WEBVTT - The Invisible War Criminals 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:07.880 A Zone Media. Hello and welcome to Better Offline. I'm 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:21.680 your host ed ZiT Troun and this is the finale 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.320 of this year. Even though you're hearing it in twenty 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:26.680 twenty five, I need you to just mentally imagine it's 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:30.840 twenty twenty four. I did my best, Okay, anyway, In 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:32.760 the last episode, I talked about the scale of the 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:37.199 rot economy and specifically the practical elements and the practical 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.120 results of growth at all costs thinking, And in this one, 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:42.360 I want to talk about how we fight back. Ideas 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:44.960 are powerful and things change as silly as it sounds 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:47.520 from the regular repetition, and the names of those responsible 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.400 and clear descriptions of the things they've done to us. Now, 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.400 you know, I've written and spoken a lot about the 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:56.200 rot economy, how the growth at all cost mindset fucks 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.520 things up, and it's what directly leads tech companies to 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:01.840 make their products worse. But what I've tried to do 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.639 in these episodes is quantify the scale, both the damage 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.360 it's caused and the billions of people it affects every day. 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:10.880 Everything I've discussed around the chaos and the pain of 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.840 the Internet is a result of corporations and private equity 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:17.039 firms buying media properties and immediately trying to make them grow, 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.800 each in wildly different ways, all clamoring to be the 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.759 next New York Times of Variety or other legacy media brand, 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.600 despite the fact that those brands already exist and the 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.240 ideas for competing with them usually are built on these 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.840 unsustainably large staffs and expensive consultants telling you to hire 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.480 more people. Almost every single store you visit on the 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.120 Internet has this massive data layer on the background that 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.200 feeds them data about what's popular or where people are 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.120 spending time on the sites, and will turn and change 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:46.560 things about their designed to subtly encourage you to buy 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:49.600 more staff, trapping you there also that more money comes 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.639 out no matter what the cost, even if it's harder 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.440 to find the things you actually want, even if the 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.680 data isn't personalized, it's still quite powerful, and it turns 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.919 so many experiences inside and outside shopping and social media 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:05.960 and the news into these subtle, horrible manipulations. Every single 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.960 weird thing that you've experienced with an app or service 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:12.200 online is the dreadhand of the rot economy, the gravitational 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.920 pull of growth that demands upon you the user to 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.480 do something something for the company. And when everybody is 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.880 trying to chase growth, nobody is thinking stability. And because 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.240 everybody is trying to grow, everybody sort of copies everybody 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.240 else's ideas, which is why we see micro transactions and 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.720 invasive ads and annoying tricks that all kind of feel 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:35.519 the same way in everything, though they're all subtly different 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:40.160 and customized just for that one app. It's exhausting. Now 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:42.200 for a while I've had the rot economy compared to 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.400 Corey doctor O's excellent incitification theory. I think it's a 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.680 great time to compare and separate the two because I 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:51.120 think they can live together quite well. And also Corey 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:54.080 is exceedingly smart, and I put a great deal of 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.519 value in his thoughts. To quote Corey in the Financial Times, 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:00.200 and certification is his theory explaining how the end that 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.120 was colonized by platforms, why all of those platforms are 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.760 degrading so quickly and thoroughly, why it matters, and what 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.160 we can do about it. And I'll link to these 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.200 in the show notes. He describes the first three stages 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:13.799 of the climb. First, platforms are good to their users, 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:15.760 then they abuse their users to make things better for 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.840 their business customers. Finally, they abuse those business customers to 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.680 claw back all the value for themselves. Now I agree 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:23.680 with Corey in some levels, but I believe he gives 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:25.920 far more credit to the platforms in question than they 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:29.480 deserve and sees far more intentional strategy than really exist. 