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I. Welcome to the Now We Can Zoom podcast, where
tonight we're asking our little overlords to
please reset the simulation, because shit's getting
weird. And coming from me, that's saying something.
I'm your host, Pip. Tonight, as always, are my
co -hosts, Gibbs and Gibbles. Hello! Hi! And
we're coming off of a bit of a pre -show where
we've been having a little bit of extra fun.
So if my voice is a little raw, that's... It's
not their fault tonight because I have been laughing
my ass off. But tonight, we're going to be discussing
a movement that's been getting bigger and it's
not coming out of me for once. We're discussing...
Don't look at me in that tone of voice, Gibbs.
He's judging. He's judging harsh. With all the
talk of AI, the end of the world and... People
in Hollywood really loving pizza. We're going
to talk about the exact opposite tonight, and
we're going to discuss the dumb tech movement.
Some people are intentionally stepping away from
smartphones, smart homes, smart outlets, smart
doorbells, smart appliances, and always on tech.
Not because they're Luddites, or in the old sense,
but because they're tired of how digital life
affects them. There's an increasing demand for
devices to not be so plugged in as they have
been. This is becoming so popular that there
are major news articles about this topic, such
as in Newsweek, how to instantly dumb down your
smartphone for a scrolling detox in 2026. This
explains how many, especially Gen Z, are repurposing
phones or using minimalist strategies to fight
constant notification and feed addiction. It
frames the trend as digital minimalism rather
than full nostalgia. I, for one, fully support
this whole trend, especially in the under 30
crowd. They have no attention span, no communication
abilities. They can't hold a conversation. They
can't hold eye contact. And I fully blame the
digital addictions. Oh, 100%. It's something
of a trend that I've noticed. I think that the
younger generation is becoming shockingly self
-aware on this issue. And there's kind of two
extremes. There's a lot of people. I know typically
in a society, there's always that kind of back
and forth sway. between things. So for example,
when something's really popular for a while,
then it becomes almost the opposite. It becomes
really uncool and unpopular. It swings back and
forth. So in the case of technology, I see a
lot of people in the younger generation that
are being very anti -tech, being very pro going
out to bars, trying to be out in public, trying
to be hanging around people. It's definitely
something that I'm noticing a lot of people from
all sectors. And the reason why I kind of...
pointed it out for this week for this one and
why i really want to talk about this is i'm seeing
this particularly so i work in the automotive
industry i'm seeing a huge demand and calling
for people to say screw touch screens screw the
tech give me my old knobs and dials please just
make it simple and i think what we're starting
to see is really it's in almost all phases of
tech and almost really every facet or every corner
of technology people are sick of it being over
complicated yeah and especially with the car
stuff uh the more tech heavy the cars become
the more expensive they become to fix the the
more you need an engineer or a higher end technician
then you need a mechanic um right you you damn
near need them like i got an electronics degree
to fix cars nowadays oh yeah you should see my
ford explorer i got freaking the only dial i
have on it is the volume control that's it oh
god everything else is touchscreen and just so
you guys know too because i have a little bit
of insider information cadillac for 2027 they're
trying to make so right now the way cars are
made is you have a bunch of different modules
that control different parts of the vehicle well
now they want to make it to this one central
module that is powered by an nvidia graphics
card with an ai chip where the idea they want
to have is be one centralized module that is
ai powered on their high -end Cadillacs. I don't
know how this is going to go, but I'll tell you
right now, it sucks already to work on cars with
all these different modules that they do not
talk to each other, that you have to reprogram
them a certain way. It's really difficult to
make things happen. That is going to make it
way worse. By the way, some Cadillac's going
to be the... first one to do it the first ones
going down the road i think there's gonna be
many companies that are gonna go that way okay
so there was a car i saw i forget which brand
it was where the audio control box that was like
in the rear of the car that controlled like the
muffler noises because that went out it ripped
the car yeah that sounds about right uh i i have
a question so does that mean that you're gonna
have to start updating the drivers for your car
yeah No, no, I have even better one. There's
already vehicles now that you have to go back
to the dealership every year or two to actually
software update them. Some of them you can do
from home, but there are some cars now that are
like, hey, you have to do it at the dealership.
I had software updates all the time when I used
to work at dealership. Thankfully, not anymore.
But I do see it. And even to repair and work
on cars. Any car made after like 2016, 2018,
you got to have a nice scan to be able to do
the brakes on it because you have to manually
retract the rear pistons. Oh, yeah. That happened
to my own truck. I know. I remember that. That
made a mess. That made such a mess. But I've
seen some brands. There's a couple that are starting
to figure this out. Because I think there's a
lot of people that are just overwhelmed with
options. And all these options don't necessarily
make your life better. It's one of those things
where options are nice, but some of us just want
a car to get A to B. Or technology. Some of us
literally want a phone to do three things. Not
everything has to do everything. Yeah. Call,
text, and porn. Exactly. The trifecta. That's
all you need. Yep. I don't know if you guys saw
this, but have you guys heard of Slate Automotive
or Slate Auto? I've heard something about Slate.
I know I saw it in the notes. So what they did,
because the notes, I didn't really dive into
it this much, but I feel like this is an important
point. Slate said, what if we just didn't do
any infotainment and we make a spot specifically
for you to put your phone or your iPad and connect
it to the vehicle and use that as your hub? Nice.
And I was like, you know, as a cost saving measure.
that keeps all your information there everything
and puts the phone or tablet at a safe spot so
you're not like texting while driving but you
can interact with it and it connects with the
audio system or potentially as a cost saving
measure they literally give you like a bluetooth
speaker you can put in the vehicle and just connect
it to the phone and that's it it's like you know
for cheap money that that that makes sense but
it's nice to have options is what i'm saying
it seems like every car manufacturer has been
just going crazy with the options which means
crazy with the money Yeah, because the more crap
they can cram into there, the more cost they
can squeeze out of the customer. And, I mean,
cars are already expensive as it is, so why not
just make us pay more, right? Don't give them
ideas. Oh, they don't need any from me, trust
me. Oh, they already do it. Bad enough I spent
over $60 on my latest vehicle. Gross. That hurt
my soul. The only reason I even accepted it is
because I tricked it up completely. Yeah. So
there was another article from Vice, the best
dumb phones for smartphone use. That was a recent
feature listing dumb phones as simple devices
as alternatives to modern smartphones, showing
just how the trend is becoming mainstream and
curated rather than fringe. Excuse me. Like we
mentioned, Gen Z are the bigger pushers and motivators
for this. They're increasingly aware that constant
notifications, social media feeds, the algorithm,
the almighty algorithm, all hail, all hail Hypnotoad,
is designed to keep you scrolling. I wish we
had that sound effect. The algorithms are designed
to keep you scrolling. And that they can actually
harm focus, sleep, stress levels, and well -being.
