The Karol Markowicz Show: The Death of Clickbait? Culture, AI, and Human Connection with John Hawkins

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Karol Markowicz Show – The Death of Clickbait? Culture, AI, and Human Connection with John Hawkins

Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Episode Host: Karol Markowicz
Guest: John Hawkins (culturecidal.com, formerly Right Wing News)
Date: December 17, 2025

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Episode Overview

On this episode of The Karol Markowicz Show, Karol reconnects with John Hawkins, a veteran conservative blogger now running Culturecidal.com, to explore the death of clickbait, the evolution of online culture, the potential societal impact of artificial intelligence, and the challenges of human connection in the digital age. With warmth, humor, and candor, they delve into media, the utility of old-school blogging, friendship dilemmas, and envision a rapidly changing future influenced by technology.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Evolution of Right Wing News (03:10–05:28)

• Karol and John reminisce about their blogging roots, sparked by the contentious 2000 election.

• John shares how frustration with election media coverage drove him to start Right Wing News, which grew rapidly both as a blog and later through Facebook virality.

• Notable anecdote: Ben Shapiro once suggested they team up, potentially prefiguring The Daily Wire.

  "Ben Shapiro reached out to me and he suggested that me, him, Kurt Schlichter... we all get together and run Right Wing News. And I didn’t take him up on it. But now it’s like, man, maybe that could have been the Daily Wire." —John Hawkins (04:27)

2. From Clickbait to Meaningful Content (05:28–07:09)

• John discusses the mission of Culturecidal.com: essays on culture, self-help, and some politics, aiming for substance over clickbait.

• Critique of “rage bait” and drama content: Cites Candace Owens making “soap operas with real people,” which he finds toxic.

  "I did some of that [clickbait] back in the day... I don't want to do it anymore. I don't think it's healthy. I think it's really awful and I didn't want to be a part of that." —John Hawkins (05:32)

3. Advice for Young Adults and Writing Books (07:09–08:54)

• John’s book, 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know, offers evergreen self-help advice.
• He’s received positive feedback, with readers and their families reaching out for guidance.
• Acknowledges timelessness of core life lessons, even as the world changes.

4. Friendship & Loneliness in the Internet Era (09:25–13:59)

• Karol notes the recurrent question from listeners: “How do I make friends?”

• John reflects on social connection shifting from in-person to virtual, making real friendships harder to forge.

• Stresses proactive effort: initiating contact, joining group meetups—even if using aging platforms like Meetup.

• Both agree it's gotten harder with age, work-from-home lifestyles, and established social circles.

  "You've got to be the one that asks. You've got to be the one that reaches out." —John Hawkins (12:55)

5. Life Paths, Careers, and Authenticity (14:01–17:09)

• John recalls his alternative career options: stand-up comedy, law, politics, counseling.

• Emphasizes value of creating your own path, especially to retain autonomy.

• Shares about having a life coach for a decade — highlighting the unique value of an unbiased confidant.

  "You can't tell anybody everything. ...I like to run ideas by another smart person who understands psychology, understands people. And that's what it does for me." —John Hawkins (16:57)

6. Proudest Accomplishments (22:41–24:39)

• John weighs standard achievements (successful websites, fundraising, large teams) versus personal life design and freedom.

• Ultimately most proud of creating a lifestyle with maximum autonomy — choosing how to spend his time.

  "...the thing I was actually proud of...was the first time I ever loved a girl and she loved me back...But...it's the fact that I managed to set my life up in a way that I can get up when I want to get up...I go where I want to go with who I want to go with." —John Hawkins (22:46, 23:47)

7. The Future: AI, Jobs, and Society (24:59–29:46)

• John predicts that within five years, most digital human-to-human interactions (Hollywood, influencers, models, some journalism) will be taken over by AI.

• Foresees massive societal change; worries about decline of human connection and implications for birth rates.

• Envisions two futures: a bleak one where humans become superfluous, and a rosy "universal basic wealth" scenario akin to Star Trek.

