1/26/2026 - Breaking Generational Chains: From Peasant Mindset to Artist Identity and Value

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0:05 Chippy, you ready?
0:09 [music]
0:28 >> [music]
0:34 >> It really breaks my heart.
0:38 See a dear old friend
0:41 go down to that one out place again.
0:43 [music]
0:46 Do [singing] you know the sound
0:49 of a closing door? [music] Do you know
0:53 that sound somewhere before?
0:58 Do you wonder if she knows you any
1:02 [music] more? Wait
1:05 more. [singing]
1:07 [music]
1:09 Wrapped wrapped your [singing] love
1:11 around me like a chain.
1:14 But I never was afraid that [singing] it
1:17 would die.
1:19 [music]
1:21 You can dance [singing] in a hurricane,
1:27 [music]
1:28 but only if you're standing in the eye.
1:31 [singing]
1:32 Yeah.
1:34 I didn't [music] learn a new song. I I
1:36 knew this song, but I had a major major
1:38 revelation about my personality as a
1:41 hurricane.
1:43 And it and this song is called the eye.
1:47 [music]
1:48 Woohoo!
1:55 [music]
2:03 [music]
2:15 [music] [ __ ] again.
2:20 Oh man, what's happening? What's
2:22 happening? Good people.
2:25 [music]
2:33 [music]
2:35 Wrapped your love around me like a
2:37 chain, but I [singing] never was afraid
2:39 that it would die.
2:44 >> [music]
2:46 >> You can dance in a hurricane,
2:48 [music]
2:51 but only if you're standing in the eye.
2:59 [music]
3:04 [music]
3:11 [music]
3:15 Hey Danielle, what's shaking? What is
3:18 going down good people? We got Mimi. We
3:21 got Corey Sandler. Hello to all you
3:23 wonderful folk. It has been a week
3:25 [music] I have not been here. Shame on
3:27 me.
3:30 [music]
3:35 [music]
3:47 >> [music]
3:56 [music]
3:59 >> HEY, [screaming]
4:02 WOW.
4:06 [music]
4:11 WAIT.
4:14 [music]
4:18 WAIT. Is it
4:23 It's not simple to say. Oh, that's up
4:25 here. [music] It's not simple to say
4:29 [singing]
4:30 that most days
4:33 I don't recognize me. that these
4:35 [singing] shoes and the sab that place
4:38 and its patrons
4:41 uh [music]
4:43 Wait,
4:45 wait. That's what I say. Most [singing]
4:47 days I don't recognize me.
4:50 [music]
4:53 [singing]
4:57 [music]
5:03 >> [music]
5:05 >> Okay.
5:07 [music] It's not simple to say. Most
5:11 days [singing]
5:13 I [music] don't recognize me that these
5:16 shoes and this apron, that place and its
5:20 [music] patrons
5:22 have taken more than I gave them.
5:26 It's not [music and singing] easy to
5:28 know
5:30 I'm not anything like [singing] I used
5:33 to be. Although it's true I was never
5:37 attention sweet center. I still remember
5:41 that girl.
5:43 She's [music] imperfect but she tries.
5:48 She [singing] is good but she lies.
5:52 She is [singing]
5:53 hard on herself.
5:56 She's broken and would ask for help.
6:00 She is messy, but [music] she's kind.
6:03 [singing]
6:04 She's lonely, lonely.
6:08 Most [music] of the time she's all of
6:10 this mixed up and baked beautiful pie.
6:16 She's gone, but she used to be mine.
6:20 [music]
6:27 >> [music]
6:35 [music]
6:40 [music]
6:44 >> Oh man.
6:46 So, I figure what I'll do tonight is
6:48 I'll talk a little bit about my trip to
6:50 Washington DC for the big old flyin
6:53 with Daisy Thomas and the crew
6:57 and uh some things we learned, some
7:00 experiences.
7:02 Uh I had never been to the White House
7:04 before. That was a trip. [laughter]
7:08 Oh my god, you're back. We went through
7:11 withdrawal. Hey, Kelly, what's
7:12 happening? [laughter]
7:14 Thank you for the warm welcome back.
7:17 [snorts] Um, we'll do that. Um,
7:21 we're going to talk about some other
7:23 stuff.
7:25 Um,
7:27 I'll probably talk a little bit about my
7:28 practice. I've I've had some interesting
7:31 I had I had a couple of interesting
7:33 experiences in DC
7:36 um related to daily practice.
7:40 Um,
7:44 I would say the nice thing about a daily
7:45 practice is it's a daily reminder that
7:48 you could be doing your daily practice
7:50 [laughter]
7:52 in deeper ways.
7:56 How about those Pats? Uh,
7:59 come on. I mean, come on. Really,
8:02 Broncos? You can't you can't drive. You
8:05 couldn't even drive for a [ __ ] field
8:07 goal. Really? Come on.
8:11 >> [sighs]
8:11 >> Can you move the second screen?
8:14 Oh, up a little. Yes,
8:17 like that.
8:19 Small Kyle up
8:22 and [clears throat] then like and then
8:25 like like that cuz you want to see me
8:28 twice, right? You want to see this this
8:30 this version of me over here. You want
8:34 to see that one.
8:37 So you get it's like that's like the
8:38 little map of me. Dust check. Yeah, I
8:42 already did the dusting thing. I
8:44 probably didn't do it good enough.
8:46 And then this me, this is like the
8:48 zoomedin version of the map. You want to
8:50 see both of those cuz the the uh the
8:53 beauty
8:55 is profound. You you don't want to miss
8:57 any of it.
9:01 Um,
9:05 looks like I need to recalculate.
9:08 [laughter]
9:09 Vickiy's in the house. Joy Perty's in
9:11 the house.
9:13 [music]
9:15 I think I saw Source Camp. I saw Steo.
9:19 Who else we got? William Clark is here.
9:24 Jose Gonzalez. What's happening?
9:28 What's happening? Silver Fox in the
9:30 house. Hey, Corey Sandler.
9:34 Those cool little those cool little
9:36 potion pots you made. What are What are
9:39 those? You're up there making like like
9:42 tincture pots.
9:44 What kind of witchery do you have going
9:46 on your in your little workshop?
9:53 Are you going to Are you going to sell
9:54 sourdough starter in those little
9:56 things? They are mighty cute. I like
9:59 potion pots. We're all here. Tupplot
10:01 Tom's here. It's good. Mimi's here. This
10:04 is awesome. [music]
10:10 [music]
10:17 >> [music]
10:22 >> Wait, they're for a film series about
10:25 the main character is a witch and a
10:27 potter. Well, they're [ __ ] cool. Is
10:30 this a film you're making? Are you doing
10:32 like an AI film?
10:34 [music]
10:37 Oh, I have a weird thing, too. I have a
10:39 I have an index finger story.
10:43 And it's not pleasant. I have a
10:45 nonpleasant index finger story. Good to
10:48 have the fan back together. No, a real
10:51 Netflix like miniseries
10:55 that that you're working on. Are you
10:56 making these for that, Corey?
11:07 [music]
11:09 Actually,
11:11 [music]
11:18 yes,
11:21 I'm oral viting
11:24 pottery.
11:27 Is orroviding a word? [laughter]
11:33 If if oruroiding is a word, I don't know
11:36 it.
11:38 >> [laughter]
11:39 >> Oh, providing
11:42 or [laughter] providing. Providing. Yes.
11:44 Okay. Or providing. I thought it was
11:47 some witchy kind of [laughter]
11:52 I I think Corey.
11:54 So, do me a favor. Next time you go in
11:57 there, say, "I've been orroiding um
12:00 pottery all week for the production."
12:03 And when they ask you what that means,
12:04 you just go, "Oh, it's it's a witch
12:06 thing. [laughter]
12:10 Potion bottles and other pots for uses
12:13 for a studio." [music] That's really
12:15 cool. Congratulations.
12:18 Oh, that's so cool. [music] Have you
12:20 done stuff like that before? Did they
12:22 find you on the Tik Tok?
12:25 [music]
12:29 I'm just waiting for a Netflix series
12:31 about an angry Gen Xer sitting in the
12:33 corner office.
12:36 [music]
12:39 Yeah. Yeah. Actually, you should tell
12:42 them that they're AI generated cuz I saw
12:44 the one little top has the little curly
12:46 queue on it and that's from your
12:48 character.
12:50 Like, so you stole from yourself. You
12:52 stole designs from yourself. [music] I
12:55 know what you're doing over there.
12:56 There's nothing original. Everything is
12:59 some idea stolen from someone else. Even
13:01 if you steal it from you.
13:05 We're all artist language models.
13:06 [music]
13:07 Director and writer contacted me. She
13:09 had one of my potion bottles.
13:13 That's so cool.
13:15 Congrats.
13:18 But I you know what I like about this
13:21 community
13:23 is that you guys show up and and you
13:29 are willing to put yourself out there to
13:32 just be. You're willing to let
13:35 yourselves evolve.
13:37 When opportunity comes knocking, you're
13:39 like, "I'll give it a shot. [laughter]
13:41 I'll make I'll make potion bottles for a
13:44 movie. Why not?
