Our Memorandum of Understanding

Summary

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Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "Our Memorandum of Understanding"
Date: May 6, 2026
Host: iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

This lively episode revolves around the theme of "Memorandum of Understanding" (MoU)—from the tongue-in-cheek station agreement to the actual geopolitics of the day. Armstrong and Getty, blending irreverence with insight, break down the latest on Trump’s negotiations with Iran, the impact on global oil prices, China’s behind-the-scenes maneuvers, trends in media, American self-critique ahead of July 4th, the struggles of modern adolescence and social media, AI's disruption of writing, and more. Their signature banter tackles both the serious and absurd, drawing connections between world events and the cultural zeitgeist.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The MoU: Kicking Off The Show

• The episode opens with the hosts referencing their show's own memorandum of understanding with their radio bosses and the confusion it sometimes creates.
  • [00:26] Jack Armstrong: "According to the MoU…the memorandum of understanding that we have with our radio bosses. We are supposed to start broadcasting now, so we will."
  • Playful banter about having (not) read the memo, skimming important documents, and the MoU as a running joke.
    Memorable moment: "I'm now completely lost. I give up. Trying to understand what the hell's going on…" – Joe Getty [00:47]

2. Iran, Trump, and the Strait of Hormuz

• Trump has paused “Operation Freedom,” tied to getting ships safely through the Strait, citing a 14-point MoU with Iran.
  • [01:12] Armstrong: “Trump has paused the Operation Freedom… two boats at the beginning and then nobody in the last 72 hours.”
  • The core issues: Iranian uranium enrichment, blockade of the Strait, and whether Iranian negotiators have real power.
  • New IRGC (Republican Guard) statement: “We won’t be shooting any ships trying to go through the strait.” [01:36]
  • [02:40] Armstrong reads Trump’s latest "Truth Social" post: “Assuming Iran agrees to what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary epic fury will be at an end…” [03:11]
  • Trump’s veiled threat: if Iran doesn't follow through, “the bombing starts and it will be, sadly, at much higher levels and intensity.” [03:57]

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Key Moment: Parsing Trump's Shifting Tone

• Getty [04:18]: "Two things might be happening…Trump is being strung along by the Iranians and played for a complete fool, OR China is really flexing its muscles behind the scenes…"
  • Armstrong adds that Trump’s scheduled meeting with Xi Jinping is a key consideration; both want the issue off the table for geopolitical reasons. [04:47]
  • Armstrong references conflicting American media coverage—MSNBC vs. News Nation—on whether the U.S. is being played or acting shrewdly. [05:16]

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3. Media Coverage & American Self-Critique

• The hosts reflect on media division and its effect on public understanding.

  • Getty laments the “whip sawing" of White House communication and the "America-hating" media, connecting it to long-term cultural self-critique taught in schools. [07:02–08:00]
  • Referencing Orwell: "A lot of the movement toward fascism was born of how terrible the other side was." [08:00]
  • Museum exhibit in Philly highlights American guilt right next to Freedom Hall on the 250th birthday: disgust at national self-flagellation.

  Notable quote:
  "How is the art museum on our...giant birthday sending the message that you suck? I'm ashamed of this country. I can hardly stand to be here in Philadelphia." – Joe Getty [08:30]

• Armstrong predicts a coming wave of media and op-eds negativizing July 4th: “This is the worst thing that ever happened to the world.” [09:05]

  • Getty: "Reprints of the 1619 Project with, I don't know, a burning American flag on the front or whatever." [09:29]

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4. Operation “Epic Fury” & Political Process

• Discussion about the conclusion of the latest US military action.
  • Getty: "Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives…We would prefer the path of peace. What the President would prefer is a deal." [10:28]
  • Armstrong points out the amusing cycle of military action and restarting the congressional 60-day clock for war powers. [11:20]
  • Running joke: “Epic Fury 2: Electric Boogaloo.” [11:24]

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5. Oil Prices & War’s Economic Ripple

• Talk about the direct impact of international tensions and truce rumors on oil prices.
  • Armstrong: “Oil tumbles below $100 on hopes of the US Iran peace deal…so, yeah, oil will go to—Trump the other day said oil will drop fast when the war is over.” [14:02]
  • Jabs media negativity—how some pundits insist war ending won’t affect oil, then it immediately does. [14:37]
  • Caustic quote: “A little good faith would be delightful, wouldn’t it, from our media?” – Getty [14:37]

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6. Generational Bubbles & Social Media Pressures

• Explores the pressures fueled by online life, especially for Gen Z girls.