  "In five years...everything that involves a human being interacting with another human being over a screen will be replaced by AI." —John Hawkins (24:59)
  "I don't think people are going to be breeding in 10 years...We're basically going to need matrix style tubes to keep the human race going." —John Hawkins (26:38)

8. Actionable Life Advice & Final Thoughts (30:05–30:52)

• John’s top advice centers on:

  • Pareto Principle: Focus on the 20% of things that deliver 80% of fulfillment or value.
  • Cut out what you dislike — e.g., outsourcing unpleasant tasks.
  • Life is cumulative: Small decisions today shape your distant future.

  "Life is cumulative. So don't ever think, oh, it doesn't matter if I do this, 30 years from now, these little decisions you make today are going to have an impact." —John Hawkins (30:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Internet’s impact:
  "Before the Internet, people got together in person a lot more. And then when the Internet just started, man, I met all kinds of people. The Internet was like an extension of the real world." —John Hawkins (10:10)

• On Candace Owens and online drama:
  "You've got Candace Owens just running around making up stuff. She's running soap operas with real people." —John Hawkins (05:32)

• On friendship:
  "Don’t be afraid to reach out first, to go talk to people, to be the one who talks to everybody around you." —John Hawkins (12:55)

• On AI and the future of work:
  “If you look where it's at visually now, it’s there...in another two years...you’ll be able to do full Hollywood quality movies on your computer in an hour.” —John Hawkins (24:59)

• On having a life coach:
  "I like to run ideas by another smart person who understands psychology, understands people. And that's what it does for me." —John Hawkins (16:57)

• On life advice:
  "Find the stuff—the 20% most valuable, important things in your life...get more of them...Take the worst things...and cut it out and get rid of it." —John Hawkins (30:05)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:10] — Origins of blogging in the 2000 election
• [04:27] — Ben Shapiro’s pitch and the missed “Daily Wire” moment
• [05:28] — The shift from clickbait to Culturecidal’s focus
• [09:25] — Making friends in the digital age
• [12:55] — Practical friendship and connection advice
• [14:01] — John’s alternate careers and life coaching
• [22:41] — Reflections on life achievements and freedom
• [24:59] — Five-year AI prediction and the future of digital content
• [26:38] — AI’s impact on human connection and fertility
• [30:05] — John’s practical life advice (Pareto Principle & cumulative impact)

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Tone & Atmosphere

The conversation is friendly, candid, and insightful—infused with self-deprecating humor, nostalgia for early internet days, and a pragmatic, sometimes sobering outlook on technology and cultural shifts.

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Concluding Thought

This episode is a wide-ranging, thought-provoking discussion for anyone interested in the crossroads of media, technology, and human connection, offering practical wisdom on adaptation and fulfillment in today’s ever-shifting landscape.

Transcript

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[Carol Markowitz]

Hi and welcome back to the Carol markowitz show on iheartradio. My guest today is John Hawkins from culturesidal.com hi John. So nice to have you.

[John Hawkins]

It is so good to see you. I have not seen you for, gosh, it's probably been a decade since the last time I saw the two of us got together in person. So, so great to see you.

[Carol Markowitz]

So good to see you too. Too long for sure. But we do go way back. We are old timey blogger friends. Your blog was called Right Wing News and it was one of the biggest blogs in the world in, in, in our blogging time. How did you get into that?

[John Hawkins]

Well, I had always wanted to write and I got so angry during the election with Al Gore and Bush when they were saying because I was just, I wasn't in politics. And I'm sitting there watching and they're saying, I think I saw it on CNN or C Span where something came across and someone was like, Bush should concede. And it's like, what? This is ridiculous. Somebody needs to start a site. So I started a site that got me going and we kind of went from there.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, that was my radicalizing moment. Also the 2000 election, like, I, I always was a conservative and I kind of like watched politics in the background. But the 2000 election, I was like, they are trying to steal this election. And I, that was it. I sought out Republicans in New York City. I started going to Republican events. That was the moment where I was like, oh, I have to get more involved in this because clearly bad things are happening. So you start Right Wing News. How does it take off? Do you, do you have like a moment where you remember a large number of people started reading you?