13:46 >> [laughter]
13:49 >> Vicki would have been here earlier, but
13:51 their daughter picked the wrong time to
13:53 visit. Those children are never
13:56 convenient, are they? If it's not one
13:59 thing [laughter]
14:02 [music]
14:07 [music]
14:17 >> [music]
14:23 [music]
14:29 [crying]
14:30 [music]
14:42 >> Oh, grace.
14:44 Desperately heading his old place.
14:46 Dreamed to discover a new
14:48 [singing and music] place. Bured himself
14:51 alive
14:53 [music] inside his basement
14:56 of his facement. He's working away on
14:59 [singing] displacement.
15:01 What it would take to survive.
15:07 So when you're done with this [music]
15:09 world, [singing]
15:13 you know, the next is up to you.
15:14 [singing]
15:17 And [music] for once in his life, it was
15:20 quiet
15:24 [music]
15:25 as he learned how to turn with the
15:28 tides.
15:31 [music]
15:32 And the sky was a flare as he [music]
15:36 as he came [singing] came up for air.
15:40 I don't know the rest of the words to
15:41 that song, [singing] but it's a cool
15:43 song.
15:46 [music]
15:53 [music]
16:01 >> [music]
16:07 [music]
16:13 [music]
16:20 [music]
16:34 [music]
16:43 [music]
16:52 >> Okay.
16:54 Enough
16:56 guitar
16:58 madness.
17:01 Um, where shall I begin? Uh, if anyone
17:04 Kyle learned a new song. I did. I've
17:06 learned a couple of new songs. Well,
17:07 they they aren't they're actually songs
17:09 that I knew, but I tend not to play them
17:11 because I don't really know them.
17:13 [laughter]
17:14 Like I I have learned in my life that
17:17 there's a difference between being able
17:20 to look at like a guitar tab and play it
17:24 and actually playing it. Those are two
17:26 very different things. Um because the
17:29 actually playing it, you actually have
17:31 to know it. And when you're looking at
17:33 the tabs, you've you convince yourself
17:35 that you actually know it, but you
17:37 don't. Um
17:40 okay. So,
17:43 so last week I was in Washington DC. I
17:46 was there as the host of a flyin uh
17:48 where the AI salon hosted uh 13
17:52 different AI startups
17:54 and um the the big day was Thursday. Um
17:58 although we did have a really
17:59 fascinating event on Wednesday which was
18:02 a uh a roundt uh panel discussion uh
18:07 with four of the startups that was
18:09 co-hosted by the abundance institute and
18:12 AI salon
18:14 um and that was um that was really
18:19 fascinating. Um it was in it was
18:24 in the um at the capital in the basement
18:29 of the capital they have offices and so
18:31 we were in an office that had I don't
18:33 know 50 chairs in it maybe. Um and I was
18:38 expecting you know seven people to show
18:40 up [laughter]
18:42 cuz you know that's how this [ __ ] goes
18:44 sometimes. But it was it was essentially
18:47 a full house. And so these were all
18:49 staffers of legislators on the hill. And
18:52 so it was it was an event that people
18:54 clearly wanted to be at. Um it was a lot
18:57 of young people. Um a lot of people
18:59 taking notes, a lot of people asking
19:01 good questions. Um it was the four
19:04 startups basically telling their stories
19:06 and and three of the four startups that
19:08 were in that roundt are the ones that I
19:12 um uh
19:15 whatever led around the the White House
19:18 meetings.
19:20 Um and so it was it was good to get to
19:22 hear their stories first kind of as an
19:24 audience member. I did get an
19:26 opportunity at the end of the panel to
19:29 talk about the AI salon and talk about
19:33 um the opportunity that I get to witness
19:37 in this community of of you all doing
19:40 remarkable things with AI and
19:42 approaching AI from a human-centric
19:44 point of view. Um, the one thing that
19:48 strikes me every time I go to Washington
19:50 is how surprised people are
19:54 that AI is not just this evil thing that
19:57 is going to, you know, kill us
20:01 [laughter]
20:02 because I I mean, honest to God, I think
20:04 all they hear is constituents going, "AI
20:06 is evil. You got to stop it." Um, so
20:09 when they hear very simple stories, what
20:11 I think are very simple stories of
20:14 people trying to run their businesses
20:16 using AI, um, it's a big deal. It's a
20:19 big deal. And it's really amazing to
20:21 watch
20:23 those staffers and legislators, um,
20:29 I don't know, see the other side of the
20:31 coin
20:32 is is the best way to put it. And that
20:34 that was really inspiring. So that was
20:36 that was that was the first day. Um, and
20:40 then that night we had a gathering
20:42 reception
20:44 where all the we we hosted it again and
20:47 and we had all of the uh all the
20:49 startups there and I got to give um
20:53 welcoming remarks and
20:58 I don't quite know how to say this but
21:01 so in the past six weeks to a month I've
21:06 been really working on this daily
21:07 practice and really working on
21:13 me
21:15 and how I show up to stuff, right? How I
21:17 show up in the salon, how I show up for
21:19 my projects, how I show up for myself,
21:22 how I show up for my family.
21:26 Um,
21:27 and one of the big revelations was this
21:30 idea that for 60 years that I had a
21:34 subconscious
21:36 like I knew it was there, but it was it
21:39 was so automatic that it was like it was
21:42 reality
21:44 and it was this voice in my head where
21:47 whenever I would think about doing
21:48 something like going up and introducing
21:51 the AI salon and, you know, telling
21:54 these these people. I'm happy to have
21:56 them there in in Washington DC.
22:00 Um the persistent voice in my head was
22:03 they don't really want to hear from you.
22:05 Yeah, they don't want to hear from you.
22:07 It was very matter of fact.
22:11 And so what that meant was that every
22:16 time I would have to get in front of a
22:18 group of people or say something, even
22:20 though I've got the ability to say
22:23 words, good, [laughter]
22:26 you know, I got the training for for
22:29 words smithing.
22:33 Whenever I would
22:35 have that opportunity, I would have this
22:38 internal battle of, well, they don't
22:41 really want to hear from you. Well, just
22:42 just go talk anyway. It's okay. And it
22:46 was it was it was this they don't want
22:49 you here
22:52 was the emotional reality. Every time
22:56 I would
22:59 do anything from writing an email to
23:02 reaching out to someone to speak on a
23:04 podcast to standing up in front of a
23:06 group of people
23:08 and the result of it was things like
23:10 panic attacks and anxiety and
23:16 and even if I managed to not have panic
23:19 attacks and anxiety, what what would
23:21 happen would would be this. I would get
23:24 up in front of a group of people like
23:26 that and just my training would kick in
23:30 and my natural ability would kick in and
23:32 I' I'd talk and I'd make jokes and I'd
23:35 do the things,
23:36 but I would be completely disassociated
23:41 like like I wasn't even there.
23:44 And so
23:46 I would do these things and then after
23:49 them like not even really
23:52 know what I said,
23:55 not really take in
23:58 what happened.
24:00 Um
24:02 and then after after an event like that,
24:05 I would I would either completely
24:08 dismiss it. Oh, that was whatever. Like
24:10 especially if it was really if someone's
24:11 like, "Oh, that was really amazing." I'd
24:13 be like, "Yeah, yeah, whatever." I'd
24:14 completely dismiss it or I'd sort of
24:16 amplify it in some ego [ __ ] way, but
24:21 I but I was not present. I was not
24:24 present to those moments.
24:27 And so
24:29 starting with with the round table on
24:31 Wednesday on Wednesday morning when I
24:33 was asked to come up and say something
24:34 at the end, normally that would be a
24:37 high anxiety um
24:42 likely a panic attack or or like panic
24:45 attack symptoms
24:47 kind of a moment. And I didn't have
24:49 that.
24:51 Um, my mantra for the past three weeks
24:54 has been they really they really want to
24:56 hear they really want to hear from you.
24:59 Um, and they always have. And so I wake
25:02 up every morning now and I I journal
25:05 that. I write that in my [ __ ]
25:06 journal. So if we're talking about daily
25:08 practice here, part of my daily practice
25:10 now is I get up and I I'm So you all
25:15 know probably more than anyone that I
25:18 can [ __ ] kick a habit into gear,
25:20 right? If I decide I'm gonna go live
25:22 seven nights a week for the AI learning
25:24 lab, I'm gonna [ __ ] do it for a year,
25:27 right? Like if I commit for a year,
25:29 bang, I'm just gonna go. So I' I've got
25:32 that skill. So my new skill is I wake up
25:34 at 7, I take a shower, I take Champion
25:37 for a walk at 7:30.
25:39 We have we have a big yard, so I don't
25:41 have to walk him, but I'm just doing it
25:44 to get my [ __ ] ass out there and
25:46 breathing air and letting my dog go
25:49 sniff other dogs piss cuz that's what
25:53 they love.
25:55 He is much happier as a result of that.
25:57 And then I get back and and I write in
26:00 my journal, they really want to hear
26:03 from you and always have.
26:06 And then I write down who wants to hear
26:08 from me and what do they want to hear?
26:14 If I breathe air right now, I'll get
26:15 frostbite. Yeah, [laughter] Brandon's in
26:18 Cleveland in two degree weather with
26:19 with a foot of snow. Our sales guys up
26:22 in Buffalo and it's been snowing for two
26:23 days. He said it's absolutely brutal.
