Tim Uckun (Jan 28 2026 at 03:23): Tim Uckun (Jan 28 2026 at 03:23):This was a very interesting episode and it's clear that Bruce has thought deeply on the subject but I think you guys kind of glossed over the role of AI in the social media feeds. I would argue that the twitter and facebook feeds are the biggest causes of faltering democracy across the world. By pushing people into bubbles and censoring/amplifying what they are allowed to see they radicalized hundreds of millions of people across the world and gave birth to extremist parties and movements.
There was a spate of stories today about how facebook and TikTok are censoring topics and people who are reporting on things ICE is doing or critical of Israel or critical of Trump or MAGA or anybody peripherally associated with them. This is only going to get worse as media gets consolidated into the hands of one or two people who themselves are batcrap insane in every way imaginable.
Of course we shouldn't discount the fact that most people are just so easily manipulated. None of this would work if people were not gullible. I heard an interview with a soybean farmer bemoaning the collapse of the market. He kept saying "I don't know what's going on but somebody messed up" and similar insane things. It's as if he had no idea who was buying his soybeans and why they weren't buying them anymore and what happened to the trade between between US and the rest of the world. No idea that the tariffs and the trade was even happening let alone who was responsible for it or what his previous customers were doing to get their soybean needs filled.
Elon and others talk of existential threat to humanity to humanity from AI and when they do they are imagining some super AI in the future. Nope. It's happening now. People are being made dumber, they are being manipulated, they are being fleeced, and once the powers that be get what they want they will be discarded. Even after that happens they will never blame the people who did this to them because they will have been brainwashed to blame trans people or immigrants or whatever.
Ron Waldon-Howe (Jan 28 2026 at 07:04):i agree with that 100% , but the toothpaste is out of the tube, there's no putting it back
it's too late for speculative investors and tech CEOs to ask themselves "what's the worst that can happen?"
we need to ask ourselves now "how can we assist ourselves and our families and our neighbours and our communities in adapting to these changing conditions?"
Tim Uckun (Jan 28 2026 at 11:44):I hate to be a doomer but I am glad I live in NZ, I am glad that I am old and will die before the worst of it hit humanity. I am probably not old enough to die before some sort of a global economic or political upheaval hits us and frankly I don't know what I am going to do when that happens. I have a little land, maybe I'll start a garden and buy a few cows and chickens so that I can at least attempt to provide food for family.
The world is being run by a handful of drug addicted mentally ill sadists. Nothing good will come out of this.
Ron Waldon-Howe (Jan 28 2026 at 21:21):Tim Uckun said:
... I am glad I live in NZ, ...
The world is being run by a handful of drug addicted mentally ill sadists. ...
these oligarchs all have land and bunkers in NZ :P
Tim Uckun (Jan 29 2026 at 09:50):Not all of them but yes some of the worst ones do. Time will tell what happens when they flee the destruction they wrought and flee to their bunkers. These bunkers are understandably in rural areas on the south island far away from major cities. Having said that they are in very picturesque areas of the country.
Ron Waldon-Howe (Jan 29 2026 at 10:32):@Tim Uckun Cory Doctorow has a version of The Masque of the Red Death that you might be into :)
https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/13/the-masque-of-the-red-death/
Tim Uckun (Jan 30 2026 at 20:28):That'a a great description of the book. Cory is a treasure and an important voice in our times.
I often wonder what the people of NZ and other countries will do when the oligarchs collapse the US and Europe and escape to their boltholes. Will they just obediently deliver food and products to these places or stand outside begging for crumbs or take up arms and try to smash through the gates.
I get the feeling NZ is not a "take up arms and smash" kind of population so it's one of the safest places to hole up.
Last updated: Feb 17 2026 at 17:33 UTC