So this has driven people to reduce their screen
time or even switch to the dumb phones that don't
have a big fancy screen. This is your flip phones,
your old Nokia styles, or even the PDA BlackBerry
types. Yes. Did you ever have a BlackBerry? No,
I wanted to. I had several. I loved them. See,
I love that. I wish I still had it. I had one
of those phones where on the front it was a regular
phone, but you turned it sideways and pushed
it up, then you had the full keyboard. Yes, like
the kick. Yes, yes. HTC. Yeah, that thing was
great. I loved that thing. And I missed when
I had a flip phone, too. Honestly, it was kind
of nice. I will say, like, it just kept you focused.
I'd try going back to a flip phone. Can't now.
I tried. No, I do entirely too much on the phone.
Especially if you get into a... If you get a
text message group going on an old -style flip
phone, it won't stop. Yeah, if you're texting
in T9, your thumb is going to look like Arnold
Schwarzenegger by the time you're done with that
third message. Well, that was back when we all
used to text for something like you needed. Right.
You know what I mean? You weren't just updating
bullshit. I feel like I wish a lot of phones
had options. I know some do, but I wish it was
more relevant to be like, hey, here's a dumb
phone feature or a dumb phone mode. Because I
know it's nice to have sleep mode or other modes
where do not disturb, which it does help, I will
say. I wish my iPhone had a dumb feature where
I was like, yep, literally turn off everything
but calls or texts. Only if someone needs to
get a hold of me, that's it. Which I know I could
probably set up, but I'll be honest, I've been
too lazy to do it. Yeah. Yeah, the do not disturb
plus the whitelist on my phone has been an absolute
game changer for me. That way I can let people
through that I need to let through and the...
the important stuff you know is filtered through
but the non -important stuff can just wait till
i wake up that's that's great oh yeah so i can't
do that with the do not disturb unfortunately
well that's why the white list exists yeah i
didn't realize that i should have because the
last time i did it why that was The night I found
out my brother passed away. So I've not gone
on Do Not Disturb ever since. Yeah, that would
do it. The one time I did it, and then I get
a voicemail from my stepfather. Yeah, that would
hurt. So we've got other tech as well besides
just phones. We've got people. trying to bring
back things like film cameras, MP3 players, more
mechanical -style watches, and they're rejecting
the constantly pushed ads for updates, connectivity,
and surveillance. Now, Gibbs, you were talking
about all the car stuff, and I know we had talked
about this earlier. What is the year that people
in power are pushing? To have the kill switches
mandated in cars. So, I will tell everybody right
now. In 2029. I'm breaking up. Can you guys hear
me now? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. Okay. Starting
the year 2029, all new passenger cars and light
trucks sold in the U .S. will be required to
include automatic emergency braking systems that...
detect an imminent crash with another vehicle,
a pedestrian, or automatically apply the brake
if the driver does not try to prevent or reduce
the severity of the crash. But here is my problem.
Now, I know that sounds fine, but my problem
is it's part of the law that's also in there
for the police and or law enforcement to be allowed
to have access to these. Now, we do not know
to what extent. It is not currently written as
to how this is going to be used or enforced.
But it also grants law enforcement access to
the braking capabilities of a vehicle. And I
heard from a rumor. I don't know if this part's
true. But I heard from a rumor that there's a
possibility of them adding steering into the
equation. I don't know about this one yet. This
one, I could be calling it early on this one.
Or they could be not adding that in eventually.
Because here's the problem. Right now it's 2026.
They got three years until this comes into effect.
And you know these laws can be amended. So they
can be changed. But the problem that's going
to be is this is going to be another feature
that you're going to have to, the customer's
going to have to pay for, the consumer's going
to have to pay for that you can't really consent
to. Yeah. The thing is, most vehicles now already
have this. So this is nothing new. Most any vehicle
past like 2024, 2022, like you're going to have
automatic collision avoidance, lane departure,
lane assist, all this type of stuff. So why is
it in there? Well. It's in there because it wants
to be up to a government standard to the way
that they want it to react and happen. So this
is going to cause some issues. I can already
see where this is going to go because they're
going to want a certain amount of sensors, a
certain amount of data, or a certain amount of
recorded information. This is going to cause
an increase in cost for the vehicles as well
as that information is going to be readily accessible
by the government for crash records or anything
else. So unfortunately, it's going to affect
your insurance, our repair costs. Oh, God, yeah.
It's going to have a ripple effect. So I just
want people to keep in mind that basically what's
going to happen is any cars from like 2020 to
like 2028 are going to actually retain their
value a little bit more, I think, because of
this issue. Yeah. Because I have zero trust the
government is going to be able to do this well.
Yeah. I have zero trust they're going to really
think this one through. Or better yet, somebody's
going to hack the system and then all of a sudden
everybody's brakes are going to get slammed on.
Right. It's going to be like a Skynet, but not
Skynet. I need to ask a quick question. Gibbs,
are you squeaking? When you're talking, something
is squeaking really badly. He swallowed his chew
toy. Oh, huh? No, that was not me. I'm actually
like. I'm abusing this chair right here and I'm
not. Okay. All right, cool. Maybe it wasn't.
