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Hello, Hola, Guten Tag, Bonjour, こんにちは !
Welcome everyone,
this is a podcast for those wanting to learn about U.S. culture through Standard American English, also known as General American. We talk about various different topics related to the U.S. and the U.S.'s relations with other countries.
My co-host and I would like to think of this as more of a journey because you never know where it’ll take us. Plus, since the journey’s more important than the end or the start, we hope that you’ll be willing to join us!
Let’s see where it takes us!
Hello and welcome.
My name is Christopher Chandler.
And my name is Chris Schauer.
And we are Generally American.
In our podcast, we discuss events,
culture, whatever else we want from a
generally American perspective.
From our differing viewpoints, our goal is
that we can offer others and ourselves
nuanced opinions on fascinating topics
related to the US.
We invite you to be part of the discussion
and we hope that you'll stick around to
see where the conversation takes us.
So let's dive in.
And...
Welcome back.
We've been gone for a little longer this
time.
A little bit longer than usual.
And the reason being.
Oh, my God.
I swear I didn't do that on purpose.
I was a little sick last week.
I swear I did not do that on purpose.
My voice might still be a little off
today, but I'm like 95 percent good.
Well, that's good.
I'm definitely not sick, but I know.
A lot of people around me are sick, so I'm
really, really trying to avoid getting
sick.
I'm really trying to avoid getting COVID
again, because it's going around like the
flu real bad.
Is that what you had?
No, well, I didn't check, but I've had
COVID a few times and I always got real a
lot of muscle aches when I got COVID.
This just felt like this just felt like
the plainest, most normal cold I've ever
had.
Like, it wasn't pleasant, but it was.
Yep, I'm sneezing.
Yep, I have a light sore throat.
Yep, I'm a little tired.
And that's that was it.
Yeah, I remember COVID, but I haven't had
like when I have COVID, I had COVID about
eight months ago, I think, in April.
And I remember the muscle aches.
That was the worst and the shivers.
And I was in complete denial.
I told my wife, it's probably just a
really bad summer cold or something.
And she's like, no, it's not a cold.
It can't be a cold.
And she's super paranoid and always
checks, you know, does these little tests
to make sure that we don't have COVID
like, unless we're going somewhere.
So they won't like get anyone sick or, you
know, anything like that.
Infect anyone.
And they're always negative.
Like the tests were always negative.
And she's like, just do a test.
I was like, I don't have to do a stupid
test.
And then I did a test and lo and behold,
it was COVID.
So now I'm super paranoid.
You got to love doing those no swabs,
right?
I got the vaccine and I still got it.
Yeah, but yeah, those are really painful.
I've heard our COVID numbers are going up,
but the real scary thing going around town
here is there's a stomach bug going around
that lasts like a week.
Oh, I've had a friend like living in
misery for like a week.
Like he's been living, basically living in
a bathroom for a week.
It's terrible.
Yeah, it's that time of year again.
Yeah.
Although segueing into the weather, the
reason it is that time of year where
everyone gets sick is because everyone
gets together for the holidays and it's
cold outside.
We are still like in nice, you know, high
of low 50s weather here every day, and
it's every day on the upcoming forecast.
It's so bizarre.
So the weather here has been...
I don't know how to describe it.
I mean, very average, very normal.
So I live in the North, as most people
know, and it's pretty wet.
So it just rains.
It rains all the time.
It's been raining a lot for like the past
three or four weeks.
We did get snow, an inch of snow, which
honestly was actually a lot.
It made the news.
So we got like an inch or two of snow and
it was gone like three or four days later.
They predicted we were going to get like
six or seven or eight inches.
Obviously we didn't.
Um, but it's a lot worse in the South.
Um, so like in Stuttgart and Bavaria and
whatnot.
Um, and like in Switzerland, like they got
hit real bad with snow.
Obviously they need snow cause it's where
a lot of people go for skiing, but up here
in the North there's just rain, you know,
as far as the eye can see, uh, and no
sunshine.
It's pretty gray actually.
So everyone's leaving for the.
for the holidays to go to like Spain or
something.
It's it's weird because I'm still working
remote in the company I work for is based
out of Florida.
So I'll like I saw like somebody's profile
picture the other day on their email
account.
And it's just like their face.
But in the background, you just see like
bright sunshine, water, boats.
And I'm like, yeah, that sounds nice right
now.
Even though it's not miserable here, it is
just a little gray every day.
This has been like the most global
warming-y December I've ever seen in my
life in Montana.
It's bizarre.
Yeah, I really wish we would have snow for
winter.
Or, sorry, yes, for winter, but I mean for
Christmas, because that's right around the
corner.
I don't think we're gonna get snow.
I haven't had a white winter in like ever.
No, that's a lie.
I had it once when I was like 12.
But other than that, just rain.
I mean...
I'm okay.
I recognize it's a sign of a much bigger
problem, but I'm okay with it, especially
because, and I can't remember if I've
mentioned this, but I'm moving in about
like two weeks.