26:25 He's like snowb blowed like you know
26:27 every three hours for a day and a half.
26:31 Anyway,
26:33 so
26:34 so we're having this cocktail party and
26:36 there's like 35 people in a 30 person
26:38 spa space. It's tight.
26:42 And Kathy um Kathy comes up to me and
26:45 she goes she goes, "Okay, you ready to
26:47 ready to give your speech?" And you
26:50 know, I had thought about what I wanted
26:52 to say about the salon. I had thought
26:54 about what I wanted to say about you
26:55 know, you all and your stories. I
26:57 thought about what I wanted to say to
26:58 these startups and what's important for
27:00 them to say
27:03 and
27:08 when she said, "Are you ready to say
27:10 this?" I, you know, I said, "Sure." And
27:12 I, you know, I could feel my my blood
27:14 pressure rising.
27:16 And she goes, "Let me go get some sort
27:17 of noise maker." And she brought back
27:19 like a gimlet glass and a fork
27:22 [laughter] on a tray. Right. So I picked
27:25 it up and and I and I was like, "Well, I
27:28 guess I'm [ __ ] doing this." And so I
27:30 just went bing bing bing bing bing and
27:33 just [clears throat]
27:35 all these faces turned to me
27:39 and I took a deep breath in and I just
27:43 said, "They really want to hear from you
27:45 and they always have."
27:48 And I could feel all that pressure drop
27:51 like lower. It just went
27:54 like a like a a tire deflating
28:00 and and I started talking
28:04 and so in real time while I was doing
28:08 this I was noticing a couple of things.
28:12 the the room was long and skinny. So,
28:14 I'm like in the middle of it and there's
28:16 like, you know, two rows of people in
28:18 front of me, but then most of the people
28:19 are off to the sides and it's like
28:21 there's like, you know, 15 people over
28:23 here, 15 people over here and a few in
28:25 front of me.
28:28 And so, I noticed
28:32 that I was actually when I was looking
28:34 people in the eyes, I was actually
28:36 looking them in the eyes and like taking
28:39 them in like I was
28:42 allowing myself to see myself being
28:46 seen.
28:50 And like in real time, I recognized that
28:52 that was not normal. That what I
28:54 normally do is I have this like
28:56 plexiglass shield where I make eye
28:58 contact, but then I go [ __ ] glossy
29:01 eyed. I don't I just I just
29:03 disassociate.
29:05 And I wasn't doing that.
29:07 And the other thing that I noticed was
29:09 there were kind of four main sections
29:10 that I wanted to talk about, right? I I
29:13 wanted to introduce myself. I wanted to
29:16 talk about what the AI salon was and why
29:18 it was important and what we do and this
29:21 idea of AI readiness and and the idea of
29:24 you know what it what it means to to
29:26 think about um you know human centric
29:29 use of AI and how important it is. And
29:32 then I wanted to talk about how
29:34 important every one of their stories
29:36 was. And I and I wanted to wrap it up
29:37 and I wanted to talk about, you know,
29:40 why this was personally meaningful for
29:42 me.
29:45 Very often when I go into that
29:46 disassociative state where I'm not
29:49 present, all of those thoughts go out of
29:52 my head and then I just say whatever I
29:54 say. And one of the things that I
29:56 noticed was the thoughts didn't go out
29:57 of my head.
30:00 They were just there. And I could I like
30:03 there was a there was a slowness, a
30:05 calmness. It wasn't this frenetic panic.
30:10 There was just a calmness. And it was
30:12 like the ideas were just kind of
30:13 floating on the surface of my brain. I
30:15 was like, "Oh yeah, that one's coming up
30:16 next and I'll I'll say that one." And
30:19 and then I would sort of tee it up and I
30:20 would talk about it. And you know me,
30:23 like I let myself get emotional a lot.
30:25 So, I got, you know, emotionally
30:27 connected to some of the things I was
30:28 saying, but it but it didn't like I
30:30 didn't run down a [ __ ] rabbit hole
30:32 with it. I just felt it, did it, and so
30:36 I just connected with the people and I
30:37 could like see them engaging and nodding
30:41 and appreciating and I was there and I
30:44 was present. So,
30:48 I think for the people in the room,
30:52 it was probably a nice warm welcome from
30:56 the guy that started this thing called
30:57 the AI salon.
31:00 I don't know that they would have
31:02 noticed a difference necessarily if I
31:04 had been this disassociated, manic
31:07 version of me or this calm one. But for
31:09 me,
31:11 this was a very very different
31:13 experience. And it and it's the direct
31:16 result of some coaching work that I've
31:19 been doing with with Andy and with the
31:22 daily practice and with being
31:25 intentional, recognizing that
31:28 AI is not the goal, [laughter] that us
31:32 as humans is the goal and using AI to to
31:35 amplify that is really important. Um,
31:38 but it's a direct result of all that
31:40 stuff. And, uh, that was very cool. It
31:44 was very powerful.
31:46 Um, it's the, you know, it's those
31:48 little victories in life, right? Like,
31:52 like I'm [ __ ] 60
31:55 and
31:57 like when I was doing agency.com,
31:59 you know how many of those [ __ ]
32:01 speeches I gave?
32:03 Like every time we acquired a new
32:05 company, I have to fly to [ __ ] Europe
32:07 and sit in front of a bunch of people
32:09 and say, "Hey, you know, I'm your new
32:11 creative boss." [laughter]
32:15 You know, they they didn't necessarily
32:18 like Americans all that much [laughter]
32:21 even back then. Um,
32:25 and I was so disassociated. I gave so
32:28 many of these things. I got really good
32:29 at it, but I was never [ __ ] present.
32:34 like I got to build one of the biggest
32:36 agencies in the world
32:39 [snorts]
32:40 making some of the coolest stuff like
32:43 like innovating and doing creative stuff
32:45 and stuff that I should have been
32:47 present to and proud of and I was
32:49 completely disassociated. So at 60 being
32:53 there and and giving a similar kind of
32:56 talk that I've given hundreds of times
32:59 before,
33:01 but to not have it be this panic was
33:04 just beautiful,
33:06 just [snorts] simple. It was just me. It
33:08 was there like I've got the skills to
33:10 talk
33:12 but now I was I was actually present
33:15 to my own power
33:20 and my own grace and my own humanity and
33:23 I was present to the [clears throat]
33:25 fact that people were seeing me like
33:29 taking me in like I took in that they
33:31 were taking me in. I don't know that
33:33 I've ever really done that like that.
33:38 So, that was kind of beautiful. And it
33:40 was funny like when I got back to my
33:41 hotel room,
33:43 normally when I'm when I'm in that manic
33:46 state,
33:48 I'm so [ __ ] pumped full of adrenaline
33:50 that when I get home or back to a hotel
33:53 after an event like that, I just [ __ ]
33:55 crash out. And I didn't do that because
33:58 I wasn't way up here. I was in this more
34:00 calm, centered place.
34:04 Here, I'll show you something.
34:11 I you know [laughter] is anyone still
34:14 here?
34:16 24 of you. You guys are awesome.
34:17 [laughter]
34:19 Um I I know I'm just talking. I'm not
34:21 paying attention to anyone. Um
34:28 I want to show you something.
34:31 Tik Tok pin. This is a big leap forward,
34:33 Kyle. Thank you. It is. It really is.
34:47 Um,
34:50 let me share my screen.
34:54 So, I'm going to share you share an
34:56 image with you
35:00 that
35:02 I made. This was after a coaching
35:04 session I had with Andy
35:07 and
35:10 we were talking about
35:13 Oh, that's great. Thank you, Brandon.
35:16 You take that pin. [laughter] I think
35:18 this is total
35:21 [sighs and gasps]
35:23 total of vulnerability. Very hard to do.
35:27 Thanks, Mary. It It wasn't hard to do
35:29 until I read that comment. Now it's hard
35:31 to do. Um,
35:36 I I was talking with Andy about um
35:43 how I create how I create things.
35:48 And
35:51 the image that came to mind was a
35:53 hurricane.
35:57 And
35:59 I've got this um intense [clears throat]
36:02 like category 5 energy to create. And
36:07 that's the guy in the upper left here is
36:09 like this manic I'm going to make some
36:13 [ __ ] stuff. Like at the at the upper end
36:16 of the hurricane is all this energy that
36:19 is like big. It's like big ego. It's
36:22 like if we can do it for a hundred
36:23 people, we can do it for a thousand. And
36:25 if we can do it for a thousand, we can
36:26 do it for 10,000. [ __ ] it. Let's do it
36:28 for the whole world. It's this it's this
36:32 instinctive energy to go up and out.
36:39 And then I oscillate between that guy
36:43 and this
36:46 really small
36:49 peasanty
36:51 low energy bottom of the hurricane
36:54 destructive energy version of me. So in
36:58 the lower right here is this version
37:00 that's got this rope. And so whenever
37:03 this guy gets too big, I've got this
37:07 version of me that's like, "Hey buddy,
37:10 come on down. Come on down to reality,
37:12 you [ __ ] asshole." Like, "What are
37:14 you doing? We're not that big." Right?
