October 17, 2025 • 31 mins
Is it no longer ‘borderline illegal’ to be Christian in Silicon Valley? This week, Oz and Karah are diving deep into Peter Thiel’s 4-part lecture series on the Antichrist and they unpack why the tech industry might be getting more religious. Plus, Oz spills the tea on the Dutch-China microchip drama. Space junk is falling from the sky. The cops are getting called over AI pranks gone wrong. And Karah updates Oz on the latest dating trend. For Chat and Me, one listener gets in over her head, and gives it all up.
Additional Reading:
- Police Say People Keep Calling 911 Over an 'AI Homeless Man' TikTok Prank
- Christianity Was “Borderline Illegal” in Silicon Valley. Now It’s the New Religion | Vanity Fair
- What billionaire Peter Thiel said in his private ‘Antichrist lectures’ - The Washington Post
- Why has the Dutch Government taken control of Chinese Owned Chipmaker Nexperia | Al-Jazeera
- Elon Musk's Satellites Now Constantly Falling Out of the Sky
- ‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
From Kaleidoscope and iHeart podcasts. This is tech stuff. I'm
Oz Valoscian and I'm caar Price. Today we're going to
get into how Christianity is on the rise in Silicon Valley.
Then on Chat to.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Me, I scrolled down to my very first interaction with
chat and the first question was why have I been
unlucky in love?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
When AI advice goes wrong?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
All of that on the weekend. Tech is Friday, October seventeenth.
Hello Cara, Hi ahs. So the DAYSA came out, which
is open ayes updated video generation tool and social media app.
You said to me, people might look back on this
(00:58):
as the day the Internet change forever.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I did say that, and I'm not a Pollyanna.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
But I did think you drunk the kool aid.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
No, I drank the truth juice.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I want some of that. Well, you know, I have
to give you some credit because as the news has
evolved and Sorra has kind of taken over the whole
of social media, I think it's fair to say that
you were right and I was wrong. This came home
to me this week with a story about an AI
homeless person prank. His modo ran a story about how
(01:29):
kids are creating fake homeless people in AI images and
then sending them to their parents, Like here he is
arriving at the door. He says he's a friend of yours.
He says, he's a friend of your I needed arrest,
so he's sleeping in your bed. Okay, So like our
parents falling for this, Yeah, and then in many cases
(01:51):
the parents call the police. What the well, of course,
I mean that the kids are saying, here's a strange
man in our house. He says, a.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Friend to get Jeremy Carrasco, my dear friend, show tools
AI to give these people some tutorial on how to
pixel peep.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
What would he say?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I think he would say.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
To look closely at this homeless guy. You can kind
of look at his teeth and his face and his eyes,
and there will be things they're in that you can
tell are not real.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
But I also, I'm looking at the images like they're.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Very super real.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
It's uncanny, though. I mean, to be a parent and
to have a kid be like, what's this guy doing
in our house? I guess I would call the police too.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well. I mean, that's the thing I had some hesitation
about bringing this story to you today. As the first
story on the show.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Because because you knew I'd like it to.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Before I decided to bring to you the first story,
I asked myself, what is the butt of this joke?
Is the butt of this joke homeless people? Or is
the butt of this joke gullible parents who freak out
and sort of share this cultural terror of homeless people. Yeah,
I don't know where it is between those two things.
But what I think is really interesting about this sore
A moment is it gives you a glimpse into the
(03:02):
kind of collective subconscious of the Internet. And so I
think its not for nothing that the kind of most
viral meme of the moment is this kind of fantasy
objectification creation of homeless people effectively vampire like crossing the
threshold and invading the house. But it's also a metaverse
story because, as I mentioned, parents are calling the cops
(03:27):
in North Austin the Round Police Patrol Division Commander Andy
McKinney told NBC getting a call about an intruder quote
causes a pretty aggressive response for us because we're worried
about the safety of the individuals in the home, which
can mean clearing the home with guns. Out it could
also cause a swap response.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Anyone who says that I overreact about manipulated video is wrong,
like the fact that this is taking department resources to
fend off a prank that is created by teenagers. And
also these are not AI masterminds.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
There's a kid, and the idea that you would need
a swap team to respond is also kind of mind blowing.
But this actually brings me to my main story of
the week, because you know who preached charity and compassion
and care for the homeless, JC, Jesus Christ. Here's what
he had to say in the gospel. Foxes have holes
(04:22):
and birds of the air have nests, but the son
of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Oh my God.
You may be scratching your head as to why I'm
quoting the Bible, but it's relevant because Christianity is currently
all the rage with Silicon Valley elites.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
It still somehow surprises me when people bring up Christianity
in the same breath as Silicon Valley.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Why is that, well, I mean, it's surprising because the
two were, for a while seemingly anathema. There's a line
in the famous TV show about Silicon Valley called Silicon
Valley where somebody says Christianity is order illegal in northern California,
and Vanity Fair actually uses that quote in a headline
(05:06):
about today's trend of Christianity rising in Silicon Valley.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You know, San Francisco has always struck me. And this
is a joke. You know, as more about communes than communions.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
It's always a good sign for a joke when you
have to tell someone as a joke.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
But I mean it, like, what what's happening here?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Okay, Well it's a huge question. And actually this is
a somewhat personal story for me because a number of
my friends who are not in Silicon Valley have recently
turned to Christianity go to church every week. I think
in search really community. Yeah, community structure.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I have found myself more drawn to synagogue recently, but
we can talk about it.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I want to ask you exactly about that, because I've
noticed that too. You talk about going to synagogue when
you go to synagogue more than you did when I
knew you.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Much more, much more.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Why.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I think because I'm in search of like a single
place left in the universe that is somehow tech iastic.
Now the irony is that the rabbis in the synagogue
that I go to use iPads, but I would imagine
they don't have notifications on.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, it's not a huge surprise that the resurgence of faith,
partly in response, I think, to tech, as you've mentioned,
is also happening where tech is made in Silicon Valley.
But actually, what I think is particularly interesting is that
Silicon Valley has always been drawn to countercultures. Yes, and
the counterculture of ten years ago was psychedelics, burning man, polyamory.
(06:30):
Then that became mainstream.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Now now it's polygamy. No, I'm kidding that.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, So now the old has become new, and it's
revolutionary to be a Christian in Silicon Valley. So obviously
the person I want to talk to you about this
week is peed deal your faith, who I think embodies
you know, both are swing to the right of the
tech industry and the rise of Christianity. You're presumably familiar,
like everybody else on the internet, with his lecture series
I Am a four part lecture on the Antichrist. Let
(06:57):
me read from the website quote you are warmly invite
to a series of four lectures by Peter Teel addressing
the topic of the biblical Antichrist.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Who first, can I just ask you who he was inviting?
