#175 – Yannis Pappas: History and Comedy

[0] The following is a conversation with Janus Pappas, a comedian who co -hosted the podcast, History Hyenas, that I came across when I was researching the Battle of Crete from World War II.

[1] He and his co -host were hilarious in their rants about history and about life.

[2] The chemistry they have is probably the best of any co -hosted comedy podcast or even podcasts in general that I've ever heard.

[3] As of a few weeks ago, unfortunately, history hyenaes.

[4] is no more, at least for now, because all good things must come to an end.

[5] But Janus hosts a new podcast called Long Days with Janus Pappas, plus he has a comedy special on YouTube for free.

[6] Quick mention of our sponsors, Wine Access, Blinkist, Magic Spoon, and Indeed.

[7] Check them out in the description to support this podcast.

[8] As a side note, let me say that some of you have noticed that I have not spoken with too many computer scientists, physicists, biologists, or engineers recently.

[9] The reason has to do mostly with the risk aversion of many of these folks in the time of COVID, especially as they get closer to taking the vaccine.

[10] I'm tested several times a week, and still some people are just more willing than others to have an in -person conversation in these times.

[11] I only do these podcasts in person because I look for the possibility of a genuine human connection.

[12] I'm willing to sacrifice a lot for that.

[13] Maybe it's silly, but I look for the magic that Charles Bukowski writes about in this poem, Nirvana, the magic that is somehow in the air on those rare occasions when two people meet, talk, and you notice that while on the surface you may be worlds apart, you're still somehow woven from the same fabric.

[14] I've had that with many guests.

[15] Jim Keller comes to mind, but many others as well.

[16] I'm an AI person.

[17] Machine learning, robotics, computer science is my passion.

[18] Trust me, I can't wait to be having more technical conversations again, but I will also continue to mix in comedians, musicians, historians, and of course, wise, all -seeing sages like Janus Pappas and Tim Dillon, just to keep it, as Tim likes to say, fun.

[19] As usual, I'll do a few minutes of ads now.

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[24] This episode is sponsored by Wine Access, online store with expertly selected wine.

[25] I love it because it lets it.

[26] me explore wines.

[27] Steak, red wine, and a good conversation with a good friend is my idea of a perfect evening.

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[30] I don't know about all that.

[31] I just know it's delicious.

[32] To me, there's something about wine that creates a certain kind of atmosphere.

[33] You know, without COVID, the plan actually for me was to go to Paris to meet a few people there and also to record a few conversations and, you know, outside of all that, just meeting certain kinds of strangers over some good food and good wine in Paris.

[34] I think it's something I looked forward to for a long time.

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[39] This episode is also sponsored by Blinkist, my favorite app for learning new things.

[40] Blinkist takes the key ideas from thousands of nonfiction books and condenses them down into just 15 minutes that you can read or listen to.

[41] They also have shortcasts, which are summaries of podcasts.

[42] They basically pick some podcasts that are summarizable, which is not this podcast, or at least I don't think so, and certainly not the long -form podcast like Joe Rogan experience and so on.

[43] I think an exciting life, a productive life, a fulfilling life, is one that includes books, or at least a lot of learning.

[44] and I think long -form reading, aka books, is actually one of the deepest ways to think through a subject.

[45] I don't read just for the reading.

[46] I read for the thinking.

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[58] In fact, I'm quickly making a bunch of friends in Canada and I definitely need to travel to Canada soon.

[59] One of my favorite cities in Montreal, but I also need to go to Toronto and also a bunch of smaller towns as well.

[60] In the machine learning space and the computer science space, physics as well, there's so many brilliant people over there.

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[66] This episode is also sponsored by Indeed, a hiring website.

[67] I've used them.

[68] as part of many hiring efforts I've done for the teams I've led.

[69] The main task is to quickly go from a huge number of initial applicants to a short list of great candidates.

[70] I've been in the process of hiring a few folks to help me out with this little side project of mine with the podcast and the videos and all those kinds of things.

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[84] This is the Lex Friedman podcast, and here's my conversation with Janus Pappas.

[85] You've co -hosted, until recently, an amazing history comedy podcast called The History Hainas.

[86] So you're a bit of a student of history?

[87] Yeah, an F student of history.

[88] F student.

[89] Okay, I thought it was more like a D -minus.

[90] D -minus, yeah.

[91] Okay.

[92] Still got to repeat the grade if you get all D -minuses.

[93] I actually had a .67 GPA average my freshman year, and I had to do it again.

[94] This is, this podcast is going to be the spectrum of human intelligence.

[95] It runs the gamut from there to here.

[96] So this is going to set the low bar.

[97] I'm barely sliding into human.

[98] I'm closer to chimp.

[99] And I bring that up that you're also friends with the great, the powerful Tim Dillon.

[100] So let's talk about power and the corrupting effects of power.

[101] Sometimes I look at Tim Dillon as he grows in power.

[102] I tell you, man, he's in size.

[103] well size i think they're correlated yeah i saw him i've been in austin a couple days i saw him once we had eight meals in one day eight meals yeah he so i feel like i've been here longer than i have just because of the meals with dylan kid likes biscuits and barbecue okay so he's more like see i was i was imagining Putin or something like that he's more like the north korean dictator yeah all right they get along great those two yeah they would get i mean tim dylan and king john oom would be like they could make like a buddy cop movie they would get along like lethal weapon.

[104] That would be a good pitch movie.

[105] Great podcast.

[106] Yeah, that would be a great podcast.

[107] So much to talk about.

[108] So many similar ideas about the world.

[109] So what do you think the world would look like if Tim Dillon was given absolute power?

[110] He seems like a person that's an interesting study of the corrupting effects of power.

[111] Yeah, you don't want to give him power.

[112] I don't even want him wearing a suit.

[113] Like I want a guy who's as thoughtful and educated as you wearing a suit like because you know suits corrupt you you put that suit on you start feeling that power you definitely it's like you know yeah i don't even want tim dilling his suit power would he would kill people he'd get rid of anything that he deemed i mean if you made a lobster roll and it wasn't up to tim dylan standard he would have you executed the entire restaurant staff is just gone he would have people below his food standard execute there'd be pograms not of people who are political dissidents but of people who don't meet his food standard his cuisine standard is is high, and he's usually right.

[114] Do you think power does corrupt people?

[115] Yes.

[116] Like one of the reasons we mentioned offline, Joe Rogan, he's been an inspiration to me because he gets, he gets, if we get power, just more famous and famous, and yes, probably a bit of power in terms of influence, and he's still pretty much the same guy.

[117] I'm not sure that's going to be true for everybody.

[118] Do you ever ask yourself with that question?

[119] Yeah, he's a rare breed.

[120] He's like a benign king.

[121] Most people I meet who are like really powerful are like doucheback.

[122] and that's how they got there.

[123] I think that's psychopaths have the advantage because they don't have feelings.

[124] And Joe's a rare example.

[125] He's just a powerhouse of will.

[126] And I do think about that.

[127] Yeah, I think I should be stopped right now.

[128] Just stop me right now because, yeah, power for me, I would, when people get power, they indulge.

[129] I don't think it changes anyone.

[130] It just reveals your darkest.

[131] You know, people aren't supposed to have anything they want.

[132] You got to be able to struggle for everything.

[133] So I would have a harem.

[134] I'd be like a Roman dictator.

[135] Yeah.

[136] I'd be like a Roman emperor.

[137] I mean, people call them emperors.

[138] They were dictators.

[139] The most effective leaders are dictators.

[140] I hope we get back to that.

[141] Democracy hasn't worked.

[142] I'm ready for a secession of Caesars and I want to start with AOC.

[143] That's true.

[144] Dictators get the job done.

[145] They do.

[146] They do.

[147] At certain point you got, that's why social workers can only get you so far.

[148] You need action.

[149] I was a social worker for five years and all you do is ask about medications and you don't solve anything.

[150] I do ask myself of that like, because I'm more in the Texas.

[151] space of constructing systems that prevent me from being corrupt because right now I'm all about love and all about those kinds of things but I wonder you said like it just reveals the darkness the problem is we might not be aware of our own darkness I have the same feeling about money actually I've been avoiding thinking about money like basically constructing my moral system my moral compass around money.

[152] It's like the moment I feel a little too happy about the idea of owning some cool shiny thing, I started to think, okay, I'm not going to own that shiny thing because I'm afraid of the slippery slope of it.

[153] Yeah.

[154] You ever think about that kind of stuff?

[155] Yeah.

[156] The funny thing about the capitalist system is it's a it's um it puts sort of a profit motive above beauty and you notice when you see certain cities, especially in the old, old days where like buildings used to be beautiful.

[157] And now they're just like boxes.

[158] They throw a kid up and it's just for all profit margin.

[159] It's the illusion of permanence that, you know, it's like, oh, let me get as much money as can.

[160] You're like, yeah, you know, my dad used to say, you know, everyone, it's a cliche, but you can't take it with you.

[161] So it's kind of, it's, it's comical to me that we're here trying to get this infinite amount like they were climb.

[162] It's like Sisyphus.

[163] We're all trying to climb this hill, but I mean, the rock's going to fall on us.

[164] So I think that's a healthy outlook.

[165] Yeah.

[166] My dad always used to say before he passed, you know, he would say you can't, you have to survive not only physically, but you have to survive emotionally.

[167] I think a lot of people forget about the emotional part of survival.

[168] You have to survive emotionally and humor and and understanding reality in its objective context helps with that.

[169] Accepting reality as this ephemeral thing that you're in really just a part of, but not as significant as your ego wants you to believe is a start.

[170] That's a good foundation for surviving emotionally.

[171] What's that means surviving emotionally?

[172] What's an ideal life look like for you?

[173] You can't.

[174] You can't take things too seriously.

[175] You can't because they're ephemeral.

[176] They're not permanent.

[177] Nothing's permanent.

[178] Your bank account's not permanent.

[179] Your problems aren't permanent.

[180] Nothing's permanent.

[181] Your abilities aren't permanent.

[182] Your memory's not permanent.

[183] Your your dick getting hard's not permanent.

[184] Can I curse on this or is this go out to jail?

[185] Yeah.

[186] You can curse to your heart's content.

[187] Okay.

[188] Yeah.

[189] I mean, gender's not even permanent anymore.

[190] I think I'm going to change maybe and live my second half as another gender just to have, I'm bored with this gender.

[191] So it's like nothing is permanent.

[192] And so accepting that emotionally is a good start to being more flexible.

[193] You got to be flexible.

[194] Like my dad used to say anything too stiff snaps.

[195] You got to, you know, it's a cliche.

[196] And people have said it a bunch of different ways.

[197] But Bruce Lee's right, man, be water.

[198] Be water.

[199] Yeah.

[200] Bukoski has this quote about love, that love is a fog that fades with the first light of reality.

[201] So he's a romantic, that guy.

[202] But that even love is a thing that just doesn't last very long.

[203] No. You know, some people would disagree with that.

[204] Maybe it morphs like water.

[205] It changes, right?

[206] It might not be, because he's mostly just loved like prostitutes, I think.

[207] The best kind of love, yeah.

[208] No demand, no responsibilities.

[209] Yeah, it's a financial transaction.

[210] Ephemeral as ever.

[211] You mentioned your dad.

[212] He passed away a year and a half ago.

[213] What did you learn from him?

[214] I love my dad.

[215] My dad, I would say my dad was my hero.

[216] My dad really embodied those values.

[217] And I think for better or worse, it's made me who I am.

[218] he's he uh my dad was a painter he was a lawyer he was uh he was uh you know a lieutenant in the military he was new yorker born and bred brooklyn his dad his dad you know a surprise owned a diner so that's that's sort of the greek passport that's the immigration passport for greeks in new america and um yeah my dad played football he just my dad did what he wanted he lived as he wanted at all costs and i think i got that from him for better or worse i think It's hurt me in my pursuits.

[219] If you consider money and fame to be paramount, you know, I've always done what I want.

[220] And if I stopped wanting to do it, I just stopped doing it.

[221] And I think I got that from my dad.

[222] So maybe for better or worse, that's what I learned from them.

[223] But that's a real currency, you know, feeling like you're in love with what you're doing when you're doing it, maybe perhaps that's worth more than money.

[224] I don't know.

[225] You miss them?

[226] Yeah, every day, every day.

[227] but I'm happy that he got 91 years.

[228] It's very rare.

[229] I mean, he smoked for 60 years.

[230] Talk about like a guy who was an outlier.

[231] I mean, he smoked like 60 years, like packs.

[232] I mean, and he didn't die from that.

