1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Also media. 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 2: Ah, welcome back to behind Wait no, sorry, it could 3 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 2: happen here. 4 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 1: You know. 5 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 2: We'll keep that in so that our audience, who I 6 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 2: know is deeply tied to the myth of my own perfection, 7 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 2: knows that I too, air speaking of perfect creatures who 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 2: have never made a mistake. Our guest today is Dan Olsen. Hello, Welcome, 9 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 2: Hi Dan. 10 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:37,160 Speaker 3: How you doing. I'm doing well, not making. 11 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 2: Mistakes, exactly exactly that you are the Buddha I met 12 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 2: on the road, and I'm going to say hello, teach 13 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 2: me how to be flawless. 14 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 3: So first, have you heard of gold? Yes? 15 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 2: Yes, I was about to talk about gold the perfect 16 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 2: investment Dan. 17 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 3: Perfect investment vehicle never fails. 18 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 2: So Dan, you are a YouTuber and investigator, one of 19 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,960 Speaker 2: my favorite researchers. We had you on recently to talk 20 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 2: well a couple of months ago a donuple time flat 21 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 2: circle etcheda but we had you wanted to talk about 22 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:17,559 Speaker 2: your work reporting on the NFT bubble bursting and on 23 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 2: the metaverse bubble bursting, and more recently, you just published 24 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 2: a two and a half hour documentary investigation into the 25 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 2: game stop stock cult, which is a lot of people 26 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:33,320 Speaker 2: are aware of. The first part of this, which is 27 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 2: that in January twenty twenty one, a bunch of folks 28 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 2: started like buying you via some weird Reddit movement started 29 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 2: buying huge amounts of game Stop stock, which, in a 30 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 2: period of pretty exaggerated decline, caused it to briefly surge 31 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:52,720 Speaker 2: in value to absurd levels. 32 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 3: And I think that's where. 33 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 2: Most people kind of and then, you know, eventually it 34 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 2: fell apart, and I think that's where most people kind 35 00:01:59,040 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 2: of stopped paying attention. 36 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 3: Yeah, they they remember that week where it was like 37 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 3: in the news, and then they just kind of assumed 38 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 3: like that was it. 39 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: Yeah. 40 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it's been a It's an interesting and 41 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 3: weird ride because the evolution into like cult like behavior 42 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 3: was it was a very strange journey. It happened surprisingly rapidly, 43 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 3: but also not that surprisingly. Like once you fully unpack it, 44 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 3: you know, you have this internet movement that is very 45 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 3: nebulous in its origins or not in its origins, sorry, 46 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 3: the origins are very straightforward, like Wall Street Bets is 47 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 3: a gambling sub that had like it self describes as 48 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 3: if four chan found a Bloomberg terminal, So sure, you 49 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 3: know it's it's crass it's irony poisoned. You can get 50 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 3: just as much social clout or losing thousands of dollars 51 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 3: as you can for winning thousands of dollars. In fact, 52 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 3: there's an argument that there's more clout for lost porn 53 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:16,519 Speaker 3: than there is for like actually posting big games. Obviously, 54 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 3: like not like the healthiest or most wholesome community you 55 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 3: could imagine. But you know, out of that plus COVID madness, 56 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 3: plus stimulus checks and just general nihilism arose this kind 57 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 3: of Frankenstein short squeeze play on game Stop that weirdly 58 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 3: never actually happened, because the play just sort of turned 59 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 3: into its its own self fulfilling thing that enough people 60 00:03:55,840 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 3: believed in the idea of this short squeeze play that 61 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 3: they just kept piling in and piling in, and suddenly, 62 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 3: like the short squeeze doesn't actually matter at all because 63 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 3: there's enough critical mass flooding in that you just get 64 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 3: this massive pump anyway, which convinces people that, oh, the 65 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,119 Speaker 3: squeeze is going on. Because in the moment you don't 66 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 3: actually know like what mechanisms are driving the price movement. 67 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 3: You just see number going up, and so more people 68 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 3: kept piling in piling in, piling in. I got a 69 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 3: phone call from, you know, from a friend of mine 70 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 3: who's like, hey, have you heard about the GameStop stuff? 71 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 3: And I'm like, yes, I heard about it two days ago. 72 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 3: So if you heard about it today, it's it's way 73 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 3: too late. Do not. It's over. It's over. And sure enough, 74 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 3: like I went back and reviewed our text messages and like, 75 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 3: and if he had bought, he would have been a 76 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,599 Speaker 3: just massive bag holder. Like it it plummeted, you know, 77 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 3: hours later. 78 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 2: And like for people who are not finance people, which 79 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 2: I certainly am not. This is like if you watched 80 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 2: The Big Short that's kind of the tech I mean 81 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 2: number one, that movie is seen as a blueprint by 82 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 2: a lot of these guys. Obviously there's folks, knowledgeable financial 83 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:09,040 Speaker 2: folks who have critiques of that movie, but it is 84 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,039 Speaker 2: it is accepted as like almost kind of like a 85 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 2: sacred text within the game Stop Stop ye. 86 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 3: And and it's weird because like they're the game stop enemy, 87 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 3: the the the ape. Okay, well i'll just use their lexicon. 