The A&G Replay Thursday Hour Three

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty.

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Sir, the choices we got in lay, those were your choices. Shadow, somebody got shot?

Oh how good? Hold on the dirty dead? What do I want with my.

Da do shaty?

What the hell is this?

Everybody that is?

That is rapper too low? Who is a pairing as a kiss? A guest on a podcast? Who the gun went off in his pocket? Apparently somehow?

Okay? First of all, guests on a podcast. To have a podcast, all you need to do is own a phone or a computer. So is this a podcast with any I mean anyway? So he's sitting around talking to a guy and his gun goes off. What's the most interesting to me is these people live such a lifestyle. The reaction is, Hey, whose gun went off? Somebody's gone went? Who shots?

Ibody?

Who?

Somebody's gun went off?

Whereas most of the company I keep, if there were a gun shot in the room, we would all be quite flabbergasted.

Who shot? Who?

Oh my gosh, is that a gun in your pocket? Or you're just happy to be on my podcast. Hello, slay that again, Michael.

Just the beginning of it.

And choices we got in life. Those were your choices.

All right.

Getting back to our topic, motivating ourselves for the new year, rapper too low If you need to stick to your diet through January.

Oh that's beautiful.

So there are a couple of things I wanted to do yesterday as kind of a kicking off the ear thing.

But we have so much. Let's to get to it. We can't get to all of it. But I love this.

I'm gonna hit you with part of it and then we'll move on. We got a bunch of stuff. But this is written by a guy named Jeff Goldstein, who is a writer I really like, and he has this redeclaration of independence and you'll know what he's driving at immediately. Be it so understood. This is my vow for the new year, too. I refuse to unpack white violence. I reject the idea that my existence perpetuates white power structures. I will not, and in fact, cannot, examine my ipplicit

Cultural appropriation is merely culture.

It expands to include, and it makes up the very fabric of a pluralistic society. There's no such thing as digital blackface. My whiteness is not violent, my sex is not oppressive. My religion doesn't concern you, and my children are not yours. STA mold, Your beliefs will not be imposed on me. The state will not parent my sons.

Theory. Yes, digital blackface, I'd forgotten that term. Oh yeah, and.

Again if you've lost a thread, this is a red declaration of independence.

Queer theory is critical. Race theory is critical.

Consciousness is the Marxist rejection of the individual as individual. I have some stats on how many states queer theory is being taught in schools to little children as truth and is as shocking. Well, one more time. Queer theory is critical. Race theory is critical. Consciousness is the Marxist rejection of the individual as individual. Cultural Marxism is determined to raise norms so chaos tear families asunder and reduce being to collective conformity. I reject its premises as fully

It is brilliant, and he goes on. But that's the main.

Party, and it fits in with that Wall Street Journal article I was reading from last hour, The progressive moment in global politics is over. That moment existed mostly online and with the you know, high level university set. It was a much smaller group than we all thought or feared, thank god, but it was it was misleading because it was so prevalent in you know, TV, newspapers and Twitter in places like that, but it was not near as

Right, I'm reminded of something great you've brought to us. I think it was last year about how it only takes fifteen percent of a population that's dedicated to a revolution to make it successful. Because you want to give us the nickel version of that.

Yeah, you have to have the fifteen percent really really active group that wants to overthrow the current regime. But you get a big enough chunk of people who mostly agree with you. They're not going to really do much, but they're not going to get in the way, and then you have the crowd that's scared of you, and you can easily get over fifty percent.

Right right, and that's how you win.

And imagine if you were in that hardcore fifteen percent that wanted to, I don't know, for the sake of the argument overthrow Western society in the name of neo Marxism. Imagine if your first step was to capture media and education. I mean, that would be an enormous coupe because you could, and I'm stating the obvious here, you could project the idea that you have way way more mass than you do for your radical ideas, like radical gender theory, which I will give you a clue. It's like over a

Trudeau resigning in Canada is a lot of what sparked. For instance, the Ullstreet Journal article one on the list of Western leaders or parties that have really suffered defeats trying to ride the whole pronouns latinex you should be ashamed of yourself for being a white male thang.

Right, Yeah, yeah, he was huge into that.

And the what's really troubling about this, and we've had a bunch of conversations, is you got to your well, just you keep calling it fifteen percent for the sake of the argument.

You get your hardcore fifteen percent their activists.

Well, the genius of Neo Marxism developed in the intellectual salons of Europe in the forties and fifties, nineteen forties and nineteen fifties. They wrote books, they signed their name, they told us precisely what they wanted to do. The genius of it is they have crafted, and it's an evil genius, these moral sounding arguments that convince a certain sort of person that they are doing the right thing

And choices we got in lay? Those were your choices?

