00:00:00
3 weeks ago I started an experiment for
00:00:02
one month I was going to listen to music
00:00:05
exclusively through an iPod but of
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course things got more complicated I
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explored how algorithms affect
00:00:12
everything we do see and consume I left
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social media got a point and shoot
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camera started asking people for music
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recommendations the next week I explored
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how algorithms and the modern internet
00:00:24
affect artists and creators and what
00:00:27
kinds of things get made in the first
00:00:29
place and then then I had a new
00:00:31
hypothesis see I remember life before
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the internet before smartphones before
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algorithms most of us are addicted to
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our phones myself included but we accept
00:00:43
them because it's just part of modern
00:00:44
life and you have to have them but do
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you what if the old technology the
00:00:57
pre-oriented up changing my life
00:01:00
and creating a new problem that I'm not
00:01:02
sure how to
00:01:04
solve if you've seen the previous two
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videos you know me I mean not just me
00:01:09
but week three me where I'm at now I
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don't know how this series is going to
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end because well none of this went how I
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thought it was going to go at the
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beginning I have a few more things to
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show you that happened this week week
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three and then I'll explain my problem
00:01:26
so I'm Still rocking my iPod I upgraded
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the p ads on my headphones to get a
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bigger bass sound out of them they sound
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amazing honestly this iPod thing is
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easier than I thought it would be I'm
00:01:39
listening to more music really great
00:01:42
music it's a more isolated experience on
00:01:45
the iPod and because I'm buying it I'm
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really motivated to listen to it it's
00:01:51
slightly more inconvenient with the
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sinking and carrying another device
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around but the positives are outweighing
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the negatives here being off social
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media has given me a ton of brain space
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back I can think again I'm taking
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pictures with this digital disposable
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style camera it's simple and fun I take
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the picture and I'm back in the moment
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I'm also handwriting my research notes
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my pocket notebook has other notes and
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to-dos and this week I decided to go
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full dumb phone well mostly I wanted to
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get a flip phone or a light phone have
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you seen those it's a super simple phone
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that deliberately doesn't have a bunch
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of apps instead I decided to convert my
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existing iPhone 13 step one delete every
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app other than messages Maps calendar
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and phone messages are the main way I
00:02:44
communicate with my phone maps and
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calendars were necessary for my trip to
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Sonoma this week and you can't delete
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the phone app I tried step two turn my
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screen black and white this immediately
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made my phone less interesting not not
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only could I not use any apps it's a
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boore to look at step three put on a
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matte screen protector this softens the
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pixels on the screen even more and makes
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it feel like a light phone messages Maps
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calendar phone there was just one
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problem I've been filming this whole
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series on my iPhone and if I can't use
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the camera that means I have to use an
00:03:26
old Sony handy Cam that I had yeah yes I
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could use the nice camera that I film
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regular videos with this camera here
