WEBVTT 1 00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:21.559 You are listening to the Age of Transitions. I'm your host, 2 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:25.559 Aaron Franz. My website is the Age of Transitions dot com. 3 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:27.640 Please go to the site to find the podcast and 4 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:31.440 support the show. Have shirts for this show for uncle 5 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:36.960 the podcast. Have my Patreon campaign. Have been posting videos 6 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:40.039 from the Singularity Summitt two thousand and nine to Patreon, 7 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:43.520 so you've been enjoying that material. Also have my book 8 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:47.320 Revolve Man Scientific Rise to Godhead that's available in ebook 9 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:52.600 or paperback copies. Also have the affiliate links at the 10 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:56.280 Age of Transitions dot com Libsyn. If you use promo 11 00:00:56.359 --> 00:00:58.840 code Fronds, you get two months for free. And if 12 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:01.920 you're ever buying any books online, remember to click through 13 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:05.640 the link to bookshop dot org on my website. Anything 14 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:07.480 you get there, I'll get a small amount back, So 15 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:12.120 thank you for doing that everybody. Typically on Friday nights, 16 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:16.840 I'm live on the Oceleradio network Ocelli dot com and 17 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:21.120 this week was the same, but the beginning of this 18 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:24.319 particular show got cut off. We just didn't have the 19 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:29.280 recording for it. I have lots of technical difficulties going 20 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:33.519 on across the web, and it's not only the ocell 21 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:37.159 radio network experience experiencing this, but seems to be everywhere. 22 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:41.000 So the beginning of this interview is cut off, but 23 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:46.400 it's an excellent interview that I had with Gil Duran, 24 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:52.040 who is an independent journalist and he runs the nerd 25 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:56.879 Reich dot com, which is an excellent blog website all 26 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:02.640 about the rise of the network stay the techno fascist 27 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:07.400 billionaires that are going about taking over our government right now, 28 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:11.120 and I was very lucky to get him as a 29 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:14.840 guest at the Age of Transitions. This is an excellent interview. 30 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:19.919 So right here this interview, I'm just gonna play as 31 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:21.800 much as I have, and most of the interview is 32 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:26.639 still here. This was right as Gil was talking about 33 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:31.159 what he's doing with the nerd Reich and his plans 34 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:37.719 in breaking these stories, and his plans for the future 35 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:40.319 and what he wants to do, So the interview is 36 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:43.680 picking up with that, and then I get into asking 37 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.400 him questions about transhumanism and we go from there. So 38 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:50.199 I hope you enjoy this interview. Thank you very much 39 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:51.240 for listening, everybody. 40 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:54.039 So the first part was to get the media to 41 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:57.039 do it, and it's only happening now, right I talked 42 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:59.120 to the New Yorker this morning. That podcast just went 43 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:03.120 up into the New York Times right now, and so 44 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.280 people are starting to tune in. The next part we 45 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:08.840 get will be to get people to act, people in tech, 46 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:11.840 people with money, people who have the resources to fight back. 47 00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:15.680 And so I don't plan to stop. And there's just 48 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:18.360 a lot of work to do in the near future 49 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:20.159 and probably in the far future as well. 50 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:23.719 All right, yeah, man, there's so many things in there. 51 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:29.080 First of all, that so the California Forever Community was 52 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:32.520 your four a into this. I do remember you writing 53 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.039 about that. That's fascinating right there, and I think I 54 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:38.080 might want to return to that. But another thing you 55 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:43.400 said in there about this being an ideology for these guys, 56 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:47.439 these Silicon Valley billionaires, That's. 57 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:48.479 Been an interest in mine. 58 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:54.000 I've been around making commentary about the ideology of this 59 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:59.520 sect for a while now. Years ago, I stumbled upon 60 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:04.960 this concept of transhumanism, and this group is very much 61 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:11.599 in that world. They are that world. Just briefly, have 62 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:15.759 you touched on transhumanism at all? Have you seen that 63 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:19.839 you're aware of that part of Definitely. 