Been calmer than shot? Who did somebody get shot?

Huh?

What?

It's good.

It would be the most amazing thing that ever happened in my life. If a gun went off in a room.

We're sitting there interviewing I don't know, Rich Lowry from the National Review, and.

Rich says who shot? Who? Who? Somebody get shot?

And choices we got in lay? Those were your choices?

Who?

It actually pretty interesting conversation before or you know, the gun winner. So the other thing I wanted to squeeze in a couple more kind of wrapping up the year, looking forward to the year things, because I'll rant and rave about the previous story for.

The rest of my life.

But Jan Crawford was on CBS's face the Nation Sunday. I saw that, and she brought the thunder that the most uncovered and underreported topic last year was clearly she said, quote that to me, Joe Biden's obvious cognitive decline. They became undeniable in the televised debate, unquestioned that that's the most underreported story of the year.

Yeah, absolutely true. But we'll be lost to history. It's amazing that there isn't more introspection over that. Well, here's the really interesting part. She says, still incredibly, we read in the Washington Post that his advisers are saying that he regrets that he dropped out of the race, that he thinks he could have beaten Trump, and I think that is either delusional or the gaslighting the American people.

That is his position.

The position of many of his top stadents, as well as even though there is that reporting that Jan was talking to reduce the obvious accepted by everyone reality of Joe Biden's coggen decline as there is that reporting, but he has now Jan he has said repeatedly had a cold.

Costa's lost to me, he's he's lost his mind. I don't know who that's for.

Eighty five percent of America before that debate thought he shouldn't serve again. So I don't know who you're serving with that, But enjoy your bubble Bob, the Armstrong.

And Getty Show.

Yeah, your show.

Podcasts and our hot.

Links Armstrong and Joe Getty, The Armstrong and Getty Show.

Thank You. In Los Angeles, jury has awarded a man fifty million dollars after he was seriously burned by a Starbucks drink. Now, the person got burnt pretty good, but I had on his junk, on his junk and says he can't have sex anymore. Although you would make that argument if you're trying to get fifty million dollars.

So whether that's accurate or not, I do not know.

But and I'm not a lawyer, but I don't know how you work this out in society. On one hand, I'm going through the drive through at Starbucks.

I don't deserve to be maimed for life. No, certainly, not in my privets.

On the other hand, it's an impossible expectation that nothing ever goes wrong ever, And you know, nailing down whether it was the employee's fault or the person in the car's fault is difficult. I mean, if you ever go to Starbucks get more than one drink, they give you that cardboard holder that the drinks fit in. And this person claimed that they didn't secure the tea in. It was sitting at an angle and then it spilled. Oh maybe it was or maybe you hit it on the

Fifty million dollars.

The problem with this, to me is what it's what drives so many of the things that make us nuts in life. The fact that the school won't let your kid play if it's rained in the last two days. You have to stay inside for reasss because they might slip, and some jury will award one hundred million dollars. I mean, it's just it's an unworkable situation for society. So I don't and you know, you wouldn't want Starbucks to be able to like, here comes my girlfriend's ex boyfriend.

I'm gonna throw.

Hot tea in his face at the drive through, and there'd be no penalty for that. I mean, so there's gotta be a Ligne somewhere obviously.

Yeah.

I just think we've gotten so far off tracks as a society because it's very different than virtually any other legal system on Earth. You're not going to get a fifty million dollar reward like this in Argentina or or probably Britain. I don't think, But I don't think we as people understand how far off we've gotten. And a big reason for that. What is the number one profession among legislators. It's not even close.

You know, it's an attorney, right, and the whole jury thing where you this is one of the reasons that we regularly say, you know, don't make those jokes about how to get out of jury duty. Show up on the jury so you could say, so you could be there as a smart person, say fifty fifty million dollars is insane, Yes, because you got to. I'm guessing you got a jury. Pro peoples of Starbucks is rich, they can afford it. I don't like them anyway, you know that sort.

Of thing, right, Yeah, yeah, boy.

If there's one technology mankind has not perfected, it's the getting the cup lid to click on the cup thing in the world of coffee. And you know, granted, I'm an older fellow now, and I've learned the hard lessons of life, sometimes more than once, usually more than once before I absorb them. Boy, anybody who has boiling hot coffee and assumes that lid is on their right, you are a bold man and a foolish one.

Yeah.

