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Conversations from the Hype Network; Business innovation, technology, and current events from a faith-filled perspective.
Arun: To the Hype Pod.
Officially streaming live on X.
Let's go.
Come on.
This is
Ps Adam: X plus at the
moment, I feel like.
Cause last
Arun: week we did
Ps Adam: Spaces.
Yeah,
Arun: last week we did Spaces.
And now
Ps Adam: we're going to actually live
broadcast with film, with full HD.
Can I just say how quickly
Arun: this podcast evolves?
Week to week.
It's called innovation, man.
It's called innovation.
That's what we do.
That's what we do.
Ps Adam: I bring the faith.
You guys bring the innovation.
All right.
Arun: Well, then officially
let's just welcome.
My name is Arun Koshi.
Yes.
One of the hosts of this podcast.
The half of the time that I'm here
and then we have Pastor Adam and
Pastor Vance with us here today.
I'm excited for today's episode.
I'm really excited because one of
the topics that we have for today
is actually blue sky versus Twitter.
And so we're doing this
live streaming on X.
So I'm excited to get into that.
But before we do that.
Yep.
Pastor Adam.
Yes.
In Australia.
Yes.
They just announced that
they're passing some laws.
No, good stuff.
Okay.
Maybe good stuff.
We'll get your thoughts on it.
Hasn't been good
Ps Adam: for a while.
So.
They, they want to sweep
Arun: legislation to ban
social media for under 16.
Under 16.
Oh
Ps Adam: yeah, I did see this.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
So, lemme see up.
Is that good or bad?
So I think there is, okay.
I've got a two part position on this.
Okay.
Uh, I, I do as a parent Yeah.
Of, of teenagers.
Literally.
I definitely think that, um,
there should be an higher age
for engaging in those platforms.
Okay.
Um, however, I do know the secret agenda
behind Australia, which is censorship.
Australia is very pro censorship, pro
social, uh, like it's very socialist.
It's very pro censorship.
There's a lot of things you can't get.
I think being in America, people, Uh,
really don't, uh, appreciate how free
America is the constitution of free
speech or that kind of stuff that doesn't
exist in other countries, literally.
And so what people take for granted
here in America is in other countries
they long for, and this is just another
level of censorship and control.
And the, really the prep, I
wish the premise was for the
safety of the safety of kids.
It's for the control, the
mind control and yeah.
And where did
Vance: that come from in Australia?
Yeah.
Ps Adam: Oh, I mean, it just
comes from the socialist party.
Like it comes from, uh, the, just
the, I guess just the mindset
it's, it really started back.
I think, I think we saw Australia
used to be a bit of a wild west, you
know, back in the day, you know, it
was crock hunter, you know, it was
like, you could do whatever you want.
I remember growing up and, you know,
fireworks, there was no, And then all
of a sudden you had the, uh, the Martin
Bryant massacre, uh, where, you know,
in Tasmania, which was the moment it
was like Australia's, it was one of the
biggest massacres in the world where he
just went and shot like a lot of people.
Uh, and so that literally that weekend
there was like right in the prime of it.
It was like, we've got to ban guns and
everyone was so devastated by that thing.
Everyone was like, yeah, let's, and
they did this big gun buyback scheme.
And the moment that the guns were
bought back and everyone hand over
their guns, all of these new rules,
new regulations came down without
any fear of backlash from society.
The, you know, I think what we've
got in, in, The U S is a history
of maybe a bit of uprising.
If the government pushes too hard, right.
You know, I mean, that's what happened
this past, what happened is even what
happened, I think, you know, uh, you
know, even in, uh, what we've got back
in COVID and, uh, during the black lives
matter kind of portion, there was a lot
of different, you know, tenseness, but
that tenseness is what keeps a government
a little bit in check that they're like,
Hey, the people could form a militia.
The people could rise up, but if
the people are unarmed and the
only people who are armed is the
government and the military Well,
then there is no people's voice
Vance: interesting.
Ps Adam: And so I I've really seen that
That's why I'm an advocate for the right
to bear arms just simply from the the hey
We got to keep the government in check
Arun: So just to bring it back to
the, yeah, that got really heavy.
Hot take from a
Vance: Californian hostage.
Yeah.
Welcome.
Welcome to X man.
That was my original topic.
Come on.
Arun: This is going viral on X now.
So we're getting guns.
That's what I'm hearing.
No, but bringing it back
to the original idea.
So this is some like good insight
into what may be going on underneath.
Yeah.
Um, but what do you think about the
government actually trying to, if, you
know, for real reasons, you know, Trying
to protect kids from social media.
Well, I've just never seen the government
Ps Adam: that concerned
to be honest with you.
Like if this was, if this was a parent
group that was lobbying the government
and a parent group, it was initiated from
a grassroots action of school boards and
you know, a backlash from, you know, uh,
cyber bullying and all that kind of stuff.
I would go, Hey, I could see the
origin of this in the government.
I go, okay, cool.
We'll, we'll respond to what the
people want, but being anytime it's
government officially like initiated.
That's where I get my little.
Flags, it's like, okay, you
haven't cared about kids before,
what's the agenda behind this?
And maybe that's just a skeptical
view since of what I've seen in the
last, you know, decade with election
cycles here and censorship and really
under the Biden administration, the
incredible push to censor and words
of disinformation, misinformation,
all these words that came out that
ultimately proved to be just a control.
You know, there was something I listened
to interesting that was The definition
of democracy has actually changed
from the individual having democracy
to the institution having democracy.
And so it's a, it's a really tricky
way to change the definition to
still push democracy, but neutralize
the individual voice, right?
So that we need to have
a democratic institutions
rather than democratic people.
And, um, you know, just, uh, in many ways
silencing the populist vote, the pop,
and that's what I think countries have
always been afraid of is the populist
vote in a country rising up to power.
Right, right, right, right.
And so
Ps Adam: I think any time that the
government has a, an agenda, they
push it through a filter that seems
good, like the gun buyback scheme.
Mm hmm.
But then you're like, Oh, you got us, man.
Now we're stuck.
And how do we unwind this?
Because it's the government.
Arun: Yeah.