[John Hawkins]

Well, there's really two levels of taking off. The first level of taking off as a blog, it did pretty well in fact at one point. And this very few people know this, but Ben Shapiro reached out to me and he suggested that me, him, Kurt Schlichter, and I forget the last person she was on Fox that we all get together and run Right Wing News. And I didn't take him up on it. But now it's like, man, maybe that could have been the Daily Wire. Now I don't know if I would have done better because it would have been split four ways. So I did pretty well, with Right Wing News, so it's like, of course, on the other hand, you know, when you're talking about paying Steven Crowder $80 million or whatever it was, they must be doing really, really well. But yeah, so that was that. But the thing that really kicked me off was Facebook because we were one of the first Facebook pages to take off. There were some other ones out there, but people hadn't heard of them. So Right Wing News, everybody kind of knew the name. And once we got on Facebook and expl man, we just took off like a. Like a nuclear bomb.

[Carol Markowitz]

So your new site is Culturecidal. What is that all about?

[John Hawkins]

Culturecidal. It's not a news site. I'm writing about the culture. I'm doing columns, long form essays, that kind of thing. Culture, self help, a little bit of politics in there too. But I wanted to do something different. It feels like everybody is doing clickbait and rage bait. Right. I did some of that back in the day when I ran Right Wing News, and I don't want to do it anymore. I don't think it's healthy. I mean, look where it's gone. You've got Candace Owens just running around making up stuff. She's running soap operas with real people.

[Show Commentator/Co-host]

She just makes sense.

[Carol Markowitz]

People are watching. I mean, people. It's very hard to turn off the soap opera. It's a soap opera meets like a train wreck. So it's really got a lot going on. I understand why people can't tear themselves.

[John Hawkins]

Away, but eventually that ends in lawsuits and destruction because she's making up stuff about real people. And, you know, it's not like soap opera characters, you know, like, I like the male example of a soap opera I used to love was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Because that's really kind of a. It's like an action packed thing. And there's vampires. And this season she hates this guy. And this season she's making out with the vampire and da, da, da. Well, she's doing that, except it's with real people.

[Show Commentator/Co-host]

Yeah.

[John Hawkins]

And it's gonna blow up on her so big and it's gonna destroy her eventually. But, you know, it makes me sad that that's where people are going and where the whole thing is. I think it's really awful and I didn't want to be a part of that. And I also wanted to do something I think that maybe had some value, because I don't think any of that stuff has any value. So I wanted to write about the culture and what's going on with conservatism, economics. Yeah, and a lot of that kind of thing. Self help stuff.

[Carol Markowitz]

I love that actually. So you wrote a book which I read a few years ago, 101 things.

[John Hawkins]

I did Not Know.

[Carol Markowitz]

You read It Should Know. Yeah, I quoted it in a column for the New York Post at one point, I think. I don't remember what it was about, but I remember disagreeing with you on something about in the book which, you know, it happens, John. We can disagree sometimes.

[John Hawkins]

Hurtful, hurtful.

[Carol Markowitz]

K so what was that book all about and what made you write a book about what young adults Should Know?

[John Hawkins]

Well, it was 101 things all young adults should know. It was top 50 in self help for a while. It did pretty well. Slowed down since then, but I wanted to. It was, you know, I've tried a lot of different stuff, but I wrote one of those articles about things, advice for young people. It did incredibly well and I thought, you know what I love to do lists. This would make a great book. And I think there's so much stuff in there that's useful because yeah, some things change over time. So, you know, there was no AI when I wrote the book, for example. None that was available to the public. But so much of it's timeless. So much of it does not change from generation to generation. That book was written, I think in 2017 or released then. Everything in it, there's not one thing that's kind of fallen out of favor. I mean they're all still relevant today. So I thought if you could write something that actually helps a lot of people get ahead. I always felt like it, you could take a 20 year old kid, give them that book and they know everything they should know by 40. And I mean for me, and I think, you know, in your own life too, it's. You learn so many things when you're older. You know, what's that old saying? If, if youth knew and age could. Yeah, so that's what I wanted to try to do for people.

[Carol Markowitz]

I love that. Did you hear from any young people who were affected by it?

[John Hawkins]

Yeah, there's a lot of people. I've had people reach out, have me give advice to them over that. I've had people send their nephews and you know, kids over to me for it and a lot of people did like it. So the book did really well. I was really happy with it. I've really just got to work on a follow up. I've written like a much shorter. I've written well, I did one and it was A Kindle short. And I was like, no, should I pat this into a book or not? I didn't feel like I needed to. So I keep going back and forth on that before I release it. But yeah, so I really need to get back to cranking those things out.

