Shane Smith
Appearances
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
If we just stayed a Gen X free giveaway, we would have never gotten into video. In fact, when we got into video, we were derided by the old guys for selling out because going to online video was seen as a sellout because we should have stayed a magazine. So we used to give it over to the interns. And then the interns just – And they had a different fucking everything.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
They had a different philosophy. They had a different subject. They had a different fucking everything. And they were going. And by the way, the traffic was still there. And I was the same. I was looking at it. What the fuck is this? Right. What the fuck is going on? And, you know, they're like, well, that's the traffic in your fucking things that you like.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's no traffic because you're an old man. So anyway, I was semi-retired for a number of years. And, you know, look. When did you get out? I moved to L.A. I'm just trying to remember now, 15, 15, 16, around there. So I moved to L.A. because our biggest clients were there, the biggest platforms were there, no one was out there.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And, you know, I had kids and I was like, okay, like I can move to the country and commute into New York or I can move to L.A. So I moved to L.A. and that started a whole – that was not smart in retrospect because you leave and it starts like Game of Thrones shit. And then also, quite frankly, if you want to know the metaphysical fucking reasons why, I can get into it. Okay. All right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I love metaphysical reasons. There you go. Yeah. The best time for Vice, the time that you're talking about, the time that I loved was you would go – before all the big investors and everything, you would go to like Italy, right? And you would get an apartment and you get a girlfriend and you find an office and you hire people that look like you or hang out like you or just are cool or whatever.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And – You would build it. You would buy the fucking computers on your credit card and you would fucking go to the grandmother's place for fucking lunch in Cinque Terre. You would like fucking, you know, figure out all the cool places to hang out with you with your friends and stuff. And then you'd have a big party and everyone would come and advice would be launched.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Then you get on a train and go to Sweden and do the same thing. You'd live there for six months. You'd build something. It was tangible. The mag would come out. You'd start shooting stuff and it would be fucking awesome. And then when it got to be like... you fly in and you meet with lawyers and accountants and it's shit, and then you fly out again the next day, it's terrible, right?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And so when that happened, I was like, I don't wanna do this anymore. And I'm not good at it. I was good at building. I'm good at building. Founders are not necessarily operators. One of the smart things you've done is just keep your own shit your own shit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But you talk to everybody, and that must be fascinating because you get the inside track. Like your brain is like a wealth of information.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, smart. You know, Harvard should hire you to teach business because that is 100% of it. No, that's this business. But listen, it's so fucking right. Like you just said what's in my fucking brain. A hundred percent of that is true. Everyone should listen to this guy because it is a hundred fucking percent true. Run a tight ship. Yeah, exactly. When you're younger, you're like, oh, fuck.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And look, a fucking punk kid that came from nothing. So when you have employees, there is actually a Harvard thing where they say – There's a paradox where you hire somebody because you want someone to help you but they're not as good as you and you hire someone who's not as good as you and then you hire someone who's not as good as them. So then all this stuff and you have to do more work.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
There's more hassles. Then you have a whole group of people reporting to you and this is exactly not how to run a business. And I even knew that going in. And then you hire – and you're exactly right. You hire all these people. All they need to do is be in the same room as you. Yeah. And then that's access. And once there's access, then you're exactly what you said. Then you deal with their issues.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It definitely got too big, and you're exactly right. Look, you're a wise dude because you keep it small. You're exactly right. After having learned what I've learned, we have a tiny little team that makes this thing, and it's super – It's like the early days of Vice where you're just making shit and talking to people and chopping it up and doing stuff and trying new shit out.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, and these guys are super interesting, and you get to learn, and that's amazing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, one week it'll be like this and the other week it'll be like that and we'll just fucking do everything. It's so much more fucking fun. You're 100% right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I'll go a step further than that. Is you, you, I don't know about you, but you accumulate shit, right? And I, cause I never had anything. I was like, I fucking, I got into watches. You know, I got into shit. I got into art. Then I got like, I don't even fucking drive. And I got like, I got Johnny Cash's fucking car from 1969. What kind of car is that?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So in 1969, Johnny Cash had a, had the number one show in America. And ABC got him a one-of-a-kind Rolls Royce, extra long body, all black, black mahogany interior. And check this out. So I got it. So it was me and Wayne Newton. Remember, I used to gamble. I was in Vegas, won a bunch of money. I actually had to fly to China, and my buddy stayed there.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And it was me and Wayne Newton bidding against each other for Johnny Cash's car. And when we got it, you know, it was just like burning fucking fuel oil. It was just black smoke coming out. Oh, they're terrible. So I turned it into a Tesla. No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's fucking awesome, dude. It's awesome. We chopped it down. We kept everything. Where is this?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Bobby Kennedy seems to be, like, so fast. I remember I used to watch Tony Blair during question period, and he'd, like, leap up, and he'd be like, blah, blah, blah, and he was so, like, he knew everything and the facts and stuff. Like, you've interviewed him a bunch of times, or...?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Just pull up Johnny Cash's Rolls Royce, 1969. It's a black, all black Rolls Royce. So I turned it into a Tesla, redid the whole interior. Who did that for you?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I think he'd fucking love it because I was out with Rick Rubin in that car yesterday.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
ABC gave him this car. I was with Rick Rubin in that yesterday. We were driving around in it. And it's so fucking fast, and it drives like a fucking crazy boat.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So you took a Tesla Model S and converted it. Yeah, these are the dudes who did it. Wow. And we re-did all that wood now, so it's all the original black mahogany from...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
This is such a good car. Because when I came out to LA, I'm like, I'm going to get a shit brown Agatha Christie Rolls Royce and an MS-13 driver with the full 13 and a safety control. Am I late for the party? Hello. And so I got this one, and it's fucking awesome. Wow, that's so cool.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You're not supposed to do that. This thing was fucked, though. I will say this.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, this car barely ran. It was fucked. Yeah, but you could rest them on it. You could rest them on it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I did it because it was burning fuel. I was burning black smoke. Barely fucking ran. That car's fine. That car's fine. So I love it. But the thing, my long-winded answer to that question was I started, I collected all this shit like you were saying. It doesn't bring you any fucking that. It made me cars for you. So I just go, you know what? All of that shit. I was talking to Rick about this, too.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Like, I'm just going to get rid of it. Like, the more I free myself from that shit and all that stuff. Yes. You're just like, you know what? Psychic burden. I used to go, speaking of the old days of ice, I had everyone used to laugh because I'd go for literally years with a backpack. And I'd just be like, well, I wear his black jeans and a black t-shirt.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I would just buy new ones if I need something. You just go to a pharmacy. To this day, if I go to a fucking pharmacy in a foreign country, I'm stoked. Because it means I'm getting shit that I need, like shampoo and fucking toothpaste and little scissors for my nose hairs and shit. And that means I'm on top of my game. I'm fucking ready to go. I'm going to fucking interview people and do shit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Because I'm going to the fucking pharmacy. And, you know, I love going to a fucking supermarket because you're just like, I'm going to buy some fucking food and then we're going to go do some work and it's going to be fucking awesome. That shit gives me pleasure. Fucking a watch or a fucking car or shoes or fucking nothing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's my first episode. Yeah. Assassinations. Deep state. Getting into it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
No. And speaking of psychology, yeah, like you talk about old muscle cars. The car I learned to drive was my grandmother's car that she gave to my cousin. And when I was 13, he was 16.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
