 this time of college dropouts and the consumer internet was 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.360 being born. People were living in dormitories and you know, 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:40.920 doing business with each other and kind of sacrificing that 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.800 the normal pleasures of youth to build these companies that 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.240 became Facebook and Google or whatever else and became you know, 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.880 multi multi billionaires. In the intervening time, Silicon Valley kind 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:54.240 of settled into a normal you know, corporate America. People 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:58.000 had great benefits, they're normal working hours, they made great money, 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:00.760 et cetera, et cetera, and that seemed to be kind 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.440 of the new norm. And you saw this like generation 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.200 of people who were you know, not all about hustle culture, 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.480 about you know, have a balance in their private lives. 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:10.000 Exact life balance, a balance. 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:14.880 Now there are new fortunes to be made, and there 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:18.120 are new threats to the stable assumptions of what it 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.640 was to be you know, a knowledge worker in your 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:24.760 early twenties. And so with a vengeance, this hustle culture 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:26.080 seems to have returned. 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:28.920 So what does that look like exactly? 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.120 You know, are founders sleeping under their deaths, working all 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:33.120 the time, have no social I mean, that's that's what 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.240 I think of when I think about sort of early Facebook. 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:37.880 Yeah, exactly that, but that someone that are even younger 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.720 than they were. So The General profiled an eighteen year 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.480 old from Kazakhstan named Arlan. He dropped out of school 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.160 in his junior year of high school after creating an 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:49.960 AI tool that led him getting a summer research job 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.559 at Stanford. After that, he was accepted to why Combinator, 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.800 which is this very famous startup incubator that helped develop 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.959 companies like door Dash and Airbnb. He said that being 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.200 steps to why Combinator been his dream since he was ten. 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:04.680 Years old, which was eight years ago. 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:13.960 Exactly. Jeez, that really puts his perspective to From there, 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.360 Arlan received a million dollars in funding and moved from 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.640 Kazakhstan to San Francisco again. According to the Journal, he 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.600 always carries his laptop with him and works quote while 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:28.920 out walking, during dinners, at the laundromat and on the. 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:34.000 Toy because we're moving fast and breaking things, because we 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:34.679 have add. 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:36.800 Well, yeah, I mean, obviously the phone in the toilet 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.200 is a particularly bad habit, but I think Arlan is 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:43.120 like debugging software, I think, rather than texting. The journal 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.760 reported that even after dinner with other founders, Arlan will 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:51.680 go to meetings with potential clients until one am. He said, quote, 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:54.640 I'm trying to be in the sprint mode always. I 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.840 never tried to divide working on startup and my social life. 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.280 And Arline even convinced his father brother to move to 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:05.240 the US where they're working on their own AI startups. Again, 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:07.200 he's eighteen years old. 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.720 What does he mean when he says he never tried 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.040 to divide his startup in a social life. 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.600 Yeah, I mean, so you know, it's not like he 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.920 never socializes with other people. Like the startup founders obviously 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.080 understand that having a network is a key part of succeeding. 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.240 They don't waste their time and they don't socialize for fun. 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:26.600 But apparently one of the things which is in vogue 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:28.960 as a way of socializing is something you know quite 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:30.840 a lot about, which is book clubs. 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:32.280 Interesting. 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:34.960 I didn't realize that you run a book club I do. 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:38.040 What do you think motivates your members? To be part 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:39.480 of the book club. It's called Bellatris. 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:40.400 Yes, thank you. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:44.600 Check it out on Instagram and on the websitewwwl tris 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:47.800 dot com. I think when we started at what motivated 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:51.440 people was this idea that we were increasingly on our 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.480 phones all the time. Like in the early twentieth century, 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:58.400 when paperbacks really started to hit the market, people were 0:14:58.400 --> 0:14:59.520 worried that people would be. 0:14:59.440 --> 0:14:59.960 Reading too much. 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.920 Much. Now, I think a lot of people have said 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.600 to me, you know, I'm devoted to reading in the 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:08.760 way that I'm devoted to exercise, in the sense of 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:12.000 it's bringing my mind offline in a way that not 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:12.840 much else is. 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.160 And I think one of the interesting things in Silicon 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.560 Value there's this thing going on where there's interest in 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.520 Roman history and military history and all this this kind 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.280 of idea that to be a successful founder, Yes, there's 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.600 a lot of hustle, but also kind of living in 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:31.120 the world of grand ideas and intellectual frameworks and stuff 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:32.000 is also important. 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:34.400 One of the things that's surprising about this article, and 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.120 you're describing in it, is like I was under the 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.800 impression that gen Z was like quiet, quitting and taking 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:41.840 time for themselves. 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.040 Yeah, I think that comes back to what I was 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.800 saying at the beginning, which is there's probably like there 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:51.000 may be a bifurcation between like elder gen Z and 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:55.840 younger gen Z. I mean, life was economically before the 0:15:55.840 --> 0:16:00.200 air evolution, like the corporate job market was much more 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.640 secure than is now, and also like new fortunes were 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:05.960 not being made, like the tech companies were so dominant. 