This Week in Tech (TWiT) Ep. 1022: Chatting With MrBabyMan

Date: March 10, 2025
Host: Leo Laporte
Guests: Devindra Hardawar (Engadget), Lou Mareska (Microsoft), Mike Elgan (Machine Society, Gastronomad)
Main topics: Daylight Saving Time & Standard Time; the post-impulse economy (GLP-1 drugs); AI product delays (Apple Siri, Alexa); AI poisoning & propaganda; Mobile World Congress 2025; Low Earth Orbit tech; Social news & misinformation; Parenting and tech, and more.

Episode Theme:

Navigating Tech’s Unintended Consequences: Time, AI, and the Disruptions Changing Everything

This episode brings together tech journalists and industry insiders for an in-depth, lively roundtable on the societal, political, and practical disruptions technology is driving. The panel debates Daylight Saving Time’s utility (or lack thereof), examines AI’s growing pains and vulnerabilities, explores how new drugs are reshaping economies, and discusses misinformation in the AI era. They also share hands-on impressions from Mobile World Congress and reflect on community moderation, parenting in the tech age, and the future of work in an AI-driven world.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Changing Times: Daylight Saving, Standard Time, and Human Health

[04:00–16:55]

• Daylight Saving Debate:

  • Most Americans want to end clock changes, but there’s no consensus between sticking to standard time or daylight time.
  • Trump, Musk, and other figures have pushed for abolishing the switch, but political inertia remains.
  • Panel discusses radical proposals: Mike Elgan proposes a single global time (UTC/Zulu time) for all, echoing airline industry practices.
    • "We live in a ridiculously phrased global world. These time zones don't mean anything anymore." – Mike Elgan [05:16]

• Circadian Health & Productivity:

  • Medical research shows standard time is best for health (aligns with natural rhythms).
  • Changing times increases health risks: heart attacks, car accidents, sleep disruption.
  • Tech and institutions have mostly automated time changes, but edge cases (microwaves, cars) persist.
  • Anecdotes about raising kids, teaching analog time (and the decline of cursive writing).

Societal Disruption: Ozempic, GLP-1 Drugs, and the 'Post-Impulse' Economy

[20:07–28:34]

• Drug-driven Cultural Change:
  • Widespread adoption of GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic et al.) for weight loss and impulse control is predicted to fundamentally remake major segments of the economy.
  • By 2030, 30% of Americans may be on these medications.
  • Second/third order effects discussed:
    • Alcohol consumption and crime may drop; major industries (food, drink, advertising) scramble to adapt.
    • Marketing, stadium concessions, even movie theater economics could be upended.
  • Fresh fruits/veg become more desirable, junk food intolerable for users.
    • "Impulse runs our economy... If impulse is suppressed, the ripple effects go everywhere." – Leo Laporte [21:06]
  • Panel weighs “utopian” vs. “dystopian” views; worries about personality being ‘smoothed out’; more productive but potentially more boring society.

AI Realities: Product Delays, Chatty Robots, Model Integration, and User Trust

[34:05–47:13]

• Apple & Amazon AI Assistants:

  • Apple delays rollout of its “Intelligence” Siri features, stating explicitly to Daring Fireball that it’s “going to take longer… than we thought.”
    • "This is the first time Apple has ever admitted, 'yeah, it's going to take longer...'" – Leo [34:13]
  • Amazon’s Alexa “Pro” not shipping yet amid model integration issues.
  • Complexity arises from having to merge simple ‘timer’ functions with advanced generative capabilities; handoff between different AI models complicates everything.
    • "It's about model integration... the old proprietary pipeline doesn't mix with new models." – Lou Mareska [38:23]

• AI Trustworthiness:

  • Panelists praise Apple for not rushing out unreliable features (“They don’t have to join the gold rush; they have to get it right” – Mike [35:54]) and air complaints about Microsoft’s Copilot and other models being error-prone and vulnerable to “poisoning.”
  • AI that’s too chatty is more annoying than helpful (anecdotes about home assistants inserting themselves into conversations, family chaos with multi-brand devices).

AI Anthropomorphism, the ‘Singularity,’ and Parenting in a Digital World

[47:44–59:05]

• Humanizing AI:
  • Discussion of new “chatbot” products—some so conversational they cross into “annoying,” and people become attached, even falling in love with AIs.
  • Mike Elgan expresses skepticism of both the singularity and the anthropomorphizing of AI:
    • "The degree to which AI is anything like a human mind is completely delusional." – Mike Elgan [49:59]
  • Parenting challenges: Whether to require kids to be polite to robots; how to teach difference between people and appliances; kids growing up with "lifelike" tech.
    • "It's all about the communication and understanding the real vs. unreal." – Lou [54:44]
    • "This generation will grow up with lifelike robots in their homes." – Devindra [54:06]

AI Poisoning, Propaganda, and Information Trust

[66:51–80:05]

• AI and Disinformation:

