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Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: And how the tech are you. It's time for the

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Speaker 1: tech News for Tuesday, December twenty twenty two, and we've

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Speaker 1: got a lot of updates on big stories today. It's

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Speaker 1: gonna be I think a chunker of an episode. So first,

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Speaker 1: let's tackle the total mess that is the collapse of

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Speaker 1: f t X and the consequences that collapse has had

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Speaker 1: in the world of finance in general and cryptocurrency in particular,

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Speaker 1: and co founder Sam Bankman freed specifically. But first, in

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Speaker 1: case you're not familiar with f t X, I'll set

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Speaker 1: a little foundation. So f t X was the second

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Speaker 1: largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. So a cryptocurrency exchange

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Speaker 1: is an organization designed to take currency in one form

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Speaker 1: and exchange it for an almost equal value in some

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Speaker 1: other form, just like you would do if you were

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Speaker 1: to visit a foreign country and you wanted to swap

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Speaker 1: out your native cash for the cash of the country.

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Speaker 1: And I say almost equal value because the exchange, of

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Speaker 1: course takes a little cut of each transaction. That's one

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Speaker 1: way that the exchange makes money. And like a lot

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Speaker 1: of exchanges, customers can also choose to store their currency

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Speaker 1: in whatever digital form it might be in within the

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Speaker 1: exchange itself, rather than extracting the money to put into

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Speaker 1: a separate digital wallet. Sometimes taking money out also means

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Speaker 1: that you get a cut taken out of it. So

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Speaker 1: once those cuts start adding up, a lot of customers say,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I'll just leave it in there, so

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Speaker 1: that way I'm not losing more money by taking it

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Speaker 1: out of the system. So, as I said, f t

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Speaker 1: X was the second largest cryptocurrency exchange. It was behind

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Speaker 1: another company called Finance, which we are also going to

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Speaker 1: talk about in this episode. And f t X also

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Speaker 1: issued its own cryptocurrency token that was called f t T.

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Speaker 1: And yes, one major problem with this story is that

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Speaker 1: we use a lot of initialisms and it stinks and

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but that's just how it is. So f

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Speaker 1: t X the exchange would award f t T tokens

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Speaker 1: to customers, and you could also trade your money in

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Speaker 1: for f t T. You could actually just cash into

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Speaker 1: f t T if you wanted to, and you can

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Speaker 1: use f t T to hold your wealth. Now, while

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Speaker 1: ft t was native to f t X is exchange,

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Speaker 1: it was also an accepted token on other exchanges. Now,

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Speaker 1: one of the co founders of f t X, as

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Speaker 1: I said, was Sam Bankman freed or s b f

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Speaker 1: as a was known in the crypto world, and I

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Speaker 1: hate that. So I'm just calling him Sam so that

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Speaker 1: we don't just have initials everywhere. Before co founding f

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Speaker 1: t X, Sam had also co founded a hedge fund

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Speaker 1: that focused on crypto. He did this a couple of

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Speaker 1: years previously. That company was called Alamator Research. Well. Back

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Speaker 1: in November, a crypto news outlet called coin Desk published

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Speaker 1: a leaked records sheet that indicated that f t X

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Speaker 1: was funneling money from exchange customers to go to Alamator

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Speaker 1: Research in order to cover investment losses and loans and

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Speaker 1: things like that, which is kind of like robbing Peter

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Speaker 1: to pay Paul. You take cash that isn't yours from

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Speaker 1: one source in order to cover debts that are yours elsewhere.

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Speaker 1: The publication of that leaked record sheet led to a

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Speaker 1: full on collapse of f t X, which was exacerbated

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Speaker 1: first when financed chairman Cheung Peng c z Jo, we'll

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Speaker 1: just called Chong Peng said that Finance, which had been

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Speaker 1: an early investor in f t X, was dumping its

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Speaker 1: holdings of f t T. So Binance had millions of

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Speaker 1: f t T tokens that it kept as a result

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Speaker 1: of being an early investor in f t X. So

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Speaker 1: Binance says, we're dumping it, We're getting ready, we're cashing out.

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Speaker 1: That sent the value of f t T into the crapper. Right,

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Speaker 1: if you flood a market with an asset, the value

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Speaker 1: of that asset decreases. So then Binance said, you know what,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna help you out. We're gonna buy f t X,

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Speaker 1: and then almost immediately backed out of that non binding agreement,

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Speaker 1: which really it was like a shot to the heart,

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Speaker 1: and Finance was to blame. So f t X really

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Speaker 1: took it that time. And there's also the question of

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Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars of f t X customer

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Speaker 1: funds having just gone missing. You know, there are there

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Speaker 1: are records of transactions that happened that went to some

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Speaker 1: mysterious recipient, where all this money that should have belonged

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Speaker 1: to ft X customers was essentially at least by appearance stolen,

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Speaker 1: and there are a lot of people who suspect that

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Speaker 1: either Sam or one of as many crypto bros took

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Speaker 1: the money before things totally fell apart. The collapse of

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Speaker 1: f t X, which was already coming at a time

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Speaker 1: when crypto was having a rough go of it sent

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Speaker 1: a huge ripple out in the crypto world, and we

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Speaker 1: saw investors start to lose even more confidence in crypto

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Speaker 1: and values would drop across the board. Pretty much. That's

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Speaker 1: our foundation. Now we can actually talk about what's happened recently.