So I can't really say I want to carry
furniture and stuff through a bunch of
snow.
Yeah, yeah, I can understand that.
Yeah, so I won't lie, when this weather
started, like,
being the weird way it's been for like the
last month and a half, part of me was
like, oh, it'd be kind of funny if it just
stayed this way all the way until I moved.
And then it has, which is very abnormal
for this area.
Yeah.
So that's pretty much the weather report
for like the past three weeks.
So, but what's our topic for today?
Well, our topic is basically a recap
because, uh,
partly due to me moving in about two
weeks, and partly just because we haven't
done it in a while.
We're about to go on break.
We're gonna officially cap the season of
episodes.
So we're just gonna kind of talk about the
season.
There's a couple topics we're gonna do
updates on and recaps on, but for the most
part, this is just looking back at what
we've done and looking ahead at where
we're going.
Yeah, so I mean, it's been a really long
season.
I don't even know how to call it a season.
because it has so many episodes.
And generally, I imagine seasons being a
lot shorter.
We've done, I think, 42 episodes in this
season.
And funny enough, I got a message a couple
of days ago from the podcast host.
So we've been on air for three years, I
think, now.
So give or take a month or two, which I
think is a long time.
At least long for me.
Uh, yeah, we've been.
It's it's been fun to look back and see
exactly how much we've done.
When I was kind of perusing our back
catalog over the last week or so to see
what we need to talk about and kind of
where we what this season is, where it
started.
I kept scrolling and I wasn't seeing any
gaps anywhere.
There were a couple short ones that Chris
had to point out to me, but because I had
thought we had taken
like two to three month breaks here and
there, which I guess I just completely
made up in my mind.
We took month breaks at the most, but
we've been pretty constant, more so than I
thought.
Yeah, definitely.
No, we've taken breaks here and there just
because life gets in the way.
But no, we've never really taken like a
super long break, especially not for the
holidays, which are right around the
corner.
I don't have anything super special
planned other than, you know, just buying
tree, buying gifts, you know, eating all
that kind of stuff.
But, uh, yeah, I am actually ahead of
things this year.
And unless I forgot someone on my list,
you know, knock on wood, I should have all
of my gifts bought.
I got a bunch wrapped yesterday and the
rest are coming in the mail.
Yeah, I gotta order all of them.
But it's just usually me and my wife, we
buy gifts for each other, so it's honestly
a relatively short list, and it's
something I can do pretty quickly.
I did read an article the other day saying
that the average person, at least in
Germany, I don't know about the US, but
the average person spends around $600 on
Christmas gifts.
Did you spend that much?
It has to be done anyway, but.
Yeah, I mean, I bought gifts for 13
people.
Oh, so that's probably about right.
Yeah, I don't know if I'm going to spend
that much money.
Maybe like 100 or two, we'll see.
Yeah.
And that was in this year, 13 people is a
very small list for me.
Usually it's more.
So I kind of appreciated the easier
Christmas because I usually get really, I
don't know if I've mentioned this before,
I usually get really stressed out over
Christmas.
Like I start dreading Christmas shopping
in like June, which is not healthy at all.
That's what I do.
Yeah, that's, yeah, that is pretty
unhealthy, stressing about Christmas
shopping in June and July.
But that's when most of like the Christmas
music starts.
There's that meme with what's her name,
Mariah Carey.
Will they start to like unthaw her?
Yep.
Come like August.
You know what?
Thankfully at least in the US with
Halloween being such a big deal, they have
to wait till November.
They have to.
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
That's true.
Yeah, I do miss Halloween.
Wouldn't buy pretty fast and so did
Thanksgiving.
But Black Friday was here and I didn't buy
anything for Christmas.
I don't know.
Did you use Black Friday for your
Christmas gifts?
No, I only ever use Black Friday for
myself because I'm not put enough together
on Christmas shopping to be that far.
I usually don't even have my list made.
I bought a TV for my new place.
I ordered a 75 inch 4K TV, which is
sitting, has been sitting in my dad's
garage for like three weeks at this point
because there's really nowhere to put it
until I move.
I wouldn't even know what to do with a TV
like that.
I mean, I bought like an HDTV like 10
years ago and that's the only one I use.
I mean, I'm excited.
This thing weighs like 120 pounds.
I bought like,
the best TV mount on the market.
It's like a heavy duty, 125 pound rated
thing.
It like swivels out.
You can bend the TV at any angle.
I'm going to put it in my living room,
going to be able to see it from my kitchen
while I'm cooking.
I'm very excited for it.
That's awesome.
Yeah, and this and this last season or
actually in the current season, which will
be less, we'd spent a lot talking about
buying stuff like Black Friday or like Los
leaders.
It's the most American thing you can do.
Yeah, like capitalism in general.
So we spent like a lot of time just
talking about money.