64 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.839 I became aware early on in my research of the 65 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:33.040 concept of test creel right transhumanism, extropianism, singulatariaism, cosmism, rationalism, 66 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:38.800 effective altruism is it? And then what's the last one, Oh, 67 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:42.439 long termism, which is kind of the most important one. Right, 68 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:46.879 there's this bundle of weird culty beliefs coming out of 69 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:49.920 Silicon Valley, and transhumanism is this idea that we're going 70 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:51.920 to merge with machines, right. 71 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:53.279 And become extra human. 72 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:56.079 And you've got people now going around in this Silicon 73 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:59.720 Valley milieu saying they might not die, they might live 74 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:01.759 for they're going to beat death and they're going to 75 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:05.920 basically merge with computers in AI and you know, take 76 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:09.600 special powders and drink extra version olive oil and live forever. 77 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:13.560 And this sounds insane, but Google Brian Johnson, right, don't die. 78 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:16.399 I call it the cult of don't die. And that's 79 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.079 definitely something I'm looking deeper into. 80 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:18.199 Now. 81 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:21.800 I'm getting opportunities to go deeper with my work because 82 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:25.000 there's a you know, suddenly paid subscribers have shut up, 83 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:27.680 I should say, And that's really helped because all the 84 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:29.439 work I did on this over the past year was 85 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:32.240 self funded. You know, I wrote some pieces for a magazine, 86 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:34.639 But I don't know if you've freelance doesn't pay much. 87 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:36.839 It paid all those stories, paid about a month's worth 88 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:38.160 of rent in San Francisco. 89 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:40.199 But I didn't do it for money. I did it 90 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:41.199 because it had to be done. 91 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:45.120 And now that I have an audience showing up and 92 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:47.759 I can fund, then they're they're funding my work. I 93 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:49.759 plan to go deeper into some of the stuff. Back 94 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:53.839 in September, this guy, Brian Johnson, you're familiar with him. 95 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:58.000 Yes, yes, I know Brian Johnson. Yeah, the heat, the blood, 96 00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:00.000 the transfusions of his son's blood. 97 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:01.079 Right, yeah. 98 00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:03.600 That and he's got some Don't Die thing and he 99 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:06.439 sells this powder and claims he's got an algorithm to 100 00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:10.199 kind of hack longevity, which I think, according to science, 101 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:14.480 is not a thing. But I went to his Don't 102 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.680 Die conference in San Francisco and it was pretty surreal, 103 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.439 and I took a lot of notes there and planned 104 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:23.279 to write something about that, but I got into some 105 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:25.800 other stuff and I got to return to that. But 106 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:29.160 you know, there's some really weird stuff happening. And I 107 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:31.000 went there and there's all these young people that're kind 108 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:33.279 of recruiting into this, who just want to be tech 109 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:35.319 millionaires or billionaires and think, if I hang out with 110 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:38.000 these guys and go along with their stuff, maybe they'll 111 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:39.839 I'll get in the door somehow. So there is this 112 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:42.879 sort of recruitment funnel, and he's taken this thing all 113 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.839 over the world, doing this little don't Die conference. Although 114 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:49.279 the you know, there was definitely some problems. There wasn't 115 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:52.120 enough food, and some of the stuff was off schedule, 116 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:54.439 some of the pre It was basically a conference of 117 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:57.839 people presenting weird health tech things, and some of that 118 00:06:57.920 --> 00:06:59.879 was kind of light, so it was a little flimsy. 119 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:02.480 And but you know, the whole thing. 120 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:04.519 Is, you know these people are when you look at it, 121 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:08.319 when you look at transhumanism and you look at cosmism 122 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:11.480 and all these other isms that they're coming up with, 123 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:14.399 it seems like they're really trying to form a new 124 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:19.079 sort of cult religion based around tech. And like cult religion, 125 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:22.560 which is something I'm very familiar with, there's some when 126 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.560 you look closely enough and you're skeptical, you see all 127 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:28.720 the seams and the flaws and the cracks, and they 128 00:07:29.079 --> 00:07:32.560 depend on finding worshipful people who just want to believe 129 00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:36.160 to go along with their bullshit, basically. 130 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:37.079 Got it? 131 00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:41.879 Yeah, now on, I mean along these same lines and 132 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:49.120 staying with the ideology concept. I have been doing this 133 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:54.000 media myself in an alternative media sense, and I have 134 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:58.800 definitely delved into like conspiracy theory ideas myself. 