Amendment 28, Ethereum, and How UBI Actually Gets Protected
If guaranteed income demonstrably cut violent crime, lowered healthcare costs, and boosted entrepreneurship — and the only documented trade-off was recipients working one hour less per week — Jerremy Alexander Newsome says the answer is obviously yes. Dave Conley argues no institution can be trusted to administer it, so it needs to be constitutionally locked in as Amendment 28 — or it becomes a control lever, and someone will eventually threaten to withhold your check for something you said online. Jerremy's hot take: Vitalik Buterin runs it, and he's actively developing a concept he calls solar coin — a blockchain token that converts residential solar energy into universal energy credits transferable across borders. Bitcoin's original design — borderless, ungoverned, no approval required — gets reframed as a proof-of-concept for universal basic currency, built in 2008 specifically because the financial system looked like it wasn't getting out. The failure mode is WALL-E and Idiocracy, and both agree shame still has a role to play in preventing it.
Timestamps:
- (00:00) The system no one can touch – building the tamper-proof UBI architecture
- (03:19) Vitalik and solar coin – Ethereum, energy credits, and a live vision
- (07:23) Bitcoin as universal basic currency – borderless, ungoverned, and the template
- (12:28) Fewer wage hours – why that trade-off is actually the success metric
- (18:34) The WALL-E scenario – complacency, base desires, and the role of shame
Transcript
A system that runs itself, pays itself, and CAN'T be touched
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:by a politician—that's what Dave
and Jerremy are building toward.
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:The blockchain, the solar grid,
Bitcoin's original thesis—the
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:architecture already exists.
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:The only gap is WILL.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Anyway, every- I think
everyone knows my take on this one.
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:All right, here's a good one for You.
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:Dave.
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:"Hit me with a person, one person or
institution you would actually trust
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:to administer a national UBI program."
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:Dave Conley: You.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Thanks,
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:Dave Conley: be about it.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Bro.
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:What a kind compliment.
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:Dave Conley: dude, I don't know
if I would trust any institution
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:on this because every institution
is made of people, and we've seen,
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:like massive distrust in things.
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:And what, like what could it look like?
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:Like certainly in the, in, in
the tribes, like I think they,
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:they've figured out some of this.
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:Maybe in Alaska they figured
out something like this.
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:But I don't know if you can do a program
like this if you just do it by law.
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:I think it would have to be
like a constitutional amendment.
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:It'd have to be like rock solid
and be like, "Okay, Amendment
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:28 is everybody gets this.
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:You're a citizen of the United States,"
and like this is what it's all gonna
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:be, and it's going to be, it's...
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:And it's going to be, without
influence or bias or things.
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:Because as soon as you get, exactly what
you just started going down, which is
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:like as soon as you create an institution,
you get an institution that is subject
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:to, influence or subject to bias, subject
to, graft and greed and craziness.
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:Like you, you have to eliminate
as much administration as possible
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:because then you get shenanigans.
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:We say it every time.
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:Every series that we begin, we're like,
"Where the hell does all the money go to?"
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:It's like this is crazy, all
the money that's cycling through
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:a system and how little of it
actually gets to the endpoint.
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:This would have to be that the endpoint
is first in line and that everything
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:else is like a fraction of a fraction.
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:Like you wouldn't give to a
charity where 95% of it goes to
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:the administration of it, and yet
that's exactly what happens, right?
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yep.
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:Dave Conley: Like you would work with
an institution that, has you have that
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:is above board, that is completely
transparent, that has no shen-shenanigans,
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:that you can, you can look up under the
skirt of everything in it, and that it,
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:its carrying costs are like micro, right?
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:I don't know.
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:Where you where would you install this?
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:Our AI overlord Grok
is administrating this.
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:Jerremy Newsome: No, it
definitely won't be Grok.
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:Dave Conley: Ugh.
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:Oh and that's the scary part is that if
you give it to an institution without
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:guardrails, then they can control you too.
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:Like money is power, and it's "Oh
you said something, nasty online.
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:You're not getting your check this month."
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:And it's "Oh my God."
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:Or, like you, or, on the good side
it'd be like like you missed a child
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:support payment, so it's going to
your ex-husband or your ex-wife."
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:And I'm like, "Oh, man."
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:Th-that's a system of control, and I...
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:That removes the freedom aspect.
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:The freedom has to be first.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Here's a crazy take.