And I think that's become more important
than ever, especially since all the wars,
especially the war in Europe, like Ukraine
and whatnot, where everything's just
become so expensive.
So I've had to cut back on luxury items,
so to speak.
But for the most part, things have been
kind of typical, I would say.
But for me, it was a little bit weird
you like I always hear from my parents
yeah you know when I was your age things
were a lot cheaper and then like slowly
things become like more and more expensive
over time but you never really notice it
because it just kind of creeps up on you
whereas like with the war when it happened
just like overnight everything just became
super expensive like I had to pay like 40%
more in gas like 20% more for bread like
20% more for like electricity just like
overnight everything became
And now it's slowly starting to go back to
like pre-war levels.
But I mean, it's still pretty high.
So definitely being more conscious about
like where I buy stuff and like how much I
buy.
Um, I know that we had mentioned talking
like ethically, like buying ethically.
Um, I try to do that.
It's hard.
It's really hard.
Um.
Not because like I'm an unethical person.
I would consider myself to be an ethical
person.
But honestly, I think everyone would say
that about themselves.
But it's hard buying ethically because
now, like all the fair trade products and
organic things, they're even more
expensive than they were before.
You know, so like a regular gallon of milk
here, I think is what is like two or three
dollars, maybe, maybe a little bit more.
And if you buy it like organically, like
organic milk, or whatever you want to call
it, then it's like twice that.
So it's really hard to buy all that stuff
because it's just way too much money.
Well, you know, there's the old standby.
There is no ethical consumption under
capitalism.
I think as a whole, that's a little bit
too doomer for me.
Like I try to be a little bit better
because it's true.
It's an absolute true statement.
But at the same time, I, I try to not give
my money to like super blatantly evil
people that make it clear.
They like hate me or other people, you
know?
But at the same time, there is no, there
is no version of you buying a smartphone
or most electronics where it's ethically
sourced, you know?
It's, it's just not a thing.
Yeah, I have to agree with you.
Um,
And I've come to accept that.
Because if you dig deep enough, you're
always going to find skeletons in
someone's closet.
And I think my position is to do my best
to minimize my impact or harm where I can.
Although I must admit it is rather limited
and imperfect, but I try, you know?
Yeah.
I mean- Like black fri- go on.
I was just going to say realistically.
It's something we do to make ourselves
feel better than anything and you need
some sort of organized action for it to
actually matter.
Um, but we, yeah, feeling better about
yourself is not worthless.
I mean, that's true.
I think it's more for the self than
anything else.
Um, I think that's one of the biggest
problems, uh, nowadays is it makes you
it makes you feel good, whether or not it
has an impact, I think is secondary for a
lot of people.
You know, it feels like you're doing
something, so you must be doing something
good.
But yeah, you know, you do what you can.
Yeah.
But I'll admit, like I going back to that
TV I just bought.
So I spent.
On Black Friday weekend, I spent, you
know, about an hour, hour and a half
researching like all the TVs on the
market, and I landed on this brand and in
the specific model.
And everyone was like, you know, it's not
the best TV on the market, but for the
price point, it's.
kind of shocking how much you're getting
for this price point.
You know, it's really good.
And I looked a little farther into it
like, oh, well, I kind of see the
unethical reasons why you're getting so
much at this price point.
And, you know, again, it's not that much
worse than most of them, because, again,
there's really no real ethical option for
most electronics.
But it's, you know, I made the purchase.
I didn't feel good about it, but I made
the purchase.
Yeah, I mean, it's not that we're not
trying to make anyone feel guilty about
like what they're buying like for example
I just try to buy less.
Um I definitely have been trying to buy
less on amazon and I have I have succeeded
um, I have the stats to prove it but Um,
like when black friday rolled around
people were like did you buy this?
Did you buy that?
Did you know look for these options?
Did you look for like these deals?
And you know what they say is if you spend
nothing then you save 100 percent So I
didn't buy anything because I didn't need
anything
But it was very tempting because
everything was 50% off.
So I really wanted to buy like a Kindle
scribe, whatever it's called.
And it was marked down 200 something
dollars.
I was like, well, that's a really good
deal.
But I don't actually need it.
I just want it because it's cheap.
And so those are like the traps I try to
avoid is like buying stuff just to buy
stuff.
But if you're actually going to use it, if
it's actually going to be in your
possession for a long time.
then I think it's okay.
Yeah, you know, at the risk of lingering
on this recap topic too long, that's
something I'm actually kind of worried
about moving.
So like last night, I was over at my
parents and we were talking about, cause
they're, I think I've talked about this
before, but they're remodeling it with me
and I'm gonna buy it from them and so the
whole process.
So we were talking, excuse me, we were
talking about getting internet set up and
I was looking at the available packages in
my area and I was like, oh,
I'm going to need to buy a router.
So, you know, I talk with some friends who
know more about that than I do.
They said, buy this one.
So I bought it.
I'm going to need a router.
There's no question about that.