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.080 I fundamentally disagree about the business customers even being some 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:35.600 elevated class in the equation. As we've seen in the 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:37.760 Google Ads trial, Google didn't really give a shit about 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.400 his business customers to begin with, and they've always sawt 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.360 a monopoly and made things worse for whoever it needed 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:45.800 to as a means of increasing growth. Maybe I'm just 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:50.160 playing semantics though. However, Corey's theory lacks a real perpetrator 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:54.560 beyond corporations that naturally say, all right, time for some initification. 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:58.000 Watch this again. I don't think it's that intentional. Maybe 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:00.840 it's an effect, Maybe it's a movement, maybe it's a 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.520 naturally occurring thing. Where the rot economy separates is that 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.920 growth is in and of itself the force that drives 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.360 companies to in shitify, while in hitification really fits across 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.080 companies and fits there neatly like Spotify and Meta in 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.760 their add focus business models. It doesn't really make sense 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:17.360 when it comes to things where there isn't a clear 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:21.400 split between business and consumers, like Microsoft or Salesforce, because 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.880 in citification is ultimately one part of the larger rot economy, 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.159 where everything must grow forever, whether it's intech or not, 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:31.159 and I believe the phenomenon that captures both is a 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.320 direct result of the work of men like Jack Welch 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.839 and Milton Friedman. Go back and listen to the shareholder 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.080 of supremacy if you hadn't. The rot economy is selfish 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.520 and potently neoliberal corporations are bowed down to like God's 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.719 the powerful only seek more at all times, at all costs, 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.560 even if said cost is that the company might eventually 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:50.920 die because we burned out any value it actually has, 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.320 or people are harmed constantly whenever they pick up their phone. 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.839 The rot economy is neoliberalism's true innovation, a kind of 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.520 economic cancer that we've he has few reasons to exist 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.760 beyond more and a few justifications beyond If we don't 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:07.640 let it keep growing, then everybody's pensions might blow up. 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:11.080 To be clear, corey is for the most part, Right 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.240 in Certification successfully encapsulates how the modern web was destroyed 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.599 in a way that nobody really has I'm exceedingly grateful 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.760 for Corey's work, and I think having him around is 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.120 so good for society. I was so happy to have 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.040 him on an episode a few months ago, and I 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:29.680 look forward to having him again. He's also a lovely fella, 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:31.720 and I really think that in Certification applies in a 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.719 wide ranging way to a wide amount of tech companies 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:36.559 and effects. There's also a great thing in the Vaults 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:40.320 newsletter that old link about in Certification within climate, for example, 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:44.920 Corey's brilliant. However, I believe the wider problem is bigger 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.760 and the costs are far greater. It isn't that everything 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.680 is in shitified. It's that everybody's pursuit of growth has 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.360 changed the incentive behind how we generate value in the world, 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:57.720 and software enables a specific kind of growth lust by 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:01.360 creating virtual nation states with their own digital deaths. While 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.440 laws may stop Meta from tearing up people's houses surrounding 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.360 its offices in one hack away, it can happily reroute 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.000 traffic and engagement on Facebook and Instagram to make things 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.280 in iota more profitable, and there's no government institution that's 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.640 sitting around thinking, huh is this bad? Is this bad 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.839 for people? Now? The rot economy isn't just growth or 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.039 cost thinking. It's a kind of secular religion, something to 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.560 believe in that isn't really connected to anything other than more, 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.960 And it's that everything and anything can be more, should 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:33.960 be more, must be more. That we're only defined by 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.520 our pursuit of more growth, and that something that isn't 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:42.000 growing isn't alive, and as a result inferior. I'm not 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.120 saying this is how everybody thinks, but I'm convinced that 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.719 everybody is burdened by the rot economy, and that digital 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:51.400 ecosystems allow the poison of growth to find new and 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.919 more destructive ways to dilute a human being to a 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:55.800 series of numbers that can be made to grow or 0:06:55.839 --> 0:07:00.480 contract in the pursuit of capital. Almost every corner of 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.880 our lives has been turned into some sort of number, 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.760 and increasing that number is important to us bank account 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.560 balance is sure, but also engagement numbers follow us number 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.520 of emails sent and received, open rates on newsletters, how 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.400 many times something has been viewed, all numbers set by 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.400 other people that we live our lives by while barely 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.600 understanding what they mean or how they alter our behavior. 