422 Joe Rogan Experience Review of Lex Fridman

Summary

Episode Summary: Joe Rogan Experience Review Podcast - Episode 422 on Lex Fridman

Release Date: January 26, 2025
Hosts: Adam Thorne and Co-Host

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1. Introduction to Lex Fridman’s Influence

In Episode 422, Adam Thorne and his Co-Host delve into Lex Fridman's impactful appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience. They explore Lex's evolving role from a tech-focused podcaster to a pivotal figure in global discourse, particularly his engagements with world leaders.

Notable Quote:
Lex Fridman ([01:03]):
"I accept the risks and the goal, the mission is to just push for peace, to do my small part in pushing for peace."

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2. Lex Fridman’s Interviews with World Leaders

The hosts highlight Lex’s unique position in interviewing significant figures such as Volodymyr Zelensky and his upcoming interview with Vladimir Putin. They commend his bravery and the potential impact of these conversations on global peace efforts.

Notable Quote:
Co-Host ([02:30]):
"His willingness and like ability, I guess, to engage with these world leaders... we're gonna get like a more unbiased look at how things are unfolding."

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3. Historical Parallels: Genghis Khan and the Roman Empire

A significant portion of the discussion centers on historical comparisons, notably Genghis Khan and the Roman Empire, to understand the nature of leadership and conquest. The hosts analyze how these figures, while brutal, contributed to shaping trade routes and cultural exchanges.

Notable Quote:
Co-Host ([07:18]):
"They talked about Genghis Khan a lot. It led into the brutality of war, the strategy of Genghis Khan."

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4. The Human Cost of War and Empathy

Adam and his Co-Host emphasize the profound human suffering caused by modern conflicts, particularly the Ukraine-Russia war and the situation in Gaza. They discuss the importance of empathy and understanding the real-life impacts of these wars beyond political rhetoric.

Notable Quote:
Co-Host ([28:01]):
"Does their voices add a more human element to the pain and frustration and just inhumanity of what goes on."

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5. Trump’s Potential Role in Global Peace Negotiations

A compelling segment of the episode speculates on Donald Trump's potential involvement in mediating peace talks. The hosts discuss his negotiation style and how his unpredictable nature might influence global conflicts, hoping he can play a decisive role in ending ongoing wars.

Notable Quote:
Co-Host ([22:01]):
"It would be wild if Trump starts to get known as the global peace setter, the complete opposite of what many people have thought about this person."

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6. The Intersection of Technology and Global Communication

Lex’s use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to translate conversations into multiple languages is examined as a significant advancement. The hosts discuss how AI can make global dialogues more accessible, fostering better understanding and collaboration across cultures.

Notable Quote:
Co-Host ([38:51]):
"Lex talked about how he was able to do it... it's getting better all the time, it's just click a button."

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7. Future of Space Colonization and Human Reproduction

The conversation takes a lighter turn as the hosts explore the challenges of reproduction in space and potential colonization of Mars. They humorously debate the logistics and feasibility of human reproduction in extraterrestrial environments.

Notable Quote:
Co-Host ([41:08]):
"Someone out there, please do. But you know, I guess there's like no actual documented cases of it."

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8. Reflections on Leadership and Empathy

In their concluding remarks, Adam and his Co-Host reflect on the qualities necessary for effective leadership. They advocate for empathy as a crucial trait for world leaders, arguing that understanding and compassion can lead to more humane and effective decision-making.

Notable Quote:
Co-Host ([30:14]):
"There is a possibility that being too empathetic or too sensitive could get in the way of making the right decision in that moment."

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9. Final Thoughts and Future Prospects

The episode wraps up with optimism about future interviews, particularly Lex’s anticipated conversation with Putin. The hosts express hope that these dialogues will contribute to resolving conflicts and fostering global peace.

Notable Quote:
Co-Host ([48:33]):
"We really do need it. This isn't just like the next season of Planet Earth."

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Conclusion

Episode 422 offers an insightful analysis of Lex Fridman's role in bridging conversations between prominent world leaders and the broader implications for global peace and understanding. Adam Thorne and his Co-Host provide a thoughtful exploration of historical parallels, the human cost of war, and the potential of technology to enhance global communication. The episode underscores the importance of empathy in leadership and remains hopeful about future dialogues that could shape a more peaceful world.

Transcript

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[Adam Thorne]

You're listening to the Joe Rogan Experience Review.

[Co-Host]

What a bizarre thing we've created.