00:03:34
right now but I don't want to unmount it
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and I need something dead simple not a
00:03:39
lot of settings and this just fit the
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bill in these videos I'm sharing a lot
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more of my own life than I typically do
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but there's another part that you're not
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seeing the biggest part actually my
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family this week was Father's Day and
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honestly this is a huge factor in all
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all of this for me how do I want to
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raise my kids in today's world how do I
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want them listening and thinking about
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music or social media or the internet in
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general and with all of the huge
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internet shifts we're in the middle of
00:04:13
right now how do you balance everything
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or is that even possible my son didn't
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know what an iPod was but got used to it
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and how it works he gave me a list of
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songs that he wants on my iPod so he'll
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have something to listen to on the way
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to his piano lessons or trips to the
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park Paw Patrol sure Yellow Submarine
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beetles classic shake your pants Cameo
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philti That's My Boy the two guys that's
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Robson Jorge and Lincoln
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olivetti my wife loved the iPod idea so
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I bought her an iPod Mini the same one
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that she used to have though this one
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has a new battery and larger flash
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storage the iPod modding Community can
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get pretty crazy but all of this has had
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me thinking lately how am I going to
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raise my kids when smartphones exist the
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internet algorithms all of recorded
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music history in your pocket at all
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times the joys and horrors of humanity
00:05:16
simultaneously existing in the palm of
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your hand I caught myself recently in a
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dumb parenting moment I hate the idea of
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raising an iPad kid like my son just
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glued to a screen and unable to engage
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with the real world but so one day my
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son asked to watch a show or play on the
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iPad and I said no we don't have a lot
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of time because we need to leave soon
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we're not going to do screens right now
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and then proceeded to scroll through
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Instagram on my phone it turns out I'm
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the iPad kid so I'm going back dumb
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phone no social media no streaming music
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everything as manual as
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[Music]
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possible your smart smartphone is
00:06:00
constantly clamoring for your attention
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but my Sony handy cam it just shoots
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video my iPod it just plays music my
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point and shoot camera just photos my
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notebooks they're not trying to cross
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reference and tag and organize they just
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exist as my thoughts suspended on a
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piece of paper and my typewriter oh
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right I got a typewriter my normal
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videos require a a lot of research a lot
00:06:30
of writing I write everything out so I
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know what most of the video will be
00:06:35
before I start filming I use notion
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either on my computer or sometimes on my
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phone between things but writing
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requires a lot of thinking and a
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typewriter is a fantastic tool for
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thinking the keystrokes are violent and
