Sorry Chum!

Summary

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Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "Sorry Chum!" – January 22, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Armstrong & Getty, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty dive into the imminent advancements in artificial intelligence—most pointedly, the prospect of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and its world-altering implications. With characteristic wit and skepticism, the hosts debate the utopian (and dystopian) promises of AI offered by tech visionaries like Elon Musk, while dissecting the practical, political, and philosophical hurdles such a future presents. The episode also covers news of U.S.-Greenland relations, the latest moves in Gaza, the Oscars, and rising tensions over Taiwan, serving up their trademark blend of sarcasm, concern, and gallows humor.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Path to the Singularity and AGI

• Guest/Tech Expert introduces the idea of the singularity—where computers can program themselves—and claims AGI could be reached as soon as 2026 ([00:58]-[01:16]).
• Elon Musk’s View: Elon predicts a world where AI and robotics create such abundance that basic needs become universally met, suggesting money may become obsolete and universal high income (UHI) is on the table ([01:14]-[03:12]).
• Skepticism from Hosts:
  • Jack Armstrong: "Not even Elon."
  • Joe Getty: Notes tech figures have incentives to hype AI’s imminent breakthroughs.

2. Practical & Political Challenges of a Post-Scarcity World

• Distribution Dilemmas:
  • Jack: "What will be the mechanism for taking that wealth from the very, very few who generate it and distributing it to the rest of us...and why and why? And what if they don’t?" ([04:46]-[05:14])
  • Joe: Wonders why no one discusses the legal/political logistics of distributing future wealth ([05:14]-[05:21]).
• Scarcity of Desirables:
  • Jack: "Even if there’s no scarcity of most goods, there will definitely be a scarcity of penthouses overlooking...the Golden Gate Bridge." ([06:28])
  • Joe: Poses questions about fairness and envy—“There are going to be people that have a nice house with a nice view and you’re tearing down my house...in the name of equality.” ([12:16])

3. Human Motivation, Work, and Purpose in an AGI World

• Matt the Surveyor’s Email: Raises concerns about incentives in a UHI world—Why study or do hard jobs if robots handle it all? ([06:51]-[08:29])
  • Jack: Wonders who would become a doctor without incentive; predicts AI would supervise robots doing all skilled work.
• Dangers of Human Atrophy:
  • Jack: "Imagine humans stop passing on the knowledge...and there is a glitch...We have officially reentered the dark ages." ([08:29]-[09:14])
  • Joe: "How dumb will we get? How fast?" ([09:14])
• Finding Purpose:
  • Jack: "You need a purpose. You need a reason to get up in the morning and do what you do...These super geniuses—what if all of those are supplanted by computers and robots?" ([09:57]-[10:33])

4. The Alignment Problem (AI & Ethics)

• Joe: Critiques that AI experts are preoccupied with technical issues (alignment, hallucinations) but fail to address existential social questions—"They don’t address to me the most fundamental obvious problem of this whole enterprise." ([10:57])

Notable and Memorable Quotes

• On distribution and inequality:
  • Jack: "How long would it take to implement that framework, distribute that money, open those stores, blah, blah, blah...what happens in the interim where people are starving?" ([05:24])
• On AGI’s social implications:
  • Joe: "Explain to me how that’s going to work...Every house and location is not the same. Unless you’re going to tear down every home and dwelling in America and rebuild them all the same size, you’re going to have envy problems." ([11:44])
  • Jack: "It will be the end of humankind as we know it." ([13:27])
• On wisdom in tech:
  • Jack: "Intelligence doesn’t equal wisdom. It’s a good example." ([10:57])
• On optimism and pessimism (quoting Elon):
  • Guest: "It is actually better to err on the side of being an optimist and wrong rather than a pessimist and right." ([23:33])

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Segment Timestamps

• Singularity, AGI, Elon’s Predictions: [00:58]-[03:30]
• Distribution Problems, UHI, Human Incentives: [04:17]-[10:33]
• Societal Breakdown, Loss of Purpose: [09:57]-[13:27]
• Davos Coverage (WEF Critique) & Musk’s Influence: [15:14]-[21:22]
• Global Distribution Problems, Dictatorships & Envy: [21:22]-[23:15]
• Elon’s Optimistic Take: [23:25]-[23:33]
• Listener Reactions, AI Bubble Skeptics: [24:11]-[24:32]

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Other Notable Segments

US-Greenland Treaty & Foreign Relations

• Brit Hume’s analysis of renewed US-Greenland basing rights—likely to diffuse controversy, not shift many practical arrangements ([15:14]-[16:25]).
• Davos & Gaza’s “Wonderland” Proposal: Jared Kushner pitches a masterplan for Gaza’s redevelopment, met with skepticism about enforceability and "catastrophic success" ([17:16]-[18:02]).

