WEBVTT - The Internet Reacts to CEO's Murder 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.400 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.160 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:20.160 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and How the 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:22.520 tech are you. It's time for the tech news for 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:27.040 the week ending December sixth, twenty twenty four. And my apologies, 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:29.840 but we have some heavy stories both at the beginning 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.159 and the end of this one because of the way 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.519 news unfolded this week. One of the top stories this 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:41.800 week was that the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson died 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.120 after being attacked by a gun wielding assailant in New 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.640 York City and what was clearly a premeditated act of violence. Now, 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:53.239 this is not a true crime podcast, so I'm not 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.560 gonna dwell on the extraordinary facts about this case, the 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:58.360 ones that have been shared with us so far. You 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.360 can read up all about that if you like. Rather, 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:05.160 what I wanted to talk about is how the reaction 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:09.319 online to this act of violence has been pretty brutal, 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:13.240 and not just among your typical Internet trolls. Over on Reddit, 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.040 moderators had to shut down a thread in which doctors 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:21.160 were criticizing Brian Thompson and the insurance industry as a 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:26.119 whole for practices that prioritize profits and shareholder return over 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.520 human life. The participants in a thread in the subreddit 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.800 r slash medicine took United Healthcare to task for allegedly 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.800 denying coverage to patients, all in an effort to squeeze 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.240 out more value for shareholders. It got so spicy that 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:43.440 moderators chose to nuke the thread from orbit, because it's 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:45.399 the only way to be sure. I've been seeing a 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.680 lot of response to this killing online and there's a 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:52.400 very dark core of eat the rich fueling a lot 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.760 of these reactions. And y'all, don't get me wrong, I'm 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.120 very much in the camp of eat the rich, but 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:00.880 I think there's a very small number of an incredibly 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.600 privileged people who wield far too much wealth and power 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.080 in the United States and beyond, and that strikes me 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.280 as wrong. However, I'm also very much in the let's 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.960 not kill anybody camp when it comes to those sorts 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.160 of things. I have deep compassion for the countless patients 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:22.400 who found themselves lacking coverage despite having insurance. Like that 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:27.200 should never happen. That's why we have insurance Obviously, denying 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:31.000 patients in need is wrong, and it's a problem that 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.240 does need to be rectified. But I also, at the 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.519 same time think that killing someone is wrong as well. 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.560 You know, both things can both be you know, simultaneously 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.240 be true. Anyway, I guess this is where I say 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:47.720 the compassion part of my philosophy of compassion and critical 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:50.880 thinking comes in. I don't think those who create and 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.440 foster systems that profit off the suffering of others should 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:58.040 get away with that. They should be held accountable and 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:02.600 be required to participate in the fixing of those systems. However, 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:05.280 I also think gunning someone down in cold blood isn't 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.960 a reasonable solution to those kinds of problems anyway. One 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.680 other thing I want to mention about this is that 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:15.520 there's a lot of misinformation going around regarding this attack. 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:20.519 I have seen numerous posts quoting people, primarily Elon Musk, 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.720 about this incident. In fact, I saw one post getting 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.480 a lot of traction on Facebook being shared by multiple 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:28.880 friends of mine, and in that post it appeared that 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.240 Elon Musk was tweeting out essentially that CEOs keep the 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:36.080 world going round and that without CEOs everything falls apart. 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.000 The only thing is I could actually find no evidence 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:43.160 that he ever tweeted that message, and you know, he 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.600 tweets a lot, and there was no record of him 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.680 actually tweeting that out. There were these photos of a tweet, 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.200 but they looked weird, like the font wasn't right, the 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.600 kerning wasn't right on the typeface. So, in other words, 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.520 at least to my eyes, it appeared to be fabricated 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:01.520 in order to support a narrative. Of that narrative apparently 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.440 being that Elon Musk is a billionaire with no consideration 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.160 or awareness of what normal folks go through, and that 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.560 he has an overinflated opinion of himself, which you know, 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.480 I agree with that perception. I think it's accurate, but 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:17.159 I don't think that means people should go around inventing quotes. 