88 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 3: We'll go over it real quick. They call themselves apes 89 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 3: for reasons that are not worth explaining. Their enemy are 90 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 3: short sellers. But short sellers are like doctor Burry short 91 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 3: sold the housing market, and Burry is that's Christian Bales character, right, 92 00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 3: Christian Bales character. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Like all of the 93 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 3: main characters in that movie short sold the housing market 94 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 3: like that. That was their play. That was the big 95 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 3: short was. They're like, look, there's this bubble, We're going 96 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:00,919 Speaker 3: to short sell it. Then when the price goes down, 97 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 3: we close our positions out and keep a tremendous amount 98 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 3: of money. 99 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 2: And I should we should go just because when I 100 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 2: watched this with a friend, they did not know what 101 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 2: short selling was. It's not I think, a normal It's 102 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 2: not a thing normal people where it will ever be 103 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 2: in a position to do. The basic idea and this 104 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 2: is all occurring with like stocks and commodities, But the 105 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 2: basic idea is you make an agreement with somebody to 106 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 2: get basically a loan of a bunch of shares in something, right, 107 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,040 Speaker 2: and with the understanding that you will give those back 108 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,280 Speaker 2: at a point in the future. And then you take 109 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 2: those and you immediately sell them for their their present value, right, 110 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 2: and your hope, your play at like goal is that 111 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 2: the value of that drops and then you are able 112 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 2: to buy back an equivalent amount to repay the loan 113 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 2: and have made a profit based on the gap between 114 00:06:58,000 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 2: those two numbers. 115 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 3: Right, that's the idea. That's that's the that's the idea. 116 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 3: You you can as an individual like do this. You can, 117 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,720 Speaker 3: you can take out a short position with your broker, 118 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 3: you can. You can do it through derivatives like puts. 119 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 3: I wouldn't recommend it. 120 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's kind of normal people's stock stuff. 121 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not normal people's stock stuff. Like you're there's 122 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 3: nothing legally barring you from doing it, but it it 123 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 3: really is kind of this like advanced play. You got 124 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 3: to know what's going on, especially because like a thing 125 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 3: that a lot of people in the description sort of 126 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 3: skip over, is it. Well, you're borrowing it. You know, 127 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 3: you're borrowing a thing, and thus there's the expectation that 128 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 3: you'll pay some kind of like you know, borrower's fee 129 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 3: akin to a kin to interest on like the value 130 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 3: of the thing that you've borrowed. Uh, but like it's 131 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 3: it's not interest on you know, like a housing loan 132 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 3: where the interest and like where your payments all are 133 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 3: geared towards paying off the loan. It's just kind of like, 134 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 3: all right, you ow me five bucks every single month 135 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 3: forever as long as you're holding this. And so you know, 136 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 3: if you're not paying attention, like you need to be 137 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 3: very actively managing these kinds of positions otherwise like your 138 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 3: borrowing fees will just eat up all of your profit. 139 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's the kind of thing where like today 140 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 2: most of those kind of kinds of trades aren't even 141 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 2: really made by people directly. They're made by massive banks 142 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 2: of computers and algorithms and shit kind of yeah. Yeah, yeah, Anyway, 143 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:33,319 Speaker 2: I think that's that's enough background back to the kind 144 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,319 Speaker 2: of cult aspect of it, which is I think much 145 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 2: more relevant for what we're talking about here. One of 146 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 2: the points you made early on that I found really 147 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 2: interesting is is that a significant amount of the initial 148 00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 2: game stock game stops I'm going to keep doing that 149 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 2: hype was driven by influencers, right, and that there's evidence 150 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,480 Speaker 2: based on kind of the US government's analysis of this 151 00:08:56,559 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 2: that got published that like regulators are paying additional tension 152 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 2: increasing attention to the influences that or to the impact 153 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 2: that influencers can have here because there's this concern that, 154 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:11,200 Speaker 2: especially working in groups, there's like an ability for people 155 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 2: like this to disrupt the economy to a significant extent, 156 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 2: to a way that would affect like normal people. 157 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, so one of the weird kind of so pump 158 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 3: and dumps have existed forever, right. The thing was is 159 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 3: that so the the memes stock run up, it wasn't 160 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 3: just GameStop. It was about like fifteen twenty, like in 161 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 3: January twenty twenty one, like so late twenty twenty, early 162 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,440 Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. It was about fifteen twenty different companies, 163 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 3: you know, Nokia, BlackBerry, bed Bath and Beyond, like you know, 164 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 3: just kind of a bunch of over the hill companies 165 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 3: that were all sort of part of this this wave. 166 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 3: And the issue was that in the game stop price 167 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,680 Speaker 3: run up. So the price went from at the end 168 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 3: of tw twenty twenty as everybody like as sort of 169 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 3: the meme wave like begins, and particularly once Ryan Cohen, 170 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 3: billionaire Chewy founder Chewy the Cat treat or dog online 171 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 3: dog food sales. Yeah. Yeah, when he buys in like 172 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 3: that kind of like puts the stamp of approval on 173 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:20,679 Speaker 3: the whole thing. So it goes from like four and 174 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 3: a half dollars up to nineteen something. And then at 175 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 3: the end of January, it goes from nineteen twenty dollars 176 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 3: up to four hundred and eighty, and so in that 177 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:36,800 Speaker 3: spread the short sales, so there was short interest in 178 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 3: game Stop. There was, in fact a reckless amount of 179 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:43,560 Speaker 3: short interest in game Stop, but the price increase was 180 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 3: so huge, the volume of participation was so big, so 181 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 3: many people were jumping on this that the short interest 182 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 3: closing their position. The actual like short squeeze portion of 183 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 3: all of this is only like ten percent of the 184 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 3: price movement. All the rest of it is just people 185 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,600 Speaker 3: fomoing in on like this thing that they heard about 186 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 3: through their cousin. 