June 19, 2025 • 61 mins
Co-Host Ayush Prakash (https://mountaintoppodcast.com/ayush) The 'generation gap' is nothing new. Boomers complained about how 'square' their parents were, and then Gen X complained about how lame their parents' music was. But with Gen Z it's a bit different. This generation is the first to grow up 'neuro-plastically connected to technology'. Those are the words of my first time guest Ayush Prakash, author of the new book called AI for Gen Z. So how exactly has the Internet Age shaped young adults? What's more, how will AI do that from now on? Ayush is actually a Gen Z'er, so he knows what he's talking about. He starts by talking about the '3 Rs' that will affect all of us going forward, but especially the youngest generation coming up. How do technology companies and their prioritization of profit really affect all of us in unexpected ways, particularly as men? What specifically has happened in just the last five short years to rob the human race of its humanity, let alone your masculinity? How is AI tricking us into accepting the computer as an authoritarian power (yes, really), and dragging us down to a less-human level of existence with it? Are you cheating on your partner if you get an AI girlfriend programmed to give you what you're missing from your IRL relationship? Is there really any correlation between intelligent learning models as we know them and the possibility of a 'Skynet'-like AGI? What does it even mean to be human--and masculine--a quarter of the way through the 21st century? And if we've lost something there already, how to we get it back? Check out even deeper and more controversial takes to spark your curiosity at https://mountaintoppodcast.com/substack
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Alright gentlemen, Scott here.
If you're listening right as this episode is released, this month's Masterclass for Men ishappening this coming Wednesday, the 25th of June at 8pm EDT.
That's GMT-4 for those of you overseas.
The topic?
How to handle competition from other men.
(00:22):
That pretty much speaks for itself.
We as men are born competitors, whether we like it or not.
If you aren't getting what you want in life, it's inevitable that someone else got itinstead.
There's no starker reality than how this relates to women.
The woman you desire is desired by other men in particular.
To get her, other men who want her will have to go without.
(00:46):
Does this mean you put her on a pedestal?
Well, quite the opposite.
That and all the other secrets that men in this postmodern era either can't or won'tunderstand are yours for the taking.
this coming Wednesday night.
Now two months ago we talked about winning.
That was a popular masterclass and there have been numerous requests to go deeperspecifically into how to maximize and capitalize on those situations where other men covet
(01:11):
what you want or what you already have.
That's a whole new twist and an important one.
Get this right and you'll write your own ticket.
With women in your career in life.
Now fair warning.
This will not be a Mr.
Nice Guy Masterclass.
By necessity, because of the subject matter at hand, the gloves are coming off for thisone.
(01:34):
It will be raw and you'll have to be able to handle the truth.
But the reward is nothing short of checking off your goals and getting what you want,which makes you a hero in the eyes of those who truly love you.
Are you ready?
Take a deep breath and grab your ticket at mountaintoppodcast.com front slash
(01:55):
masterclass.
And now, here comes one of those episodes that touches upon futurism, which I know youguys love.
My first time guest is the very smart author Ayush Prakash.
Let's do this.
you
(02:15):
Live from the mist and shrouded mountaintop fortress that is X and Y communicationsheadquarters.
You're listening to the world famous mountaintop podcast.
And now, here's your host, Scott McKay.
you
All right.
How's going, gentlemen?
This is your main man, Scott McKay, coming at you with another episode of the mountaintoppodcast from X and Y communications.
(02:38):
You can find me at Scott McKay on X on YouTube, on TikTok and on true social.
And you can find me at real Scott McKay on Instagram.
Today I have on this show for you guys, a brand new friend of mine who has a wonderfultopic.
We're going to talk about the effect of artificial intelligence.
(02:58):
and really all sorts of digital technology on men nowadays, especially young men.
But you guys who were kind of dinosaurs like me out there, well, we're close to it orwon't admit it or all of the above.
uh Don't tune out this show because I think it'll apply to you in many wonderful, greatways as well.
His name is Ayush Prakash.
(03:19):
He is from Montreal, Canada, and he is the author of At AI for Gen Z and
It's an interesting book and you're going to get some, well, unique and different insightsthat I'm not sure you've talked about or heard about yet.
So without anything further, Ayush Prakash, welcome, man.
(03:50):
Now you are a Gen Z-er, correct?
And we were chit chatting pre-roll before we hit record on this podcast.
And you're kind of cynical about the wisdom your generation is already showing or notshowing.
Why don't you talk a little bit about that in general before we dive into specifically howtechnology has affected everybody in general, really, but especially your milieu of folks
(04:16):
out there.
Go for it.
(05:55):
Everything I've seen would point to total agreement with what you're talking about.
I will add this as a caveat.
I believe just about every generation that has ever existed, certainly in the modern ageand into the postmodern age, has believed in this massive generation gap between
themselves and their parents and perhaps their grandparents.
(06:17):
Here in the United States, we had the greatest generation ever, know, in quotes, airquotes.
during World War II, and those people got after it and defeated the Nazis and the Japaneseand saved the world for democracy.
And I don't think anybody really has any complaint about them.
But since then, you know, the hippies in the 60s and the punk rockers in the 80s andconspicuous consumption, this, that, and the other, between the boomers and the Gen Xers,
(06:48):
you know, all of that's taken a lot of criticism.
And even as a kid, we thought our parents were stupid.
We thought our parents' music was stupid.
They weren't in touch with anything modern.
And then in the internet age, which can you believe was 30 years ago when we first startedreally getting on the internet, the first commercials with HTTP colon front slash front
(07:10):
slash Toyota.com, we're about 1995 ish, right?
We've had 30 years of the internet age, so.
Many of the kids nowadays, including my own kids, have very internet savvy parents, andyet they still think their parents are stupid too.
Every generation has its way of shocking their parents.
(07:32):
In the 50s, all it took was rock and roll.
In the 60s, it was drugs.
And you know, most recently kids go and get tattoos to basically shock their parents orbecome another gender to shock their parents, often with their parents' full consent.
It's a weird time to be alive.
Yes.
But I think this generational divide and the young people thinking the old people arefoolish and the old people looking back at the young people going, God, you know, by the
(07:58):
time you're my age, you're going to have a whole lot more wisdom under your belt andyou're going to realize how foolish you look.