He taught me how to drive. And it was a Nova SS. It was an old, like, so, so good.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's understated. It's not like it's a powerful beast and it's badass looking. But it's not like a Ferrari. You know, Ferraris can be beautiful. It's different. It's different.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's mine. That's my 69 Nova. I love it. Look at that fucking thing. That's like exactly. Hers was gold. I still remember that.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So I had a – speaking of psychological damage for things, I grew up poor but went out with a very rich girl. And it was her birthday, right? We were in France. It was her birthday. And her uncle had forgotten her birthday. And so he's just like, oh, here, take my watch kind of thing. And they're like, no, no, no. That watch is like a $50,000 watch or whatever.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And I was like, there's no fucking watch that's worth $50,000. Like $50,000 is like – And it was like a classic Patek fucking moon face, whatever. And I remember clocking the watch. And when I got money, I became obsessed with the classic Patek, which is now like 500 grand. It's not 50 grand. The moon face.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, yeah, yeah. When did you start? Yeah, yeah, yeah. A couple months ago.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. I mean the most expensive are still Patek's. But, yeah, like those ones are – I mean rare ones. Like I was obsessed with – so I like the Paul Newman Panda. But they have like the lemon or the champagne panda, which is the gold version of that, which they made like four of. And I was chasing that down. And now I'm like, what the – you can't fucking wear it. Right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Like, every place I go, you can't fucking wear anything. Like, I was flying here, and you can't put it through security. You know, so what the fuck is it?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You think they would snatch it? Oh, fuck. Watches get snatched all the time.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Like, how fast are these people going to get rid of their watches? It's not happened to me, although I have nearly lost them many times because, you know, you have a few ales on the plane and... take your shit off and put it in the box. Oh, no. I've never done it, but it's been close calls.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But there's so many stories in the watch world about you're going through customs, you're going through security, you're going through somewhere, someone takes your phone. I've had a lot of people who are like, how much does that watch? And you're like, it's fake. I always just say it's fake. Anyway, so I'm getting rid of all that shit just because you're like, it doesn't fucking mean anything.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And what actually does mean shit is like you were saying, like, you know, Learning shit, like making shit, but also at the same time going like, I'm learning shit. It's fun. It gets me fucking happy. Look, I'm fucking back talking to you. It's fucking interesting.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So there's a guy named Peter Dale Scott who actually wrote the book on the deep state and brought like the concept over from Turkey to here and broke it. And if you talk to him, so he was really involved or wrote about or covered the, they tried to assassinate Castro. That was the first American deep state thing, which is like, by the way, that's factual.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Definitely. I mean, for me, that's what I love doing. I like talking to people and I like learning and I like, you know, if you're learning shit and other people obviously do podcast, you're, they're learning and it's just, it's, it's an awesome thing to be able to do.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Like, listen, the vice news right now is me and I'm, I'm making podcasts. I'm doing shit that I find interesting and,
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I mean, it's complicated. You don't have to get into the woods if you don't want to. It's complicated. I mean, it's complicated. I was the largest shareholder, and then I went to owning nothing. I lost the most out of anybody. Not that I'm asking anybody to fucking cry for me or anything.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It was actually a good thing because when you realize a lot of the stuff about happiness and stuff, you realize it not when you're cashing checks. Not a calm sea, never a good captain made. But yeah, throughout all the... You know, the change is basically I was still in the backdrop, you know, just around. Why didn't you sell when it got at the top? Why didn't you get rid of all your shares?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Look, that's the whole thing about I did. I sold some and, you know, took some money off the table, which is why I could semi-retire. But everyone's like, you know, Shane could have sold, should have sold. He said no. He said I've never said no money in my whole fucking life. I was building mice to sell it. I never fucking said no. That's all fucking horseshit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
We tried to sell it to Time Order, tried to sell it to Disney. It was just like, you know, when Disney said no, we went into private equity. And then, you know, that relationship is never good.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. I mean, yes, media and media got weird. And look, everyone's looking at for us and then we can get on other shit. But, you know, who left the fucking porthole open of the Titanic? And you're like, yeah, hit a fucking iceberg. Not just us. You know, look at all the new media. Right. Culturally. Five, five, five.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's like, there were the mob and Cubans and the CIA and they tried to commit murder.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
companies take up 87 cents of every advertising dollar in the world and independent media gets the rest and it's getting smaller and smaller. The money dries up and when the money dries up, you start getting frantic, right? You start fucking flailing around looking for shit, whatever. You start looking for solutions. Other people start looking for solutions.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Young people start fucking saying, this is what we got to do. This is what we got to do. And you have 5,000 people saying what we got to do rather than five. And you got people who are semi-checked out, if not checked out. And, you know, shit got said. Nobody's fucking – it's my baby. Nobody got fucking more sick about it than me. But you're like, okay.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You know, so now, you know, we're doing – Vice News is me. We're doing the podcast. We're doing – it's fun. Again, we're just fucking building, trying to do new shit with fucking AI and with some other stuff. It's fun. But, yeah, I do other shit on my own. Look, the other thing, too, is I also spent time living my life, which I hadn't been doing, which I'm sure you do out here.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Failed. Yeah. And then, you know, that sort of morphed and there's all this sort of mix into the Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy, Robert RFK assassination attempts that this guy was referencing. And you're just like, Deep State has such negative connotation to it because it's like conspiracy-ish. But you're like, when it got explained to me by the guys who sort of
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You've got to go and you've got to live your life again. You have to live your life.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You're Gen X. Yeah. I was saying to someone, because we were the forgotten generation, and everyone was like, I was shitting.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And I was saying to someone, if you look at the Carl Sagan thing of we live in the greatest envelope of history ever, like of the billions of planets and the billions of years of this planet, like we live in this final time when there's oxygen and there's water and you can fucking eat and you can fucking, you know. And then I'm like, okay, if you look at that,
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then go, the best ever time has been like our little window. Like you're born in the 60s, you grow up in the 70s, you're fucking free to go play in the creek and fucking go hunting and fishing and all that shit. And then, you know, no parental supervision. But there's never been like a major fucking warning. We're not getting pitchforked in the stomach.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You know, food has been like for the first time really in history, food is now everywhere is good for every kind of, you know, like quality wise, you know. Mm-hmm.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
uh travel luxury international travel like being able to do freaky jobs rather than work in a factory like all these things happen for gen x and god knows if it happens again because ai is going to be all human endeavor done by machines and environmental shit and fucking, you know, the world is changing in ways we can't even fucking imagine.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I have young kids and all the parents were clucking like hens about not learning math. You're like, AI is going to change fucking everything. And so I'm like I was talking to someone and saying it's ironic, but Gen X actually lived in the greatest historical window of all time potentially. And so I'm not going to just fucking not enjoy that.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I'm going to go out there in life and just be like I'm literally living in the greatest single fucking window in the history of history.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Coin the terms which is you know, like there's the intelligence agencies or the Pentagon Career bureaucrats who by the way go back and forth. It's a rotating door. They go to Raytheon They go to Boeing they go and they get the contract trillions of dollars and they act in cahoots with each other and you're like Yeah, that makes total fucking sense.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Also, people say shit about fucking restaurants and shit. Everything. And I'm like, yeah, it's fucking great.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It was near our old vice office, and we, when we didn't have any money, the hack was you go there, order lunch to go, and you order the burger because it's all the ends of the steaks, and the fucking killer burger, and you take it down to the river, and you look at Manhattan and have this $5 burger at the time, and you're like, This is the greatest fucking lunch in the greatest city.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I fucking love it here, man. If I can make it there. And I was like, fucking New York, man. This is Peter Luger fucking burger and fucking there's Manhattan and we're going to fuck.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then if they have Something that needs to happen You have all kinds of people Who will do that thing for you. Yes. So it's not bureaucrats in the CIA.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Or 1824, when you go get stabbed with a fucking bayonet and die of gangrene. It was fucking unpleasant. And you're eating shit. You're shitting all the time. Everybody weighed 120 pounds because there was no food. There's no food.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's it. Yeah? You know, it's... You actually... I'm going to paraphrase you, so you got to tell me the exact quote. Okay. But you said... COVID was a fucked up time. And I went in thinking that vaccines were the pinnacle of human technology and came out thinking that the moon landing wasn't real and Michelle Obama's got a dick. And I was like, that was me.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then when we moved to cities, we're like, you know what? Now we got it figured out. We'll just put it in pipes. It'll be beautiful. Lead pipes. We'll just put it in. Well, now it's PVC pipes. Everyone's got plastic in their balls. Well, that's the other problem I wanted to talk to you about is don't you freak – because when I first started studying politics, you have to take stats.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And they're like – there was a southern dude teaching me. He's like, you can have a statistic to prove anything. And my thing now is – and this is what I became interested in. It's like all the – this is why I started with RFK. Everyone has all the stats and then they give stats so forcefully that you believe them. Like, well, that sounds fucking thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And there's stats about this and there's stats about that. And all the stats are bad. There's no good stats.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, and if you look at the sort of coefficient of hundreds of years ago, Elon brought that up and I remember looking at that going oh yeah fuck we're doing good yeah which is when I got into the Carl Sagan shit we're actually living in the greatest fucking window of all time where's the fucking anxiety coming from and I don't know who said this but I think it was I don't know who said this but
