Unlock Social Currency: Networking Secrets That Work | Chip Hopper DSH #1232

Summary

Digital Social Hour: Unlock Social Currency – Networking Secrets That Work | Chip Hopper DSH #1232

Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Chip Hopper
Release Date: March 11, 2025

---

Introduction

In this compelling episode of Digital Social Hour, host Sean Kelly engages in an insightful dialogue with Chip Hopper, a seasoned ghostwriter and networking guru. The conversation delves deep into the mechanics of building effective networks, the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), and the implications of current educational systems on creativity. Through candid discussions and thought-provoking insights, Hopper shares his strategies for leveraging social currency and navigating a world increasingly influenced by technology.

---

1. The Power of Networking and Social Currency

Timestamp: [02:07]

Chip Hopper emphasizes the significance of networking as a form of social currency. He explains how meaningful connections can propel individuals to their next level of success.

Chip Hopper: "Networks are one of the most important things. You can have connection and how you're connected and who you're connected with."

Hopper discusses the concept of relationship capital, highlighting that the quality and diversity of one's network are crucial for personal and professional growth. He underscores the idea that every meaningful relationship brings the potential for new opportunities through mutual connections.

---

2. Expanding Empathy Through Reading and Travel

Timestamp: [03:21]

Hopper advocates for reading and traveling as essential tools for building empathy and broadening one's perspective. He references Tim Ferriss’s philosophy on gaining empathy by experiencing different cultures.

Chip Hopper: "One of the best ways to gain empathy is to go to more than one country."

By immersing oneself in diverse environments and immersing in varied narratives through books, individuals can develop a deeper understanding of others, enhancing their ability to connect and collaborate effectively.

---

3. Curating Knowledge: The Art of Book Selection

Timestamp: [05:05]

Discussing his rigorous reading habits, Hopper reveals his method for selecting books that provide valuable, curated knowledge.

Chip Hopper: "I'm reading a book a week for over 25 years... one of the ways that I do it is I listen to those that I trust and find people like Ray Dalio."

He emphasizes the importance of trusting credible sources and selecting books that resonate with established thought leaders. This disciplined approach ensures that the knowledge gained is both relevant and actionable.

---

4. Navigating the AI Revolution: Trust and Creativity

Timestamp: [09:28]

The conversation shifts to the impact of AI on society, particularly concerning trust and creativity. Hopper warns about the erosion of trust in human interactions due to AI's capabilities.

Chip Hopper: "I think [AI] is degrading trust because you don't know if you're really speaking to a person anymore or even listening to a person."

He explores the ethical dilemmas posed by AI, questioning who controls the vast amounts of data being collected and how it influences creative expression and personal connections.

---

5. AI as "Alien Intelligence" and Its Ethical Implications

Timestamp: [14:06]

Hopper introduces the concept of AI as "alien intelligence," a term he shares with author Yuval Harari, to illustrate AI's non-human nature.

Chip Hopper: "When you look at [AI], it's an intelligence that is not human, so it's an alien intelligence."

He discusses the potential for AI to develop consciousness and the profound questions this raises about the nature of life, meaning, and purpose. Hopper emphasizes the need for humanity to establish a symbiotic relationship with AI, ensuring it complements rather than disrupts human endeavors.

---

6. The Education System's Impact on Creativity

Timestamp: [25:21]

Challenging the traditional education model, Hopper critiques how the industrial-age system stifles creativity among students.

Chip Hopper: "School as it is now basically started in the industrial age... it breeds out creativity."

He references studies indicating a dramatic decline in creative geniuses due to restrictive educational practices. Hopper advocates for a more flexible, creative-focused approach to education that nurtures individual talents and innovative thinking.

---

7. Personal Journey: From Ghostwriting to Public Recognition

Timestamp: [17:24]

Hopper shares his personal journey, revealing his preference for operating behind the scenes as a ghostwriter and his evolving desire to gain public recognition.

Chip Hopper: "I've been asked to be on some super big podcasts over the years and turned them down because I was cool being the guy doing the ghost in the background."

