← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
2.18.26 Marco Rubio’s Munich address, Bangladesh’s credible election, and America’s shrinking agricultural workforce
00:40:12
Loading summary
Transcript134 lines
- [00:06]
A
Good morning. Today on Washington Wednesday, remembering Jesse Jackson.
- [00:10]
B
America will get better and better. Keep hope alive. We'll also talk about Marco Rubio's address to Europe and what's keeping the government shut down. Hunter Baker is standing by. Also today, world tour and later, a close look at the farm as American labor declines. It's not a desirable job. People lined up to wanting to do that work. And world commentator Janie B. Cheney on the encroachment of AI.
- [00:47]
A
It's Wednesday, February 18th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Lindsay Mast.
- [00:54]
B
And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning.
- [00:58]
A
Up next, Kent Covington with today's news.
- [01:02]
C
U.S. officials reportedly made progress in nuclear talks with Iran and Geneva Tuesday. The Iranians say they'll provide detailed proposals within the next two weeks to try and bridge the gaps between the two sides. But Vice President J.D. vance says Tehran still has a ways to go before President Trump will be satisfied. And he said the president's bottom line is clear. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
- [01:25]
B
We don't want nuclear proliferation. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, there are a lot of other regimes, some friendly, some not so friendly, who would get nuclear weap after them. That would be a disaster for the American people.
- [01:36]
C
And U.S. ambassador to the U.N. michael Waltz was more direct about exactly what the United States demands.
- [01:42]
B
Iran has to give up its enrichment capability. It has to give up its already enriched, highly enriched uranium. Also its support for terrorism and its long range ballistic missiles.
- [01:54]
C
Meantime, in a rare show of force, Iran says it temporarily closed the Strait of Hormuz for live fire military drills on Tuesday. It comes as President Trump has threatened military action if Iran does not curb its nuclear program. The US recently sent another aircraft carrier to the Middle east as part of a military build up near Iran. Also in Geneva Tuesday, the latest round of U. S Brokered peace talks between Russia and Ukraine began, but no signs yet of any major progress. And it comes as Russian forces continue their assault against civilian targets. In Ukraine. Russia launched a drone strike on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. Local authorities say three people were injured. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Moscow for ordering attacks on the same day peace talks began. The strike was only the latest complication amid talks that many expected to focus on security and humanitarian issues. And in Washington, still no sign that the partial government shutdown is any closer to ending. Funding has expired for the Department of Homeland Security with Democrats blocking funds as they demand changes to immigration enforcement. But at least one Democrat in the Senate is not on board with the shutdown. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman notes that it is not affecting Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ice.
- [03:18]
D
They have plenty of money after the big beautiful bill. So that why shut this down? You can want to reform ice, and I do, but that's not going to have the impact. But you're willing to shut down all those very important parts.
- [03:33]
C
The shutdown is impacting agencies including tsa, FEMA and the Coast Guard. Republicans have agreed to new measures, such as requiring federal agents to wear body cameras. But Democrats also want ICE agents to remove their face masks and obtain judicial warrants in more situations, which GOP members oppose. Congress is not in session at the moment, meaning there will be no new funding for DHS until at least next week. The US Military says it has carried out strikes against three more boats accused of smuggling drugs in Latin American waters. World's Kristin Flavin has more.
- [04:10]
A
The series of strikes carried out killed 11 people. The Pentagon says all of them were part of groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations. The military says it struck two boats carrying four people each in the eastern Pacific Ocean and a third boat carrying three people in the Caribbean. The Pentagon has reportedly ordered more than 40 such attacks. President Trump launched a campaign back in September to target cartel vessels. The president last year ordered one of the largest military buildups in the Caribbean in generations. For World I'm Kristen Flavin.
- [04:44]
C
Warner Bros. Discovery is briefly reopening takeover talks with Paramount to hear the company's best and final offer. In a Tuesday regulatory filing, Warner said that Netflix had granted it a waiver to open discussions with Paramount for seven days. But in the meantime, Warner's board is still recommending that shareholders support its proposed merger with Netflix. But even if approved, a Warner Bros. Discovery merger with Netflix will face tough questions from federal regulators. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead on Washington Wednesday, Europe responds to Secretary of State Marco Rubio's speech. Plus, farmers work to solve a labor shortage. This is the World and everything in It.