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Speaker 1: So first up, Sam's headquarters for f t X was

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Speaker 1: in the Bahamas over the last year or two. So

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Speaker 1: a lot of these crypto exchanges maintain their headquarters overseas

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Speaker 1: and places that have let's say, relaxed laws and regulations

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Speaker 1: regarding financial institutions somewhere that's out of the purview of

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Speaker 1: major financial regulators, like like what we have here in

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Speaker 1: the United States. But you know, rich people they really

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Speaker 1: hate it when someone else steals their money or causes

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Speaker 1: them to lose money. So rich people will go to

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Speaker 1: really great links in order to get justice, as opposed

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Speaker 1: to say, if a poor person is robbed, you don't

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Speaker 1: see nearly as much effort to help that person. Yes,

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Speaker 1: this is commentary, but it's also true. Okay, so yeah,

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Speaker 1: it stinks anyway. In the wake of this collapse, with

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Speaker 1: all these rich people losing lots of money and then

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Speaker 1: the revelations about f t X and alimated research, the

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Speaker 1: police in the Bahamas launched an investigation into f t

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Speaker 1: X and our buddy Sam. Folks over here in the

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Speaker 1: United States were likewise eager to look into the matter,

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Speaker 1: and the Senate Banking Committee wished to hold a hearing

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Speaker 1: about f t X this week. In fact, it was

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Speaker 1: supposed to happen today, and they wanted Am to testify

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Speaker 1: at this hearing. Sam reportedly declined to acquiesce to their request, so,

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Speaker 1: in other words, he told him to pound sand and

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Speaker 1: senators said they had offered two different dates for Sam.

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Speaker 1: They had included the option for him to attend virtually

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Speaker 1: where he wouldn't have to actually travel to the United States,

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Speaker 1: and he still declined, and his attorney said he had

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Speaker 1: no intention of obeying any subpoenas that the Senate might request.

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Speaker 1: So it sounded like Sam was really holding out to

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Speaker 1: avoid being pinned down. But that would not last because

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Speaker 1: while we were hearing about Sam deciding not to appear

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Speaker 1: before the Senate. The Bahamanian authorities were preparing to arrest him,

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Speaker 1: and they did on Monday evening. So last night, the

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Speaker 1: U S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York

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Speaker 1: indicted Sam and sent the sealed indictment to the Bahamanian

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Speaker 1: authorities and they acted upon it. So presumably this also

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Speaker 1: sets the stage to extradite Sam from the Bahamas to

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Speaker 1: the United States, where he will face new risk charges.

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Speaker 1: Now this is a separate but parallel effort with what

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Speaker 1: we're hearing about the Senate hearings. In fact, senators were

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Speaker 1: surprised to learn of Sam's arrest and some have expressed

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Speaker 1: disappointment that he will not appear before the Senate to

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Speaker 1: explain the situation that led to f t x's collapse.

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Speaker 1: As for the charges that Sam faces, they reportedly include

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Speaker 1: counts of securities fraud, conspiracy, securities fraud itself, wire fraud conspiracy,

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Speaker 1: wire fraud itself, and money laundering. Yeah, rich people really

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Speaker 1: don't like it when folks take their money. The U S.

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Speaker 1: Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, accuses Samba committing a

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Speaker 1: quote years long fraud end quote, meaning this isn't just

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Speaker 1: about the months that led up to f t x's demise. Essentially,

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Speaker 1: the SEC seems to be saying that f t X

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Speaker 1: was really not so much a cryptocurrency exchange as it

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Speaker 1: was a funnel that would collect money from customers and

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Speaker 1: then send that to Alimated Research in order to fund

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Speaker 1: trades and real estate deals and to give out massive

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Speaker 1: loans to the company's founders, including Sam, who, according to

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Speaker 1: the SEC, borrowed a staggering one point three three eight

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Speaker 1: billion dollars from Alameda. That's a lot of money to borrow.

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Speaker 1: Right on top of the SEC's charges against Sam, there

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Speaker 1: are other agencies waiting to get in line to take

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Speaker 1: their shot. They include the U. S. Attorney's Office for

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Speaker 1: the Southern District of New York, which we mentioned earlier,

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Speaker 1: and also the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or c f TC.

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Speaker 1: Sam will appear in court in the Bahamas today. He

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Speaker 1: does not have the luxury of saying no to that appointment,

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Speaker 1: and the Bahamanian government is pretty darn eager to talk

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Speaker 1: to Sam outside his discussions with the US because the

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Speaker 1: government very much wants to reclaim more than two hundred

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Speaker 1: fifty million dollars worth of Bahamas property that Sam and

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Speaker 1: f t X executive Ryan Salami. Um, it's maybe it's Salame.

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Speaker 1: It's s A L A M E that I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: say Salami anyway, Ryan, I'll say Ryan and Sam purchased

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Speaker 1: two million plus dollars of Bahama, Bahamas property in the past.

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Speaker 1: That's actually thirty five different properties across New Providence, Bahamas.

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Speaker 1: Those properties have been tangled up in the bankruptcy proceedings

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Speaker 1: for f t X because uh, you know, ft X

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Speaker 1: brought in a new CEO in order to oversee the

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Speaker 1: company going into bankruptcy. But the Bahamanian government says that

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Speaker 1: one having a U S court handled Bahamanian property is

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Speaker 1: inefficient because it could be done much more smoothly in

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Speaker 1: the Bahamas. So it's a waste of resources, is what

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Speaker 1: they're saying. But more importantly to having a foreign court

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Speaker 1: handled that sort of thing is illegal by Bahamanian law anyway,

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Speaker 1: That it's against the law in the Bahamas for property

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Speaker 1: in the Bahamas to be handled by a foreign you know,

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Speaker 1: legal system essentially, is what it comes down to. I

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Speaker 1: only include this part of the story to show how

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Speaker 1: incredibly complicated. This whole crypto issue has become because it

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Speaker 1: affects both digital and real world assets. Current fd X

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Speaker 1: CEO John I, dismantled in Ron Ray, probably doesn't want

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Speaker 1: any of that to happen. He doesn't want the properties

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Speaker 1: to be relegated over to the Bahamanian authorities because it's

