Japan’s Demographic Crisis, Navigating Hopelessness, and Amazon's Cutthroat AI Plan | Tom Bilyeu Show Live

Summary

Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu: Japan’s Demographic Crisis, Navigating Hopelessness, and Amazon’s Cutthroat AI Plan

Date: October 24, 2025
Guests/Panel: Tom Bilyeu (Host), Drew (Co-host)
Episode Theme:
A wide-ranging, unsparing conversation breaking down global demographic crises (with a special focus on Japan), personal strategies for overcoming hopelessness, and a candid, economic-realism take on Amazon’s automation ambitions and the broader AI revolution. The episode challenges misconceptions, mixes cultural commentary with hard-nosed economics, and refuses to sugarcoat hard truths about where technology and society are headed.

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Episode Overview

Tom and his team dissect three interwoven, high-impact topics that dominate today’s news cycle:

• Japan’s drastic anti-immigration policy against a backdrop of demographic decline
• Strategies for overcoming hopelessness and reframing despair in turbulent times
• Amazon’s leaked plan to automate hundreds of thousands of jobs and the blunt reality of AI-driven labor disruption

Throughout, Tom delivers history-rich context, practical self-development advice, and an unapologetically Darwinian view on tech-driven economic change. The team also offers live audience shout-outs and real-time reactions to evolving news stories.

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Key Segment Summaries

1. Japan’s Demographic and Immigration Crisis

[01:19 – 12:58]

Policy Shift & Speech Breakdown

• Japan’s new Prime Minister announces a “Ministry of Mass Deportation,” citing concerns about cultural sustainability and exploitation of refugee status for economic gain.
• Speech: “As for me, I want to have a calm, mutually considerate relationship with foreigners. How can we live together?... Year after year, the culture between us and everything else is so very different. If people are being brought in altogether... we must pause and reconsider.”
  (Prime Minister, paraphrased by Tom, [01:34])
• Tom notes there is no overt malice—“She’s not saying, you know, get the Muslims out here or anything like that…”—but emphasizes the existential demographic stakes for Japan.

Why Japan Is Unique

• Tom traces Japan’s cultural evolution from samurai collectivism through WWII devastation to today’s complex, sometimes-repressed, but creativity-rich society.
• The “salaryman” work ethic and social repression created a culture that almost economically conquered the West in the ’80s—reflected in pop culture anxieties of the era.
• Notable Quote:
  “That has given birth to a style of storytelling that literally dwarfs the rest of the world… Demon Slayer, which is a single manga title, outsells every single western comic title. Combined.”
  (Tom, [06:40])
• Japanese pop culture’s “illicit storytelling” appeals globally because of its honesty, darkness, and the way repression “bubbles up.”
  One Piece example: a child protagonist stabs himself to prove bravery—“So the Japanese don’t play.”

The Meaning of Cultural Distinctiveness

• Tom warns of “the beige-ification of the world”—cultural uniformity from mass immigration:

  "Whoever becomes the most aggressive culture, the most cohesive culture, is going to win... What we’re seeing through mass immigration is the beige-ification of the world...[but] if those differences aren’t preserved, the world becomes way less interesting."
  (Tom, [08:24])

• Distinction, rooted in values and historical continuity, is vital to human flourishing.

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2. Navigating Hopelessness: Practical Advice for Dark Times

[13:01 – 16:38]

Audience Q&A: Overcoming Despair

• Listener asks: How to reframe persistent hopelessness even when all evidence feels against you?
• Tom’s “mechanistic” answer:
  • Focus efforts on action—don’t dwell on why things are bleak, but what works to move you forward.
  • “You become what you repeat. If you repeat all the negativity, then you’re going to believe it. If you repeat the positive things... that’s going to become real too, especially... Your brain will hardwire whatever you repeat. It does not matter if you believe it.”
    (Tom, [14:10])
  • Physiology underpins psychology: Embody positivity, even if you feel fake at first; over time, repetition and action rewire the brain through myelination.

Notable Moments

• Drew shares firsthand: “I was having a tough couple days, and then I went to [a] boxing class and I punched something really hard... It felt awesome.”
  (Drew, [15:17])
• Tom references Andrew Huberman’s research: “All you have to do is move your eyes side to side... You’re trapped in your body. Everything comes down to your biology. There are very simple things you can do.”
  (Tom, [15:42])

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3. Global Conflicts: Ukraine, Russia, and Media Attention

[16:38 – 20:28]

• The crew pivots to breaking news: Children killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv, amid a media environment dominated by Middle East coverage.
  • “What’s interesting is this has been going on the whole time. We’ve just all been so on Israel, Palestine, that nobody has paid attention to this.”
    (Tom, [17:35])
• Tom’s analysis:
  • Putin’s motives are rooted in distrust of the West and nostalgia for the USSR—he’ll push until faced with real resistance.
  • The cycle of escalation may only end with significant power shifts or international outrage.

