Nothing Could Be Finer Than Going to Commie China

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: Nothing Could Be Finer Than Going to Commie China
Date: May 11, 2026
Podcast Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This Armstrong & Getty episode dives into the themes of media distractions, viral news hysteria, world events (notably those involving China and Iran), crime trends, generational changes in American society, and the collision of technology and privacy—with a hefty focus on the recent revelation of a tech executive’s personal diary in the OpenAI vs. Elon Musk trial. The show blends satire and skepticism, critiquing societal and governmental absurdities while riffing on everything from water gun app challenges to the future of AI, in their familiar irreverent, conversational style.

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Key Topics and Insights

1. Media Hysteria Over Hantavirus vs. Neglected Issues

Segment: 02:38–07:35

• Armstrong & Getty mock the media for obsessively covering the Hantavirus, despite it posing negligible risk compared to COVID.
  • “Has everybody tried this coffee thing? ... If you want a virus, choose Hantavirus.” – [03:16, C]
  • C complains, “It's driving me crazy. How can you lead every newscast with the hantavirus?” – [03:17, C]
• They point out the absurdity: important news like U.S. national debt surpassing GDP is largely ignored.
• Discussion about whether media is dumbing people down intentionally (bread and circuses) or simply catering to attention spans.
  • “Is it deliberate so that people don't—Is it classic bread and circus?” – [04:31, A]
• The Sunday talk shows, supposedly for the ‘smart crowd,’ also join these media frenzies.

2. Escalating Situations Abroad: China, Iran, and the Middle East

Segment: 07:36–10:19

• A summit in China is referenced as a possible flashpoint.
• Extended analysis of the Iran peace process, which Armstrong & Getty consider deadlocked and likely to tip into outright conflict.
  • “The more likely big event is going to be a full-on Middle Eastern war with a whole bunch of countries involved.” – [07:45, C]
  • “Mark Halpern about the whole Iran situation today uses the Q word. … you got to admit this is a quagmire.” – [07:48, C]
• They touch briefly on the Russia-Ukraine war, noting that Russia appears to be losing, and U.S. support for Ukraine is dwindling.

3. American Crime Trends and Social Reaction

Segment: 10:27–12:58 & 16:30–17:23

• The show transitions to domestic issues—a TikTok water gun "challenge" causing public panic. “It was a water gun.” – [10:42, C]
• Reflecting on cultural change: when they were kids, water guns looked like real guns and didn’t cause 911 calls.
  • “Why did my water guns...looked exactly like a gun?... And nobody was, like, calling 911.” – [12:30–12:43, C]
• A notable stat: violent crime rates have “plunged” in major U.S. cities, with DC’s rate dropping 65% and Baltimore County down 83%.
  • “Explain this if you can. Violent crime rates have plunged in America's big cities.” – [16:30, A]
  • No clear explanation is given—hosts note the contradiction between fears (kids with squirt guns = “potential murderers”) vs. falling crime stats.

4. The OpenAI vs. Elon Musk Trial & Privacy Concerns

Main Segment: 13:04–30:33

• A riveting focus on Greg Brockman’s (OpenAI president) personal diary appearing in court.
  • “A billionaire’s secret diary has become the main exhibit in the tech trial of the century. And the whole world got to read it.” – [15:27, C]
• The discussion highlights the blurring lines between thought, therapy, and legal discovery:
  • “Is all that stuff open if you ever ended up in a trial...start reading them?” (regarding chatbot/AI journaling) – [21:01, C]
  • “It seems so wrong that that's something that you can grab and use. We got to figure that out.” – [29:57, C]
• They emphasize how expressions of doubt or “bad emotions” in a journal or private chat now become court evidence, and ponder if this may kill journaling.
  • “We can't all agree that writing things down, journaling is a good way...and then say, but we can also grab those shreds ... and use them in a court of law…” – [23:25, C]
• Notable Brockman diary quote read on air:
  • “What do I really want? ... This is the only chance we have to get out from Elon. Is he the glorious leader ...?” – [26:52, C]
  • Also: “It would be wrong to steal the nonprofit out from under him, Elon, to convert it to a corporation without him. That'd be pretty morally bankrupt.” – [27:19, C]
• Analogy is made to rappers having their lyrics used in court: “That's art. That was not—I just made that up. It’s art.” – [31:05, A]

5. Generational/Cultural Change – Humorous Takes and Rants

Scattered Throughout

• On rising WNBA coverage: “There’s no way that's driven by any data that says the audience wants that.” – [19:01, C]
• On government programs/new policies:
  • “Gavin Newsom announced on Friday free diapers for California newborns.” – [14:54, C]
  • “The obvious...story behind the story of how that whole thing works...it's so misleading...” – [15:02, C]
• Technological progress: a brief, lighthearted mention that Western science is “starting to figure out why acupuncture works.” – [17:42, A]