Taiwan Under Threat

• Chinese Espionage:
  • Discussion of China’s sophisticated influence and espionage operation in Taiwan—using debt and corruption to recruit informants ([24:36]-[29:19]).
• Political Divisions:
  • Joe: "It’s the fight to the death party versus the lay back and try to enjoy it party." ([27:15])
• Freedom, Rights & Suicidal Tolerance:
  • Jack: "One of the great...questions of running a society like ours is to what extent do we allow our principles to be suicidal." ([29:22])

Oscars & Pop Culture

• Oscars as Barometer:
  • Joe uses Oscar nominations to find new films; notes "Sinners" with its record 16 nominations, blending Southern gothic with horror ([31:06]-[33:03]).
• Critiquing the Oscars:
  • "Has anything fallen faster, harder, than the whole Oscars thing?" ([35:50])
  • Jack: "You told me you hated me 50 times. I left your party and you screamed, where are you going?" ([36:24])

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Notable Quotes

• On AI’s social challenge:

  • Jack Armstrong: "You remove all human striving...and we’ll all be happy. If you say that, the word fool isn’t nearly powerful enough to describe your lack of wisdom." ([13:27])

• On China’s strategy:

  • Jack Armstrong: "I will demand my rights because that is according to your principles. Then when I take power, I will deny you your rights because that is my principle." ([28:40])

• On Oscars' collapse:

  • Joe Getty: "You got up there and lectured us for years, and then finally enough people said, f you. And that’s it." ([36:11])

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Tone and Style

• The hosts regularly mix irreverence and sarcasm with genuine anxiety about the accelerating pace of AI advancements.
• Frequent interplay of skepticism, cynicism, and dark humor about utopian tech promises and world affairs.
• Use of self-deprecating jokes and “dad humor” to keep things light, especially amid dire predictions.

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Summary Takeaways

• Armstrong & Getty express deep skepticism toward the ultra-optimistic predictions of AGI and its supposed ability to solve global problems. They emphasize the unresolved social, political, and philosophical challenges—especially regarding wealth distribution, human motivation, and governance.
• Their discussion underscores the lack of practical answers from tech visionaries about how such a world could be managed or transition periods navigated.
• The hosts also explore the tension between optimism and realism, both mocking and acknowledging the allure of utopian thinking.
• In their world roundup: serious points on international security (Taiwan, China) and cultural commentary (Oscars, movies) round out the episode with their trademark blend of mockery and concern.

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Quick Reference

• AGI implications begin: [00:58]
• Email vs. UHI, socialism analogies: [03:12]
• Society/equality conundrums: [04:17], [11:44], [21:22]
• Oscars pop culture & critique: [31:06], [36:11]
• China-Taiwan segment: [24:36]-[29:19]

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For more discussion or feedback, the hosts direct listeners to armstrongandgetty.com or their mailbag.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Tech Expert/Guest]

The Singularity. You're at the top of the roller coaster and you're about to go. I don't have just have courtside seats. I'm on the court.

[Jack Armstrong]

Exactly.

[Tech Expert/Guest]

And it blows my. And still blows my mind sometimes multiple times a week.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Tech Expert/Guest]

And so just when I think I'm like, wow. And then it's like two days later, more wow. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Exponential wow.

[Tech Expert/Guest]

Yeah. I think we'll hit AGI next year in 26.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

So he said that right at the end of the year. Elon Musk there, if you don't recognize his voice. The singularity being basically in different people have different definitions, but in general that AI can start programming itself. And then things get really crazy really, really fast.

[Tech Expert/Guest]

Things are getting weird, and they're getting weird fast.

[Jack Armstrong]

Not even Elon.

[Joe Getty]

And with the caveat always of these people have funding reasons to keep this perhaps AI bubble going for talking about we're this close to reaching the really critical point. But I mean, he and Altman and lots of other people and then, you know that guy that wrote that book last year that I was talking about, if anyone builds it, everyone dies. I mean, he would do it. Great money.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's one of the best titles. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And he was a proponent of AI for decades going back to like the 70s. He used to be on Phil Donahue. He was so into it. And then we got close enough and he decided, no, this is bad for humanity. We have got the pull the exit cord on this or whatever. Too late, too late.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sorry, chum. So we've gotten a couple of really interesting emails about that discussion yesterday. Thought we'd share at least one for you. I ought to do scan and see if anything. Boy, you know what's interesting is as I scan emails, people quote, unquote, connect, correct us for being wrong. And they're completely wrong with their correction. Anyway. Okay, correct away. Let's See, So it's Matt, the land surveyor, who I got the pleasure to know a little bit personally. And when I grow up, I want to be like Matt. Anyway, he says yesterday during the first segment of the show, you're discussing what Elon Musk said about AGI and uhi, which is universal high income, basic income.

