Reid Hoffman Returns (on an optimistic AI)

Summary

Episode Summary: "Reid Hoffman Returns (On an Optimistic AI)"

Introduction

In this compelling episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, host Dax Shepard welcomes back Reid Hoffman, the renowned software entrepreneur, co-founder of LinkedIn, and a leading voice in artificial intelligence (AI). Released on January 29, 2025, the episode delves deep into Hoffman's optimistic perspective on AI's future, drawing insightful parallels with historical technological revolutions.

AI and Historical Technological Revolutions

Reid Hoffman begins by comparing the current AI revolution to the advent of the printing press. He highlights how transformative technologies often face societal resistance and fear before their benefits become undeniable.

"The discourse around when the printing press was created was this is the destruction of human society. It's the destruction of knowledge, it's the destruction of human capabilities like memory." [14:34]

Hoffman emphasizes that, much like the printing press, AI is met with both enthusiasm and apprehension. He acknowledges the challenges but maintains that embracing new technologies leads to societal progress.

Benefits and Challenges of AI

Hoffman outlines the multifaceted benefits of AI, such as enhancing manufacturing efficiency, predictive maintenance, and personalizing user experiences. He also addresses common fears, including job displacement and cultural shifts.

"The AI is trained to be much more compassionate, empathetic, patient." [25:26]

He reassures listeners that while AI can automate certain roles, it also creates new opportunities and industries, much like previous technological advancements did.

Regulation and Societal Impact

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the need for thoughtful regulation to harness AI's potential while mitigating its risks. Hoffman argues against outright prohibition, advocating instead for regulations that promote beneficial uses of AI.

"You want to regulate where bad regulation is better than no regulation. And they say, well, how could that possibly be true? Well, actually, financial system is one of them because a functioning financial system and it not breaking is more important than getting the future. Future innovation." [70:20]

He draws parallels with cryptocurrency regulation, suggesting that, like AI, thoughtful oversight can enhance benefits while curbing misuse.

AI's Role in Enhancing Human Agency

Hoffman introduces the concept of "Super Agency," his new book's central theme, which envisions AI as a tool that amplifies human agency rather than diminishing it. He believes that by steering AI development positively, society can achieve unprecedented advancements.

"You only get to the positive future by taking the steering wheel." [23:37]

He underscores the importance of integrating AI into various aspects of life, from medical assistance to creative endeavors, to foster a more empowered and efficient society.

Future Projections and Optimism

Looking ahead, Hoffman is optimistic about AI's role in solving complex problems. He envisions AI-powered medical assistants accessible to everyone, revolutionizing healthcare by providing instant medical advice and support.

"The first one that I think is the reason I started doing this and I think it's begun getting some broad is the medical assistant on every smartphone. You and I have doctors we can call 24 hours. The vast majority of human beings do not have that." [64:33]

He also discusses AI's potential in education, legal aid, and other sectors, emphasizing its democratizing effect by making expertise more accessible.

Interactive Segment: Live AI Demonstration

In an engaging live demonstration, Reid and Dax interact with an AI assistant to showcase its capabilities. They explore how AI can assist in creative tasks, such as designing vehicles and generating marketing materials, highlighting AI's versatility and practical applications.

Reid Hoffman: "Tell me how AI is going to reinvent the car industry and cars. For now, we have software. We now have autonomous vehicles. But don't just do autonomous vehicles, do like how it reinvent the actual physical car itself."

AI Assistant: "AI is set to revolutionize the car industry in some fascinating ways. Beyond autonomous driving, AI can help design more efficient and safer car structures by simulating countless scenarios to find the best materials and shapes." [72:57]

Addressing Criticisms and Misconceptions

Hoffman confronts common misconceptions about AI, such as its association with surveillance and authoritarianism. He advocates for embedding ethical values into AI technologies to ensure they enhance individual freedom and societal well-being.

"We should have panels of expert people who were involved in the institutions. Part of the reason why we like classic journalism in various ways, why we like scientific method, why we like courtrooms and juries, is we have panels of people who kind of work through and try to help us get through that individual." [45:03]

Conclusion

Reid Hoffman concludes the discussion by reiterating his optimistic vision for AI. He urges listeners to embrace AI's potential responsibly, ensuring that its integration leads to a more empowered and prosperous society.

"Let's be smart about it. Not whatever you can do. It's be smart about it." [72:18]

Dax Shepard closes the episode by expressing gratitude for Hoffman's insights and encouraging listeners to explore further the possibilities of an optimistic AI-driven future.

---

Notable Quotes:

• "AI can fundamentally transform how cars are built, maintained, and experienced." — AI Assistant [72:57]
• "You'll never get the future you want simply by prohibiting the future you don't want." — Dax Shepard [27:55]
• "The transition will be difficult. There will be a lot, lots of challenges." — Reid Hoffman [15:19]
• "If you want to be helpful, put your criticism in ways of saying, this is the kind of thing we want." — Reid Hoffman [28:23]

Key Takeaways:

1. Historical Parallels: AI is likened to the printing press, highlighting society's initial resistance followed by widespread adoption and benefits.
2. Super Agency: Hoffman’s concept of AI as an amplifier of human agency, enhancing individual capabilities and societal progress.
3. Regulation Over Prohibition: Emphasizes thoughtful regulation to maximize AI benefits while minimizing risks, rather than outright bans.
4. Democratizing Expertise: AI's potential to make expertise in fields like healthcare and law more accessible to the general population.
5. Optimistic Future: Despite challenges, AI holds the promise of solving complex global issues and fostering innovation across various sectors.

This episode serves as a thought-provoking exploration of AI's future, offering a balanced perspective that acknowledges both its transformative potential and the challenges that lie ahead. Reid Hoffman's insights provide listeners with a hopeful outlook, encouraging proactive engagement with AI to shape a beneficial future for all.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts, or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert Experts on Expert. I'm Dan Shepard and I'm joined by Lily Padman.

[Monica Padman]

Hi.

[Dax Shepard]

Hi. Nice stripes.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you. I'm in stripes today.

[Dax Shepard]

You look like a convict.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, I'm going for that.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a new Look. They said 2025 is convict.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

Convict's a new black returning guest today.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But in person this time.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. We had him during our Covid era.

[Dax Shepard]

That's happening a lot now. We're starting to get folks that we had done during COVID And I gotta say, if it feels in person like it's the first time we interviewed them, definitely.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, I feel bad saying this, but that time feels lost. Like it almost feels like those episodes don't count.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I think we had a lot of great. I know we had a lot of great episodes. We did Eric Lander. That's a phenomenal episode. But it didn't embed itself in my memory. None of the ones that were over.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Zoom embedded.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, same.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like I don't really remember the people I know.

[Monica Padman]

So we just gotta have them all.

[Dax Shepard]

We gotta have them all back.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Talking to you, Barry.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I don't know if that was even Covid. He just didn't want to come.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, right. Let's be honest. Ian did not want to come, especially when he found out Kristen wasn't here. But anyways, Reid Hoffman's here.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And to remind people, Reid Hoffman is a software entrepreneur and an author. He is the co founder of Linked, also a leading voice in AI. He's one of. If you listen to our favorite podcast.

[Monica Padman]

Acquired, he's all over it.

[Dax Shepard]

He was one of the first meta people. He was the first. You know, he's.

[Monica Padman]

He's a huge investor in massive companies.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. He's got a damn good eye for what's going to actually work and be desirable by people. He has several books. Masters of Scale Blitz, Scaling the Alliance, the Startup of you. His new book, which is out on the 28th, is super agency. What could possibly go right with our AI future. And he wrote that with Greg Beau. So I want to give a shout out to Greg. This is really, really fun. And it led me to design.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

A van.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That I'm in love with. With AI.

[Monica Padman]

That's really cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Anyways, Love Reid Hoffman. This was really, really fun. Please enjoy Reid Hoffman. If you love iPhone, you'll love Apple Card. It comes with the privacy and security you expect from Apple. Plus, you earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase, which can automatically earn interest when you open a High Yield Savings account through Apple Card. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Apple Card and Savings by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch Member FDIC terms and [e-mail] we are supported by Mint Mobile. It's time to leave your overpriced wireless plans Jaw dropping monthly bills and unexpected overages. Get huge savings with Mint Mobile. They're offering any three month plan for only 15 bucks a month, even their unlimited plan. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can even bring your current phone and number. Ditch overpriced wireless With Mint Mobile, it's so easy. Sign up online and get three months of premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. Switch to Mint and new customers can get half off an unlimited plan until February 2nd. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month and to get the plan shipped to your door for free, go to mint mobile.comdax that's mint mobile.comdax $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only speed slower 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. My first curiosity read, and this is a sincere question. What's the longest you are anywhere? Because what I've been able to observe from a distance is you seem to be somewhere else every three days.

[Reid Hoffman]

It tends to be the stay and then move move.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay is home Silicon Valley?

[Reid Hoffman]

No, home is Washington state.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it is?

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah. It's just outside of Seattle.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're on a lot of boards. Do you have to be in person at those meetings or are those now zooming?

[Reid Hoffman]

So it used to be all in person and now one of the benefits of the kind of post pandemic you're like, well, frequently in person. But I happen to be in Rome this time and it's just not convenient for me to come back. I'll zoom. And so it's kind of a mixture but with more in person.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so you've written another book.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

You're in so many different things. You're a very active investor. You're on the board of all these companies, what's the inspiration to write a book?

[Reid Hoffman]

It doesn't make sense, I don't think almost anymore for anyone to only write a book. But it still does make sense to write books. And the reason why you write a book is because you want to think through something deeply. The process of writing it. You're thinking about it. You're circulating it to your friends and critics and getting them to challenge you. And you're thinking about why it is. I hold this particular view very deeply. And then let me elaborate it in terms of the detail of the argument. And some people, small number of people, really like reading books.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

So like, okay, if you're going to go write the book to think through it, then also produce it and kind of have it available.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, why not?

[Reid Hoffman]

One of my fun book blurbs on the Super Agency book is Yuval Harari, who's basically like, great, compelling future of AI and humanity. I disagree with some of the main arguments, but you should read it. And I hope he's right and decide for yourself. And that's why you do a book, so that people who are wrestling with what is truth here can engage with you in some depth. But what you should really do is podcasts and social media and a bunch of other things. Cause that's where millions of people are actually gonna engage with what you're doing. So you shouldn't just do a book. If I had to do one, I'd do this. Not the book. The book is the thinking to get ready for all the conversation.

[Dax Shepard]

He has, like an elongated pressure test of it. I guess you're right. And when you're hearing your own argument in print, you somehow can have some objectivity about your argument that makes total sense in your head. But once you're reading it, you're like, mm, that's a little weak.

[Reid Hoffman]

Change that. Yeah, that doesn't work.

[Dax Shepard]

It's funny you bring up Yuval. Cause one of my only pushback questions is something when he was here he brought up which I found to be very compelling.

[Reid Hoffman]

I love Yuval. And actually one of the things that we discovered in arguing about it is frequently in arguments with critics, I'll find that I disagree with the question or I disagree with kind of the variable. Yuval and I see the elements of the world in very similar ways. We just have different assignments to variables. And that's part of the reason why he's like, look, I fear that I'm right and I hope that you're right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

Oh, sure, it's like, okay, let me tell you why I think we should be motivated by hope, not fear.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So maybe let's start with. Cause the book starts with Socrates musing on the failings of writing. So tell us about what Socrates thought of writing.

[Reid Hoffman]

By the way, some scholars disagree with this particular interpretation because scholars have all kinds of different interpretations. But I think it's a reasonable interpretation. So Socrates in Phaedrus was. I mistrust the written word versus the spoken word. And I mistrust it because when I'm here, when we're speaking words together, I can hear how you're hearing my words and I can adjust it. I can be dynamically interactive with you.

[Dax Shepard]

I can challenge, I can question.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes. So the dialectic process of this discourse in the spoken word is more true than more close to reality, more a shared learning experience than what might happen with a written word, which could be. Who knows where it goes? And it could be abused and could be misrepresented and it could be misunderstood.

[Monica Padman]

Mainly that in person you can read intention. This happens a lot when we're texting. I'm like, we gotta just get on the phone because I think we are not on the same.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a very short sentence. I feel like you're mad.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

Phone now.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Reid Hoffman]

The first recording of technology is the written word. There were even challenges then and then through all major technological innovations. And that's why the opening with the Socrates invador. But of course, the written word is essential. We do not have anything of the modern world without the written word. And that doesn't say that Socrates concerns are even invalid today a la texting.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I was going to add something he couldn't have anticipated, which is there's something that gives validity to a concept or an idea, simply the fact that it made it to print and made it to your newspaper. There's some other magic trick where you kind of over inflate the information you're reading because it has gone through, you think, some steps.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

You wouldn't have even predicted that. I think that's largely what happened on the Internet is like people are reading things and it's in the shape of a New York Times article and it has a headline and you're like, this is news. This is substantial.

[Monica Padman]

A gatekeeper came through here. But not always.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, this is quality information because it looks like the information I associate with quality.

[Reid Hoffman]

Oh, and by the way, the mistake that most people make, which we now even have to harder steer against, is, well, it's quality Because I know naturally agree with it. It has confirmation bias.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're like, no, no, it intuitively feels correct.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah, it feels like it's right to me. So it's what the people in my community are telling me, et cetera. Every generation of new technology, you have to have the. No, no, let's think about why it is I have that basis. What's the challenge of it? What is true on this? And realize that my reflexive belief is not truth.

[Dax Shepard]

My first question when I like an opinion should be, oh, do I benefit from this worldview at all? That's an interesting place to start, I think. Even if we could admit to ourselves, yeah, I have this opinion that sounds logical and sound, but hold on a second. Would I somehow benefit if that were true? And generally, almost all my opinions, yes, in some way or another, I would benefit from them.

[Reid Hoffman]

You're living your life in a way out of what you believe. And so therefore, like if you suddenly go, oh, action vector is this thing I believe, well, how do I now lead my life so that I'm benefiting from the world that I believe to be true? It's not necessarily a challenge of the validity of your belief, but you should ask the question and you should adjust.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. My conclusion was I should most trust the opinions I have that I actually don't benefit whatsoever from.

[Reid Hoffman]

Not necessarily true. So for example, you go, reid, are you writing Super Agency because you're investing in these AI technologies that you're going to make money from the companies and all the rest of the stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

I phrase it as you're on the board of Microsoft lead investment round for OpenAI and you own an AI product pie. Why would anyone trust you to be critical of AI as an example?