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4. Amazon’s Plan: Automation, AI, and the Future of Labor

[20:28 – 33:04]

The Leak: 600,000 Jobs on the Chopping Block

• News breaks that Amazon plans to replace 600,000 U.S. workers with robots by 2033 (leaked documents).
• Tom: “This to me is like saying, by the way Drew, the sun is going to rise tomorrow. This is a foregone conclusion.”
  (Tom, [21:17])

Why It’s Inevitable (and It’s Our Fault)

• The “blame” game: “This is not a Jeff Bezos thing... The second Jeff Bezos does something that makes Amazon more expensive, you will start going other places.”
  (Tom, [22:01])
• Relentless downward pressure on costs makes automation irresistible. Companies follow consumer demand for cheap, fast, convenient service.
• “We all want a house full of servants. That’s what this is... We just have—homie just hangs out here. Every now and then he says a joke or what... We want this. The people want this.”
  (Tom, [23:13])

Hard Numbers & Expanding Economics

• Robots are expensive now, but costs drop exponentially: “They’re going to get cheaper every day... There is a robot being sold out of China that right now is only $1,600... that number will drop...”
  (Tom, [26:14])
• “An Optimus robot’s probably going to run you, I don’t know, 12 grand? 7 to 12 grand? ... Right now, employees cost six figures.”
  (Tom, [27:46])

Bernie Sanders, Worker Rights, and the “Wrong” Reaction

• Bernie Sanders’ reaction—“AI and robotics must benefit workers, not the 1%”—draws Tom’s scorn:

  “That final sentence is the most ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard in my life... Robotics don’t need to be good for workers. Robotics need to be good for civilization.”
  (Tom, [28:53])

• Tech transitions (agriculture, industrial revolution, electricity) never prioritized incumbent workers—they enabled new societal abundance, after hard upheaval.

Hard Truths and the Age of Abundance

• “Any technology that promises an advantage will be developed, even if it puts all of humanity at risk... The question isn’t whether it should happen. The question is how do we do it well.”
  (Tom, [29:13])
• If AI reaches its potential—solar-powered robots, unlimited energy, labor that doesn’t need food—costs will collapse, but the transition will be brutal before the benefits are realized.

The Path Forward: Adaptation, Not Resistance

• “You are in the middle of the singularity right now. It is happening. You’re living through it.”
  (Tom, [33:00])
• The best hope is to manage the transition responsibly; resistance is futile, and nostalgia is a dead end.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Japanese Storytelling’s Impact:
  “Demon Slayer, which is a single manga title, outsells every single western comic title. Combined.” (Tom, [06:40])
• On Reframing Negativity:
  “I can’t stop myself from having the first negative thought, but I can stop myself from repeating it.” (Tom, [14:48])
• On Cultural Change:
  “If those differences aren’t preserved, the world becomes way less interesting.” (Tom, [08:59])
• On Automation’s Unstoppable March:
  “This is not a Jeff Bezos thing... The second Jeff Bezos does something that makes Amazon more expensive, you will start going other places.” (Tom, [22:01])
• On Human Nature and Technology:
  “Any technology that promises an advantage will be developed, even if it puts all of humanity at risk.” (Tom, [29:13])
• On the Reality of the Singularity:
  “You are in the middle of the singularity right now. It is happening. You’re living through it.” (Tom, [33:00])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro and episode setup: [00:00 – 01:19]
• Japan Immigration Policy & Culture: [01:19 – 12:58]
• Strategies for Overcoming Hopelessness: [13:01 – 16:38]
• Ukraine/Russia War Update & Analysis: [16:38 – 20:28]
• Amazon AI Automation and Labor Crisis: [20:28 – 33:04]
• Economic/Workforce Adaptation, UBI Questions: [33:04 – End]

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers an unvarnished perspective on disruptive change:

• Demographics are destiny; cultural distinction is precious and vulnerable to erasure.
• Hopelessness is a biological rut, and action—both mental and physical—reliably breaks the cycle.
• The age of AI and robotics is not merely about greedy billionaires, but a far-reaching, human-driven demand for relentless progress and convenience.

If you want a direct, unsentimental, and practical look at the world’s biggest issues—and a call to self-responsibility as the ultimate adaptation—this episode is essential Impact Theory.

Transcript

[A]

If you work in university maintenance, Grainger considers you an MVP because your playbook ensures your arena is always ready for tip off. And Grainger is your trusted partner, offering the products you need, all in one place, from H VAC and plumbing supplies to lighting and more. And all delivered with plenty of time left on the clock, so your team always gets the win. Call 1-800-GRAINGER visit grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. If you work in university maintenance, Grainger considers you an MVP because your playbook ensures your arena is always ready for tip off. And Grainger is your trusted partner, offering the products you need, all in one place, from H VAC and plumbing supplies to lighting and more. And all delivered with plenty of time left on the clock, so your team always gets the win. Call 1-800-GRAINGER visit grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Tom Bilyeu Show Live. I am here with Drew. We've got Mason in community and we've got G and Eric rocking everything behind the scenes. We are your normal daily crew and we are very grateful that you guys are joining us. We've got some wild stuff to get to today. There's never a dull day.

[B]

Let's jump over to Japan now. But there is a new policy. The new Prime Minister immediately created a mass portion. A Ministry of Mass Partitions.

[A]

Mass deportation.

