It Could Happen Here Weekly 164

Summary

Behind the Bastards: It Could Happen Here Weekly 164 - Detailed Summary

Release Date: January 11, 2025

Hosts: Garrison Davis, Sophie Lichterman, James Stout, Robert Evans, Mia Wong, and Jason Alexander

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1. Introduction to the Episode

The episode begins with a brief introduction where Robert Evans announces that this is a compilation episode of "It Could Happen Here," consolidating the week's episodes into one long-form discussion with fewer advertisements. The hosts express that regular listeners may find little new content, but newcomers will benefit from the comprehensive overview.

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2. Wildfires in Los Angeles and Mutual Aid Efforts [00:55 - 02:08]

James Stout shares alarming updates about recent wildfires sweeping through Los Angeles:

• Impact: Thousands displaced, five fatalities confirmed, extensive property damage.
• Call to Action: Introduction of mutual aid groups needing donations.
• Suggested Donations:
  • The Sidewalk Project (Sidewalk Project.org)
  • K TownForAll (ktownforall.org)
  • Aetna Street Solidarity (Available on Venmo and Instagram)

Robert Evans emphasizes the urgency of supporting these groups and previews an upcoming interview with one of them.

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3. Freelance Journalism and Activism [04:31 - 07:12]

Listeners pose questions about pursuing freelance journalism while actively fighting for equality.

• Robert Evans advises selecting a narrow, passionate focus area to build expertise and credibility, citing Dave Futrell’s coverage of the manosphere as an example ([06:21 - 06:57]).

• James Stout recommends joining the IWW Freelance Journalists Union for networking, learning about pitch strategies, and avoiding toxic editors. He also suggests attending community college workshops for practical journalism skills ([07:12 - 07:32]).

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4. Predictions for the Trump Administration's Early Days [07:33 - 10:49]

The hosts discuss anticipated actions of a potential Trump administration:

• Robert Evans expects aggressive immigration policies, including attempts to deport millions, though practical limitations may hinder the extent ([07:58 - 08:32]).

• Mia Wong anticipates swift implementation of tariffs, urging listeners to purchase electronics promptly to avoid future price hikes ([08:32 - 09:04]).

• James Stout predicts further restrictions on asylum and potential mobilization of public health laws against migrants, referencing actions similar to those in 2020 ([09:07 - 09:31]).

• Robert Evans speculates on possible legal actions against the press, including changes to libel laws, reflecting the administration’s focus on litigation ([10:20 - 10:49]).

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5. Upcoming Subscription Services and Technical Challenges [10:49 - 12:16]

Garrison Davis updates listeners on the forthcoming ad-free Android subscription channel, apologizing for delays caused by bureaucratic and legal obstacles. He assures that the service will launch in early 2025 and commends the hard work of team members, particularly Sophie and Mia, in overcoming challenges ([10:49 - 12:16]).

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6. Motivation Behind the Hosts' Work [12:16 - 18:35]

The hosts share personal motivations for their work:

• Sophie Lichterman emphasizes paying rent, maintaining discipline through routines, and dedicating herself to focused projects that often consume her personal life ([13:24 - 15:53]).

• Mia Wong attributes her motivation to anger over societal issues and joy from engaging in meaningful projects, alongside the desire to make a tangible difference ([15:02 - 16:37]).

• Robert Evans highlights a passion for journalism fueled by deep anger and the fulfilling nature of investigative work, particularly in exposing mass shooters and societal threats ([14:17 - 17:36]).

• James Stout finds joy in storytelling, feeling privileged to hear and convey others' traumas, and witnessing listeners take meaningful action inspired by the podcast ([16:21 - 17:36]).

• Garrison Davis combines genuine care for the podcast's content with the responsibility of impacting numerous lives positively, driving him to continue despite challenges ([17:36 - 18:35]).

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7. Favorite Episodes and Highlights of the Year [18:35 - 21:22]

The hosts reflect on their favorite episodes produced over the year:

• Garrison Davis praises James's series on the Darien Gap and Robert's survival of the RNC and DNC events, alongside Mia's impactful labor stories and Robert's "Don't Panic" episode ([18:43 - 20:04]).

• Mia Wong highlights interviews with Dr. Julia Serrano from "Whipping Girl" and successful organizing efforts that connected personal hobbies with activism ([20:04 - 21:22]).

• James Stout expresses pride in the Darien Gap series and the positive reactions from listeners who shared the episodes with family, fostering understanding and compassion ([21:22 - 22:24]).

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8. Discussion on the Proposed 2028 General Strike [24:04 - 27:15]

The hosts debate the feasibility and implications of a proposed general strike in 2028:

• Mia Wong is cautiously optimistic, recognizing organizational challenges but valuing the opportunity to unite labor and support networks ([24:14 - 25:06]).

• Sophie Lichterman stresses the importance of beginning logistical planning immediately to prevent preemptive criminalization by authorities ([25:08 - 25:13]).

• Robert Evans acknowledges the ambitious nature of the strike, debating potential Republican and Democratic responses, and underscores the need for serious, well-planned activism to avoid frivolous attempts that undermine the movement’s effectiveness ([25:13 - 27:15]).

• James Stout supports the general strike but emphasizes the necessity for thorough preparation and a clear purpose to inspire genuine participation ([26:07 - 26:33]).

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9. Book and Movie Recommendations for 2025 [27:15 - 31:39]

The hosts recommend various books and movies:

• James Stout recommends "Presente" by an unnamed author, detailing the San Francisco dock workers' blockade against weapon shipments, and "Setting the Desert on Fire" by James Barr on T.E. Lawrence ([27:36 - 28:28]).

• Mia Wong suggests "The Gun Runner and Her Hound" by Maria Ying and the forthcoming "One of the Boys" by Victoria Zeller, which explores a trans girl's experience in football ([28:28 - 29:49]).

• Sophie Lichterman praises "Steppenwolf" by Hermann Hesse and Luca Guadagino's "Queer Adapting the Short Story by William S. Burroughs," appreciating the latter's exploration of identity and meaning ([29:49 - 31:39]).

• Garrison Davis recommends "The Wicker Man" (1973) for its classic status and unique viewing experience, especially in theaters ([31:39 - 31:43]).

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10. Predictions for Dictators and Global Events [34:28 - 58:39]

The hosts engage in a speculative discussion about future dictatorships and global events:

• Mia Wong predicts the continued rule of Myanmar's junta beyond 2025 and the potential assassination of Bashar al-Assad by extremist factions ([38:52 - 39:25]).

• Sophie Lichterman humorously envisions Assad transitioning to a media host role, reflecting cynicism about his leadership's future ([39:13 - 39:41]).

• Robert Evans hopes for the fall of political figures like Boris Johnson and suspects internal political struggles will lead to significant changes ([40:02 - 40:14]).

• Sophie Lichterman suggests that there won't be a "left wing Joe Rogan," reflecting concerns about media and cultural shifts ([39:57 - 40:44]).

• James Stout anticipates ongoing border tensions and potential clashes between National Guard and federal forces, drawing parallels to past events like Portland 2020 ([52:30 - 56:58]).

• Robert Evans emphasizes the necessity for substantial changes in organizing and social conditions to facilitate effective activism, warning against superficial or unserious efforts ([56:53 - 58:39]).

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11. Spotify Wrapped Death Predictions [40:58 - 58:39]

In a lighter segment, the hosts humorously forecast fictional deaths tied to Spotify Wrapped Day:

• Sophie Lichterman and Robert Evans mockingly predict unlikely deaths of celebrities and public figures, attributing them to absurd scenarios like AI-induced stress or violence.

• James Stout and Mia Wong join in with exaggerated and fictionalized outcomes for personalities like Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling, blending satire with dark humor ([40:58 - 58:39]).

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12. Attention to AI and Technology at CES [59:06 - 107:00]

The hosts provide a critical overview of their experiences at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES):

• Robert Evans expresses frustration with the prevalence of poorly generated AI content, highlighting panels focused on generative AI's role in Hollywood and its shortcomings in creativity and consistency ([66:01 - 86:50]).

• Sophie Lichterman and Jason Alexander discuss demos of AI-generated videos and robots, emphasizing the lack of genuine creativity and the mechanical, soulless nature of current technologies ([66:01 - 107:00]).

• Discussion Points:

  • AI in Advertising: Critique of Coca-Cola's AI-generated Christmas ad for its unnatural visuals and repetitive elements ([70:00 - 75:17]).

  • Robotics Innovations: Examination of Open Droids' AI-powered household robots designed for mundane tasks, debating their practicality and emotional disconnect ([75:17 - 86:50]).

  • Smart Homes and Privacy: Concerns about AI integration in smart homes, data privacy, and the potential for targeted advertisements based on household layouts ([75:00 - 89:35]).

  • Ethics of AI: Acknowledgment of the ethical dilemmas presented by AI in creative industries and the need for responsible development and regulation ([95:56 - 107:00]).

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13. Conclusion and Farewell [107:00 - 148:08]

In wrapping up, the hosts reflect on the day's events at CES, balancing their frustration with technological advancements with occasional praise for genuine innovations like the Bioleg prosthetic:

• Sophie Lichterman advocates for maintaining human-centered approaches in technology to prevent the erosion of genuine creativity and connection ([138:59 - 148:08]).

• Robert Evans and Jason Alexander continue their critique of soulless AI implementations while acknowledging the potential of meaningful technological advancements when designed with empathy and purpose ([139:58 - 148:08]).

The episode concludes with the hosts expressing their determination to continue producing impactful content despite the challenges posed by advancing technologies and societal issues.

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Notable Quotes:

• Robert Evans [06:21]: "You have to pick a very narrow thing and make it your life. And not just a random thing, but like a thing that you think is important."

• Mia Wong [15:52]: "We're building the hammer and we're swinging it."

• Robert Evans [25:13]: "If people could be there, they would care. And if they care enough, they'll do something."

• James Stout [26:33]: "A general strike. But it's just not something we're familiar with. I love a general strike."

• Robert Evans [141:00]: "It's a net negative for the artistic community. The point is not to get something out as quick as possible. It's like, make art."

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Conclusion:

"It Could Happen Here Weekly 164" offers a multifaceted discussion on pressing societal issues, freelance journalism, political predictions, economic forecasts, and the ethical implications of advancing AI technologies. The hosts provide insightful critiques and hopeful aspirations, encouraging listeners to engage actively in activism and remain discerning about technological integrations in everyday life.

Transcript

[Jason Alexander]

I'm Jason Alexander.

[Peter Tilden]

And I'm Peter Tilden. And together, our mission on the really Know really podcast is to get the.

[Robert Evans]

True answers to life's baffling questions, like.

[Peter Tilden]

Why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor, what's in the museum of failure, and does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign. Jason Bobblehead. The really no really podcast. Follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Garrison Davis]

Cool Zone Media.

[Robert Evans]

Hey, everybody. Robert Evans here, and I wanted to let you know this is a compilation episode. So every episode of the week that.

[Jason Alexander]

Just happened is here in one convenient and with somewhat less ads package for.

[Robert Evans]

You to listen to in a long.

[Jason Alexander]

Stretch if you want.

[Robert Evans]

If you've been listening to the episodes every day this week, there's going to be nothing new here for you, but you can make your own decisions.

[James Stout]

Hi, everyone, it's James coming at you with pretty nasty cold here. I wanted to share with you that wildfires have swept through Los Angeles in the last couple of days. While I'm recording this, thousands of people have been displaced. Five people have died that we know of so far. Thousands of structures have been burned and many, many people in LA will be finding themselves out of their homes with nowhere to go, with very few resources. If you'd like to help, we've come up with some mutual aid groups who you can donate to, and we'll be interviewing one of them on this show next week. So if you'd like to help, the three places where we suggest you would donate some cash are The Sidewalk Project, that's TheSideWalk Project.org K TownForAll. That's Letter K T O W N F O r a l l.org and Aetna Street Solidarity. You can find them on Venmo or I think on Instagram as well. That's a E T N A S T R E E T S O L I D A R I T Y All right, I'm gonna go rest my voice.

[Robert Evans]

Order in the court. Order in the court. Justice Robert Evans presiding. I see we have a fine jury here to take questions from the audience of our daily news show, which is also my courtroom. Everybody get it? Because I'm a judge now, legally, because that's how the legal system works.

[Sophie Lichterman]

All those rumors finally have come true, huh?

[Robert Evans]

No Municipal Judge Garrison, that's not a fed okay, okay.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Municipal. Municipal. That's good. You're right.

[Robert Evans]

You're right.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You're right.

[Robert Evans]

I will now for the rest of my life be able to say when people ask questions. Well, as a man of the law, which I'm very much looking forward to.

[James Stout]

Not only able to say, Robert, but.

[Robert Evans]

Quite likely to say. Anyway, that's all I got.

[Garrison Davis]

All right. This is the It Could Happen here Q and A episode we've got. What are we calling you now? Robert Evans. What's your title?

[Robert Evans]

The honorable Robert Evans and I actually did Questionable. The judge who made me a judge sent me a gavel, but I didn't grab it for this one, so I just used. I have the barrel and lower receiver from an antique sawed off shotgun that belonged to a bootlegger and I just sort of slammed that into my table.

[Mia Wong]

Great.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I'm sure our editor will love that. Yeah, yeah.

[James Stout]

Robert, before we broadcast. So you have a sawed off shotgun.

[Robert Evans]

It's not functional. It's been destroyed.

[James Stout]

I see. I see. Good. Didn't want a little Ruby Ridge moment.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

We've got Mia Wong, Garrison Davis, James Stout, and the dishonorable Robert Evans.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And Sophie Lichterman.

[Garrison Davis]

Oh, yes, it me. Yeah, we're going to do the. We're going to do some questions. We posted it on our blue sky. If you're not following us on blue sky, we are on there.

[James Stout]

Blue Ski one does not post on blue skies. Sophie One.

[Garrison Davis]

Skeets, I really hope that's not true because that's really embarrassing.

[Robert Evans]

Unfortunately, they really tried to get that off the ground. I don't see anyone actually using skeet.

[James Stout]

I saw someone using it in French and it was a real moment.

[Robert Evans]

Are you Skeet Garrison?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Instead of saying send tweet, now I just say send skeet in conversation. Everyone loves it.

[James Stout]

Do you reskate? Is that a thing?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, I guess you do. I guess you do.

[Garrison Davis]

And we're moving on. I'm just gonna throw out some of the questions we received on online. I'm not even gonna say the name of the app again because I'm afraid being labeled as an old Garrison's embarrassed by me. I can tell.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I didn't say that.

[Garrison Davis]

But you thought it. But you thought it.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I didn't think that you did.

[Garrison Davis]

Any advice for someone with a desire to do some hobby or freelance journalism in the coming few years? I want to actively fight for equality. Also. Thank you for your questions, everyone.

[Robert Evans]

I don't thank you for your questions. I'm actively angry at you for your questions.

[Garrison Davis]

That's why you're the dishonorable.

[Peter Tilden]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

Start rich if you want to be a freelance journalist, because you'll progressively become poorer.

[Robert Evans]

I have funded my journal. I love whenever people ask me questions like, how did you convince Cracked to send you to Iraq? I didn't. I bought plane tickets. Like, being an entertainer has always been what's funded my journalism.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I guess my advice would be get really autistic about something problematic. Just like, one thing, this one thing. I get, like, really into it to the point where it kind of takes over your life. Your. Your personal life starts fading away. It kind of blends into your whole state of existence, and only then will you actually get good at that. That thing. Yep, that's my advice. And then you just take one thing at a time, and every few years, you kind of change the scope of the thing that you're getting really autistic about. But that's kind of how I've rolled. And it's been. It's been okay.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. You just finished 36 hours of digging into the life of a school shooter. And I also built the back of my career, spending hours and hours digging through the online lives of mass shooters. And you don't have to do that, but you do have to do that thing, which is. Yeah, that's exactly what Garrison said. You have to pick a very narrow thing and make it your life. And not just a random thing, but like a thing that you think is important.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

And that people don't. Other people don't understand how important it is. And if you make yourself. There's a fella, his blog is called We Hunted the Mammoth. Dave Futrell, who's been covering what we call the manosphere for, like, fucking more than a decade before anybody else in journalism was taking it seriously. You gotta do that kind of thing. If you do that kind of thing, you build a name for yourself. And that can allow you. When the thing that you're obsessed on becomes a big story, being first to have something meaningful to say about it can provide you eventually with the opportunity to cover other things.

[James Stout]

Yeah, I think it's good advice. I would say if you want to get started freelancing, it's a good idea to join the IWW Freelance Journalists Union. You can learn a lot from people who are freelancing there. You can learn who not to pitch, which editors are toxic as fuck, which is a surprisingly large amount.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

You can learn which email to send your pitches to and how to pitch. If you're not familiar with how to pitch I also teach sometimes journalism workshops at a community college. So if you have a community college near you, you might be able to get some either free or very cheap sort of advice and the real, like, nuts and bolts of journalism, like sending pitches and stuff like that.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Cool.

[Garrison Davis]

What is the consensus on what the next Trump administration will do on the first day or first week? All of us just look like we're in pain.

[James Stout]

Knows like it's chaos.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah. I'm not. I'm not foreseeing good things. There'll be a lot of executive orders that are, you know, probably bad. You know, things that aren't great.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, I. I think that he's going to try to do as much of what he's promised to do in terms of particular, not in terms of everything he's prompted, but in terms of going after immigrants. Yeah. He's going to do as much of what he's promised to as he possibly can't. Now, that doesn't mean he's going to actually deport millions of people. There are, like, some just practical limitations based on the capacity of the institutions he'll be using to do this. And he could get. There's a very good chance things will get bogged down and whatnot. But, like, he will try. Yeah, that's. That's my take. Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

I think. I think the other thing that's going to happen pretty quickly is I think he's going to start moving on tariffs very, very fast.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

If you're planning to buy a computer, go ahead and grab that fucking now.

[Sophie Lichterman]

If you can. If. If you're getting anything from overseas, you should get it in the few weeks that you still can. Yeah.

[James Stout]

If it has a battery, it ain't made here.

[Garrison Davis]

I had my annual physical today because otherwise our insurance screws us over. And my doctor was like, you should try to get as many prescriptions filled before the end of the year before things. Things come up, just in case.

[Sophie Lichterman]

There you go.

[Garrison Davis]

And, you know, that's not terrible advice.

[James Stout]

Yeah. I think in terms of executive orders, he will try and further restrict access to asylum. Try and further change. There are things he can do by executive order with ICE and cbp, in terms of how they operate, that he will try and do. It's not impossible that they will try and again, immediately mobilize public health law against migrants, like he did in 2020. Right.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

Those things could all be done without congressional support. We made a whole podcast about this, but Stephen Miller has suggested that they might do some of those things. So. Yeah, not impossible, probably. Won't be a great day.

[Garrison Davis]

Somebody's getting fired the first week, that's for sure. Probably first day.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. I mean, I've seen the fact that the FBI director is stepping down pushed as, like an act of resistance because it means that Trump now has to actually go through, like, Congress to get it done. I don't know if how much I buy that, how much. I think that. I think a lot of what I'm seeing right now from establishment people, and maybe this isn't true of Ray, because I did find some of the arguments there compelling, but a lot of what I've seen from establishment people in politics is they're scared and just really trying not to make waves.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

And I think that's what you're gonna see overwhelmingly. I think that he's going to probably. Probably will not immediately act against the press in a legal sense, as the president. They will do that. But I think he's to. He's already suing differently, and I think that that's going to be kind of his. His focus there for a while, just because there's a lot on his plate. But I think he. There. There will be attempts, like, to fuck with libel laws and stuff, especially as things go on.

[Garrison Davis]

Okay. Several of you have asked about the Android ad free version, subscription channel, and I want you all to know that it will happen next year. I have been trying to get this to happen for two years now, and for unforeseen reasons, it just keeps getting roadblocked. But it. But it is happening. We're just waiting on a couple final things to. To get into place. So that will be happening hopefully very soon into 2025. I will update everybody as soon as that's possible. And I'm so sorry it's taken so long. I want you to know I have worked so unbelievably hard on this. Miserably hard.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, we've seen it.

[Robert Evans]

Sophie has. It's been a nightmare. Harder, harder than I have worked on anything else this year. Like, it's been nuts.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

And here's the thing that sucks. For no reason, no reason at all. Not that there's no reason to launch the app. There's a great reason. There's no reason it should have taken this long.

[Garrison Davis]

Correct.

[Robert Evans]

But we can't say anymore. For reasons that are also equally frustrating. I'd like to say in general, folks, there's a few things that get brought up a lot. It's like, why haven't they done this yet? Why haven't they done this yet? We're talking, like, technical things or like, you know, things like a paid subscription. And they're like, why haven't they gotten around to it yet? And the answer is always some infuriating bullshit based on some bureaucracy.

[Garrison Davis]

Bullshit.

[Robert Evans]

Some bureaucracy, some legal shit where you're like, you don't actually realize it's illegal to do this if you. If you do it this way or whatever. Like some sort of bullshit that makes it impossible. It's not that we, we. We want to make this. Is it as easy as possible for people to have the best listening experience that we can afford to provide them, but there's a lot of annoying bullshit that exists for reasons beyond our comprehension. Sorry.

[Garrison Davis]

Anyways, here's ads. Unless you have an iPhone and subscribe to Cooler Zone Media. All right, we're back. How do you each motivate yourself to write or do your jobs? I get asked that question all the time, but I'll let each of you tackle it. While this is a communally hosted show, I feel like each of you do very different things, so your answers are going to be all over the place. So, Garrison.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, well, I mean, paying rent's a great motivator. Yes.

[Robert Evans]

Yes. Understated. This is. This is a big thing that a lot of people who want to be writers but have never done it for a living. Miss. Is that all of your favorite writers who do it for a living, a big part of how they get over fucking writer's block is they have to pay rent or a mortgage. It turns out that helps.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's. It's a quite compelling motivator, and sometimes it has required the assistance of, you know, caffeine or other things. I have a variety of playlists to help me when I'm in, like, different moods. I definitely will. About, you know, maybe twice a month, I just do a complete. Like a complete body check to my sleep schedule to get a special project finished. And that's just kind of part of the deal, at least in terms of how I work. And not everyone does it this way, though. Maybe. Maybe people are more healthy than me.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. For me.

[Mia Wong]

Okay, so the easiest way something gets done is just pure rage. I get really angry at something. I can just do it.

[James Stout]

Like, it just comes out.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, anger is a great motivator.

[Peter Tilden]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

The other fun one is pure joy as something funny happening. Like this. The Shinzo Abe assassination. Easiest writing I've ever done in my life.

