WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.839 Hello, I had to re -record due to technical difficulties. 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:08.699 But stuff still happens. So what's up? Alright, 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:10.839 hi. Yeah, I had to re -record. I recorded the 00:00:10.839 --> 00:00:13.099 entire episode already and went to go edit it, 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:16.440 only to learn that the audio was fucked up. This 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:18.940 is my fault for trying to produce a show. But 00:00:18.940 --> 00:00:22.019 I'm gonna record again and frankly, I'm very 00:00:22.019 --> 00:00:24.820 exhausted from all of this. So I'm going to try 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:26.660 to record and get as much information across 00:00:26.660 --> 00:00:28.940 as I can, but it's gonna be shorter than usual. 00:00:29.179 --> 00:00:32.189 So... With that out of the way, we're at war 00:00:32.189 --> 00:00:35.009 again with Iran. I made a whole video about this 00:00:35.009 --> 00:00:37.090 separately from this recording. If you want to 00:00:37.090 --> 00:00:39.270 go see more of my thoughts on this, you can check 00:00:39.270 --> 00:00:42.590 it out. It's on YouTube. I can't include all 00:00:42.590 --> 00:00:44.770 of that information in this as well. The situation 00:00:44.770 --> 00:00:46.909 is changing too quickly and there's not really 00:00:46.909 --> 00:00:48.850 a whole lot that I can say that won't just be 00:00:48.850 --> 00:00:51.250 irrelevant in like three hours. But for my general 00:00:51.250 --> 00:00:53.329 thoughts on that, I put up a video on YouTube 00:00:53.329 --> 00:00:55.719 yesterday, so go check that out. Let's instead 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:58.899 talk about the Department of Artificial Defense. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:01.280 There are three key players in this story, the 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:03.899 Department of Defense, Anthropic, and OpenAI. 00:01:04.140 --> 00:01:06.680 The Department of Defense, the DOD, or what Pete 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:08.780 Hegseth wants to call the Department of War. 00:01:09.099 --> 00:01:11.400 They like to have contracts with private companies. 00:01:11.579 --> 00:01:14.019 You know how we dump untold billions of dollars 00:01:14.019 --> 00:01:16.719 into the DOD and often can't account for it? 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:19.480 That money is going to contractors, privately 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:22.739 owned corporations that just suckle at the teeth 00:01:22.739 --> 00:01:28.989 of taxpayer dollars. It is not going well for 00:01:28.989 --> 00:01:32.290 me today, y 'all. That's a power outage. That's 00:01:32.290 --> 00:01:34.390 a power outage. I'm still recording. I'm gonna 00:01:34.390 --> 00:01:36.650 go, I'm gonna, like, ugh. I'm still recording 00:01:36.650 --> 00:01:38.150 and I'm gonna go see if I can flip the switch, 00:01:38.629 --> 00:01:43.329 get the breaker, going down some stairs. See, 00:01:43.370 --> 00:01:46.469 this is, this is, again, it's my fault for trying 00:01:46.469 --> 00:01:51.890 to produce a show. This is genuinely ridiculous. 00:01:52.069 --> 00:01:56.510 I'm actively, oh my god. Not a particularly easy 00:01:56.510 --> 00:02:01.409 breaker to get to. Let's see. Did that work? 00:02:02.569 --> 00:02:06.109 I think so. As I was saying, I'm on my way back 00:02:06.109 --> 00:02:08.669 now, but we can use this time still. As I was 00:02:08.669 --> 00:02:11.770 saying, so the DOD, they like to pay private 00:02:11.770 --> 00:02:15.770 companies by way of contracts to spend all of 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:19.439 our money to do like... Contracty stuff for the 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:21.520 government, you know, building planes and shit, 00:02:21.699 --> 00:02:24.500 stuff that bombs children, stuff like that. All 00:02:24.500 --> 00:02:28.419 that good shit. And so they were having a contract 00:02:28.419 --> 00:02:31.979 with Anthropic, right? Anthropic makes Claude. 00:02:32.060 --> 00:02:35.560 Claude is a competitor to ChatGPT, which is made 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:38.020 by OpenAI. My background lights have changed. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:41.219 Let me fix that. Good enough. So the DoD, they 00:02:41.219 --> 00:02:43.560 want to be able to use Anthropic's Claude to 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:45.580 do military shit, but also they want to be able 00:02:45.580 --> 00:02:48.620 to use it... to spy on American civilians. This 00:02:48.620 --> 00:02:50.719 has been made clear because Anthropic was like, 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:53.379 we're not gonna allow Claude to be used to spy 00:02:53.379 --> 00:02:56.039 on American citizens. And the DoD was like, that's 00:02:56.039 --> 00:02:59.520 a problem. Anthropic is known for having more 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:01.919 safeguards in place than most other AI companies. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.580 They're not... good. They're still a massive 00:03:05.580 --> 00:03:07.680 tech company making an AI and all that stuff, 00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:11.360 but like, they're... trying to make Claude be 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:14.280 slightly more ethical. At least they have stated 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:16.560 boundaries of what they don't want it to be used 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:20.000 for, and up until recently, they were planning 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:23.379 to not train the AI past a level that they felt 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:26.939 that they could control. Uh... Uh... No, yeah, 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:29.020 they're still pretty bad. But Anthropic said 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:31.539 no. They said no to the DOD. We don't want Claude 00:03:31.539 --> 00:03:33.939 to be used for surveilling citizens and also 00:03:33.939 --> 00:03:36.860 for use on autonomous weapons. The DOD got big 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:40.180 mad and labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk. 00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:42.479 That is a designation usually meant for companies 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:45.699 that are in adversarial countries so that we 00:03:45.699 --> 00:03:47.860 don't depend on them during wartime. It's not 00:03:47.860 --> 00:03:49.919 really meant for like an American company. So 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:52.120 now we have the White House trying to strong 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:55.099 arm an American company to just do whatever they 00:03:55.099 --> 00:03:57.439 say. Trump actually went as far as to complain 00:03:57.439 --> 00:03:59.819 that the US government had to adhere to terms 00:03:59.819 --> 00:04:02.659 of service instead of the Constitution. Holy 00:04:02.659 --> 00:04:05.539 shit. While all this is going on, OpenAI is like, 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:07.620 hey guys, we also signed a contract with the 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:11.060 DOD. Here's the details. In their details, they're 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:13.060 like, yeah, no, they're safeguards. They can 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:17.399 only use ChatGPT for things that the US government 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:21.680 says is legal. That's some real safeguards, my 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:24.259 guys. So where we're at is that Anthropic is 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:25.620 saying they're going to fight this designation 00:04:25.620 --> 00:04:28.319 and we are in uncharted territory. This is, again, 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:31.240 the White House saying, hey, massive tech company, 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:33.660 do what we say or we're going to cut you out 00:04:33.660 --> 00:04:36.240 of the entire government. Being labeled as a 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:38.120 supply chain risk means it can't be used by the 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:40.379 government or other contractors. It's a huge 00:04:40.379 --> 00:04:42.560 loss. Ultimately, this could lead to a court 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:45.480 case that decides a lot about the future of the 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:47.480 relationship between the U .S. government and 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:50.019 private corporations. And of course, it's happening 00:04:50.019 --> 00:04:52.620 under a Republican administration. I'll end this 00:04:52.620 --> 00:04:54.600 by saying that literally hours after the White 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:57.180 House was like, no more Anthropic! They used 00:04:57.180 --> 00:05:00.240 Anthropic stuff in the attack on Iran. Make of 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:02.379 that what you will. Let's talk about Netflix 00:05:02.379 --> 00:05:05.379 and Paramount's heated rivalry. See what I did? 00:05:05.639 --> 00:05:07.819 Setting the stage, we've got Warner Bros. Warner 00:05:07.819 --> 00:05:09.759 Bros. wants to be purchased because they're failing 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:11.759 and they want to be bought by anyone. They don't 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:14.040 really care who. Netflix swooped in and was like, 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:17.500 we want it. We'll take that. And after they did 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:19.990 that, Paramount was like, but we wanted it! So 00:05:19.990 --> 00:05:22.350 Netflix and Warner Bros have been working towards 00:05:22.350 --> 00:05:24.970 an acquisition agreement, and Paramount has been 00:05:24.970 --> 00:05:27.930 trying to outbid Netflix this whole time. Paramount 00:05:27.930 --> 00:05:31.149 is run by the son of Larry Ellison, who owns 00:05:31.149 --> 00:05:34.910 Oracle. Well, owns. He's at the head of Oracle. 