  • Getty references a book positing that Gen Z girls view themselves as “products to be marketed online,” leading to anxiety and depression. [20:11]
  • Armstrong wonders about the psychological impact compared to previous generations. [20:58]
  • Getty recalls a caller: “...number one cheerleader, cute girl, homecoming queen…crying herself to sleep at night because every day she was terrified she would lose that status.” [21:56]

  Notable exchange:
  "So it's bad for everybody. But having raised daughters, do you feel it's worse—more for women than it is for boys?" – Armstrong [22:50]
  "Oh yeah. Much, much, much worse." – Getty [22:58]

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7. AI Shakes Up Industries & Writing

• Quick hits on the impact of AI on jobs and media.
  • CEOs have split attitudes: some see AI as justification for mass layoffs, others as a tool for expansion. [23:23]
  • Armstrong ponders if AI’s impact on jobs will truly mirror earlier tech revolutions, or if this is a sea change. [24:56]
  • In the writing world, “witch hunt” over who is using AI. Some writers now purposely add mistakes or idiosyncrasies to prove they’re real. [26:48]
  • Reverse Turing Test: “It's like the new McCarthyism. It's just crazy. People are demanding proof of something that can't be proven.” [28:41]
  • Armstrong on AI's “hyper confidence” and the issue of chatbots confidently providing completely false information. [30:05, 30:49 – 32:13]

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8. U.S. Cultural and Political Infighting

• Email bag includes a pointed critique: maybe tit-for-tat political warfare is now an inevitable “race to the bottom.” [33:44]
  • Armstrong: “If you adapt to that attitude, it’s over…we have to do the bad thing because they’ll do the bad thing first, it’s over.” [34:17]
  • Getty counters: “You fight to a stalemate and then you realize you’re wasting your time and you creep back towards sanity.” [34:30]

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9. Memorable Fun & Asides

• Show rituals: Armstrong admits he forgot his usual "kachow" morning call, signifying how news stress is even disrupting small traditions. [13:06]
• Jokes about the Presidential Fitness Test, “Epic Fury 2: Electric Boogaloo,” and oil prices in California so high they should sell by the jug. [11:20, 12:21]
• Banter on AI writing: “Writers are intentionally doing things like...drop a bunch of exclamation points. It feels so icky to do this, but it’s what you have to do to sound human.” [27:09]
• Cultural anxiety: July 4th, museum exhibits, and generational divides.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:26 — Opening, MoU joke, and show start
• 01:12–04:04 — Iran/Strait of Hormuz/Trump’s statements
• 04:18–06:59 — Analysis: Trump, Iran, China, and the geopolitics
• 07:02–09:49 — Media self-critique and July 4th hand-wringing
• 10:28–11:30 — "Operation Epic Fury" ends & political process banter
• 12:21 — Gas prices and the economic impact of war
• 14:02–15:41 — Oil prices plummet after peace rumors
• 20:11–22:58 — Social media, Gen Z, and the psychology of popularity
• 23:23–25:03 — AI in business/media: layoffs or growth?
• 26:48–29:39 — Reverse Turing Test: writers prove they're human
• 30:05–32:13 — AI’s confident errors, parallels with childlike bluffing
• 33:44–34:52 — Political escalation and “race to the bottom” in US politics

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On geopolitics:
  “Trump is trying to determine whether or not the people he's dealing with are the real deal or not and have the power. And if they have the power, the deal will be made. If they don't, the bombing resumes.” — [04:47]

• On media and national identity:
  "How is the art museum on our...giant birthday sending the message that you suck? I'm ashamed of this country. I can hardly stand to be here in Philadelphia." — Getty [08:30]

• On July 4th critiques:
  "There's going to be a lot…trying to convince you that this is nothing to celebrate. This is the worst thing that ever happened to the world." — Armstrong [09:05]

• On AI and writing:
  "It's like the new McCarthyism. It's just crazy. People are demanding proof of something that can't be proven." — AI-wary writer, via Armstrong [28:41]

• On generational struggles:
  "Girls no longer think of themselves as humans who have relationships…They view themselves as products." — Getty [20:11]

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Conclusion

The episode deftly blends serious news (Middle East negotiations, oil, and geopolitics) with cultural critique, humor, and sharp takes on media and generational change. Armstrong & Getty’s banter gives context to current events and cultural debates, making this episode both informative and entertaining, with broad appeal for those interested in politics, media, society, and technology.

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Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human. Broadcasting. Live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio

[B]

at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[A]

According to the MoU, the memory memorandum of Understanding that we have have with our radio bosses. We are supposed to start broadcasting now, so we will. Live from Studio C, senor, a dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty communications compounded. Today we're toiling under the title of the show.

[B]

I'm now completely lost. I give up. Trying to understand what the hell's going on with the R. Did you not

[A]

read the mou, the mem, The Memorandum of Understanding?

[B]

I, I, I, I grazed it. I, what do you call it? I skimmed, skimmed it. I took a GL alternate title. Rubio makes his Mark. O wow. Yeah, I just tried to lift everybody's spirits.