[233] He died.

[234] He had prostate cancer, which is the way men should go.

[235] Your dick should give out.

[236] It should start from the dick.

[237] I mean, we focus so much of our life on the dick that that's the way, that's a successful life.

[238] And that's why every man eventually gets prostate cancer, because that is the universe's way is saying like the thing you focused on the most is you put the most energy into is the thing that's spent and it's going to your rotting is going to start there.

[239] So that's a successful life.

[240] And it just spread all over his body and he slowly died.

[241] I was with him when he died and that meant a lot to me because me and my brother weren't talking at the time because we're Greeks.

[242] We're talking again, but that's how it is.

[243] You got a few brothers, right?

[244] I got two brothers.

[245] But I wanted to make sure I was with him when he died and I got lucky and I was in the room with him when he died.

[246] You were in the room with your brother, and you weren't?

[247] No, my brother wasn't there.

[248] We were kind of doing shifts.

[249] I was there.

[250] I spent the night the night my dad died.

[251] He died early in the morning, and I heard the death right of the last breath.

[252] And it was just, I think it was, he knew I was there.

[253] And I think that just probably meant something to him.

[254] And I'm just glad I was there.

[255] Does that make you sad that life is a firm rule, like you said?

[256] Yeah.

[257] That you die?

[258] Yeah.

[259] What do you think about your?

[260] own death.

[261] You meditate on that?

[262] I think it, I think the actual, if there is a point to life, it's to hopefully not fear death, to accept reality.

[263] I think that's important.

[264] I think so much goes awry in the human condition when we lose touch with reality.

[265] Every political system that's led to mass murder and everything, I think because it's because the tenants of those political philosophies ended up being utopian.

[266] They were detached from reality, detached from nature.

[267] And so I think it's very important to accept and acknowledge your own mortality.

[268] I think it's the foundation for what makes a good person, a moral person, a contributing member of society, because it's true.

[269] True things should be the foundation of all things.

[270] If what you believe is based an illusion, you're going to end up doing destruction, whether that destruction's on a scale of one to 10, you are going to be destructive because it's not real.

[271] It's a fantasy.

[272] It doesn't exist.

[273] See, the thing is, though, truth is about, I don't think you can ever reach truth.

[274] Truth is about, like, constantly digging.

[275] And to push back in your idea that you should accept death, I think the more honest response to death, so the least honest is to run away from it, create illusions that help you imagine that there's not a death.

[276] The next is to accept it, but the real honest one is to fear it.

[277] because I mean I'm with Ernest Becker as a philosopher who wrote a book called Denal of Death he says that much of the human condition is based in the fear of mortality that we like that's that's the creative force of the human energy like Freud said you want to sleep with your mother he said no that's not what motivates you maybe his mom wasn't hot though I mean or he wasn't Greek because apparently Oedipal we found we found it all things good and bad yeah you thanks thanks for that thanks i just don't know if his mom was look or not i mean i'd have to google it all right yeah i'll look up on google images yeah no but i think that honest as he says the thing that we run away from is that there's a terror he calls it like terror uh there's something called terror management theory that's some philosophers after him followed on that we're basically trying to run away from this fear and acceptance is actually creating an illusion for yourself like you can actually accept something as terrifying as this so he's more with the stoics the stoic constantly meditate on their death i mean they what does that mean it's kind of you know acceptance of death isn't a thing you do like on a monday and then you're done is a thing you constantly have to meditate on like reminding yourself like this right ride is over.

[278] It could be over today.

[279] And that's something you're, if you think about every single day.

[280] It gives you an appreciation of Woody Allen movies, at least.

[281] It gives the appreciation of basically everything, including Woody Allen movies, which shows you how deep your appreciation for life could be.

[282] I've actually, haven't been following much of what Woody Allen's, but apparently he's been a troublemaker from most of his life.

[283] He's, yeah, I mean, you know, he's caused a little bit of strife.

[284] He's left a little, yeah, he's left a little confusion in his wake, for sure.

[285] But I mean, you know, that's another one.

[286] Separate the art from the artist.

[287] I mean, the guys will go down in history is the greatest.

[288] I mean, a movie a year, and they're all, you can always find something good about each movie, like the dialogue or whatever.

[289] I love what you're saying.

[290] It's interesting, but the only thing I would say to push back a little bit, since we're playing a little table tennis here, is I don't know if it's a choice to fear death.

[291] That's more of an, it seems more instinctual.

[292] It seems like something that nature wants you to do because I've been in positions where I thought I was going to die like I've been shot and I had those moments and then nature also you know kicks in an instinct which is acceptance where you kind of I don't know it's a chemical release or whatever I don't know you know we're robots basically so some sort of chemical is released that protects you but there is an acceptance I don't know how much was a conscious choice probably very little and that's the point I'm making is it's instinctual we don't really have a choice in fearing death otherwise there would be no progression we wouldn't all life seems to want to survive not by choice but by instinct so he argues that the fear is not the instinctual of it's not the animalistic stuff that's the thing that makes us special is the what humans are able to do is to have a knowledge that we're going to die one day animals don't have that animals fear is instinctual it's like holy shit what's that sound over there he says we're actually able to contemplate the fact that this ride ends and that that kind of cognitive construct is difficult for us to deal with like what the hell does that mean like just to just to think about it's going to be over at a certain point it's just over lights out like it's very difficult to kind of load that into whatever this like little brain we got like what does that actually mean.

[293] Maybe that's what gives everything meaning.

[294] Yeah.

[295] Because if everything lasted forever, if this went on at infinitum, there would be no meaning to it.

[296] I'd be like, hey, if I don't see tomorrow, I'll see in a million years.

[297] There would be no meaning.

[298] There would be no urgency.

[299] There would be no feelings.

[300] There'd be no, uh, nothing of magnitude or superficiality.

[301] It would all just be this kind of, it would be torture.

[302] It would actually, that would actually be torture to be here forever.

[303] I mean, I'm already sick of this place.

[304] And I'm just in my 40s.

[305] Like, done i'm sick of me i'm sick of everything you know a lot of people when they talk about immortality they consider they consider mortality appealing because you get a chance to do basically all these things you might not get a chance to do otherwise like all the kinds of travel broadly explore read every book explore every idea do every hobby all those kinds of things somebody else i was talking to mentioned the reality of being immortal would be more likely, I like this idea, more likely would be you just sitting there doing nothing because, and putting off all that travel and exploration to later, because you'll always have time.

[306] And so what you're going to have, what actual immortality would look like for a bunch of humans is people sitting there doing nothing.

[307] It would be like a Greek caffeine, just sitting around drinking coffee watch.

[308] I love it.

[309] I mean, it's a lazy man's paradise, yeah.

[310] But it's so interesting because that that rings true to me for what humans are like is we'll basically just put off all those exciting adventures and just be lazy.

[311] Become lazier and lazier and lazier because you'll always have a chance to do all the exciting things.

[312] And we'll just get, we'll basically become Tim Dillel.

[313] We just sit there and have a podcast and that's it.

[314] He works hard.

[315] Yeah, I mean, that sounds actually like heaven, dude.

[316] That's speaking of my heart, really.

[317] I mean, I'm at heart.

[318] I'm a very lazy person.

[319] I always try to find ways to lie down.

[320] Like, if I'm sitting, I'll figure out a way to kind of contort myself to lay down.

[321] That's an interesting thing to like in, yeah, if you can always push something off.

[322] Yeah, I like that.

[323] I think that's heaven.

[324] See, we just changed your mind.

[325] You kind of like the immortality.

[326] Yeah, I kind of like it.

[327] No, so there'll be no thirsts, no, you can always put it off.

[328] Hey, I want to, I want to have, I want to bang.

[329] this girl you're like I'll put it off but now I'm thinking about Muslim heaven and they may be offering the best deal I mean if it was an expo and they had a booth I may go with them because they offer they offer 62 or 72 but then I'd get sick of them I'd want to I don't know I always wondered like are you given the 62 versions or you choose can you create them like an avatar like a video game or are you just given I don't know what the number why is important to have that high number First of all, I think it's a mistranslation about the virgins.

[330] But outside of that, outside of that, I feel like the conversation is really important.

[331] I don't think they ever specify, like, what kind of books these girls read?

[332] Like, what are they into?

[333] Like, the quality of the conversation, I think if you're talking about eternity, the quality of the intellect and the conversation and the personalities is way more important.

[334] And the Greeks have an ancient expression, Pat Metronaros stone, which my mother always used to say, which is everything in moderation, nothing.

[335] in excess.

[336] So trying to always get the status quo.

[337] And yeah, that many women, eventually it's like the Magic Johnson effect, Isaiah Thomas effect.

[338] It's just too much.

[339] And you're going to end up, you're going to end up banging a dude, is what I'm saying.

[340] You're going to get sick of it because it's too much.

[341] And there's going to be a eunuch that finds its way into your harem.

[342] That's been proven throughout history, every empire, when you have all that power.

[343] And again, this goes back to power corrupting if you have if there's no struggle there's no meaning there's the value is from the journey the the working hard to struggle and if it's just given to you because you're a sultan or you're alexander the great or whatever you're going to get bored and you're going to bang a dude that's it's i think that's a scientific axiom actually eventually you'll get bored and bang a dude yeah but i think it won't stop there i think you'll go to animals you go to robot i mean eventually it all ends up in robots and then the robots rebel and then the humans will be destroyed yeah sorry.

[344] If we're speaking truth, you said the value of life, one of the highest ideals is to seek truth.

[345] I think if we're being honest.

[346] Can I ask you a quick question?

[347] If you live in a small, I come from small islands, right?

[348] And so there's a stereotype that that's where I bang animals.

[349] But if you come from a very small community, you know, an island or something, and you have the choice of banging a family member or an animal, which one is worse on the moral scale?

[350] Because you're technically not related to the animal.

[351] Right.

[352] This is interesting.

[353] I mean, all of these are human constructs these ideas but yet for me personally taboo would be more taboo to uh to to have sex with a family member yeah i mean animal i mean okay it's good to know where you stand on that i think if you were you know if they didn't have they didn't know they didn't know they just learned a little bit about you and now i know i look forward to the internet clipping that out yeah i mean there there is listen uh in some outside outside of that i do think about that a lot sounds ridiculous, about morality connected to animals in terms of all the factory farming and so on, it seems like that's one of the things we'll look, because I love me, but I kind of feel bad about it and bad in a way where I think if we look like 100 years from now, we'll look back at this time as like one of the great tortures and injustices that we humans have committed.

[354] And I mean, all that has to do with the sex with the animal has to do with consent and about the experience of suffering of the animals.

[355] The reason I think about that personally a lot, because I think about robotics.

[356] I think about creating artificial consciousnesses, artificial beings that have some elements of the human nature.

[357] And then you start to think, like, well, what does it mean to suffer?

[358] What does it mean for entity to exist such that it deserves rights.

[359] This is something that the founding fathers were thinking about, like, you know, all men are created equal.

[360] What is it?

[361] Which, who is included in the men who, who's not in that sentence?

[362] And our animals included in that are robots.

[363] I honestly think that there will be a civil rights movement for robots in the future.

[364] I don't know.

[365] Is that the Turing test, the way you try to, is that what they call it, where you're trying to, see if AI can think like a human or whatever or feel like a human?

[366] Well, the Turing test closely defined is more about talk like a human.

[367] So you can imagine systems that are able to, you can have a conversation like this and I would be a robot, for example.

[368] But that doesn't mean I would, in society, that doesn't mean I deserve rights or that doesn't mean I would be conscious.

[369] It doesn't mean that I would be able to suffer and to experience pleasure and dream and all those kinds of human things.

[370] the question isn't whether you're able to talk which is passing the touring test the question is whether you're able to feel to be I mean I go back to suffering the thing that the that our documents protect us against is suffering like we don't want humans to suffer and if a robot can suffer that discussion starts being about like well shouldn't we protect them currently we don't protect animals we protect that dogs there's laws there's actual legislation that protects dogs for torture places yeah and you know what dogs is something i don't think people really understand enough about it's one of my obsessions so um they they my dad always used to say those he goes those things are those things are basically human and i mean they dream they have anxiety uh and what people often overlook about dogs is without dogs we wouldn't be here we would not have ever evolved from hunter -gatherer to agrarian to you know um civilization we wouldn't have cities we wouldn't have anything i mean they are our partner in survival and they are a magical animal there's no there's no animal that was it was like destiny almost i mean a malleable animal there's no animal that's that malleable that in a few generations you can tailor to a specific job that you need and without that animal without dogs doing that animal protecting our crops from, from, you know, scavengers and stuff like that, you know, the list goes on, we wouldn't be here.