37:19 And so I have this and they're both this
37:21 frenetic energy. And one one is like a
37:24 frenetic energy to get smaller and more
37:26 destructive, shut it down, break it, and
37:30 one is this sort of
37:32 just insane
37:34 big out there version.
37:37 Some might call that balance Tik Tok
37:39 pin. Yeah.
37:42 And so what struck me was my dad was a
37:44 pilot and he used to fly C130s. And if
37:47 you don't know C130s, they have a
37:49 modified version of a C130 that they use
37:52 to fly into the eye of hurricanes.
37:55 So hurricanes have these 150 180 mph
37:59 winds and these planes are designed to
38:02 fly through that turbulence
38:04 and and the goal is to get into the eye
38:08 of the hurricane so that they can take
38:10 measurements and the eye of the
38:11 hurricane is completely calm.
38:15 So that song that I started out with,
38:17 the Brandy Carile song, The Eye, you can
38:20 dance in a hurricane, but only if you're
38:22 standing in the eye is the is the line
38:24 from the song. And it's like that song
38:27 that this image of hurricanes has just
38:30 been there for me. And so
38:34 the place that I'm finding myself is is
38:37 in the eye of the hurricane. like
38:40 the chaotic big thinking me and the the
38:44 small thinking, you know, let's let's
38:46 bring it down there, Skippy.
38:49 I've got 60 years of knowing how to be
38:52 those guys, right? And that there's
38:56 something about that energy, that
38:57 chaotic, [ __ ] insane category 5
39:01 energy that I can tap into. It's not a
39:03 bad thing. It's just a thing. But the
39:07 reason I have projects that are like in
39:08 fits and starts is that it's only chaos.
39:12 It's like all big, all small. All big,
39:14 all small. Destroy it. Make it smaller.
39:17 Quit.
39:18 Make it bigger. Make it less realistic.
39:22 Right.
39:24 What if
39:26 like that talk that I gave,
39:30 I can just go, I'm willing to listen to
39:33 both of these. There's probably some
39:34 value in both of these voices. is what
39:36 if I just sat in the center in this calm
39:38 place and just tapped into the energy as
39:42 I need it.
39:45 So anyway, so that's the image like we
39:47 we live in this remarkable time where
39:49 you can talk a Renaissance painting into
39:51 existence centered on your vision of
39:54 something.
39:56 Oh man, I was late rewinding 10 minutes
39:59 on 2x speed to catch up. Oh, that's
40:01 cute. That's sweet. The dude. Yeah,
40:04 exactly. the dude just [ __ ] sitting
40:05 there in the in the eye of the
40:07 hurricane.
40:11 I'll show you one other picture. This
40:13 one's a little more vulnerable, but [ __ ]
40:14 it.
40:18 Same style.
40:22 So, one of the other revelations that I
40:24 had
40:30 is
40:33 is that I had a real
40:38 a real resentment
40:41 for what I [laughter]
40:43 for what I now call Yale row boys.
40:47 [laughter]
40:48 So Yale robo are like this dude over
40:51 here standing in front of his Jaguar in
40:53 front of Yale in his in his little
40:55 preppy shorts and jacket.
41:00 And and this is again this is another
41:03 coaching session with Andy that I that I
41:05 had this revelation
41:07 cuz I I forget how we were starting and
41:09 I I said something like I hate Yale Rob
41:13 boys and I think her response was
41:15 something like hate's a strong word
41:18 [laughter]
41:19 and but [clears throat] it but it led us
41:21 into this conversation
41:27 where
41:29 a term popped popped into my head for
41:31 myself that I've never thought before,
41:34 which is
41:38 I I have in most of my life seen myself
41:44 as a peasant.
41:47 didn't have money, didn't grow up with
41:48 privilege, didn't go to an Ivy League
41:50 school, and that I was a peasant in some
41:54 sort of bizarre competition with
41:57 but lust after
42:02 the Yale robe boy types, right?
42:07 And then as we talked through this more
42:09 and more, it struck me that
42:13 this wasn't just me. That my grandmother
42:17 was like this. She resented people that
42:20 were successful and rich, but wanted to
42:22 be them desperately.
42:25 And my mother resented them and wanted
42:28 to be them. She always wanted me to
42:29 dress preppy. She's like, "Dress preppy.
42:32 You should wear docksiders."
42:34 And I always [ __ ] hated that because
42:36 I knew that I was a peasant. And again,
42:38 I've never used that word in my life. It
42:40 just came up this past month.
42:43 But it struck me that that that
42:47 dynamic
42:49 is at least three generations deep in my
42:53 family.
42:57 And and then you know the this guy in
43:00 the center, this [ __ ] crazy the dude
43:03 creative dude with his you know [ __ ]
43:06 crazy patterned shirt and his long hair
43:08 and his many projects and his
43:10 instruments
43:12 is who I really am.
43:15 that the whole time I thought I was in
43:18 this game in competition with these
43:21 people
43:24 that are likely every bit as [ __ ]
43:26 flawed as I am. Everybody's [ __ ] up.
43:29 Whether you went to an Ivy League school
43:31 and had an awesome rich daddy or not,
43:35 you're probably you're probably more
43:37 [ __ ] up, right? The expectations
43:39 there, the [ __ ] rules, the how you
43:42 have to live in society, it's got to be
43:43 [ __ ] exhausting.
43:46 And what I realized is that what I've
43:48 successfully done in my life is I'm not
43:51 even in that game. I'm in a different
43:53 game.
43:59 I'm the artist.
44:03 I'm an artist.
44:07 I look at the world and I can see things
44:08 that other people can't.
44:11 I can look in the world and I can see
44:13 possibility.
44:15 And because I have this [ __ ]
44:17 hurricane energy, if I see possibility
44:19 and I fall in love with it, I [ __ ] do
44:21 it.
44:24 Like, I'm not even playing the same
44:26 game.
44:30 And so when I got to DC this time,
44:34 what I realized is that Washington DC
44:37 and and the reason I have kind of
44:39 secretly I've never said this before,
44:41 but the the the reason I have secretly
44:44 hated
44:45 these DC flyins
44:48 is that it's not my world.
44:52 DC is nothing but Yale row boys and
44:57 girls, right? Like Ivy League
45:02 nerds and geniuses and good-looking
45:05 [ __ ] freakishly good-looking people.
45:08 The guy that moderated this Wednesday
45:10 session, he was literally like 67,
45:14 chiseled,
45:16 had a voice of the gods.
45:19 [laughter] It was just amazing.
45:22 And I think had I not had this
45:24 breakthrough, like
45:27 I have this weird sort of resentment to
45:29 them. But but what it really is more
45:31 than resentment is I know
45:35 that that a peasant
45:38 should not be in the same room with
45:41 these smart, privileged, powerful
45:44 people.
45:46 I know I shouldn't be there. They know I
45:48 shouldn't be there.
45:50 That's been my reality for my whole
45:53 [ __ ] life.
45:55 And so this time I'm I'm taking the car
45:59 from the airport to the hotel and we're
46:02 driving through DC and I'm seeing the
46:04 monuments and it's striking me. Holy
46:06 [ __ ] No wonder DC feels weird to you.
46:09 It's it's full of Yale boys, right?
46:13 And then I just I had this image and I'm
46:16 like, "Oh,
46:20 they need me here. I bring something
46:23 they don't have.
46:26 I can see things they can't see. They
46:29 really want to hear from me."
46:33 And so the the chain in this image, the
46:36 chain, you know, here is the chain
46:39 breaking from my three generations of
46:42 being this small,
46:44 small-minded
46:47 peasant in competition, but lusting
46:50 after that life
46:53 only to realize, [ __ ] no, I don't want
46:57 that life.
46:59 I mean, I'll take some money
47:02 take some of that that old money, but I
47:05 don't give a [ __ ] about that. I'm this
47:07 guy. I'm this other thing.
47:13 So, it allowed me to be.
47:19 It allowed me to be in the presence of
47:23 people that would normally intimidate me
47:25 and give me anxiety and give me
47:33 envy
47:40 and just let it go and just go, I'm I'm
47:44 playing a different game. They actually
47:47 need me in the room. They need me in the
47:49 room because I can see things they can't
47:51 see. Literally, I can literally see
47:55 things they can't see. I can do things
47:58 they can't do.
48:08 So that was that. And then you know the
48:11 the the way these things work there's
48:13 there's generally two different groups.
48:17 There's a larger group that goes to
48:18 Capitol Hill and for the first two
48:20 flyins that's where I went and then
48:22 there's usually a smaller group that
48:23 goes to the White House.
48:26 Um, and they're very different kinds of
48:28 meetings. Um, you know, the White House,
48:30 the staff there is tied to the president
48:33 and, you know, they're not worried about
48:36 legislation. They're just running
48:39 the government. You know, the
48:42 legislators are trying to figure out
48:43 what to do next. The the people in the
48:45 White House are just running it. And so,
48:47 it's a very different kind of meeting.