I don't know. It could be crazy. Maybe just sitting
in the chair is being abused now. So, but anyways,
so it's just something people keep in mind that
with the addition, with the addition of one more
features in these cars. unfortunately, adds more
vulnerabilities to them. Yeah. And this is not
just with cars, mind you. This is a good representation
of what's happened with your phones, with your
computers, laptops, watches, TVs, anything you
can think of, really. With all these features
that get added, comes the erosion of your privacy,
your rights, things like that. Yep. What is interesting,
I don't know if you guys know this, but Ford
was the first one that patented driving ads in
your car. They patented it. They're not going
to use it. But they did patent the idea and the
ability to play ads on your screen. Well, that's
because they know there's going to be other companies
that are going to try to do it. So why not patent
it and make money off of it? Because you have
the auto companies overseas that does crazy shit
like, let me subscribe to be able to heat my
seats. Like, really? Would you like to stop the
car now? Please watch this ad. Would you like
to keep your family alive? Play $5 .99 for premium
braking service. You know, it's like... Well,
you know what's crazy? There are cars where you
actually have to pay to unlock more horsepower.
Like, it's in the vehicle and everything. It's
already there. You just have to pay for a separate
thing. They flash the chip in the ECU and it
allows the engine to run better. Wow. There are
cars where they do that already. Yeah, that's
insane isn't like it's it's like Audi or Mercedes
-Benz that does that They both do okay Tesla
as well. Yeah, Tesla Tesla But Tesla's interesting.
Well, yeah, so They actually what's kind of crazy
with Tesla's if there's something that's broken
It's simple enough with the modules and those,
it will actually call itself, the dealership,
give the dealership its diagnostic codes and
troubleshooting codes, and the dealership will
order the part, and the car will tell you when
to go to the dealership when the part's there.
Now, that's cool. I could be okay with that kind
of thing. That's kind of badass to be like, oh,
yeah, something's wrong with me. Go to the dealership
in six days. The part will be there. Yeah. That's
the only car right now that does anything like
that. Yeah. So I, I have very mixed feelings
on some of this stuff because yeah, that kind
of stuff is very awesome and very helpful, but
the remote access stuff is just way overstepping.
If you, the owner do not have a way to disable
it, then you do not own your car. If you cannot
bypass it without the car being disabled, the
car is not yours. You should never have to pay
farmers and jailbreak our own stuff. Well, yeah,
but I mean, you should not have to pay the full
price for the car. You should not have to pay
property taxes if you're in a state that has
those because you don't own the car. If you own
it, you can do whatever you want to it, period.
And I will die on that hill. Software companies
have already paved the way for this where you
never own it. You just rent it. You lease it
or you pay for a license to have or operate that
vehicle. Because you have politicians that are
just too whipped to the dollar that they're getting.
Or too old to understand. They're either too
old or they're getting paid off by lobbyists
to actually do something about it. Yeah. For
example, I don't know if you guys have been keeping
up with this, but do you know SteamOS is making
huge strides? Oh, yeah. And one of the things
I wanted to bring up here is operating systems,
as all three of us know about Linux, we all know
about different Linux distros, but it's not really
that useful right now. But something like SteamOS
with the incoming GabeCube, which I cannot fucking
wait for, Lord Gaben himself. If you don't know
who Gaben is, just look him up. You'll see. Glorious
man. Glorious Gabe. Gabe Newell. Yes. Glorious
Gabe. Yeah. Well, he's trying to figure out to
run a software that's your desktop software that
takes place on Microsoft that is like idiot simple.
That's very light. And he gets rid of a lot of
the intrusive stuff, gets rid of a lot of the
bloatware, a lot of the crap. It makes it just
simple. And the amount of demand I see for this
online is freaking huge because we're all sick
of Microsoft. And unfortunately, I hate to say
it, Apple OS, while it's really efficient, it
can't do a lot of things. So this is going to
be like a perfect middle ground. Apple is good
for some things, but it sure as hell isn't good
for office spaces. And I work around copy machines
all day. This sucks. I was just reading an article
yesterday or the day before about how Windows
as it stands, Windows 11 is essentially going
to be the last version of like user type Windows.
They're going to be moving to cloud -based subscription
style Windows that is just AI kind of bloatware
essentially. And that's going to be the model
going forward. You're going to have to pay. Nope.
a fee to use your computer. Nope. So that's going
to be, that's going to be what pushes the adoption
of Linux or alternate operating systems. I really
feel like we're entering this kind of like cyberpunk
era where everybody's going to have their own
versions of distros for software, for computers,
because nobody wants to use the big bad government
one, which is going to be Microsoft. It's going
to be the case of like, everyone's going to find
their own way of making shit work, but nothing's
going to be standardized. It's not going to be
like how it was 10 years ago where everybody
ran Windows 10. Yeah. Or everybody was running
Vista or 7. God, I miss Windows 7. That was great.
7 was good. I actually came across a computer
yesterday that was running Windows 7. I couldn't
help them because I couldn't get the printer
working on it, but you know. I have one at work
that's running Windows 98. Wow. Please tell me
it's not connected to the internet. Oh, no. No,
it's an offline. Good. That's good. Because that
thing probably in about two minutes would be
infected with so many viruses. Yeah, it's never
been on the internet. But, like, this is where
this is going to go. Because they're going to
think they can force people to pay monthly for
software. And let's be honest, any of us that
are software savvy are going to say, fuck that
and find a way to get around. Exactly. A lot
of people, there's already tens of millions of
people that use like counterfeit or pirated Windows
software like every day. And it's no problem.
So give it like. three months, six months, and
there's going to be some crazy Russian hacker.
Let's go, oh, do this, do this, blah, there you
go. And it's going to work. And you're going
to be fine. Exactly. It's going to be just like
the old days. It'll be like the old days. Or...
Like the mid, the early to mid 2000s where, you
know, you were silly to pay for Windows. Or it'll
be... Because they were charging so damn much.