[A]

Things happening overnight. So Trump has paused the Operation Freedom. That's the one where we in theory somehow help ships get through the strait, though that really never happened. Two boats at the beginning and then nobody in the last 72 hours.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Head south and take a right at the uae.

[A]

Yeah, that's kind of like pausing my, I don't know, marathon training, building your home nuclear reactor. I, I wasn't, Anyway, so, yeah, anyway, we paused something that we weren't doing much of because Trump says there's an agreement, an MOU, a memorandum of understanding on the table, 14 points that would include a 30 day period to negotiate the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian enrichment and that the Iranians have agreed to stop 3.67% uranium, blah, blah, blah. All these different numbers that would mean anything to you. But it's an agreement to stop chasing a bomb and open the strait and all that sort of stuff. I guess the key factor being whether or not we're dealing with people that have the power to actually enforce this. Although the irgc, the Republican Guard did announce fairly recently in the last couple hours we won't be shooting any ships trying to go through the strait. So that means they're on board. Sounds like with at least the negotiation part.

[B]

So it would seem. Yeah. There are two possible things happening here. Well, let me add to that, let

[A]

me get to Trump's most recent truth Social post so that which will be

[B]

contradicted in 20 minutes anyway, but indulge yourself.

[A]

Why not? Because he put out that one about how we got the MoU, the memorandum of Agreement, and we're going to pause that and look Blah, blah, blah, it looks like it all might be over. Then he put out this one. Assuming Iran agrees to what has been agreed to do which. There's a lot of commas here. Assuming Iran agrees to what has been agreed to, which is perhaps.

[B]

Whoa, let's stop there. What the hell does that mean?

[A]

Well, that's why this is an interesting wrinkle before you start into your analysis, because he kind of put out the statement sounding like they have agreed and, you know, this is where we are. But then he puts out this most recent one that makes it sounds to me like someone linky in the previous 5, 6 hours. Assuming Iran agrees to what has been agreed to, comma, which is, comma, perhaps comma, a big assumption, comma, the already legendary epic fury will be at an end. And the highly effective blockade will allow the Horme straight to be in all caps, open to all, which it was before, as critics point out, including Iran. If they don't agree now, this is the first threat in a while. If they don't agree, the bombing starts and it will be, sadly, at much higher levels and intensity than it was before. Thank you for your attention to this matter. So I feel like he for some reason felt the need to throw in a stick here in the last hour.

[B]

More of a stick.

[A]

The bombing returns and more intense than before.

[B]

All right, we've heard that a handful of times now.

[A]

I gotta believe the rubber has met the road here, but I've thought that a few times in the last week.

[B]

All right, here is my analysis. Two things might be happening and it's, it's one or the other one. Trump has really decided he doesn't want any more bombings and is being strung along by the Iranians and, and played for a complete fool or, and this has been documented, China is really flexing its muscles behind the scenes with Iran telling him this ends.

[A]

Yeah, there's two parts to the China deal. There's what you just said and there's the fact that Trump's meeting with Xi next week and he doesn't want this hanging over that get together. Like all they end up talking about is a straight up horror moods. We got lots of other business to do with China. And so, yeah, we, we want it done before we meet with China. China wants it done because they get practically all their fuel from other places. I was reading a. It makes such a difference where you take in your information. I was watching MSNBC this morning and they were so negative on all this. I mean, it was just a calamitous World history mistake, look how much worse it is. Iran clearly won, blah, blah, blah. I was watching News Nation where they had a very charitable analyst on who said it sounds to us like Trump is trying to determine whether or not the people he's dealing with are the real deal or not and have the power. And if they have the power, the deal will be made. If they don't, the bombing resumes. So it's just a testing to see if we're negotiating with the real deal or not.

[B]

If that's true, that's very reasonable because it would take a little time, given the chaos in Iran, to consolidate power and well, to consolidate power to the point that you could make a deal and then enforce it. So yeah, I don't know, it would all be so much better if it weren't for the never ending whip sawing of the truth. Social posts. Yeah, vowing calamitous apocalyptic violence by noon tomorrow in all caps. And then by noon tomorrow a deal has been reached and then the next day there's no deal. You can't make a deal with these people. The bombing will commence.

[A]

Right, right. That doesn't help. And then if you have two thirds of the media hell bent on convincing it's a disaster, that doesn't help either. But this other analysis I saw last night, which I thought was really, really interesting, was that how it woke up the world, China, China and Europe in particular, to the fact that, wow, it doesn't take much of a disruption somewhere far away that we don't have any oil or gas, whereas for the United States they're perfectly fine because they supply their own.

[B]

It's an excellent point. That is, that is it.

[A]

That might be an inflection point in world history right there. I don't know.