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:20.560 The guy has plenty of real quotes that give us 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.919 insight into his beliefs and thoughts. There's no need to 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:27.000 make up new ones just to support a particular point 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.520 of view. So yeah, I guess ultimately what I'm saying 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:34.760 when I'm bringing up this whole story is one try 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.800 and keep compassion in mind. I understand if your capacity 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:43.440 for compassion is stretched due to the impact the insurance 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:47.080 industry has had at people at large, particularly people who 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.280 need it most. But also keep using critical thinking when 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.200 you're seeing you know memes and stuff shared about this 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.159 because often the people who are creating them have no 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:00.760 real consideration for you know, reality. They might saying things 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:05.479 that are accurate depictions, but not actual quotations, and I 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.400 think it's important to make the distinction, by the way. 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:11.760 To stick with the tech theme, one story that has 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.760 resurfaced in the wake of the killing of Brian Thompson 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.880 is how some ultra wealthy folks have been worrying and 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:22.359 preparing for a tumultuous upheaval brought about by one of 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:27.120 many potential things like climate change or a social revolution, 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.520 or just war in general, or another pandemic, that kind 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:33.640 of thing. Douglas Rushkoff wrote about this for The Guardian 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.520 back in twenty twenty two, and even then he was 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.919 referencing an event that had happened years earlier, and the 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.760 article is titled the super rich Preppers planning to save 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:47.920 themselves from the Apocalypse Now. In that piece, rushkov explains 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.279 he was lured to speak at an event, only he 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:55.120 discovered this event was actually a group of billionaires who 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.360 wanted to know about practical considerations they should be, you know, 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.279 making their designing constrs, structing, maintaining and operating a shelter 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.720 or a bunker that's designed to keep their precious bodies 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.880 safe while the rest of us suffer out in the 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.160 hellscape that is the apocalypse. And he claims that at 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.960 one point, the fat cats asked him how best to 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.679 keep control over their security details. After all, the people 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.920 working security would be coming from the commoners and they 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.960 might share some of those sentiments with the struggling and 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.960 the dying, dirty people outside. Rushcoff suggested that they actually 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.039 extend a hand and become friends with their staff, you know, 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:36.880 before the world falls apart, because human cooperation is necessary 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.920 for survival. But the rich folks, according to Rushkoff, favored 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.960 approaches like controlling the food supply or even requiring their 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.159 security detail to wear electric shock collars. And I'm not 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.640 being dramatic here. You should read the article now. The 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:52.760 reason I bring up this article, which is a couple 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:54.800 of years old, more than two years old at this point, 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.200 is that new articles are popping up about very similar 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:02.080 topics in the wake of Thompson killing. Natasha Tiku of 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:06.159 The Washington Post has an article titled Fearful of Crime, 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:11.000 the tech elite transformed their homes into military bunkers. That 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.200 article published just yesterday, and she also talks about a 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:18.120 Silicon Valley startup company the designed security systems for the 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.720 uber rich. And the company has a name that pretty 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:22.880 much tells you everything you need to know the name 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.120 of the company, sourn. Now, I wish I were making 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.720 that up. It's already insane to me that there's a 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:33.360 tech company out there with the unironic name Palanteer. And 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.360 here you have companies catering to the ultra wealthy or 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.280 the defense industry, and they're eagerly adopting names from J. R. R. 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.480 Tolkien's works, particularly the Lord of the Rings series, and 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.800 these are often names that are associated with bad guys. 