It'll be the case where someone tricks AI into
cracking something for them. yeah or that so
new form of uh iql injections and all that yeah
or or the case of his ai gonna get so good that
people can just pick up a linux distro have it
coded to the way that you want it behave it the
way you want it install it and then you're all
set but no you have to really deal with the um
the kernel essentially yeah If I have it besides
that, you'd be fine. Yeah. And, you know, it's
going to be, I think it's going to move beyond
computers too. I mean, the more companies that
start to offer more options that are less advanced,
they're going to see more customer draw because
we're already seeing it right now. Companies
that are offering, Back to the cars. I just had
it right here. Audi and Volkswagen and some other
automakers, they're reintroducing physical buttons,
knobs, and dials, and they're seeing their sales
increase by as much as 30%. So... Yeah, because
not everybody wants a touchscreen. Not everybody
wants to have to sit there and figure out while
they're driving, go, oh, let me try to push this
tiny little thing on the screen so I can turn
the heat up. Yeah. So I'll tell you this from
experience. I have a customer who has a brand
new 2025 Audi Q7 Premium. It's the big SUV. It's
the luxury. It's like $110 ,000 for the one that
he has. Gross. Really nice. There's a problem
with it. Of course there is. With how long it
takes all the computer systems to start up, I
can get into it, hit the start button. It takes
at least a minute, if not a minute and a half,
for everything to come up, for me to be able
to use the touchscreen, navigate over to the
thermostat, or the heat settings, and actually
get the heat running in it. And then because
it's German, it's particularly sensitive about
shit, and it takes quite a while to get the heat
going. And here's the thing. I'm just south of
Boston. It's been negative fuck outside. So nothing's
more annoying than trying to get the heat going
in this $110 ,000 car. And when the screen's
like, meh, it's too cold. I'll take a bad time.
Meanwhile, you're sitting there fucking shivering
your balls off. Or I could just go to this 2007
Kia on the lot you want to do, start the car,
turn the knob. Yeah. Like, I hate to see that
guy, but it's like... Yeah, but you know what
the sad part is, though? If it's not that cold
out, if it's like 40, 50 degrees, we still want
heat. Why is it a $110 ,000 vehicle is being
outdone by a $5 ,000 shitbox when it comes to
heat? And I hate to say it, the amount of times
I've gone to really nice vehicles and the heat
or AC in them aren't very good is fucking terrifying.
Also, it's because of the new refrigerants, too.
They suck. That's besides the point. They're
not like the old ones. The old shit used to be
cold. Mm -hmm. Yeah, but the older ones also
killed penguins. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine.
So, I don't know. It's over -regulation to the
point to where it doesn't always work. Or it's
always yelling at you. That's the other thing
with some of the newer cars. They're always yelling
at you over something. Yeah, mine usually yells
at me when I'm using the cruise control and it's
driving for me down the freeway. That's when
it yells at me for not paying attention. Otherwise,
it kind of leaves me alone. That's when you're
not supposed to pay attention. Oh, well, this
one is still set up to where you need to pay
attention, which I like. Oh. Because there's
been times where, you know, it decided as I'm
coming up to the exit that I want, it's on the
navigation, it decides, hey. We're going to go
in the left lane now. Why? We got to exit right
here. What are you doing? That's awesome. Yeah,
it did save me from getting into an accident
once already. Well, that's good. That was nice.
I will say, I've been very happy with the lane
assist and the partial self -driving my Camry
has. When I'm on the highway, I can just kind
of let it do its thing. And it really saves you.
It makes driving way less stressful when you're
doing long distance. Oh yeah. Yeah. But one of
the things I want to point out in this discussion
was the fact that granted, this is a rough estimate,
but roughly 20 to 30 % of the cost that you're
paying for a vehicle is for non -essential features,
particularly infotainment connectivity packages,
luxury tech styling systems and subscription
systems. Imagine if right now you could just
slash car prices 20 or 30 % by saying basics.
Just basic stuff. Don't need all that crap. The
amount of people that are priced out of owning
cars or a lot of other tech because of all this
unnecessary stuff, that's an estimate for 20
to 30%. There are some cars, I swear to God,
it's half the price of the car. Wow. That's kind
of insane. It is insane. No, but then again,
there's a there's I found out there's a vehicle
over in Europe that you don't even need a license
for it's a tiny little shit box and It's like
14 15 year olds can drive it and it only goes
like oh, what is it? I think it gets us to like
maybe 40 miles an hour. Maybe Like it could be
slower than that But the cars like 7 ,000 bucks
Yeah, cuz it comes with just what you need steering
wheel brake system gas has a little cell phone
holder up on the dash and that's really about
it and and the way they build it the front and
back look exactly the same the doors it's the
same door on each side so one the door handles
in the front the other one door handles in the
back because it's literally the same damn door
wow you could do that here just it would have
to be a lot bigger because we go a lot faster
But you can make a simple car like that and be
cheap. You know what's even crazier? You know
Toyota makes a $10 ,000 pickup truck? Yeah. And
we're getting them soon, aren't we? Supposed
to be. It's on the way. But it's... Yeah, it's
like $10 ,000, right? Yeah, it's like after like
tariff attacks from like 12 or 13 for most people.
But even so, you can't even get into a truck
for under $50 ,000. In America, 45 or 50 is like
your baseline. Yeah. You know, bottom barrel.
Imagine being able to get a truck that has a
warranty, not Toyota. Mind you has a Toyota warranty
and they'll order it. They take good care of
people for 10 to 12 grand. Like you can actually
get work done. The amount of commercial companies
that people are gonna be buying those up is going
to be endless. I would buy one 12 grand. Aren't
they supposed to be making those here at some
point soon? at some point so the big rumor is
the toyota toyota just recently relaunched the
fj cruiser and it's on the same frame that that
truck is supposed to be that okay that's what
it is so so the fj is coming here first and then
i think that other truck that they're already
making based off that frame is going to be approved
later on i don't know what the timeline is because
they're kind of keeping a hush hush why i don't
really know unfortunately i don't work like for
toyota so i don't know 100 but Maybe they don't
want anyone else jumping the gun on them. Yeah.
Well, that's the thing is I don't think there's
any other companies that make trucks that I think
could even come close to that kind of price.
I mean, fuck, even the Ford Maverick is still
like $30 ,000, $20 ,000, $30 ,000. It's the cheapest,
cheapest gun. Yeah. Yeah, that beats the shit
out of the cheapest Cybertrucks, too, or whatever
Elon was shooting for. Yeah. How much are those
now? The Cybertruck? Ridiculous. A lot. It's
nowhere near the price that you originally was
trying to get. No. That's for damn sure. Slate,
which is like an Amazon -owned truck company
that makes little electric trucks, those are
like $25 ,000. Yeah. Which, I thought about getting
one, but a little too much. For what for what
it has, you know, for like a little a little
pickup truck that goes like 150 miles on a charge.