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Speaker 1: his job to try and squeeze as much out of

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Speaker 1: the corpse of f t X in order to return

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Speaker 1: assets to investors as he possibly can, So surrendering two

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Speaker 1: million bucks worth of real estate doesn't really fit in

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Speaker 1: with that plan. And y'all, I cannot wait for the

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Speaker 1: flood of TV series and films that will cover this

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Speaker 1: mess in the future. Now, before I go to break

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Speaker 1: and then move on to a related topic, I have

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Speaker 1: one last thing to say about f t X. The

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Speaker 1: Australian Financial Review reports that an inner circle I called

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Speaker 1: it a cabal, but an inner circle running f t X,

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Speaker 1: had created a secret chat group in the days leading

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Speaker 1: up to the collapse, and that chat group had the

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Speaker 1: name according to the Australian Financial Review of wire Fraud. Now,

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Speaker 1: that seems like it's a supremely stupid thing to do

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Speaker 1: to me, Like I just I just can't see why

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Speaker 1: anyone would make a chat group called wire Fraud. I mean,

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Speaker 1: maybe it was gallows humor, right, maybe it was done

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Speaker 1: as a tongue in cheek, snarky way of of trying

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Speaker 1: to deal with the situation, because otherwise you're you're leaving

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Speaker 1: a smoking gun laying around on purpose. But then the

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Speaker 1: group was also using Signal, which is a messaging and

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Speaker 1: chat at that's known for you know, secrecy and encrypted messaging.

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Speaker 1: So it's possible that wire Fraud wasn't meant to be

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Speaker 1: humorous or ironic or or sarcastic. It was just you know,

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Speaker 1: to get everyone on the same page. Now, Sam for

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Speaker 1: his part, denies knowing of such a group and said

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Speaker 1: that if it does exist, he was not in it.

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Speaker 1: Uh yeah, wild, Okay, we're gonna take a quick break.

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Speaker 1: When we come back, we'll talk about some other issues

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Speaker 1: in the crypto world and a couple of other stories,

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Speaker 1: but first let's go to these messages. Okay, we are

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Speaker 1: done talking about the recent developments with f t X

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Speaker 1: and Sam Bankman Freed, But now let's talk about Finance,

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Speaker 1: the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. Uh. The former

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Speaker 1: investor into f t X, and then arguably slayer of

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Speaker 1: f t X, and now it is at the center

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Speaker 1: of its own turmoil. Although to say now is being unfair,

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Speaker 1: because it turns out Finance has been under serious investigation

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Speaker 1: for years, well before the collapse of f t X.

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Speaker 1: The Wall Street Journal reports that Finance has been trying

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Speaker 1: to mollify customers and reassure them that unlike f t X,

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Speaker 1: Finance has the reserves to cover all customer funds that

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Speaker 1: are stored within the exchange, and then a little extra

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Speaker 1: as a reserve. But the journal sites and accounting professor

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Speaker 1: named Douglas Carmichael, which side note, if you have the

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Speaker 1: name Douglas Carmichael, I think it's the law that you

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Speaker 1: have to be an accounting professor. Anyway, He says that

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Speaker 1: the quote unquote proof that Finance has offered so far

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Speaker 1: is probably not sufficient to back up what the company

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Speaker 1: is claiming. It's probably not going to be enough for

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Speaker 1: serious investors to feel comfortable with the situation. Shan Now,

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Speaker 1: it's not necessarily the case that Finance doesn't actually have

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Speaker 1: the funds, but so far the evidence being shared is

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Speaker 1: not enough to support the claim that everything is hunky dory.

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Speaker 1: And the proof so far is a single report which

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Speaker 1: is more like a five page letter from a quote

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Speaker 1: partner at the South African affiliate of the global accounting

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Speaker 1: firm Mazaars end quote in the county in the Land

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Speaker 1: of Oz. According to the journal, the report included three

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Speaker 1: whole numbers in it an exhaustive report of finances, systems

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Speaker 1: and policies. No, it was not that, obviously, um, it

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Speaker 1: was not an audit report. It did not actually go

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Speaker 1: into what control systems, if any, that finance uses. Uh So,

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Speaker 1: in other words, a lot of stuff that investors might

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Speaker 1: want access to, a lot of transparency did not come

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Speaker 1: forward in this letter, in this report. So that's part

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Speaker 1: of why Carmichael says investors are probably not really satisfied

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Speaker 1: with this report because all they got were these three numbers.

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Speaker 1: Two of those numbers also had a bit of concern

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Speaker 1: to them. So one of the numbers is about how

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Speaker 1: much total currency in bitcoins are in the exchange, and

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Speaker 1: the other numbers how many total bitcoins customers held in

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Speaker 1: the exchange. So, in other words, let's say you all

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Speaker 1: bank at the same place, does the bank actually have

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Speaker 1: enough money so that if every single person who had

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Speaker 1: an account came in and withdrew all of their money,

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Speaker 1: the bank would be able to cover it in this case.