135 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:02.680 These days, I try to not do that. 136 00:08:02.759 --> 00:08:06.680 Because I've been involved in this to the point where 137 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:11.160 I've become soured on it. However, what I've noticed is 138 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:13.759 that when I was first looking at transhumanism, I didn't 139 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:19.319 necessarily view it as the fringe sort of very It's 140 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:23.839 a fringe concept as much as any conspiracy theory, idea 141 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:28.079 or community or whatever it is. And as this goes on, 142 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:34.120 as these billionaires rise to power and they move forward, 143 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:37.720 it becomes more and more evident to me that they 144 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.440 themselves hold a lot of the same ideas that the 145 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:47.879 sort of right wing factions of the alternative conspiracy world hold. 146 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:55.799 I remember reading Andresen's let's it called the Techno Optimist Manifesto. 147 00:08:56.120 --> 00:08:58.679 Reading that, I'm like, this is like word for word 148 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:04.679 what all the is independent conspiracy oriented people are saying. 149 00:09:06.279 --> 00:09:10.799 And so there, So at this point it's just like, Okay, 150 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:17.600 these guys are these guys the proprietors of these ideas, 151 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:20.360 and it seems like Musk is now using X to 152 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:24.279 use it as a platform to platform these ideas. What 153 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:25.799 are your thoughts on all of this? 154 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:31.159 Yeah, well, I think transhumanism is not such a fringe idea. 155 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:34.919 I mean, Neuralink is one of Musk's companies, right, Yeah, 156 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:38.360 what's the idea of neuralink to merge technology directly into 157 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:41.200 your brain? So they don't see it as fringe. They 158 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:43.200 see it as business, they see it as the future. 159 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:46.919 And after seeing what Musk has done to the algorithm 160 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:50.320 of X as its main algorithm, right, his belief system, 161 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:52.919 can you imagine letting that guy into your brain for 162 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:55.399 any reason? Can you imagine, you know, if he can 163 00:09:55.399 --> 00:09:57.840 develop this capability, what it would be about, what would 164 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:00.279 happen to the world? You know, So they you don't 165 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.919 see it as fringe. And I think one advantage they 166 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:06.039 have is that if you try to talk about what 167 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.840 they're talking about, you sound crazy. But they're billionaires, right, 168 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:13.120 so they can be crazy. I've actually have known personally 169 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:16.159 a lot of billionaires, or at least a few and 170 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:19.080 quite a few millionaires. Rich people tend to be pretty 171 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:22.960 crazy and tend to be into stuff that most people 172 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:27.000 wouldn't assume from the outside that they're into, and so 173 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:29.200 they kind of get away with it. And one thing 174 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:31.360 I've noticed that was sort of very frustrating to me 175 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:34.919 as covering this was they're saying this stuff out loud. 176 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:38.200 They're saying it in books, they're saying it in long 177 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:42.559 podcast interviews. They're having entire conferences about this stuff where 178 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:44.840 they talk about it at length and say all kinds 179 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:49.519 of crazy things. But nobody's listening except the people they're 180 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:52.480 trying to target, Like journalists aren't tuning in. They're just 181 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:56.799 ignoring it. And when you try to explain what's going on, 182 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:59.840 what's being said, people look at you like you're crazy. 183 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:00.480 You know. 184 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:02.279 One of the most stunning things to me over the 185 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:05.440 past year. I mean, before I came back to journalism 186 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:08.279 in twenty eighteen, I had a career of seventeen years 187 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:11.320 in politics. I was the spokesman for Jerry Brown when 188 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:13.000 he was governor and when he was mayor of Boakland. 189 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:16.159 I was the spokesman persentat de Feinstein in Washington, which 190 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:18.399 she was the chair of the Intelligence Committee. I was 191 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:22.679 the communications director for someone named Kamala Harris from attorney 192 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:25.279 when she was the Attorney General of California. So people 193 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:27.080 know who I am and that I have this solid 194 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:30.120 background in real politics. But I felt like my fellow 195 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:33.440 journalists all mostly with a few exceptions, ignored all of 196 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:36.240 my work on this, didn't acknowledged it anyway, not even 197 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.879 like a like on a tweet, And nobody texted me 198 00:11:38.919 --> 00:11:41.200 to say, hey, what's the stuff you're working on. Everybody 199 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:44.039 just kind of stayed away from it right like it 200 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.159 was crazy stuff. And I think that they're going to 201 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.720 regret that when this story comes to the forefront and 202 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.559 they realized that probably the biggest story in American political 203 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:56.039 history to take over, the attempted hostel takeover by a 204 00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:59.080 handful of tech elites, bubbled up out of the Bay 205 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:02.120 Area in very few people are paying attention to it. 206 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:06.240 So the point there being that we do need some 207 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:10.759 people focused on the weird stuff coming out of Silicon 208 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:14.919 Valley because we may consider these ideas or these people crazy, 209 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:18.600 but they have enough money to be very dangerous in perpetuity. 