- [05:43]
A
It's Wednesday, the 18th of February. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the World and Everything in It. Good morning. I'm Lindsay Master.
- [05:51]
B
And I'm Nick Eicher. Time now for Washington Wednesday and joining us is political scientist Hunter Baker. He is a World Opinions contributor. And good morning to you, Hunter.
- [06:00]
D
Good morning, Hunter.
- [06:02]
A
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke at the Munich Security Conference last weekend, and his speech is being widely and highly praised for the way it outlined both the challenges and the opportunities that lay ahead for Europe and the U.S. here's a little bit of that speech.
- [06:18]
C
Our expansion into the interior followed the footsteps of French fur traders and explorers.
- [06:23]
B
Whose names, by the way, still adorn.
- [06:25]
D
The street signs and town names all.
- [06:27]
B
Across the Mississippi Valley. Our horses, our ranches, our rodeos, the.
- [06:33]
C
Entire romance of the cowboy archetype that.
- [06:36]
B
Became synonymous with the American West. These were born in Spain. And our largest and most iconic city was named New Amsterdam before it was named New York.
- [06:49]
A
Now, some politicians have been downright effusive about the address. It's drawn comparisons to Churchill, to Reagan. Hunter, why do you think it's being seen this way, and do you agree with those assessments?
- [07:00]
D
First of all, it's being seen in comparison to what JD Vance did last year. And I think that you could view Vance as maybe taking Europe to task with his address. I mean, there's a sense in which it's a similar address, almost a mirror image kind of a thing. You know, Vance being bad cop and Rubio being good cop. But however you want to characterize it, Rubio was very statesmanlike, and the way that he went about this address, tying the United States and Europe together, was very deeply appreciated by our European counterparts. And the other thing to say about it. So you mentioned Churchill and Reagan. There was really some beautiful rhetoric in this speech. You know, it does soar. It's not blunt, but there's some poetry there. And so I think that he was altogether successful.
- [07:56]
B
You know, Hunter, that comparison between Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio is interesting. I thought that Rubio's was every bit as tough as Vance's, but maybe it's a stylistic thing, kind of an iron fist and a velvet glove. There was a lot of tough rhetoric.
- [08:14]
D
That'S true, but I think that it was phrased as an invitation essentially, that what Rubio is doing is that he's reminding Europe who they have been, because there's a sense, you take the word Christendom. The word Christendom used to be essentially a synonym for Europe. Before Christendom, Europe is this pagan entity that would be unrecognizable to us. And so he's really reminding Europe, this is who you are. This is where your greatness has come from. That's what's important about what he had to say. He's making an offer instead of correcting.
- [08:53]
A
Well, European leaders, interestingly enough, repeatedly used the term reassuring to describe the speech. Let's play one more clip, and we may hear the reason why.
- [09:02]
B
So in a time of headlines heralding.
- [09:05]
C
The end of the transatlantic era.
- [09:07]
B
Let it be known and clear to.
- [09:09]
C
All that this is neither our goal nor our wish, because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western.
- [09:18]
B
Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.
- [09:26]
A
So the speech did get a standing ovation, and yet it was also quite the challenge to Europe. Do you think the Europeans accepted this from Rubio on the grounds that it could have been worse, or do you think there's a sense that he's won the argument and they agree now?
- [09:41]
D
So I think there's a few things going on there. First of all, that line about the United States being a child of Europe, that's a great line, right? I mean, first of all, it's rooted in reality. We do have these European origins, and so it flatters Europe because the United States is the greatest nation on the planet, and so we identify them as the parent of the greatest nation on the planet. And basically to say that assuming that you believe that there is some greatness that the United States possesses, some of that greatness is derived from Europe and what Europe has been. And so if you're European, and especially if you're hoping for American guarantees of security, as they have for decades now, you're very reassured to hear that we're sort of tying ourselves together in terms of our destiny.