Was this on zoom?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
No, No, you could apply, you could go in person,
and I think it was the crowd, as far as
I understand, was male dominated, mid twentiesingly guys. And you know,
Peter Teel obviously is the guy who found a pallenteer
and PayPal, sued the website Gorper out of existence, and
personally funded a huge portion of JD Vance's political rise.
(07:30):
He's also about Christian and in his Antichrist lecture series,
he posed a few questions about who the Antichrist might be.
He said, it could be Greta Thumberg, poor Greta. It
might even be Donald Trump. Oh but it couldn't possibly
be Mark Andreson, because you know what, because the Antichrist
(07:51):
is supposed to be popular. Isn't that a great disk?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
That's fantastic. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
So I think it's important to understand a bit more
about the nonprofit called the seventeen Collective That's Acts, which
started holding speaking events and in person events actually last year,
and they partner with Peter Teel on this event series.
The group is named after Act seventeen, which is a
(08:15):
chapter in the Bible which is all about the apostle
Paul and how he goes to Greece to preach to intellectuals. Ah.
I see, so there's a kind of sort of doing.
Is they're kind of referencing this inception of the smartest
people in the world, which is maybe a little coressed congratulatory.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
There's also, according to the anti fair piece, a spreadsheet
of secret Christians in tech that was being passed around
before Christianity and Silicon Valley became mainstreamed.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
And who is on this secret spreadsheet of Christians in Tech?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
I don't know, but I can tell you who Some
of the most prominent Silicon Valley Christiansky Jerry tan Who
Jerry Tann.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Is, Yes, I do. He's the CEO of y Combine.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Look at that. He's the CEO Y Combinator, which is
an extremely influential organization because if you're a young would
be founder and you get the Y Combinator's seal of approval,
you are off to the races, right. Another prominent Silicon
Valley Christian is Pat Gelsinger, who's the former CEO of
Internal that's one I didn't know. Maybe also a little
less a little less reflex in today's Silicon Valley to
(09:22):
be fair. And then very interestingly, there's Tray Stevens. Trey
Stephens is a Peter Teele partner at Peter Teele's Founder's Fund,
but he also co founded the defense firm Anderill with
Palmeer Lucky Oh with old Palmer Lucky. Trey's wife, Michelle
actually founded at seventeen collective.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
His wife founded it. Fascinating.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
So, I mean, obviously these are major players in the
tech world, but like, what is the Christianity that they
believe in?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Well, I really don't want to speak for them about
their faith. And I also, while I find some of
this stuff quite a musing, and I also don't you know,
I think it's faith plays such an important role in
so many people's lives. But in the Vanity Fair piece,
there is some interesting reporting on the broader interaction between
the tech industry and faith. So Toby Kirth, who's the
(10:13):
pastor at Peter Teel's church, said, quote, each person has
a calling and a vocation, and using your gifts to
the max is a good thing and it's what God
would want Daniel Francis, the Catholic founder of the AI
startup able, said quote, you have a duty as a
founder to make really good products and get them into
(10:34):
people's hands. You're making God real in people's lives when
they experience that. Now, obviously there's some good old fashioned
the American intersection of capitalism and faith and the work
ethic and all of those things here, and that you
make money from your talents and then you help the
poor and all those things. I mean, this is this
is not so new, but I was kind of more
(10:54):
intrigued by the idea that there's this belief that if
God gives you the ability to create new technologology, it's
your God given purpose to do so.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Are other people outside of these elite Silicon Valley types
involved in this church well.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
A pastor at a non denominational church that many of
these folks go to said that during COVID his congregation swelled,
in fact more than doubled in size. From a cynical
point of view, that might not be surprising because some
of the members of the church are also the most
powerful people in Silicon Valley, and the church isn't necessarily
the worst place to rub shoulders with the folks in
(11:31):
high places.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
So basically going to church as a networking opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Not for everyone. I'm sure there's good faith motivations to
be there just for reasons of pure faith. But one
Christian entrepreneur was quoted in the Vanity Fair piece saying, quote,
I guarantee you there are people that are leveraging Christianity
to get closer to Peter Teel.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
I mean, it is interesting, this is on a sort
of much grander stage. But like everybody goes to church
to network in a certain way, so it's just I
think this or higher here.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
This story, though, really was.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
About something that I don't want you to forget about,
which is the Antichrist.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Don't worry, I wouldn't have done so. Peter Tiel gave
this almost eight hour lecture series about the Antichrist, which
was theoretically off the record, but of course immediately to
the press.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
You know, it's very funny that the guy who helped
create the surveillance state through technology cannot seem to escape
being surveilled. He couldn't even do an off the record
lecture series even if he tried.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, he may be one step ahead of the game here,
Old Peter, because he said, quote this is in the lecture.
It's a pretty good marketing shtick. If you want everyone
to hear about something, not to let anyone into the room.
I'm not bragging, but I'm not totally incompetent either.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Any anybody who says I'm not bragging is the same
person who says I have no assholes policy. It's like
you are you love assholes, and you are bragging. So
what were the lectures actually about.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Well, a lot of it, weirdly or maybe not weirdly,
actually seemed to revolve around deregulation. The Washington Post got
access to all eight hours of recordings and they reported
quote Teal argued that critiques of technology and calls for
stricter regulation by Greta Thunberg and others appear to echo
biblical interpretations of an Antichrist who will win power by
(13:22):
offering the world quote peace and safety from apocalyptic destruction.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
So what he's saying is that anybody who wants to
regulate technology or AI is essentially the devil.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
That is the direction of That is the direction of
the lecture series, apparently. But that's not the only possibility
for what the Antichrist might be up to. Reportedly, Teal
also said, quote is becoming quite difficult to hide one's money.