Part of me wonders if because I'm in that
phase where I'm just going to need to buy
new stuff all the time, right.
I'm moving like, oh, I don't own.
I don't own like this thing that my
roommates have had.
And we've just shared forever that I can't
even think of right now.
Right.
But I'm going to need it eventually.
It's going to come to me and I'm going to
need it.
Eventually, I'm going to have to turn that
off.
Like, do I really need?
You know, do I really need this specific
kind of pan?
Do I really need?
So I'm.
I'm trying to stay aware and I'm curious
how that's gonna be like to stop buying
new house things, you know
Yeah, yeah, coming to a close on that
topic.
I think it was in Fight Club where they
said like the things that you own
eventually own you.
So you have to be careful.
I'm definitely not really attached to a
lot of stuff I have.
And so my wife and I were going to be
moving soon too, hopefully.
And so we're going to have to start, you
know, cleaning house, throwing things
away, and then possibly rebuying stuff we
threw away because we didn't know we were
going to need them.
So it's a fine line between, do I actually
need this or do I not want to throw it
away because I might need it in the
future?
Just like hoarding everything.
And yeah, it's really hard.
Yeah.
Well, you know what?
I can report back on what I made that
mistake with after we come back.
Like, oh, I threw out my, I threw out this
thing.
Turns out I need it.
Yeah, yeah, it's a...
Something that you've never used for like
10 years and suddenly you need it But you
threw it away because you've never used
it.
But yeah But there was another topic that
you wanted to touch on so that we covered
there were a couple and they kind of link
up So I was scrolling back and the episode
we talked about AI was January 2023 that
was 11 months ago.
It feels like 20 years ago.
I See, I feel the opposite it feels like
a couple months ago.
It's been a wild 2023 for me.
But I
AI has been growing so much so fast and
it's proliferation everywhere.
Like, you know, I won't pretend I know
exactly what you're doing on the internet
all day, but I see AI stuff everywhere all
day now.
And I have mixed feelings about it because
if people are like making little images
for memes and stuff,
Mm hmm.
I mean, that's fine.
I kind of don't like it still, but it's
like, look, this person was never going to
commission an artist to make a very
specific meme for an in-group of like a
thousand people.
That was just not going to happen.
And they didn't have the talent to draw it
to start with.
Like, it's not causing any harm.
But, man, you just get tired of like
seeing it everywhere.
And it just has this.
It's the little things and I've heard
artists explain it better, but it's the
little things that.
I as an artist can't really explain, but
your brain notices it.
It's like shadows and light reflections
off people and objects.
It's all wrong because the AI doesn't know
how any of that works.
It just copies what it's seen.
But your brain notices it, so it feels all
uncanny valley and wrong.
I've been noticing AI everywhere.
So when we talked about it first in
January, it was still pretty new.
So chat GPT had just been released in, I
think it was the end of November of 2020,
2022.
Oh yeah, I've seen, I even forgot about
chat GPT.
That's how, I guess it does feel like a
long time ago because that was the big
thing back then.
Yeah, so I mean, AI has been around
forever, quote unquote.
So it's been around at least since like
the nineties.
but it's never really been like that
useful because it's always been in its
infancy up until like five or 10 years
ago.
And even then it was pretty unknown.
So the majority of the people really
didn't know what AI was or had never
really come into contact with it like
consciously.
Like if you think about it, a lot of like
our smartphones, like our devices, iPads,
like e-readers, a lot of them use
some form of artificial intelligence, but
it's never really like in your face.
So you don't actually know you're
interacting with it.
And so I think for the vast majority of
people, chat GBT was their very first,
like interaction with quote unquote AI.
I have a huge problem with the term AI
because it's neither artificial nor is it
intelligent.
But still, that's a side point.
But now it's like everywhere.
So like I think everyone and their dog,
you know, has like AI and something.
Like I see it on websites all the time.
So my wife- Oh yeah, the barrier to entry
is nothing.
It is, it's like, it's literally nothing.
So like my wife reads the news a lot.
And so she goes to like various websites
and they have like chatbots built into
their websites and they'll give you your
horoscope or they'll tell you tricks about
how to improve your love life or whatever.
or they'll retouch some of your fancy
photos so that you look better for your
Tinder profile.
And it's super annoying.
It's like, it's everywhere.
And- Well, we're having full blown
articles written by AI now.
They just skim information and write an
article and it's not even always right.
No, it really isn't.
And the best way to know that these things
are not correct is if you're a programmer.
So-
I often use like chat GPT and whatnot to
help me like write programs or like to
give me advice on like certain, you know,
programming algorithms and whatnot.
And I'll run the code and it won't work.
And so it just like it makes stuff up.
And so if you have no idea what it's
doing, it looks correct.
And so that's the that's the beauty of
like using it for coding because you have
like automatic feedback about if it's
working or not.
because otherwise your program will just
crash.
But you don't know that with like an
article.