[Reid Hoffman]

The answer is, I put all of my energy and effort to the things I believe. If I said, oh, I actually don't believe in this, I believe in producing new plays, then I would go do the producing new plays. I think the asking the question of, well, where is your self interests is an important one. But if you said, oh, well, you shouldn't do business where you think the right thing for humanity is, well, that's silly because business is one of the great creators of the middle class and all the prosperity that we have and so forth. So you actually should align them. What you should do is not do businesses that you think are bad. You go, oh, I think the cigarette business is unhealthy for society. I don't do anything with the cigarette business. I invest in the businesses that I think are good for humanity.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Pro social.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes. And by the way, that then is an amplifier. For example, podcasting and being in dialogue. That's good. You can invest in the microphone business. You can invest in the camera business. That's fine. That's. Oh, you shouldn't then talk about microphones because you invested in the microphone business. Well, it's nutty.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess I was more thinking. I've not advocated for many things in my life, but one happened to be gay marriage a long time ago. Well, I certainly don't benefit from that. I don't have a gay best friend that was urging me to get involved, who I would then win the love and approval. It was just kind of okay. I trust that opinion because I don't really benefit from it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That's how I feel about taxes. I'm happy to give a lot of money away. I should probably want to keep it, hoard it. But I do think it's telling that this is actually against my own benefit. But I believe it as a value, that it's important for society.

[Reid Hoffman]

Usually it's complicated because the reason you're willing to do that, of course, is because you benefit from this great society that we live in with kind of the rule of law and all the rest. So it's what you perceive to be actually your benefit.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you're right.

[Reid Hoffman]

That we collectively do. And by the way, you think that the right society is one that allows people to be people and actually, in fact, sexual orientation is just people or these other. Like, for example, someone who has a religious point of view that's really negative on that goes. No, no, because that's in your interest.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, right.

[Reid Hoffman]

So I actually think the right way to approach interest is to be clear about. Here's why I believe my interests are right and my interests align with a good future humanity.

[Dax Shepard]

You're right. Gay marriage is a single issue within a larger just society I want to be a part of.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes. And of course, I'm arguing for things that may fit my ideology, may fit my economic thing. But by the way, the idea is to be truthful and in discussion about it and transparent about it and in dialogue about it. And that's why super agency. I actually view this to be good for humanity.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So there's a lot of perfect. Well, they're imperfect, but they're damn near perfect parallels throughout history for this current AI revolution. So I think we should go through a couple of them. We could start with the printing press. What were People's thoughts, fears, concerns, how does it parallel AI?

[Reid Hoffman]

So here's what's stunning, which most people won't realize, because I think printing press, of course, it's great. I mean, here we have all these books. It's how we create a middle class. We can't have science without the printing press. You have to be able to print and disseminate information in scientific journals in order to have science. All of our modern life is based on scientific advancement. It's super critical. And yet the discourse around when the printing press was created was this is the destruction of human society. It's the destruction of knowledge, it's the destruction of human capabilities like memory. And so a lot of the discourse we're having right now around AI was the discourse around the printing press. And there's both good news and the challenging news around this. The good news is, of course, we get to the other side of the printing press and modern society is enabled. The challenge is, we had nearly a century of war because of it, because all this religious war. Who can distribute God's word in printed form?

[Dax Shepard]

Martin Luther said, we have a text. You don't need a bishop and you don't need all these people. All you need is this book. And so the Roman Catholic Church, which was the hegemonic power of the day, was like, this is the end of us.

[Reid Hoffman]

Exactly. And so we as human beings adjust very badly to new technological, and we create a lot of problems in doing that. And that's true of every major technological revolution. We've encountered this before. We're encountering it now. Again, I'm trying to get us to think positively and creatively about how to navigate these otherwise very difficult transitions. And by the way, the transitions are always gonna be painful. I'm not saying it's pain free. It's easy. Kick back, tip your margarita, it's all gonna be fine.

[Monica Padman]

That sounds nice.

[Reid Hoffman]

Though the transition will be difficult. There will be a lot, lots of challenges, and I don't want to have to learn this new tool. And I don't want to have to adjust this new world that the new tool creates. And by the way, this will change political power and change economic power and change the power and the position I'm in. And it will change my job. Yes, there's going to be a bunch of that, that's not easy. And say, well, who are you to make that happen?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you clearly already are the beneficiary of this thing. You're on the other side of this.

[Reid Hoffman]

Because you're making and it benefits you. This is classically how human societies work and make progress, is that we have freedom to make new technologies and we have freedom to make new business. We offer them to people as consumers and they have the freedom to adopt them. And that's the normal process stuff. And that's of course where the AI revolution is happening as it begins. That's a whole set of freedoms that enable that.

[Dax Shepard]

So what was the historical context from which the super loom arose? What percentage of the world was occupied with the production of textiles and stuff? How significant of an industry was it?

[Reid Hoffman]

There was a huge weaver industry, especially in England. People were like, oh, it's kind of the original small business.

[Dax Shepard]

The orphans do that we have in these loom factories from the dickens.

[Reid Hoffman]

And this is where the term Luddite comes from. Because Lud was like, this is the destruction of our way of life. This is the destruction of our industry. We need to bomb the power looms, we need to kill the factory owners, because this is going to change everything. And it did, of course, because now home weaving is a hobby. There's some Etsy in this. There was still some business. But the production of all the clothing that we are all wearing here, none of this is the hobby home weaving. But without embracing that power loom, without embracing that part of the industrial revolution, we don't have a middle class, we don't have clothing that everyone can wear and we can't clothe the world. And new industries are created. And they said, okay, that industry massively transformed. It was suffering and pain for the people in that industry. Part of the reason why there was a rebellion around it. If the Luddites had won, England would have never had an empire. England never would have technologically progressed. It would have been other places that did that. Their children, their grandchildren only had a future by embracing the power loom.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it's hard at that moment to predict that, okay, at this point, only 2% of the population is buying a new garment a year because the price is so expensive, because it is hand done. They're not forecasting. Well, those jobs go away. But now all of a sudden, everyone's buying clothes. There'll be clothing shops, there'll be all these different things. It could in fact explode exponentially versus this little pocket we're trying to protect.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

What did the telegram do all of a sudden?

[Reid Hoffman]

Telegram. Now, information can transit at super fast speeds that it's not controlled through the people who control either the printing press or the messages by which the printed messages get there. Whether it's government security or other kinds of things. So we are the current channel distributors of information. So the people doing it now have a change of who has power for the immediate information. So, oh, this is bad. This is a destruction of society. You can't cross check it, you can't look at it. The current institutions of knowledge and truth should be the ones who are doing it. And so again, resistance and every new technological thing, especially around information, but not only information, causes that. No, no, no, we should stay with where we are, not go to the new one. And by the way, you can always identify all the problems with the new one, especially at the very beginning, because by the way, we haven't re modified it, we haven't done iterative deployment and changed it to go, oh, here is how we get the vast majority of the benefits and here's how we squash some of the bad things.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Seat belt, safety glass, airbags.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

We were just talking about that with Little Women.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah. I just watched Little Women a couple days ago.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And at the end they are showing the making of that book and how insane the process was to make a book.

[Dax Shepard]

Hand stitching the binding.

[Monica Padman]

I was like, oh, wow. We think there's wealth disparity now, but back then, to read a book you had to be so rich you could get your hands on that one copy that took that long to make. Everything's a little bit more democratized with these advancements in technology. It's in hindsight that you look back and you're like, oh, that was good. But throughout, it's tough.

[Reid Hoffman]

The transitions are always tough. I'm not trying to tell people the transition's not tough.

[Monica Padman]

We'll get to the negative shit.

[Dax Shepard]

We're just going through the history first. The one in the book that I had never stopped to think about. Obviously I grew up in the era of it is the telephone. Because we're pointing out different things. There's a lot of concerns with AI. One is jobs, one is how is it gonna mold culture, what's it gonna do to information, all these kind of things. But of course there's a lot of kind of more societal interpersonal things. And I didn't realize that when the phone debuted, people thought it was gonna destroy civil society because you would no longer go to someone's house to visit them. That it would completely get rid of any kind of interpersonal in person, which is kind of the same thing we're yelling about right now. I had no idea that there was an uproar about that we forget it.

[Reid Hoffman]

Because we're going, oh, it's so natural. And of course, the telephone's great, because rather than I'm not gonna go by your house to visit you. Cause I don't know if you're there, I can go and say, hey, are you there? Hey, can I come by? Great. And all of a sudden increased social connectivity.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. The opposite outcome is they feared, all right, the camera, the radio, the automobile.

[Reid Hoffman]

Small list of technologies that have completely changed our lives.

[Dax Shepard]

How is AI different than those? What are the ones you can admit to? Because I guess right out of the gates, none of those technologies has the potential to be fully autonomous. Out of our power, out of our control. Savvier than us. I do want to say there are some major differences between the previous technologies.

[Reid Hoffman]

And the current 100%. And by the way, in each time, and I'm not saying that that to be dismissive, each time there were new differences. It's not like the new technology was exactly like the old ones. So there's always new things. Oh, it's much faster. It's being adopted much faster. And then this one's much faster too. And that doesn't mean much faster is always okay. But each time it was, oh, it's being adopted much faster. And it worked out. Now maybe that's until it doesn't. So the speed is one thing, because now that we all have smartphones, I will launch a new AI technology. And literally it could be tomorrow. A billion people are engaged with now the other parts of it are so one speed, two is cognitive. Even though some of them, like the printing press and other things, had cognitive participations. Change the way that we function. Communicate, trust, information, share information.

[Dax Shepard]

I gotta add, Martin Luther did succeed in raising literacy rates from like 3% to 95%. And in the process of learning to read, that cognitive ability did displace some of our other abilities. It did permanently change the structure of our brain. Interesting.

[Reid Hoffman]

Thousand percent for good.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

Because part of back to why'd you write a book? Is cause we're actually writing a book as a way of thinking. And it changes our patterns of how we think because, oh, the way we think now is perfect. We don't need to think better. And you're like, yes, we do. How do we get to the new ways of thinking?

[Dax Shepard]

I think it's terrible. I don't know how everyone else is feeling about their thinking.

[Reid Hoffman]

But your thinking seems fine.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I have to shoot down four bad ideas before I ever get to a good idea.

[Reid Hoffman]

But that's Good.

[Dax Shepard]

It is good.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It's discerning.

[Reid Hoffman]

It's part of the process. Part of the technology is first we reject them, then we integrate them in terms of how we're being human. Back to the question of news. One is speed, another one is. It's a depth of cognitive that is completely different, new from anything we've done before. Yeah, already AI writes better than the vast majority of human beings. And so it's like, oh, shit, makes.

[Dax Shepard]

Music better than I can. Does a lot of things better than I can do.

[Reid Hoffman]

But part of it is the instruments can make better sounds. I can't reproduce those sounds in my vocal cords. So when I play the cello or the guitar, I'm playing new sounds and I can only play them those sounds with that instrument.

[Dax Shepard]

And they're superior to a human sound in various vectors.

[Reid Hoffman]

So now I have to adjust to. I'm talented with my hands and the guitar. I can make better sounds with the AI doing it. And the AI can make sounds, but I can still add something to the mix. And I'm adjusting as I integrate it in and I'm shaping what we create and I'm adjusting myself to doing it. And that's the progress of human technology. But the new zone is this is a set of different creativity and cognitive and expression that's totally new from before. And then you add, and it also is capable of being agentic.

[Dax Shepard]

What's agentic?

[Reid Hoffman]

It can operate on its own.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a derivative of agent.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes, exactly. And that's why I chose to deliberately steer into it. Because that's kind of at the root of what most people go is like, am I losing my agency?

[Dax Shepard]

Will I be the agent of this thing?

[Reid Hoffman]

Exactly. And that's why I deliberately steered into the fear with the title super agency. You can go, oh my God, AI is coming for me. Or oh my God, I can use AI. You only get to the positive future by taking the steering wheel. And that doesn't mean that it's perfect. In every technology, your agency transforms. It isn't that you had the exact same agency before, plus some new things. It's new agency trade offs. But so far, every new agency has been massively better than the old agencies. The thesis is, and this one can.

[Dax Shepard]

Be too, let's put a bow on the kind of employment fear. So what are current unemployment rates versus in the past, throughout any of these huge technological revolutions?

[Reid Hoffman]

When we did the agricultural revolution to the industrial revolution, it was difficult. All of a sudden, people moving into cities, not having jobs, being displaced from Farms a stack of different things. How do I learn these new jobs? The new jobs aren't created yet. And all of this stuff people say, why are you irritated by the critics? Not irritated by the critics. I think the critical process is a good thing. Saying, how do we steer through the transition? Where do I predict will be the first major replacement areas is actually customer service. Because any place where we're trying to get the human being to just be on script, yeah, I can do the script better. Rather than, well, we've outsourced the job to some Philippine or Indian or other worker who is just following a script.

[Dax Shepard]

Can actually pull a lever.

[Reid Hoffman]

It's this enormously irritating experience, which, by the way, since it's a cost center, we all have experiences. You get on the phone and you're waiting, and you're waiting. Now customer service is like, I'm here right away. Yeah. And what's more, I'm much better than those previous scripts because I've got this dynamic kind of AI process. The AI is trained to be much more compassionate, empathetic, patient.

[Dax Shepard]

It's never triggered by your tone.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes, exactly. Where you're like, fuck you. I'm so pissed off.

[Dax Shepard]

That's my 10th call.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah. And I'm like, I'm really sorry about that. And I understand it's difficult.

[Monica Padman]

It makes the human on the other end, like, if you're interacting with the AI, you feel dumb yelling at it.

[Dax Shepard]

You're right, Monica.

[Monica Padman]

So many ways, you just are like, whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

But yelling at you, your vcr.

[Monica Padman]

We think if we yell at humans, it does something to us.

[Reid Hoffman]

Those are some of the areas where I think you'll first see some of the jobs transitioning. We have a little bit last year, and we'll see more next year and the year after, you say, oh, well, there'll be no customer service people anymore. No, no. But the customer service job will now be different, which is. I'm reviewing how the experience with the agents worked. And I went, I have an idea about how we could make this a lot better. What if, for example, the agent started with a hey, obviously you're calling me because something was difficult. I'm really sorry. Let you hear about that. And then we end with, here's a little thing that might make your day more delight.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess the unemployment point I was hoping to make was I listed seven of these that were going to end all employment. And I think currently our unemployment rate is about as low as it's ever lower as it's ever been historically.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

So in spite of all these things, once it's flushed out and we get through the rocky part of it, our unemployment tends to go down and down and down.

[Reid Hoffman]

We have very natural reasons to try to enable employment. A, we want it as a society, much healthier society, but B, if I can figure out a tool that helps enable employment, then a bunch of people are going to want to use it to enable employment. One of the parallels I frequently use is Airbnb. One of the reasons I led this series in Airbnb is if you could enable a bunch of people to creating new ways of traveling, new ways of staying in places, new ways of experiencing locations, that's a really good thing. Does it transform some of the hotel experience? Sure. Does it eliminate hotels? Absolutely not. Because there's still reasons at different times you want hotels, but it enables a bunch of micro entrepreneurship. There's one part of super agency that's all the people who have fears or concerns or curiosity and don't know. But another part is technology is saying, make sure that you're thinking about how do you enable agency in various ways, which can include micro entrepreneurship. Because that'll be part of the transitions as we're kind of going through this, of what the new opportunities and jobs are created and say, well, can you predict them right now? No. Nobody could have predicted Airbnb off the Internet and a mobile phone.