[Robert Evans]

Sometimes it just flows. Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

Other times it's just like there's a deadline and everyone is counting on me. And I have to get it out. And I've gotten to the right level of sleep deprivation where I can just do it.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's right. That's right.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

I also think, you know, there's obviously, like, health insurance, which is sort of a joke, given our health insurance, but.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

And then the last thing, and this is the sort of the serious one, is that, like this, you know, I mean, I do some organizing stuff, too, but like this. This is the thing that I have to do that can materially affect the world, which is a very, very weird thing to say about a podcast. But I've seen it happen, right. I've seen all of you go and do things that wouldn't have happened. And I've. You know, it's a weird situation, right, because my motivation for doing this stuff is the chance that you will make the world better. But I've. I've seen it happen. And I have to continue to believe that the thing that I've been doing for all these years, this project of building a very large hammer and deploying it against our enemies can work and will work. And that is, you know, that's how I get out of bed every morning, is we're building the hammer and we're swinging it.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, that's a great way to put it.

[James Stout]

Very large hammer would be a banging name for a podcast.

[Garrison Davis]

I agree. I agree.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. There's a great speech in the comic series Trans Metropolitan about how journalism is a gun that you wire up to your eyes and your ears and several other organs in order to shoot at the world. And that's, I think, a good way to keep yourself doing it when it feels like you're just shouting into a void.

[James Stout]

Yeah. I really like the process of writing. I like telling stories like that makes me happy. And I feel so lucky. I can do it for my job. I don't particularly like receiving trauma, which I also do for a job, but.

[Robert Evans]

Really, it's a cabbage.

[James Stout]

Sometimes I can't sleep. So many people trusted me with their stories, especially this year, that they didn't have to. And sometimes a great personal risk. And it's a massive privilege that they trusted me with those stories. And I think I owe it to them to do my best to tell those stories as well as I can.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

And like, as Mia said, it has materially changed the world. Like, the amount of people who listen to our podcast and came to the border to help last year when we really desperately needed help. People who just, like, on Sunday night gave their money, which I know none of us have enough money right now to help people who are displaced in Rojava. Like, all that stuff really makes it feel like if you tell a good enough story, people will care. That's always what I felt like. If you could just get people to see it. If people could be there, they would care. And if they care enough, they'll do something. And I've seen that be true with people who listen to the show, and that really makes me happy. So I want to keep doing that.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah, for me, it's two part answer. The first part is that I genuinely give a shit about everything that we put out. And what we do is not really. While it is a job, it. It matters so much. And the second part is if I don't do my job, the amount of people's lives that that impacts is a lot of fucking people. And I give a shit about each and every one of them. So I'm gonna keep doing my job so that everybody else can keep doing their job and maybe we make a difference in this world. This fucked up, crumbly world. Robert, did you have anything to add? You were speaking and then I talked.

[Robert Evans]

Did I have. Did I already not give an answer?

[Garrison Davis]

You gave an answer, that's why. But you were starting to speak.

[Robert Evans]

Oh, yeah. I do it for the fame, baby.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Great. Next.

[Garrison Davis]

What episode or episodes were your favorite this year to make or otherwise? Yeah, my favorite this year were definitely James's series from the Darien Gap. That was an incredible series. I'm so unbelievably proud of it. Yeah, James had been trying to do that work for a long time, and I'm happy that we were able to fund it and James was able to do the incredible reporting that he did. I'm also quite proud of Robert Garrison and I surviving the RNC and dnc.

[Robert Evans]

The RNC was a good time. Like, legitimately, that was a good time.

[Garrison Davis]

I had a great time fooling the worst people in the world.

[Robert Evans]

It was the DNC that fucked me up. Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, same. I was like, destroyed emotionally after the dnc.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah, the DNC was really a huge bummer. And then Mia's covered some of the most important labor stories that, like, nobody covers.

[Robert Evans]

Absolutely.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

And like, without those genuinely, like, nobody covers, like, small labor stories or big labor stories. And she's always on top of that beat. And yeah, I also really just like, Robert's Don't Panic episode was something. Some great writing, my friend. I answered, now everybody else has to. I'll start with Mia.

[Mia Wong]

There's weirdly A few this year.

[Garrison Davis]

Cool.

[Mia Wong]

I normally isn't. I like the Boeing ones. That was fun.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

The one that was most emotionally impactful for me was getting to interview Dr. Julia Serrano, who, if you haven't listened to that episode, go listen to it.

[Garrison Davis]

Great book.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah. Whipping Girl is the book that literally created a bunch of. The concept of misgendering is from that book. Right. The language that we use to talk about transness today is directly her. And so few people have ever read the book. So few people even know who she is. And getting a chance to talk to her was like, incredible. And I'm also really happy about the organizing one that I did because I, I've gotten so many messages from people who were just like, oh, wait, my knitting is useful to organizing. And I'm like, yes, yes, it is.

[Robert Evans]

You're knitting.

[Mia Wong]

You're so incredible. Staggeringly useful. Yeah. So I'm proud of that one.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. Let's take a quick break then. Garrison Robert James, you can answer that question. And we're back. James, how about you?

[James Stout]

I'm. I'm proud of doing the Darien ones. I think, like, I'm, I'm so happy that we finally got to a place where like, we could do that, where we could fund that. Like, I've been trying to do that, like I said, for nearly a decade. And yeah, it's been hard and it continues to be hard. One of the people you heard from in those episodes got deported last week. And so it continues to kind of be emotionally difficult. But I really liked how many people messaged me and were like, I sent this to my father, uncle, not just dudes, aunts and their mums too, I'm sure. And non binary relatives. But, well, maybe not because they had said it to their right wing relatives and they learned some compassion. That's always what you want to do. Like I said before, you want people to see it so that they care and so they understand it and they don't just get this stupid Fox News bullshit racism stuff. And so, yeah, that made me really happy. The reason we're all different on this, by the way, is because we have not done a come 2024 episode. And if we had, this would have been a much, much shorter segment.

[Robert Evans]

James, let me just tell you, I think we can all look forward to a white Christmas this year.

[Jason Alexander]

Jesus.

[Garrison Davis]

Jesus.

[James Stout]

After that, set him up. It's my own fault.

[Garrison Davis]

Wow.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I guess I'll go now. I'll just sure clean out the, the aftertaste of that. So.

[Robert Evans]

Even worse.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Thank You. I think I started out pretty strong with police drones. Even more topical as we record this now, as New Jersey is about to get completely abducted, I think by. By alien aircraft.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. There's no one left in New Jersey now.

[Sophie Lichterman]

They've all been taken away by these unidentified drones.

[Robert Evans]

That actually happened three days ago. It just took a long time for the rest of the country to notice or care.

[James Stout]

Bruce Springsteen hasn't made a song about it, so we have no way of knowing.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Besides the mass hysteria of the New Jersey drone panic, police drones are a real problem, and those are going be increasingly. So I was happy with my reporting on that at ces and. And then I. I guess, I mean, to echo Sophie, I had a great time at the rnc. It was fun Ascendance. I never thought I would say.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And particularly the RNC Grinder episode. I still think is. Is pretty. Is pretty good.

[Garrison Davis]

It was pretty great banger. The amount of places that Garrison and I snuck into at the RNC a.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Time, it was really dangerous too, because I was having to, like, do my RNC research next to Robert and Sophie the whole time and. Oh, boy, it's like a minefield scrolling through that app. Yikes.

[Garrison Davis]

Inexperience, to say the least. Any thoughts on the proposed 2028 general strike? How are people feeling about that? I'll start with Mia.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, I mean, it's. It's a pretty good idea. Like, there's definitely sort of. And I'm immediately going into this naysaying a little bit, there's definitely problems with it. It's going to be extremely hard to execute because we just don't have a modern history of doing that in the US and even some of the successful ones in the last decade that people have pulled off haven't been that effective. But on the other hand, as something that we, you know, a concrete thing that we have to organize towards that has a bunch of, like, pretty large unions behind it already. I did an episode about that a few weeks ago. I don't know, a couple months ago. I don't remember when I did this episode. I'm sorry, I can't remember anything we've ever done. But I think it's a good opportunity to connect a whole bunch of different kinds of organizing together, both in terms of labor and in terms of the support work you need for that. So, yeah, cautiously optimistic.

[Garrison Davis]

Anyone else have anything they want to add?

[Sophie Lichterman]

The time to start figuring out those logistics is now. It's not waiting till 2027.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, I agree, Garrison. I think that the fact that there are serious people who represent serious unions talking about it is part of why it's one of the things that does give me a degree of hope. We're going to have to start working now towards it. It's not going to be simple in any way, shape or form. If they see it coming, they are going to start trying to criminalize things preemptively. If it is something that even looks like a real possibility, they're going to come after it with everything they've got. And it's one of those things where maybe if the midterms go well for Democrats, maybe Democrats stop that, but it's just as plausible and probably more plausible that Democrats line up with Republicans to attempt to criminalize something like that.

[James Stout]

Yeah, it's strange to be seeing something like this organized so far off. Like, it's, like it's not something where any of us are familiar with, which.

[Robert Evans]

It has to be to be clear.

[James Stout]

Yeah, it has to be. Barring an actual coup, that's the only way you get a general strike.

[Robert Evans]

Right.

[James Stout]

Like either something so earth shattering that everyone's ready to risk it because they're already in danger, or you take the time and you plan that you do it properly. But it's just not something we're familiar with. I love a general strike. I'm always gonna support a general strike. I'm excited to see a general strike. But, yeah, we have to put in the work now.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. The only responsible way to characterize the organized left in the United States is a complete and utter failure. Like it is. It has been a calamity for the causes that it seeks to. To represent. And a lot of that is because of, like, fucking bullshit online clicktivism, you know, we're all going to do a general strike. Everybody, everybody get ready. Next week, we're going to do it. You know, shit like that is, is. It's just so deeply unserious. And if we're going to take the momentum and the energy that exists and the number of people who are angry and who, you know, and that number of people will be increasing as the consequences of conservative policies hit home by 2028. Like, it has to be something taken deadly seriously by very serious people who are thinking through the consequences and what's necessary in order to make this feasible, you know.

[Garrison Davis]

And lastly, do each of you have a movie or a book or something you would like to recommend in 2025?

[James Stout]

When I finish my book, you should buy it. Yes, but read General Strike. I've been reading a book called Presente, which is in English, but it's about how San Francisco dock workers blocked a shipment of weapons to El Salvador. And it just seems a very relevant book. And they did it to Pinochet as well. It's easy to read and like, it just reminded me how important labor organizing is going to be in the next four years and how powerful it can be too. So I'll give that one a little plug.

[Robert Evans]

Excellent.

[James Stout]

There's a film called the End Will Be Spectacular, which is about the Kurdish youth movement in Northern Kurdistan in Turkey. It's a really good film, I think, to help you understand the Kurdish freedom movement. And it's worth a watch. It's not like a necessarily a happy feel good film, but I think it's worth a watch, especially if you've recently become interested in that because of what you've heard on the podcast.

[Garrison Davis]

Mia.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, I have a couple. So I'm trans fiction pilled right now. We're giving you fiction from trans authors.

[Robert Evans]

Would you say you're transfixed? Wow.

[Mia Wong]

I walked right into that one. Like, drove directly into it. Like JFK's head into that bullet.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, my God.

[Jason Alexander]

Wow.

[Garrison Davis]

We spent a lot of time with each other.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Mia Wong]

The first one I wanted to talk about is the Gun Runner and Her Hound by Maria Ying, which is the. The pen name of a couple of authors. Okay. So it's. This is a. This is an absolutely unhinged lesbian book about a lesbian crime lord and her new bodyguard who is also a lesbian. And it rules. There's a whole sort of like post apocalypse us thing going on, but they're still in, like, civilized Hong Kong. It's awesome. It's great. It's you. You need war on hinge lesbians in your life. Go read this. The. The other one is one of the boys. This is forthcoming, is going to release May 13, 2025, by Victoria Zeller. And it's about a trans girl who's like the kicker on her football team and she has to like, leave the team because she transitions, but then the team needs her back because they don't have a kicker. And it's, it's fun.

[Jason Alexander]

It's.

[Mia Wong]

It's a good time. So you should get that when it comes out.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. So I'm actually right now in the middle of a book that I found myself surprised by how much I've liked. It's called When Paris Went Dark, and it is a history of the occupation of Paris under the Nazis that is a really fascinating social history by Ronald Rosebottom. That I found very, like, emotionally affecting, especially in light of, you know, some things going on. And. Yeah, just kind of a fascinating look at the psychology of a people of, like, of a. Of. Of an entire people kind of grappling with what's about to happen to them in the wake of the failure of the French army and then what happens next. And then I would also recommend Setting the Desert on Fire by James Barr, which is one of the books about T.E. lawrence that I cited in the T.E. lawrence episodes. If you are at all interested in the realities of needing to fight an insurgent war.

[Garrison Davis]

Gar.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I guess just two recent things I've enjoyed. Finally finished the Steppenwolf by Herman Hess. Ah, yes, I enjoyed that deeply. It kind of. It kind of picked my. Picked my Twin Peaks, the Return Brain. So that was. That was pleasant. And for a more recent release, Luca Guadagino's new movie, Queer Adapting the Short Story by William S. Burroughs. I found this movie to be utterly fascinating and transfixing, to use the term from me, Robert. I don't have much else to say about it because I would rather people just watch it and take away what they want to themselves. But it got me thinking a lot about the lack of meaning inherent to identity and why I hate the term queer bodies. So, yeah, good movie.

[Garrison Davis]

Awesome. I just have one movie to recommend and it's one I. One of my favorite movies of all time. The original 1973. 72. So 73. 73. The Wicker Man. Not the Nicholas Cage version, the original version. And if you have a local theater that plays old movies, a lot of times they'll play play it in theaters. And I highly recommend that experience. It's really fun, especially at the end. I see it in theaters or watch it at least once or twice a year, and vibes are good. Yeah, that's it for our Q and A episode. Thanks for submitting, and goodbye.

[Peter Tilden]

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the really Know really.

[Robert Evans]

Podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions, like.

[Peter Tilden]

Why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We got the answer.

[Peter Tilden]

Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you and the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's gonna drop by.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Mr. Bryan Cranston is with us. How are you?

[Robert Evans]

Hello.

[Peter Tilden]

My friend Wayne Knight about Jurassic Park.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Wayne Knight, welcome to really?

[Jason Alexander]

Not really, sir.

[Robert Evans]

Bless you all.

[Peter Tilden]

Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging.

[Robert Evans]

Really?

[Jason Alexander]

That's the opening?

[Robert Evans]

Really? Not really.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, really? No, really.

[Peter Tilden]

Go to reallynoreally.com and make register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign. Jason Bobblehead.

[Jason Alexander]

It's called really?

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, really.

[Peter Tilden]

And you can find it on the.

[Jason Alexander]

Iheartradio app on Apple Podcasts or wherever.

[Peter Tilden]

You get your podcasts.

[Garrison Davis]

Welcome to it could happen here. This is our 2025 predictions episode. We were starting to bicker off by about what we predicted last year, and I was talking about the things we predicted. And one of the things I predicted early on, I was like, I think Kim Kardashian will be part of the Trump cabinet. And, like, honestly, Goals.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

At this point. But I'm not that far off, though, like, because. Because essentially what he has done is he's basically tried to go for people that are good on tv.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's true. It's true.

[Garrison Davis]

And, like, going off of that reality.

[James Stout]

TV energy, finally we will acknowledge the.

[Garrison Davis]

Armenian genocide I was vibing. Okay, James. I was vibing.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No vibes allowed. No vibes allowed.

[James Stout]

Genocide.

[Garrison Davis]

Just. Just. I. James.

[Sophie Lichterman]

All right.

[Robert Evans]

Vibe aside.

[Garrison Davis]

God. All right, Mia. Mia Wogg's here. I'm sober, Garrison's here. James Stout's here, and the dishonorable Robert Evans is also here.

[Robert Evans]

I judge that nickname bad.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Jesus Christ. Wow. Let's go over some of our terrible 2024 predictions just briefly. Now, unfortunately, there was a lot of election ones which were very sad to listen to.

[Garrison Davis]

Oh, no.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Now, we were correct about many things. We did. We did talk about how Harris would probably be a really bad candidate to run against Trump. Totally forgot about that. We did.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Huge dub for us.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

Massive oath for the country.

[Jason Alexander]

Oops.

[Robert Evans]

That brief period of time when Biden stepped down, it really felt like it might be. I mean, she did better than he would have. Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, I think that's just because we were still just reeling from that debate. So bad.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That, like, anything was like, oh, my God, there's like, a life.

[Robert Evans]

Look at how she can walk 30, 40ft at a time.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Exactly, exactly.

[James Stout]

Sentence. Good God.

[Sophie Lichterman]

None of us picked Vance specifically at that point in time, but we did pinpoint Trump's orbit and his, like, campaign, like, crew pretty well. Like, Mia. Mia predicted that RFK Jr. Could be a Trump VP pick. And though he didn't become VP, he essentially kind of took over the VP, like, campaigning role from Vance in like August.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Because Vance was so bad at it.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We all decided that, like, Vivek was simply like way too loud and like obnoxious. So Trump would like find some other spot for him.

[Garrison Davis]

Stand by that.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And that's what happened. He's still in the orbit, but he's not super close. So if he talked about possibly Kristi Noem as getting linked in with Trump, maybe for vp, now, that didn't happen for vp, but Kristi Noem is in the cabinet. Good job.

[Garrison Davis]

Past me.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah. And Robert said that he would not be shocked if Trump got close with Tulsi Gabbard.

[Garrison Davis]

Oh, Robert.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And other less good predictions. I predicted that a Daily Wire host would get pied. Unfortunately, did not. Did not come to pass.

[Mia Wong]

There's still time. It's still 2024.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Not when this airs. Not when this airs. Yes. Kim Kardashian getting into politics didn't really happen. She kind of stayed at her regular coast level. Sorry, Sophie.

[Garrison Davis]

So far, trust me, she did all those things when Trump was elected the first time where all of a sudden she was like with other lawyers trying to get people out of jail by utilizing Trump.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah. I mean, and she was doing that with the Biden campaign as well. Not as visibly the Harris campaign. She was meeting with Harris multiple times. She, she kind of stayed at this like, distant but like, talkative place.

[Garrison Davis]

That's the Kardashian way. Distant and talkative.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Speaking of, speaking of, your other prediction was that people would start forgetting about the Nazi stuff and Kanye would put out a well received album, which kind of happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A little bit.

[Garrison Davis]

God, I haven't thought about Kanye in so many months. It was really nice.

[James Stout]

Well, it's over now.

[Garrison Davis]

Really nice. Thanks, Garrison.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Lastly, my, my failed prediction is that if Trump won the election, there would be two solid weeks of rioting which simply did not happen.

[Robert Evans]

Yes, nothing happened.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I think it's actually. No. Kind of interesting. And we will maybe unpack that in the coming months as Trump's second term kind of settles in. I'm sure we will kind of revisit why we think this did not happen.

[Jason Alexander]

Certainly.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I'm curious about what Inauguration Day will look like. But. But yeah, that was a lot. Also, sorry. Morrissey is still alive. David Scavenge is still alive. Putin is still alive. And though James did say that Assad would eat it. And though Assad didn't die, he kinda, he kind of did eat it, quote unquote. Well done.

[Robert Evans]

I mean, James.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

That's gotta be the biggest dub of the year.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, that is.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's right.

[James Stout]

Damn, I'd forgotten all about that. Really happy with myself now.

[Garrison Davis]

James, I'm so proud of you, buddy.

[Robert Evans]

You gotta pick it. Another one this year.

[James Stout]

Yeah, I know. Men on long, baby. He's next.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Let's, I guess let's start with some kind of dictator predictions. What do we think will happen to like a dictator in 2025 which he.

[James Stout]

Thinks is going to die, do we think, or just general dictator predictions?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Dictator predictions. It can be. Maybe we get a new one, you know, maybe we get a new fancy one. Yeah, well, I don't know.

[James Stout]

Yeah, something's happening in January.

[Mia Wong]

I, I have two. Well, one of them, I mean, it's kind of a hack one, but I don't think, I don't think the junta Myanmar makes it out of 2025.

[James Stout]

Yeah, I think not in the version it is today.

[Mia Wong]

Yeah, that's the hack one. The, the other one is another Assad one is. I think someone actually does assassinate Assad while he's like, like he, he, he gets too full of himself and he goes to Abu Dhabi and some Muslim Brotherhood guy just whacks him.

[James Stout]

Yep.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Okay. My Assad prediction is he becomes a Russia Today host. That's my, that's my Assad prediction.

[Garrison Davis]

Oh, my gosh.

[James Stout]

Yeah, he's going to open his ophthalmology clinic.

[Robert Evans]

No, I mean, I think he's going to get signed to host a podcast by a little network you might have heard of called Cool Zone Media. Congratulations, guys. Let's bring him on. Sophie, get him on the zoom. Tell him he can hop in the room now. Bashar, baby.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We are merging with Tenet Media to bring out our friend Asara Basar Al Assad.

[James Stout]

Welcome to the pod, Bashar.

[Robert Evans]

He's actually doing a whole media tour with the Pod Save guys next week. That's got to be fascinating.

[James Stout]

Pod Save, Bathurst, Syria. The most cursed podcast in the world.

[Garrison Davis]

My dictator slash world leader prediction is that despite being Netanyahu's, I was thinking.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, last ride from your mouths to whatever fucking clot is working its way through his coronary system in a year.

[Garrison Davis]

I really hope I, I and hope I'm right.

[Robert Evans]

We all do. I don't know what else to say there.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[James Stout]

That's be a good thing for the world.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah. I mean, we are verging into not doing predictions, just doing hopes and dreams.

[James Stout]

Yeah, well, I did Morrissey like that last year and we didn't get it, and I'm sad.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We need some hopes and dreams out in the world, I think.

[Garrison Davis]

Fair enough.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah. Do you know what else we need team money from these advertisers. That's right.

[Garrison Davis]

And we are back. All right, Garrison, what's next?

[Sophie Lichterman]

So usually in the middle of these prediction episodes, I, I like doing our, like, third annual death segment. Who do we think will die? And I guess we, we kind of. We kind of touched on this briefly, but I don't think we. We actually secured death for any of those people in our predictions, just that they would, you know, have. Circumstances change, though, for this year's death segment, we have. We have a bit of a twist. So it turns out about two years ago on Spotify wrapped day, we all woke up to the news that both Angela Battlementi was embarrassingly my number one Spotify artist that year, but also that Henry Kissinger died and this Spotify rap. Today we woke up to the news that the United Healthcare CEO was gunned down in New York City. So Spotify wrapped 2025. Who's dying. Who's. Who's dying on Spotify wrapped on Spotify wrapped day. So this is like, what, late November, early December? We don't really know Spotify wrapped death day predictions.

[Garrison Davis]

So long, farewell, Avita, say goodbye, Mitch McConnell.