[Adam Thorne]

Now with your hosts, Adam Thorne.

[Co-Host]

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[Podcast Host]

Enjoy the show.

[Lex Friedman]

It was surreal to be back there and to try to do what I was doing, which is to push for peace. Since there's probably a lot to say about this war. I should say that I interviewed Volodymyr Zelensky and I will be traveling to Russia to interview Vladimir Putin. And I'm aware of the risks. I accept the risks and the goal, the mission is to just push for peace, to do my small part in pushing for peace. And that's what I was trying to do in this conversation and it required just a huge amount of preparation.

[Co-Host]

There we go. That's Lex Friedman on the Joe Rogan Experience talking about his role in interviewing Zelensky and setting up to go and talk to Putin. I assume if he's saying that he's going to do a podcast with Putin, that it's kind of on the books. Brave thing. It's wild.

That would be wild.

Very few reporters have been out there. I mean, Tucker Carlson spoke with him and you know, I think this is really interesting.

I mean, yeah, that his willingness and like ability, I guess, to engage with these world leaders. I think it's showing this really big shift in how the world is learning about and processing major events that are happening and, you know, kind of bypassing these traditional media outlets. I think we're gonna get like a more unbiased look at how things are unfolding.

Well What I like about it is the way Lex's podcast started, in a lot of ways it was very tech focused. So he would have, you know, he had Zuckerberg on and a lot of physicists, scientists, these sorts of things. So he's just a very logical person in a lot of ways. Bipartisan for that reason. Right. He's just focused on logic and tech and the future of humanity and what we can create, AI, that sort of thing. But because he's a very caring person and Lex is very sweet that he, over time, as he's got bigger, just felt this, I guess, greater responsibility to kind of get in the middle of certain things. Not to mention, I mean, he has a connection with that side of the world, speaks Russian, you know, all these things. And now really he's so influential on a global scale. I mean, he has direct access to world leaders.

Right.

I mean, already interviewed Trump, one of the very few people that got time with Donald Trump. And I think it's gonna be very important.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, like you said, his connection to the Russian side of the world, I mean, he says he speaks Russian and the idea of him getting to interview, I mean, not only Zelensky and how powerful that is during this Ukrainian Russian war, but the potential to get to interview Putin as well. And I mean, just imagine your resume. He says, I've interviewed three world leaders basically in a year, and who knows what's to come for him. I mean, he talked about on this podcast, I'm sure he's talked about it, you know, in other outlets before. But he is originally from Ukraine and his family was directly affected by war, like, you know, with, during the, the Nazi era. His ancestors, his, you know, were all, almost all slaughtered in these mass graves by Nazis. And you know, his grandfather's survival is why he's here. And to think about how it's come full circle. This individual who could potentially have not even existed is now getting to bring to light sort of the nuances and the intricacies really any of that intricacies of this war that's going on that is so polarizing. Exactly.

It's full of propaganda in so many ways. No one ever really knows what the real story is. For the longest time, nobody's in the west wants to converse at all with Putin. So it's all demonization. And you know, I'm not saying that there's not good reason for that, but it never hurts for somebody like Lex, who is seen as non attacking, someone that just wants a conversation. So these politicians are Going to be open to discussing things and then you get a long form kind of real conversation. Like he gets to ask questions that people in the west would want to know the answer to and Putin will discuss it. Where else are we getting information even close to that? Otherwise, I mean, good luck. If you think turning on CNN is going to give you a really like, good understanding of kind of where Putin's coming from. Yeah, I mean, trust me, he keeps his cards close to his chest.

Right.

Always. He's smart like that. He's a politician that really knows how to play the game. But this is a better angle for learning than just these five minute clips. Right, that we see on the news. Not useful.

Right.

They get into a little bit of history lesson. I mean, Joe loves bringing up Genghis Khan. Kind of threw Lex off a little bit. I think when they started talking about it.

They talked about Genghis Khan a lot. Yeah, like just kept coming up throughout the whole episode.

It's very, very interesting.

It was interesting.

Yeah. I find it fascinating. I mean, you know, and it kind of led into the brutality of war, you know, the strategy of Genghis Khan. Joe's talked about it before. I mean, he literally changed the carbon footprint on Earth. And his DNA is in how many, you know, millions of people. Which is wild to think, right? I mean, what did he have, like hundreds of wives and girlfriends? What do you call them?

I don't even know if they kept track or if they harem.