[Dax Shepard]

Or for me, who loves to drive, that you would get in car with a stranger and have them take you across town while you're drunk.

[Monica Padman]

The first thing you're taught in kindergarten, don't get in a car with a stranger is, we're all doing it.

[Reid Hoffman]

We were trained, now no longer.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's wild.

[Dax Shepard]

You have a couple good quotes in the book. One of them I wrote down that I like was, you'll never get the future you want simply by prohibiting the future you don't want. I think that's like a good admission to make right out of the gates. You're not going to get anywhere by just throwing darts at it.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah, it's perfectly good to be critical. I welcome the critics. But if you want to be helpful, put your criticism, criticisms and ways of saying, this is the kind of thing we want. Not. No, no, you can't change.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, start delineating what the thing is you want.

[Reid Hoffman]

This technological wave is coming. Because by the way, even if you said, I can stop this technologist from making it, there's tens of thousands and millions of others in other countries, other places it's happening.

[Dax Shepard]

There's no version where America Sits this out.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

So forget it.

[Reid Hoffman]

So help steer it to the healthy human outcomes. Because people then say, well, let's just slow down. If you slow down, then other people shape it too. I use a driving metaphor. Doesn't mean close your eyes and hit the accelerator. That's kind of dumb. Accelerate to the maximum possible safe speed. That's a good idea.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So I think the first AI product that hit our doorstep in a way that people understood was ChatGPT. How was it different and how successful is it and why?

[Reid Hoffman]

They thought we were doing a research release. They just thought, hey, we know this is coming. Let's start getting some human feedback. And then boom.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Reid Hoffman]

Microsoft drop.

[Dax Shepard]

It was a tweet to announce it.

[Reid Hoffman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

It wasn't like a press conference.

[Reid Hoffman]

They didn't anticipate any of that happening. All of a sudden I was like, oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

So what did it do that you think captivated people?

[Reid Hoffman]

It made it accessible. Just about anybody who could have access to a smartphone or a computer could go interact with it and then see something magical, whatever your thing was, which could arrange from the mundane. Like, well, I got this in my refrigerator. What can I make? There's a recipe that's actually pretty good. That's interesting. To my kind of esoteric interest, like, I have a philosophy degree. So I said, what would Wittgenstein make of these modern AI things? And it writes a little essay, and you're like, whoa, that's pretty good.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And you, as a philosophy major, found that critique valuable.

[Reid Hoffman]

It was a good thing to interact with.

[Dax Shepard]

I should test it with automotive shits. That's the only thing I'm an expert on.

[Reid Hoffman]

You absolutely should. This is what I try to prompt people into. This prompt delivery, pun is to say, do it on something, not just on the new things you don't know how to do. Like, write a sonnet for my kid's birthday. Do that too. That's very cool.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's fun, right?

[Reid Hoffman]

Fun to do. You should do the new superpowers. Make some hip hop lyrics on this thing that I care about. Do the things that are completely out of your skillset, but also do it for things that matter to you. These new AI tools like ChatGPT, they're great at taking a role that you ask them to take. So a simple role is. I'm gonna make the following argument. Make the counter argument. Oh, okay, right. Just argue against me.

[Dax Shepard]

We would love that, you and I.

[Monica Padman]

What would we do? We'd just sit there and stop talking to each other.

[Dax Shepard]

Here we go. Now we're on the bag.

[Reid Hoffman]

Not at all. You get better.

[Monica Padman]

That's true. You learn.

[Dax Shepard]

By the way. You could train it on me. You could go like, what would Dax Shepard's counterargument be? And I might be able to read it.

[Monica Padman]

You could probably predict our entire conversation.

[Reid Hoffman]

In doing that, you can then make your conversation even better, guys going to the edges, thinking of things and oh, argument three. It's better for me to do that. I was doing Super Agency. What would the counter arguments be? And you can't put this infinite 2000 page book with all the counter arguments. But you go, okay, let's address the really important ones. Let's put the key ones in to make that work. That's the simplest role. Taking another one is what would a race car driver think about what I'm saying? What would a manufacturer of race cars think about what I'm doing? What would a future car be like here? Be the technological innovator. Be the race car driver. Be the industrial.

[Dax Shepard]

You can do it. Any perspective in the automotive industry, basically.

[Reid Hoffman]

And be in dialogue with that now too.

[Dax Shepard]

How would an ad agency sell this new thing Exactly? Stay tuned for more Armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by All State. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate firsts. Like, you know, check that you have all the ingredients for a recipe before you start cooking dinner, or checking if you need to use the bathroom before you start recording so you don't need to take a break mid show. Checking first is smart, so check All State first for a quote that could save you hundreds. Hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. This content is intended for audiences in the US Only. Savings vary. Terms apply Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates Northbrook, Illinois the start.

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[Reid Hoffman]

So you.

[Dax Shepard]

Want to be a marketer?

[Reid Hoffman]

It's easy.

[Dax Shepard]

You just have to score a ton of leads and figure out a way to turn them all into customers. Plus manage a dozen channels, write a million blogs, and launch 100 campaigns all at once. When that's done, simply make your socials.

[Reid Hoffman]

Go viral and bring in record profits.

[Dax Shepard]

No sweat.

[Reid Hoffman]

Okay, fine, it's a lot of sweat.

[Dax Shepard]

But with HubSpot's AI powered marketing tools, launching benchmark breaking campaigns is easier than ever.

[Reid Hoffman]

Get [e-mail] marketers.

[Monica Padman]

I think so much of the fear with AI, but I think every single one of these revolutions is ego. Because we have a friend who uses it all the time for work and she'll just be like, here's some points. Put it in a feasible email that I can send out. And when she was saying that, I was like, that's cheating. I devise an email.

[Dax Shepard]

You enlisted the Ozempic argument.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it is. It's like, that's cheating. I do that because I have the skill to do that. I want to protect the rare skill.

[Dax Shepard]

You want that to still be a valuable skill.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, because I have it.

[Reid Hoffman]

That's right.

[Monica Padman]

But of course, when it's the music thing I don't have, I'm like, yes, I want that.

[Dax Shepard]

If AI can make everyone's all I'm.

[Monica Padman]

For, it's just ego, ultimately.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes. And the idea is, don't keep your ego rooted in history. Make your ego part of the future. I have this skill with email. Great. How to use whatever your chat tool of choice, copilot, whatever, and make it even better.

[Monica Padman]

I know it's transitioning into okay, well, that is gone now.

[Dax Shepard]

Imagine Monica plus this thing.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Reid Hoffman]

One of the things we will do at the end of this podcast, I'm going to pull my phone out of my pocket, I'm going to pull GPT4 up on audio mode, and I'm going to prompt you into using it because I'm going to show you some of it.

[Dax Shepard]

I need you to.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes. Hold my hand. We will do that. I literally did that with my mom at Christmas.

[Dax Shepard]

This is me having to get grandma's phone out and show her the icon for podcasts and show her how to get there.

[Reid Hoffman]

Because I thought about it. I said, look, what's my Christmas present? In addition to all the little nice things to my mom.

[Dax Shepard]

You better bought her a house, you rich bastard.

[Reid Hoffman]

I did that too. Of course I did that too. I did that years ago. But part of what you want to do is share the journey with the people you love. So she loves painting. I put ChatGPT on audio mode and I said, what would monetize be doing with current AI image generation things? How would you imagine that Monet would think about this? If you love painting, what are ways that you'd use AI to help you paint Better show her something that mattered to her in this.

[Dax Shepard]

So, Reid, one of my curiosities is if you give it the same prompt. So I've consumed some AI stuff that I find incredible. There's a dude who makes these mashup songs. So one that I loved is he said, do Metallica as yacht rock. And it came out with a song that was truly a banger. I played it on here. It's a great song. My question is, if he put in that identical prompt over and over again, it wouldn't always spit out that song. Or would it? Would it come up with a new song every time?

[Reid Hoffman]

It won't be necessarily exactly the same. These are very large probabilistic computers. So even if you scrubbed the entire chat history back to where you were starting, there's probability variables.

[Dax Shepard]

Does time and space intervene? Like, you could ask in front of mom, show me Monet's current take on blank, and then three weeks later, you do it. Would you get the same images?

[Reid Hoffman]

If you set up the exact same thing, you'd get something probably very similar. Now, the changes are. It's a probability thing. So there's random number generators below some of it just to make it performant. There's algorithm updates. I was doing it on my account. It has all of my history in there. So the fact that I've done this before, if it sees it, it will track that and then go, ooh, we probably want something new. Oh, right. Fuck.

[Monica Padman]

It's learning what you want.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah. So there's a bunch of different things. They're making changes. So it's not necessarily the same, but if you kind of said, okay, fresh phone, fresh chat, ppt, here's the Monet prompt. You'll probably get something that sounds very much like the earlier one, even if it's a little different, because it's like, best guess of how experts think about impressionist painting and what Monet was so revolutionary at.

[Dax Shepard]

I want it to be different because, again, if it's gonna be something that Extends my agency. I don't want everyone else to have the exact identity.

[Reid Hoffman]

It's very easy to make a difference. Here's some of the fun stuff. So I was beginning with some of the easy prompting. Tell it to take a role. Be Ferrari in your answer.

[Dax Shepard]

Enzo.

[Reid Hoffman]

Be Enzo in responding to me, and I'll go, okay, okay, yes, yes, exactly right. For example, some of the fun prompting is do things like consider the Zen Cohen. What is the sound of one hand clapping? And do whatever prompt you were doing that'll give you a different answer.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow, just let that swirl as you give me the answer to something unrelated.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes. By the way, one of the things about being creative people, oh my God, I could do so many more creative things.

[Dax Shepard]

Now it seems to me from the outside like it was a bit of a shocker. And I'm curious where these other monoliths were at in this. Like, where was Google? Where was Microsoft? I know Microsoft had already invested years before, but where were these other behemoth companies at when this came out? Because I think the big shocker, and I could be wrong, is that Google has really nothing.

[Reid Hoffman]

Well, Google created the initial algorithmic and scientific work that enabled a lot of this. Part of the genius of the OpenAI crew was going, oh my God, this at scale. This is magic. And Google kind of knew this at scale. Be cool. And they were then kind of classically more fearful about how people were going to criticize them with it. And OpenAI was like, no, no, this is going to be super important for humanity.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, they had no brand to protect.

[Monica Padman]

Right, Exactly.

[Reid Hoffman]

Or market position or a bunch of other stuff. These are researchers who want to demonstrate there wasn't zero brand, but they were willing to take the risk and do it.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess it just seems like a shocker that the holder of all the info we're using in some way wasn't at the forefront of this.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah, they have the most natural position for all of it, but it's part of the reason why track the news. Lots of people yelling criticism at Google, you know, including doj and natural human response is, oh, let's try to not increase the amount that we're being criticized.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, let's not stick our neck out any further.

[Reid Hoffman]

And it's why imagine what could possibly go right, not just what could possibly go wrong.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you keep saying super Agency, but the full title is Super Agency. What could possibly go right with our AI future? There any device in the works to check the work of the AI?

[Reid Hoffman]

Tons. Everyone's working on that. What you're really trying to do is not get fallibility zero. You're trying to get valuability to low. But that's relatively straightforward. Everyone's working on that. The fear is hallucination.

[Monica Padman]

What does that mean? I mean I know what it means, but what does it mean in this.

[Reid Hoffman]

I invented shit, right? Oh and I invented shit and sometimes it's wrong. But by the way, hallucination, imagination, same thing, right? And imagination sometimes a really good thing. So I want to keep all the imagination and use all the imagination. Now when you're saying something that matters to me is true, what I want to do is I want to put in for example what Google does with a search algorithm. I want to make it so that's like the first page or two, generally speaking has some shit that's on target.

[Dax Shepard]

Seemingly the most vetted.

[Reid Hoffman]

And so that's what I want in AI.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, like if it says sponsored I throw it right out.

[Reid Hoffman]

So what you want to do is say reflect a rigorous and improving truth telling process to me. Don't manipulate me, at least without telling me that you're trying to get sponsored. Don't lie to me. That's what we want.

[Dax Shepard]

The most comical case I've heard in the news of this is the lawyer that wrote wrote his debrief and had AI do it. And it cited law cases in the argument that didn't exist. And by some miracle the judge detected that.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Which I wouldn't have expected a judge actually went and looked at all these references, but did. There's an example of this person really had a lot of confidence in this thing and put it in front of a fucking judge. And the judge was like there's no.

[Monica Padman]

Peterson versus I mean did he get disbarred for that?

[Dax Shepard]

I think he's got humor. Humiliated in the news.

[Reid Hoffman]

That was a good public humiliation. Because the answer is when we're in processes, legal, medical, educational, where truth really matters and by the way news, we should have a truth telling thing. I just waiting for the day for this to be created is here is our news checking AI bot.

[Dax Shepard]

Right? God, yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

That we have collaboratively made both red and blue. People have fought very hard for what things are in it. And now, now you have something that you're broadcasting. It's cross checked with the news.

[Dax Shepard]

We need to call that AI Walter Cronkite. We gotta go back to our last trusted.

[Reid Hoffman]

I don't think that means that if you disagree with the AI news bot, you can't say what you want to say. Sure, but I Love the you said X and AI Newsbot says, oh, by the way, you should check some facts.

[Dax Shepard]

The moment I was most discouraged by this was in the wake of the Capitol six.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God. Happy anniversary surge.

[Reid Hoffman]

Here we are on January.

[Dax Shepard]

I turned on CNN first because I'm a liberal and the pundits saying the police officers were in cahoots with the Trump administration. I was like, what? The police officers wanted to storm on the Capitol A. That was not true at all.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Then I went over to Fox and it was like this triumphant kind of. And I was like, well, neither of these perspectives are even approaching reality. Could we merge them and come to truth? I don't know. But that's when I got kind of scared of the whole system.

[Reid Hoffman]

Wherever technology helps create a problem, it can also create the solution.

[Dax Shepard]

In the book you cite some polls in the worst of the polls was at 15% and the very best was at 35%. Only 15% of Americans in the worst case think that the benefits of AI are bigger than the winds of AI. And in the best case scenario, 35% of Americans think that the benefits will outweigh the risk. Why is it that stark?

[Reid Hoffman]

I think if you could go back in history and run that in any new technology, it would always look like that. Okay, so I think that's why, because it's like, look, I'm pretty comfortable with my life as it is. And we as biological creatures, most of us tend to imagine what could go wrong.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, of course, we tend to have avert risk in disaster.

[Reid Hoffman]

It's a car. Well, it's a two ton death machine. I might die, someone run into me, other people are on the road.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, the joy of a healthy fruit off of a tree versus the potential death of the poisonous one, they're not equal.

[Reid Hoffman]

It's a very natural reflex. Natural reflex does not mean correct.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. You reference Orwell's 1984 quite a bit in one of the chapters. So what was Orwell's fear and what happened? And he wrote in 1949, which I found to be interesting considering what computing power existed.