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Work satisfies need, desire, and sanity. Like you need to work for food. You know, desire because happiness is going forward. Yes. And then sanity is if you don't fucking work, you go crazy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, you're exactly right. So actually, when I was spending a lot of time in Silicon Valley, there was a lot of this talk, and they're talking about universal living wage or basic wage. And I was like, what are you fucking talking about? You're going to give everyone 100 grand? And they're like, well, the synthesis of AI is all human endeavor done by machines. I'm like, wow, come on.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So I was kind of the skeptic. This is 10 years ago. And now all of this shit has come true. They were already thinking about this back then because they're also saying exactly what you said, which is let's say quantum computing happens and AI at the same time, which is probably three years away. One quantum computer has enough computing power that all the existing computers in the world today.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then you add AI to that. So there's a whole new. fucking tech revolution where it becomes even more rich people who own shit and even more. So they're like, unless you take care of those people, they're gonna come, because we're the nerds, they're gonna come with the hammers and the currency's gonna be bullets, it's not gonna be chips. And so it's Planet of the Apes.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
We're already into it. I can just see the fucking tweets. Fuck the tweets. But for sure, I found that fascinating. So I started doing the snipers. We got the sniper. Fascinating dude. He has the longest confirmed kill, 3.5 kilometers. So we started just talking technical shit. And you're like, okay, could it be done? And the sniper's like, what do the snipers have to say?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You got fucking people on one side here and the big brains on the other side. And you're like, oh, they already knew this. They were already thinking this because they're like, we're gonna buy them off. But people are going to go crazy if you buy them off.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And buy them off because they're afraid that they're going to come take their shit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's harder. That's exactly right. It's a revamping of the education system because you're saying, well, all of these – we were – and this is another great thing on Gen X – We were built to be workers. Universal education is supposed to just be enough so you can be a good worker and a good taxpayer. And you get a job. And then, by the way, you get out of college and you already have debt.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Then you buy a consumer durable. You buy a fucking car. You buy a washing machine. And we'll give everybody that. But we give you debt. And then you buy a house. And then you're in debt. And then you finally get out of debt. And then you die. And so you just work, work, work, work, work. And by the way, you're exactly right. You had to get a job, J-O-B, not F-U-N.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's just you go and you do it and they give you money.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But that's not true because all of this human endeavor is now going to be done by machines. And you're like, okay, now what do you got? And I agree 100%. It's going to be something that we can't even fathom, which is what do you really like to do? What do you love doing? By the way, building a table is worth more than fucking being a corporate executive.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Like, that's what we have to teach.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then we got to the head of the guy who trained all the Secret Service people. Actually, we got Trump's head of security for 18 years, personal head of security guy. First time he ever talked. He was great, great guy. Keith Schiller. And then we got into it, and then everyone started talking about the deep state, deep state, deep state. And I'm like, what the fuck is the deep state?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. What? Well, the smartest thing anyone ever told me about money was my old man, and he said, life is like a shit sandwich. The more bread you have, the less shit you have to eat. This is a guy, the only dude who ever lost money on insider trading. He was not good at money. But it's true, the one thing that you do notice when you get a bit of cash is people are fucking nice to you.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
They're nice to you. And when you don't have money. Not online. Not online, no. And you realize, oh fuck, people are not nice to you, in general, a lot of times. And you're like, that fucking sucks. And yeah, when you get a bit of money, a bit of success or whatever, people are a lot fucking nicer. And that's the one thing that, that, you know, that, that I, that I remarked upon in my life.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
The rest of it's all garbage. The rest of it's all bullshit. But, but, but, but people being nice and like, you know, not shit, not sucking. Yeah. Is that's pretty good.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's the number one struggle for everything. For everything. Well, this is why we're getting – bring it up. I had the exact same moment in my life. I never had any money. And then I'll never forget it. I was walking down the Ramblas in Barcelona because I was living there trying to set up Vice Spain. And I went in a bank machine.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And we had done some deal, and it was the first time I got paid any money. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was, you know, same kind of deal, like six-figure thing. And I took out the money, and I went – Like my life changed. I still remember how it smelled. I still remember. Because my life changed. It was the first time I didn't have $28 in my bank account. Right. And I just went.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Just everything. Like you said. Weight lifts off you. Weight lifts off you. And that and humans don't like to go backwards. But yeah. Living in that sort of constant fear. That's the problem with money. Yeah. And that's why there is a chance. And it was good you brought that up actually. Yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Like, I know what the deep state people think is. That's the other thing is online, everyone has so many givens. You know, like in math, one plus one is a given. So there's so many givens. You're like, well, let's look at the givens. Like, what is the deep state? So I met, I literally went after the guy who coined the phrase and he's like, and I'm like, oh yeah, that sounds completely.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
that, like, you can kind of take this any way, you know, like humanity can take the next, let's say, 20 years any way we want to take it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And you can take it to be like, let's fucking learn from what we've learned and be positive and try to take this as a fucking thing where humanity gets better and we do this in the right way rather than just do a fucking knee-jerk reaction, freaking out, like, what the fuck's going to, like, I'm sure that you're going to look back at a time when, like social media was fucking up kids' heads.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
We're going to say, that was crazy, dude. Right, it's going to be like smoking. We're going to look at the stock market and go, yeah, it's fucking completely manipulated by supercomputers and trillion-dollar funds, and the little guy gets fucked. Why the fuck did we let that happen? There's going to be all kinds of coming-out-of-the-pond moments where we go, hey, we were doing it wrong.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But there's this big chaos is a ladder. There's this big... you know, chaotic time right now. And you're exactly right. And people getting anxious about it and everything. And you're like, yeah, we got to use that as a time to say, Hey, why don't we fucking have an economy where there is a universal basic wage and or living wage.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And we take that to doing shit where you do something that you like and, and you're, you're, you're, you're happy about because that your job is probably going away.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I mean, I know those guys like that sounds completely believable. And then, so when you believe that, then you start saying, okay, well, how do these things look? Like, what do they look like? It was fascinating. But I mean, look, I'm into all this stuff and then you're there like all day, every day doing it. It must be, it's fascinating. I love it. So I did get sick, my long-winded answer.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
People were like, why are you spending so much time doing video? That's so stupid. Nobody watches video. Everyone says no.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, I think you're 100% right. But I also think, especially with kids, now is the time to start saying exactly that. Yes. Listen. Yes. I did what I wanted to do, and the same thing. Everybody told me no. Everyone told you no and all that stuff, which, by the way, when I heard them saying no, like when you're like, I'm going to get into fighting. Yeah, no. No, you're not. I'm going to do comedy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, no, you're not, dude. You're not, dude. Oh, now I'm going to get into podcast. What the fuck's a podcast? You're not going to fucking. I can hear them saying no in my brain.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But, yeah, so everyone said no to me. But so now I agree you have to go to kids and say, look, dude, do whatever the fuck you want. Do what you're good at. Do what you're passionate about. Do that whole thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Which is not what school does. It cuts off the tall trees.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And everyone told them not to. It's like a reward for getting out of that fucking quagmire of bullshit and mediocrity. And that's what we, it's got to be the Smith Rogan Academy and just say, look, don't do any of that shit.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Fucking do what you love and also find shit that interests you and go do that because I didn't do that for a while. It's like a fucking purgatory.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Not over Medicaid or not Medicaid at all. Yeah, not Medicaid at all.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, that's when I go back to this thing of you want to talk about meditation is whenever you get angry or anxious, whatever, say, look, you're living in the greatest fucking window of time ever in the history of fucking time.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So what are you waiting for? The better window of time? Right. It's not coming. Right. And so when you put it in a sort of grandiose perspective, you're like, I'm going to enjoy the fucking shit out of today because this is the best day in the fucking world ever.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But not only in the world, in the history of the world, but in the history of every other planet that we know about.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You should. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. I feel like that every time I come back from somewhere. And that's one thing about reporting is you come back and you're like... You really fucking enjoy, you really enjoy life.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's also one of the only countries you realize, guys like us, you have a kick at the can. Yeah, right. Most countries you don't have a kick at the can. You've got the wrong last name, the wrong accent.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And like England, Europe, if you're aristocracy, then you had everything. And if you weren't, you had nothing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