187 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 1: Yeah. 188 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 2: I think another thing that's kind of interesting to me 189 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:27,000 Speaker 2: is like, as this thing has evolved, you know, you 190 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 2: mentioned that the actual price got up to like close 191 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,040 Speaker 2: around five hundred dollars by the time this thing kind 192 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 2: of transitions into being this millenarian kind of apocalypse cult, right, 193 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 2: like not you know, nukes and stuff, end of days 194 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:43,080 Speaker 2: apocalypse generally, but like the entire economy is going to come. 195 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 2: The belief that kind of has evolved broadly and that 196 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 2: obviously there's different kind of factions is but is that 197 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 2: like there is going to come a point where like 198 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 2: the price of game Stop stock will increase to such 199 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:58,600 Speaker 2: an insane some people say hundreds of millions, billions of 200 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:03,040 Speaker 2: dollars per share, that it effectively allows all of these 201 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 2: apes who have bought shares to hold the entire world 202 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:12,079 Speaker 2: economy hostage until they have there but increasingly arcane demands met. Right, Yeah, 203 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 2: that is the belief, and that is the belief. 204 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 3: So so out of that, like so okay, So the 205 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 3: short's closing was only like about ten percent of the 206 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 3: of the total movement. So that leads to the conclusion 207 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 3: that you know that the events of January twenty twenty 208 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 3: one weren't a short squeeze, which is actually kind of true, 209 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 3: Like it wasn't it wasn't purely a short squeeze. It 210 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 3: was actually very little of it was a short squeeze. 211 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,840 Speaker 3: But because it wasn't a short squeeze, like that term 212 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 3: then allows the creative individual to fill in the gap 213 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:53,080 Speaker 3: and just say that it's like just say this, like, oh, 214 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:59,280 Speaker 3: the short squeeze never happened. Therefore it's still on the 215 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:03,600 Speaker 3: table the shorts like it the end. You know, it 216 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 3: hasn't happened yet, therefore it can still potentially happen. And 217 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 3: in fact, if we just like look at the trend line, 218 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:14,679 Speaker 3: like I bet since it hasn't happened, since it didn't happen, 219 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 3: and the position that they held in December was so reckless, 220 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:22,200 Speaker 3: it's only gotten worse since, which means that they're getting 221 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 3: which means that these short sellers must be getting desperate, 222 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 3: which means they're going to be willing to engage in 223 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:33,439 Speaker 3: whatever level of depraved criminal activity is necessary to protect themselves. Therefore, 224 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:37,240 Speaker 3: it's just getting more and more and more and more extreme. Therefore, 225 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,199 Speaker 3: when this finally goes off, it's not just going to 226 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 3: be like it's not just going to be a five 227 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 3: hundred dollars price point. It's going to be a nuclear 228 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:47,720 Speaker 3: explosion that's going to topple the entire economy. Yeah, And 229 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 3: that's this like train of logic and what they and 230 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 3: it all comes from that, just like missing the fact 231 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,040 Speaker 3: that it's like, oh, it wasn't a short squeeze because 232 00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:59,559 Speaker 3: it was mostly fomo. The short squeeze was buried under 233 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 3: a mountain of of fomo. Yeah, but so it wasn't 234 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:06,560 Speaker 3: a short scool. It's like, yeah, it's all just like 235 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 3: based in these like word games of like, ah, you 236 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 3: said it was you know that the dumb and dumber. 237 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 3: You know, it's like, what are the odds a one 238 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 3: in million, So you're saying there's a chance it's well, yeah, 239 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 3: that's not what I'm say. 240 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 2: It's interesting because of the impossibility of the things they're 241 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 2: actually hoping for, but also their fundamental belief that like 242 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 2: it's inevitable, in part because you know, this is this 243 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 2: is not wildly different from the psychology of like needing 244 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 2: to believe in uh that you are going to paradise 245 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 2: in the after. 246 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 3: Yeah, hallmarks of millennarians. 247 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, because of that, what you get is a 248 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 2: lot of people who think that they are thinking scientifically, 249 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 2: but what they're doing is taking an endpoint. And the 250 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 2: endpoint is that you know this specific you know, the 251 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 2: these hedge funds or whatever are are evil and you know, 252 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:57,800 Speaker 2: illegally bribing or whatever the government to stop us from succeeding, 253 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 2: or there's this other conspiracy. You're starting with this endpoint 254 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:04,680 Speaker 2: and then working backwards and like finding ways to explain 255 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 2: the things that have happened within that framework. 256 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 3: Like the things that would need to be true in 257 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 3: order for the yeah thing. 