[B]

Well, I, I love the international stuff, I truly do, but I find myself preoccupied by thinking about the America hating media and how, well, of course they are as big as they are because we've been educating our kids to hate their country for a very long time now. And so yeah, they want that in their media, which is insidious. Got another story about that later. But, and I'm reminded of something Orwell said, that in the 30s and 40s especially, a lot of the movement toward fascism was born of how terrible the other side was. I'm paraphrasing his eloquence, but in specifically the communists and the leftists were so awful and ineffective and brutal, people were thinking maybe this right wingy stuff is a better idea. And I have an account of how on our 250th anniversary, this major art museum in Philadelphia either sits on the ground right next to Freedom Hall. The entire art exhibit is about how terrible America is for the 250th anniversary. And. And here's the way my mind was flitting. I was picturing, you know, taking some patriots and. And not doing it, but thinking about somebody grabbing the plaque that essentially says, this is a bad country and you should hate it. Here's a little art. Just tearing it out. Now, that would be ugly. That would be ugly. But how. How is the art museum on our. Our giant birthday sending the message that you suck? I'm ashamed of this country. I can hardly stand to be here in Philadelphia. How does not that not whip up a response like I'm describing? Or worse? My God, I hate those people.

[A]

It might have to at some point, because there's not a lot of pushback. They get all fired up. Boy, how much is the. I never even thought about this. But as we get closer to July 4th, there's going to be a lot of the New York Times opinion pieces and books coming out and everything like that, trying to convince you that this is nothing to celebrate. This is the worst thing that ever happened to the world.

[B]

Reprints of the 1619 Project with A. I don't know, a burning American flag on the front or whatever. And I'd love the counter to that to be gentlemanly and intelligent and educational. More Ben Franklin than, say, Abe Lincoln stripped to the waist, ready to whoop somebody's ass.

[A]

John Adams or Sam Adams?

[B]

Well, exactly. I think it may be much more Sam Adams, perhaps fueled by a couple of Samuel Adams Boston ales, which is a delicious brew indeed. Yes, exactly.

[A]

Let's start the show officially before we get in trouble with the fcc. That's part of our moe, Our memorandum of understanding. I'm Jack Armstrong Strong. He's Jo Getti on this. It is a Wednesday, May 6th. You're sleeping off your hangover, man. All you remember last night is you had a sombrero on your head at some point. And, yeah, I'll take another tequila shot. That's all you remember.

[B]

Oh, no.

[A]

Now you've just got the throbbing pain as you try to work through your hangover. We are Armstrong and Yeti, and we approve of this program.

[B]

Trying to scrub off the Sharpie mustache you drew on yourself. All right, let's begin the show officially. Now, according to FCC rules and regs, Here we go at mark. Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that OPER operation. I'm not going to. You know, we're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the President would prefer is a deal.

[A]

Yeah, so I've heard some people saying that they. They said Operation Epic Fury, which is the third first thing. Right? That was the one we started bombing the crap out of them at the very beginning is over. So that if they restart, it's a different war and then that whole 60 day timetable thing starts over. I don't even know why they're honoring that. Based on what we had last week from Peter Baker of the New York Times, who said, every president has violated this and there's no teeth to it, so just ignore it if you want.

[B]

So it'll be a sequel. Epic Fury 2, Electric Boogaloo.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it's a different war. So you start counting from 60 days at the, you know, first bomb that drops there.

[B]

Fair enough. Good Lord. God.

[A]

Last night you're four tequila shots in. You got your arm around somebody talking about the. Is there Independence Day? I love them. I love Mexico.

[B]

And you're crying, jeez Louise, I think

[A]

I'm gonna move there. That's.

[B]

Oh, Lord. Do people even consider Mexico as they're getting wasted as a Cinco de Mayo gathering?

[A]

No. No, they absolutely do not. It's not on their mind. So we'll try to keep you updated because things are moving pretty fast, or at least they move pretty fast overnight. And then we got the tons of stuff. Obviously that has nothing to do with the war. Although the war kind of slaps you in the face every time you drive by a gas sign. I'll tell you what, being in California, seeing a number that's in the mid sevens is shocking to the soul.

[B]

Surely they're selling two gallon jugs now and that's the price for that. It's like buying the big the handle of Tanker A. You know. Yes, Michael, I'm trying to drive downhill as much as so I can coast. Just.

[A]

I know I get behind people so I can have them breaking the wind for me.

[B]

Drafting. It's called drafting.

[A]

Okay, we got more headlines on the way and lots of other stuff. Stay here.

[B]

Armstrong and Getty.

[A]

If you're into tech, you'll love this. TikTok is a live lab where users post instant reviews of the latest trends.

[B]

Download Tick Tock and check it out.

[A]

I was so distracted by the breaking news and truth social posts and where things are going as it was unfolding right before the show started that when I Walked into the newsroom, I did not yell kachow today. Which I think is the first time I've forgotten that in, I don't know, a decade. I'm off my game. I walk in every morning, I yell kachow, which, if you had kids at the right era, is what the car in cars is kind of yells when he's right before a race or whatever. Ah, kachow. So I walk in, I yell kachow. Everybody in the newsroom yells kachow back, and we're ready to start our day.