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:So I appreciate you saying me, and I
would obviously, I want and need to
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:be president of this country to fix so
many of the problems that we have, and
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:I will lead in a very heart-led way.
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:And if it wasn't me Hot take, it'd
be a guy named Vitalik Buterin.
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:Vitalik is the creator of Ethereum.
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:Dave Conley: Okay.
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:Jerremy Newsome: And the reason he...
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:the reason he made it and the- regardless
of, again, the actual solutions it has
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:provided, the blockchain that it was
built on, and the reason that he did it
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:for the world, he has the minds and the,
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:giving and the generosity.
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:He donated, I think, $150 million, like
the India COVID relief fund when he got a
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:bunch of money from crypto for expanding
he's a guy who understands monetary
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:policy at a very philanthropic way.
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:He has a also a vision for how to
use crypto and the decentralized
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:blockchain nature of it or the goal
of it to make things very quick
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:and eq- and equitable acro- across
borders and across country lines.
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:E- example, and this is a vision
that I haven't been able to pull
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:off yet, but actually I'm getting
closer than I think on a monthly
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:basis, but call it solar coin.
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:And solar coin is individuals have
solar attached to their homes.
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:They have a smart grid or smart meter
that is built into the solar, and
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:depending on how much solar their home
receives that money goes into the grid,
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:and they receive a solar credit, right?
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:A payment of this coin.
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:And that coin payment can be used to
pay the energy bill of anyone else
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:at any point in time 'cause you're
giving money, you're giving energy
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:to the grid using your house, right?
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:So you have your energy that's being paid
for, and your energy is creating out of
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:thin air this token, that token can be
used to simultaneously and universally
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:pay anyone else's energy bill, as long as
they're the subscriber to the smart meter
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:'cause then you just log on and click a
button and boom, that person's solar bill
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:is paid or their energy bill is paid.
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:'Cause again, let's just take, I
don't know, Minnesota or Alberta or
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:Iceland or the Faroe Islands, right?
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:Countries that don't have
that much exposure to solar
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: their energy
prices are extremely high.
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:It's okay we could supplement that
here in Vegas by having no energy bill
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:The energy credits that we create
from our home that we build solar
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:on, they go into countries like that.
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:That's actually extremely doable, and
not only have I thought of something
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:Dave Conley: Wait.
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:Jerremy Newsome: right?
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:So it's not gonna be just like an
individual person, an individual
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:country that pays an individual country.
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:We probably would want that,
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: be affecting everybody.
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: it's like now this is an
opportunity for the globe to actually come
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:together and put these policies in place,
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: can have a board, you can
have an individual group like the United
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:Nations or someone, but at some stage
there, it is gonna be bigger, I think,
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:than just on a country to country basis.
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:Dave Conley: Okay.
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:Yeah, that's interesting.
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:How univ- yeah, I gotta...
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:that's gonna keep me...
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:Jerremy Newsome: is universal?
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:Dave Conley: universal is universal?
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:Is it gonna be just citizens?
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:Is it gonna be every
man, woman, and child?
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:Is it, is it, who gets it?
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:Does anybody not get it?
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:I'm, I...
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:Yeah.
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:Who's in it?
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:Who's out?
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
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:Dave Conley: you think?
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:Do you think there's-
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:Jerremy Newsome: yeah I do actually
believe that there needs to be a...
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:It is more universal than people
are-- When I think of universal
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:basic income, I actually think
about it from a global standpoint.
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:I don't think of it as an individual
country, as wild as that actually
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: I think it's like you
take leaders in, in larger countries
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:that are doing extremely well,
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: create a system 'cause
it the that you have millions of people
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:a year die from fucking starvation
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:Dave Conley: Ugh.
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:Jerremy Newsome: and c- and bad water,
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:Dave Conley: It's dumb.
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:Jerremy Newsome: I just have a hard
time wrapping my head around that.
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:And again, I do understand that
unfortunately a lot of that is, a
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:lot of that is a political system.
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:It is a higher overarching class
system of some kind that is,
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:that's been created, and we don't
want to go in and change that.
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:But giving them access to,
"Hey, here's more capital."
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:Sure, why not?
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:It's doable.
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:That, that was the point of Bitcoin.
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:I'm not saying it's perfect by any means,
but that was the point where hey, anyone
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:can buy it, anyone has access to it
anyone can own it if you have the Right.