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.760 So they're saying the quiet part out loud, y'all. Anyway, 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:52.680 if you want to get angry at rich people who 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:54.600 seem to think that it's better to live in a 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:58.280 world that's falling apart as long as they personally continue 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.760 to accumulate wealth, rather than live in a world where 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:05.080 they don't accumulate so much wealth and the rest of 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:09.640 the world starts to patch itself up, like, oh, well, no, 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:14.280 I want to have money, So why would I deny 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.480 myself all that money just so that the world could 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:21.680 potentially fix some problems. Let the world sort itself out. 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.679 I need mine. Well, these two articles are a pretty 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.480 darn good start for you to go down your journey 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:32.280 of decrying the rich. It's interesting because, like, there's definitely 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:36.079 been a growing sentiment and in the world in general, 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:38.720 at least the world I'm familiar with that has been 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.880 anti wealthy because of these sorts of issues. And when 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.720 I say wealthy, I mean like ultra wealthy, the people 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:50.960 who are benefiting from others, you know. And it sounds 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.520 like folks are worried that it's coming to a head. 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:55.960 I don't think it's coming to a head yet, but 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:58.560 you know, pressure does seem to be building, and I 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:00.800 expect that's going to continue over the next few years. 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.800 Another big story here in the United States involves more 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:09.160 details around the Chinese hacking operation known as Salt Typhoon. Now, 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:14.080 I'm pretty sure that we talked about Salt Typhoon months ago, 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.040 that we had talked about the discovery of a naming 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.480 of this operation earlier this year, but more details have 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.760 emerged recently that indicate the project is far broader in 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:29.560 scope than first imagined. So, according to the FBI, Chinese 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.120 hackers have infiltrated telecommunication systems here in the United States, 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:37.000 and we're talking the big guys like AT and T, Verizon, 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.959 and T Mobile, although T Mobile claims there's no evidence 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:44.760 hackers accessed customer information on their network. Further, these hackers 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:49.560 have accessed call information and texts and that kind of thing. 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.440 The matter is severe enough that the Senate had a 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.720 classified briefing on the matter this past Wednesday. According to Reuter's, 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:00.000 Senator Rick Scott was angry that the briefing didn't detail 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:04.280 information on why the FBI didn't catch this intrusion and 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.760 what they could have done to prevent the intrusion. Well, 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.160 I think i'll handle this one, Senator Scott. I think 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:14.280 it's entirely possible that the manner in which the hackers 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.080 use to intrude upon these systems is not yet known. 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.520 And if you don't know how someone got into your house, 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.400 you can't really address how you would have prevented it 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:26.880 from happening, Right, So I would argue that perhaps more 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.480 germane at least for the immediate future, is how do 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.800 we oust the hackers from the systems and then shut 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.400 off access so they can no longer spy on people 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.120 here in the United States. However, I admit I am 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.320 no politician anyway, this sort of thing, you know, state 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:47.079 impact hackers from China infiltrating telecommunication systems on a widespread basis. 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:49.720 It's one of the big reasons why several politicians voted 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.360 to ban TikTok in the United States unless it's Chinese 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:58.040 parent company Byte Dance divests itself of TikTok, And I 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:00.840 understand that line of reasoning, but I'll point out once 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.679 again that the issue of China spying on the United 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:07.640 States is way way bigger than TikTok, and there's a 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:12.840 real danger of using TikTok to be an example of 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.840 patching a very small hole while ignoring a huge crater. 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.760 And if we focus exclusively on TikTok, we're going to 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:25.880 ignore the larger problem that continues to be an issue. Okay, 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:28.360 we've got more news stories to get through before we 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.319 move on. Let's take a quick break to thank our sponsors. 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:44.600 We're back, and you know what, here's another story that 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.920 involves tech, the United States and China. We left off 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.000 with one of those, let's pick up with a different one. 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:54.640 This one revolves around rare earth metals and other raw materials. Also, 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:58.319 just as a reminder, rare earth metals tends to refer 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:02.000 to a class of metals that aren't necessarily actually rare. 