[Joe Getty]

We're going to have so much that he doesn't even understand why money will be a thing anymore. Everybody will have housing, energy, health care, food. All the things you need is merchant payment. Yeah. Entertainment, pleasures of the flesh.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you just go down to the grocery store, fill up your cart, and walk out again. Of course, that happens in, like, you know, big cities anyway, but this will be on the up and up. You go down to the. Well, I'm not sure why you would go to the Home Depot. Because a robot will fix your garden shed. Yeah, but just, you know, I'll go down to the golf store and get a new driver just to try it out. And if I don't like it, I'll throw it in the woods. I hit this one sideways, too. This is a bad club. Anyway, golfers get that joke Anyway, so, anyway, moving along. Elon said that we will all have free health care. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't finish Matt's initial thought. We're talking about AGI, uhi, and of course, the old Rob. The river of blood.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, that's what. That's. That's what we expect.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's what I'm predicting. Actually, the reason I predicted a river of blood was. And Matt doesn't really get into this, but as a. As a guy schooled a little bit in political science, my question is.

[Joe Getty]

After.

[Jack Armstrong]

Money is made irrelevant and there's everything for everybody, as much as you want.

[Joe Getty]

Because our gross domestic product has tenfold increased.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. And we're just.

[Joe Getty]

We're already the wealthiest nation. We're just so incredibly wealthy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. What will be the mechanism for taking that wealth from the very, very few who generate it and distributing it to the rest of us who will do it under what legal framework and why and why? And what if they don't?

[Joe Getty]

Right. And I take in so much AI stuff, and I've never heard anybody address.

[Jack Armstrong]

That which astounds me.

[Joe Getty]

It's the first question I have.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, you've got to ignore all of human history and all of human nature to miss that question, which I think frequently the tech guys do. And even if you were to come up with the perfect system, the perfect answers to those questions, how long would it take to implement that framework, distribute that money, open those stores, blah, blah, blah. And I know the robots and the computers would be in charge of it, I guess in this scenario. But what happens in the interim where people are starving, desperate or. I don't know. Anyway, moving along back to Mac, I mean, just, just.

[Joe Getty]

I could really get bogged down in this, but. So when you're distributing the money, you're going to give more to people in San Francisco than in Oxford, Mississippi, just because it requires more to have the same lifestyle. You know, the whole being poor in one place is different. Another place in the amount of money wouldn't you have to.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and even. And why would you put up with.

[Joe Getty]

That in some other types of out.

[Jack Armstrong]

Even if there's no scarcity of most goods, there will definitely be a scarcity of penthouses overlooking in your scenario, the Golden Gate Bridge.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Or in climates, you know, great climates versus crappy climates or all kinds of different things.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or an aspen or on the beach or whatever. Yeah. And so who gets those? Who decides? Might take a minute to work that out.

[Joe Getty]

I would say.

[Jack Armstrong]

Moving along. Elon said that we will all have free healthcare. But if AGI is providing mankind with all of its wants and needs so much now that money is obsolete, who is going to study for years to become a doctor? Better yet, why would that individual want the headache of dealing with the public if they have no financial incentive? It's one of the issues I have always had with socialism, Communism. If everyone is given the same amount of money, who's going to do the hard or dirty job? Why would anyone work at the sewage treatment plant if you can make the same amount? As a poet quote unquote, they wouldn't. Therefore, whatever government entity is in charge will have to force some people to do jobs they don't want to do for no extra compensation. And freedom is dead.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know that example where I don't. I'm trying to come up with a dirty job example that I couldn't do because clearly I will run the sewage plant.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Robots and computers and everything.

[Jack Armstrong]

How about the doctoring?

[Joe Getty]

The doctoring one. I have no answer for why you'd go to medical school for 10 years. Just because I want to help people out. I mean, you're kind of getting into socialism there where you're just assuming that everybody's gonna go out and do the best for mankind for. With no incentive other than I'm a good person.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think the answer is the AI will supervise the meta Robots that are incapable of making mistakes. Hold still. Hold right exactly. Now, are you thrashing?

[Joe Getty]

That hurts. I think you're doing it wrong.

[Jack Armstrong]

And this unit. Zap.

