Sizwe Dhlomo
Appearances
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
When you think about it, Anneli's fear, your fear, and my fear are the same fear.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So, to kind of like break it down in a nutshell, you just got to ask yourself, are you comfortable with the world raising your child? If you were to set your child up into the wild, in the wilderness, which is the world, are you comfortable with the sort of person they'd come back as? Which speaks to your question and kind of speaks to my fear as well.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So now, did you explain to Alake, we'll call this anonymous kid X, why X's behavior is not acceptable in this household?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
I'm also like, damn, man. This is a way to break up with a friend.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
The visitor was sanctioned by the Minister of Tourism, right?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Wow. Because majority of the people that were around me were handpicked by my parents. Oh, we come back to the cousins. Exactly. Even my friends, it was really because my parents are friends with these people. And then they'd be like, we're going to so-and-so's house. And then, hey, okay, do me a favor, my friend. It's not like I sought out do me a favor to be my friend. It didn't work like that.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
But here's my thinking and the approach. And obviously, I think you're doing it well. I think all you can do, look at it like coding. You just introduce the fundamentals, right? To your child. And then tell them... To my computer coding.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Okay. But even with human beings, because essentially it is a system anyway.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Because we're AI. Aren't we all? Aren't we all?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Right. So once you've got the fundamentals in place and they understand them, and obviously you guys are in agreement with what the fundamentals are, then you can go to like intermediate programming and tell them, okay, well, now with these fundamentals that you fully understand, what do you think the right thing to do in this situation is? And then he will tell you.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
And then you go, well, actually, that is the wrong thing to do, Alaka, because if you do that, for example, Isaac, I know you're used to running, but there's a possibility you may slip and you can't get a glass and you will get impaled by this glass. That's why it's rather safer for you to just walk, right? By running, yeah, you save a little bit of time, but with no rush.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Logically, I knew everything. I unscrewed the TV too, but I had logic for it. Okay. I wanted to see how the TV worked. Oh, same with me. And as a result, I was able to fix things at home. I was a guy like, dude, maybe by like eight, I was a handyman at home.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
and my dad understood I couldn't have been the handyman unless I broke my toy but I'll tell you what when things were wrong and I fixed it without him paying a cent boy was he glad I broke that toy okay you see so that's the intermediate you see what now here's the thing now that's it's funny it comes it comes back around to like is there a reward on the other side there's always a reward
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
I'm told I was a highly inquisitive child. I guess I still am, even as an adult, right? And the thing with questions is you're just gathering data points. That's all you do. You're gathering data points. And you're going to later use those data points that you've collected and go, oh, okay. Well, when I asked Auntie Anneli this, she told me this and that. So maybe I should go this way.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
There's a lot of things I never got to experience and still have no inkling. I don't even want to experience them. But I've learned major lessons from other people and their experience of those things. So when you now withhold those answers and you just... Because I said so. You're nipping in the bud by saying, yes, because I said so.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
You are starving Isaac of the data points he needs in order for him to be able to come up with the decision, which will then obviously make sense to him.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
I did that. I thought about that. About what? Taking the car. Why didn't you do it? So, our driveway was like a bit of an incline. So, when I was leaving, I would have been fine. But then when I was driving back, the car obviously would have had like hummed a little bit. Then I thought, what if my dad thinks the car is getting stolen and then he shoots me?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Then I was like, I would rather not take this car.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
I thought, I thought, I thought, you know, what's the worst thing that could happen? He could think the car's getting stolen and shoot me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Until, okay, what's your time? What's your cutoff? I mean, you know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
But our worries are all the same. This is interesting. Okay, so, okay, then let's... But wait, she raised a very good point. We just glossed over it. It actually is the answer.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
She spoke about his self-confidence, right? And belief in himself. Okay. That actually is the answer to everything. because if if for example I don't think it is but finish finish what you said okay it's answer to most things no no but keep going if his self-confidence is strong enough right peer pressure will never be an issue And we know, for example, that Alak is very smart already.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
It depends how well I know you. It depends how well I know you. So with you guys, it's like, okay, you're pushing it now. So we are at the cusp.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