Like if it writes an article, like I don't
know, let's say like politics, and you
know nothing about politics, then it
sounds correct, but there's really no way
to like check it.
Yep.
And if I remember right, I think we talked
about this in our actual episode.
There was a lawyer who had a chat GPT,
right?
Like a brief and got in like huge trouble.
Such a terrible idea.
It's it's funny, though, like in one of
the things I remember seeing a few months
ago in.
I can't remember where I saw it, but
someone posted art and.
It wasn't it was AI assisted art.
I think the idea is you have AI like.
You basically, you know, you do the normal
AI thing, you give it a bunch of prompts
and it generates an image, and then they
go in and like actual edit it with like
art software or whatever they do and.
I think that's like a real gray area
because obviously that takes artistic
talent, but that's not that different than
having Chad GPT write you like a skeleton
program and then changing it up to what
you need it to, right?
So I have kind of mixed feelings on it.
I think my whole philosophy boils down to
something very simple, which is, are you
interested in like authentic connections?
because if you use these virtual reality,
which we'll probably talk about virtual
reality next year, but it's related to AI.
If you're at all interested in authentic
connections, then you'll know when not to
use these tools and when to use them.
If you're only interested in the end
results, then I don't think it matters for
the majority of people.
So going back to your example that you
mentioned like a few minutes ago, if
you're just interested in producing some
funny meme,
you're not really going to go through the
whole process of producing art.
You're just gonna use some cheap bot, have
it produce an image and be done with it.
But if you're really interested in
actually expressing your emotions,
actually making a connection with an
audience, then you'll sit down and really
make an image yourself.
And there is a fine line between using
tools and cheating.
And I think it's like it's very blurry at
the moment with AI.
Like, where is the line?
It's not as clear cut as it used to be.
Yeah.
And, you know, and I am not an AI lover
when it comes to art.
Like, I want to see, like, an individual
style and like, I want to see the little
quirks and the little flourishes and the
flaws, because that's all part of it.
I have seen some AI videos that I just
don't think you can make without AI.
Like.
like, AI is best at uncanny valley stuff,
and there have been people that have
leaned into it to make some of the most
interestingly horrifying flesh morphing
things I've ever seen in my life.
And not like full on grotesque, but just
like hard to describe.
And I think there's value in something
like that.
Like it made me feel something and it
didn't look
You know, I feel like the most lazy, you
know, type prompts, be dumb with it, AI
art, all looks like it was drawn by the
same person because it's just an
amalgamation of all the art it's ever
stolen or scanned.
This was kind of different.
Yeah, I mean, if you think back to like
the early 2000s, which was a very long
time ago, at least for us, and you think
about Auto-Tune and how that entered the
market and everyone, well, everyone who
was an artist.
was using auto-tune to make their voice
sound better.
And even now they're still using
auto-tune.
And so now it's nearly impossible to know
who can actually sing, like who actually
is really good at their craft.
And it used to be, we admire these people
for what they can do, for their abilities.
And it's like, if you're a really good
artist, be that poetry, actual art,
painting, whatnot, or singing, we were
like, oh my God, this person is great.
you know, that's what we admired them for.
Now it's kind of, are these people like
really good entertainers?
So it doesn't actually matter that they
can sing, it matters that they're
entertaining.
And so I think now AI is the same thing as
well.
Like it doesn't actually matter if you're
good or not, or are you good at selling
the illusion that you're good?
And so some people don't actually really
care anymore.
I'm not an expert on AI either, I do my
best to avoid it.
whatever possible.
You know, it's a trap, I would say, for
the most part.
And kind of segueing into the other thing
we want to talk about, but we've seen it
become, we're already seeing it become an
issue in taking some people's jobs.
I can't remember, I think it's called The
Finals.
There's a video, a fairly popular video
game that a lot of people are criticizing
because...
all of their voice acting is AI.
But what they say they did is they got a
bunch of voice actors and then had them,
give them samples, like they just recorded
their voice a bunch, and then they used
that to train AI so that they could say
they wanted to update the game real quick
to give this character the new line.
Then they have the flexibility of they
don't have to call that person back, they
can just.
have the bot they trained to steal to take
their voice to say whatever they want.
I really don't like that.
I understand the logistical benefits, but
I don't want like the uncanny like good
voice acting is really good voice acting
like good voice acting can turn an okay
product into like something amazing.
I just do not want to lose that.
I don't even want
Just a the tip of the iceberg and we've
only the beginning of going down that road
But I just want to squash that now and not
give anyone else any ideas That is crazy.
I didn't know that I do know that I do
know that they're doing that for movies,
which I think is something you also wanted
to touch on where They'll just have the
actors come in for a day or two have that
recorded and
all possible variations and then pay them
100 bucks or something and be done with
it.
And basically they have their own virtual
cash cow.
Yeah, you know what?
And this is my mistake.
I looked up the results of the exact
results of the writer's strike before we
started.