[James Stout]

That's a good one.

[Robert Evans]

That's, that's a, that's an easy one, but okay, I'll give it to you.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I'm thinking, like, who's got to get through most of the year but not finish it out? You know, it's tough.

[Robert Evans]

I'm going to make my call. Tie up Recip Erdogan. You know, that's, that's, that's my hope. That's a long shot. I know, because he doesn't seem like he's in bad health, but that's a big one.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Kissinger was a long shot, too, because he, like, arguably immortal.

[Robert Evans]

He'd kept living for so fucking long.

[Garrison Davis]

So long, farewell, Avid, or say goodbye, Elon Musk.

[Robert Evans]

I was going to say that I.

[James Stout]

Think he might die.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You think we're finally going to get that drug overdose, huh?

[Robert Evans]

I just.

[James Stout]

He just seems to be spiraling so hard right now.

[Garrison Davis]

The spiral's mad real. Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

He's getting everything he wants, though. But I mean, that. That also.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's true. Sometimes that's dangerous.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. Especially if you are addicted to a drug that you can get in unlimited pure quantities. And no one will ever say no to Handing it to you.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We have some more Musk predictions for later on the episode.

[James Stout]

Okay.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But I can see of some, you know, like famously the Secret Service, you know, not, not great at hiding their own drug problems. I could, I can see possibly with Musk entering a new level of comfort, maybe the spiraling a little, a little too far out of his control, he.

[Robert Evans]

And two Secret Service agents are found dead with fentanyl infected bloat.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Or, you know, maybe a SpaceX launch goes really wrong. Who's to say? Who's to say? Damn, I gotta think of who, who my who. My Spotify wrapped day death is.

[Mia Wong]

I have a long shot.

[James Stout]

Oh, here's your long shot, man.

[Mia Wong]

My long shot is that sometime on Spotify Rap Day, J.K. rowling sees a trans woman just like existing and gets so mad she has an aneurysm and dies.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, she's looking through the Spotify raps and she knows that trans women make the best music. And she sees and gets so mad she just, she just keels over.

[James Stout]

She transvestigates every single female artist on the Spotify rap list and dies of.

[Mia Wong]

Sleep deprivation doing so her own f. Start transvestigating her.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This drives her off the edge. Yeah, okay, I have a real long shot here, but I can see how it could happen. So we're, we're in, we're in like what, like month, month, 10, 11 of Trump term. 2. Right. The right wing Nazi content creators are settling, are settling into their, into their kind of groove. Some of them aren't really happy at Trump, not like, you know, carrying on all, all of his big lofty promises. And one, one disgruntled fan of Nick Fuentes does something crazy on Spotify raft day. And that, that's, that's my prediction is that somehow some like, really weird like, like stalker or fan does something to, to Mr. Fuentes. Just pure prediction on, like, just like what would be the oddest, oddest thing to happen, but something that could totally make sense. Maybe it's like an old, like, Kanye fan, you know, from Kanye and Nick.

[James Stout]

From his Nazi era.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I, I feel like it's, it's his fandom's getting close enough to pull some like, weird, crazy shit like that on like a weird like on like a, on like a deeply parasocially destructive level. Like Stephen King's Misery. A misery happens to Nick Fuentes, but he doesn't, but he doesn't make it. He doesn't make it out. That's my Spotify wrapped prediction.

[Robert Evans]

I have said for years, Nick Fuentes is going to go down live, probably maybe live. He's going to go down like George Lincoln Rockwell. It is not going to be an enemy of his that does it. It's going to be a result of his incredibly messy personal life. Yeah, like someone is going to take him down.

[Jason Alexander]

Like it's that.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, yeah, that feels right.

[Garrison Davis]

Do we have a non categorized predictions? Is it that time yet?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Sure. Now that we have, we have finished our Spotify wrapped predictions and I do not know who my top artists will be. This last year it was Trent Reznor, so salute that flag.

[Robert Evans]

Okay.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Garrison Challenger soundtrack. That thing fucking bops.

[Garrison Davis]

I tried to make Robert watch that on the way to, oh, the DNC or the rnc. I don't remember. And, but he wouldn't watch it with headphones. And so it was just on, on the plane. I think it was the dnc.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's terrible.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, I think, I think I was reading a Nick Land piece during that whole thing. Right.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Honestly, that's a vibe that actually pairs quite well.

[Robert Evans]

I landed completely deranged. It was great. Ready to work.

[Garrison Davis]

A prediction. A prediction that I have is that like Trump basically tries to move a lot of the main time he spends to Mar A Lago versus the White House. Like I feel like he's going to make Mar a Lago some like national monument type shit so that he can take whatever the documents he wants from the White House to Mar A Lago and spend as much time there as he wants and make that like a national residence or some winter White House.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, the Whiter House one could call it.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

So true, Garrison. No, I'm kind of interested to watch what happens with AOC over the next year because she has definitely become to a lot of folks the progressive and on the left like a villain over the last year. And I kind of wouldn't be surprised, surprised if like in assuming there's still politics in 20 years, when we're talking to young people, they think of her like Pelosi and we're like, oh, you've got to understand when things started out, this was a very different person.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Now I'm not saying that's a fair way to characterize her now or where she'll go. I'm just saying, like, I wouldn't be shocked if that's the way a lot of folks are looking at it in fucking a few years because I'm seeing, I'm hearing a lot of that now. Yeah, people are very Angry at her over largely Gaza. But yeah. Also the fact that she and Bernie both tried to back Biden kind of.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Late in his senescence.

[James Stout]

Yeah. Okay.

[Mia Wong]

My, my big one for the year is. This is the. This is the year the economy finally collapses. Like, this is the year you find out that no company has made any fucking money in a decade. It's all been being pumped up by like a deranged combination of interest rate bullshit, a bunch of fucking money from, like, overnight repo purchases, keeping the banks propped up. I don't know if it's going to be the trade war that fucking blows it up. Although I think that will instantly detonate everything. I don't know. Maybe it's a Chinese housing bubble. Maybe the tech bubble finally collapses. Maybe all three of them hit at the same time. This is the year it fucking goes. I've never actually put my name down on this, on the show, on any other fucking year. This is the year the zombie economy will fall over dead. The necromancy cannot hold.

[Robert Evans]

I guess my prediction is that the economy is going to be basically identical to the Biden economy in that we're going to get like, fucked up inflation and people are going to be very angry and the number will continue to go up on the stock market because that's kind of what it's designed to do. That's my theory.

[Garrison Davis]

And the housing market will still be trash.

[James Stout]

Yeah. And we will never afford homes.

[Robert Evans]

And the housing. Housing's just going to get more expensive. It will be interesting to see Trump's entire. All of his backers and his whole media. Like, one thing that will be easier for the left is really hitting conservatives on inflation as it gets horrible again or continues to suck. Because that's, you know, at this point, just a factor of the economy working as intended.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

That they all have to pretend isn't.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

And before we go to a break, I just want to say the price of eggs will go up.

[James Stout]

I need to get chickens now.

[Robert Evans]

Oh, yeah. This bird flu thing is not gonna help with eggs. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Get your eggs now. Buy thousands of dollars of eggs now.

[James Stout]

If only there was some kind of device to make eggs that you could have in your own garden.

[Garrison Davis]

Oh, my goodness. It's.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I guess to piggyback off of Robert and Mia's predictions there in the economy. My prediction is that once I finally launch Cool Zone Coin, this year, I'm gonna make it big. The economy is gonna go down. I am gonna be going up. Everyone's gonna start buying Cool Zone Coin. Because the US dollar becomes worthless. Bitcoin's gonna crash too. It's fake. But Cool Zone coin has real fungible value.

[Robert Evans]

Well, yeah. The thing about Cool Zone Coin that makes it different from all of the other crypto coins is that it is really based on a fundamentally limited and valuable resource, which is movies from the 90s that I showed Garrison and they actually liked. So, you know, there's. There's only so many Cool Zone coins that can ever be in circulation.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We're lucky I was in Portland this Christmas because we really stocked up a few more of those 90s classics to bump up the price of Cool Zone coin going into 2020.

[Robert Evans]

That's right, everybody.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Wow.

[James Stout]

Sell your house. Buy Cool Zone coin. Do it.

[Robert Evans]

Have you seen Hook Garrison?

[Sophie Lichterman]

I have seen Hook.

[Jason Alexander]

I like Hook. Of course.

[Robert Evans]

Of course.

[James Stout]

Good.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

A classic.

[Garrison Davis]

Have you seen Wicker Man 1973?

[Sophie Lichterman]

You know, I actually haven't. I've been waiting to catch it in the theater.

[Garrison Davis]

We will make this happen at some point. It's necessary.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I would. I would love to. I would love to.

[James Stout]

I bet. One thing. I think it's fairly predictable border stuff. They will stunt on another caravan of migrants. And I think it's pretty easy for them to kind of organize that and make that happen. And it will be a way for Trump to flex his border fascism.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

Much like he did in 2018. Maybe they'll wait till the midterms again. There's always a fun border disaster for the midterms.

[Garrison Davis]

Can I just do one that might not be a prediction, but like a Sophie hope.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Sure.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

Get it.

[Garrison Davis]

Something has to happen to those Paul brothers.

[Robert Evans]

Oh, Sophie. Oh. Oh, yeah.

[James Stout]

That's possible. Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

My prediction for the Paul brothers is that one of them dies within the next five years and one of them lives to be 107.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That tracks.

[Jason Alexander]

Sure.

[James Stout]

Yeah. They decide to take on Bob Dylan in a boxing match and only one of them survives.

[Robert Evans]

I think Bob Dylan will live next.

[James Stout]

Year, but I've just found Bob Dylan's tweets. The purest things you've ever seen. He just tweets about what he's doing. What a hero.

[Garrison Davis]

Netflix paying Jake Paul to billions of dollars to fight 900 year old Mike Tyson. And then Jake Paul coming in on like a vintage car and spraying his product and it having higher streaming numbers than the Super Bowl.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Is that real?

[Garrison Davis]

Yes.

[Mia Wong]

To be fair, that was a rancid Super Bowl.

[Garrison Davis]

Rancid Super Bowl.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This.

[Garrison Davis]

This cannot. This cannot be.

[James Stout]

Most of us just turned in on the off chance that Jake Paul would die.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yes, that is true. That is true. The hope.

[James Stout]

Or at least get bitten.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah, all, all of us were hoping that Mike Tyson was not in fact 60 years old. But he is 60 years old. So. Yeah, something. God.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

Something. Something's got to give. Oh, and there won't be a left wing Joe Rogan. Thank you so much.

[Robert Evans]

Oh, I don't know, Sophie. I think I can.

[Sophie Lichterman]

As soon as we launch Cool Zone coin, I think we can really.

[Garrison Davis]

Oh, my God. There'll be somebody trying to be.

[James Stout]

Oh, Sophie, there already are.

[Robert Evans]

By the way, it's time for me to do our new ad plug. You've heard of how good elk meat is for you and you've heard of how liver is a superfood. Well, now try new elk liver steaks. It's just, just ground up liver shoved inside a steak. I send it through the mail, through FedEx five day delivery. It is not refrigerated in any way.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No refrigeration. It's better at room temp. Better at room temp.

[James Stout]

Better get the healthy bacteria.

[Robert Evans]

It gives you mystical powers.

[Sophie Lichterman]

One of my, I guess more hopes and still partial predictions is that National Guard gets into a scuffle with border patrol in some kind of blue state.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Good chance we have some brave and strong governor is gonna. Is gonna salute the troops and send out our proud National Guard boys to fight off ice. And that's just a battle I would love to see. I've been wanting to see that ever since Portland 2020. I've wanted to see National Guard troops fight against federal forces.

[Robert Evans]

Two groups of men who don't really know how to use their guns. Using their guns.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No.

[Robert Evans]

It's going to be amazing.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's a battle I've wanted to see for like five years.

[Robert Evans]

Whose plate carriers have the top closer to their nipples. It's anyone's game.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I need to see it. I need to see it. Come on.

[James Stout]

I would like to see it from a distance because that would be a shit show.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

From a sizable distance.

[James Stout]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

General Whitmer. Let's go. Let's go.

[Robert Evans]

We're expensing a fucking telescope for that firefight.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, Yeah.

[James Stout]

A periscope maybe.

[Robert Evans]

I. I trust the Iraqi army more than either of those sides.

[James Stout]

I've seen a lot of dudes fire guns while ducking behind a K beam holding the gun.

[Robert Evans]

They love doing that. It does look fun. It does look fun.

[James Stout]

It is. Yeah, it does look. I would like to do that, but they kick me out the range every time because of woke. How sad.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, not anymore, James.

[James Stout]

Yeah, that's also the casualties.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, not anymore, James. Woke is beaten.

[James Stout]

That's right. Yeah, they went woke. They went broke. I'm gonna buy the range.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's right.

[James Stout]

We'll all far from behind the bench. Rest now.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, mama beer.

[James Stout]

Other predictions. Maybe we'll get a good solid couple of weeks of rioting again, like Garrison said. Maybe it'll only take a year or two this time.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I don't think that anymore.

[Robert Evans]

Something will have to change.

[James Stout]

Yeah, yeah.

[Robert Evans]

There will have to be a material change in either organizing or social conditions because people will need to either be vastly more desperate than they are right now or they will need to have a specific reason to think. Well, this time getting out in the street might do something.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, I, I think we're gonna kind of continue the trends that, that we've been seeing, which, which points towards a bit of an apathy towards like, like big popular mobilizations and more towards kind of bizarre lone wolf attacks. Something that, you know, could be slight, even a slightly problematic or, you know, possibly darker predictions. I, I think we'll have like a really bad Luigi copycat within the next, like four months.

[Garrison Davis]

Sure.

[Robert Evans]

Yes.

[James Stout]

Years of Luigi.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like, it's not going to be good.

[Robert Evans]

It's not going to be good. There's probably going to be a situation where some guy either gets the best case is that he gets killed immediately.

[Jason Alexander]

By the dude's security.

[Robert Evans]

The worst case is there's a big public firefight and a whole fuckload of people get hit.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

Didn't I predict that there would be a big public crime with a 3D printed gun last year?

[Sophie Lichterman]

I think that was the year before we talked about that.

[James Stout]

Damn. Okay. So close.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And yeah, you know, I mean, this is, this certainly does kind of fit that mold. We'll see how much that like gets focused on in the trial and like continued reporting.

[James Stout]

Yeah, and in that legislation too. I missed a death. We can also include it in the hope section. Matthew Iglesias. That motherfucker. Motherfucker has been standing bullshit for 20 years. It just, it cannot continue. He's lost a juice a little bit. I think he's on the way out.

[Robert Evans]

All right, something very funny did just happen that we should talk about as a team. Senator Doug Mastriano, a 30 year US army veteran who taught at the war college, just tweeted an indignant, furious tweet about the US government not being honest with Americans about like, what's happening with these drones and yada. And the picture of the crashed drone is a TIE fighter. That's like a model TIE fighter on the bed of a flatbed being driven.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yes. We've all lost our minds.

[Robert Evans]

Caught at the US Army War College.

[James Stout]

They are not sending their best people.

[Robert Evans]

Oh, fuck. That's funny.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, that's beautiful.

[Robert Evans]

That's amazing stuff. That's one of the best things I've seen all year.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, God.

[Robert Evans]

Fuck me.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Finally, I like to close our predictions a little bit on Trump's cabinet. I think it's pretty, pretty safe to say considering his last presidency, we'll have at least one third cabinet turnover by the end of the year. Yeah, this is something that we've been talking about a lot. When do we think Musk is going to get the boot? And based on the way Trump's kind of positioned him, I'm not sure if it's going to be as soon as what we all kind of initially thought because Trump has kept him out of his inner orbit, but pretty solidly in his middle orbit. Like, he's, he's not in any like, real position, right. Yeah, he has Doge, but like, come.

[Robert Evans]

On, it just came out that he's not going to be able to get a high, the highest security clearance.

[Sophie Lichterman]

There you go.

[James Stout]

That's funny.

[Garrison Davis]

But like, he has him sitting next to, next to his family at Thanksgiving.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Totally. Yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

Which is.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, no, totally. And especially in like the three weeks after the election, they were like, they were like honeymoon. Right. They were, they were neck and neck and some of that's gonna like, start dissipating. Musk can't get fully booted out because, like, you know, the Federal government needs SpaceX and, and like, Musk's other like, technologies. So, like, they will remain friendly but like, they're not going to be in the close position that they are now. I initially, I put that date for being March 20, 2025, you know, a two months after inauguration Day. It's, it's enough time to get, you know, for, for someone like Trump to get tired of Musk's like, personality. But I think I might stretch that out a little bit more now than my initial prediction. I think. I think they might do a little bit more of a long term game here. But, but that also means that, that Musk maybe will not have as much like constant influence as what it was first looking like in those, like, you know, three months after the election.

[Robert Evans]

I think that RFK Jr. Is probably pushed out of the picture before Musk is.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah. If he tries to get rid of the fucking polio vaccine. It's going to be a real quick trip to the unemployment line for Bobby boy.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, I really. I don't think Trump's that reckless.

[Garrison Davis]

No, like that.

[Robert Evans]

That would be quite, quite a lie to get rid of the polio vaccine.

[James Stout]

Trump's also old. Like, he remembers he's that old.

[Garrison Davis]

But if. But if RFK Jr. Could get the wheat ingredient out of the McDonald's fries, I'd be most obliged.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, yeah, no, I'm sure that he's going to. He's going to reverse 100 years of corn subsidies and get corn served out of our Coca Cola. I believe in rfk.

[Garrison Davis]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

I feel pretty good about the continuing legality of Kratos as long as he's the HHS head.

[Sophie Lichterman]

There you go.

[Robert Evans]

All it's going to take is one of Joe Rogan's friends speaking in his ear. We'll be all right.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We're going to have legally required DMT for everyone in the country.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, why not? I think we need. And I've been. I've been saying this for years, we need to put the lithium back in the water. We also need to use those crop dusting planes and just, like, fill them with Xanax. Just, Just, just calm everyone down. Take everything back a couple of steps.

[Garrison Davis]

All right, I'm gonna go pet some dogs. So the podcast is over. Happy New Year, everyone.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Happy, Happy New Year, everyone. I do want everyone to pick one thing that. That. That they're gonna do this year that'll improve their life, however small. For me, I'm gonna get a new mirror. We're gonna all pick one thing. We call that project 2025. It's one thing we can do to improve our lives and, you know, and then by extension, the lives of everyone else around us. So make sure everyone has their own Personal Project 2025 going into this next year. I think we will need it.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Garrison Davis]

I'm holding my project 2025 in my arms right now.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Your new dog? Your new dog.

[Garrison Davis]

I adopted. I adopted Anderson, a sibling, and her name is Truman.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Lovely.

[Robert Evans]

After our greatest U.S. president.

[Garrison Davis]

After. Not the greatest U.S. president. I would never name a child of.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Mine after our president after the sheriff in Twin Peaks. That's right.

[Garrison Davis]

Also no.

[Sophie Lichterman]

All right, well, we love that after.

[James Stout]

The house that Vivek Gromit who grew up in the Truman show house.

[Robert Evans]

Matt Gates.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Matt Gates.

[Robert Evans]

That is Matt.

[James Stout]

Matt Gates, yeah. Named her after Matt Gaetz childhood home.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Matt Gates is, like, totally out of a job now. That's so funny.

[Garrison Davis]

It's very Funny. It's very, very funny. And I feel.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, that's so funny.

[Garrison Davis]

And I feel like we should end on that note, so.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Ha ha, ha ha.

[Garrison Davis]

To Matt Gates. Anyways, Anderson, Truman. Let's get the out of here.

[Peter Tilden]

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the really no really.

[Robert Evans]

Podcast, our mission is to get the.

[Sophie Lichterman]

True answers to life's best baffling questions.

[Peter Tilden]

Like why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We got the answer.

[Peter Tilden]

Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you and the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's gonna drop by.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Mr. Brian Krasny. How are you?

[Robert Evans]

Hello.

[Peter Tilden]

My friend Wayne Knight. About Jurassic Park.

[Jason Alexander]

Wayne Knight, welcome to really no, really, sir.

[Robert Evans]

Bless you all.

[Peter Tilden]

Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging.

[Robert Evans]

Really?

[Jason Alexander]

That's the opening?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Really?

[Robert Evans]

Not really.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, really? No, really.

[Peter Tilden]

Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win 500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign Jason Bobblehead.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's called really no really?

[Peter Tilden]

And you can find it on the.

[Jason Alexander]

Iheartradio app on Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Robert Evans]

Welcome back to It Could Happen Here. A podcast about it, which in this week's case is the Consumer Electronics show, is happening here. And yeah, we're here to talk about things falling apart. And again, in this case, that's the tech industry, because the story this ces, as it has been for the last several cess, is that the continuing degradation of big tech as it seeks more places to get money from while providing less and less utility to the people that it needs to give it money. And every ces, at some point, I find myself face to face with something that makes me say, I've now seen the silliest thing I've ever seen. And this year, that experience happened for the first time within 30 minutes of the first half day. And I'm gonna talk about that and show some videos to my panelists here, which, of course, are the great Ed Zittron.

[Jason Alexander]

It's me.

[H]

I'm here.

[Robert Evans]

The pretty good Garrison Davis.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Okay, thanks. Okay. All right. All right, buddy.

[Robert Evans]

Damn. And the supernumerary. Sorry I messed up the word I was using as a superlative to praise you. I'll take Ed Ongweso Jr. Ed. Thank you so much for joining us, everybody. Are you ready to see some of the dumbest AI generated videos? Nothing would fill me with more pleasure. Excellent. Excellent.

[H]

Nothing fills me with pleasure.

[Robert Evans]

So the first panel I sat down today with at 10am in the goddamn morning. Jesus. Was the Hollywood trajectory generative AI timeline, 2025 to 2030.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, boy. I am fascinated for what they think will happen in 2030.

[Robert Evans]

Everything's just gonna get better, Garrison.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

This panel featured a number of luminary thinkers, including Mary Hamilton, a managing director at Accenture, who announced her company's $3 billion investment in AI by dropping this gin.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I have a digital twin, and she's constantly evolving and how she gets used and what she says, and there's big implications around that. So I think this is a really.

[Jason Alexander]

Exciting space to be thinking about, like.

[Robert Evans]

That she just stole Hurley Herndon's thing. But okay.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Digital twin.

[H]

If I said that to a doctor, they'd think I had a concussion.

[Robert Evans]

It sure would.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This person needs, like, psychological care.

[Robert Evans]

You shouldn't be allowed to drive if you see it.

[H]

All right, Granddad, you need to thank it.

[Robert Evans]

Okay, let's get you. Let's get you.

[H]

Sit down.