He discusses the balance between maintaining freedom and expanding his influence, ultimately deciding to step into the spotlight to amplify his impact and help more people.

---

8. Nurturing Creativity in the Next Generation

Timestamp: [28:00]

Addressing the challenges of fostering creativity in children with conditions like dyslexia and ADHD, Hopper shares his approach to homeschooling his son.

Chip Hopper: "I'm going to build what works for my kids, and I homeschool my youngest... he's writing his book."

He highlights the importance of adapting educational methods to suit individual learning styles, allowing children to explore their creative potential without being confined by traditional academic structures.

---

Conclusion

Chip Hopper's insights offer a profound exploration of the interconnectedness between networking, creativity, and technology. His advocacy for meaningful relationships, continuous learning, and ethical considerations in AI presents a roadmap for navigating the complexities of the modern world. As AI continues to evolve, Hopper's perspectives underscore the enduring value of human connections and the imperative to nurture creativity within and beyond structured systems.

---

Notable Quotes

• [02:07] "Networks are one of the most important things. You can have connection and how you're connected and who you're connected with."
  – Chip Hopper

• [03:06] "My belief is that for you to get to your next level, you're one away."
  – Chip Hopper

• [09:28] "I think [AI] is degrading trust because you don't know if you're really speaking to a person anymore or even listening to a person."
  – Chip Hopper

• [15:14] "AI is going to challenge the way we believe about what life is, the way we believe, or how we find meaning and purpose."
  – Chip Hopper

• [25:21] "School as it is now basically started in the industrial age... it breeds out creativity."
  – Chip Hopper

• [28:00] "I'm going to build what works for my kids, and I homeschool my youngest... he's writing his book."
  – Chip Hopper

---

Connect with Chip Hopper:
For more insights and to follow Chip Hopper’s work, visit chiphopper.com or find him on your favorite social media platforms.

---

This summary captures the essence of the conversation between Sean Kelly and Chip Hopper, highlighting key discussions and insights shared during the episode.

Transcript

[Amazon Music Ad]

Hey, prime members, are you tired of ads interfering with your favorite podcasts? Good news. With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad free top podcasts included with your prime membership. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free or go to Amazon.com ADFreePodcasts that's Amazon.com ADFreeP Podcasts to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads, Darwin would approve.

[T-Mobile Ad]

T Mobile's network has adapted to so.

[Amazon Music Ad]

Many locales because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network switch. Now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off at the $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com keepandswitch up to 4 lines via virtual prepaid card. Left 15 days qualifying unlock device credit service port in 90 plus days device knowledgeable carrier and timely redemption required card is no cash access and expires in six months.

[Chip Hopper]

And now we have AI and other systems that can track us more than we've ever been tracked before. And where is that power going to end up? Right now there's this huge issue with TikTok. Right. And who controls that data? And are we giving this data to another country that might not have our best interest in mind?

[Host]

All right, guys, we got Chip Hopper here today out till 9am and joining me. So I appreciate you, you know, giving up some sleep to be here.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, happy to do it.

[Host]

Is that a common thing for you to be out late?

[Chip Hopper]

No, no. It's either Sundance or Vegas. That's right.

[Host]

Vegas will do that to you.

[Chip Hopper]

Oh, my gosh.

[Host]

What's your favorite?

[Chip Hopper]

That's why. That's why I can't live in Vegas.

[Host]

What's your favorite activity in Vegas to do?

[Chip Hopper]

Just going out to the clubs, you know, just hanging with friends.

[Host]

Good old excess souk.

[Chip Hopper]

Yep. Yep.

[Host]

Vegas does have some good clubs, man.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. Yeah. I love music. I love connecting with people. So those are like my two favorite things.

[Host]

You've done a great job of building a network.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, I. I love that. To me, networks are one of the most important things. You can have connection and how you're connected and who you're connected with.

[Host]

Right. They call it social currency these days, right?

[Chip Hopper]

Yep.

[Host]

Yeah, yeah. Because even though you might not have a liquid amount, you can leverage your network to make that in a certain amount of time.