[371] So we, that's an often overlooked fact that human evolution was not done in a vacuum just with humans.

[372] I mean, without dogs, we would have never evolved.

[373] I mean, we weren't the apex predator for most of our existence.

[374] We weren't even the apex predator.

[375] I mean, we're getting eaten by hyenas, which is my favorite animal.

[376] And, you know, that's kind of an injustice to, I mean, I'm kind of mad at dogs that.

[377] We deserve to get eaten by hyenas.

[378] But Without dogs, we wouldn't be here.

[379] And dogs, dogs deserve the protection.

[380] So do horses.

[381] They fucking lugged us around for thousands of years.

[382] And now these fucking German psychopaths are eating them or whatever.

[383] We should not eat horse meat just on like, be a good dude, man. These things lugged us around for generations.

[384] They're beautiful.

[385] You know, ride them or I don't know.

[386] I don't know.

[387] But it rubs me the wrong way that we eat horses.

[388] Yeah, the horses one is interesting.

[389] And one of my favorite books is Animal Farm by Orwell.

[390] And the horses don't get a good ending in that I kind of, my spirit animal, I suppose, is the horse from Animal Farm, boxer where he says, I will work harder.

[391] That's his motto.

[392] I work really hard at stupid things.

[393] That's basically what I just hit my head against the wall for no reason whatsoever.

[394] But that probably fulfills.

[395] You have a big brain.

[396] You're probably born with a big brain.

[397] That kind of fills.

[398] It's killing neurons.

[399] It's exercise for you.

[400] Yeah.

[401] Don't you think some animals deserve to be eaten, though?

[402] Kind of like, hyenas?

[403] Come on, dude.

[404] I mean, you've got to respect the hyena.

[405] Okay, so let's, first of all, let me just comment on the dog thing.

[406] There is conferences on dog cognition from a perspective of people that study psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, dogs are fascinating.

[407] The way they move their eyes, they're able to, they're the only other animal besides humans, they're able to communicate with their eyes.

[408] They can look at a thing and look back at you and look back at the thing to communicate that we're all, like, through our eyes, communicate that we're collaborating.

[409] So every other animal uses their eyes to actually look at things.

[410] The dogs use it to, like, communicate with us humans.

[411] It's fascinating.

[412] There's a lot of other elements of dogs that are amazing.

[413] Yeah, I mean, if it wasn't for them, they're the ones, they were our first alarm system for predators.

[414] They would defend us.

[415] I mean, the Bessengi is one of the most ancient dogs.

[416] I mean, they're tiny, but they're fearless.

[417] Yeah.

[418] And they would chase off lions.

[419] Like, you know, there'd be packs of them, and they'd chase off lions and protect the tribes.

[420] I even get tingles like thinking about dogs because I have a dog I love my dog and there's something about when you're walking with your dog off leash in the woods it's like there's something about it that's like that tugs at that millions of years of evolution like that gut you know it's like I had a finished friend of mine he's a comic Tommy Volamese once told me he was like he was like the gut he's like I believe in like that gut you know when you have that feeling he's like always trust that because that is million, those are all your ancestors.

[421] That's the survival instinct of all your ancestors at beginning of time, you know, telling you like, hey, something's off here, something's, you know.

[422] So don't get in the car with Ted Bundy is what I'm saying, ladies.

[423] How fucking stupid.

[424] How can you fall for that?

[425] You know, he's got a fucking sling on.

[426] Don't get in.

[427] Yeah, follow the gut.

[428] My question to you, are psychopaths essentially robots?

[429] So first of all, let's not, you're using the word robot in a derogatory way that I'm triggered by, okay?

[430] Yeah.

[431] And you should be.

[432] You should be because, you know what, people are always scared of robots, but I actually, I have, I've made the sort of, I've made it to say, hey, I've thought about it.

[433] I'm like robots, robots have been nothing but helpful.

[434] It's the people we should be scared of.

[435] Again, we're kind of missing the most destructive thing as us, because it's, but robots are helpful.

[436] I mean, this is a fucking robot.

[437] You know, I went on hotel tonight.

[438] I'm already booked up.

[439] You know, I can change my flight.

[440] If this barbecue with Rogan goes 16.

[441] hours, which whatever Rogan wants to do, I'll do if he wants to kick me in the chest, I'll let him kick me in a chest, whatever.

[442] Robots are helpful, no?

[443] Yeah, tanks and autonomous weapon systems don't kill people, people kill people.

[444] People kill people, yeah.

[445] Yeah, that's...

[446] Yeah, the NRA's about to click that for you.

[447] A lot of love for dogs.

[448] I appreciate it very much.

[449] And at the same time, you have the other thing that people seem to have love for, which is cats.

[450] And on the flip side of everything you've said, I'm trying to understand what have cats ever done for human civilization.

[451] They keep rodents away.

[452] The domesticated cat is very important.

[453] It keeps rodents away.

[454] Yeah, that's what they were domesticated for.

[455] I mean, there's psychopathic killers who end up killing innocent neighborhood chip monks and birds.

[456] They really affect the balance of the local ecosystem.

[457] But if you keep up for cats too.

[458] Not as much as dogs.

[459] I mean, dogs are, like you said, They look at humans.

[460] I actually read an article there.

[461] Some people were theorizing they're smarter than chimps because of the way they can work with humans.

[462] And there was one border collie that spoke like 300 words, like a quarter, like a language, almost part of the language.

[463] And their nose is like a, I mean, that's like magic, dude.

[464] If you can smell in my ass to what I had for breakfast from miles away.

[465] That's intelligent.

[466] That's intelligence.

[467] I mean, in some ways that their nose, if you were to put it on a scale, maybe their nose is more intelligent than our brain for what it does.

[468] You know, it's like, I mean, dude, they can smell you from miles away.

[469] You ever see a dog just like sniff and catching?

[470] I mean, it's smelling like, I don't remember the date on it, but it's like they have like millions of receptors or something where we only, you know, thank God we don't have their nose.

[471] That would be, that would make sex weird.

[472] Be a little too intense.

[473] I think you mentioned when you were talking about Woody Allen separating the art from the artist.

[474] So that brings to mind Vladimir Putin.

[475] How about that transition?

[476] I don't know.

[477] I'm so sorry.

[478] If you look at just powerful leaders throughout history, Stalin, Hitler, but even model ones like Putin, and we're talking about power, how do you explain them?

[479] You said that power reveals, not corrupts, but do you think there's some element to which power corrupted Hitler, power corrupted Stalin, after he gained power.

[480] And the same with Putin.

[481] When Putin gained power in 2000, do you think the amount of power that he was in possession with for many years, do you think that corrupted him?

[482] I mean, we're joking about dictators get the job done.

[483] There is some sense in certain countries where a dictator is the only thing that can stabilize a nation.

[484] The counter argument to that for democracies is like, yeah, but that's a short -term solution.

[485] for a long -term problem so you want to embrace chaos of democracy that might be violent there might be a lot of uh just constant changing of leadership there might be a lot of corruption in the short term but if you stay strong with um with the ideals of democracy then it'll be uh ultimately create something that as beautiful and stable as the united states the the sad thing is is i don't know if that tells that story.

[486] It's like I said, you look at Greece, you look at Rome.

[487] Democracy kind of failed.

[488] The majority of Rome, the most successful empire that we've had, was a dictatorship for most of its run.

[489] But I do believe in a republic, which is sort of a limited democracy.

[490] I do believe in what we have here.

[491] I believe in common law.

[492] I believe, you know, in individual rights.

[493] But yeah, I think you said it Nobody could have said it better Yeah, it's a short -term solution You look at Saddam Hussein He kind of, you know, when we took him out Then there was a lot of infighting that happened That he was kind of keeping at bay Because he was a strong man, dictator Well, he's an interesting one Sorry to interrupt For my understanding, I'm sure people will correct me But when Saddam Hussein first came to power he was he's quite progressive so like the dick the as far as I understand the signs of an evil dictator weren't exactly there so again there's I don't know if power revealed a power corrupted or that could have been the initial subterfuge to kind of get everybody you know Hitler also's a you know champion of the people it's built some new roads it's what psychopaths do and that's why it's interesting to me I'm not sure if power corrupts psychopaths and now that we know that we can do these cat scans and brainstands of skin.

[494] We know that they're born that way.

[495] Power definitely corrupts people who have the capacity to feel and for empathy.

[496] Power, I'm not sure, I don't think power corrupts people who were born psychopathic with that condition or sociopaths who had, you know, who were closer to psychopaths and then had some traumatic life.

[497] You know, I just think, you know, the best way to get away with whatever, nefarious thing you want to do to feel.

[498] I guess the only thing psychopaths can feel is that excitement is to pretend to be the opposite of what you are.

[499] That's what killers do.

[500] That's what the worst people.

[501] Look at Bill Cosby.

[502] I mean, he was, what better way to hide, you know?

[503] It's like what wokeness is now.

[504] It's like, I'm such a great person.

[505] And you're like, are you?

[506] It's a great, the best way to hide is to pretend to be the opposite of what you are.

[507] Just like Ted Bundy.

[508] I'm just an innocent, helpful guy.

[509] And then, boom, next thing you know, you're getting your tip bit off.

[510] it's really well said it's actually kind of funny because i talk about love a lot and i think the people that kind of look at me with squinty eyes they wonder like how many bodies are in that closet you know what i mean like there's something about the duality of like we're so skeptical as a culture like if somebody's just like seems to be kind of sort of uh i don't know positive and all that kind of you know how do i put it Just simple, simple -minded in the positivity they express.

[511] They think, like, there's some demons in there.

[512] Yeah, especially if you're in New Yorker, we don't trust any.

[513] The nicer you are, the more skeptical we are.

[514] I've struggled with that down here.

[515] I've been like, what's your angle?

[516] And they're like, no, dude, just, I want to show you the best tacos, man. And I'm like, did you really?

[517] What do you want?

[518] Because in New York, it's like, if anyone's nice to you, they want something.

[519] Yeah.

[520] And that's the pro side to that is it makes you very street smart.

[521] The downside to that is it makes you way too cynical.

[522] Yeah, I definitely experienced that here in Texas, but people are super, super nice, and they're like, do all these cool shit for you, and you wonder, what, what's the angle?

[523] Yeah.

[524] What are we doing here?

[525] You mentioned hyenas is your favorite animal.

[526] I forgot to ask you, what the hell were you thinking?

[527] Why is hyenas your favorite animal?

[528] Yeah, it's a fascinating animal.

[529] Let's look at the whole animal kingdom.

[530] Like, why?

[531] Where do you put?

[532] So you like dogs.

[533] My favorite.

[534] Your favorite is dogs.

[535] But they're kind of outside the animal kingdom because you're thinking about wolves.

[536] So the animal kingdom is in nature.

[537] Dogs escaped nature.

[538] They kind of did, yeah.

[539] Together with humans, like in a collaborative way, exactly.

[540] So within nature, within the animal kingdom, why not lions?

[541] Because lions are predictable.

[542] Lions are just, you know, they're regal and kind of they're born.

[543] It's like the hot chick.

[544] It's like, we get it.

[545] you were born the best yeah you know i like a scrappy by any means necessary intelligent and cunning uh but aren't they dishonest yeah and that's why i like them yes they're dishonest they employed chicanery they uh they're and that's just a sign of how intelligent they are and how self -reliant they are and how brutal they are um they're brutally honest in how much they lie yeah you know because they're trying to get the job done.

[546] You know, lions are just like, they're too gifted.

[547] Everyone hates the fucking, you know, if I went to school with you, I'd be like, of course Lex knows the fucking answer.

[548] Lex was born smarter than me, you know, and you'd probably hate me because I was the kid always seeking attention and making people.

[549] It's like, that's not interesting.

[550] The guy that claws his way to the top, and those are hyenas, they're also fascinating just by merely who they are.

[551] I mean, they're not related to any other ads.

[552] They're more closely related to cats than they are dogs, even though they look more like a dog.

[553] Yeah, but they're very, like very tangentially related even to cats.

[554] So they're their own kind of thing, which is kind of mysterious.

[555] I don't think they fully figured out.

[556] And they, the pseudopinous thing is the, I mean, is the talk of the, can you explain the pseudopinus?

[557] Yeah.

[558] So it's a matriarchal society, by the way.

[559] So that's unique in and of itself.