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beautiful the machine is a Marvel of
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engineering this one is from 19 47 and
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sings Like a Bird the chime at the end
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of the line is so
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satisfying and it changes the way you
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write there's something to be said about
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getting the words out of your head as
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fast as possible but there's also
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something to be said for taking a moment
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and thinking forming a sentence in your
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head and then executing the Symphony of
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text hammers to bring your thoughts
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immediately into the physical world in a
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park with giant headphones on while
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people stare at
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[Music]
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[Music]
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you look I know what I look like a
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freaking hipster dork but I'm telling
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you this typewriter is incredible no
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distractions no notifications that
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interrupt you no squiggly red lines just
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you and the words
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all right this is the video for um H to
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the iso by Jay-Z can I show you
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something first though this is the
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[Music]
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script okay this is my YouTube
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Ed just hit play on that one how about
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this one hit
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play here we
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go this week I went to Sonoma County
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California for a gig with the same band
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I was with last
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week I'm driving the Sprinter van and
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sticking to the rules we all listen to
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music through my iPod the good news was
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the Mercedes Sprinter also worked
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perfectly with my
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iPod I loaded in the album
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recommendations I bought from last week
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and we listened on the way up this
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sparked many discussions about the music
00:08:59
the art artist their influences their
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art that is a
00:09:06
wild it's a it's a good song I'm not
00:09:08
saying that it's bad I'm just saying it
00:09:09
sounds like T Swizzle because T Swizzle
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is basic we can agree to disagree that's
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fair I love this
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song it was a really great 7-hour Drive
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listening and talking about music with
00:09:22
friends before performing music with
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friends
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hey
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welcome what
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[Music]
00:09:44
up this guy gets
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[Music]
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it my phone this week is a dum fighted
00:09:58
iPhone and I'm off social media this
00:10:00
month but I'm still using the internet
00:10:03
just on my computer or my iPad I'm still
00:10:05
seeing the videos and reading the
00:10:07
articles I want to see just in one
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sitting instead of checking it all
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throughout the day and I think that's a
00:10:14
better way of consuming it right now in
00:10:16
2024 we're in the middle of a big shift
00:10:19
on the internet platform walls are
00:10:22
getting higher and higher AI is taking
00:10:25
over when I was a kid and we got the
00:10:27
internet at my house the internet was
00:10:29
small and exciting it connected all
00:10:32
kinds of people across the world and
00:10:34
brought a lot of wonderful things with
00:10:36
it but now the internet feels big and
00:10:40
boring Tik Tok has taken over not only
00:10:44
as a social media app but the concept
00:10:47
one algorithm to rule them all it's not
00:10:50
about following the Creator it's about
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consuming content and there's always
00:10:56
more content I talked about this concept
00:10:59
last week as a content creator you're
00:11:02
not making videos you're making content
00:11:04
for Instagram you're not making music
00:11:07
you're making audio content for Spotify
00:11:09