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:technology to purchase it,
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:Dave Conley: Right.
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:Jerremy Newsome: has control over it.
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:Like Bitcoin was slash is, it's
its underlying general thesis has
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:some level of validity to universal
basic income where it's like you buy
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:this thing, it's borderless, it's
contr- it's controlled by no one.
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:It is plugged into the computer
smart network system where it's every
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:computer has access to it, anyone
can tap into it if you have access
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:to the internet, and you can purchase
or receive Bitcoin from anyone in the
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:world instantaneously with no approval
by anyone, no disapproval by anyone.
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:And if you receive Bitcoin, you
actually have monetization that if
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:you have access to a thing that can
actually receive that as payment,
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: technically receive any
amount of currency whenever from anyone.
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:And that was one of the reasons that it
started taking off because you have a
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:lot of countries that do not have the
policy of the United States of America,
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:Venezuela, Russia, Brazil, parts of India,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Cuba, North
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:Korea, a lot, lot-- Did I mention Russia?
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:Like you have so many, you have
so many countries that like their
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:citizens don't have this safety
and autonomy with their money.
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:And ultimately, again, the way I see it
is if a bunch of people, which they did,
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:started buying this asset this currency
because they felt that their economy
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:would implode and that their dollars
or their currency units would disappear
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:essentially overnight or get halved
overnight, buying this currency that
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:their government can't stop or shut down.
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:And if enough people buy a thing
that has a limited supply, the
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:price of that thing will increase.
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:That's what happened to Bitcoin.
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:And that thesis got around and I
actually can see and understand
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:the validity of that prospectus.
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:The random thing is I think Satoshi
Nakamoto is Japan, and I believe that
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:Japan actually created Bitcoin to be the
stronger currency than the US dollar and
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:the stronger, more needed currency than
the US dollar 'cause that's the only way
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:that Japan ever gets a financial grip
as one of the world's leading economies
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:is o- own the lar- own the largest asset
or own the largest currency, right?
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:Satoshi Nakamoto, Samsung, Noki--
Samsung, Nokia, Toshiba, Motorola,
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:like those are the acronyms.
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:One of my conspiracy theories,
probably not accurate, but
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:Dave Conley: Oh, wow.
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:That's a-- Oh,
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:Jerremy Newsome: it's not
as crazy as people think.
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:Dave Conley: No, my first tin
hoil- tin foil hat of the morning.
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:I like that.
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:That's
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:Jerremy Newsome: Thanks, man.
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:Dave Conley: Mine's usually
war related, but not,
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:Bitcoin related.
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:I like that one.
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:That's a good one.
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:Jerremy Newsome: man.
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:A little bit of a stretch but saying
all that to say that's-- it was probably
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:the theoretical perspective of right?
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:Universal, it wasn't an income,
but I'd probably call it UB-
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:UBC, universal basic currency,
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:Was probably a reason that w-
that Bitcoin was created 'cause it
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:was built in 2008 when the whole
financial system, everyone's "Oh,
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:we're not getting out of this."
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: was like,
"Watch us print more.
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:We're just gonna send the
country into more debt.
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:We're
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:gonna buy..."
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:You know what?
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:So we're gonna buy our way out of this.
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:Here's a question that is
poised and proposed to us.
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:If guaranteed income demonstrably
reduced violent crime,
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:Lowered healthcare costs,
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:Increased entrepreneurship, and the
only documented trade-off was that
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:recipients worked about one hour less per
week, is that a good deal for America?
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:And the answer is obviously yes, right?
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:Has to be.
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:Dave Conley: I wonder if that would
be like the success metric of...
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:And I think work is a loaded question,
loaded, the loaded verb there.
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:I think it's direct wage, labor
wage, direct labor wage word, right?
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:Trading your time and effort for money.
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:I think that if we lowered that
and we saw productivity elsewhere
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:Measured in some other way, right?
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:It's like I'm using this
productive time for something else.
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:I think that would actually
be a success metric, right?
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:Like I'm using that time, money, and
energy to take care of my health.
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:I'm using it to take care of my
parents or take care of my kids.
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:I'm using that to improve my
community or, grow a business
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:that, has no income right now.
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:Like that's trading your wage
hours for productivity elsewhere.
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:So I think that would be actually a
success metric for UBI to be not that
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:you're working less, that you're working
fewer wage-- trading fewer wage hours.