There's some stat like, again, going back to stats, but there's some stat like 80% of the world's wealth is inherited and by 2045 it's going to be even higher. And you're like, oh, fuck you, forget, because we come from, oh, we made money or Elon made money or fucking Larry Page made money or whatever. Those are the real rich guys, Bezos.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But the majority of the world, it's like, yeah, my parents had money a thousand years ago, so I have money today. That's so crazy. And that's how you make Joffreys. Well, that's how you make fucking Game of Thrones. Yeah. That's how you make lots of them. Yeah. You make monsters. Monsters.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And so, so yeah, like you come here and I'm like, I'm an immigrant and I came here and I'm fucking, I was the ambassador for fucking New York. I'm like, I, I came here with no fucking shoes. I'm a billionaire. I fucking love it. It's the greatest fucking city in the fucking world. Fucking amazing. And the Canadians were like, because the Canadian identity is like we're not American kind of thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And I was unapologetic. I went to New York. I'm like, this is the greatest goddamn city in the fucking world. Which it is. And then I moved to L.A. when I had kids. I'm like, well, this is pretty fucking nice, too.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I love Canada. Hey, don't get me wrong. I love Canada. Canada's a great place to grow up.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, look. I've seen a lot of things happen in Canada where, to me, it's government shouldn't run things at all. Like if we can stay away from it. What does that mean? It means like universal health care. So when I grew up. It was good. You could go to any hospital. The doctors were all good. Some of the best doctors in the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then because they didn't manage it correctly and it got too big, it got too good. Like 80 cents of every dollar was going to managing it rather than the doctors. So they left. They came down here. There was a big brain drain. And now you can't get a doctor. You have to sign up and wait for three years. It's like the NHS in the UK or something.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And it just doesn't work because the government is too big. Once you get the government involved, it becomes like a welfare program. You're just paying all kinds of people to work on the thing, but no one's doing the actual thing that they're supposed to work on, the health care.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So it's a problem. But my later stages in life, to get into this and to get into the American political – system and the bullgoose loony that is this political cycle and this electoral cycle and Canada and what's happening in Europe. I really get this feeling, and maybe we're going to get into it on this, but
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
When I was younger and I was studying stuff, I always feel like I would love to go back to being in college because when I was in college, I just wanted to get out. I wanted to get out and make money and stuff, and I just did everything to just get the fuck out. And now I'm like, if I could just read books and talk to people and then write about that, I'd fucking – where do I sign up?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I'm just thinking about shit. So I fucking would love to. It's wrong timing when you're – but anyway. But I used to study – I loved philosophy. I loved politics. When I first came down to America and I had been studying American politics,
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Bubba Clinton was a consensus politician, reduced the size of government, took the largest deficit of all time, turned the largest surplus of all time, and then Bush got in, turned the largest surplus of all time, largest deficit, increased size of government, and I'm like, no one said boo. No one said anything. And you're like, the whole fundamental principles of the Republican Democratic Party.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Immigration. Before Trump, there's none more Reagan than me was the calling card of the GOP. Reagan was the best President for immigration. If you're an immigrant ever, he was super pro immigration and the Democrats were against it. They completely switched their platforms on it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And you're like, to me, when you look at America, you say, OK, it's a republic. It's two party system. They're always in power. Two party system, you're always in power. You're always in power or you're fucking trying to control the house. And you're like, is it all much ado about nothing? Is it all a political, like bread and puppet theater?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's like, this is super fucking important for you to watch over here to give you some sort of thinking that I have some agency that I can vote and it's going to fucking matter about anything. Whereas, what the fuck really changes on the big shit? Like, what the fuck really changes on the economy? What the fuck really changes for any of the shit that we're talking about?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
About school, about education, about big, like the other shit you talk about, which is fascinating and it's great that you do it, about big pharma, big food, big education, military, industrial, what the fuck really changes in that?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Very little. Politically. Politically. Politically, America is set up to do very – the American government is set up to do very little and do it very slowly.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You interview a lot of people who tell a lot of things that people don't get at other places.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Aliens. Let's get into aliens. Comedians. I want to know what you know about aliens.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Sorry. I'm going on. I want to hear the end of that thought.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yes, but that's been... See, this is the thing. That's been since the fucking beginning. It's nothing new. I forget who it was, but... I was talking to somebody who goes, what is news? What is news, Shane? You know who Reuters was? You know who Reuters was? He started Reuters to start a newspaper to say fuck you to his enemy, blah, blah, blah. He just bought it. He was just a rich guy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I can't do his accent anymore. But basically he got incensed with me because he was just like, that's what it always was. Some rich guy would start a newspaper just to say fuck you to the other rich guy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, because he was on the cover of the New York Times. What is it? You can't be on the cover of the New York Times 18 days in a row. And he was on 13. Was he? Something like that, yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But I'm just – no, what I'm saying is there's always been money in politics and there's always been money in media. It's just now it's more obvious than ever before. And now you're right. There are agendas. So my whole thing is like I'm an immigrant, but I'm nonpolitical. I'm literally serious. Like I believe in the game. I like the game. I like watching the game.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And that's why I say, like, I like to take a look, like, okay, there's this whole fucking thing going on over here where the status quo doesn't change. And I think you and I are like, look, that's what has to fucking change over there. That's the real power over there. Yeah. This shit for me becomes, and it's funny because this is like, I don't know what I'm showing up myself.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I don't know what the election is. 53, 54, something like that. The 54, 54.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So we're on season 53. Right. And that's why you have to have the craziness. You have to have two assassination attempts. You have to have fucking Biden. By the way, Biden has to be kicked out mid-election. And we're going to get... You're like, oh, season 53, the Fonz is jumping the shark, but the shark's being eaten by piranhas. Not only that, Biden's wearing a MAGA hat. Yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. There's so many of them. There's so many of them. But I love memes. Oh, my God. I love memes. I fucking love memes.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And how fast and hard. You want to talk about creativity and art. Like, some of them are so fucking good. And so quick. And so artistic and so quick. You're like, how the fuck did they fucking do that one? Like, I fucking love it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So I'm just like it's like there's so many of them now. And so anyway, that's like I was during during during. I don't know if that's true. During COVID.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But that's the whole thing, too, because she sat at, because I've sat in that room. Like, you can go and you can sit in the room.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, he wasn't, but I don't think she was running the cabinet meeting. Oh, because that's what I'd heard. Yeah, that's what people say because there's a picture of her there, but she's not running the fucking cabinet. Why do you want to ruin a great story? This is fun. It's fun if she's running it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Tell everybody what the fuck to do. The thing about it is... I'm married to a goddamn president for one more month. If you want to look at the greatest time of the Republican Party when Reagan was president... It was his cabinet. His cabinet was exceptional. And because he had dementia, but his cabinet was- Not initially, he didn't. Not initially, but later on. But his cabinet was running America.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It was fucking great. Right. The cabinet should run America. I'd rather have the cabinet run something of professionals, people who are designed to do that, rather than one fucking person who's going to go, yes, no, yep, yep, that's great. They're the fucking queen of England, and they're supposed to be the queen of England.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