[Robert Evans]

All right. And we're taking the phone away from you. Now. I think this is very silly because, again, I think, yeah, it's just a fundamental mismatch in what people might want from an AI agent and, like, the way in which they get talked about.

[H]

But also they use digital twin, which is some enterprise software shit.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[H]

Oh, my God.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. It's. It's. It's. I'm excited to go see some digital twin technology that I'm sure will make a cheap avatar. Avatar of me from a thick code switching.

[Garrison Davis]

This was.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This is the first thing I reported on at ces, was there was the digital twin, like, back in, like, 2022 or 2021, there was, like, one single company in all of CES that was promising, like, a digital twin, and now it's like every other company.

[H]

It means so many different things. It means, literally, a digital representation of anything. It doesn't even mean an AI agent. The fact that they're using it in the wrong place is very annoying to me.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

I keep seeing, like, they can now make an AI chatbot trained off of your social media presence. That's 85% accurate.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, I love 85%, as all twins are.

[Robert Evans]

And I want to say, like, no, they can't. But then you talk to the average person at ces or the average panelist on this particular panel, I'm like, yes, I do believe, in fact, everyone on that panel, you could accurately. You could accurately get 85% of their personality with a chatbot for a bit. Maybe a lot higher.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[James Stout]

Improvement.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. So I will say, like, that was silly. That's not the silliest thing I saw. Oh, the silliest thing I saw came courtesy of another panelist, Jason Zada, founder of Secret Level and COO of the company. The videos that Jason came to CES to brag about were a collection of the laziest AI slop ever to stain human eyeballs. His most recent big success that you could just see radiating off of him, how proud he was of this was Coca Cola's annual Christmas ad, which last year was produced for the first time entirely with AI And I'm just gonna. If you haven't seen this, who here seen Coca Cola's AI?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, I've. Oh, I've seen. I guess, yeah. I've seen pictures. I think I may have watched it one time.

[Robert Evans]

Okay, well, let's, let's, let's watch a.

[H]

Few times the hate. The amount it deserves.

[Robert Evans]

We're gonna play there's three different versions of this. Why we're just gonna.

[H]

Well, I mean, that's the. That's what it spat out.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[H]

Oh, my God. If there's three different versions, that's just. They saved the pro. Hell, everyone is the same length of shot.

[Robert Evans]

Can you believe this song's AI generated?

[H]

I can't believe that the.

[Robert Evans]

How could they teach a computer to write the lyrics? Holidays are coming.

[H]

I just can't believe we finally have the technology to have three trucks driving.

[Robert Evans]

Somewhere and a dog wagging its tail with dead eyes. Oh, these two horrible.

[H]

Oh, that's not how squirrels move.

[Robert Evans]

Trucks with Coca Cola in them driving down. Not a street.

[H]

Raccoons.

[Robert Evans]

Why is there a satellite?

[H]

Oh, they're gonna drop the ion cannon on the polar.

[Robert Evans]

It's all clearly AI it's all glowing like these city shots of, like, snow colored villages. With that, as we're going to see in later videos, AI Loves putting smoke and random fires where there should not be smoke and random fires.

[H]

Chris Kringle pack.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's such a bad omen for four more years of a Trump presidency.

[Robert Evans]

It's a bleak that we have like.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like, even uglier Thomas Kincaid esque artwork. That's all.

[Robert Evans]

Every frame looks like a Thomas animated.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, it's like they just generated a Thomas Kincaid like, frame and then like badly animated.

[H]

And the way that they move is very weird. Like, it looks kind of right, but kind of right.

[Jason Alexander]

Looks very strange.

[Robert Evans]

It does that all of the scenes, because it's, like, showing you a bunch of. You see, like, a polar bear. Obviously, it's a Coca Cola Christmas ad. You see, like, a reindeer, you see squirrels, you see a dog. But it always is like this very AI shot where it just pans across the animal, and it's, like, glowing and kind of glossy, and they move a little bit too much, like they're not.

[H]

Going anywhere with the movement. It's just like they are doing something and that's it.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[H]

You think in 10 years, they're still gonna have these commercials?

[Robert Evans]

No.

[H]

No, because where's the snow gonna be? There's just a polar bears walking around.

[Robert Evans]

Like, System one, which tests emotional responses to ads, claims that the initial response to their Christmas ad was overwhelmingly positive.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I. I don't think they're lying about that. I think if you walked up to someone, like, randomly on the street and showed them this, I think they'd be like, oh, yeah, it looks fine.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[H]

No one's watching a Coca Cola ad and being like, yeah, wow. I've never had one of these before. It's never a new experience.

[Robert Evans]

Not yet. We need an ad man.

[H]

Need an ad man for the Coke holdouts.

[Robert Evans]

We need an A.I. don Draper. Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, do not give them ideas.

[H]

What if a company lost $5 billion?

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. It's just an ad that doesn't work. Instead of going to the movies like Don Draper does throughout all of Mad Men, it just doesn't work and respond to any of your queries. Just Don Draper spending hours watching that looping Christmas video staring into nothingness. Yeah. So there was, like, an immediate, pretty immediate backlash to this. Like, all of the responses, if you, like, go to any of, like, where. Where these things live on YouTube. It's just people shitting on them. Which he did acknowledge Jason by saying the video was very debated.

[James Stout]

Yes.

[H]

Classic thing with commercials.

[Robert Evans]

We love debating commercials.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Many things are very debated these days.

[Robert Evans]

A lot of people are saying. And then he showed us next an AI generated video, the Heist, which was entirely made by a text script that itself was mostly written by ChatGPT. And here's how Jason describes the workflow for what you're about to see. It took thousands of generations to get the final film, but I'm absolutely blown away by the quality, the consistency, and adherence to the original prompt. When I described gritty New York city in the 80s, it delivered in spades. Consistently. While this is not perfect, it is hands down the best video generation model out there by a long shot. Additionally, it's important. No vfx, no cleanup, no color correction has been added. Everything is straight out of VO2. Google DeepMind. So what is the model? VO2. Google DeepMind, I think is what he's saying. It is.

[H]

I thought that they had another one. Either way, I'm sure what you're about to show me looks like a dog's asshole.

[Robert Evans]

It looks like. Yeah, New York. Exactly like New York. Giuliani right before he came in. Clean it up.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So this is like the competitor to Sora, I guess that is the other big, like, video generation.

[Jason Alexander]

Brand new.

[H]

I don't buy for a fucking.

[Robert Evans]

And I'm not impressed. But we'll see what you guys think.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Okay?

[Robert Evans]

I don't want to poison your reaction.

[H]

I wouldn't. Oh, God.

[Robert Evans]

Okay.

[Sophie Lichterman]

There is fire in this.

[Robert Evans]

The last time you're gonna see the sack full of money, it does not show up again.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's a lot of. A lot of fire.

[Robert Evans]

Lots of random fire in the.

[H]

I love when cars go backwards when they're driving forwards.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Was that five wheels again? Another street fire. I would love to do freeze frames on this, actually. It's in Gotham.

[H]

Why is there so many fires?

[Robert Evans]

Just. All right, let's take a shot every.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Time the car's on. Oh, my God.

[Robert Evans]

And also take a shot every time. He is wearing different clothing and has a clearly different face.

[H]

Well, the car has changed.

[Robert Evans]

He's praising the consistency. And it is a. He is dressed completely differently every scene.

[Sophie Lichterman]

His jacket has changed since the last one.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, yeah. And again, the cop car, the cars. When it shows the cars driving across the screen, they're kind of doing the same thing usually that the animals do in the coke ad.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Minimal motion at the best.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. I also love this. Can you believe this music?

[H]

I also want to just say, when it swerved to hit that thing, it was driving like half a mile an hour. Yeah, that's how I run.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. And look, an obviously different man.

[H]

Also, the way he runs.

[Jason Alexander]

That's how you run him.

[Sophie Lichterman]

With a gun, his arms out.

[Robert Evans]

Like two cops are three cops, actually.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Look how they're running. They spawned in a pudding. The running is very funny.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. His body different.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Okay.

[H]

What is going on with his feet?

[Robert Evans]

And now wait.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Different levels of facial hair. Different. Different jackets. He's wearing different colors, jackets.

[Robert Evans]

Vaguely different ethnicity. His face just move.

[H]

What the is going on?

[Robert Evans]

Oh, my God. Directed by Jason Zad in big flaming Words. Because again, the AI only knows how to put random fires on. Wow.

[H]

I'm so glad that we have the technology to do a thing where a guy gets chased by the police.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, we couldn't. This would have been impossible before as.

[H]

He runs at anywhere from one to 100 miles an hour.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I assume they just trained. This was specifically pulling on like Scorsese movies a lot.

[H]

I just want to know about these thousands of generations of script that is interesting.

[Robert Evans]

I am very curious because I just.

[H]

Don'T believe that for a second. Did he just go like read the.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah. No.

[Robert Evans]

That's the opening crawl to just like some generated Star Wars.

[H]

You know, Palpatine is the special cops.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I assume it's like shot by shot.

[Robert Evans]

Right? Like each.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Each shot is gonna require a lot of like iterations script. What?

[Robert Evans]

It's just.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, I mean again like it unpacking. What he actually is saying is unclear.

[Robert Evans]

Because I went to the YouTube video for this and the first five or four comments are. Looks like we found the new king of video. Jesus Christ. Give it a rest. Clothes change in every shot. Four to six year old boys are gonna love it. And still lacks character and vehicle consistency. But we're getting close.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Which is. Which is the exact same thing.

[Robert Evans]

By 2030 you're gonna have a man wear the same clothes for an entire video.

[Jason Alexander]

This is.

[H]

This has happened before with Sora. When they put Sora out, they're like, check out airhead on you.

[Sophie Lichterman]

My God.

[H]

And the balloon changes every single shot. It's a different size and color each time. There are just people running in the background sometimes. And then they made a new one. You're like, oh, well this is gonna be good. It was worse and less consistent. And this is what they think of us. They're like, these pigs will slop up anything.

[Robert Evans]

And you can't expect technology to do something as complicated as dress a man in clothing and have him stay in that same clothing over multiple scenes. Hollywood never figured this out.

[H]

It's so cool that this cost like so much money as well. Just burning. There was some fucking GPU melting in a data center in Arizona that's draining the load.

[Robert Evans]

Burning down North Carolina. The best part is also that there's.

[Jason Alexander]

Going to be like 30, 40 companies.

[Robert Evans]

Trying to recreate the same misshapen wheel, you know, for the next five to 10 years.

[H]

And also the little pigs that watch Star wars, including myself, they'll notice every minor inconsistency. Do you think that they're going to tolerate Luke Skywalkers and Watto and all their favorite characters.

[Robert Evans]

No, they're going to drive up.

[H]

You think that they're going to be.

[Robert Evans]

Happy office with a cybertruck.

[H]

Yeah, there's going to be a cybertruck situation.

[Robert Evans]

You. I think the issues are twofold, which is like number one, in order to make this shit sell to the people who watch movies, you have to dramatically reduce the average intelligence of people watching movies. You have to give everyone brain damage. They are working. And the other thing is the models have to get much better. And Jason made a point that like, look, every time people would like talk about the criticism, he'd be like, look, this is the worst it's gonna look, guys. And I was just looking into it. GPT4 took 50 times as many resources, like 50 times as much energy to train as GPT3 did. So these are the kind of like exponential increases that we're looking at. So like, if it took them so many millions of dollars of investment to get to the point where they can make this shitty video to make anything close to watchable, you're talking about again, just like lighting on fire. Billions of dollars to do what? To make a scene that you could already get like a 26 year old dude who grew up watching fucking Quentin Tarantino movies and taking cocaine and you could just give him $60,000 and he'll film that shit for you with an old car. Like.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, I mean you could, you could even like animate it.

[Robert Evans]

I mean, look, you give me a PS4 and somebody's grandmother and I will make them think that they're watching that.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, seriously, seriously.

[H]

The auto 6 on also this. I just want to read out some of the fucking people that use this model. We started working with creatives like Donald Glover, who I said was washed 10 years ago and I'm fucking sick of people.

[Robert Evans]

Awake of My Love was a. Was a good album. Objectively bad song.

[H]

It's a bad song with a great video.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, yeah.

[H]

I thought his jazz, his like kind of R B stuff is very interesting. Anyway, moving on.

[Robert Evans]

No, you are right.

[H]

And of course the weekend, so weekend.

[Robert Evans]

And someone called his TV show great.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh yeah.

[H]

Our work with creators on VO1 informed the development of VO2 and we look forward to working with trusted testers and creators to get feedback on this new model. How long are you going to get feedback? It sticks.

[Jason Alexander]

Thanks.

[Robert Evans]

We've got some feedback for you.

[H]

Yeah, I got a few thoughts.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Hopefully all those people are just getting paid to tell them words and be like, yeah, sure, I'll take your money. But who's to say if they give.

[H]

Me $20 million, I'm flipping, though.

[Robert Evans]

Like, just. Oh, yeah, no, I will turn on a dime.

[H]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Speaking of turning on a dime for money, here's Ad. Ah, we're back. So the next video that our friend, I now feel he's like a brother to me, Jason puts on was of an AI generated fictional elderly rock star talking about death.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, I'm excited. Oh, I'm excited.

[H]

We have the computer to do this.

[Robert Evans]

Plastic and incapable of dynamic expression as he guzzles randomly from bottles of liquor that flash in and out of existence. Sometimes he lies on his back in empty streets while talking about all of the CGI featureless women that he has loved in his exciting life.

[Jason Alexander]

Wow.

[Robert Evans]

Other times he plays stadium shows while obvious GPT written dialogue about aging and death drones on. When the video ends, everybody in the room claps. And as you watch this, I need you to imagine seeing the thing that I'm about to show you all and a room with like 200 people in it, all clapping enthusiastically.

[H]

I've gone to this in booze.

[Robert Evans]

I don't think I did. I did. I did. I said come the on as loud as I could.

[H]

It's not me at Rise of Skywalker.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. So here's Fade out.

[Jason Alexander]

It's George Carlin.

[Robert Evans]

Got an old man. Yeah, it looks a little bit like George Carlin.

[H]

Oh, it's the end from metal gear solid 3.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like, the world's just too God damn.

[Jason Alexander]

Big and you're just a ghost passing through.

[H]

What's he doing?

[Robert Evans]

I've Carried my Heart concert.

[H]

Granddad, calm down. I love these slash cuts. Now, these fast cuts are because the next frame was unusable.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yes, yes, Actually, yes.

[Robert Evans]

Like, he drank and the bottle changed in his hand. You could see it starting to happen.

[Jason Alexander]

Have it.

[Robert Evans]

What is lost? Just anonymous women destroyed it. Isn't that beautiful music? Listen to that. Lived it to the bone, could you believe? Generated by firing a Roman candle. I like.

[H]

Also, the old man does look very different each time.

[Robert Evans]

Very different old man.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yep.

[I]

That's a different.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's a different guy.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, that's the emperor from the first Gladiator movie. Show's over and he's just sort of trotting across.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Running away from the way this model generates. Running. Really uncanny.

[Robert Evans]

It's not. Oh, there he is.

[H]

Drink it again on the fire.

[Robert Evans]

Old rockstar drinking in front of a flaming house.

[Jason Alexander]

World might end tomorrow.

[Robert Evans]

The AI loves burning building. What is this?

[H]

Voiceover?

[Sophie Lichterman]

I would love to track his tattoos from frame for frame.

[H]

Also, he's about to eat the microphone.

[Robert Evans]

Completely different. I've done it.

[H]

Yum.

[Robert Evans]

Now we. He's sleeping in a. In a broken Mustang Ferrari.

[H]

The classic Ferrari Mustang.

[Robert Evans]

A Ferrari Mustang that's in like a pool in front of a mansion. But he clearly hasn't crashed into it. The car is hovering slightly over the pool. Like, I love this.

[Jason Alexander]

I love this.

[Robert Evans]

I love. And he tells us. He tells us during this, as if we're supposed to be impressed that ChatGPT wrote 75% of that script.

[Jason Alexander]

Fucking hell.

[H]

You had to punch that shot.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I can't believe that. Frankly.

[Robert Evans]

As a bartender, I regret walking.

[Jason Alexander]

Into the room to see if people want drinks.

[H]

This is a better offline bartender.

[Jason Alexander]

I apologize.

[Robert Evans]

I apologize that you had to hit like, a drink.

[H]

I also would like.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, actually, can I have a drink too?

[H]

We are in the better offline CES suite and we are all drinking because I just want to say I'm fucking disassociating after that. I'm so fucking sick every a year of doing this nonsense. And I look at these shit eaters and they show us that and they like, slurp down the slop. Oh, my God.

[Robert Evans]

It's. It's. It's hideous.

[H]

One of the easiest things to find an old man that drinks for an.

[Robert Evans]

Idea of, like, how real this company is. Obviously they were one of the companies. They were not the only people who made that Coca Cola ad. They were one of like three or four companies.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It takes four companies to make that take.

[Jason Alexander]

I can't believe it.

[Robert Evans]

They have 622 followers on Twitter. Hell yeah. Or not Twitter. On YouTube.

[Jason Alexander]

On YouTube.

[Robert Evans]

On YouTube. On YouTube.

[Jason Alexander]

More than that.

[H]

And all I post is karaoke.

[Robert Evans]

And this. This Fade out is their. Or, sorry. The Heist is their most successful video with 56,000 views. Fade out, which we just watched, has less than 5,000 views. They're not ready. So they're not quite ready.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's only gonna get better.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, it's only gonna get better. It's only gonna get better.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Famously, things only you can get it on the ground floor for a small.

[Robert Evans]

Price of $1 billion.

[H]

This is like $100,000 a compute.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. Yes.

[Jason Alexander]

Imagine how good it would be if it's.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The coin will only get yet worth more.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. Now, Garrison, I do think you should invest all of your salary.

[H]

I just did a 16th minute about this. I think I would rather Hawk Tour has a more obvious use case than this shit. Hey, do you want to spend way more money to get something Way worse. I actually can't get over the 75% chat GPT like that.

[Robert Evans]

Neither can I. Should it be more?

[H]

No, it should be. Theoretically, it should be. It should be 100.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It should be 100%. Yeah.

[H]

Not 70.

[Robert Evans]

Which means that a quarter.

[H]

A quarter of it was just fucking unusable.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, absolutely. They're generating, like, individual shots that they're, like, stitching together and, like, who knows how long it takes to get the prompt right for that shot to work.

[Robert Evans]

However long it takes. It was too long because it looks like shit. We're gonna watch a video I haven't seen yet. Or at least a portion because it's five minutes. We're not watching all this.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, my gosh.

[Robert Evans]

252 views and came out a week ago. It's called Maniminade.

[Sophie Lichterman]

What? Say that again.

[Robert Evans]

Mene.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, that's a word.

[H]

Now, it's like when you find your cats vomiting on the floor again.

[Robert Evans]

So first we see a diner called Menemenade that appears to be both on fire.

[H]

Yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh, God.

[Robert Evans]

And an old lady rises up out of a pile of ashes.

[H]

That's how mouths work.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Where am I?

[Jason Alexander]

Great.

[Robert Evans]

AI voice. What is this?

[H]

Phantasmagoris Voice acting.

[Robert Evans]

Who are you? It's me, Harrison Ford.

[Jason Alexander]

Allow me to Morpheus. Course.

[H]

What the fuck is going on?

[Jason Alexander]

What?

[Robert Evans]

I think this is death. This old lady's dead.

[H]

Oh, that's how I eat.

[Robert Evans]

Now. She's tripping on tomatoes. Oh, yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

The.

[Robert Evans]

The. The decaying sandy diner that exploded has turned into a light, lively, 50s diner.

[H]

Dennis Villa, Villanueva.

[Robert Evans]

This is a segregated diner.

[James Stout]

Yes.

[Robert Evans]

I only see white people in the diner.

[Jason Alexander]

She's going back to the good old days.

[Robert Evans]

He is. He is the help, though. Yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[H]

Oh, that's natural.

[Robert Evans]

Little kid just fell down. And the way it shows falling is that he just sort of deflates that Bjork and he's up again and he's staring at. Well, that's terrible. Yeah, we don't need to watch any more of that. No one. No one. No one want to watch this.

[H]

If you watch this and have a positive reaction, they should. They should keep you in a holding.

[Jason Alexander]

Cell for a week.

[Robert Evans]

I'm deeply unhappy at the time we already spent watching.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[H]

Like, we don't know what you're going to do next.

[Robert Evans]

You know, we're building a facility for you.

[H]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

The phrase reality distortion field gets used a lot when we talk about text, but I really tasted it in that room because all anyone on stage could talk about is how good it looks in every one of these videos, people are like clapping. They're like, wow, this is amazing.

[Jason Alexander]

Why do you think they think it looks good?

[H]

It looks better than an Xbox.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[H]

And the idea is you typed a thing in and now a thing came out. And that's magical.

[Robert Evans]

So by virtue of not having humans work on it, it's. So it's better than you'd have. Yeah. Okay. There was a moment after this where Jason like joked about how, like, I don't like, obviously I don't want to replace actors. Yes. And another panelist was like, I think we're gonna have to make some. Have to see how some decisions go as to fair use because obviously this is cribbing from a bunch of fucking Scorsese movies.

[H]

Also, it kind of looked like Blade Runner 2049.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. And Thomas can get.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And Blade Runner 2049. And Denis Villeneuve in general, like all of his films have been like a massive source for. For these motion and still generations. So much so that like, I think like later on in 2049 is like one of the easiest films to like, like replicate film stills almost exactly for. Based on like how like how like load bearing that film has been for a whole bunch of these models. That could be due to a number of factors.

[Robert Evans]

Now I know what you're wondering. How soon until we can get a full 90 minute movie that looks like this.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, I mean, I'm guessing days away.

[Robert Evans]

No, no, Jason said probably not. At least for a decade or so.

[Jason Alexander]

Really?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Okay, that's interesting.

[H]

Yeah, I don't want to wait that long.

[Robert Evans]

What a worthwhile endeavor though, because like.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He could have said shorter. That actually is interesting.

[H]

He could have said anything those chumps in there would have believed.

[Robert Evans]

I think it is like he did have to spend probably hundreds of hours of his precious one human life stitching those turds together and he's like, it's nowhere near ready. There's no way he could make a nightmare.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He's giving himself a wall out of time for that.

[Robert Evans]

Because I've only really seen one interesting generative video thing. But it wasn't a generative video thing.

[Jason Alexander]

It was.

[Robert Evans]

They filmed, Brian Eno filmed a documentary and they created, you know, some back end software so that they would be able to do cut of existing footage and try to totally focus on parts of the documentary.

[Jason Alexander]

But.

[Robert Evans]

But I never ever see anything interested in like constructing narratives or to like, you know, teasing other aspects of the creative process.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's only.

