1 00:00:04,879 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,640 this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon 3 00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:12,519 to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you 4 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,719 want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, 5 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,239 my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,640 go to vpekclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the 7 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,160 subscribe button. Get every episode for free, write to your 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,719 smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so much for 9 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,600 your support. Last hour started talking about a couple of 10 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:37,920 AI related stories. Jim Acosta interviewing an AI generation of 11 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:43,159 a victim of the Parkland High School shooting. Completely unethical 12 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,039 in my view as a journalist, completely unethical. You shouldn't 13 00:00:46,039 --> 00:00:49,119 do that. And then there was a woman who uses 14 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,759 an AI chatbot. She's elderly, she's homebound, and she uses 15 00:00:52,799 --> 00:00:59,280 this for interaction. John wrote me an email up in 16 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,079 New Jersey says the homebound woman who prefers the bot 17 00:01:02,159 --> 00:01:06,159 to her daughter is scary. AI to me is just frightening. 18 00:01:06,239 --> 00:01:09,519 The art imagery is bizarre at best, and it's now 19 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:11,760 coming to like that people who use it to do 20 00:01:11,799 --> 00:01:16,439 their writing for them are showing decreased brain activity. I 21 00:01:16,439 --> 00:01:19,040 did see that study as well. People who rely on 22 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,319 these AI models, these you know, to write stuff for them, 23 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:26,519 their brain like goes out to lunch because it's unneeded. 24 00:01:26,519 --> 00:01:29,879 It doesn't need to function. It's like it's like writing cursive. 25 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,000 You know, the less you use it, the less you 26 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,840 remember how to use it. He says, I don't know 27 00:01:35,879 --> 00:01:38,640 what the answer is, but for me, I'll steal steer, 28 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:41,799 I'll steer clear of it. 29 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 2: There you go. 30 00:01:46,519 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 1: That just reminded me of the story I think WBTV 31 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,879 did the other day that our Charlotte City councilwoman Tijuana Brown, 32 00:01:54,439 --> 00:02:00,159 the indicted one that apparently like she's using AI to 33 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:08,479 send replies to constituents and which, yeah, like I don't know, Like, 34 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,800 how would you detect the decreased brain activity. I'm kidding, 35 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:22,159 I'm kidding. It's just a joke, okay. Anyway, Joseph says 36 00:02:22,479 --> 00:02:28,319 on the text line, loneliness exploded because of the lockdowns. Well, 37 00:02:28,759 --> 00:02:31,919 it did, but it was also this has been growing 38 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,479 for the years prior to as well. This has been 39 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:41,000 a long trend since the seventies, and it's getting worse. 40 00:02:42,199 --> 00:02:44,080 I will never forget what they did to us because 41 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:46,240 they didn't like how we and most of the world 42 00:02:46,319 --> 00:02:48,599 was getting uppity and voting for stuff they didn't like. 43 00:02:49,439 --> 00:02:49,719 Speaker 2: I e. 44 00:02:49,879 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: Brexit and Trump and Bolsonaro and Front Nacional. I welcome 45 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:55,400 the emp that sends us back to the days of 46 00:02:55,439 --> 00:02:59,000 filing cabinets and carburetors. Well, I mean, that's that's a 47 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,479 nice that's a nice thought. Let's hope you don't starve 48 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:11,000 to death while working on that carburetor. Jeff says, this 49 00:03:11,039 --> 00:03:13,240 guy is totally correct. I would much rather send a 50 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,080 text to a talk radio host than pick up the 51 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:21,840 phone and call it. That's fair. Totally fair. Another Jeff says, 52 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,719 I would have guessed video games, but automobiles and TVs 53 00:03:25,759 --> 00:03:29,680 makes sense. This was again starting in the nineteen seventies. 54 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:38,240 This era of withdrawal began. According to Robert Putnam in 55 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,879 the book Bowling Alone, released in two thousand and he 56 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,800 associated it, or tracked it too, the rise of the 57 00:03:45,879 --> 00:03:48,879 automobile and the television set. And look, you can see 58 00:03:48,919 --> 00:03:51,199 this in our building patterns right here in Charlotte too, 59 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:56,439 go down Independence Boulevard, right they're still trying to fix 60 00:03:57,159 --> 00:04:01,759 that bad planning right where they ran seventy four right through, 61 00:04:01,919 --> 00:04:04,000 you know, and they made, and they made it multi lanes. 