00:05:35.269 --> 00:05:37.810 Larry Ellison is in Trump's circle, hyper conservative, 00:05:38.170 --> 00:05:40.529 oligarch at the head of a tech company. He's 00:05:40.529 --> 00:05:42.410 exactly that kind of guy. And as a reminder, 00:05:42.629 --> 00:05:44.850 the Ellison family either owns or has direct 00:05:44.850 --> 00:05:48.269 influence over CBS, Paramount, and TikTok, among 00:05:48.269 --> 00:05:50.370 a whole lot of other things. And now they've 00:05:50.370 --> 00:05:52.449 come in and successfully pushed out Netflix from 00:05:52.449 --> 00:05:54.689 this deal. It now looks like Paramount is going 00:05:54.689 --> 00:05:56.949 to be getting Warner Bros. If this goes through, 00:05:57.170 --> 00:06:00.649 one family would have sway over CNN, HBO, CBS, 00:06:00.930 --> 00:06:03.850 Showtime, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, and 00:06:03.850 --> 00:06:07.800 Viacom, just to name a few. All the while, Netflix 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:09.240 shareholders are actually pretty happy about 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:11.639 this. There was a lot of concern about all the 00:06:11.639 --> 00:06:13.139 problems that Netflix would have to go through 00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:15.759 with regulatory hearings and stuff. So after 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:19.660 the deal broke, Netflix stock skyrocketed. What's 00:06:19.660 --> 00:06:21.980 more is there was a clause in the contract between 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:24.040 Netflix and Warner Bros that if they went back 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:26.540 on the deal, Warner Bros would have to pay Netflix 00:06:26.540 --> 00:06:29.800 nearly three billion dollars. as a breakup fee. 00:06:30.180 --> 00:06:32.800 I feel I'm owed three billion dollars as a breakup 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.500 fee for several breakups. But Paramount, being 00:06:35.500 --> 00:06:38.519 this level of thirsty, offered to pay that money. 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:42.139 So Paramount paid Netflix the breakup fee to 00:06:42.139 --> 00:06:45.180 get away from Warner Bros, which means that essentially 00:06:45.180 --> 00:06:47.180 Netflix was just like, we'll buy Warner Bros, 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:49.339 and then didn't buy Warner Bros and got three 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:52.060 billion dollars and a stock price increase. So 00:06:52.060 --> 00:06:55.439 well played, except for the whole Ellison family 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:58.920 owning everything ever. Draft Kings. I only fuck 00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:00.839 with Wraith Kings. I have no idea if Wraith King 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:02.620 is meta or not these days, I haven't played since 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:05.000 2018. Valve Software, the company that makes 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:07.379 Steam, which is the biggest gaming platform on 00:07:07.379 --> 00:07:09.879 the planet, is being sued by the New York Attorney 00:07:09.879 --> 00:07:12.019 General. Letitia James, you may have heard that 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:15.060 name before, is suing Valve over loot boxes, 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:17.639 citing that it is a gambling practice targeting 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:20.209 teens and children. For the non -gamers out there, 00:07:20.329 --> 00:07:22.870 allow me to explain loot boxes real quick. Loot 00:07:22.870 --> 00:07:25.029 boxes are a general concept in gaming where you 00:07:25.029 --> 00:07:28.250 get an in -game item that's a locked chest, and 00:07:28.250 --> 00:07:30.930 you can only open it with a key. Keys usually 00:07:30.930 --> 00:07:33.509 cost real -world money. Not a whole lot, but 00:07:33.509 --> 00:07:35.589 a couple bucks maybe. With a key, you open the 00:07:35.589 --> 00:07:37.810 box, and inside the box is some kind of in -game 00:07:37.810 --> 00:07:39.949 item, usually a thing that gives a different 00:07:39.949 --> 00:07:42.209 look to something in the game, often called a 00:07:42.209 --> 00:07:44.930 cosmetic. In gamer terms, they're called hats. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:48.360 And the output of these boxes is randomized and 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:50.220 usually weighted, so there's stuff that's more 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:52.319 common and stuff that's more rare. And so this 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.699 creates a bit of a market because you can usually 00:07:54.699 --> 00:07:57.100 trade these items between people. Now this gets 00:07:57.100 --> 00:07:59.199 really messy because it's not super cut and dry, 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:01.519 but when you have a system that can peg sort 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:04.740 of an input currency by way of keys to real -world 00:08:04.740 --> 00:08:07.180 money and then have a market where things have 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:09.860 values and can be potentially gotten like a slot 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:12.180 machine and then traded for real -world money, 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:15.379 it gets wacky. It's also hard to say that this 00:08:15.379 --> 00:08:18.259 wasn't in some way intentional when Valve has 00:08:18.259 --> 00:08:21.319 a long history of hiring world -class economists 00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:24.360 to plan out in -game markets. Do I think that 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:26.500 Valve is intentionally being nefarious and evil 00:08:26.500 --> 00:08:29.600 and is trying to do gambling? Not necessarily, 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:32.080 and they've made some concessions and they've 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.460 changed some things over time, like whether or 00:08:34.460 --> 00:08:36.740 not you're able to purchase and trade keys. So 00:08:36.740 --> 00:08:39.000 while it's pretty easy to portray this as not 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:40.759 much different than opening up like a booster 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:43.340 pack of a trading card game, some other countries 00:08:43.340 --> 00:08:45.629 have already labeled it gambling. Belgium and 00:08:45.629 --> 00:08:47.629 the Netherlands already call loot boxes to be 00:08:47.629 --> 00:08:50.850 gambling, and Dutch players of Valve's game Dota 00:08:50.850 --> 00:08:53.490 2, they're able to actually see what item will 00:08:53.490 --> 00:08:56.070 be in the box before they open it. That said, 00:08:56.529 --> 00:08:58.610 if you don't like what item is in the box, you 00:08:58.610 --> 00:09:01.809 can't get a new box unless you buy it. So you 00:09:01.809 --> 00:09:04.029 still have to buy the box to see what the next 00:09:04.029 --> 00:09:07.320 item will be. So it's not great. Ultimately there 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:09.899 do exist platforms where people do like underground 00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:12.279 trades on all this stuff and you can make quite 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:15.379 a bit of money. I've had a pretty valuable Steam 00:09:15.379 --> 00:09:18.799 item in my account inventory for years and I'm 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:20.740 constantly getting people trying to scam me out 00:09:20.740 --> 00:09:24.080 of it. So are loot boxes gambling? Probably not. 00:09:24.500 --> 00:09:27.039 Are they are they a good consumer friendly thing? 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:29.860 No, definitely not. Is there regulation for it? 00:09:29.860 --> 00:09:32.259 Not really. Should there be regulation? Probably. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:35.210 What kind of regulation will we likely get? Probably 00:09:35.210 --> 00:09:37.230 something along the lines of like, you must take 00:09:37.230 --> 00:09:40.330 a picture of your genitals and send it to Jeffrey 00:09:40.330 --> 00:09:42.750 Epstein before you can open loot boxes. That's 00:09:42.750 --> 00:09:45.029 probably what we'll get. Lightning round! Last 00:09:45.029 --> 00:09:47.230 week I talked about how the DoD shot down a party 00:09:47.230 --> 00:09:50.549 balloon. Well, this week they shot down a drone 00:09:50.549 --> 00:09:53.750 operated by her own Border Patrol. The first 00:09:53.750 --> 00:09:56.309 ever fiber optic undersea communications cable 00:09:56.309 --> 00:09:59.549 is being retired after 37 years. They're yanking 00:09:59.549 --> 00:10:02.129 it up from the floor. The ocean floor. According 00:10:02.129 --> 00:10:04.090 to the Wall Street Journal, U .S. citizens have 00:10:04.090 --> 00:10:06.549 left the country in record numbers over the past 00:10:06.549 --> 00:10:08.870 year. Tech company Block, which is owned by Jack 00:10:08.870 --> 00:10:10.590 Dorsey, the guy that made Twitter originally, 00:10:10.870 --> 00:10:13.509 and they run Square, they are laying off about 00:10:13.509 --> 00:10:16.090 half their workforce, 4 ,000 people. I just want 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:18.629 to say that Jack Dorsey has a long history of 00:10:18.629 --> 00:10:21.269 maintaining his aesthetic, and part of that is 00:10:21.269 --> 00:10:23.750 not capitalizing letters in written messages. 00:10:24.070 --> 00:10:27.190 And that includes the letter laying off thousands 00:10:27.190 --> 00:10:30.879 of employees. I'm not one to get hung up on these 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:34.559 kinds of semantics, but holy shit, that is insulting. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:37.120 And finally for today, an anonymous donor in 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:40.179 Osaka sent a whole bunch of gold bars worth about 00:10:40.179 --> 00:10:43.259 3 .6 million dollars to the city with a note 00:10:43.259 --> 00:10:46.860 saying, fix the pipes. Fucking legend shit. Thank 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:48.220 you so much for listening to today's episode 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:50.639 of Stuff Keeps Happening. Head to skh .news for 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:54.820 sources, bonus content, and Hopefully an improved 00:10:54.820 --> 00:10:57.460 power grid next time. My name is Endeavorance. 00:10:57.559 --> 00:10:59.940 We'll talk again soon. Take care and be well.