An incredible machinery of tax treaties, financial surveillance, and sanctions
(13:57):
architecture has been constructed, and he went on to say
that while being rich might give you the illusion of
having power, you have the sense that it could be
taken away at any.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Moment all of a sudden. I feel bad for him.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So the idea that he's driving towards here is that
this combination of regulation of financial oversight, if it being
hard to hide your money, is quote a sign that
a singular world government has begun to emerge that could
be taken over by an antichrist figure who could then
use it to exert control over people.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
So someone like Donald Trump or Greta Tunberg exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
He did clarify that it's not Donald Trump, but he said interestingly, quote,
if you, in a sincere, rational, well reasoned way, are
willing to make the argument that Trump is the Antichrist,
I will give you.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
A hearing unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
He went on to say, if you're not willing to
make that argument, maybe you have to be open to
the possibility that he's at least relatively good unbelievable onn't
these weird quotes? So then that Washington Post called up
his spokesmhen Jeremiah Hall, who said, Peter doesn't believe Trump
the Antichrist.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
He's like, just to clarify he doesn't believe that.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
His challenge was for Trump's liberal critics to make the
case that if they want Peter to hear them out,
they can, but he knows in practice they can't do that,
and they won't do it.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
So what is the obsession with the Antichrist?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I'm not sure if I'll be able to properly answer
that question, but I can tell you that some Christians
believe the Antichrist is the personal opponent of Christ, and
they're expected the Antichrist to appear before the end of
the world. Here's what Peter Teel said quote. My thesis
is that in the seventeenth eighteenth century, the Antichrist would
(15:35):
have been a doctor strange Love, a scientist who did
all this sort of evil, crazy science. In the twenty
first century, the Antichrist is a luddite who wants to
stop all the science. It's someone like Greta what do
you think it's just a.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Very trumpy and fixation on like a young woman, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Well no, well maybe that I latch onto Greta, because
to be fair, he did surface other candidates. Drum roll
Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
So Joe Biden could be the Antichrist.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
No, he's not charismatic enough. She shin ping anti Christ.
Not charismatic enough, not charismatic enough. Bill Gates a quote
very very awful person, but quote not remotely able to
be the.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Anti I want to know why he thinks he couldn't
be the Antichrist. I'm sure. I mean, it's obviously something offensive.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
I think. I think, I think not being the Antichrist
is a real dick at your charism.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
It is like, you don't have the balls to be
the Antichrist.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
You don't have the balls to you don't have the
balls or the shops exactly. Look, it's a weird and
entertaining story, but it's also consequential. I mean, Peter Teel has.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
A lot of power, that's true, he has a lot
of power.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Legions of people, you know, hanging on as every word
and going to this lecture series. But more to me
because it speaks of a broader existential crisis that is
sweeping many people.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I know.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Imagine building a I imagine thinking, oh my god, God
is in the machine, like I'm actually making this product
first time and it's talking back to me. It's very powerful.
So this raises questions for anyone. I can imagine if
anyone you know, what is consciousness is like, shoulday I
have rights? Is it conscious? But on the flip side,
(17:17):
what does it mean to be human? Somebody said to
me the other day, we need to stop asking what
AI is for and ask what humans are for.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I've heard that before, and I think that it's true.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I do, well, yeah, you go, you gotta go to
church or syn But seriously, yeah, I think this return
to a system of values that predates this terrifying and
spectacular moment is not for nothing. I also one of
my hobby horses is that we're living through a new renaissance.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yes, you love to say this, Well.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I'm in the original renaissance where you had this extraordinary
explosion of scientific invention, new ways of understanding the world, Leonardo,
new ways of understanding the human body, the stars, the
solar system. You also have the extraordinary concentration of wealth
and power in the hands of people like the medic cheese,
and you had a fundamentalist religious resurgence which hunts inquisition,
(18:07):
burning people at the stake. So you know, in a sense,
nothing is new.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Does this seem to be an agenda that he's pushing
onto people or is it just like, come listen to
my lectures if you're interested.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Well, I mean I think when he said I'm not
totally incompetent, I knew if I told people it's a secret,
everyone want to know about it. I think it's in
the small prince.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
After the break, satellites are falling out of the sky.
The Dutch seized a microchip company, and chatchipt helps you
get a date.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
And we're back. Cara, Have you been following the continued
drama in the world of microchips?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
No, and you're obsessed.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I mean, this is geopolitics at the scale of something
you know.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Micro, the smallest largest scale possible.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Macro meets micro exactly. So there's been a ton of
microchip news this week. OpenAI announced a deal with the
chip maker broad Com to make custom AI microchips just
for them. Obviously, China announced this ban on the export
of rare earth metals which will affect computer chips and
in turn have got the tariff conversation buzzing again the
(19:25):
stock market down. Most of that news has been pretty
well reported and you can get it anywhere. So I'm
going to take you to the Netherlands otherwise known as Holland, Okay,
where my tulips are exactly so. First off, there have
been reports brewing that Dutch microchips are winding up in
(19:47):
Russian weapons which are being used against Ukraine, despite the
fact that the Western sanctions are supposed to ban the
sale of microchips to Russia.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And how do they know that these are Dutch microchips.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Well, when the weapons rain down from the sky into Ukraine,
they break the weapons apart and they put out the microchip,
and the microchip has the name of a Dutch manufacturer
written on it. And this is actually brought as evidence
recently to the Hague there were microchips in Russian weapons
from two Dutch firms. Basically, what's going on is that
(20:21):
third party countries are legitimately buying these microchips and then
exporting them to Russia. These countries include Thailand, Turkey, and
of course China.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
China has a semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in the Netherlands. What
which just this week was seized. The company was taken
over by the Dutch government.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
The Dutch government has taken over a Chinese factory in
the Netherlands.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
That's right. How there is a law in the Netherlands
called the Goods Availability Act, and this allows the government
to quote intervene in privately owned companies in exceptional circumstances.