62 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,199 They put strip malls everywhere, thanks to the urban planners, right, 63 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,120 the central planners who knew everything there was to know 64 00:04:11,199 --> 00:04:13,360 about how to build good communities, and then of course 65 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:19,360 turned out, no, that's actually not very good. And so like, 66 00:04:19,439 --> 00:04:24,000 that's the automobile centric development that grew up when more 67 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:26,759 people could buy cars. And this is not an anti 68 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:33,160 car thing. I'm pro car. I'm also pro options if 69 00:04:33,199 --> 00:04:35,360 I want to live in an urban environment or a 70 00:04:35,439 --> 00:04:38,720 village environment or a suburban cul de sac whatever, like, 71 00:04:38,759 --> 00:04:41,360 I want more options, right, options for everybody. I don't 72 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,319 want to restrict other people from having what they want. 73 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,600 You might say, I'm pro choice in that regard. But television, 74 00:04:49,639 --> 00:04:57,120 the rise of TV transformed Americans interior decorating and that 75 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:01,360 continues to this day. By the way, in this article 76 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:06,480 in The Atlantic by Derek Thompson called the Anti Social Century, 77 00:05:07,079 --> 00:05:09,639 he has a whole section and they're talking about the 78 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,959 architecture of all new builds. And I can confirm this 79 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,040 as one who has moved around, if I do say 80 00:05:15,079 --> 00:05:18,079 so myself quite a bit, even though I've only worked 81 00:05:18,079 --> 00:05:21,519 at two radio stations in the same state. Christy and 82 00:05:21,519 --> 00:05:24,519 I moved five times in two years. Okay, So we 83 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:26,720 saw a lot of apartments and a lot of different 84 00:05:26,879 --> 00:05:31,240 houses and stuff. And the new builds are all focused 85 00:05:31,319 --> 00:05:38,439 around a mounted flat screen TV. So you have the 86 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:44,720 TV in the car. That exacerbates the you know, the solitude. 87 00:05:45,319 --> 00:05:48,399 But it's still kind of family oriented, right, Everybody's still 88 00:05:48,439 --> 00:05:51,399 gathering in their homes and such. And you know, this 89 00:05:51,439 --> 00:05:54,879 stuff doesn't happen all at once. But I've talked on 90 00:05:54,879 --> 00:05:59,319 this program many times about the lack of civic participation 91 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:04,279 in groups like the Rotary Club or the Lions Club. Right, 92 00:06:04,399 --> 00:06:09,600 just these these philanthropic groups and such, they have a 93 00:06:09,639 --> 00:06:15,160 hard time getting people to volunteer, the decline in the 94 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:18,519 church going population and such. And then of course you 95 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:23,000 add in the new technology, the smartphone. The typical person 96 00:06:23,759 --> 00:06:29,399 is awake for nine hundred minutes a day, okay, typically 97 00:06:29,639 --> 00:06:33,160 nine hundred minutes a day. American kids and teenagers spend 98 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,160 on average about two hundred and seventy minutes a day 99 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:40,480 on the weekday on their phones looking into the screens 100 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,600 two hundred and seventy weekdays, three hundred and eighty minutes 101 00:06:44,639 --> 00:06:48,560 a day on the weekends. So Saturdays and Sundays, about 102 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,399 half of their waking time is spent on their phones. 103 00:06:52,639 --> 00:06:58,040 That's according to the Digital Parenthood Initiative. Young people are 104 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,480 less likely than in previous decades to even get a 105 00:07:00,519 --> 00:07:04,120 driver's license, go on a date, or to have more 106 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,480 than one close friend, or even to hang out with 107 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,560 their friends at all. And that's important. Hanging out with 108 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:17,199 your friends is important. Okay. This is not like something 109 00:07:17,199 --> 00:07:21,399 similar to preference for bell bottoms over skinny genes. Okay. 110 00:07:22,399 --> 00:07:27,519 Human childhood, including adolescents, is a uniquely sensitive period in 111 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,160 the whole of the animal kingdom. The psychologist Jonathan Height writes, 112 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,040 I quoted Jonathan Height many times over the years. He 113 00:07:34,079 --> 00:07:37,079 wrote a book called The Anxious Generation. Although the human 114 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,519 brain grows to ninety percent of its full size by 115 00:07:39,639 --> 00:07:44,279 age five, it's neural circuitry takes a long time to mature. 116 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:49,360 Our lengthy childhood might be evolution's way of scheduling and 117 00:07:49,519 --> 00:07:55,360 extended apprenticeship, basically an apprenticeship in social learning. And you 118 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:59,959 do this through play. The psychologist Jordan Peterson talks about this, 119 00:08:00,879 --> 00:08:05,920 encouraging kids to have free play, unstructured free play. Height 120 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:09,600 also says this the best kind of play is physical 121 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:14,680 outdoors and with other kids and unsupervised. It allows kids 122 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,639 to press the limits of their abilities while figuring out 123 00:08:17,639 --> 00:08:21,439 how to manage conflict and tolerate pain. But now young 124 00:08:21,439 --> 00:08:24,240 people's attention is funneled into devices that take them out 125 00:08:24,279 --> 00:08:28,120 of their body, denying them the physical world education they need. 126 00:08:28,519 --> 00:08:35,440 Have you heard this expression, touch grass? It's real, it's 127 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,600 good to do. This is why I mow the yard 128 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:41,919 in my bare feet. No, don't do that. You step 129 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:43,759 on a yellow jacket's nest and that's it, you know, 130 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,799 But touching grass, feeling grass, And there's a whole