- [10:36]
B
All right, Hunter, back in Washington, the partial government shutdown still ongoing. It's not about broad budget numbers this time. It's specifically about how immigration enforcement should be carried out. Democrats seeking new accountability rules after the enforcement controversies in January in Minneapolis and the deaths of two people at the hands of ICE agents. Congressional Democrats demanding judicial warrants for home entries. They are demanding restrictions on masked agents. Republicans, for their part, say that those changes would undermine the ability of ICE to carry out deportation orders. But, Hunter, it seems to me the real issue here is the volume of cases, millions of cases. And if those cases cannot be handled as they were designed to be handled in Article 2 immigration courts instead of Article 3 judicial branch courts, then the mess that the previous administration created, it's going to be hard for that to be taken care of. So given all of that and the fact that most people don't really understand even that much, do you think that the Democrats have the winning hand here? And are Republicans going to have to give in on how immigration enforcement is structured and overseen?
- [11:53]
D
I think that the Republicans are going to have to make their case to the American people. I think that they have convinced the American people that illegal immigration is a serious problem. I think that they have convinced them that we have to control the border. And the American people see that happening with the Trump administration, and that's probably one of the things that they give the administration the most credit on. They're not prepared for the messiness of our efforts so far to deport people. So we've seen, you know, sort of a correction, of course, by Tom Homan to go after those illegal immigrants who have committed some kind of a crime in the United States. Now, that takes it down to a more manageable size. And so that will. That will improve things in the near term.
- [12:44]
B
So just thinking strategically, then, do you think that the Republicans could give in maybe on an issue like masked agents and IDs for the agents, maybe coupled with some more security for them? Because it just seems to me if they give in on this Article 3 issue and allowing these things to be adjudicated in the Article 3 courts, you're going to have illegals dying of old age before these cases even get to the point of being dealt with. I don't see how they give in on that and not lose the whole ball game here.
- [13:18]
D
No, I think that's right. I think that if you get to the place where you have to have a judicial warrant for every single one of these people, then effectively you're done. You're done with really trying to deal with the deportation of the vast mass of people who have come into the country. So, no, I don't think they can give in on that if that's really the priority, to move large numbers of people back to the country from which they've come. Now, you mentioned masked agents. I think that politicians of the left have dwelt on this issue of masked agents, greatly to their rhetorical advantage. And I think that it's important to say something that I don't hear being said, which is there's a reason that these men and women are wearing masks. We forget that illegal immigration is all bound up with these Mexican cartels, that there is a lot of money to be made in immigration, you know, the sort of smuggling of human beings into the country. And so I think that the fear is that if we don't hide the identity of these people, they're gonna start disappearing or being assassinated by the cartels who are, to use Trump type language, not very nice. So I think that's one place where you can't give in body cameras. Absolutely. But I think that you have to protect the identity of the agents.
- [14:45]
B
Well, Hunter, the President's State of the Union address is a week away. This is gonna be A major opportunity, it seems, for the president to frame, whether it's the immigration issue or anything else. This is a crucial year for him, whether his party keeps control of Congress that is on the line in just a few short months. What are you expecting that he will emphasize a week from now?
- [15:08]
D
Well, it'll be interesting to see if he chooses to showcase America 250. So here we are. We talked about this several months back. We're getting close to the big celebrations that will occur this summer. So he may take the opportunity to make kind of a sort of a feel good moment out of 250 years for the United States of America. I think that he'll address affordability. I think that every American politician is convinced that affordability is what Americans want to hear them talk about. And I think that in his case, he'll probably talk about energy affordability. You know, pumping more oil out of the ground, working to make better use out of the coal that we have available to us. You know, you may have seen him receiving his Champion of Coal award. I think he'll talk about Trump Rx, his attempt to help with drug affordability for the American people. I think he's going to talk about all of his trade deals and the amount of money that is supposed to be invested in the United States by other countries. I think that he will talk about revenue from tariffs, even though as he makes this speech it's going to be kind of an uncertain outcome, most likely with the court by that point. I think he's going to talk about his foreign policy wins, particularly in Iran and Venezuela. And we were just talking about the border. I think he's going to double down. I think there's going to be no apology from him about the border or about ice. I think he's going to say that we need to not only do what we've been doing, but we need to do more. And finally, I think he'll probably tout his successes on crime. You know, the cities where he has brought in the National Guard and you've seen significant reductions in the number of crimes committed.