I'm like, I'm not gonna spend 25. No, it's a
little too much. Yeah. So talking about all the
the tech and bullshit that's inside of a car
right now, we'll stay on the car topic for just
a minute. Some recent surveys that were done
and these are not, you know, be all end all deals,
but. 54 % of Americans think that cars have too
much tech. I would think that's kind of low personally,
but that's just me. 68 % said they would give
up the latest tech for a more affordable vehicle.
Again, I think that's low. I think that number
should probably be a lot higher. But when you
were talking about that, something that popped
into my head, how long was it going to be before?
You said that they're going to have NVIDIA chips
in the cars. So NVIDIA makes AI chips and GPUs
can run AI. So how long is it going to be before
we have an AI assistant or an AI overlord in
our vehicle telling us what to do or how to drive
or driving for us and just taking control of
the vehicle for us when we least expect it? Think
about this. If Tesla can do self -driving decently
well without AI, just with basic algorithms,
imagine what happens when they integrate a full
-time dedicated AI that can get updates over
the air at all times. We are not long until...
cars will be able to drive themselves because
they'll have a built -in ai that can make decisions
this has been the biggest thing self -driving
right now because it's all algorithmic based
based off a ton of the scan information lidar
radar all these other things it has to make decisions
based off of loose parameters whereas once you
get an ai to be able to sift through all that
and make decisions like that it's going to make
self -driving way more efficient overnight and
unfortunately it will be able to take over that's
the other problem yeah is it might make decisions
for you like you're talking about. And you know
what worries me about that? You just have to
be friends with your car. That scene from 2001,
Space Odyssey. I'm sorry, Dave. I can't do that
right now. Or like I said earlier, Skynet. Yeah.
By the way, speaking of Skynet, we're like three
and a half -ish years away from the first actual...
war with Skynet and the Terminators. I think
it's 2029. I hate to say it, but I think we're
on track. So yeah, just putting that out there.
There was actual novels that people, you know,
an author made that it was like the beginning
of the war and how it all started. And one of
the novels, it was basically you know skynet
infiltrated all the cars and to test to see if
it could gain control stuff it caused massive
automobile accidents so i can only imagine you
have a kill switch or something like that that
the government has access to or you're putting
ai in cars and then a hacker comes along and
goes hey guys watch this there's gonna be a lot
of dead people Because you know damn well there's
not going to be some end -all, be -all to security
on these things. Because it's bad enough when
you hear that there's medical devices that for
whatever reason are connected to the internet,
and they don't even use HTTPS. And you've got
people that could potentially get hacked, and
they could die. So what makes you think that
they're going to sit there and secure this shit?
For the cars. They're not. Or if they do, it's
going to be a few generations after the fact
once they figure it out after so many people
die and they get sued into the dirt. Yeah. Safety
is going to be a feature you have to pay for.
So. Yeah. To give you guys an idea. Some pacemakers
are connected to the internet. That's wild. You
know, this has already happened before in the
automotive industry. Do you guys know who the
Kia boys are? Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're big up
around here. Okay. So for anyone at home that
is unaware, I have to tell everybody, I do not
recommend you buying or owning any Kia or Hyundai
between like 2008 to like 2019, 2020, because
they have a massive security issue or feature
where basically you can rip out the ignition
system and get a hot wire and drive away with
it within minutes. If you're really good, literally
within like two to four minutes, it's an insanely
bad security flaw. And the reason why I bring
this up... Oh, sorry. No, it's okay. The only
reason I bring this up was because it is so bad
that in many areas of the country, you can't
insure one. In Chicago, Detroit, New York City,
I think there was somewhere else too, they...
a lot of automotive insurance companies dropped
the availability to insure one of them because
they're being stolen so often. So here's my question
to you guys. If it's easy enough to steal something,
you have to physically change out. Imagine if
you get like a radio frequency blocker or something
else or transmitter or another way to be able
to control one of these vehicles. You don't even
have to have someone pull over. You have the
laziest carjacking in the world. Pull over the
vehicle, park it, get out, bitch. Like, I hate
to say it, but... that would happen. Yeah. Yeah,
that could. But yeah, no, not to tell people
how to do it, but I mean, most of the older vehicles,
all you need is a brick and a flathead screwdriver
and you could pop, you just have to pop out the
locking mechanism that you use to start the car
and you can start the vehicle immediately and
drive away with it. Hollywood has made it seem
like it's so complicated to jack a car. When
all you need is a flathead and a brick. That's
it. As I said, I'm not trying to tell people
how to do it, but I'm just saying the Q boys
weren't the first ones to figure this out. The
Southeast boys and the street crews, they've
been doing it for a long time. The Q boys just
figured out you can use a, you know, the fire
stick, you know, USB or whatever. Oh, I could
just do it with that. No flathead quicker. But
whatever. I'm not. Yeah, I'm done. But the thing,
the reason why I brought this up is because they
were mass organized groups that were stealing
tens of thousands of cars. It wasn't just a handful
in there. It was entire city blocks, entire areas,
just vehicles were put up on blocks. Everything
was stolen. Everything was taken. It caused a
huge issue in several different cities. And keep
in mind, if this kind of stuff goes through,
Who knows if you'll maintain control of your
vehicle? Not to get conspiracy theory, but how
many people do you think are going to be, you
know, driven off a cliff or whatever other weird
stuff? You know, be like, oops. You know, if
this kind of technology gets out there, if that's
adopted. Oh, man. Yeah, if someone in control
doesn't like what you're saying or putting out
on the internet, your car could suddenly just
start driving for you and take you somewhere
you don't want to go. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Or a crash
detection system just doesn't work. That's what
happened in Upload, remember? Oh, yeah. He passed
out from being drunk, and next thing you know,
he's dead. Yep. Anybody can fake a toxicology
report. Yep. That's right. It's good times, you
know, what a time to be alive. Yeah. Well, it's
just something that like part of this, I want
to caution people and make them aware of that.
Like there are companies that are listening.
It's just make your voices heard, you know, make,
make it known to these companies that, Hey, these
are, this is what you demand. So like, for example,
I'm part of that group. Like as much, I love
the technology features on like my car for the
truck that I buy. I would love to have like a
bare bones, simple truck that literally just
four wheel drive, big motor, Good towing capacity,
good frame. All I want is heat and AC. That's
it. I don't even want any screens, anything.