You know. And it is interesting and kind of important to talk about. I mean, wars from history are harder to connect to. I mean, even thinking about kind of sword fighting and the rest of it. But, but, you know, even with modern wars, people in the west are generally so disconnected from that type of thing. And the news and the government is generally very careful about what they show us. You know, we're not seeing a great deal of really graphic content. I mean, it would be hard to absorb, but it should be available somewhere for people that want to understand. You'd have a much different perception of the brutalities of war if you saw it right in front of you.

Yeah.

And I think that that would change people's ideas of, oh yeah, we gotta go there and stop them and do this. I mean, it just adds like a more human element to the pain and frustration and just inhumanity of what goes on. And it's easy to forget that a lot of these people fighting in these wars on the other side are just like 18 to 25 year old men. Kids, you know, they're not representing the opinion of this thing. They're just getting forced to get out there and get blown up.

Right? Yeah. The what I found interesting about a lot of this conversation around Genghis Khan and other war, you know, leaders during the war is there's always a focus especially on like the brutality. Like with Genghis Khan, everyone says, oh, you know, he raped, pillaged and plundered and like kind of plowed through these, you know, or these civilizations. And you know, and Lex made it clear he was never defending Genghis Khan for what he did that was so aggressive and so violent and horrible. But I think what, sometimes what they were getting at was it is lost is the, the sort of strides that these leaders are making and what their, their goals are. Right? And again, not defending them don't have to be so brutal. Like the Nazis did not have to kill the people that they did, but they had this goal. And there was like some innovations and some, you know, like with Genghis Khan, the trade routes that were opened up and the amount like access and to information that was spread like.

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Ct mobile.com there if you know, when you look at it from a historical standpoint, not just a humanity standpoint, like you can really see how important these individuals were to human history. But also. Also horrible. Like.

Yeah, but you can say that definitely about the Romans as well. I mean, they were brutal conquerors, but once they conquered a place, they assimilated the people. They often created better trade for the individuals there. There was a type of peace that came over again. Not to justify what they had to do, but it is kind of the end result, you know, and there was that whole saying, all roads lead to Rome.

Right.

I mean, it really turned Europe into just kind of one big place under Rome.

Yeah.

That had trade and it had, you know, you could have a lot more specialization, too, instead of just villages that had to do everything. I mean, you have a place here that specializes in whatever, building furniture. Like.

Yeah.

Foods, different types of foods. Now they're getting all over Europe. It's that there are interesting advantages that come from. From these very difficult times in history.

Yeah. And the other thing I found very interesting that I didn't really realize about Genghis Khan specifically was that they. And he calls him Jingus Khan.

Jingus. Maybe that's how you say it.

He's a lot smarter than the average Joe. So. But is that. He's like, oh, he actually said, like, if you just like, lay down your arms and surrender, I won't kill anyone. But these. These civilizations were like, no, like, at all costs, we're gonna fight to, like, uphold our civilization in, like, our autonomy and continue to, like. They're like, if you just say, okay, I'll just pay taxes to you and I'll just like, you know, worship you basically now, then I won't kill anyone. And they all refused. And so he's like, okay, well, in order to, like, maintain my image, basically, I'm going to be as cruel and violent and, you know, horrible as possible to these people, and hopefully eventually I don't have to do it forever. And I think that was something that, you know, when you think about being a ancient world leader or, you know, civilization leader that has this intention to grow your. Your civilization and your empire, like, what else would you. What else would you do? Right. Just be extra kind and giving and give away everything. Like, you know, that's, you know, he's not unique in that he was violent and cruel, but perhaps some somewhat unique in that he did give people the option to be like, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna kill you, but if you fight me, I will and I'm gonna win. Like, you don't have. You don't really stand.

I think the Romans had something similar.

Okay.

They would let towns assimilate.

Okay.

They would give them an option. I don't know how the negotiation went down.

Yeah.

Whether they send a guy in who just, you know, nukes the king and then they all stand there going up to you, you want to fight, or whatever the issue is. And it's easy to just look at these ancient people and be like, they were brutal. That was awful. It's all the worst. But it probably would be very difficult to maintain your own kingdom and expand into other areas for necessary resources. As you grow, you need more things. And then also be seen as very forgiving and kind and in quite barbaric times, you probably just wouldn't be very successful.

No, no. And I think as an American, I sometimes like to, or I often fail to remember how violent and horrible Americans were in expanding their, you know, building out their. The country. Right. And it happened way more recently than any of this with Genghis Khan or, you know, like. And. And I mean, even. Even England. England was vicious.