I just when I heard that, I just thought, oh crap, this is going to lead to even more Sorry, we can't allow you to do this stuff.

Or you get like room temperature coffee.

Right, coffee can't ever be That might be the reaction from Starbucks, No more hot coffee. I know lots of people order stuff extra hot, because I've known Barista's order stuff extra hot. It's already so hot you can't drink it. But it's the idea that it'll be it's so hot that by the time you get to work on your fifteen minute commute, it'll still be hot.

Well, I'll bet that goes out the window after this settlement. Yeah.

So I shouldn't say this, but everybody's thinking about it, so I will. So this guy got fifty million dollars as he could never have sex again?

Was he any good at it? I mean, does that factor into the juries? Yeah?

I mean you think they should interview previous lovers and say, so, how much of a loss is this for humanity?

Well? Yeah, I mean because it's obviously lost to him, no matter his skills, but to humanity, because shouldn't that be a fifty to fifty thing on also Consortium, et cetera, on a scale of me to wow, where was he exactly? I'm just I'm asking these questions. I don't have the answers.

Yeah, God dang it.

Jack Armstrong and Joe, The Armstrong and Getty Show, The arm Strong and Geeddy Show.

Joanna Stern writes about tech for The Wall Street Journal. She's very clever, as you're about to hear, and sounds down to earth and as I enjoy your writing.

The opening bit of this article tells it all.

I've been wearing a wire everywhere since February. I've got all the transcripts important meetings, arguments with my kids, chats with disgruntled employees, late night bathroom routines. There's plenty more that I can't share if I want you to keep liking me. She has been willingly wearing a fifty dollars be Pioneer bracelet that records everything she says and uses AI to summarize her life and send her helpful reminders.

Dollars plowd Note pin.

These assistants can recall every dumb, private, and cringe worthy thing that came out of my mouth. Is this the dawn of the AI surveillance state? Absolutely? Is it also the dream of hyper personal, all knowing AI assistance coming to life?

Also? Yes? Absolutely, Yeah, it's funny.

The first thing I thought of was, and usually i'm I'm my first go to is surveillance state. But my first thought was, wow, if I had AI reminding me, hey, remember you're gonna work on that. Getting your real ID the deadline's coming up. I would love that.

Yeah, And I was just gonna say, if y'all are sitting there thinking.

What the hell good would this do me?

She gets to that and it's pretty cool. Let me read more of her piece. Within hours of wearing the bee again, one of the three devices she tried, I was blown away how quickly it turned ramblings in random chatter into useful, actionable information. Yet allow me to quote myself from February twenty fourth at five point fifteen pm. Wow, quote this bracelet is really effing creepy.

So here's how they work.

And she mentions that all the denials we've heard through the years that social media apps are secretly listening to us too hard, too intensive, too much datah, yeah, please, but all those devices do that. They detect dialogue, especially your voice, and they stream the audio to your phone via Bluetooth, then to company servers where it's transcribed. AI models take the transcription and generate summaries, which appear in

All it has is the transcriptions.

The other one, limitless keeps the audio, letting you play back full recordings of everything you've said, boy.

Oh boy, oh boy.

But it's a little weird for us because I have full recordings of what I say four hours a day, five days a week the past thirty years.

But so it's not as foreign to me.

But why i'd be something, But you and I also have a heightened awareness of the difference between when the mics are on and when they're not true, And more than one good career has been ended because a mic was on somebody thought it was not I've had a few disadonge that bullet a couple of times ourselves.

I've had a few disagreements in my life, like minor to major, where would have been kind of handy to be able to go back and say, I'm.

Pretty sure you didn't mention that to me. They said, yeah, I did. It's like to.

Screet the commercials. Who is it an insurance commercial? I can't remember. Let's go to the tape and they go under the hood, right like NFL referees.

Yes, yes, Katie.

I'm just thinking this sounds like a wife's dream.

The amount of time were like I told you we have dinner tonight at five, No you didn't. Let's go to the tape. Let's go to the tape, sir. That's fantastic.

Then she gets into some of the technical ups and downs, and Katie would love to have you comment on this to your heart's content. But and she gets into how AI is nothing without data.

It needs data.

So when you feeded everything you've said for days, weeks, and months, it gets infinitely more useful. Also, yes, it becomes a lot more like a Black Mirror episode, but we'll get into that.

She writes.

With massive transcripts of your life, the AI in these apps can summarize. They recap your conversations, often reading like a bad biography. This is great. The b Device summary from April ninth, Johanna's day was a blend of familiar responsibilities and intense professional engagements. She ended the day listening to music by sting riveting stuff. Can't wait for the movie adaptation.