[B]

Wow. It's like.

[A]

It's like our pep talk. And I forgot it today, so I feel bad.

[B]

The war has really hit home.

[A]

Yes, exactly. I forgot my kachow.

[B]

I had no idea this was going on. Oh, really?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. No, no. We all get fired up over that.

[B]

The.

[A]

The headline for the day, the biggest.

[B]

Totally unaware of this. Which explains how unfired up I've been.

[A]

Exactly. Maybe the biggest headline is oil tumbles below $100 on hopes of the US Iran peace deal. That's the Financial Times. Wall Street Journal has oil prices plunge on optimism. Everybody's got a headline like that. So, yeah, oil will go to. So Trump the other day said oil will drop fast when the war is over. I don't know how many have to hate on everything. Pundit said. That's not true. It will not true. The war ending will not cause oil to back. Or it'll happen within a second if there's even a hint that the war has ended. Lying liars.

[B]

A little good faith would be delightful, wouldn't it, from our media? You know, let me tell you this.

[A]

It's just two people in the media. It's just so much easier to just go with your, like, what you think is intellectually the honest truth as opposed to trying to predict what your audience wants. It's just easier. Why wouldn't you just go from an easier standpoint? Well, it's.

[B]

It's. They. They would disagree with you because they've been brought up. Remember how young the media is? A lot of them these days, they've been brought up to think that far left is mainstream. So they're like, hey, we're right in the mainstream here. You know, we're given both sides, the Trotskyite side and the Leninist side.

[A]

Right. I'll be. I'll be perfectly willing to criticize this deal if it turns out it's like a. Just a repeat of Obama's jcpoa. And, you know, it could have just kept that going for all we got out of it. We don't know the details yet. So I have. I have no comment till I've seen the details.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It's funny going through my various newsletters, news newsletters, to gather headlines for you. It's remarkable how different they all are. They all have different emphases, which is not surprising. But a lot of the headlines are about where are we on Project Freedom? Nevermind. Epic fury. Nobody's quite sure. Things are in flux. Continue to be in flux.

[A]

I'll tell you where we are on Project Freedom in three days. Two ships got through.

[B]

Yeah, well, it's, it's, you know, it's. You gotta start slow and then taper off. This is interesting and troubling. The WHO actually suspects that hantavirus is spreading from human to human on the. The ship of the damned.

[A]

Oh, okay. Well, that would explain it, because I heard yesterday, we've been hearing all along that you get hantavirus from rodent droppings. When somebody comes by and would you like some rodent drops on your salad? Say no. Just always say no.

[B]

You know, you should say no, but you're so tempted.

[A]

Anyway, yesterday I heard the news announced that they thought the passengers that died got on the ship with the hantavirus. And then I thought, well, if that's the case, then you really gotta dock and let people off. But if this is the new one that it can spread from person to person. Yeah, that's a different situation.

[B]

Not only that, but one form of it. Because normally it's practically impossible to spread from human to human. Except for the Andes strain is in the Andes Mountains. It's known to spread from human to human and has a fatality rate of, get this, 40%.

[A]

Wow. Now that's a disease.

[B]

Hey, chances are better than 50. 50. You're gonna live.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Let me off this ship, man. You might actually want to dive into the water and see if you could swim to shore. Seeing how far you are, if you get. If there's a disease going around you could catch, it's got a 40% fatality rate. Holy crap. We got a lot more news to get to.

[B]

I hope you can stay here, Armstrong and Getty. Well, guys, some news from Washington. This morning, President Trump signed a proclamation to officially bring the presidential fitness test back to schools. Trump said that the fittest kids will get to come to the White House and help build the ballroom.

[A]

Isn't that nice?

[B]

Trump signed the proclamation in the Oval Office alongside a group of children. Let's see how that went a Republican. I would say that Republicans were not

[A]

too big in the Kennedy family. The Middle east would have been gone. Israel would have been gone.

[B]

Just, just say six, seven and get it all. Come on, be nice.

[A]

A bunch of kids around him was the thing there.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Fallon can do some political humor, but he doesn't. There's not a feeling of hatefulness.

[A]

No, no.

[B]

It's like derision or smugness.

[A]

No, it's the way political humor used to be on shows like that.

[B]

Yeah. Likable bloke.

[A]

Yeah. The presidential fitness test is back. I never got around to going through the. Back in the day when. Because it's going. Kennedy started in the 60s and ended it around 2000. So you have to be of a certain age to have gone through it. But you had to do depending on age and stuff like that, like five to 13 pull ups, which hardly anybody can do.

[B]

Oh yeah, you got arms like pipe cleaners. You're nine years old.