Just give me simple because that is a work vehicle.
I'm not driving it to go have fun. I'm driving
it to move snow, do stuff on the farm, and go
to Home Depot. It's like five minutes up the
road. That's it. But I know I'm a special use
case, so not everybody's going to be with me
on that. But give me an option. That's all I'm
asking. Well, that's like your auto -off feature
where you're idling at. An intersection and your
car shuts off until you're ready to go again
Some people don't want that shit And there's
times you really don't want it because god forbid
you hit the gas like in the kia and you hit the
gas and nothing happens You're in a life and
death situation. You hit the gas and all the
engine is just like fuck you. I ain't going Yeah,
that sucks. So now you can go on amazon depending
on which vehicle you got in the year you're a
mom you know make a model and all that you can
buy an adapter that will turn that feature off
permanently as long as you have that installed
i thought there was a setting to go to in your
car and turn that off some some okay some but
not a lot of them wow like i wish i could turn
that off in my kia and my explorer but what can
you do except go buy a modification and Install
that. So I will tell people this as someone that
works in the automotive industry and sees a ton
of hybrid vehicles that have the auto start -stop,
I'll give you two bits of advice. One, if you
can turn off your auto start -stop, do it because
it prematurely wears out the motor because it's
starting every time and having to use the starter
up. But also, more importantly, that means the
several revolutions of the crankshaft and cams
without it being lubricated, it does cause premature
wear. And option two, if you have that and you
can't stop it, Do your fucking oil changes earlier
on time, for the love of God. Because the amount
of people that have auto start -stop engines
that'll wait until 20 ,000 fucking miles to do
an oil change, and they do it three times and
the car's at 60 or 80 ,000 miles, they're like,
why did my engine blow up? You people know who
you are. You people know. Yeah. I literally have
one of them sitting at the shop right now that
on Monday I got to give her a call saying, yeah,
so about this Jeep with 80 ,000 miles, you need
a new motor. Why? Good job. You've done three
fucking oil changes to it. Holy Christ. Every
20 ,000. Even if you're doing 10 ,000 miles an
oil change, that should be eight oil changes,
bare minimum. That's ridiculous. My brand new
2026 Explorer, I'm at 4 ,000 and some change,
and it still says I have 61 % oil life in it.
Which I'm like, wow. Okay. Don't never believe
what the oil life thing says. Those things are
wrong every fucking time. Oh, I'm sure. I've
been following the manuals. I'm just like surprised
that it allows for that. Yeah. I think those
shouldn't be allowed to be honest with you. The
oil life meters. I feel like that's a misleading
thing. It's like, what is it called when you
give someone a loan that you know they can't
pay back or whatever? Predatory, lone, or? Predatory,
yeah. I think that's very predatory of them to
give you an oil life feature. Some I'll see them
go 10 ,000 miles, I'll say like 48%. It's like,
no, it was through 5 ,000 miles ago. It should
be like negative 50%. What are you talking about?
Yeah, I'll still, the furthest I'll ever really
go is like 7 ,000 for the mileage. I use full
synthetic. 7 ,000. I try to get them about 4
,500 to 5 ,000. Good. Especially with your motor,
yes. Mine's no longer leaking oil, by the way.
I changed out the oil kit, the leak is gone.
That's good. Good. You gotta love those 5 cent
fixes. No, it was like a $35 fix. We got the
OEM, the nice one, though. The right one for
it. It's snug. That's what she said. She likes
it snug. I hate to say that. A lot of people
I see that have like EVAP leaks because they
have like a cheap gas cap and they'll flag a
check engine light and they're like, oh, it's
an EVAP leak. It has a small leak. Yeah, just
get the right fucking gas cap. But anyways. Or
just get a vehicle that doesn't need a gas cap.
Are you trying to sell me a military, you know,
deuce and a half? Is that what I'm hearing? It's
all fucking bye. You don't have to convince me.
The last three vehicles I had have not needed
a gas cap, which is amazing. I haven't had to
think about it. Which even helps with the Pennsylvania
emissions because of the fact they can't do certain
tests because you don't have a gas cap. That's
awesome. Here in Ohio, we just don't have emissions,
so fuck off. In Ohio, you could be riding down
the road with a seat, an engine, and a frame.
You know what, though? But you know what's crazy?
Look up the statistics. I bet you there's no
difference between the amount of automotive accidents
between Ohio and Pennsylvania over the quality
and or parts failure on a vehicle. I'll tell
you right now, inspections, I disagree with everybody.
I don't think they do anything. Yeah, no, they
generate revenue. That's it. A lot of inspections
don't. Yeah, a lot of inspections don't, but
it also depends on the state and what they're
looking for. like in maryland they're looking
to make certain that maintenance is being done
on the vehicle more than anything else um because
i've had a vehicle one time i was bad and i wasn't
taking care of it and the state was just like
shame shame you can't get inspection done because
there's some other stuff that needs to be fixed
first so it was kind of like their excuse to
make certain that you know you're taking care
of your car which i didn't mind so much because
you know They weren't wrong. From the Communist
Republic of Massachusetts. Is there any visible
rust? Yeah, no pass. Wow. They're very strict
about some things. I would put the rust on me.
I'm just like, do I pass inspection? Can I be
inspected? You got a vehicle. I identify as a
vehicle. Can you milk me? I have not inspected
it. Can you milk me, Fogger? Come on. I've got
nipples. There's not enough gloves to inspect
you. No way. No, no. There's not enough love.
Okay. Get the lube, Gibbs. You can inspect. I
do not have a license to do a cavity search.
I'll tell you that. That's not the right way.
I heard something the other day that was hilarious.
You know, we have all this technology and...
All this science that's moved us forward all
this time where people live longer, better lives
as long as they take care of themselves. And
yet, for some reason, we have a doctor that requires
lubricant and a glove to check our prostate to
make certain we're healthy. Like, really? They
haven't found a better way to do it? I gotta
have a grown -ass man stick his finger up my
bum just to make certain I'm not dying? I think
it's because a lot of men are too afraid to come
out of the closet, so that's their only way.