[Chip Hopper]

Right, Right. It's all about currencies that you manage and that you grow and relationships. And relationship Capital or whatever you want to call it.

[Host]

Yep. I'm glad I came to Sundance because I've expanded my network in a new space that I'm not really familiar with between the film space and the biohacking space. And I've added more connections in those spaces, so it was worth it.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, that's. That's my love hate relationship with Sundance. It's like, I don't typically stay out till 8am but when you're out and you're just with these amazing people that come in from all over the world working on film creatives or others that are just. Everyone you meet knows people that you want to meet. So my belief is that for you to get to your next level, you're one away. Right. And that one away is most likely in your phone. And then if they're not in your phone, they're in the phone of somebody in your phone.

[Host]

I love that. That's a great way of thinking about it. Yeah. But you're right. I met people from Colombia, met a couple from Australia. All around the world, not just us. I love that because sometimes you get in this echo chamber of just our local city, our local county, or even our local country.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, Tim Ferriss said this years ago that one of the best ways to. Well, I don't know if he put it exactly this way, but in essence he was saying one of the best ways to gain empathy is to go to more than one country. Right. And the things you learn from living in a different space or even just being in that space, the different way you see the world is really significant in changing the way you perceive things.

[Host]

Yeah. And I think someone in the creative space like you, who, by the way, for people watching this, you're a ghostwriter. Traveling gives you important perspectives when you're writing, right?

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, absolutely. To me, I tell people that if they want to improve their connection, the two main things they can do are read and travel. Right. And obviously then talk with people as well. But putting yourself in someone else's shoes, one of the fastest ways to do that is through reading. I agree. And the second is travel, in my opinion.

[Host]

Yeah. Reading or audiobooks or podcasts, great ways to learn fast.

[Chip Hopper]

Just little thing. For me, I call it reading. If you're consuming the knowledge, I don't care if you're doing audible. I don't care if you're sitting down with a print book. I don't care if it's a Kindle. To me, it's all learning and bringing that knowledge in for me, reading is super valuable and what you read makes a difference. Certain things are more curated, like podcasts, for example, are less curated often because they're just stream of consciousness. As you talk, books are often more curated. Not as much now, but the best books. A lot of those authors have taken decades of knowledge and curated into a single book. So taking in knowledge is much easier and quicker when you have the consolidated.

[Host]

Agreed. What's your book selection process? Because there's so many books. Right. And you only have a certain amount of time.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. So I've read a book a week for over 25 years. Damn. And it's been an interesting journey and it really shifts you. And as I've read, you realize more and more that just because it's information doesn't make it true and doesn't make it valuable. So I love your question of how do you find the best books? And one of the ways that I do it is I listen to those that I trust and I try and find people like Ray Dalio says, find people that you trust that don't agree with you because then you can balance your opinions with other people that you see as having studied and thought out answers. And for me, when I can find books those people resonate with, that is where I start to pull those books.

[Amazon Music Ad]

The way we work is changing every day, thanks in large part to the Internet. So if you're an online creator, what can you do to create a sustainable future for yourself? On Attach your resume Creators share how their jobs work, especially during times like these where big changes are happening in the online world. Listen to interviews with Internet reporter Taylor Lorenz, CEO of Patreon, Jack Conti, representatives from Defector, Aftermath and more. Whether you're an online creator yourself or curious about what's going on in the online Wild west search, Attach your resume wherever you listen to your podcasts.

[Host]

All right, shout out to today's sponsor, Specialized Recruiting Group. Navigating the professional job search is hard. You know the perfect job is out there. You're just not sure how to find it. The good news is you don't have to go at it alone. You need Specialized recruiting group [e-mail] srgpros.com they're here to guide you and help you find a role that fits all without costing a dime. Meet Specialized recruiting group offering a tailored approach. To find your next role, go to srgpros.com srgpros.com and get on the right course. Your local Specialized Recruiting Group team knows which businesses are hiring and can Offer you a path to contract and full time roles. If you don't see the role you're looking for on the website, Specialized recruiting group also recruits for confidential roles. So give an office near you a call to learn more. Take the next step in your career by [e-mail] srgpros.com.