The circumstances here are that Nesperia, a semiconductor manufacturer headquartered
in Holland, is owned by a Chinese company called Wingtech,
(21:20):
and the Dutch government had reason to believe that their CEO,
Jiang Shuxeng had some quote serious managerial shortcomings that raise
broader concerns for the Dutch government about the availability of
semiconductor products critical to the European industry. In other words,
the Dutch government were worried this Chinese company would turn
(21:40):
around and say, we're making all these semiconductors which are
important for the European industries, including cars, but we're taking
all back to China and you don't get to have
any of them. So there was also there was a
backdrop of illegal or third party exports to Russia powering
their war machine. But more urgent, the real reason for
this extraordinary takeover of a private company was the fear
(22:02):
that its products might be made unavailable to European companies
who needed them.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Interesting, So what does this mean exactly?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Something is happening. Yeah, where the boundaries between governments and
private companies, which have been blurred consciously and purposefully in
China since the eighties yea, now in the West are
also blurring because these technologies are so critical to the
national interest that governments are unwilling to let them stay
(22:35):
purely in private hands if it's at the cost of
strategically undermining their country or the European Union. I mean
the drama of a European country seizing a factory. The
factory is still allowed to operate, and the Dutch government
will only intervene if they think something is going wrong,
but they've taken the legal control over this company. I
(22:56):
just think I think it's a watershed moment.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I think you're right. I actually, I think you're right.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Also, these Russian weapons are not the only things falling
out of the sky and causing concern.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
What else is falling out of the sky.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
According to futurism, Starlink and space X satellites are falling
out of the sky.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
But why are they falling out of the sky now?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Well, starlink satellites, I now know, only lasts about five
years and they're supposed to basically burn up as they
re enter. But scientists are now concerned that when they
do burn up, they release materials into the atmosphere, which,
according to one study, could be devastating for the ozone.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Oh no, the poor ozone layer.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I no, it's like the nineties. It's like, oh god,
we were.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
So worried about ozone in the nineties.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Remember well, I know, and it got a little better,
but now it could be in jeopardy again. Right now,
about two to three satellites fall each day out of
the eight thousand starlinks, like a lot of satellites. Well
it's going to get a lot more because between Starlink,
Amazon System, and other companies from around the world, the
FAA predicts that by twenty thirty, about twenty eight thousand
(24:02):
fragments could survive re entry.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
This should have been the lead story.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
I knew, you see, I knew, Like space Jenny.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Thirty five is like tomorrow. That's like ten years.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
If I were doing anything right now, I'd be investing
in the manufacture of helmets, Like, what kind of helmet
is going to protect me from a satellite falling from
the sky.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
That's very funny. I actually there are private companies who
are specializing now in hunting the rumbas of the sky,
hunting space junk.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
That's brilliant.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
I have another crazy story for you, and it has
nothing to do with satellites and has everything to do
with attachment styles.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Anxious avoidant is that Yes, you're exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Is that what you are?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Did you just give yourself away a little bit? No,
you're I think you're secure attached.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Okay, good. I like that.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
The Guardian put out this piece about how people are
turning to chat GPT to help them with initial text exchange.
You know, I mean, I know it's been a long
time for you, but when you first meet someone, you're
putting your best foot forward.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I see. So Basically, rather than saying to your friends, hey,
what should I say? Or they've aby so blah blah,
you just plug it in through it to get your friends.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Forget your friend. A friend of mine always says this
about chatcheebe.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Now She's like, we haven't spoken in a few days
because I have chat, Like that's it for no other
reason that like, I have somebody else to talk to now.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
So this is dating advice.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
This is dating advice, but it's not dating advice in
the in the macro sense. It's hyper specific dating advice
on the basis of the actual conversation that you're having
with a person that you match on a dating app.
So the people, the kids are calling this chatfishing chatfishing, yes,
which I really like the.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Idea, with the idea being that the chatchiptas are much
better conversationalist than you are, so you're you're essentially chatfishing.
And then the reality is you meet this other person
who's completely taciturnin and chomless, and then you realize you've
been chatfished. Is that I'm done.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
I don't have to tell any more of the story.
That's what chatfishing. That's exactly what chatfish. So there was
a woman in the story named Rachel, and actually I
was reading her bio and I'm.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Like, is it me.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
She's thirty six, she's a business owner, and she'd been
chatting with a match on hinge for the last three weeks.
What she said was that the conversations were refreshing. Her
match kept asking her open ended questions, some of them
felt like they were straight from a self help book,
but they also got into ridiculous subjects too, like sharing
memes and having inconsequential debates like do you like ketchup
(26:28):
versus Mayo?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
So they decide to meet up. She was very shocked to.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Find that when she met him on the in person date,
he was so flat. Unfortunately, Rachel had been chatfished before,
so she kind of knew the signs of someone offloading
their conversations to chat GPT to herself. She was like,
I'm gonna give this guy one more chance, and she did,
(26:55):
and because they hung out again and he was as
flat as ever, she didn't keep trying. She knew and
what she said in the article really made me laugh.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Poor thing.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
She said, I'd already been chat gbt'ed into bed at
least once. I didn't want it to happen again.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
This brings us to our final segment each week, which
is Chatting Me.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
This week we heard from Mary in Florida. Mary is
thirty two years old and describes herself as a chronic
CHATCHYBT user, or at least she used to be.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Mmm, she started to tap out.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I wonder why well she got disillusioned.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Mary says she started using chat gybt in late twenty
twenty four, and she very quickly found herself relying on
it for just about anything that popped into her mind.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
From learning how to thaw a frozen twelve pound turkey
and under twenty four hours, to fitness advice to creating
funny Ai've generated in of my Dog.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
But Mary started to notice that one topic kept coming
up over and over, and that's the concept of what
we were just talking about.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Love.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
I scrolled down to my very first interaction with chat
and the first question was why have I been unlucky
in love?
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Isn't this interesting? I mean, this is like one of
the great newspaper media inventions of the twentieth century was
the Advice a Vice comlument, Love Advice column and I
Love Call in show.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
So when she asked, the answers that Chat gave her
were a list of seven potential factors that could be
contributing to her dating struggles, and she initially found them
really helpful.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
A little while later, though, she.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Found herself in a new relationship that started getting tumultuous,
and so she turned to Chat again.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Is this when the problem started? Yes.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Mary found that Chat's advice and the ability to find
patterns was useful for a while. She says it felt
like it was validating her intuitions and teaching her to
try trust her gut, which was a good thing. But then,
she said, she started depending on it way too much,
and she stopped thinking so critically about her own intuitions,
and she found herself assuming the worst of her partner,
(29:13):
even when it went way against the way she'd preferred
to handle a difficult situation.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
It stripped me of my humanity and led me to
believe things that were not necessarily true and fed my delusions.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Well, thank goodness Mary realized this and lived to tell
the tale. Because, as we've reported on this show in
that episode we did with Kashmi Hill, this can go
a much docopov.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
Yeah, And one of the reasons she sent us a
voice memo is because she wanted to warn others of
the psychological dangers of AI and what can happen when
you become codependent on a chatbot for self growth.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I actually I really like this chat.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
In me because I think we keep coming back to
over and over again the deficit that arises with co
and of offloading.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
You know, and I mean I know it for myself.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
The truth is part of growing up, and part of parenting,
and part of teaching, and part of actually being a
boss is encouraging people to know when to ask and
know when to trust themselves. But the problem with the
chatbot is it's incentives, so they want to keep you
in there. They don't. The chat that will never say
to you, go trust yourself.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
It's time to.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Trust stread your wings. We want to hear from you,
our listeners, so please do send your chap stories tart
inbox Textuff Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
That's it for this week for tech stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I'm care Price and I'm os Valoshin. This episode was
produced by Eliza Dennis, Tyler Hill and Melissa Slaughter. It
was executive produced by me Kara Price, Julia Nutter, and
Kate Osborne for Kaleidoscope and Katrina Norvelle for iHeart Podcasts.