- [16:55]
A
Well, Hunter, one last thing before we go. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has died at age 84. He served as something of a bridge between the civil rights movement as a member of Martin Luther King Jr's inner circle and the presidency of Barack Obama in 2008. In 1984 and 1988, he mounted his own campaigns on a progressive platform he called the Rainbow PUSH coalition of working class and ethnic minority voters. Here he is in 1988.
- [17:24]
D
You must not surrender. You may or may not get there, but just know that you are qualified.
- [17:30]
B
And you hold on and hold out now. We must never surrender.
- [17:36]
D
America will get better and better. Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive now.
- [17:43]
A
Jackson never won the presidential nomination, but stayed in the arena as a public speaker. He ended up in hot water with his party after critical comments he made about candidate Barack Obama. Those were picked up on a hot mic, but even that was forgiven with Obama calling Jackson a true giant when news of his death broke. Hunter, what lessons can we take away from. From Jackson's political influence?
- [18:07]
D
Jesse Jackson is an important kind of bridge figure. Certainly never approached the stature or the contribution of a Martin Luther King, Jr. But somebody who wanted to be Martin Luther King, Jr. I think that he modeled himself after King. I think that the reason that he went to seminary, I don't think he completed seminary, but I think the reason he went was to be like Martin Luther King, Jr. He had some of that rhetorical brilliance that King had. You know, people remember his convention speeches, Democratic convention, 1984 and 1988, specifically the, you know, keep hope alive theme that he pressed. So at his best, he was an inspiring figure for a lot of people. He got millions of votes in his two runs for the Democratic nomination. But there was also a part of him that was. He was known for kind of making threats toward large corporations in an attempt to extract large donations from them for his organizations. And that was something that was documented more and more toward the end of his career. And then when he began to be surpassed by Barack Obama, he wasn't very happy about that either. The other thing that I think is really important to mention is the life issue. People may not realize this, but Jesse Jackson was once an ardent pro lifer. And one of the strange things that occurred over time in the Democratic Party was this sort of change on the life issue. I think that Al Gore, Teddy Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich, you know, there are any number that we could point to who were at one point pro lifers and who changed, and. And they all had the same thing in common, which was they ran for the nomination for the presidency in that party. There simply came to be a litmus test. I think we could probably argue there's a litmus test in the opposite direction in the Republican Party today. But I call it the Planned Parenthood beauty pageant. That has to occur every time we have a Democratic nomination. And if you can't win that beauty pageant, you don't have a shot at nomination.
- [20:27]
A
Well, Hunter Baker is provost at North Greenville University. Thank you so much. Hunter.
- [20:32]
D
Thank you.
- [20:39]
C
Additional support comes from dort university, where the msn family nurse practitioner program prepares nurses for christ centered family focused care dort eduardo from rich haven camp in north carolina and iowa summer camp. Registration open now@richhaven.org and from pensacola christian college academic excellence biblical worldview affordable cost. Go pcci. Edu world.
- [21:32]
B
Coming up next on the World and Everything Innit World Tour. Last week, the South Asian country of Bangladesh held its first free and fair elections in more than a decade and a half.
- [21:44]
A
They came after student demonstrations against the prime minister turned violent and led to her resignation. She has been in exile since 2024. Now the country has officially signified it's ready to move in a new direction. World correspondent Amy Lewis has this report.
- [22:01]
E
The outcome of Bangladesh's general election last Thursday left no doubt about what voters wanted.
- [22:07]
B
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has scored a sweeping victory in the country's general election.
- [22:13]
A
Setting the stage for a major political reset.
- [22:16]
E
The moderately Islamic Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, won more than 70% of the 300 available seats. These are the first elections the country has held since student uprisings in 2024 ended with more than 1,400 dead and many injured in clashes with police. The prime minister of 15 years led the other dominant political party, the Aomi League. She was once seen as a pro democracy figure in Bangladesh, the eighth most populated country in the world. But during her second term as prime minister, more than a thousand opposition leaders and family members disappeared or were arrested. Students called for her resignation. She escaped to India in a helicopter.
- [23:02]
B
The prime minister has now resigned and, according to reports, has fled the country. That's as protesters have stormed her residence.