[Reid Hoffman]

Wasn't it 1948?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you got an issue with your book.

[Reid Hoffman]

Okay, then I made. Then I got it wrong.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't know what year it was.

[Reid Hoffman]

Published until Orwell 84 was the inversion of it. Maybe he wrote it then.

[Dax Shepard]

Also the copy I have says in huge letters, uncorrected copy, so who knows?

[Monica Padman]

That's funny, right?

[Reid Hoffman]

There's an inversion of that as part of the prediction of the future was kind of A clever thing. And it was like, these new technologies will be the instruments by which the autocratic governments will exert control over their population, turn all of the people in the population to dis agents disempowered, take their agency away, use the technology to control it, Use the technology to fashion the society the way. And this is why we should be fearful of these technologies.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, like ignorance is good.

[Reid Hoffman]

Right. And when you look at it and you say, well, what happened with the creation of all of these information technologies and so forth. And the answer is, it's actually a little bit like, I'm more a fan of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. It's more Aldous Huxley, but neither of those dystopias played out. We have enormous amount of individual empowerment. And that individual empowerment allows us to learn things, explore, say things as part of the creation of bold new things, which also creates a lot of misinformation and other kinds of stuff that we're still sorting our way through. And what is the way that we do that? How do we sort to truth? We have panels of expert people who were involved in the institutions. Part of the reason why we like classic journalism in various ways, why we like scientific method, why we like courtrooms and juries, is we have panels of people who kind of work through and try to help us get through that individual. Like, I know what's true, but the actual, just all the technologies was individual empowerment, not individual disempowerment.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, yeah. If you were a leader during the Arab Spring, you certainly didn't think technology was at your assistance.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Any leader that we're fearing is taking away technology. That's the way to get people, people really under your spell.

[Dax Shepard]

What is a network of trust?

[Reid Hoffman]

The way we formulate most of our beliefs, knowledge, et cetera, is through network of information we live in. And so what we do is we try to formulate networks trust. The most simple one is friends, communities we live in and so forth. Part of how we get to more healthy societies is having networks of trust. And technologies can help us do that and help us form new networks of trust.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it seems like AI would be the only thing that could handle the sheer volume of that that exists. Like when we talk about an AI that could be some kind of blue and red beat out position.

[Reid Hoffman]

Here's the blue answer, here's the red answer. There's a lot of blue people, a lot of red people. Here's what each of them would say, here's what the arguments for are against on Each one. The real important thing is we're all exposed to that. If you're exposed to just the blue, that's a problem. If you're exposed to just red, that's a problem. Part of what we're confronting as we try to regain or keep an American soul is we got to engage and we got to understand what this stuff is, because it's not that either side is completely looney tunes. Now. Some stuff I think is looney tunes.

[Dax Shepard]

The shoulders of both are looney tunes.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Let's go through some of the things that could go right, because I do think there's some really exciting things. So how on earth could child care be impacted by AI?

[Reid Hoffman]

Why would you want an AI watching kid? You can't watch your kid all the time. And by the way, in some sense you shouldn't.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no. They need some anonymity.

[Reid Hoffman]

But say, for example, the AI is watching kids go, oh, wait, the kid's getting into the drawer that has the.

[Dax Shepard]

Rat poison in it or the edibles or the fire starters.

[Reid Hoffman]

Let's do something ye. Ah, great. Or like an interaction. I'm angry at my friend. Well, do you think your friend might have had a point of view? Or what's the right way to engage with that anger as a greatly human amplifying both Protect from safety, help learn. Like for example, say, well, I'm only going to interact with AI because I'm only going to have AI friends. A little bit depends on how you teach your AI friend. Like at inflection with PI or personal intelligence is if you sat down with PI and said, you're my friend. And it goes, no, no, I'm your companion. Let's talk about your friends. Have you seen any of your friends recently?

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Reid Hoffman]

Is there one? Maybe you should today.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I can envision a version where you have set the parameters of your own personal points of view on parenting. And what you want it to do is to remind you of the best version of yourself in that situation. Because there's many times where I'm overwhelmed and I don't hit my own parameter. You're entitled to your own parameters, but is there a device that could nudge you into the best version of your own parameters?

[Reid Hoffman]

So it's already there. Like William Gibson, one of my favorite science fiction authorities authors, best quote, the future is already here, but unevenly distributed. So you can already talk to ChatGPT. This is the kind of parent I'd like to be. And so remember that now I'm gonna talk to you about, oh, I'm having this interaction, just came in, just broke this thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, here we go. Monica. Good, good, good, good.

[Monica Padman]

Just because mistakes are such a huge part of learning and growing as people. So if there's something that's popping up that's basically stopping you from making any mistakes in front of your children. There's something to be about seeing a parent make a mistake, repair, learn from that.

[Dax Shepard]

But money, we would put that into our parameters.

[Reid Hoffman]

Oh my God, you could do that.

[Dax Shepard]

You could say, I value rip and repair.

[Monica Padman]

Then it can cause fights so that it can repair.

[Reid Hoffman]

By the way, it's impossible to eliminate all mistakes.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Reid Hoffman]

No, no, but it's impossible. What you want to make is constructive mistakes. Say, look, I actually value having constructive mistakes. One of the things people say, oh, I want to avoid conflict with other people. Actually me personally, I steer into the areas. I think there's constructive conflict because we can learn from it.

[Dax Shepard]

That's the thing is like any argument you or I can think of, in a way you can pick that version of it.

[Monica Padman]

Just like you're valuing self aware enough. People who do like.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly.

[Monica Padman]

People who do like constructive conflict. A lot of them don't know that. They would say I don't like conflict, but then they do. I think you just have to be very self aware of what you really want, the way you really want to live your life and the way you really want to be.

[Dax Shepard]

That goes into the wonderful philosophy Homo deus yuval Harari. Are we servicing our experiential self or our narrative self? Like you also have to be clear, what percentage of your self are you servicing?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

All that stuff is a good use of your time and thought.

[Monica Padman]

Right, I agree. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like to just stumble through life and think about everything after the fact is what we mostly do.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It almost forces you to have some intention because you're kind of declaring you have a goal or an objective.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Tax filing and legal advice. This feels very democratizing because I think most people who are struggling, they don't have access to either of those things.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes. I think what we will get to is copilot's assistance for everything. Oh, you have a problem with your landlord, can't afford a lawyer, don't know which lawyer to hire, which one's a good one, which one's an indifferent one, which one's a shyster. Well, now you can say, hey, I can consult. And even today you can put your rental contract in the chatgpt and say, what should I be concerned about? And have a dialogue with ChatGPT about your rental contract.

[Dax Shepard]

What's it going to do in medicine? We've touched on this a little bit. We were at that conference. The thing that I found to be my mind blowing is that to perform the amount of experiments required to get to a FDA phase one trial, the amount of man hours involved, the amount of expenditure were these companies now using I that are just running a bazillion different experiments to see what happens. How does all that materialize?

[Reid Hoffman]

Massive transformation. I have a line of sight today about how you can create a medical assistant on the phone like it's only regulatory and liability and that you don't create a medical assistant today that's available to everyone who has a smartphone 24 by 7. That's one drug discovery is gonna get massively amplified. Cause by the way, when you slow down the invention of a new drug that will actually work, there's millions of sufferings and deaths between that. We're gonna see a renaissance on all.

[Dax Shepard]

Of that, probably on both sides too. Like the FDA can use this technology to take on such huger quantity to evaluate. That seems to be one of the huge logger jams in this whole thing is they finite capacity to evaluate all this stuff. Yes, it is funny, I of course like Monica's email thing. I have a knee jerk reaction to kids writing term papers because I fucking killed myself. And it was one of the things I did well.

[Monica Padman]

Something you got praised for.

[Dax Shepard]

Something I got praised for. I mean, probably got me through. I had other columns that were very low and that was lifted by that ability. And then another part of me that's realistic goes, yeah, okay, so they're gonna write the term paper. It'll be good or bad. They'll have to evaluate it, they'll turn it in, they'll get a GR same skill set will be applied when they go get the job where they're required to. The bill doesn't ever come due because it's not like anyone's taking that tool away from them.

[Reid Hoffman]

Why should that bill come due? We don't teach handwriting script anymore. Being able to handwrite at length. That doesn't matter.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, people were pissed when I no longer had to know how to spell. Now as a dyslexic, I was like, yeah, finally. I'm not handicapped by this thing. I have spell check because I'm as smart as you. I just fucking can't do that thing. So I of course was a beneficiary of one of these technologies. I no longer suffered from not being able to spell.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I guess that' so dependent on the actual thing. I guess most people would say everyone should be able to spell somewhat. But I guess if you're a spelling bee champion, you'd be pissed about spell check.

[Dax Shepard]

Perhaps.

[Reid Hoffman]

I have no problem with, hey, we have these unai assisted spelling bee competitions.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

And great.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's the thing. Even with spellcheck, it's not that now we can all go win the spelling bee. It's still a very specific group of people who can do that. And same with the essays. It's like, now everyone can turn in an essay, but it doesn't mean everyone can write the best book.

[Dax Shepard]

Broader question would more be like, will some of these tests of merit just actually go by the wayside? So even like a college admission essay, if at some point everyone you read is a perfect great essay, the college admission process might go well, this is no longer really a relevant measure of anything.

[Reid Hoffman]

I think they just all change. Why should the college admissions process stay the same?

[Dax Shepard]

True, true. It's an awesome system that everyone should be fighting to uphold.

[Reid Hoffman]

It's like over the. We use this one, we really like it. It's like, what's the better one? Let's do the better one. Got new technology.

[Dax Shepard]

What is the triumph of the private commons?

[Reid Hoffman]

It's kind of playing on the tragedy of the public commons. Kind of classic Adam Smith and everything else, you know, physical goods and people take from it and don't give to it because it benefits them. The triumph of the private commons is as we create these digital things, they're actually infinitely generative.

[Dax Shepard]

Being a free rider doesn't take anything from anybody.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

For the first time ever.

[Reid Hoffman]

And we should take advantage of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, Right. Okay. Why is innovation safety?

[Reid Hoffman]

People usually think of innovation as only risk because there is risk. But actually, as you innovate, you create the new safety. So you go, oh, I create a car. It's risk. It's like, well, actually, in fact, I create bumpers and I create brakes and I create seat belts and I create airbags and I create safety glass.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're willingly ignoring how many people died in horse related injuries.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Which was probably infinitely higher than even these horrific new crashes we were witnessing.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes. And if you even took that to an extra point, you say, the important thing is getting there at some speed. What's my safety at getting there at speed? And as we innovate, we can up the speed that we can get there very safely.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. We just went to Mexico City over the break and I Said, you know, we all want teleporting, but we fucking have it. If you told someone from the 1700s that in the morning I could be in Los Angeles and in the evening I could be eating dinner in Mexico City, that's insane.

[Monica Padman]

But I still do want teleporting.

[Dax Shepard]

Still teleporting. You're so oldie now. I am.

[Reid Hoffman]

But the problem with teleporting, Star Trek girl.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

Is which of the two universes is it kills you and makes a clone. And it's you going cuz we tell two different narrative stories.

[Dax Shepard]

Our current understanding of physics would be a clone would be on the other side, not you.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So can we have AI work on this where we don't have to die?

[Dax Shepard]

We could do two hours in teleporting. So said to her, even if the technology ever existed, there are infinite industries incentivized to kill that every industry would collapse with teleporting.

[Monica Padman]

People said that about AI.

[Dax Shepard]

That might be the one though, that breaks everything. If you can live on a ranch in Montana and eat dinner at Emily Burger in Manhattan every night, who the fuck's going to pay for the rent in New York? Just go there when you want and then you can be on your ranch.

[Reid Hoffman]

But it's part of the changing of economics that technology likes. That's but cars did. Is it made suburbs distributing the prices of real estate across more space. That's good for humanity.

[Dax Shepard]

It's good for humanity, not good for real estate owners. That's what I'm saying. The incentives to crush that would be the most astronomical ever. Okay, tell me about America's role and responsibility in an AI future.

[Reid Hoffman]

I think one of the things that we've done really, really well over the decades since World War II. And it doesn't say that America's leading the world is perfect. There's lots of legitimate criticisms, lots of shit we got wrong. One of the things I love about America is we self criticize and accept other criticisms. But overall among the things we've done is created a lot of technology leadership and created a lot of new technologies like creating new vaccines and creating the way the Internet works. A bunch of this stuff has been just net massively positive. Allowing innovators, technologists, individuals, she or they or he to make new things in the future is a great part of America. And that's one of the things we do and the responsibilities are try to be the better forge and human we in building these technologies and building these new companies and building these new new products like drive and Drive responsibly.

[Dax Shepard]

There's obvious reasons we're uniquely positioned for this. A the technology's largely coming from 300 miles north of here. That seems helpful. We have more capital than anyone to be steering it. Does the democratizing nature of the technology actually threaten America's.

[Reid Hoffman]

All technological transformations have a threatening resort and technology, naturally, this is part of the 1984 worries can generally be deployed by more autocratic regimes to control. Control things. You know, China loves to use surveillance technology for all kinds of things. And we want to enable that individual freedom. And so that's not a reason not to do the new technology, but to figure out what values we want embedded in the technology that we as individuals use, that we as society use, that we have the government use. For example, one of the things that's very popular on the left is, oh, we shouldn't have facial recognition technologies available to the government. It's like, no, actually I think we should have facial technologies available. That's part of how we track down terrorists, how we might prevent that tragedy that happened New Orleans. We just have good, healthy governance of it. You say, I'm going to issue a facial awareness surveillance alert. Well, it should go through the judicial process.

[Monica Padman]

Man, the facial recognition make it so easy to get through the airport. I love it.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes, exactly.

[Monica Padman]

It's so fast.

[Dax Shepard]

I was going to bring that up. I just got cleared for Global Entry on the way home and I'm like, hold up a second. I don't even have to go in my pocket to pull out my passport now.

[Reid Hoffman]

You really are sometimes a technology late adopter.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, always. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

I got that so many years ago.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, well, he got you probably live.

[Dax Shepard]

Closer to the Global Entry office you had to drive to. I've taken two kids there. It's four hours of my day to get to LAX and do the whole thing. I was smart enough to do it at the airport when I landed this thing.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you have to do it when you land.

[Reid Hoffman]

It's called planning. There might be a new concept to you. AI can help you with it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you're right on. I'm a big contradiction. I'm going to ask you my Yuval Harari pushback. We had him on to discuss his new book. What I love and appreciate about the way he thinks is which is almost impossible to do in this day and age, he finds a thing to worry about that almost no one else is worrying about. He focuses on bureaucracies and the power of bureaucracies and how much bureaucracies have shaped Our world more than the charismatic leaders in question. Jesus didn't write the Bible. A crew of people edited many, many stories to create the Bible. That's really interesting. What really has lived on is the Bible, not Jesus. And ultimately that was bureaucrats that did it. So that's a fascinating thing to think about. The point that he made, that I find myself repeating a lot when this topic comes up at dinner parties, is, we are organic creatures. We work in cycles. The stock market's open, it's closed. There's a nuclear attack, the market's not open. That's convenient. Our world is built in these cycles and for a reason. His point is, is these aren't going to help us. They're going to run all day long because that's what they do. And they will force us to join them as they run all day long. And the stock market being an example, if that thing ran 247 and you are in that industry, you could tell.