210 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:21.320 And one thing I've been calling for is the creation 211 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.159 of some kind of organization specifically to keep a watch 212 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:27.279 on these things and to issue public reports and to 213 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:32.279 create media narratives and other products to shine a bright 214 00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:35.759 light on this stuff, because I think that's exposing it 215 00:12:35.799 --> 00:12:38.279 is a very important key to defeating it. 216 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:40.000 Got it. 217 00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:49.639 Yeah, Now let's return to California Forever, because it's fascinating 218 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.720 and there's so much going on there. It's a swath 219 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:56.159 of land, as you said, up north of San Francisco. 220 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:00.480 It's pretty much like at first class, it kind of 221 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:04.120 looks like any sort of big developer coming in developing 222 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:07.360 a some sort of planned community or a housing tract 223 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:10.639 or something. But it's much more than that, right, would 224 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:11.600 you like to describe this? 225 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.919 Yeah, definitely, California Forever. Well, for years, for a period 226 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:20.159 of five years, some group was secretly buying up land 227 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:23.360 in rural Solano County, which a lot of the land 228 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:26.240 they were buying up was farmland or pasture land way 229 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:29.320 out in the middle of this very rural area of 230 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.639 a county. And when it finally came to light that 231 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:35.879 it was this group called California Forever, it was unveiled 232 00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:38.200 that they had plans to PLoP this four hundred thousand 233 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.240 person city down in the middle of those rural farmlands. 234 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:43.440 And this was a big problem because that would make 235 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:46.039 it the largest city in the county, I believe. And 236 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:47.840 this is a county where they have a slow growth 237 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:52.000 ordinance that strictly forbids exactly the kind of massive expansion 238 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:55.039 that was being called for here. So you're picking this 239 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:57.519 fight with a county where they have rules against this, 240 00:13:57.639 --> 00:13:59.600 and you suddenly want to create a new city that 241 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.399 would be the biggest city. Not to mention the strain 242 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:07.159 on the environment, there's not enough water or other resources. 243 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:10.840 And in addition, the traffic is already horrible through this region 244 00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:13.279 on the one main interstate, So you're going to add 245 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:15.960 four hundred thousand more people. It's not clear where you're 246 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:18.639 going to build a new freeways in order to make this. 247 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:20.159 So there's a lot of ways in which this project 248 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:23.320 didn't make sense, but the media was largely covering it 249 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:26.360 as debate between the Yimbis who want to build and 250 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:28.679 the Nimbi's who don't want to build. And that's the 251 00:14:29.159 --> 00:14:31.399 frame they got stuck in. That's the frame they're used to. 252 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.399 But you know, it didn't make sense that something this 253 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.279 dramatic would be proposed by this group of billionaires. And 254 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:41.879 to be honest, I wasn't really closely paying attention to it. 255 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:45.480 And it was only after I read a review of 256 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.639 Quinn Slavonian's Crack Up Capitalism book and got the book 257 00:14:49.639 --> 00:14:53.559 and read it that I immediately understood what this was, 258 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:57.399 which was an attempt to create a tech controlled zone 259 00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:00.480 where it would be a new city with different rules 260 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:04.240 and you know, kind of a sovereign form of territory, 261 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:09.559 and that basically it was aligned with the network state. 