48:49 And so, the past two times I've been on
48:51 Capitol Hill. This time, not only did I
48:54 get to go to the White House, I actually
48:56 led the group, right? So, it was me that
48:58 introduced all the meetings um you know,
49:01 introduced why we were there, introduced
49:03 the startups that were there. Um and
49:06 then they added um a meeting in the
49:09 morning uh at the Department of
49:11 Commerce. So, I got to do two things
49:14 that day. This was on Thursday. one was
49:16 go to the Department of Commerce
49:18 and um that was fascinating because
49:22 actually hearing that you know the
49:25 agencies in the Department of Commerce
49:28 actually have a [ __ ] clue about AI.
49:30 They know what's going on. They know
49:31 what's happening. They're hiring
49:35 talented engineers out of the labs. Um,
49:40 and so when they when when the guy that
49:43 we met with heard the stories of these
49:45 startups, he actually you could see his
49:48 gears turning. Okay, I need to talk to
49:50 someone over in in this agency and
49:52 someone in that agency. We got to get
49:54 our data cleaned up. We got to get our
49:55 data out. We got to get it out right.
49:57 Like it was really cool because he
49:59 actually had a [ __ ] clue. Um, and
50:02 that gave me a lot of hope. and um and
50:05 in the White House, you know,
50:09 I didn't think I would be
50:14 I didn't think it was a different deal
50:18 than going to to Capitol Hill.
50:21 But when I got on Tuesday, when I woke
50:24 up uh was it Tuesday morning? No, when I
50:27 woke up Wednesday. No, it was it was two
50:29 whatever it was Tuesday afternoon
50:30 whenever I flew in.
50:33 I opened up my email and it and there
50:36 was you've got an email from the White
50:38 House [laughter]
50:40 and I was like, "Oh shit." And it's
50:41 like, "You've been approved." And it was
50:42 on it was like White House letterhead.
50:46 I was like, "Oh [ __ ] I'm going to the
50:47 White House."
50:49 Like, "This is a big [ __ ] deal." It
50:52 hit me. Um, so, so, so you do have some
50:56 qualifications.
50:57 We suspected it all along. Exactly.
51:00 Exactly.
51:02 Um,
51:03 and so we, so we went to the White House
51:05 and and we had to like we had to like
51:09 double
51:11 fill out essentially Google forms for
51:14 security and [ __ ] like that. and you go
51:17 through sort of three layers of of
51:19 security when you enter and you know
51:21 there's a risk you get behind like a you
51:24 know a gaggle of like 50 students that
51:26 all have to get through security. Um so
51:28 we didn't hit that. We just we just went
51:30 straight in. Um we were mostly in the
51:33 Eisenhower building but we were
51:34 basically just across the driveway from
51:36 the from the White House. So So in the
51:38 Eisenhower building we could you know we
51:40 could go out on the porch and look at
51:41 the White House. We saw the cranes
51:43 building the big beautiful ballroom.
51:45 [laughter]
51:47 So, I got some pictures of that. I got
51:49 some some pictures of the construction
51:52 construction equipment for our our new
51:55 ballroom. Um,
51:58 and here are the thing here a couple of
52:00 things struck me. Um, one thing that I
52:04 knew in my head, but I didn't actually
52:05 take in
52:09 is that like when you hear White House
52:11 staff, somehow in my head, I had that as
52:15 like like the staff of a house, like
52:17 there's 20 or 30 people running around
52:19 doing things. No, no. The Eisenhower
52:22 building is like hundreds of offices
52:25 that represent all these different
52:26 agencies and all these different
52:28 functions of government. And it's like,
52:30 you know, there just thousands and
52:32 thousands and thousands of people in
52:33 this thing. And every time you get a new
52:36 president, that entire building
52:40 flips over. Like all the all the people
52:42 from the previous administration leave
52:44 and all the new people come in.
52:47 Um,
52:49 and like the scale of it was remarkable.
52:52 So that that was one of the things is
52:53 just the scale of of the operation
52:57 was was just impressive. [sighs]
53:01 The other thing that kind of struck me
53:03 is that
53:05 other than
53:07 lots of prominent pictures of you know
53:11 the the the current occupant of the
53:12 White House um
53:16 the place didn't have a political feel
53:19 to it. It it didn't feel partisan. Like
53:22 what it felt like was
53:25 there's a bunch of people in here trying
53:28 to figure out what their job is and
53:30 trying to figure out how to do it and
53:33 deal with all the people that come into
53:35 that building to ask them for something,
53:37 right? Which is sort of what we were
53:39 doing, but our thing was a little
53:40 different. We weren't asking for
53:42 anything. We were literally there
53:44 saying, "Here are some companies doing
53:46 cool stuff with AI. We want to educate
53:48 you that there are, you know, there are
53:51 two sides to the AI coin. One of them is
53:55 risk and danger. We think you're pretty
53:58 well aware of that. The other one is
54:01 opportunity and the difference that
54:03 generative AI is making in people's
54:05 lives and we want you to meet some of
54:06 them. So, so we were there in a very
54:08 non-confrontational way. And so we did
54:11 three different meetings in the in the
54:13 on the White House grounds. Um
54:16 uh the first one was with the office of
54:18 the the liaison or something like that.
54:20 It's basically that office's job to
54:22 connect you with other people you should
54:24 be talking to. So that meeting was
54:26 interesting. He didn't give too much of
54:29 a [ __ ] about what the companies were
54:31 doing, but what he was interested in is
54:33 figuring out who who should these people
54:35 be talking to. So that was kind of
54:37 fascinating. Uh the next meeting we had
54:40 was a guy that showed up 40 minutes late
54:43 and didn't want to be in the in the
54:45 meeting. So [laughter]
54:47 that just happens sometimes. He was a
54:48 bit of a bit of a tool. Um
54:53 definitely a Yale robo type. But you
54:56 know what what was cool was I didn't
54:59 have any resentment toward toward him in
55:02 anything other than he was being a dick
55:04 and I could just recognize him for being
55:06 a dick and but he was also stressed out
55:08 and late and didn't want to be there. So
55:10 that happens sometimes.
55:12 Um, and then the last meeting we did was
55:14 with the Department of uh budget and
55:19 whatever the [ __ ] the the ones that
55:21 spend the money um and and
55:25 actually take the laws that get passed
55:27 and figure out how to implement them,
55:29 you know, and run our government. Um,
55:32 and there were there was two women in
55:34 there and they were both very smart.
55:36 They were both very engaged. They were
55:38 both very
55:40 excited to hear about these stories.
55:43 Um,
55:45 and yeah, it was it was it was it was a
55:47 really powerful uh it was a powerful
55:50 day. It was a powerful week
55:54 being present to the fact that you're in
55:57 Washington DC, you know, sharing a lot
56:01 of your stories quite frankly. um and
56:05 and representing
56:08 whatever it is that we've discovered
56:10 here together
56:12 um as important and getting to to really
56:15 represent that in an articulate
56:18 uh passionate way to people that can
56:21 make a difference um was was pretty
56:24 inspiring. So anyway, were you ever on
56:27 C-SPAN? No, that's the thing. So
56:30 [clears throat]
56:33 none of these flyins are anything like
56:35 congressional hearings where the stuff
56:37 you see on C-SPAN is a congressional
56:39 hearing, right? Where it's the room full
56:41 of, you know, whoever's on that
56:42 committee and then they're bringing in
56:44 people to actually testify. That's
56:46 usually something where they're
56:47 testifying on a specific bill and or or
56:51 a specific issue or you know someone's
56:53 someone's in trouble and they're trying
56:54 to you know [laughter] make it clear
56:57 that that they're in trouble. Um these
57:01 meetings are much more behind the scenes
57:03 relationship building meetings. So what
57:06 these are what these meetings are is if
57:09 we do our job right like like Daisy
57:11 Daisy Thomas was there and she was she
57:13 was on Capitol Hill this time and and
57:15 she was uh she did a round table where
57:18 she got to meet with some elected
57:20 officials one who's in the district next
57:22 to hers in Florida um and he
57:25 [clears throat] wants us to participate
57:26 he's going to invite us to do things
57:27 there so the whole point of these
57:30 meetings is when these legislators say
57:33 hey we got to get something going on AI
57:35 who can who do we know that we can talk
57:37 to that actually has a clue about what's
57:39 going on, right? Particularly for small
57:42 businesses or individuals, we want to be
57:45 on that list, right? And so that's
57:46 that's the purpose of these. So it's
57:48 it's it's much more low-key than, you
57:52 know, the big room with all the cameras
57:53 and all the the the Congress people
57:56 screaming at each other. I didn't see
57:58 any of that.
58:00 I'm so addicted to speed C-SPAN one,
58:03 two, and three. That's awesome. [snorts]
58:06 Um,
58:12 in case you were wondering, I think you
58:14 were one of the cool kids. Ah, that's
58:16 very sweet. Um, so anyway, that I mean
58:19 that's it. I I haven't I know I've just
58:21 been blabbing. I haven't been looking at
58:23 comments, but if anyone has any specific
58:24 questions, I'm happy to answer them. Um,
58:31 for me the the difference between
58:35 talking to staffers on Congressional
58:37 Hill and talking at the White House
58:42 was that
58:45 the people in the White House and
58:46 certainly the people in the Department
58:47 of Commerce,
58:50 um,
58:52 they actually know that shit's happening
58:54 with AI.