[560] We're talking about an apex predator that is matriarchal, much like, you know, the praying mantis it's very rare though and they are fucking brutal and vicious and the women are bigger and they let their cubs fight a lot of fratricide and they do that because they're like hey you're weaker they let your brother kill you and uh the women have penises the women have pseudo penises that they give birth out of and the birth is violent but they they roll around with just huge pieces they're glue guns who just fucking swinging you know and the women are just run the show and uh it's just cool that they have these sunopetuses it's almost romantic the way you describe that they have the strongest bite force they they pulverize bone like when they eat an animal the animal's gone there's no bones they eat everything they can pulverize their bite is so powerful they pulverize bone and eat it so if they consume an animal the animal was there and then the animal's gone there's no nothing for the vultures there to uh to to grab yeah I'm going to have to revisit the hyenas because my experience of the Haynes was from, first of all, history of hanging is your show, has rebranded them for me, but the Lion King, which is a cartoon, I guess, that I get emotional that every time I, I hope, that probably have father issues, every guy.

[561] You probably just have feelings, you're a good guy.

[562] I mean, everyone gets that.

[563] Yeah, you have feelings.

[564] That one gets everybody.

[565] I don't know.

[566] I get, I get every father -son movie, like, blow with Johnny Depp.

[567] and Ray Leota, damn, that's a good movie.

[568] And whenever there's like the disappointment in the father that his son has become like this incredibly successful drug lord that then ends up with nothing in prison, just the sadness of them can be caning through letters, man, that gets me every time.

[569] But, you know, the hyenas are not presented that well in that.

[570] No. they're usually portrayed as like it's really sad that they're portrayed that way and lions like lions aren't dicks lions are dicks they the the alpha lions will kill the cubs of another rival they do all types of dick shit and yeah the hyena is more interesting like they'll just roll in like a hyena like you said the lie you know because when you watch the Serengeti you know animals will hang out with each other they're like by water so one hyena will just kind of roll in and pretend like it's not hungry and then bang they'll use any means necessary to take an animal down like lions will just use brute strength hyenas use cunning and you can even go on the internet and find memes of this where hyenas will grab the big animal by the balls and just like we'll sneak up behind it and bite its balls and you'll watch an animal 10 size 10 times the size of the hyena just slowly go down it's brutal but it's fucking hilarious so I I think that's, I don't know if you follow the channel, Nature's Metal.

[571] That one weighs heavy on me. With the hyenas on the balls, it's tough to intellectualize it.

[572] It's tough to think that the entirety of life on earth has this history of predators being violent, just like just the murder that we come from.

[573] Yeah.

[574] It's crazy.

[575] Just like we're talking about meditating on death, I actually keep following and unfollowing that Instagram channel because sometimes it's too much.

[576] Like I can't continue with the day after like seeing the brutality, the honest brutality of that.

[577] I don't know how to make sense of it.

[578] It's important to acknowledge, I think, because it's real.

[579] We do come from that.

[580] We are, we evolve from that.

[581] It's important.

[582] We still do that.

[583] We're just hidden from it.

[584] You know, when you go to the supermarket, and get your slab of meat, you know, you're so disconnected from where that meat came from.

[585] It came from that.

[586] And often, that's uglier to watch than, because there's some honesty, you know, the nature channels only show that's why we have so much sympathy with the prey.

[587] And this is where I think, the same thing with mafia movies.

[588] They don't show what the mafia really does.

[589] They glorify the good parts.

[590] That's why I like State of Grace, because it's really just shaking down old people and fucking being dicks.

[591] It's not driving nice cars and being like, you know.

[592] So, and Animal Channels do the same thing.

[593] They only show when the cheetah gets it because that's the exciting part.

[594] But what most people don't know is that those predators strike out almost always.

[595] A majority of the time, the prey wins.

[596] And so if you saw that and put in context, you might not hate it as much when the predator actually gets the little fawn or whatever because it's so many fawns got away.

[597] It's so hard to capture your prey and, you know, we don't have the, the, they no, no documentary is going to sit around and show you the 99 times the cheetah didn't catch thank you for this perspective that murder is difficult so like this is the they never talk about for people who murder how difficult it is like to trap somebody to convince them to come back to your place give it some respect put some respect on ted bundy's name yeah it's not easy to convince somebody getting your Volkswagen Beagle and and clean up and then you have to kind of plan ahead because you want to keep doing the murder mass murder you've got to learn how to saw them up, put them in duffel bags, Barry, you got to learn a dig, you got to learn a hide, you got to learn a lie.

[598] I mean, it's a lot that goes into it that we need to put a little respect on, yeah.

[599] Yeah, and you have to figure out which tools work the best for the sawing and all those kinds of things.

[600] So thank you for the perspective.

[601] That's what I was hoping who would bring to this table.

[602] That's what I was for, yeah.

[603] So you got a little bit Greek in you.

[604] One of the episodes on history hyenas, you talked about the Battle of Crete, where the Greeks, your people, in 19, I guess 41, at the early stages of the World War II, is one of the most epic battles of the war.

[605] In fact, in 1941, in a speech made at the Reichstag, Hitler paid tribute to the of the Greek saying, it must be said for the sake of historical truth, that amongst all our opponents, only the Greeks fought with the endless courage and defiance of death.

[606] So, okay, what do you make of this battle?

[607] What do you make of the spirit of the Greek people?

[608] This is one of the closest things to me because my mother was actually on the island of Crete during this.

[609] The first aerial invasion in history, a lot of people don't know that.

[610] So this is a very significant battle.

[611] um first time there was an invasion from the sky um and my mother was a little girl and she lived through four years of uh nazi occupation there so my mother was a human rights lawyer and everything but she just always hated germans it's just what it is she hated germans and she never got over it so the most progressive open -minded woman just could not get over this um it's a monumental battle that a lot of historians in retrospect have now looked back on and said because the nazis First off, you got to take it back to when Hitler instructed Mussolini, because let's be honest, Mussolini was Hitler's bitch, you know what I mean?

[612] It was like, if it was, you know, if it was Fantasy Island, Hitler was the fucking, and Mussolini was boss, the plane guy.

[613] Mussolini ever say no to Hitler, or even maybe, it's always like, yes.

[614] Yes, we were doing.

[615] And it's like, yeah, you have to take Greece.

[616] And so, yeah, so Italy being much bigger than Greek, Greece is a tiny country, nine, ten million.

[617] So Italy invaded Greece, you know, and Ocky Day is a big, it's a big holiday for Greeks.

[618] And this speaks to the spirit.

[619] Greeks in fight until we have a common enemy and then we unite.

[620] You see it throughout history, Sparta and Athens.

[621] You see it in Greek families where the brothers will fight.

[622] But then as soon as we have a common enemy, we unite.

[623] And maybe it's an overactive brain.

[624] We think too much, our tradition's philosophy, and we overthink things.

[625] fight with each other and take things personally, we're also passionate.

[626] But when Italy said, hey, we're going to move troops through, you know, Greek said, Aki, which means no. And that was, and then Italy attacked.

[627] And we beat the shit out of them, a much bigger country, much more well -equipped country.

[628] Greece beat the shit of them, kicked them back into Albania.

[629] Actually, not only repelled them, actually like conquered some ground in Albania, pushed them back.

[630] And then Hitler was like fuck you know i was planning my march to russia uh but i have to go down because he basically said to musilini like you know you basically bitch slapped i'm like fraydo like i got to do this myself because you're such a fucking bitch so then the nazis invaded greece obviously they took the mainland with fight and shot out the greeks never give credit to the british and new zealand and australian troops that were there you know they were a large part of this the majority of it but the greeks fight do civilians i mean they fought you know the ottomans were there for 400 years.

[631] You go to Greece now, there's no evidence.

[632] There's virtually no evidence of them ever being there.

[633] That's the Greek spirit.

[634] Kick them out.

[635] And we kicked out hummus too.

[636] So it's like your culture's gone, you're gone.

[637] Because Greeks are, it's Philotimo.

[638] It's called Philoptim.

[639] It's a real thing.

[640] Philoptimo is a, there's very little translate.

[641] You can't translate it, but it's kind of like honor, loyalty, friendship, altruism.

[642] It's a, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, from our, from our, um, from our, um, families, it's a vibe.

[643] And it's a Greek cultural thing.

[644] And we're an old culture.

[645] And Philoptima is what it's called.

[646] Philotimo.

[647] And it's love.

[648] It's passion.

[649] And it comes out.

[650] And it comes out.

[651] And so Hitler had to postpone his invasion of Russia, went down.

[652] The island of Crete took 10 days to conquer.

[653] It's an island.

[654] To put that in perspective, the country of France fell in three or four days.

[655] I can't even remember because they fucking just rolled over.

[656] So what is what does a couple hours matter when you're that much of a fucking pussy?

[657] Okay?

[658] What is a couple hours?

[659] Twelve hour, fucking three or four days.

[660] The island of Crete took the Germans 10 days to conquer.

[661] And because of that and because of the Greek resistance, Hitler had to postpone his invasion of Russia to winner.

[662] And of course, that was, you know, that was his downfall just as it was Napoleon's and never dude never try to invade Russia they got millions of people to throw at death every time you read about Russians in history books like and a million died I mean it's like you just guys throw millions of people at the problem and don't fuck with that Russian winner and don't fuck with Russian people dude they're tough people in New York know that you don't go to fucking sheep's at bay and start talking shit you'll end up in a fucking car drunk and they'll brutally murder you I do not fuck with Russians amen and there's I mean there's a lot of people a lot of historians argue that that battle was because of the Russian winter, because of delaying the Russian invasion, but also psychologically delaying the invasion.

[663] It was the first time, I think it was the first time the Germans failed, not, or didn't succeed like they wanted to early in the war, which is a little like psychologically, the impact of that I think is immeasurable.

[664] And also a lot of people argue from a military strategy perspective that, that just like you said, it was an aerial attack and that Hitler didn't think that that kind of attack would then be useful for the rest of the war.

[665] So that's a really part, whereas it might have been very useful.

[666] So it's really interesting how these little battles can steer the directions of war.

[667] Of course, me growing up in the Soviet Union, we didn't hear much about this battle.

[668] Just like you said, millions of Soviets died.

[669] All those people in history that you read about dying those are all civilians but i mean not all but a very large number of them are civilians and their stories obviously that's the rooted the literature the poetry the music just the way people talk the way they drink vodka the way they love uh the way they hate the way they fear that's all like rooted in war two and world war one and so but we never kind of think about Europe, and we certainly, growing up, didn't think about their role in the United States.

[670] There's plenty of stories of heroism in the Soviet Union, enough for many lifetimes.

[671] But it was fascinating to read from a Greek perspective, because I don't have many Greek friends hoping to change that.

[672] This is the beginning of a love affair of your people.

[673] likewise the americans don't hear about the soviet contribution to the end of world war two because obviously we became you know enemies after that because of the two systems but yeah without the russians with world war war two wouldn't have been one either yeah the stories are written by the victors that's really interesting i just looking at the at history you wonder what's missing i'll tell you what's missing that i know for a fact because my dad told my dad told me combats hell and he would tell me the reality of what it's really like guys pissing themselves calling for their mother the fog of war obviously fratricicide happens all the time it's pandemonium i mean there's skill involved but i mean there's no like it's a lot of it's just luck my dad said my dad won three he got you know metals bray uh purple hearts all that shit and he said the reason was because he can't he always said there's another thing he told me you can't pin a metal on a dead guy so it's like those are the guys who deserve it but you can't pin a metal you can't do the pomp And I'll tell you one thing is that it is written by the victors.

[674] And all these leaders, they say we're in the front, we're not in the front.

[675] Whenever the history books say, he led his troops into battle, it's like, did he really?

[676] So then how did he live?

[677] Because they put like kids in the front.

[678] You know, it's like nobody limps back from the front with like an injury.

[679] You know, that's Army PR.

[680] You know, whenever you read, you know, 27 soldiers died, 14 were injured.

[681] the word injured is PR That's like injured was he Did he sprain his ankle Did he need Did he get carried off the court Or you know He was maimed I mean he was like His leg was blown off You know it's like So I think that You know Alexander the Great Was just kind of in the back On his horse And just kind of He had his eunuch blow him a few times And he was like Is it bad up there And then like after the He was like okay My scribe give me my scribe Okay when you write this down Can you put me in the front Yeah And I was just make me a big hero And I was in there.

[682] And then he just blew his, you know, he had sex with his eunuch and rode off into the sunset because there's just no way you survive in the front, especially warfare back then.

[683] I mean, it's like brutal.

[684] Then again, you have like, uh, Jenghis Khan.