262 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:11.120 And the deeper I looked, I found that, you know, 263 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:14.279 one of the major investors is Mark Endresen of Nresent Horowitz, 264 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:19.679 a big venture capital firm in California, and the guy 265 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:23.399 who's the main network state evangelist, a guy named Balaji Srinivasan, 266 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:27.039 was a former general partner at Andresent Horowitz. And I 267 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:31.679 started seeing all these connections and realizing that's what it was. 268 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:34.960 And as I did deeper, it came to my attention 269 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.279 that there had been a Network State conference in Amsterdam 270 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:44.600 in twenty twenty three, and at that conference, six hours 271 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:47.399 of people talking about plans to create network states all 272 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:50.360 over the world, their own tech little cities and countries 273 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:54.559 they're going to control. There was a presentation given by 274 00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:57.840 a guy named Spencer MacDonald, who's some kind of security expert, 275 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:01.600 and the presentation was about how to have good security 276 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:05.440 or new network state, you know, basically higher former Special 277 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:09.559 Operations soldiers and have surveillance and drones and all this 278 00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:11.559 kind of stuff. So they're already planning for security for 279 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:15.039 these things, right, They're pretty serious about it. But in 280 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:17.639 his presentation, it was a slide on the screen and 281 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:22.200 it was an artist rendering of California Forever, and I 282 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:25.440 was like, well, that's interesting. They're basically identifying that project 283 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:29.039 at the Network State conference as part of the Network State. 284 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:31.639 And as I dug deeper, I found an interview with. 285 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:34.679 Bology screen of Boston, like a six hour podcast interview. 286 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:36.480 You know, the these tech bros like to go and 287 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:39.080 talk for six hours for me, thirty minutes and hours 288 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:41.320 pushing it, you know, but six hours straight they go. 289 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:44.559 In that six hour talk, which I have painstaken listen 290 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:48.639 to and transcribed, he says, you know that we already 291 00:16:48.679 --> 00:16:52.519 have a project underway on bear Land in northern California. 292 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:55.639 And he doesn't go further than that. He sort of 293 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:59.080 hints at it. But you know, I felt that that 294 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:03.519 was enough of an easter egg or wink and they 295 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:06.960 deny it. They completely deny that there's any connection at all, etc. 296 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:09.359 But it doesn't make any sense. 297 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:14.240 There's no pattern it fits except for the network state 298 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:18.240 cult ideology. And what happened was that the people of 299 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:23.079 Solano County were so against this project, Republicans and Democrats. 300 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:25.319 It was a I call it the miracle in Solano County. 301 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.720 Someone found a way to unite Republicans and Democrats in 302 00:17:28.759 --> 00:17:31.599 twenty twenty four and it was reuniting them against this 303 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:35.240 weird ass billionaire city project. And it was clear that 304 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:36.720 they tried to put a ballot measure on to get 305 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:38.799 the project approved that it was clear that it was 306 00:17:38.839 --> 00:17:40.519 going to go down in massive defeat. 307 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:42.119 So they pulled it from the. 308 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.240 Ballot last year, which was a temporary win because now 309 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:47.440 they're trying all these other sneaky things to get in there. 310 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.920 And you know, Trump is threatening to build ten so 311 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:54.519 called freedom Cities around the country, and that's definitely the 312 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:56.400 network State. I have a new video up on the 313 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:59.880 nerd Reich YouTube channel explaining this in five minutes, and 314 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:04.319 I would not be surprised if the Trump administration finds 315 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:07.680 a way to force this on the people of Solano 316 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:08.519 County if they have to. 317 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:14.319 Okay, now, this is all interesting because it sounds like 318 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:20.160 California forever. Was it itself a development to be a billionaire 319 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:22.680 enclave sort of like the ones out here in Palm 320 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:23.559 Springs near me? 321 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:26.400 Or was this. 322 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:33.720 A test for housing for the masses, which is what 323 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:38.960 my vision of the Freedom City is. Is there a difference? 324 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:41.119 Is there a difference between the two? 325 00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:41.880 Is that what it was? 326 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:43.759 Yeah? 327 00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:47.200 Well, I think what they see is they're claiming it's 328 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:50.079 housing in California needs housing, But this is the most 329 00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:52.799 expensive and destructive way to build it. Obviously, what you 330 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:55.519 want to do is build onto an existing city where 331 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:57.880 we already have the infrastructure you need. 332 00:18:57.920 --> 00:18:58.839 This is bear Land. 333 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:02.759 This is going to require a massive effort to create 334 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:04.960 these houses, and it's going to be expensive to do that. 335 00:19:05.319 --> 00:19:07.640 So it's not building affordable housing. When you build new 336 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:10.519 you're building the most expensive housing that there's going to 337 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:11.200 be for a while. 