  • NewsGuard study finds AI chatbots are repeating Russian propaganda and disinformation (Pravda network, 10,000+ articles/day automatically churned for training data).
  • All major models (ChatGPT, Grok, Meta AI, Copilot, Perplexity, etc.) fooled, even when given neutral queries.
  • Problem is systemic: sites flooding the web with junk data taint the factual record for AIs and regular search.
    • "All these AI companies are saying the right things... but for us, our content will just be buried under avalanches of automatically generated garbage." – Mike Elgan [70:47]

• Defensive Media Literacy:

  • Panel recommends “AI media literacy” – checking sources, skepticism about politically controversial claims.
  • Worry that the AI “illusion of reality” extends to non-AI news (TV, White House talking points, etc.).
  • Tech stories fall victim too (e.g., “Southwest runs on Windows 95” myth).

• Outlook:

  • AI companies need to develop new norms and practices; government action is slow, and technical countermeasures always a step behind.

Social News Revival, Moderation, & Community in the Age of AI

[80:05–89:55]

• DIGG Returns:
  • Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian (of Reddit) buying/relaunching Digg, promising to revive “genuine community” and discovery while preventing gaming, perhaps bolstered by AI and blockchain.
    • "The problem was Digg became very popular and people started gaming it..." – Leo [80:42]
  • Skepticism over how any community can stay un-gamed by motivated attackers or bots.
  • Reddit’s strengths and weaknesses: excellent for niche interests but vulnerable on news and politics; trust often depends on solid moderation.

On Parenting, App Store Age Verification, and Tech Policy

[118:29–126:10]

• Utah’s App Store Age Verification:
  • Utah passes first US law requiring App Stores to verify user ages and require parental consent for minors.
  • Panel (esp. parents) criticizes move: will burden stores, erode privacy, and may be impossible to enforce at scale. Parental conversation/monitoring is better.
    • "I feel like the tools will never catch up. It continues to have to be the parent's idea." – Lou [122:52]

Mobile World Congress 2025 & Tech Hardware Highlights

[94:05–100:58]

• Wild gadget showcase:
  • Interchangeable lens smartphones (Xiaomi, Realme), sun-boosting gadgets, wearable dash-cams, solar panel phone cases, and translation-enabled Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
    • "Phones with DSLR lenses? Buy a camera, folks." – Mike Elgan [95:09]
    • "I use the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses every day—the live translation is incredible when traveling." – Mike [98:13]
• AMD challenges Nvidia in GPUs; driver/support reliability improving, value vs. price is strong.

Quick Hits & Farewell

• Justice Department asks Google to sell Chrome browser to loosen search monopoly—but panel doubts it will matter in age of AI search.
• YouTube Premium reaches 125M subs; new lower-cost ad-free tier introduced.
• Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellites (“spy plane altitude”) coming for faster images, better coverage, and self-cleaning orbits.
• Obituary: Voice actor George Lowe (Space Ghost: Coast to Coast) celebrated for his irreverent, pop-culture impact.
  • "Space Ghost, Adult Swim would not exist without him..." – Devindra [150:10]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "We just need to stop moving the clocks. Every year, we all whine, but we’re still doing it." – Leo, [15:07]
• "AI doesn't need to be part of the gold rush—they have to get it right." – Mike, [35:54]
• "So now that we are wasting energy like crazy, let's fix Daylight Saving Time." – Leo, [15:54]
• "The post-impulse economy will transform everything from beer sales to NFL stadiums." – Leo, [22:19]
• "Impulse is what makes us interesting, right?" – Lou, [24:03]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [04:00] – Daylight Saving/Standard Time debate, health impacts
• [20:07] – Ozempic, GLP-1 drugs, and economic disruption
• [34:05] – Apple’s Siri/AI delay & AI quality discussion
• [38:23] – The challenge of model handoffs and Amazon’s Alexa problems
• [49:59] – The singularity and AI as “human” discussion
• [66:51] – AI ‘poisoning’ and propaganda threats
• [80:05] – Digg’s social news revival and Reddit’s continuing influence
• [94:05] – Mobile World Congress innovations and critiques
• [118:29] – Utah’s App Store age verification law, parental controls
• [128:06] – Very Low Earth Orbit satellites explained

Overall Tone & Style

• The episode combines wry humor and seasoned skepticism, especially toward tech hype and political indecision.
• Panelists are candid about their own tech-use habits and parenting quandaries.
• There is a critical but pragmatic eye on both the potential of technology and its social consequences.

Final Thoughts

• Tech is racing ahead on multiple fronts—but for each “advance,” new social, political, and personal dilemmas arise.
• AI now brings not just hope and hype, but real vulnerabilities—especially to misinformation campaigns.
• The “post-impulse” era might upend everything from advertising to sports, but whether people will like what comes next remains to be seen.
• Despite our tools, true progress still depends on human attention, thoughtful policy, and community-building—and maybe a really good croissant.

For more, listen to the full episode, and don’t forget to join TWiT’s 20th Anniversary Show on April 13th, or share your own stories on social media!