[Joe Getty]

And this unit. Oh, my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

Zap. Oh, yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Mm.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now, I know that Elon would say AGI will provide the healthcare and run the sewage treatment plant. I'm guessing he is envisioning robots that are built and programmed by AGI that will do every job for us. But if you want a good sci fi dystopian future, imagine humans stop passing on the knowledge they've gained to the next generations because, quote, AI does a better job than any human ever could. A hundred years goes by. It wouldn't take nearly that long.

[Joe Getty]

One generation.

[Jack Armstrong]

We'll go with Matt's scenario. 100 years go by and humans have stopped using their brains to think critically. And there is a glitch, some computer bug that shuts AI down. No one is skilled at anything. We have officially re entered the dark ages. AI won't need to come for our vital juices because it is a machine. It will eventually fail and people will be back to killing each other with sticks.

[Joe Getty]

How dumb will we get? How fast?

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, it's hard for me, for myself. Very, very dumb. And blind drunk.

[Joe Getty]

So fat.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I have trouble motivating my oldest kid, particularly right now in high school, and why it's important to try. What's my argument gonna be so you can get out there and earn exactly what everybody else does, who does try? So finish your math homework.

[Jack Armstrong]

You want to end up a failed poet who makes the same amount as you as a skilled neurosurgeon, do you?

[Joe Getty]

I mean, it would really be pretty hard to make the argument of why you gotta learn anything, really. Seriously, I don't know what the argument would be.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then you get into the thumbing your nose at the principles of every great religion, philosophy, and study of human beings and happiness that have ever existed. You need a purpose. You need a reason to get up in the morning and do what you do do. And those reasons can. Can vary from I want to come up with art that inspires people's souls to I want to help the poor kids to I want to make more money than any salesman ever has, or a hundred other examples, thousand other examples. These super geniuses. What if all of those are supplanted by the GD computers and the robots?

[Joe Getty]

The robots, the super geniuses are constantly having conversations, writing books, podcasts, all about the alignment problem and hallucinations and all these different things and I just, I'm telling you, I haven't come across. If you have a book or podcast where they have addressed this issue, let me know about it. I'd love. They don't address to me the most fundamental obvious problem of this whole enterprise.

[Jack Armstrong]

This, you know, I'm always going on with about how intelligence doesn't equal wisdom. It's a good example. Back to you.

[Joe Getty]

God, I would think if you're trying to create a world in where you're going to become a trillionaire, you'd want to look into this perhaps, you know, wrench in your plans.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, if you're among the few who become ultra unimaginable wealthy like you would flip MBS in Saudi Arabia a buck just to get through the week, you're so freaking rich. None of this matters to you, I think. Or you're just. You're so unwise, you don't even see it. I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

You know, more I think about the. And Elon talks about this in very positive terms, about the, you know, the high level of wealth that we're all going to have. You don't even need money because of the anyways mentions health care, food, shelter alone. Explain to me how that's going to work. Every house and location is not the same. Unless you're going to tear down every home and dwelling in America and rebuild them all the same size, you're going to have envy problems. There are going to be people that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Have a nice house with a nice view and you're tearing down my house and putting me in the government projects in the name of equality. Excuse me, where do I complain?

[Joe Getty]

Okay, so you don't do that. You don't tear them all down. The people that have the nicer places now, they get free food and medical care and everything like that. But I was in a crappy place and my family is just stuck in this for forever. Generations of my family will live in a house this size. Generations. Your family will live in a house of that size or because you live in San Francisco, you'll get, you know, that lifestyle or la. You get that weather if you're Minnesota. I mean, I don't understand how anybody works.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or the construction bots will build a mansion for everyone.

[Joe Getty]

Nobody can move. What if you would decide you want to move from Minnesota? L. A? What house do you get? What house do you. Do you buy a house? Are the houses provided?

[Jack Armstrong]

Ask a robot. Build me a house.

[Joe Getty]

I don't.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

I'm like, I don't even have the slightest start to answering that question, the whole housing thing, on how that would be equal and nobody would. You're going to have a revolution in the streets if people can't become mobile. But some people have more than others.

[Jack Armstrong]

It will be the end of humankind as we know it. Maybe not literally certain humans will survive and probably craft a new reality. But you know, I'm always making jokes about the planet of the beavers or more likely the insects or something, but I can picture it happening. You remove the difference between what people have, what they are, what they would like to know, I mean, where they are and where they would like to be. You remove that all human striving, financial, intellectual, romantic, presumably, you remove all of that and we'll all be happy. If you say that the word fool isn't nearly powerful enough to describe your lack of wisdom.

[Joe Getty]

No, it's not. And they kind of yada yada yada, that whole problem.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

And it could be happening according to Elon, like next year.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, goody.

[Joe Getty]

Down this road lies madness. I agree. Any thoughts on this text line 415295 KFTC Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

Egg lands best Mejor Sabor Mejor nutricion.