And I think the question for both of
you guys is like for tech companies
out there right now, I think the
pushback or maybe the response to
this is the idea of versus parental
control versus government control.
And so for you guys, as parents, how much
of like the parental side of, have you
seen, or are you going to implement for
your kids with social media and stuff?
Cause it seems to be, that's what
people are asking for is like
tech companies should give us more
tools to, I think it's, I think
Ps Adam: it's funny, right?
How, uh, there's a trend amongst
a lot of tech CEOs that their
kids aren't on devices, right?
You know, there's a lot of apple
employees and people like that who
work with this day in day out social
media who don't even have it themselves
or don't let their kids on it.
And, uh, so that's got to tell you
something, hang on, what, what are
you seeing that we're not seeing and
the effects of that kind of stuff?
Um, we, we definitely kept our girls
back until they were like, you know,
the 13 age and all that kind of stuff.
Um, and, and I think we
took the approach of.
There's a world that they're going
to get into eventually, I, as a
parent, don't work off protection.
I work off preparation.
I can either just choose to
protect my kids from everything
by, by not exposing them to it.
But guess what?
There's going to be a shock day when they
get old enough to make their decisions
and then they weren't conditioned for it.
So or could I just take the approach
of preparing them and walking through
them the dangers of it and giving
them, it's like driving, right?
I'm going to coach them.
I'm not going to put them in a car and
say, go now you're legally allowed to.
He's a license, but let
me be in the car with you.
Let me teach you how to drive.
Let me give you the confidence and
the courage to navigate the pitfalls
that come with something so good
as driving that at the same time
is like terrifyingly dangerous.
Vance: What has it been for you guys
sometimes when, uh, there's been
a season in social media where you
feel like, man, this is affecting me.
Like, has there ever been a season
where you guys have had that?
And have you put boundaries in place or
new mechanisms in place when you feel like
it is impacting you in a negative way?
Personally or Ikea?
Personally, personally.
And I have a follow up question to that.
But yeah, you
Arun: can go first.
Ps Adam: Oh, I mean, I, I don't know.
I, I tend to probably approach social
media a little bit differently.
I definitely have always
approached social media as a
tool more than a, uh, an escape.
I think it's the way you approach,
what do you use social media for?
If it's your escape, your downtime, or
to be noticed, I think then, I think it's
I think you, it can get a hold of you.
I've never, you know, I've talked
to like even my siblings and
different people like, Oh, I'm on
a, I'm on a break from social media.
I'm like, okay, that means
it must've consumed you.
Um, I've never really felt like that.
I'll go weeks without even looking at it.
And I'm like, Oh man, I
want to, you know, engage.
I should engage.
And I should, you know, post
what we're doing at the church.
I should put some life out there
in the post world of, of, you know,
sermon clips or something like that.
So I think maybe I've approached it
differently, uh, rather than having
to put rails or You know, boundaries.
Yeah.
How about you?
Yeah.
Arun: Yeah.
For me, you know what it is?
It's, it's kind of to that, to that
idea of like social media has never
been the problem, but I can tell when
I'm using it more, it's a symptom of
something else underneath that I'm
not like dealing with or going about.
So it's like, let me say like
work is like getting really
hard or something like that.
It ends up being maybe
unintentionally an escape.
I go, let's go scroll Twitter
and start reading stuff.
Go scroll Instagram,
YouTube, whatever it is.
Um, just consuming content.
That's not my actual responsibility
that I need to be doing.
Um, and so from that aspect, it feels like
it's just, it's out to kind of go down
when you, instead of just dealing with
what you have to deal with in that moment.
Um, and then the other aspect is
this idea of like, we've talked
about before comparison is like the
thief of all joy and even without,
you know, having that in your mind.
So you just subconsciously are
seeing all these things and it
can kind of get in your head of
like, Oh, I wish I was doing that.
I wish I was doing that instead
of what I'm doing right now.
So sometimes I can see myself
going down that hole if I'm just
like consuming too much of that.
Um, I've never had to, because I'm
not like a big, you know, social
media guy in terms of like putting
out content, um, have to like put
rails in, but for like YouTube, like
consuming Tik Tok, I deleted Tik Tok.
That was like an insane doom scrolling
of like COVID was I wasn't sleeping.
Like it was, Oh yeah, maybe
I'll check a little bit.
And then just, it's just four hours later.
Yeah, it's crazy how you don't,
I don't have enough time.
And then you're on Tik
TOK and time just, yeah.
What do you call it?
Doom scrolling, doom scrolling.
Yeah.
Constant.
And I mean, it's getting worse now back
then I thought it was bad and you just,
I talked to kids nowadays and this
idea of like brain rot, like literally
content that's put out there and they
know it, they know it's called brain rot
for like, they know that it's content.
That's not useful at all.
But they bring it in and they consume it.
And they're just part of this culture.
That's just like,
Ps Adam: do you think there was
a, a, a compulsion though to stay
current or is it entertainment?
Is it pure entertainment?
Like, Oh man, I really want to see that.
That's what I was going to say.
I've
Vance: never viewed it, uh, from
the lens of escapism, um, which
that's an interesting thought.
Uh, I want to think about that more.
Um, it's been in seasons for me, just
the best entertainment, to be honest.
Like sometimes like, And I used to
love the NBA, but the NBA is so soft
now that it's like boring to me.
And then I'll go on Instagram.
It's just fun.
Like I have my friends there, you
know, engaging, uh, reels kind
of knows me and things like that.
And, and, um, I've never even felt like
I've been in seasons of doom scrolling.
I know TikTok can probably be that.
But I, I feel sometimes sucked in, right.
And, uh, some boundaries and seasons
I've had to put in place is like,
no, I'm not turning this off, but I'm
going to just do it on my desktop.
Ps Adam: Yeah.
Vance: Right.
So it's like, I still need to kind
of accept the collaborations from my
team, putting stuff out of overflow
and things like that, but to limit, you
know, what I'm using as entertainment,
um, let me put some guardrails.
I just say that to say.
I am very skeptical about a government
having real intent about these bands,
but I do find it interesting that
if we're even talking about at this
level to a level of maturity and
age that we're at, it is probably
dangerous for certain level of kid.