[B]

Mass deportation. Excuse me, I said massportation. And then this is a speech that.

[A]

This is the Prime Minister.

[B]

Yeah, this is the Prime Minister. And this is a speech that she said, as for me, I want to have a calm, mutually considerate relationship with foreigners. How can we live together in such a way? I intended to reconsider it completely. I plan to think about it from zero again. Because year after year, the culture between us and everything else is so very different. If people are being brought in altogether, to keep bringing them in this policy, we must pause and reconsider. Those who come with economic motives claim to be refugees. Such people will be properly sent home. Also, regarding those who overstay illegally, they too would be strictly required to obey the law. It seems pretty straightforward. I don't see malicious intent. She's not saying, you know, get the Muslims out here or anything like that. However, because of the demographics of Japan, is this a surprising turn absolute tragedy

[A]

that the birth rates are so low in so many cultures. As somebody who has chosen not to have children, admittedly I always feel bad about pointing out how important it is for people to have kids, but. But on balance, if the majority of people aren't having children, you've got a problem. And obviously because it takes two people to make a kid, you need them having more than two kids. So Japan is really in bad shape from a demographic standpoint. But the reason that I'm a Japanophile is because Japan is different. If Japan were the same, then there would be no draw. And the funny thing is, I really discovered Japan as like an area of super interest very late in my life. I was always intrigued, intrigued. I admit the cyberpunk aesthetic has always spoken to me since the 80s. But really learning about Japanese storytelling and how potent of a style of storytelling it is, and because they had the nuclear bombs dropped on them twice, they just became such a fascinating culture. Watching them shift from like the ultra hardcore samurai culture to watching that become the salaryman culture, to seeing like how they salary respond. Repression, dude.

[B]

It's.

[A]

I'll try to do a speedrun in Japanese culture.

[B]

Yeah, my bad. I. I did practically you right there.

[A]

But so, okay. Speedrun on Japanese culture goes something like this. We are a small island nation. We have to get very hardcore. We have a very collectivist mentality. Very disciplined. Very much like samurai culture for sure was you were willing to give your life for the person that you work for. And if you ended up, they died or whatever, you became a run and you had to just like wander around. There's so much honor culture, all of that. Like, honor means everything. And they then. So they build all that up. The Mongols try to conquer Japan and. And get pushed back twice. They're like the only culture that was like, get the out of here. Mongols rolled over everybody, but not the Japanese. Okay? That's who you're up against. Japan up. China. In fact, China now is like, oh, wait till we get big. We. We are going to mow over you. Rumor, rumor. Allegedly, Allegedly. But like, that one is, there's a lot of bad blood there. So Japan were like sort of tyrannical and very good because they were so disciplined, militaristic, like really, really hardcore. And then we dropped some bombs on them and now it's hello Kitty. So it's like, what happened?

[B]

I love these speed runs. This is the only way I want history now.

[A]

But so it is this incredible transformation where you can still feel that really brilliant engineering culture, the collectivist mentality, which I've spoken many times about how much I absolutely despise it. But they also have like, you can feel the repression, like Bubbling up and coming out in these really interesting ways. And they're like this fascinating blend of Buddhism and Christianity now. And so they've just created this really, really fascinating, like, forward, very futuristic. But the blend of the past and the future and this sense of like post apocalyptic, because they've really lived through a post apocalypse. Like, and the sense that, oh my God, we were the villains in World War II, but America helped us rebuild. So they're like, there's this really interesting relationship that they have with their own past. And. But that hardcore culture doesn't just go away. So they created this generation of salary men who basically work themselves to death, literally to. And the hard work culture there went from like these very rigid caste structures into a modern style economy. But because they were so disciplined, so hardworking, literally willing to work themselves to death, they just. Through the 80s, it looked like they were going to take over the whole world. And that's why if you look at like, even movies like Back to the Future two, all the anxiety is around. We all work for the Japanese. This is why in Die Hard, his wife works for a Japanese company. Like, it just looked like the Japanese were going to take over everything. Then through some economic jiu jitsu, we were like, all right, you guys need to chill. And we sort of have put them in timeout for 40 years. Whole nother long story there. But like, that is. That has given birth to a style of storytelling that literally dwarfs the rest of the world. I cannot tell you enough how in America we think, oh, Marvel. Marvel's the comic book that rules the world. Right? And then you realize Demon Slayer, which is a single manga title, outsells every single western comic title. Combined. Combined Drew in Japan, a single. What's known as a Tonka Bond, which is like a collection of. I forget. It's like six standalone episodes of manga of a series called Bleach. The Thousand Year War. No, sorry. Lie, lie, lie. It was Boruto. Boruto, which is like the successor to Naruto. If people know that one sold 10 million units. That's insane.

[B]

In.