6. Privacy, Modern Life, and Social Absurdities

Mailbag & Miscellaneous Segments: 31:24–37:39

• Listener emails riff on themes of absurd bureaucracy, political corruption, and the devolution of civil society.
• Disbelief at the hurdles for legal prescription drugs vs. the ease for street drug users to get paraphernalia:
  • “I have to show the pharmacy my id ... so why is it that bums and junkies can live on the streets, get free needles…?” – [35:37, C]
• Reflection on the decline of reading in America (“With the loss of literacy will come the loss of liberty...”) – [36:44, A]
• A “freedom loving quote of the day” from John Adams about government accountability and the right to revoke authority. – [31:48, A & C]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Media Distraction:
  “Are we just that dumb?” – [04:00, C]
• On the ‘Hantavirus Panic’:
  “If you're worried, having read the first sentence of this story anywhere, then you're a...I just can't take it.” – [03:37, C]
• Parodying the Expert Response:
  “Ooga booga moo moo oink oink, nay nay. I don't know, what am I supposed to say to them?” – [07:01, A]
• On the OpenAI Diary:
  “The idea of a tech executive keeping a journal was especially shocking...No one knew it existed until January, when Musk's lawyers revealed that they had Brockman's journal.” – [24:15, C]
• On Privacy vs. Legal Discovery:
  “It's hilarious that you would think a diary is offline.” – [16:09, A]
• Listener Email:
  “Of course AOC doesn’t believe good ideas can lead to wealth because all she sees and does is skim off the top...” – [34:11, A, reading Ryan in Houston’s note]
• On Accessibility of Drug Paraphernalia:
  “You can't give me one [plunger], including the needle…but you can't even give me the plunger.” – [36:37, A & C]

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Important Timestamps

• 02:38 — Episode theme introduction; media's obsession with Hantavirus.
• 04:31 — Bread and circuses: is media distraction deliberate?
• 07:36 — Pivot to foreign relations: Iran, China summit, Middle Eastern conflict risks.
• 10:27 — TikTok water gun challenge news story; generational/social change.
• 13:04 — Quick run at news headlines: AI trial, diaries, and privacy.
• 16:30 — Unexplained recent plunge in violent crime rates in big cities.
• 19:34 — WNBA commentary and observations on virtue signaling.
• 21:01–30:33 — Deep dive: OpenAI’s Brockman diary as court evidence; legal and ethical implications of privacy.
• 31:48 — John Adams quote on public accountability.
• 31:24–37:39 — Mailbag: listener rants on bureaucracy, privacy, reading, sociopolitical commentary.

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Tone and Style

The episode brims with skepticism, dark humor, and irreverence. Armstrong & Getty’s banter swings freely between biting commentary, mockery, and mock-seriousness, using parody, sarcasm, and cultural references to question everything from media narratives to legal conventions.

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For those who missed the episode, this summary preserves the episode’s signature style, highlights, and major argument threads—providing an engaging journey through a typically Armstrong & Getty blend of social skepticism and comic relief.

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[B]

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[A]

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[A]

Download TikTok and check it out. Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio

[C]

Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center,

[A]

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and dirty. And now here's Armstrong and Ghetti.

[C]

Has everybody tried this coffee thing? Oh, my God, it's really good. They pour hot water across coffee beans. Oh, my God. Who's the first guy who thought, you

[A]

know what we ought to do? See that tray over there? Let's pick some of that, crush it up and pour some water over it. And then drink it.

[C]

Of course, I use the kind that comes out of the south end of a northbound cat. I like the Civic Cat coffee.

[A]

Classy.

[C]

Oh, that's some good stuff. Live from Studio C Senior, a dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound. And to kick off a brand new week pregnant with possibilities, we're toiling under the title of the show.

[A]

Nothing could be finer than to go to commie China. Or if you prefer, another rhymer. If you want a virus, choose Hantavirus.

[C]

From what I understand, the hantavirus is exactly like Covid, just as spreadable, and we should all be very concerned. Did I take the news incorrectly?

[A]

It's killed 350,000 people already.

[C]

Or did or was. I told endlessly for like 19 hours over the weekend if I wanted to pay attention to it. And since the whole thing started, it's nothing like COVID virus. It can. It's very hard to spread, so don't worry about it. So why are we talking about it? It's driving me crazy.

[A]

Latest shiny object.

[C]

It's driving me crazy. How can you lead every newscast with the hantavirus and have five different doctors say it's nothing like Covet? It's not going to spread. People, we know people are very worried out there. No, they aren't. I don't believe that. I don't personally know any people that are worried. Maybe you. Maybe you're a stupid person and you are worried.

[A]

Oh, that was. That was judgmental right there.

[C]

If you're worried, having read the first sentence of this story anywhere, then you're a. And I just can't take it. Here's yet another expert to say people are worried out there. Is this another Covid? Is this Covid too? No, it's not Covid 2. Yeah, just like the last nine experts for two weeks. Oh my God.