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:That would-- Yeah, that'd be my...
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:And it's yeah you're doing,
yes, less, fewer wage...
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:You're trading fewer wage hours
for productivity elsewhere.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Dope.
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:I can take that down.
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:Yeah, it makes sense.
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:Just giving people a new
belief system, right?
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:A new idea of this is actually available.
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:Dave Conley: Yeah, in a sense
there's a, like it's not that
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:capitalism is bad or good.
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:It's not, it's just a, it's just a, it's
just a construct of economics, right?
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:And you have to layer on, a value
on top of capitalism, and you have
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:to layer on morality on top of it.
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:It's not just, seeking the lower
cost for the highest return.
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:That, that leads to like craziness, as
we've seen in a lot of different places.
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:That's why you have, certain,
rules and regulations that get
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:bent and broken all the time.
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:This is actually taking it out of that
capitalist system and be like, "Okay,
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:sure, you can function in any way,
shape, or form that you want," and
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:that productivity and that that greater
good for the economy, for yourself,
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:for your family, leads to things that
aren't directly measurable but may
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:have a much bigger impact than just
trading your time and effort for cash.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Amen to that, dude.
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:Dave Conley: If you're sick,
that's all you can focus on.
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:It's
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
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:Dave Conley: soon as somebody's sick,
they're like, they're-- You or nobody is
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:on their deathbed saying, "Oh my God, I
wish I'd spent more time at the office."
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah, totally.
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:And I'll say too, man, like ultimately,
sure, work an extra hour less.
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:Who really gives a fuck?
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:Dave Conley: yeah,
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:Jerremy Newsome: Like, all right, yeah,
you're spending less time at work.
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:But like, all right,
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:that...
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:that's what I did at Nationwide Insurance.
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:I was known for that.
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:Be- literally, I would tell everyone
and my boss, " I don't work as much as
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:everyone else from an hour standpoint.
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:I'm not going to."
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:I'm not gonna work, I'm not gonna work.
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:There's no...
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:Why am I here for 40 hours when I can
literally get everything done in 25 hours?
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:And I made the very compelling argument
that I'm gonna use less energy resources,
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:less time, I'm gonna distract less people.
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:I don't need to be here for 40 hours.
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:Does it really matter if I get the exact
same amount of work done in 40 versus 25?
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:And after a couple days of having this
conversation with my boss, he's "No,
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:it doesn't really ultimately matter."
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:I was like, "Perfect, then I'm gonna do
everything I need to do in 25 hours."
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:And what that looked like for me at the
time was I went to work, and I did not...
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:I didn't go to the bathroom very often.
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:I didn't eat a lot of...
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:I didn't take a lunch break.
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:I didn't take breaks.
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:worked,
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: right?
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:Eight hours, three to four days a week,
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:Just straight through.
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:I would put on music, headphones, boom,
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:Dave Conley: Bang it out.
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:Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Bang it out, dude.
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:I would...
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:And I did all the things I needed to do,
There was no lunch, there was no pausing.
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:There was just getting after it,
and the results were there, and
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:the re- the returns were there.
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:So
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:it's who really cares?
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:Why I tell companies all the
time, I don't cr- I don't care
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:at all how much someone works.
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:If it's an hour or 400 hours,
did the same thing actually get
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:done that needed to get done?
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:'Cause everyone, we have to do something.
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:The time exchange is irrelevant to
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:Dave Conley: and there's all
sorts of bullshit jobs out there.
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:It's it's if your jo- So I...
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:it looks like AI is really eating
the lunch of bullshit jobs, and
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:like I'm down for that, right?
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:If we're getting rid of bullshit
jobs and we're actually be able
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:to focus people, that's the...
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:that's the rub, right?
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:Can we focus people out of bullshit jobs
and into things that are providing value?
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:And not to say that marketers
don't provide value, right?
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:But it is a bullshit job, can we focus
those people who are doing that marketing
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:job into something that they are attuned
to that provides value elsewhere?
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:I'm gonna say yeah, we can.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yep, I agree.
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:Totally agree, dude.
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:It's gonna be super fascinating.
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:So yeah I'm for that.
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:And to our listeners, I would love
to hear from you in your, in the
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:comment section on Instagram or
Twitter or YouTube on this video.
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:What's the version of
this that goes wrong?
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:What does a bad ending look like?
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:Dave Conley: Yeah.