58:56 like that was actually really was it was
58:59 good. They're not they're not thinking
59:01 necessarily about the laws and what
59:03 Congress should do. In fact, a lot of
59:05 the conversations in the White House
59:07 were, "Well, Congress should [ __ ] do
59:09 something about it." They didn't swear,
59:11 but Congress should do something about
59:13 it. Um they're like, "They write the
59:16 laws, we're going to put them into
59:18 place, right?" um on Capitol Hill it was
59:21 a much more frustrating experience at
59:23 least the last two times I did it
59:25 because
59:27 they're just they're the ones writing
59:28 the laws and they have no clue what's
59:30 happening. So it it was actually good to
59:32 be there. Let's see the comment about
59:34 the Ivy League. So grateful you felt
59:37 realize that you definitely belong in
59:39 DC. Such a big shift for you. Yay. Thank
59:41 you very much. Yeah, it was it was a it
59:43 was a very big deal. I was surprised. So
59:47 So this is good. all this heartfelt
59:49 stuff. Brandon's response, I was
59:50 surprised your hair was given security
59:52 clearance. [laughter]
59:54 He's not wrong. This is one of the worst
59:56 haircuts I've ever had, but I look hip.
59:59 I I look like one of those people
1:00:01 desperate. I This is a haircut of the
1:00:05 guy that goes to the club that kind of
1:00:07 stands in the corner, the creepy old guy
1:00:09 at the club where all all the young
1:00:12 women are just ignoring him because it's
1:00:14 so uncomfortable. This is that haircut.
1:00:17 >> [laughter]
1:00:18 >> It's the row club cut. Exactly.
1:00:24 Um, were Department of Commerce folks uh
1:00:28 more pessimistic or optimistic about AI?
1:00:31 Um,
1:00:34 [sighs and gasps]
1:00:38 it's a great question.
1:00:42 Like if I had to categorize his
1:00:44 attitude, it was just one guy, but but
1:00:46 he he oversaw
1:00:48 um I forget what his role was. He was
1:00:50 like senior policy adviser or something
1:00:52 like that. So he's he's fairly up there.
1:00:56 Um
1:01:03 it was very clear to me
1:01:08 that
1:01:12 that AI in commerce for the United
1:01:15 States is an active part of the
1:01:17 conversation. It's not like if AI comes
1:01:21 like like when you talk to legislators,
1:01:23 you're like are they even aware that AI
1:01:25 is here? Like like like on the
1:01:28 legislative side, it's [laughter] very
1:01:30 frustrating. They're like they don't
1:01:31 quite understand, you know, how internet
1:01:33 works. like, you know, I fax my emails
1:01:37 to my, you know, to my boss and then
1:01:39 whatever. It's just it's just a
1:01:41 different thing.
1:01:43 So, I I would say that he was acutely
1:01:47 aware that AI is here, that AI is a big
1:01:50 deal.
1:01:52 And what he was most interested in,
1:01:54 which I thought was fascinating, was
1:01:57 all of his agencies like Noah, you know,
1:02:00 the the national the weather folks and
1:02:04 um you know, agriculture agencies and
1:02:07 and like all these different agencies
1:02:09 are generating massive amounts of data.
1:02:12 And what he was crystal clear on and and
1:02:15 what all of the startups that were in in
1:02:18 my group were talking about was how
1:02:21 they're taking data and leveraging it
1:02:23 using AI.
1:02:25 And so some of how they were leveraging
1:02:27 it was like eyeopening to him. Like oh
1:02:30 that's pretty cool. I didn't know you
1:02:31 could do that. In fact in was it the
1:02:34 commerce one? Yeah it was the commerce
1:02:36 one. Um this woman Megan she she's doing
1:02:40 a thing. She works um on farm data and
1:02:45 she's got an AI thing that can that can
1:02:48 predict prices of commodities
1:02:52 that are that are not on the Chicago
1:02:54 Merkantile Exchange or the commodities
1:02:56 exchange in in Chicago. I think it's
1:02:58 called the Merkantile Exchange. So
1:03:00 things like like California uh crops
1:03:04 like pistachios, almonds, cranberries, I
1:03:07 don't whatever the [ __ ] they are. There
1:03:09 were like four or five major California
1:03:11 crops that are not on the Chicago
1:03:13 Merkantile Exchange. And she using AI
1:03:16 can take all this data and soil data and
1:03:19 predictive stuff and basically predict
1:03:21 prices of these things moving forward.
1:03:24 And at one point he goes, "Wait, I'm
1:03:26 sorry. Wait, could you go back, Megan?
1:03:29 Did you say you can predict prices?" And
1:03:31 she goes, "Yes." And he goes, "To what
1:03:33 level of accuracy?" And she said
1:03:35 whatever she said. and he goes, "Okay,
1:03:37 we're going to need to talk." Like,
1:03:39 [clears throat]
1:03:40 like he he got
1:03:43 what these companies were doing
1:03:46 and
1:03:48 that his agencies need to get better at
1:03:52 producing data that's ready for AI
1:03:55 because to a person, they all talked
1:03:57 about the fact that they have all this
1:03:59 data, but they have to spend most of
1:04:00 their time cleaning it up so that it can
1:04:03 be used.
1:04:06 Um, and so like his big takeaway was
1:04:10 we've got to get better at at getting
1:04:14 data out and getting it out in a way
1:04:18 that that companies like yours can use
1:04:19 it. Um, so again, like it wasn't that it
1:04:23 was optimistic or pessimistic. It was
1:04:25 like, "Okay, this stuff's here and we're
1:04:27 doing everything we can to understand
1:04:30 it, understand what the implications
1:04:32 are, and make sure you all have what you
1:04:35 need to run your businesses." It was
1:04:36 pretty cool. Um, my fear is that policy
1:04:39 makers in general are fairly ignorant of
1:04:41 AI outside of of it
1:04:45 as a concept. I don't even think they,
1:04:47 Brother 52, I don't even think they
1:04:49 understand it as a concept. I think the
1:04:52 the legislators I think we're in real
1:04:54 trouble on the on the legislative side.
1:04:57 Um there's no real incentive or or
1:05:01 motivation for them to do a federal
1:05:03 bill. And so what they're doing is
1:05:05 they're pushing it back to the states.
1:05:07 And what that's going to do is it's this
1:05:09 is part of what we were talking about.
1:05:10 What it's going to do is it's going to
1:05:11 create all sorts of some good, some bad,
1:05:15 some completely irresponsible state
1:05:17 level bills, but small companies are
1:05:20 going to have to deal with 50 different
1:05:23 regulations when it comes to producing
1:05:24 AI businesses. Um, and that's it's just
1:05:28 an abject [ __ ] nightmare. So anyway,
1:05:30 Tik Tok question. I don't see it right
1:05:32 now. Their agencies need to get better
1:05:34 at getting data ready for AI. That's
1:05:36 huge. Yeah, it it was huge. It was that
1:05:38 was the commerce meeting was the the the
1:05:40 meeting that I left feeling like, oh,
1:05:44 there's actually people in our
1:05:45 government that understand what's
1:05:48 happening. Like it made me feel better.
1:05:50 What a nightmare. Yeah, it's a it's a
1:05:52 it's a nightmare. Um, will AI distribute
1:05:54 power or concentrate it? Well, AI is not
1:05:57 going to do [ __ ]
1:06:00 I I think your question is is is the
1:06:02 right question. AI is not going to
1:06:03 distribute or concentrate power. people
1:06:06 are going to distribute or concentrate
1:06:08 power.
1:06:09 If we've learned anything in the past
1:06:12 decade,
1:06:14 it's that
1:06:17 the powerful will concentrate their
1:06:20 power
1:06:22 to the absolute extent that they can.
1:06:26 I think AI I think what AI is going to
1:06:28 do is it's going to break
1:06:31 the levers of power.
1:06:35 Like it's going to break the levers of
1:06:37 power. Like who's powerful today is are
1:06:39 going to be different than who's
1:06:41 powerful 10 years from now because what
1:06:44 gets valued in society is about to shift
1:06:47 because most of our value today is based
1:06:51 on
1:06:53 human beings doing the work
1:06:57 and the work is about to not be done by
1:07:00 human beings. So, so that's going to
1:07:03 dramatically shift things.
1:07:05 The the thing that gives me hope is
1:07:09 there's a tipping point where you can't
1:07:11 just keep all the money because you will
1:07:15 have a revolution, right? So, I don't
1:07:18 know when that tipping point happens.