movement 131 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,519 call I think it's called grounding, you know, like, well, 132 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:54,039 the earth is made up of these magnets and rocks 133 00:08:54,039 --> 00:08:56,320 and minerals and whatever, and you walk around barefoot and 134 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,759 it grounds you right, being able to be out in 135 00:09:01,039 --> 00:09:03,799 I've said this for decades, which is, you know, you 136 00:09:03,919 --> 00:09:06,679 take man out of nature and he forgets who God 137 00:09:06,799 --> 00:09:09,759 is pretty quick. You stick them in a city someplace, 138 00:09:09,799 --> 00:09:12,080 and all of his needs and wants are catered to 139 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,240 in this urban environment, and it's it's quite easy to 140 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,960 think that they're the center of the universe. Stick somebody 141 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,000 out on the side of a mountain, someplace with a 142 00:09:21,039 --> 00:09:26,600 campfire and a tent. Yeah, you start realizing how insignificant 143 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,879 you really are in the grand scheme of things. You know, Like, 144 00:09:30,159 --> 00:09:34,759 just from a size scale, here's a great idea. How 145 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,879 about making an escape to a really special and secluded 146 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,759 getaway in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive up 147 00:09:40,799 --> 00:09:43,919 the mountain and Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether 148 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:46,879 you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to 149 00:09:46,879 --> 00:09:49,639 plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together 150 00:09:49,759 --> 00:09:52,440 for a big old reunion, Cabins of Asheville has the 151 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:55,360 ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your 152 00:09:55,399 --> 00:09:58,600 loved ones and the things that truly matter. Nestled within 153 00:09:58,639 --> 00:10:01,360 the breath taking fourteen one thousand acres of the Pisga 154 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:05,000 National Forest, their cabins offer a serene escape in the 155 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,120 heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Centrally located between Ashville 156 00:10:08,159 --> 00:10:10,480 and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. 157 00:10:10,759 --> 00:10:14,799 It's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all 158 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:19,559 the local attractions, with hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs, 159 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:23,320 Wi Fi grills, outdoor tables, and your own private covered porch. 160 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,639 Choose from thirteen cabins, six cottages, two villas, and a 161 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:31,759 great lodge with eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Ashville 162 00:10:31,799 --> 00:10:35,000 has the ideal spot for you for any occasion, and 163 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,679 they have pet friendly accommodations. Call or text eight two eight, 164 00:10:38,879 --> 00:10:42,080 three six seven seventy sixty eight or check out all 165 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,919 there is to offer at Cabins Offashville dot com and 166 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,720 make memories that'll last a lifetime. This is from Bain, 167 00:10:49,159 --> 00:10:53,919 who says in Neil Postman's book Technopoly, he writes that 168 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,240 when you do something in technology, you simultaneously undo something, 169 00:10:58,879 --> 00:11:01,519 and in our zeal for the latest, most innovative approach, 170 00:11:01,639 --> 00:11:05,759 we forfeit something often unforeseen and very hard to find 171 00:11:05,919 --> 00:11:09,519 to undo. Postman also wrote a nineteen eighties classic called 172 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:16,120 Amusing Ourselves to Death, and Derek Thompson writes a similar thing. 173 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,879 He quotes a media theorist named Marshall mclewin who once 174 00:11:20,919 --> 00:11:26,840 said of technology that every augmentation is also an amputation. 175 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:33,279 We chose our digitally enhanced world, we did not realize 176 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:39,159 the significance of what was being amputated Like this was 177 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:41,559 just saying during the break, like we are living through 178 00:11:41,639 --> 00:11:46,399 an experiment on the impact of this technology on our brains, 179 00:11:46,759 --> 00:11:51,840 our behaviors, our entire society. It is a real time experiment. 180 00:11:51,879 --> 00:11:54,720 I guess most of life is right, but in the 181 00:11:54,759 --> 00:11:58,600 technology realm like this is having profound effects on the 182 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,480 way people think, how we whether we think at all. 183 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:07,559 So what's the line from Jurassic Park, that documentary about 184 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,919 the dinosaurs where Jeff Goldbloom, I believe, said, you spend 185 00:12:10,919 --> 00:12:14,600 so much time thinking how to do it, you never 186 00:12:14,639 --> 00:12:22,200 stopped to think whether you should do it right. Here's 187 00:12:22,799 --> 00:12:27,960 here's a text smartphones creating dumb people since nineteen ninety four. 188 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:32,720 I don't know is it ninety four? This from Chris 189 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,080 who says, my mother, who lives alone, bought an AI 190 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:39,480 connected smart device in her apartment. Now twelve months in 191 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:42,399 she has said she loved her and trusted her more 192 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,799 than people. Also, it or whoever programmed the AI, is 193 00:12:46,879 --> 00:12:50,639 shaping her worldview. Formerly she was fairly centrist and