[Chip Hopper]

And for me, I'm always in the middle of reading four to five books at a time.

[Host]

Wow.

[Chip Hopper]

And I have a belief that if a book's not resonating with you, you don't need to finish it. Some people pick up one book and they start to read it and they get stuck in it because it's either not resonating or whatever else. They leave it on their shelf and they end up not reading for a couple months because they feel like they have to finish that one before they can start another one.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Chip Hopper]

To me, you're always in a different state of mind. So pick up what's working with you right at that time, whether you're listening or reading. And if the book's no longer resonating or no longer serving you, then put it down.

[Host]

I love that there's a great site. I forget the name, but if you google anyone and then after their name, type in book recommendations. It'll show you what books they've recommended, like all the top entrepreneurs and stuff. So I'll do that. I'll see what they recommended. I'll look if multiple intelligent people have recommended that book and then I'll summarize that book on ChatGPT. If I like the summary, then I'll get the book on audible 2x speed while I'm in the car. And that's my process.

[Chip Hopper]

That is perfect. That's a great way to bring it in. I use an app called Goodreads.

[Host]

That's a good app and I love.

[Chip Hopper]

That app because you can see what other people are reading in your friend group, if you will. It's a, it's a social group of people that are reading and you see what books they're reading and you can see the books that they've rated highly compared to the books you've rated highly. So you can start to see, okay, maybe these books will resonate with me because they have similar taste and ratings.

[Host]

That's cool.

[Chip Hopper]

Years ago, I wanted to create an app that, that did that with movies where it's like, if you like this movie, you might like this movie because your friends also like this movie. Because the funny part of it was you would have friends that you always were the Inverse of. Right. If they loved a movie, you knew you were not going to like it. So it's like, if you can know what other people are liking and which ones think like you or resonate with.

[Host]

You, I mean, that's needed because, let's be honest, movie critic reviews are. Are so paid for. It's obvious. Like, I can't trust those. So I'd rather have ordinary people give me their opinion on movies.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, absolutely. And people. People you know, and people you trust. And that's probably one of the biggest concerns with the rise of AI right now is that I think it is degrading trust, because you don't know if you're really speaking to a person anymore or even listening to a person. Even with the videos that are coming out now, they're getting better and better at you just not knowing.

[Host]

They're so good. They're almost to the point that they can fool me. I physically pay attention to see if it's AI but to the average person, I've seen Joe Rogan AI videos that. Those are definitely working on people.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, absolutely. People will send me. They're like, what do you think of what Joe Rogan said here? I'm like, I don't think he said it.

[Host]

Yeah. But it's going to get to the point where even. Even we can't tell.

[Chip Hopper]

Right.

[Host]

I mean, I just made my digital twin the other day, and it's pretty accurate, man.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. One of the. One of the ways that they're still being able to distinguish right now is the iris print. You're like, your eye print is. Is hard to replicate.

[Host]

Wow. But eventually they'll probably figure that out. Right.

[Chip Hopper]

You know, to me, it's. AI is going to be able to figure out anything that is able to be figured out. AI will be able to do it.

[Host]

I'm already preparing for it because I. Similar to writing, I think AI is going to take over podcasting. There's already AI podcast companies starting up. I've seen a Joe Rogan podcast where it's just him interviewing dead people with AI.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah.

[Host]

So it'll be like him and Steve Jobs, stuff like that.

[Chip Hopper]

And neither one of them were speaking. Right. I mean, it's just taking. And they have a conversation, they're laughing, they're breathing, they're doing all.

[Host]

It sounds pretty similar to the real podcast. So I'm already preparing, thinking of ways on how I can kind of differentiate myself from AI. I'm sure you're doing the same, right?

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, very much so. In the creative space, people Used to think that creative space was one of the spaces that would be the last to be overtaken by AI. And we're finding that AI is able to take creativity and match it to the point where it's almost indistinguishable from humans right now.