Jack Insley makes this episode and Kyle Murdoch wrote our
theme song.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Join us next week for conversation about all the ways
the Internet can fued our paranoia, especially during pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen,
and reach out to us at tech Stuff podcast at
gmail dot com. We love hearing from you.
From Kaleidoscope and iHeart podcasts. This is tech stuff. I'm
Oz Valoscian and I'm caar Price. Today we're going to
get into how Christianity is on the rise in Silicon Valley.
Then on Chat to.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Me, I scrolled down to my very first interaction with
chat and the first question was why have I been
unlucky in love?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
When AI advice goes wrong?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
All of that on the weekend. Tech is Friday, October seventeenth.
Hello Cara, Hi ahs. So the DAYSA came out, which
is open ayes updated video generation tool and social media app.
You said to me, people might look back on this
(00:58):
as the day the Internet change forever.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I did say that, and I'm not a Pollyanna.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
But I did think you drunk the kool aid.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
No, I drank the truth juice.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I want some of that. Well, you know, I have
to give you some credit because as the news has
evolved and Sorra has kind of taken over the whole
of social media, I think it's fair to say that
you were right and I was wrong. This came home
to me this week with a story about an AI
homeless person prank. His modo ran a story about how
(01:29):
kids are creating fake homeless people in AI images and
then sending them to their parents, Like here he is
arriving at the door. He says he's a friend of yours.
He says, he's a friend of your I needed arrest,
so he's sleeping in your bed. Okay, So like our
parents falling for this, Yeah, and then in many cases
(01:51):
the parents call the police. What the well, of course,
I mean that the kids are saying, here's a strange
man in our house. He says, a.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Friend to get Jeremy Carrasco, my dear friend, show tools
AI to give these people some tutorial on how to
pixel peep.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
What would he say?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I think he would say.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
To look closely at this homeless guy. You can kind
of look at his teeth and his face and his eyes,
and there will be things they're in that you can
tell are not real.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
But I also, I'm looking at the images like they're.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Very super real.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
It's uncanny, though. I mean, to be a parent and
to have a kid be like, what's this guy doing
in our house? I guess I would call the police too.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well. I mean, that's the thing I had some hesitation
about bringing this story to you today. As the first
story on the show.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Because because you knew I'd like it to.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Before I decided to bring to you the first story,
I asked myself, what is the butt of this joke?
Is the butt of this joke homeless people? Or is
the butt of this joke gullible parents who freak out
and sort of share this cultural terror of homeless people. Yeah,
I don't know where it is between those two things.
But what I think is really interesting about this sore
A moment is it gives you a glimpse into the
(03:02):
kind of collective subconscious of the Internet. And so I
think its not for nothing that the kind of most
viral meme of the moment is this kind of fantasy
objectification creation of homeless people effectively vampire like crossing the
threshold and invading the house. But it's also a metaverse
story because, as I mentioned, parents are calling the cops
(03:27):
in North Austin the Round Police Patrol Division Commander Andy
McKinney told NBC getting a call about an intruder quote
causes a pretty aggressive response for us because we're worried
about the safety of the individuals in the home, which
can mean clearing the home with guns. Out it could
also cause a swap response.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Anyone who says that I overreact about manipulated video is wrong,
like the fact that this is taking department resources to
fend off a prank that is created by teenagers. And
also these are not AI masterminds.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
There's a kid, and the idea that you would need
a swap team to respond is also kind of mind blowing.
But this actually brings me to my main story of
the week, because you know who preached charity and compassion
and care for the homeless, JC, Jesus Christ. Here's what
he had to say in the gospel. Foxes have holes
(04:22):
and birds of the air have nests, but the son
of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Oh my God.
You may be scratching your head as to why I'm
quoting the Bible, but it's relevant because Christianity is currently
all the rage with Silicon Valley elites.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
It still somehow surprises me when people bring up Christianity
in the same breath as Silicon Valley.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Why is that, well, I mean, it's surprising because the
two were, for a while seemingly anathema. There's a line
in the famous TV show about Silicon Valley called Silicon
Valley where somebody says Christianity is order illegal in northern California,
and Vanity Fair actually uses that quote in a headline
(05:06):
about today's trend of Christianity rising in Silicon Valley.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You know, San Francisco has always struck me. And this
is a joke. You know, as more about communes than communions.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
It's always a good sign for a joke when you
have to tell someone as a joke.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
But I mean it, like, what what's happening here?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Okay, Well it's a huge question. And actually this is
a somewhat personal story for me because a number of
my friends who are not in Silicon Valley have recently
turned to Christianity go to church every week. I think
in search really community. Yeah, community structure.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I have found myself more drawn to synagogue recently, but
we can talk about it.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I want to ask you exactly about that, because I've
noticed that too. You talk about going to synagogue when
you go to synagogue more than you did when I
knew you.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Much more, much more.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Why.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I think because I'm in search of like a single
place left in the universe that is somehow tech iastic.
Now the irony is that the rabbis in the synagogue
that I go to use iPads, but I would imagine
they don't have notifications on.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, it's not a huge surprise that the resurgence of faith,
partly in response, I think, to tech, as you've mentioned,
is also happening where tech is made in Silicon Valley.
But actually, what I think is particularly interesting is that
Silicon Valley has always been drawn to countercultures. Yes, and
the counterculture of ten years ago was psychedelics, burning man, polyamory.
(06:30):
Then that became mainstream.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Now now it's polygamy. No, I'm kidding that.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, So now the old has become new, and it's
revolutionary to be a Christian in Silicon Valley. So obviously
the person I want to talk to you about this
week is peed deal your faith, who I think embodies
you know, both are swing to the right of the
tech industry and the rise of Christianity. You're presumably familiar,
like everybody else on the internet, with his lecture series
I Am a four part lecture on the Antichrist. Let
(06:57):
me read from the website quote you are warmly invite
to a series of four lectures by Peter Teel addressing
the topic of the biblical Antichrist.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Who first, can I just ask you who he was inviting?
Was this on zoom?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
No, No, you could apply, you could go in person,
and I think it was the crowd, as far as
I understand, was male dominated, mid twentiesingly guys. And you know,
Peter Teel obviously is the guy who found a pallenteer
and PayPal, sued the website Gorper out of existence, and
personally funded a huge portion of JD Vance's political rise.