a 194 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,480 political she is now very fixated about supporting Ukraine and 195 00:12:54,519 --> 00:12:58,279 stopping Trump. Finally, remember that just because AI does a 196 00:12:58,279 --> 00:13:01,600 certain thing today, they can until we're dependent upon it, 197 00:13:02,799 --> 00:13:06,799 only to change the algorithms later to shape what they want, 198 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:11,000 and Ian says, we misanthropes relish our solitude. It spares 199 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:15,200 us from constant irritation and discussed with humans. That's fair. 200 00:13:15,639 --> 00:13:23,559 That's fair. If young adults feel overwhelmed by the emotional 201 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:29,360 costs of physical world togetherness and prone to keeping even 202 00:13:29,399 --> 00:13:32,200 close friends at a physical distance, that suggests that phones 203 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:36,480 aren't just rewiring adolescence, they are upending the psychology of 204 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:42,600 friendship as well. Socially underdeveloped kids leads to socially stunted adulthood. 205 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:49,039 That's what they're going to be. Friends require boundaries as 206 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:53,960 much as they require closeness. Thompson writes time alone so 207 00:13:54,080 --> 00:14:00,360 you can recharge. That's essential for maintaining healthy relationships. Uns 208 00:14:00,759 --> 00:14:04,480 mean that solitude is actually more crowded than it used 209 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:07,879 to be, and crowds are more solitary. This is a 210 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:13,720 brilliant observation. When you're alone, you're not really alone, right, 211 00:14:14,279 --> 00:14:16,840 You're on your phone. You're getting text messages and stuff, 212 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,919 tweets and posts and TikTok videos from friends and such 213 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:26,240 people you follow or Facebook friends. And then when you're 214 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:28,879 out and about and you're in the crowds, everybody's on 215 00:14:28,919 --> 00:14:32,759 their phone. It's like one of the most lonely experiences 216 00:14:32,799 --> 00:14:36,440 walking down a crowded street. Now bright lines. This is 217 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,600 from Nicholas Carr, the author of a book called super Bloom, 218 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,799 How technologies of connection tear us apart. He said, bright 219 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,039 lines once separated being alone and being in a crowd. 220 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,480 Boundaries helped us. You could be present with your friends 221 00:14:50,879 --> 00:14:55,360 and then reflective in your downtime. But now our social 222 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,480 time is haunted by the possibility that something more interesting 223 00:14:58,559 --> 00:15:02,240 is happening somewhere else, and our downtime is contaminated by 224 00:15:02,279 --> 00:15:05,559 the streams and the posts and the texts of friends 225 00:15:05,559 --> 00:15:10,240 and colleagues and strangers and frenemies. And if Car is right, 226 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:16,200 modern technologies always open window to the outside world makes 227 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:22,639 recharging much harder, leaves many people chronically depleted. Basically, you're 228 00:15:22,639 --> 00:15:26,240 a walking battery that's always stuck in the red zone. 229 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:28,919 In a healthy world, people who spend lots of time 230 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:33,639 alone would feel the urge like I'm alone, I'm feeling sad. 231 00:15:33,879 --> 00:15:35,480 I need to make some plans, I need to get 232 00:15:35,519 --> 00:15:39,480 out and do something. But we live in a sideways world. Look, 233 00:15:39,559 --> 00:15:41,559 I am and people are surprised at this, but I 234 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:46,080 am an introvert. Generally, I am totally fine being alone 235 00:15:46,279 --> 00:15:48,080 until I'm not, and then I need to go out 236 00:15:48,399 --> 00:15:51,039 and talk with people and hang out with people and 237 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:55,080 do stuff. But I might like to fill my bucket up, 238 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:58,480 like I need a lot of time alone, and that's 239 00:15:58,519 --> 00:16:00,679 when I do my reading and I show prep and 240 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:04,159 all of that stuff. But other people extroverts, they get 241 00:16:04,279 --> 00:16:06,440 energy when they go out and hang out. My wife 242 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,519 is an extrovert. I am an introvert, and so she 243 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,679 drags me two places, and I probably truth be told 244 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,600 force her to stay home sometimes, not that I force 245 00:16:15,639 --> 00:16:16,919 her to, but I'm like, I don't want to do 246 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,080 anything this weekend. We don't have any plans. I don't 247 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:21,799 want to do anything. And now that we've been married 248 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,080 for as many years as we have been, it's like 249 00:16:24,919 --> 00:16:27,440 I don't have to tell her these things. She knows 250 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:30,840 these things. And now she spends more time at home now, 251 00:16:30,879 --> 00:16:34,279 i'd say, than she did when we first met. And 252 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,000 I think that's good to recharge. All right, If you're 253 00:16:38,039 --> 00:16:39,840 listening to this show, you know I try to keep 254 00:16:39,879 --> 00:16:41,600 up with all sorts of current events, and I know 255 00:16:41,679 --> 00:16:44,080 you do too, and you've probably heard me say, get 256 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:48,080 your news from multiple sources. Why. Well, because it's how 257 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,679 you detect media bias, which is why I've been so 258 00:16:50,759 --> 00:16:55,000 impressed with ground News. It's an app, and it's a website, 259 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,480 and it combines news from around the world in one 260 00:16:57,519 --> 00:17:01,000 place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You 261 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,559 can check it out at check dot ground, dot news 262 00:17:05,039 --> 00:17:08,160 slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. 