[685] The sense I got that he was a little bit up on the front, at least the first.

[686] Yeah.

[687] Or is that also, is he a little bit of give me my scribe.

[688] Yeah, it's all lore.

[689] I mean, you ever play the game of telephone?

[690] You know, it's like, you know, there's no video cameras back then.

[691] So shit just turns into myth.

[692] You know, and there's no way he was in the front.

[693] There's no way he wouldn't have lived.

[694] You know, he was probably good on horseback because those dudes were good on horseback.

[695] It was like Game of Thrones back then.

[696] You had all these different people and they kind of, yeah, the Mongols were wild, dude.

[697] They actually said, like, they started like, they were more adaptable to the horse because they were so good on horseback that kids started to be born, like, kind of bow -legged, like to fit the horse.

[698] It's wild.

[699] And they would stretch their heads and shit like that.

[700] They'd wrap them and stretch their heads so they find like Mongol skulls and they look like cone heads and they were brutal and vicious and they would maraud and rape and all the fun stuff that, you know, when you visit other places back then, there's no chotchky stops and souvenir shops.

[701] What you do is you take women and those are the tokens, you know, you burn a few huts.

[702] Different.

[703] Tourism was different back back then.

[704] Yeah, that's another difficult thing.

[705] Just we're talking about nature and predators to think about the long stretch of history where it was just murder and we made so much progress I guess in the past couple of centuries the United States is a shiny example of that but do you think also that it's that effect that we were a lot of good things had to happen too or else we wouldn't be here so do we just focus isn't like a car crash effect that like we're just you know the rubber neck of everyone pulls over to see a car crash are we just only focusing on the negative things of history because they're just more exciting to us like it's just not boring to be like yeah and then there was a bunch of villagers and they ate every day and danced and loved yeah i wonder i wonder how different those people were you know like they might have had the same exact loves and fears and like they perhaps had the same kind of brilliant ideas in their head if not more brilliant and we kind of think about like this moment in history is like the most special moment like we're doing the coolest shit that we're doing the most amazing building and most amazing things, but maybe they were building amazing things in their different way with less technological, but in the space of ideas, in the space of just all the different, the camaraderie and the space of like concepts, mathematics, all those kinds of things.

[706] Yeah, I mean, Greece, you look at the architecture, it still stands up.

[707] I mean, all the government, but it's still arguably, I mean, as far as objective beauty, it's hard to argue that Greco -Roman, it's just something about it with the, with the, with the columns it's just it's powerful it's i don't know even iron rand would probably appreciate it she doesn't no no no so in your uh history hyenas that unfortunately has come to an end we're talking about empires coming to an end all empires fall yeah um that one um well you may rise again empires might rise who knows who knows i i'm obviously a fan so i hope it does rise again but you've uh seemed to develop your own language can you uh you know it's what it is what is what is that what the hell um is this some kind of medical condition or can you can you explain like the linguistic essentials that uh catch us up to the linguistic essentials that people need to know to understand the way you speak you ever you know leopold and lobe you know the story of those two, they murdered that kid and they had this weird relationship.

[708] Anyway, it's an interesting thing to Google.

[709] Leopolden Loeb, these two guys who ended up murdering a kid because they developed their own language with each other and this own reality and this weird thing and they wanted to know what it's like to murder a kid and they murder a kid.

[710] It's a famous story in American lore and history or whatever.

[711] Famous case.

[712] But this phenomenon, yeah, me and Chris got together.

[713] It wasn't as dark as Leopoldenold.

[714] We didn't murder a kid.

[715] But we murdered a podcast.

[716] or at least stab it a few times yeah it's um it was something in the organic chemistry of me and chris that i think we'll both end up appreciating even probably more than we do now that uh it's mysterious i got to be honest with you it's um it was the thing that it wasn't conscious uh wasn't intentional it was something that happened in the music of our energies yeah that just went Like when you hear someone sing or when a jazz band hits a rhythm or even when I'm on stage and I just catch a rhythm, it's like, dude, I didn't make a choice there.

[717] I don't know what that is.

[718] I don't know how to explain it.

[719] But it comes from somewhere else.

[720] And I don't know what it is.

[721] It's beyond my comprehension.

[722] But with Chris, there was this magical chemistry that, you know, I have chemistry with a lot of people.

[723] And it can be funny.

[724] I feel zero chemistry here.

[725] This is great.

[726] Yeah.

[727] It's a little bit more intelligent than when me and Chris.

[728] did.

[729] But, you know, me and Chris, I think we connected on the funny bone.

[730] Like I found him so funny and we found the same things funny.

[731] And from that, these organic expressions came from some part of our brains that was created from this chemistry.

[732] And yeah, we developed this language and this cult following and people were really upset when we ended.

[733] But it was the right thing to end because like all things that end it was kind of done a few episodes even before we finished and I think we pulled the plug before it started rolling downhill like all you know like all great flings you know there's your long relationship long marriages are boring and comfortable the one you really like fucking always ends abruptly and sadly and uh but you always look back and you jerk off to it and uh so you guys made love we made yeah so it's like it was like a hot fling with me and him and it was intense and we burned the candle at both ends and it was I think that podcast was meant to be three years and maybe people will go back and appreciate it and listen to it over and over again and I think the new things we do people will love I'm doing long days now that podcast and people seem to enjoy it really enjoying the long days yeah on YouTube I just found myself just like staring at you ranting for a same with Tim Dillon I really enjoyed the whatever those rants are the genius of just like one thing after the other but definitely the chemistry almost as a study i remember the reason i first started listening to it i was trying to get a perspective on certain historical moments like it was interesting i tuned in to learn history i yeah i came for the history and like stayed for the the chaos and the crack open and clean out And yeah, it was almost, I listen to Rogan like this sometimes.

[734] I'll re -listen to an episode to try to understand why was this so fun to listen to?

[735] It's almost like trying to analyze humor or something like that.

[736] But it's nice from a conversational perspective, like, why was this so easy to listen to?

[737] And with history, hyena's like, why is the chemistry so good?

[738] it's so it's weird it's weird because there's not many podcasts like that i don't know any with the chemistry like that yeah it's interesting and it's kind of sad that uh that that that the the fling with a prostitute in Vegas has to end you know like that but that's what makes it special it's the bukowski thing with the fog the the british office one of my favorite shows was was that it ended very quick you know it's only a couple of seasons or something like that and that was tragic but that took guts to just end it given all the money you could have made given all the you just end it and that's what makes it like truly special yeah and i'll tell you man i'll just emphasize it because i marvel at it too um because as a guy who tries to always figure out uh what the causes of things i got to be honest man looking back on that even with retrospective wisdom you know that 2020 hindsight we've been done a couple months now it's um it's something that i can't explain Yeah.

[739] It's something that I don't know how you quantify it.

[740] I don't know how you describe it.

[741] It's musical.

[742] It's really kind of rhythmic.

[743] Maybe like a Netflix show about history.

[744] That's in the future with the two of you.

[745] Yeah, who knows?

[746] You guys will meet like with the way you meet with a fling like a decade from now, a diner.

[747] And you're both way fatter and uglier.

[748] And then you just reminisce.

[749] over some cigarettes and coffee.

[750] It could be.

[751] Yeah, it could be.

[752] Yeah.

[753] But it's definitely a classic podcast that people can go back and appreciate.

[754] It's fast -paced, and it was unique.

[755] What was it like to research for, I mean, it was really scholarly, the depth of research that you performed.

[756] It sometimes felt like you almost read an entire Wikipedia article beforehand.

[757] That's exactly true.

[758] We were one fan.

[759] we attracted such funny people to that podcast and the fans were so funny and one fan called us nicknamed those Wikipedia sluts and so it just stuck yeah we just would read Wikipedia I would do a lot more research to Chris yeah and so I would actually you know once in a while he'd get into it too but for very interesting episodes I got I got some some some subject matter would just pull me in like Bernie made off just to think of one that was recent it was one of our last ones and I think one of our better episodes and I'm glad that.

[760] that it kind of ended after that because it was rare.

[761] I think we started to slip a little bit.

[762] I got fascinated and I got, I did a lot of research for Bernie Madoff, but usually, yeah, we'd pull up Wikipedia and we'd have fun.

[763] We were sort of the antithesis of Dan Carlin.

[764] I mean, you went to Dan Carlin for accuracy and thoughtfulness and you went to us for, it was a hang with histories.

[765] That's why history hyenas was such an appropriate name because it was a little bit of history.

[766] Some episodes were more hyena, more wild, and a little history, and some were a little more dense, like the Battle of Crete and less hyena.

[767] So you were always going to get both.

[768] You're either going to get a majority of one or the other.

[769] Yeah, and Dan Carlin's the lion, I guess.

[770] Yeah.

[771] And you guys predictably good.

[772] I mean, what are your thoughts about, I mean, he's a storyteller, too.

[773] He gets a lot of criticism from the historians, quote, unquote.

[774] That's why he likes to knock.

[775] He keeps saying he's not a historian, but what's your thoughts about?

[776] about hardcore history with Dan Carlin.

[777] Like, was he an inspiration to the podcast you were doing?

[778] Or like an account, like almost like reverse psychology inspiration where you wanted to do some kind of opposing type of podcast in history?

[779] Or was history always just like a launching pad to just talk shit about human nature?

[780] More of the latter.

[781] I wasn't even aware of his podcast when we started.

[782] Oh, interesting.

[783] Yeah.

[784] And so it was just very organic, again, like the chemistry.

[785] Me and Chris became very good friends.

[786] We started the podcast.

[787] First, we did a web series called Bay Ridge Boys, which has a sort of little cult following.

[788] We did like five episodes and ended it.

[789] And then we did the podcast.

[790] And hyenas were my favorite animal.

[791] And I talk about them passionately.

[792] And I told Chris about them.

[793] And then he started appreciating them.

[794] And we both love history.

[795] I majored in history.

[796] It's one of the things I love.

[797] I go to museums all the time.

[798] I go to history tours.

[799] So does he.

[800] And so it was just.

[801] just sort of a natural, let's do a history podcast.

[802] And it gave us something to talk about each episode to sort of lean our, you know, hang our hats on and riff off of.

[803] So it had nothing to do with Dan's.

[804] What I think about Dan's, I think it's great.

[805] I think even if he's inaccurate in the opinions of the historical community, it starts conversations, which is good.

[806] It's like this thing where people go, oh, it's dangerous rhetoric.

[807] It's like, no, rhetoric only becomes dangerous when education fails.

[808] What's going on in America is education has failed.

[809] So if you call someone online dangerous, it's not him that's dangerous.

[810] It's the fucking stupid people that's dangerous.

[811] And it's the fall of this country.

[812] We didn't listen to Aristotle.

[813] The future of a civilization depends on public education.

[814] Yeah.

[815] And we failed.

[816] Education has failed.

[817] Kids are, kids are not interested in shit.

[818] And so in some sense, those, like Dan's podcast and podcasts can be incredibly educational.

[819] He's a the storytelling that pulls you in ultimately leads to you internalizing these stories and like remembering them and thinking through them and all those kinds of things that is much more powerful than you book on history that's accurate.

[820] I think often it inspires you to go learn more.

[821] So it's like I know we did that.

[822] I mean you know I people would go hey I went and learned about this because they knew with us there was no pretense which was great that we had no standard.

[823] So it's like nobody came to us for historical accuracy.

[824] But I was kind of turned on by the fact that it inspired people to go learn about this stuff or to at least know, like Battle of Crete, like you said, a very underappreciated battle.

[825] Even Winston Churchill said from here on, we will no longer say that Greeks fight like heroes, but heroes fight like Greeks.

[826] I mean, it was a monumental battle and um you know not talked about enough and i our podcast would inspire people to go actually learn more to go listen to dan carlin or to go pick up a book or to do research on their own and so i think podcast dan carlin's obviously much more accurate than us but it's good that people are going to podcasts like yours and to learn shit joe was is really like the progenitor of that i mean you know having intellectuals on and getting the public interested with this new medium um in in people who are intelligent it's nice because you know what the mainstream press pushes out is horseshit gorgeous horseshit it's got a beautiful veneer but no substance and so this this is a nice pushback yeah the authenticity of joe's show i mean i'm through i started listening from the very beginning you know doing my in grad school you know like a technical person and he just pulled me in and made me curious to learn about all kinds of things and use my own critical reasoning skills on some of the bullshit guess he's had and some of the most inspiring guess he's had.

[827] So I teach you to think.

[828] Can you, I don't know much about Bernie Madoff as a small tangent.

[829] Can you tell me who the hell is Bernie Madoff?