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:How do we know that this is a failure?
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:I'm gonna say it looks like Idiocracy and,
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:Jerremy Newsome: yeah.
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:And that is
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:Dave Conley: and WALL-E to me, but I...
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:Jerremy Newsome: dude.
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:That is a very correct answer.
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:Not even a joke.
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:Dave Conley: Yeah,
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:Jerremy Newsome: answer.
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:Dave Conley: don't, let
those be documentaries.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yes, real actual answer.
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:Not even half a joke.
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:Dave Conley: But not my answer.
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:What's your answer?
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:What do you all think that this
version is that goes wrong?
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:Jerremy Newsome: No,
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:Dave Conley: the...
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:Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: It is,
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:dude.
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:It's
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:Dave Conley: Y- Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: That's the bad answer,
where it's okay everyone has money.
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:No one does anything.
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:They receive the money and they
go, "All right let's watch TV.
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:Let's become complacent.
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:Let's become a complacent, fat,
overweight society that doesn't
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:think or move or generate or create."
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:Dave Conley: There is,
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:Jerremy Newsome: there, there's a
feed into the most base human desires,
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:and nothing good comes from it.
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:That is, that's worst case scenario.
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:Does it actually happen?
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:I don't know, man.
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:I, but again, I do think it can stem from,
depends on leaders are, leadership are
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:and how they actually frame everything.
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:I think that's definitely a portion of it.
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:Dave Conley: There, there is a there is
a demand-- There, the, shame is something
385
:that needs to come back hard, I think.
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:I think that there's a motivation in
there to be like, "Okay you know, it, it
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:is shameful for you not to be doing..."
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:Like I, I run into this, uh, too often
than not because I live in a, in a
389
:wealthy area, and I live in an area
that, uh, also has a lot of people who
390
:are on, you know, on their vacations
or they have their vacation homes.
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:And so I've, I've met a lot of people
who are, are nepo babies or they are, um,
392
:you know, like they're in their, their
40s and 50s and they've retired in place.
393
:And, you know, like they hang out
and their biggest discussions over
394
:the course of the day is, uh, whether
they're going to the pool or to the
395
:beach and where they're going for dinner.
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:And I, I-- it's been kind of a,
a, a wild experience to be like...
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:And it, it just, and that's it.
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:That's as deep as their, their river goes.
399
:And, you know, you really kind of
have to avoid it because there's
400
:really nothing to talk about.
401
:You know, like they're not there to
actually make any bigger improvement
402
:or change in society, and they don't
have the peers and the people to
403
:be around them to shame them and be
like, "Dude, you have all the time
404
:and all the money in the world.
405
:Like what's, you know, what, what
is the way that you can make the
406
:world just a little bit better
today besides figuring out what
407
:flavor daiquiri you're gonna get?"
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:So I, I, you know, in, in part of,
you know, finding this purpose and
409
:ensuring that people, uh, uh, you
know, aren't just sitting around
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:and doing the WALL-E or doing the,
the, uh, Idiocracy, there's, it, it
411
:happens on both ends of the spectrum.
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:It's a horseshoe here, right?
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:So I, I think that they're, they're, you
know, really driving a, a sociological, a
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:social impact to people being like, "Dude,
you know, like you're, you're a, you're,
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:you're a net negative on, on humanity.
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:G- get your butt in gear."
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yep.
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:I agree.
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:I agree.
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:Dave Conley: That's where
we're leaving it today, though.
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:Jerremy Newsome: where
we're gonna leave it today.
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:Get your butt in gear.
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:Get your butt in gear.
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:Let's figure out what happens, what works.
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:Yeah.
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:fascinating.
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:Super fascinating stuff.
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:Really pumped to kinda continue to dive
in, ladies and gentlemen, and we're
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:gonna get some really cool guests.
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:We already have one scheduled for next
week, and we're gonna continue to find
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:people that have really cool thoughts on
the matter and just dive in and pour in
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:amazing content, amazing value, and keep
circulating greatness into the world.
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:So with that, make sure to hit us
with that subscribe on the socials.
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:Dave Conley: Mhm.
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:Jerremy Newsome: of a five-star
review if you haven't done so already.
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:It's free, costs you nothing.
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:It helps us tremendously.
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:the AI overlord algorithm, we
are super excited to continue
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:to pour in value and information
and entertainment into your life.
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:Thanks so much for listening.
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:You rock