You know what I mean?
Ps Adam: Well, I mean, especially when
you consider it is the tool for, uh,
if it's not censorship, it's control.
It's narrative control.
Um, you know, what, what we've got
with the, if you think about the, The
question is, is social media an actual
entertainment tool or is it another
tool for the government to control?
Okay, you think about the World
Wide Web, it started as a military,
um, uh, Uh, tool, it was at DARPA
was, was what started in the 1960s
and then they released it to closed
communities, but then they released
it on the worldwide web to be able to
create populist conversation that would
pull down government entities, right?
And they could help control the narrative.
Is social media now just another form
of that, that, you know, we are, what
we're consuming entertainment wise
has got a lot of filters through it.
I mean, that stuff does.
Make you go hang on but at the same
time How much can you be the rock in
the river that stops the flow or breaks
the flow and how much do you learn how?
To paddle.
Arun: Hmm.
Yeah interesting you mentioned it, but
like you've talked about all these tech
CEOs their kids Yeah about all these
successful people whenever they go on
a podcast to do motivational stuff They
say the number one thing they cut out
is usually screen, most of this screen
time, like they monitor all this stuff,
but it's so interesting that it's
also such a tool for like engagement,
marketing, like all of it, even like
you're saying with, so like your work
requires it for me specifically, I'm on
crypto Twitter constantly because it's
like a flow of information sentiment.
Yeah.
So it's like you said, you can't be the
rock that's like blocking the flow, but
you have to learn how to swim in it.
Um, and so it's really interesting, but
for you were saying you'd never had to put
guardrails in, but have you just learned?
No, I have, I have put, oh, you put
like minor guardrails in, but have
you learned also in this aspect of
like how to kind of swim with it?
Vance: Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I've, I've never really
been in full on season of like,
I'm completely turning this off.
This is toxic.
I think there are parts of
it that are definitely toxic.
Right.
But I'm eyes wide open about it.
Yeah.
Um, and I do like the framing of
knowing, like predetermining in your
mind, what you're going to use it for.
Yeah.
Right.
It's the seasons when I'm sucked
in because I'm just on default mode
that I'm just like, Oh, this is
just entertainment that it's like,
it's really easy to get sucked in.
Right.
Um, and when I think about that in the
lens of, you know, You know, Lennox just
turned nine and then she's going to be 14.
I think there is some danger
that as parents, we should
be very mindful of, right?
Like I found that with the YouTube.
Um, I feel like YouTube, but I also
Ps Adam: think every
generation, sorry to interrupt.
Every generation gets tougher.
Vance: Yeah.
Ps Adam: Oh, like when I think about
Lenny, your kids compared to even what
I was navigating with my kids, which
was only like, you know, 10 years ago.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think it's even, it's, it's
almost like exponentially harder.
Every generation is a very good topic.
I want to touch on this a little bit.
I've had this debate.
Arun: I've had this debate a lot about
our parents versus our generation.
This is the next generation.
Is it getting harder or is it
just a new set of problems?
Oh yeah.
That's a good question.
Different HUD.
Yeah.
Different.
Yeah.
So just a new set of problems because
we, our parents, my parents specifically
growing up being first generation, you
know, coming here without technology.
A lot of stuff they had
to figure out themselves.
Now you have more information, but
now you have more problems at the
same time, where it's, it just feels
like it's not harder specifically.
It's just a different,
I think it's different
Ps Adam: pressure.
So I think the hardships in our
parents generation was doing things
like getting places, accessibility,
you know, you had to phone call and
somebody had to be home to talk to them.
And so there was like, Life moves
slower because you know, if they weren't
available, I'll call them tomorrow.
You know what I mean?
Not just in another 10
minutes or hassle them, right?
So there's, I think it
was a different hardships.
I think what we deal with now is different
pressures because of the virality of
things because of that you get to see
real time how lazy you are compared
to somebody else who's killing it.
There's a different pressure head
game that you never get to switch off
because of the availability of it.
Yes.
So the slowness Actually used to serve
you that will, no one can do anything,
you know, everyone's resting right now.
Uh, but now you can never rest because
Your sleep time is someone's awake
time on the other side of the planet.
And so they're putting out content.
And I think that that puts pressure
on kids today to be like, man,
you get real time optics at
what your competitors are doing.
Vance: Yeah.
How do you manage that flow?
Right.
So what I was saying about YouTube
is that that is tough because
the YouTube algorithm, even on
YouTube, kids is relentless.
And there's so much bad stuff on there.
Like really, really bad kids.
Yeah.
Even if you try to, um, put some
guardrails on the settings and stuff like
that, like just really bad stuff that you
wouldn't agree with values wise, right.
As a Christian.
And so we just completely deleted all
that and there's Christian versions
of YouTube, like Minnow and things
like that that are really cool.
Like that has Bible, man, and
you know, all that type of stuff.
And so there's ways to kind
of, yeah, they've remixed it.
Right.
All these things, right.
On Minnow and things like that.
And so there's, there's clever
ways you can kind of manage
the flow, but I would agree.
I do think that there's
new pressures, right?
I was even thinking literally yesterday,
how there are so many mirages.
Right in our day right now.
And usually I can tell it's
a mirage because it's like,
I can't get enough of it.
I need more, we need more
ARR, we need more users.
We need more customers.
We need more employees.
We need more offices.
We need, and it can't get enough.
Like you, you have this thing where
it's like, Oh, if, if we release this
and then it gets that, and then we
reached that level, then we're good.
You know?
But then when we reached it, cause
we've reached a lot of milestones
at overflow, it's kind of like.
I covet the next day,
you know what I mean?
And then I was, I was thinking about
it yesterday cause, um, we're kind
of, you know, in transition, uh,
housewives and things like that.
And we're kind of in a situation where
we're just sleeping with our kids,
um, on this, uh, mattress right now.
And Emerson, she was sleeping,
but she kind of turned to me
and started snuggling with me.
And it was like a moment where.
This is all I need.
You know what I mean?
It was like, it was like, I was
thinking about all these things.
Like I want more, I want more.
And then when I felt that
I was like, that's enough.
Right.
And it's like the things that
are real, real in this life.