I'm not sure that's anything new at all.
What in your mind, use differentiates the gen Z dilemma here.
I guess what sets it apart compared to the rebellion.
or the mindset of previous generations who all in succession thought their predecessorswere idiots.
(11:09):
Well, you bring up several good points there, the first of which is highlighting theneuroplasticity of youngins out there.
I do absolutely acknowledge with my whole heart that when you're say seven and under, youcan just absorb knowledge like a sponge.
know, kids can learn languages much more quickly than old farts can.
(11:31):
My son was fully able to operate a smartphone.
in just about every way you can imagine, in some ways better than his parents when he wasthree years old.
It was like he was born with it.
That's remarkable and in some ways horrifying.
My son's now 17.
He's fixing to be an adult here, as we say in Texas.
(11:54):
And now upon us, in addition to everything that you've talked about as being potentially ablight upon this generation,
The latest generation is going to know nothing other than an AI generated universe.
yeah.
You know, have the ability to make fire, you have the wheel, you have the airplane, youhave television, you have the internet, the smartphone.
(12:18):
Now you have AI.
It's that big a deal.
I usually we've elected two presidents who are about 80 years old in rapid succession inthis country, which makes no sense because anyone over 40 can't get a job.
And as these guys know, I do career coaching as well as dating and relationship coaching.
And this is something practically everybody I'm talking to is bemoaning.
(12:40):
It's like, man, I'm obsolete even though I'm 44 years old, right?
And every single job out there demands you be an expert on AI.
The joke is every job wants you to have 10 years of experience with large language models,you know, or you can't apply, which is actually a 30 year old joke.
(13:00):
because 30 years ago, everybody wanted a webmaster with 10 years experience, right?
It just doesn't exist.
The name of your book has AI in it.
So obviously you have some very strong and extensive feelings about how AI is alreadyaffecting society in general and especially Gen Zers.
Tell us about that.
What inspired the book and what's the book about?
(23:23):
Well, you know, usually on this show we have a lot of bantering back and forth, buteverything you just talked about was so right on the money, so well connected that it just
lets you run with it, man.
I'll let you riff away.
And it was all very fascinating to listen to.
A lot of what you talked about is not going to be new to this audience, just upfront.
But the way you presented it was so full and complete that I think it is extremelyvaluable.
(23:48):
usually, nobody here is going to pretend that this
doom scrolling or the concept of, say, young people getting together at Denny's and havingbreakfast, but nobody's talking to each other.
They're all on their devices.
Nobody's pretending any of that's new.
mean, all of that is almost 20 years old now.
I think what is a new concept to many is that over the years, we as humans, as hopeful andoptimistic a lot such as we are, have bought into the promise of technology when
(24:21):
In reality, there's always been a sinister side of it that we weren't really clued into,perhaps on purpose.
I think everybody sort of knew that as soon as television was introduced, a lot of peoplewould live vicariously through it.
But it was such an awesome, fun technology to bring about that people gladly got glued totheir television sets.
(24:43):
So when smartphones happen, and if you've ever seen the movie about Blackberry, it's awonderful movie and
pretty much the major plot twist in it is when the smartphone comes out, when the iPhonecomes out.
That's when everybody at BlackBerry kind of looks at themselves in the movie, and I meanin real life too, and says, well, we're screwed.
The fun's over.
(25:04):
I remember the first commercial I ever saw for an iPhone, I was sitting next to my wifeand I said, wow, the future just got here.
And you're talking about apps, and you're talking about just being able to swipe right andswipe left.
It seems so cool and everybody wanted one, but nobody brought up the elephant in the room,which is you're going to become addicted to this thing.
(25:29):
So you move forward and more technology comes at us.
COVID happens and you know, man, I am so sorry you missed out on actual real socializationduring college.
That has got to be, I mean, it's just a crime.
Okay.
But during COVID, by the time that happened,
we were already so armpit deep in technology with our noses and our devices that a lot ofpeople felt it was a welcome diversion for however long it was going to be from having to
(25:58):
deal with real people in the real world.
And so the isolation grew because people were replacing real actual human interaction withthis or SOTS version of socialization that was really all about putting oneself first and
getting that dopamine rush.
And then on top of all else, one thing I didn't hear you mention is that when we were allmade subject to corporate or even societally driven social media, as opposed to really
(26:28):
getting out there and talking with real human beings privately amongst ourselves, anagenda came across that we weren't necessarily expecting or ready for.
And a lot of us were trusting enough to believe it.
So even in the context of COVID, looking back three to five years now, we were all liedto.
And there were a lot of people who don't want to admit it, but media could drive whatevernarrative they want.
(26:50):
They could shut down whatever narrative they want.
And people were either led to believe it or they were led to kind of become a little bitskeptical, if not flat out iconoclastic towards it.
But the people who ever raised a ruckus about what we were being told during COVID wereostracized and shut off and canceled and banned from social media.
(27:13):
So their voices were
basically blotted out of the picture.
Now that's all not very democratic.
Now that we're all back out being social again, we've developed all these habits of beingadversarial and keeping people at arm's length, and we'd rather not really have
conversations.
And now, to segue to the point of your book, which is what I know you want to get to, wedon't even have to because a computer will generate everything we're supposed to believe
(27:40):
and...
We don't have to know anything anymore because a large language model will generateeverything we should believe and all the knowledge we should have.
And voila, it's the year 2025 and you can't even get a job being a garbage collectorunless you're an expert in AI.
So what's next?
Where's this all going?
(28:01):
The promise of AI, I think is perfectly clear.
Are you going to go so far as to
believe that the singularity is coming or do you have a different angle on why AI itselfis going to be sinister?
Have at it.
(28:55):
What's AGI?
(29:31):
counter to your argument would be A, I think it's already happening and B, I think we as astupid human race and not necessarily just Gen Z but as a human race are Welcoming it
we're rolling out the red carpet for it.
You know as we speak Chat GPT has already rolled out what it calls God mode and yes, youcan pray to chat GPT That is horrifying Chat GPT has already replaced thought leaders
(30:01):
Because you can ask chat GPT to aggregate the thoughts of anybody you want or any numberof people you want and speak in any person's voice you want it to speak in.