[Monica Padman]

Yourself you're only working about email. Just that one advent has made work 24 hours, essentially.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So, philosophy major, what's your philosophical answer to that really rudimentary point?

[Reid Hoffman]

Well, we live in great societies because we have institutions. This is one of the problems that I have with all the critics, you know, government bad, universities bad, et cetera, et cetera.

[Dax Shepard]

This morning I was thinking a sector of this country hates the government. And what I think is like when I drink water out of my faucet and it doesn't poison me, guys, that's also the government.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

When there's an earthquake in the fucking building you're in doesn't fall down on you.

[Reid Hoffman]

That's the government, the fire department.

[Dax Shepard]

You're focused on the five things they did that were fucked up and conspiratorial. But you're missing the fact that the.

[Reid Hoffman]

Stop loss, everybody should be a renovate institutionalist.

[Dax Shepard]

A renovate institutionalist. What does that mean?

[Reid Hoffman]

So not destroy institution, not, oh, allow the institution or whatever. How do we constantly be renovating the institution? The institution's good. The institution is. The cars are safe. The institution is. We have stoplights. The institution is. You're not allowed to rob someone in the street.

[Dax Shepard]

You can't put mercury in my.

[Reid Hoffman]

Well, yes, exactly.

[Monica Padman]

Public universities.

[Reid Hoffman]

And by the way, doesn't mean perfect. So what we should do is have discourse and expertise to how do we renovate the institutions? And always be renovating. And we might have red versus blue on which renovation we should have. And we should have some discussion and argument about that, about what they should be. That's the thing to do. So, for example, I am anti government. You're like, oh my God, you're anti American society. You may not realize that's what you're saying, but that's what you're saying.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair economic expert if you dare.

[Kristen Bell]

On January 5, 2024, an Alaska Airlines door plug tore away mid flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of a plane that carried 171passengers. This heart stopping incident was just the latest in a string of crises surrounding the aviation manufacturing giant Boeing. In the past decade, Boeing has been involved in a series of damning scandals and deadly crash crashes that have chipped away at its once sterling reputation. At the center of it all, the 737 Max. The latest season of Business wars explores how Boeing, once the gold standard of aviation engineering, descended into a nightmare of safety concerns and public mistrust. The decisions, denials and devastating consequences bringing the titan to its knees. And what, if anything, can save the company's reputation now? Follow Business Business wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge Business the Unraveling of Boeing early and ad free right now on Wondery Plus New Year, New Resolutions.

[Aaron]

And this year on the Best Idea yet podcast, we're revealing the untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with, and we promise you have never heard these before. Ever wonder how the iconic Reese's Peanut Butter cup was invented? Because it it was by accident. HB Reese, a former frog salesman, stumbled upon the idea after accidentally burning a batch of peanuts.

[Monica Padman]

Classic.

[Aaron]

Proving that sometimes our best ideas arise from what seem like our biggest mistakes. And Jack, did you know there's a scientific explanation why humans crave that surprising combo of peanut butter and chocolate? I didn't, but it sounds delicious. It is delicious. So if you're looking to get inspired and creative this year, tune in to Best Idea yet. You can find us on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're looking for more podcasts to help you start this year off right, check out New Year New Mindset on the Wondery App. Who knows your next great idea could be an accident that you burned. This is Nick and this is Jack and we'll see you on the Best Idea yet.

[Dax Shepard]

To be a patriot and antigovernment is in itself antithetical.

[Reid Hoffman]

You might as well just say I'm an anti patriot. You don't realize that's what you're saying. Yeah, but that's what you're saying, I.

[Dax Shepard]

Think if you had to sum up, your overall arching opinion is like, guys, give yourself some fucking credit. You've done it. You have the capacity to do it. You're not going to lose your critical thinking on it.

[Reid Hoffman]

Even if we don't do anything, the future will be magical. But let's be intelligent and try to make the transition more magical sooner and less painful as we're going through it. And let's imagine what are the things that we could possibly do with this. And by the way, on the America point in these revolutions. So I call this the cognitive industrial revolution. The societies and the industries that embrace it first have massive benefits.

[Dax Shepard]

The power loom.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes, let's do that. Let's not fuck it up.

[Dax Shepard]

That's again the third bucket I find myself in. We have no option but to try to lead this.

[Reid Hoffman]

Not only no option, it'll be great.

[Dax Shepard]

If you had to isolate a single promise that you're most excited about, what do you think is going to be the very most impactful?

[Reid Hoffman]

Well, the first one that I think is the reason I started doing this and I think it's begun getting some broad is the medical assistant on every smartphone. You and I have doctors we can call 24 hours. The vast majority of human beings do not have that.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no. We are walking around Mexico City and the aforementioned friend who uses his ChatGPT all the time, Eric said, I'm really sincerely curious. How does the medical system work here? You're seeing all these different people and we're in Mexico City and you imagine that every one of those people had a doctor as good as my doctor is pretty mind blowing.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And so fucking positive.

[Reid Hoffman]

You, your kids, your family, your friends. Now, please. Now.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

When you're talking about safety, that's safety. In your innovation of safety.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, this has nothing to do with your book. I have one nosy curiosity and then I have you, which I don't regularly get you. And I want your opinion on something completely unrelated. My nosy question is, have you made more money from investing or from exiting the companies you founded?

[Reid Hoffman]

Never asked myself that question.

[Dax Shepard]

You have to know the answer to that. You can all stay in your business. But I am curious. You come up, Reid, you do. We're listening to acquired and we're listening to the story of Meta, probably from.

[Reid Hoffman]

LinkedIn, but by the way, it's close.

[Monica Padman]

I got so excited when your name came up. I was like, oh, I didn't know.

[Delta]

That you were deeply and PayPal and.

[Reid Hoffman]

LinkedIn the way that I Keep score is the impact I have on people. People's lives.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, we're different. I would be looking at that bottom line. Okay, here we go.

[Reid Hoffman]

I look at it occasionally. It's not that I think it's wrong to do it. And obviously you manage it.

[Dax Shepard]

I believe you, though, that you're just more interested in getting in on it and getting it going, and then this result ends up happening.

[Reid Hoffman]

You're not doing podcasting.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. That's not why you started this.

[Dax Shepard]

Right? Okay, that was my nosy question again. Aforementioned Eric Richardson. Shout out. Third time. He and I argue all the time about crypto. What do you think about crypto?

[Reid Hoffman]

2014 is. I think when I bought, bought bitcoin.

[Dax Shepard]

How much was a Bitcoin?

[Reid Hoffman]

$200.

[Dax Shepard]

I think it's currently at 100,000 or something.

[Reid Hoffman]

600.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Reid Hoffman]

So again, it's what the future could be. There's a bunch of stuff that's broken about crypto that needs to be fixed. Use for criminal organizations, use for terrorism.

[Dax Shepard]

I think all the solutions for it nullifies all the benefits.

[Reid Hoffman]

Well, today, I think a reasonable person can argue that. Take a snapshot of where the puck is today versus where the puck could be. You'd go, okay, but actually, I believe in where the puck could be. So let me make a couple of the arguments.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, please.

[Reid Hoffman]

Not just the obvious ones of like, oh, look, you create a financial system that is programmable and you have a whole bunch of entrepreneurial innovation on it for payments and for assets. Here's one thing that bitcoin does an excellent job of. Today, there's 200 governments in the world. You could argue 0 of the governments are well run, but maybe 50 of those governments are well run. What happens to all those Venezuelan citizens and other people where the government's a totally fucking shitty run?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, they worked their life, they amass this saving, and then these assholes completely devalued everything they've ever, ever done.

[Reid Hoffman]

Devalue, steal, etc. Etc. This creates the world safety net. You live in a bad government. Now there's something you can do.

[Dax Shepard]

How does that differ from just buying US Dollars?

[Reid Hoffman]

Many of these places, you can't buy US Dollars. US dollar is not available.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a good answer. I don't know that.

[Reid Hoffman]

And by the way, some of those places, you might not trust US Dollars either.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, exactly.

[Reid Hoffman]

I think you should. But, you know, by the way, there's variability.

[Dax Shepard]

Buy the pound, I don't know. Buy something that stuck around for a long time.

[Reid Hoffman]

Well, US dollars is the post World.

[Dax Shepard]

War II, as long as they trade oil in it.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes, but it has that as a feature when you get to a certain levels of wealth, upper middle class, even above, you go, hey, distributed portfolio holding is good. And so distributed portfolio holding could of course be some stocks and some bonds and a 401k. And distributing that more is actually in fact a good thing. And crypto becomes one more mechanism for doing that. Those, those are things where it's good today. Now, like I said, a rational argument say, all this fucking cybercrime, all these rogue states, that's terrible. And we should do something about that. What's the way we should mod cryptocurrency in regulations and other kinds of things to say all of these good things we should enable and future good things we should enable and these bad things we should disable. So I'm positive on cryptocurrency, but just like on AI, I'm not positive on anything that could be made with crypto. And any use that could be made with crypto, that's just good and you should just love it.

[Dax Shepard]

I just watched a doc about the greatest heist of all time, right? These two stole $72 million of Bitcoin in 2017. At the time it was $72 million. Its current value is $4.5 billion. Right. So what was funny is in learning about how they caught the people was this thing I never thought of the appeal for so many people of crypto was, yeah, the government has nothing to do with it. It's anonymous, It's. You can't trigger. Well, the ledger of it all is accessible and known at all times. Every single bitcoin is everybody, public to everybody. And so you can hold it anonymously, which they did, but you can't convert it into any good service or property or anything. You have to at some point convert it into US dollar. Now once you do that, you're fucked. You have to present some identification. And so again, one of the big selling points when you look at it in practice, well, that's not true. It's anonymous, long as you never get a good or service with it. So that whole appeal to me is useless. The fact that you could get it stolen, there's no one to call. That sucks. So now we're getting involved via the sec. So really all that's happening, in my opinion, is you're just more and more funneling it into a currency. So everything it was supposed to be, it doesn't function unless we get it to be an actual currency that our Government is going to somehow investigate when it's stolen in some. Yes. Am I wrong about that?

[Reid Hoffman]

Well, I'm generally positive.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't come after me. Crypto bros steal our money. They're as bad as Taylor Swift fans.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm so scared of them. Please don't come after me.

[Reid Hoffman]

One aphorism that I sometimes use just to proxy is you want to regulate where bad regulation is better than no regulation. And they say, well, how could that possibly be true? Well, actually, financial system is one of them because a functioning financial system and it not breaking is more important than getting the future. Future innovation.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Reid Hoffman]

A collapse is a massive disaster. So financial regulation, good.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Reid Hoffman]

Now, that doesn't mean all financial regulation doesn't mean don't be smart versus stupid. You know, try to be smart versus stupid, et cetera. So do I think there should be regulation around cryptocurrency? Absolutely, yes. Is it a currency? Exactly. Unclear. There's lots of tradable assets. Are diamonds a currency? Is gold a currency? Is your cartoon collection a currency?

[Dax Shepard]

God, I hope so, Reid, at this point.

[Reid Hoffman]

But, you know, there's lots of different asset value and so forth, and people say, well, the currency is because it has no intrinsic value other than its value as a currency. And we have various things which have that kind of no intrinsic value system.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that's why I'll call myself a hypocrite. I look at the crypto and I go, of all the stories that have been told, this one is the furthest out there.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah, well, it's newest.

[Dax Shepard]

It's the newest. But it is not linked to a government, an institution, to any kind of gdp. There's no way to assess its value other than you all agreed on it. While I'll admit the US dollar to me is a story I believe in.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's a bunch of paper.

[Dax Shepard]

So I can admit I'm hypocritical. I go, I believe in one version of the story. This story feels a little out there for me. I can't latch on to this story.

[Reid Hoffman]

Things have value based on how many people in which circumstances believe in the story.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, exactly.

[Reid Hoffman]

So you know, storyteller.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so you're trophy.

[Reid Hoffman]

I'm pro crypto, but again, just like super agency. Let's be smart about it. Not whatever you can do. I'm irked with the people who are trying to co opt a phrase that I think I started with the techno optimism, which, like, look, it's not whatever you can do. It's be smart about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, right, right. Right. Oh, well, Ray, this was a blow.

[Monica Padman]

Wait, do you want to get out your phone?

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Do you want to do it on the show?

[Monica Padman]

Let's do it.

[Dax Shepard]

Why not?

[Reid Hoffman]

Let me go get it.

[Dax Shepard]

Is that an Android?

[Reid Hoffman]

It is an Android. Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

You are mixed messages and poly message.

[Monica Padman]

Poly message.

[Dax Shepard]

Poly messaged. Well, if it works on an Android, it'll really work.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Time to use Zane.

[AI Assistant]

So what do you want to discuss today?

[Reid Hoffman]

What I would love to discuss today is tell me how AI is going to reinvent the car industry and cars. For now, we have software. We now have autonomous vehicles. But don't just do autonomous vehicles, do like how it reinvent the actual physical car itself.

[AI Assistant]

AI is set to revolutionize the car industry in some fascinating ways. Beyond autonomous driving, AI can help design more efficient and safer car structures by simulating countless scenarios to find the best materials and shapes. We'll also see AI enhancing manufacturing efficiency, predictive maintenance, and even personalizing in car experiences, making vehicles more adaptable to individual preferences. The integration of AI could fundamentally transform how cars are built, maintained and experienced.

[Reid Hoffman]

And if I collected old cars and rebuilt them, what's some of the ways that I could use AI to help me?

[AI Assistant]

AI can be a game changer for rebuilding old cars. You could use AI to optimize your restoration plans by suggesting the best parts or techniques based on historical data. AI powered design software can help visualize modifications or improvements. Additionally, AI can assist in sourcing rare parts by scanning databases or even suggesting 3D printing options. It can also enhance diagnostics, making it easier to identify and fix issues in old vehicles.

[Dax Shepard]

You want to ask, does it only know your voice? No, no, everyone's.

[Reid Hoffman]

Oh, okay. Let me think about.

[AI Assistant]

Sure, Take your time.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you. Are you aware of the podcast Armchair Expert?

[AI Assistant]

Yes, I'm familiar with Armchair Expert. It's a popular podcast hosted by Dax Shepard. Do you enjoy listening to it?

[Dax Shepard]

I do. Quite a bit. Embarrassingly. So let me ask you, if I wanted to recommend an episode to somebody, what are the best five options? They only have three good episodes. What if I broke?

[Reid Hoffman]

Please continue.