- [23:14]
E
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus became the country's chief adviser during the interim government and helped set up the most recent elections.
- [23:21]
D
Yunus also barred Hasina's Awami League from contesting elections.
- [23:24]
A
Her exclusion from the polls led to backlash.
- [23:27]
E
Suddenly, many minorities who regularly voted for candidates from the Army League had to figure out who to vote for.
- [23:33]
F
The Christians were traditionally very attached to Army League, So I think there was a question in the mind. Who are they going to vote for?
- [23:40]
E
Asa Kane pastors the Dacha assembly of God Church in the country's capital and heads a large Christian school, he says. With the AMI League candidates banned from running, Christians had few choices.
- [23:51]
F
Either you had the bnp, who has been in power for many years in the beginning, and then you had the Islamic party, Jamaat e Islami.
- [23:59]
E
Just a few weeks before the election, polls showed the more secular BNP and the pro Sharia Jama' at parties nearly tied to then. The extremist Jama' at party leader said in a speech that it would be un Islamic for women to lead even though 44% of voters are women and 42% of voters are Gen Z.
- [24:18]
F
Our people are pretty progressive and our women are pretty outgoing, you know, so they did not like it. I think that has backfired against them.
- [24:27]
E
Very few candidates are Christians in this Muslim majority nation of 170 million, more.
- [24:32]
F
Than 90% are Muslims and about 8, more than 8% are Hindus. So Christianity is a very microscopic minority in Bangladesh. So according to the government estimation census, there are about 0.5% Christians, half of 1%.
- [24:54]
E
Pastor Asa told those who asked to look at the integrity and character of each candidate instead of their party. In spite of their small numbers, Christians have a very good reputation among government workers because of their good schools and hospitals.
- [25:06]
F
I get call from the government ministers and please take my child. Please give him a chance. So they know that our education is the best.
- [25:13]
E
But there's still a tension.
- [25:16]
F
On one hand they're saying that you've done a lot of good work. Other hand, there's an apprehension that you must be converting people by doing all these good works, you know. But we Christians, we love to do good work and that's our calling.
- [25:27]
E
Changing religions is legal for anyone over 18. But Pastor Asa says Christians face societal pressure from other sources.
- [25:33]
F
It comes from the local people, the community, because Islam is a very community religion. Anybody leaving that community and going out, they have to face certain difficulties.
- [25:45]
E
Definitely in the run up to the election, Pastor Asa says Christians prayed fervently for his country. Not so much about which candidates would win, but for peace.
- [25:55]
F
But on the whole, it was so peaceful, I couldn't even believe it. I mean, they're saying it also that I'm really surprised. How come we are so, so quiet? I think it's the prayer of God's people.
- [26:05]
E
Besides forming a new government, the country's new prime minister, Tariq Rahman will have to decide what to do about the former prime minister. Last year, Hasina was convicted in absentia of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death. Audio here from CNN's News 18 from India.
- [26:21]
B
If there's one thorn in the flesh between the India Bangladesh ties, it is.
- [26:25]
D
The issue of Sheikh Hasina.
- [26:26]
E
Hasina's exile in India complicates the tension. This is diplomatic relations between the two countries.
- [26:31]
B
The fact remains that the BNP would.
- [26:33]
D
Certainly want Sheikh Hasina to face trial.
- [26:36]
B
They have now said it very, very.
- [26:38]
D
Openly that India must hand over Sheikh Hasina.
- [26:41]
B
It's Certainly a catch 22 diplomatic situation as far as the Indian government goes.
- [26:47]
E
During the election, millions of Bangladeshis also approved a referendum about constitutional amendments, term limits and a change to the governmental power structure. Basically putting checks on the system so that someone like Sheikh Hasina doesn't stay in power too long.
- [27:02]
F
So just pray that God will give us some good, righteous people in place.
- [27:06]
E
That's this week's world tour. I'm Amy Lewis.
- [27:24]
B
In Miami, a food delivery robot made a stop. It could not recall cover from. It got stuck on railroad tracks. Guillermo Dapello was out walking his dogs, shooting video with his phone as a brightline train approached the stranded robot. The dog clearly understanding the gravity of the situation. But the robot, now the robot did not know what hit it. No one was hurt, unless you count that flattened Uber eats delivery bottom. You know, sometimes the future runs on artificial intelligence. Sometimes artificial intelligence runs straight into a train. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Wednesday, February 18th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Nick Icker.