[Carol Markowitz]

So this show that you're on right now has an advice component to it. And people write into me and sometimes I answer their questions. The number one question that I get from people of all ages is how do I make friends? I mean, it's older people, younger people, it's people writing in for their young kids, it's people writing in for their post college kids saying, how do I make friends? Did you have like a theme like that where you think people are seeking your advice about something in particular? The friendship thing really shakes me because I think we've gotten to a place where people just don't know how to do it anymore. It's literally something that they used to be so natural and now people just forgot how to.

[John Hawkins]

And I understand their pain because I remember before the Internet, people got together in person a lot more. And then when the Internet just started, man, I met all kinds of people. The Internet was like an extension of the real world. So I would meet really cool people on messenger or some chat, and then we'd meet in real life at some convention and we'd be friends. And a lot of people who follow me on Twitter or that I know today who are big in the conservative movement, I met them first online and then I met them in person. But I think that's the key thing is you've really got to get out of your house. And I think that's part of the hard thing because there's so much. There's so much cool stuff in your house now. I mean, you can sit there and I have spent I don't know how many hours over the last few weeks playing with Grox. Imagine just working on that and trying different commands and the AI and seeing what it can do. And you know, you've got billion, billion, hundred million dollar movies going on. You've got games, you've got everything. But you've got to go out and you got to talk to people. And you just gotta start doing that. I mean, one thing I do in my area is I run a meetup. Like I actually created a meetup so that I could meet people. And that's just.

[Carol Markowitz]

I love that.

[John Hawkins]

Yeah. So that, that's not. Of course, meetup's dying. None of that.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's not meet up the website. You literally. Oh, my gosh, you're still using meetup. That's unbelievable.

[John Hawkins]

Well, there you go.

[Carol Markowitz]

I hadn't even heard of it.

[John Hawkins]

Well, they were doing great till they raised the rates and suddenly everybody started dropping off. But, I mean, I created one of those. A bunch of people get together for dinner. We've got a group. We're the biggest one in the area. We've got something like 450 members, although not that many show up. But we all get together and you meet and you just. But I mean, really, that's part of it. You just got to go through the churn. And, you know, you're from New York and Florida. I mean, you're a very sociable person. You know lots of people. And that. I'm sure you would say the same thing or something similar.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, I do say the same or something similar. But I also acknowledge that it has gotten a lot harder.

[John Hawkins]

Agree.

[Carol Markowitz]

I. I'm coming up on four years living in Florida, and I've made friends, but not that many. And I am much more of a homebody as I get older. And the thing is, you already have your friends, right? Like, I have the people that I like would turn to something was wrong or when something good happens to me. So it gets a lot harder to meet sort of what I call the situational friends, like your neighbors or, you know, friends, your kids, friends, parents, or that kind of thing. That gets tougher. So I understand why people are struggling. I think in your 101 Rules for Kids or for younger, for young adults. I just wonder if you had a component of friendship. I know it's from a few years ago now, but was there something on that?

[John Hawkins]

Well, I think the first thing that comes to mind was you've got to be the one that asks. You've got to be the one that reaches out. You've got to be the one that goes to the thing. Because, I mean, I'll tell you, one mistake I made in my life coming up is I had these friends and I had a good group of friends, but a lot of times I would be the one who would call them first or reach out to them first. And then it was like, they should be reaching out to me. And then you stop, and then they're like, oh, he doesn't like me anymore, and they quit talking to you. And I have lost friends for that reason. And it's very hard to get those back once those relationships break. So don't be afraid to reach out first, to go talk to people, to be the one who talks to everybody around you. And I think that will help you a lot. There's no easy solution to it, especially once you get out of something like high school and college where you're not surrounded by similar people all the time. And like, for me, it's doubly difficult because I work from home, I do what I want, when I want, with who I want, so I don't have to, you know, I'm not necessarily out at a job where I might make 10 buddies there. And you're probably a lot the same way.

[Show Commentator/Co-host]

Exactly.

[John Hawkins]

Yeah.

[Carol Markowitz]

So what would you have done if the writing thing hadn't worked out? Did you have a plan B?