Now, of course, it's still a prediction mechanism.
It's still just an information aggregation device, right?
It's still a transformer, so it's not going to be perfect.
It's still going to hallucinate, but it's also as stupid as it's ever going to be.
(30:22):
And not to be overlooked, chat GPT in particular, with all its popularity, has a very hardtime being
mean or nasty at all to people even when they need it.
It is Mr.
Nice Guy to the Core, so by design, it gives people what their itching ears want to hear,which is tantalizing to human nature.
(30:44):
So then, the admittedly well-founded assumption is that replacing, say, your therapist oreven your PC technician with chat GPT carries little inherent risk.
Why?
Because first of all, the information is probably going to be more accurate
then you're gonna get from any single human being out there, right?
But also, and more importantly, like I just said, it's not gonna be mean to you.
(31:07):
There's no risk inherent within most human interaction that this person's gonna say thewrong thing, or they're going to show displeasure towards you, or insult you, or anything
like that.
It's really kinda nice, in the truest sense of the word.
So, what's going on is human beings are already pledging allegiance to AI.
(31:30):
because it's fun and it's cool.
And I think in many ways this despite some loud voices out there who are declaring thewarnings of how sinister this could be.
Now the Pollyanna's amongst us will say, someone really smart will just go unplug thiscomputer when it gets to be, you know, hurtling headlong towards the singularity.
(31:51):
But I'm not so sure that would happen, I use, because I think we love this.
I think we think it's great.
And we somehow
block out the fact that a cold, impersonal, soulless machine would be a strict mistress ifit ever came to that.
You know what I mean?
(32:39):
Blightened.
(33:28):
Well, let me throw something on the table that may help guide this conversation.
If you look at the work of the late Dr.
Philip Zimbardo and others who've studied the dynamics of men and masculinity relative totechnology for years and years now, there's been a pattern.
And you know, the elephant in the room here is indeed, this is nothing new.
(33:51):
It's just now more obviously a problem than ever.
You know, well, it was made such with smartphones for sure.
One could argue it was made such with broadband for sure, or even the internet.
It depends on how far you want to go back, right?
But AI represents another milestone in just how sinister this could potentially be.
So let's start with that point.
(34:11):
But guys like Zimbardo would say, you know, this young generation of men, and by younggeneration, I know guys 70 who are affected by this, okay?
So I mean, I think we're talking about a gradual societal trend.
But you know, when we're talking about the neuroplasticity of young people out there, andI guess the ubiquity of this movement en masse as an entire generation towards being
(34:37):
buried by technology or buried in technology, what Zimbrano would say is we have ageneration of boys in particular, and we have an audience of all men.
So this is going to be very poignant.
We have a generation of men who have fought a bunch of wars using video games.
and banged bunch of chicks on porn, but they're not in the real world ready to battleanything or make love to anyone because it's all been virtual, electronic.
(35:10):
So you have a bunch of pussies out there who fought vicarious wars on a video screen, andyou have a bunch of guys who have absolutely no clue what to do with a real woman who have
had countless internet whores
and now presumably have AI girlfriends to do their bidding.
And if that doesn't occur to every guy listening to this is utterly sinister withoutanything other than purely superficial benefit, I don't know what would.
(35:39):
What say you?
(39:17):
Well, AI is no longer interesting or novel.
It's a part of our life and it has become such a breakneck speed, breathtakingly quickly.
I'm going to go ahead and layer onto what you said, that if it's really about men being, Iguess, desensitized into thinking that violent porn is normative, therefore, if we get a
(39:39):
real woman in front of us, she wants to be abused, etc., then you can't discount theargument that violent video games
are making men more violent.
Here's where I'm going to throw a wrench in that machine.
And I don't know how you feel about this.
But the more they dig into why, you know, some young punk kid goes and shoots up ParklandHigh School, the more they realize it wasn't because he had access to guns, although that
(40:07):
particular shooter did, of course, or that he's been watching too much porn or playing toomany video games or listening to too much hip hop.
It's that he felt isolated and bullied and rejected and powerless and he wanted to go getthose mofos.
So what ends up happening is during COVID, for example, or all the years leading up to itwhere we were led away from real social interaction and towards burying our noses in our
(40:38):
devices, as we've talked about in this show at length, it wasn't so much the content.
It was the state of human being where you were isolated and alone that created thebitterness and the violence.
Now you have peer reviewed studies to support that also.
So is this kind of a sine wave effect where on one hand we're being isolated socially tothe point of being really frustrated and well bottled up.
(41:05):
And second of all, we're being fed all this BS about what the world looks like on ourtelevision screen.
or on our computer screen or on our iPhone compared to what we would hope it would looklike in real life that's just not happening for us.
It's kind of an exponential effect, you know?
(41:46):
Yeah, but I don't think most of us as men watch porn and go, I want to go abuse a chickeither.
Exactly.
We just want to masturbate, but there are going to be these outliers and hopefully there'snot many of them, but this is kind of a cynical podcast episode, but there are potentially
thousands of guys out there who are going to be fed this in a crucible of isolation and goout and act on it.
(42:09):
At least let's put it this way.
If it's going to be true for porn,
Ergo, it's going to have to be true for the video games and music and whatever elseinfluences us.
(43:53):
first half of the movie we want to be.
(44:24):
All right.
Well, let me go ahead and throw on the table here that I'm indeed playing devil's advocatewith a lot of what I'm bringing up here.
I don't have a well-formed opinion based on peer-reviewed studies or psychoanalysis oranything else that either porn and or video games and or hip-hop is really causing men to
(44:46):
be destructive and violent.
I will leave that up to the feminists.
But what I do know about
porn, insofar as I'm going to agree with you on this particular point in reality, is thatwhen men look at what's going on in porn and they see some other bastard banging all these
beautiful chicks, it's not so much that they get into a real world situation with a womanand fumble at vis-a-vis what they saw in porn, it's more like they're getting really super
(45:15):
frustrated and angry because they're not even getting access to those situations at all.
All the women are rejecting me.
They all think I'm a loser.
I'm an incel, therefore I'm violent.
And then what do the feminists do?
They blame the incels for being incels, you know, which exacerbates the whole thing.