(07:30):
He's also about Christian and in his Antichrist lecture series,
he posed a few questions about who the Antichrist might be.
He said, it could be Greta Thumberg, poor Greta. It
might even be Donald Trump. Oh but it couldn't possibly
be Mark Andreson, because you know what, because the Antichrist
(07:51):
is supposed to be popular. Isn't that a great disk?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
That's fantastic. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
So I think it's important to understand a bit more
about the nonprofit called the seventeen Collective That's Acts, which
started holding speaking events and in person events actually last year,
and they partner with Peter Teel on this event series.
The group is named after Act seventeen, which is a
(08:15):
chapter in the Bible which is all about the apostle
Paul and how he goes to Greece to preach to intellectuals. Ah.
I see, so there's a kind of sort of doing.
Is they're kind of referencing this inception of the smartest
people in the world, which is maybe a little coressed congratulatory.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
There's also, according to the anti fair piece, a spreadsheet
of secret Christians in tech that was being passed around
before Christianity and Silicon Valley became mainstreamed.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
And who is on this secret spreadsheet of Christians in Tech?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
I don't know, but I can tell you who Some
of the most prominent Silicon Valley Christiansky Jerry tan Who
Jerry Tann.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Is, Yes, I do. He's the CEO of y Combine.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Look at that. He's the CEO Y Combinator, which is
an extremely influential organization because if you're a young would
be founder and you get the Y Combinator's seal of approval,
you are off to the races, right. Another prominent Silicon
Valley Christian is Pat Gelsinger, who's the former CEO of
Internal that's one I didn't know. Maybe also a little
less a little less reflex in today's Silicon Valley to
(09:22):
be fair. And then very interestingly, there's Tray Stevens. Trey
Stephens is a Peter Teele partner at Peter Teele's Founder's Fund,
but he also co founded the defense firm Anderill with
Palmeer Lucky Oh with old Palmer Lucky. Trey's wife, Michelle
actually founded at seventeen collective.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
His wife founded it. Fascinating.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
So, I mean, obviously these are major players in the
tech world, but like, what is the Christianity that they
believe in?
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Well, I really don't want to speak for them about
their faith. And I also, while I find some of
this stuff quite a musing, and I also don't you know,
I think it's faith plays such an important role in
so many people's lives. But in the Vanity Fair piece,
there is some interesting reporting on the broader interaction between
the tech industry and faith. So Toby Kirth, who's the
(10:13):
pastor at Peter Teel's church, said, quote, each person has
a calling and a vocation, and using your gifts to
the max is a good thing and it's what God
would want Daniel Francis, the Catholic founder of the AI
startup able, said quote, you have a duty as a
founder to make really good products and get them into
(10:34):
people's hands. You're making God real in people's lives when
they experience that. Now, obviously there's some good old fashioned
the American intersection of capitalism and faith and the work
ethic and all of those things here, and that you
make money from your talents and then you help the
poor and all those things. I mean, this is this
is not so new, but I was kind of more
(10:54):
intrigued by the idea that there's this belief that if
God gives you the ability to create new technologology, it's
your God given purpose to do so.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Are other people outside of these elite Silicon Valley types
involved in this church well.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
A pastor at a non denominational church that many of
these folks go to said that during COVID his congregation swelled,
in fact more than doubled in size. From a cynical
point of view, that might not be surprising because some
of the members of the church are also the most
powerful people in Silicon Valley, and the church isn't necessarily
the worst place to rub shoulders with the folks in
(11:31):
high places.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
So basically going to church as a networking opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Not for everyone. I'm sure there's good faith motivations to
be there just for reasons of pure faith. But one
Christian entrepreneur was quoted in the Vanity Fair piece saying, quote,
I guarantee you there are people that are leveraging Christianity
to get closer to Peter Teel.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
I mean, it is interesting, this is on a sort
of much grander stage. But like everybody goes to church
to network in a certain way, so it's just I
think this or higher here.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
This story, though, really was.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
About something that I don't want you to forget about,
which is the Antichrist.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Don't worry, I wouldn't have done so. Peter Tiel gave
this almost eight hour lecture series about the Antichrist, which
was theoretically off the record, but of course immediately to
the press.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
You know, it's very funny that the guy who helped
create the surveillance state through technology cannot seem to escape
being surveilled. He couldn't even do an off the record
lecture series even if he tried.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, he may be one step ahead of the game here,
Old Peter, because he said, quote this is in the lecture.
It's a pretty good marketing shtick. If you want everyone
to hear about something, not to let anyone into the room.
I'm not bragging, but I'm not totally incompetent either.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Any anybody who says I'm not bragging is the same
person who says I have no assholes policy. It's like
you are you love assholes, and you are bragging. So
what were the lectures actually about.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Well, a lot of it, weirdly or maybe not weirdly,
actually seemed to revolve around deregulation. The Washington Post got
access to all eight hours of recordings and they reported
quote Teal argued that critiques of technology and calls for
stricter regulation by Greta Thunberg and others appear to echo
biblical interpretations of an Antichrist who will win power by
(13:22):
offering the world quote peace and safety from apocalyptic destruction.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
So what he's saying is that anybody who wants to
regulate technology or AI is essentially the devil.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
That is the direction of That is the direction of
the lecture series, apparently. But that's not the only possibility
for what the Antichrist might be up to. Reportedly, Teal
also said, quote is becoming quite difficult to hide one's money.
An incredible machinery of tax treaties, financial surveillance, and sanctions
(13:57):
architecture has been constructed, and he went on to say
that while being rich might give you the illusion of
having power, you have the sense that it could be
taken away at any.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Moment all of a sudden. I feel bad for him.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So the idea that he's driving towards here is that
this combination of regulation of financial oversight, if it being
hard to hide your money, is quote a sign that
a singular world government has begun to emerge that could
be taken over by an antichrist figure who could then
use it to exert control over people.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
So someone like Donald Trump or Greta Tunberg exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
He did clarify that it's not Donald Trump, but he said interestingly, quote,
if you, in a sincere, rational, well reasoned way, are
willing to make the argument that Trump is the Antichrist,
I will give you.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
A hearing unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
He went on to say, if you're not willing to
make that argument, maybe you have to be open to
the possibility that he's at least relatively good unbelievable onn't
these weird quotes? So then that Washington Post called up
his spokesmhen Jeremiah Hall, who said, Peter doesn't believe Trump
the Antichrist.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
He's like, just to clarify he doesn't believe that.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
His challenge was for Trump's liberal critics to make the
case that if they want Peter to hear them out,
they can, but he knows in practice they can't do that,
and they won't do it.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
So what is the obsession with the Antichrist?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I'm not sure if I'll be able to properly answer
that question, but I can tell you that some Christians
believe the Antichrist is the personal opponent of Christ, and
they're expected the Antichrist to appear before the end of
the world. Here's what Peter Teel said quote. My thesis
is that in the seventeenth eighteenth century, the Antichrist would
(15:35):
have been a doctor strange Love, a scientist who did
all this sort of evil, crazy science. In the twenty
first century, the Antichrist is a luddite who wants to
stop all the science. It's someone like Greta what do
you think it's just a.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Very trumpy and fixation on like a young woman, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Well no, well maybe that I latch onto Greta, because
to be fair, he did surface other candidates. Drum roll
Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
So Joe Biden could be the Antichrist.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
No, he's not charismatic enough. She shin ping anti Christ.