I forgot to look up the actor's strike.
But a big part of the writer's strike was
AI as well, because like we were saying,
there's just AI writing articles.
And, you know, it doesn't matter how good
they are, if they get you to click on
them.
And if it's for something simple like
sports, like.
This team beat this team last night, here
are the stats and the score.
Like, it's hard for the AI to mess that up
too much, right?
But again, like on a connection level, and
I'm glad you use that word, because I
think that's a good one.
Like you want to have a human connection
and art.
I do not want AI writing stories.
I don't even want AI writing like a
skeleton of a story and then actual
writers like, you know, like changing
words around to make it sound more human.
Like I want someone to have like, I want
someone to be inspired.
I want someone to have an idea, even if
it's a bad idea.
Like I just want to see a human's take on
an idea and see it executed.
That's what I want out of art.
That and that's how I that's how I feel
too.
Like I'm not opposed to AI I think that
like machines and humans complement each
other So like there are things that people
are incredibly good at which I think is
like for example like art And I use art in
like a very broad sense like poetry
writing like acting picture stuff like
that singing Playing an instrument like
art like people are very good at art I
wouldn't say that we're very good at like
math or anything or like things that
require high precision
Like machines are better for that.
Like machining or tooling, stuff like
that, welding and whatnot.
You know, maybe that's a bit naive, but
that's kind of how I split the whole
category.
And so I think if everyone stays in their
lane, that will end up with a good result.
I just find it kind of sad that the things
that make us people, you know, that make
us human, are being replaced by machines.
And...
then the question is like, what's left for
us?
Like, what are we supposed to do then?
Like, we can't work, we can't do art, so
like, what do we do?
Yeah, in a non-capitalist society, you
know, machines and AI, you know, replacing
our labor, would not, would be a good
thing, but in a society where everything
is based on money and compensation and,
you know, resources, it doesn't end up
well for us.
And before I forget, I do want to include
this.
Obviously the writer's strike wasn't just
about AI.
That was just a part of it.
A big part of it was streaming residuals
from Netflix and all the other streaming
services because the last time they
negotiated this was, it was more at the
infancy of streaming TV and the
compensation was not very generous.
So they, especially with basically all big
shows, it feels like,
I maybe not all big shows because, you
know, I don't know if you've heard of like
The Masked Singer and stuff like that.
Like, people watch network TV for that.
Like, I personally can't stand shows like
that because they drive me crazy and
they're so slowly edited to waste your
time.
But people love those shows and they watch
them on network TV.
But it feels like amongst like people I
know in my age demographic, nobody is
watching actual broadcast TV.
I feel like those shows, I don't know, I
feel like the whole concept died 20 years
ago after American Idol.
Like, all these, you know, The Voice,
American Idol, what is it called, The
Biggest Loser, all these shows, I feel
like they're so outdated and yet for some
reason they're still being produced.
I could never get behind them.
I mean, how many versions of The Bachelor
and The Bachelorette are there now?
There's like a million.
Yeah, I know.
But people love them.
So, I mean, and part of me is like, I
think they're like not...
Because they're like maybe not shows like
The Masked Singer, but like reality TV
like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette,
they're all obviously scripted and things
like that.
But people enjoy them.
Like part of me is like I wish they
didn't.
And I think it's contributing to society
brain rot.
But also, I don't, you know, who am I to
say you shouldn't enjoy what you enjoy?
You know?
Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to criticize
anyone for their taste because they might
look at my taste or your taste and say
like, oh, that's terrible, you know, so
it's in the eye of the beholder.
I just don't feel, I just feel like it's a
bygone era, you know, I just feel like
it's a product of a bygone era.
And I find it kind of interesting that
it's still a valuable form of
entertainment.
Another form, or another point of like a
bygone era are residuals, which is what
you mentioned a few minutes ago, because
After we had that episode a couple months
back, I was doing a bit of my own research
and a lot of people, so like a lot of like
lay people, not actors, a lot of lay
people don't really see the point in
actors receiving residuals.
You know, the common theme, you know, I
saw in the comments was, you know, why
should you get paid more than once for the
same job?
You know, like for example, I think a good
example or a bad example, sorry, but a
common example that was used was...
like the plumber.
So there are a whole bunch of people
saying like, you know, like think of like
a plumber, he comes to your house, he
fixes, I don't know, your toilet or
whatever.
And he gets paid once for the job.
Like a plumber is not gonna get paid like
10 times.
But then I thought that maybe that's not
fair because with actors, they're
continually using your likeness.
But I feel like a lot of people don't
really think that residuals are a fair
form of compensation anymore for actors.
And the proof of that is probably an AI,
which is why they just want to get rid of
the actors altogether.
But, you know, who knows?
We'll see.
Which is insane.
Like it makes so I've worked in like sales
roles for the last few years, right?
I was I was always paid a salary plus a
commission.
And I always felt like that commission
motivated me to like, oh, man, I'm not
feeling it today.