[Jack Armstrong]

Mejor es huevos.

[Brit Hume]

We have extensive basing rights in Greenland under a Treaty reached in 1951 through NATO that allowed us to have a lot of bases in Greenland and we did have a lot of bases in Greenland. They were all, all but one were taken down. So the practical differences are a little unclear to me, but it might be enough to get out of this. This controversy.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's what I thought was interesting about that. Brit Hume, senior political analyst from Fox, saying this deal on Greenland that President Trump is, says there's a framework. We'll get the details later. But we got most of what we want and it's a permanent deal and everything. I think Brit Hume is right. It's a way out of the controversy is a lot of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, 100%.

[Joe Getty]

And even if it's, even if we get the deal, as John Bolton, his former national Security advisor, said yesterday, it's basically like the treaty we had in 1951, which is what Brit Hume was referencing there. So. Which is fine. This is fine. The ending is fine. The ending is great. It's good. For America, it's just. Did we have to go through all that to get to where we got? I don't know that we did.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I would suggest we absolutely didn't. And I'm guessing Trump's advisors, allies, and like all the Euros he actually respected, said, you're going to lose 500 times more than you're gaining if you don't ease up and ease up.

[Joe Getty]

So a lot going on in Davos with all the world leaders there. And this morning, Trump and his son in law, Jared Kushner and a number of other people gave a little speech about the Board of Peace or Ministry of Peace or whatever the heck they're calling it to. Among other things, it's going to solve world conflicts. It looks like it's an alternate UN to me, which might be a good idea. All.

[Jack Armstrong]

The current one sucks.

[Joe Getty]

The current one sucks, yes. And is corrupt and all kinds of different problems. But this is. They're going to run Gaza and they're going to make it into a wonderland. And here's Jared Kushner explaining it.

[Jared Kushner]

So we did a master plan. We brought in. I thank you, Kirkabay, who's one of the most successful real estate developers and brilliant people I know. He's volunteered to do this. Not for profit, really, because of his heart. He wants to do this. And we've developed ways to redevelop Gaza. Gaza, as President Trump's been saying, has amazing potential. And this is for the people of Gaza. We've developed it into zones. In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying, let's build a free zone. And then we have a Hamas zone. And then we said, you know what, let's just plan for catastrophic success. We, Hamas, signed a deal demilitarized. That is what we are going to enforce. People ask us what our plan B is. We do not have a plan B. We have a plan. We signed an agreement. We are all committed to making that agreement work. There's a master plan. We'll be doing it in phasing. In the Middle east, they build cities like this in 2, 3 million people. They build this in three years. And so stuff like this is very doable.

[Joe Getty]

And he went on to say there'd be 100% employment right off the bat for the people of Gaza who've been needing that. They're already moving the rubble out of there. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is not a but it's an and. And how's the enforcement of the disarmament going to proceed? I'm not being a cynic. About it, because something's got to be done and they're trying to do something, but, you know, that's. That's obviously a hurdle to be jumped over.

[Joe Getty]

It could become one of the great vacation spots in the world. It actually could be, sure, if things broke right, but that ain't gonna be easy. Anyway, a lot more on the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

A video has gone viral of a spooked carriage horse in New York City running directly down 6th Avenue into traffic. What spooked the horse? Socialism.

[Jack Armstrong]

What?

[Joe Getty]

We were just talking about AI and Elon Musk, and I don't want to kill you with this, but Elon just said something interesting at Davos. He showed up in Davos today at the end of the conference and criticized the World Economic Forum that's been going on every year for quite some time, saying it's increasingly becoming an unelected world government that people never asked for and don't want. Which is interesting given the criticisms of him and others like him. For instance, the fact that he was able to get involved in the war in Ukraine and in Iran recently by dropping his Starlink thing. That, like, one guy has the power to decide to do this or not do this is really pretty amazing. But so that's that. And then when you get into, I'm.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sorry, he's such a compliment, complicated guy because he has that standing up for the common people. We don't appreciate you elites, you know, telling us how to live and blah blah, blah, when financially he's one of the elites of the elites, but he's different.

[Joe Getty]

Of all time, he's worth $700 billion and his particular line of work is maybe gonna alter the human race. So yeah, it is kind of interesting that these unelected people coming here and telling you how to live anyway.

[Jack Armstrong]

Blah, blah, blah.