258 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 2: To happen, like the thing that like Citadel must have 259 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 2: ordered robin Hood to stop letting people buy and share 260 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 2: game stock stocks rather than like, you know what what 261 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 2: actually happened, which is that robin Hood simply like could 262 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 2: not exist if they allowed this to continue. Yeah, and 263 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 2: you know, legally, I don't believe there's anything that was 264 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 2: stopping them from doing that. It's medieval peasant brain kind 265 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 2: of stuff, is what I initially like. That's how when 266 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 2: I was watching your documentary, I was like, oh, it's 267 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 2: this you know, this need to find this kind of 268 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 2: like magical answer to the problem. And then I like 269 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 2: interrogated that conclusion and was like, well, no, it's not. 270 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 2: This is just the way people's brains work, right, Yeah, 271 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 2: like we're pattern making. This isn't medieval peasant shit. They're 272 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 2: no dumber than we are. Like, yeah, that's what this shows. 273 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 3: Yeah. And one of the things that I love just 274 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 3: kind of on that is that, like you if you 275 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 3: had a time machine and you went back one hundred 276 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 3: thousand years and and found a bunch of you know, 277 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 3: homoliteral literal cavemen, yeah, actual apes more or less, you know, 278 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 3: like hundred thousand years ago. That's that's modern humans. Like 279 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 3: genetically that's genetically modern humans. You could just like implant 280 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 3: yourself in their tribe and teach them calculus and you know. 281 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 2: Yeah suh that it's like like we're like things don't 282 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 2: change it. 283 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:36,160 Speaker 3: It's like it's like, yeah, no, we've been We've been 284 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 3: doing this ever since we were you know, this pattern 285 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 3: seeking doesn't change. It's almost like it is basically endemic 286 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 3: to the human psyche. There's a really good question that 287 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 3: that I've gotten in response to this is just like 288 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 3: is this just secular religion? Like is this just are 289 00:16:55,440 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 3: we just like wired to need faith in some shape 290 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 3: or form and if that is not provided by some institution, 291 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 3: we will just invent it. And it's like I don't 292 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:14,560 Speaker 3: have the answer to that, but sign's point to yes. Yeah. 293 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 2: Now, So I wanted to talk a little bit about 294 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 2: one of the other things that you brought up that 295 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 2: I thought was interesting is the way you've got this 296 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 2: this cast of and these are you know, the influencers. 297 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,680 Speaker 2: These are the people who make a lot of these 298 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 2: like arcane videos or put out these publish these prospectuses 299 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,920 Speaker 2: with there are dozens or hundreds of pages laying out 300 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:39,399 Speaker 2: you know, the arcana of how these different sort of 301 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:46,440 Speaker 2: anticipated apocalyptic financial moves are going to go out, right, Yeah, 302 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,439 Speaker 2: a lot of these people the belief is that that 303 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 2: I think is accurate at least this is what I 304 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 2: got from your documentary. Maybe I was interpreting you wrong, 305 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 2: is that most of these or many of these people 306 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 2: are not believers. They're manipulating a group of people because 307 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:03,399 Speaker 2: there's in it. And one of the tactics that you 308 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 2: see used a lot is kind of faux humility. Right, 309 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 2: I'm just a dumb ape. You shouldn't trust me. I'm 310 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 2: not qualified to give financial advice. But here's the secret 311 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 2: history of the universe. To invest your money here now. 312 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 3: So, I mean you've seen this a lot with Yeah, 313 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 3: with various like cult leaders and pseudo cult leaders and 314 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 3: just general like grift fluencers. You know, there's always this 315 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,400 Speaker 3: question of like how much of their own how much 316 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:29,679 Speaker 3: of their own hype do they believe? How much did 317 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,959 Speaker 3: they believe when they started, how much did they eventually 318 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 3: just like convince themselves of as people you know, follow them, 319 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,399 Speaker 3: And I think it's it's very much like kind of 320 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 3: a an individual case by case basis. Some of them 321 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 3: are absolutely true believers. Like from the get go, some 322 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 3: of them, like a lot of them are like soft believers, 323 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:56,760 Speaker 3: you know, you know where it's like they're not hardcore 324 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,600 Speaker 3: into it, you know, if you really pressed them, Like 325 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:03,879 Speaker 3: it's not motivating their their daily decisions. But what they're 326 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 3: taking from it is like social reinforcement. That they've found 327 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 3: a group of people who respond to them, who like 328 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,400 Speaker 3: their posts, who leave messages. It's like, oh man, this 329 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,479 Speaker 3: blew my mind. I can't believe the system is like 330 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:22,840 Speaker 3: this fragile. You know, my tits are jacked, lighting the 331 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,960 Speaker 3: fuse on the rocket ship, buying more moon tickets, you know. 332 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 3: And they and they respond to that very socially, and 333 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,679 Speaker 3: and and out of that sort of soup of like 334 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 3: reinforcing messages, it's really easy for people in those influencer 335 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:44,880 Speaker 3: positions to just kind of like hold conflicting like hold 336 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,440 Speaker 3: the conflicting beliefs of like, I know that this is impossible, 337 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:53,200 Speaker 3: but also it is like fulfilling me socially to say 338 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:57,200 Speaker 3: these things. I'll just I'll just juggle that inconsistency. 339 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,919 Speaker 2: Yeah, And the way the panics of social media, and 340 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 2: particularly in this case, it's the mechanics largely of Reddit. 