To stop the actual shipment – sorry, to figure out that they use this type of analog pager – stop the shipment, and then get them to all blow up at the same time. And wait months. Wait, wait, wait months.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's about, like, we can't win a war, so we're going to assassinate our way to safety.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
In our shit. That's got to be terrifying. Well, just recently they got the head of Hezbollah and then the second head and then the third head within like three or four days of each other.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, that's true. I actually talked to one of the guys who owned that company. If you want the hack for Pegasus, I don't know if it still is, turn your phone off repeatedly because every time you turn your phone off, they have to re-put the Pegasus in.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's all gone, folks. It does not work. Security, encryption, Bitcoin, your credit cards. Oh, you're fucked. Absolutely.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's all digital and soon, very soon, there'll be no digital encryption. There'll be no digital safety at all. By the way, you're talking about money. One of the most fascinating guys, I think you talked to him too. I went to Russia and I hung out with him at the Metropole, which is funny because it's famously every room is bugged because it was the only place they let foreigners stay in Moscow.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And so we were at the Metropole, we got into surveillance, but he opened my phone and he was, as we were having the interview, just showing me how they can turn on the phone and how to take out this part and take out this camera and do this and do that. Just as he was talking about overall government surveillance of everybody, which, by the way, I don't think a lot of people know what he did.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
He said, look, the American government is illegally spying on its own people. Oh, yeah. And, by the way, hadn't told him. Illegally. They weren't allowed to. The mafia guys, they had to get warrants from judges and shit to fucking bug those cars. Now they don't have to get shit. They don't need shit. They have fucking planes with NZ catchers flying around.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Oh, yeah. So that's what they're going to say. So not only do your money... But, like, your whole search history, whatever's in your fucking computer. I tell my kids, like, your phone is your whole human archive. And at some point, someone can take that thing and say, this is, you know, evidence or this is this.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So, like, you have to make sure that your phone is, like, you have to always be thinking.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's another thing. There has to be tort reform. Anyone can sue anybody for anything and not have to pay their lawyer. The lawyer can take 50 percent of the. It's extortion. And it's just it's it's I don't know. Something has to change there because they're just sitting there suing people because they can't.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, the problem with quantum is it's going to be, okay, there's a whole new... So when the sort of West or the North or the rich countries or whatever leave everyone else behind, you know, monetarily, is when, you know... the last 20 years of digital expansion. And we just make trillion dollar companies and they're over here and we make all that money in that economy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Like during COVID, I was like, I became obsessed with social media and X and like just looking at shit and whatever. And I'm like, what's true, what's not true? Because everybody's speaking so forcibly. This is one question I wanted to ask you. You talk to all these dudes all the time. One of the things I miss, I would be talking to people and be like, Oh, this is going off gas now.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then you go to like two thirds of the world and that shit hasn't even penetrated yet. So quantum computing is that on steroids because it's like, oh, there's going to be a whole new economy because all the other computers are fucking obsolete. All the security is obsolete. There's a whole new economy being generated. Who's it going to be generated by?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
The ultra smart, ultra early adopters, super like, you know, fucking rich people who can afford the quantum, blah, blah, blah. Right. And everybody else is going even further fucking that way going, there's no more fucking fish. Right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's what the strike was about because I'm doing it with news myself. You can get like – so when you do news, you get like – you have news services, right? So you get a news service. You get a wire. It comes in. You go, oh, fuck, there's a – somebody fucking blew up the car. And you have a news team. So you send out shooters and you send out a producer and a fucking – you know what I'm saying?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then he comes back and I would say news should be called olds because you're just sitting there three days ago. Something happened by me.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
With AI, it comes in right away. This just happened in Gaza. You can have video. You can have, you can say, I want Walter Cronkite in black and white reading me my news from Reuters, right? Right. It can be Peter Jennings circa blown out color from Vietnam era. It could be nineties era. It could be, I want Pravda Tass fucking Russian Soviet. You can pick your own newscaster and,
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Reading you verified news, right, right away before anybody else, before Fox, before fucking MSNBC, before CNN, before anybody, BBC, anybody. And you're like, why wouldn't you do that?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So, of course, but if you take that a step further, everyone can become their own, you know, movie director because you can just plug in your story. You want to talk about art, you can plug in your story. Make a movie.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
If you were AI now and we're looking at the shit we're doing, you'd say, yeah, these guys don't know what the fuck. We've got to take them. They're not good for this planet. Yeah, we would corner Zelensky and go, what are you up to? No, I'm not saying that. Where's all that money going? I'm saying like you have a news, like you have a service comes in. It's still people, but you have news service.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then AI can make the images or can make the video or whatever. But, I mean, look, when you look at media, you're like, oh, that's why the strike happened, because they know. Everyone can make their own fucking movie. Everyone can make their own TV show. And that'll be the thing. It'll be like individualistic creators. It's not going to be big studios and shit anymore. Yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But that's just media. Like, it's going to be every fucking business.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Smith and Ricardo, who wrote The Basis of Capitalism, they're like, yeah, well, you know. They were both apologias for the Industrial Revolution. That's what you call Marx. But they were like, yeah, you know, the blueberry pickers will have to move to the cities and become iron mongers. And, you know, that'll happen. And they're like, well, blueberry pickers can't, like, forge iron.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And they go, well, you know, a generation will die, and then they'll figure it out. Right. So that was the problem. And, you know, that's going to be the problem with AI is like there will be this thing of like people moving to building tables or making art or doing whatever. But there's going to be this is why I think our kids are maybe OK.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But like when you said what I worry about is the 40 year olds sitting there who bought it all, went to high school, went to college, did all the shit. got the fucking job or sitting there, you know, trying to climb the ladder and that's all going to go away.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And coding and that's, and you're right. Like don't become an alcoholic. Cause like, it's probably the biggest freeing thing ever, but like, yeah, there has to be, okay. Like just pay that fucking person.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
so that they don't lose their fucking house because if you start losing your house if you Smith and Ricardo it and start losing your house which is my long winded thing to go there has to be some sort of weird social thing about it because if you just let them fucking die off They're not going to die off. They're going to say, yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Overwhelming. Some of it. I love because it's like, wow.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You know, I didn't know that. And you find out it's true. So you're like, wow, that's pretty funny. Yeah. And then a lot of it, you're like, what the fuck? And that's not true. And you're like, oh, yeah. And so, by the way, a lot of people have an axe to grind. That's the other problem is CCP, Chinese Communist Party, are openly saying they're trying to fuck with our social media. Oh, they were.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
As is the Free Syrian Army, as are the Iranians, as are like... As are we. As are we. We are fucking with it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Also, if you go to Russia, they're like, yeah, you have the ruble. We are trying to fuck with you. Yeah. We're definitely trying to fuck with you. Of course. And you're like, okay, so if you're openly trying to fuck with us. And by the way, can you imagine if the Chinese Communist Party is spreading propaganda that there's $28 Big Macs,
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Then what are they going to do when they have quantum computing? Right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. Remember when we were growing up, there was a big thing about how you adopt technology. It takes you like 10 years to adopt. What was it called? There was a term for it. It was a big deal in the 80s and 90s about culture lag, tech lag, something. Do you remember this? No. No. It was a big concept when I was growing up anyway.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
To adapt to a new technology. And it was a big deal and- Culture lag, something like that. And there's like the speed with which quantum is going to change. Quantum, sorry, quantum married with AI. Right. The speed with which it changes everything is going to be like... I mean, I don't think we're even going to be able to sort of process that change.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's more mathematically plausible that it's us in the future than we evolved this way and all this.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, I love that. Taylor Wilson, who's like the fucking genius, genius, genius of all genius physicists. He's a young kid. built a functioning fusion reactor in his Reno garage when he was 13 years old.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
He refined his own yellow cake. He staked claims and got uranium and turned it into yellow cake.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