[Joe Getty]

Let me skip down to ask about the goals of his companies, SpaceX, Tesla, which is now mostly robots and everything like that. Elon said that Tesla's mission includes sustainable abundance through the development of robotics. Tesla is currently developing all these different robots. With robotics and AI, there is really a path to abundance for all. People often talk about solving global poverty. How do we give everyone a very high standard of living? The only way to do that is AI and robotics. So that gets to the. Everybody in the world, not just the United States, is going to have a high standard of living. My prediction is that soon there'll be more robots than people. So it's even more complicated than what the fanciful this or that or hypotheticals we're talking about in the United States. If you're going to go with a global high standard of living, still going to be people in God forsaken parts of the world and people in cool parts of the world and envy doesn't go away. And I just, I don't, I don't understand how. Anyway, we, we talked.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm trying to play this, I'm trying to play this out to, you know, the nth degree. All right, so I live in an s hole country, but we have now never ending unlimited wealth armies.

[Joe Getty]

Not if you're run by a dictator. He's gonna keep it all. How are you going to what? Elon going to have an army go in there and distribute all the food and the medicine and everything to make sure they all get it? I mean, see, that's what Hamas did with Gaza.

[Jack Armstrong]

The people at the top are going to keep it all.

[Joe Getty]

There's no stopping that. How could he? I don't even know what he's talking about.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, like you, I've been digging into Iran past and present, and the Islamic fundamentalists are not that way because they really want a bigger color tv. They're not going to go away because Elon and his robots, which sounds like, you know, a doo wop group or something, are going to, you know, distribute fine consumer goods. They're gonna blow up the robots and the AI centers and everything in the name of Allah. And you know, frankly, I'm not in favor of blowing up anything in the name of Allah, but I could definitely see people saying this is not good for the human soul. It's not good for humans in general. I'm against it and I'm gonna do what I can to keep it out.

[Joe Getty]

Or just this is going to empower the populace and they're going to rise up against us and we like being in charge.

[Jack Armstrong]

But so how does. Excellent. Because that's a different challenge. How do Elon and the robots tonight at the Apollo Theater, how do they respond? They send a robot army in. Right, and kill their idea of who the evildoers are.

[Joe Getty]

Elon on his own?

[Jack Armstrong]

No, his army of robots.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I know, but he makes that decision. So Elon's now got an army that sends around the world.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, exactly. So you have the ultra powerful deciding who should die and who should live and enforcing that at the point of a robotic gun.

[Joe Getty]

And he's in Davos saying this sucks because we shouldn't have a unelected government deciding things for other people. I guess Elon has a response here.

[Tech Expert/Guest]

Well, I think generally, I think my last words would be I would encourage everyone to be optimistic and excited about the future.

[Brit Hume]

Good.

[Tech Expert/Guest]

And generally, I think for quality of life, it is actually better to err on the side of being an optimist and wrong rather than a pessimist and right.

[Joe Getty]

On that note, and just one more thing. Is there anybody here that would like me to impregnate them? I'd like to knock out a quick kid before I get out of the country. I got about 10 minutes before I.

[Jack Armstrong]

Catch my g. Whatever the heck Jet. Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, man.

[Joe Getty]

We are gonna live through our. Living through one of the most interesting times in human history.

[Tech Expert/Guest]

Things are getting weird and they're getting weird fast.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that, that was back in the slow getting weird days. This is like super accelerated. Got a great note from a friend of the show who's in tech and says, guys, relax, it's a bubble. Won't happen. Maybe we can touch on that tomorrow when we have a little more time.

[Joe Getty]

That there just won't be AGI. It'll never get there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, essentially, yeah. They're all raising money.

[Joe Getty]

I hope he's right. I want that to be right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, me too. Yeah. Anyway, so on a completely different topic, I. I found this troubling and interesting on several different levels. China, as you might imagine, is employing. You know how we're always talking about how they've got a whole of society campaign to bring down the United States. Well, God knows they've got a whole of society campaign to take over Taiwan. I mean, that's like their global ambitions distilled down into what's step number one. And that includes espionage and President Xi's personal desire. True, Right. But they are. Are working like crazy to undermine Taiwan, especially the Taiwanese military. And one of the interesting aspects of this, before we get into like the big picture, is they. They start this article in the Journal about a specific military police battalion guy who got undermined. It's because he was in debt and short of cash. He's searching online for a loan to keep himself afloat. The Chinese agents say, we got a live one. Hook them up with an opportunity for easy money. Just snap a couple of photos of sensitive security details with your cell phone and your bills are paid. And then of course, once they sink the hook into you, you're doomed. They ask more and more, but Taiwanese officials fear that agents already placed on the island would aid a military attack by China, which is obviously threatened to seize it by force. China's spying operations are rapidly advancing using complex operations and along with the old school stuff that together, quote, pose a potential serious threat to our national security. Had a couple of high profile arrests. You had a retired lieutenant general given seven and a half years for accepting Chinese funds to establish an armed organization in Taiwan that would target military bases.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. Well, did you read that article the other day about the problems they're having in their government? There's a growing faction between the two parties in Taiwan of a party that's like, we know we need to, we need to be closer to China and work more with China. And you're over, you're overreacted to this whole China taking us over thing. And then the other party is hardcore. We need to build up our defenses. We need to spend more money than we've ever spent to ready to be go to war with China. I mean, that's a very different view of how to handle things. That's not a, a minor political dispute.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, it's the pardon me, but the fight to the death party versus the lay back and try to enjoy it party. Oh, yeah, I know, I know. I look at Taiwan, I'm sorry. I look at Hong Kong and think, what are you thinking?