I'm sorry the way I'm going. So listen, if you're
going in to get your prostate checked, just be
sure that the doctor checking your prostate does
not have two hands on your shoulders when he's
doing it. Oh. That's why it's like the VA is
going to have to take me in kicking and screaming
for that check. That is exit only. Thank you.
Yeah. There is no playground there. That is a
sewage department by every means possible. All
right. So. Let's try to get back on topic for
a few minutes. Some of the downsides about going
into the dumb tech. You've got, like you talked
about, group chat exclusion. Some of us do group
chat, some of us don't. If that's the thing you
do, you would not be able to participate in those.
Job hunting barriers, a lot of places. What's
that? I was going to say, yeah, you couldn't
do group chat, not because you're being excluded,
but because every single time somebody does a
text in group chat on a regular cell phone, you
will get a text for every single person that's
in that group. So you'll get, say there's seven
people in that group chat, you will get seven
individual texts all saying the same thing every
single time. Yeah, that's not fun. Enjoy. It's
not fun. Yeah. Tell me how I know that. Back
in the days when you had to pay per text, that
was horrible. 1 -800 -COLLECT. Yeah, buddy. 10
-10 -2 -20. We had a baby, it's a boy. Yeah.
We had a baby, it's a boy. Bob, we had a baby,
it's a boy. Great commercial. So yeah, job hunting
barriers because most places need apps for you
to do job hunting nowadays. So there's an app
for everything. I routinely push off anything
that says, use our app. No, fucking just take
my money. Emergency fee shirts will likely be
missing from some of these dumb phones. That
could be an issue potentially because some of
them could lack GPS. Some of them could lack
the notification systems. So you may be kind
of left out on your ass in some situations. So
you mean it would be like the old days where
you need to know where you are at all times.
I know. Big, big change, right? Yeah. Survival
of the fittest almost. Oh, no. I'm going to kind
of throw him under the bus on this one a little
bit. My son, who is now 19 and still trying to
get his license stuff figured out, cannot navigate
through our town without looking at GPS. Even
the basic main roads. He does not know how to
get to work. He does not know how to get to several
of his restaurants that he likes. And you know
why? I shouldn't laugh because my youngest sister
is like that. Because of his cell phone. 90 %
of his time like this. Looking straight down.
He does not look out. He does not memorize routes.
He does not do anything in his head. I love the
child to death. There's nothing I wouldn't do
for him. But I understand why Homer shakes the
shit out of Bart in like every episode because
trying to shake the shit and get the child to
learn because holy shit. But it's not just him.
It is like most teenagers essentially at this
point. Most of them are so directionally challenged.
They can't tell you which way is north. They
cannot tell you. And admittedly, there are a
lot of adults that are this way, too. So it's
not just the teenagers. There are a lot of adults.
The amount of adults that do not know their left
from their right is staggering. I have seen people
my age. Military left, not your right. I have
seen people my age have to go. Oh, yeah, it's
this way. When doing left and right. I have seen
people in their 30s with tattoos. on their hands,
like right by their thumbs, with an L and an
R. Yeah. Are you serious? I am dead serious.
Wow. They have a tattoo on their neck that said,
How stupid do you gotta be? So, I mean, it's
not just the kids. I cannot just sit here and
shit talk the younger generations because it's
literally every generation from our age and down.
There are just incapable assets in every group.
But it's just, we tend to look down and see the
worst ones. And it doesn't matter where you live,
it's everywhere. It's, you know, Los Angeles
to D .C. to frickin' the north part of Wisconsin
all the way to Florida. Yeah. All I can say is
crack cocaine is a hell of a drug. Yeah. Well,
think about this, though. Kids don't have to
go anywhere that a car can't take them. They
no longer have bikes they ride everywhere. They
no longer take public transport. So to them,
that is the only thing that they know, which
it sucks because as an adult, you should always
know your surroundings, be able to function without
directions. At least 90 % of the time, we're
always going to have somewhere where we go where
it's like, where the fuck am I? But, you know,
know your routes, know your highways. You know,
no basic stuff like that. Pro tip. Never take
the same highway home timeline. Yes. No three
ways to get home. Yes. But also, pro tip, understand
how our highway system is numbered and why the
numbers mean what they mean. That is a unified
system. North and south, deep and west. But most
people don't know or they don't know what happens.
Like if there's something that's like a junction
or a roundabout or like a cut through or something
like that, they have no idea. You can just look
at the numbers. It will tell you. I swear. It's
one of the few things the U .S. government has
done something right somehow. Oh, yeah. 97 ,000
other things, but the highway system numbering
is actually good. Yeah. Thank you, Dwight D.
Eisenhower. Best president we ever had. Yeah.
Uh, so George Washington was pretty good too.
Yeah. Sorry. In the last hundred years, modern,
we'll say modern post -World War II, um, social
isolation. Um, if everybody else is online and
keeping up with all the latest memes, AI generated,
uh, Yeti videos and everything, you're going
to be left out. So What if dumb tech sparks a
bigger rebellion? Now, this could just be the
first kind of log on the fire. Could it lead
to anti -AI laws, human -only zones, or corporations
co -opting it as a premium offline luxury subscription?
I could fully see companies trying to do that.
Here's our fully digital package, but if you
want the dumb version, here's the premium subscription
for that. It's like paying for no ads. That's
like Netflix coming out super cheap in the beginning,
and now they're as much as cable anymore. Back
in the mid -90s, before TV was unregulated. Dumbest
thing ever. So that kind of puts us in what some
people are calling the golden age of presence.
With the proliferation of dumb tech and the more
people that embrace it, there's going to be potentially
more creativity, deeper relationships, neurological
healing of the brain, and a settling down of
the constant input. One thing that was brought
up, and this is kind of a, I guess, horror aspect.
If AI gets too good, dumb tech could be the only
authentic human choice left. And that's something
that I don't think a lot of people are really
thinking about. We've talked a lot about AI and
how good it's getting, how progressed it's become.
going to the analog forms and going to the less
advanced digital methods might be the only real
way to fight the changes that AI is bringing.