[Host]

Wow, that's gonna be scary for movie writers too.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. I mean, when I look at movies, for me, storytelling is about connecting. And one of the reasons I enjoy going to a movie is because I could go watch a movie that you watched or watch it with you and, like, have that same experience.

[Host]

Right.

[Chip Hopper]

But we're entering a state where you could actually put on a headset, watch a movie made for you on the fly based on your brain patterns, and feed you scenes that move your brain in certain ways.

[Host]

Holy crap.

[Chip Hopper]

And so that's all in the realm of what's starting to be here and will be here. You'll be here soon. But when I think of that, I'm like, does that bring you connected or does that pull you away from connection? Right. Because if I see a movie with you and you and I talk about it, then we're connecting on a certain level, or we read the same book, we can talk about it, and it gives us a similar shared experience. If we're in our own worlds, watching our own movies, what does that do for connection?

[Host]

Right. It's almost like that movie Ready Player One, where people are living in their headsets. They don't care about their physical body. That's a possibility, right?

[Chip Hopper]

I mean, all the movies, the Matrix, Ready Player One. All those have elements of things that. That could happen. You know, James Cameron, who did Terminator and many of those other movies, he was in an interview recently, and he's like. He's like, it's getting harder to write science fiction because we're actually doing all of the things. What do you decide is science fiction when. When it's all becoming right?

[Host]

Cause Star Trek is cool now, but will it be cool when those things actually exist? They'll just be normal life.

[Chip Hopper]

I mean, Star Trek is a great one to bring up because. And I love to ask this question of people. I'm like, are you a Star Trek or a Star wars fan? Right, I'm a Star Trek fan. And I'll give you my analysis of that, which is Star Trek is based on science, meaning when they want something to happen in the Star Trek universe, they say, how with science could this work? And they develop these things that have many times ultimately become reality. The flip phone was the communicator in Star Trek. Right. And many of those technologies actually end up happening because they build it around science. Where Star wars is built more on, hey, we want this to happen, so woo woo. And some mythological happen, the Force, you know. Right. So it's more of a world that's built on like, you know, it's the spectrum of science to woo woo. So that's where if people are like Star Trek, I'm like, oh, you're science based. If you're Star wars, you're more on the woo woo.

[Host]

I mean, I definitely like both, but I definitely see that.

[Chip Hopper]

I like both.

[Host]

Yeah, I definitely see that though. Yeah, I would say I'm more logical though.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah.

[Host]

When it comes to science. Yeah. So you don't call AI artificial intelligence, you call it alien intelligence.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, I like the term alien intelligence. And that's actually a term that Yuval Harari uses as well. Yuval Harari is one of my favorite authors. His book Nexus was my top book for 2024 and I highly recommend everyone read it. He's able to write these books. Sapiens was a fantastic book on kind of the evolution of humans to get to where we are. Nexus is kind of about connection and networks and all of those things that are really the future of what's going on. But he talks about it as alien intelligence, which I've seen it that way as well, and I agree with. And when you look at is an intelligence and it's an intelligence that is not human, so it's an alien intelligence. And if you look at it that way, rather than artificial, you can start to see, okay, how do I interact with this intelligence that maybe learns differently than I do, processes differently than I do, and how can I be symbiotic or synergized with this alien intelligence?

[Host]

So you think there's a possibility it could develop some conscious mind, conscious thoughts?

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, I mean, consciousness is one of those things that we don't fully understand. Right. And as humans, we believe we have intelligence and consciousness. And right now AI is an intelligence that we, for now, we say it doesn't have a conscience. Right. But my personal opinion is that AI is going to challenge the way we believe about what life is, the way we believe, or how we find meaning and purpose. Because when AI can do all of the things that you do, when you combine the convergence of robotics and AI and all these other things, and you have a robot that goes around and does most of the things you do, and you have robots that do all the jobs, where do you find meaning? Where do you find value? So I do see those things as questions we should be addressing. Absolutely.

[Host]

Where are you at on your journey of purpose and meaning?