It's enough, right?
The things that are the mirage, you
feel like I can't get enough up.
And that, that's the pressure
of our context, Silicon Valley,
America, this day and age 2024.
Abundance.
How do you manage the
accessibility, the access?
It
Ps Adam: definitely feels like
there's an insatiable appetite that
nothing satisfies that in that social
media pressure, hardship world.
And I think that this is the
differentiator between a faith
filled builder and just someone
who's out there trying to make a name
for themselves is that, you know,
knowing how to be satisfied, the
word that the Bible uses content.
Vance: Yeah.
Good.
Ps Adam: I've learned how to be content.
At every season.
I don't think that takes the drive away.
It's not like a diffuser of drive,
but I think it's a satisfaction
and the celebration at every level.
Vance: So I want to, I want to pull on
this thread because, uh, this is not
fully baked, but I've been thinking
about it because On this same thread,
the reason I was thinking about it as
a few weeks ago, I get invited to this
kind of motivational speaker talk, right?
I'm not gonna name the name, but he
said this one thing, he had a lot of
good stuff, but he said this one thing
that I was kind of wrestling with.
He, he goes, you know,
um, all my friends are.
Retiring, uh, that just seems to me that
the minute you do that, you're dead.
Right.
And what he's figured out, uh,
is that there's no finish line.
Right.
And so, um, you know, there's always
more and he kind of said that, right.
And then it got me to thinking
about this concept of more, right.
And he's, he's an older kind of
motivational guy and I was just thinking.
I don't know if I want that.
I think I want a finish line.
Ps Adam: I think my
finish line is like 45.
I'm kind of in the same zone.
As you're saying that, I'm like, Oh,
please let there be a finish line.
Only because like, I, I mean, I've
got so many things I like to do that
I would love more time to do them.
Arun: Can you imagine being on
a treadmill that never stops?
That's what I'm saying.
Can you
Ps Adam: imagine enjoying a treadmill?
I'm so glad
Arun: there's no,
Ps Adam: come on.
Well, so
Vance: then I started breaking it down.
I'm like, okay, well, if I want to
live a life where there's a quote
unquote finish line, maybe it's a
healthy exercise to define financially.
Um, uh, what is my enough?
Cause
Vance: if I think, if I think I create
that line, I haven't done it yet,
but if I create that line and I'm
like, I could probably do that at 45.
I think that's probably going
to be a great sensation.
I haven't done it yet, so I'll
report back, but I just feel like
that feels better than no finished.
Ps Adam: Okay.
Let me ask it.
Let me throw another little
spanner in the works.
Is the goal to get enough so
that you're not having to, uh,
like you can do whatever you want
without worrying about funding it.
And when does, when do you stop
being reliant on God for provision?
Vance: Yeah.
And that's why it's not fully baked.
Cause this is why I
want to discuss it out.
Right.
Because more, more of what I'm
saying is it's enough for me.
And then everything on top
can be bonus generosity.
Everything on top can be bonus purpose.
Everything, you know what I mean?
Like, it's like, it's enough for me,
my kids, maybe their ability to, you
know, Get ahead of where I started right
in life and that's the enough right?
But then from there if i'm able to get
there by the grace of god, yeah, then
it's uh, not working for it anymore Right.
It's working from it.
It's working from this new
solid foundation uh is Is
my half baked thought of it.
Arun: No, no, no.
I think it's a really good, yeah.
To touch on too, because what, what I've
always thought about is like, especially
with, um, crypto where it's just money
flowing in, if you don't ever have a
line, that's how you end up holding a bag.
Like it's, it's very common in crypto.
You always end up holding the bag when
you don't know where you want to pull out.
And the hardest thing to
do in crypto is to sell.
It's easy to buy.
People just can, Oh, this,
this coin may have everything
is a potential and promise.
You have potential and promise.
You always going to be able to buy it.
But when you have this potential and
promise, it's so difficult to sell.
So how do you, how do you build that in?
It's a muscle.
You got to train.
Do you have to
Ps Adam: preset a limit
and go when it hits that
Arun: and it's discipline and it's
not because when it hits that, it's
like, Oh, it's going to get there.
And it's like, Oh, I'm here.
Well, maybe I'll set a new
one, but it can turn so quick.
It can turn so.
And that's the inner talk.
But it's, you have to set those lines.
It's kind of like you were
saying, maybe I set myself a
finish line and you get there.
You might just move the finish line.
Yeah.
Right.
And so it's the same thing.
It's like, it's discipline of setting
these like micro goals and saying,
this is what I'm going to hit.
And then you hit it and you
celebrate it and you really do
have to start celebrating and
then I think you train yourself.
Gratitude in that moment.
Yeah, I think so.
I think so.
I think
Ps Adam: it's maybe the limit set just
to apply the crypto goal to this is okay.
I've got to celebrate something and the
insatiable appetite is always wanting
more that can turn into greed, but can I
be satisfied or content with some wins?
Pull some out and let some go.
Yeah.
Vance: You know what I
Ps Adam: mean?
Vance: I love that.
And I love that we're talking about
celebration and gratitude, right?
Because.
Those are the actual
things that are eternal.
So there's this like, um,
motivation that we have.
There's other spiritual tools that we
have on this side of eternity, like faith.
Uh, I don't know when you see God face
to face, how much faith do you need?
Right.
And, but there are certain
things where it's like, Oh, wow.
Contentment through
celebration and gratitude.
That's actually an internal virtue.
That's something that
we're doing in heaven.
Yeah.
Right.
Which is interesting.
Yeah.
Arun: And I want to pull this
back actually, because these
conversations we're all having are
with, you know, mature individuals.
We're all going through this thought
process, but kids don't have this, right.
Kids don't have this.
They're still maturing
through that process.
And then we say the social media
kind of pressures that go on to them.
So I want to bring this back to
your kids, if you don't mind.
They're still of that age where you're
trying to figure out, you know, how
you want to do social media for them.
Do you have some ideas about how
you want to introduce them into the
social media world where A lot of
it is I want to put out who I am and
not who I really am or who I want
to be seen as not who I really am.
Vance: I haven't honestly
thought about too much.