Now you have AI that comes along and says, you poor baby, I'll be your AI influencer, yourAI girlfriend, and I'll give you whatever you want.
(45:45):
So now we're taking people who are already angry and bitter.
and we're appeasing them with whatever they want, which sounds a lot to me like payingransom to terrorists.
It's not going to foment anything positive.
They're not going to feel better about it once they've been appeased.
They're going to want more of it.
And that could be where we're taking perfectly good men, at least potentially out there,and corrupting them in the way you're talking about.
(46:11):
And to me, that's horrifying.
in their bedroom with their thoughts and their emotions.
(46:39):
But they're trying.
(47:07):
that goes on top of this is when you have people who are so dependent on technology fortheir social needs, which is a whole lot of people nowadays, oddly and perhaps ironically,
I wish it's a bit of a stretch for them to think that they're actually going to open thedoor, walk outside and do anything negative towards any other people.
(47:27):
Cause by God, that would involve being social again.
know what a strange irony, right?
(48:02):
Yeah, the bigger city you're in, the more lonely you are.
(49:43):
Well, absolutely.
So what does it mean to be human in the 21st century?
My guess is you're going to say something to the effect of it means what it always has.
We just have to get back to it.
Am I onto something?
(50:08):
you like one sentence and then I'll let you riff on the rest.
Please.
Well, you mentioned Dunbar's number, which is a theoretical sociological limit to how manysocial interactions at somewhat of a deep level, perhaps more than a superficial level
that humans can actually handle cognitively, right?
(50:29):
I think for millennia before there was really a whole lot of technology, basically thinklike an Amish person for a second.
Humanity has always been very social and very collaborative, very provincial.
And we had the people we loved and we trusted and we had the people we didn't love anddidn't trust and they were the enemies.
And together we were trying to move forward, make life better for each other, protect andprovide for our loved ones and for our young ones if we're a man, and nurture and educate
(51:03):
and bring love and joy if you're a woman.
And we've all just tried to live our best lives together, whatever that meant, even thoughwe lived in a flawed universe.
When the industrial age hit, I mean, you could go back to the printing press, probably.
You know, certainly in Rome, there were better ways to live your best life than there werein the dark ages in Europe, for sure.
(51:28):
So I mean, there's been some ebb and flow throughout humanity's history.
But nobody can argue that
probably somewhere early in the 20th century, things started escalating at an out ofcontrol pace.
mean, someone from 1650, for example, would probably recognize most of what's going on inthe year 1750.
(51:52):
I don't think anybody in 1875 would understand what 1975 looks like.
And I think most people in 1920 would be flabbergasted by the year 2020.
And I don't know about you, Ayush, but I have no idea.
I can't even begin to guess what the year 2125 is going to look like.
(52:15):
That's what I'm talking about.
That was more than one sentence and I apologize.
You have the mic, you have the floor from here.
(52:37):
Well, yeah, I guess to be clear there, I'm not sure the forward motion of technologyreally had a damning effect on our ability to connect until really broadband internet.
was all pretty much helpful until then.
At least it wasn't so eminently, balefully threatening to it.
We know we all gathered at the movie theater.
(52:57):
We all got in our car to visit other people.
We all got in a train and went to visit a place we never visited before.
oh
got wise to someone else in their way of life.
We got on airplanes and we could now go see Europe without being in a boat for five monthsor something like that.
So nowadays, the technology at some point has morphed into drawing us away from ournatural instincts as humans to be collaborative and social.
(53:25):
I think the collaboration, the being together as humans is absolutely the kernel of ourhuman being.
And I think that's what's being stolen from us or coaxed away from us.
(54:00):
already
(54:32):
All right, so what does it mean to be human man?
(55:16):
means to work for you instead of against you.
(56:40):
Well, to kind of wrap this all up with a little bow in the interest of time.
Sure.
My hope and my naive belief is that we're going to get to a point very soon with AI, notdissimilar to the point we got with the idea of human cloning.
I mean, we can do it, but we'd better not.
And there's going to come a point where this is going to be something we start servinginstead of vice versa.
(57:04):
And yet the cynic in me is starting to believe that, well,
Nobody slammed the brakes on smartphones or on social media.
So why stop there?
This has been a very fascinating conversation and we could go on and on.
I mean, the first thing I thought of when you were talking about what the future mightlook like is someone's going to come around and go, well, that sounds like a bunch of
(57:28):
communists to me.
Yeah, I mean, it would just be another conversation for another day.
Are we all headed towards being a bunch of communists and liking it?
I mean, you know, it'd be a great show.
Maybe you should come back and we talk about just that.
Maybe that's your next book.
Yeah, man.
(57:48):
But uh it's interesting and perhaps no fun is this conversation's been.
I'm actually holding a prurient sense of satisfaction having had it.
And I hope you do too.
And I think with so many guys out there who are intelligent and thinking about
This has definitely been one of those episodes that's food for thought.
I really appreciate you and I want to send guys first of all to Amazon where they can getyour book it's called AI for Generation Z and you can find it at the top of the Amazon
(58:17):
influencer queue at mountaintoppodcast.com front slash Amazon guys, especially if you'relistening to this episode within a few days of it being released.
Also, when you go to mountaintoppodcast.com front slash iush
AYUSH you will go to IU's Percosh website and what are they going to find there?
(58:56):
Fantastic.
So once again, thank you so much, Ayus for joining us today.
This has been a great conversation.
I hope and pray there are more guys like you out there in Gen Z who are going to make thisworld a better place someday, if not right now.
Thank you so much for being here.
Yeah, definitely.
We'll have you back.
And gentlemen, if you have not been to mountaintoppodcast.com recently, you gotta go thereand download all the free goodies.
(59:24):
I have a book for you called Sticking Points Solved.
You can check out all the show notes, see what all our guests look like, and get on thephone and talk to me for 25 to 30 minutes.
It won't be AI.
It'll really be me.
You can have a real conversation with a real dude about where you are in your world, yourreal world, I might add, with real women out there or...
lack thereof.
(59:45):
Talk to me free for 25 minutes.
Get on my calendar at mountaintoppodcast.com where you'll find that opportunity and somuch more.
Also, I want to remind you to keep supporting our sponsors, Jocko Willinks Company Originin Maine, The Keyport and Hero Soap.