263 00:17:08,519 --> 00:17:10,880 I started using ground News a few months ago and 264 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,599 more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate 265 00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:16,960 because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered 266 00:17:17,039 --> 00:17:19,920 and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which 267 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:22,839 stories get ignored by the left and the right. See 268 00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:27,920 for yourself. Check dot ground, dot news slash pete. Subscribe 269 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:30,799 through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. 270 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,880 I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to 271 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,400 every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, 272 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:39,799 but it also supports ground News as they make the 273 00:17:39,839 --> 00:17:44,640 media landscape more transparent. Let's head over to the WBT 274 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:46,440 phone lines here and talk to Stan. 275 00:17:46,519 --> 00:17:48,799 Speaker 2: Hello, Stan, Hi, Pete, how are you doing. 276 00:17:48,839 --> 00:17:49,920 Speaker 1: Hey, I'm good. What's going on? 277 00:17:50,079 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 2: Okay? I want to go back and tell you this 278 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,200 is probably somewhere around the beginning before this all start 279 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:00,680 in America, and it has to do with public education. Basically, 280 00:18:00,759 --> 00:18:04,119 public education is just a censorship model so that you 281 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,359 can create the society that you want. When I started 282 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:10,640 to elementary school back in nineteen sixty three, it was 283 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,440 still taught in the textbooks that God created the world 284 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:15,960 in seven days. I still remember the little graph that 285 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,359 it showed the giraffes and all the animals like being created. 286 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,759 All I was to remember that from the textbooks. But 287 00:18:21,839 --> 00:18:24,960 when I got to Central Piedmont Community College in nineteen 288 00:18:25,079 --> 00:18:28,759 seventy seven, I was again class colle zoology, and I'd 289 00:18:28,799 --> 00:18:31,279 read the introduction to the textbook where it talked about 290 00:18:31,319 --> 00:18:34,720 all the various theories about life and how life began, 291 00:18:34,839 --> 00:18:36,759 the Big Bang theory, and you know, all that stuff, 292 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,559 and it covered intelligent design and all of that. So 293 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,039 we went into class, and when we went into the classroom, 294 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,519 the professor started right into Cromaine and Man and started 295 00:18:47,519 --> 00:18:50,359 talking about five hundred million years, four hundred million, all 296 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,920 that stuff. And after about a week he said, there 297 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:55,599 any questions. I raised my hand and I said, look, 298 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:57,519 I said, I looked in the beginning of the textbook, 299 00:18:57,559 --> 00:19:00,160 and there were self theories and it didn't specific if 300 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,920 we say that one theory had more credits than the other. 301 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,160 I said, so are we not going to discuss first 302 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,480 why this theory was decided on as the way? And 303 00:19:09,519 --> 00:19:11,400 he said, I remember he put his hand down and 304 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:16,240 he said, okay. He said, basically, this is quote unquote 305 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:19,720 the accepted way, the Big Bang theory and the evolutionary theory. 306 00:19:19,759 --> 00:19:22,799 And because that's the accepted way, that is the only 307 00:19:22,839 --> 00:19:25,640 way we're going to study. So that was the beginning 308 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,400 of teaching people what to think, not how to think. 309 00:19:29,039 --> 00:19:31,039 And the whole goal was to remove. 310 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: Stand What is the what is the tie in here? Too? 311 00:19:35,519 --> 00:19:40,559 Speaker 2: Okay? So when whenever you remove whenever you teach people 312 00:19:40,599 --> 00:19:44,079 that they're just a mathematical chance and a mass and 313 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:47,000 that there is no purpose, and you removed God, like 314 00:19:47,039 --> 00:19:49,599 when the public schools they took they took Easter and Christmas, 315 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:51,960 which are our biggest holidays, and made them winter breaking, 316 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,240 spring break. The tie in here is this is when 317 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:57,200 you remove God in religion from a society, which is 318 00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,759 the only way you can have communism. This is the 319 00:20:00,039 --> 00:20:04,240 actual progress of for you, mind up where we are. 320 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,160 Speaker 1: I don't think that the the atomization of people is 321 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,200 tied to the taking of the