How old is this kid? Now he's 30, but when he was 13, the government took him. I've been there. What a fucking super nerd. He's so amazing. But, like, whenever you want to talk about anything that has to do with physics, he's the guy. But what I love about it is, like, I think he was part of the team. I don't want to get anybody into trouble.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I think he was part of the team where he knew about it anyway. He explained it to me. The guys in Peru, you know, with the fucking most advanced telescope. VLT? Yeah, they're like, the planets are all here, right? And they should be here. They're not in the right place. And somebody had to go, the math is wrong. I like to believe it's him, but maybe not. Somebody said the math is wrong.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And they're like, the math is wrong. That's all of the math. That's like physics is wrong. Yeah, physics is wrong. So, like, because there's too much gravity to keep all the planets in play, they should be fucking flying off. So, like, okay. 90% of the universe we can't see. It's dark matter, dark energy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And there's now these things deep in the coal mines and they have like these baths of some gas, which they can see. They're weakly interacting molecular particles, WIMPs. And they have been this like now the fifth dimension, which is now leading to there's infinite fucking universes and infinite possibilities. So you're not crazy because physics is now saying all of this shit is fucking probable.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So that's one thing. Two is when I was talking to a very smart person, I'm not going to say their name because I don't want to get anybody in trouble. But they're like, look, interstellar travel isn't going to be you and I go on a fucking spaceship. Right. It's going to be – you download your brain into a computer.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It goes via laser into another thing that's got a 3D printer of a human that resembles you or might not resemble you. And it goes and you download and that's how you go these vast distances in space. And you're like, oh. Maybe. But if they're doing that in the future, maybe. I'm not saying that that's it. But if it does happen, then it makes sense that you've got these mixes.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
If you're downloading your brain into a computer... Then it's possible that brain gets mixed up with AI.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, religion, philosophy, also psychology. It all is like, yeah, there's one thing out there. And you're like, what the fuck it is? And that's what it comes down to is consciousness. And as you get older and more mortal and realizing we don't have that much more time. That's the kind of shit. That's why I said it's stupid to think that when you're 19 to study philosophy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Like when you get older and you're feeling more mortal and your brain's open to it, you're like, what the fuck are we doing here? What's it all about?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, this is what I've been waiting the whole fucking time to get into.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's interesting because I, speaking of kids, I believe that humanity is a grand evolutionary experiment because a lot of the things that happen to you are weird. Like when you have a kid, you change. And when men have kids, they change. When women have kids, they change. Kids change. All these things happen. And it's just like this thing of like we have to do it, we have to do it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And it puts you on a path and you're like, are we a grand evolutionary experiment? And if so, why?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
No, those ones burned out. No, the original light bulbs never burned out.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So I cut you off when I shouldn't have because I was wanting to hear you talk to more people who are more connected about aliens than anybody else. So I wanted to sort of mine that a little bit. So it's three-foot-high aliens who we have their technology in Area 54 or whatever.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Also, if they come, then we think, oh, there's the gods, there's the angels, there's whatever.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, that's going to be a problem when people finally find out. They're going to be like, hold on a second now.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. Look, it's interesting. My whole thing is, I don't know, but it's interesting. It's so interesting. And why not, like, look into it? And why not read about it? And why not... I mean, people are like, well, everyone's... This is the other thing. Not just with this, with everything. Everyone's so dismissive about everything.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You're like, oh, wow, you're a fucking wingnut if you believe in that shit or if you read about it or if you want to look into it. I'm like... I have questions. I want to ask questions. Why is it bad to ask questions? Why can't I talk about it? Why can't I think about it? By the way, people will freak out that we're talking about it. And you're like, why?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
We're two guys chopping it up on your front porch and be like, look, let's ask questions. You're an interesting guy. You meet a lot of interesting people, so you are well-informed. Well-informed, I'd say better than, I'd say 90%, 99% of people in the world. Okay, let's talk about it. That's interesting. Yeah. It is interesting.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, because they weren't. Yeah, they were just people. Right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
How are you not interested? What I have, to go another level, is the problem that I have is you're like, okay, we're interested in big pharma. We're interested in big food. We're interested in oil. We're interested in military industrial complex. We're interested in all this stuff.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But if you start talking about aliens or if you start talking about this or if you start talking about multidimensional, whatever, it negates all the other stuff you're talking about. Why? Why?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It'd be really easy to do. You'd have the biggest cult around.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You salt and pepper yin and yang. I saw that on your thing. What was it? The molecule?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So we don't know if that's how it looks or if the scientists made it look that way.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's not clear. Yeah. But it would be fucking cool if it was true.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. So when I went out with Taylor Wilson and he was picking up fucking yellow, like uranium and turning it into yellow cake. And he was just speaking to me like, because we're talking about someone who's interesting. And he's like, well, I mean, we all know that like uranium is like stars, you know, parts of stars that explode and like hit the earth because they flew.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And so we're just taking a star that landed on earth and we're taking a piece of it and then we're releasing its power. And I'm like, I didn't know that. He's like speaking like everybody knows that. And I'm like, wait a minute. Uranium? It's like an X star that blew up that landed on Earth and you can take it and that's how you do it? And he's like, yeah. Well, we are that. We are that. Yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I mean, with that song. We are stars. But uranium is like the sort of the fucking, like the concentrated, you know. And you're like, oh, you're making. By that, a fusion reactor is making a star. So you're making a star out of a star.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
What the fuck? How smart are people? People are fucking smart.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Oh, I think this is what it is. Yeah. Taylor's going to call me and go, what the fuck are you talking about?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, that's why I love to interview people who are much smarter than me because, again, I only understand half of what they're saying, but... It is. I mean, it does. Because we think we know what we're talking about, especially like scientists and physicists and everybody. And then something will happen. They're like, yeah, that was all bullshit. It's all new now.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. It's amazing. It's nuts. I love it. It's nuts. I love it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Can you imagine if they fucking finally find out and they were like, yeah, like Egypt. Mm-hmm. What do you got there? Nicotine. You want one? No, I want, I thought it was one of those on it mushroom things, which by the way, you sent me and I loved them.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's called shroom tech. You sent me a mushroom shroom tech. Yeah, that's a workout one. You sent me some, whatever you sent me.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I don't know if I need it, but you gave it to me, and I was like, wow, this is fucking awesome.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, I knew it was good for the brain, but... The lung thing is more the smoking because it's like when you burn something, you have 3,000 carcinogens.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
For sure. Yeah. He was the most remote human until we found those people in Russia and then like Siberia who had run from Stalin and this family who had gone up into the mountains and just lived there for like 80 years. Whoa. Yeah. By themselves, like made shoes out of bark and like totally self-sustaining up in the mountains of Siberia.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, we just started. I've done, like, five. And, like, again— So you do it once a week? Yeah, it's going to be once a week. It's going to be once a week. And I do—you know, I'm interested in a lot of stuff, and so I'm new to the podcast game. But I—
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I start it's like basically I start out it's like they're long they're like three-parters and it starts out with something I'm fascinated by that's on social media so for example as a reason why I'm talking about this stuff but like you know something can come up and there's memes and like the assassination attempt and then there's conspiracy theories on both sides and I'm like everyone's interested in it why don't we dig into it let's dig in right and
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And so I dig in, and I know a lot of people. I can call them, get access, and talk to them. I just ask questions. Again, I'm not trying to shoehorn anything into anything. I'm just like, what? Just talk. Let's go.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. And so I find that really, really fun, really interesting.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, so I'm doing both. And then I'm just meeting interesting people. And I'll meet somebody interesting, and I'll just say, fuck it, we'll just talk, and it'll just be a straight podcast. And we're just talking for like two hours. Like, Peter Dale Scott blew my mind. And, you know, there's a lot of people out there. Like, it'll be a mix of...