[A]

Yeah, I know.

[C]

It's just frustrating to me that, like, you know, geez, say this people are going to turn off the radio, think oh my God already. But for instance, we had that story last week of the, you know, our debt finally passed our gdp. We have more debt than what we earn every single, every, every year for the first time ever. And you can't get anyone to talk about that. Something is stupid as a virus. That's nothing to worry about. Oh, endless coverage of it. Are we just that dumb?

[A]

Is it deliberate so that people don't. Is it the classic bread and circus?

[C]

I don't think so.

[A]

They're keeping us distracted. Is it that the media is for mostly either dumb people or people who just want to be amused and interested for a couple of minutes and. And move on with their lives? And the lack of. Well, see, that's a problem. The Internet especially is exacerbated this. The lack of incentives for people who actually care and actually understand what's going on. To get anything done, I don't know. Or get their information out, I don't know. The gatekeepers have gone, so everything comes through the gate.

[C]

Well, in theory, your Sunday talk shows which nobody watches. Your taste of the nation in mere meat suppression are first, the. Like the smart people in the world. The people that are really paying attention. People that read the Atlantic and care about the Met gala. That's supposedly who that crowd is. Well then they.

[A]

Were they on the antivirus?

[C]

Oh my God. Like it was the only story in America. Oh my. Like it was the only story in America.

[A]

What? Yes. I just thought it was the mainstream, you know, evening news.

[C]

No. And former CDC this and the head of the virology at Johns Hopkins that. Endless. It was by far the number one story.

[A]

Wow. Yes.

[C]

Michael, should I play an example of this? Go ahead, sure.

[A]

What is your message to Americans who are still scared?

[C]

We have been repeating the same question, the same answer many times. This is not another Covid. And the risk to the public is. That makes the point. Yes. What about people that are still scared? I think the doctor should have said are still scared after my previous answer. And the guest you had on before me and the guests on all the shows for the past week. The people that are still scared. My suggestion for them would be to. Don't leave your home.

[A]

There's nothing I could do to help them.

[C]

No. Put on a helmet and hire somebody to lead you places. That's what I would say to those people who are still scared. Because they must be morons. They must have an IQ of 8. They probably eat, you know, the rocks.

[A]

In other news, 890Americans were killed in car wrecks while listening to stupid reports about COVID or I'm sorry about hantavirus not killing anybody.

[C]

That's pretty funny. What do you say to people who are still scared and the guy trying to be nice? Well, I say what I've said before.

[A]

Ooga booga moo moo oink oink, nay nay. I don't know, what am I supposed to say to him?

[C]

Stop eating rocks. That's what I would say to them.

[A]

Their brains, such as they are, are impenetra. Why would I waste my breath? You know, it's funny. A couple of times since 2001, we've either thought or said out loud, this is the shark attacks. That when the big story happens, we're going to feel so foolish that everybody was talking about it. But then generally nothing too big happens. So I don't know.

[C]

I don't know.

[A]

Maybe I mentioned the. The summit meeting in China starting on Thursday. What if that goes completely haywire?

[C]

Yeah, I think the more likely big event is going to be a full on Middle Eastern war with a Whole bunch of countries involved. Mark Halpern, about the whole Iran situation today, uses the Q word. He said, even for people who support the President, you got to admit this is a quagmire at this point in that it ain't ending until something major happens like a new regime or the war starts again. That's the only thing that's going to change the current dynamics. The response to the peace plan from Iran over the weekend was, well, we get full sovereignty over the straight of Hormuz and we get to pursue a nuclear weapon, to which President Trump said, are you kidding?

[A]

And they utterly rejected his proposal.

[C]

So that does sound pretty quagmire ish in that, like, either you start the war back up again or you're stuck.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. The, the ongoing peace talks, have you seen like a single glimmer of optimism or hope, really?

[C]

I haven't.

[A]

It's just all fu. I hate your proposal. I hate you. Let's, let's get it on.

[C]

If it's not dead after this weekend, then I don't know what's going on. I really, really don't know what's going on. I am assuming that Trump's going to start the war back up again and bomb the crap out of people, in which case the UAE and maybe Saudi Arabia is going to get involved and Israel's going to say, okay, here's our last chance and they're going to do what they got to do and it's going to get really crazy really fast.

[A]

But

[C]

I don't know, I'm not paying any attention to another round of negotiation, I'll tell you that. Yeah, how about the fact that Iran came back with, here's our proposal, we get control over the straight and get to keep our nuclear stuff. So that's just, I mean, what, what, what is that? That is.

[A]

They watch Ms. Now and have decided we're more powerful than we used to be. Yes, let's press our advantage.