Um I feel like and it's probably gonna
come quick quicker than I think but
I feel like they're years away from
Needing to they're not asking for it.
No, they're not asking for it.
They kind of Watch me sometimes if I'm
scrolling through and I'll, you know,
use it as a moment to just talk about
different friends and people at church
and, you know, things like that and
use it as a conversation, but they're
not desiring having their own account.
We have accounts for them that we
post on their thing just as a record.
It's kind of like a photo album.
Um, but we don't even
do that as much anymore.
Right.
Um, and so I think, I don't know, I
think my number might be 16 like before.
I don't know.
When, when did the girls start?
Well, I mean, if
Ps Adam: they were, it was 13
when they were able to start.
And if I was to go full Alex
Jones on us, I would say that
that we've always had limits.
Okay.
You know, the government has always
had like, you know, this age you
can drink and this age you can get
married and this age you can get a
tattoo and this age you can do that.
Now, isn't it interesting that
they're saying, well, hang on,
we, we want to lift the age to 16.
For social media, but yet at nine,
you can transition your gender.
That's crazy.
Like it's, it's, it seems out of place.
That's where all the narratives
that they're saying, like a kid can
choose what gender they want to be.
Oh, but no, they can't, you
know, choose to engage in
social media until they're 16.
Maybe that's the solution to kids
wanting to transition is because
they're not on social media and
they're not, you know, Because no kid
comes up with that without influence.
Arun: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think it's like, where do
you get these ideas from?
And I think this is where we come back
to, you know, what's happening in the
home, what's happening with your parents.
I think, as a parent, that's
kind of where the importance of
having those conversations is.
Because if they don't have it with
you, this is like A book that I'm
reading with the men that are parents.
If they aren't having it, they're
going to have it with the internet.
And this is the
Ps Adam: same argument with, uh,
you know, bringing Bibles back
into schools and public schools.
Right.
Does that just make parents go, Oh, cool.
The school teach my kid
Bible or do parents go?
No, I'm still going to
teach my kid the Bible.
And I think we forfeit to
everything else to parent what
Arun: we should be parenting.
Yeah.
That's good.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, let's transition topics.
I think we've, we've been on this for
a little bit and we're going to talk.
Now we're live streaming on Twitter.
I think we should talk about blue sky.
So yeah.
So blue.
Yeah, so blue sky.
Uh, are you on there?
I'm not on there yet, but
I'm going to check it out.
It's actually I think it's like
Just their numbers are going crazy.
But let me, let me go back a little bit.
I'm going to go get into it, but
it's a decentralized social media.
So it's essentially, uh, Jack Dorsey,
who was the previous CEO of Twitter.
This is what he is now doing.
And he's basically creating this
idea of no centralized owner
of your social media content.
Um, and so right now they've, since
the election, so since the election,
everybody knows Elon has been supporting
the current president or future president.
And since then, there's a lot of
people that have said, you know, we
don't want to support what Elon's
doing, which is X and Twitter.
And so now they've kind of, you
know, left the platform and to,
and this is where, but they haven't
Ps Adam: left the country.
Like I said, they
Arun: would.
I don't want to get into
all that, but yes, exactly.
And so this is where Is this a competitor
Vance: to Farcaster?
Arun: So Farcaster, yeah.
It's in a similar space.
It's in a similar space.
This one is getting much more traffic.
Way more traffic.
Way more traffic.
Yeah, exactly.
And so they've gained millions
of users since the election.
They've passed 24 million users.
Um, they've gotten 5 million in
the last, I think, two weeks.
They're at the top of
the app store charts.
Um, they are absolutely crushing
in terms of new users per second.
Um, and so right now I
think Um, but is this
Ps Adam: going to be threads?
I literally going to be threads,
threads did the same thing.
You know, I remember, uh, Mark, you
know, celebrating a million and 10
minutes and all this kind of stuff,
and then now they have to try and
push it into your Instagram feed to
give and get you to have a look at it.
Yeah.
Arun: Let me give you one pro for
why you might want to use this.
So there is a, um, publication
company, the onion.
I think you probably, you
guys have probably seen it.
Yeah.
So they were trying to buy info wars.
Um, and also their assets included,
which is their Twitter account.
And so Twitter said, no, you
can't do it because you don't
actually own the Twitter handle.
Right.
Right.
And so they were able to then block the
purchase, the purchase of, well, just
the purchase of the Twitter handle.
Okay.
Um, and so blue sky is saying,
well, your content is yours.
Your users are yours.
Your account is yours.
So you can take.
Essentially what you're building on blue
sky and take that and go anywhere else.
Cause you own all that content.
And so they're building an extraction on
their social like graph that you can kind
of carry with you to other platforms.
And so that is somebody other
platforms can build on top of.
And now you can move from, let's
say the decentralized Twitter to the
decentralized YouTube with your social.
Vance: It might have more merit than
threads from the standpoint of threads.
Threads is just like a
bunch of nothingness.
It's just like, it's not
Arun: really a copy.
Vance: But it's also not valuable.
It's just like frivolous things, right?
Um, and why people are an ex is
because it's become news, right?
Uh, it's always kind of been that.
If.
Blue sky is a departure of a whole
partisan group to go somewhere, somewhere
else to have real conversations.
It might have utility.
This is so crazy.
Cause it might be like the new
Fox and CNN, but digitally,
Ps Adam: yeah.
I feel like it's going to be like,
you know, uh, conservatives on X.
And you got your left wingers on blue sky.
Yeah.
One of the things it's going to be nice.
It's probably gonna be kind.
Yeah.
You're probably going to
get your account shut down.
If you say anything, you know,
propagandist or something that is
misinformation or deemed disinformation by
the same team that were at Twitter before.
Arun: Yeah.
One of the things is, I don't know if
you've noticed recently, maybe not that
recently, but you can't post links on.
No, on Twitter.
Like now they basically
don't let you go out.
I think, I think that might be the case.
Interesting.
Um, or at least that's one of
the arguments for blue skies that
now you can kind of do all that.
Like they're not enjoying the
censorship of what, you know,
X is really doing right now.
And so blue skies is kind
of like open platform.
I feel
Vance: like they semi have a point, right?