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
big names, but I also want to go talk to the people who are, you know, putting stuff up and where they're getting their stuff and where they're getting their fact, just dig in basically. And you can dig in on the high end and dig on the low. What I've found is if you get into creation of the meme and who's creating it, it sort of starts as a wide thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then it goes down into like some sort of, uh, like a philosophy or something bigger. And then when you get to the people who are like, for example, with the assassination attempts, it got pretty quickly into the deep state. And I'm like, well, let's talk about the deep state because everyone bandies the word around, but nobody fucking really knows what it is.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
If you like want to get into clinical explanations. or have real positive facts about what are the historical evidence that this exists and that they do this all the fucking time. And so I'm like, okay, let's chop it up and get into it. And that was super fun. And so I'm getting into all the stuff that I find interesting online and on social media and saying, let's just get into it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Whatever I'm interested in. Look, I love all of this stuff. So, I mean, right now I'm doing a lot of political stuff because it's the electoral cycle. It's crazy. And there's so much fucking bullshit. And when you see stuff, you're like, where's it coming from? Right. Like, where's this fucking coming from? And you're right. Everyone has an agenda. Sorry.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Like they thought that they didn't know about the moon landing. They didn't know about like.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
All that's real. But there's two sides to that story. That's the one thing, too. Like, 100%. So when I did my dive into immigration... You're like – because the reason why I got into this, you see the gates opening up and people coming through. And I'm like, hold on a second. I've been reporting on the border for, I don't know, 10 years.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
There's no fucking gate where people fucking run through the gate, right?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And then you look into the thing and it's like, oh, yeah, like that was before the border. It's after the border. And they were trying to get to the border because what they try to do is like basically touch the fucking fence so that the border guards will then come so that they can get –
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Not a lot. I think there was a lot of. Inbreeding. Yeah. Oh, God. How many people were there? I don't know. You can look. I don't know. It's like there was six when they found him, I think. And one was like 80 who was the youngest or something. Oh, God. Crazy story, though. Yeah, so they ran from Stalin, just stayed alive. They thought Stalin was still there. Oh, my God.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
processed right and so like the gates open and all that shit and the whole like uh uh open border shit right it's not true what do you mean it's not true it's not they don't have an open border where people are just fucking coming in like look i'm an immigrant like i know how it works you have to come in and have you been down to the south yeah we've been down to the south we've rode the beast we're in the darien gap look hold on before i get fucking in today
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And I'd be like, oh, I was just there. That's not what's happening. Or, you know, this is happening as an Iraq. Oh, I was just there. I love talking to people. I love meeting people. And I love sort of knowing stuff. Like you can just say, well, I'm going to go there. I'm going to figure it out. Right. So I saw this stuff on social media and I was like. Wow.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But there's – on the other side, yes, it's true. So there's an immigration problem, a huge immigration problem, and there are bad people getting through and there are cartels running things and there are illegal people and all that stuff. And by the way, the Republicans have a great message that they stay on. The Democrats don't have a response to that message, right? It's a political –
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
fucking quagmire, but I don't care about the political quagmire. I'm like, let's go down. We talked to the head of the border guards. We talked to both the head of the border guards. We talked to sheriffs. We talked to militia dudes in Texas. We talked to everybody, right? And the problem is there's just fucking shit on both sides and there's no... fucking sanity when it comes to immigration.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
There's nobody really saying, okay, this is what's happening here. This is what's happening here. Yes, this is bad, but this is this and this is that and the other thing. And there's two narratives. And one narrative is there's open borders with rapists and murderers coming in and eating the cats and eating the dogs. And then on the other side, there's no real, well, That's not really happening.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
What happened was they were in Mexico, and now they're being released in here. And here's the stats. 80% come to their meetings, whatever the fuck it is. I'm forgetting the word now. But after they get processed. No, but they get processed, and then they have to come to a meeting and a meeting and a meeting. And the Democrats are like, yeah, it's 85%.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And the Republicans are like, 90% don't come, and 85% do come. And you're like, what? Well, where's the fucking stats coming from? Can we not talk to Homeland? So we reached out to Homeland. We reached out to the fucking committee that runs immigration. We reached out to everybody. And this is why it gets so frustrating is because nobody – like every answer is different.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Every answer is completely different. Sorry to interrupt. But this is why I find it fascinating because there are – especially on immigration – There are so many givens about what shit means. And in actual fact, like an open border doesn't mean an open border. It doesn't mean you can just fucking walk across the border into America. That doesn't happen.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
They're getting smuggled. Or they're trying to get to the border where they give themselves up to border guards who then process them. They become processed. They either get kicked out, they go back, they stay here, and then they get fucking whatever. There's 50 different things that can happen. But like to me, when I saw the open border, so they'll have a tweet, right?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And it'll say, open borders. And they'll have a fucking gate opening with people running through that gate. So you think like, oh, that's the gate to America that people are running through.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It turns out that that footage is all, of course, not true. There are openings in the sense of people can smuggle themselves in through the desert at night.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Well, there's a lot of smuggling. There's a lot of smuggling. A lot of it. I mean, a lot of it is run by the cartels. Yeah. And which is bad. It's horrible. Horrible.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's very bad. Scary. Very scary. But I'm just saying, like, when you get into immigration as a thing, we're getting into it now.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And near the twain shall meet. That's the interesting thing is usually eventually you can get down to something. Right. And on this one, you're like, it literally depends on who you're talking to.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Even if you're tribeless, I'm sitting there going, okay. So they'll talk to them about something. So I remember – When I was interviewing Obama at the end of his presidency, I was like, you know, what are your big, you know, all he wanted to talk about was the Republicans. He didn't want to talk about his presidency.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So I went to go see Speaker Boehner because I was talking about Speaker Boehner, who, by the way, lovely guy, great guy. And he wanted to talk about his thing. And so you talk. And again, there the twain shall meet. And you're like, at some point, you got to get down to this kernel of truth. And on immigration, it's almost impossible to find. Or maybe it is impossible to find.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Look, I believe in ID. I'm just saying. But listen to me.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Maybe. I don't know. I mean, Joseph is everywhere. I know. That's like a Bible.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's something I haven't seen. I'm not denying it. That's something we haven't seen, like personally.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Chamath was explaining this. Long time to vote. Long time to do the thing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. And you have to study, which I did, and I got 100% of my testing.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Look, I'm not going to get too into the app because I only did it through interviews, but the app is an actual thing that tracks the people who come into the country. It's done by Homeland. Sure, but it allows you to schedule. It's Homeland following them around. It allows you to schedule an entrance into the country.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, they're doing it to try to stop the waves of the illegals and making it somewhat legal.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I'm actually not going to defend it or talk about it anymore because I know the app exists and I know what you're talking about. And I know you're right. People do and they sign up to it and they come and they get processed and then they wait for their thing and blah, blah, blah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Look, again, I have no dog in the race. I was literally just trying to get to some sort of, okay, what are the facts? I didn't. That's one thing. I talked to everybody I could on both sides. And again, it's so confusing that even now I'm like... After having, like it's.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It does. Look, it could be a strategy. There's a strategy on both sides for sure. But it's just like it's so fucked up to try to find the facts on this stuff. Right. Everybody has facts. Don't like I'm going to be inundated with one. Everyone has fucking tons of facts. But what are the fucking facts? But what's real? Exactly.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