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:24.160 Human beings thrive on ways to define themselves, but metrics 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.640 often rob us of our individuality. Products that boil us 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.120 down to metrics are likely to fail to account for 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.200 the true depth of anything we are actually doing, or 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.800 anything they're actually capturing. The change in incentives towards driving 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.480 more growth actively pushes out those with long term thinking. 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.240 It encourages hiring people who see growth as the driver 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.200 of a company's success, and in turn investment research and 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.640 development into mechanisms of growth, which may sometimes be things 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:50.960 that help you, but that isn't necessarily the reason they're 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.880 doing it. Organizational culture and hiring stops prioritizing people that 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.920 fixed customer problems or even understand them, because that's not 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.080 really the priority, nor how one may of business continue 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.400 to grow. And I think the rot economies a social 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.640 thing as well. We're all pushed towards growth, personal growth, 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.720 professional growth, growth in our network and our societal status, 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.840 and the terms of this growth they're often set by 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.560 platforms and media outlets that are in turn pursuing their 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.480 own growth. And as I've discussed, the way the terms 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:21.440 of our growth is framed is almost entirely through a 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:24.880 digital ecosystem of warring intents and different ways of pursuing 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:29.880 and promoting growth, some ethical, but many not. Societal and 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.800 cultural pressure is nothing new, but the ways we experience 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:36.480 it are now elaborate and chaotic. Our relationships professional, personal, 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:38.880 and romantic a process through the fun house mirror of 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.760 the platforms changing in ways both subtle and evert based 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:43.800 on the signals are received and the people we care about, 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.400 each one twisted and processed the lens of a product 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.200 manager and a growth hacker who may not really care 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:51.920 about what we're doing other than that we're doing it. 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.280 Changes to these platforms, even subtle ones, actively change the 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.480 lives of billions of people, and it feels that we 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.000 talk about it like being online is some hobbyist peersuit 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.640 rather than something that many people do more than seeing 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.680 real people in the real world. I believe that we 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.680 exist in a continual tension with the rot economy and 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.000 the growth of all costs mindset. I believe that the 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.480 friction we feel on platforms and apps between what we 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:15.000 want to do and what the app wants us to 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.720 do is one of the most underdiscussed and significant culture 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:21.920 of phenomena where we, despite being customers, are continually berated 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.600 and conned and swindled and fucked. I believe billions of 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:28.960 people are in active combat with their devices every day, 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:33.360 swiping away notifications, dodging intrusive apps, agreeing to privacy policies 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.280 that they don't understand, desperately trying to find an option 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.079 they used that has been moved because the product manager 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.040 has decided it needed to be somewhere else. I realize 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.679 it's tough to conceptualize because it's so ubiquitous, But how 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.360 much do you fight with your computer and smartphone every day? 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.400 How many times does something break? How many times have 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.520 you downloaded an app and found that it didn't really 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:55.680 do the thing you wanted it to. How many times 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.440 have you wanted to do something simple and found that 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.280 it's actually really annoying. How much of your life is 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:06.320 dodging digital debris, avoiding scams, ads, apps that demand permissions, 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:09.640 and endless goddamn menu options that bury the simple things 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:13.640 that you want to do. It's like I said, you're 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.439 the victim of a scam. You've spent years of your 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:18.800 life explaining to yourself and others that this is just 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:22.640 how things are, accepting conditions that are inherently exploitive and abusive. 