Oh, yeah.

You know, and I don't know if it's just because it's.

Well, it was always just about conquering lands.

Yeah.

In fact, it wasn't until after World War II when the US spent a great deal of money kind of rebuilding areas in Europe that were destroyed. That usually would have been the time that America would have, you know, or any country would just say, oh, well, we've conquered all these areas. We'll just expand into them. And it was really one of the first major times that a country just said, no, we won't do that. We'll help you rebuild and create a better relationship for trade and the rest of it and just kind of do it that way. Now, it's not to give all this credit to America, but it is unusual behavior for countries. They usually just expand into territory and it kind of. It really slowed down that motivation in a lot of ways After. After that event. Let's talk a little bit about, you know, the new administration. Trump and Lex pointed out that Trump's administration really is motivated to end wars. You know, I'm sure other presidents and politicians have said this before, but they're often just starting wars. It really does seem like Trump is highly motivated to do that. I mean, basically, as soon as Trump was elected, he sent a message out about releasing this hostages in Gaza. Made it very clear that it's going to get very ugly very fast if they don't get released. They got released almost immediately. He wasn't even officially the president then, which I thought was so hilarious. When Biden tried to come out with Kamala and take credit for it and say it was all about their negotiations, it was so clear to really anybody just kind of watching this unfold that they had very little to do with it. They've had two years to do this and nothing happened until they knew Trump was coming.

Isn't that crazy that this war has been going on for two years? It feels just a. Feel like it was just a few months ago. I mean.

Well, I bet it doesn't to the people.

Right.

That are in it.

You're right. Yeah. I mean, feels like a lifetime.

Imagine if you just had. We have an 11 month old. Imagine if she was born. Right. You know, when she was born, this had been going on a year.

Yeah.

And now all of her existence is just known. All she's known as war.

Yeah.

And destruction. Wild.

It's so sad and terrible.

It's wild. You know, but again, and that comes down to the way that they feed us information. It's just like these. These little talking points they check in every now and again. It's like we're so disconnected from these things happening.

Yeah.

And for good reason. We're trying to just live our lives separate to this in the West. And, you know, we don't. It is depressing. We don't want to think about it all the time, but we should know.

Yeah. I think what. What sort of complicates it is, is the thought that Putin maybe doesn't want a compromise and that he just, like, maybe he just wants chaos. I don't know. You know, Zelinsky's in the past, mocked him and. And I don't know. I don't know that they. I don't know that either of them are really ready for this compromise to happen. I do think that there's potential just.

So costly and so tiring.

Yeah.

And Putin is financially, like, this has cost a lot to do this. He's very isolated now, again, from the rest of the world. And if he can get away from this, to not have to keep paying for it and losing people, because, you know, obviously you would be losing support in his own country with all these people dying.

Right.

And, you know, get some of the sanctions removed, get some trade going again, and also take credit for some peace.

Right.

I think there's a lot of advantages for him to do this. I hope it doesn't encourage him to keep wanting to go to war in the future, hoping for, you know, these sorts of negotiations that are positive for him afterwards.

Yeah.

But it's going to be a big one, and it's going to be really interesting to see how the conversations with Trump and Putin go in order to kind of end this conflict. And that's really where it's going to happen. I mean, I don't think Putin's listening to anyone else. He's certainly not listening to Zelensky.

No. Yeah. I mean, the idea that, you know, maybe these three leaders could come together, sit face to face in a neutral place. Switzerland. Right. Sit down face to face and figure out. I mean, I think they all. I think any world leader at this point has a fear of Trump and knows that he means business when it's something that's important to him. And I don't know that anyone else would be crazy enough to sit at a table with these two and try to find a way to make peace. And I think that speaks to one Trump's negotiation skills, but also that the idea of speaking in a respectful way and being humane actually can make, like, really big things happen. And I'm like. Like, when they started talking about this on. On the podcast, I'm like, oh, my gosh, yes, this is. I want this to be a podcast. Like, I want to sit. I want to be a fly on the wall in this conversation. Like, I so badly want to know. I mean, obviously it'll be in different languages, which would be so hard, but.

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[Co-Host]

I mean, the idea that this could really happen pretty quickly if Trump. It means business about it. Like, it'd be really awesome to see.

I mean, it would be wild. I mean, if Trump starts to get known as, like, the global peace setter, this is the complete opposite of what many people have thought about this person.

Right?