All three of those companies are going to man you up.
They're going to level up your masculinity and all of them are coming out with new andcool items all the time that you just got to check out.
(01:00:10):
All of that and more is there for you when you visit mountaintoppodcast.com.
And until I talk to you again real soon, this is Scott McKay from X and Y Communicationsin San Antonio, Be good out there.
uh you
The Mountaintop Podcast is produced by X and Y Communications, all rights reservedworldwide.
(01:00:37):
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And while you're there, sign up for the free X and Y Communications newsletter for men.
This is Ed Roy Oldham speaking for the Mountaintop Podcast.
uh
(01:01:00):
you
Alright gentlemen, Scott here.
If you're listening right as this episode is released, this month's Masterclass for Men ishappening this coming Wednesday, the 25th of June at 8pm EDT.
That's GMT-4 for those of you overseas.
The topic?
How to handle competition from other men.
(00:22):
That pretty much speaks for itself.
We as men are born competitors, whether we like it or not.
If you aren't getting what you want in life, it's inevitable that someone else got itinstead.
There's no starker reality than how this relates to women.
The woman you desire is desired by other men in particular.
To get her, other men who want her will have to go without.
(00:46):
Does this mean you put her on a pedestal?
Well, quite the opposite.
That and all the other secrets that men in this postmodern era either can't or won'tunderstand are yours for the taking.
this coming Wednesday night.
Now two months ago we talked about winning.
That was a popular masterclass and there have been numerous requests to go deeperspecifically into how to maximize and capitalize on those situations where other men covet
(01:11):
what you want or what you already have.
That's a whole new twist and an important one.
Get this right and you'll write your own ticket.
With women in your career in life.
Now fair warning.
This will not be a Mr.
Nice Guy Masterclass.
By necessity, because of the subject matter at hand, the gloves are coming off for thisone.
(01:34):
It will be raw and you'll have to be able to handle the truth.
But the reward is nothing short of checking off your goals and getting what you want,which makes you a hero in the eyes of those who truly love you.
Are you ready?
Take a deep breath and grab your ticket at mountaintoppodcast.com front slash
(01:55):
masterclass.
And now, here comes one of those episodes that touches upon futurism, which I know youguys love.
My first time guest is the very smart author Ayush Prakash.
Let's do this.
you
(02:15):
Live from the mist and shrouded mountaintop fortress that is X and Y communicationsheadquarters.
You're listening to the world famous mountaintop podcast.
And now, here's your host, Scott McKay.
you
All right.
How's going, gentlemen?
This is your main man, Scott McKay, coming at you with another episode of the mountaintoppodcast from X and Y communications.
(02:38):
You can find me at Scott McKay on X on YouTube, on TikTok and on true social.
And you can find me at real Scott McKay on Instagram.
Today I have on this show for you guys, a brand new friend of mine who has a wonderfultopic.
We're going to talk about the effect of artificial intelligence.
(02:58):
and really all sorts of digital technology on men nowadays, especially young men.
But you guys who were kind of dinosaurs like me out there, well, we're close to it orwon't admit it or all of the above.
uh Don't tune out this show because I think it'll apply to you in many wonderful, greatways as well.
His name is Ayush Prakash.
(03:19):
He is from Montreal, Canada, and he is the author of At AI for Gen Z and
It's an interesting book and you're going to get some, well, unique and different insightsthat I'm not sure you've talked about or heard about yet.
So without anything further, Ayush Prakash, welcome, man.
(03:50):
Now you are a Gen Z-er, correct?
And we were chit chatting pre-roll before we hit record on this podcast.
And you're kind of cynical about the wisdom your generation is already showing or notshowing.
Why don't you talk a little bit about that in general before we dive into specifically howtechnology has affected everybody in general, really, but especially your milieu of folks
(04:16):
out there.
Go for it.
(05:55):
Everything I've seen would point to total agreement with what you're talking about.
I will add this as a caveat.
I believe just about every generation that has ever existed, certainly in the modern ageand into the postmodern age, has believed in this massive generation gap between
themselves and their parents and perhaps their grandparents.
(06:17):
Here in the United States, we had the greatest generation ever, know, in quotes, airquotes.
during World War II, and those people got after it and defeated the Nazis and the Japaneseand saved the world for democracy.
And I don't think anybody really has any complaint about them.
But since then, you know, the hippies in the 60s and the punk rockers in the 80s andconspicuous consumption, this, that, and the other, between the boomers and the Gen Xers,
(06:48):
you know, all of that's taken a lot of criticism.
And even as a kid, we thought our parents were stupid.
We thought our parents' music was stupid.
They weren't in touch with anything modern.
And then in the internet age, which can you believe was 30 years ago when we first startedreally getting on the internet, the first commercials with HTTP colon front slash front
(07:10):
slash Toyota.com, we're about 1995 ish, right?
We've had 30 years of the internet age, so.
Many of the kids nowadays, including my own kids, have very internet savvy parents, andyet they still think their parents are stupid too.
Every generation has its way of shocking their parents.
(07:32):
In the 50s, all it took was rock and roll.
In the 60s, it was drugs.
And you know, most recently kids go and get tattoos to basically shock their parents orbecome another gender to shock their parents, often with their parents' full consent.
It's a weird time to be alive.
Yes.
But I think this generational divide and the young people thinking the old people arefoolish and the old people looking back at the young people going, God, you know, by the
(07:58):
time you're my age, you're going to have a whole lot more wisdom under your belt andyou're going to realize how foolish you look.
I'm not sure that's anything new at all.
What in your mind, use differentiates the gen Z dilemma here.
I guess what sets it apart compared to the rebellion.
or the mindset of previous generations who all in succession thought their predecessorswere idiots.
(11:09):
Well, you bring up several good points there, the first of which is highlighting theneuroplasticity of youngins out there.
I do absolutely acknowledge with my whole heart that when you're say seven and under, youcan just absorb knowledge like a sponge.
know, kids can learn languages much more quickly than old farts can.
(11:31):
My son was fully able to operate a smartphone.
in just about every way you can imagine, in some ways better than his parents when he wasthree years old.
It was like he was born with it.
That's remarkable and in some ways horrifying.