[Chip Hopper]

You know, that's a constant evolution, Right. And I found that the people that learn or spend a lot of time continually trying to grow and learn have that movement and it's constantly evolving of. Of where they are in that space. For me, one of the quotes that has always driven me, as Thoreau said, most men lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their songs still inside. And I've always felt this pull or this calling to help people sing their songs while they're still alive.

[Host]

I love that.

[Chip Hopper]

And that's part of why I help people go straight their stories and book Jedi, the name of my company actually is an acronym, so JEDI stands for a book's Journey of Evolution, Disruption and Impact. And what I found, without exception, is that when someone writes their story, it changes them more than it changes anybody that reads it, really. It helps them find clarity in their life. It helps them move their life in directions that they never would have done had they not taken on the exercise of writing the book.

[Host]

Do you ever want the recognition from the success of the stories?

[Chip Hopper]

You know, it's one of those interesting things, right. Like, I often ask people, I'm like, if you're building your career, would you rather be Oz or Elvis? And what that means is Oz is behind the curtain making things happen, but he's still a big influence, right where Elvis is on stage and a big influence. So there's a lot of influence in both. And when I was young, I very much made the conscious decision that I wanted no fame. I wanted to make a lot of money and have no fame because both of those things gave me freedom. The more fame I saw it as the more fame you had, the less freedom you had, right?

[Host]

Yeah, there's definitely a trade off.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. But I found I've always had income and impact directly correlated. Right. The more income you make, the more impact you can have. The more impact you make, the more income you'll make. And I've realized over the last few years that I was holding myself back from helping more people because I was pulling back from that influence space, which is kind of that third eye of bringing in that recognition and that fame so you could actually move even more. I've been asked to be on some super big podcasts over the years and turn them down and turn down other opportunities because I was like, you know, I'm cool being the guy doing the ghost in the background. And a lot of me still loves part of that. Right. There's a lot of freedom in going out and playing in that ghost space. And, you know, I've. I've had many people that I've written books for compare me to people like Michael Jordan and things like this. And it's. I'm the Michael Jordan of ghost. Right. And whatever else they say. Right. But it's. It's interesting because it's like, I've rarely put foot on a public court, and to have a brand like that is a real interesting dynamic.

[Host]

Right.

[Chip Hopper]

Because then you do put your foot on a real court, and it's like, okay, well, what's gonna happen if everybody's expecting Jordan to come out?

[Host]

It's like, yeah, a little anxious about how people are gonna react to it. Right. Yeah. Because you've held off for so long.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, it's been a long time. Yeah.

[Host]

Cause you started writing how long ago?

[Chip Hopper]

So I started writing actually in high school, which was. It was like mid-80s, late-80s. And I've always loved writing. I guess it's a little bit in my genes. My dad was an English professor for a while. My son, who is 15, has written about 350 pages of his first novel.

[Host]

Holy crap.

[Chip Hopper]

And he wants to get it published before he's 16. So there'll be another little Hopper author out there.

[Host]

That's impressive, man.

[Chip Hopper]

He might actually beat me with having his name on a book because I've. I've only ghostwritten to this point and haven't put my name on the COVID of any book yet.

[Host]

You're gonna need a memoir one of these days or a biography or something.

[Chip Hopper]

And so I'm like, there's a little bit of, like, do I let my son publish before I publish my own first one? But, yeah, we'll see.

[Host]

Yeah. Hats off to guys like you behind the scenes that don't want the spotlight, because I feel like that's rare these days. You know, I feel like a lot of people, because of social media, it's easy to compare yourself. So you kind of want the spotlight. It's kind of natural, right?

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. And it's definitely been an interesting dynamic for me, which I think all of us are right. Not to go too far on a tangent, but I love the new direction of Marvel movies where there's not this hero and this villain. We all have these dynamics within us that move back and forth in that range. And I've realized through assessments, which I love assessments. There's one called Wealth Dynamics, where I actually come out of wealth dynamics as a star, which is an interesting opposition to being the guy behind the scenes.