Wow, there'd be some days, excuse me, there'd be some days. Read at disappointed in the summary. You worked, you came home, you scrolled through Twitter, you ate crap and went to bed.

Oh my own business AI?

Who Jack is eating his twenty seventh double quarter pounder in this week?

Yeah, yeah, thank you crack yeah, it was Kenton, I am. The transcriptions themselves aren't all that accurate, but the summaries usually off are well except for March twenty fourth conversation with Johnny Cochrane about trial evidence.

Yep, just a casual chat with a deceased celebrity lawyer. And she says in parentheses, I was watching the new OJ documentary. That's funny. But Jack to your prescient point earlier.

Some of the ways that they're helpful is summarizing things and reminders. Turns out I promise to do a lot of things without putting them on a to do list. B listens for action items and adds them to suggested lists because they understand the.

Verbiage in an action item.

It's repeatedly reminded me of important tasks like calling the plumber or following up on work stuff. But it also hilariously adds things I'd never put on a list, like quote, check in on your six son, or schedule a follow up with your hairstylist to discuss your haircut.

Let's see it analyzes. God, No, how great would that be. I'll bet this happens soon.

And like a lot of things in life, we can't remember what it was like before it where you know in ten years age?

Remember when you like now where?

I often think, you know, I go somewhere and I think, how did I used to get to places? I don't even remember how I used to get to places? Did I pull out a map? Or how did I even do it?

As friendly strangers? Right?

Well, yeah, sometimes you'd pull into a gas station and say, you know, I'm looking for the sporting goods store, which I know is around here somewhere, but I could see here in a couple of years. Would be like, do you remember when you used to have to remember things or write them down on a post it note instead of having AI tell me, remember your son's got the volleyball game, so you got to pick them up from school early.

That sort of yeah.

Right, I can't be the only person assembled friends who is not great at making to do lists. And how many times have I said, I mean, Jeff, yeah no, I won't bother, I'll remember it. I'll remember to make to do lists. How many times have I said, when I think of it, I don't have time, and when I have time, I don't think of it.

Correct Anyway, Here's another thing.

It does both be and Limitless have chatbots so you can ask about your recorded life. I asked B for a detailed breakdown of my cursing habits. Daily average two point four curses. Please, you're not even trying, sweetheart, But it can.

Be what are you a nun?

Yeah?

Two point four a day.

Yeah, well it's impressive. Well she has kids, good for you.

Well, yeah, you're never in the car alone. Get on my blanking way.

But then she says it can be genuinely helpful, like quote, look through my chats with Ethan from B and tell me what AI model it uses, So reminders of factual things you heard in a conversation that are a little fuzzy.

Now, God, I'm starting to think I might So all of this surveillance stuff we've all opted in, we've all decided we're going to carry around a tracking device with us all the time, and we all know that we just feel like the advantages outweigh the possible disadvantages. I think this might end up being true for recording everything. I say that the advantages will outweigh the You know how it could be misused. God, if you could quickly

Um, or no they didn't. It might be handy. Yeah, I tell you.

I would describe myself, and again, I have a feeling I'm not unique in this is busy, well meaning and absent minded. And if my what sits could say to me, hey, remember you agreed to play a golf with Gordy tomorrow afternoon, I'd be like, oh, shoot right, because you know that's one of my great weaknesses.

So care's how and you're built that way or you're not. It's so obvious because I got two kids that are completely different. I got one kid that's very close to me on term of that stuff, kind of like you just described my other kid.

It just it just all locked in his brain all the time.

He knows where everything is, he knows what's on the schedule today, he knows it's all there all the time.

Yeah. But I can't. I can't try harder and be that way. Yeah.

One of the reasons my wife and I have escaped financial ruin and other bad fates is she's meticulous, and so you know when she like pays a bill late, it's alert the media.

Yeah, it's just what anyway, how they're creepy.

February twenty third, five point fifteen, in a conversation with my mom. This bracelet has nothing to do with fitness. It records everything that's being said, as her mom was asking her, Nobody I've talked to over the past few months would have known I was recording them if I hadn't told them.

It's a little fun like I'm a low budget Ethan Hunt. I don't. I don't get that references by some sort.

Mostly though, I just felt like a creep and depending on the state, I might have been breaking the law.

Yeah, that's the other side of this. All that conversation stuff.

Both ends of it should be as into it as maybe I would be. Otherwise, you're recording all your friends conversations.