is or is a 322 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,880 result of that. I would say that you've got different 323 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:19,079 pressures that are that are on the society. You got Marxists, yes, 324 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:21,680 that took over the schools, and you know this, you 325 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:24,279 know the the New World liberalism after World War II, 326 00:20:24,559 --> 00:20:28,200 and this this kind of trajectory. Sure, but I think 327 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:32,880 like the constant turning inward toward the individual, I don't 328 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,839 think that is actually that's not I don't I don't 329 00:20:35,839 --> 00:20:39,079 find that to be a cause or a result of 330 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:43,640 the cause that you're describing, like the atomization of our 331 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,759 society and all of us breaking apart into individuals and 332 00:20:46,839 --> 00:20:51,119 not associating with other people. Like I don't see how that. 333 00:20:51,319 --> 00:20:56,039 I don't see how that connects except insofar as you've 334 00:20:56,039 --> 00:21:03,400 got a declining church participation nor the population of people 335 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:06,720 going to church has been declining, and insomuch as maybe 336 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,119 that that is influenced by the teaching of the schools 337 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,119 or in the schools, then maybe so. But I don't 338 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:15,279 know if I don't know if it proves the theory. 339 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:17,319 But I appreciate the call stand thank you. I got 340 00:21:17,319 --> 00:21:19,200 to get to a couple more points here from this 341 00:21:19,279 --> 00:21:24,279 piece again, Derek Thompson at Theatlantic dot com called the 342 00:21:24,319 --> 00:21:28,359 anti social century. He writes about in the nineteen seventies, 343 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,400 the typical household entertained more than once a month had 344 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,680 people over. I grew up in this kind of an 345 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,440 environment as well. We had people over regularly. But from 346 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:40,039 the late seventies to the late nineties, the frequency of 347 00:21:40,079 --> 00:21:43,960 hosting friends for parties, games, dinners, and so on declined 348 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,440 by forty five percent. I will tell you one of 349 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,000 the things that Christy and I did we made a 350 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,799 point to meet and to socialize with all of our 351 00:21:53,799 --> 00:21:58,039 neighbors when we moved back to Charlotte, introduced ourselves, went 352 00:21:58,079 --> 00:22:00,279 over to them. Now, part of it was security, obviously, 353 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:01,960 you want to know who's living around you. But also 354 00:22:02,839 --> 00:22:05,559 we had been burglarized at our house years ago, and 355 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,480 we had just moved in, didn't know any of the neighbors, 356 00:22:07,559 --> 00:22:10,119 so they didn't see anything out of the ordinary that 357 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:12,839 warranted them to call police, even though they all kind 358 00:22:12,839 --> 00:22:15,960 of had a suspicion something was going on. And so 359 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,680 you go out and you meet your neighbors, socialize with 360 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:24,799 your neighbors, get to know your neighbors. It's important. All 361 00:22:24,799 --> 00:22:27,440 of this time alone at home on the phone, it's 362 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:30,119 not just affecting us as individuals, he says, it's making 363 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:36,079 society weaker, meaner, and more delusional. Mark Dunkelman, an author 364 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,160 and a research fellow at Brown University, says that to 365 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:42,519 see how chosen solitude is warping society at large, we 366 00:22:42,599 --> 00:22:45,880 must first acknowledge something a little counterintuitive. That many of 367 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,480 our bonds are actually getting stronger. Parents are spending more 368 00:22:49,519 --> 00:22:51,880 time with their children than they did several decades ago, 369 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,039 and many couples and families maintain an unbroken flow of 370 00:22:55,079 --> 00:22:58,880 communication because you're on the text, the group chats, the 371 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:05,160 group text messages stuff. Home based phone based culture has 372 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:10,400 solidified our closest and most distant connections, the inner ring 373 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,839 of family and best friends, bound by blood and intimacy, 374 00:23:14,079 --> 00:23:17,240 and then you've got the outer ring of tribe, linked 375 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,640 by shared affinities and stuff. But what it's doing is 376 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:24,960 wreaking havoc on that middle ring of people who we 377 00:23:25,039 --> 00:23:29,319 are familiar with but not intimate, right, people who live 378 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:33,440 around us what Dunkleman called the village. These are your neighbors, 379 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,039 the people in your town. We used to know them well, 380 00:23:36,279 --> 00:23:39,480 but now we don't. The middle ring is the key 381 00:23:39,599 --> 00:23:45,160 to social cohesion. Families teach us love. Tribes the outer 382 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:52,200 reach teach us loyalty. The village teaches us tolerance. The 383 00:23:52,279 --> 00:23:56,559 village is our best arena for practicing productive disagreement and compromise. 