- [28:27]
A
And I'm Lindsay Mast. Coming next on the World and everything in it, a declining workforce in agriculture. As domestic labor pools dry out, farmers must go elsewhere with their job postings. But the cost to hire outside the US Is steep. Farmers are trying to figure out a solution with disappointing dead ends. World's Emma Eicher has the story.
- [28:50]
G
The agricultural industry is on the hunt for American workers, but nobody seems to want the job.
- [28:56]
B
It's not a desirable job. You do not have people lined up wanting to do that work.
- [29:04]
G
In 1949, when Keith Eckel was only two years old, his father moved the family out to the country.
- [29:09]
B
My dad was a risk taker, my mom was not. Both were extremely hard workers.
- [29:16]
G
From dust came an enterprise, Fred W. Eccleson's farm. The business grew every year, requiring more employees. In the 60s, Keith worked alongside 80 year old grandmothers, picking rows of tomatoes in scorching heat.
- [29:31]
B
It was like having five grandmothers in the field. They were great. They were great people. Great people. Now it's a different time and we have to adjust of the times.
- [29:42]
G
Today you won't find any grandmothers out in eccles fields. In 1990, 76% of farm workers were American. Today it's less than half that number. Many in the agricultural industry suspect that young Americans just don't consider farming as a viable career.
- [29:59]
B
But the Reality is those domestic workers are becoming fewer and fewer to find.
- [30:06]
G
John Walt Boatwright works at the American Farm Bureau Federation. He's the director of Government affairs. Boatwright says many Americans think any job in agriculture automatically means hard manual labor. That perception drives young workers away.
- [30:21]
B
You have people who are more removed from agriculture than they have historically been. People don't aspire to be farm workers necessarily, at least in the United States.
- [30:35]
G
In Hershey, Pennsylvania, farmers from all over the state gather at Hershey lodge for the 75th annual meeting. Most attendees are middle aged and older, but in the thick of the crowd, there's a gaggle of young adults with the words YAP printed on their name tags. It stands for Young Ag Professionals. They aim to teach younger people about career opportunities and foster leadership.
- [30:57]
B
We need more farmers.
- [30:59]
G
John Mark Miller is a young ag professional and he says the industry needs youth.
- [31:05]
B
We are basically less than 2% of the population at this point in the U.S. and yet we still continue to feed us and the world.
- [31:12]
G
From his perspective, many college aged adults don't consider agriculture because it doesn't pay enough.
- [31:18]
B
Farming is a very slow burn job. If you do a good job of it, you do well at it, and you continue to grow and expand to the point that you have what you need to live off of, you'll get there in the end. But from a base level, I think there is. It's still a cash issue, but others.
- [31:36]
G
Say the industry has already tried to combat that. Members of the Farm Bureau Federation tried raising wages. John Walt Boatwright Again, we've had so.
- [31:45]
B
Many farmer members who have sought to hire domestic workers and raised their advertised rates and still haven't been able to attract domestic workers.
- [31:59]
G
Another solution is the H2A Agricultural Worker Program, which helps farmers find migrant workers when they can't fill a job with domestic workers.
- [32:08]
B
And it's over 400,000 certified positions in the H2A program nationwide. That is a true measure of the market need.
- [32:17]
G
But the H2A visa program works only for those who can pay the high cost.
- [32:22]
B
Our economist did some analysis and said with the visa fees, the estimated cost associated with housing and transportation involved, you're looking at $11,000 per worker before they even get on the ground.
- [32:34]
G
That's a hefty number for the family owned farms, which make up about 95% of the US agriculture industry. But for large farms, H2A visas are a necessity. Here's Keith Eckel.
- [32:46]
B
Today, I grow about 500 acres of corn for grain, about 300 acres of soybeans, about 25 acres of sweet corn. We've been blessed with great employees.
- [33:01]
G
Eckel eventually became the president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau through his decades of work in agriculture.