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Speaker 1: You know, what Finance had been saying is, yes, we

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Speaker 1: have a one to one cover for all currency held

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Speaker 1: in our exchange. But as it turns out, those numbers

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Speaker 1: are not the same. They the currency actually has few

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Speaker 1: were bitcoins in its reserves than customers have quote unquote

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Speaker 1: held in the exchange, by the tune of our almost

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Speaker 1: well actually a little bit more than fifteen thousand bitcoins. Now,

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Speaker 1: this is an exchange that has more than half a

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Speaker 1: million of those ding dang darn things. So it's not

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Speaker 1: like it's not like fifteen thousand represents a huge percentage, right,

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Speaker 1: But it's still concerning. Right if if everyone suddenly got

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Speaker 1: nervous and decided to withdraw their money out of the exchange, Well,

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Speaker 1: based upon this, the exchange does not have the currency

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Speaker 1: to cover all of that, and that was one of

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Speaker 1: the big concerns with f t X and really lead

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Speaker 1: to its collapse. However, Finance also says, hey, the reason

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Speaker 1: for this is that we also issue loans to customers,

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Speaker 1: you know, loans of cryptocurrency. So some of the money

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Speaker 1: that belongs to US is outstanding. It's not it's not

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Speaker 1: currently in our reserves, but it's where we hold it

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Speaker 1: in the form of loans that have been is you

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Speaker 1: to customers, and those loans will be repaid with interest,

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Speaker 1: which means ultimately, yes, we can cover everything. In fact,

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Speaker 1: we have one collateral. Our collateralization is really what we

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Speaker 1: call it. It's just that right now, technically they don't

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Speaker 1: have it. So things are just kind of shaky on

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Speaker 1: an investor front. But uh, that's not the end of

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Speaker 1: finance's troubles by a long shot. So the U s

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Speaker 1: Department of Justice has actually been actively investigating finance for years,

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Speaker 1: particularly in realms of money laundering and processing payments that

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Speaker 1: sidestep international sanctions, such as money that gets funneled to

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Speaker 1: places like Iran uh where which should otherwise be subjected

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Speaker 1: to UH two sanctions. Reuter's reports that Binance has been

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Speaker 1: responsible for processing ten billion dollars in illegal payments this year,

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Speaker 1: and that does not sound good. Apparently, the US government

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Speaker 1: has even been in discussions with finances legal teams over

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Speaker 1: the matter of plea deals. You know, when you start

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Speaker 1: talking plea deals, that's just things are starting to build

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Speaker 1: up against the crypto exchange here in the States at least.

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Speaker 1: But Reuters also reports that the various departments within the

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Speaker 1: d o J that are involved in this investigation, and

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Speaker 1: there are three major departments that are part of this,

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Speaker 1: they aren't completely aligned on when to move forward with

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Speaker 1: any charges filed, and some of those departments have a

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Speaker 1: more methodical approach than others. So by that, I mean

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Speaker 1: there are divisions within the d o J that are

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Speaker 1: very thorough when they build a case, which can be

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Speaker 1: frustrating to other departments that tend to act more aggressively.

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Speaker 1: And I think there are valid arguments for both approaches. Right,

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Speaker 1: being methodical leads to building a better case against a

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Speaker 1: suspect if in fact, you determine that there is a

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Speaker 1: case to be made, or it might save you lots

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Speaker 1: of time and money if you realize, oh, you know,

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Speaker 1: there's not enough there there. Meanwhile, being aggressive can mitigate

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Speaker 1: ongoing harm, right You can cut off the harm that

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Speaker 1: is happening right now by acting faster. That is, assuming

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Speaker 1: of course, that the case has merit. If the case

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Speaker 1: doesn't have merit, then being aggressive can cause more harm. Obviously, anyway,

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Speaker 1: there's no telling where this is going to end up

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Speaker 1: in the long run yet, but it does mean things

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Speaker 1: are increasingly chaotic, so much so that Finance temporarily halted

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Speaker 1: withdrawals of U s d C earlier today in an

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Speaker 1: effort to stem a transactional problem on the platform. So

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Speaker 1: U s d C is a stable coin that is

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Speaker 1: linked to the US dollar. UH. Investors sometimes use us

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Speaker 1: DC to swap one form of cryptocurrency to another without

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Speaker 1: actually having to convert it to real US dollars. Uh.

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Speaker 1: It's just you know, a digital version of the US

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Speaker 1: dollar in in many ways, it's a stable coin, is

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Speaker 1: what's called. Anyway. The issue, according to Chung paying himself,

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Speaker 1: is that if a Binance customer wants to convert p

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Speaker 1: a X or b U s D into USDC, so

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Speaker 1: in other words, these specific forms of crypto into the

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Speaker 1: stable coin U s DC, that process requires routing through

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Speaker 1: a bank that's in New York, and at the time

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Speaker 1: where people were trying to do this, the bank had

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Speaker 1: not yet opened. So Binance decided to clamp down on

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Speaker 1: those transactions in an effort to swap out a different

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Speaker 1: token two facilitate these switches from one cryptocurrency to another.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, over the last twenty four hours, Binance

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Speaker 1: has seen customers would draw more than one point six

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Speaker 1: billion dollars worth of assets from the exchange. So even

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Speaker 1: if all these investigations ultimately lead nowhere Finance, this situation

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Speaker 1: right now is a bit rocky because investors have freaked

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Speaker 1: out due to multiple red flags. So crypto is in

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Speaker 1: a really delicate place right now. I'm not suggesting that

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Speaker 1: crypto is gonna completely collapse and that it will no

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Speaker 1: longer be the grand experiment that it was, but rather

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Speaker 1: it's in for a real hard time in the at

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Speaker 1: least the short term, if not the long term, as

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Speaker 1: these major exchanges that have kind of built themselves up

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Speaker 1: into being pillars of the crypto community, a community that

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Speaker 1: infamously values itself on being decentralized, are now in potential

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Speaker 1: jeopardy either because of a lack of investor confidence or

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Speaker 1: in the case of Finance, being the active subject of

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Speaker 1: massive investigations into money laundering and other violations. Like that's

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Speaker 1: bad news. That does not necessarily mean that there would

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Speaker 1: be a direct effect on the cryptocurrency values themselves, but

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Speaker 1: frequently what you'll see is investors get worried, they start

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Speaker 1: pulling their investments, they convert it back into a different

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Speaker 1: form of currency, and in some cases they may just

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Speaker 1: cash out entirely and say you know what, Uh, this

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Speaker 1: was an interesting approach, it's not for me. I'm done,

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Speaker 1: and that ultimately ends up hurting the entire crypto community. Personally,

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Speaker 1: I think that crypto is not great. I think there

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Speaker 1: are a lot of reasons why crypto is not great.