[C]

That's a country that doesn't want, doesn't want peace. It reminds me of what we've been saying about Russia and Ukraine for four years, is like, you know, if while you're negotiating, they're bombing hospitals and stuff, that's an indication they're not really that interested.

[A]

Right.

[C]

By the way, I heard a number of different people say over the weekend, including today, that Russia is clearly losing at this point. Not even a question. They're clearly losing.

[A]

Yeah, I was just reading that very, very little US Help going to Iran or to, to Ukraine right now, too.

[C]

That's pretty. Might have to look into that war. Anyway, we should start the show officially before we get in trouble with the fcc. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is Monday, May 11, the year 2026. We are Armstrong and Getty and we approve this program.

[A]

Let's begin then officially, according to FCC rules and regulations. Here we go at Mark. He's got a black hoodie on. He's got a gun in his right hand.

[C]

He's got gray sweatpants.

[A]

Frantic 911 audio captured a caller alerting police to a Stoneham, Massachusetts neighborhood Monday morning. I have a gentleman outside of my house hiding with a gun. Looks like he's about ambush somebody. Police found the person holding what appears

[C]

to be a Glock style gun. It was not. It was a water gun. Executive producer Hansen and I both having teenagers are aware of this Tik Tok challenge, online challenge or whatever it is. It's about squirting your friends, sneaking up on your friends and squirting with the squirt gun.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So sometimes when people want to sneak up on somebody, they. Well, they sneak around with something that looks like a gun. And sneaking around with something that looks like a gun caught on ring cameras and stuff like that is freaking people out.

[A]

Yeah, I get it, I get it. It sounds like a fun game. I mean, my friends and I would have embraced the hell out of it back in the day. There's an app involved, right. I know very little about this. I'm old, I have no children.

[C]

Absolutely. That's a fun thing to do.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. But man, can we start with every water gun has to be a neon color and kind of bulbous looks. It looks like a 1950s sci fi ray gun. Just not a gun gun.

[C]

Why did my water guns when I was a kid looked exactly like a gun? Looked like a pistol.

[A]

Hell, that was a more militaristic time.

[C]

Why was it. Why did that work then but doesn't work now?

[A]

That is actual. I was thinking about that myself. It's because back in the day we had no expectation that maniacs would be lurking about in the bushes planning or hoping to do acts of violence. It was. It was fairly rare. Although in the early 70s there was plenty of crime in the cities. But I didn't live in a city. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.

[C]

I don't know. I don't know that I can agree that there are more reasons to think a maniac is in the bushes.

[A]

Well, there are more junkies in the Bushes.

[C]

Some places.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Let's talk about America. Not like a hundred feet from this radio studio, Right? Let's.

[A]

Yeah, let's go 150ft. Where normal people live.

[C]

My water gun as a kid looked exactly like a glass Glock. All my friends water guns looked exactly like Glocks. And Nobody was, like, calling 911 saying there are kids ooching about with what looked to be Glocks.

[A]

Yeah, I had a water gun that was a revolver. Didn't work. Just it all leaked out every time.

[C]

That's worth pondering, actually. Yeah, maybe we will ponder that later.

[A]

Is it just because it's so widespread? Thanks to the Internet and the app, everybody's doing it, so.

[C]

Oh, no.

[A]

The opportunity for misunderstanding, fear and mayhem is multiplied. I don't know either.

[C]

So we can check in on some of the news of the weekend with a bunch of headlines. And that AI trial has gotten really interesting. I'd like to talk to a lawyer about should none of us have a diary? I don't actually have a diary, but should none of us have a diary because it can be subpoenaed and read in court. This one dude that runs OpenAI, they've been reading from his diary for the last whole week. Wow.

[A]

What if he's talking about, you know, sex stuff and hemorrhoids and God knows, some days I feel like I'm a little gay. Whatever. Didn't we all have an assumption that your diary is kind of inviolate? Nobody can look at it?

[C]

I think so. But maybe we were wrong.

[A]

Right?

[C]

You're gonna put hemorrhoids in your diary? Dear Diary. I'm just thinking day to day, hemorrhoid wise.

[A]

Good day for my hemorrhoids.

[C]

Dear diary. Well, the rodeo was today. Bad news.

[A]

Oh, boy. We should probably take a break.

[C]

Okay, we got more headlines on the way. Stay here.

[A]

Armstrong and Getty.

[C]

Oh, we've got to do the story. Baby Boom at LA Zoo draws crowds. Very cute. Little monkeys.

[A]

Baby monkey. Baby monkey. Drawing massive crowds. Baby monkey.

[C]

So here's a headline that confuses me. Bimbi will had to dig into a little bit later. Mother's Day spending expected to break record. How can you possibly have record high negativity about the economy, their own personal finance, the direction of the country, all that sort of stuff, and then have this headline, Mother's Day spending breaks record.

[A]

I hate to walk your work your

[C]

side of the street, but just inflation.