[830] Oh, Bertie Madoff is the goat.

[831] The greatest thief of all time, dude.

[832] Hedge fund guy, ran a hedge fund and pulled a, stole the, most money in the history of America.

[833] I mean, a con artist.

[834] And he does, people obviously, he's become, he's a household name because of the magnitude of his crime.

[835] But you got to appreciate, again, you got to appreciate what went into this and how long he was able to pull it off by tricking the smartest and richest people in the world.

[836] And a brilliant scam.

[837] The con man, con man is short for confidence, man. And it came from, yeah, a conman.

[838] basically they exude confidence, and they trick people by playing on their ego and blind spots.

[839] And the word comes from a guy.

[840] I can't remember where.

[841] But what he used to do, I can't remember the guy's name, whatever.

[842] You can Google it, con man. But it's very interesting.

[843] The first con man that is on record, what he would do would, he would go to very rich people and he'd be very well dressed, right?

[844] And he'd go, I bet you you don't have the confidence to give me your watch.

[845] And he would plan the egos of these very powerful and rich people, and they would give them the watch for some reason, some sort of reverse psychology bullshit.

[846] And he'd take the watch and he would just steal it.

[847] Because basically saying, like, you don't have the conference giving the watch because you don't, I don't know.

[848] You don't think I'm going to give it back?

[849] And he would just take it.

[850] So Bernie Madoff was a very sophisticated con man. And again, we were talking about people pretending to be the opposite of what they are.

[851] Bernie hid his thievery in how available he was to his clients, how he would show up at every bar mitzv, every birthday.

[852] He was always available for their phone call.

[853] and he played on their egos.

[854] He made it so people were wanted to invest in him.

[855] Like they were competing.

[856] He made it very exclusive.

[857] He wouldn't just take anyone.

[858] And there was a method behind that madness because he wanted the whales that wouldn't notice that he had this pyramid scheme going.

[859] And so what he would do is he would just rob from the richer and he just kept, it was like he'd pay back the richer with the guy who was a little left.

[860] And it was a pyramid scheme.

[861] And he was able to do it for so long and steal so much.

[862] much money and he would win people over with the scheme because with that scheme he was the only guy who could provide who could guarantee like a 1 % return even during times of recession and because he was such a good con man he hijacked people's reasoning with his charm yeah and that's what con artists do that's what psychopaths do they're so fucking charming they get you in that Volkswagen Beetle because if they use their reasoning for one second they'd go hey nobody can provide 1 % returns during recessions how the fuck is this guy doing it I'll tell you I was doing it he's stealing from another guy to pay you you fucking idiot so charisma is a sense of that you know maybe you can help explain something to me something i have been affected by way too loud for your listeners there's going to be comments like tell this guy to calm down i'm sorry i'm greek apostolate yeah we do no it's beautiful i love it this is something that i have been thinking about and have encountered indirectly is geoffrey epstein and i have a sense because i have a sense because of MIT because of all the other people that have been touched the wrong term by Jeffrey Epstein in the sense that literally touch it literally and figuratively yeah and it always felt to me like there's not a deep conspiracy I don't know I don't know but it felt to me like it's not some deeply rooted conspiracy where like Eric Weinstein thinks that there's some probability that that Jeffrey Epstein is a front for like an intelligence agency, whether it's Israeli or the CIA, I don't know, but is a front for something much, much bigger.

[863] And then I always thought that he's just, maybe you can correct me, but more of the Bernie Madoff variety, where he's just a charismatic guy who maybe a psychopathic in some sense, so, you know, also a pedophile, but just charismatic and is able to convince people of that 1 % of any idea that, in the case of scientists, is able to convince these people that their ideas matter.

[864] So one thing, scientists don't really, you know, despite what people say, I don't think they care about money as much as people think.

[865] People are ridiculous when they think that.

[866] Yeah, that's why people get into science for the money.

[867] The person who gets into science are obsessed with minutia and they do the scientific method.

[868] You know how boring that is?

[869] Like, you have to have a love for it in order to do it.

[870] But the thing, what drives you is for your ideas to be then heard.

[871] And when a rich guy comes over, probably super charismatic, is going to tell you that your ideas, especially for some of these outsiders at MIT at Harvard and Caltech, all these like sort of big science, like physics, biology, artificial intelligence, computing fields to hear somebody say that your ideas are brilliant, ideas matter.

[872] It's pretty powerful, especially when you've been an outsider.

[873] He's talked to a bunch of people who had outsider ideas.

[874] You know, the big negative for me of modern academia is that most people, actually like most communities, most people think the same and there's just these brilliant outsiders.

[875] And the outsiders are just derided.

[876] And so when you have Jeffrey Epstein, like a hyena, sorry, sorry, going from on the outside and picking off these brilliant minds that are the outsiders, he can use charisma to convince them to collaborate with him, to take his funding, and then thereby he builds a reputation, like slowly accumulates these people that actually results in a network of like some of those brilliant people in the world, you know, and then pulls in people like Bill Gates and, I don't know, political figures.

[877] I tend to believe one person can do that.

[878] Yeah.

[879] I mean, look at Hitler.

[880] Charisma is blinding.

[881] I think that's what Conman, speaking of Bernie Maddof, that's one of their major tools is flattery, glib, superficial charm.

[882] It creates those blind spots.

[883] People want to hear how great they are.

[884] They want to be flattered.

[885] It takes your defenses down.

[886] plays to our ego, the, how much we're all just pieces of garbage and want to hear how great we are.

[887] We want that love from our mother and our father.

[888] It's Freudian and, and they know, because they're not burdened with that need, they're not burdened with that, uh, empathy or emotions and they just see things very calculatively.

[889] Um, they play, they know that we're prey in their game and they use that against us.

[890] And that is why someone who is not that intelligent, like Hitler can probably convince a lot more intelligent people, you know, and that's why we can't give him Dylan power because, you know, he already stands on a stage.

[891] I mean, if we let that guy, I mean, he will just take over a country and everyone who can't cook, well, we'll be eliminated.

[892] Yeah.

[893] So it's like, I wonder why he keeps complimenting me when we're in private.

[894] Exactly.

[895] Be careful.

[896] He looks at me just your, I like your suit.

[897] I like the cut of your jib.

[898] Yeah, definitely.

[899] Be careful that kid.

[900] He's Hitler.

[901] But it's crazy to think about that.

[902] Clip that.

[903] He's internet.

[904] I mean, Quentin Tarantino said it to bed.

[905] I mean, in his grip, personality goes a long way, dude.

[906] Yeah.

[907] I mean, personality can usurp common sense and reason of the smartest people.

[908] These absolute smartest people can be hypnotized.

[909] It's sort of like a sexy woman.

[910] It's like you can just, it just, you can be tricked because we have such a blind spot for, you know, for flattery.

[911] Yeah, I wonder, I think there's a BBC documentary on, I think it's called some of the like charisma, Hitler's charisma or something like that, does quite, I mean, that one focused more about the power of his speeches.

[912] But I wonder if most of the success or the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich had to do with the charisma of Hitler when he's alone in a room with somebody, with the generals, just one -on -one.

[913] Like, I wonder if that's the essential element of just being able to just look into a person's eyes, like, flatter them, or whatever is needed to earn their trust and then convince them of anything you want.

[914] Right.

[915] Yeah, I mean, you're right, because that's the one piece of history we don't have.

[916] We don't know.

[917] We don't know.

[918] We do know that the kid crushed.

[919] I mean, he was a headliner.

[920] He got up there and his hair would flopper.

[921] I mean, he crushed it.

[922] Yeah, there's certain elements about nationalism and pride.

[923] that are really powerful.

[924] Like a lot of us humans, I think, long for that, for the feeling of belonging.

[925] And when some charismatic leader makes us feel like we belong to a group, the amount of evil we can do to other humans because of that.

[926] Especially when you do a scapego.

[927] Nobody wants to do the work to be better or look at where they messed up.

[928] Why does it always have to be the Jews that is a scapego?

[929] You know, it's like, get over it, guys.

[930] I mean, it's like, they killed Jesus, you think you get over it.

[931] Yeah.

[932] Okay, it's a long time ago.

[933] I mean, move on.

[934] I'm Jewish.

[935] I understand because we do run the central banks and the weather.

[936] And the weather.

[937] Yeah.

[938] Don't forget about the weather.

[939] That's a big one.

[940] That's a funny one that people created like, who gives you shit?

[941] Well, what is the weather?

[942] Like, what's the importance of the weather?

[943] All right, Jews made a rain outside.

[944] Good.

[945] You got to, you know, they made it snow.

[946] Okay, you get a day off.

[947] Thank the Jews.

[948] Yeah, it's like, yeah, there's certain conspiracies that make me like flat earth.

[949] Like, what, what's the motive?

[950] Like, what, who's the motivation?

[951] for lying that the earth is round like what's the conspiracy yeah what does anyone get out of yeah what is exactly the profit what's the yeah what's the what's the strategy do you have any from a historical perspective or just a human perspective conspiracy theories you connect with or you're not necessarily conspiratorial i'm uh i'm not necessarily conspiratorial um nobody cares that much um but there but then you you know what happens is You find out this one or this two.

[952] And you start questioning everything.

[953] And you start questioning everything, man. It's like, you know, the Vietnam War started.

[954] That was a lie.

[955] That was a false flag.

[956] And then next thing, you know, everything's a false flag.

[957] There are some strained things on 9 -11.

[958] You know, there's some strange things from a scientific perspective.

[959] I'm no scientist.

[960] But it's like, you know, yeah, three steel frame skyscrapers falling on the same day in the same way.

[961] A lot of people say, oh, it was.

[962] They were hit by planes.

[963] It's like, yeah, but that's not why they fell.

[964] They fell because of fires.

[965] And usually, not usually, all the time, except for three times.

[966] And there was buildings that have burned for longer than that.

[967] And there might be good explanations, but the lack of transparency, it's like, I feel like government.

[968] And building seven's weird.

[969] I mean, the way it kind of down.

[970] Just a neat, just a neat, the physical.

[971] I mean, you're a scientist.

[972] Is there resistance from the steel?

[973] I'm so no. Free fall seems weird.

[974] Not all scientists know everything.

[975] I'm just a computer guy.

[976] Okay, because I had some questions I wanted to ask you about my biology.

[977] Yeah, so exactly.

[978] I don't understand biology.

[979] I don't understand the melting point of steel.

[980] I don't, but I'm just the common sense human that looks at government and institutions when they try to communicate and there's a certain human element where you can sense that there's dishonesty going on.

[981] That dishonesty might not be deeply rooted in a conspiracy theory and something malevolent it might just be rooted more likely to me in a basic fear of losing your job right so when you have a bunch of people that are afraid of losing their job you know and they just don't want to uh like the origins of the virus whether it came from a lab or not you know that's a pretty i know a lot of biologists behind a closed doors that that say it's very likely it was leaked from the lab right but like they don't want to talk about it because not good evidence either way.

[982] It's mostly you're just using common sense.

[983] So they're waiting for good evidence to come out in either direction.

[984] But just like nobody in positions of institutional centralized power wants to just honestly say, we don't know.

[985] Or on the point of masks or all those kinds of things to say, here's the best evidence we have.

[986] We're not sure.

[987] We're trying to figure that out.

[988] We're desperately trying to figure that out.

[989] Or just like honesty, especially in the modern day, that's the hope I have for the 21st centuries.

[990] People seem to detect bullshit.

[991] shit much much better because internet internet yeah yeah and we we see they also believe crazy shit too there's no yin without a yang i guess but uh i think the conspiracy theories arise only when the people in positions of power and government and institutions are full of shit like the air will be taken out of the conspiracy theories if the people in elected power would be much more honest like just like real you have people like Andrew yang whatever you think about him just more honest he just like says whatever the hell comes to my, by the way, he's running for New York.

[992] Mayor, yeah.

[993] Do you have opinions?

[994] Yeah, it's no good.

[995] I like Andrew Yang, and it's no good.

[996] I'd be honest with you, I'm a lifelong New Yorker.

[997] I mean, I'm a New Yorker.

[998] Well, you're a New Yorker, so nothing's good.

[999] Well, something is good.

[1000] And talking on, let's be honest about New York.

[1001] It's a very socially liberal place.

[1002] It is the head of the snake.

[1003] New York is the country.

[1004] If New York, when New York's not doing good, The country's not doing good.

[1005] It's the most important city, D .C., New York.

[1006] It's really Rome, be honest.

[1007] It's, maybe I'm biased.

[1008] I don't know.