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Speaker 1: I think that the the selling point of it being

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Speaker 1: decentralized is a smoke screen. It's really just centralized in

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Speaker 1: a different way, um, and that it consolidates wealth in

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Speaker 1: a different group of people than what we saw before.

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Speaker 1: So it's not like it's I wouldn't say it's worse

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Speaker 1: than what we already have, but I wouldn't say it's

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Speaker 1: better either. It's just different, um, and different in a

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Speaker 1: way that's very unstable. So I am very much against

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Speaker 1: the whole crypto thing from that perspective. Maybe it survives

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Speaker 1: all of these trials and tribulations, it will mature to

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Speaker 1: a stage that is more reliable, less volatile, more acceptable

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Speaker 1: as an actual currency as opposed to a commodity. But

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Speaker 1: that's all. Those are a lot of ifs, and I

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Speaker 1: remained skeptical. I'd love to be proven wrong. It's just

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Speaker 1: I suspect I will not be all right, that's enough

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Speaker 1: of that. We're gonna take another quick break when we

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Speaker 1: come back. We've got a few more tech stories to cover.

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Speaker 1: Quite a few actually, as I look at my lineup,

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Speaker 1: but they're shorter as they involve lots of other stuff.

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Speaker 1: So we're gonna take a break, come back and tackle

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Speaker 1: those in just a moment. Okay, we're back. So one

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Speaker 1: ongoing story we have talked about several times on this

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Speaker 1: show is Microsoft's bid to acquire the video game company

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Speaker 1: at division Blizzard, and of course, Activision Blizzard itself is

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Speaker 1: the source of lots of stories, many of them dark ones.

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Speaker 1: But anyway, the US Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, has

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Speaker 1: sued Microsoft. In fact, it did this last week in

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Speaker 1: an effort to block this acquisition, and has called the

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Speaker 1: merger and anti competitive move that or reduce competition in

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Speaker 1: the video games market. Now, The New York Times predicts

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Speaker 1: that this is going to be a very tough case

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Speaker 1: for the FTC to prove in court because courts typically

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Speaker 1: see companies like Microsoft and Activision Blizzard as being distinct

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Speaker 1: and they are not necessarily companies that compete directly with

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Speaker 1: one another. Therefore, when companies that don't directly compete merge,

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Speaker 1: you don't have a reduction in competition because the two

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Speaker 1: companies didn't represent competing entities in the first place. So

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Speaker 1: that's the logic that the New York Times is using.

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Speaker 1: They're they're thought of as a vertical mergers, and that

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Speaker 1: you know, usually such a merger isn't viewed as having

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Speaker 1: a measurable impact on competition. As a result. Now, it

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Speaker 1: may turn out that the FTC is going to just

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Speaker 1: completely fail in this effort, but we are seeing this

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Speaker 1: kind of resistance to that specific merger of Microsoft and

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Speaker 1: Activision Blizzard happening around the world. In some cases, we've

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Speaker 1: seen it where it appears that Sony representatives have played

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Speaker 1: a part in sowing UH distrust in the acquisition, suggesting

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Speaker 1: that Microsoft is kind of locking video game publishers and

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Speaker 1: developers away behind their own corporate UH boundaries and that

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Speaker 1: ultimately that will cut off access to competitors like Sony.

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Speaker 1: So the long story short, the argument is that hey,

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Speaker 1: if if Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard, then in the future,

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Speaker 1: Sony is not gonna be able to get access to

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Speaker 1: Activision Blizzard titoles, something that Microsoft reps have said multiple

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Speaker 1: times is just not what's going to happen um Anyway,

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Speaker 1: It's really interesting to see the FTC push hard against

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Speaker 1: moves that it sees as potentially being anti competitive, because

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Speaker 1: here in the US for the last several decades that

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Speaker 1: just hasn't been the case. There's been a very lass

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Speaker 1: a fair approach which was really infamous in the eighties

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Speaker 1: that allowed companies to kind of consolidate and grow larger

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Speaker 1: and buy up their competition with really no resistance from

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Speaker 1: the US government. That is changing, but it does mean

432
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 1: that the FTC is going to have a very long

433
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,919
Speaker 1: list of battles to fight. And also Microsoft has a

434
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,720
Speaker 1: history of getting out of these kind of situations. At

435
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,680
Speaker 1: one point, courts had ruled that Microsoft was to break

436
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:58,959
Speaker 1: apart into different companies, but ultimately that decision was reversed

437
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,960
Speaker 1: and so the company continued as as we know it.

438
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 1: So I I suspect this is probably not going to

439
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: succeed in court based upon just how long a shot

440
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 1: it is. But I also feel that consolidation in general

441
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:20,719
Speaker 1: typically is not the best for the end consumer in

442
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:25,080
Speaker 1: most cases, So uh, and also big tech getting bigger

443
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 1: is not something I'm terribly interested in seeing. It's just

444
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 1: that I think there are other battles into space that

445
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 1: are more important. Okay, we're not done yet. We got

446
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 1: some Twitter and some Tesla news. Of course we do,

447
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 1: because you can't get away from me. On Musk. On Sunday,

448
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 1: he tweeted, quote, the boats are in for a surprise

449
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,680
Speaker 1: tomorrow end quote. And turns out so was most of

450
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,880
Speaker 1: Southeast Asia. You see, Musk had promised to rid Twitter

451
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 1: of bots. That was like one of his big things

452
00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:57,600
Speaker 1: when he was first being so braggish about buying Twitter,

453
00:28:57,880 --> 00:28:59,840
Speaker 1: before he decided that he didn't want to buy Twitter,