[A]

In physical print, dude. That's insane. So. And that's in Japan alone. If you go into any airport, you're going to be able to find mang. It's wild. So the Japanese have found what I'll. I did not make up this title, but I think this is really bang on. What's known as illicit storytelling. So something a kid wants to read, but they don't want their parents to see that they're reading it. And when you, like, look at children's entertainment in Japan, it's dope. Like, people getting shot, they're bleeding. It's like, even in One Piece. In One Piece. Luffy D Monkey. This is for kids, okay? In the opening, like, chapter of One Piece, the kid's like 9 or 10 years old to prove that he can be a dope pirate and that he's not afraid. This kid in a book for kids, a graphical book, stabs himself in the face with a knife and through the rest of the series has a big scar on his face, okay? He. They show it. He takes a knife and just stabs himself in the face, okay? So the Japanese don't play there. There's this, like, fascinating thing. You can feel the repression below the surface. And it bubbles up in a way that other people around the world are like, oh, my God. There's some tr. Truth in this, that even though it's bombastic and over the top and completely outlandish, it speaks to something in people. So anyway, that difference, we all benefit as a society if that difference is preserved. And if that difference, whether it be Italy, China, Japan, Korea, America, England, Saudi Arabia, if those differences aren't preserved, the world becomes way less interesting. And what we're seeing now is people realizing, oh, those differences are born of values. And oftentimes those values are spread through religion. But some of it's just continuity of, what were your parents like? What were their parents like? And so what we're seeing through mass immigration is the beige ification of the world. And it sounds good because it sounds tolerant and it sounds welcoming, but in the end, it sucks. And it sucks because you don't get different flavors. Everything becomes one flavor. And then, and here's the big thing, people don't want to confront. Whoever becomes the most aggressive culture, the most cohesive culture, is going to win. If they have high birth rates, agenda, they know what they're trying to do, then they're just gonna run, manipulate them 100%. And the right now, the culture that seems to be doing the best at that is Muslim culture. And so it's like, that's why so much of this centers around, okay, wait, are we mad at Muslims? I would say, no, you're not mad at Muslims. What you're mad at is anybody that has a different value system than you coming in is going to be a problem. It's just that they actually have a clear agenda and they're not bashful about their faith. They believe in it. This. This is what we believe. And so wherever we go, we are going to proselytize. You will notice there are a lot of Christian countries. Why? Because this is what Christians did back in the day. So it's like, hey, this is a tale as old as time. This is not about being Muslim. This is about doing a thing that works. So now we just. We're seeing people go, yeah, I'm not for this. We're hitting pause for a moment, but there's plenty more ahead, so don't go anywhere. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Grainger offers millions of of products and fast, dependable delivery. So you can keep your facility stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. Thanks for staying tuned. Now let's get back to it. Really, what people need to do. So one thing that I think people will find very helpful is instead of just spending your time debating my points, you want to think about, okay, what are your points? What's your sense of cause and effect? Because if you're building up from cause and effect, then it's like, if we can all agree on where we're trying to get and you've got a series of cause and effect that leads me there, I will update immediately. All I care about is actually achieving the honorable goal that I'm trying to get to. So I'm never attached to my own things. No matter. I could literally be screaming about something and then 30 seconds later realize, oh, yeah, that doesn't work as well as this new idea. I'm gonna go with the new idea. And the only thing, regardless what other people judge me for, the only thing I judge myself for is my willingness to stare nakedly at my inadequacies to acquire the skills that I need to acquire in order to make progress towards honorable goals. That's it. Not even whether I achieve the honorable goals, whether I'm sincerely pursuing them or not, and then whether I can actually make progress or not.

[B]

Interesting. All right, we'll move on. I think we got that one.

[A]

Dark. What are some ways to bounce back from periods when I can't even bring myself to believe in the only belief that matters? How to reframe feelings of hopelessness when all evidence seems to be pointing in that direction? Okay, this is a phenomenal question. So the key thing there is you want to remember, where are you trying to get to? So what I hear in your question is, I want to get on the other side of the depression or the feeling of hopelessness. And so now we're just going to do things because they work. This is why I'm always trying to get people to understand you're having a biological experience. So to trail on the tail of Drew's comment about, oh, I can't always trust the things that my mind is showing me, that works both ways. So you can tell your mind what to see, you can say, oh, no, no, life can always get better. And just by saying it, you're starting to hardwire things in your brain. So you become what you repeat. If you repeat all the negativity, then you're going to believe it. If you repeat the positive things. And that's going to become real, too, especially. And again, remember, I'm talking mechanistically. Your brain will hardwire whatever you repeat. It does not matter if you believe it. If you keep saying it over and over and over and over and over. Your brain really will get confused at some point because you've just said it so many times. Same is true for negative things. It's positive things. So you're gonna do it not because you believe that it's real, you're gonna do it just because mechanistically, that's how it works. So repeat the positive thing. Repeat the positive thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over. And then if you can, embody the way that you want to feel, like, actually put your shoulders back, stand up straight. Oh, my God, life is amazing. And in the beginning, you're going to feel like an actor. Doesn't matter if you keep acting and you keep repeating it over and over and over. Then the way that you feel when you say it, even though it starts fake, it becomes real because your brain is trying to conserve calories, and it's going to hardwire that through a process called myelination. And it just makes it easier. The easiest thing for you to do is wake up and be like, oh, my God, life is awesome, because you've repeated it so many times. So the great irony is nothing needs to change in your life other than what you repeat. And so just put that on on loop. So what I always tell myself is I can't stop myself from having the first negative thought, but I can stop myself from. From repeating it. So don't allow yourself, via a rule, do not allow Yourself to repeat negative things.