And it's just gonna be hard then to continue to. You know, I think people are just gonna be like, well, I mean, I still don't kind of like him, but I'm not gonna lie that's okay. Yeah, that's okay.

Yeah.

What is also going to be interesting is, like, Ukraine has always been known, or has been for a long time, as a very corrupt country.

Right.

Politicians, the rest of it. Lex doesn't believe Zelensky himself is corrupt, and that. That kind of tracks with things I've been hearing. You know, he's. He's willing to die for Ukraine sovereignty. Like, he's really invested in. In, you know, the dedication to the country, that sort of thing. But what are the investigations after the fact going to look like? Yeah, so much money went there. So much money was pouring in, and it's like. I think it's not going to be that difficult to track a lot of it down, and it's going to be really ugly to see if there's a ton of embezzlement that happened. I mean, the American people are not going to be happy about that. I mean, it's taxpayers money. And part of the reason inflation went the way that it did.

Right.

I mean, that's a difficult pill to swallow.

I think it's kind of interesting, or it's extremely interesting to think about how Zelensky went from entertainer, comedian, you know, to president.

Oh, wild.

And, you know, essentially, like, this transition to being a world leader. I mean, I think it's really one of the most surreal, like, political stories ever. I mean, it's almost a bit like the Arnold Schwarzenegger story. Right. Like, you remember that documentary about him, Arnold or whatever? Like, it was good. So good. And it just showed these three sides of him. Maybe four. I came over three or four episodes. And, you know, I mean, obviously he didn't become president and he didn't lead our country through a violent, you know, destructive war, but the. The idea that, you know, someone who isn't a career politician, I mean, well, Reagan.

Reagan was an actor.

Was he?

He did cowboy movies.

I didn't know that.

And then became president. This is why his speeches are so good, because he was a trained actor.

Yeah. Public speaking. Right. Like, but. And I think it just comes down to, like, one. It shows. Zelensky is genuinely, like, he wants to do this. It's not like he fell into it. Right. He didn't follow this career politician path. And, you know, that's why I. I have this feeling that we will find less than we're expecting to in terms of corruption and embezzlement with him. I think he genuinely, like, felt the need, saw the hole that was. That needed to be filled in this role and was like, I can do this. I can lead our people in a way that no one's ever done it because I have these unique skills. And he just had a passion for it.

There's also been quite a bit of talk about how he was unusually propped up for the position, though.

It's.

It's like, because he's not that politician.

Yeah.

Putting him into that place and then possibly being able to control him to some degree. I mean, that starts to lean into conspiracy theory stuff a little bit. But there has been some of that conversation. Really, though, back to Trump. I think the most powerful play he has right now is just kind of how unpredictable people seem to be.

Yeah.

So, you know, I think world leaders fear what his potential is.

Yeah.

Like, if he makes a real threat, there's a good chance he could follow through with it, which is kind of clever, the way that he's positioned himself, because he's positioning himself as a person that doesn't want this problem, wants peace, is happy to. So it's like an interesting way of doing a threat. If you watch how other politicians and presidents have done this in the past, it's usually like, we're gonna do this, we're gonna come and invade, blah, blah, blah. It's never just like, look, we want peace, but you gotta stop this. And Trump seems to be very good at that.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, he is. He has some. There's something about him. Maybe it's the crazy twitch in his eye that people are like, we don't wanna mess with this guy, you know, and. And I think he's shown multiple times that he has the potential to bring peace among these world conflicts, you know, even potentially in Gaza, you know, over the conflicts in Gaza right now. Yeah.

Yeah. Trump's negotiation skills could really be a game changer, no less.

Yeah. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

I mean, we need it. Right.

We really do.

This isn't just like the next season of Planet Earth.

Yeah.

Tune in. It's like, oh, my gosh, it's going to affect us. Yeah. And again with Gaza, I mean, I think Joe said current estimates, though it seems difficult to get these numbers, could be around 60,000 deaths, you know, over these two years. That's a lot of people. And, you know, Joe mentioned how many of these casualties are children, and that's where it really hits home. Even if you have a lot of feelings towards the people there, and especially Hamas, which is understandable, it's. It's hard to justify the pain that these children have gone through and the deaths and injuries. It's heartbreaking.