[A]

Even, even really fit people can't. Very few people can do that many pull ups. That's. That's an abnormal amount of pull ups. But anyway, the new standards. I haven't seen the new standards yet. If they, if they made that more reasonable or.

[B]

I think it was probably the military industrial complex was like, we're going to be fighting the commies any day now. We're going to be drafting 15 year olds, so we got to have them fit and ready for combat.

[A]

I know we're going to get a bunch of texts and emails about how many pull ups you can do.

[B]

I'm 87 years old and I do 500 pull ups before breakfast. Don't bother writing. We don't care. You're not informing us. You just like to tell people. There, I saved you the trouble.

[A]

You're an outlier is our point.

[B]

Right, Exactly.

[A]

Fitting in with that. And we'll talk about this later. I saw this piece in Bloomberg. Forget healthspan. Midlife men are facing pressure to extend their hotspan. Men who are in their 50s and 60s feeling the pressure to continue to be hot. Who's putting this pressure on you? Me? I don't know. But anyway, more on that later.

[B]

Yeah, Speaking of which, a new book is out that I'd love to spend a little time on if we can. But it pauses that the world, the online world, is turning girls, Gen Z girls into shopping machines on the one hand, and also products. They see themselves as a product to be marketed online. And the market is in likes and upvotes and followers and the rest of it. And that's one of the things that's adding to the whole anxiety depression thing is girls no longer think of themselves as humans who have relationships and friends and role models and boyfriends or whatever. They view themselves as products.

[A]

I have to read about this stuff as if I'm reading about a distant past or foreign land or something like that because I just, I can't wrap my head around what it must be like. I was not a popular high school kid. I was not like of any cool group whatsoever. And that's a, that's a very unpleasant place to be. I can't imagine what it's like because, you know, you had the popular kids with all the friends who got to do the cool stuff and everybody liked them, everybody laughed at the jokes, blah, blah, blah. You had that crotch. I can't imagine that, like on steroids, to use a worn out phrase. If it's like you go on social media and you see that they've got 3,000 friends and everything they post gets 10,000 likes and stuff like that, and you got like nobody following you, it seems like it would be exponentially worse. I don't know if that's true or not. Well, I'm just guessing.

[B]

Well, and that's, that's. And I realize you're keeping it short, but that's way oversimplified too, because I'll never forget back when we used to take calls. We were talking about a topic that was tangentially related and we got a call from a woman who was like the number one cheerleader, cute girl, homecoming queen. And she talked about crying herself to sleep at night because every day she was terrified that she would lose that status.

[A]

Oh well, I didn't have to worry about that. I guess we're all out of our own pressures. But that's interesting.

[B]

So you've got the adaptive tendency of women to try to build coalitions and be part of the group and accepted because that's just how women tend to function. And then you, you layer the online world over that and it presents something that's psychologically impossible.

[A]

So it's bad for everybody. But having raised daughters, do you feel it's worse? It's, it's more for women than it girls than it is for boys.

[B]

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Much, much, much worse.

[A]

Who's in and who's out. Who's popular?

[B]

Men, if pissed off or offended or whatever, will say, you know, something fu a hole. Whereas women might say something like that, but then they'll think about it. And think about it. And think about it. The criticism. Yeah, I'm thinking, what a jackass.

[A]

I just worked all the time and bought a cool motorcycle. But I didn't really think about it a lot.

[B]

Right, right. So more on that perhaps another time. I wanted to hit a couple of quick AI related headlines that are interesting. The Wall Street Journal was quite a piece today about how there seems to be two groups of CEOs who are incorporating a lot of AI. There are, absolutely. Especially in tech, a lot of CEOs are saying, yep, we're going to lay off 8,000, 10,000, 20,000 people. We're going to lay off 20% of our workforce. And that's, you know, you've seen those headlines. The other kind of CEO is saying, oh, no, no, this, this allows us to do more. We're not going to. We're going to keep the same staff or even add staff. We now have capabilities to grow our ambitions and our reach and blah, blah, blah. And which industry you're in is anybody's guess. Friends, good luck, Godspeed.

[A]

Well, yeah, the big thing we don't know about AI, it's funny, I was rereading Ulysses by James Joyce. So that was set in 1904. And there's a little period in there where Bloom is interior monologue is about some poor guy who lost his job because of an advancement in something. I don't remember what it was, but some new piece of equipment came along. And this guy in 1904 lost his job, but his interior monologue is. But the guy who made that will have to, you know, they'll have to hire somebody to make that thing and fix it. So we'll probably end up with more job jobs. So they've been pushing that line for at least 100 some years that when new technology comes along, it'll actually maybe lead to more jobs or as many. The question is if that's true with AI and that. I think that's an open question.

[B]

Right? And yeah, yeah, the argument is, well, it's always been true every invention. And everybody says what you guys are saying. So AI is going to be just the same.

[A]

Different.