341 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 2: That's not the only place this occurs, but Reddit is 342 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:10,919 Speaker 2: certainly like the homeland. You could say, the way in 343 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 2: which up votes and down votes work, and the way 344 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:16,159 Speaker 2: in which upvotes and down votes take you know, critical 345 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 2: content people who are trying to induce some accuracy or 346 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,120 Speaker 2: you might even say sanity in the discussion, and that 347 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:26,880 Speaker 2: that gets pushed down and hidden after a certain point 348 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 2: of time with enough down votes, as opposed to like 349 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:34,439 Speaker 2: the stuff that is fundamentally unhinged but is like utopian 350 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,679 Speaker 2: gets upvoted. It's it's the the physical, like the actual 351 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,920 Speaker 2: mechanics of how the site is structured to work enforce 352 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:44,880 Speaker 2: fund at a fundamental level, enforced group think consensus. 353 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 3: Absolutely. Oh and I mean in the best part about it, 354 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,160 Speaker 3: and we see this across like all across Reddit communities, 355 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 3: which is this like it is it it's the social 356 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 3: enforcement of truth that that people will take this social 357 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 3: mechanism of up votes and down votes and use it 358 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 3: as proof against the claim that it's like, oh, well, 359 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:10,639 Speaker 3: if if your negative sentiment were true, it would have 360 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:14,720 Speaker 3: been up voted. Yeah, because like there's this underline, there's 361 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 3: this kind of just like implicit belief that people will 362 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,879 Speaker 3: recognize truth and will upvote truth, and thus up votes 363 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:28,440 Speaker 3: and down votes are are an accurate filter on reality 364 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 3: which is demonstrably not true. So yeah, that's intensely at 365 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 3: play here because you'll see apes who will then like 366 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 3: reference the fact that like that, you know that. It's like, 367 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 3: if this insane theory were false, why did it get 368 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:51,879 Speaker 3: so many up votes? And it's like, well, because it it. 369 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 3: It hypes you up. It makes you. People are irrational. 370 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 3: You got a tingly feeling in your tummy when you 371 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:00,680 Speaker 3: read it and the person told you that you were 372 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 3: going to be a millionaire. Yeah, that's why. 373 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 2: It's like asking why do we like magicians? 374 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:08,800 Speaker 3: Of course we like magicians. 375 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:11,400 Speaker 2: It's it looks nice, it's fun, it makes us feel 376 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 2: a sense of wonder. 377 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:23,160 Speaker 4: Yeah. 378 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 2: I want to discuss one of the terms that you 379 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:27,560 Speaker 2: use a lot that I missed the first couple of 380 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:29,159 Speaker 2: times because I'm not I'm not. This is not a 381 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,000 Speaker 2: community I had studied. I thought you misspoke at first 382 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 2: when you described like someone reached achieving a financial wind 383 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 2: fall as wife changing money. I just thought you, like, 384 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:40,680 Speaker 2: I do that all the time. That show it's delivererate. 385 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 3: That's yes, yeah, no, no, and I was like, oh, okay, 386 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:47,720 Speaker 3: this is a thing they say. Yeah, a lot of 387 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,600 Speaker 3: people are like, I thought you misspoke. I'm like, no, 388 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:51,719 Speaker 3: that's because I was tricking you. Like I was. I 389 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 3: was deliberately like very light in this term, like because 390 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,159 Speaker 3: like because they use it like obviously as a as 391 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,240 Speaker 3: an entendre. And I was just like okay, like I'll 392 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,640 Speaker 3: just use it straight faced with no explanation three four 393 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 3: times and then finally explain it at the end and 394 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:11,480 Speaker 3: make a lot of people angry when they realize that, like, no, 395 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 3: they weren't just mishearing me. Yeah. So that's one of 396 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 3: those things like that goes to sort of the four 397 00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 3: Chan roots of all of this, which is, you know, 398 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:26,960 Speaker 3: the sort of like crass irreverence slash misogyny of of 399 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 3: chan speak and just this you know, Wall Street bets 400 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 3: will use this kind of like celebration of making so 401 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 3: much money that you can afford to be misogynistic and 402 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,639 Speaker 3: just like swap your wife. And and it turns out that, like, 403 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 3: as we know, you make a joke like that often enough, 404 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,359 Speaker 3: you're eventually going to attract the people who are just 405 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 3: straight up like yeah I hate. 406 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 2: My wife, Yeah I want to be able to replace 407 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 2: her using my using my crypto or my yeah whatever, 408 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 2: my game stock Stop god gains. I was wondering if 409 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:10,120 Speaker 2: you might lay out one of the things, the parts 410 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,200 Speaker 2: that was most interested in me was the whole Teddy Day, 411 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 2: Teddy Day, Oh boy, teddy d Yeah. 412 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,959 Speaker 3: Can you explain Teddy Day to our listeners? Okay. So 413 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:24,719 Speaker 3: Ryan Cohen, who fancies himself an activist investor, he buys 414 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:31,440 Speaker 3: into game Stop and gets a minority, pretty substantial holdings 415 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 3: that count as like a minority thing. You need to 416 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:36,119 Speaker 3: file a bunch of paperwork with the sec that say, like, 417 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 3: you know, it's like I hold greater than ten percent 418 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:43,720 Speaker 3: of this company. And he used that position to basically 419 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,639 Speaker 3: get power inside the company itself as chairman. As of 420 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 3: a couple of weeks ago, he's now CEO. So so 421 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,520 Speaker 3: Ryan Cohen gets heavily involved with with game Stop, and 422 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 3: he's like, I'm gonna turn this around because his real angs, 423 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 3: what seems to be his anger anxiety in life at 424 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,080 Speaker 3: the moment, is this like sense of legacy. He doesn't 425 00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:04,800 Speaker 3: just want to be like like, oh I got lucky 426 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,680 Speaker 3: with an online pet food sales thing. I'm a I'm 427 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 3: a real. I'm a big boy finance guy, you know, 428 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:15,959 Speaker 3: I save dying companies. Real rich guy hobby. He puts 429 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:20,399 Speaker 3: out a series of children's books called Teddy, named after 430 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 3: his late father. 