[John Hawkins]

Well, I had a whole bunch of things I considered when I was young. I actually did a stand up comedy set in college. I invited like 30 people over. It's really, really profane and dirty in retrospect, but really, yes, it was really filthy. I was very. I love Sam Kenison. So if you've ever heard Sam Kinison's bits, which are still good, by the way, all this time later. But. So I did those. I thought about being a lawyer. I thought about going into politics. I think if right wing news would have flopped, I had made enough of a name for myself, I could have gone to work being like working for a think tank or working as an aide or something. I didn't want to do that because I hate working for other people. I mean, I. I can endure it, but it has the. The last person I worked for was Dan Bungino and I chose to work for him and reached out to him and all that stuff. But like a normal person where it's like a regular boss who I. I'm sitting here thinking, wow, this guy is so stupid. And I can't do that anymore. I mean, maybe I always had trouble doing it, so I created my own business in the first place. Yeah. So I. That it would have probably been something in politics as an aide or working.

[Carol Markowitz]

For a think tank lawyer.

[John Hawkins]

Yeah. No, no. I did seriously consider going back to school, getting a master's and going into counseling. So I thought about that. But I did not want to spend the years in school then have to spend a year under someone's thumb before I could start my own practice.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[John Hawkins]

I'm pretty sure I could have done really well doing that. I'm also. I'm probably a little raw for the 20 year olds who are.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's what they need, though. They need.

[John Hawkins]

That's who. Well, they do. They need that. They don't need anymore. Yes. You're doing so good. It's so that you. I, I do, though. One thing I have done that not everybody does, but I've had a life coach for a decade and I talked to her once a quarter and we discussed different things and we were talking about that and she's like, you would be great at it, but you would, it would drive you crazy because half the people, it's like, okay, this is the sixth week in a row I've told you, if you want to get your goals, you got to stop looking at the TV all day. You know what I'm saying? Like, I, I don't have patience for that. It's like, not, I mean, I, I like people who are trying to do something and you want to help people. But also, at some point, most time, it's like, if you want to know why most people fail you, me, all of us or whoever, it's because of them. You can go look in the mirror and see exactly why it is. And you're not putting in the effort. Like, most people will say, I'm working so hard. It's like, not really. No, you're not. You're really not working. I know what working hard. I mean, I put in 70 hour, 80 hour weeks at one point. I know what working hard is. Most people are not working hard, and that's why they don't cut it. And people don't want to hear that. Everybody wants to hear, yeah, you're doing so good. It's so great that you worked, you know, 30 hours this week. It's not so great. Go work.

[Carol Markowitz]

So does your life coach tell you work harder? And is that the case?

[John Hawkins]

She doesn't have to tell me to work harder.

[Carol Markowitz]

All right, so what does she tell you? I'm fascinated by this. I've never, I don't think I've ever heard anybody having a life coach.

[John Hawkins]

The reason I have a life coach is there are a lot of things that, well, let's put it this way. You have friends, you have relatives. Like, you have a husband, you have kids. But you know what? You can't tell anybody everything.

[Show Commentator/Co-host]

Right?

[John Hawkins]

You cannot sit down and say, I was thinking about this. Is this a good idea? Because there's some things you can't tell your husband or some things you can't tell your good.

[Carol Markowitz]

I should just say, I do tell my husband absolutely everything. Every random thought that I have, he's heard.

[John Hawkins]

Maybe, maybe. But let's say, let's say you're sitting there thinking, I don't know, I know you and Mary Catherine love each other and everything. You're like, wow, Mary Catherine's getting on my nerves. You can't be. Well, I should talk to Mary Catherine about this. I like to run ideas by another smart person who understands psychology, understands people. And that's what it does for me. I don't get an actual, like the whole thing I want out of her is an hour to listen to things, tell me if it's a good idea or not. I ask her from all the stuff I talk about to give me like one insight, give me one thing I missed, and that's, you know, I meet with her six times a year right now. It was, it was quarterly. I think we just moved up to six. But, and I mean I get something out of that and I, I think that's not something for everybody. But you know, I figure like all the great athletes, all the great business leaps, all of them have coaches, all of them have people that help them a little bit. So just having someone you can bounce that stuff off of.

[Carol Markowitz]

We're going to take a quick break and be right back. It really is even considered it. That's really interesting. We're going to take a quick break and be right back on the Carol Markowitz Show.