[1009] No. We just, in New Yorkers, we walk around everywhere and we go, this is just like New York, but not New York.

[1010] It's, but New York needs, and I'm a guy who leans left.

[1011] You know, I just, I lean left, and that's just what it is.

[1012] A dictator?

[1013] Is that where you're going?

[1014] No, we need, we need, it's a money town.

[1015] Let's be, come on, man. I mean, New York is a money town and Wall Street.

[1016] And then when AOC and her cronies at the local level rejected that Amazon thing, you're going like, what do you think makes cities?

[1017] What's going to create jobs in the 21st century?

[1018] What do we need more nail salons, more pizza places?

[1019] I mean, we're living in the tech revolution.

[1020] And, you know, whatever your opinions are about Jeff Bezos, that's the world, tech.

[1021] And they want you to come here.

[1022] Of course you give them tax breaks.

[1023] companies go anywhere.

[1024] She's so fucking utopian, and that progressive wing is so utopian, and that always ends in disaster because it's not rooted in reality.

[1025] It doesn't accept the reality that people are self -interested.

[1026] Now they're going to do this 14%, 15 % tax hike on people making a million dollars more.

[1027] In New York City, a million dollars is not that much.

[1028] So people are going to flee New York.

[1029] The tax base is going to flee.

[1030] New York's going to fall to shit like it did before.

[1031] So you're saying it basically needs a more capitalist front, like capitalistic type of thing here.

[1032] Lundberg, Giuliani, when he was still sane, and his hair wasn't melting off his face.

[1033] Prosecutor, you need a tough.

[1034] I mean, I don't know what's happened.

[1035] That guy's lost it.

[1036] But it's fun.

[1037] Yeah, it's fun to watch.

[1038] Yeah, it's fun to watch him be just like Trump's lackey.

[1039] Like, yeah, boy, whatever you want, boss.

[1040] I'll just say whatever you want, boss.

[1041] But New York is a money town that needs a money guy and sort of more of a Republican.

[1042] I have to say on the local leaven, as more of a guy who leans left, I'll just be honest.

[1043] It's a tough city that needs a tough.

[1044] mayor, not some guy who's going like, I understand, we all need free money.

[1045] Andrew Yang, I think, is right in the big picture because all the real jobs are somewhere else.

[1046] And you look at those Asian cities, you go like, oh, that's what our cities used to look like at the Industrial Revolution.

[1047] You know, there was jobs and people were making things here.

[1048] And now you look at those cities in Asia and you're going like, wow.

[1049] And then you go to Detroit and you're like, yeah, we're done.

[1050] You go to Cleveland.

[1051] You go, we're done.

[1052] So I don't actually, it's funny.

[1053] The reason I really like Andrew Yang is I've learned a lot every time I'm, I'm, he talks like it's not his opinions he's just giving a lot of data like information which i just start a podcast don't run from air well yeah that's true he already has a podcast i think yang yang speaks who doesn't who doesn't who doesn't that's the way we communicate to you i don't even talk to people unless it's on a podcast well listen man i'm a i'm not going to criticize that because there is something like i talked to my dad on a podcast in for four hours and i'm not sure i would i would ever talk to him in the way we talked without the podcast.

[1054] What does he do you, that?

[1055] Physicist.

[1056] Oh, shit.

[1057] But like, yeah, it's episode 100.

[1058] And, you know, I, the way I recorded that podcast is I try to put my ego aside.

[1059] It's actually really tough to talk to your dad, especially because you're giving him a platform.

[1060] So at that time, there's already a bit of a platform for this podcast.

[1061] And so there's this, as a son, you think like here it goes with this bullshit again like that's the natural sun thought you have but at the same time I wanted to the way I thought about it is in 20 years when I look back like I want to do a conversation where I'm happy with it you know so I want to make him shine but I also called him out on like why were you so distant like all of that kind of stuff yeah it was very difficult to do but it was really important to do and I don't think I'd be able to do without a microphone.

[1062] Listen, how often do we sit there and just focus our attention and just look at the other person?

[1063] I don't know, man. This is not even recording right now.

[1064] I just invited you over.

[1065] Just so we could actually...

[1066] You're right.

[1067] The podcast does make...

[1068] Like, I've been listening to every word you've been saying and if we weren't doing a podcast, I might be looking at my phone or being self -conscious about something else or nervous or anxious.

[1069] And then, especially with people close to you.

[1070] I mean, that was...

[1071] I recommend that actually for people to talk to their family on a podcast.

[1072] Or like a fake or not.

[1073] It's really powerful.

[1074] It made me realize that there's a clear distinction between the conversations we usually have with humans and those we have when a podcast is being recorded.

[1075] What the fuck were we talking on before that?

[1076] I knew you were going to lose your train of thought on that one because that's a big one.

[1077] There's a motion behind that one.

[1078] A podcast with dad is going to take you to a place.

[1079] It took you to a place.

[1080] It took you out.

[1081] Outside of interviewer.

[1082] New York.

[1083] New York and Yang.

[1084] In New York and Yang.

[1085] So the data, one of the things that really surprised me about, I like the psychoanalysis he just threw in there.

[1086] Yeah, I took you to a place.

[1087] So Angie Yang mentioned.

[1088] Do you respect me now, Dad?

[1089] MIT.

[1090] Is it enough?

[1091] Fucking million people listening to this.

[1092] I've got 14 Rogans.

[1093] Is it enough, Dad?

[1094] I'm creating robots.

[1095] Is that enough for you?

[1096] That's what drives you, probably.

[1097] That probably what drives me. That's what gives meaning to life, is it's never enough.

[1098] And I hope to pass that on to my kids one day, that nothing's ever enough.

[1099] Whether they're a robot or human, right?

[1100] Your kids.

[1101] Most likely, let's be honest, robot.

[1102] You might call one of your robots.

[1103] Do you love your robot?

[1104] Are you starting to love your?

[1105] Is it going to be like that Pygmalion thing?

[1106] You create them and then they kill you.

[1107] But even while they're killing you, you got a tear rolling.

[1108] The tear, a slow, one tier, one tier.

[1109] And just.

[1110] Why are you doing this Frankenstein?

[1111] They're going, why?

[1112] Why?

[1113] Why?

[1114] But I loved you.

[1115] Those would be the last words out of my mouth.

[1116] But Andrew Yang mentioned something on the, that it cost $400 ,000 over $400 ,000 per year to support one person in prison in New York.

[1117] Like when I heard that number, it was really confusing to me. Like that it cost that much, 400K per person.

[1118] And it was really refreshing to hear a politician describe a particular problem.

[1119] with data, that this is this prison industrial complex, whatever the hell it is.

[1120] And whether the solution, it's unclear what the solution is.

[1121] I think he has solutions, but just the honesty of presenting that information was refreshing.

[1122] And I'm not sure a capitalistic person would solve that.

[1123] Those kinds of problems he might make worse.

[1124] And I'm not, you know, I'm a huge fan of capitalism.

[1125] I think the free market is the way we make progress in this world.

[1126] but it seems to go wrong in certain directions, like the military industrial complex, the prison, anything that ends with industrial complex.

[1127] And so I'm not sure.

[1128] I'm not sure if all of the problems.

[1129] You're basically saying, let's put New York's problems aside.

[1130] We need to have New York shine first to do what it does best.

[1131] Essentially, yeah.

[1132] And then the problems will fix them.

[1133] well and then we can focus on the problems but if you just say like here's a problem here's a problem here's a problem let's make sure we have the safety net that protects against all these kinds of problems that's not going to that's going to kill the city the spirit of the city that is in your biased opinion the Rome of the world that said a lot of people are fleeing New York yeah that that's why I say it that's the reality of the situation is you know I'm all for the public good but yeah there needs to be back to that Greek expression pan metronaristan i i also think the free market is responsible for progress i think it's the most natural thing the thing that's most aligned with human nature which is self -interest and um which i believe not to the extent that iron would but i do believe people are mostly self -interested especially with one gun to the head um morals are out the window you know it's about survival so you know create a system that respects that and acknowledges that.

[1134] But socialism works very well, at least right now, as a check, as to temper the excesses of capitalism.

[1135] And in certain scenarios, is the more appropriate system, you know, in a vacuum.

[1136] So one being prisons or, you know, governance, you know, parts.

[1137] Maybe even, well, and this is a difficult one, but in health care, it's unclear.

[1138] It's right.

[1139] There's a lot of debates there.

[1140] Yeah, doctors want boats.

[1141] so i guess you're voting for aOC you're saying no i'm not to vote for i see but i do it's just a tough one that's a tough one but ultimately the hypocrite oath it's like how do you turn people away man how do you do that to people it's like it's it's a tough thing to uh to reconcile helping people curing people with the uh the marketplace it's just i can understand why that one's so tough.

[1142] And then you got hypochondriacs, of course, who drain the system, you know, like people who have anxiety like me, who had COVID and called 14, you know, I called 14 ambulances.

[1143] So, and then, of course, we're fat.

[1144] And the free market made us fat because it played, the marketing made us one all this junk food.

[1145] And that's a burden on the health care system.

[1146] So we got to do something about that.

[1147] We got to get creative.

[1148] We need new thinkers.

[1149] I'll be one of them.

[1150] When you go to a fast food restaurant, you stand on a scale.

[1151] If you're over a certain thing, you can't be served.

[1152] It's good for the health care system.

[1153] You know, You know, you just handed a salad and say, sorry, this burger's illegal for right now.

[1154] If you achieve these certain, oh, uh, BMI goals, then you can, you can have this burger.

[1155] But right now you can't.

[1156] And that's where the state's important.

[1157] Yeah.

[1158] Okay, to regulate our freedoms, no slurpees.

[1159] I'm with you, Bloomberg.

[1160] Well, I'm with you.

[1161] To go along, I think the salads are too expensive.

[1162] They should be subsidized.

[1163] If you, if you go to like a fast food joint, uh, the burger is always going to be cheaper than the salad.

[1164] Yeah.

[1165] And this does not make sense.

[1166] We should run on this platform.

[1167] I'll be your vice.

[1168] president will ban burgers for people over a certain weight and make salad cheap three -day work weeks why has that been happening yeah okay where are you going with this one dude good for the economy stimulates the economy right more shifts creates more jobs more people spending because they have more leisure time boost the leisure economy you know why are we still doing the five -day work week that that was that was tempered from the seven -day work week that was so the seven day work week it used to be seven -day work way used to be like and people who are just these libertarians like come on dude What is this?

[1169] Are we freshmen in college?

[1170] Yeah.

[1171] We're going to talk about Ian Rand next.

[1172] Like, let's talk about reality, okay?

[1173] And human nature.

[1174] People are fucking greedy.

[1175] They lie.

[1176] You know, there's no end to up, which is one of my favorite expressions.

[1177] No end to up.

[1178] No end to up.

[1179] There's no end to up.

[1180] Can we dissect that from a Randian perspective?

[1181] There's no end to up, which is, you just keep going.

[1182] It's never enough.

[1183] The human flaw, it's never enough.

[1184] No end to up.

[1185] More, more, more.

[1186] And, you know, you have to reconcile your fact that.

[1187] you're going to die.

[1188] So, like, there's no end up thing is that balance is just as valuable as progress.

[1189] So we have to reconcile those two things and put them on a seesaw and figure out how to get two people who have the equal weight to keep it like that.

[1190] And that's the goal.

[1191] And it constantly vacillates according to the time.

[1192] Sometimes you need a little more socialism.

[1193] Sometimes you need a little more capitalism.

[1194] You got to, you got to fly the plane, man. You got to fly the plane, dude.

[1195] What's your, looking back at history.

[1196] Is there a moment time period in history, a person in history that's most fascinating to you?

[1197] You mentioned Bernie made up, maybe second to Bernie made up.

[1198] Is there in a battle of Crete?

[1199] Is there something that you've always been curious about?

[1200] Even if it's something you haven't actually researched that well yet, just something that pulled at your curiosity that instructed the way you think about the world.

[1201] An individual or an event?

[1202] An event, individual, you know, yeah moment in history or a person in history um there's a few but uh you know queen elizabeth the elizabethan era you know the sun never sets in the british empire very successful empire uh what an absolute success story that is for a leader and a woman um can you tell a little bit about her story well i actually don't know much about the british empire yeah she had a good run i think it's like 70 years.

[1203] You know, there's Shakespeare.

[1204] They, you know, the, oh, I guess what's the word, Pax Romana, the period of Rome that it was at peace and they flourish, like a couple of emperor like Trajan or some good ones.