at least that's where they're trying to
00:11:11
head and now it turns out you're not
00:11:14
making articles and websites for the
00:11:16
open web anymore you're making content
00:11:19
for Google's AI Google already mudded
00:11:22
the internet with SEO but has now just
00:11:24
rolled out AI summaries which promises
00:11:27
to bring you the answer you want without
00:11:30
ever having to go to any other website
00:11:32
other than Google in other words they're
00:11:35
keeping you on their platform as long as
00:11:38
possible just like everyone else to
00:11:41
understand this better I called up Jason
00:11:43
cobbler he's the former editor and chief
00:11:45
ADV vice's motherboard and is now the
00:11:47
co-founder of 404 media a media company
00:11:51
focused on how technology shapes our
00:11:53
world I wanted to ask Jason about what's
00:11:55
happening with the internet right now
00:11:58
yeah I think what's happening is social
00:12:00
media is fraying and Google search is
00:12:04
getting both overwhelmed by AI spam to
00:12:07
the point where it is becoming very hard
00:12:10
to discover new things on the internet
00:12:13
yeah so what I've been describing it as
00:12:14
is like a discoverability crisis it can
00:12:17
be really hard to find things that are
00:12:20
made by well-meaning humans who have put
00:12:23
like a lot of time and effort into
00:12:24
making high quality content because it's
00:12:27
getting drowned out by
00:12:29
commodified AI spam and then also some
00:12:33
stuff that's made by humans but is
00:12:35
created to like appease a search
00:12:37
algorithm it's so difficult to get to
00:12:41
just the thing that you are looking for
00:12:44
and the thing you're you're wanting to
00:12:45
get to So Google I mean Google has spent
00:12:49
decades directing people to websites and
00:12:52
one of the reasons that's work for
00:12:53
Google is because Google will have ads
00:12:56
on its search page but then most of the
00:12:58
internet is monetized via ads that also
00:13:02
are controlled by Google they're very
00:13:04
likely taking a cut of the ads that are
00:13:05
shown on that website yeah but
00:13:08
increasingly Google is trying to keep
00:13:10
people on that search page with its
00:13:12
Snippets with its AI answers with the
00:13:15
little click down like expanders that
00:13:17
will show you more and more information
00:13:19
that is kind of copy pasted from a lot
00:13:21
of different websites and so they're
00:13:24
essentially cannibalizing traffic to
00:13:26
these websites making ends meet with
00:13:29
advertising alone is increasingly hard
00:13:32
and it's increasingly hard to like build
00:13:33
an audience in this world where
00:13:36
discoverability is difficult and and
00:13:38
scaling that up while you have like
00:13:41
human workers and so companies and
00:13:43
websites that are increasingly making it
00:13:46
work are using Ai and and they're like
00:13:49
publishing instead of one or two or
00:13:52
three or four articles that a single
00:13:54
human being could do if they were
00:13:56
rushing the day they're having AI
00:13:58
published to 200 300 500 articles a day
00:14:01
uh you are going the traditional website
00:14:04
route with 404 yeah so I worked at uh
00:14:07
Vice media for 10 years um I was the
00:14:09
editorinchief of motherboard which was
00:14:11
its Tech site and my co-founders at 404
00:14:14
media are three other people uh Sam Cole
00:14:17
Emanuel meberg and Joseph Cox who also
00:14:19
worked at motherboard and what we hope
00:14:22
to do and are trying to do is tell
00:14:25
stories that are not easily told meaning
00:14:28
do reporting do like
00:14:30
investigations tell people about
00:14:32
communities on the internet that they
00:14:34
maybe didn't know about before we want
00:14:36
people to know that we're humans like we
00:14:38
are human beings doing the work and we
00:14:40
want to differentiate ourselves by not
00:14:42
using AI because I think the whole
00:14:45
industry is going toward using Ai and as
00:14:49
that happens it's like everything starts
00:14:51
to become the same and flattened and and
00:14:53
not super interesting you can find our
00:14:56
full conversation on the podcast or the
00:14:58
video on digging the
00:15:02
[Music]
00:15:03
[Applause]
00:15:04
[Music]
00:15:05
talks over the last 3 weeks I've run in
00:15:08
the exact opposite direction of where
00:15:10
everything is
00:15:11
headed away from algorithms away from Ai
00:15:15
and away from the modern digital tools
00:15:17
that we all take for granted as the best
00:15:20
way to do
00:15:20
[Music]
00:15:23
things by unbundling the music function
00:15:26
out of my phone I've regained control
00:15:29
roll over the music I listen to I've
00:15:31
been enjoying it more listening
00:15:33
intentionally getting great
00:15:35
recommendations from humans and
00:15:37
supporting the artist directly in the
00:15:39
process having an iPod is honestly not
00:15:41
that much more inconvenient and the
00:15:43
benefits are huge it's a net positive
00:15:47
unbundling the photos out of my phone
00:15:49
was a little more inconvenient but the
00:15:51
camera it's easy to use takes cool
00:15:53
pictures and I also have to use it much
00:15:55
more intentionally I have to take it out
00:15:58
turn it on frame up the picture and
00:16:01
import it into my computer after it's a
00:16:03
lot of work and with that comes a higher
00:16:06
value and appreciation of the picture
00:16:08
net positive unbundling parts of my
00:16:11
social life out of my phone has been a
00:16:13
win too social media really isn't that
00:16:16
social anymore but I've had more great
00:16:18
conversations with actual people in
00:16:21
person over text or God forbid on the
00:16:25
phone than I have in a very long time
00:16:28
huge net positive unbundling the email
00:16:31
and internet and writing and everything
00:16:33
else out of my phone making it a dumb
00:16:35
phone this was a difficult transition I
00:16:38
would still instinctively grab my phone
00:16:40
in any free moment I had but it's not
00:16:43
going to give me anything I can call