[B]

This is different. Maybe so. So a really kind of amusing note from the world of AI afterward from our friends at Trust and will you need a trust and. Or will if you have assets and my God, if you have children, minor children especially you need a trust and. Or will. And at Trust and will, they will explain to you which is best for you. And it's super easy to do. In short, trust and will offers affordable attorney designed estate plans online that you can create in as little as 30 minutes.

[A]

I have personally known families torn apart over the who gets the money. I have known brothers and sisters who don't speak to each other over should we take dad off life support or not? Because he didn't have that written down. And, and man, I mean, I, I saw them go through it. It's brutal. In as little as 30 minutes, you can create a will that lets you document, document your wishes for guardians for asset distribution to avoid that and healthcare planning too, to avoid that fight.

[B]

Yeah. And just the final note, what was your last interaction with state government? Do you want them to decide who raises your kids? Oh my God. Cheap Trust and Will affordable estate plans Priceless peace of mind. Go to trustandwill.comarmstrong to get 20% off. That's trustandwill.com armstrong do this. You'd be so glad you did. So this is kind of amusing. Writers are going to extremes to prove they didn't use AI. And I'm not in this world. But evidently there's a witch hunty atmosphere in the world of professional writers right now. Scribblers of, you know, newspapers and websites and whatever else. Everybody's accusing everybody else of using AI.

[A]

Well, is that a slam? Why, why couldn't you just say, yeah, that's a faster, easier way to do it and it's great. So what?

[B]

Some are doing that, but there's, as you know, there's a fair amount of pride if somebody's a skilled writer. I mean, I know if I'm reading Matt Taibi or a handful of other guys.

[A]

I guess the question is what kind of your writing you're talking about? I was thinking like writing a business proposal or something. Who cares? It's good, it's good.

[B]

No, no, we're talking about more like news writing and creative writing and that sort of stuff.

[A]

That's definitely a different thing.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. And so these writers, the.

[A]

I wouldn't want to do that myself.

[B]

What's that?

[A]

Use AI and then like have people think I wrote it. I wouldn't want to do that for something that's actual writing.

[B]

No, right.

[A]

I mean, horrible.

[B]

Yeah. But there have been some cases of it people using it to, you know, just speed up the process and I'll put my touches on it. When the computer's done, it'll be mine. Essentially it's, you know, people are sliding. Slippery slope. Anyway. But so these writers are intentionally doing things like, here's this one. 32 year old copywriter in Brooklyn, New York. I'll use aggressively casual language like hey, yo, for real. Or drop a bunch of exclamation points. It feels so icky to do this, but it's what you have to do to sound human. Call it the reverse Turing test. As AI generated writing floods the Internet, many people are trying to detect which writers are using such tools to spin up copy. And so writers penning all their own work are trying to master something they never worried about before, how to sound human. Some are even throwing in typos to prove that they wrote it. And again, I'm not in this world. But this one writer says, it's like the new McCarthyism. It's just crazy. People are demanding proof of something that can't be proven.

[A]

Boy, that's a weird thing though, because at some point, if it is AI and it's good, it's just. Yeah, I don't care that AI did it. I'm firing you though. And now AI is going to do it all.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. But they identify various telltale signs of AI writing. The use of the EM dash, which I never heard. Call that. It's the like the big long dash as opposed to the short dash or two short dashes together. AI uses that and uses heavily. Uses phrases like it's not X, but. Yes. And then what's the other one that I thought was interesting? It always does sets of three things when it's trying to illustrate.

[A]

Right. Yeah, I've had that. There is a repetitiveness to the structure I've noticed with like using AI for therapy or whatever. Yeah, nice job you identified. And it'll give you the three things I identified. It's like, all right, I see your pattern.

[B]

This was kind of funny too. This one writer who uses AI. Well, no, no, he doesn't. He. But he's trying to reign in, making overtly bold statements.

[A]

And I was like, what?

[B]

He says large language models get their content from TED Talk transcripts and Reddit opinions. So it has a self selection bias there. It tends to sound very confident.

[A]

Yes, I wondered about that last night. I had one of those. Maybe I'll talk about it later. It takes a little explaining, but it where AI was just wrong. I was asking it to clarify a thing that I knew something about and it was so wrong. My first response was, I can't believe how wrong you are about this. But then it does the thing it always does. Once I correct, it says, you're right. Nice job. But it's amazing how. And then it quickly Changes the subject to, you know, what we were talking about that ignores the fact that it was completely freaking wrong about something.

[B]

Would you like to know more about poisonous mushrooms, as the meme goes?

[A]

Yes, exactly.

[B]

You know the thing that's exciting, that's weird about AI is it can help you with really complex stuff, but sometimes the most simple thing, it will get wrong.