454
00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,280
Speaker 1: before he decided, yeah, no, I will buy Twitter. So anyway,

455
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,479
Speaker 1: the solution that he and his team apparently came up

456
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 1: with was not to identify bots on the platform and

457
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 1: then block those bots. Instead, it was to cut off

458
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 1: access to entire mobile networks that had been known to

459
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 1: carry bought traffic on them. But these networks are also

460
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 1: used by you know, real human beings who actually use

461
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:32,240
Speaker 1: and in some cases rely upon Twitter. So Twitter essentially

462
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 1: cuts access off from these networks, and that left tons

463
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 1: of legitimate users unable to access Twitter on their devices,

464
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:43,000
Speaker 1: and then in came a flood of complaints and requests

465
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:47,400
Speaker 1: for help. So what did Twitter do well? It did

466
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 1: the exact same thing we saw when the company rolled

467
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,480
Speaker 1: out the paid for blue verification check marks last month.

468
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 1: It subsequently rolled the decision back. This time, Twitter reps

469
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 1: actually claimed the whole problem was due to quote routing

470
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: configuration changes end quote, which sounds to me like it's

471
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:06,240
Speaker 1: just a lie to cover up the fact that the

472
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: company made a unilateral move that affected both bots and

473
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 1: real people equally, then had to back pedal. I want

474
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 1: to stress it sounds to me like a lie. I'm

475
00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 1: not saying it is a lie, it just sounds like one.

476
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,160
Speaker 1: Now one might start to call in the question Musk's

477
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,960
Speaker 1: reputation for being a genius at this point, you know,

478
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,560
Speaker 1: just from based upon recent evidence. That is, if the

479
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 1: person had not already dismissed such an idea years ago.

480
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:37,720
Speaker 1: Many of you out there, I'm sure, are in that

481
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 1: camp already. And last week three members of Twitter's Trust

482
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:47,640
Speaker 1: and Safety Council resigned. They said that under Musk, Twitter's

483
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 1: users safety is on the decline and that the council

484
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,720
Speaker 1: isn't being listened to, and that Twitter is actively becoming

485
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:59,360
Speaker 1: a more dangerous place instead of a safer one, particularly

486
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 1: for really houlnerable people like kids. As such, these council

487
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,680
Speaker 1: members have decided that if they cannot do anything about it,

488
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 1: and if Musk is not going to listen to them,

489
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 1: there's no reason to stay. They are not authorized to

490
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:16,920
Speaker 1: make the changes needed to improve safety, and Twitter does

491
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,480
Speaker 1: not really have the resources needed to make such a

492
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 1: thing possible, now that so many people have left the

493
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:27,840
Speaker 1: company somewhere around by some estimations, and it sounded pretty

494
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: darn grim. There's also news about Tesla's UH advertising woes.

495
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,400
Speaker 1: Obviously those continue. I'm not going to go into great

496
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 1: detail because those numbers are changing so fast. By the

497
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:42,320
Speaker 1: time you listen to this it will be out of

498
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:46,960
Speaker 1: date anyway. But let's just say that Twitter is UH

499
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:51,600
Speaker 1: is having real problems on the advertiser front, and the

500
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 1: hope that subscriptions to Twitter Blue is somehow going to

501
00:31:55,760 --> 00:32:02,480
Speaker 1: counteract that, I think is optimistic. Say, Tesla is facing

502
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 1: a class action lawsuit that claims the company has engaged

503
00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,760
Speaker 1: in fraud. Now, Tesla's lawyers are saying, quote mere failure

504
00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,480
Speaker 1: to realize a long term aspirational goal is not fraud

505
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:18,240
Speaker 1: end quote, and they're asking a judge to dismiss this case. Now,

506
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,480
Speaker 1: those of y'all who have listened to tech stuff for

507
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 1: a while, you likely know my thoughts about this. Yes,

508
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,240
Speaker 1: Tesla has failed to realize a long term aspirational goal

509
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: in the form of creating a truly autonomous vehicle, and no,

510
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:38,440
Speaker 1: failure is not fraud. However, during that time, Tesla has

511
00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:44,000
Speaker 1: also marketed products called autopilot and full self driving, which,

512
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 1: if we are to assume that you know, words mean things,

513
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,640
Speaker 1: suggests that the vehicle should be capable of operating all

514
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 1: on their own and yes, on its web pages if

515
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:00,080
Speaker 1: you go and read it, Tesla has repeatedly said it

516
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:05,040
Speaker 1: that it's advanced driver assist features are not a substitute

517
00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 1: for a human driver. They are not an autonomous system. However,

518
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,760
Speaker 1: the company continues to market those tools with names that

519
00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:17,320
Speaker 1: suggest otherwise. On top of that, Elon Musk has repeatedly

520
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: proclaimed we're just a year or two away from full

521
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 1: on robo taxis, where you'll be able to turn your

522
00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,320
Speaker 1: car into a revenue generator. And this isn't something he's

523
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,840
Speaker 1: only said recently. He's been saying it over the years,

524
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 1: and each year comes and goes and they don't achieve

525
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:38,240
Speaker 1: that goal. And again that's not necessarily fraud on its own.

526
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,120
Speaker 1: But when you start taking into these into consideration, a

527
00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 1: combination of all this with the marketing and the naming conventions,

528
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,600
Speaker 1: things get a lot more muddy. I mean, if I

529
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:51,960
Speaker 1: were to sell you a bottle of flying potion, and

530
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 1: you were to drink the bottle of potion and then

531
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:56,240
Speaker 1: you break your leg as you jumped off a tree

532
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,440
Speaker 1: limb when you fell to the ground, I couldn't just say, oh, well,

533
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 1: I just failed to get the potion right. It's an

534
00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 1: aspirational goal. No, you would say I committed fraud because

535
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 1: I sold you a potion that doesn't do the thing

536
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,040
Speaker 1: that I said it does. Now, if I left a

537
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 1: little label on that potion that said does not actually

538
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,760
Speaker 1: give you flying powers, I might have a pretty decent argument.