[B]

It's interesting seeing, like, the whole biological experience thing, because I was having, like, a tough couple days, and then I went to, like, boxing class and I punched something really hard.

[A]

Let's go.

[B]

It felt awesome.

[A]

100%.

[B]

It's like sometimes you just gotta, like, literally just shake yourself up and then

[A]

like, not sometimes a hundred percent of the time. Yeah.

[B]

Neurons start reconnecting. I don't know. Like, it's. It definitely helps to kind of change your physiology, to change your psychology.

[A]

Yeah. When Huberman came on the scene and said, if you want to reprogram your brain, all you have to do is move your eyes side to side, I was like, this is exactly what I've been trying to tell people. You're trapped in your body. Everything comes down to your biology. There are very simple things you can do from how you move to what you eat to apparently how you move your eyes that are going to change your neurochemistry. That's why if somebody came to me, dude, and they were like, really stuck in depression, and I could kidnap them and get them to do whatever the hell I wanted, I'd get them working out and I would get them eating, like, clean. Dude, in 90 days, that person is going to be a different human being. When you. Especially if it's a no guy or a girl, doesn't matter. A guy, I'm going to make him strong. A woman, I'm going to make her hot. And then it's just like, it's game over. Like, they will feel so different. People can have as much trouble with that as they want. But this, this is the algorithms running in our brains.

[B]

So shout out to the super blue in the chat. Also shout out to the discord community. I've been there arguing with y'. All. I love y' all over there. Join the discord. He just kind of dropped this on our radar. Children among victims in Russian strikes hours after Trump Putin talk stalled. Oh, so there was supposed to be a Trump Putin summit. We were going to cover it.

[A]

So wait, disappeared. They gave Ukraine, like some long distance weapons and they're striking into Russia. Or is this like border towns?

[B]

Or is this Russia strike Ukraine?

[A]

Children among victims in Russian strikes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's interesting. I just realized that I wanted Ukraine to be hitting Russia back. Interesting.

[B]

Okay, there's at least seven people killed, two of them children. After Ukraine's second biggest city, Kharkiv, there was a kindergarten that was hitting down there. Children were among the 27 wounded. On top of the seven killed.

[A]

What's interesting is this has been going on the whole time. We've just all been so on Israel, Palestine, that nobody has paid attention to this. But none of this has stopped, just for the record, much.

[B]

Yeah, it's sad that, you know, we're taking victory laps in the Middle east, thinking like, we're close to it, we're almost there, but it seems like this Ukraine, Russia is just ongoing, it seems like. But, yeah, thoughts and prayers to the victims. Hopefully we can get a peace deal going. At this point, I don't even know what political pressure we need anymore, because Europe, all the eu is pushing for a ceasefire. America was pushing for a ceasefire. And Putin is like, I'm good.

[A]

Yeah, drone him. So here, here's the thing. This is how this is going to play out. They're never going to have talks. Putin tells Trump what he wants to hear. The reality is that it's some blend. I think of Putin told NATO, don't keep coming closer. They kept coming closer. He does not trust them. He smells weakness from America. Economically, we are. So I certainly understand that he's got a thriving relationship with China. China's on the upswing. So he's like, mom, keep rocking with these guys. And he will push it until he meets enough force to stop. And he, I think, also just wants additional territory. I think he wants to reunite the ussr. So you put all that together. Yeah, he's just going to keep pushing until he meets sufficient force. So sufficient force will be an armed Europe that's willing to give Ukraine weapons, America that's willing to give Ukraine weapons, the green light to strike inside of Russia instead of, like, border towns. But, like, if they start striking Moscow, this is going to be a different game now. It's going to be escalatory. And this is exactly how you end up properly in World War iii. But you're going to march towards that. And then the only thing I can't foresee is if it starts getting serious. And it's like, okay, they start doing sort of warning launches with missiles that Russia knows could reach Moscow, and they start hitting other places to be like, hey, for real, don't make us do it. And then he'll escalate really hard. And then the international community might get enough where everybody's outraged and they just come in and say, hey, you're starting to lose your own people because we're now hitting you. So you're putting yourself in a weaker and weaker position, especially if China is stressed economically the way some people want us to believe. If Xi Jinping is actually struggling to maintain power, which I don't know is true, but it's certainly rumors are starting to come out. Could be pure propaganda. But if that ends up being true, if Putin starts being weakened, that's the only like part of this where it's possible. There's enough outcry, there's enough weakness that then they come to the negotiating table. But I think we can completely rule out that Putin is like, no, I really want an end to this. Yeah, I think that's all bs. I think he's just saying what Trump wants to hear to string him along. I think he's good at playing Trump. And so that's just gonna be what it's gonna be, man.

[B]

Well, yeah, we'll follow close to see how that breaks. Okay. This was a developing story on X. Jason Calacanis from All in podcast took a victory lap cuz he called this. Amazon hopes to replace 600,000 US workers with robots. According to leaked documents. Yes, a lot of people lose their job, but if people invest stocks now in these early stage technologies, we can earn annual dividends.