Not charismatic enough, not charismatic enough. Bill Gates a quote
very very awful person, but quote not remotely able to
be the.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Anti I want to know why he thinks he couldn't
be the Antichrist. I'm sure. I mean, it's obviously something offensive.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
I think. I think, I think not being the Antichrist
is a real dick at your charism.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
It is like, you don't have the balls to be
the Antichrist.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
You don't have the balls to you don't have the
balls or the shops exactly. Look, it's a weird and
entertaining story, but it's also consequential. I mean, Peter Teel has.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
A lot of power, that's true, he has a lot
of power.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Legions of people, you know, hanging on as every word
and going to this lecture series. But more to me
because it speaks of a broader existential crisis that is
sweeping many people.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I know.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Imagine building a I imagine thinking, oh my god, God
is in the machine, like I'm actually making this product
first time and it's talking back to me. It's very powerful.
So this raises questions for anyone. I can imagine if
anyone you know, what is consciousness is like, shoulday I
have rights? Is it conscious? But on the flip side,
(17:17):
what does it mean to be human? Somebody said to
me the other day, we need to stop asking what
AI is for and ask what humans are for.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I've heard that before, and I think that it's true.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I do, well, yeah, you go, you gotta go to
church or syn But seriously, yeah, I think this return
to a system of values that predates this terrifying and
spectacular moment is not for nothing. I also one of
my hobby horses is that we're living through a new renaissance.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yes, you love to say this, Well.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I'm in the original renaissance where you had this extraordinary
explosion of scientific invention, new ways of understanding the world, Leonardo,
new ways of understanding the human body, the stars, the
solar system. You also have the extraordinary concentration of wealth
and power in the hands of people like the medic cheese,
and you had a fundamentalist religious resurgence which hunts inquisition,
(18:07):
burning people at the stake. So you know, in a sense,
nothing is new.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Does this seem to be an agenda that he's pushing
onto people or is it just like, come listen to
my lectures if you're interested.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Well, I mean I think when he said I'm not
totally incompetent, I knew if I told people it's a secret,
everyone want to know about it. I think it's in
the small prince.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
After the break, satellites are falling out of the sky.
The Dutch seized a microchip company, and chatchipt helps you
get a date.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
And we're back. Cara, Have you been following the continued
drama in the world of microchips?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
No, and you're obsessed.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I mean, this is geopolitics at the scale of something
you know.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Micro, the smallest largest scale possible.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Macro meets micro exactly. So there's been a ton of
microchip news this week. OpenAI announced a deal with the
chip maker broad Com to make custom AI microchips just
for them. Obviously, China announced this ban on the export
of rare earth metals which will affect computer chips and
in turn have got the tariff conversation buzzing again the
(19:25):
stock market down. Most of that news has been pretty
well reported and you can get it anywhere. So I'm
going to take you to the Netherlands otherwise known as Holland, Okay,
where my tulips are exactly so. First off, there have
been reports brewing that Dutch microchips are winding up in
(19:47):
Russian weapons which are being used against Ukraine, despite the
fact that the Western sanctions are supposed to ban the
sale of microchips to Russia.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And how do they know that these are Dutch microchips.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Well, when the weapons rain down from the sky into Ukraine,
they break the weapons apart and they put out the microchip,
and the microchip has the name of a Dutch manufacturer
written on it. And this is actually brought as evidence
recently to the Hague there were microchips in Russian weapons
from two Dutch firms. Basically, what's going on is that
(20:21):
third party countries are legitimately buying these microchips and then
exporting them to Russia. These countries include Thailand, Turkey, and
of course China.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
China has a semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in the Netherlands. What
which just this week was seized. The company was taken
over by the Dutch government.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
The Dutch government has taken over a Chinese factory in
the Netherlands.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
That's right. How there is a law in the Netherlands
called the Goods Availability Act, and this allows the government
to quote intervene in privately owned companies in exceptional circumstances.
The circumstances here are that Nesperia, a semiconductor manufacturer headquartered
in Holland, is owned by a Chinese company called Wingtech,
(21:20):
and the Dutch government had reason to believe that their CEO,
Jiang Shuxeng had some quote serious managerial shortcomings that raise
broader concerns for the Dutch government about the availability of
semiconductor products critical to the European industry. In other words,
the Dutch government were worried this Chinese company would turn
(21:40):
around and say, we're making all these semiconductors which are
important for the European industries, including cars, but we're taking
all back to China and you don't get to have
any of them. So there was also there was a
backdrop of illegal or third party exports to Russia powering
their war machine. But more urgent, the real reason for
this extraordinary takeover of a private company was the fear
(22:02):
that its products might be made unavailable to European companies
who needed them.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Interesting, So what does this mean exactly?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Something is happening. Yeah, where the boundaries between governments and
private companies, which have been blurred consciously and purposefully in
China since the eighties yea, now in the West are
also blurring because these technologies are so critical to the
national interest that governments are unwilling to let them stay
(22:35):
purely in private hands if it's at the cost of
strategically undermining their country or the European Union. I mean
the drama of a European country seizing a factory. The
factory is still allowed to operate, and the Dutch government
will only intervene if they think something is going wrong,
but they've taken the legal control over this company. I
(22:56):
just think I think it's a watershed moment.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I think you're right. I actually, I think you're right.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Also, these Russian weapons are not the only things falling
out of the sky and causing concern.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
What else is falling out of the sky.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
According to futurism, Starlink and space X satellites are falling
out of the sky.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
But why are they falling out of the sky now?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Well, starlink satellites, I now know, only lasts about five
years and they're supposed to basically burn up as they
re enter. But scientists are now concerned that when they
do burn up, they release materials into the atmosphere, which,
according to one study, could be devastating for the ozone.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Oh no, the poor ozone layer.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I no, it's like the nineties. It's like, oh god,
we were.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
So worried about ozone in the nineties.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Remember well, I know, and it got a little better,
but now it could be in jeopardy again. Right now,
about two to three satellites fall each day out of
the eight thousand starlinks, like a lot of satellites. Well
it's going to get a lot more because between Starlink,
Amazon System, and other companies from around the world, the
FAA predicts that by twenty thirty, about twenty eight thousand
(24:02):
fragments could survive re entry.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
This should have been the lead story.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
I knew, you see, I knew, Like space Jenny.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Thirty five is like tomorrow. That's like ten years.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
If I were doing anything right now, I'd be investing
in the manufacture of helmets, Like, what kind of helmet
is going to protect me from a satellite falling from
the sky.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
That's very funny. I actually there are private companies who
are specializing now in hunting the rumbas of the sky,
hunting space junk.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
That's brilliant.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
I have another crazy story for you, and it has
nothing to do with satellites and has everything to do
with attachment styles.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Anxious avoidant is that Yes, you're exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Is that what you are?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Did you just give yourself away a little bit? No,
you're I think you're secure attached.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Okay, good. I like that.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
The Guardian put out this piece about how people are
turning to chat GPT to help them with initial text exchange.