539
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:21,920
Speaker 1: I'd probably be called a scumball for legitimate reasons, But

540
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,279
Speaker 1: I have an argument to say, like, hey, no, no, no,

541
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:26,919
Speaker 1: I have a disclaimer here. So we'll have to wait

542
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:29,360
Speaker 1: and see if courts agree with Tesla's lawyers on the

543
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 1: matter or if it will proceed. Because I just don't

544
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 1: know I mean, you could and you you can't say

545
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,880
Speaker 1: legitimately that Tesla said on its web page this is

546
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 1: not an autonomous system. But again, the marketing and naming

547
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:48,680
Speaker 1: makes it difficult. Right, It's a very muddy sort of

548
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 1: thing to look at. Now, there were some other news

549
00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:53,080
Speaker 1: items I had originally lined up to talk about that

550
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:55,759
Speaker 1: I I was going to include, but it would have

551
00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 1: made this episode run super long. It involved stuff like

552
00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:02,800
Speaker 1: there were worries about surveys that show Tesla's brand image

553
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 1: has taken a real nose dive. It's gone into negative territory,

554
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:11,800
Speaker 1: which is not completely on the company itself, although partly,

555
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:13,880
Speaker 1: I mean, there are a lot of people complaining about

556
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,919
Speaker 1: things like build quality of Tesla vehicles, but it also

557
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:21,680
Speaker 1: obviously takes into consideration things like Ellen Must's behavior on Twitter,

558
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:28,000
Speaker 1: which really has no, you know, direct relationship with Tesla,

559
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,480
Speaker 1: but still is having an impact on people's perception of it.

560
00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 1: Then I also had a story about um Meta cutting

561
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:40,360
Speaker 1: back on rideshare allowances as a part of cost cutting measures.

562
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,000
Speaker 1: But I feel like we've done enough bad news. Let's

563
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,879
Speaker 1: end with something that's actually kind of amazing. Although we're

564
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,680
Speaker 1: also going to take a step back and a little

565
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:52,080
Speaker 1: reality pill in the process. We're going to talk about

566
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:57,480
Speaker 1: fusion and a breakthrough at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

567
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:02,160
Speaker 1: in California. First, let's give a quick rundown on nuclear fusion.

568
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:05,480
Speaker 1: The nuclear power that we use around the world right

569
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:09,879
Speaker 1: now in order to generate electricity is fission. That's where

570
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:14,360
Speaker 1: you harvest energy that's generated upon the splitting of heavy atoms.

571
00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:19,240
Speaker 1: This splitting perpetuates a series of reactions that keeps things going,

572
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:22,759
Speaker 1: and when you use this with careful controls, you can

573
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,640
Speaker 1: release tons of energy in the form of heat that

574
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:29,760
Speaker 1: you can then harness to generate electricity. However, the fission

575
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:33,160
Speaker 1: process creates dangerous nuclear waste that you have to figure

576
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:36,000
Speaker 1: out what to do with, whether that's to process it

577
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 1: further or to you know, bury it somewhere or whatever.

578
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:43,360
Speaker 1: And there are other dangers involved, including the possibility of

579
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:46,440
Speaker 1: accidents like we've seen at sites like Three Mile Island

580
00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:51,880
Speaker 1: or Chernobyl or Fukushima. Those dangers range from releasing radioactive

581
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 1: material into the environment all the way up to nuclear meltdown.

582
00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,920
Speaker 1: So there are some big challenges with fission to do

583
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,880
Speaker 1: it in a way that is not just safe but

584
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:07,399
Speaker 1: people feel comfortable with it, right, So that's that's part

585
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 1: of it. There is another nuclear process called fusion, and

586
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 1: fusion we have to light atoms that fuse together. This

587
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:21,279
Speaker 1: process also releases energy, but it also requires a good

588
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,400
Speaker 1: amount of energy to get the reaction going in the

589
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:26,560
Speaker 1: first place. Because atoms don't want to get that close, right,

590
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:29,480
Speaker 1: They don't want to fuse together like this. You have

591
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 1: to force them to do it, and that means you

592
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:34,440
Speaker 1: have to exert energy to make it happen. Once they

593
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 1: do it, they release energy, but you've gotta spend energy first.

594
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:41,440
Speaker 1: So fusion is the nuclear process that occurs in stars,

595
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:46,160
Speaker 1: where you know, gravitational forces and pressure are providing the

596
00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:50,960
Speaker 1: energy needed to generate and sustain fusion. That's not something

597
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,640
Speaker 1: we can easily replicate here on Earth, right, we can't

598
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:57,560
Speaker 1: just make a man your star. So the sun generates

599
00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,960
Speaker 1: the light we see through fusion as high erogen combines

600
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,840
Speaker 1: to form a type of helium at a temperature of

601
00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:07,960
Speaker 1: millions of degrees. Shout out to they might be giants.