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[Unrivaled Basketball Announcer]

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[Carol Markowitz]

See mintmobile.com what are you most proud of in your life?

[John Hawkins]

That was such a hard question. Kay. Because I thought about this probably for half an hour because I kept. Well, I'll tell you why. Because the conventional answer is like the cool stuff I accomplished. Like, I raised 600k for Brett Kavanaugh in a fundraiser. Right wing news. I built it up into a top 10,000, 10,000 in the world website with 30 employees. It was huge. I had a 3 million person Facebook site that had more engagement than like the New York Post and Bret Bart combined. It was killer. You know, there's things like that you've done. And then I thought about it. I was like, man, the thing I was actually proud of stuff really. And it seems silly because it's so simp, was the first time I ever loved a girl and she loved me back that I really liked. And that feels so silly and simple because everybody can do it and probably half the people have, but that was it. And then it was like, you know what? We broke up. So that certainly can't be the thing I'm proud of. So it can't be that. So then it was like.

[Carol Markowitz]

It could still be that.

[Show Commentator/Co-host]

Okay, yeah.

[John Hawkins]

It shouldn't be that. I mean, it was great when it lasted. But I tell you what it was. It's the fact that I managed to set my life up in a way that I can get up when I want to get up, go to bed when I want to go to bed. I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. I go where I want to go with who I want to go with. Like, I designed my life in such a way that I just, I have, you know, I can take like, if I want to take six months off and go sit at the beach, I can take six months off and go sit at the beach. And I don't want to do that, but if I did, I can. So I think there's a lot of freedom to that because a lot of people, even if they have money or they have success, they're handcuffed to it. If you're a doctor making $500,000 a year and working 60 hours a week, how great is that? Or if you have lots of free time but no money to do anything, how great is that? But if you can combine those to the degree where you can do what you want, that's awesome. So I'm proud that I did that.

[Show Commentator/Co-host]

That's huge.

[Carol Markowitz]

I think that that's such a great accomplishment and that's what you should be proud of. I think that the freedom to do whatever you want is, I mean, unmatched, basically, like that. That is something that most people can never even dream of having. So I really, really like that. Give us a five year out prediction and it could be about anything.

[John Hawkins]

I'll tell you what it is. My prediction is that in five years, almost at least, this is going to start. Within five years, everything that involves a human being interacting with another human being over a screen will be replaced by AI. And by that, I mean, Hollywood's gonna go away. Television shows are gonna go away. They're gonna be AI influencers gonna go away. Instagram models gonna go away. Pornography. It's gonna change to AI Only fans, girls. It's gonna change to AI, all this stuff. Because if you look where it's at visually now, it's there, it's there. And then you've got other places where the dialogue's not quite there and the audio's not quite there, but it's coming along. Like, I could, I don't know, like you could go take yourself, Carol. You could take you. And I don't know, J.K. rowling and J.K. rowling could be at some dinner in England. A picture of her and it could be a picture of you in New York. You can have AI slap them together on a beach and it can already do that and it can make it look real. So if we're there, and that's the cutting edge of it, but in 12 to 18 months, you'll have the Chinese and Indian knockoffs coming along and can do the same thing. And then like in another two years, the really advanced ones like Grox and some of the really nice ones, you'll be able to do full Hollywood quality movies on your computer in an hour. So, you know, why spend $150 million on it, right? I even look at someone like Mr. Beast and go, you know what? He's probably the last of the huge Instagram, I mean, the last YouTube influencers. Like, he's the last huge one. Because all the new ones are going to end up being AI.

[Carol Markowitz]

Are you worried about that or do you think that that's just the way it has to go?

[John Hawkins]

Well, I am worried about AI because I think if we ever get to the point where it has artificial general intellig we don't have yet, it's a genuine threat to the human race's continued existence. I think it's also going to be a threat even if we don't get that. Because okay, this is slightly crude, forgive me Carol, but I don't think people are going to be breeding in 10 years. I don't. I think between the combination of virtual reality robots and AI, nobody's going to, I mean there's, nobody's going to want to breed. We're already having that problem. Every, every advanced culture in the whole world right now is not breeding at a replacement level where it's going to drop off a cliff. We're basically going to need matrix style tubes to keep the human race going. I think in 20 years. Yeah, I mean that. I don't know.