My son's now 17.
He's fixing to be an adult here, as we say in Texas.
(11:54):
And now upon us, in addition to everything that you've talked about as being potentially ablight upon this generation,
The latest generation is going to know nothing other than an AI generated universe.
yeah.
You know, have the ability to make fire, you have the wheel, you have the airplane, youhave television, you have the internet, the smartphone.
(12:18):
Now you have AI.
It's that big a deal.
I usually we've elected two presidents who are about 80 years old in rapid succession inthis country, which makes no sense because anyone over 40 can't get a job.
And as these guys know, I do career coaching as well as dating and relationship coaching.
And this is something practically everybody I'm talking to is bemoaning.
(12:40):
It's like, man, I'm obsolete even though I'm 44 years old, right?
And every single job out there demands you be an expert on AI.
The joke is every job wants you to have 10 years of experience with large language models,you know, or you can't apply, which is actually a 30 year old joke.
(13:00):
because 30 years ago, everybody wanted a webmaster with 10 years experience, right?
It just doesn't exist.
The name of your book has AI in it.
So obviously you have some very strong and extensive feelings about how AI is alreadyaffecting society in general and especially Gen Zers.
Tell us about that.
What inspired the book and what's the book about?
(23:23):
Well, you know, usually on this show we have a lot of bantering back and forth, buteverything you just talked about was so right on the money, so well connected that it just
lets you run with it, man.
I'll let you riff away.
And it was all very fascinating to listen to.
A lot of what you talked about is not going to be new to this audience, just upfront.
But the way you presented it was so full and complete that I think it is extremelyvaluable.
(23:48):
usually, nobody here is going to pretend that this
doom scrolling or the concept of, say, young people getting together at Denny's and havingbreakfast, but nobody's talking to each other.
They're all on their devices.
Nobody's pretending any of that's new.
mean, all of that is almost 20 years old now.
I think what is a new concept to many is that over the years, we as humans, as hopeful andoptimistic a lot such as we are, have bought into the promise of technology when
(24:21):
In reality, there's always been a sinister side of it that we weren't really clued into,perhaps on purpose.
I think everybody sort of knew that as soon as television was introduced, a lot of peoplewould live vicariously through it.
But it was such an awesome, fun technology to bring about that people gladly got glued totheir television sets.
(24:43):
So when smartphones happen, and if you've ever seen the movie about Blackberry, it's awonderful movie and
pretty much the major plot twist in it is when the smartphone comes out, when the iPhonecomes out.
That's when everybody at BlackBerry kind of looks at themselves in the movie, and I meanin real life too, and says, well, we're screwed.
The fun's over.
(25:04):
I remember the first commercial I ever saw for an iPhone, I was sitting next to my wifeand I said, wow, the future just got here.
And you're talking about apps, and you're talking about just being able to swipe right andswipe left.
It seems so cool and everybody wanted one, but nobody brought up the elephant in the room,which is you're going to become addicted to this thing.
(25:29):
So you move forward and more technology comes at us.
COVID happens and you know, man, I am so sorry you missed out on actual real socializationduring college.
That has got to be, I mean, it's just a crime.
Okay.
But during COVID, by the time that happened,
we were already so armpit deep in technology with our noses and our devices that a lot ofpeople felt it was a welcome diversion for however long it was going to be from having to
(25:58):
deal with real people in the real world.
And so the isolation grew because people were replacing real actual human interaction withthis or SOTS version of socialization that was really all about putting oneself first and
getting that dopamine rush.
And then on top of all else, one thing I didn't hear you mention is that when we were allmade subject to corporate or even societally driven social media, as opposed to really
(26:28):
getting out there and talking with real human beings privately amongst ourselves, anagenda came across that we weren't necessarily expecting or ready for.
And a lot of us were trusting enough to believe it.
So even in the context of COVID, looking back three to five years now, we were all liedto.
And there were a lot of people who don't want to admit it, but media could drive whatevernarrative they want.
(26:50):
They could shut down whatever narrative they want.
And people were either led to believe it or they were led to kind of become a little bitskeptical, if not flat out iconoclastic towards it.
But the people who ever raised a ruckus about what we were being told during COVID wereostracized and shut off and canceled and banned from social media.
(27:13):
So their voices were
basically blotted out of the picture.
Now that's all not very democratic.
Now that we're all back out being social again, we've developed all these habits of beingadversarial and keeping people at arm's length, and we'd rather not really have
conversations.
And now, to segue to the point of your book, which is what I know you want to get to, wedon't even have to because a computer will generate everything we're supposed to believe
(27:40):
and...
We don't have to know anything anymore because a large language model will generateeverything we should believe and all the knowledge we should have.
And voila, it's the year 2025 and you can't even get a job being a garbage collectorunless you're an expert in AI.
So what's next?
Where's this all going?
(28:01):
The promise of AI, I think is perfectly clear.
Are you going to go so far as to
believe that the singularity is coming or do you have a different angle on why AI itselfis going to be sinister?
Have at it.
(28:55):
What's AGI?
(29:31):
counter to your argument would be A, I think it's already happening and B, I think we as astupid human race and not necessarily just Gen Z but as a human race are Welcoming it
we're rolling out the red carpet for it.
You know as we speak Chat GPT has already rolled out what it calls God mode and yes, youcan pray to chat GPT That is horrifying Chat GPT has already replaced thought leaders
(30:01):
Because you can ask chat GPT to aggregate the thoughts of anybody you want or any numberof people you want and speak in any person's voice you want it to speak in.
Now, of course, it's still a prediction mechanism.
It's still just an information aggregation device, right?
It's still a transformer, so it's not going to be perfect.
It's still going to hallucinate, but it's also as stupid as it's ever going to be.
(30:22):
And not to be overlooked, chat GPT in particular, with all its popularity, has a very hardtime being
mean or nasty at all to people even when they need it.
It is Mr.
Nice Guy to the Core, so by design, it gives people what their itching ears want to hear,which is tantalizing to human nature.
(30:44):
So then, the admittedly well-founded assumption is that replacing, say, your therapist oreven your PC technician with chat GPT carries little inherent risk.
Why?
Because first of all, the information is probably going to be more accurate
then you're gonna get from any single human being out there, right?