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.600 You are more than likely not deficient, stupid, or behind 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.800 the times, and even if you are, there shouldn't be 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:34.160 a multi trillion dollar ecosystem built to monetize your ignorance, 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:48.800 and it's time to start holding those responsible accountable. I'm 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.400 fairly regularly asked why all of this matters to me 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.080 so much, so as I wrap up the year, I'm 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:55.400 going to try and answer that question, explain why it 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.680 is I do what I do, all right, I spend 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.000 a lot time as own as a kid. I wasn't popular. 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:06.400 Actually that isn't really accurate, because that would suggest I 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.000 had friends. I didn't really had friends. I had some 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.600 people I knew, like similar people who were existed to 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.280 be bullied. I'm not trying to be modeling here, I'm 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.760 just describing the terms. I was insular. I was scared 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:20.959 of the world. I felt ostracized, unnoticed that many teenagers do, 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:23.480 and I felt like I was out of place in humanity, 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:25.600 and it really like weighed on my soul and the 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.079 only place I found any kind of community or any 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.120 place I could build an identity was being online. My 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:35.040 life was an ear is defined by technology, and I'm 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.880 not ashamed of that. A lot of people talk about, oh, 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.880 people are online too much, not even necessarily talking about me, 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.240 or how the internet hurts you and it's this, and 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.200 it hurts you because of the platforms. But I believe 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:49.880 at scale, the internet is actually quite beautiful. Had social 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.920 networking not come along, I'm not confident I'd have made many, 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.760 if any, of the friendships I have today, or really 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.959 any friendships of any kind. For the first twenty two 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.559 two years of my life, I really struggled to make 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.600 friends in the real world for a number of reasons, 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.160 many of them my fault, by the way. But I 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.360 made so many online and that became a bridge to 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.840 making real friendships. I kept and I nurtured friendships, indeed 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.040 with people thousands of miles away, and my shyness that 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:19.240 I had as a person became less of an issue 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:21.040 when I could avoid the trouble saying hey, I'm a 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.600 part that really got in my way. Without the Internet, 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.960 I'd probably be like a resentful hermit. I'd be disconnected 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:30.720 from humanity. That'd be just these layers of scar tissue 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:34.000 over whatever neurodivergent or unfortunate habits had gained from a child, 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.320 and I mostly spent alone. I don't want you to 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.480 feel sorry for me. By the way, none of that 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:43.400 was about me being sad. It's actually really trying to 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:46.079 explain something joyous, and that's a big part of who 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.679 I am. Technology is a big part of who I am. So, 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.559 like I said, don't feel sorry for me. Tech allowed 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.120 me to thrive. I have a business, I have an 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.560 upcoming book, the newsletter, I have this podcast. I had 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.360 these wonderful, beautiful friends I deeply love, and if you're 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.880 wondering if it's you, it is you. I love you. 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:06.040 And these people have come pretty much exclusively through technology 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.400 of some sort, like a social network or a result 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.080 of a digital connection of some kind. And I'm immensely 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.600 grateful for everything I have, and I'm grateful that technology 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.000 allowed me to live this full and happy life. And 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.080 I imagine many of you feel the same way. Your 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.439 frustrations aren't just about the apps being bad, but the 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.240 internet has a goodness to it. It has a value. 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.920 Otherwise we wouldn't stick our hands in the box that 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.880 the bene jesiit gives us every morning. And Techer's found 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.800 so many ways to make our lives better, perhaps more 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.719 in some cases than others. But I'm not gonna lie 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.320 and pretend, and I don't love technology. I think that 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.440 that wouldn't serve you or serve anyone. And I think 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.000 this kind of noxious earth or texts bad. It isn't 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.000 all bad, but the people running it are. The rotten 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:54.040 economy has fucked up tex so badly. But in the 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:58.200 process of doing this podcast, of writing my newsletter, it's 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:02.520 just maybe