I don't really want to put in that much
effort.
But.
I kind of want to get paid more.
Like an actor is a salesperson.
Like they're there, especially with big
actors, you just put their name on
something and.
That is true.
Way more people are going to watch it.
And if they kill the role or it's like,
wow, there are there are movies that are
not good, but one actor did such a good
job or such an had such an enjoyable
performance.
People will buy it or go watch it anyway.
for one way or another, maybe their
performance is just so bad it's good or
it's hilarious or they're like the one
person really trying on a horrible cast
and that's kind of funny.
Like that's happened and I think people
like that should get paid more for it.
That is a valid point and so we did talk
about influencers and advertising so that
was like a couple months ago and that was
like my personal pet peeve.
like the rise of influencers as, I should
call it a job, it's really hard for me,
but like people see it as being a job, and
advertising.
And you have, I don't know if you know
this, but like they're like virtual
influencers.
Have you heard of that?
Like people only on the internet?
Is that what you mean?
No, it's like they're not actual people.
They're like AI bots basically.
Like Vocaloids?
Yeah, yeah, something like that.
But they're like, they're not people at
all.
They're just like generated by AI.
And so this is super common in, um, anyone
can feel free to correct contact us and
correct me, but it's super common in like,
uh, East Asia.
So like in Korea and Japan and in China,
you have these companies, like these
agencies producing influencers with AI.
And so you'll have, I can't remember her
name or its name.
I don't know how to address it, but, um,
You know, you have like this AI influencer
who's 21 years old forever, because it's
just computer generated.
And they're super popular in certain Asian
countries and they'll sell products like
makeup or phones or clothing, or they'll
be ambassadors for certain companies or
certain people.
So, you know, so even influencers could be
replaced by AI if people fall in love with
machines, you know, that's the thing.
If you don't value the connection to
people, then you can be replaced by AI.
So it's pretty scary.
That's a little horrifying.
I mean, I guess Vocaloids are kind of like
that, but that's probably as far as I knew
about that.
I mean, it almost kind of sounds like
VTubers, but just minus the actual person
behind it all.
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty much what it is.
Because that makes sense to me.
Because VTubers like...
Like they'll s***.
stream for hours at a time and you know
they're kind of putting on a character but
you can't stream for like hours a day for
like months and years on end without like
developing like real connections to like
the people watching you and like letting a
little bit of your real self out yeah and
so i think that's been like now that i
think about it i think that's been one of
like the common themes of this season um
because i think like we've been doing this
for almost two years
And so like, is there a common theme
throughout all of our episodes?
And I feel it's like the connection that
people have because we've talked about
influencers, we've talked about AI, we've
talked about art, we've talked about
countercultures, subcultures, like
generational shifts, and it's always been
about like, you know, people seeing eye to
eye, like trying to find a connection.
And so for me, that's the most important
thing.
Uh, and traveling.
So you also said that, uh, so you've, you
were also, you also traveled a bit this
year.
Yeah.
To Vegas.
I did go to Vegas.
I don't think I really have any more
interesting, although I will say I don't
know if I mentioned this when we all got
laid off at our last job.
So I worked with my best friend.
He was on a vacation from Vegas, landed on
his way back home, landed in like Salt
Lake or wherever on his layover flight,
opened his phone when he landed, saw the
messages.
So he found out he got laid off like on
his way back.
So that was horrible.
But I do want to talk about a trip I went
on a few weeks ago.
I went to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to watch
the Chiefs of Packers play because my best
friend is a Packers fan.
I'm a Chiefs fan.
So we got to make sure to go anytime they
play because it's not very often.
And you want to talk about connections.
That city is about one thing.
They are about the Green Bay Packers
because it's not a big city.
It's about, it's a little over a hundred
thousand people.
It's about the same size of the city I
live in now.
And they have one of the largest NFL fan
bases there is.
I think their stadium holds like 70 some
thousand people and it's basically always
sold out.
There is a line of a hundred plus thousand
people
get season tickets.
Oh, wow.
Like we went on a.
We went on a tour from a guy who's lived
in Green Bay, sounds like his whole life.
And he said, yep, I'm number one hundred
and one thousand something, something and
something.
I will definitely die before my time comes
up, but I will pass that down to my to my
to my children.
And.
It's it's crazy out there.
They act they do have industry like
they're the Green Bay Packers because they
were originally sponsored by like packing
plants and oh Wow, I guess Green Bay,
Wisconsin is like the toilet paper capital
of the country like they make tons of
toilet paper They have a lot of paper
mills.
They hit they have real industry
But everything in that town, again, it's
they are dedicated to that football team.
If you win a Super Bowl as a coach, they
name a street after you.
There's Packerland Avenue.
I think there's like Mike McCarthy Lane
and.
It's it's everywhere.
There's statues everywhere.
There's landmarks everywhere.
There's memorials everywhere.