But also, and more importantly, like I just said, it's not gonna be mean to you.
(31:07):
There's no risk inherent within most human interaction that this person's gonna say thewrong thing, or they're going to show displeasure towards you, or insult you, or anything
like that.
It's really kinda nice, in the truest sense of the word.
So, what's going on is human beings are already pledging allegiance to AI.
(31:30):
because it's fun and it's cool.
And I think in many ways this despite some loud voices out there who are declaring thewarnings of how sinister this could be.
Now the Pollyanna's amongst us will say, someone really smart will just go unplug thiscomputer when it gets to be, you know, hurtling headlong towards the singularity.
(31:51):
But I'm not so sure that would happen, I use, because I think we love this.
I think we think it's great.
And we somehow
block out the fact that a cold, impersonal, soulless machine would be a strict mistress ifit ever came to that.
You know what I mean?
(32:39):
Blightened.
(33:28):
Well, let me throw something on the table that may help guide this conversation.
If you look at the work of the late Dr.
Philip Zimbardo and others who've studied the dynamics of men and masculinity relative totechnology for years and years now, there's been a pattern.
And you know, the elephant in the room here is indeed, this is nothing new.
(33:51):
It's just now more obviously a problem than ever.
You know, well, it was made such with smartphones for sure.
One could argue it was made such with broadband for sure, or even the internet.
It depends on how far you want to go back, right?
But AI represents another milestone in just how sinister this could potentially be.
So let's start with that point.
(34:11):
But guys like Zimbardo would say, you know, this young generation of men, and by younggeneration, I know guys 70 who are affected by this, okay?
So I mean, I think we're talking about a gradual societal trend.
But you know, when we're talking about the neuroplasticity of young people out there, andI guess the ubiquity of this movement en masse as an entire generation towards being
(34:37):
buried by technology or buried in technology, what Zimbrano would say is we have ageneration of boys in particular, and we have an audience of all men.
So this is going to be very poignant.
We have a generation of men who have fought a bunch of wars using video games.
and banged bunch of chicks on porn, but they're not in the real world ready to battleanything or make love to anyone because it's all been virtual, electronic.
(35:10):
So you have a bunch of pussies out there who fought vicarious wars on a video screen, andyou have a bunch of guys who have absolutely no clue what to do with a real woman who have
had countless internet whores
and now presumably have AI girlfriends to do their bidding.
And if that doesn't occur to every guy listening to this is utterly sinister withoutanything other than purely superficial benefit, I don't know what would.
(35:39):
What say you?
(39:17):
Well, AI is no longer interesting or novel.
It's a part of our life and it has become such a breakneck speed, breathtakingly quickly.
I'm going to go ahead and layer onto what you said, that if it's really about men being, Iguess, desensitized into thinking that violent porn is normative, therefore, if we get a
(39:39):
real woman in front of us, she wants to be abused, etc., then you can't discount theargument that violent video games
are making men more violent.
Here's where I'm going to throw a wrench in that machine.
And I don't know how you feel about this.
But the more they dig into why, you know, some young punk kid goes and shoots up ParklandHigh School, the more they realize it wasn't because he had access to guns, although that
(40:07):
particular shooter did, of course, or that he's been watching too much porn or playing toomany video games or listening to too much hip hop.
It's that he felt isolated and bullied and rejected and powerless and he wanted to go getthose mofos.
So what ends up happening is during COVID, for example, or all the years leading up to itwhere we were led away from real social interaction and towards burying our noses in our
(40:38):
devices, as we've talked about in this show at length, it wasn't so much the content.
It was the state of human being where you were isolated and alone that created thebitterness and the violence.
Now you have peer reviewed studies to support that also.
So is this kind of a sine wave effect where on one hand we're being isolated socially tothe point of being really frustrated and well bottled up.
(41:05):
And second of all, we're being fed all this BS about what the world looks like on ourtelevision screen.
or on our computer screen or on our iPhone compared to what we would hope it would looklike in real life that's just not happening for us.
It's kind of an exponential effect, you know?
(41:46):
Yeah, but I don't think most of us as men watch porn and go, I want to go abuse a chickeither.
Exactly.
We just want to masturbate, but there are going to be these outliers and hopefully there'snot many of them, but this is kind of a cynical podcast episode, but there are potentially
thousands of guys out there who are going to be fed this in a crucible of isolation and goout and act on it.
(42:09):
At least let's put it this way.
If it's going to be true for porn,
Ergo, it's going to have to be true for the video games and music and whatever elseinfluences us.
(43:53):
first half of the movie we want to be.
(44:24):
All right.
Well, let me go ahead and throw on the table here that I'm indeed playing devil's advocatewith a lot of what I'm bringing up here.
I don't have a well-formed opinion based on peer-reviewed studies or psychoanalysis oranything else that either porn and or video games and or hip-hop is really causing men to
(44:46):
be destructive and violent.
I will leave that up to the feminists.
But what I do know about
porn, insofar as I'm going to agree with you on this particular point in reality, is thatwhen men look at what's going on in porn and they see some other bastard banging all these
beautiful chicks, it's not so much that they get into a real world situation with a womanand fumble at vis-a-vis what they saw in porn, it's more like they're getting really super
(45:15):
frustrated and angry because they're not even getting access to those situations at all.
All the women are rejecting me.
They all think I'm a loser.
I'm an incel, therefore I'm violent.
And then what do the feminists do?
They blame the incels for being incels, you know, which exacerbates the whole thing.
Now you have AI that comes along and says, you poor baby, I'll be your AI influencer, yourAI girlfriend, and I'll give you whatever you want.
(45:45):
So now we're taking people who are already angry and bitter.
and we're appeasing them with whatever they want, which sounds a lot to me like payingransom to terrorists.
It's not going to foment anything positive.
They're not going to feel better about it once they've been appeased.
They're going to want more of it.
And that could be where we're taking perfectly good men, at least potentially out there,and corrupting them in the way you're talking about.
(46:11):
And to me, that's horrifying.
in their bedroom with their thoughts and their emotions.
(46:39):
But they're trying.
(47:07):
that goes on top of this is when you have people who are so dependent on technology fortheir social needs, which is a whole lot of people nowadays, oddly and perhaps ironically,
I wish it's a bit of a stretch for them to think that they're actually going to open thedoor, walk outside and do anything negative towards any other people.