intimately aware of thetuitous, avaricious and intentional harm 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.000 that these people are causing, that the people running the 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:08.360 tech industry have caused to their customers, and this horrifying 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:12.520 and selfish world they've made, and the ruinous consequences that followed, 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.839 the things that I've watched happen this year alone, which 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.080 have at times been in enumeration of about a decade 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.520 of rot. They've turned my god damn stomach. You know 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.680 what's also done that the outright cowardice of some people 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.120 that claim to inform the public but choose instead to 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.920 reinforce the structures of the powerful And a little side 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.920 note to my good friend Casey Newton right now, you 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.320 should all go and look up his thing about the 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:40.320 phony comforts of AI Skeptics where he bags on Gary Marcus. 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:43.440 Why are you bagging on Gary Marcus, Casey, you fucking coward. 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:48.760 This piece attacked AI's skeptics with the flimsiest stuff. Casey 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:50.920 Newton has an audience above one hundred thousand people that 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:56.800 he's ostensibly informing. This stuff hurts people. Having popular journalists 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.040 that won't enumerate the damage being done, that don't won't 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.720 give the honest truth about things. It's disgusting. It turns 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:06.120 my stomach. And as these two part episodes have shown 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.320 you the scale of damage done by people like Facebook, 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:15.160 like Mark Zuckerberg, Casey's good friend, it's disgusting. Okay, wheeling 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:16.840 that back. By the way, I don't know if they're 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.000 good friends, but I know they text. Anyway, back to 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.800 the show. I'll put my bitch first aside. Look, I'm 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.600 a user. I'm a guy with a podcast and a newsletter. 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.840 But behind the mic and the keyboard, I'm a person 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:31.720 that uses the same services as you do, and I 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:33.440 see the shit done to us and I just feel 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.360 poison in my veins. I'm not holding back, as you've 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:38.760 kind of worked out by now we're like sixty episodes in. 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:41.800 I don't think you should either. What's being done to 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.600 us isn't just unfair, it's last and us. It's cruel, 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:49.280 it's exploitative, it's morally wrong. Some may try and dismiss 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.280 what I'm saying as just social media. It's just how 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.080 apps work, and if that's what you truly think, you're 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:57.880 either a beaten dog or a willing or unwilling operative 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.280 for people running a con. I will never forgive these 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.440 people for what they've done to the computer. And the 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.880 more I learn about both their intentions and the actions 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:08.600 they've taken, the more certain I become that these people 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.240 are unrepentant, and then their greed will never be sated. 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.520 I've watched them take the things that made me human, 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.280 social networking, digital communities, apps, and the other connecting fabric 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.880 of our digital lives and turn them into devices of torture, 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.520 profitable mechanisms of abuse. And I find it disgusting how 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.440 many reporters seem to believe it's their responsibility to thank 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:29.880 them and explain why it's good that this is happening 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.600 to their readers. And let's run down the scumbags, shall we. 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.920 Sam Altman's a goddamn con artist. He's a liar and 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.640 a sleazy carnival barker who would burn our planet to 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.440 the ground, steal from millions of people, and burn billions 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:44.640 of dollars in pursuit of power. And I believe the 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.400 same can be said of people like Dario Amadayo Vanthropik 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.760 and Mustafasuliman of Microsoft. Tim Cook of Apple, he's a 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.280 wolf in sheep's clothing. He slowly allows the rock to 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:58.800 seep into Apple's products. Apple intelligence is goddamn awful. It sucks. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.520 It gets in the way. The summer suck, Image playground sucks. 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:03.800 Everyone saying this doesn't suck is up their own asshole. 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.080 They need to look look at the actual products. They 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.720 don't work, and they've slowly been adding these bothersome subscription 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.760 options and they chip away at the user experience. The 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.320 one company that I really didn't want to do this. 