[A]

Is it adjusted for inflation?

[C]

Could be.

[A]

Probably not.

[C]

Can't wait to talk about this later. Gavin. Newsom announced on Friday free diapers for California newborns. Yes.

[A]

So generous.

[C]

The. The obvious. If you're, like, plugged into politics at all. Story behind the story of how that whole thing works. I guess it's about the way economics works or big progressive programs work, but just so misleading what that is. Anyway, we'll get into that later.

[A]

And did you see Steve Hilton's criticism of it?

[C]

No.

[A]

It's wonderful. It's fabulous.

[C]

The world's view of Ukraine is finally changing. Finland's president says the tide is turned between Ukraine and Russia. Mentioned that. We'll get into that a little bit later. Also mentioned this. I can't wait to talk about it. And maybe we ought to have a lawyer on to explain it. From the Wall Street Journal. A billionaire's secret diary has become the main exhibit in the tech trial of the century. And the whole world got to read it. Why does the whole world get to read your diary? Maybe we were all completely like, because our moms, you know, told our brothers they're not allowed to read our diary, that they're like, secret from the courts and they never happen.

[A]

And just because you got to punch your sister if she looked at yours. Yes.

[C]

Maybe you're wrong about that. Forever.

[A]

No. What's the presumption of. It's a document. It's records. I'm subpoenaing your records.

[C]

Right. I suppose if you think about it for two seconds, it's hilarious that you would think a diary is offline.

[A]

Well, it's silly and naive.

[C]

He. He confessed to the murder in writing, in his own handwriting, on paper. But we can't look at it because it's a diary.

[A]

Right. You're not allowed to look at people's diary, obviously. Hey, do you want to hear a headline that deserves some discussion? Explain this if you can. Violent crime rates have plunged in America's big cities. Plunged. I. And not all of them have been patrolled by the National Guard, if you're thinking about that. Like DC, for instance. But DC's down two thirds. Well, 65%. Baltimore county in Maryland, which is one of the shootinist, Punchinist, Robinist places in America. Violent crime is down 83%.

[C]

And what are they crediting that to?

[A]

I don't know. You will have to look into it.

[C]

This is at the same time that people believe every child lurking around with a squirt gun is about to murder people.

[A]

Clearly. Yeah, we ought to. Well, we could preview the. The big summit with Xi Jinping coming up. That's a big and yeah.

[C]

If you know anything about that, I would love to hear it. Yeah, I know AI is on the table and obviously the war in Iran is on the table.

[A]

Got a great California's crumbling update ready to go later on. And turns out, and science already knew this basically, but they're western science starting to figure out why acupuncture works and they're starting to figure out why you have one more circulatory system than you thought you did.

[C]

You gonna tell us Voodoo dolls are real and all kinds of stuff like that. Palm reading that. And you're gonna pair that with your palm reading.

[A]

The ugly face of racism, friends.

[C]

You know, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems that we would think our diaries are secret.

[A]

Yes, it is truly ridiculous.

[C]

More on all that coming up. I hope you can stay here.

[A]

Armstrong and Gettys.

[C]

Tina Charles, the WNBA's all time leading rebounder, announced that she is retiring. Charles credits her rebounding success to WNBA players missing a lot.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

I know.

[A]

Wow. That's it.

[C]

All time leading rebounder. She credits her success to the fact that they miss a lot. It's so awful. But the other side of that is I feel like this year more than any other year, so many places I've seen them taking the WNBA season kickoff and draft and stuff like that so seriously. And there's no way that's driven by any data that says the audience wants that. It's impossible. No, it's impossible given the number of people that go to the games, which is very, very, very small.

[A]

Right.

[C]

Or the number of people who watch.

[A]

It's activists, virtue signaling and. Or trying to grow the league, which is fine. If they. But they're wasting their time. It's fine.

[C]

Anywho, I am really interested in this. I've been interested in the OpenAI trial just in general because you've got Elon Musk, the world's richest man, and all the things that he is in trial saying, in a courtroom, saying all kinds of different stuff. And we're seeing really about the origin story, sort of the first big AI company, OpenAI, which is chat, GPT and scam Altman as Elon calls him and all that sort of stuff. So this could have a lot of importance for the years to come and regulating AI and all that sort of stuff. But then you got this angle, the Wall Street Journal with the secret diary that is spilled into the Musk vs OpenAI feud. The Journal of OpenAI President Greg Brockman is now a character in the company's battle with the world's richest man and the most human part of a trial between two tech billionaires. This is what the Wall Street Journal says. Imagine how mortifying it would be if anyone ever read your diary. I don't know that I've ever had a diary. I'm probably closer to having a diary now than I've ever had because of my various chatbot threads.

[A]

Oh, right.

[C]

Where I talk very openly about a lot of different things. And I'm wondering, is, is all that stuff open if you ever ended up in a trial for anything where they could go into your chat GPT, your clawed threads and start reading them?