431 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:22,119 Speaker 1: Uh. 432 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 3: And these are it's it's five books that have a 433 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:33,439 Speaker 3: target audience of two year olds. That because you know, 434 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 3: when when you're rich and you want to do something 435 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,320 Speaker 3: like that, you want to vanity published books. You don't 436 00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 3: just like go to an off the shelf vanity publisher. 437 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 3: You make your own vanity publisher because in the scheme 438 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,560 Speaker 3: of things like that's just not that expensive. So Amazon 439 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,399 Speaker 3: has made it easier than ever, easier than ever. So 440 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 3: he founds this LLC, you know, air quote founds pays 441 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 3: the like six hundred bucks in filing fees to create 442 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:04,480 Speaker 3: this LLC. Teddy Publishing files a whole bunch of trademarks. 443 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 3: You know, we're talking like a few thousand dollars all 444 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,159 Speaker 3: in all in order to file, like in order to 445 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 3: just file a bunch of paperwork. And this is all 446 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,400 Speaker 3: just like the scattershot stuff of like, okay, we're making 447 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,879 Speaker 3: a product aimed at children. Let's file the trademark for 448 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 3: Teddy very broadly. And so it's going to cover like 449 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:26,520 Speaker 3: basically children's merchandise across the board. You know, what if 450 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 3: we want to put what if we want to put 451 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:33,480 Speaker 3: the characters on blankets or bottles or cups or plates 452 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,119 Speaker 3: or party supplies or whatever. So these trademarks are just 453 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:44,800 Speaker 3: incredibly wide ranging across just merch Yeah. But the existence 454 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:50,320 Speaker 3: of these trademark applications and this LLC becomes the seed 455 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 3: for Teddy the Company, as this like the mechanism through 456 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 3: which Ryan Cohen is going to collaborate with Apes in 457 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:10,199 Speaker 3: order to trigger MOASS. Because I guess this is the 458 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,359 Speaker 3: important thing about the mythology. Apes believe Ryan Cohen is 459 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:17,240 Speaker 3: on their side, that he is, he is their inside man. 460 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 3: He is working with them. He is as frustrated as 461 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 3: they are that this hasn't happened yet. But for like 462 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 3: arcane legal reasons, he needs to like he needs to 463 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,080 Speaker 3: operate like a like a clockmaker, you know, he has 464 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:36,439 Speaker 3: to do everything very delicately and indirectly, and like his 465 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 3: hand cannot be seen pushing on the scales. So they 466 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:43,679 Speaker 3: think that it's like that this becomes the thing that 467 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:48,600 Speaker 3: they view all of their all of their hopes and 468 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 3: dreams into his Teddy LLC. That's like this is the 469 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:53,919 Speaker 3: thing that he's going to use as the mechanism to 470 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 3: do this. He's going to like buy game Stop via Teddy. 471 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 3: He's going to buy me maybe some other company via Teddy. 472 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 3: Teddy's going to get bought in to, like it is 473 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,880 Speaker 3: going to get bought by game Stop like one way 474 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 3: or another. There were like hundreds of competing theories all 475 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 3: rooted in in this. But then back in January of 476 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 3: this year, a insanity starts in two So in both 477 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:31,240 Speaker 3: GameStop forums and bed Bath and Beyond forums, the two 478 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 3: meme stocks that are linked by Ryan Cohen, they they 479 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 3: create this idea called Teddy Day, which is a combination 480 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:49,400 Speaker 3: of a bunch of things. So Ryan Cohen tweeted several 481 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 3: Titanic references. James Cameron's Titanic was being re released this 482 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 3: past February on a day that aligned with National Teddy 483 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 3: Bear Day, and so two different communities of apes, for 484 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 3: completely separate reasons, latched onto this idea of Teddy Day. 485 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 3: It was Friday, February tenth, twenty twenty three. They latched 486 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 3: onto it as just this that like this is the day, 487 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 3: this is when it's all going to come together. This 488 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:32,960 Speaker 3: is when he's going to make his big move. And 489 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,560 Speaker 3: a major driving piece of evidence that they had for 490 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 3: Teddy Day was that in one of the Teddy books, 491 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 3: the kids learned to read a clock and the hands 492 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 3: on the clock are pointed to ten and two. So 493 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 3: Ryan Cohen left them clues in this children's book published 494 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 3: six months earlier, warning them that February tenth was going 495 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:09,360 Speaker 3: to be the day that it all went down, that 496 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 3: that was the day of the apocalypse, that was Teddy Day. 497 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 3: And it got just like the the spread of this 498 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,760 Speaker 3: got just like absolutely unhinged on the forms, like it 499 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 3: was all that super stunk and BBB, why we're talking 500 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:29,239 Speaker 3: about For like a week and a half leading up 501 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 3: to it, the hype was like unreal. And then of 502 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:35,120 Speaker 3: course nothing happened. You you, I don't know if you 503 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 3: noticed this, but but the US economy did not collapse 504 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 3: last February. 