It is the suffering that is happening around our world with everything that we have, all the tools, all of the resources, and all of these world leaders with access to each other. Why is there so much suffering still? Why is their children dying in the mass quantities that they are? It's almost unfathomable. And that was. That was a really powerful piece of this podcast that they. They leaned into talking about it. And, I mean, you could tell it was. It was painful for them to talk about and to think about. Right. And, you know, someone as intelligent as Lex, like, he knows that there's even more going on than what we're seeing. And I think that's why someone like him is. Is the right person to document these negotiations, document, you know, how these world leaders are going to work together to get out of this. I mean, I don't think either of the leaders for Israel or Gaza or anyone in America wants this suffering to continue. And if you can just really focus on those. That aspect of it and really just continue to talk about it, I think a resolution will come to light quicker. Obviously, there's political, you know, things that are driving this. No one's like, let's just kill a bunch of children and, you know, just to piss people off. Like, there's reasons why these wars have started, but, yeah, I'm so hopeful that it comes to fruition faster than it's, you know, looks like it's going to.

I think that's what Lex does really well with all of this. I mean, in a way, he stays away from the politics and he's motivated by the human suffering and wanting that to stop.

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, it's easy to get lost in the numbers.

Right.

When you put war in terms of human suffering, you know, it forces people to really think about the reality of what's going on rather than just debating the policy 100%. And you've got to.

It's so easy to define the other side is they're the enemy and whatever happens to them is positive for us. Us. And it's just good. Yeah, yeah. We want to win the conflicts that we get into. Hopefully those conflicts are justified to some degree, though war rarely is. Yeah. But also it never hurts to have a bit of empathy for just all people that are thrown in the mix.

I think that should be a. A credential required for any world leader. Like, be nice in. In like, intense amounts of empathy. Right. Like, not just intelligence, not just influence and power, but how empathetic are you to a child that you've never met and a family that lives in a country that you maybe have political conflict with. Like, how empathetic are you to their situation? And obviously that's a really small piece of my opinion. It's never going to be a, you know, reality. But I just, I so wish.

But it's nice to think about.

It's nice to think that probably the.

Reality is though, that it would get in the way of your effective decision making probably to some degree. And the primary role of a president, for example, in the US is the safety of America.

Yeah. Well, I think there's some of that, you know, that lines the argument of female world leaders versus male world leaders. Right. Or political leaders. I think, you know, women being sensitive, women being, you know, being notorious for being able to multitask better than men, like all of these sort of like stereotypes that, you know, make women different than men on an everyday basis.

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[Co-Host]

There'S obviously benefits to each of those, you know, features of personality. But when it comes to, like you said, making big decisions, you're. There is a possibility that being too empathetic or too sensitive could get in the way of like making the right decision in that moment. Right. Like, obviously you can have the right intention, but making the right decision in the path to resolution may be rushed or might be, you know, Google down the wrong path in order to like, minimize suffering and it actually does the opposite.

Yeah. I don't know if it had come down to like the male female differences. I think really everyone that's drawn to politics and at least to the role of presidency, they kind of have certain psychological traits in common and I think often it would lead them to the same type of actions. Yeah, maybe not. Maybe not.

I would, I would like to think so. And don't get me wrong, but I'd love to see a female president. You know, there's Been some female prime ministers and things like that around the world that have done really, really well for their countries. But you're shaking your head. I'm just kidding. But I think. I think it's an important consideration, really, that's all. I mean, you know, we don't. We don't want to have a female leader just to say we do. If they're not the right person.

Yeah. Be the best at it.

Right.

You know, and that's the thing. Just put the best person in. And yeah, if they have a different way of doing things that's effective for the country, I'm 100% behind it always.

Yeah.

One of the heavy discussions they had was like, whether democracy needs to be kind of temporarily suspended during wartime. For example, in the US Martial law would allow the government to suspend elections, which would be wild, something that people would not be used to and never consider. But, you know, this has happened in Ukraine. They're not doing elections there right now. And, you know, some people argue that it's almost like a way to just hold power forever. Like constantly being in conflict. I mean, brutal to think that that could be a motivation, but, yeah, what a wild thing that would be.

Yeah. I mean, it raises really big ethical questions about democracy and democratic leaders, you know, in their potential power to pause these elections while they're in crisis. And, you know, is that an abuse of power? Is there, you know, a way around it that they're not proposing or bringing to light just because they, you know, like, oh, well, the longer I keep us in war, the longer I'm in power and the longer I get, you know, to make this other decisions and, you know, I'm sort of like dangling this, you know, conflict in front of, you know, gosh, I don't know. Just. It's a scary thought that people.

People love power and they want to hold on to it and, and sometimes dangerously at all costs, which. Which is where it gets ugly. This is why term limits are really important.