[Joe Getty]

I would vote happily. I think fight to the death party, but the lay back and enjoy it party may be right, that it's going to happen no matter what. So what are we even talking about?

[Jack Armstrong]

Or will it? My wishes are the father of my thoughts here. I hope, I really, really hope it doesn't. I'm hoping China's economic and demographic problems because that sort of thing can go in two different directions. Number one, it empowers you to do adventurous stuff because you've got to rally the people behind something or other. Sometimes it does that. Sometimes it makes you think, oh, we don't have the time or the money for that. We need to take care of things closer to home.

[Joe Getty]

Who knows?

[Jack Armstrong]

I hope it's that one. But you know, again, it's wishful.

[Joe Getty]

The reason the stakes are so important, in case you don't know this, is if, if China takes Taiwan, the seas will no longer be open and free like they've been since the end of World War II. Dominated by us keeping them open, China will control at least a quarter of shipping in the world and there'll be no stopping that. That'll be a completely different situation.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Yeah. And final note on this, I'm reminded of one of my favorite sayings that I've heard in this chunk of my life. And it was used to describe I think it was fundamentalist Islam. But I will demand my rights because that is according to your principles. Then when I take power, I will deny you your rights because that is my principle. China is exploiting the openness of Taiwan, the freedom, diversity, openness, free press, et cetera, to recruit gangs, the media commentators, political parties, and even active duty and retired members of the armed forces. And then the minute they, they get power, they'll crush that sort of freedom.

[Joe Getty]

China is assholes. That's right, they are.

[Jack Armstrong]

Summary. Yeah. So one of the great and interesting, you know, philosophical questions of running a society like ours is to what extent do we allow our principles to be suicidal. Tolerance. What's the great saying, you know, tolerating being tolerant until you're killed. That's the essence of the thought that I mean suicidal levels of tolerance.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, but abandoning those principles is the great way to get people to give you power in the history of doing that sort of thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's all a balancing act, Jack.

[Joe Getty]

So you got about a 2000 mile wide giant winter storm that's about to hit like two thirds of the country.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is correct, sir.

[Joe Getty]

I know for where my brother lives, it's supposed to be minus three on.

[Jack Armstrong]

Monday and entire states covered with ice with all the power lines cascading to the ground.

[Joe Getty]

Major airlines are already issuing travel waivers because they're canceling flights just in anticipation. It's, I'm glad I'm not traveling anywhere this weekend because it's. Well, you ain't gonna travel this weekend if you got plans. It ain't gonna happen. You might want to look into it. I'll be safe and comfortable in California where the weather's fine and I'm hounded by drug addict homeless people.

[Jack Armstrong]

There you go, There you go. Home sweet home.

[Joe Getty]

We'll finish strong. You laugh, I laugh. HE laughs. Sparkle Barbie. We'll finish strong.

[Jack Armstrong]

Next, Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

So Oscar nominations came out today and I use all these award shows as a way to know what albums are popular, movies are popular, whatever, and then I usually check them out and sometimes I like them and sometimes I don't. But today they announced this movie. Sinners got 16 nominations, the most in Oscar history. And if that happens, I think, well, I gotta at least check this movie out if it's gotten the most nominations in the history of the Oscars. So let me read a little recap here of what it is, which sounds pretty damned interesting. I just, I saw some clips up on TV today and it looks like a great period piece. I love, I love A period piece. The period being the Mississippi Delta in the early 30s. Sinners is a super nat. It's a vampire movie. Sinners is a supernatural horror film written, produced and directed by Ryan Coogler starring Michael B. Jordan in dual roles. He plays twins. So he plays both twins, Elijah Smoke More and Elias Stackmore. They're Both World War I veterans and former Chicago mob associates who returned to their hometown of Clocks, Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1932 during the Jim Crow era. The plot follows the brothers as they use money from their criminal past to buy an abandoned sawmill from a local landowner and convert it into a juke joint, a safe place for the black community where they all enjoy blues music and escape the dangers of the time. Their fresh start and lively opening night celebration are disrupted by a greater evil, vampires that invade, turning the night into a bloody siege. The film blends elements of period drama, Southern gothic, redemption, revenge, horror, family legacy broken in a single 24 hour period. Yeah, I'll check it out hopefully this weekend and see what I think of it. I love movies that are placed. I love any TV show or movie that's placed over a one day period. I've always liked that as a, as a starting point. But it's a single 24 hours fighting vampires from a blues juke joint in the South. So there you go.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. The rep on the conservative side is the vampires are a not even disguised metaphor for systemic racism and all the bad people are white people.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe that's true, maybe it's not. I have many, many times disagreed with those takes when I watch movies. I think some of you don't grasp the concept of sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. If Mississippi Burning, one of my favorite movies of all time came out today, would it being being portrayed of white people in the south being racist because it portrayed white people in the south who were racist at the time as being racist.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think you're over correcting. But that's just my opinion.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I know is I can watch a movie and I think I didn't get that at all from it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Many, many. Okay, that's fine.