[1205] And I think he was part of the Pax Romana that sort of just a peace and a comfortable flourishing time.

[1206] And England had sort of that in their empire under her, successful reign.

[1207] She murdered her cousin.

[1208] You know, the movies.

[1209] You know, Cape Blanchet plays her and does so.

[1210] and she didn't win the Oscar because fucking Gwyneth Paltrow put a British accent on in Shakespeare in love.

[1211] It's a tragedy.

[1212] Why do I know this?

[1213] Because I'm not a full man. I'm a comedian which means I do skits and I perform.

[1214] And Kate Blanchett's incredible actress.

[1215] Great movies.

[1216] She was just so and here's the thing.

[1217] She never got married.

[1218] She was so astute at public relations.

[1219] And imagine how strong you got be as a woman to lead the greatest empire maybe known to man at the time and to do so so successfully how Machiavellian you have to be, how idealist you have to be, how much of a good marketer you have to be.

[1220] Propaganda machine was on point.

[1221] She was married to England.

[1222] She was adored the way she adorned herself.

[1223] You walked in.

[1224] You're like, holy man, God just walked in here.

[1225] And of course she got fucked.

[1226] I mean, who doesn't fuck?

[1227] We all fuck.

[1228] Even robots one day will fuck.

[1229] But she was, she did that propaganda thing and historians aren't uh haven't they haven't decided this but i believe she fucked and i believe she did that as a tool of propaganda i'm married to england so you oh you're directly referring to like using sex as a way to manipulate people well she her she was known as like the the virgin queen and uh and her thing was like i'm married to england like i can't be distracted by man a woman she never had any kids nothing i think she did that as a tool of manipulation yes which you need rulers need to you know obama made you feel good and then he went and bomb carpet bombed everywhere you need to feel good about your guy no matter how evil they are and she was fucking a dictator but when you look back at her everyone's like oh my god she was so great the horror and the shit that she had to do she didn't put that in the history books but that's what probably was part of what made her successful, and she's a fascinating character to ponder him because she was so successful and England flourished so much.

[1230] And it's just fascinating to me, because she was the great Virgin Queen.

[1231] And can you think of another, there's no other woman who was that, I mean, Angela Merkel, I mean, come on.

[1232] Yeah.

[1233] I mean, there's nobody who comes close.

[1234] And defeating the Spanish Armada, I think that happened under her.

[1235] I mean, I'm no professional history.

[1236] But I mean, The woman crushed.

[1237] Do you think it's more effective to lead by love, which it sounds like what she did from the PR perspective or by fear?

[1238] Where do you land on that with McAvel?

[1239] That's a great question.

[1240] We got to ask Joe.

[1241] Well, yeah, this is interesting because I think leading in the 21st century in whatever ways is different.

[1242] I think it's very difficult to lead by fear.

[1243] That's why I find Putin fascinating.

[1244] and like really fascinating.

[1245] Like is he a relic of another era or is he something that will still be necessary in the coming decades for certain nations?

[1246] I think he's a, I don't think he's a relic from another era.

[1247] I think his background, I think he is who you think he is because his background was an espionage.

[1248] His background was in subterfusion espionage.

[1249] I think I've said the word subterfuge maybe ten times now.

[1250] But he...

[1251] You like big words.

[1252] You're intellectuals.

[1253] I just, I'm sitting here with you.

[1254] It's time to flex.

[1255] But he's very good at that, right?

[1256] Like controlling people with psychology.

[1257] And even if you look at the way he sort of used the internet and has sort of been, you know, gotten into the citizens of other countries' opinions.

[1258] And it's very KGB.

[1259] He also looks great without a shirt on a pony.

[1260] On a horse.

[1261] On a horse.

[1262] Yeah.

[1263] Yeah.

[1264] I thought he would choose a pony because a pony.

[1265] smaller.

[1266] Would you put Queen Elizabeth as the greatest leader of all time?

[1267] Probably.

[1268] Yeah.

[1269] I think as a woman and you look at the length of the rain, I think it's like 70 -something years or something like that.

[1270] She reigned.

[1271] Success, man. Success.

[1272] She used the church.

[1273] She used public psychology.

[1274] Shakespeare, the greatest playwright of all time under her reign.

[1275] People were going and it was a success front and she was marauding everywhere else marauding and culling resources for the empire and just say an absolute successful it's even a token of her success we don't consider her a dictator yeah she's a dictator you know she was queen i this my thing i love about the feudal system that these fucking country still have feudal systems they're celebrating a horrible thing divine right of kings oppression kings were dictators and now they have a fucking ceremonial why don't we have a ceremonial furor what isn't German he doesn't do any of the bad stuff he just rolls around and does this shit I mean it's like what the fuck there's no difference between a Hitler and a fucking king they did the same horrible shit why not a fucking ceremonial conqueror Alexander the Great walks in rapes a little bit but it's all fun it's for ceremony he represents the country Macedonia his Greek it's interesting to see that some you're starting to see a bit of that in Russia with Stalin actually the celebration of a man that helped win the great patriotic war right so like you're already starting to see that it's very possible in history books he'll be seen as maybe like a Jenghis Khan type of character and you forget the millions that he tortured so you're one of the most successful and brilliant people the world has ever seen so you're the good person to ask for advice.

[1276] You know, there's a lot of young people that look up to you.

[1277] God bless their souls and hearts.

[1278] Made the right choice.

[1279] What advice would you give to a young person, maybe to yourself, to a young version of yourself?

[1280] You know, just how to live a successful, a good life.

[1281] Be doggedly you.

[1282] I think the magic happens when you are stubbornly doggedly you and you meet other people who are doing the same And the real magic of life, the real true currency in this ephemeral life is sort of the communication that happens between people.

[1283] That's the real currency.

[1284] Friendships, love.

[1285] It's cliche, but I think the meaning of life is to experience love.

[1286] And I think people often mistake, maybe it's because of Hollywood films and things like that, that love is feeling, but it's not.

[1287] It's an action.

[1288] so that took me a while to learn and I think that's why I've made decisions since that I think have been good for me and healthy for me. Love is in action.

[1289] People can say things, you can feel things.

[1290] That doesn't mean they're necessarily real.

[1291] It's all chemical reactions.

[1292] It's all tied to our immaturity and psychological issues and survival.

[1293] But action, when you do things, when you act out of love and you that's that's what it's about is there uh times when you're younger where you were kind of dishonest with who you are to yourself yeah in terms of like what what kind of things did you have to do to to shake yourself up and be like okay i thought um i thought i'm going to be a scientist but instead i i realize i'm going to do this yeah my parents make funny yeah my comedy is a hard hard thing to explain to uh you know an immigrant mother who came here and under Nazi occupied crete and became a human rights lawyer and lawyer and my brother's a lawyer and my father was a lawyer you know clawed his way up his dad was a was a was a so you're a disappointment i'm the black sheep yeah my brother went to oxford georgetown law brown you know has a master is and you know good law degrees my mother has four law degrees uh you know uh she was on the human rights commission new york up for a judgeship under dinkins um wrote a, you know, she was the editor of Unitar.

[1294] She wrote a seminal piece on the human rights of children for the United Nations.

[1295] And, yeah, it was a comedian.

[1296] I was always a fuck up.

[1297] And the thing that I was best at, the only thing I was ever decent at was just like making people laugh.

[1298] I don't know why.

[1299] I don't know where that comes from.

[1300] But was there for a question or was there a moment where you decided this is what I'm going to do?

[1301] There was a moment after I graduated college, yeah.

[1302] But I was thinking about all types of stuff that other people imposed on me. and I was honest with myself.

[1303] And once I figured out it was an actual career path, I wasn't even aware.

[1304] Back then, the internet wasn't huge.

[1305] You know, late 99, 2000.

[1306] It wasn't big yet.

[1307] So I didn't, I thought Robin Williams was just like an actor.

[1308] I didn't know there was comedy clubs and all.

[1309] So once I learned that, I was just like, I tried it.

[1310] I suffered from massive anxiety.

[1311] I remember the first time I did comedy, my arms went numb.

[1312] I started having a massive panic attack.

[1313] I have my first set.

[1314] I can show it to you.

[1315] It's like, I suggest, I just can go.

[1316] I'm video.

[1317] Yeah, I'm video.

[1318] Oh, nice.

[1319] Thank you.

[1320] Thank you.

[1321] And the reason why I'm just.

[1322] I kept saying thank you because I forgot my whole jokes.

[1323] I was so scared.

[1324] And then they laughed because of the amount of times I said thank you.

[1325] And then once they laughed, I was, I remembered the whole thing.

[1326] And I did the five minutes.

[1327] And I remember getting off.

[1328] And for a person who never felt like he had a place anywhere, nothing ever felt right.

[1329] That felt like, okay, I found it.

[1330] This is what I'm supposed to do.

[1331] This is it.

[1332] It was the only time in my life I felt that.

[1333] I haven't felt it since.

[1334] Never felt it before.

[1335] So it's the only thing I can do.

[1336] And, um, yeah, I had that, you know, it's funny.

[1337] because I have a similar experience like immigrant family and the world tells you to do certain things and you think that's right.

[1338] But but then you put yourself in situations by luck probably where it's like, oh, this, this feels right.

[1339] I don't know what this means, but this feels right.

[1340] I think the biggest moment like that for me was I don't know what to make of it exactly, But when I met Spot, the robot, the full -legged robot, it was like five years ago, it felt like this, the depth of fascinating ideas that are yet to be explored with this thing.

[1341] This felt like a journey.

[1342] It was like a door that opened.

[1343] I was like, I don't want to be a professor.

[1344] At that point, I realized I don't want to do sort of generic stuff.

[1345] I want to do something crazy.

[1346] I want to do something big.

[1347] Like, that's the reason I stepped away from MIT.

[1348] That's the reason I have this burning desire to do a startup.

[1349] That's the reason I came to Austin.

[1350] Yeah, I don't know what the hell it all means, but you just kind of follow that.

[1351] That's awesome.

[1352] That sounds like you're following what's doggedly you.

[1353] And also, I think just to piggyback off it, I think that means no matter what it is.

[1354] Because I think the American dream is sold, like, hey, if you're not Beyonce or if you're not famous, you're not worth it.

[1355] I hate that.

[1356] And that's what I love so much about certain countries like Sweden.

[1357] It's like where everyone has health care and stuff like because everyone's a little is valued more.

[1358] It's like whatever, if you want to be a dormant, do it.

[1359] Like it's all the same.

[1360] Prince was not happy.

[1361] There's no, just because you're rich or famous, you're still the same guy.

[1362] With your possessions are a lot, little.

[1363] You know, it's like I have met some dormant.

[1364] I have met some tax cabbors that a lot of you not are more fascinating.

[1365] I have, comedians are horrible people.

[1366] Some, I want to get away from all, but I have very few friends, Paul Verzi, Tim Dillon, who are comedians because they're awful, awful people.

[1367] Some of the people who you know the most, who are the most famous are not who they say they are.

[1368] Usually that's the case.

[1369] They're putting on that public facade because they're fucking sociopaths.

[1370] Yeah.

[1371] They're horrible people.

[1372] And some of the most beautiful people I've met and the most interesting people I've met have regular jobs.

[1373] There's no shame in any fucking job.

[1374] We don't all have to be rappers.

[1375] With like rims, it's just a weird thing.

[1376] Yeah, fame is a drug.

[1377] And yeah, comedians, I agree with you.

[1378] There's some part of me that knows that there'll be a moment in my life when I'm standing there with like a sword or a knife in my stomach and looking at Tim Dillon's smiling face saying, you shouldn't have trusted me, you stupid fuck.

[1379] So on that note, Janice, I've been a huge fan.

[1380] of yours i love what you're doing with long days now your new podcast and um i obviously love all the stuff you've done before with history hyenas the chemistry the the chemistry you have with yourself is also fun to watch so man i'm a huge fan it's a huge honor that you come down here thanks so much for talking it it means so much to me to hear you say that i really appreciate i'm a big fan of yours and have me on's been amazing and just thank you man thank you for uh having me on and people if they want to watch my special it's called blowing the light it's on youtube and please come listen to Long Days of the podcast.

[1381] And let's go eat some barbecue.

[1382] Let's do it.

[1383] Thanks for listening to this conversation with Yannis Pappas, and thank you to Wine Access, Blinkist, Magic Spoon, and Indeed.

[1384] Check them out in the description to support this podcast.

[1385] And now, let me leave you with some words from Carl Marx.

[1386] Revolutions are the locomotives of history.

[1387] Thank you for listening and hope to see you next time.