You know, I mean, I know it's been a long
time for you, but when you first meet someone, you're
putting your best foot forward.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I see. So Basically, rather than saying to your friends, hey,
what should I say? Or they've aby so blah blah,
you just plug it in through it to get your friends.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Forget your friend. A friend of mine always says this
about chatcheebe.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Now She's like, we haven't spoken in a few days
because I have chat, Like that's it for no other
reason that like, I have somebody else to talk to now.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
So this is dating advice.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
This is dating advice, but it's not dating advice in
the in the macro sense. It's hyper specific dating advice
on the basis of the actual conversation that you're having
with a person that you match on a dating app.
So the people, the kids are calling this chatfishing chatfishing, yes,
which I really like the.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Idea, with the idea being that the chatchiptas are much
better conversationalist than you are, so you're you're essentially chatfishing.
And then the reality is you meet this other person
who's completely taciturnin and chomless, and then you realize you've
been chatfished. Is that I'm done.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
I don't have to tell any more of the story.
That's what chatfishing. That's exactly what chatfish. So there was
a woman in the story named Rachel, and actually I
was reading her bio and I'm.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Like, is it me.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
She's thirty six, she's a business owner, and she'd been
chatting with a match on hinge for the last three weeks.
What she said was that the conversations were refreshing. Her
match kept asking her open ended questions, some of them
felt like they were straight from a self help book,
but they also got into ridiculous subjects too, like sharing
memes and having inconsequential debates like do you like ketchup
(26:28):
versus Mayo?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
So they decide to meet up. She was very shocked to.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Find that when she met him on the in person date,
he was so flat. Unfortunately, Rachel had been chatfished before,
so she kind of knew the signs of someone offloading
their conversations to chat GPT to herself. She was like,
I'm gonna give this guy one more chance, and she did,
(26:55):
and because they hung out again and he was as
flat as ever, she didn't keep trying. She knew and
what she said in the article really made me laugh.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Poor thing.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
She said, I'd already been chat gbt'ed into bed at
least once. I didn't want it to happen again.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
This brings us to our final segment each week, which
is Chatting Me.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
This week we heard from Mary in Florida. Mary is
thirty two years old and describes herself as a chronic
CHATCHYBT user, or at least she used to be.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Mmm, she started to tap out.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I wonder why well she got disillusioned.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Mary says she started using chat gybt in late twenty
twenty four, and she very quickly found herself relying on
it for just about anything that popped into her mind.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
From learning how to thaw a frozen twelve pound turkey
and under twenty four hours, to fitness advice to creating
funny Ai've generated in of my Dog.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
But Mary started to notice that one topic kept coming
up over and over, and that's the concept of what
we were just talking about.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Love.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
I scrolled down to my very first interaction with chat
and the first question was why have I been unlucky
in love?
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Isn't this interesting? I mean, this is like one of
the great newspaper media inventions of the twentieth century was
the Advice a Vice comlument, Love Advice column and I
Love Call in show.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
So when she asked, the answers that Chat gave her
were a list of seven potential factors that could be
contributing to her dating struggles, and she initially found them
really helpful.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
A little while later, though, she.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Found herself in a new relationship that started getting tumultuous,
and so she turned to Chat again.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Is this when the problem started? Yes.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Mary found that Chat's advice and the ability to find
patterns was useful for a while. She says it felt
like it was validating her intuitions and teaching her to
try trust her gut, which was a good thing. But then,
she said, she started depending on it way too much,
and she stopped thinking so critically about her own intuitions,
and she found herself assuming the worst of her partner,
(29:13):
even when it went way against the way she'd preferred
to handle a difficult situation.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
It stripped me of my humanity and led me to
believe things that were not necessarily true and fed my delusions.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Well, thank goodness Mary realized this and lived to tell
the tale. Because, as we've reported on this show in
that episode we did with Kashmi Hill, this can go
a much docopov.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
Yeah, And one of the reasons she sent us a
voice memo is because she wanted to warn others of
the psychological dangers of AI and what can happen when
you become codependent on a chatbot for self growth.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I actually I really like this chat.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
In me because I think we keep coming back to
over and over again the deficit that arises with co
and of offloading.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
You know, and I mean I know it for myself.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
The truth is part of growing up, and part of parenting,
and part of teaching, and part of actually being a
boss is encouraging people to know when to ask and
know when to trust themselves. But the problem with the
chatbot is it's incentives, so they want to keep you
in there. They don't. The chat that will never say
to you, go trust yourself.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
It's time to.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Trust stread your wings. We want to hear from you,
our listeners, so please do send your chap stories tart
inbox Textuff Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
That's it for this week for tech stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I'm care Price and I'm os Valoshin. This episode was
produced by Eliza Dennis, Tyler Hill and Melissa Slaughter. It
was executive produced by me Kara Price, Julia Nutter, and
Kate Osborne for Kaleidoscope and Katrina Norvelle for iHeart Podcasts.
Jack Insley makes this episode and Kyle Murdoch wrote our
theme song.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Join us next week for conversation about all the ways
the Internet can fued our paranoia, especially during pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And please do rate and review the show wherever you listen,
and reach out to us at tech Stuff podcast at
gmail dot com. We love hearing from you.
TechStuff News
Hosts And Creators
Oz Woloshyn
Karah Preiss
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