Weekly Zeitgeist 384 (Best of 6/2/25-6/6/25)

Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of The Weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from this week, all edited together into one NonStop infotainment laugh stravaganza. Uh yeah, So, without further ado, here is the Weekly Zeitgeist. Well Miles, we are strilled to be joined by the host of How to Be a Better Human, great podcast, very funny, National Academy of Sciences, live traveling game show,

Is Christoph Chris. I also look like pp Bay there is. He looks like he's drenched.

Yellow diamond and the horse foam that's right lathered up the ladder ladder in my man's foaming it in today.

Oh no, Chris, how are you doing?

Where are you coming to us? I can't believe it's been a year. It's been a year.

Yeah. Every time we're like, bro, we gotta have Chris back, and I in my mind you've been back.

Oh, thank you so much.

You know, it's been Uh there's been a lot going on in the year, and uh, I'm glad to be back.

It was a joy last time.

I'm so I'm a fan of the show, and I'm glad to be back fan of you two.

So that's great.

Oh man man mutual Admir's all right, what's your favorite you two song?

Oh? Uh with that team and us? Oh wait, which one did you mean?

No?

That is I met YouTube the band. I don't even like the two of you. Thank you? Not a fan? Not a fan.

Oh, I'm so sorry for the confusion. I love the Irish band you too. I thought you're gonna be like, all right, which what's your favorite episode? All daily episodes? He's real good.

You've only got eighteen hundred joose from Yeah, I know.

I couldn't name a single one, and I've been on every almost I don't.

Even know how we haven't repeated a title at this point.

I mean we probably have, but nobody would notice.

I think we have pretty No, we've got some keen eyed listen.

Very much on it. I think they will have to be keen eyed for the titles, that's right, That's why.

Yeah, yeah, because they're the same people who tell us like, hey, guys, you guys are coming up like on a milestone.

Really really are what? Our data doesn't indicate this on? Like, I what you've talked about.

We batch recorded all of these back in twenty seventeen.

Love about you you have you have a group of listeners who are so uh great, love the show and they are both very detail oriented and focused and also the kind of people who are like, hey, I'd like to make a peep joke. I love that combination of people.

We're threatening the needle here, we've threaded the needle. Beautiful.

Yeah, what is something from your search history?

Oh gosh, yeah, guys, I was looking through this stuff. One thing another p joke that I fell into before without even knowing we were going to talk about this is you guys know Bigfoot right personally, but like aware of the idea. There's there's a version of Bigfoot as encryptied out in the interior of China, and its name is I guess in English would say urine y e

Fans of puns. I guess it's just you're downstream. You're downstream.

Yeah, well are thank you downstream downstairs, no joke left behind.

We like.

What's interesting about this for any fans of cryptids is that, unlike the Bigfoot stuff here in the US or Canada, in China, partially due to the aftermath of the revolution, the Communist Revolution, there was this move to replace superstition with science, right to look at spirituality as an opiate for the masses, et cetera. And so they poured a lot of money into going into these mountainous, remote regions of China and trying to find this thing.

Oh, to find explain it. Basically, they're taking it seriously. They're like, it's out there and we're gonna find it.

Like imagine, okay, imagine if all of us listening tonight. We we went to the White House and we said, hey, guys, uh, we need millions of dollars to look for Bigfoot and it needs to be a federal program.

And the White House said, yeah, fuck it, I guess that's what happens. I can see, like you have to ask RFK. He's like the parent that's asleep at the wheel that you can make Hey, can we get like some billion dollars like Bigfoot?

Yeah?

I feel you have Don Junior pitch RFK on this.

It'd be happening tomorrow. You know you don't think he has just like.

Body, get over here, dude, dude, what are we going to do about the fucking yetti threat? Man, They've already got like a line of coolers and ship man and cups and stuff.

What's next?

Bro?

What's going on? That's good?

So I just wanted to confirm because Ben does sometimes write down at Searchestree it's underrated, overrated before And I just I think it's probably a smart move that you changed it from how to test if the bathwater content of a soap that you ordered through the mail?

Yeah that's us man. You said you're going to be cool h Yeah.

No, I just I think it was probably the right out. What is something you think is underrated?

Okay?