What are the facts? And that's what I want to do on the podcast. And sometimes you get there and sometimes you don't. And immigration obviously being a very interesting one, and I'm going to continue on it because I'm like, it's not satisfactory. Although maybe that's just the answer. The answer is it's such a fucking huge and confusing issue.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yes. Immigration, as it's being run right now, is a fucking catastrophe. I think we can agree on that. And it has to be fixed.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But how do you fucking fix it if nobody, if it's become so political, and you can get into COVID on this exact same problem. It's become so political that there's no fucking root basis in truth. And people believe on one side this thing and believe on the other side this thing. And fucking nobody's going to meet him in the middle. And you're like, well, what the fuck?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It is, because it's become so big, it is informing policy. I mean, on both sides. Because if you look at what gets adopted as narrative, then the narrative is being written on social media. It's not being written by traditional news. Right. And so... Fine. That's why I'm like, hold on a second. I'm fascinated by this shit. You're fascinated by it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I think pretty much everybody's fascinated by this shit. It's informing policy, but nobody's actually reporting on it or digging in or getting in. Everybody's still, I don't give a shit about the mainstream media.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
So that's what I said. I said, look, I'm just going to go in and try to dig through some of this shit, which, by the way, proved to be a lot harder.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And look, it's fun because there's a lot of people who want to talk about a lot of stuff.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I'll give it to you, man. You did it right. And by the way, surprisingly, maybe not surprisingly, very wise. I'm speaking. I know of which I speak. I didn't fucking do it right. So I'm saying you did.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
We've known each other a long time. Long time, bro. It's kind of crazy. Long time, long time. But it was back in the fucking Tarzana or whatever it was. Just over, what was that, Tarzana? Woodland Hills. Woodland Hills. Yeah. The old days. The old school. Yeah. You got me so fucked up on one of your fucking crazy weed fucking, this is a fucking purple haze fucking white widow.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
It's probably some Joey Diaz stuff. And I remember just like, there's a microphone here. Yeah.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Because a couple of drinks maybe, but I can't, like if when I'm stoned, I'm like, you know, I can't talk.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. If you're smoking it all the time, whatever, you can get through it. But if you're just coming in going- Oh, I'm going to sit down with the fucking number one podcaster in the world and get as stoned as I've ever been.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You lose train and you're like, I have no idea what I'm talking about and I don't know what to come back to.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I got to say, though, those were fucking fun and good days, and you fucking blew up like an atom bomb, dude.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, something like that and like who was like it was like on it and and Yeah. Sponsors.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
What was the one in Woodland Hills? That was the first iteration or second?
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I'm taking mental notes right now because we fucked up a few.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, look, I mean, I could get into the nuances, which are many and boring. But basically what happens is, you know, and I actually called it from the beginning. I said, look, we're going to get too big. And at that point, we're going to become the thing that we're like we were a challenger brand. And we're going to become the status quo. And then we're going to get our asses kicked, A.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah. Tied together. Yeah. Movie theaters. Yep. Rock concerts, comedy shows.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
I'll go further than that. I was driving around our studios in Van Nuys, and I was driving from Malibu to Van Nuys, and I'm like, if you drive through, like, I don't know what that is. That's why I said Tarzana. It's probably Tarzana. It literally hasn't changed a lot since 1924. Right. Like it's like the same houses, same fucking, like, okay, the cars are different, but there's cars. That's it.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And there's phones, but like, okay, there's a bit of technology, but like it kind of is the same street. Looks the same. Looks the same. There's not a lot really. And you're like, okay, a hundred years from now, this fucking looks different. Nothing. Yeah. Nothing like it does today. Yeah. That's scary.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But we will remain. Yeah. We both said like, look, you can either be positivist about it and say, look, let's mold it to be like, great. I can fucking do something I love rather than work in a fucking factory. Fucking punching out, you know, tool and die fucking pieces. I can, you know, go do what my first love was or something that makes me feel filled with joy.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Or we can become fucking autobots who are crying because the fucking online AI driven girlfriend dumped me.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Yeah, it was the opposite. It was no. Yeah. Yeah. Shut up.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's right. You had to take that path. You had to be fucking an outsider.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Otherwise, people would conform, just fucking do what everybody else is doing, be an accountant.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
They've made the wrong choice. Yeah, they don't like it. But that's true. That is true. People want you to fail. They do. Until you succeed. And then they're like, I was always in your corner.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
Everyone's just trying to get through the day. I'm a cheerleader. And again, when people I know or when my friends do well, I'm like, there's nobody happier than me. Like, that's fucking awesome. Yeah. That's just awesome. And when people, you know, fail or have a hard time, we're like, okay, bro, what can we do? Let's fucking do it again. Let's fucking get back on the horse. Let's figure it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
And, yeah, because otherwise it's just a fucking bummer. You're right.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
B I said look all internet is now consolidating and and Media is consolidating and everybody's consolidating because they have to because there's the big five are taking all the money and We knew it was coming, but it came like look I'll tell you another thing in media You know, there's not a lot of people picking shit. Like you get to pick shit because you run your own shop. You're the man.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
That's good. We just started, but I think on YouTube it's Shane Smith Has Questions, and wherever you can listen to podcasts, I guess. All right. But I appreciate the plug. You've got to come on sometime. Always good to see you, my friend. You've got to come on.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
You know, there's all this stuff like but no one's really going after it and saying like as an investigative journalist saying what's real, what's not real, what's true, what's not true. Right. You are. You're getting in there.
The Joe Rogan Experience
#2214 - Shane Smith
But like when you run media, it's like people put on what people watch. That's the rule. Like you just put on shit and people watch it. And then like if you say I want to do this and nobody watches it, then you don't get to say I want to do this that often. So – and we always had a thing where we gave the company over to the interns.