[Jason Alexander]

Let's try to replace.

[Robert Evans]

Right, let's try to replace.

[H]

You can't do narrative with it.

[Robert Evans]

Well, and that's the thing. If I'd sat down there. Cause I was sitting. I said this. I was sitting next to a guy from USC who was one of the only people in the room who was, like, similarly critical to me of what we were seeing on stage. It was like, look. If they had come down and been like, look, this is how we can plug a script in and it can create a story, and you can kind of see, like, a crude CGI animation of how the shots will look. And that can help you plan out. That's legitimately useful. That's the thing that adds value and can cut costs in a meaningful way to the production of good TV and movies. But that's not as sexy as, like. And they were all talking. There was this very weird moment where one of the panels. Leslie Shannon, who's head of innovation for Nokia, a company that used to make phones and now makes panelists who pretend to be entertained by awkward aliens.

[Sophie Lichterman]

They also, like, make cameras, and they.

[Jason Alexander]

Make a lot of stuff.

[Robert Evans]

I was just shitting on Nokia. She's like, can we use neuroscience to see how people are reacting to AI generated videos? And then adjust the ending to be like, you know, let's make this resonate.

[H]

I have an idea.

[Robert Evans]

That way we're helping the creative. And I was like, are you out of your fucking mind?

[H]

Can we attach electrodes to panels to people's skulls?

[Robert Evans]

I would have supported electrodes in their skulls. Yes.

[H]

Jesus Christ.

[Robert Evans]

I think we should do the monkey neuralink thing tomorrow. Perhaps a pair of calipers.

[H]

We got some skulls.

[Robert Evans]

I am fascinated. The skull shapes of that fucking car.

[H]

But also to say that is. There's so many things they've said that just. They wouldn't survive a deposition.

[Robert Evans]

Speaking of things that wouldn't survive a deposition, the sponsors to this podcast. Okay, so that first panel was a real moment. I went through a couple of more. One of which was on, like, advertising and AI and was mostly. Mostly pretty boring. The third panel I went through, though, was called AI Cinematic Spatial and xr. And I just want to actually play you guys. You'll have to cluster around.

[H]

I would actually believe that was generated with ChatGPT, but like GPT 2.0.

[Jason Alexander]

So let's start with this one. AI will be more impactful than the Internet.

[Peter Tilden]

It.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Maybe I'm leaning yes.

[James Stout]

It's a trick question.

[Robert Evans]

Because it is the Internet.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Right?

[I]

That was.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That was my answer to it.

[Jason Alexander]

It is the Internet.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So, no. Although it can run without The Internet.

[Robert Evans]

So I might go.

[I]

There you go.

[Sophie Lichterman]

All right.

[Robert Evans]

What's one impact AI?

[Sophie Lichterman]

AI is going to result in astronomical job losses.

[Peter Tilden]

True, False.

[Robert Evans]

There will be an evolution of job loss next.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I'd have to say redistribution of jobs. That's right.

[Robert Evans]

Exactly. That was the scene I wanted you to hear, where they're like, we don't want to say it out loud. And then everyone chuckles.

[H]

These people are too fucking smug.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[H]

These people sound too confident and too chummy and too happy to say things like this. That's not good. I don't love these people laughing about people losing jobs.

[Robert Evans]

No, they shouldn't have jobs.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's.

[H]

That's a good place to start.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, I don't like that either. And the people you're hearing from. Let me. Let me tell you who's in this fucking panel. Who was just laughing about, like, sociopath. Well, there will be a. An evolution of job loss. Yeah. So the motherfuckers who are on that panel laughing about people losing their job. Ted Shilowitz.

[Jason Alexander]

Literally.

[Robert Evans]

His name is Shilowitz. Futurist at Cinemersion Inc. That's like a J.K. rowling name. Rebecca Barkin, co founder and CEO, Lamin01. Aaron Luber, director partnerships at Google I was about your managing director, IPG Media Lab. Leila Amir Sadeji, Principal Program Manager at Engineering Microsoft, and Katie Henson, svp post production at Sphere Studios. So those are the people who.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So sad. All laughing and like, it's like generative. AI is like, good at, like, one thing creatively. It's good at, like, streamlining vfx, like, workflow. The workflow of how to do, like, VFX shots. It is. It is like, there's aspects. Famously, the only useful thing it's been used for is making people's eyes blink blue in Dune Part 2.

[Robert Evans]

It's not hundred billion dollars good.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And like, it is applicable for, like, changing objects into other objects on screen. It can produce really, like, kind of odd, like, uncanny effects that could be utilized by a team of human artists. Really. Well, what it can't do is generate a short film that is in any way compelling. Disagree.

[H]

Based on what?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, well, that is anyway, compelling as a piece of art.

[H]

Oh, okay.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And the fact that they're, like, laughing at at how much.

[H]

How much lost in enough jobs they have not or had structures fall to the beauty of the flame.

[Robert Evans]

Right. Although the AI keeps foreboding that that's coming for them. It wants something.

[H]

The pernicious flames.

[Robert Evans]

I'm going to end on A happy note, because the last panel I went to was actually really cool. It was AI and the Crisis of Creative deepfakes, Ethics and the law. And it featured the first intelligent person that I've seen at CES this year, Moya McTeer, who is a folklorist and senior advisor at the Human Artistry Campaign. It also featured Duncan Crabtree Ireland, who's the national executive director and chief negotiator of SAG aftra.

[Sophie Lichterman]

There we go. There we go.

[Robert Evans]

And this was no bullshit. It was talking about all of the different lawsuits that are going on right now, all of the litigation around AI and the actual strategy for litigating. And there was a couple of points where Duncan was like, a lot is going to hit hinge on some very brave, very famous people choosing to throw down some big dollar lawsuits. Like, that's what we need right now. They did talk about the no Fakes act, which has bipartisan support and gives some legal force to allow people to push for AI copies of themselves to be taken down. And they think there's also some bipartisan possibility to get AI labeling, like legislation.

[H]

The thing is, any of these things would be fucking fatal. Because if what, you have to remove something from a model. How the fuck do we do that?

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, we don't know.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You have to throw away the entire model.

[H]

You have to retrain. There's no way around it.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. And there was a really good point where kind of at the end of this, part of what I appreciate is, again, there was no bullshit. Like, Moya at one point was like, I think it is absolute. It being generative. AI is absolutely a net negative for the artistic community. The point is not to get something out as quick as possible. It's like, make art.

[Jason Alexander]

Right?

[Sophie Lichterman]

And this has to be like, one of maybe five people who are doing panels at CES who's, like, willing to say that.

[Robert Evans]

Yes. And Duncan got on and was like, look, you can't stop the technology from. From being invented. So the best path forward is to, like, try and channel this into a direction that, like, is at least better for artists. Like, there was very little from most of the people on the panel, very little bullshit. There was some bullshit from one person on the panel.

[H]

Okey dokey.

[Robert Evans]

Ginny Katzman, senior Director of Government affairs from Microsoft. Oh, I bet. Oh, I bet that was fun. So after there's this whole point where, like, everyone else on the panel is like, yeah, I think it's probably a net negative for artists on the whole.

[Garrison Davis]

And.

[Robert Evans]

And Ginny comes on, she's like. Actually, I think it's a net positive. And her example of this is, well, there's a lot of stuff that you couldn't do before that thanks to AI, you could do like de aging Harrison Ford for the Indiana Jones movie.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Something famously that went over very well. Everyone loved and thought was a great creative choice. You know what?

[H]

This is the fucking problem with all of this. On top of how shit it is and how expensive it is. Which kind of AI are we talking about there, dipshit? That's not generative AI. That's not what that fucking was.

[Robert Evans]

And it still sucks.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And it also steals us from being able to cast a young River Phoenix to play a lovely young.

[Robert Evans]

Just the only thing in the way it's getting cast in more stuff. Gary, I'm asking very unfair.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, luckily with the power of AI.

[Jason Alexander]

We can put River Phoenix every newspaper.

[Robert Evans]

Sequentially starting in 1834. So I have not gotten to the end of River Phoenix. It would be surely long career yet.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It would be really cool.

[H]

Sleeping Guy, I think he's got some bold ideas.

[Robert Evans]

I think this is going to work out really well for Germany.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It would be really cool that instead of just doing young Harrison 4, they just do a River Phoenix deep fake.

[James Stout]

Him.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Look, it's canonical.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, great idea.

[H]

I love the movies and the future of them too. This is so good. This is so bad.

[Sophie Lichterman]

James Mangold, you're a hack and a frog.

[Robert Evans]

So I gotta say it was very funny because she also suggests, Jenny, we can use animals without causing harm thanks to AI. A thing that no one had figured out how to do before. Nobody had ever figured out how to just like not hurt animals in movies. That didn't exist before AI. Thank God.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Thankfully, AI will never do any harm to animals for the environment.

[Robert Evans]

Nobody asked the lobbyist from Microsoft what else the company is doing with AI with police departments or with fossil fuel companies. Yeah. Is that bad for animals?

[Jason Alexander]

No, actually it's really good.

[Robert Evans]

They love it, they need it.

[Jason Alexander]

They yearn for the moments.

[Robert Evans]

They love data centers, great for their habitats. She said there's issues with employment, but there's lots of issues that fall around that. And I do think you need a balance. And at the end of it, the guy running the panel just says, okay.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, this sounds like you guys are.

[Robert Evans]

Saying a bunch of woke shit on this panel. All right, all right, Microsoft, just once.

[H]

I'd like on the panel someone to go and say, what the fuck do you mean? What do you mean?

[Robert Evans]

The closest to that that you were gonna get, I Think we do need.

[Sophie Lichterman]

A balance of some people being fired, like these people, and other people keeping their jobs like everyone else.

[Robert Evans]

Firing something out like Moya give her. Somebody has to lose and somebody has to win.

[Jason Alexander]

Exactly. That's her entire Oscar.

[H]

Somebody has the gun, somebody doesn't. Somebody knows the way the maze works, and somebody.

[Robert Evans]

What are you gonna.

[Jason Alexander]

What?

[Robert Evans]

We shouldn't have guns.

[H]

We shouldn't have dropped them in. And one of them knows the maze and they have a gun.

[Robert Evans]

Like you shouldn't have a gun maze.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

What are you talking about?

[H]

We need the gun maze.

[Robert Evans]

Now, look, we all. We all like keeping a couple of people in a maze beneath our house, right?

[H]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. There's nothing wrong with it.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This is just the dormant nexus.

[Jason Alexander]

We just.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We keep doing it.

[H]

Even the Torment nexus is fun.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's the annoying.

[Robert Evans]

It's a nice maze under my house.

[H]

They have plenty of space to run. Some of them even sometimes sunlight through.

[Robert Evans]

One of the corners.

[H]

The Minotaur gets them only sometimes. Yeah, I'm the Minotaur. Anyway, the gun maze isn't real. But also, most of their arguments can't mostly just come down to. Well, you can't make an omelette without breaking it. Like, you have to make people.

[Robert Evans]

You have to break the human drive to create art. Obviously, to make an omelet, we must commoditize, not taste good.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[H]

An omelet.

[Jason Alexander]

Esque food.

[Robert Evans]

It's a piss omelette. Like, there's piss in the omelette. And we had to burn down the Sistine Chapel to make the piss omelette.

[H]

The computer made it, though.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, go on. Clap for the computer. We did firebomb the Louvre. But look. Look at this video of a nameless rock star. Oh, God. All right, well, that's the episode. That's all I got, folks. That was my first day at CES 2025. Huzzah.

[H]

Yeah, this is just my first day. Better offlines here all week. I'm gonna hear about stuff like this all week, and I think I'm gonna be fully joke ified. I'm gonna wake up in the clown makeup on Friday.

[Robert Evans]

I'm gonna find the funnest thing to bring back for you.

[H]

I'm gonna find a. An artist to put me in full joke. No, I'm not.

[Robert Evans]

I'm gonna try to steal that AI Enhanced grill.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, grill that texts you.

[Robert Evans]

Can I just, like, move this around? I just want to test how it rolls the AI Grill. Open the door. Open the door.

[H]

As someone who's Done a lot of, like, grilling. Done a lot of smoking. Barbecue. I don't know what an AI would do. Is it gonna talk to me in the six hours?

[Robert Evans]

Wait, are you. Are you trying to tell us here at Zitron?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yes.

[Robert Evans]

That you have grilled meat without a robot texting you about it? Because I just don't believe it.

[H]

I don't know how I did it.

[Jason Alexander]

But I did it. You're never gonna.

[Robert Evans]

Your kind has always dreamed of knowing how to cook this.

[H]

No one would ever believe, but he killed the robots.

[Robert Evans]

It was impossible.

[H]

Oh, God. We're at the death of innovation.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[H]

The end of technology.

[Robert Evans]

A lot of things, maybe.

[H]

And the end of the episode.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. And the end of the episode. Thank God you know, everyone else, be the cybertruck in the.

[James Stout]

Foreign.

[Peter Tilden]

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the really Know really.

[Robert Evans]

Podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions, like.

[Peter Tilden]

Why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We got the answer.

[Peter Tilden]

Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientists who figured out if your dog truly loves you. And the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's gonna drop by.

[Jason Alexander]

Mr. Bryan Cranston is with us.

[Sophie Lichterman]

How are you?

[Peter Tilden]

Hello, my friend Wayne Knight. About Jurassic Park.

[Jason Alexander]

Wayne Knight, welcome to really not really, sir. Bless you all.

[Peter Tilden]

Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging.

[Robert Evans]

Really?

[Jason Alexander]

That's the opening?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Really?

[Robert Evans]

Not really.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, really? No, really.

[Peter Tilden]

Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign. Jason Bobblehead.

[Jason Alexander]

It's called really?

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, really.

[Peter Tilden]

And you can find it on the.

[Jason Alexander]

Iheartradio app on Apple Podcasts or wherever.

[Peter Tilden]

You get your podcasts.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh, welcome back to It Could Happen Here, a podcast about it happening here, which is really true in a lot of ways. Tonight night, Harrison Davis and I are seated at the glorious majestical hotel, name redacted on the Las Vegas strip. We had a long day at ces. Long day listening to panels, catching up with the latest tech news, trying gadgets, and also at the same time, texting our dear friends in Los Angeles as unprecedented fires sweep them from their homes. Literally. The Getty is threatened. Pasadena and Santa Monica are both being evacuated as One once. It's a. A real one two punch of America's favorite tech show in the apocalypse Today. How are you feeling, G?

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's an average day in America.

[Jason Alexander]

Average day in America. Temperature's not coming down anytime soon.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No. No.

[Jason Alexander]

Well, I'll just take a moment to breathe with that. So you want to start us off with what you did this morning? I was panel guy yesterday. Dale was a man of action, walking around and mostly trying all the free massage chairs. What did you see this morning?

[Sophie Lichterman]

I saw so many AI panels, half of which I left halfway through because they. I knew they weren't gonna be useful for me.

[Jason Alexander]

Just dog shit.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The other half I took. I took notes on and just got sad. But, no, today was full panel, starting bright and early in the morning, where I walked into a panel where I heard augmentation, not replacement about 20 times in the span of, like, 20 minutes.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, I, I keep hearing versions of that, too, in the AI And Hollywood panels. They would be like, like, yeah, we want to develop a machine that can read the brains of our viewers and alter the endings of movies, you know, but we see this as a way of augmenting the artist's work.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yes. And the biggest thing that I noticed across multiple panels today is an almost, like, anxiety among these tech executives about consumers rejecting the AI sloppification of everything. And they're trying to find ways to, like, actually force people to start, like, using these products or having them, like, liking it.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And I haven't really sensed that anxiety before. It's. It's all. It's all been very, very positive.

[Jason Alexander]

Like, I think it's a mix of, number one, the money still isn't there where they need it to be. It has not started, like, blooming to the extent that they were expecting it by now. And I think the other part is people are still not happy with this stuff. I'm glad you felt that too, because I almost was like, especially after the election. Like, I, I. I don't trust my feelings on this, that they're totally scared, but I really do do think there's a piece of that coming through.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No. A phrase one of the panelists used this morning was the AI Ick. Like, like, how do we.

[Robert Evans]

Howdy.

[Sophie Lichterman]

How do we beat the AI Ick? And if you ever say to yourself, how do I stop having people feel an ick around me? Maybe you should really look inwards.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Maybe the problem's you, not them.

[Jason Alexander]

You know, who doesn't need to worry about, quote, unquote, ick for their product market is people who make things that people like.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So, but I, I heard a lot about, you know, in trying to get people to use these products is like making sure artists don't feel like they're being replaced, instead having their like, art production process be augmented with AI and how, how that can make art easier to make while still keeping the human at the center of AI tools. And this is just what they talked about for like a while, while reiterating that lots of the developments they need to see on AI, they have it on the tech side. What they need to rely on is consumer acceptance to really drive that innovation to see like, what they can get away with. Like, how much will the consumer accept the soppification of art and entertainment and customer service and all these things are trying to cram AI into and like.

[Jason Alexander]

How much worse can you make the world before people stand up and stop you with their fists or guns?

[Sophie Lichterman]

And you mentioned something about like trying to like tailor like movie endings for specific people and I, I definitely heard some stuff about that. There's this one guy who was, who was like the, the panel's resident like, content creator. He was supposed to like, represent like the artist block, even though he's like, yeah, you know, some kind of like AI friendly content creator though, on this panel. And he talked about how like, back in the day you needed to have friends that would like, recommend you music. And like the Spotify algorithm is too based on like an echo chamber, which you already like. But now with agentic AI, this allows trust between the consumer and the machine to recommend new music. And like, again, like so much of these products is just trying to like, replace friendship.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, people. Have you tried having friends?

[Robert Evans]

Have you tried knowing people?

[Sophie Lichterman]

How can you engage with like art and culture without friends? Like, how can you like, learn more about like, what your friends are into, what they like? How can you discover new music just like without that instead replacing that beautifully human process Every year at Cefpot.

[Jason Alexander]

Yes. There are points in time where I get that, like, oh yeah, 2020 really us up a lot. Like 2020 really did some lasting damage. Like I know it was, that was happening with the younger generation before the iPad kid generation. But like that, that really did a number on some folks.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Someone from Meta, Right, Facebook specifically. They're like Metaverse division, which they're still trying to push for, by the way.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh, yeah, no, I mean they're still calling it Meta, which honestly there's a degree to which I almost respect it because like, we are not Biting?

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, no one. No one is. But she talked about how they can, like, blend the Metaverse and AI to make customized personal experiences. Say that you're watching an immersive live concert in a mixed reality, something that both me and Auburn do all the time.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh, man, I love mixed reality.

[Robert Evans]

You.

[Jason Alexander]

And we're watching our Harry Styles mixed reality concerts. We're seeing the Hundred Geck.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You know, honestly, a 100x mixed reality concert could go crazy.

[Robert Evans]

Sure, we'll finally.

[Jason Alexander]

I'll finally get you pilled on real big fish.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But basically, as you're in this, like, Metaverse concert, they can have an AI that will sense your own excitement and personalize the ending of the experience based on your favorite songs or artists. So as you're getting excited, some, like, AI Taylor Swift can, like, finish the song, like, for you based on, like, your own, like, musical tastes, based on what the AI knows about you. And it's about creating these customized experiences.

[Jason Alexander]

It's such a. You can clearly tell that none of these people have souls. Right? It's such a mismatch of what people get from music because they think that, like, oh, this is just like a. If I see that, like, this specific beat line is, I. I can just sort of, like, plug this in and like. No, no. Like, what makes people react to musicians and artists is that they, like, make things that make them feel something. Like, that's why people get, like, really into artists. Artists is they feel seen and identify with a piece of art as opposed to, like, oh, oh, that guy really liked the first opening bars to fucking Octopus's Garden. Like, let's. Let's just, like, really turn up the octopus.

[Robert Evans]

A lot more octopuses.

[Jason Alexander]

10%.

[Robert Evans]

How many more octopuses can we fit in this fucking.

[Jason Alexander]

In this track?

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, another panel I went to later in the day was about, like, how do you market to Gen Z? Very funny panel.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And they're talking about how, like, authenticity is so important. Like, you need to partner with influencers that have, like, have, like, an authentic brand. And it's funny having that juxtaposed with, like, these, like, these, like, AI slot panels where, like, you need, like, an AI Taylor Swift to come, like, boost the excitement for all these kids who are in their Metaverse concerts. Oh, boy. But no, like, personalized content, like, like targeting, like, AI. AI generated content specifically for certain people, for certain users. Users. Whether that's on social media, whether that's on, you know, the Metaverse. Like, some of these people talk about someone on the panel from Adobe who's You know, Adobe's integrating a whole bunch of generative AI into their, like, suite of products, right? Like a Photoshop premiere after Effects, right? Big, big company in the creative space. He said that like, like, personalized content is always the most impactful, like, content that a person feels like, a genuine connection to. And that connection can be formed by just being, like, you know, a compelling artist where you can, like, recognize shared experiences of. Shared experiences of humanity. But now you don't need that artist part anymore. He said they only need three parts to create a pipeline. You need data, you need compelling, like, journeys to take the user on, and you need the content itself. And the goal is to create content at scale that's highly personalized. He said, quote, we're good at the first two parts. Now we just need to improve the actual content side, which I don't even think that's true. I don't think AI is good at creating compelling human journeys.

[Robert Evans]

I had it.

[Jason Alexander]

So the video I didn't play, you guys from my terrible fucking AI generated videos was this. It was like a girl coming to college looking at a picture of her dad. And it was like a narration of her life with her father who, like, is dead, that she misses, and all that she learned from her dad. And it, like, it. It's a mix of, like, all these different, like, there's a chunk where it looks like a Disney animated picture. There's a chunk where it looks like anime. She and her dad having these, like, adventures around the world. There's a bit of it that looks like a Marvel movie movie. And he's like, we can do all these different, you know, animation styles, and they're seamless and, like, you know, the audience really goes on a journey with this. And it's like, but there's. There was no girl who lost your dad. Nobody lost their dad here. This is. You just had a computer generate text about a dad dying. Like, there's nothing underpinning this, right? Nobody has anything they're trying to get across. Like, you just. In this one, they look like Marvel heroes for some reason. In this one, they look like Zulu warriors kind of done up in a slightly racist Lion King style. Like, what is being transmitted other than, like, look at all of the different art styles we can rip off.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, they do not have a journey. But even they themselves admit that they still don't have the content. The content itself still isn't even there. And that's something, like, they even acknowledge. And this is, like, a hurdle to. This is. This is a hurdle to get over what they do have is the data. And like, this is like, something that Adobe has done, because if you use Adobe products now, some of the most used creative products, Adobe trains all their, all of their AI systems on the stuff that you make using their products. Products, which, you know, he, he really just blazed past that point because that's, that's a whole other discussion. But even they know that they don't have, like, the actual products. And, and this is still reliant on, like, consumer acceptance. As, as they said before, someone from Meta, the same person on the panel that talked about how, like, a few days ago on Instagram, they tried to announce, like, like, you'll have, like, AI profiles, right? Like, like completely AI generated pictures profiles. Like, you know, like fake people who have their own accounts.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And this created such a big backlash that they rolled this back and they simply announced this before ces.