Taking classes as an adult without necessarily pursuing a degree. M I think that like learning is really dope. And I am a nerd at heart, and I love a structured environment where I have a teacher and like classmates, and so I've been taking writing classes on Zoom and because I decided to design kind of my own mini MFA program. So I just found like on different websites like writing workshops and through like writers, I follow when they teach, and I kind of have been taking classes

I'll worry about going to class.

I gotta go.

I'm going to class, and I like will like my I'm a backpack, but I'm just walking to my office to be on zoom.

I really like it.

And I like having classmates, and I like having group like chats with your new classmates, and I like learning about people's lives, and I like learning new skills. And I think that if you have been on the fence about taking a class, you should absolutely do it. Community, community college, zoom whatever.

I mean, what a joy.

Yeah, because I remember, in like the height of lockdowns, a lot of places we're just offering full courses like in video form that you could just like just mess around with and just see if if you want to take a lecture at have it or something.

Yeah, just having to two and a half hours a week where I like em in class, and I have to pay attention to other people's like work and be really detailed and just learned stuff.

It does something really good for you.

I never thought them.

Yeah, I never thought about recording for twenty day Fiance like that, but yeah, them just being open minded, seeing people through other people's eyes, really taking detailed notes then sharing them with your class. Yes, exactly, I in a way, I'm also taking m FA courses.

We're all doing it.

That's such a good idea. How did you like What was the first step you took to like start taking classes because I feel like I would like to do this and just have not.

So Chloe Caldwell, who's one of my favorite writers and now a good friend. I follow her on Instagram and she was posting, Hey, I'm starting this class. This is the name of it, this is you know how many days, this is the cost. And then I emailed her and I was like, Okay, I want to take that class. And then that kind of got me rolling. And I've done like workshops too, which are just like a week or a weekend or something if I can't commit to like,

It, anyway, do it, do it? I will. Really, what's something you think is overrated?

I think that doing everything together, specifically like as a couple, or like if you're traveling with people, or like just any kind of unit of people who are going to do an activity maybe and like the pressure to do it all together and not be able to like split off if there's a disagreement about what should be done. It's just like this, like yeah, the pressure of like, no, we have to do this together. Or again, if someone's like in a romantic coupleship, they're like, no, I won't

Who's catching it? Tell me who's catching a sublimine stray? Right now? That's what I want to know. I should just be able to have fun on my own. Maybe you don't have to bring your partner this time. I don't know. I get that it's new and exciting, but please I get.

The thing too, like when you go to like a theme park too, when people go like literally like, motherfucker, I hate that ride and I'm gonna be an asshole if you force me to go on it.

Why don't you do that? And I will go have a truro and I'll be right here when you're done.

This is absolutely fine, but people act like, no, we have to do this together, or like we don't.

Going.

It's like the one dad, this is really should be the one good thing. I feel this and like i feel like I've had experience where I'm like, guys, we have.

Cell phones, like we have each other again.

I mean just yeah, we're still living like we're in the pre cell phone era, like the cell phones have ruined fucking everything, just to at least enjoy this extra luxury of just being like, yeah, we can fucking split off. I can put my hood up and go ghost protocol like I like to do sometimes on family vacations.

Damn go full Luigi on them.

No, it's okay, Daddy's going ghost protocol. You can tell because his hoodie just went off.

You mean he's having a panic attack in line for the ride, so he just put his shot on the stairs at his phone. I'm going ghost protocol, y'all.

It's just so funny to say this, really spicing up the fact that you're just feeling kind of off about shit. Sorry, I gotta go ghost protocol.

I'm off.

That's great.

No, I go ghost protocol all the time. If I'm like traveling with someone and they want to do they want to go to like some fucking museum that I don't give a shit about, I'm like, great, you go do that. I'll go do this other thing. We can meet up later for dinner or whatever.

Like great question, totally random. Who is the last person you went on a trip with?

Unreally this and they're.

Listening right now and they're frying.

No.

I well, like when I.

Went to Ireland a few years ago with my sister and she was like kind of under the impression that we would do every single thing together. She kept wanting to do things there it is I didn't want to, Like, that's not how I wanted to spend my time. So I was like, if you want to buy all means And I think she learned some independence, right and then and I learned how to, you know, clearly but considerately establish some boundaries, like for yourself experience for all of us.

Yeah.

Oh, because you said you and your and your sister's personalities are pretty different, right, quite different?

Yeah?

Yeah, okay, do you remember you saying that? So this this tracks? Okay, love you though, love you though?

Yeah, I love you, Sarah. She's not listening. She doesn't care about anything I do.

Okay, maybe we could have done a podcast together, but you want to do that.

All right, And it is good that we have this new, this snow piece of evidence because I think a lot of Jamie was on last week talking about going to the Snoopy Museum, and I think that I think people would have been like Caitlyn did want to go to the Snoopy Museum.

But oh yeah no, no, no, I would have gone, but I wasn't invited.

No, I'm kidding. No, everything is fine, great, love you, Jami.

I just wish we spent more time to get all right, let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.

And we're back, you know, just thinking when I when I choked out that guy for walking out of anger management. That was a literal oh you think I said, Oh, you're a tough guy.

Huh. In my mind it was, oh, so you're better than me. You think you're better than me. That was the subtext there, and I just smile.

The thing that never does make That's about that anecdote is you hadn't seen anger management.

I understand that narrative as.

Like an expression of what you are, you know, selfish, need to like have your taste validated, But you hadn't seen it yet.

I didn't.

I didn't like the idea of someone disrespect to me, like I'm off this and were.

You a Sandman fan? Like is that where you just like he's better than I.

Was such a teenage mess, dude. It sucking.

My brain was so fucked up from like puberty, not knowing myself.

Like ambient racism, my parents splitting up.

I'm sorry, ambient racism. Yeah, the headlining coach.

I know it's your favorite band.

I know, so what it's on my leg.

Ambient racism tattooed around my gungo.

It's really hard to fit it around my belly button, Like it was really fucking hard, Like it's a lot of so tiny it's a lot of fucking letters. People can't tell what it it hurts. It just looks like I did a black arc. It's like I messed up a rainbow. That's what it looks like. But I it says ambient racism if you look closely.

But the bottom stretch the letters way out because I have a fucking huge belly. But the thing is dinner plate down there, cavernous.

And the dinner plate navel cavernous bb.

All right, yeah, I've seen you get ramen out of it. Just the Yeah, you're on your back. You just sit there, it's right there. Why dirty a plate?

College? College?

Your old friend got alcohol poisoning from doing a body shot for your.

Belly too much, bab keep going, I just did seven big gulps.

Keep going way there.

I remember when you almost died because he used it as a measuring comfort night.

Well, I just saw a picture of a woodpecker's tongue that it like wraps all the way around their brain to to protect their brain from the.

From the trauma.

Yeah, the repeated cte that they're giving themselves but self care woodpeckers, That's all I'm saying. But that's how my belly button is is just like a series of like caverns that like twists and turns inside my body.

It's I mean, sometimes I know when Miles is on vacation, he's splunking down there.

That's I love that he says he's an Italy. But we all know the truth.

People don't know.

Yeah, they're like, oh my god, if people only knew what I was actually up to down there.

I mean, guys, Jack's oh, never mind.

But.

I can't even begin to it.

There's a place down south that has the echoes of the gods.

Ringing through it.

Okay, all right, this episode is completely off the rails which were trying to talk about.

We were talking about Trump got burner. Yeah, he got burner.

There was an Atlantic article back in April where they were like, we scheduled an interview with Trump, like for weeks. Did like this the thing you always do where you like send it to the administration. They like, clear you, everything had gone according to plan. And then somebody within the administration was like that they're not nice to you, and so he like started tweeting about how they were.

Hot, wait, hold on, what does that mean the art I didn't read the article. How did they find his phone? And how come we don't have this fucking.

So they were pretty opaque about that.

They said that, like, we'll just say the White House staff has not been super but good about keeping the phone number out of people.

Oh my god.

They is so delicious when you're like, I'm gonna drain the swamp, but just put all incompetence in charge.

Exactly who's calling the President of the United States asked, according to the magazine, and then they just did a like hours long conversation with him and this is a parent which that That was the thing that stuck out to me. I was like, Wow, the fuck does like he he just spent hours talking to these people, Like after they called him unplanned, unprovoked the president of the United States, he was just like at his golf club.

I was like, yeah, I know who you are.

You're not very fair to me, but that and just like they were like gave him a chance to brag about himself, and he couldn't resist.

Let's start from the beginning.

Don't you know that the American president does not have anything to do at all?

Exactly?

He's like, I could not have any problems that I could think of to solve. I'm just gonna go ahead and take this stranger's call for two.

Also should be that that detail alone should actually be the most frightening thing for American people, because yeah, that it's all these other fucking pieces of shit that are

Harris.

Yeah, so there was nothing happening, and they're like what else? So what else was happening?

Like that, He's like, I don't know, I don't know. You guys handle it, and here we are.

Yeah, so it it sounds similar. I remember the Obama like BlackBerry thing, but I didn't realize like he was adamant. He was like, I'm keeping my BlackBerry. They were like, you can't. And so he worked with the NSA to create a BlackBerry that like didn't have various like it like you couldn't forward an email that he sent you, and only like eight people had access to it. It was very much like fun, just give him a fucking toy, yeah right right right, Well, well they were like, we're.

Gonna encrypt the shit out of this. Yeah, so your phone is not just like completely vulnerable and available for like the easiest of hacking. Yeah, and so he eventually Trump went to the seven eleven.

Yes.

No, Trump has been less persuadable by reason from the article, so the Atlantic was just like, so, let's do a deeper dive into this secret cell phone that we were able to use to call him.

From the article, it.

Says advisors tried to break his habit, but Trump either didn't understand or didn't care, and Trump said term his advisors have given up trying to restrict his phone use. He calls people non stop. Trump's campaign advisor, Chris Leacevita said in an interview with Politico during the Republican National Convention last year, I don't worry about it, because what are you gonna do take his phone, change his phone number, tell him he can't make phone calls.

Yeah, It's like yeah, yeah, no.

Yes, yeah, yeah, exactly correct.

It just sounds like people who you know, are like scared of their kid being like, I don't know what am I gonna do? Take away his phone? Trump Trump went. When people were like, this is the major security risk, he'd say, it's not true. My phone is the best on the market, the market. It was just like an iPhone that he has, and he'd be like, I paid the most for the iPhone.

That ain't even a pro. That's the regular iPhone, the best time the market.

Why is your screen crash?

Yeah? Damn, your thumbs all cut.

Up as shit.

I like to swipe to text. Does a hell of a job on my fingertips.

The first time Trump's team truly understood also from this article about the history of his private line. First time they understood he would have a different relationship with his cell phone than did president's past was election night twenty sixteen, the eve of his improbable victory. He was answering every phone call. The outside advisor marveled to us nearly a decade later, noting that none of the numbers was in Trump's contacts. He just answers the phone. He doesn't want

I can do for you. But then like he like called it.

He's like, I can't believe that shit just happened. That's a Trump voicemail. Now, like two hours Trump called him back. He was like, wait, aren't you like busy? But yeah, yeah, no, no, I'm good. I'm good. Why are you busy? Do you call you back? I'll call you back like an hour. He's just spending his whole day talking on the phone like a fucking teenage girl in nineteen ninety two.

Yeah, like that's what he does. One of the numbers he's calling the Corey hotline.

I don't think that you should drag teenage girls into this.

Because they were I mean, they were doing important working on their phones.

It's very.

It's very fun to imagine that he's so not to imagine, but to know that he's so insecure, so badly needs attention.

All of the time that he picks up.

Exactly stranger's phone calls, Like I bet you if like you called him like old school ninety style to change his long distance service, I bet you he would be with you for like ten days.

Yeah.

No, he's just like an unscheduled call that lasts over five minutes is a shocking luxury for all, but the most retired person likes an unscheduled.

Call from somebody. Oh it's so good to hear from you.

Yeah, middle of the day on a work day, and he's just sitting there for hours just being like, yeah, what's good. Yeah, no, I know you're mean to me, usually in print. Here, here's some cool stuff I'm up to.

Oh me nothing right now, I'm just hanging out.

Also, I love that he didn't actually know that that person had been mean to him. Someone had to like inform him, Yeah, you know what I mean, Like, that's so funny. Someone's like, oh, actually, you're supposed to not like this person, and.

Even then it doesn't matter to him because as long as in the moment you're in his face and you're not talking cash shit to his face, he's like, and I love this person's giving me attention right now and asking me a question.

There's almost no there's like so many pictures of him on his phone in this article, like he's just like constantly on his phone or like texting someone or there's almost no chance that he's not talking to like crypto scammers.

He looks like such a dickhead on these like in these pictures, like he's like hell like doing the like I'm kind of like, I'm a little big far sighted, so I got to really put my phone far to start typing some ship. Oh boy, well, big dumb smile. I think if hey, look y'all, if any of y'all can figure out how to get this number, please let us know. Yeah, please let us know. I'm I could

Australia. I just have to learn the Australian president's name, but you gotta Australia President Trumpet's me President Australia. Things down under.

My name is Melbourne, Australia. I'm the President.

Crocodile Dundee.

Oh good to see. It's good to hear from your Crocodiles.

Been a big fan of your work.

Yeah, like truly the scam, the you know, gen z prank phone call artists of TikTok and YouTube or falling down at the job that they haven't been.

Able to get like we need to get like yeah, like like somewhat like James Adomian to put out his elon musk and talk to him for like seventy five hours and just get some weird ship out of him.

I would just pretend to be his daughter and have a phone sex with him. Gosh, and then I would record it and release that, yeah.

And people would be not shocked.

I'd be like, hey, Dad, it's a vanka hold on about the way you're ready, You're ready, roddy, you're ready, rotting, skin falls off your face and really hot.

I feel you could you can say say you're some random You're like, I'm a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and I think you're swell.

Go on, yes, send me a picture of you right now.

You just Google and send it'll it'll be the easiest.

He got Getty images, watermarks all over it. He's exactly.

Body is sliding off your skeleton like slow roasted pork. I'm saying, I just doing it in my voice like go on, go on, Oh baby wants to fuck me.

It sounds like maybe you would. That meat is loocien and pulled pork.

Yeah, I feel I feel like a dumb prank phone call like that, like they they would overreact and then somebody will prank call the president, get his ass really good, and they'll be charged with treason or treason and they'll be put to death.

Yeah, hanged, rather right, hanged? Why is that? They'll be hung? Is a them?

And they'll be packing down? What do you mean what does one have to do with the other. I don't know just how the term works. Oh, will they be executed?

No, No, that's what I meant. I just meant, whoever doing it, they'll.

Be Huh, they'll definitely be hung, you can tell, all right. In continuing on our trend of old person news, yeah, and yesterday's trend of drug news. We got some news about the elderly getting on board with weed.

Dude, the boomers are hitting the bong hard. They're still smoking bonds, I hope, So.

I don't know, there's nothing funnier than a tiny old person hitting a giant bong.

Yeah, and likely and then like ging that thing.

Up just like yeah, no cough, nothing.

No chest convulsion, just straight.

Oh.

I like this one. I like this one.

Oh, this is a little nice, this a little peppery or than that other one.

Welly, you can taste the oh, look at it the tannin's. Wow. I did.

But yeah, it sounds like the sixty five and older crowd have shed all like yeah that Yeah, the reefer madness propaganda brain is withering away and people are now embracing the weeds. The stigma is not as much of a thing as it used to be with the sixty

All the time.

We would talk about like we would talk about weed. He's like, hey, guys, really should really stop talking about that. I know you're joking to kind of get me riled up, but like it's illegal or whatever, Like would you ever smoke.

Weeds, sir?

And he would always say, I only don't smoke it because it is illegal and I'm a law abiding citizen.

But if it was legal, I would do it. And we're like, oh, we're gonna smoke with you when it's legal. He's like, for instance, I'm drunk right now. Yeah, my high school history teacher.

Shout out to the high school history teachers who's secretly dipping all classes or like yeah, but like he just had a little one in him.

Was taking SIPs soda that you can in no way do a dip.

In a clandestine manner.

No, No, he was. He was always at SIPs. But that sounded like yeah, anyway.

It was like, oh, I was shitting myself in public, but no one knew. It's like, no, we all knew the entire.

Time your pants filled down because it was so heavy. But he actually gave me early weed insight. Also, he was like the only reason weeds illegal is because it's so easy to grow at home, like and so difficult to tack so you can't then't make. Butdweise are worth a ship in your bathtub. But you buy a grow light, you can grow some pretty great weed. Nobody's going to know about it.

That's a hero right there.

I know that's teaching it.

A fucking Catholic high school in Kentucky was just being like, yeah, man, so here's what it is. You know.

That's like I'm sure, like there's a tradition of knowing like what the government will let you make on your own and won't because of how companies can profit.

I'm sure for that.

It's like moonshine is more like the local thing than like weed maybe on the West coast, but anyway, there's been a forty six percent uptic in consumption among seniors un this like Journal of American Medicine study from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty three, and now like from when they were asking in twenty twenty three, seven percent of adult sixty five and older said they'd used cannabis in the past month.

Yeah, boy, hell yeah, hell yeah.

I think like through I think you know, it's the pandemic lockdowns, and I think acceptance around using it for certain chronic illnesses or pain management is definitely adding to the usage. And I've also noticed a more of like a who gives a fuck kind of adda from that generation recently, at least the ones around me are more like way different than what I remember as a kid, or they were like so buttoned up.

And they're, yeah, dude, don't give a fuck. I'm kidding high now I don't have anything to do.

Well, then to piggyback off of that, I think I totally agree that it's not giving a fuck, and I think, actually, I'll take it further. It's because they're like, well, we have no future because the next couple of years that we have or whatever, or under this administration, everything's getting cut, America's fallen apart.

They're like, you know what, I might get into Heroin tomorrow. I don't give a fuck, Like, yes, where do.

I sign up? That means they were getting nihilistic under Biden during this thing.

That's what I'm saying.

It built up there who gives a fuck?

Muscles on climate change and yeah, you know Gaza and all that stuff.

So now we bro I can't be fucking arsted, as they say, I've seen more than like also personally a few examples of friends of getting their parents to try

So I don't know if I should take this edible not.

Ready for me to become Miles David Jim is gonna call me cheech and chum, Yeah, exactly, be so mused they're gonna come me John Coltrane or something.

Since they've crossed that bridge, like they're fully like so they're like, I can't believe I didn't do this, Like I feel so much like it, like clear headed, because I'm not so fucking wasted from like traditional like pharmaceutical

So it's it's not a surprise when compared with the opioids that, yeah, have been legally sold to people for the past couple decades.

Yeah.

Wow, massive massive improvement, guys. Yeah, please do that.

Ohso side note, if you're like a grown up who smokes with like a younger people.

Is this like a podcast for thirteen year olds? Okay, but like if you're.

A grown up, oh my god, why do I sound like that? Also, damn, I don't even talk. I've been really valley sounding this whole episode, and I'm like, I apologize to the listeners.

I don't know what happening.

You are You are a valley by way of Odessa.

Yeah, never lived in the valley. What is this accent? It is horrible? Please leave, Please leave my mouth.

Yeah. I just wanted to say that if you're an older person smoking weed with younger people and you're cool as hell. If you're an older person drinking with the younger people, Bill, that is not cool, that's bad. You are a monst and you need to leave. I don't.

I don't know.

I got a family friend who's older, like they're like, oh, you're smoking. I'm like yeah, They're like I've been doing that too, and I'm like, brouh you you're not ready for this ship.

And you're like, well, they're like the store. I go to the store and I'm like, all right, this motherfucker turned into a scarecrow. And like at this family party and high a hit and there was way too much.

Like just fucking a scarecrow just physically there as a presence but not in anything absolute scarecrow.

And I just.

Experienced what it was like to get high with me back when I got high. Well, at least they weren't like you hate me. They were just like, I didn't say that out loud, I love you, but you.

Do look like you would be absolutely not fun.

High to get high with. Now that was a nightmare. I hated myself.

God, yeah, no, I totally for some reason feel that from you. I don't know what that means.

It must be good. I think it's a good reflects well on my personality general, you know, chillness, It means you're very.

Exactly. It means that this is the real jack. You know what I'm saying.

It's like I'm high in my regular life. Man, I can't be double high.

You're freaking high off of your beautiful family and cool job and like, why would you even need anything else?

And cool? Yeah, thank you so much. And this is thirteen year olds out there. I don't need anything else.

When you're grown up, you get to pick your own clothes and you can buy them whichever ones you want to buy.

Guys, get ready with me.

So first of all, my mom let me get this skirt from the Limited and it was my birthday money, so okay. Second off, I wanted to get the stuff from wet Seal, but I could not afford it, so I got it from my best friend Brittany, and I'm borrowing it for this outfit.

My god, so many syllables and Brittany Brittany by.

Brit Britanny.

Let's take a quick break. We gotta meet our favorite new character in the news, FEMA head Guy, head Guy, Hurricane head Hurricane Richardson.

And we're back.

We're back, and the AI trained just to keep the roll in and over here We're excited.

But if we just like one day just went fully like an AI is good, you start.

Our voices, listeners, it's because I'm trying to rebuild a burnt down home.

If you see me starting to be like, I mean, I mean, so this is this is my soul leaves my body.

This is kind of an attempt to do that from a creator, a famous creative, Natasha Leoni, who you know from things like poker Face.

And Russian Doll American Pie like that. I'm a cheerleader, yeah, but I'm a cheerlead. Yes, very very good. Happened to Purdue? Who wasn't That wasn't They never go on? Sorry it didn't mean anyways.

Uh. She is the co founder of Asteria, an AI production studio that claims to be an artist led ethical AI film and animation studio, and they are launching with a movie called Uncanny Valley that will be made by combining AI tools with traditional filmmaking techniques. Describes itself as an The production company just describes itself as an artist led ethical AI film an animation studio. The news has obviously sparked a backlash, prompting her to clarify that the movie.

Wow, it's the way that's written. It's like they write the way she talks. It's like a green screen or something like that. Like oh okay, yeah, yeah, that's not too bad.

It's like, but this is a weird move for an actor.

Yeah, well, especially when you have people like Joseph Gordon Levitt who are like, this is going to take away the incentive for people to even create or want to strive for something.

If if AI takes all over all this shit.

Yeah, they claim that it's like trained on only what licensed licensed content. However, when you ask other companies like how how you why don't you just like use licensed content, they're like that would be impossible, Like none of this is possible with just license content. So remains to be seen how that's actually working out, because it's all very.

It's this, but that's with the chat cheep the open a open AI lady said a few years ago when they were talking about there, like it's actually through like light it like agreements that we have with people.

And then it came out that it wasn't. It was just and I love to say this shs license. You should be noted.

Asteria was founded by Leoni and her boyfriend Brin Mooser. What Briton Whyan Mooser? There's no like I think maybe it's Brian, Like I don't know nor sorry, that's a that's a Mooser if I've ever seen one.

M O O. S e. R.

Who is a tech bro whose mentors include Bob Iger and Elon Musk. So in case you were wondering where this idea came from and who was telling her.

Like, now this is fine. We talking about Oh my god.

The weird and Natasha run they're running an OPI although I don't know, maybe you do believe this, but like when this guy, I like how this dude was described as a quote serial entrepreneur.

I know that.

And that's like a thing they say is good, Like that's that's what you want people to introduce you as.

To me, I see somebody who doesn't. It was just like, will fucking try and make anything fucking happen by any means necessary. I'n't tell this lady, I love her, Okay, I don't give who, Just tell me who the best person to have on our side is I'll make it happen.

Will going to AI AI.

Who is the best celebrity actress I could use to help sort of trojan horse the idea of an AI company in Hollywood being a good thing.

Hey, Also, the company describing itself as being an ethical AI and animations ide like, there's no such thing as ethical aiyeh, based on the environmental impact alone, but on then also everything else, but like, no such thing.

That's why everything they say is bullshit. You didn't train it on licensed material. This shit isn't ethical. You're just saying all the things to try and neutralize those first instincts people have when they hear about AI in a space anywhere, because people are gonna be like, oh, that's just gonna probably you're gonna be firing human beings.

And they go, no, we didn't even get rid of any department heads not. Didn't like that. And it's not even trained off other people's copyrighted materials. And it's also like ethical and it's it's cruelty free and organic okay on GMO.

Okay, corporations can't say ethical if it's not ethical, you guys, I'm sorry, Oh, I'm sorry, No, it's the opposite. They would never say ethical if it was actually ethical. They would only do something ethical by accident if it's horribly unethical. Yeah, well one of the big uh so the controvert people are like, this is bullshit. And then Natasha Leoni, who was neighbors with David Lynch, was like, I actually talked to David Lynch and he signed.

Off on this project. Motherfucker, he said.

I asked him, Hey, David, what do you think of AI? And he said, Natasha, look over there, this is a pencil. Okay, everyone has access to a pencil, and likewise everyone with a phone will be using AI if they aren't already. It's how you use the pencil, you see. And that maybe true.

What does he mean, Yeah, just like everybody.

Everybody's gonna use be using AI, which may be true, but it doesn't mean that like he's thought through the ethical implications of its use, or that everybody's like that he's fully up on like what the environmental impact.

I'm sorry, I don't know if David Lynch was in the right state to really be fully answering the question about the This is.

Just her work.

Somebody who was like Natasha Leoni the next time she's asked about AI and just showed the poster for Weekend at Bernie's because they were like kind of weird to be, Yeah, using David Lynch as your shield here, a beloved dead filmmaker as your puppet for saying that this.

Yeah, well yeah, we can't ask him to clarify.

It's kind of perfect, you know, to put words in a dead person's mouth like that, and like because you have enough plausible deny that, like, well.

Well, first of all, I'm his neighbor. We were neighbors, so of course I was talking to him, and you know, you're talking about my neighbor right now.

That's my neighbor, David Lynch, you're talking about You said it was okay, it's a pencil.

It's a pencil. Okay, it's a very cool pencil that will burn the earth down.

But people within Hollywood are saying that AI is already being made or being used to make a lot of content. It's just they're not admitting it. So it's like a thing where like, for instance, a costume designer will get a job and they'll have to like turn something around really quickly and so they'll have the AI generate the idea for them, and then instead of turning that in, they will then hire an artist to draw the thing the AI generated and then like whila, original creation drawing,

Like yeah, but nobody notices, right, That's just what is happening.

Like across the board, I feel like, well that and like that they are using NDAs for people like when they are using AI. Yeah, I'll tell anybody we use AI, I'm all fuck you up because we can't have the unions coming at us. Like it's so fucking underhanded. And I'm you know, I'm not surprised like that. It's already creeping in more and more and more, just not in a fucking hooray type of way.

Yeah, this one, a story bird artist.

Story bird storyboard artists said quote, And if your back's against the wall, it's tempting, even if the result is of dubious quality and dubious ethical makeup. And I feel like this is exactly what everything is going. Like, all jobs are just going to be people using AI to create C plus work, and there's just no penalty for turning in C plus work.

And so it's just like everything's going.

To get shittier in a way that will be I mean, everything already has gotten shittier, you know, and like nothing happened. So once we let them get away with that, and now now that you can just like turn it over to a fucking automated C plus machine, like you're we're just going to see everything turned to shit and we're not even going to be able to like describe what's happening.

It's the idea of like putting a band aid on the problem, but not treating the problem itself. Because the problem is like everyone's overworked and underwhelmed, and there's deadlines and because because of capitalism, and we so we just have to like churn out shit that AI generates to like meet the deadline or whatever. And rather than like, oh,

And all that. But kaylin, I just saw what the Hulk Vthano's fistfight should have, how it should have three yeah, yeah, yeah, And that's it. Like, that's what's so funny to me. They Hollywood should have been the first fucking line of defense against this ship to be like this is going to fucking kill us. Further, well, they.

Haven't been in all the movies that are like, hey.

Yeah, a written by normal people in the studio heads, you know what I mean, where they're.

Like again, I'm like, I'm like, why doren't why aren't we remembering fuck? You know, the Matrix Terminator? All all the movies were Ai Ai.

Aihi.

But I think you know because like we talked on trends yesterday about this commercial that was made fully with AI and it again, it looks like shit, but you can based on what a video looks like a year ago, like and if this is where we're at now, I can't imagine in another year from now what it's gonna look like. But that's a direct threat to the two hundred and fifty billion dollars a year TV ad industry.

They're like, well, we.

Can get away with underpaying people or using less people we have to pay by using AI without realizing that the proliferation of it is creating an existential threat to everything you do, because now anyone can shit out this crap. But go ahead, I guess, well, I guess you'll just have to find out as you fuck around.

Nah, it never works that way. Yeah, Nah, we fuck around and then it just keeps getting better.

So yeah, no, soon we're all going to be just like working at those whatever fucking cooling data centers and like I don't know, throwing buckets of water on the drinking Yeah, and that'll be all of ours before.

You want AI users.

Yeah yeah, I mean yeah, it's like, you know, if you work at the data center cooling rooms, you actually get to sip the water that you.

Throw them, and you get to steal SIPs all day.

Waters, unlimited SIPs and unlimited days off. Whoa, you're gonna love it here. But they don't pay me. It's the SIPs.

They pay me in SIPs.

That's what That's what our future is.

Anyway, I know it does feel like that, like.

Anyways, good time. Yeah, it's gonna be good. We're going to figure it out.

We're gonna figure it out. All right, that's gonna do it.

For this week's Weekly Zeitgeist, Please like in review the show If you like, the show means the world to Miles. He he needs your validation.

Folks.

I hope you're having a great weekend and I will talk to you Monday.

Bye.