[A]

Yes. Well, because you granted that company access to it with no expectation of privacy, quote, unquote. I'm guessing the answer is yes.

[C]

That's horrifying.

[A]

Yes, it is.

[C]

Anyway, back to the Wall Street Journal. Imagine how mortifying it would be if anyone ever read your diary. Now imagine it's a diary from a stressful period of your life, Right? Like maybe the most stressful period of your life.

[A]

And, gee, I'd have to think for half a second to come up with an example of stuff I said at such a period that I wouldn't want

[C]

in the press or wanting the press or want your friends or family to hear. And part of the thing with diaries or the chat threads is you're just. You're saying things out loud that you might not even believe you're just. Or know that are good. This is not a good emotion.

[A]

Right.

[C]

What I'm having right now is not a good emotion. I'm just explaining to you on paper for therapeutic reasons. Exactly. This is what I've been thinking about.

[A]

Right. Or you might just be in a mood. I mean, come on. I don't know why I said that. I'm so sorry. I was just. I cracked. I was tired. I'd had a long day. Yeah. No, no. Now it's testimony.

[C]

Now imagine it's a diary from. From the most stressful period of your life, and it's being read in a courthouse, and people all over the world are paying attention because they're being sued by the richest man on the planet. And the future of all of AI depends on your private thoughts that have suddenly become much too public. That's the situation with Greg Brockman over the last couple of weeks.

[A]

How do they find out he had a diary?

[C]

That does not explain. Let me read the way they present it here. Over two excruciating days this week, journal entries from OpenAI's president and co founder were entered as exhibits in the trial. Captivating Silicon Valley. God, I'll bet that was excruciating for him sitting there. Elon Musk's lawsuit against Brockman and Sam Altman has shaken loose a trove of evidence offering a peek inside the minds of the people who have been building artificial intelligence. We've read their unvarnished emails, dishy texts, notes for meetings, et cetera, et cetera. In any part of civilized society, rifling through someone else's diary is considered an outrageous invasion of privacy. In a court of law, it's called discovery. How many people know when they're writing down in their diary that that could end up in a courtroom?

[A]

So much for the journaling craze.

[C]

Well, right.

[A]

Yikes.

[C]

I'm. I'm almost thinking we need to have some sort of law that allows that. We can't all agree, and I think most people do. We can't all agree that writing things down, journaling is a good way to deal with, you know, grief, stress, whatever it is, and then say, but we can also grab those shreds of pieces of paper and use them in a court of lawn, read them in front of a whole crowd if we want to. And you can't have both. That's impossible.

[A]

Well, right. And what's odd, too, and I don't know exactly how to put this, but it's treated as if it's sworn testimony. You know, I'm messing around with my friends. I'm joking, I'm being sarcastic, whatever. I'm not going to say those things under oath in a courtroom. But you just took in what I wrote. That might be inside jokes with myself, or again, being in a mood or working through bad emotions. This is very troubling.

[C]

While the discovery process always produces surprising documents, the idea of a tech executive keeping a journal was especially shocking. No one knew it existed until January, when Musk's lawyers revealed that they had Brockman's journal.

[A]

Now, Mr. Brockman, it says here that you have to picture Farrah Fawcett to achieve an erection with your wife. Why not a more contemporary sex symbol? And I remind you, you're under oath.

[C]

Wow. For instance. Right. For instance. That would be embarrassing.

[A]

That would be highly. You'd have a lot of splaining to do. Oh, boy.

[C]

This is really.

[A]

There's the. The unbelievably impactful and fat and fascinating question of what is AI going to be? Who's it going to serve? And all that at the heart of the trial.

[C]

I think you missed what this said here. Nobody knew the diary existed until January, when Musk's lawyers revealed that they had Brockman's journal. How did Elon Musk know that guy has a journal and then get it? Is this some sort of Mossad operation? What the hell? And it doesn't explain that. Is this an example of what we're always talking about where journalists sometimes miss the obvious question?

[A]

Right?

[C]

Wouldn't you, as you're writing this story, think, hey, I'll bet people are going to wonder how Elon ended up getting the guy's journal.

[A]

Well, it only occurs to everybody immediately. Is it. You know, it's funny. I think, again, naively, we're picturing a. Like a book with a, you know, a heart on the COVID physically written in a little, very cheap lock on

[C]

it with a key.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. As opposed to, you know, something online. He's been typing this. He's been. It's on the cloud or whatever, as part of his personal still.

[C]

How did Elon know it was there? And how did they get it?

[A]

Yeah, good question.

[C]

And it was that he knows all? Yeah, he might. Well, that's kind of interesting.

[A]

If he knew all, Doge would have done more damage. Brock, progress.