Now, there is some old tech that will not work
with the new stuff, like faxes. Right. The old
analog fax. does not play well with the new digital
internet and everything. It's bad. And the amount
of times I get a call saying, hey, our fax isn't
going out. And then I get there, listen to the
connection that they get from their router, and
you hear scratches and pops and noise and stuff
that's like a dirty line back in the day. And
this is coming from a digital feed. And you just
have to look at the guy or woman and just tell
them like, look, you got to talk to your internet
provider because the equipment they supplied
you with either a is messed up or be there. Your
internet signals jacked, which comes across the
digital feed that translates to analog as, you
know, like a dirty line, which then means your
analog facts can't send out because it can't
make a good handshake across the. The other side.
Right. So it's just new with old versus new.
It's not good. Yeah. So. That kind of. Sorry
if I'm a Debbie Downer. Oh, no, no, no. Dystopian
orgasms are kind of our specialty on this show.
So. Why do you always look so puzzled Gibbs?
You know It's like imagine if there was a roulette
wheel But it was like a thousand feet wide and
you just fucking spin the shit out of thing every
time the words I've known you for over a decade.
I still don't fucking clue I got my D &D dice
right here. I just spin it. Let's just see what
gives gives enough It's like you managed to invent
like a 5 ,000 -sided dice, and it's just there's
something new on every fucking side. Right. Jesus.
So in a world where we have a lot of agent teams
and dream BCIs, brain -computer interfaces, maybe
the smartest move would be the dumbest one. Would
you guys listening be tempted to dumb down? Would
you be willing to pull up the dumb tech? Or is
this something that we're just going to be laughing
about next year in 27? You know, ha ha, there's
a brick phone that got popular for like two seconds
last year. Could the next agent and dumb tech
symbiosis be something to start looking into?
Is there a way to kind of integrate some of the
AI features into the dumb tech and just kind
of camouflage it? And I mean, as always, if you
guys are listening and you have thoughts on this
stuff, by all means, we welcome comments on them.
Share your thoughts, share your concerns, share
your perspectives. We want to hear from you.
There are companies by the way, uh -huh What
Oh, I will have to look into that That's something
we'll come back to. Speaking of comments... On
a side note... No, I was going to say, there's
been times when we've said people speak up. Have
we ever really addressed that? We constantly
watch the Discord and everything. Unfortunately,
there's not a lot of action in the Discord. I
don't know if people are just shy or what the
deal is. I don't know if we ever came back. Come
on in. Join in. It can get... Wild in our other
Discord, so. Come on in, the water's fine. There's
no pee in it. Good dog. You already scared him
away. Okay. I don't want our viewers to get discouraged.
But what I was going to say is one of the trends
I do like is what I try to do is one of my friends
and I get together for dinner or something like
that. We all try to either just like either phones
are away in your pocket or you put it face down
up on the table. and it's like easy like hey
check it once or twice you need to like respond
to someone or do something that's cool like you're
free to take it but the idea is like to get yourself
away from the fucking phone talk to me i don't
know about you guys like since i grew up basically
smartphones came out for me like yeah you're
a high school like with the iphone and all that
shit so like for me my adult life i've always
had a smartphone it's very tough sometimes to
not check that thing and I like that. At least
a lot of people like making the effort to like,
not because that's what I've been trying to try
to stick, stick it the fuck away from me. So.
Oh yeah. So did I. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How did
that, how did that operate? Was it like a separate
phone number? Yep. Okay. I had a pager. Back
in the day, I had a pager. Go on a date, you
know, you had your pager. So if your parents
need to get ahold of you, get a page. I thought
I was hot crap, and yeah. It was so dumb. Yeah,
some pager cases even had little slots to put
quarters in. And all it would be is you'd call
it, and it would send a text to the pager saying,
you know, either they would leave a message.
you know they type out by otherwise you'd be
using like 10 10 to 20 or they would just have
it to make a callback number and you would get
the page and you'd look like oh it's phone number
such and such call I need to call them you know
obviously they need to contact me and then you'd
go find a pay phone or whatever and you could
give them a call yeah on the honor system Yeah.
Oh yeah. You haven't lived until you're at the
gas station going, I need five bucks, man. I
overfilled my tank accidentally. Not like now
where you have to prepay for everything. You
know, back when I was in high school, you'd sit
there and just fill your car up and then walk
inside and pay. Not like now. Yeah. Yeah. Well,
they would see it on their system because you
would pump up, you know, whatever it is you needed,
and you'd walk inside and go, here's $20. You
know, because back in the day when you had a
four -door car, you know, 20 bucks filled you
up. Not like now where you need about 40 bucks.
$20 went a long way back in the day. Right? Not
now. I got two $3 off coupons from Mars. The
king -size one, yeah. You know, because they
somehow got... dove candy bars during the christmas
break where it was supposed to have peanut butter
in it and i got two candy bars with no peanut
butter not the end of the world but i let them
know hey just so you know this particular batch
is reduced cost candy bar you know i paid to
have peanut butter and it didn't have peanut
butter they said oh well thank you for letting
us know we're going to send you some coupons
cool you go to any gas station these days a candy
bar Cost almost four bucks. I'm getting a. Yeah.
Free candy bar. Not much bigger than the fun
side. Guess what? You're not getting a free candy
bar these days. Not with that coupon. So, yeah.
Oh, it is. Yeah. You're not getting a free candy
bar. Any other thoughts or input on this, guys?
I think we're at the end of our notes. Or God
forbid you find a regular -sized candy bar. Everything's
king -size. I just want to go in a gas station.
All right, well. Right. I'm going to go inside
and I'm going to get on the gas station and get
me a bar of diabetes. Just like me. Exactly.
I'm not even the one drinking today. I didn't
say anything. All right, well. We will go ahead
and call that the show. Dumb tech's good. As
always, if you guys have any questions, comments,
concerns, input, feedback, anything that you'd
like to throw at us, bikini tops, panties, wet
spaghetti, whatever, hit us up on the digitals,
and we hope to see you all next time. Yes? Again
with the confusion, Gibbs. Moderation, Gibbs.
Moderation. I'm scared to ask. Listen, you haven't
lived until you've rolled around in a pool full
of wet spaghetti noodles. That is bliss. How
much pasta do you buy? How much pasta do you
cook? How big is your cook pot? I've been to
your house and I've never seen... I have so many
questions. I'm scared to have the answer to.
Do you have this secret 30 % Italian family?
All right, so we'll catch you all next time.
Everyone have a good time. We love you, and we'll
see you then.