Um, it was so bizarre, like.
NFL stadiums are so big, like they're.
You don't realize how big they are until
you're like walking around one, but
they're insanely massive.
And their stadium is just in the middle of
a normal neighborhood.
It's so weird.
Like you don't even notice it until you're
driving past it.
And you can see some of the signs from a
distance, but there's like a mom and pop
burger place across the street.
There's normal houses.
Those houses have skyrocketed in value
now, by the way.
Like it's absolutely insane because people
rent them out for game days and parties
and stuff.
So they're worth like millions upon
millions.
But it's not going to.
I didn't know all that.
It's so I definitely knew that the Green
Bay Packers were like a very beloved team.
But I didn't know that the culture went
that deep.
Oh, it's so that team shouldn't exist.
It's one of the like it's over 100 years
old.
and they almost went under a few times.
So they had to basically establish,
because the packing companies who
sponsored them back in the day went out of
business like once or twice.
So one of the players, the quarterback at
the time, Curly Lambeau, who Lambeau Field
is named after, and a paraphrasing from
all I learned on this trip, but basically,
I think he went to the town hall and was
like, look,
If you guys want to have a football team
in this city, uh, you need to give us
money to do it.
I'm going to sell stock in the team.
You don't get any benefits.
You don't get any residuals.
This is a donation, but he had all these
certificates, you know, saying you could
be an owner of the team.
And ever since then, the team, it's the
only team in the, in the league.
It doesn't have an owner.
Um, it's a nonprofit.
Uh,
They've sold stock like four or five
times.
So they technically have over half a
million owners.
And so it's a community owned team.
And they basically, anytime they, the
first couple of times was like, we are
gonna stop being a team, please save us.
Now it's like, hey, we're doing this major
renovation.
So we're gonna allow people to buy stock
and we're gonna.
I think the last one was a few years ago,
they put in like the biggest, uh,
Jumbotron, the biggest screen in the
league, which I got to stand right
underneath.
It's insane.
Well, there's two of them cause there
needs to be one on each side of the
stadium so everybody can see.
I don't know.
It's I don't have enough time to go into
detail on everything.
It's a really special and unique place.
Like there's really I've never been
somewhere where I felt like everybody like
this city exists for one thing.
And everybody, everybody's all about it.
And everybody's 100 percent bought in.
You know, they have other things going on,
but the reminders are every.
Yeah, maybe I'll maybe I'll get the chance
to check it out sometime.
Yeah, what's kind of fun is so we set
Lambeau Field had a major renovation, I
think like in the 70s or 80s, I can't
remember.
So they basically added like extra layers
onto it, like they built upward.
So they had original bleachers in like the
lower bowl area, and that's like the old
part of the stadium.
They allocated 18 inches per seat.
which is now what we would consider pretty
small.
And when they put like actual chair seats
in the upper part, they're bigger, but
they can't expand the lower 18 inch
bleachers.
Because if they did that, they would lose
like 10,000 seats.
And when you have a hundred plus thousand
people already waiting on season tickets,
what are you gonna do?
Are you gonna tell a season ticket holder
like, hey, guess what, you're going back
in line.
Your seat no longer exists.
So when you're, and that's where we were,
you get really cozy with everyone and it's
kind of fun.
Like it's almost like being at like a
concert and you're kind of chest to chest
with people.
And I don't know, it was cool.
There's, if anyone's ever in the area for
the heck of it, and you wanna go watch a
football game.
And I've talked before about how I feel
like the fun part of
about going to a baseball game is it kind
of feels like you're watching history in
motion.
Going to a game at that field is like
walking into history because that's what
they're all about.
So I I've ranted long enough if you if you
have any questions about it if something
you feel like I left out you can ask but I
think I gave my spiel.
No I don't think it was a rant.
I'm definitely glad you're passionate
about football because I'm not really
passionate which is
disappointment for a lot of people who
meet me here in Germany because football
is also like American football is also
extremely popular here so everyone's
talked to me about you know like what's
your favorite team what was your favorite
game did you see the Super Bowl and I'm
like no I'm sorry you have the wrong
American I'm not really good at sports um
no so that's it so uh like Chris said
we're gonna be gone for
A couple of weeks, we should be back
around February of next year, so we have a
lot to do.
But, you know, I really enjoyed the
season.
We really talked about a lot of different
topics.
I think the season just went on for so
long because we just never...
I just never stopped it.
So come next year, we'll be doing a new
season.
Yeah.
So Christmas will be upon us in a couple
of days.
So I hope everyone, you know, enjoys the
holidays, whether you celebrate it or not.
Definitely hope that you all have a great
new year.
Hopefully I'll be able to fulfill all of
my goals next year, but I have to start
working on that list.
At any rate, thanks so much everyone for
listening.
I really enjoyed it.
We really enjoyed it and we'll see you all
in the new year.
Yep.
Everybody Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.
See you next year.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.
See you then.
Bye.
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