[Joe Getty]

And how do you have. And what makes a person judge a movie before they've even seen it?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I don't know. Otherwise you'd have to watch every movie in the world.

[Tech Expert/Guest]

Well.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or everyone that seemed interested. True that.

[Joe Getty]

But surely you've had the experience of somebody saying this album is great or horrible and then you experience and think no, oh yeah, I don't agree with that at all.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah. In fact I'VE called for lining critics up against the wall.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna try to work it into my weekend.

[Jack Armstrong]

Feel free. Let us know. Breaking again. And I stand by. Judging by what I've read, there's no way it's what you're suggesting. But I love the period piece aspect of it and the juke joint and all that. That sounds great. And a guitar player making a deal with the devil.

[Joe Getty]

A classic. My biggest problem is not going to be how they handle racism. It's going to be, I don't like vampire movies and stuff like that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that's one objection. But it Congratulations on breaking the record of nominations of the transgender cartel boss movie. Last year that set the record that.

[Joe Getty]

Was tied with Titanic. So I'd rather credit Titanic for holding that record than whatever that movie was.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's final thoughts, boys. That'll do, boys. Soon we'll hear your comments, entertain us, give us closure for the show is nearly done.

[Joe Getty]

That's some of the music they're playing at the juke joint there. Before the vampires came.

[Jack Armstrong]

Beautiful harmonies.

[Joe Getty]

Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Gettysburg.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew to wrap up the day. There he is, Michelangelo pressing the buttons. Michael, what's your final thought?

[Joe Getty]

You know, one of the interesting things about the Oscars is starting in 2029, it goes to YouTube only. So just a few more years on broadcast TV and then has anything.

[Jack Armstrong]

Shoot, then I'll have to not watch it on YouTube.

[Joe Getty]

Has anything fallen faster, harder than the whole Oscars thing? Yeah, I don't think so.

[Jack Armstrong]

Katie Greener, esteemed newswoman, has a final thought.

[Joe Getty]

Katie, I almost had a friendship end because this woman would invite me to her Oscars party. And every time I just said I just. I don't care. Yeah, not coming. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Jack, final thought.

[Joe Getty]

The interesting thing on that is how well earned it is. The fall of the Oscars. Y' all earned it. You got up there and lectured us for years, and then finally enough people said, f you. And that's it.

[Jack Armstrong]

You told me you hated me 50 times. I left your party and you screamed, where are you going?

[Joe Getty]

That is exactly right. That is the perfect definition of what happened.

[Jack Armstrong]

My final thought is from the article we were discussing about the Mississippi turnaround of its schools. Here's the quote. The answer to America's core educational challenge is in Hattiesburg, not Harvard.

[Joe Getty]

That's a good one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Look at what works. Quit asking PhDs to reinvent a perfectly functioning wheel.

[Joe Getty]

Small town Southerners can't possibly come up with a good idea that's not returned.

[Jack Armstrong]

To a good idea. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Jack Armstrong]

So many people. Thanks a little time. Go to armstrongandgetti.com let us know what you think. [e-mail] is our email address. Weigh in, keep it brief ish if you can.

[Joe Getty]

We'll see you tomorrow. God bless you America.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

But in case you missed it, something important that you should without us right now you'd all be speaking German and a little Japanese perhaps. You get it? You understand? Wasn't for us he'd be speaking German. So you get in line and you don't.

[Jack Armstrong]

I say you got a picture of the Germans sitting there thinking yeah we are speaking.

[Joe Getty]

Is that bad by not supposed to be speaking German.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a nice language. Armstrong and Gettysburg. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.