[C]

Brockman's diary has emerged as a star witness. Now, I'm reading through a bunch of the stuff, I suppose. You know, I don't know if he ever journaled about just personal stuff, like needing to picture Farrah Fawcett. And I suppose if he did, you know, any decent lawyer or judge would say, well, that's not relevant to this case. So let's.

[A]

True enough. Well, it helps round out the character of the witness, but they've got the

[C]

journal entries right here. August 21, 2017. Okay, what do I really want? He writes in his journal. Hmm. I want to be an engineer, but I think that's crazy to be the one in charge at this point. And I don't know if I can step up to the challenge. We might succeed. It's already a different game from anything I was expecting. This is the only chance we have to get out from Elon. Is he the glorious leader that I would pick?

[A]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[C]

What do I want, really? And, you know, it sounds like the sort of stuff you would write down in a journal or maybe to a chatbot or whatever. And they're using the stuff where we read this last week. By the way, another realization from is, this is. It would be wrong to steal the nonprofit out from under him, Elon, to convert it to a corporation without him. That'd be pretty morally bankrupt. And he's not really an idiot. That's probably a pretty damaging part of his journal. Yeah, Yeah, I. I seriously think we need to figure this out or therapists need to start saying journaling is one of the most important things you can do. And the moment you're done journaling, burn it, shred it. Because if it's lying around, it could end up in a, you know, a divorce court, or who knows what?

[A]

Maybe you have to initial a long disclaimer on the first page. The entries in this journal should not be taken as factual or blah, blah, blah, and contain the musings of the individual herein and are hereby protected. Blah, blah, blah.

[C]

Any characters resembling actual human beings are merely a coincidence, Right?

[A]

Exactly.

[C]

You know, in some states, I do not live in one, but in some states, like divorces can have all kinds of stuff about. Of infidelity and all that sort of stuff. You could absolutely go to diaries and. Well, I saw Jim at work today and he said my hair looked great and I got that special feeling, man, I like Jim or something.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

And then you turn that into, you know. See, she was clear. She's clearly Harley.

[A]

Well, if it is online, they'll find it. Which brings us to a word from our friends at Incogni. Every spam call, every scam text, every sketch email with your name, each one starts the same way somebody found ya. Because your info is sitting on data broker sites right now with your home address, your email, your age names, your family members. Good Lord. All of it searchable and for sale.

[C]

So two things. I think one of us thought, there's nothing you can do about it. Or we know that there are laws about this, but you think you know who's prosecuting these. Nobody's going to follow them. You need a company like Incogni. They actually take the law that they've got and legally force these data brokers to remove your information. And they keep going at it to make sure that all the data brokers, you know, stay with that program. They're not allowed to hold on to your information. That's pretty co.

[A]

They can't spam you if they can't find you. And right now you can get 60% off with an exclusive deal at incogni.com Armstrong. Go to I n c o g n I.com/armstrong and take back your privacy. That's incogni.com Armstrong.

[C]

One more thing from this article about this. As you can see, Brockman's writing in his Journals is full of uncertainty, ambition, introspection, raw emotions, self awareness and self doubt. You don't need an AI detector to know it's entirely the work of a human. That just seems so wrong that that's something that you can grab and use. We got to figure that out. I'd like to hear from lawyers again. You can't live in a world where we all agree that writing out our thoughts is helpful, but say it's a legal document that other people can look at if for some reason we need to. I just don't think he can have that.

[A]

This reminds me a little tangentially of the. There was a prominent trial in Atlanta a year or two ago where there have been a couple of them, I think probably a handful where rappers, their. Their words that they wrote and wrapped had been used as evidence at a trial. Talking about knocking off a liquor store and you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they're using it as evidence that you were the guy who knocked off the liquor store. Look, you wrapped about it. That's art. That was not. I just made that up. It's art. Yeah. I don't know.

[C]

Well, Johnny Cash never shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

[A]

That's not what it says here.

[C]

Okay, we've got Mailbag on the way and a bunch of other stuff.

[A]

Stay here, Armstrong and Getty.

[C]

So don't climb the fence in the middle of the night at the airport and walk onto the Runway. Is that what I'm learning from this story?

[A]

It's free country. Go ahead if you'd like to be atomized. How many times have you seen that video? I was going to ask you.

[C]

8,000.

[A]

Yes, me too. Unintentionally. I got. Yeah, you've seen it. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day. This is from John Adams.

[C]

I'm reading that new book so good.

[A]

As described by Tim Sandifer in his fabulous new book, Proclaiming Liberty. It was all from a long meditation. Adams wrote about the nature of government and power in general in the midst of the wrangling with the crown and more particularly the parliament that led to the revolution. Unawed by government's obscure and pretentious ceremonies, they had also taught their children that, quote, rulers are no more than attorneys, agents and trustees for the people. And if the cause, the interest and the trust is insidiously betrayed or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed and to constitute abler and better agents. I can't think of a better description of the current government of the US and or various states that they've insidiously betrayed or trifled away their trust. Get rid of them. Well, 98% of incumbents get reelected. What are you gonna do? Mailbag Wood.