[Carol Markowitz]

All of this is pretty, you know, concerning. What about just on the micro level, the jobs that you and I do? I mean, is, is opinion maker going to matter if everything's a.

[John Hawkins]

Well, that's a good question. I think the last things to go on the writing front will be like the more intricate writing. Like I think J. Rowling is a lot harder to replace than the guy slogging out news for Bret Bart or slogging out news for espn. Those guys it can probably replace almost right now. If you're talking about the people writing the more advanced stuff, that'll be harder, but it's going to get there. And when it does, I mean me, I'll just adjust, I'll go do something else. But if you get to the point where you can't do writing anymore and that may happen too, and at some point it will. All we can do is ride it out. Because I'm going to tell you, a lot of people, a huge chunk of the workforce is going to be replaced. And I mean, I don't know how the human race is gonna evolve.

[Carol Markowitz]

Very bad.

[John Hawkins]

Well, I don't mean they're gonna. Well, they might actually get rid of us. But that's one thing. If you listen to Elon Musk talk about it, it's simultaneous. Like Elon Musk tries to paint a cheery face on it, but he's also like, we need to be interesting so the AI doesn't kill us. It's like, okay, you're making that.

[Carol Markowitz]

I don't want to be that interesting.

[John Hawkins]

So but yeah, so it's, it's hard to say how this is gonna play out. I think you're gonna have a whole lot of human beings in let's say 20, 30 years who no longer need or even are able to work. Now how does that play out?

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, I don't know. My 15 year old daughter says that she foresees just communism because what else are you going to do when nobody has a job?

[John Hawkins]

Well, there is a possibility, and this is the nice scenario that Elon Musk always suggests is like we may create so much abundance with AI that you may have not just something like a universal basic income, but universal basic wealth. Think Star Trek with replicators where everybody's like, I want a big house and I want to have whatever this is. And you've got so much robots and so much AI, they just make it for you. And that's possible too. But that's also the rosy scenario, very rosy. And look, it's possible. I don't want to say it's not possible. The scary thing would be artificial general intelligence because it's creating something smarter than us that may not have the same objectives we have. And think about it, we programmed it. I mean, it's like chimps creating human beings and giving them machine guns and going, hey, use those for good. Right?

[Carol Markowitz]

Good luck with that.

[John Hawkins]

Maybe.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Carol Markowitz]

Well, on that very cheery note, John, it has been wonderful talking to you. I don't feel like we see enough of each other and it's been great to catch up. I loved having you on my show. Leave us here with your best tip for my listeners on how they can improve their lives.

[John Hawkins]

I thought about this too. One thing I'd say if you. I'll give you two quick things. One, the Pareto principle. Go out. Everything in life is 80. Find the stuff. The 20 most valuable, important things in your life. Find a way to get more of them so that that becomes 40 and 60% of your life. And take the worst things. That's like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm doing this. And cut it out and get rid of it. Get rid of the very worst things. That's like, I do not mow my lawn. I pay someone to mow my law because I don't want to mow my lawn. The other thing is, and this is a big one, life is cumulative. So don't ever think, oh, it doesn't matter if I do this, 30 years from now, these little decisions you make today are going to have an impact. So live your life like what you do today matters to the future you because it does.

[Carol Markowitz]

Absolutely. He is John Hawkins. You could check him [e-mail] thank you so much for coming on. John.

[John Hawkins]

Thank you so much for having me. Kay.

[Unrivaled Basketball Announcer]

Season 2 of unrivaled basketball is here and the talent is unreal. The best women's players on the planet are running it back with even bigger moments and bigger stakes. Don't miss as Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more take the court and redefine the game. This isn't your regular season. This is unrivaled, where the pace is faster, the energy is higher and every athlete shines. Unrivaled basketball season two, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5 on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max.

[Podcast Host]

I use Shipt Same day delivery to stay connected with my sister during the holidays. She lives across the country. Shipt has tons of stores to order from. Groceries from Albertsons, crafts from Michaels, even pet supplies from petsmart. The list goes on. So when we have long distance movie nights, I turned to Shipt to get face masks, snacks and everything else we need delivered to her and to me same day. Download the app or visit shipt.com that's.

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