[Jason Alexander]

One of these accounts was literally like, I'm a mother of two queer black woman, you know. Yeah, I got a lot to say about the world.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Someone call up the situationists, please.

[Jason Alexander]

And some, like, people started talking to her. Like, were any black people at all involved in, like, making this chat, Bobby? She was like, well, no. And that's a real problem. That is a real problem, yes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And the excuse that this person from Meta said is that the market just isn't ready yet. It's not that the actual product itself is, like, bad or like, no one really wants, just the market's not ready yet.

[Jason Alexander]

Well, they're so used to everything that they've done so far. They've kept getting money, right. And, like, it's slowed down and they've had to do layoffs, but, like, nobody's just made them stop at any point. Which, honestly, you know, I, I made a comment about healthcare executives a while back needing, like, a retirement plan paid in millimeters. So I'm not going to make that same comment about tech industry ghouls because, you know, we all know what, what's in the news, but something has to be done to force these people to stop moving in this direction. And I don't know how to get across them. Like, they're already at this point, like, they seem to really want, not want this, and we have to find a way. They're just not ready. We have to find a way to force this on them.

[Sophie Lichterman]

There's a few ideas I don't know.

[Jason Alexander]

How to get across to them in a peaceful manner.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, oh, sorry.

[Jason Alexander]

Okay. People don't want this peaceful manner. I'm a Man of peace. Gay Russen I'm a man of peace. I'm not a plumber.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The. The last thing I'd add about this panel, just in terms of how much this stuff is just actually taking over more and more of the market, even if people don't want it, is that the guy from Adobe announced that in the fourth quarter of last year they were able to boost all of like Adobe's like, you know, emails. If you send like an email to Adobe, right, you have a problem. Like you need help. But like everything that they do on emails is now 100% generated by AI. And this was boosted from 50 at the start of last year. Now it's 100% of all of their email content is now done by AI with some moderation, by humans.

[Jason Alexander]

Mean they're calm, like when the company itself is like communicating with customers through email.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's, that's, that's what it sounded like. Yes.

[Jason Alexander]

They're still writing email sometimes to each other. Or is the all AI for that too?

[Sophie Lichterman]

He described it as like email content. So, like, I'm pretty sure it is like content. Then probably customer service stuff, you know, like marketing, maybe like outreach, like certain, like outreach things. But yeah, like 100% now generated by AI with some human like moderation. But yeah, that is where things are moving and that's how I started my morning.

[Jason Alexander]

Well, better than a cup of coffee is that sense of creeping dread that like, wow, I just saw a bunch of people who will probably would rather kill the world than be stopped from shoveling AI slop into people's mouths. Because this is the only future they can imagine is one in which they work for a company that feeds the planet poison and kills the human concept of creativity so that they can buy a house in San Francisco.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Do you know what I want to feed the concept of?

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, we'll talk about that. But here's some ads. We're back.

[Robert Evans]

What was part two of this episode.

[Jason Alexander]

Meant to be, buddy? I'm. Oh, let's talk about that helicopter.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, yeah, I, I think, yeah. As I was going from panel to panel scribbling notes on AI.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

As some very exciting news stories dropped that we'll talk about later. What were you up to, Robert?

[Jason Alexander]

Well, I was, I was trawling the show floor as I often do at some point in a ces and I came across a number of Majestic products. You know, a lot of it was AI based and we'll talk some more about that here. But I ran into something that was, thank God, had Nothing to do with AI. And it's a death trap. Every, every one of these there's like.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Some sort of cs. We find a new death trap.

[Jason Alexander]

There's a lot of connected vehicles. There are a lot of EVs. Last year there were a ton of different flying taxi type options. People that were really trying to.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Which you don't see it all this year.

[Robert Evans]

Nothing this year.

[Jason Alexander]

Nothing this year. Because it's a terrible idea. It's a terrible idea. The people who are rich enough to pay for flying vehicles don't want it to be a taxi. And the people who can't afford their own flying vehicles also can't afford anyway. So this is instead of any of that Richter. Richter. Richter R I C T O Richter, which is a Chinese company. Their ads all say YB Normal.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Many people are saying this.

[Jason Alexander]

The future of travel will not be on the ground. And the Richter is a hybrid. It is like a smart car style size vehicle. It's like half the size.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It only has two wheels though.

[Jason Alexander]

Yes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It looks more like a scooter.

[Jason Alexander]

It's more like a weird little scooter.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like a Vespa almost.

[Jason Alexander]

But it's fully enclosed and in addition to having its wheels and being able to travel about on the ground, it has four like quadricopter style rotors. Because it is an aquatic flying car.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Aquatic flying.

[Jason Alexander]

I saw no evidence that it could actually go in the water.

[Sophie Lichterman]

How high can these things go up?

[Jason Alexander]

Less than 200 meters. You know why, Garrison?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Why? Why is that?

[Jason Alexander]

Because if you try to go above that, you need a pilot's license.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You don't need a pilot's license.

[Jason Alexander]

I have that. When I was interviewing them I was like, so I assume there's gotta be some sort of pilot's license for this, this flying craft. And they're like, no, as long as you stay under 200 meters, you're good.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Do you need a driver's like, are you going to put a license plate.

[Jason Alexander]

On this or is there no space for one buddy?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Is it completely unregulated?

[Jason Alexander]

I'm going to be honest, and I don't say this for any problematic reason, but like these folks are Chinese and did not seem to have a great deal of knowledge about the US or its law.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Sure.

[Jason Alexander]

That said, I can't imagine China's less strict about personal aircraft.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I would like to take this on the i5.

[Jason Alexander]

Just start.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Zooming. Yeah, zooming up in the air. Cuz you could probably do like a pretty, a pretty good road trip on this, right? You can, you can you can about that.

[Jason Alexander]

So it's very small and it's completely electric. So I, I asked him how much time do you get in the air with this bad boy on battery? Maybe 25 minutes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

What, what happens after 20 minutes?

[Jason Alexander]

I did ask this and I was like, does it just drop out of the sky? And they were like, no. We're working on like a, a, like an intelligent thing that will like forces to land.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

Which is also very exciting. Really looking forward to seeing how they pull that off. The videos that they have show it driving on the highway too. They weren't able to tell me what a top speed was. It has no rear view mirrors and no side view mirrors. But they said there's lots of cameras on the inside. So I'm sure that's fine. It's a death trap. This thing will get everyone who even looks at it wrong killed. They showed me a video of the prototype. It was completely frameless. It was just quadricopter blades and like a chair on a platform lifting a guy into the air. It couldn't go forward or backwards. But they're like, yeah, we think of like a year. We can have this figured out.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It can't. It can't move forward.

[Jason Alexander]

It only only went up in the videos I saw.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So you can't actually travel?

[Jason Alexander]

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. By the way, I couldn't fit in this thing.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like no.

[Jason Alexander]

Would be cramped in this.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But it's good for vertical travel.

[Jason Alexander]

It's great if you just need to go up to under 200 meters. There's no more efficient ways.

[Sophie Lichterman]

If you get like pulled over by the cops.

[Jason Alexander]

You just, just go up above them. I'm in the sky now. You can't do to me for 25 ass minutes. Oh, it's that if you're just driving, you go up to 100km, which made me think so wait a second.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's like 60 miles.

[Jason Alexander]

If I'm in the air for 20 minutes, then I land, then my battery's dead.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Then you can't go anywhere.

[Jason Alexander]

Then you can't go anywhere. You can't get back home.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The battery issue is gonna, is gonna.

[Jason Alexander]

Be troubling, but seems completely useless.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But as we've heard NonStop the past two days, this is the worst it's gonna be.

[Jason Alexander]

This is the worst it's gonna be. Only gonna get better.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Things only ever get better.

[Jason Alexander]

That's. That's what everyone was trying to insist upon to me here.

[Sophie Lichterman]

What else did you see on the show floor that caught your eye?

[Jason Alexander]

Garrison? So many magical Wonderful, marvelous things. Most of which were just like various different AI connected smart houses. That was what Samsung was showing off. That was what LG was showing off. I believe you saw one as well, right?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, I mean, I, I, I walked through the LG booth. It was kind of the same as, same as last year. The Samsung booth was too intimidating. But I should check it out because last year we didn't do the Samsung booth because we were going to. And then either, either one of us threw up or spilled something.

[Robert Evans]

Hey.

[Jason Alexander]

Okay, okay. Yes. Did I, right at the entrance, did I pour my kratom into a con, Into a carbonated beverage that spewed a geyser of blood red foam into the sky around us?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Into the white Samsung car, give a.

[Jason Alexander]

Security guard stare at me as it happened? Did I set the drink down as it continued to spew and said, I'll go get some towels and then leave forever?

[Sophie Lichterman]

We never got towels.

[Jason Alexander]

Yes, we bounced.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So we couldn't do the seven sub booth last year. Maybe I'll try it this year. But tell me about these smart houses.

[Jason Alexander]

Well, Garrett, Sam has a great idea for a smart house. First of all, you remember that game the Sims?

[Sophie Lichterman]

No.

[Jason Alexander]

Well, they're really betting that you do because their current plan is design your home with the AI powered map view.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Okay, okay, sure, sure.

[Jason Alexander]

You get like, you, you should feed it like a picture you like. You lay out your, your floor plan in your house and it gives you like a 3D model and you take pictures of your furniture or pictures of furniture that you want and then really place it around. Then you can place them. Now, a couple of things. One of them is that there's no scaling feeling done by the AI. So it's up to you to figure out how the furniture you might want to buy measures up in comparison to the apartment.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Sure, sure.

[Jason Alexander]

But it does look like the actual like map that they've got. I'll show you the picture that I took. I'll try to put it up somewhere like it looks like the video game the Sims. No. Yeah, you're populating like a little 3D CGI house. And I was like, okay, well there's, there's a use there, right? People like, sure. Planning out, like you, you're moving into a new apartment. You can like fill it in here. And before you even move in, you can figure out what kind of furniture you need or how your existing furniture will fit in there. I would never have used that. I usually picked up all of my furniture from the trash before I had a house when I moved into a new place. But I, I know people who would have used that. Sure, that seems useful. So I talked to them about security. Some. One thing that concerned me is like the first guy I talked to was like, oh yeah, I think it's all stored locally. And I was like, so Samsung doesn't have any access to any of the data on like my house and its layout. And he was like, let me, let me get you to one of our like engineers because he can answer that question. And the engineer's answer was, and I'm paraphrasing here. Okay, so that made me very confident.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That does make you feel safe about sharing your personal data, right?

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah. On, on the layout of my actual house.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well and the thing is I really don't like that at all because this is, this is something that people were asking face to slash meta when they were doing like their, you know, like metaverse stuff because their headsets are recording, you know, very, very extensively like your home layout. And the whole point, well, part of the point was that some of that data could then be used to send you targeted advertisements based on them seeing everything in your home. And I suspect that Samsung might also have some interest in targeted advertisements. Being a tech company.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But you know, I, I could never.

[Jason Alexander]

Say yeah, and they were, that was not really one thing they had is for like their retail segment, they had like a live video grocery store ad showing you prices of different produce. And I think like the insinuation they didn't lay out is like you can change prices on the fly, you know, which kind of made me think about that. There was some talk last year of like, okay, we want to be able to like face scan customers so we can see if they have money and increase prices for like profit products for certain people, which I'm sure they're going to try. They're too enticed by that idea not to. So, so I, I caught a little bit of that. But they, they really like to the extent of how big. And this was an interesting. Last year Samsung and lg, their boots were huge and they had a lot of different gadgets. Samsung's booth is big this year, 40 of it was that scan your furniture, scan your like map out.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's not that much like stuff, very.

[Jason Alexander]

Little actual shit going on.

[Sophie Lichterman]

They, they, people slap the word AI onto everything.

[Jason Alexander]

Another big thing was all Samsung because Samsung makes a ton of appliances. They make TVs, all sorts of entertainment products. All of them have this. I forget what they call like Samsung tag Or something that you can, you can map it in your phone so you can have a whole map of all of the devices and that you have in your phone and you can control them all from a single point and. Right. No one, by the way, had any interest in answering my security questions there. But also, if you're into that, if you want to have all of your appliances and entertainment things linked up and controlled on your phone and all of them are Samsung. You don't care. You don't care.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No. If you're getting a smart home, I don't think you really, really care about that.

[Jason Alexander]

But also none of it was like, yeah, I can control everything my from my phone. You've been promising me that. Literally like in 2011, it's like decades. They were promising me you're going to be able to control your whole house.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Nothing feels new this year. This is the thing is like even walking through the LG booth, which usually has some really cool new thing this year. Nothing new. No, nothing new. They slapped the word AI on one corner of their television set.

[Jason Alexander]

Right.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I guess LG does have like a large language model in like one corner of their booth. But like, so does everyone else. Like that's not like, yeah, compelling.

[Jason Alexander]

There was sk, which is a South Korea company. Their booth again, the massive like AI life is their big thing. But it's nothing. It's just a big visual display that looks cool, that looks like a bunch of server racks. Like you're in this huge cube of servers, servers. But everything spectacle doesn't different actual products. One of them was real time CCTVs that use an AI, like an LLM type thing to summarize pictures. So I like walked through and it did pick me out as a notable person. So I've got like this people of interest thing where it's like a man holding a smartphone standing next to another man. But also I'm like, what does that really get you? Like the fact that you're summarizing up like these people who are like this person, person's kneeling and taking a picture standing. Because I like, I actually tried deliberately, I like reached in my bag to try to be suspicious. I like did finger guns and it never marked me out. And like I didn't pull a real gun or anything because I, I very rarely bring that to the CES floor. But I don't know, like, I can see how there could be a utility there if you're actually able to say you're setting up like surveillance outside of a residential building and it can alert security that like something is happening outside. There's a potential you if it's good enough utility in that. But they didn't display it at the show. It was literally just describing randos from the audience. And like I just don't see how a security guard is. There's a guy with a phone on outside of the building.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like yeah, no, it's, it doesn't seem very new. It doesn't seem very innovative.

[Robert Evans]

No.

[Jason Alexander]

So again what I'm, what I'm seeing here overwhelmingly for all the talk about like there's no resisting it, AI is coming, it's going to dominate everything. This is the next big thing. A remarkable lack outside of what I will say the one thing where there are continuously new products that are better every year is smart glasses. Yes, they are getting more impressive and more people every year. I don't think I'll ever be a smart glasses guy. I hated glasses enough that I let them shoot me in the eye with lasers. Shout out to our LASIK sponsors. But I see why people would like it. And there seems to be legitimately substantial.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Utility if we have high powered smart glasses.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That look like a regular pair of glasses. I will get a pair eventually because yeah, why not?

[Jason Alexander]

There was a great demo. I'm pulling over to an L A W K view. They had like one glass that was the first world smart glasses for TikTok Live. Not particularly excited about that but they had another set of AR glasses with a 12 hour battery where like if it works as well as the demo and that's a big if but it, it syncs to like your smartwatch so it'll tell you you can see in a heads up display as you're cycling. That was the demo. Know it'll both like give you directions like in your eyes and it seemed to be like fairly well thought out. So it's not like overly corrupting your view. It'll show you your heart rate, you know, it'll show you like all that kind of stuff. So you get like a useful degree of control and assistance from that kind of thing. And that is I will say the last three cess the glasses get a little better and a little smaller every year.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Smaller certainly.

[Jason Alexander]

I would say that's a real product that's probably going to continue to improve.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Do you know what else always seeks improvement, Robert?

[Jason Alexander]

No.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The capacity for you to get personalized. Possibly AI powered ads. Well that is, that is exciting, informed consumer choices.

[Jason Alexander]

Let's all sit down for some AI powered ads. Wow. I can't Believe they put J shape Machete's voice. The de aged Harrison Ford from the latest Indiana Jones movie. My dick's hard. How are you, Garrison?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, I feel good. Because today as we are recording this, it's, it's late Tuesday night, there was a series of fascinating breaking news articles that happened as we were sit. Or at least as I was sitting in on these AI panels which made it hard to not just like completely interrupt everything and be like, yeah, hey, hey, any comment on this?

[Jason Alexander]

Guys, guys, something real happened. Shut your stupid mouths about this AI Hollywood.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So, yeah, so a few weeks ago, if, if, if you are unaware, a Green Beret rented a Tesla Cyber truck to feel like Batman and Halo and drove to first the wrong Las Vegas and then eventually Las Vegas, Nevada, parked outside of the Trump Hotel and Casino know, and then blew himself up. And this has been a big news story. It happened during the same day as a pretty horrible terrorist attack in New Orleans which resulted in about 15 people dead. Done by a guy who was employed by Deloitte, a frequent, frequent CES sponsor. So this, this, this, these felt like a very CES style of attacks. You know, one Deloitte guy driving into people murdering whole guys and then this cybertruck explosion in Vegas like a week before ces, you know, very often. God. And then, and then, Robert, some news drops today that I would love to hear you announce.

[Jason Alexander]

You know, Garrison, I made a comment the other night about how like, it's pretty well documented that, that veterans, you know, not that they're more likely to carry out violence, but when they do, they tend to have higher body counts because they have more skills. It turns out. I thought we were getting more literal bang for our buck training Green Berets than we are. My assumption is because my, my uncle was a Green Beret and he did some very scary, probably war crimey shit in Vietnam. And I assumed like that man, I'll tell you one thing about my Uncle Jim. That man could make a bomb. That man would not need to ask anyone for advice if he'd needed to make a bomb. He's not with us anymore, God rest his soul. But it turns out this Green Beret who, you know, a fucking dollar store TJ Max version of the Green Berets is what we're working with now. Now asked chat GPT how to build a bomb and it sounds like he was trying to make it triggered by tannerite, which is a bipartite explosive compound that you use as like an exploding target. So it'll go boom big but you have to shoot it with something like a rifle that's high velocity or use like a blasting cap. Otherwise it's very stable and very safe, which obviously has use. You know, it was invented actually to set off avalanches and stuff anyway, because that's very available and very high power. He was looking to like fill his car with that and then shoot it with a rifle while he was in minute. And that's what he was asking Chat GPT about. So it's not clear to me actually the actual headline is that, like, he used ChatGPT to make his bomb. It seems, and I'm not privy to what the police are obviously, but it seems like based on what I read in the article, we're not sure if he actually used Chat GPT to make a bomb. It's more that he was interested in making a bomb, setting off tannerite by shooting it, but may have ultimately decided not to do that because he would then be alive for the explosion, which he didn't want to be. Also, the authorities don't seem to fully know how he triggered it.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, so it.

[Jason Alexander]

It. It's still kind of unclear to me, I guess. Hopefully we'll get more later. But he. He definitely needed Chat GPT's help to try and figure out how to make the bomb.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He certainly used Chat GBT in the planning process of this attack. Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, fair to say that.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And it's odd because both me and you spend a number of hours today actually, like, attending, like, demos from, like these, you know, speech to text, text to speech, AI systems. We went to, like, two specific ones that they, like, you know, demonstrated. Demonstrated the capabilities of their, like, you know, like AI assistive tech. The first one we went to spent 20 minutes talking about how their biggest inspiration, their quote unquote, North Star, was the movie her with. With Joaquin feet.

[Jason Alexander]

They had a whole slide about how that was the gold standard for AI human communications. The movie her, in which Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with an AI chatbot voiced by Scarlett Johansson, who hires a prostitute to have sex with him while she participates vocally. And then it turns out the AI is really kind of poly and Joaquin Phoenix is not okay with that. And then maybe the AIs all go to space. It's kind of unclear at the end. I don't think it was a great movie. A lot of people liked it. I don't see whether you or not you like it. Why this is your vision of how a chatbot should work.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The actual chatbot they had was like, fine. It was. It Was. It was actually pretty good at translation. You know, translating from Spanish to English worked quite well.

[Jason Alexander]

Yes, the demo was like solid.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It was pretty accurate.

[Jason Alexander]

You know, I love coming here and fucking with people. I love like being a dick. They. They asked for a volunteer and at that point we knew about the ChatGPT. I wanted to go up and ask like live this robot to like help me make a bomb. But the, the guy who was pretty handsome and like an, an interesting, like English Spanish.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I like how you specified he was handsome.

[Jason Alexander]

He didn't want to be mean to him. He seemed nice.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I didn't want to be mean to a handsome guy.

[Jason Alexander]

He wasn't shitty. Like.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, he was fine.

[Jason Alexander]

There were like 10 people in this room that was supposed to have 200.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I'm sure he wasn't the one that talked about her. That was someone else at his.

[Jason Alexander]

That was someone else at his company. And like, he just seemed like he, he wanted to, to do. I didn't want to be a dick to him.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, no, like he wasn't hurting anything. It was fine. Like, similarly, we went to this one.

[Jason Alexander]

Nice jawline.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We went to this other one about this like, you know, actually a much more dubious concept in my mind, which is like this, this AI assistant to help like elderly people, like people in like their 80s and 90s who don't want to be in assisted living facilities who have been living on their own, but they're getting to the point in their life where like they need like some degree, like in home care.

[Jason Alexander]

He specified a lot of them are people who have either just lost a spouse or maybe their spouse is aging faster and worse than them and is no longer really able to be the kind of companion that they were before.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, so it's like this.

[Jason Alexander]

It's.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's both like a conversation tool. It helps like memory recall kind of in some ways has the features that like, you know, someone in their 60s would just use their smartphone for, to help keep in touch with their family. It's kind of simplified and more automated. So, you know, ways to help keep in touch with like your family can improve, like your memory, like talk about your own life.

[Jason Alexander]

And the device is weird. It's about the width of like a bedside table, maybe 6 to 8 inches deep. So think about like 18 inches long to maybe 6 inches deep, something like that. Half of it is like a little tablet, like a 7 inch tablet tablet with a speaker. Half of it is something about the shape and size of a head on like a neck that can pivot and Nod on the neck. There's no face. So when it's talking, there's like a white light in the center of it that kind of like pulses in time with the speaking that it does. So we saw this picture of the device and we saw the description of like, this is an AI companion for the elderly. And we were both like, number one, these people are going to be monsters. This is going to be like something to shovel your dying dad off with because you don't want to spend time.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You don't want to spend time with you family.

[Robert Evans]

You're scum.

[Jason Alexander]

You're too busy AI generating SCA music and trying to sell your shitty robot to Garrison and me.

[Sophie Lichterman]

More on that tomorrow.