505 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:43,680 Speaker 2: Oh that's good. I had been I have been living 506 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 2: like a postal apocalyptic warlord under the assumption that it 507 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:48,960 Speaker 2: had but all, yeah, I'll pivot now. 508 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 3: Yeah. So so it's just it's one of those like 509 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:54,800 Speaker 3: it's just such a great encapsulation of the fact that 510 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 3: like that. These communities, they will they will invent these 511 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 3: these catalyst moments, convince themselves that like, oh, here's a 512 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,040 Speaker 3: date that's upcoming, and then the moment that, like the 513 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 3: great disappointment happens, some of them like bleed off, but 514 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 3: for the most part like it. Nothing can actually like 515 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 3: stop the inertia. They can just discard it. And and 516 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 3: they did. They you know, no one talks about Teddy 517 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 3: Day anymore except for the fact that like it it 518 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 3: had a brief Teddy Day two point zero as October 519 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 3: second was like upcoming, because you know, ah, maybe it 520 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 3: wasn't the tenth of February, it was the second of October, 521 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 3: you know. And and sure, like I'm willing to bet 522 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,480 Speaker 3: that when next February rolls around, like we'll we'll get 523 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,120 Speaker 3: Teddy Day three point zero. Yeah, I'm sure. It just 524 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 3: keeps this. 525 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:53,840 Speaker 2: The same thing has happened with like different kind of 526 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 2: Christian apocalypse cults, right where you'll have a guy pick 527 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 2: a day, then the day comes, and then there's always 528 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 2: a reason. And fundamentally, because this becomes so much of 529 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:06,920 Speaker 2: someone's social life, because it becomes part of their emotional 530 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:12,480 Speaker 2: support network, because it's like fundamentally, you changes the way 531 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,200 Speaker 2: you talk, Like you learn so many new words that 532 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,400 Speaker 2: make it into your diction that like it's easier to 533 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 2: just keep rolling the expected date ahead rather than like 534 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 2: acknowledge that kind of fundamental hit to your self conception 535 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:29,760 Speaker 2: that admitting you got played would take. 536 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, the guy who does so religion for breakfast, Yeah, 537 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 3: he picked up on the fact that, like I was 538 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 3: using phrases like a great disappointment in in the video, 539 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 3: like very deliberately, because it's like it's the it's the 540 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 3: same mechanism. So the great disappointment was like that's the 541 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 3: event that caused the Seventh day Adventist to come into 542 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 3: existence because it was like a expected date of the 543 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 3: apocalypse of the Second Coming, like yeah, didn't happen, And 544 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 3: you end up with like this then fragmentation of the aftermath. 545 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,040 Speaker 3: A bunch of people just bleed off. But you end 546 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 3: up with like a couple different factions, ones who are like, ah, well, 547 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,720 Speaker 3: the date was like the date wasn't wrong per se, 548 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,320 Speaker 3: or like the idea wasn't wrong, just like the date 549 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:16,840 Speaker 3: was wrong, like maybe it's off by one hundred years 550 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 3: or whatever. And you get other people who are like 551 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,960 Speaker 3: actually it did happen. It just happened in secret, like 552 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,520 Speaker 3: obviously it wasn't going to just like happen in Times Square. 553 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:30,880 Speaker 3: It happened, like you know, the millennium is already kind 554 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 3: of like rolling underneath normal like normal looking society. It's 555 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 3: going on right now. It's just day to day life 556 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:40,800 Speaker 3: hasn't changed. And that's how you know it's happening is 557 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:47,880 Speaker 3: that nothing's changing. It's like okay, okay, cool, so completely unfalsifiable, 558 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,959 Speaker 3: rad awesome, love that for you. Yeah. 559 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 2: So one of the things that kind of related to 560 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:56,440 Speaker 2: that I have been thinking about a lot lately is 561 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 2: we've got this the story that keeps, you know, popping 562 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 2: into the news every couple of usually a couple of 563 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 2: times a year, that what are called nons are are 564 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:12,799 Speaker 2: increasing as a percentage of the population every single year, 565 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 2: which is like people who are not affiliated to any religion. 566 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:21,920 Speaker 2: And I've seen, especially a few years ago, you know, 567 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 2: atheists that I knew who were kind of like more 568 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:29,399 Speaker 2: active and like atheism is a movement really celebrating this. 569 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:34,640 Speaker 2: I think that does like the the assumption that that 570 00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:37,000 Speaker 2: means that like atheism is growing more popular has been 571 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,560 Speaker 2: kind of fundamentally inaccurate. I think what we're seeing and 572 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 2: what this this is kind of evidence of, is that 573 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:47,240 Speaker 2: like non affiliation with an organized religion is more common 574 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 2: than ever. People are rejecting organized, settled religion at a 575 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 2: kind of unprecedented rate that's certainly undeniable. That doesn't mean 576 00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 2: they're as they are still believers. And this is an example, 577 00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:03,680 Speaker 2: right right, this is people are creating. The Internet has 578 00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:09,439 Speaker 2: given created a tremendous capacity to build religions, and that's 579 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:10,600 Speaker 2: what people are doing. 