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.840 They might be plentiful in the Earth's crust. The problem 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:12.000 is they don't typically appear in concentrated forms, so getting 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.920 hold of a lot of it is hard. It requires 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:16.760 a lot of work. Often it requires a lot of 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:21.840 work that is environmentally dangerous, also dangerous to the health 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:23.719 of the people who are working there. Like you're using 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:27.520 a lot of caustic chemicals to leach away metals from 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:32.360 other material So it's dangerous stuff. But the word rare 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:36.920 is a little bit misleading anyway. These are materials that 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:40.240 are very important for different aspects of the tech sector, 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:44.640 and recently the United States instituted new restrictions on products 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:48.320 that contain US made semiconductor chips from being sold to 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.199 Chinese businesses, essentially saying China is desperate to get their 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:56.920 hands on US designed semiconductors in order to steal the 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.000 technology and then repurpose it for other stuff. This is 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.240 been an ongoing concern for many years now, and so 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:06.960 one way that the United States tries to address this 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:11.320 is by banning the sale of certain materials and certain 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.960 products to China so that they can't just harvest the 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:20.439 semiconductors and use those to create knockoffs. But in retaliation 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:26.680 of this increased restriction on certain products to China, China 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:28.880 itself has announced that it is going to ban the 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.880 export of several rare earth metals and other minerals and 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:35.640 materials that are used in industries including military applications, as 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.080 well as the tech sector in general. So you may 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.880 be aware that many of our devices rely in part 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:45.400 on stuff that requires this kind of material, stuff like batteries, 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:49.400 for example. So this is a case of two superpowers 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.160 squaring off against each other in an attempt to deny 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.439 access to technology or the materials used to build technology, 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:58.640 and I suspect we're going to see more of these 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.840 kinds of conflicts during the Trump administration, assuming the tariffs 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.760 that Trump has promised actually come to pass. To read 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:09.800 more about this, I recommend Ashley Bellinger's article in Ours Technica. 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.560 It is titled China hits US with ban on critical 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:18.000 minerals used in tech manufacturing. Oh hey, let's get another 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.640 Tolkien reference in here. Why not? I mean, I'm leaving 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:23.040 the show in a month, so I might as well 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:24.680 sneak in as many as I can. I mean, I've 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.240 got a Tolkien tattoo on my arm for goodness sakes. Actually, 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.920 in this case, I'm not really sneaking anything in the 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.520 tech sector has me covered. Palmer Lucky, the guy who 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.400 created the Oculus VR headset and then who subsequently made 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:42.920 headlines with some very edge Lord activities, also has a 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.640 military defense company, because of course he does. And it's 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:50.240 called and Uril, which at least is not a reference 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.000 to a villain in the Lord of the Rings books. Instead, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.520 it's the name of a sword anyway. And Uril has 0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:01.560 announced a strategic partnership with open you know, the company 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:05.040 that's behind Chad GPT. And if you are thinking, well 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:08.000 that sounds bad, then you and I were on the 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.680 same page. And if you're also thinking, wait a minute, 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.760 I thought open AI was founded to be an organization 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:21.280 dedicated to the peaceful, responsible development of artificial intelligence. Well, 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.840 my dear sweet summer child, I've got some bad news 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:29.160 for you, because that version of open AI hasn't really 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.720 been a reality for quite some time at this point. Anyway. 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:36.800 Rob Thubren of tech Spot has a piece on this 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:41.040 that's titled open AI partners with Palmer Lucky's defense firm, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:45.040 paving the way for AI driven military tech, And yeah, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:50.160 I don't really see a positive way to spend this. 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.960 Apparently the initial focus of the partnership will be to 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:59.680 develop military platforms that can identify, target, and destroy unmanned drones. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:02.840 But apparently they mentioned that they could also use that 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:07.720 same technology to deal with quote unquote legacy threats. Legacy 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.239 threats is a euphemism. It's a nice way to obfuscate 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.120 the fact that what they're talking about our aerial vehicles 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:18.160 with an actual human crew, you know, like aircraft, And 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.040 this would be a case of robots killing human beings. 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.520 And yes, we have all seen this movie, and yes 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.440 we do know it turns out poorly, and yet here 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:34.560 it is happening. Anyway. Yes, early this week, Intel announced 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:38.920 that CEO Pat Gelsinger is retiring from the company, but 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:43.240 as Stephen Vaughn Nichols a Computer World puts it, that's 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:45.880 a line that very few in the tech sector are 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.480 actually buying. So von Nichols has an article that's titled 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:57.640 Intel's CEO, Pat Gelsinger retires right. That's actually the name 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:02.120 of the article. His right has like five eyes in it. Anyway, 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.600 it indicates there's a certain level of skepticism around how 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.000 much of this was actually Gelsinger's own decision versus a 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:13.680 corporate move in an attempt to right the course of Intel. 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:17.639 And as you know, von Nichols writes, Intel's board of 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.879 directors has grown impatient and allegedly gave Gelsinger the choice 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:26.240 to either retire or face just being outright canned. Von 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.000 Nichols has a great treatment of what has happened at 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.920 Intel since two thousand and seven. Two thousand and seven 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.840 was when Intel fumbled a deal that would have seen 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:39.359 Intel chips inside Apple iPhones instead. That deal would end 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.439 up going to Samsung at the time, and von Nichols 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.120 makes a case that this was sort of the beginning 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.879 of a decline for Intel, and he says the company 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:51.359 has been in that downward trajectory ever since, and the 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:55.200 board apparently feels that Gelsinger didn't do enough to reverse 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:59.399 company fortunes. Whether anyone else can succeed in that job 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.720 remains to be seen, although against Stephen Vaughan Nichols at 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.359 the very least is not optimistic about it, and I 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:10.680 am inclined to agree with his assessment. Hailey Welch achieved 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:13.840 Internet celebrity with her response to a Man on the 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:17.520 Street interview that well, let's just say, if you don't 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:19.800 know Hailey Welch, if you don't know who that is, 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:21.879 I'm not going to go into it here because this 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:24.399 is a family show and I'm an old man, and 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.800 I just I just don't have the energy, y'all. But yeah, 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.600 I mean, she gave like a flippant, little funny answer 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:34.000 to a question and then became an Internet celebrity. And 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:39.080 apparently she wanted to leverage her newly won celebrity status 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.960 by lending her brand to a meme coin cryptocurrency that 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:50.040 was called a dollar Sign hawk Hawk. But that meme 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:54.120 coin experienced a dramatic decline in value, or, as Meredith 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.080 Clark of The Independent put it, dollar Sign hawk Quote 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:02.399 crashed by more than ninety percent just hours after it 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.119 hit the market. End quote, and in the wake of 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:10.320 that glorious failure, Welch is now facing accusations that she 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:12.960 was involved in essentially what was a pump and dump 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.360 rug pole scam. So a rug pole, in case you're 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:18.760 not familiar with the term, is a scheme in which 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.359 someone puts forward an asset that they invite people to 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:26.040 invest in. That asset could be anything. It doesn't have 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:29.159 to be digital, it could be whatever. The scam artist 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:33.760 owns steak in this asset, and that asset could effectively 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.840 be worthless, but the goal is to build up excitement 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:39.560 for this asset, to get people to buy in, and 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:43.159 that drives up the selling price of the asset, and 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.639 then the scam artist sells off their steak and essentially 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:48.760 they make money off of nothing at all. And then 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:51.280 typically they head for the hills. And that's your classic 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.800 rug pole. You pull the rug out from under the investors, 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:57.720 You build up excitement around something, you get people eager 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:00.399 to buy in out of fear of missing out, and 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.360 then you cash out before the whole thing comes crashing down. Now, 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.560 Welch ha said her mean Coin was never intended to 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:10.919 be a rug pull. That was not her aim. That however, 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.840 has not stopped an early investor from filing a complaint 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:18.040 with the US Securities Exchange Commission or SEC against Welch. 