[A]

By the way, this isn't Jason Calacan.

[B]

Oh no, no.

[A]

This is Dr. Singularity.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just saying he retweeted it.

[A]

Got it, got it.

[B]

And he was talking about how he called this. In the long term, automation will only grow. Only continue to grow. That's certain. Besides this, there will also likely be a need of some for UBI UHI. So there's no need to despair or panic. 2000-30s will be amazing. Leaked documents have shown that Amazon will replace looks to replace 600,000 US workers with robots.

[A]

2037 is going to be amazing. 2029 to 2027 is going to be rough. Is going to be rough. So yeah, this to me is like saying, by the way Drew, the sun is going to rise tomorrow. This is a foregone conclusion. I actually feel bad saying this because I clearly have some pent up frustrations and I'm taking it out on the wrong people. But the reason that they're replacing everything with robots is because everybody wants things cheap and nobody will work for free. We are the problem.

[B]

There's gotta be more.

[A]

This is not a Jeff Bezos thing. This is a. The second Jeff Bezos does something that makes Amazon more expensive, you will start going other places. Guess what those other places will do to win your business. Just guess, Drew.

[B]

Make things cheaper.

[A]

Correct. And so everyone will flood in to the companies that make things cheaper and guess how they're going to make it

[B]

cheaper, Drew, by firing the people who have to get paid every year with the robots that have to get paid one time.

[A]

Correct. So we are ushering in this future. This is not a. Jeff Bezos from the top down is creating robots. This is not an Elon Musk is creating robots. This is. All of us want a house full of servants. That's what this is like, we all want. Dude, there's a Robot that's now $1,600. It's already on my agenda to talk to you about whether we get one for the show. Okay. So, like, a hundred percent. We just have. Homie just hangs out here. Every now and then he says a joke or what. I don't think he can talk, but he, like, fucking does a dance. Like, you have a button where it's like, if I say a banger, he, like, does a shimmy. Like, we. We want this. The people want this. We want cheap shit. We want a robot in our house that does dishes and gives us a blow job. That's what people want. So this is going to happen because we're gonna make it happen. And so until you guys are like, you know what? I really want to pay more for my shit. I want. Can I get something more expensive, please? Then Bezos is going to be like, well, damn, say less, fam. I'm going to pay people to come in and do this, and everything's going to be bespoke. Your Amazon cardboard box is going to be bespoke. And I'm gonna have, like, a person whose job it is is to pack that box, like, perfectly, and they're gonna write you a hand note. And if that's what everybody wants Amazon to be, that's what Amazon will become. People just somehow get lost in the sauce thinking that this is just evil capitalists that are just making up what the next thing is gonna be. No, they are trying to give you what you want as fast as they can give it to you. And that's why I'm always sad when I hear people look at, like, social media companies and they get mad. And the reality is that social media company is just responding to what you do now. They're using your biology against you. I totally understand that. But if you just stop engaging with. Will go away, but people won't stop engaging with it. And therein lies the problem. And so then we get to the real ugly truth where I go, wait, are you saying that humans don't have free will? Because once you start governing, like, people don't have free will, Drew. Because even though we don't, you can't govern like we don't.

[B]

It's always no free will. It's always a baby get eaten. It's never Drew, you get a raise. What's going on right now, guys?

[A]

Wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. Did you get an unexpected raise?

[B]

I did.

[A]

Okay, so this motherfucker has the audacity to make it sound like I am the evil capitalist that you guys all want to eat. Fuck that.

[B]

Where's the guillotine at, guy? Where's the guillotine? It's Tom's fault. I forget.

[A]

The record reflects because of Drew's never ending contributions to this show. I pulled him aside and said, hey, even though we haven't hit our goals yet, we're hitting pause for a moment, but there's plenty more ahead, so don't go anywhere. Thanks for staying tuned. Now let's get back to it. I want to make sure that you see how much I appreciate what you're doing. Let the fucking record.

[B]

I'm joking.

[A]

I'm joking.

[B]

Okay, okay. Pamela Mosley brought up a serious comment. She said robots are not cheap, particularly Amazon robots. Software license agreements are very expensive. Software maintenance, customer support. So this isn't like one for one break down. What do you like? How do they compare this decision between, like, human being, person?

[A]

Who's the person that said that?

[B]

Her name is Pamela Mosley.

[A]

I'm going to send a robot to slap her in the mouth. That is wild. Are these people. Are these people really dumb? They're. They're going to get cheaper every day. Every day. Did you know Lovable now integrates with Shopify so that you can vibe code a store where you can actually sell shit. Guys, this is going to happen so fast. And when dumb people talk like things don't improve over time. I don't know if they're clickbaiting or they're actually that stupid, but it's like, listen, these things are going to get dirt cheap very rapidly. Very rapidly. Like I said, there is a robot being sold out of China that right now is only $1,600. Okay? That's expensive. It's only going to get cheaper. So eventually this stuff just. Yeah, it declines. But he's talking about doing it 2033. So it's like what, eight years? Ish. 7. So this is the kind of thing that over the next seven years, they're going to. I mean, they'll probably drop in half in cost every year. That's exponential dropping. In cost. And it's going to happen year over year over year. By the time he's putting them in, the human labor will cost like $20,000 a year.