580 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 3: That's what this is. Yeah, and it's like how long 581 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 3: lasting will it be? I mean, I don't in the 582 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:25,359 Speaker 3: scope of in the scope of world faiths. I don't 583 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:30,439 Speaker 3: think game stopism is is poised to stand the test 584 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:36,400 Speaker 3: of time. I don't think we'll be seeing an ape 585 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:41,000 Speaker 3: emperor any anytime soon. But but yeah, like and and 586 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:42,759 Speaker 3: the thing is is that like you go back through 587 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 3: history and like you you look at like religious archaeology, 588 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:48,799 Speaker 3: and like you start sort of breaking away from sort 589 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 3: of this idea of Christian hegemony as being effectively like 590 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:56,960 Speaker 3: that It's like, okay, you know, once the Christianization of 591 00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:00,080 Speaker 3: Rome happened, like it was, it was then locked in 592 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:05,080 Speaker 3: in like until you know Martin Luther, and then you 593 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:09,799 Speaker 3: get like fragmentation into sects, but like it stays like 594 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:11,960 Speaker 3: locked in, and it's like it's like nah, when you 595 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 3: start really digging into the history, it's like, this is 596 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:18,480 Speaker 3: just this is always going on, This is always boiling 597 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:23,839 Speaker 3: under the surface. You look at like Puritanism in America 598 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,840 Speaker 3: through a non like through just kind of like a 599 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,160 Speaker 3: human lens of like what you know about how people behave, 600 00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:32,359 Speaker 3: and you suddenly start seeing that it's like, oh, they 601 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,880 Speaker 3: were just like in a constant, perpetual state of internal 602 00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 3: fragmentation as people had different ideas about like what was 603 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:44,960 Speaker 3: supposed to happen, what should happen, and just kind of 604 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:49,680 Speaker 3: like formed you know, cliques and factions, and sometimes those 605 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,759 Speaker 3: factions got big enough to split off and then they 606 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:56,839 Speaker 3: lasted you know, ten, twenty, thirty, fifty years and then 607 00:36:57,120 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 3: like either folded back into the main thing or or whatever. 608 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 3: But this kind of like churn in in faith and 609 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 3: belief is is just it's always there. It just in 610 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:14,360 Speaker 3: an organized, codified faith. It's a lot easier to lose 611 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,880 Speaker 3: track of it, particularly from a historical perspective. It's a 612 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:20,520 Speaker 3: lot easier to just look at like the bigger picture 613 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:22,200 Speaker 3: and be like, ah, it was all the same, it 614 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:30,080 Speaker 3: was homogeneous. And it turns out no, yeah, sorry, that 615 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:31,920 Speaker 3: was a very no, no, no, no, there was. I 616 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,160 Speaker 3: threw a lot of like very big assumptions into a 617 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:40,680 Speaker 3: very tightly packed statement. There, no, no, no. 618 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 2: I think that was great, And yeah, that's that's kind 619 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:46,560 Speaker 2: of I think what I what I had to sort 620 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:52,920 Speaker 2: of ask about, you know, just sort of this fascination 621 00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:57,120 Speaker 2: with the way in which almost anything can become a 622 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,719 Speaker 2: cult these days thanks to sort of the social dynamics 623 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,799 Speaker 2: of the different online communities and how they they reinforce 624 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:07,600 Speaker 2: each other. Like this is kind of at the center 625 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:10,640 Speaker 2: of almost everything that's a problem right now, one way 626 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:11,120 Speaker 2: or the other. 627 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:14,400 Speaker 3: Right, Yeah. I think the thing that is new and 628 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:18,799 Speaker 3: modern really is the ability, or is the I don't 629 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:24,680 Speaker 3: want to say ability, the phenomenon of decentralized self organizing 630 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:30,359 Speaker 3: belief systems. You know that Like there's these a lot 631 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:33,560 Speaker 3: of the a lot of the meme stock influencers. You know, 632 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 3: they're not leading it. They're just like nudging it. They're 633 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:43,640 Speaker 3: not in charge of it. And if they if any 634 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:47,600 Speaker 3: of them like tried to like really like seize the 635 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:54,480 Speaker 3: reins that that would get them like exiled. You know, 636 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:57,120 Speaker 3: any any kind of like overt power grab would be 637 00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,239 Speaker 3: would be antithetical to it. But so it's the it's 638 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:02,520 Speaker 3: and it's the same thing like in QAnon, if somebody 639 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:05,360 Speaker 3: anyone who's come out and been like I am q 640 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:10,680 Speaker 3: listen to me, gets immediately just like just demolished by 641 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:15,840 Speaker 3: the faithful because like it's it's antithetical to their whole 642 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 3: thing to have a really identifiable leader. And and the 643 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:23,560 Speaker 3: fact that there is no identifiable leader, that that the 644 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:31,560 Speaker 3: leader is mythological is useful and beneficial to the to 645 00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:37,040 Speaker 3: the organization, and those kinds of like those kinds of movements, 646 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:39,640 Speaker 3: they're not unique to the modern age, but the modern 647 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:45,640 Speaker 3: age has made them very easy to form, almost by accident. 648 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:50,279 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, Dan, this would be something for people to 649 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,200 Speaker 2: continue to keep an eye on because it's not gonna stop. 650 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:59,000 Speaker 3: Probably I'm I'm there's gonna be some like amazing doctoral 651 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,440 Speaker 3: dissertations on this subject in like ten years. 652 00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:07,560 Speaker 2: Yes, I would, I would certainly agree with that. Well, Dan, 653 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:09,120 Speaker 2: you want to let the people know where they can 654 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:09,879 Speaker 2: find you. 655 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 3: They can find me on YouTube. The channel name is 656 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:22,040 Speaker 3: Folding ideas and I'm on socials, Twitter, Blue Sky, et cetera, 657 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:26,400 Speaker 3: et cetera, et cetera, as as Foldable Human excellent. 658 00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 2: All right, check out Dan's videos, check out his YouTube channel, 659 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:35,560 Speaker 2: like and subscribe and check us out. But you already 660 00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:42,520 Speaker 2: have because you're here, so continue to check us out. 661 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:45,840 Speaker 3: It Could Happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 662 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,600 Speaker 3: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 663 00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:50,840 Speaker 3: cool zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the 664 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:54,440 Speaker 3: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 665 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:57,000 Speaker 3: You can find sources for It could Happen Here, updated 666 00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:01,120 Speaker 3: monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening,