Conspiracy theories come true, humanities funding cuts, Elizabeth Holmes interview

  📍    📍 Welcome to your Weekly Breakdown, the silly and occasionally smart podcast. I'm Emily, a washed up tech exec, mother of two, and I have  no, you do? That's why I'm wearing a hoodie and I want to curl under this table and die. It's one of those things, it's like.    don't trust a fart.  I'm going to try not to poop my pants during this episode. And that was my one use of the word poop.

That was two uses of the word. I'm not going to say it anymore during the podcast. For all you  Okay, good.   Because I'm Caitlin. I'm a lover of animals. It's friends and monogamous relationships.  That's what I love for me.

Oh, strong statement today. It's what, who am I? I love animals, friends, and my monogamous relationship. It's so funny  this culture of identity that we have, that if you say something, I stand for this, people automatically assume you stand against. Whatever the opposite is, which is not true at all.

No, I, yeah, so I love that you said that  just because you like monogamous relationships doesn't mean you're not into polyamory  I think it works really well for a lot of people. glad you brought that up because we are sometimes afraid to say we like something to commit to something because it others.

The other thing. Have you been outside?  Oh my gosh. I'll just let the point of that out. Every week we get together to chat about cultural conversations in the news. We make fun of the latest pop culture dramas, judge each other's styles and life choices, and we'll rant about life's minor inconveniences.

 This podcast is brought to you by Hard Copy, the free, comfort newsletter for cozy weekends. can join the thousands of busy women who already subscribe to enjoy curated recommendations for what to watch, listen to, read, and indulge in, and to stay in the know on all things culture, work, and women. I asked someone, I was like, what do you actually think of the newsletter?

And she was like, I look forward to the curated recommendations. I like that I trust your recommendations. And it's it's uncomplicated. 

It's meant to be fun and comforting. And it's definitely for busy women. It doesn't sell you anything. That's what I like. It doesn't sell you an idea. It doesn't sell you a goal. It doesn't sell you a course or some sort of masterclass. It's a distilled. I like distilled. Yeah, it's, that's what I think of the newsletter.

It's distilled.  You, have distilled. All the noise and been like, don't worry. I listened to the noise and this is it  like you said, I trust what you've put in there.  you can try the newsletter at hardcopy. online. Speaking of your newsletter, it has topics that I enjoy. Human culture. History. Society.

The arts. Essentially the humanities. Yeah, those are not click baity, sexy headlines. And I think to find those, you have to really be into like a niche magazine.

 I think these humanities are important and we're losing them a lot right now because the humanities are the things that teach us about ourselves.

They help us understand ourselves. They help us understand life. They help us understand the world. And I was fascinated. By the humanities. Always in school, right? That was my Ladies and gentlemen, she's an actress.  I was always one who loved these topics in school. And I'm realizing from all the things I've been reading, there was something called the Philosopher's Magazine that I found.

 And they were talking about the decline of humanities in education. so for instance, Cardiff University has announced they're going to cut 400 full time jobs and discontinue courses in subjects like Ancient History, Modern Languages the list goes on and they're citing it's for financial challenges.

 Okay. Okay. I also would understand that there is not a massive job market for programs like this. I don't mean to say that devalues them though. Let's make that clear  STEM is now more. Popular because it has more avenues for careers, I think. People are going Which, I don't know if you know this, but you gotta work.

Gotta pay the bills. Yeah, you gotta. They're saying that the marginalization of the humanities studies is in favor of STEM. Sure. But, the strong humanities education is important still, because it still gives you practical skills. Critical thinking. Communication empathy. How about those things?

Yes, you can focus on STEM and favorite STEM fields, but we still need these critical skills, these human skills.  I give the example of reading fiction books.

I'm a big fan of fiction. Yes. The thing with fiction is that you're experiencing empathy in a situation you would never find yourself in. You're able to step into the shoes of a character in a world, in a time, in a situation that maybe we would never have.

But you get to practice some empathy on these situations, these characters, this world. That's why I love fiction. Because it's giving me another  that, that I could maybe go, Oh, that's interesting. I would have never thought of it that way. Yeah. Same. The different perspective. I like how immersive it can be and I like the ride.

My brain goes on having  create the imagery and taking someone else's words  Visualizing it. I love that. I have friends who hate reading fiction and their argument is I can't picture it. I'm like, I don't know what that says about your brain. Oh, but that's really interesting. Like what a challenge they can't.

Yeah, I don't have that problem. So maybe that's why I lean towards that's why we're artsy. Yeah. Fartsy. But I'm also, I am close to poo, Emily. Don't. I'm clenching.  But I think now more than ever the idea of understanding more the human experience because we are in a time of I am the main character of my life  I'm assuming you brought this topic up because of the Kennedy Center No? I thought they were a great connection. I only, I actually brought this up because I was looking at all these universities that are cutting like English degrees and trying to get more money for STEM, less money for the humanities. And I just thought that's so sad because I think that's the thing that makes us Uniquely human.

Is this love and appreciation for these humanities? It's so interesting you say that because if you study, I'm not speaking about any country in particular right now, you study any history, the first group to go during a fascist regime, is the arts and artists. 

I think we're seeing that right now. I don't know what you're  I would never bring up the U. S. and the U. S. politics   it was in connection to what I saw happen with the Kennedy Center. I'm heartbroken. It. It's very sad. . It feels petty. There was a drama at one point when he was supposed to attend for some major performance and the people performing weren't going to perform if he attended.

Yes. So he was rejected. And I really feel like he's the petty enough man to go through this whole rigmarole  and  Sure. It's also noise. It's noise. So it's, it's look over here. Don't look at the wizard behind the curtain. We should talk about it.

What happened? What did he do? Trump appoints, the weirdest board ever to the Kennedy Center and he he's taken over. He kicked out the existing board, installed his own folks and they've elected him chair. Wow, what luck.  I do love the Kennedy Center honors.  I love watching those specials. So are we not going to get them anymore? We might, but it will be, you guys, this is this is a media takeover.

This is, we will now control what you hear and what you see, and if you disagree with what you hear or what you see, that's. Wrong. You're wrong.  The Gulf of Mexico thing. Yep.  No one else will ever recognize it, no other country or institution outside of the United States will refer to it as the Gulf of America.

 When I heard that, I didn't get that affected by it. Because I realized, so then that means that the next president could then change it back.

So in fact, Obama changed a mountain in Alaska. He changed that name. But because it was domestic and part of the United States, that is a thing that they can do. Yeah. Trump has now changed it back. No one's going to argue with that. But when it's an international body of water. One country shouldn't. Just declare its name X.

it's been called the Gulf of Mexico for 400 and some years.   I did catch this. Encyclopedia Britannica will continue to use Gulf of Mexico for a few reasons. One, we serve an international audience, a majority of which is outside the United States.  Two, the Gulf of Mexico is an international body of water and the U. S. 's authority to rename it is ambiguous.

But I feel like a lot of this stuff is noise to cover up. Really significant changes that are going on. One that I found really alarming. So alarming that  I was like, this can't be real. And I'm gonna read it for you. Have you heard of the SAVE Act?

No. So this was circulating in the news. I went back and read a few articles once I finally heard about it. It was a couple of weeks ago. It's called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. Okay. Okay. 

Sounds good. It's been reintroduced in the U. S. House of Representatives. The House has now passed this bill. This legislation would require all Americans to prove their citizenship status by presenting documentation in person when registering to vote or updating their voter registration information.

Okay. Hit one. That's not great. That's tough. That's pretty impossible. It's asking a lot of time, energy, and work. Yeah.  Legislation would require the vast majority of Americans to rely on a passport or birth certificate to prove their citizenship.

A driver's license would not do.  Cool. The reality is that more than 140 Million. American citizens do not possess a passport.  This is the fun part. Your name has to match your birth certificate. Do you know whose names don't match their birth  69 million women who have taken their spouse's last name do not have a birth certificate matching their legal name. Fuck off!  And so I'm excited to share that season 5 of The Handmaid's Tale is out in April and you should all be  tuning in.

Cause it just turned into reality TV. So if your birth certificate doesn't match your passport You can't register to vote? That is what is written in this legislation that is currently passed in the House. What does it require for it to become a full Senate. Okay, so then I have hope there. Oh, we all should have hope.

I don't even live in the States and that's quite scary to hear. . I swear their objective here, I'm too dumb to put the pieces together, but I'm pretty sure they want to make it illegal to hire women.

And this is just like one step further.  It's crazy. We could be like, they'll never get there, then I'll get there. Anyway I started watching The Handmaid's Tale when it first came out, and I was obsessed. I often had to pause or turn it off because I was like, this is not triggering, just Too real.

Too real. Too close to possible. So when I heard this, I was like no, no,  they're not going to make it illegal  and all the married women aren't going to be able to vote.  Wow. And remember that Evie magazine article? Yes. The 10th lie that society tells you that you told us about a few episodes ago.

That's right. That there's, you don't have to be involved in politics  Wow.  I get from one side where you're like, I only want American citizens to be able to vote. But there's all these other ding a ling, ding dong things written in there that are so clearly meant to Disenfranchise millions of U.

S. citizens. Did you change your name when you got married? No. Did you? No.  Hi! We're two feminists hosting a podcast. What could go wrong? Anyway, Elizabeth Moss is great in The Handmaid's Tale. She's great. I'm just gonna keep bringing up The Handmaid's Tale. Have you watched it? No, I can't. Why? It's really upsetting. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's so upsetting. It's really upsetting. I'm glad you brought that up.

Sometimes I feel very dumb when it comes to politics and policies. We are dumb. Okay. We have established that. No, I'm curious. I'm not dumb. I'm curious. We're not smart. We're occasionally smart.  Sound like our tagline. But that's why it's called we're here because \ Everybody doesn't know everything, and it's crazy to think they do.

Congratulations to the tech bros that listen to the same fucking podcast over and have made themselves smarter. Most of us are busy trying to get through the day, and you and I are here to distill stuff like this and be like, Oh, actually, flagging this is crazy. Also, why didn't I see that in my news?

Because of the noise, bitch. Yeah. It's insane, the news. Every day. I had a real moment a few weeks ago when I suddenly realized that maybe I don't know how the border works.  crossed the border many times. So many times. Yeah, by land, by foot, never by foot, by sea, by air.

Some people bike through. Go on a little road bike trip. Yeah.  They also wear, there are men that wear spandex. Yeah, they got a low sperm count. Apparently. If you're wearing tight things, not based on what their hobbies are. Anyways, maybe I don't fully understand how the border works because I always thought that to get into the United States, they had to let you.

Correct? As a Canadian, going into the States, I ask permission from the United States to enter. Okay. And then they say yes. Okay. Sure. Yeah. Okay. So smart. Okay. Stay with me on that one. I'm following. I'm so dehydrated.  Okay. Just keep going. So you go to a different country.

It's that country that decides whether you come in or not. Oh, yes. Yes. Got it. You're right.  I am smart.  So what I didn't understand was when Trump  Threatened to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Yeah. He said it's because he wanted to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States. Wasn't that the wildest excuse? So what I don't get is like, why is it up to us to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States if they control the border? So now we've got this bullshit czar.

Didn't even know a czar was a real thing in 2025. But apparently we had to appoint a fentanyl czar.  And I was like, I don't understand. If the issue is that drugs are going into their border, that's their problem. Is it not?  It's the idea that like somehow it's our responsibility to stop the US. Yeah. I just didn't understand that. That's funny. I didn't even take it. I didn't even get that far.  

I Did you do some research? I did some research. And the fact is that actually, I didn't get an answer, though, because I was doing research and I did not see anyone else really critically going, this argument isn't good.  So this guy, Kevin Brousseau, a former RCMP member and national security advisor, 

he was appointed by the Canadian government as our fentanyl czar. And the move comes in response to Trump's threats. This Kevin Brosseau guy, his primary goal is to eliminate the flow of fentanyl into the United States. And I don't understand how he, again, it's not our border.

It's the American border.  It's the fact that the goal is to eliminate the flow into the United States But the United States doesn't let anything come in that they don't want to come in So why aren't they just securing it better Yeah, 1 percent of fentanyl that's coming into the United States They're saying is coming from Canada. And I think that's what people focused on more than the actual logistics of how that would work.

Yeah, and my brain went, What?  Yeah, so I think, there's just a lot of noise. I think it's very difficult to navigate it all, and  it just makes me like, it just fuels the conspiracy theorist in me.

Like I'm an Aquarius, so I love a good conspiracy theory, but it just makes it blow way out of proportion. Cause there are bad conspiracy theorists, right? Like Alex Jones being like, Sandy Hook wasn't real. That's awful. People probably think I have a tinfoil hat on with the tech stuff. That's my biggest thing the surveillance state. Yeah, but what if the tinfoil hat people were actually on to something?

They are!  Some of them. Some conspiracies got it right, I know. Which ones? I love conspiracy theories too, and I'm always interested to see the ones that were really big, but that have turned around.  One of the things that was true, so there was a theory that the government is watching us through our phones and computers, right?

Oh, big conspiracy theory. This is years ago. The truth. That's not a conspiracy theory. Exactly. In 2013, Edward Snowden leaked. Information from the NSA that it was, in fact, collecting massive amounts of data on citizens. Okay? And then from there people were like, cover your webcam. That was an interesting response to that, right?

Yes. There is a video on the internet somewhere of Mark freaking Zuckerberg with the tape over his Exactly. Yeah. Another popular conspiracy theory that was in fact right was the CIA mind control program, MKUltra. Fill a bitch in. Okay, so MKUltra. The conspiracy theory at the time was that the CIA was conducting secret experiments on people's minds.

Okay,   The truth was that there were declassified documents confirmed that the CIA actually did conduct unethical psychological experiments in the 50s and 70s including testing LSD on unsuspecting subjects Unsuspecting yeah, that implies non consensual.



Oh, yeah, it's crazy. And then as a result, so if you think about what did that do to our culture in the taping of the webcam? Now we have shows like, I don't know, Stranger Things, or anything that's government paranoia is because of the MKUltra conspiracy theory. Oh? How about Big Tobacco lying about how deadly smoking was?

What? They lied. Big Tobacco knew the truth about how dangerous smoking is. And the truth is, internal documents reveal that tobacco companies knew for decades that smoking caused cancer but actively suppressed the information. Sounds right. The list goes on. Profit over people, baby. How about this one?

There was a conspiracy that the FBI was watching civil rights leaders. That doesn't sound incorrect. The theory? The FBI is secretly tracking and trying to sabotage Martin Luther King Jr. The truth? Declassified files show that FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, monitored, harassed, and tried to discredit Martin Luther King Jr.

and other activists. They infiltrated Black Panther, they used surveillance against activists,  Watergate, Deep State, all this goes on and on. The Watergate scandal, for those who don't know, was that in the 1970s it was confirmed that President Nixon's administration engaged in illegal wiretapping, bribery, and the obstruction of justice.

these are all true. They have been proven to be true. So right now we have some fun conspiracy theories going on. So there's the Epstein and the powerful elites, right? Yeah, yes. Who was really involved? Will we ever know? Will we ever know? Okay, good. Very good. Area 51 in the UFOs. Now that the Pentagon has admitted to unidentified aerial phenomena, what does that mean?

And why can't I get a 4D picture of it? You're telling me there's aliens and all I'm seeing is a blurry, fuzzy picture? I want to see something good. I want to see something high res.  Does the thought of aliens Occupy space in your brain? No. But, if they're there, show me a good picture.

 There's a lot! And then there's one where I don't know this one, but it's the, dyatlov Pass incident.  it was like the Russian military was doing tests and killed a bunch of hikers, apparently.  accurate.

But, of course, Russia's saying I don't know what you're talking about. Sweet, sweet Russia. Now we get to hear all about it from the new  Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. She is the one time Democratic representative turned Fox News pundit and Trump loyalist who has no fucking business being in this role.

What's her role? She is the new Director of National Intelligence for the United States of America.  very rich history of pushing Russian propaganda. Wow. Tell me her name one more time. Tulsi Gabbard. She has not held a role in any of the agencies she will be leading.

Bringing a resume that consists only of military service, and that's not nothing. And four terms representing Hawaii's second district in the House of Representatives. Okay. Concerned intelligence experts have called her  unfit, for the Department of National Intelligence.  Fuck.

Anyway, Russia's pumped. Wow. Yeah, I

wasn't

even going to bring that up. Okay, but You brought up Stranger Things. Yes. And I stumbled upon this article about Millie Bobby Brown. Yes, she was the star of Stranger Things. There's more coming. Oh, I think another season? I saw this headline and I went No! No!  Millie Bobby Brown says being a trad wife isn't cushy.

  As we discussed, trad whiffery is Unpaid. If you're a tradwife, you are not making money. The women who are out there on Instagram schlepping stuff and fucking making content are making money. Most likely, if they're big. And they're not tradwives. They're cosplaying. Treadwifery. So I was so annoyed. I wasn't mad, I was annoyed that Millie Bobby Brown said this. It was referred to a trad wife at all. And this is a teen Vogue, advocating for trad whiffery? No, she was defending.

She was like, don't idolize it, it's hard. Go pick up your check from Stranger Things. I don't care for your opinion on this, Millie. No, I was so disappointed. Living on a farm, As a millionaire, Doesn't make you a trad wife.

Mm mm.  She said,  If you're not picking up horse shit or washing a cow with your bare hands, then this life is not made for you at all.  Okay. Cool. I'm doing it because I love it.

Great. Then she said, there are maybe some trad wives out there doing it because it seems wholesome, but it's not. You're not a trad wife because you have a farm. You are a multi millionaire actress. Yeah. Who took advantage of an acreage and knew that you could get a lot of land in Georgia.

What do you mean take advantage? I'm just saying like it's smart to have land. If you have money, put it in land. You should, they don't make that shit anymore. Exactly. Yeah. That's why people are buying land and water. I how it's been so widely adopted as if you don't live in a city, you're a trad wife. Jesus Christ, no. You have a farm. You are not a trad wife. It's a misrepresentation of how laborious it is to be a tradwife. 

Grrrrr!  Anyway. Also It's just making It's being like, don't call a tradwife. Don't call a tradwife. Don't call it a tradwife. I don't know why that irks me so much.  They probably have some sort of hypoallergenic doodle that lives on the farm. Oh my god, they do Yeah, she talks a lot about the dog. Does she? Oh, you knew already. I've heard about her. I've heard her talk about the dog. So I'm like, when I thought that she lived on a farm, I was like, so what, you have a lot of doodles and a sheep and two chickens?

Come on. And do you employ people? I bet you she's got people who work on that farm. 100%.   📍   I'm going to talk about AI.

Thomson Reuters won the first major AI copyright case in the United  This is good news, in my opinion. That's great. Which no one cares about.  In 2020 the Media and Technology Conglomerate filed an unprecedented AI copyright lawsuit against the legal AI startup Ross Intelligence.

This was in 2020. This was a while ago. There was no ChatGPT in 2020, gang. This is why this is interesting. Okay. Because there's finally been a ruling on AI copyright. Which will set precedent In the complaint, Thomson Reuters claimed the AI firm reproduced materials from its legal research firm, Westlaw.

Earlier this week, a judge ruled in Thomson Reuters favor, finding that the company's copyright was indeed infringed by Ross Intelligence's actions. This is, I bolded this in my own notes here because I thought it was so astounding.  Intelligence's possible defenses hold water.

I reject them all, wrote U. S. District Court of Delaware Judge Stephanos Bibas in a summary judgment. I reject them all. I reject them all. Put that on a t shirt.  For us all trying to understand how this impacts us. The big takeaway here is that Reuters won this case against the AI company on the grounds that they violated fair use.

This is important. The judge found that the AI company was guilty because in using those copyrighted works to generate its output, it meant to compete by developing a market substitute. And that's where it broke the law.  Yeah,  it'll be really curious to see how that stuff moves forward.

Great precedent, though,  because I've always wondered  you can put a warning or a disclaimer at the beginning of a book, but what does that actually do? I know. So this is very cool. Yeah, and there's this big AI video that came out with all like a bunch of AI generated celebrities including Scarlett Johansson, who by the way, originally had to file a claim against OpenAI for using a voice that was so like hers.

Yeah. That was a while ago. God, that's it was probably like 30 minutes ago, but it seems like forever. It's,  whew. She was actually one of the AI generated characters who were responding to the Kanye West, I refuse to call him Ye, Kanye's whole t shirt kerfuffle, which we're not going to get into today, we don't have time.

I can link to a relevant story in the show notes  if that is not really worth your time, y'all. No, idiot. But so there was an AI video generated there, and it was interesting to see how the social media platforms handled it. On Meta, it did show an alert that this was generated by AI, like if you went to click on it, there was a pop up.

But to your point, like, how do you moderate it when there's so much AI slop? Plus, the biggest social media platforms, we know how they feel  and moderation of any kind at this point. They don't care. They don't care. Yeah. I was pumped about that in AI News.

That's a win. Also, I love the sassy judge.  I love that. I reject them all. Very good. We were talking about the newsletter before and getting music recommendations. I think it's really important to finding new music.

And apparently there AI wrote a song. Wrote a song that was supposed to sound like Drake and The Weeknd. Unfortunately, it didn't include Drake or The Weeknd, but it was like written to sound exactly like them. It was crazy. more and more artists are using AI assisted composition, is what they're calling it.

to generate beats, lyrics, or melody, aka. Music. Grimes is a real big proponent of using AI for her music.  is a musician, Canadian, ex wife of Elon  of three of his children, yeah. The song is called Fake Drake. Fake,  that's good. Oh, he's been in the news a lot lately. Poor guy, hey? No, take that out. No. 

You're a very musical person. You love music. I love music. When can we use AI? to help us. And when is it actually making us worse, no longer interested in the humanities we're talking about at the beginning of the episode. it is a good tool in one way I was, trying to make lists and I've decided that definitely makes it more accessible.

Anyone can make music, you don't have to have a drum kit and a guitar and a piano, you can use Thanks. technology to make music. It can maybe help you overcome a creative block,  doing something different or offering a different idea. It can be good at innovating sound design, right?

So we can do push the barriers of sound production. It can restore lost voices. This one I really didn't know if I cared, but like it has been used to recreate the voices of the Beatles. No, it's creepy. It's creepy. Yeah, I didn't like that. But then the bad side of it is that there's less originality, it's not original. Is it original if AI created it? No, because AI is pulling information. out of a database that was fed with other information of creators. So nothing new will ever be made.  Essentially, there's a death of human emotion in music because that's impossible.

Like when you hear a song that moves you in a way, because the singer songwriter has created this incredible 

Yeah. Good luck AI. there's an oversaturation of music now, which I find overwhelming. It's all everywhere and it's eerily similar, especially with like beats and sound design of songs.

There's not a lot of new songs. I think about when the Prince album came out and he produced that record himself, the Purple Rain record. one Of his songs was supposed to have a bass line. And as he was producing that song, he was like, no, take the bass line out.

The record label tried to fight him on that like, it doesn't sound like a song anymore. He's like, it's my song, and it will not have a bassline. And also, of course, there's job displacement.  So AI can compose film scores, pop hits, who needs humans anymore? So I've decided I'm going to I'm gonna get into music again, but I'm not gonna look for new music.

I'm gonna look for new old music. My husband, Chris, is a musician, and he loves music, and he has done this thing that since  the year 1965 until 1998. He has made a playlist of 30 songs from that year that mattered. Let's get him on a hard copy playlist. I know. It's, and it stops at 1998 and I said, why did you stop then?

And he said cause that's when I started like really caring about a specific kind of music. He was a teenager then. So like his tastes were very specific to being a teenager. So he's got playlists from , 1965, all the way to 1998. He's, Happy to share them. They're all on Spotify, so we'll link to it 

yeah. And it was so fun, because I was picking, the year 1986, and I was like, Oh yeah, this song! It's the best. Or  hearing music that was new to me, I should say, and loving it and finding new old because you knew that it wasn't touched by anything AI generated.

And also what's interesting, no more than 30 songs on a playlist. 

You don't need a playlist that's 128 songs. Only if you're going on a road trip.  I can't wait to listen to it. Yeah, it's some good stuff. Oh, and he named the albums like 1996 is called Dolly Dolly because that was the year they cloned the sheep, Dolly.

Speaking of AI, you were asking like, is it gonna reduce how smart we are?  Wildly enough. There's a new report out. Weirdly from Microsoft AI, okay? So we're gonna put a pin in the Microsoft AI thing. Using AI tools like chat, GPT, can reduce critical thinking  You guys. Yes. Yes. Say it one more time for the people in the back. No, because people  are like, what do I text them back? Or caption this Instagram post oh my god. Just use your brain. Use your brain! Because you know what happens when you don't use your brain? It dies. Yeah, sure. I believe that.

Yeah. This is why this is important.  My medical friends are going to be like, shut up.  It's actually a series of synapses.  Whatever, they're so much smarter than me. I know.  Yeah, but they're so stressed. Oh, they don't seem stressed. They don't seem very stressed.  Okay, here are the results.

The researchers suggest that while using AI could help enhance the speed at which people could learn more, The ease with which generative AI tools create and present the content means they might not take it in as much. When studying human behavior, seemingly opposing ideas can be true, said one of the researchers.

But That there underlies a deep and long term suspicion with cognitive technologies, like AI, the use of AI, that their use will diminish human skill sets, back to the whole humanities conversation, whether it is a calculator reducing our ability to do simple mental calculations, or Google Maps removing the need to navigate.

 We need to make sure we're still, using our critical thinking skills. Because otherwise we're literally all going to get dumber. Super interesting that this happened at Microsoft AI and Microsoft Researchers. Because Microsoft is a huge investor in open AI. So it's almost not in their favor to be saying these things? No.  I thought that was curious.

Yeah. People aren't really talking about that in a lot of their reporting.

. So that was my fun AI news write your own grocery list. Oh, yeah. That's not what happens. Why not? Oh my god, I've seen TikToks where people are just like,  I want to consume this many calories a day and have this much protein, this this is what I want my macronutrient mix to be.

 Make me a meal plan for the week. And then it says, okay, based on this, change this. And then it'll change it. And then they say, okay, make me a grocery list, make me a shopping list to do this meal plan. And then it will generate it.

How much brain power did you use there? Fucking none. No. None.   I'm all for simplifying tests. Actually, that one specifically would help a lot of women.

Who are generally In charge of meal planning. Shopping and meal preparing. I like the theme of today because it started with us talking about the importance of these arts. The arts! The humanities and what it gives us. And then we've been talking about all the things that the other side does to us.

And if anything, it just reinforces my belief that we learn empathy, critical thinking and understanding of ourselves, the world and people  through the arts. Yeah. I don't know what to do about it. That's I think where my food poisoning brain is stunted.  it. It's not up for us to fix.

What do you mean? I'm here. You're here. Why not? My theory is if I didn't create it, I can't fix That sounds like a very convenient way to get out of any trouble. No. Because there's that I start. I'm going to say that the next time I'm fighting with my partner, I'm going to say that. 

Yeah. It sounds like. your mess, that I didn't make, that you have to clean up, because I can't. I would never say it like that, this is what I would say, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do because I didn't make this, so how am I supposed to unmake it?  Okay and, we didn't contribute all of the pollution, but we sure as hell better try and do something about it.

But I contributed to some pollution. Percentage wise, a drop in the bucket. Sure. But still, I did not have anything to do with the creation, this thing. There are things in the world that I had no control over, say over, and if I did, they weren't listening, that's for sure. I totally get what you're fucking saying. It's so easy to check out and be like, that doesn't impact me and I did not  How about I would then elect people who could do that.  

What about things that happened in the past that are true injustices  because I wasn't around during that time, do I have a responsibility? I do. In making sure that Okay, now that's a good question. I know. 

There's, can you fix it? Do I want to fix it? Do I care enough to even notice it's a problem? Yeah. There's so many layers to it. And I think right now there are so many problems  can feel very overwhelming for people who want to do something about it and who aren't sure where to even start. Yeah. I think it's very overwhelming time right now.

It's giving main character energy and not knowing what to do with it, right? To be like I don't want to say that my life is only me and I am the main character, but  I don't post on social media.

It's cause I don't like people Oh, this is gonna be, this is  I don't like people looking at me. I don't like people knowing what I'm up to.  I don't. Ladies and gentlemen, she's an  I know. No, I know, I, okay. It does sound crazy. So my, my Emily profile, I mean he is typing, is private.

You can't, if you don't follow me, like you have to knock to get access. Yeah. Me too. And I'm with you. That's why I enjoy the hard copy content so much because it's not me, it's an idea.

And that's what acting is. So when I'm on set or if I'm shooting something or if I'm doing a live show, I'm not being overly earnest about Hey, I'm walking down the road. It's me, Caitlin. And I got a cup. Oh my gosh. A cup of joe.  I really want to see you do. And there's like funny little emojis around.

An influencer spoof. Okay. Back to this idea though of what is my problem and what is not my problem. Do you have causes you care about? Yeah. Okay, so that I think is like step one. Pick a cause. Pick something in your community, locally, even if it doesn't affect you, if you're like, I don't even know where to start.

I don't have a massive problem, but I see all this chaos around me. Pick a cause. Be it animals, or women's rights, or homeless shelters, or, whatever. Pick Uh, cause and do something about it, volunteer be in your community. This, the scroll, is, the scrolling is not helping.

Yes. It also romanticizes the mundane. Which I'm like, you shouldn't. Some stuff should be boring. You know what you're never going to see is me posting when I volunteer. Yeah no. You know what I mean? Because you're not, so that's just a whole other world. That doesn't help anyone unless you're asking for donations to a cause and calling on your community to donate to the thing you care about.

No, it's usually people wanting to be validated. Yeah. It's so hard. It's such a mixed thing because social media is so powerful for spreading information.  But also  Yeah, and I'm speaking specifically as to like the individual. The aware of the self, the ego. Death to ego. Death to the ego.

Yeah  think if ever you're feeling a little bit helpless, what I would do for myself is I would say, what can I do? So I work in comedy. I have a comedy school. I do live shows. Let's get a lot of scholarships for people who can't afford the arts. People who don't make enough money that, that, a comedy class is not in their budget. Not a problem. Let's remove the barriers. The arts saved my life in high school. So how do we make sure that, like, how can I do that a little bit for someone else who wouldn't be able to afford it?  you can't be paralyzed and do nothing, but I think a lot of   📍 Weird and awkward transition because I really just wanted to talk about this,  There were a few comments on some of our reels, especially the Labia Puff post one, where people thought I was Elizabeth Holmes.  I was so shocked to see this scroll through my feed pop up wherever it popped up, but Elizabeth Holmes breaks her silence in her first interview from prison.

Why is she allowed to give an interview from prison?  How long has she been in prison for now? Okay. She's been in for two years. Huh. The sentence was for about 11 years, but it's been reduced to nine for good behavior.  She got that sentence for fraud and conspiracy over the collapse of Theranos, which was a billion dollar biotech corporation she founded.

Listen guys, her company promised to revolutionize the healthcare industry. She lied to shareholders. She did all this kind of stuff. And it,  was no bueno. It all went to shit. You should look up the story, Theranos. There's, actually they made a show about it Amanda Seyfried stars, which is so good.

Yes. There's a book, Bad Blood, which is very good.  I'll link to all that stuff. This just cracks me up.  This is fucking People Magazine giving this girl a platform. Now she wears drab khaki prison garb with her blonde hair pulled back.

Bear makeup and a silver cross  speaking in a voice notably softer than the throaty baritone She was known for remember she'd talk like this. Yeah, she literally says I'm not the same person I was back  she pleaded not guilty at her trial and maintains her innocence today I'll be it while vaguely acknowledging there are things I would have done differently on her path to lock up It's surreal.

People who have never met me believe so strongly about me. They don't understand who I am. It forces you to spend a lot of time questioning belief and hoping the truth will prevail. I am walking by faith and ultimately the truth, but it's been hell and torture to be here. No shit, bitch! It's prison! 

Can you believe the audacity? She scammed So many people, out of so much money, she is a fraud, a liar, a scammer. And people were sick because of her, right? She was like, I'm gonna be able to like, revolutionize blood tests. Did anyone get hurt in the process of what her you've gotta go watch the show and read the books.

She dazzled everybody though, right? It was such a blow to, I think, especially because she was a woman. We love it when a successful woman gets torn down.  that another day because there's so many other examples. But she actually was a fraud where so many great women were just like, they're like, you sent a mean email.

And they're like, you resign as CEO. It's just, it's brutal. Yeah. The double standards are incredible, but this bitch is a scammer. So she got pregnant during The trial. Yes. She has two kids now. Yes.  I'm separated from them. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

 These are consequences. Yes. Lizzie. Wild. now my blood pressure's up.

So to get my blood pressure down, I'll probably go turn on my own Quiet Company podcast. Did you listen to it? No! Is it already out? Oh my god! I put it on our feed! Oh, you're so funny. Who did you, who's your first interview with? It's not an interview. It's me, talking in my sexy voice. I thought you were going to interview people.

Slow and soothing. No, that's another one. Oh my god. 

I didn't know it was out already! I'm like, I hate being seen, but I love talking.  Oh, I love it. Okay. And it's called company, quiet company. I love that alone  So some people who listen to our podcast, I can see the numbers have listened to it. So I would love to hear if they hated it,  let me know if you hated it.

I do want to know if they hated it. Sure. I put it on a different channel, but I think I might just like interjected into our channel. Like it's like a TV show and you can be like, I don't want to listen to that today. I want to listen to these two bitches. Yeah. I love that. Anyway, you go listen to it and tell me if you hate it.

Okay.  It's not a meditation podcast. It's just calm and soothing. Think  late night talk radio. Ooh. Very chill. Ooh. Delilah.  That's a big inspiration. I grew up listening and loving her. Did you? Oh yeah.  Yeah, like that. Very soothing. Like 

alone

together, like you're quiet. I love that. We're just. We'll see. They're like 10 minutes. They're meant as just like,  dial down. That's what podcast that they enjoy is that it is yeah.

To who? To me. Oh! A friend of mine his name is, and he was saying that he loves this podcast because watching the news is overwhelming, but you can't fully disconnect. And I want to hear a little bit, but then I also want to hear their opinion on it, and I want to hear them chat. And he just was saying, he's It's everything I need from a podcast right now.

Oh, that's so nice. Yeah. Right now. He said this. That's impressive. Because we're not very nice to men sometimes on this podcast.  think we're super mean. I don't think we're Overly  flattering them either. Talk a lot about  genitalia. Yeah.  We say a lot of things like of course a woman has to do that.

It's true. But I just wanted to shout out to the, all the people who listen to the podcast. Thanks for saying nice things. And if, We've had so many nice things. Yeah. Oh, it's so good to be back, though, because we had an episode lined up for you next week, but the guests were not able to make it due to a fucking snowstorm.

Sorry, we're Canadian. It was a snow day for schools, roads were closed, life was cancelled.  I'm glad to be back with you, too. I already know what I want to talk about next week. I'm thinking it's going to be like, comeback culture and cancel culture.

Ooh, a very juicy and complicated topic. Just because you were talking about Elizabeth Holmes, and I was like, cancel culture's not real.  Oh, let's fight! Come meet me next week! I will be prepared. Okay! I'm prepared. You know it'd be fun one week if we did a debate. I won an award for debating. So did I.

Okay.  Oh! Maybe next week we'll just talk about when we peaked in high school. I peaked at 21. Okay. That's when you got the debate award? No, I worked in, at the UN. And then, it like literally has been downhill from there. No, that just means that you have another peak coming.

You've got another little  You've got a real good peak coming up. It's a pendulum, baby.  You're swinging hard into the good. You're like wrecking ball. You're Miley Cyrus on a wrecking ball. You're coming in and swinging into the good way.  go with that.  📍 All right, friends We are done here for this week Please click subscribe or follow or whatever the little button says so that you don't miss the weekly episode  we'd love it If you'd rate and review the podcast so that other people like you can find it  Better yet, if you know another busy woman send this to her  We love being here with all of you, truly, and we are so frickin happy to hang out with you on Spotify or wherever else you listen to your podcasts. 

See you next week, fuckers!  Oh my god.  Oh, so deeply unserious.  See you next week!       📍