Yeah, exactly.

Let's discuss a little bit about his conversation with Trump. And it really ties back to kind of how Joe has set up his podcast. And many big interviewers today copy something similar. Like there's many three hour kind of level podcasts. Not as consistent as Joe always, but, you know, for good reason. Lex was talking about 40 minutes with Trump was just not enough. Yeah, and you really can't get to the meat of everything. And we've talked about it before. I was surprised that Joe was even contemplating a 40 minute one with Kamala. I think it's because he knew it would be so difficult to arrange to get Iran and there'd been so much pushback that he was just willing to kind of get anything out with her again, huge missed opportunity for her. And I hope that's a wake up call for Democratic candidates in the future to be like, hey, we need to go on and spend the time. But yeah, 40 minutes is just, is just not enough. And obviously he's going to get more time with Putin. He had a lot with Zelensky. I mean, these, these conversations are just too important to kind of glaze over.

Yeah. I mean, like our conversations, I'd say 40 minutes, more than enough. I don't really want to talk to you any longer than that.

But we're recapping. You know, we're not, we're not reinventing the wheel or it's, it's, it just wouldn't be required. I mean, you know, we can talk longer if we're maybe reviewing multiples, but I think, I think listeners, it's better to separate it because then they just get to choose which one of the reviews they want to listen to.

Yeah.

Maybe makes it a bit easier.

Yeah. I don't know. I think both of us, we've always had a good skill for conversation, and we probably could talk for three hours, but we also have conversations every single day. So, you know, if we weren't, if this was the first time we ever sat down and talked, I mean, and we had a lot to say. Three hours may not be that much at all. Right. Like, you know, think about when you, even a family member you haven't seen in months and months, you sit down. It's like you can talk for a long time, usually if you're passionate about what you're talking about and it feels important to you. And yeah, I mean, the, I mean.

I've done interview style podcasts for other shows before where I sit down and I want to get to the bottom of what someone's up to.

Yeah.

And what they're thinking. And it's amazing. The first hour goes by so fast.

Yeah.

And you've really got to almost nothing.

Yeah.

And, you know, I think the longest one I ever did was two hours. I don't think I've pushed beyond that. And that was just because who I was talking to had other appointments. But you could really start to feel some momentum at that point.

Yeah. And the thing they talked about with Lex's interview with Zelensky, for example, was using AI to translate the conversation into multiple languages. And while AI is the transition to using it for situations like this, it's, it's still rough, but improving quickly. I mean, you know, the YouTube uses AI translate or AI, you know, closed captioning now. And I, it's, it's good, it's not perfect, but the, the, the concept that any piece of media could be accessible to everyone in the world via you know, a five minute transfer through a, you know, AI system and published around the globe in how. However many languages they want it to be. Like, that's, that would be such a game changer for knowledge.

Yeah.

And you know, like these big, these big discussions.

Sure. I mean, if you think about it, a lot of people around the world have been left out to.

Yeah.

Kind of enjoying these conversations that Rogan's having.

Yeah.

And maybe the political stuff might not interest them so much. I mean, if you're in Brazil, you're not going to care about the Democrat Republican. But if some physicist is on, that's fascinating. And you get to hear a perfect translation but with the same voice and cadence of the, you know, of Joe and whoever he's talking to. Look, Lex talked about how it gets set up now and how he was able to do it. There's, it's not great, but it works okay. But it's getting better all the time. And like you said, it's going to get to a point where it's just click a button. When Joe can literally be translated into basically every language in the world, it's going to be wild to see how big his show gets.

Can you imagine your voice in a different language that you've never spoken before?

Be interesting.

Be so odd.

Be so wild to hear that.

Another thing that I thought was so funny and interesting they talked about was the hilarious but valid discussion of how will sex and reproduction work on Mars.

Yeah.

So.

Or just in space.

In space. Right. So apparently it's really difficult to have sex in space because you need gravity to make it happen properly. Your body systems actually need gravity to work properly. And so I'm not convinced.

How do they know?

I don't. They, they've been trying it, They've tested it. So, and then the, the question was.

Like NASA's like YouTube.

Yeah. I think there's like said there's a Wikipedia page that's like dedicated to sex and space. So I hadn't had a chance to explore that. But someone out there, please do. But you know, I guess there's like no actual documented cases of it. But off the record, people have tried and they've said like in the space station and stuff, they said that it's really difficult and that's, you know, it's probably something Elon's gonna have to figure out.