But, um, it's self serving because
it swung the other way when, you
know, Jack Dorsey was in charge,
but, but to be fair, You know as
much as legacy media is propaganda.
I also feel like x is probably propaganda
I think it's a bit more free for sure
because um, you know, there's a lot
of left leaning friends I have that
still show up on my feed, right?
Um, but elon definitely
gets the most airtime.
Yeah, he's always my first
Yeah, i'm like, okay.
This is this is Fun for Elon.
He just gets to have a massive megaphone.
He's having
Arun: fun.
For sure.
He's having fun.
At first, I thought it wasn't him.
I thought there's no way.
No, it's him, man.
But then I saw him at a UFC
fight and he was just posting
memes in the middle of the fight.
He is on there.
He is loving it.
He's loving it.
Ps Adam: Yeah, I think the
blue sky thing, um, You know,
maybe it is a competitor to X.
Maybe it's a just completely
different edition.
Um, I just don't think, um, I don't know.
I just feel like there is a, we
don't need more platforms, but maybe,
maybe I'm a, in the minority there.
Arun: No, I agree.
I think it's hard to say just like
the Reds will see time will tell,
um, building a whole new user base.
It's like the hardest
thing, so hard to do.
Um, you can get a few people that
are angry that want a new platform.
I think you can get
Ps Adam: 23 million angry people.
I think you get 50 million angry people.
But is that going to be just a
greater echo chamber of those angry
people who get bored with each other?
And does it just become
a nice place to talk?
Like, does it become Facebook?
Arun: Yeah.
There's a lot of places like this.
Like you can go on Reddit right now.
You can keep, I mean, true social, you've
Ps Adam: got a blue sky.
You've got so many of these sub,
you know, domains that just become
an echo chamber that's boring.
Arun: Right, right, right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You want the diversity.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think the biggest thing for
me though, in pro here is the
idea of nobody owning your data.
I think obviously I worked in.
So explain
Ps Adam: what that means.
So I can, I can't, you know, be
a RuneSuite on, uh, on blue sky.
Cause you're a RuneSuite on X.
Arun: So.
That's not the case because X owns Arun.
sui, and so everything that
I did on X, X owns that.
I don't actually own any of that data.
Now, if I go to Blue Sky, I create
my account, whatever my social world
looks like there, I own all of that.
Is what they're pitching, I haven't used
it yet, but that's what they're pitching.
But you don't create
Ps Adam: on X, you post on X.
You create off X and then
you post it to X, right?
X is just a platform.
It's no like any
Arun: of my tweets, anything that
I do, any of my posts, any of my
articles that I put on like this,
we're posting content right now.
They own it.
Yeah, they own it.
Ps Adam: Yeah.
They own it on the X platform.
But if we post on another side, right,
Arun: right, right.
We own it on the other side.
Right.
But everything is a
Ps Adam: site platform,
Arun: right?
But the, your users, your following,
you can't bring that with you anywhere.
Like let's say I wanted to take
my X, account, all my followers
and move to another platform.
Technologically, it's not possible,
but also like they would never
let you then like the onion sell
your account to another person.
Like if I wanted to sell
it to Pastor Vance or Rune.
suite and he can change the name
and do whatever, but he has my
whole following, I can't do that.
And so, or at least they can block it.
I mean, I could do it under the table.
It's
Vance: the same thing with
financial services, right?
So payment processing.
So a lot of people don't realize
if you have, let's say your church
donation platform on Stripe, right?
They actually own your tokens
and your recurring schedules.
And so if ever they wanted to shut
down people, not being able to give
anymore because they disagreed with
you on a policy reason, you can't
actually transfer those tokens.
Givers those tokens and the
recurring schedules over to
a different processor, right?
And so a lot of what we do at overflow
is trying to innovate that so there's
more sovereignty We're not completely
doing it decentralized right now, but
there's other ways where you can have
what's called payment orchestration
and also token vaulting where you can
make copies of all the tokens in the
schedule so that Uh, if something happens
with one processor, you can transfer
those schedules to another place.
Yeah, it's kind
Ps Adam: of terrifying having
someone have that much control.
I think we're talking about debanking
the other week and just, you know,
when you're so reliant on one platform.
Oh, yeah, they decide to shut you down.
They hold the power literally Um,
but to be able to have decentralized
ownership of your own content or
your own users or your own payments
Vance: That makes sense.
It's it's funny, right?
Like It's because Mark and Dreeson
started talking about debanking.
Now everybody's sharing their story.
Um, yeah, and
Ps Adam: that's just coming out now,
Vance: literally, but it was kind of
happening in plain sight and everybody
was kind of laughing at Kanye.
Ha ha.
You can't log into your chase,
but that was actually, should
have been a significant moment for
all of us to be like, wait, how
can I log into his bank account?
That's crazy.
Arun: Yeah,
Vance: that's great.
That's his money.
Arun: That's a big, right.
Vance: And so it's like,
It was already happening.
And obviously, apparently it's been
happening to crypto founders, to a
bunch of business owners for no reason.
I mean, obviously for political reason.
Right, right, right.
Yeah.
Ps Adam: Yeah.
I mean, for no reason.
Uh, legally.
Legally, yeah.
But yeah, just because they're
not liked and, you know, it's, uh,
it's challenging their control.
But
Arun: yeah,
Ps Adam: it goes back to what you
Arun: were saying at the
beginning of the podcast, control.
It goes
Ps Adam: back to what I was saying.
It goes back to control at the
Arun: beginning.
It's all about control.
It's all about government control.
It's all about control.
All right, well, we haven't
talked about AI in a while.
Um, I want to give you guys some updates.
It's getting better every day.
Hey, it's been great.
I don't know.
I have been
Ps Adam: on
Arun: Grok a lot.
Really?
Is it good?
You like
Ps Adam: it?
Yes.
I've become quite a Grok fan.
Um, we were a little use case.
We were chatting about one of our
new campuses that we're launching and
we're trying to really, uh, come up
with a marketing idea and campaign on
how to reach this particular region.
And I won't give too much away,
but I just thought, you know what?
I'm just going to go to Grok.
says.