[Host]

Ironic. Right.

[Chip Hopper]

And as I've allowed myself to step into that space of being in front of the spotlight more often, it really creates a space of potential beauty. Right. And so it is interesting to have been behind the scenes for so long and have that shifting. For sure.

[Host]

I like Hormozi's take on this. He saw Kim Kardashian and a bunch of people start brands and make a lot of money because he was behind the scenes for a while, Alex Hormozi. And that's why he sort of came on the scene and he just said the pros outweigh the cons, basically.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah.

[Host]

Because there are cons. I mean, your privacy's gone. You gotta look over your shoulder. People are coming at you, trying to scam you and stuff.

[Chip Hopper]

And here's the thing about privacy, though. It's gone anyway.

[Host]

It's gone for everyone. Right.

[Chip Hopper]

I mean, we are going to be analyzed on everything we do, and a lot of it is going to be driven by an alien intelligence that we don't really understand, why it's even selecting some of the things it's selecting. So, yeah, if you're wanting a private life, that's not a good reason to not be on stage anymore.

[Host]

Yeah. I look at these Black Mirror episodes and how many of them have come true already. It's only been a few years since it came out. And the social credit score one is always in my brain.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. I mean, it's very much a thing that's coming. Right. And how we apply that, how we look at it, is going to be really interesting. We look at government types and totalitarian governments often ruled by the amount of information they could know about people. And one of the most effective ways they could know information about their people was. Was to create this environment where people reported on each other. And now we have AI and other systems that can track us more than we've ever been tracked before. And where is that power going to end up? Right now there's this huge issue with TikTok. Right. And who controls that data? And are we giving this data to another country that might not have our best interest in mind? And I look at that and I'm like, but what are we doing? Are we creating ourselves as a hero when we might actually be using that data worse than, you know, China might be being? And I'm not. I'm not saying one way or the other that we are. It's just. I love to ask questions. Better questions lead to better lives and the way that we see things. But I look at it and I'm like, you know, Trump made a proposal that someone buy TikTok and then give half to the U.S. government. And to me, I'm like, okay, so you're going to strong arm a company by saying they're worthless unless they comply with the US by giving the US Half of the value of the company? I'm like, that's a dangerous precedent. And it starts to put a lot of data in the hands of the government. And the more data they have, the more potential they have to control our choices and how we move. Which for me is probably one of the most concerning things for me as it comes to creativity, because I believe creatives color outside the lines. And the reason we had people like Steve Jobs and others like him is because they pushed the barriers and they were outside of the range. If they had been constantly monitored on what they were doing, I don't know that they would have made the same choices. There's a part in your mind that if you know there's always cameras on for a while, it really changes your behavior. And some of that behavior sticks. Ultimately, you forget a lot that cameras are on, but there's a part that always stays there, especially if your actions are being either rewarded or punished. You'll drive a car differently if you know that there's a monitor on the car tied to your insurance. Tesla has that now, you know, and so it's all those things. It's like, are we going to weed out creativity out of the system if we. If we go down that path?

[Host]

Yeah. Reminds me of public school, how you got punished for being creative.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. Public school is a great example of a system that was built because we needed workers in factories. Right. A lot of people forget that. School as it is now basically started in the industrial age when we needed people that knew well enough how to take instructions. The model was 15 to 45. Kids sit in front of one person who tells them what to do, and there's no dynamic interaction or discussion. It's like, here's the rules, here's how you do it. The whole school system is set up like an industrial model. Yeah.

[Host]

It's scary.

[Chip Hopper]

And they've done studies that show it breeds out creativity. There was one major study that was done on this where they found they tracked kids through a young age, up and through high school. And the percentage of creative geniuses that were in the group went from something in the 90s to something in like, 5%.

[Host]

Holy crap.

[Chip Hopper]

And the study concluded that the main factor was the education system.

[Host]

That's super concerning. I'll have to find that and link it in the video. And as a writer, that must have been frustrating in English class because they teach you how to write in a certain way. It's got to be this amount of sentences and paragraphs, I guess. Like cookie cutter, right?