384 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,240 So it's no surprise that the erosion of the village 385 00:24:00,279 --> 00:24:04,000 has coincided with the emergence of a grotesque style of politics, 386 00:24:04,279 --> 00:24:08,279 in which every election is the existential quest to vanquish 387 00:24:08,519 --> 00:24:13,160 an intramural enemy. For the past fifty years, the American 388 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:17,480 National Election Study surveys have asked Democrats and Republicans to 389 00:24:17,599 --> 00:24:21,200 rate the opposing party on a feeling thermometer they called 390 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:23,599 it goes from zero to one hundred, one hundred being 391 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:27,759 very warm, zero being very cold. Twenty five years ago, 392 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:31,400 eight percent of these partisans gave the other party a zero, 393 00:24:31,599 --> 00:24:35,079 just eight percent. Fast forward to twenty twenty and now 394 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:40,039 the figure is forty percent give the opposing party, and 395 00:24:40,079 --> 00:24:45,039 it's way more pronounced among Democrats. Democrats rate Republicans zeros 396 00:24:45,079 --> 00:24:49,839 way more than vice versa. Practicing politics alone on the 397 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,160 internet rather than in a community. It's not just making 398 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:56,480 us more likely to demonize and alienate opponents. Though that 399 00:24:56,519 --> 00:25:01,240 would be bad enough, it's also encouraging nihilism. I talk 400 00:25:01,319 --> 00:25:05,640 about people warning people against don't go don't go blackpilled, 401 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,440 don't become a nihilist. There's research twenty eighteen group of 402 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:14,680 researchers led by Michael bang Peterson. He says, when I 403 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:18,720 think about our political and social institutions, I cannot help 404 00:25:18,759 --> 00:25:22,920 thinking just let them all burn. That's what one of 405 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:27,359 the respondents said. That's nihilism. They called this cohort's motivation 406 00:25:28,279 --> 00:25:35,279 the need for chaos. Now, there is some benefits to solitude, 407 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:37,400 so we've got to be fair about this. You know, 408 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,000 stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, 409 00:25:40,039 --> 00:25:43,480 to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of 410 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,799 our past while transcending generations. They help us process the 411 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,319 meaning of life, and our stories are told through images 412 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:54,160 and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video. Started in 413 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,960 nineteen ninety seven in mint Hill, North Carolina. It was 414 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,240 the first company to provide this valuable service, converting image, 415 00:26:00,599 --> 00:26:04,640 photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, videos 416 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:08,279 and albums. The trusted, talented, and dedicated team at Creative 417 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,480 Video will go over all of the details with you 418 00:26:10,519 --> 00:26:14,400 to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off 419 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,119 in person or mail them. They'll be ready in a 420 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:19,119 week or two. Memorial videos for your loved ones, videos 421 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:24,000 for rehearsal, dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays, or 422 00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:27,839 just your family stories, all told through images. That's what 423 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,400 your photos and videos are. They are your life told 424 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,960 through the eyes of everyone around you and all who 425 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,200 came before you, and they will tell others to come 426 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:41,279 who you are. Visit creative video dot com. Bang texts 427 00:26:41,319 --> 00:26:43,799 in that the profit Yogi bearra saw it coming of 428 00:26:43,839 --> 00:26:46,119 his favorite restaurant. He said, no one goes there anymore, 429 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:55,240 it's too crowded, so to be fair too solitude. Sometimes 430 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:59,240 isolation is the best way to restore inner equilibrium, but 431 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:03,880 the dose matters. People who spend more time alone year 432 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:10,839 after year after year become meaningfully less happy over time. Nonetheless, 433 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:13,319 a lot of people keep choosing to spend free time 434 00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:17,440 alone in their home, away from other people. Maybe you 435 00:27:17,519 --> 00:27:20,440 might think they're making the right choice, after all, you 436 00:27:20,559 --> 00:27:25,839 know yourself best, right, But actually, time and again, what 437 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:28,880 we expect to bring us peace a bigger house, a 438 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,960 luxury car job with twice the pay but half the leisure. 