[C]

Wood, drop us a note.

[A]

Mailbagarmstrongenghetti.com Boy, an exciting brush with greatness here from Justin of Woodland Guys, I ran into Jack at the neighborhood grocery store over the weekend. Was so great to be able to shake his hand and thank him for the show, but I got excited and accidentally knocked the sushi out of his hands. Is that accurate?

[C]

The headline there, of course, being I was buying sushi at the grocery store.

[A]

It's a step up from gas station sushi, at least. Yeah, don't worry, Joe. I would have knocked the sushi out of yours as well. Been listening for over half of his life since 2001. Wow. It struck me that outside my immediate family and friends and Faith, you two have probably had the largest impact on my thinking. The way that I see the world. Wow. That's an honor. Thank you guys in the whole crew. So much for the amazing show. KPT Spu, keep picking that sushi back up.

[C]

As I was charging my cyber truck at the Tesla superchargers there at the big grocery store and thought, you know, I'm a little hungry. So I walked into the grocery store and got some grocery store sushi, which wasn't bad, but I ate it in my truck.

[A]

That's handy finger food, right? Reasonably healthy.

[C]

Really handy. No, it's pretty, pretty messy. I forgot to get chopsticks, but I wasn't gonna walk all the way back in there, so I just used my fingers to dip it in the soy sauce and stir up the soy sauce with wasabi with my finger and then dip the thing to lick California rolls in there.

[A]

Well, nobody can accuse you pretension. Let's see. This is a nice note from Ryan in Houston, guys. Of course AOC doesn't think people can earn a billion dol invented ideas. She's a member of Congress. She's surrounded by the most corrupt people possible. Bernie Sanders has done little else than complain about oligarchs and has millions in the bank and three houses. She's a member of the squad who do little but complain about America. Of course AOC doesn't believe good ideas can lead to wealth because all she sees and does is skim off the stop atop and steal from taxpayers. A lot of truth there, Foushee and the beagles which sounds like the worst band name in history. But Nick in San Jose reminds us. We were talking about the big rescue of beagles being bred for research in Wisconsin. I don't know if you never knew or just forgot about this story. It's the latter. But there was a big bipartisan uproar when Congress found that the NIH under Fauci was. I don't even want to repeat it. But terrible experiments on beagle puppies in Tunisia so they could test out vaccines. They removed the vocal cords so they couldn't hear the dogs barking and crying.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

So our government needed another reason to despise Fauci.

[C]

But so our government does it in other countries. You take. You do the. The puppy experiments in other countries so you can less likely to get caught. Get around various rules that we have.

[A]

Yeah. Wow. Fauci's a monster and a liar and a perjurer.

[C]

One of the sexiest men in America.

[A]

Joe. Oh, my God. This from Rick T. Guys, it's recently come to my attention that in order to get a prescription for pain pills, I have to show the pharmacy my id. Yeah. Give a fingerprint, practically a blood sample. All this after a legitimate surgery I had. So why is it that bums and junkies can live on the streets, get free needles, drugs, alcohol, never go through any scrutiny, much less what I do to get my legally prescribed meds? The state has gone haywire. He's clearly a California.

[C]

I made this argument. I went back when my kid was taking some sort of medicine liquid and I was out of the plunger. Whatever you call those things, the little plunger thing for the medicine, you draw it out of there. Anyway, I needed one. I went to the pharmacy. We can't get you that. That only comes with the prescription. We can't give that to you because some sort of rule.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[C]

And I. And there are drug addicts right out there. We give them to them for free. You can't give me one.

[A]

Including the needle.

[C]

Right.

[A]

You can't even give me the plunger.

[C]

Right.

[A]

That is madness.

[C]

It is.

[A]

That is straight out a Kafka.

[C]

It is true, though. I have lived that experience.

[A]

Kevin the Texas Marine enjoyed the One More Thing podcasts about Reading is Magic was a two parter, I think. What, Tuesday and Wednesday last week? Wednesday, Thursday. I don't remember having been a voracious reader all my life. To summarize it, he found himself reading less than he used to. Bothered me quite a bit. So I've made an effort to do it more often. One thing that hadn't occurred to me until my favorite bookstore closed was that it was a cultural thing. With the loss of literacy will come the loss of liberty, and the grand experiment of the Republic will become a footnote history which nobody will read anyway.

[C]

Owen2 yes, the term footnote footnote kind of suggests anybody's reading something which

[A]

the Republic cannot survive. The Internet. That is my soon to be released quickie book.

[C]

Oh, we got so much more we've got to get to. I hope you can stick around. Our tool will be wonderful. If you missed the segment, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand.

[A]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.