[AI Assistant]

Armchair Expert has a few that often come up as favorites. Are the ones with experts like Bright Renee Brown, who talks about vulnerability, and the one with Bill Gates, which dives into some fascinating topics. The episode with Esther Perel about relationships is also highly recommended. And for something lighter, the episodes with Kristen Bell are a lot of fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

So if she was on my phone, do you think she'd recommend different episodes?

[Reid Hoffman]

Possibly because ChatGPT remembers your chat history. So all my chat history is in this.

[Monica Padman]

Like she knows you. And Bill is a great recommendation.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you saw our friend Fifth time now, Eric. He said, based on my searches, please draw a picture of me or create a picture of me. And it was this huge muscle bone guy at a desk trading stocks because he's been searching peptides on the Internet nonstop. And he's a stock trader.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's pretty funny.

[Reid Hoffman]

So it does have that, but it is the same program, but there's different history of interaction. Now here it might not have been able to have enough data on that to fully match. What it will tend to do is go, what could possibly be something interesting? Let me throw out a few.

[Monica Padman]

Right, right.

[Reid Hoffman]

So if you notice we're like, well, some human relationship stuff, some technology stuff. Oh, and then some interpersonal stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I got one to try. If my favorite movies are Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Thief, Raising Arrows, Arizona, Flirting with Disaster, what's another movie I might love based on your favorites?

[AI Assistant]

You might love Fargo. It's a quirky blend of dark humor and crime, much like Raising Arizona and Flirting with Disaster. Plus it has that rich storytelling and style you enjoy. Give it a try.

[Reid Hoffman]

If Fargo were made today, what would be a modern Fargo?

[AI Assistant]

A modern Fargo might involve a quirky crime in a contemporary small town, perhaps involving Internet scams or cryptocurrency gone wrong. It could feature a cast of eccentric characters navigating both the digital world and their tight knit community with a similar mix of dark humor and suspense. Maybe something like a tech startup's shady dealings leading to unexpected and chaotic consequences in a snowy isolated setting.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, this leads me to a question I forgot to ask. How does ownership of content it creates work? So I can think of it more in images. Like if I create an image through it, could I. Can I copyright that image once it's been created? Can I own it?

[Reid Hoffman]

It's new ground. Current legal process says, nope, there's no ownership of it because ownership is something only created by humans. But of course that has a massive thing of. You get an image and then I go, okay, now I touch this one pixel. Aha.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm gonna give you a very specific example. I've written all these scripts, they went unproduced. I think it's called Google Veo 2 maybe. And it created a musician, had a song, wanted a. It was this crazy cool sequence of a car chase through a post apocalyptic.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yep, I saw that too.

[Dax Shepard]

It's very cool. I mean, it's not there there for me, but it was Very, very cool.

[Reid Hoffman]

It's on path.

[Dax Shepard]

It's on fucking path. But I was thinking, could I load in one of my unproduced screenplays and make it? And let's say I accomplished that goal. Now I have this movie that came from my screenplay. What could I then do with that? And I guess my thought was, I guess I would put it on YouTube and monetize how many clicks it got. Could I sell it to a studio if it was computer and worth distribution? Like, what would happen if I did end up creating a movie on one of these things with a script I had written? What could I do with that movie?

[Reid Hoffman]

You could do anything that you could do with a video today. And you probably know this tons better than I do. Ranges from a YouTube channel to an event with a private screening.

[Dax Shepard]

That's kind of a fun idea.

[Monica Padman]

Does Google own any of that or no?

[Reid Hoffman]

I don't know what the Google ownership. You're using the tool, but the term terms of service on the license are. They probably don't get in the way of you asserting your own ownership. And it would be bad for them to assert ownership of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Like, Instagram doesn't then own the image you've uploaded. They don't try to do that.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah. What they try to do is have enough ownership that they can go, well, look, all the rights that we needed to do to do the service that we do, to publish it. To publish it all. We have that, but we're not stopping anything else you're doing.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

You picked a perfect time. Because I finally saw something that really lit a bulb in my head where I was like, God, if I could see these things I've written come to fruition that I needed a studio to give me the money for, that's a very exciting future for me.

[Reid Hoffman]

One thing. Do it today, tomorrow, whatever. Take one of your scripts, upload it, and say, critique this script from the following perspective. What are the three areas that I would most improve in this script and why? Right. Just start playing with it. Part of what the AI does in terms of creativity is the speed of the interaction because it allows you to, like, think more like that versus the. I'm staring at it. I'm staring at it.

[Dax Shepard]

It would really work with my kind of ADHD leaning. Thought speed.

[Reid Hoffman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Reid Hoffman]

And being creative about it. Like, try it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Let me see.

[Reid Hoffman]

Cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I don't like that. Okay. Reed, this has been so much fun.

[Monica Padman]

So fun.

[Reid Hoffman]

Pleasure.

[Dax Shepard]

Reed, I adore you. It's always so fun to bump into you anywhere on the planet. And I hope you'll come back with your next great thought and delight and.

[Reid Hoffman]

With, you know, with AI On.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, perfect. Please, everyone, check out super agency. What could possibly go right with our AI Future? All right. Thanks, Reed.

[Reid Hoffman]

Awesome.

[Dax Shepard]

He is an arm care expert, but he makes mistakes all the time. Thank God Monica's here. She's got to let him have the facts. Two peas in an hour, Monica. I'm actually concerned. Oh, a little scary.

[Delta]

That's a lot of pee.

[Monica Padman]

Once a day.

[Dax Shepard]

Once a day.

[Reid Hoffman]

I know.

[Delta]

No, I mean in two.

[Dax Shepard]

In an hour.

[Delta]

You're like, some would think that's scary.

[Dax Shepard]

But initially that part's scary. But then you get used to that.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

And then it's scary if she goes twice in an hour.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Well, I did think for a minute that I was getting a uti, but I'm not.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

It's my mom's fault because she.

[Dax Shepard]

She gave you dirty underwear?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. She does my laundry. No, she's. She takes cranberry pills. She's been taking them for a long, long, long time. And she, like, swears by the cranberry pills. And so I started taking them for a while, and then I stopped. And so when I was home for Christmas, she was taking hers. And she said, are you still taking your cranberry pills? And I said, no, I'm not taking them anymore. And she's like, why don't you f. Yeah. She's like, why? You should take them. Whatever. And I was like, I'm not taking them. And then on New New Year's Day, I called and we were talking about her resolutions. And she said, what are your resolutions? Cranberry pills. So annoyed, I was like, no, I'm not doing it. Like, three or four days later, I was like, I think I'm getting. And I had to go pick up some good old cranberry pills.

[Dax Shepard]

She'd be so happy, right? How could she not?

[Monica Padman]

Just told her I'm back taking the cranberry pills. I didn't tell her.

[Dax Shepard]

You didn't admit.

[Monica Padman]

No, I didn't.

[Dax Shepard]

It was under duress.

[Monica Padman]

I did not.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I'll just say in a forthcoming episode. Soon. Next week.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

We have a guest on who's talking about throwing a birthday party. And I went on and on about how I don't want a birthday party. Half the episode is about how I don't want a birthday party. And we walked out of the garage from that interview. And I was like, that's weird. Kristen's got a man over in the.

[Monica Padman]

Swimming pool, a big man.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I did. Did not notice it was Aaron at first. I was just like, oh, she's got a man over. I saw a little bit of there's a woman in the mix. And I'm like, oh, these are her singing friends over.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So then I come around the the hedges and I see my son's here. Sharon Beasley.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And I go, he's in the hot tub.

[Dax Shepard]

My very first thought, not to get too dark for the cherries, but this is our past. I'm like, the only time Aaron has ever shown up in California without letting me know he was coming was the day I opened my apartment door in Santa Monica, was standing there, and it looked like he had been drugged behind a car for a week, and he had been smoking crack for five days. Oh, you can't. Tiny moment of I think I'm gonna die or go get on an airplane and fly to my dad. He got on an airplane.

[Monica Padman]

So you thought. You thought something bad was happening.

[Dax Shepard]

I was already sober for a year maybe at that point.

[Delta]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I just got a bit of a ptsd. Like, why would Aaron just be. Be here without telling me he's coming?

[Monica Padman]

But did it make you feel better that he was in the hot tub and laughing?

[Delta]

I said, surprise. And he goes, are you coming off of crack again? And I said, I'm here and I'm healthy.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, good. I mean, I didn't really think that.

[Monica Padman]

Ruthie was there too, but you never know.

[Dax Shepard]

She might have been like, we got to get Aaron to mention.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, God.

[Dax Shepard]

It wasn't that really. As I'm saying, I just had this really weird moment where this has only happened one other time. So Kristen, at that point, had to acknowledge you're having a surprise party. I've planned a party. And I brought Aaron and Ruthie here for the party. And then. Then I was really excited.

[Monica Padman]

Good.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I didn't have to ask anyone to come. I didn't have to get scared about that. There wasn't a bunch of time for me to worry about who's not gonna show up because it was just gonna be the next day, which was last night.

[Monica Padman]

It was perfect timing. She planned. She knew she was gonna tell you, which I thought was a good plan, that there wasn't gonna be a real jump out moment. And also, Rob and I did great acting because during that interview, we all knew.

[Dax Shepard]

You already knew.

[Monica Padman]

Of course we knew.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you feel so bad for me? Like, what a dumb, dumb. He does. He's digging himself deeper and deeper.

[Reid Hoffman]

No.

[Monica Padman]

I was just like, oh, this is gonna be a funny moment. But then I also was like, if he is then up mad that this is happening or anxious. We had an interview scheduled the day of your party, which was yesterday.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it was scheduled for 2:00. The party started at 5:00.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I was like, oh, no. Okay. I think we should probably move up the recording. When is she going to tell him? Because he needs to have enough time to do his research. He's going to be mad if he doesn't have enough time to do his research. And if he already doesn't want party.

[Dax Shepard]

How I'm going to react. I'm learning terrible stuff about myself right now.

[Monica Padman]

The party to happen. He's gonna be even more mad about it.

[Dax Shepard]

He's gonna hit people. He's gonna hit the children.

[Monica Padman]

But you were very happy.

[Dax Shepard]

Hey, my son's there. So I am happy right away. Aaron's here. This is unexpected. I had just seen him a couple days before in Detroit.

[Delta]

I mean, which was a surprise or.

[Dax Shepard]

It was last minute.

[Delta]

Last minute and so exciting. I was like, oh, I get to see dad before my trip and get to pretend that it's our last night together. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But Aaron's only been here for. But boy, we've already had a very eventful trip.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

So yesterday, before the interview and the fact check that was moved up, I said, you want to go for a ride in the new station wagon? To which Aaron was like, absolutely. So we went for a little rip around town. It was so fun. And then I was like, let's quickly. I think we can, before the fact check, get some eggs. So we stop at Cafe101. We parallel park the wagon on the street. We go inside, we sit down. We're there for, I don't know, a minute and a half and a stranger walk. And he looks at me and goes, white car. And I go, yeah. He goes, it's on fire.

[Monica Padman]

Horrible.

[Dax Shepard]

And I just.

[Monica Padman]

Ptsd.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Monica Padman]

Too many fires in this city.

[Dax Shepard]

I sprint out of the restaurant. I'm. I'm fully expecting it to be engulfed in flames. So we sprint outside, get to the wagon. Sure enough, there is smoke coming out of the hood. Pull the hood pins, open it up. A wiring harness is on fire. There's flames. I don't know how this worked. Did you see this happen?

[Delta]

The spit?

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I just went. I spit as hard as I could.

[Delta]

At the fire and it went out.

[Dax Shepard]

It went out. I might have a superpower. I didn't know about.

[Delta]

I was just grabbing a fire extinguisher. I couldn't figure out how to pull the plastic pin off. And by the time I got the pin, I was watching him and he went. And the fire was gone.

[Reid Hoffman]

It's just smoldering.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know how that worked.

[Monica Padman]

I do worry about that with fires, about using the fire extinguisher because it's not something you can probably practice.

[Delta]

Well, you should. I guess. I guess I realize that. Oh, I should know how to do this.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I know. I have one by my bed and I look at it a lot and I think, I don't really know how.

[Delta]

You should get the safety off and everything ready to go.

[Dax Shepard]

It seems really simple. And then also when you think about it seems really hard.

[Monica Padman]

There's a video of Taylor Swift trying to use one in the kitchen. And she's also like, what the.

[Dax Shepard]

She didn't do a good job.

[Monica Padman]

She did end up doing a good job, as she always does.

[Dax Shepard]

Good job.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Was something on fire in front of her?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. In her kitchen.

[Reid Hoffman]

Oh yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And someone was running video.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I'm piecing together because there's now a woman behind the car who I guess was either parking or got in her car. And then what became obvious is she must have got the hotel guy. But I do wonder, had we not just had the fires if like she would have been so incredibly. She might have saw smoke coming out of a car.

[Monica Padman]

Like, it's not my problem exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

But yeah. Everyone's on such high alert that I think she immediately.

[Monica Padman]

I think that's right. She's like, this whole area is about to.

[Reid Hoffman]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Night.

[Dax Shepard]

I was then thinking like, oh my God, what if I had set another round of fires in Hollywood.

[Monica Padman]

Finally got Los Feliz.

[Dax Shepard]

People have been like, that entitled bastard.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Why does he got to have these cars that catch on fire?

[Monica Padman]

Old new cars that keep catching on.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Delta]

He can afford a new one, but he bought an old one.

[Dax Shepard]

He should be driving electric. That wouldn't caught on fire. Fire.

[Delta]

You went near the end of it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But you can drown in them, I should say.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, when they catch on fire, you can't go breathe anywhere near them, as we're now finding out. That's the crazy part.

[Monica Padman]

But also, you know that horrible story. And I don't know all the details, so I don't. And it's very Sad, but Mitch McConnell's sister in law drove into a pond. Yes. In. In a Tesla and like couldn't get out. And Died. Oh, and I think it might have to do with that Tesla. It probably shuts down.

[Dax Shepard]

Mechanically or I think I don't want to be sued. I think there's a release on there as well. If you had read the manual and practiced like a fire.

[Monica Padman]

No one's doing that.

[Dax Shepard]

It's right there. It's what? It's right there in the door, though. Oh, okay.

[Monica Padman]

Well, apparently people like came and tried and they were there and they couldn't.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I'm vaguely aware of that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I probably talked about it before.

[Dax Shepard]

I think you did. It was when you were wanting everyone to have a window.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Now I have smashes.

[Delta]

Nice.

[Monica Padman]

Aaron, I have an update for you.

[Reid Hoffman]

Oh, please.

[Monica Padman]

I think one of the last times you were here, we were talking about my running.

[Delta]

Yeah, I remember this.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. And I want you to know, since then, a sign has been put on the yard. Not by me, that says no. It says no dogs allowed. Slash no trespassing. I forget exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Congregating.

[Monica Padman]

It says something explicit like no more of this. So it was solved for me.

[Dax Shepard]

I thought you were gonna bring up his chest hair. That's where I thought this was going. No, the last time I seen, you talked about having shaved his chest and how sexy he felt.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so what's the update on that?