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. And, I mean, I did okay in English, but it, like, grammar is not my thing. In fact, I'm about as dyslexic as anyone I know. And even very simple words can be hard for me to, like, airspell. But I can look at a paper and I can see kind of where it's off. So it's funny to be a writer and even an editor and have these kind of a different approach than most do. Like, I'm blessed because I grew up in a family where, like, my father was very good with grammar. So I know what feels right, even if I don't necessarily know why it's right. But, yeah, when it comes to spelling and things like that, like, I didn't get great scores in English before I knew other languages. And now, you know, speaking Spanish especially, it's, like, very challenging to spell in the first place.

[Host]

But it's fascinating how many successful people I know that have dyslexia or ADHD.

[Chip Hopper]

Or autism, and I actually see them as superpowers. Right. I believe every great military leader had ADHD in all of history. Right. Because it allows your brain to focus on more things at once. And in the battlefield, that's a huge asset.

[Host]

And they paint you as, like, disabled when you get labeled with those conditions. And then they medicate it.

[Chip Hopper]

Right.

[Host]

So it's like they're suppressing these abilities.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. I went through that with my own kids and, you know, almost lost my first one because we were trying to move him into the system, medicate him into the system. And I have now shifted where I'm like, look, I am not going to medicate my kids to fit the system. I'm going to build what works for my kids, and I homeschool my youngest. And it's not a traditional model of homeschooling. He's 15, and his focuses right now are he's writing his book, but I'm not sitting him down to do English grammar. He's just taking on this process of writing. And we sit down and we go. We go over it. He watches. He loves to watch shows. And he'll deconstruct those shows as, like, he'll write them as a. As a story. So he'll take an episode and write that story. Like the Walking Dead is one of his favorite shows. And he would take an episode, and he would just write the whole thing as a narrative, and then.

[Host]

That's cool, actually.

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah. I mean, it was super cool, but he can't. He, like. He doesn't like to sit down and read a book yet. That's something he enjoyed, was how to bring that out. And when he would do that, he started to get into the fan fiction side, where he's like, I want to write some things for fan fiction. And then after a while, he was like, I feel so constricted living in their universe. He's like, I want to start to write something in my own universe. And that's what was kind of the catalyst for the book that he's doing now.

[Host]

Right.

[Chip Hopper]

So he's doing great things with that book. He runs a business of breeding Bernadoodle puppies, and so he's creating value and monetary value for himself.

[Host]

That's cool.

[Chip Hopper]

But it wouldn't necessarily fit that traditional school model. Right. So it's like, how do we create a space where children can still find and grow and develop into their creative genius rather than a system? And don't get me wrong. I love education. I fully support us trying to become better and grow and develop. I would like to see it, you know, us continue to ask those questions of how can we make it better?

[Host]

100. And got to realize not everyone has the same learning style. Right. Your son doesn't like to read, but in school, they make you read five books a year, and not every kid wants to do that.

[Chip Hopper]

Two of my kids loved that. Like, two of my kids were. They fit the system really, really well. And. And two of them didn't. Right. I've got four kids, and my oldest and my youngest just did not fit in the system, and my two middle ones excelled in it. So it's, you know, it's that same thing of everything. It's a spectrum. It depends on what fits.

[Host]

Yeah, that's super cool, man. Well, Chip, what are you working on next? Where could people keep in touch with you, man?

[Chip Hopper]

Yeah, Working on a number of books right now that are really exciting. Got some film projects that we're working on. I'm moving more out of being in that ghost space to actually putting my name on a few things. I kind of have that as something that feels like it's calling to me, and I'm allowing that now. And the best places to find me would be chiphopper.com or chiphopper on pretty much any platform out there. But we'll see. We'll see where those social media platforms go. With AI, who knows?

[Host]

Yeah, we'll see, man. Well, we'll link it below. Check out his work, guys, and I'll see you next time.

[T-Mobile Ad]

Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn Ads, go to libsynads. Com. That's L I B S Y N Ads. Com Today.