1:07:20 So, I think what's going to happen is as
1:07:22 AI gets better and better and better,
1:07:24 the people in power are going to keep as
1:07:25 much as they can and then things are
1:07:27 going to start to crumble and business
1:07:28 models are going to start to break and
1:07:30 lobbying forces
1:07:33 that were super powerful before are all
1:07:35 of a sudden going to be weak and ones
1:07:38 that were weak are all of a sudden going
1:07:39 to be powerful. But no one's going to go
1:07:40 down without a fight. So I think the
1:07:43 next decade is the centers of power
1:07:45 trying to maintain power and control
1:07:49 while it's slipping through their
1:07:50 fingers and then other people in a power
1:07:53 grab for it. Um
1:07:57 so but I don't I don't [ __ ] know. I
1:07:59 have a degree in acting. Um you can't
1:08:02 keep all the money says who. Elon
1:08:04 probably thinks otherwise maybe. I I
1:08:06 mean
1:08:09 there there's a point at which it
1:08:10 breaks, right? If if you have 30%
1:08:13 unemployment,
1:08:16 um
1:08:18 it's not going to be fun to be a rich
1:08:21 person, right? It's just not it's like
1:08:24 if if you have 30% unemployment and
1:08:26 don't find a way to support those
1:08:27 people. So, at some point, listen,
1:08:32 we learned with CO
1:08:35 that governments can just change the
1:08:38 rules. So if something happens with AI
1:08:41 that is a strong enough
1:08:44 shift
1:08:46 that it makes it clear this is an
1:08:49 emergency then they'll react like that's
1:08:53 that that is if you have mor morals. I
1:08:56 I'm not counting on morals at all. I'm
1:08:58 I'm just saying economically
1:09:00 economically you can't have you know
1:09:05 hyperacelerated unemployment
1:09:09 because people will [ __ ] riot right
1:09:12 so did anyone talk about chips
1:09:14 manufacturing concerns
1:09:16 um
1:09:18 in commerce he was talking about supply
1:09:21 chain of rare earth
1:09:24 um he talked a little bit about Elon
1:09:27 Musk and spaceships
1:09:28 you know, putting GPU centers in space.
1:09:34 Um, I heard a thing that Elon Musk just
1:09:37 basically cornered the silver market.
1:09:40 Um, I don't know if that's true or not,
1:09:42 but that sounds like a a crazy baller
1:09:45 move to kick people out.
1:09:49 Um,
1:09:51 yeah, that's all I got, man. That was
1:09:53 that was it. I know I gave you a lot
1:09:55 there that was more personal than
1:09:57 Washington DC, but you know, you're all
1:10:00 family, so I appreciate y'all.
1:10:03 Did anyone talk about China plus AI
1:10:05 fears? You know, it's funny. I asked I
1:10:08 asked the guy at Commerce
1:10:10 um
1:10:13 if there was a concern about that. He
1:10:15 very much deflected the question.
1:10:21 I did not get the sense what what I got
1:10:25 the sense was
1:10:29 they're they're aware
1:10:33 they're aware that we have the lead.
1:10:36 They're aware that opensource is
1:10:38 important. Like the closest they got to
1:10:40 talking about China was open source is
1:10:43 important. Like I got a sense that open
1:10:46 source is potentially a concern for
1:10:48 them, which it should be
1:10:50 because
1:10:56 if open source is powerful enough,
1:11:01 then
1:11:03 you you can't concentrate all the power
1:11:05 in three brands, right? Every technical
1:11:09 revolution starts out with a thousand
1:11:11 companies and it always distills down to
1:11:12 three brands, right? In the in the early
1:11:15 90s it was AOL and CompuServe and
1:11:19 whatever was the third one, Prodigy,
1:11:22 right? And then in the in the mid 90s it
1:11:26 was, you know, Netscape and and whatever
1:11:30 the three browsers were. And then it
1:11:31 was, you know, Google and Facebook and
1:11:35 whatever, right? And so like it always
1:11:38 concentrates down to three. And so as as
1:11:41 the government, if you've got all the
1:11:43 power in three companies, then you can
1:11:44 control it. Um, open source threatens
1:11:48 that. So he talked a little bit about o
1:11:49 open source, but he didn't really deal
1:11:51 with China at all. Um, the AI fears
1:11:53 thing.
1:11:56 I mean, he's he's acutely aware that bad
1:12:00 actors are going to be able to do bad
1:12:02 things.
1:12:03 Um, if you haven't seen it yet, um,
1:12:06 Daario Amade today wrote a piece about,
1:12:10 so Daario Amade is the, uh, CEO and
1:12:13 founder of Anthropic. So, the the ones
1:12:16 that make Claude,
1:12:18 he wrote a piece. He's he basically
1:12:20 said, "Strong AI is going to be here
1:12:23 within one to two years." And he
1:12:26 describes strong AI as a country of
1:12:30 geniuses in a data center. Which
1:12:32 basically means imagine if you had
1:12:35 50 million noble laurate
1:12:39 scale intellectual workers that work
1:12:42 24/7
1:12:44 at your disposal?
1:12:47 What could you make possible? He said
1:12:49 that's coming in 1 to two years. Um
1:12:53 [clears throat]
1:12:55 and and he basically talks about what we
1:12:58 need to be careful, you know, what the
1:12:59 dangers are. And like, you know, he said
1:13:02 like one of the dangers is particularly
1:13:04 with biological weapons, you know, a a
1:13:08 an individual if if they're given access
1:13:10 to a tool that doesn't have the right
1:13:12 safety guard rails in it for things like
1:13:14 biological weapons, like really bad
1:13:17 stuff can happen at scale from even just
1:13:19 an individual. Um, that's an article
1:13:22 worth looking at. Um,
1:13:26 I read something about Elon and Silver
1:13:28 also. Probably something he needs for
1:13:31 wolves. [laughter]
1:13:38 Oh my god. It's like at $100 an ounce.
1:13:40 Yeah, I think it it was 98 yesterday. 98
1:13:43 bucks an ounce or something like that.
1:13:44 Like the silver charts just crazy. Um,
1:13:48 but yeah, like you know, he's going to
1:13:50 need silver to make all these chips.
1:13:52 Like the the supply chain for the raw
1:13:54 materials for chips is about about to
1:13:57 get bonkers. But AI is going to solve
1:13:59 that, too. Like AI is going to start
1:14:01 coming up with novel materials that we
1:14:04 won't need to go get rare earth out of
1:14:06 the earth. We'll just grow it in a lab,
1:14:08 right? So,
1:14:11 um,
1:14:13 I paid 15 cents a gram for Hill Tribe
1:14:16 silver beads and silver wire for jewelry
1:14:18 making. Time to offload. There you go.
1:14:20 Just melt that crap down and go go make
1:14:22 yourself some money. They just want to
1:14:24 make money finding companies that break
1:14:27 state laws with AI. Yeah, that's that's
1:14:29 probably part of it. It's going to be a
1:14:31 nightmare for businesses with different
1:14:32 state laws. I mean, partially because
1:14:35 the the state laws kit too. Yeah, I I
1:14:38 mean any of the any of the Chinese open-
1:14:40 source models um
1:14:43 like they're just going to get better
1:14:45 and better and better and better. Um
1:14:48 anyway,
1:14:50 uh the other thing that if you haven't
1:14:52 seen it, if you if you're not on X, you
1:14:54 might not have seen it, but if you are
1:14:56 on X, you likely will have seen it.
1:14:58 There's a new open-source tool called
1:15:02 Claudebot.
1:15:04 Cla WD, not UDE,
1:15:08 Claudebot.
1:15:09 Um, and you can install it on a
1:15:12 standalone computer. Um, and for some
1:15:16 reason, like the first guy did it with a
1:15:18 Mac Mini and now everyone's buying Mac
1:15:20 minis and putting these this Clawbot on
1:15:23 these Mac minis. And basically what they
1:15:24 do is you give this thing full access to
1:15:27 that computer and then it just goes off
1:15:29 and does [ __ ] for you. Um, so it's like
1:15:32 having Manis or Gen Spark, these agentic
1:15:36 things that go off and do a bunch of
1:15:38 stuff for you. Um, but you can run it on
1:15:40 a local machine and then you can access
1:15:42 it from anywhere. So you can you can
1:15:44 basically text with it and things like
1:15:46 that. Um,
1:15:48 it is very it's very raw right now and
1:15:52 very new and and you have to be a little
1:15:55 geeky to be able to install it.
1:15:58 Um,
1:16:00 but I think it does mark a shift. I
1:16:02 think I think we are exiting the era
1:16:07 where being decent at prompting is
1:16:09 enough to have an advantage.
1:16:12 I don't think it really matters anymore.
1:16:14 I think everyone's going to be able to
1:16:17 prompt to some level and these tools are
1:16:19 starting to get autonomous where you're
1:16:21 not going to have to give them much
1:16:22 context at all. They're going to go find
1:16:24 their own context.
1:16:26 I think the advantage is going to start
1:16:28 to be in understanding what's now
1:16:31 possible and what tools make it possible
1:16:35 and being able to be kind of a
1:16:38 an orchestrator, right? where your job
1:16:41 is to have an idea and then understand
1:16:45 what are the things that you can deploy
1:16:46 to bring that idea to life. Um so I
1:16:50 think it's a very different skill set.
1:16:52 Um right now it's going to require some
1:16:54 technical prowess but I think probably
1:16:57 within a year maybe two it won't but
1:17:01 what will be required is understanding
1:17:03 what's possible. So careful with
1:17:05 Claudebot it will bank bankrupt you with
1:17:08 API token use. There you go. Okay. Glad
1:17:12 I already have my Mac Mini. That's good.
1:17:14 Anyway, it's I I don't I haven't I
1:17:17 haven't installed it yet. I may or may
1:17:19 not I I don't really give too many shits
1:17:23 right now, but I do want to know.
1:17:27 I do want to kind of experience it to
1:17:29 just understand does it feel different
1:17:32 or does it just feel like a shittier or
1:17:36 same version of Gen Spark but now it's
1:17:38 running locally and I don't run out of
1:17:40 Gen Spark credits. I don't know. Um but
1:17:43 it's at least worth paying attention to.
1:17:46 So that's it. Claude Claude but no
1:17:49 security. Yeah, exactly.
1:17:59 I agree. It may take more steps, but it
1:18:02 will get there. Yeah, I want I want to
1:18:05 set it up soon. Actually, Gareth, you
1:18:08 know, you know what might be fun if you
1:18:09 want to set it up.
1:18:13 I assume you can probably set it up in
1:18:15 like an hour or two. It might be fun to
1:18:17 do that as a live stream. Maybe we can
1:18:19 if you want um ping Andy or Brandon and
1:18:24 maybe we set it up as a uh just some
1:18:27 sort of cool live stream and we'll
1:18:30 promote it or something like that. Like
1:18:31 just sort of set it up in real time and
1:18:34 then record yourself setting it up. That
1:18:35 could be fun.
1:18:39 Yeah. I want to hide and watch for a
1:18:41 bit. Yeah, exactly. All right. It's It's
1:18:44 got to be late, right? Oh, no. It's It's
1:18:45 not.
1:18:47 We call those LOL's. Well, like I think
1:18:51 that one's slightly different than an
1:18:52 LOL, Brandon. Although we can call it
1:18:55 whatever we want. It can We can call
1:18:56 that one an LOL. I see it more like like
1:19:00 uh Well, I guess it is. It's learn
1:19:02 learning out loud. Yeah. What you said,
1:19:04 Brandon. It's an LOL.
1:19:07 I'm glad I had that idea. [laughter]
1:19:12 Matt Wolf just posted a walkthrough on
1:19:14 how to set up Cloudbot. Cool.
1:19:19 It lets you pick your model. I'm so
1:19:21 concerned with credit time things with
1:19:23 API that seem to avoid the APIs. Crazy,
1:19:27 I know. I Well, no. Like I think it's
1:19:32 important to be aware [laughter]
1:19:34 of API limits and things like that,
1:19:38 right? But I it's possible you could
1:19:40 tell Claudebot to limit your API access
1:19:43 to this amount of time and go find more
1:19:45 creative ways to get me [ __ ] that
1:19:47 doesn't require you burning APIs. Might
1:19:50 be. I don't know. Okay. Um,
1:19:56 lots are booked out for two months. Oh.
1:20:00 Oh, lols are booked out for two months.
1:20:03 Yeah, I was thinking I was thinking,
1:20:04 Gareth, if you want to do it, it could
1:20:06 just be like an informal thing like like
1:20:08 you just pick a day you're going to do
1:20:10 it and live stream it and then we'll
1:20:11 just we'll promote it for you if you
1:20:13 want. And if you don't want to if you
1:20:15 want to just like bang your head against
1:20:18 the wall on your own time, that's fine,
1:20:20 too. Um, but it might be kind of fun to
1:20:22 just, you know, watch and and record
1:20:24 someone just figuring it out on the fly.
1:20:28 Um, okay. Couple of things. This week
1:20:32 should be a normal week. Um, I'll be
1:20:35 here at normal times.
1:20:39 Um,
1:20:41 this week is our last week of the AI
1:20:43 mastermind practice lab. So, we we do
1:20:45 these 13week cycles. So, we're finishing
1:20:48 up the first cycle this Thursday. Um, if
1:20:53 you're a member of the AI salon uh and
1:20:56 haven't joined the mastermind, you
1:20:57 should. If you're a member of the
1:20:59 mastermind and haven't joined the
1:21:01 practice lab, you should. It's an
1:21:03 amazing group of people um really
1:21:05 working and supporting one another to
1:21:09 develop these daily practices. Um it's a
1:21:12 like a lot of what I talked about
1:21:14 tonight, the breakthroughs that I'm
1:21:15 having are a direct result of that
1:21:18 group.
1:21:19 Um
1:21:22 so you should join that. Um what else
1:21:25 should I be talking about, Brandon? Um
1:21:27 this Wednesday we've got the AI
1:21:29 readiness project podcast. Um that's at
1:21:32 400 p.m.
1:21:34 um mountain time.
1:21:38 And
1:21:42 anything else? Office hours on Friday.
1:21:44 Yeah, we'll get we'll get to that. So I
1:21:47 think that's it. I think that's it. I'm
1:21:48 just getting back in the swing of
1:21:49 things. Oh, let me tell you about my my
1:21:51 finger my finger issue.
1:21:56 Um, so I learned something that that
1:21:59 like your your index finger and your
1:22:02 index finger on your dominant hand,
1:22:04 that's like your solar
1:22:06 your solar energy is like this finger,
1:22:09 right? Your your dominant hand finger.
1:22:13 So I go to DC, I have all these amazing
1:22:15 moments. I come back. I wake up Saturday
1:22:19 morning and it's like someone took a
1:22:23 hammer to like to this knuckle on my
1:22:27 index finger and like I couldn't
1:22:30 [clears throat] like it was completely
1:22:31 weak and and it like this thing was
1:22:34 bruised. It wasn't swollen, but it was
1:22:36 like it was like weirdly painful and
1:22:40 like I couldn't pick up a glass. I
1:22:42 couldn't pick up anything with my with
1:22:44 my index finger. like doing this was
1:22:45 impossible.
1:22:47 And it was like all day Saturday and
1:22:49 then Saturday night at like 2:00 in the
1:22:53 morning it was so bad I almost went to
1:22:55 urgent care. I'm like maybe I've got a
1:22:58 clot. I like I didn't know what the [ __ ]
1:23:00 was going on.
1:23:02 And so I took some Advil and aspirin and
1:23:05 [ __ ] like that.
1:23:07 And but it but it's like you know how
1:23:09 when you when something is hurting and
1:23:11 you just can't do anything else cuz
1:23:13 you're just like I hurt. I'm whiny. That
1:23:16 was me Saturday. And then I woke up
1:23:18 Sunday and
1:23:20 it was it felt a little better. Like it
1:23:23 wasn't that acute thing that I had at
1:23:24 2:00 in the morning. It was a little
1:23:25 better. But then throughout the day it
1:23:27 got worse and worse and worse and and it
1:23:29 started to swell and I still couldn't
1:23:31 use my finger and my hand and I was just
1:23:33 it was just weird.
1:23:36 And then
1:23:39 I don't know, I took some Advil and [ __ ]
1:23:42 before I went to bed. I drank a lot of
1:23:44 water. I'm like, I've got to flush
1:23:45 whatever's going on there out.
1:23:48 And I woke up this morning and it's kind
1:23:50 of fine. It's still a little sore, but
1:23:53 it's like I've got strength again. And
1:23:55 it's it's not this acute weird thing.
1:23:57 So, I must have like maybe picked up a
1:24:00 piece of luggage like I I like flipped a
1:24:02 tendon in the wrong place or something
1:24:05 like that, but I didn't I didn't injure
1:24:08 it that I knew of, but man, all weekend
1:24:11 I was useless because my finger was
1:24:14 nonfunctional. It was bizarre. And so
1:24:17 now I'm back. So, so anyway, did you ask
1:24:20 AI? I did ask AI because I was I was
1:24:23 expecting AI to tell me like, "Get your
1:24:25 ass to an emergency room.
1:24:27 Um,
1:24:28 and Quinn was just like, "Oh, it's
1:24:31 probably just you probably just pulled
1:24:32 something and it's probably just it's
1:24:34 either repetitive stress inflammation."
1:24:38 Cuz she said sometimes even a little
1:24:40 inflammation can feel like a bruise um
1:24:43 and can do that. And she basically said,
1:24:46 "Give it a couple of days and if it gets
1:24:48 worse, go." But like she didn't think it
1:24:50 was anything serious. So I don't think
1:24:52 it was either. I had that happen with my
1:24:54 fingers about four years ago. It went
1:24:56 away. Yeah. It's weird. It was so I've
1:24:58 never had it before. Um the fickle
1:25:00 finger of fate. Exactly. It was just
1:25:03 like And that like that's my that's my
1:25:05 going to go get some [ __ ] done finger.
1:25:07 And it was just [ __ ] a limp noodle
1:25:10 all weekend and hurting. So I'm back.
1:25:14 All right, Groovy. Um good to see y'all.
1:25:18 Thanks for hanging out tonight and uh I
1:25:21 will see you tomorrow. Epsom salt soak
1:25:22 and magnesium spray. Okay, cool.
1:25:24 Beautiful.
1:25:28 After a full day of chainsaw usage, I
1:25:31 couldn't open a water bottle for a day.
1:25:33 There you go.
1:25:36 Yeah, I could I couldn't open anything.
1:25:39 It was It was bizarre. [snorts] So, but
1:25:42 I'm all goodter now. Um
1:25:46 All right. All right. Good people. Just
1:25:48 admit it, Kyle. You're exploring for
1:25:51 nose hairs. [laughter]
1:25:52 That's it.
1:25:55 Um
1:26:00 um I will see you tomorrow. Thanks all.
1:26:04 Have a beautiful beautiful evening. Bye.