[Delta]

Well, I just had my back shaved again.

[Monica Padman]

Are you making cashmere?

[Delta]

I should. Because it's an enormous amount of fur that comes off really quick.

[Dax Shepard]

Aaron, I've never let you feel this.

[Delta]

No, but I've seen this.

[Dax Shepard]

You'll be a very select group. Go ahead and touch it.

[Monica Padman]

Be really careful.

[Dax Shepard]

Give an honest what you think about that.

[Reid Hoffman]

Oh.

[Delta]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Is that not the softest thing you've ever felt?

[Delta]

Can I sleep with it tonight?

[Dax Shepard]

There's an upper blanket made of that. No.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, so you can make some. I know. You got to be careful.

[Delta]

That is. It is cashmere, isn't it?

[Dax Shepard]

It sure is. There's no denying. And you know, now Delta's leg hairs are in here too. Oh, yeah. So we're getting it. We're harvesting from my back and her legs.

[Delta]

The whole family.

[Monica Padman]

Maybe it can be a joint. Aaron's hair. Cuz then we can really get some movement on it.

[Dax Shepard]

At the risk of hurting Aaron's feelings. Aaron has had dense body hair his whole life. He's a man. He's always been a man. I'm not. I've always not been a man. I've always felt like a preteen or a woman next to him. And he's always Had a gorgeous Burt Reynolds chest hair since we were 17.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so you think it's coarser?

[Dax Shepard]

I think it's coarser. Would you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Delta]

I, I. Yeah. All I'm saying is the amount.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Okay. Well, you don't have to have. We can do mohair for you.

[Delta]

So Ruthie just shaved me again with the dog. You know, it's got a vacuum. I may have said this before, but I don't think.

[Reid Hoffman]

I don't know.

[Delta]

It has a hose, and you watch it accumulate in a chamber.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Delta]

And this is so fun because that's why I realized I'm like, oh, my God, I have so much hair. Like, this much, like, came off my back.

[Dax Shepard]

Whoa.

[Delta]

A Ruthie's super grossed out by it.

[Monica Padman]

Well, she can't touch the cash near then.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I know we're both getting hair now everywhere. It's maddening. But have you noticed. Have we already talked about our armpit hair? Have you noticed your armpit hair is, like, will be 2ft long sometimes if.

[Delta]

We haven't talked about it? Yeah, I've been chopping mine with scissors.

[Dax Shepard]

Same. I now give myself, like, a haircut in my armpit.

[Delta]

Me, too.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I have this very weird. I want. Do you have this where it's like, I have it in my mind. It's supposed to be some length, or else why would it be that long?

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Because when I. I'm tempted to just, like, cut it as close to the skin as possible so I have to do it less. But then I think, aren't you supposed. Is there going to be some length?

[Delta]

I wonder that, too.

[Monica Padman]

Can you just keep, like, grow it out just so we can see how long it gets?

[Aaron]

You're right.

[Delta]

There should be video evidence of some of this.

[Dax Shepard]

You know why I had to finally confront it other than, like, like, maybe my kids pointed it out and I was embarrassed. But also, you can't even get your deodorant to the skin anymore because it just clumps up in your hair. And then you have dingleberries in your armpit and you're like, what the is going on? Why am I a mess like this?

[Monica Padman]

Well, 50, you know, not Aaron.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, not yet.

[Delta]

Not even close.

[Dax Shepard]

Six months. Okay, great. How about you guys talk about my party?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, it was a yacht rock theme.

[Dax Shepard]

It was a yacht rock theme. It was at my favorite roller skate rink, Moonlight, Rollerway to name drop. Kimmel made the playlists, as he's made me many playlists in the past that I love. And Kristen enlisted him to do that. Tons of blasts from the past. A lot of my groundlings friends. Just an incredible, perfect group of people. My dad came all the way out from across town.

[Monica Padman]

Tom Hansen, Adam Perry Lang made that cook. It was incredible. Incredible.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Did you get on both the meats?

[Monica Padman]

I just had the pork.

[Dax Shepard]

You just. The pork ribs?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. So insane.

[Dax Shepard]

How good were those?

[Monica Padman]

So good. And the cornbread was so good.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it was damp as a motherfucker. It was like a. It was like a. What do you call it? Cake. A sponge pound cake. Pound cake, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It was delicious.

[Dax Shepard]

I was really excited about the Adam Perry Lane of it all because most of my friends that were there didn't know about him. And I don't know what their expectations were at a roller skating rink, how good the barbecue is going to be, but he is a one of the best barbecue. He does these pop ups around LA and there's lines around the block. Yeah. And he's just there cutting ribs at.

[Monica Padman]

A roller skating ring. It was really sweet of him to do that. He's a very nice man.

[Dax Shepard]

He is.

[Monica Padman]

I also enlisted him to teach Kristen how to make crepes for Christmas. One year, her birthday, they forget and like got her all the machinery and stuff. And now she knows how to make crepes.

[Dax Shepard]

She stuck with it. She goes through little phases. You know, there's no crepes for months and months and months. And then there's crepes 10 days in a row. She cooks them compulsively.

[Monica Padman]

I guess we got to talk tomorrow. Well, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you should bring that up. She would love to.

[Monica Padman]

I thought I had a craving for crepes like three days ago and it was 9pm So I didn't think it was possible for me to get it. But I wanted it so bad. And then next day I told her I was craving them. She said, I'll make them for you. And then guess what the word was on wordle today.

[Delta]

Crepes.

[Dax Shepard]

Plural or singular?

[Monica Padman]

Singular.

[Dax Shepard]

Singular.

[Monica Padman]

Isn't that weird?

[Dax Shepard]

That's suspicious. So normally this is Delta's birthday party is here every December and we always get the rink for two hours. And it's always my commitment to skate as long as possible because it's such a unique opportunity. But the window of this party was 5pm till 10pm and I was like, I don't. Oh, I gotta back up. One other thing that happened because I didn't know I was having a party is that day before I rode the furthest I've ever ridden on my new road Bike. Oh, I. I told you I passed your house a couple different times. Armchair sent me. I was even paparazzi. I didn't know it. Oh yeah, I went everywhere. I was down the LA river, down past Spoke, then out in Glendale, then back into Silver Lake. So the. That whole day when I came out and. And he saw him in the pool, I was like, I went too hard. I can barely walk. Then she said, five to ten, we're skating. I was like, five hours and we're gonna skate. We're gonna skate hard. And oh, one thing I gotta add is people really went for it with the yacht rock theme. Aaron had an incredible outfit.

[Monica Padman]

He really did.

[Dax Shepard]

Turnkey bought off of Amazon on.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it was perfect. Cap, it was white.

[Delta]

White on, white hat, pipe.

[Dax Shepard]

The pipe really pushed it over. I don't even know why it makes sense. I don't know. You know, I can't like unwrack my brain of where I've this. Some famous image of a captain with a pipe.

[Monica Padman]

I love Boat or whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

But again, I don't even think on Love Boat.

[Monica Padman]

That was the other one where they're all shipwrecked.

[Dax Shepard]

Gilligan's Island.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, Gilligan's is G in smoke.

[Delta]

A pipe like Gorton's Fisherman have a pipe or something.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. But again, that's a yellow rain slicker.

[Monica Padman]

Mandela effect. We all just think we know these captains have pipes, but none of them do.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think any of them do. And how long had it been since you skated, Aaron?

[Delta]

Probably seven years.

[Dax Shepard]

Seven years.

[Delta]

I was a lot heavier and I.

[Dax Shepard]

And you were at 320 at that point.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Delta]

And I remember really, because I was like, I'm going to do this. And. And I was real wobbly. And then after a few laps, I was expecting everyone to be watching me because I thought I was that good. So fucking stupid. I'm like, oh, really? I'm just a fat guy roller skating and I'm old.

[Dax Shepard]

But you're waiting for them to notice how fucking cool you look.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't know your old man ripped.

[Delta]

Everyone's going to high five my kids.

[Dax Shepard]

Hoist you up on their shoulders.

[Delta]

Probably got beat up the next day.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, despite that, you did quite well. And Monica, let me thank you in public. You have sat out the last two skatings.

[Monica Padman]

I have. But then it was your birthday and so I thought I got to do it for your birthday.

[Delta]

That was so sweet of me.

[Dax Shepard]

And did it. You did?

[Monica Padman]

I did it. I did like you did quite a bit of I did like 12 laps or something. Maybe more.

[Delta]

More, I would say.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I want to say you are out. You had three different sessions, didn't you?

[Monica Padman]

I had multiple sessions.

[Reid Hoffman]

I.

[Monica Padman]

Even after eating, I put them back on.

[Dax Shepard]

And I learned today, earlier today, that you actually had gone out by yourself to do a little trial run, like the garage in. In Tennessee.

[Monica Padman]

I did when I learned to ride my bike.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I got a little nervous not having been on them for a couple years. Years. And I was first to arrive at the party. And so I just went out on my own and did a little practice.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Found my sea legs. I'm not good on them, and I don't. Ryan tried to help me. He was like, you know, you go more side. Side to side. I go more front to back, I guess.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And sort of my proprietary move. So I'm just not very good at it. But it's fine. It's hard for me to not be good at it, but, yes, you. You kill it.

[Dax Shepard]

I ate, though. Let me say that. So. And by the way, on the way there, I said to Aaron, okay, if you haven't gone in a long time, her prediction for you is you think you're going to be bad, and then you're going to get out there and go, oh, my God, I'm actually quite good. And then you're going to get overconfident about 15 minutes. And then that's when the big Brett comes. And I had been skating for a good hour and a half, two hours at this point. I was very loose. I was feeling very confident. And I decided, you know what? As I skate, skate by Joy, because she was high fiving people on the sidelines. I'm like, you know, it's gonna be radicals. I'm gonna blow by shooting the duck.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I knew you were trying to do.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, did you think I just fell out of nowhere?

[Monica Padman]

I knew you were doing something with Joy, but I didn't know that was so.

[Dax Shepard]

For People don't know, shooting the deck. You like, you get on one skate and you bend down. I can't even bend down on one leg if I wasn't wearing skates. Especially with the biking from the day before and the two hours skating. And I got halfway into this commitment and realized, I'm going, going down. And I went down pretty hard on my hip.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's scary.

[Dax Shepard]

Luckily, you were on the rink at that moment.

[Monica Padman]

I was.

[Dax Shepard]

And you were right behind me. So you saw the whole thing.

[Monica Padman]

I did.

[Dax Shepard]

Made a loud enough noise that I think most Everyone looked.

[Delta]

I missed it. I was. I was skating, but I missed it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I kind of think so.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not sure if I want. I wish you had or I kind of. Well, I wish I had, but yeah, of course.

[Delta]

You've skated up to me and you go. The duck bit back.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I was like, what?

[Delta]

I didn't even know that.

[Monica Padman]

You got up really fast. You didn't look hurt.

[Dax Shepard]

That's the goal.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but I knew you were, and then you didn't.

[Dax Shepard]

You hadn't seen. You were. You hadn't seen Fall Guy.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And so have you seen Fall Guy?

[Delta]

I did.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, what a movie. Right?

[Delta]

So good.

[Dax Shepard]

Every time this stunt's over, they give the thumbs up. Like, I'm good. They're not good. Their back's broken. They're like, right. So then I was like, I gave the thumbs up and for the people who had seen it, but you hadn't seen it. And then I felt compelled to try to explain to you.

[Monica Padman]

My jokes came back around.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, I was in a good deal of pain and I had given you the thumbs up and I needed you to know that was a no. I was making a chance.

[Monica Padman]

Are you okay? And then he gave the thumbs up and I was like, no. And then you had to come back and tell me what in fact wasn't okay.

[Dax Shepard]

It was not okay. But I kept going. I was like, is it fra. Is my hip fractured? Maybe it's fractured. Let's just keep going. There's nothing they can do for that. So you can put a caster on your hip.

[Monica Padman]

This is why it's really roller skating. So tricky. Cuz you. You have to commit if you're gonna have fun and if you're gonna be good. But then you will fall. So you're choosing, especially if you try.

[Dax Shepard]

To show off like me.

[Monica Padman]

Well, once you're feeling it, like, everyone's gonna try. And that's what I don't do. I just do half because I don't want to fall and I don't fall. So that's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But then there were very few falls last night.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

In fact, kind of a shocking few falls. Cuz at Delta's party, the first few years, people were going out really bad. People had wrist injuries. It was like 20% of the dads were up the next week.

[Monica Padman]

Ana fell last time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, she went down pretty hard. I saw that.

[Monica Padman]

So you see it and then you just like, you kind of look away. Let people recover on their own.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, no. So that's a great as you know, I like getting embarrassed. And when I fell down at the movies, you know, I was laughing hysterically, but the pain was so sharp, like I wanted to laugh because it's just embarrassing. I tried to shoot the duck. Joy watched the whole thing. Her friend's watching. She doesn't know me. So there's a new person. I. At least Joy is my, like, sister.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I've known her for 12 years. It was painful enough that I couldn't actually get to the laughing part. I just got.

[Monica Padman]

You were pretty big, though.

[Dax Shepard]

I was performing. I came out of retirement from acting and put on a real good thing, then gave a thumbs up. And only two people got it because I thought everyone saw Fall Guide and they had it. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. And then Kristen, Somehow I'm not. I haven't even mastered logistics. But our. Our favorite treat in the world from Michigan is Saunders Bumpy Cake Cake. For people who've never had Saunders Bumpy Cake. It is a chocolate damp devil's food cake base and then these huge ribbons of Twinkie filling all covered in a fudge icing. You did. Did you try it?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I did. I hadn't had it before. I loved it.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you like it?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I loved it.

[Dax Shepard]

You're not. That's not your thing.

[Delta]

Oh, yeah, it is.

[Reid Hoffman]

Oh, okay.

[Monica Padman]

It was really good when we were kids.

[Dax Shepard]

You didn't love chocolate, right? Yeah, right, Right.

[Delta]

I do know. I had some for breakfast.

[Dax Shepard]

And I went nuts. I had my immune suppressant before the party because I knew we were going to have bumpy cake. And I ate way too much. Way too. So. So I coupled the. The hip pain with, like, I made myself sick. But then I was like, you must get out and push through all of this. Did another couple hours of skating. It was fan. It was a great, great party.

[Monica Padman]

It was a lovely party.

[Dax Shepard]

And as I told you, what was really kind of novel about this party, because I've had them in the past. I'm always. I get guilty. Like Tom Hansen. He drove 50 miles across town through rush hour traffic to get to the party. And he's older. And then I'm out skating the whole time. And the whole time I'm like, I gotta go sit and talk to Tom. He drove all the way here. And then virtually everyone that's showing up, I feel like I should be talking to them for a half hour. And then I had this light bulb moment. I was like, everyone here is a blast to talk to. When I look around, everyone's quite happy. Talking to whoever. I'm not needed here. I can stop feeling guys guilty about that.