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:21.480 Welch maintains she never tried to pull a pump and up, 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.320 and in fact says her stake in Dollar Sign Hawk 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.359 is something that she's not even allowed to sell for 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.840 a year. And if that is true, then this just 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:34.960 might be a case of snipers and such taking advantage 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.440 of a meme coin launch and everyone else is ending 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:41.480 up left holding the bag, including Welch, which stinks but 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:46.440 also pretty predictable outcome. If I'm being totally honest, It's 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:50.080 not like this is unprecedented. It is very much precedented. 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:53.720 Waimo has announced that it is bringing its driverless cab 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:57.960 service to Miami, that the driverless vehicles will start trolling 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:00.800 around the streets in twenty twenty five. In fact, the 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:05.920 company says it will quote began reacquainting waymos all electric 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:10.760 Jaguar eye pieces to Miami's streets quote in a recent 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.520 press release. Now, the actual service, the driverless cab service 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.920 would wait until twenty twenty six to get into business. 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:20.560 And I'm sure there are many people in Miami who 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.800 could benefit from improved transportation options. I'm thinking of like 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:27.960 seniors in Miami who might not have easy ways to 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:30.959 get around, and I am glad that they will have 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:34.320 more options. However, I'm also worried that adding more cars 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:37.560 to the streets isn't really the ideal solution. But what 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.600 do I know? I mean, hasn't stopped us from doing 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:44.359 it in other markets too, even though I think ultimately 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:48.160 that there are other solutions that could not only give 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:52.760 more options for those who need transportation, but also have 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:57.639 a smaller impact on overall traffic in cities. And I 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:00.560 don't know, I think adding more cars does not really 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:04.080 address the traffic issue. In fact, I mean this might 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.439 be ignorant speaking, but it seems to me like it 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:11.040 just exacerbates that problem. All right, we've got more headlines 0:22:11.080 --> 0:22:13.280 to get through before we get to that. Let's take 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:26.760 another quick break to think our sponsors. Google has also proclaimed, 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:31.200 through the AI arm of Google called DeepMind, that an 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:36.240 AI research laboratory called Gencast has developed a weather predicting 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:40.639 AI model that is more accurate than existing models, the 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:45.359 models that meteorologists typically depend upon, and that this model 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:49.359 can better predict extreme weather events up to fifteen days 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:53.480 out and in less time than it would take a 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:58.080 traditional model. This is interesting, and if it is true, 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:01.960 it could potentially lead to a rather drastic improvement in 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:05.439 weather forecasting and disaster preparedness. Now, I'm sure it's going 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:08.920 to take a lot more time to analyze gen casts, 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:13.239 systems and results to make certain that in fact, what 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:16.399 appears to be an improvement is really the case, right, 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:19.560 Because it could just be that it looks like it's 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:22.240 an improvement, but maybe over the long run, when you 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:25.680 get a larger sample size, those advantages might wash out. 0:23:26.080 --> 0:23:29.119 We don't know. I hope they don't wash out, but 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:32.359 you need a lot of testing to make sure that 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:35.359 these things are actually more accurate. But this is the 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:38.119 sort of AI application I can actually really get behind. 0:23:38.400 --> 0:23:41.239 If we can develop AI that is more effective at 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:45.159 analyzing data and patterns than we are in order to 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:47.720 do stuff like forecast the weather, I think that's great. 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:51.440 I think if people have an accurate or at least 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:56.199 a pretty accurate forecast, that if there are signs of 0:23:56.240 --> 0:23:59.080 severe weather on the horizon, they can have more time 0:23:59.119 --> 0:24:02.119 to prepare for that. I think that could save countless lives. 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:04.800 But we have to understand also that weather is an 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:08.879 extremely complex phenomena, and even a really effective model is 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:11.480 going to get things wrong sometimes. I know people who 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:14.679 get mad when it's been predicted that there's going to 0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:18.520 be really traumatic, like severe weather, and then it turns 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:20.480 out to not be so bad, and they get angry 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:22.480