(47:27):
Cause by God, that would involve being social again.
know what a strange irony, right?
(48:02):
Yeah, the bigger city you're in, the more lonely you are.
(49:43):
Well, absolutely.
So what does it mean to be human in the 21st century?
My guess is you're going to say something to the effect of it means what it always has.
We just have to get back to it.
Am I onto something?
(50:08):
you like one sentence and then I'll let you riff on the rest.
Please.
Well, you mentioned Dunbar's number, which is a theoretical sociological limit to how manysocial interactions at somewhat of a deep level, perhaps more than a superficial level
that humans can actually handle cognitively, right?
(50:29):
I think for millennia before there was really a whole lot of technology, basically thinklike an Amish person for a second.
Humanity has always been very social and very collaborative, very provincial.
And we had the people we loved and we trusted and we had the people we didn't love anddidn't trust and they were the enemies.
And together we were trying to move forward, make life better for each other, protect andprovide for our loved ones and for our young ones if we're a man, and nurture and educate
(51:03):
and bring love and joy if you're a woman.
And we've all just tried to live our best lives together, whatever that meant, even thoughwe lived in a flawed universe.
When the industrial age hit, I mean, you could go back to the printing press, probably.
You know, certainly in Rome, there were better ways to live your best life than there werein the dark ages in Europe, for sure.
(51:28):
So I mean, there's been some ebb and flow throughout humanity's history.
But nobody can argue that
probably somewhere early in the 20th century, things started escalating at an out ofcontrol pace.
mean, someone from 1650, for example, would probably recognize most of what's going on inthe year 1750.
(51:52):
I don't think anybody in 1875 would understand what 1975 looks like.
And I think most people in 1920 would be flabbergasted by the year 2020.
And I don't know about you, Ayush, but I have no idea.
I can't even begin to guess what the year 2125 is going to look like.
(52:15):
That's what I'm talking about.
That was more than one sentence and I apologize.
You have the mic, you have the floor from here.
(52:37):
Well, yeah, I guess to be clear there, I'm not sure the forward motion of technologyreally had a damning effect on our ability to connect until really broadband internet.
was all pretty much helpful until then.
At least it wasn't so eminently, balefully threatening to it.
We know we all gathered at the movie theater.
(52:57):
We all got in our car to visit other people.
We all got in a train and went to visit a place we never visited before.
oh
got wise to someone else in their way of life.
We got on airplanes and we could now go see Europe without being in a boat for five monthsor something like that.
So nowadays, the technology at some point has morphed into drawing us away from ournatural instincts as humans to be collaborative and social.
(53:25):
I think the collaboration, the being together as humans is absolutely the kernel of ourhuman being.
And I think that's what's being stolen from us or coaxed away from us.
(54:00):
already
(54:32):
All right, so what does it mean to be human man?
(55:16):
means to work for you instead of against you.
(56:40):
Well, to kind of wrap this all up with a little bow in the interest of time.
Sure.
My hope and my naive belief is that we're going to get to a point very soon with AI, notdissimilar to the point we got with the idea of human cloning.
I mean, we can do it, but we'd better not.
And there's going to come a point where this is going to be something we start servinginstead of vice versa.
(57:04):
And yet the cynic in me is starting to believe that, well,
Nobody slammed the brakes on smartphones or on social media.
So why stop there?
This has been a very fascinating conversation and we could go on and on.
I mean, the first thing I thought of when you were talking about what the future mightlook like is someone's going to come around and go, well, that sounds like a bunch of
(57:28):
communists to me.
Yeah, I mean, it would just be another conversation for another day.
Are we all headed towards being a bunch of communists and liking it?
I mean, you know, it'd be a great show.
Maybe you should come back and we talk about just that.
Maybe that's your next book.
Yeah, man.
(57:48):
But uh it's interesting and perhaps no fun is this conversation's been.
I'm actually holding a prurient sense of satisfaction having had it.
And I hope you do too.
And I think with so many guys out there who are intelligent and thinking about
This has definitely been one of those episodes that's food for thought.
I really appreciate you and I want to send guys first of all to Amazon where they can getyour book it's called AI for Generation Z and you can find it at the top of the Amazon
(58:17):
influencer queue at mountaintoppodcast.com front slash Amazon guys, especially if you'relistening to this episode within a few days of it being released.
Also, when you go to mountaintoppodcast.com front slash iush
AYUSH you will go to IU's Percosh website and what are they going to find there?
(58:56):
Fantastic.
So once again, thank you so much, Ayus for joining us today.
This has been a great conversation.
I hope and pray there are more guys like you out there in Gen Z who are going to make thisworld a better place someday, if not right now.
Thank you so much for being here.
Yeah, definitely.
We'll have you back.
And gentlemen, if you have not been to mountaintoppodcast.com recently, you gotta go thereand download all the free goodies.
(59:24):
I have a book for you called Sticking Points Solved.
You can check out all the show notes, see what all our guests look like, and get on thephone and talk to me for 25 to 30 minutes.
It won't be AI.
It'll really be me.
You can have a real conversation with a real dude about where you are in your world, yourreal world, I might add, with real women out there or...
lack thereof.
(59:45):
Talk to me free for 25 minutes.
Get on my calendar at mountaintoppodcast.com where you'll find that opportunity and somuch more.
Also, I want to remind you to keep supporting our sponsors, Jocko Willinks Company Originin Maine, The Keyport and Hero Soap.
All three of those companies are going to man you up.
They're going to level up your masculinity and all of them are coming out with new andcool items all the time that you just got to check out.
(01:00:10):
All of that and more is there for you when you visit mountaintoppodcast.com.
And until I talk to you again real soon, this is Scott McKay from X and Y Communicationsin San Antonio, Be good out there.
uh you
The Mountaintop Podcast is produced by X and Y Communications, all rights reservedworldwide.
(01:00:37):
Be sure to visit www.mountaintoppodcast.com for show notes.
And while you're there, sign up for the free X and Y Communications newsletter for men.
This is Ed Roy Oldham speaking for the Mountaintop Podcast.
uh
(01:01:00):
you
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