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:17.359 And yet let's take a step back to the beginning 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.159 of the show. Apple's app store and its repeated support 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.560 of exploitative micro transaction laid mobile games built to create 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:26.760 gambling like addiction in adults and children alike. They make 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:29.480 billions of dollars off of them, and because Apple's products 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.360 are less shitty, they get a much easier time. Now 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.440 let's talk about two of my phase my besties. Now, 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.639 I hold Sundhar Peshai in a certain kind of esteem, 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:40.879 by which I believe that Sundar Pieshai of Google is 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.439 the Henry Kissinger of technology, a glossy executive that escapes 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.280 blamed despite having caused harm on a global scale. The 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.040 destruction of Google Search at the hands of Sundhar Peshai 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:53.399 and Prabagar Ragavan should be written about like a war crime, 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.880 and those responsible treated as such. And by the way, Prabagar, 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.240 if you're hearing this, hello baby, I love you. I 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:02.000 love saying your name, and I'm going to be saying 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:05.760 it forever. Now let's get to Microsoft. Satch in Adela 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.640 has aggressively expanded Microsoft's various monopolies, the most egregious of which, 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:11.680 by the way, is the Microsoft three sixty five Suite, 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.280 which is a monopoly over business software that everyone kind 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:17.879 of hates. The Microsoft prices to undercut the competition, effectively 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.600 setting conditions of most business software is either cheaper than 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:24.560 Microsoft or slightly better than Microsoft. Nadella has overseen layoffs 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:26.360 of tens of thousands of people in the last three 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.800 years alone, and despite his bullshit growth mindset culture, he 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.280 treats employees and customers as equally disposable. And of course 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.600 he's the guy that has made open AI happen, which 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:39.600 in turn means he's responsible for generative AI at scale. 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:43.159 And let's end with metas Mark Zuckerberg, who is a 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.960 putrid ghoul that has overseen the growth and proliferation of 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.560 some of the single most abusive and manipulative software in 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:50.800 the world. Meta has grown to a market cap of 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.120 one point five trillion dollars by intentionally making the experience 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:58.600 on Instagram and Facebook worse, intentionally frustrating and harming billions 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:02.040 of people, actively into fearing with the fabric of society. 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.240 These are the people in charge. These are the people 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.240 running the tech industry. These are the people who make 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.119 the decisions that affect billions of people every minute of 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.200 every day, and their decision making is so flagrantly selfish 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.320 and abusive that I'm regularly astonished by how little criticism 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:21.480 they receive. These men lace our digital lives with asbestos 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.520 and get told their geniuses for doing so because money 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.520 comes out. But the truth is I don't know or 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:29.880 care whether these men know who I am or read 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.240 my work, because I only care that you do. I 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.080 don't give a shit if Sam Ortman Mark Zuckerberg knows 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:37.879 my name. I don't care about their riches or their achievements. 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.320 I care that when given so many resources, such privilege, 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:43.720 and such opportunity to change the world, they chose to 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.800 make it worse. These men are tantamount to war criminals. 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:49.400 Except in thirty years, Mark Zuckerberg may still be seen 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:51.679 as a success, though I will spend the rest of 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:57.000 my life telling you the damage he's caused. I care 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:01.000 about you, the user, the person listening to, the person 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.160 that may have felt stupid or deficient or ignorant, all 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.119 because the services you pay for or that monetize you 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.600 have been intentionally rigged against you. You aren't the failure 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:15.359 the services, the devices, and the executives are. If you 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:18.480 cannot see the significance of the problems I discuss every week, 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.160 the sheer scale of the rot, the sheer damage caused 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:25.199 by unregulated and unrepentant managerial parasites. You are living in 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.160 a fantasy world, and I both envy and worry about you. 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:29.919 You're the frog and the part, and trust me, the 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:34.280 stoves on twenty twenty five will be the year of chaos, fear, 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.440 and a deficit of hope. But I will spend every 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:39.520 breath I have telling you what I believe in, telling 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:42.720 you that I care and that you are not alone. 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.240 For years, I've watched the destruction of the services and 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:47.800 the mechanisms that are responsible for allowing me to have 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:50.040 a normal life, to thrive, to be able to speak 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:52.480