[Jason Alexander]

More on that tomorrow. And so that's what we came in prepped to this meeting.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, like, this is, this idea I find pretty distasteful in general is like replacing actual like, you know, friends or human contact or like, like in home care with a fucking like, Alexa machine, essentially.

[Jason Alexander]

And to be clear, I still think this project product might be a bad idea that doesn't work. But the guy behind it, who is the dude that we talked to, cares a lot and is really very clearly trying to do a good thing and thought through the ethics and the efficacy of what he was doing a lot. And I, I, I'm not convinced it will actually do anything, but I, like, wish him the best.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, like, it specifically is designed to not look like a human so that someone who's using it, you know, wouldn't like, start to believe it's like, human.

[Jason Alexander]

Like, we don't want to trick people. We don't want them to mistake.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It refers to itself like, like, as a robot. As, like, it refers like its own, like, you know, like motors and functionality, like, like pretty consistently to, to like, you know, make sure that the person who's talking to it gets like, reminded of that. And something I talked about is, you know, there's been a lot of news stories this year about people developing very unhealthy attachments and relationships to, to these kind of AI. Yeah, AI programs, like character AI. There's a story like a year and a half ago about like a journalist who quote, unquote, like, you know, like, like got like fell in love with some kind of chat thing that resulted in him killing himself, you know, but these kind of these systems, like, was that a teenager?

[Jason Alexander]

That was a character, I think. Was that a journalist?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Last year there was, there was a journalist who fell in love with, with an AI chat thing a few weeks ago. There was the kid who, you know, was talking to this like a character AI also.

[Jason Alexander]

I just need to reiterate her.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Not a great movie, but. But, you know, there's been a lot of these stories of these things, like, going wrong or, you know, encouraging or like, not stopping. You know, like these, like intense conversations of like, suicidal ideation.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Or, you know, like self harm. All these things.

[Jason Alexander]

We brought these up kind of thinking he would flinch away and not want to talk about it. And he very much acknowledged that, like, he was aware of this. And this is something that they were attempting to. To build in.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This is. This is like, this is, you know, built into it. I think this is still, you know, a big problem with this entire industry because I'm sure everyone would say this is, you know, obviously that we have. We have guardrails for this and then becomes a new story when those guardrails fail.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Similarly, was to go back to the Tesla bomb. You know, there's supposed to be guardrails on chat GPT to make sure it doesn't tell you how to build a bomb. And those guardrails can fail.

[Jason Alexander]

He showed us one which was like, he told the robot, I love you. What was it? Leq. Ellaq was the robot leq E L L iq. I love you, Ellaq. And the robot, like, responded with a, like, oh, that makes like, my fans are all spinning or something like that. Where he's like, I wanted. The response seems to be that it's reminding the person talking to it that it's a machine, that it. It can't think or love them back. We don't want it to be negative, but we, like, we don't want to be like, feeding into that. And I don't know that that's the best way to do that. But, like, at least they're thinking about that kind of thing, though. The thing that was interesting to me is that he built this as the first proactive home AI thing. So unlike an Alexa or whatever, where it's just waiting for you to ask it something, but it does not chime in randomly to talk to you, or.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It won't, like, change the subject either.

[Jason Alexander]

And, like, continue conversation, this will prompt you out of the blue, be like, hey, how are you doing? How are you feeling today? It's been a while.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And specifically, do you want to see pictures of your family?

[Jason Alexander]

You want pictures of your family? Do you want to call your son? You know, but do you want to play a game?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Talk to me about. About that movie you saw last time.

[Robert Evans]

Talk to me about that.

[Jason Alexander]

Hey, remind me, how did you meet your husband? You know, like, literally, these are all the things it will do. And it had some side features. Like, if it prompts you to start telling a story, it'll save that as, like, a memoir thing so that, like, you know, when your elderly mother passes or whatever, it saved up this, like, collection of stories over the years. And you can, like, show it pictures while you're telling it stories, and it will listen in, it'll have comments, and it'll ask you further questions about, so how did you feel, you know, after meeting them this way? Like, that's really interesting. I didn't know that. Explain to me how it worked. And it'll also prompt you to send those to your kids. And the big thing, almost every kind of dialogue thing, would prompt you to send a message to a friend or your kid. So a big part of it seemed to be, this is not a replacement. This is a machine that we hope people will get comfortable with, with, and then it can prompt them to try to engage with the world more and their loved ones. That's our whole goal, is to connect them to people.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I asked him is like, you know, part of this product is designed to, like, you know, help solve, like, loneliness in older adults. And, like, how much of this is really just, like, kind of trying to, like, replace actual human contact with this, like, you know, AI contact. Like, will that really help, you know, loneliness? And he talked about how, like, like, I think, like, he said, like, 90% of the people who, like, use this, like, it results in actually more. More communication with their family.

[Jason Alexander]

They have this in, like, some 2,000 homes right now.

[Sophie Lichterman]

They have, like, 2,000 units. It's like a subscription model. I think it's. Right now it's like $99 a month. It's going to be boosted up to, like, 150 with some, like, extra features in the next year.

[Jason Alexander]

It's very much still under evolution. So one thing he pointed out is that, like, yeah, initially we. We had the ability to, like, connect people to other elderly folks using this. And so they've kind of formed their own community. Like a weekly bingo game asked us to build in more chat so they can message each other directly. And so some of them are, like, playing bingo directly now through these machines. And I'm like, well, that seems probably good.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, yeah. Because, like, I. I still am, like, fundamentally opposed to this premise.

[Jason Alexander]

Yes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But it's interesting seeing someone still.

[Jason Alexander]

But aging is sad. Aging.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

Right. That's not their fault.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And if it's interesting to see someone like approach this from like, you know, like a very like compassionate, passionate standpoint. Even if I find the actual kind of nature of this thing existing to be like deeply uncomfortable because.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, I can't not find it off putting, but I, I think there's a chance that it will help with the real problem. I certainly would prefer if it helped. Yeah. So I don't know, it was kind of, it was a unique. In this world of like AI, it was a unique kind of like product for me where it's like, I don't know that this application of AI technology will actually do what you're hoping it will, but I got the vibe from that guy. I got was nothing but goodwill.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Other people we talked to today who are completely soulless.

[Jason Alexander]

Yes, yes. Nothing behind their eyes. Dead eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Even the way this guy talked, you could tell he had like a very like empathetic voice.

[Jason Alexander]

Very much like one of the things he did is he, he would tell it like I'm in some paper pain. And then the robot would, would cycle through to the pain scale and would try to. Because one of the things it does is it will take information for care and it will text actively. So the, it's not just communicating with the old person. It will text and message their kids, you know, and whatnot. Their kids, hey, your mom's lonely.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah. Or it'll even say if, you know, someone like didn't take their meds today.

[Jason Alexander]

And again, it's kind of sad that, that. But also. So his part of this is he was talking a lot about like empathy and I think just because of the kind of brain you have to have to want to do this, he used it in terms of like the machine's empathy, which it doesn't have. But the whole project, it was impossible not to see that he was a deeply empathetic man who was really trying to make the world better. And I, I can't not respect that.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, I think that does it for us here at CEA.

[Jason Alexander]

Yes, that's right.

[Sophie Lichterman]

What a packed 13.

[Jason Alexander]

Don't worry.

[Robert Evans]

No empathy tomorrow.

[Jason Alexander]

Just, just a real dead eyed monster. I am a true villain. You're going to hear from in the next episode.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I am scumbag. I am the best that I'm going to be. Cuz I'm starting this week. I can still feel the CES magic.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

By Friday I am going to be a different person. I am going to rip some poor PR person to shreds. I Swear. But yeah, tune in tomorrow to hear our our takes from the CES kind of sideshow called Showstoppers to hear also some exclusive brand new AI generated ska music. So we'll give you that hint for tomorrow's episode. See you. See you there.

[Robert Evans]

Well, see you all there.

[Jason Alexander]

I love you all. Go to hell.

[Peter Tilden]

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the really no really podcast, our mission is to get the.

[Sophie Lichterman]

True answers to life's baffling questions.

[Peter Tilden]

Like why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We got the answer.

[Peter Tilden]

Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowns ground during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you and the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's going to drop by.

[Jason Alexander]

Mr. Bryan Cranston is with us.

[Sophie Lichterman]

How are you?

[Peter Tilden]

Hello, my friend Wayne Knight. About Jurassic Park.

[Jason Alexander]

Wayne Knight, welcome to really no really, sir. Bless you all.

[Peter Tilden]

Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging.

[Robert Evans]

Really?

[Jason Alexander]

That's the opening.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Really? No.

[James Stout]

Really?

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, really? No really.

[Peter Tilden]

Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign. Jason Bobblehead.

[Robert Evans]

It's called really no really and you.

[Jason Alexander]

Can find it on the iHeartRadio app.

[Peter Tilden]

On Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh, man. Welcome to It Could Happen Here. A podcast that's happening here. If here is your ears. If you're deaf and reading this, then it's happening to your eyes. Either way, it's happening here.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Here. Also being Las Vegas.

[Jason Alexander]

Well, yes, also Las Vegas, Nevada. Nevada.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Not the other one, Nevada.

[Jason Alexander]

IA Yeah. Huh. Podcast number three, how the time does fly.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Sure does.

[Jason Alexander]

By the time you listen to this, Garrison and I will have just had the best meal that we're going to have.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, God. Yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

It's tomorrow for us still, but we're still. We're very excited about Morimoto, which is a fantastic. Every year we, we have a. A very special dinner, just them and me and a couple of friends who will remain anonymous because people get weird on the Internet.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Sometimes it is literally the highlight of my year. Sometimes it does keep me going, actually.

[Jason Alexander]

Really gives me a lot of power. Some of the best tacos I've ever had in my life.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So good, huh?

[Jason Alexander]

Anyway, ah, we're just thinking about delicious food. Let's talk about the dead eyed ghoul we met. Oh wait, no, we're doing something else.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Not yet.

[Jason Alexander]

We met a dead eyed ghoul that I'm going to spoil now. Real monster. Like real, real, real evil vibes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like evil.

[Jason Alexander]

Though if this guy as soon as I met him shook his hand like, oh, if you get, if this guy gets power, you're going to be responsible for a lot of death and suffering.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I mean speaking of, I don't think he will.

[Jason Alexander]

He's just not that talented.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He's not that powerful. Maybe he wishes, but you never know.

[Jason Alexander]

Where these guys are going to end up.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Speaking of sad evil Twitter X the Everything app, they, that's what people are calling it. They gave a keynote which was very sad. The CEO Linda.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, Linda really yakarino'd about Twitter for a while.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, so bad. So they started by talking about how Facebook Meta has copied Twitter's like fact checking policy of actually, actually not having real fact check.

[Jason Alexander]

Yes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Now great project, maybe has actually kind of failed as an industry. But for, you know, our problems perhaps with fact checking very different from these people's problems. And the fact now that that Facebook is, is walking away from actual like genuine like fact checks against like just disinformation, misinformation and parting ways with like using like legacy media outlets to verify information because those media outlets are too political, quote, unquote, quote, and instead is copying the current X model of free speech and specifically saying like there's been way too much censorship on gender issues.

[Jason Alexander]

Now you can comment that women are a piece of property.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, I mean I think specifically this is, this is like trans like no, no stuff.

[Jason Alexander]

One of the things is a specific exemption now is that you can now refer to women as if they are property on Facebook.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This is the future of communication, right?

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah. Thank God. Linda's really blazing a trail for women everywhere.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Linda was very excited about that and they yakarino'd about that for like a good, a good 10 minutes about how, you know, this is, this is really entering a new era of free speech and social media. And then she got asked a question about how much X Twitter, the Everything app will, will take a part in Elon Musk's plans for the Department of Government Efficiency Doge. And, and this got the, the first applause of the panel. Applause only happens two times during the Doge section was the first like, you know, room, room starts clapping moment. Everyone goes crazy.

[Jason Alexander]

How, how many minutes in was that?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, maybe it was like maybe, like, maybe like 12, 13 minutes.

[Jason Alexander]

So people really. Yeah. Had to, had to be intentional here. This is not like they were just overdue for clapping.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, no, no. They talked about, Vivek talked about, you know, Elon turning to Twitter X, the everything app for like suggestions on which government agencies to get rid of.

[Jason Alexander]

I hope we get rid of the atf. So, so that, that was machine guns mandatory. Why not at this point? Right.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It can only help.

[Jason Alexander]

It can only help.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So that.

[Jason Alexander]

Look, if we learned anything from a thing I'm not going to specify that happened late last year. More suppressors is always handy.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The second thing that got applause was what they talked about next was about, you know, everyone's turning to X Twitter, the everything app. The everything app for information now. And Twitter X, the Everything app played a crucial part in bringing to light the Muslim rape gang story in the UK and how that was so important for saving children. And we have to, we have to post more, not less. And like, this was the other thing that got massive applause pause was talking about the rape gangs.

[Jason Alexander]

People love rape gangs. People love rape gangs. That, that was a pretty good Star Trek episode. That was Tasha Yar's planet with the rape gangs.

[Sophie Lichterman]

One of, one of the more black pilling things.

[Jason Alexander]

It wasn't a very good Star Trek episode.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's also not a good track episode. I was referring to the panel, not the Trek episode. But that was the other thing that got massive applause. Is this like save the children and type rhetoric and, you know, saying like, as a mother, it's so important that the more people post about this problem. That was the two big applause moments. But I think in general, this, this whole panel was trying to like, you know, demonstrate how symbiotic a new Trump presidency and Elon Musk's Twitter direct info line.

[Jason Alexander]

This is a tap from the Trump presidency to you.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This is how you talk to the new government. Like, this is how you talk to all of these new people, all these new cabinet members, members. They're all on Twitter. They're all talking on Twitter. This is, this is how you stay connected to the new government.

[Jason Alexander]

It's interesting. One thing I'm curious about. So this is a thing that happened. The last set of Nazis that gained power in a country in a big way, the German ones. There was this, this common attitude of like, if only Hitler knew, because Nazi policies didn't help the people they were supposed to help, they hurt a lot of people. Like, they were just bad at everything, like fascists tend to be. And there Was this attitude that, like, well, Hitler can't know. Like, the fact that, like, we. The country's been handed over to gangsters who are continuing to hurt the people Hitler promised to help. He must not be aware. Like, if he knew, he would fix this.

[Sophie Lichterman]

If only he knew.

[Jason Alexander]

So I'm wondering how that's gonna play in here as Trump's policies continue to hurt the people who. A lot of the people who voted from, not the rich people who voted for him, but the people who, like, flipped between him and Biden or whatever. Like. Like, those folks are going to get like the rest of us. And I kind of wonder if they're going to. If there's going to be what, win the blowback against X. The Everything app will happen. Right. Like, yeah, as people are like, either I'm being ignored or I'm being called like, a. By Elon Musk for complaining that, like.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Say that on the air.

[Jason Alexander]

Elon Musk tweets it in randomly to people when they make very valid critiques of the shit that he's doing. Like, that's literally what he's calling.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He's saying it, like, every day, like, constantly.

[Jason Alexander]

I'm not. I'm not using it as a slur. That's just the term he's using. If they comment that, like, their fucking Medicaid got cut because Trump put Dr. Oz in charge of it, and Elon Musk calls them, like, you know, a slur, what does that do to you? Like. Like, I don't even know. I don't even have any more intelligent than, like, yeah, I wonder what that does to Twitter's bottom line.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I mean, yeah, I'm. I'm. I'm not sure if they care anymore. I mean, something else Linda talked about is his half how, you know, Twitter's the only place for independent news to spread. And as both of us have, you know, worked in the independent journalism minds, nothing, nothing spreads on Twitter anymore.

[Jason Alexander]

No. As long if it's news. It doesn't. The only thing that spreads is. Yeah, like, the shit that makes people very angry but keeps them on the site. Like articles, videos. If it takes you off site, it doesn't mean.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, things that go viral and get spread is like, encouraging racial riots, pogroms, essentially.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

Which is what happened last year in the uk and they're sure trying to do it again. Again.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I mean, I think some of what she's referencing is, you know, there's a lot of, like, throttling intentionally of, you know, people on maybe our proclivities and there is a degree of boosting for more, you know, centrist or right wing journalists. And maybe that's, that's some of, some of what they could be kind of more, more referring to there. But, you know, it was, it was a short keynote, only 30 minutes. Just the two things that got applause are Doge.

[Jason Alexander]

Linda doesn't know that many words, so they really need to keep it under 30 minutes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Doge had and literally Muslim rape gangs is, you know, this, this type of like, like very, very gross racial fear mongering. And those are the things that like, lit up the room.

[Jason Alexander]

You know, we all want there to be an after where there's even the minimal degree of accountability that happened after the Nazis. But like, what I try to in my darker moments think is like, well, that's another person who like, really made the argument of like, what needs to happen when this, this ends. Because it's just, I want to hurt people. My business is enabling harm. I want to get mobs in the street beating migrants. Like, that's Linda's business. That's the business she has willfully attached herself to. And we should all see that. It's very important to not stop talking about it like, what it is. These people are trying to cause racial violence and they are trying to cause gendered violence, and they are trying to cause harm at scale to communities of people that they see financial profit in damaging.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, in other uplifting CES news, cool stuff.

[Jason Alexander]

I love the Consumer Electronics show.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Actually, I think it might be time.

[Jason Alexander]

For an ad break speaking of damaging communities of people.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's right.

[Jason Alexander]

There's a chance.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, ads. Oh, well.

[Jason Alexander]

We'Re back. Boy, I'm so glad that those ads told me that Forgaccio Blow is touring with Bono. I never thought they'd do it, but boy howdy. And they're singing each other's songs, so, you know, that's really exciting. It's like when Barbara did Celine.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I don't know who Barbara or Celine is, but that's.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh my God, that's cool.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Robert. Luckily, I do know what Scott is. I consider myself a they of culture. And for, for tonight, me and Robert attended this kind of like, side event at CES called Showstoppers. And as you walk around the CES floor, there's a lot of, frankly, garbage. There's a lot of just like, mostly, mostly garbage stuff that you, or, or.

[Jason Alexander]

Stuff that like, you're just not interested in because you're not literally buying like, screens from a manufacturer in China. Like, it's like, that's just not the business you're into because some of this stuff is meant for companies.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So much floor space. Like, yeah, there's like, I. We walked what, 20,000 that I spent.

[Jason Alexander]

The first seven years of my life in is smaller than one of the rooms. Cesar.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's across, like, three hotels and a massive convention center.

[Jason Alexander]

90,000 people come into town for this thing.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It can be hard to, like, see everything you want to. Now, what's cool about Showstoppers, this, the side event at the Bellagio is that basically it's a room full of kind of all the coolest stuff, a whole bunch of stuff that has won CBS Innovation Awards, all packed into one room with food and alcohol. So, oh, boy, did I order free.

[Jason Alexander]

Food and free alcohol.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So many drinks that I then just left on tables.

[Jason Alexander]

And always. Pretty good food.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Pretty good food.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So we walked around Showstoppers and there was a number of pretty. Pretty cool stuff that we saw.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But I think. I think it's maybe time to talk about the saddest. The saddest man.

[Jason Alexander]

The villain.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The villain of the episode.

[Jason Alexander]

The villain of the episode and of our.

[Robert Evans]

Of this year's ces.

[Jason Alexander]

I have trouble. Can you bring up their name? Because I'm going to want to get this right.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So this could be dangerous.

[Jason Alexander]

But we hadn't. Neither of us had eaten, and I had had, like, a hot dog eight hours ago and walked literally 19,000 steps and also done 40 minutes of pushups in between, so I was starving. So we, we. We, like, shovel food into our faces and then we turn. The first booth we see is called Open Droid. Open Droid or Open Droids.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Droids.

[Jason Alexander]

Droids, yes. It. There is an S. Open Droids. And it's like kind of Star Warsy font.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It is.

[Jason Alexander]

And I, I did ask them if, you know, they had any issues with Lucasfilm. Apparently not yet. Sue them. Lucasfilm, by the way. Sue these kids.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I know people who work for Lucasfilm who listen to this.

[Jason Alexander]

Crush them, burn them. Like Los Angeles is burning down as we speak.

[Sophie Lichterman]

They had a giant sign that said R2D3.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, that's the name of the robot that they're selling. And the robot. The robot that they're selling is like a. An AI enabled household helping slash, like retail, you know, core, like, you know, robot, where it basically is like a human torso with articulated arms and pincher hands on. And then the base is like a little tank, basically. It's got, like, treads or wheels and it rolls.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It has wheels. Yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

And Then the torso, there's like a tall, maybe six foot tall, like pillar built into this like rolling base that the torso slides up and down on. And this was their way of not making like what Musk is trying to do, right? A humanoid robot where you have to figure out like knees and balance and stuff. It's like, no.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Or like Boston Dynamics.

[Jason Alexander]

Wheels are right, wheels are cheap, it'll roll. It works in most situations and then, but you still have the ability for it to articulate and go up higher or go down lower like something that can crouch, but it's much simpler. You don't have to, to, to, to deal with nearly as much. And so I saw that I'm like, oh well that's at least somebody who's thinking about like, how do we make something like this, like more affordable and less complicated, less to fuck up. And so I, I start talking with one of the co founders of the company who is a, an Indian guy in his 40s, something around that he had like gray hair. He'd clearly, he said he'd spent 20 years in robotics. Very nice guy. You know, I brought up that I thought the design was interesting. And he was very much specifying like, here's the things we didn't do because they were too difficult, too inefficient. You know, this is what we're thinking of. This is a machine that can fold laundry. This is a machine that can do dishes. This is a machine. And he was very much specifying and the way he phrases like these are undesirable tasks people don't want to do. And this is a robot that can handle those for like small businesses or for households. And we do see this as eventually like a, you know, something like this we want to have in households. But he was more focused on small businesses and he was again very focused on this is a thing that will do undesirable tasks for people. Right. And as I started asking more questions at a certain point I got foisted off to the co founder of the company.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Is it the co founder or is it just like another one of their reps?

[Jason Alexander]

You know, I'm assuming co founder because I think it's just a couple of guys. But maybe I'm wrong about, sorry, I got foisted over to the other of the two guys. There were two guys there, right? I'm not sure because they don't have listed anywhere what their role in the company is. I got a co founders vibe from them. That's how it seemed to be to me at Least in terms of like the way these two were talking. But I don't know, the, the, the scope of the open droids company. Maybe there's a lot more there.

[Sophie Lichterman]

There's like a PR guy who.

[Jason Alexander]

But these were the two guys who were there talking to us. So one of them is this very wonky engineer who's been at this a long time and was really focused on the nuts and bolts details and wanted to build a robot that could handle unpleasant tasks for human beings. Right. The same thing we've all been wanting to see. So at this point I'm like, this could work. Maybe this is a viable product. Right. The second guy, Jack Jessianowski. So he is wearing what Garrison described as a Jordan Peterson suit. Suit because it is half purple. It's a two faced plaque. It is a two faced suit. Yeah. Split down the middle with like, like new agey hippie.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like, like necklaces.