[B]

Yeah, there's.

[A]

That works 24 hours a day.

[B]

Yeah. This report's right now.

[A]

It changes its own battery.

[B]

The figure Optimus is at 20k when it comes to market, cheaper than a car.

[A]

And that's probably in like three years. So that number will drop. And your ultimate in, call it the next 10 to 12 years. An Optimus robot's probably going to run you, I don't know, 12 grand? 7 to 12 grand? It's going to take you 10 to 12 years to get there, but yeah, that sounds about right. Now. Right now, employees cost six figures. In a lot of cases, more than

[B]

seven to 12 grand.

[A]

Yeah, by orders of magnitude. And by the way, a robot isn't going to sue you. A robot isn't going to complain. A robot isn't going to have their own problems. Robot's not going to have sick days. So it's like boys and girls, remember, we are all the ones that want this. Now we do have to deal with the meaning crisis. That's the next thing. I've already given the three answers for what this is going to be.

[B]

So Bernie Sanders jumped on this and said, big tech oligarchs are coming for your job. Jeff Bezos will be replacing 600,000 jobs at Amazon with robots. His vision, Fully automated operations. Yup, Amazon.

[A]

That's the public's vision.

[B]

Just that's the direction of every major corporation. AI and robotics must benefit workers, not the 1%.

[A]

That final sentence is the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard in my life.

[B]

That's where I was going to go with it. A lot of people are going to see this and say, oh, no, let's do something.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Kind of give us, you know, a quick speed run of what's kind of the wrong reaction.

[A]

I want to speak Chinese. That's what they're really saying.

[B]

You want one today? Okay, all right. If so facto, that's it.

[A]

So here's the reality. Technology is a promise of a better tomorrow. Humans have an algorithm in their brain that says, I want tomorrow to be better than today. It has everything to do with the weather and needing to plan for winters that would otherwise kill you. And so the people that are alive today, certainly that came from climates like that, have an insatiable drive to make things better. You're not going to be able to stop humans. Any technology that promises an advantage will be Developed, even if it puts all of humanity at risk. So the question doesn't become whether it should happen. The question becomes how do we do it? Well, and when I have to waste time with people like Bernie Sanders or arguing for. No one wants to see more people die than Bernie Sanders. So I'm not going to hear it from anybody with socialist philosophy. I'm not going to hear it, Drew, because those principles are obviously suicidal. So the reason that that statement makes no sense, Robotics don't need to be good for workers. Robotics need to be good for civilization. Yes, that, yes. Like make those demands, figure out how do we make this good for people? The transition is going to be hard. There's no way around that. But because this technology being AI and robotics, has an advantage. It will be developed by you or your enemies. How many countries do I have to point to? People will come take all of your shit. They will kill all of your people if you are not prepared to stand up for yourself. Okay? Full stop, end of story. It is what it is. You're mad at God that humans have that gear, but they have that fucking gear. And how did we get to the most stable 70 year period ever, Drew? By dropping two fucking nuclear bombs on Japan and saying what? What any of you other motherfuckers want smoke? And then everybody else went back in the fucking woodshed and we're like, God damn, we've got to make some of these ourselves. And so we had our own scientists are like, we've got to proliferate this. So we leaked the fucking secrets to the Russians because we were like, they were like, we can't have one country have this. And then it's fucking spreads everywhere. This is exactly what will happen with AI, robotics, drones, military, up, down, all of it. So it is going to happen. Now, should we ought we as a society go, hey, let's do this. Well, let's make sure that we have an eye for okay. This is going to usher in an age of abundance. There's no way for it to not. Because the only things that stop you from having an age of abundance are the resources themselves. So you're limited by that and people's willingness to go extract those resources when they need calories in order to do it. Now, despots will just go kill you and enslave you and force you to do it. That's one way. And so people just fucking die in the mines. And we've certainly done that for a very long time. The other way is to recognize that you can build a robot that eats sunlight. And that if AI is as good as I think it's going to become over the next 10 to 15 years, it will get so good at capturing the energy from that light source that will never need energy again. That's the same as saying that the entire labor force doesn't need food once the entire labor force doesn't need food. You're just in a totally different game because now you have effectively zero energy costs and effectively zero labor costs. Now it's what? You're only limited by the existence of resources and the willingness to extract them, because there'll be tons of fights over that. So now the cost of everything is just going to plummet. Like, even before you get to robots do everything for us, the cost of energy is going to plummet. It's already going down. If we weren't doing stupid, like, overly protective green energy stuff. I love the planet and I want to see it well taken care of.

[B]

Data centers need to take some responsibility for that too, because they've been outsourcing that energy costs and making it go for people. So it's not 100%.

[A]

But, Drew, what they're going to give you for that will be insane.

[B]

As long as they. As long as they pay for it, I'm good with it.