And then I just kept saying,
make it more this, like that
country, make it more this.
And what it came up with was like, I, I
feel like I would love to do a full Grok
campaign for one of our church launches
and just see how well it resonates.
Um, because I thought it was pretty smart.
Yeah.
Arun: I will say on that topic.
So AI voice is something that's
been getting a lot better.
People have been using
it to create chatbots.
Maybe if you have, you know, a
service agent on your website
to help you with stuff, instead
of just a chatbot you now have.
A full fledged kind of person you
can call and chat with, um, to talk
about this Hume voice, 11 labs,
big, big players in the space.
Um, and so I wanted to talk about
this really cool use case that I saw.
So have you ever been called by a scammer
and, you know, it's from a call center.
It usually sounds like, you know,
they're trying to sell you something.
Um, so this is guy called
Kit, Kit Boga on YouTube.
If you ever want to go down a
rabbit hole of watching, he scams
scammers, but he tries to find.
The scammers and expose them.
Um,
Ps Adam: and he can see them.
You can see them.
He has a whole bunch of, yeah, they have
Arun: like a whole thing
where they freaking out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So he's done a bunch of these things
where now he, um, there's this thing
called AI granny, which essentially
simulates, um, uh, grandmother kind
of the ones that they're targeting.
And it basically.
Waste scammers time so it'll go through
this whole process of it'll answer the
call and respond to them Like it's a
granny out there and all its purpose
is to do is to just lock it up the
call Just elongate the call and then
the second thing that he did was what
you were saying Which is he will get
the scammers voice Replicate it with
AI and then just talk back with the
scammers voice And so I just love these
kind of ideas of what people are doing.
I love
Ps Adam: it too because he
could be Doing something very
productive for his own life.
Like imagine that evil genius
towards something good for his life.
Arun: I will say this is for good
though, because a lot of people
are getting affected by these
scams and it's so unfortunate.
They're targeting a lot of old people
that don't have like the technological,
like savviness savvy to like prevent this.
Yeah, I
Ps Adam: had a situation recently
where I, um, I was expecting a phone
call that I needed to answer, but
I never answer like just numbers.
And so when I answered this call
in my mind is like, you know,
don't say the trigger words
like hello or yes or whatever.
So like, cause apparently they're
words that can unlock your account
and different things like that.
And so I, I just said
the weirdest word to.
Cause there was no action going on
on the phone and it was the person
that I needed to speak to, um, yeah.
Arun: But yeah, have you guys,
it was actually pronto, I did the
Italian version, but there's a lot.
I mean, I don't know how the Apple, um,
kind of phones are working now, but like
Google has been doing a lot of this.
Early on with, uh, phone screening.
So you don't get a lot of
these calls initially, cause
they'll screen it for you.
Decent Apple's pretty good at it.
I think, and like what they're
doing now is like, they have a full
screener for you where it's like now
they'll, they'll have a, your Google's
AI will have a conversation with
the person at the end of the line.
That's crazy.
And then they'll give you a, like
basically a rundown of what's happening.
Um, was that on the new update?
Uh, on Androids.
You
. .
Vance: Well, okay.
Do you, okay.
So on the, on the iPhone
update, I don't like it.
Oh, talk about it.
I don't like that iPhone.
Well, I just, I haven't got it yet.
Oh, you haven't got any?
No.
Okay.
Is this Apple Intelligence update?
I don't know.
I haven't used that yet.
Oh, okay.
But just all the interactions,
it's so confusing to me.
What do you mean?
Maybe I gotta use an example.
So, so like, um, when you are
interacting on text, uh, in different
emojis and things like that, um,
it's just the, the colors are.
To me more kiddish.
Oh, I see.
What like the heart more
cartoonish heart something, you
know, all that type of stuff.
And then I can't find
photos and videos easy.
Oh my gosh, it's so hard.
Freaking hard to find.
I'm so confused.
Your
Ps Adam: favorites folder or something.
Oh, stupid.
Yeah.
I'm like, can I revert back?
Can I go back to Oh yeah.
They should find, that's
when they go too far.
Yeah, that does.
Is not user friendly.
Yeah,
Vance: literally.
It's crazy.
Yeah,
Ps Adam: I'm with you
on that, on the photos.
So I do have that update.
Okay.
and I do have the pink heart.
Yeah, it's weird.
It's like cartoony.
I'm not a pink heart guy.
Yeah, I'm not.
Yeah, it's weird.
I want a full blood red one.
I don't have any of these
Arun: problems over on Android land.
Vance: You
Arun: have different problems.
Nobody wants to talk to me.
Vance: He can, he can fold his phone.
I don't have any friends.
He can fold his phone.
I can fold my phone.
That's on the phablet.
But can I
Arun: tell you one really cool thing?
Please.
Because you guys are probably going to
get this with Apple Intelligence soon.
But I was just in a full conversation with
somebody and I was talking about, Oh, it'd
be nice to know if this place was open.
And my phone heard me and said, and sent a
text and said, Gemini will call the place
and figure out if they're open for you.
Wow.
Stop it.
And it went, called them, had a
full While you're on the phone.
No, I wasn't even doing anything.
It was, I was just chatting
in real Oh, real life.
In real life, we're chatting with people.
It did it for me in the background
and it gave me the information.
Of what they got is that on right now?
Is it on?
Yeah, we could ask him.
Can we try?
I would not do a live demo like tech demo.
It's like the worst thing to do.
I'll do it after the thing
I'll do it after because
this will be a very terrible.
Don't be afraid Come on, because
I didn't do it intentionally.
It just happened.
I do have a story though.
Yeah,
Vance: uh when The apple watch just came
out medi was still at apple Right, and
um, he got one of like the first versions
and we were at a korean restaurant
You Uh, me, Kim and Maddie and Dora.
And then, um, he's just like, guys,
game changer, Apple watch, like amazing.
Um, and it's like, yeah, many
like shows what, what does it do?
And he was like, watch, watch call Kim.
Call, call Kim.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Call him.
He's like, no, no, it's
usually really good.
Arun: Fair enough.
Ps Adam: Fair enough.
Arun: But yeah, I'll show you guys after,
it's really cool, it's really cool.