602
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,600
Speaker 1: If we can harness the power of fusion in a

603
00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 1: way where we can release sustainable energy that we can

604
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:19,200
Speaker 1: convert into electricity, that would be a tremendous breakthrough. It

605
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 1: would totally revolutionize the energy economy. It's the kind of

606
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:27,400
Speaker 1: thing that could provide a way to entirely ditch fossil

607
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:31,239
Speaker 1: fuels and things like internal combustion engines and switch to

608
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:35,600
Speaker 1: electric motors because electricity would be plentiful, it would be cheap,

609
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:39,200
Speaker 1: it would be environmentally friendly, it would not produce things

610
00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:44,359
Speaker 1: like the dangerous nuclear waste that fission plants do, and

611
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,239
Speaker 1: the fuel we'd be using would be among the most

612
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:51,239
Speaker 1: plentiful in the universe. Kind Of there's an asterisk by that,

613
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 1: but I'm not going to go into great detail about

614
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:58,400
Speaker 1: that anyway. A huge obstacle to fusion has been finding

615
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:01,920
Speaker 1: a way to initiate reaction so that the net output

616
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,800
Speaker 1: of energy is greater than the net input we used

617
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:08,640
Speaker 1: to get the reaction going. So if you have to

618
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,880
Speaker 1: spend more energy to get things moving then you get

619
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:14,799
Speaker 1: out of the process, that's a net loss. You get

620
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,359
Speaker 1: yourself a nonstarter. It doesn't make sense. You're just gonna

621
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:21,200
Speaker 1: be losing energy in the in the whole system. So

622
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:24,920
Speaker 1: the researchers at Livermore have managed to initiate a reaction

623
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 1: and get more energy out then was put in with

624
00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:33,399
Speaker 1: their lasers. And to be clear, I'm not saying they

625
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:39,000
Speaker 1: created energy. You cannot create energy. Rather, the energy needed

626
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:43,400
Speaker 1: to start a process was less than what the process released.

627
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 1: It's kind of like how if you were to light

628
00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:48,960
Speaker 1: a pool of fuel with a match, the energy given

629
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,160
Speaker 1: off by the burning fuel would be way bigger than

630
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,920
Speaker 1: the energy you use to light the match itself. You

631
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:58,760
Speaker 1: didn't generate it, it's just the process that's releasing that energy. Now,

632
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,280
Speaker 1: there are are some asterisks that we have to address

633
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,840
Speaker 1: before we can say all our energy concerns are behind us.

634
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,120
Speaker 1: For one thing, we do get a net positive amount

635
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 1: of energy out of this reaction only if we're just

636
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:16,440
Speaker 1: considering how much energy the lasers were directing to the

637
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:20,160
Speaker 1: fuel source. So in that sense, it took two point

638
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:24,280
Speaker 1: zero five mega jewels from lasers to start a process

639
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,560
Speaker 1: that ultimately released three point one five mega jewels of energy.

640
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:32,799
Speaker 1: So yeah, more energy out than what you put in. However,

641
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:37,719
Speaker 1: to power those lasers would require more than just two

642
00:40:37,719 --> 00:40:40,800
Speaker 1: point oh five mega jewels because these pew pew laser

643
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:45,239
Speaker 1: beams are not efficient. In fact, they are far from it.

644
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 1: They are very inefficient. It took three hundred mega jewels

645
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,480
Speaker 1: to power the lasers, then the lasers generate that two

646
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,160
Speaker 1: point oh five mega jewle beam. So yeah, if we

647
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:58,959
Speaker 1: factor in that the three hundred mega jules we needed

648
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 1: to power the system, well, releasing three point one five

649
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:07,120
Speaker 1: mega jeweles is not a Grand Slam home run, right However,

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00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:10,080
Speaker 1: it is a step forward, and there are other methods

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00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:13,680
Speaker 1: we can use besides lasers to initiate fusion. Some of

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00:41:13,719 --> 00:41:16,799
Speaker 1: them may prove to be far more efficient in the

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00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,319
Speaker 1: long run. So this is a good development, right it is.

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00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,560
Speaker 1: It is something we should celebrate. It is not an

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00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:28,280
Speaker 1: earth shattering breakthrough because we still have some massive hurdles

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00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:31,520
Speaker 1: to overcome and we are not going to be switching

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00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 1: over to fusion power right away, but we are a

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00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,640
Speaker 1: little closer to that goal. So that is something I

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00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:40,200
Speaker 1: think we need to be excited about. It's just important

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00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:43,040
Speaker 1: that we also understand the limitations that still stand in

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00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,040
Speaker 1: our way, because my fear is that if we don't

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00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:50,080
Speaker 1: acknowledge those things, then people start to get upset when

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00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:54,319
Speaker 1: a year or two or five later they're saying, where

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00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:57,920
Speaker 1: the heck are these fusion reactors we were supposed to have? Right,

665
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,200
Speaker 1: Everyone's like well, I heard that there was a ether.

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00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:02,920
Speaker 1: Why don't we have them yet? We have to understand

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00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:07,239
Speaker 1: what the challenges are, the engineering challenges, the science that

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00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:10,360
Speaker 1: needs to be perfected in order for us to be

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00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:14,640
Speaker 1: able to create an efficient system, so that we have

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00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:18,879
Speaker 1: a realistic expectation of how far along we are and

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00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:22,400
Speaker 1: how far away our goal is. And that way we

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00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:25,759
Speaker 1: don't get discouraged, because if we do get discouraged, then

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00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:28,360
Speaker 1: funding gets cut, and if funding gets cut, we never

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00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,560
Speaker 1: get to where we want to go. Okay, that's it.

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00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:35,399
Speaker 1: This was a super long news episode. Hopefully Thursdays will

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00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:38,080
Speaker 1: be much shorter. Hope you are well. If you have

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00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,080
Speaker 1: suggestions for future topics of tech Stuff, please get in

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00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:43,480
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00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:46,880
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Speaker 1: and use. You can just navigate on over tech Stuff,

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00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,080
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00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:57,800
Speaker 1: in the future episode. I only do it if you

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Speaker 1: tell me to Otherwise, if you for you can hop

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Speaker 1: on over to Twitter and send me a message. The

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00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,960
Speaker 1: handle for the show is tech Stuff hs W and

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Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Yea. Tech Stuff

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00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:19,040
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00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:22,799
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