Maybe they're just nerds that aren't good at it. Did anyone think of that? I mean, they are astronaut scientists.

Yeah. Maybe they're good at other things.

Autistic people up there trying to.

Elon, you gotta figure this out for us.

Yeah.

I mean, can you imagine getting up there, trying to colonize it and then realizing you can't colonize it because you can't have sex, you can't reproduce.

It'd be different on Mars because Mars has gravity, Right? Maybe a little bit less. But it's not like the moon. You can't jump.

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[Co-Host]

You know, 40ft. Yeah. So it's gonna be closer for that reason now. Yes. In regular space, you know, where there's just no gravity. But again, Lex was talking about. Cause that's kind of Jeff Bezos's focus is just kind of creating these space stations. Obviously Lex just wants to go to Mars focus on colonization.

Yeah.

But there probably will be ways of creating some sort of artificial gravity. Yeah, you know, they've already thrown the idea up. I think it's been around since like the 50s of like basically what looks like a big wheel and the tube is on the outside and it spins Just fast enough so it creates centrifugal force and people can walk and kind of live a bit more normally.

Yeah. And they even joked about like a sex cult taking over Mars. Like, you know, anytime there's a new.

Oh, there's gonna be all kinds of weird cult stuff up there. I don't know how they're gonna organize their government, but they need to have a solid constitution cuz shit's gonna get weird fast.

Yeah. And then, you know, they also kind of jumped into what we, what we'll call like the billionaire reproduction problem. And like individuals like Elon Musk. I mean, you know, no one really needs him. A woman doesn't necessarily need Elon as a human being to want to like have kids with him. Right. It's like she needs the sperm and the money basically. And so, you know, the idea that he's got how many kids now? Like 13 or something?

Yeah, I think it might be more than 10.

Yeah, like there's.

He can afford it.

He can afford it. It's kind of like a drop in the bucket for him of like, oh, another one. But you know, men, men throughout history have loved the idea of, you know, spreading their seed and they don't really care who it's with or whatever. They just like, like this idea of it. Did you ever see the documentary about the sperm donor?

Oh, that had a thousand kids or whatever.

Kids.

That's insane.

Insane. So it's like there's people out there like that.

I think that's just a crazy person though.

Absolutely. But those are the types of people that are gonna want to go to Mars and be like, I volunteer to like recreate, like have a thousand children and they're gonna get up there, it's not gonna work. They're gonna, their lives are gonna be ruined.

This kind of leads into a bit that I wanted to finish up on and their discussion on kind of great men and their sons. And you know, we've seen this throughout history. The Carnegie's, you know, families that are very powerful have a lot of money. And within, what is it like the third generation, it's gone. Yeah, it's just like you've just, you know, they don't have the struggle and it's like they don't have some of the traumas that in a way can really motivate individuals to become great. And you know, it's not about creating an artificial trauma for them, but giving them the opportunity to do difficult things and to drive and just kind of understand that not everything is free. Even if it has been for you in your life, I don't know if there's an easy answer out of this. I've got a feeling if you get too successful, wealthy and powerful, it's going to be really hard work for you to not have, you know, useless offspring to some degree. Some of them will be, yeah. People love handouts. Why work when you can just have it?

Yeah. I mean, and in theory, you know, if you grow up with nothing, you want to spoil your kids, you know, you want to give them more than you had, but a little bit too much comfort can lead to some weaknesses in their development. And in. It's a bit of that. Like, like strong men create good times, good times create weak men kind of situation.

It really is a lot of that.

And you know, they also say that like the right amount of, like the, there's like this like ideal amount of adversity and struggle that someone can go through in childhood creates like really successful and intelligent people.

Yeah.

And you know, how do you, I.

Mean, we see it with Joe. I think we see it with Lex.

Yeah.

You know, they want, they want spoon fed.

Right.

They worked for and a lot of people that Joe connects with and comes on the show. Similar. Yeah, yeah, let's, let's call it a. That. It was a great episode. Always good to see Lex on. Can't wait for the interview with Putin. I hope they do a good job translating it with AI and the rest of it. I think that that will add a lot of kind of humanism to Putin. If you were hearing him sound like he would, but in English, it's just so much easier to comprehend than just reading, you know, closed captions.

Yeah.

And we'll see, we'll see what Trump can do to end some of these wars. I hope he can.

Yeah, fingers crossed.

All right, thanks, everyone.

Cheers, y'all.

Talk to you later.

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