[A]

And AI is already creating novel breakthroughs in science, which we covered last week. So it's like, this is going to be phenomenal now. The transition period is always hard. The Industrial Revolution, the transition period was hard. The Internet, the transition period was hard. There's no doubt AI is going to have a difficult transition period. But again, you can't stop it. So now just put all of your time and attention into how do we do the transition period? Well, asking that question critically important. Putting a ton of pressure on our government to do that. Well, critically important. Putting pressure on our entrepreneurs. Critically important. Not buying from companies that we think are being irresponsible. Critically important. I love all of that. But to throw the flag on the play and be like, this has got to be good for workers. Like, come on, man. Like, that's just. That's literally like going. The automobile has to be good for horse and carriage people. What? That's nonsensical. Electricity has to be good for lamplighters. I'm sorry. Like, it's so dumb. So if what he really wants is to help workers, which I love, what he really means is, I want people to have dignity. I want them to be able to provide for their families. Fuck, yeah. I'll fight shoulder to shoulder with him over that concept. What I will not fight over with him are the solutions that he proposed, which are provably stupid. We had two super chats before the buzzer. Yeah, super chat. Let's go. First up from Kevin Bradshaw. Do you see UBI as being a real thing in the future and why hasn't the job market collapsed yet from jobs being taken from us yet in the jobs report? So, yeah, well, so it's going to happen slowly. It won't be like an overnight thing and thank God we want to drag the transition period out as fast as we can and still remain in pole position. So we don't want the transition to happen like as quickly as we can, but we do want to be in first place at all times. So the speed needs to be determined by what we have to do to remain in first place. That usually means more or less unlocking growth so that you're only limited by human ingenuity and how we can interface with AI. But you still do want that to take. Like if that takes 10 years, it's much better than if it takes 10 months. I'll just tell you that right now. So that's why it hasn't quote unquote, collapsed it. But you are in the middle of the singularity right now. It is happening. You're living through it. If you wanted to know what it's going to feel like, it feels like this feels like every couple weeks you get a major breakthrough in AI. You very rapidly acclimate to it, you ignore the vast majority of them, only to be then taken by surprise by the people that pick one narrow area of it, run with it and do some huge breakthrough. Whether that's in cancer, whether that's in now. You can build a Shopify store in minutes instead of the weeks or months that it would have taken previously. And so it's just going to continue to be like the how do we boil the frog? One thing at a time. It will happen. It's just a question over how long. And from Sequoia hall, great job on the Rokhanna interview. He was a good guest to round out the views you were bringing on. Really appreciate that. However, political interviews are terrible on the channel, so I don't know how much longer we're going to do them. Man, this is one where people vote for what they want. You guys are voting, you're screaming for more deep dives. So the deep dives in the lives feel like the right path forward. It could just be me that the way I do interviews, people just don't dig it. Could just be politicians and that as long as we do a narrow, narrow, narrow band of interviews, we'll be fine. The problem is chasing guests is brutal. It's too expensive to have a full time booker just doing their thing. So that leaves Drew and I basically chasing people, which means Drew and at some point we just run out of time. So anyway, that's sort of the. The numbers of it all. If you look at the Ro Khanna interview, I'm super proud of it. I thought it was awesome. I really enjoyed my time with him. I disagree with him on so many of the solutions, but found him extremely smart, respectful, wonderful, sincere. Yeah, it was great. And in the same amount of time that we'll do a hundred thousand and like 20 views on a deep dive, we'll do like 23, 24,000 on a politician interview. So their days are numbered. Although I would do Mom Donnie in a heartbeat. So we'll see if we can make it come true. All right, everybody, we're way over time today. You guys are awesome. Thank you for being here. Appreciate you guys so much. Appreciate you making me think about things more deeply. It's wonderful. Shout out to Paleo Valley, guys, please support the people that support this channel. If you get anything out of it, Paleo Valley is literally a daily part of my life. I most weeks, it really does have to be seven days a week that I eat Paleo Valley. They're amazing. From one man, I'm telling you, if you eat a protein powder, give it a shot, it is delicious. It's good for you. I started with them when I went through the skin cancer thing. So it was like I was in the extreme. I've got to get a ton of protein. It needs to be ultra high quality. So, yeah, I trust these guys with my literal face. So take it for what you will. You can get 30 beef sticks for $[e-mail] Tom, if you haven't tried their beef sticks, they're phenomenal. I eat them in ridiculous quantities when I'm traveling. Also, there should be a QR code on the screen, so scan that if you see it. Paleo Valley is dope and they support the channel which the unhinged that I talk about. Now, anybody that is willing to be a part of this, I'm so grateful. So please help them out. And then as always, guys, we've got Impact Theory University. If you've been forced out of your job due to AI, if you just see where things are going and you want to be a part of it. We have zero to founder for people that haven't started yet. So hit us up if you want to learn how to start your very first company. We got you covered with that. All kinds of accelerators to help you actually stay accountable. Then if you've got a company that's doing a billion dollars in revenue. A billion. That's where we're headed, Drew. A million dollars or more. A million dollars or more in revenue. We have a program for you to scale without all the chaos. So we'll help you learn the physics of progress, help you deal with partners. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Granger Gang and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. 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