00:16:45
text look at a map I guess but that's it
00:16:49
I have to write stuff down to Google
00:16:51
later and then I have a specific time of
00:16:53
day to check my email or browse but then
00:16:56
I'm done but I'm also specifically
00:16:59
seeking out higher quality sources like
00:17:02
subscribing to 404 or subscribing to
00:17:05
multiple substacks my internet
00:17:07
consumption is much more limited but
00:17:09
it's much better the typewriter I used
00:17:12
is from
00:17:13
1947 and as you move forward in time as
00:17:17
technology progresses it all gets
00:17:19
simpler smaller and bundled together but
00:17:23
each time this happens we lose a little
00:17:25
bit of
00:17:26
richness sure it's more convenient on
00:17:29
your phone and it basically does the
00:17:31
same thing but not quite but you
00:17:34
continue to do this over years and years
00:17:37
bundling things together losing a little
00:17:40
bit each time and we get to where we're
00:17:43
at now addicted to our phones and
00:17:46
addicted to lowquality content that's
00:17:49
just trying to keep us more addicted and
00:17:52
these platforms as I talked with Jason
00:17:54
about they're eating their own
00:17:57
Tails we're pack in all of this into one
00:18:00
device and not stopping to ask if this
00:18:03
is actually the best way of doing
00:18:07
things or what it's doing to our
00:18:10
well-being in the long
00:18:14
term what we've done is made a digital
00:18:17
Swiss army
00:18:18
knife Swiss Army knives are great
00:18:21
because it's multiple tools Allin one
00:18:23
you got scissors a screwdriver a knife
00:18:26
the cork screw whatever you want in
00:18:28
there but think about it if you're
00:18:30
mounting a shelf are you going to grab
00:18:32
the Swiss army knife or a full-size
00:18:34
Phillips head screwdriver if you're
00:18:36
wrapping a Christmas present do you want
00:18:39
to use the little scissors on your Swiss
00:18:41
army knife or do you want to use a real
00:18:43
pair of scissors the knife on there is
00:18:45
very handy but if you're cooking a four
00:18:47
course meal you're probably going to
00:18:49
want a full-size chef's knife instead of
00:18:51
the Swiss army knife Swiss Army knives
00:18:54
are great but sometimes the actual tool
00:18:57
is better for the job job and how many
00:18:59
tools do you need does anyone really
00:19:02
need the one with a 100 functions or
00:19:04
whatever now imagine if this Swiss army
00:19:07
knife sent you notifications the knife
00:19:10
is all hey just letting you know I can
00:19:11
cut stuff the screwdriver is all hey
00:19:13
it's been 4 days since you last used me
00:19:16
or the tweezers are like hey don't lose
00:19:18
your streak tweeze something with me and
00:19:20
then now the Swiss army knife is getting
00:19:23
AI you get my point some things are
00:19:26
better unbundled so here's my new
00:19:29
problem I started this whole thing
00:19:31
thinking it was going to be a fun video
00:19:33
with a retro piece of music technology
00:19:36
but then I kept going and kept going in
00:19:39
running in the opposite direction from
00:19:41
algorithms and AI I've run backwards in
00:19:44
time through over 75 years of Technology
00:19:48
I've used older tools for listening and
00:19:50
making music writing photography art
00:19:54
news and media and making social
00:19:56
connections and I guess like I thought
00:19:59
it would be an interesting thing to
00:20:00
watch like oh look at the crazy guy with
00:20:03
the iPod and the typewriter and I am
00:20:05
honestly thinking about these things and
00:20:07
re-evaluating what tools I use and why
00:20:10
but in the back of my mind I've been
00:20:12
thinking cool when the month is over
00:20:14
I'll go back to using my iPhone back to
00:20:16
Spotify back to regular life but what I
00:20:19
didn't anticipate is how much better
00:20:22
life is
00:20:28
[Music]
00:20:33
everything is
00:20:35
richer music
00:20:38
writing photography
00:20:43
[Music]
00:20:45
art by dummifx
00:20:48
[Music]
00:20:55
[Music]
00:21:00
now I don't want to go
00:21:04
back everything is better this
00:21:10
way why would I go
00:21:15
back I'm not going
00:21:18
back you can't make me go back
00:21:21
[Music]
00:21:29
nothing is certain except death taxes
00:21:33
and
00:21:36
laundry it's always the
00:21:39
laundry I don't know how I didn't see
00:21:41
this
00:21:44
coming my apartment complex has one
00:21:47
washer and dryer and it requires a
00:21:50
smartphone app there's no way to pay
00:21:52
with cash I can't just not do
00:21:56
laundry I have to reinstall this
00:21:59
[Music]
00:22:02
app it's not just the laundry though
00:22:06
these past few weeks I've gotten so many
00:22:08
texts from friends that are links to
00:22:11
articles or videos or Spotify songs that
00:22:14
I can't do anything with on my phone I
00:22:16
can check them on my computer but since
00:22:18
I'm not doing Spotify or streaming music
00:22:21
I can't open those Links at all I want
00:22:24
to get a real dumb phone but it'll
00:22:26
require major life changes yes it really
00:22:29
is better but the rest of the world
00:22:32
doesn't operate this way so many things
00:22:34
require apps now or it's at least much
00:22:37
more inconvenient to not use the app so
00:22:40
now I genuinely don't know what to do
00:22:43
I've dug myself deep down into a hole
00:22:46
and it turns out I really love it down
00:22:49
here but I'm being pulled back to the
00:22:51
surface and I don't want to go back life
00:22:55
is better this way even if it's harder
00:22:57
in some ways some of the older tools
00:23:00
I've used are a better way of doing it
00:23:03
but some modern technology is
00:23:06
required I have one more week left in
00:23:09
this experiment and I not only don't
00:23:11
know how it will end next week I don't
00:23:14
know what I'm going to do after it's all
00:23:19
over hey it's week for me I think I
00:23:22
figured it out I got to do a couple
00:23:24
things first including something i'
00:23:26
never thought I'd do but I'll tell you
00:23:28
about it next week see you then
00:23:33
[Music]