When we're off the air.
When we're off the air.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's gonna be super impressive.
It'll be really, guys, I promise, it'll
be really, really cool, definitely
trust me on this, trust me bro.
Um, I think the last thing
I want to chat about.
It's just hype network.
What's coming up?
We're getting to our last
couple of podcasts of the year.
Um, do you guys want to chat
a little bit more about Dubai?
Any more information that we have?
Yeah.
So we're
Ps Adam: actually, uh, I
will give a little update.
Uh, we did previously release the dates,
but we may be in a little bit of flux,
uh, just because we're entering into
a new territory and, uh, there is some
new cultures that we have to navigate.
Okay.
Uh, one culture is Ramadan.
Okay.
And, and just when we had planned
it, uh, apparently there's some
conflicts there with some social.
Some local stuff.
So, uh, just it will happen.
Uh, we, we are facing, I mean, we're
innovating, all right, we're trying
new things and we're going to see
what can, what we can do, but, uh,
we are making some, some headway, uh,
long story short, uh, the hype world
is very, very exciting right now.
As we kind of push forward and, uh, what
we've got planned and what we're cooking
up for 2025 is going to be a whole new
level, uh, of what we're offering and how
we actually build this community stronger.
And, uh, yeah, I, I feel like you're
probably a week too early on me
revealing some really cool stuff, but.
Cause I don't want to backtrack again.
Arun: Yeah, that's not, I think we get,
we gave that out and people were pretty
excited about, people are pumped about the
Vance: location is not changing.
Arun: It's
Vance: just, uh, sometimes, you know,
in innovation, the release date shifts.
But it's worth,
Ps Adam: Don't I know it?
Don't I know it?
Don't I know it?
Speaking as an engineer.
You're
Vance: speaking my language.
And that's okay.
That is okay.
You're still loved.
You're still seen.
Motivational.
Motivational talk to end the pod.
Um, anything else you guys want to
share before we wrap up for today?
No, I'm excited for, uh, the hype world,
Passeradam, and I'm excited how it's
going to be a critical part of building
the kingdom, uh, and even in alignment
with VyVision, it's really cool.
Yeah.
Ps Adam: Uh, anything else?
We've got a hype session next
week in London and we've got a
hype session in Frankfurt, right?
So next Thursday is London.
Next Friday is Frankfurt.
Uh, we'll be in King's cross London
and, uh, we'll be in downtown
Frankfurt, uh, next Thursday and Friday.
I believe the dates.
I don't know.
What's the dates next Thursday?
Friday is it 11th, 12th, 12th,
13th, 12th, 13th, 12th in, uh,
oh, the Fablet is so handy.
It's got a calendar.
Was that Gemini?
Arun: Well,
Vance: you would
Arun: imagine the day you
Vance: would know those dates.
If you were, uh, A hype member membership.
com, but also follow us
on Instagram as well.
Arun: Yeah, yeah, all the
information hype network.
org.
If you want to check it, if you guys
have any feedback, we're on our last
couple of podcasts of the year podcast.
It's Christmas time.
Merry Christmas time.
Hey, what's
Ps Adam: your Christmas wishlist?
What are you hoping for?
Arun: Crypto sweet,
sweet, sweet all the way.
Not that I'm pumping it,
not financial advice.
Do your own research.
Yes.
Arun: Maybe invested.
Ps Adam: What about you guys?
I mean, I was telling you guys
before I'm, I'm, I'm getting
into some, uh, bow hunting.
And so I want to, this, the next
evolution of Adam, the hunter, Adam,
the hunter, you know, I've, I've been
dialed dialing in the sniper rifle.
I can do that from long distance, but
just the intimacy of a kill from a
bow, I feel like is the next evolution.
Arun: You don't be really cool
Instagram or whoever, social media,
if you're out there, you need sub.
Pages within your page and Adam
the Hunter, should be your journey.
Oh, I might just change my whole
handle or, yeah, you might have to.
You might have.
Most of my
Ps Adam: page on Instagram
Arun: is my shooting and hunting.
Yeah.
Now, anyway, as my mom would say,
Ps Adam: yeah,
Arun: like she says this about a
lot, about about church, and she's
like, every time she sees it,
she's like, your pastor's so good.
He's just bringing souls.
Where is he bringing soul?
Where is she?
Where is she?
She's, she's a Fremont.
She's out here.
Why isn't she
Ps Adam: coming to Vive?
Arun: Oh, she goes to the
church that I used to go to.
Oh, the Indian one.
Shout out to Christ Church of India.
Christ Church of India.
Indian squad.
That's where my family's at.
Every church.
Christ Church of India.
In California.
In California.
Vance: That makes a ton of sense.
It does, doesn't it?
Can I just say about those churches?
What a closed market.
Arun: It makes sense.
It really is.
I love that church.
But I will say growing up, every
time you saw a non Indian in the
church, you were like, Oh, how did?
Vance: You say, did
they not read the sign?
You say, you say closed market.
They say market domination.
Full market.
Arun: Pastor Vance, before we
close, anything on your wish list?
Vance: Oh man, it's a fun month for me.
Uh, Kim is an awesome gift giver.
So she always makes it special for our
kids, but it's Wesley's birthday on
the 25th, so she's the greatest gift.
And then it's Kim's
birthday two days after.
And so just a bunch of experiences.
It's gonna be fun.
No, but what's on your wishlist?
I don't know.
I'm not like a guy that
really ever makes a wishlist.
So that's really, really hard for me.
Yeah.
Um, I always tell my friends, they always
ask me, I'm like, I just want peace, guys.
And they hate it.
Every time I say that, they're
like, I want you all to get along.
We can't do that.
I'm that guy.
Arun: All right, guys.
Well, it's been a great
episode of the podcast.
And, uh, we'll check it out.
Can we do a quick shout out
Ps Adam: to
Arun: Daniel, the producer over there?
Setting all this up.
If you saw the behind the scenes
one day, check out our socials.
Yeah.
And,
Ps Adam: uh, we'll snap that
of Daniel behind the scenes.
I want to say how quickly
Arun: she put all this together.
So we appreciate you doing it.
Let's go.
All right, guys.
Cheers.