That's and family's. That's pretty dicey.

And then.

Some of these are just hilarious because they have transcripts and summaries right of your various conversations. This one's labeled interaction with pet Dog Browser. I think it's browser, but maybe it is browser. That's a very writery thing to name your dog. Here's the transcript. Someone scolded browser for chewing something. Speaker one, Browser, what are you doing? Speaker one again? Can you not chew your whatever? Speaker one again? Browser?

Yeah, that's I don't know how that's gonna work in states where you got to have two party consent.

And then she quotes a lawyer Jack, who surprisingly says you better not, which is what lawyers are paid to say. More specifically, he says I would make sure everyone has consented verbally, and while the risk might be low, he adds, we would never recommend people take that risk.

Well, geez, I mean if somebody walks up to me and says, I wear a device that records all of our.

Conversations, just want to make sure that's okay with you, I'd.

Be an automatic no f all the way off yeah, exactly. How far away can you get in the next ten seconds? Get there? How does this benefit me in any way? There's only down side, So any thoughts, usefulness, hazards, etcetera. Drop us a note mail bag at Armstrong and getty dot com. We'll hit them around the same time tomorrow.

During the show, they kind of reminded me of stuff though, because it remembers what I said.

That'd be cool.

Yeah, if they could refine it to promises and actions. And of course, you know, in the scenario we've we've talked about a couple of times, it would have to be recording my wife saying don't don't forget we're having dinner with the Joneses next Tuesday.

But it does it also record remember the other night when you said you'd blink my blank.

Oh no, you don't know.

Of course, it'd be good to have a transcript funny right here in black and white.

All right, Yes, I see it's here. Not trying to be argumentative here, but read the transfer eight seventeen on April the third. I mean, it's just it's just a.

Fact I'm strong and getting show a shadowy network called seven sixty four, whose goal is to spark violence and chaos around the world, in part by luring in unsuspecting teenagers.

Seven sixty four targets kids on social media and gaming platforms, extorting them into sending violent and sexual content. The FBI is warning parents to pay attention to who their kids are talking to on social media and gaming platforms. The FBI's investigating more than two hundred and fifty suspects tied to seven sixty four, with every.

Field office involved. Well, that's just dandy.

I am a parent of teenagers who'd never even heard of that in my life until two seconds ago.

So that's just great.

Let's just put that on the long list of things you can be concerned about if your kid's got a phone.

Not so fast, there's more to be concerned about if your kid has a phone. I was just reading that the hacker ring that you may remember put Vegas.

Out of commission?

What was that?

Years?

Six months ago, a year ago? I don't know.

Time flies when you're but they brought down all those casinos for a time. That is a very loosely assembled group of bored, malcontent, mischievous youngsters who call themselves the con or something like that. And this specific subgroup of the subgroup calls themselves scattered Spider, I guess, and they just they hack into various corporations and companies and government institutions and stuff like that for fun and mischief, and sometimes they steal, but sometimes they.

Just screw with it.

That whole keep track of who your kids talk to on social media and everything like that sounded a lot easier before, well before my kids got old enough to be involved in that world. And as far as I can tell, I'm more strict than a lot of my son's friends parents are. And it's still just I mean, there's just so many opportunities for them to be involved with bad people. I mean, unless I'm gonna be over his shoulder all the time.

Right, Yeah.

I I was a very big fan as a parent, partly for that reason, and I completely support the idea of trying not to trying to eliminate opportunities to do bad things one hundred percent. But I realized at one point what you're talking about, and so I just really emphasized the underlying principles right behind doing some things and not doing some things, and how extremely important they were to me as their dad and their mom certainly, but how important and fundamental they are to being a good

Right, which has a lot to do with their friend group and everything else, which has always been true. And the opportunity to get in trouble is exponentially greater now than it was twenty years ago. I mean, it's just a completely different world. You couldn't order heroin and in a machine gun from any tiny town in America when I was in high school, or come across a you know, an international pedophile sex ring.

It just wasn't gonna happen. Yeah, I know, I know.

I was going to bring up a kind of vague philosophical theme about the modern world. Don't really have time to get into it now, but.

Has to do.

And I can't get into specifics in my little world. Really, You'll have to forgive me for that for now. But a friend of mine characterized kind of a mood as the slime from the Ghostbusters movies, the original Ghostbuster, the early eighties, classic early eighties, like eighties three, when was

That what do we do with this information? To do about it?

We get used to it, do we settle into some or it just keeps getting worse by heroin and machine guns on the internet, like we're discussing earlier, Fantastic.

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