[A]

I know, I. Yeah. Since they're trotting that out as the face of AI for people, I would think they'd want to fix it. Joe had an email that explained it a week or so ago. But I still think it's. If you're wanting people to believe in your product that it's better than the other guys. And when I asked for the score of the basketball game last night, and you say there was no basketball game last night, I think it damages your product.

[B]

I would think, given how brilliant the people designing these things are and the systems themselves, that they could sense when something is a super time sensitive topic and say, hey, I just update myself on a monthly basis, so I don't

[A]

know what happened yesterday or something, but telling me I'm built, telling me there was not a game last night.

[B]

What? That's that hyper confidence. Yeah, it's like living with a college freshman who comes home on vacation. Conveniently, they know know everything now.

[A]

Well, I've always said it reminds me of my oldest when he was like five and I'd have to talk to him. Look, if you don't know, just say, I don't know. You don't have to make something up. For some reason he thought he had to make up an answer if he didn't know. That's what AI does, you ask it. And if it doesn't know, it'll just make up crap that came in the last chapter of the book. And I said, no, it didn't. I'm looking at it right here. What are you talking about? Oh, you're right, I got that wrong. Anyway. No, you don't get to say anyway, what the hell are you doing?

[B]

Brave new world.

[A]

Yeah, but how often is that going to do that when you don't know that it was wrong? That's the problem. That's what concerns me. Right. We cave, we've got some mailbag on the way. Stay here.

[B]

Armstrong and Getty.

[A]

We haven't talked about the fact that that nut job who started the horrifying Palisades fire was obsessed with the murderer Mangiona. I have to get to that a little bit later. He's a left wing politics of the day guy.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, how interesting. The recently radicalized young man who decides to do something big for his recently acquired beliefs. Yeah, how interesting. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day going back to Dr. Joe and Reno's list from Karl Popper is from something he wrote in 1945 it appears to me madness to base all our political efforts upon the faint hope that we shall be successful in obtaining excellent or even competent rulers. And the idea being no, you've got to design a system where they can't do too much damage. I don't know, have a series of what, what would you call them? Checks and balances? Mailback Drop us a note mailbagarmstrongetty.com Just Steve writes Jack will often solemnly end a segment with a sad shake of the head and a bitter race to the bottom comment. But I wonder what the USA would look like if one side did not engage in the race. If the progressives gave up and became 90s Democrats again, the right would certainly not pile drive non conforming lefties with cancel culture gerrymandering, etc. But if conservatives chose not to resort to tit for tat actions, the progressives would bury each and every one of us without mercy. You know it, I know it, we all know it. Our country would look like the education system or any other major institution where conservatives have either left or were expelled by the socialists and Marxists. I admit it is lamentable, but it is also self preservation.

[A]

You might be right, but the problem is if you adapt to that attitude, it's over. You might as well close up shop and get a king or a dictator if you've decided that, well, we have to do the bad thing because they'll do the bad thing first, it's over.

[B]

No, I disagree. You fight to a stalemate and then you realize you're wasting your time and you creep back towards sanity.

[A]

I'll tell you that the next big test on this whole race to the bottom is if the Senate's take the if the Democrats take the Senate and end the filibuster. That's the next big one. Because the Republicans have held off even though a lot of people have been pushing for it.

[B]

Yeah, I think Steve would disagree with you vehemently. That's the point of his email. It's like the Prisoner's Dilemma, except with knives. And the other prisoner said, oh, 100%, I'm stabbing you, you've got to start stabbing. And it's a horrible situation. But if you don't, they'll win. So that's worse than a still.

[A]

I can't take that attitude. I just. I just have to hope for better out of the other side. Maybe I'm a fool.

[B]

Write your emails to mailbagarmstrongandgetty.com Rob in beautiful Kentucky writes, jack's son needs to forget the new Animal Farm movie and stick with the original film from 1954. You'll be glad you did. Gosh, I, I saw that millennia ago.

[A]

How did they do, how did they do talking pigs in 1954?

[B]

People in pig suits, they, they trained them to talk. We were hard working, innovative people back then.

[A]

Yes, they had more time back then. They had time to teach the animals to speak.

[B]

I don't know. Was it animated? I have no idea. I don't know. Have to look it up. Let's see. That's a little serious. Oh, Mike, the lawyer from Chicago, friend of the show and of mine, really love the One More Thing discussion. Armstrong and Getty One More Thing podcast from yesterday. Grab it. Or if you subscribe to Armstrong and Getty On Demand, it downloads automatically. But it has to do with how the ability to read practically is the cause of abstract thinking in people. And it was a study of illiterate civilizations and their inability to think in an abstract way. And he points out that his favorite chemistry professor really encouraged them to study the arts and music and reading. And he gave some examples of scientific discoveries that came not through the usual means, but came through somebody having a daydream about, for instance, a snake biting its own tail and realized, oh, what if that compound is spherically shaped? And found out it was true. Reading Armstrong and Gettysburg.