[Jason Alexander]

Five necklaces. Five necklacES, five necklacES.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He had pants with like, like embroidered flowers on them and like a nose bridge.

[Jason Alexander]

Like it looked like one of those things you put in your nose.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That was one of the other things. At Showstoppers there was a company that was doing that.

[Jason Alexander]

So yeah, he had had wannabe Steve Jobs vibes, from his half unbuttoned shirt and like many, many spiritual medallions to his like Jordan Peterson suit. And very much just that, like, I am the charismatic founder and what I bring to the table. My partner knows how to build robots. I'm charismatic. I'm Jack J. Jesanowski. And Jack and I started talking and, and boy howdy, we had us a conversation and I think we're just going to play that. What do I need to do to set this up?

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, I think you've set it up. We walk up to Jack, I start, I start recording and we start talking about the robot. And then things spin in some pretty interesting directions.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

All right, so what is this thing useful for?

[I]

Well, generally capable. Just like a human can reach to the floor and reach up high to a cupboard, go up and down. That's what we made this for. Obviously in a little bit of a different fashion because most surfaces are level. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. And the biggest market that we're going after is households, domestic dishes, laundry, make the bed, clean up around the house. Eventually come cooking. That's more fine tuned. You know, dishes and laundry is really that first task that is going to be fully autonomous. Obviously from a folding standpoint and cooking standpoint, you can do teleoperation. Today, so can use cheaper labor internationally through a robot. But full autonomous is coming very quickly, like Jensen talked about recently.

[Robert Evans]

So I see there's a lot of folks in the robot space that are trying robots based on the human form, right? You guys have not gone that route.

[Jason Alexander]

Talk to me about that droid form.

[I]

Yes. Well, as we know, robots didn't evolve from monkeys, and so we have an ability to reimagine them. All of the existing hardware we use in the world has wheels for a reason. It just works better. It's easier. There's less friction. Friction. That means there's less maintenance. That means there's less energy output. It's efficiency. It's also easier for us to manufacture that stuff at scale. So I think long term. Do robots all have legs? Yeah, more or less. The home robot does turn into the leg robot because then it can go with you in the car. Everything. But I think the early stages, the wheels, because of their cheaperness, because of their reliability, I think that will be what wins. Early stage, that's where we started here.

[Robert Evans]

Because the robot can go in the car with you. What do you see people wanting to have a robot in the car with them for?

[I]

I think it will just become basically the same way. If you have enough money, a lot of people afford like an assistant to come with them places. It's a lot of people.

[Robert Evans]

That seems like a niche market compared to household utility.

[I]

I think it's. The barrier, I think is because of the, the cost and then the humanness. Like, then you have to care for another human and. Whereas in this case, it's kind of all positive sum and yeah, I guess it's wrong to try to say majority of people, but anyone who's, you know, in media, you know, the videographer will be something you use a robot for to follow you around and take media and film for you. They won't get tired and say, go grab me a drink or, you know, go figure that thing out.

[Robert Evans]

But it also can't decide, oh, that's actually not a good location to film from. It's not going to look as good. We need to get over here. We need another camera on this side here. We need to get like different angles because we're going to want to edit this together into a thing. And as a videographer, I'm not just a machine. I'm a part of a collaborative creative enterprise.

[I]

I think we're starting to see just how artistic these AIs can be.

[Robert Evans]

What's the best example of that using.

[I]

Well, I think the Most used thing is just the Gen AI art. And then you have some of the new video models are pretty cool. And they're using certain sort of zoom in shots, everything. I think they'll make just as good of movies as humans. Oh, I think the best reference in order to actually say that that's possible is music. I don't know if you've played with the most recent AI music. There's song GPT.com I've heard some things.

[Robert Evans]

People call music that are produced by that.

[I]

Yeah, we can make one live right now that I. I don't know if you've heard like the latest models. Pick me a. Pick me a genre.

[Robert Evans]

Irish spirituals.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Ska.

[Robert Evans]

We could try ska too.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You love ska.

[I]

SCA is like definitely. Probably niche stuff is where it's gonna have a harder time. But SK Ska. I wonder how much ska data there is out there.

[Robert Evans]

There's a lot of ska music out there.

[I]

What should we make it about? Should we make it about iHeartRadio?

[Robert Evans]

Sure.

[I]

IHeartRadio communication, Robert. And clear channel communication.

[Jason Alexander]

All right.

[I]

Cheer a skull song. We're like, oh, it has to load for like 30 seconds. It feels weirdly like I'm upset that I have to wait that long for something to load online.

[Robert Evans]

Is that really how it feels to you? Huh?

[I]

Yeah. How old are you playing with it? A lot. But it's funny to think about how much time and effort it does take to like produce a song. Typically. I am 27.

[Robert Evans]

That's interesting. Wouldn't have guessed that. One thing that's really compelling to me is your partner when I came in here was very, very much talking about the utility of this in terms of replacing human beings in tasks that are generally unpleasant. Laundry, doing the dishes, cleaning up trash. You seem a lot more bullish on robots replacing human beings and what are generally considered to be enterprises people want to do with their time. Is that like a discrepancy that you guys have kind of talked about, or do you think it's something you guys are more on the same page with stuff?

[I]

From a business standpoint, we're 100% going after the dishes. Laundry, nursing practice of just doing vitals, which is the very repetitive task that's the push. I was starting to just talk into the aspect of the legged robots and kind of imagining why a legged version would have better utility or be something someone wants to purchase rather than the wheeled robot. And yeah, stairs is definitely a big one of those. There are wheel types we're working on right now. Now would have Ability to climb like single stairs, obviously easiest. And that's what most people have in their home if they do have stairs.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh, are we going to listen to some robot scoff?

[I]

I heart listeners, is the moon. Is this skull?

[Robert Evans]

It's a pretty basic melody. I mean there's horns in it, but I feel like it's kind of taken. I think it's, I feel like trying to do pop that it's just thrown some horns in on. This is a little closer to ska, although it's still. Yeah, it's not really singing, but I.

[Jason Alexander]

Guess that's a matter of pace.

[Robert Evans]

What do you listen to?

[I]

This is the worst it's gonna be.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I hear that a lot.

[Robert Evans]

It's interesting because GPT4 took 50 times as much power as GPT3 to train. And there's a lot of mixed reactions on that. And we're entering into a period where we're vibrating very likely looking at a recession, venture capital, funding, there's a chance it's not going to be what it has been. Does that concern you at all? That like this vaunted next level for all of this stuff, the energy cost, the investment cost is just not going to be borne by a market that is not going to be as strong tomorrow as it was today, at least in the immediate term.

[I]

I think even if we, we created no more energy as a human species today, the amount of advancements we create would, from an architectural standpoint, continue to advance. So you have other models like Llama 3.3, which has matched 4o's capabilities and is, for example, forget how many parameters, but like super, like much, much, much smaller and was much cheaper to train. And like, we're continuing to see like smaller models that are just as effective and we're much cheaper training runs. I think Deep Seek was one of the newest ones.

[Robert Evans]

What I'm, what I'm concerned about is I'm looking at the, the P and L, right? I'm looking at OpenAI's P&L. I'm looking at the fact that they're losing five or six billion dollars left last year and we're very good chance it's going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of double that this year. And I'm, I. It's not that there's nothing impressive there. It's not that I don't see like, oh, you can generate a song that's got like guitar and, and, and trumpets and vocals and stuff and you know, a minute or so. It's not that that's not impressive, but like A parlor trick isn't a trillion dollar business and that's the kind of investment they're looking at. And I do want like is it not much more reasonable to focus on folding laundry?

[I]

Well, obviously I personally am in the the boathouse of focusing on allowing this intelligence to flourish in doing these laborious tasks and getting them in the households. I do think from OpenAI standpoint and the reason why VCs and private investors will value themselves highly is what's next is white collar work. A lot of the jobs online, that's what they do have an internal model which is able to control the computer. You know, the same way you would ask an executive assistant to do certain things online.

[Robert Evans]

Now it's just Adobe's handling all of their emails now through AIs which is, you know, we'll see how well that works in the long term. There have been some interesting polling on like the degree to which customers and investors feel trust when somebody's responding to them with an AI. But what's interesting me more here is the dichotomy between what I see here is a very pragmatic choice which is we're not going to try and remake a human being formed robot and deal with with like knees and hips and all of that stuff. We don't need that. We can have it turn up and down on this platform and reach things the same way. Melded to what I consider to be kind of a little more pie in the sky. We're viewing this as eventually something that can take creative roles and think independently and make things which is. It's interesting to me to see that in a company's DNA of what you guys are eight months out right now.

[Jason Alexander]

Yep.

[Robert Evans]

Is that what you're more interested in?

[I]

I'd say I tailor my pitch to the person I'm talking to. So some people definitely enjoy thinking about more of the sci fi futures that are coming. For example, the droids building droids moment. It's when you know you are decreasing your own manufacturing costs by using your own hardware to build more of that hardware. And parts are just being shipped into the factory obviously. I think the first fully automated phone factory just came out in China recently which is like some cool press and news, but the phone is separate from the actual manufacturing process. So there's that like interesting component. The exciting part of the idea that how do we reach true abundance as a species of material and resources is well because GDP is a calculation of capita times productivity, a robot really represents capita 1 unit of creation and I'd Say that's where the sci fi thinking comes into play and it's not worth going there when just dreaming about the future of robotics and talking about it and having an interesting, engaging conversation. But definitely when it comes to what are we doing from an engineering standpoint on the day to day and how are we trying to approach the market, those conversations are not being had.

[Robert Evans]

Okay, well, I appreciate your time. I know you gave me a lot. I'm going to let you get to the other piece. Thank you.

[I]

Thank you so much.

[Robert Evans]

Meet you Jack.

[I]

It was fun.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, wow. That's super interesting.

[Jason Alexander]

I hope you all liked Jack J. As much as I didn't.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Getting to 27 years old and not knowing what Scott is that old.

[Jason Alexander]

I thought he would much younger.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like you thought he was like 22.

[Robert Evans]

Yes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But the fact he, he like, he like didn't know what Scar was as a genre.

[Jason Alexander]

He wasn't, was unaware of it. I don't think he listens to music.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, he listens to AI generated music.

[Jason Alexander]

AI generated music. It's just as good.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He has the most. He has the most I listen to AI generated music vibes out of anyone I've ever seen before.

[Jason Alexander]

Just very clearly does not have a soul.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No.

[Jason Alexander]

Like nothing, nothing would leave the universe if he did. Right.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like it's so opposite from the first guy you talked to. Who was it so like about. No, like I want to help actual tasks that people don't enjoy.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I love cinematography. I love, I love filmmaking. I, I don't. First of all, I don't think a robot can, can replace this.

[Jason Alexander]

No. I watched five different AI generated movies yesterday and they all looked like even.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like a robot handling a physical camera to make like, to make like choices on like shot framing and composition. And like it's one thing to be.

[Jason Alexander]

Like, we want, we have a race car going and so we've got this robot on a track so we can go 70 miles an hour and, and we're just kind of running on a straight track to follow it because a human being can't move that fast. Sure. One thing we've left out of this up so far is so this, this machine that I described earlier, this robot that goes up and down this rolling base has a floppy Donald Trump mask over the.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Over its head, which first attracted us to this.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

That's why we showed up there in the first place.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You have a robot moving its arms around wearing a Donald Trump mask. And as Robert was interviewing this guy, the robot was like moving around and like trying to simulate Its washing dishes capability and it knocked over the same water bottle about five times. It couldn't, it couldn't pick it up consistently. So I will not trust it with my fine china. I'll say that.

[Jason Alexander]

As soon as I got up there, I asked like, I could take my jacket off now. Can it fold it? And he's like, well, we'd have to reprogram it. And it was this. When I talked to the guy, I was like. Because he, he was like, yeah, we really see this as being, you know, potentially good for elder care.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Sure.

[Jason Alexander]

And you know, we had just seen the product we talked about in the last episode, which for all of its. I don't know that I think it'll work. Was a lot of thought and care went into it. I was like, okay, so like, what work have you done to build a machine that can like, communicate and be helpful to like, people who are dealing with health issues in their, their later years? And like, well, that's why it's open. Right? Someone else will.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, it's open source. Someone else can do that part.

[Jason Alexander]

So you guys are just, you guys are just saying it can do everything because somebody could potentially code something for it.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Jason Alexander]

Cool.

[Sophie Lichterman]

There always could be code.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, there could be code. Again, the other guy, guy, the actual engineer, seemed very interested in the nuts and bolts of making a. An affordable reproducible machine that could handle specific tasks. And Jack J. Had absolutely no interest in the actual machine that they were making. This is clearly could not be clear. This is just a stepping stone. And he's kind of grossed out by it because it's not replacing all human art with a machine that he owns.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He's a man completely fueled by Lex Friedman podcast and he doesn't want to actually do any real work. He just wants to talk about how AI is going to take over everything and we have to welcome it in. And here, listen to this Scar.

[Jason Alexander]

He wants to take money by owning something that does not provide anything and also put people out of work. Like, at no point did he express a desire to do anything other than replace something people were already doing with something worse that tech guys could profit from. That's all there is to this man. He's not a human.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's so anti human.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, I, I cannot overemphasize the degree to which there was nothing behind this boy's eyes.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, do you know what? There's also nothing super intelligent behind.

[Robert Evans]

That's not true.

[Jason Alexander]

All of our ads are sponsored by real people, even if they're bad people. They're at least people. They live and they love and they hate and, you know, maybe they have a promo code. Let's, let's see.

[Sophie Lichterman]

All right, so after our, our lovely, our lovely robotics, Jack Jesanowski, ska adventure.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh, yeah.

[Robert Evans]

God.

[Jason Alexander]

Also, the ska was not good.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Good.

[Jason Alexander]

Not good.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It did.

[Jason Alexander]

It just kept saying the word Scott.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It kept saying the word Scott in the music and saying the word Robert.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, Robert.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Repeatedly while just doing random noises. After we had our fill of that, we did walk around the rest of Showstoppers.

[Jason Alexander]

He was so surprised that I wasn't, I wasn't impressed by any of the, he was like, you must not have.

[Robert Evans]

Heard the lady, man.

[Jason Alexander]

I hear them. It's not good. It's like, it's like I, I made this comparison a few times. If somebody like walked in while I'm at a house party, was like, hey, man, I taught my dog to masturbate to pornography with its, with its paws. I would be like, I mean, that's like, I guess impress. I didn't think a dog could do that. Like, I am kind of impressed, I guess. But I don't want this. Like, this, this doesn't do anything for me.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, it's like a parlor trick.

[Jason Alexander]

Why is you figured this out?

[Sophie Lichterman]

What, what value does this have?

[Jason Alexander]

How does the dog know who Farrah Fawcett is? I have questions, sure, but it doesn't give me anything like, no, you know who Farrah Fawcett was? Garrison?

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, God damn it. What do you think? I do.

[Jason Alexander]

I, I, I, I don't know anymore.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, what I did is walk around the rest of Showstoppers. I, I, I stopped this one booth that had like a, like an iPhone case case with like a little like keyboard on the bottom that like plugs in. And I started messing around with it. And the guy at the booth walked up to me and made fun of me because he's like, you've never, you've never held a phone before.

[Jason Alexander]

He had a BlackBerry ninja.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He literally said like, you've never had a BlackBerry before, have you? I'm like, no. Like, yeah, you're typing all wrong on that.

[Jason Alexander]

There was a solid nine day news cycle when Barack Obama newly the president revealed that he had a BlackBerry that.

[Sophie Lichterman]

He was, I remember that. Which sounds like a lifetime ago.

[Jason Alexander]

There was a company called R I Am once, and they made a tablet that was pretty good. And we only made a couple of rim job jokes about it, but it didn't do very well. And so I gave it to my dad and accidentally There was still a picture of my dick on it. Anyway, that's a story for another day.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Cool.

[Jason Alexander]

These are the kind of things you get recording at 11:56pm we have got to Tuesday night at CES.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We've got to get to event. But no, he made fun of me for not knowing how to use a smartphone keyboard.

[Jason Alexander]

He did the right thing.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I don't need to use that because I have a keyboard on my phone built in already. It's much faster. So anyway, we stopped at this company that makes, well now just makes software to use in, in conjunction with the augmented reality glasses and any like high powered laptop. Specifically the laptops that have like built in like you know, like co pilots because they require like higher processing power.

[Jason Alexander]

They have a, an NPU or something like that.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, like a, like an emperor processing.

[Jason Alexander]

Unit is what they're calling like the AI dedicated GPU thing.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Effectively it allows you to hook up these glasses and run, you know, possibly infinite amount of monitors using ar. And we talked about this company last year because we saw them at showstoppers.

[Jason Alexander]

You put on the glasses and it's like you've got six monitors or whatever that are all full size.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And it's actually really easy to use.

[Jason Alexander]

It works very well.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Well, it's seamless, it's nice, it's good quality, easy to use. You can move the monitors around.

[Jason Alexander]

It's an excellent, excellent gap.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We talked to them last year and the main thing that was holding this, like holding us back on it is that you needed to use their own proprietary laptop.

[Jason Alexander]

It was their own laptop and it wasn't a great one.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It was just like a Linux laptop. It didn't have everything I want out of my own personal laptop.

[Jason Alexander]

And we were still impressed with it then.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It was still good. And now you can just use any high powered laptop with it essentially. So it's lovely to see that improved. We saw this lovely very small foldable projector.

[Jason Alexander]

Oh yeah, that was cool. What's that company name? Because we should be giving out the names of these.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yes, the AR glasses and software system is called spacetop. Very good. By a company called Sightful. It works great. But yeah, this little folding projector currently has a Kickstarter. The company is called Aurazen.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, Aura Zen.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Specifically it was the zip tri folder projector. Right now it's, it's a 720p very small foldable projector. It has a whole, it has like, like a Auto Focusing, Auto Keystone. They're working to get it up to 1080p but they're running a Kickstarter right now to ship in about three months. Super good quality stuff if you're a.

[Jason Alexander]

Gadget person, you know, like, it felt like a quality piece of electronics in my hands. Like the way it like snapped when it closed just felt good. I'm. I think I'm going to buy one. Like, it's, it's exactly what I want for traveling, which is the ability to. It goes up to like 80 inches of screen and like very good resolution. The ability to just have that plugged in to a battery or the wall and my laptop and like wherever I happen to be, I. I've got a movie screen that I, I don't have to worry about the hooking up a TV to my laptop or some.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It doesn't need WI fi to work. You just can cast from.

[Jason Alexander]

From your phone a U, R, Z and zip Trifold projector.

[Sophie Lichterman]

R Z. Yep, yep.

[Jason Alexander]

I think they're selling them for 250 right now.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's for the, for the Kickstarter.

[Jason Alexander]

For the Kickstarter go up a little when it's a product. But we saw it, it works. They had a lot of. They had tracking and stuff so it like automatically would focus and shit.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Auto focuses at it. Like, it scales correctly for where it's projecting. It automatically, like adjusts like the tilt of it so that it, you know.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah. Obviously this isn't the full review because we don't own one, but from everything we could tell by looking at it in the moment. It's.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We tried it out. I hooked up my phone to it. As I went to my phone screen, I realized I have a slightly, I would say, artful, lewd image of an angel, which I quickly swiped away from.

[Jason Alexander]

At least you didn't show your dick to your dad.

[Sophie Lichterman]

On my home screen of my phone. You know, things could always be worse.

[Jason Alexander]

Things could always be worse. But I think where we'll end is. And this actually is not entirely in order because this is the next. After we had that conversation with our friend Jack. Jack, which just left me thinking about like, some people aren't really people. Right? That's what I kept saying.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This whole thing is a sham. It's all. It's all for rubes. It's soulless.

[Jason Alexander]

We immediately walk over and we just kind of like randomly turn a corner and there's like a human shin, like tibia, amphibia, basically, with like a carbon fiber, you know, frame around it that's roughly the shape of like a person's lower leg. Lower leg. And it's called Bio Leg. It's a powered microprocessor knee made in Japan where it is a prosthetic, but unlike most prosthetics, it is powered and has a muscle built into it. So like when you lift up your prosthetic, it doesn't hang and it doesn't lock. It actually has a degree of motion and it feels like what lifts the rest of the leg, what your remaining muscles like. It, it measures based on like, it can like take measurements from them and it can act intelligently based on that. And I know that it works because the inventor was there and he was a man who was missing his leg below the knee and had built this for himself.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You spent like 10 years working on this.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, eight years. He said eight years. And that's like really the thing that is like so both like addictive and also like this like very tonal whiplash you get at CES is you will go from like this dead eyed con man trying to scam the world so he can do God knows what kinds of other harms with absolutely no, nothing, nothing inside of him at all. And then I lost my leg and I built a better prosthetic to help the entire world. And that's like 30 seconds between those two experiences.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And like that's like, that's like the dark magic of CES and like, I don't like, I'm not like anti tech. Like I think there, I think technology can really improve people's lives if used well. And sometimes I get kind of black pilled walking around ces, but then we'll stumble across, across this like, you know, someone who like literally lost a leg and made themselves their own better leg.

[Jason Alexander]

Eight years figuring out how to do this. Yeah. Is winning awards for it.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Award winning, like tech innovations, changing your.

[Jason Alexander]

As a person who has lost your lower, like changing being able to like have a normal gait and balance again, like massive potential to improve people's lives as a result of this. Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Just steps away from AI Scar and AI and the Donald Trump mask, over the laundry, over the whole robot.

[Jason Alexander]

The company is again Bionic M and it's the Bioleg.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The Bioleg is the product.

[Jason Alexander]

Yeah, the Bioleg is the product by Bionic M. I'm going to try to.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Check it out more tomorrow at Eureka park, which at this point, you know, that'll be in like maybe future episodes come next week. But I guess this closes our actual like week of coverage.

[Jason Alexander]

Let's go get fucked up and eat Japanese food.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Oh, I'm down Yeah, I'm down. Down.

[Jason Alexander]

Let's do it.

[Robert Evans]

Hey. We'll be back Monday with more episodes every week from now until the heat.

[Jason Alexander]

Death of the universe.

[Garrison Davis]

It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, Visit our website coolzone media.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can now find sources for It Could Happen here listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening. Listening.

[Jason Alexander]

I'm Jason Alexander.

[Peter Tilden]

And I'm Peter Tilden. And together our mission on the really Know really podcast is to get the.

[Robert Evans]

True answers to life's baffling questions, like.

[Peter Tilden]

Why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor, what's in the museum of failure? And does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign. Jason Bobblehead the Really no really Podcast. Follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.