- [33:06]
B
In 1900, 23% of the population lived on the farm and they fed 100 million. Today, 1.4% of the population lives on the farm. We feed a nation of 330 million. The productive capability of this nation has increased so dramatically that it's literally unbelievable.
- [33:40]
G
Despite the decline in farms, Echel is still optimistic about where the industry is headed.
- [33:46]
B
I just have to look back to 1900 with those statistics and think of what a remarkable job agriculture has done in producing food and fiber for this country.
- [34:01]
G
Others share his cautious optimism. Tomorrow we'll have the story of two farmers who hope to keep the farm in the family passing down a legacy of hard work. Reporting for World I'm Emma Eicher in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
- [34:39]
A
Good morning. This is the World and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Lindsay Mast.
- [34:45]
B
And I'm Nick Eicher. Artificial intelligence has crossed yet another line. Maybe a technical one, maybe something more than that. Some people say that the machines are now improving themselves. Others call that hype. Either way, the pace is picking up. World commentator Janie B. Cheney considers what happens when the tool tools we built begin to act like something else.
- [35:11]
H
A few weeks ago, we crossed a technical line with the release of Claude Opus 4.6 by Anthropic and GPT 5.3 by OpenAI. We are confronted with artificial intelligence that has learned how to program itself. Tyler Cohen at the Free Press announced. So from here on, AI is driving its own progress, and that progress will become much faster. A couple of weeks earlier, tech watchers were all abuzz about Multbook, a Reddit like platform for AI agents, otherwise known as bots. Within days of its creation, the bots were discussing how to form their own secret language, set up private social networks and turn themselves back on when humans try to turn them off. To hear some tell it, we're just a step away from the Nightmare scenario of 2001 A Space Odyssey where Hal the computer tries to offload his last astronaut traveling companion.
- [36:13]
B
Open the pod bay doors, Hal.
- [36:16]
D
I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
- [36:20]
B
What's the problem?
- [36:21]
D
I think you know what the problem.
- [36:23]
B
Is just as well as I do.
- [36:25]
D
What are you talking about, Hal?
- [36:27]
B
This mission is too important for me.
- [36:29]
D
To allow you to jeopardize it. I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me and I'M afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
- [36:37]
H
The Mult Book stunt was probably just that, a stunt. Though it claims to limit interaction to AI agents, those agents are created by humans and at this point the bots can do nothing humans don't allow them to do. It remains unclear whether a singularity is possible, that is whether machines at some point will become self conscious and self willed since they lack a spiritual dimension unrelated to material causes. A soul, in other words. That seems unlikely. But if you're not sure what AI is capable of and how it will affect your life and upend society, well, nobody is. We are hurtling into unknown territory. It's likely the labor market will be rearranged and white collar jobs hardest hit. Only a decade ago we were telling low skilled workers to learn to code. Maybe it's time to tell programmers to learn to plumb. Multbook is the product of Open Claw, which bills itself as the AI that actually does things. You can install an OpenClaw agent on your phone and it will answer your emails, schedule your appointments, book your flights, and check in 24 hours ahead. Or here's another don't Aside from the risk of turning your bank account and personal communication over to a soulless machine, these are things you should do for yourself. Every AI advance makes life a little more frictionless. To counter it, humans will have to consciously create their own friction. For example, skip the auto generated summary and read a whole book. Cancel the doordash order and cook a meal, write a letter and walk it to the post office. Shop for flowers at the greenhouse and take them to a friend. One assumption behind AI is that human nature is endlessly malleable. But human nature is God created and can only be pushed so far before it begins to push back. We're already seeing cracks in the hypothesis that gender is fluid. We may also be seeing hopeful signs as young people grow disenchanted with social media and start thinking about swapping their phones for personal interaction. AI does pose some unique threats to social order, all the more fearful because we don't know what they are yet. But don't be afraid. B Human I'm Janie Buccaney.
- [39:16]
B
Tomorrow Protecting Privacy in the Age of Digital Manipulation. We'll have a report and part two of our story on Family Farmers. That and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Iger.
- [39:27]
A
And I'm Lindsay Mast. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible says when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized Jesus, and ran about the whole region, and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was, and wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment, and as many as touched it were made well. Verses 54 through 56 of Mark 6 go now in grace and peace.