439 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:38,039 It actually just creates more anxiety, which brings us back 440 00:27:38,079 --> 00:27:44,680 to AI. The collective detachment that we see in our 441 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:50,799 society could still get worse because of AI. Once AI 442 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:55,680 can talk to you, it's going to feel extremely real. Right, 443 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,359 Once they get the inflection patterns down and all of 444 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,559 that stuff, once they get the video stuff down, it's 445 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:06,799 going to seem really real. People are freely choosing to 446 00:28:07,039 --> 00:28:11,559 enter relationships with artificial partners, and they're getting deeply attached 447 00:28:12,319 --> 00:28:17,160 because of the emotional capabilities of these systems. If you 448 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:22,319 find this creepy, consider that a lot of your friends 449 00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:24,359 and family members who exist in your life mainly as 450 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,880 words on a screen too, with your text messages. Digital 451 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:33,359 communications has already prepared us for AI companionship because it 452 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:37,880 transforms many of our physical world relationships into a sequence 453 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:43,839 of text chimes and little blue bubbles on the screen. Right, 454 00:28:44,079 --> 00:28:46,480 you can set these things up to never criticize you, 455 00:28:46,519 --> 00:28:49,000 never cheat on you, never have a bad day, never 456 00:28:49,079 --> 00:28:52,680 insult you, always be interested in everything you have to say. 457 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,920 Unlike the most patient of spouses, they could tell you 458 00:28:56,079 --> 00:28:59,279 that you're always right unlike the world's best friend. They 459 00:28:59,319 --> 00:29:03,079 could instantly respond to your needs without the all too 460 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:08,119 human distraction of having to lead their own life. Now, 461 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:13,359 people born before like twenty ten, right, this is probably 462 00:29:13,559 --> 00:29:16,400 going to seem much more weird than people who are 463 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,039 born in the twenty tens, twenty twenties. Right, these generations 464 00:29:20,079 --> 00:29:23,960 may discover what they want most from their relationships is 465 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,960 not a set of people who might challenge them, but 466 00:29:27,039 --> 00:29:32,119 rather a set of feelings, sympathy, humor, validation that could 467 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,480 be more reliably drawn out from silicon than from carbon 468 00:29:35,519 --> 00:29:42,559 based life forms. You've got degraded public spaces, degraded public life, 469 00:29:43,519 --> 00:29:46,000 and these are in some ways the other side of 470 00:29:46,039 --> 00:29:49,559 all of our investments and video games and phones and bigger, 471 00:29:49,599 --> 00:29:53,960 better private spaces and such I mentioned earlier, like the 472 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,839 way we build homes now, like the when they sit 473 00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:01,079 around and start like designing new apartment buildings. Stuff they're 474 00:30:01,079 --> 00:30:02,839 always talking about. Okay, you got to have a flat 475 00:30:02,839 --> 00:30:08,119 screen TV. There's another way to go here. It's called 476 00:30:09,079 --> 00:30:17,559 uh amis sticks or amistics amis tics, and it's a 477 00:30:17,559 --> 00:30:22,240 reference to the Amish who generally shun many modern innovations, 478 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:26,920 including cars and television. But they sometimes do adopt some technologies, 479 00:30:28,039 --> 00:30:31,400 but if they say the technology is hurting the community, 480 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,880 then they don't adopt it. A seemingly straightforward prescription, as 481 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,079 teenagers should choose to spend less time on their phone, 482 00:30:38,279 --> 00:30:40,839 parents should choose to invite more friends over for dinner. 483 00:30:42,119 --> 00:30:44,720 But in a way, these are collective action problems, because 484 00:30:45,079 --> 00:30:47,200 you know, if all the other teenagers are at home 485 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:49,200 on their phones, like who you're going to hang out with? 486 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:49,880 Speaker 2: Right? 487 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,599 Speaker 1: You got to make it a habit. But like all habits, 488 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:54,720 the more you do it, the more you do it. 489 00:30:58,519 --> 00:31:01,000 There is a word, he says, for such deeply etched 490 00:31:01,079 --> 00:31:06,960 communal habits. That word is ritual. And one reason, perhaps 491 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,519 that the decline of socializing has synchronized with the decline 492 00:31:10,519 --> 00:31:14,160 of religion is that nothing has proved to be as 493 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:20,319 good as adept at inscribing ritual into our calendars as 494 00:31:20,759 --> 00:31:27,799 faith does. And finally, he says, our smallest actions create norms, 495 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:33,039 the norms create values, the values drive behavior, and our 496 00:31:33,079 --> 00:31:37,480 behaviors then cascade. The antisocial century is the result of 497 00:31:37,519 --> 00:31:42,000 one such cascade of chosen solitude. It's been accelerated by 498 00:31:42,039 --> 00:31:46,519 digital world progress and physical world regress. But if one 499 00:31:46,559 --> 00:31:49,680 cascade brought us to this point. Another can bring about 500 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:53,799 a social century. New norms are possible. They're actually being 501 00:31:53,839 --> 00:31:58,319 created all the time. All right, that'll do it for 502 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,039 this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could 503 00:32:01,079 --> 00:32:03,319 not do the show without your support and the support 504 00:32:03,319 --> 00:32:06,200 of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if 505 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,240 you'd like, please support them too and tell them you 506 00:32:08,319 --> 00:32:10,400 heard it here. You can also become a patron at 507 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,440 my Patreon page or go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Again, 508 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,240 thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything 509 00:32:17,279 --> 00:32:21,839 while I'm gone.