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:08.440 There's all that focus on how you needed anti trust 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:12.520 regulation otherwise no new companies would emerge. And then jen 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.080 Ai came along and it just shattered the landscape. And 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:19.480 so now you have these extraordinary you know, dreamers like 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.840 our Land moving from Kazakhstan to try and make it 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.400 in the valley. It's something that's always happened, I think, 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.360 But this you know, return of hustle culture with a 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:29.560 vengeance is really interesting. There was a bit in a 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.520 story that really made me think, which is that a 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:34.920 bunch of the young founders refer to this concept of 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:37.000 nine ninety six. Do you not? Nine ninety six is? 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.760 I do? But please describe it because I want people to. 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:41.840 Know, well, nine ninety six is actually a concept that 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.080 emerged in China, and this was basically a kind of 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.600 work as hard as you can nine am to nine pm, 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:50.720 six days a week, so every day you one day 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:53.080 off and otherwise you work twelve hours a day. And 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:55.200 this was kind of like a little bit of a 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.160 boogey man of like people look at China and think, 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:58.760 oh my god, this is a whole generation of young 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.320 people who are killing them by working too hard in 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:04.040 the tech sector, and you know, actually suicides, and there's 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.159 a lot of horrible kind of ansidiary reporting around this 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.560 nine ninety six culture. But it's now evidently like a 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.919 meme not so dissimilar to the Pirate flag, been absorbed 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:17.119 by a certain sector of youth population of Silicon Valley 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:19.080 as something to aspire to. And I just find that 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:19.960 really really interesting. 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.280 It is very strange because we came of age in 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:27.480 a time where burnout culture was such a buzzword. This 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.000 is literally touting burnout culture as the way to live 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.240 and as the way to make money, which is interesting. 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.960 I mean, if you think of prior generations of immigrant populations, 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:39.840 like burnout was a way to build wealth in this country. 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.359 If you came to this country and if your relatives 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:43.959 were meant to come to this country, it wasn't like 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:46.280 if you owned a dry cleaner, for example, you. 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:48.560 It nine ninety six was there was another work. 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.200 Life balance at the dry cleaner. And I think what's 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.479 interesting is it's the type of businesses that people are 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.800 building that has changed. But there has always been a 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.280 mentality in this country of like, we come to America 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:01.000 to make wealth. 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.399 See I think you're right to your point. AI is 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.960 exactly that. Like it's a chimera, like it's a dream, 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:07.800 it's anything you want it to be. And so it's 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:09.919 literally a moment where like for a certain group of 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.679 people it feels like anything's possible, although of course the 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.080 reality is most of them will be very burnt out 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.480 and not have very valuable businesses at the end of it. 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:19.920 You know, your pal Jeff Hinton, who was a tech 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:23.479 stuff guest and the so called godfather of AI, recently 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.320 gave an interview to The Financial Times where he said, quote, 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.080 AI will make a few people much richer and most 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.000 people poorer. So I think we kind of are aware 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.119 of this on a macro level, but it's interesting to 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.840 see it play out in the Petri dish of Silicon Valley. 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:40.359 You know how hard these kids are willing to fight 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:42.600 for a slice of the AI PI while like all 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:44.600 of these entry level jobs are being slashed. 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.920 After the break, some more headlines. The FDC is taking 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:53.360 Amazon to trial, Albania has an AI minister of corruption, 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:57.959 and Russia has an AI generated television show. Then on 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:01.720 Chat to me Chat helps one tech stuff listener navigate 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:13.000 a scary diagnosis. Stay with us. We're back, and in 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:15.000 honor of you, m week, We've got a couple more 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.840 global headlines for you. But first, Kara, are you an 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:20.119 Amazon Prime member? 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:21.240 I am? 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.480 Do you remember when you signed up? Oh? 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:25.280 God, years ago, years ago? 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:27.639 Probably the free delivery gotcha easily. 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:29.879 Yeah, me too, just hauling it prime. 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.320 Yeah, it's like I want to be the prime USDA. 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.600 H yeah, so that's a good thing. Prime. However, the 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:40.080 Federal Trade Commission is taking Amazon to trial this week 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:44.320 overclaims they tricked millions of people into signing up for Prime. 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:46.639 I did it with my eyes open, but apparently millions 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.040 of others did not. And the laws it was actually 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.840 first filed, interestingly during the Biden administration back in twenty 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.560 twenty three, but the trial just started on Monday. 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.560 Why does the FDC think that people were tricked? 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:00.800 Well, you want to hear from the comp I do. 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:03.280 I'm not going to read it. 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:09.240 The complaint filed by the FTC says, quote Amazon used manipulative, coercive, 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:14.480 or deceptive user interface designs known as dark patterns to 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:20.240 treat consumers into enrolling and automatically renewing prime subscriptions. Cancline 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:24.240 subscription was made intentionally more difficult than signing up for one, 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:28.520 and the complaint calls the cancelation process quote labyrinthine is 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.960