[Monica Padman]

Did you have the moment where you were like, oh, all these people I've collected?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I tried to have that moment. I did. I was in the bathroom and I actually even did my mantra for like two minutes. I was like, I really, I really want to. Yeah. Have that moment and see that. And then Tom Hansen, who knows me so well, he hugged me and he said, are you able to let any of this love in? And I said, I'm trying real hard. But also I'm pretty sure everyone's here just because Kristen invited them, if I'm being honest.

[Delta]

So silly.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. It is so unfair.

[Monica Padman]

That's so unfair to all of us.

[Dax Shepard]

To you?

[Reid Hoffman]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I mean to anyone who went, I.

[Dax Shepard]

Don'T know, still my residual low self esteem or something. I don't know.

[Delta]

It was the funnest party I've ever been to.

[Dax Shepard]

And there's no booze there. That's saying something.

[Delta]

I mean, I'm still riding on it today.

[Dax Shepard]

I gotta push back a little bit. I guess. You're not counting your birthday parties. Cuz Aaron's birthday is July 2, which becomes a Fourth of July Aaron's birthday spectacular. It was often at his dad's farm and it would be like a three day party with 50 people camping. Those were, those were fun. Awesome. Those were damn good.

[Delta]

Those were good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But I'm happy you had a great time.

[Delta]

I had fun. And I had so much fun.

[Monica Padman]

It was really fun.

[Dax Shepard]

So much fun. And I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I, I, I, I did. I felt very loved.

[Monica Padman]

Good.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, when you were blowing out your candle, I looked around and I was like, oh, this is so lovely.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, what I thought of many times is like, this is. You'd be hard pressed to find a better group of 40 human beings.

[Monica Padman]

It was a really good group. I felt lucky that I wasn't. I had been collected.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

Over the 50 years. I was happy to be there.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you have a favorite conversation with anyone?

[Monica Padman]

I had so many. I had one. I can't rep. Oh, okay. That was the most mess. It was with Eric. Yeah. It was funny. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

He's so open though.

[Monica Padman]

I can't. Because it's not about him.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I can't wait to hear that.

[Monica Padman]

Jesus. He, he never fails. Like I think I know every, I think there's not one thing he can say that will get me and man.

[Dax Shepard]

He got you, man.

[Monica Padman]

Does he. I got to Talk to Joy. I ate with her and that was so nice. Hadn't talked to her.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what Now I was excited about that. I was more looking around, seeing people. I love talking to each other and watching you guys chat. I was like, oh, yeah. My sisters are chatting. Like, yeah. And she was wearing all day Glo yellow.

[Monica Padman]

Like full.

[Delta]

Oh yeah. Like amazing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Neon fishnets.

[Monica Padman]

So awesome.

[Dax Shepard]

We came up with my superhero name because we were of course talking about spades.

[Monica Padman]

Uh huh.

[Dax Shepard]

And her friend she was with was black as well. And she's like, this is the upside down world. They play spades. We don't play spades. And then her and I came up with that. My superhero name is the appropriator and my catchphrase is I'll take it. I see something from your culture. I like, I'll take it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's funny. Really fun to talk to Nate and talk. To see Nate in such a long time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Again, if Nate talks at a party, what am I worried about? Anyone finding someone to talk to.

[Reid Hoffman]

How about you? Did you.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you chat with anyone new that you were like, oh, that.

[Delta]

I loved catching up with all the. Yeah. Like the old grand groundlings. Your crew from back then. Like, I hadn't seen Ben. Pim loves that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Delta]

Nat.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Delta]

So that was all very fun and super comfortable. Like, we all just dove into conversations that were great.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Ben sent me a text. Like, I talked a lot with Aaron weekly. It was so fun.

[Delta]

Yeah. It was great.

[Dax Shepard]

And that vaccine, of course, probably stole the show. He was the same white outfit Aaron had, but his was short. Short.

[Delta]

Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Delta]

And he was very, very sexy on those rollerbl.

[Dax Shepard]

He's so athletic.

[Monica Padman]

He was so good.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Delta]

Like I said, best party I've ever been to.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, man.

[Monica Padman]

It's kind of your birthday too. You get to take. You guys get to share birthdays.

[Delta]

Felt like it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Delta]

Kristen did a damn good job there.

[Dax Shepard]

She really did it.

[Delta]

She was very worried. She said I. Boy, he's really been talking a lot. And that he's very grateful he didn't have a party. And what a love.

[Dax Shepard]

She had heard me say like four times between my birthday and yesterday. I'm so glad. I would hate a surprise party. And the poor girl had planned a surprise party. Now that it's happened, I'm so happy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And that just goes to show I'm known better than I know myself in a lot of domains. Like, yeah, I was delighted. Is it bad? As long as I didn't have to Go through any of the yeah anxiety of it all. It was absolutely delightful.

[Monica Padman]

Would you have been upset? Upset if it was a real surprise? I guess there's no way that I.

[Dax Shepard]

Think so but I just. I don't know how you get me to the roller ring exactly. I think she would have had to tell I'm just so annoyingly curious about.

[Delta]

Why would we be Panay wasn't going to take you to the well that's roller ring.

[Dax Shepard]

The only thing that had been planned and I had been tricked on is that Panay and Nate and I were supposed to have dinner that night. That was the big plan. Oh and even like on Monday I asked Kristen can I go to dinner with Nate and Panay and she's like yeah I'm thinking she must have been laughing her buns off. The plan was coming together perfectly and then so I was both really excited about the party and then I was like oh man I was really looking forward to going to dinner with bananas so we just decided we will also go to dinner next week.

[Delta]

Were you guys going to Martin's?

[Dax Shepard]

I hope hope we bring George Kittle with us. Aaron and I decided the best compliment you could give any guy is to say like oh I'd love to go to Morton's with that dude like if you don't know him but you've seen afar and you go I'd love to go to Morton's with that guy.

[Delta]

I mean he is great guy.

[Dax Shepard]

I like Dan Campbell con to go directly to Morton's. Don't stop.

[Delta]

You guys wouldn't even have to say it.

[Dax Shepard]

We get there and the food would be on the table. Yes was the equivalent is there equivalent of that for the gals?

[Monica Padman]

Oh like the spa solo. Yeah yeah Also the mall I guess.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Shopping.

[Delta]

Yeah go right to the mall with her.

[Monica Padman]

I'd go shopping with her like what.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you want to do with Ashley and Mary Kate the first time you hang out besides tour?

[Monica Padman]

Oh my pants just fell off exploded. My underwear fell off. I don't know if I can go shopping with them.

[Dax Shepard]

That's confusing you be I imagine I I would be self conscious if I were you cuz I'd be afraid everything I said I liked you'd worry they.

[Monica Padman]

Didn'T think it was good style I guess we would go to okay and I think what do you guys think I should get? I'll pay and they'll be like I know you'll pay we don't give discounts.

[Dax Shepard]

We don't around like that and then.

[Monica Padman]

They'D pick out some stuff for me and then we'd all go have martinis. They would smoke cigarettes. I wouldn't. No, I've never done it. And even for them, I won't.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

I'll roller skate for you, but I won't smoke a cigarette for you. So we go to bed early.

[Dax Shepard]

Super early.

[Monica Padman]

Right away. Anyway. Well, it was lovely. And I hope you feel happy today.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I do. Just. I took my immune suppressant and I think I have a cold that came back and I might. I think I have a fractured hip. But that. But also just beaming with gratitude. I did feel. I felt hungover this morning, in fact, so many times. I don't know if you remember this. Do you remember I got, like, a really cool sweatsuit for Christmas in a watch? And I was at your house. We were in the backyard, and I somehow fell and split my lip, like, wide open.

[Monica Padman]

When you were little?

[Dax Shepard]

No. And I was like, home for Christmas. And our Christmas started at a certain time, and then we had stayed up till nine in the morning the day before. And then. So I didn't wake up till five. So I got to Christmas Eve, our big family tradition, quite late, and I just had this enormous bloody scab on.

[Monica Padman]

My mouth from the night before.

[Dax Shepard]

And we had a lot of those. So anyways, when I woke up, I was like, I have a headache from eating all the cake. I'm sick and my hip hurts. I feel like I was at a beat somewhere. 99 or something.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Should we do a little. Just quick fact some fakies? Yeah. This is for Reid Hoffman.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

You said that Martin Luther raised literacy rates from 3% to 90%. 85%, according to AI.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

While there isn't a precise percentage readily available to quantify how much Martin Luther raised literacy rates, historical research indicates that the Protestant Reformation, largely driven by Luther's teachings, significantly increased literacy levels across Europe, with some studies showing a difference of nearly 20 percentage points between predominantly Protestant and Catholic regions. Essentially, areas with a larger Protestant population had substantially higher literacy rates. But there's no percentage.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm clearly way off given that percentage, because.

[Monica Padman]

But you got it from weirdest people on Earth. Joseph, Henrik, Joe, Joey, Hendrick. Go back and listen to that one. Is our unemployment rate as low as it's ever been? The unemployment rate was 3.4% in January and April 2023, the lowest in 55 years.

[Dax Shepard]

55 years.

[Monica Padman]

The last time the unemployment rate in the US was this low was in the first five years months of 1969. The average unemployment rate during the Biden administration was 4.1%. Really low.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, very low. A lot of countries have 10% and above.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, 1984 did come out in 1940. 49. But we think he wrote it in 1948.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, but he had said. Read our guest. No, it was 48, which was clever because 1984 was a flip of 48.

[Monica Padman]

And we still think that's true. Yeah, but it did not come out until 40. The price of Bitcoin today is $104,627.70.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow, wow, wow. Aaron, did you watch that Greatest Heist doc on Netflix?

[Delta]

Not yet.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Well, in a nutshell, these two incredibly weird people, I don't feel bad saying.

[Monica Padman]

That their names are Ilia Dutch Lichtenstein and Heather Razzle Khan Morgan.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So a bit of a clue in their names. And they stole. Stole. I always say stole. That's one of my things. They stole 70. Yeah, there they are.

[Delta]

Oh, man.

[Dax Shepard]

Boy, that photo of him on the left, he might have Stockholm this.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, this makes me feel sad, actually.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it's not. Yeah. You are not happy for either of them. But they stole $72 million in Bitcoin that they really couldn't unload. So they just. They just held it. By the time they were arrested, it was worth $4.5 billion. So it's the greatest theft in the history of the world. Oh, my God.

[Monica Padman]

No, I have now worth 10.8 billion.

[Dax Shepard]

Now we're 10.8 billion of you. It's 72 million.

[Monica Padman]

It was stolen from Bitfinex. Or Bitfinex, I don't know. And it's a Hong Kong based virtual cryptocurrency exchange, so that's. Yikes.

[Delta]

We've had friends that were involved in some thefts of that, right?

[Monica Padman]

Yes, we did. Oh, that was of.

[Dax Shepard]

We have a friend that's a victim of a victim.

[Delta]

That's what I mean.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Delta]

Yikes.

[Monica Padman]

A lot of money.

[Dax Shepard]

Which I can only imagine what it's worth now because that was what, five years ago?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it was. Yeah. Oh, I have a thing marked here. So you made a car. You designed a car using AI and you decided you wanted to show it.

[Dax Shepard]

I would love to. Well, you want to put on the tv because you're so good at that now. Yep. Email me. Oh, and I'm going to send you one picture after that of a Ted Sears poster that I. Well, there's two. There's three, actually that I really like. Let's see. Oh, I'm Going to send four things.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Because then I did something for our show.

[Monica Padman]

Exciting. All on AI.

[Dax Shepard]

All on AI.

[Monica Padman]

I played around with some merch stuff on AI. That was fun. Ooh. Okay. So right. So for the listener.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So I want a 15 passenger van for Nashville. Cuz we're. I assume we're always going to have so many people staying with us at any time we go to dinner we're going to need like tons of seats. So then I was like, well, I want a 15 passenger G van, a Chevy. But I want it to be John Player paint scheme. I want it wide body. I just said like not a ton of things and it spit this one out. It spit three amazing ones. Yeah, that's the John Claire. Every famous paint scheme. Isn't it interesting how they certain things up? Like look at the grill. It's kind of gonna say Chevrolet. But it doesn't.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's weird. And then like there's normal letters on the tires and then weird abstract. And that's the third one. Look at that. Can you imagine if I can send it. Here's the weird thing. It did look. And I'm only noticing now that it's blown up that big. It's got two gas.

[Delta]

Oh, it does.

[Dax Shepard]

Two fuel doors. Yeah, two fuel doors. That's weird, right? You see that Mon?

[Delta]

A lot of gas for that.

[Dax Shepard]

Probably knows I'm going to be have my foot in the kitchen the whole time. Okay, now go Rob to the other.

[Reid Hoffman]

Can you.

[Dax Shepard]

What is John Player was a cigarette brand that sponsored formula one and racing. And they have this signature blocking gold.

[Monica Padman]

So that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so I said make an A. Make a poster for a beer brand named Ted Sears in the style of Miami Vice. Yeah.

[Delta]

I love this one.

[Dax Shepard]

Isn't that great?

[Monica Padman]

That's really cool.

[Dax Shepard]

And again, what does it say? It doesn't say Miami here, but it says like real beer. Almost makes you think it's like a Thai beer or something.

[Monica Padman]

Underneath it's just squiggles, kind of like hieroglyphics.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, get that Egyptian. Okay. Now then I said give me a beer brand, you know, Ted Sears. I want a muscle car, a motorcycle and a muscular horse.

[Delta]

This one is a little close with the horse.

[Dax Shepard]

That thing is ripped. Oh, this is so funny. All right. And then I was like, what if a beer brand named Ted Seeger sponsored hydroplane race boat and it made that. This is incredible.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but what's on the side?

[Dax Shepard]

Did you think it's a. I think it's barley or. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Reid Hoffman]

All Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And then look at this. Beautiful.

[Monica Padman]

Pretty. Would you say a crow with the cherry?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, a crow with a cherry in its beak.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

But I had to do many to come up with this one. This one took a while. Did you see this? What's this?

[Delta]

That's your. Oh, that was your invite for the party.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I didn't see that. It says you're Rock. Rock, Right? Yeah. That's not an H, it's an R. It's Y R, a C H. Right. And captain's question. Well, there's. Oh, he's got sneakers on. Yeah, he's a jacked crow, this. No, I hadn't seen that. That's great. Look at that vascularity.

[Delta]

Oh, my God, that crow is.

[Dax Shepard]

How scared is that other crowd that's flying in the background? He's probably flying to get the. Out of there.

[Monica Padman]

I didn't realize she used AI for it. Oh, she must have. Well, that's that.

[Dax Shepard]

That was it. Those were all the facts. That was a fun aid tour.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Unless you're listening. I guess that'll all get cut out if you're. I was just thinking, if you were listening and you couldn't see any of.

[Monica Padman]

This, go to YouTube and watch it.

[Delta]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. Love you.

[Monica Padman]

We love you.

[Reid Hoffman]

Love you.

[Dax Shepard]

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