338 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:11.559 Right. 339 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:14.680 But I think what they have in mind they mentioned 340 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:17.200 in their plan the idea to apply for special kind 341 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:20.000 of economic status, and I think that's the gateway into 342 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:22.640 trying to find his zone, as Trump is talking about now, 343 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:25.839 with the Freedom cities where the usual rules don't apply. 344 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.839 You'll be free from the regulations of California and the 345 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:32.039 United States. You'll be free from the usual tax regime, 346 00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:34.000 maybe not have any taxes at all. We've seen that 347 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:37.480 model around the world. And you'll be free from certain 348 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:40.400 kinds of regulations, perhaps run medical testing, which seems to 349 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:42.519 be something. These guys are really interested in escaping the 350 00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:46.880 FDA and not being bound by its rules. Peter Tiil 351 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:51.200 in particular is very interested in taking control of the FDA, 352 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:54.880 and in fact, in twenty seventeen he proposed a candidate 353 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:57.079 to Trump to be the head of the FDA, and 354 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.920 that candidate was Boligishrina Vasen, the whole guy who wro 355 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.119 the Network State book and is the main evangelist of 356 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:06.079 the Network State idea. So I think that is ultimately 357 00:20:06.119 --> 00:20:08.319 the goal, and they were trying to frame it as 358 00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:11.799 an innocuous housing project, but anybody familiar with housing knows 359 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:13.759 that there's nothing about this that makes sense. In fact, 360 00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:16.960 there was a quote from a developer of housing in 361 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:18.960 California and the New York Times when the story first 362 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:20.880 came out, who said, no one who knows how to 363 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:22.440 do housing would try to do it in this way. 364 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:24.759 So there's all these things that don't add up. So 365 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:27.559 I think they do plan to have people there, but 366 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:30.200 I think the idea is to have a hierarchical society 367 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:33.720 that is controlled by a corporation, not by a democratic government. 368 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:35.960 These are corporate towns, you know. 369 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.559 I call them corporate dystopias, because what they're really trying 370 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:42.359 to do is solve a problem that doesn't exist. The 371 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:44.279 problem in our lives isn't that we have We don't 372 00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:48.359 have enough corporate control and intrusion, right, And that's the 373 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:50.319 problem that they seem to think is the one that 374 00:20:50.359 --> 00:20:53.599 needs to be solved by these weird ideas. And so 375 00:20:54.119 --> 00:20:55.920 I don't know that they're really trying to build housing 376 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.519 for the masses. It seems to me they're trying to 377 00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:01.720 build basically like bunker societies where they can escape. Remember, 378 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:07.240 part of this whole idea is that we're headed towards 379 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:09.880 some kind of major societal collapse and that nation states 380 00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:13.160 are not going to survive that, and that they, as 381 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:18.240 the cognitive elite, need to prepare for that change and 382 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:24.400 protect themselves and create these sort of digital surveillance castle 383 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:28.359 societies where they and their crypto and their empires will 384 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:31.039 be safe. And that trace us back to a book 385 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:32.759 called The Sovereign Individual. 386 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.319 Okay, this is fascinating because it gets into the concept 387 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:41.160 of like the prepper movement even absolutely yeah, and these 388 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:44.759 guys are the ultimate preppers. And what you're saying is 389 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:48.759 they they absolutely believe this, and it makes sense like 390 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:51.160 these are the guys that buy the luxury bunkers that 391 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:54.480 we've all read about. Right, So this isn't just something 392 00:21:54.559 --> 00:22:00.279 that this goes back to again fringe conspiracy ideas where 393 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.000 the prepper sort of concept was seen as whackerdoodle and 394 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:06.359 crazy and this coming collapse was something that everybody would 395 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:10.720 always talk about and definitely in the realm of the 396 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:14.240 fringe conspiratorial like, oh yes, societal collapse, the country's going 397 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:16.759 to fall apart. That was the ramblings of a crazy 398 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:20.039 person once again. But what you're saying is that these 399 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:23.039 guys believe this, right, they very much believe it. They're 400 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:30.200 not just like pretending for the public. They're serious about it, right, totally. 401 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:32.359