He's super smart. So he knows what right and wrong is. What usually sways people from wrong is the external influence. If he's strong enough and believes in himself, he can say, hey, dude, I hear what you're saying, but that's not how I was raised. That's not how we roll. And so already he's kind of insulated from the external influences of the world.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Not to say he'll never like go wrong, but he's unlikely to go as wrong as other people who are just amoebas and they go with the flow. A lot of people end up in trouble. They're like, yo, dude, I don't even want to be here.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So Joe Biden's got a line, right? Joe Biden? Joe Biden, the rapper.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
This is a rap line also, long before he did podcasts. And he speaks about mama raised me proper, the streets just molded me. The streets coded me, made me a better pedigree. Then he goes on to say things are complicated like Avril Lavigne said it'd be. But that's besides the point. Basically, when you go out into the world, the world will either affirm you or it will challenge you. Cool, right?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So with your fortitude, you'll go there and then you'll be like, no, my friend, that's not how this works. And very quickly, if you're a smart person, you will then learn, oh, damn, I'm wrong about this. However, if you are correct about your ways, the world will affirm you. And then you'll see, okay, this actually works. And that's how people end up rising to a certain point.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
I can see what you said. If you're a friend, you should have said happy New Year.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
I mean, I can't speak to the second part of your thought process because that's more sociology. But the first one, which is economics, that makes sense. And even if you look at any economic textbook, it really just, it dictates that things will be that way. Because capital by its very nature is monopolistic. Right? Right. There are four factors of production, we are told.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
We're told it's capital, labor, entrepreneurship, and then, I suppose, land. But really, when you think about it, there's only one factor of production. It's capital. Because it's capital, you can buy the other three. Right. That's why the effect has been that money has always pulled back to... To money. Yes. Because once you've made the money, you realize, okay, I no longer need the labor.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Now I can build AI and that will substitute the need for labor. Right. Okay. I no longer need entrepreneurship. I can go to India and hire a CEO. Okay. I no longer need, for example, land.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
These are all the things. Capital will always supersede everything in a capitalistic society. So it's called capitalistic. Right. Don't call it labor-listic.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
But Trevor's right in that it's obviously, it depends what sort of person you are, right? It's better to be living in very calm times and steady times.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
But you learn a lot if you're living on the cusp because that's where majority of change takes place.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Yeah. If you look at us, we literally went from NLOG to digital. That alone will blow many people's minds. Yes. Crazy. The things that we've seen. We went from dat recorders to CDs to cassette tapes to VHS to see your bro.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
A revolution, you'll know. Blood will be spilled. Not necessarily blood will be spilled, but you wouldn't be sitting here talking about COVID as a revolution. You'd know for a fact.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Cuban revolution. Yes. Well, Arab Spring somewhat, but regimes change. Yes.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Not necessarily. Not necessarily. They can be peaceful. Like in 1994, South Africa had a revolution, but a peaceful revolution. More or less.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
This is why it's so interesting because all of it actually just boils down to economics and living conditions. Everything you've just highlighted is not a problem if people are comfortable. Yeah, completely. If we're all comfortable, I love AI. Because who wants to work? Yes. Let AI work.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
If we're all comfortable and you're telling me you're going to bring in some Indian guy, hey, by all means, buddy, do the thing there. I'll suggest you have my time. Yeah, that's true. The problem is now when we're starving, they'll be like, hey, man, these foreigners are taking our jobs. That's the problem. That is the problem.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Whereas if we were comfortable, we'd be like, hey, buddy, hey, I've got something here for you. You want to do this? Because I don't want to do it. That's essentially the issue.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
And it can never happen. Wait, you think it can't happen? Never. Prosperity for all. It can. No, it cannot. No, but it can. Let me tell you why it can't happen.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So, Anel is right. There will always be disagreements. What I'm saying is when things are okay, the disagreements are inconsequential. Yes.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So, There can never be prosperity for all because in order for people to prosper, there needs to be productivity and the productivity needs to come from somewhere. Now, what happens is you do get certain instances where there are more resources than there are those that defeat the resources. What it means is the model seems like it's working for a lot longer, but it's really not.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
The model is always deteriorating. That's just the nature of the model. You could be living in the Garden of Eden, but the more you procreate, the more you're going to run out of fruit in that garden.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
The issue is not scarcity. It's about the distribution of resources.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Well, luckily, all of this has been thought of. Even the thing you just mentioned now about water going under your house. Yes. For example, the Romans, because they came up with land ownership, they kind of, they basically had a definition of what land ownership is, right? It'll be, I guess, the square meters or whatever the measurements will be.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
And then it'll be everything on and above the ground belongs to you. Everything below the ground that belongs to the state.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
That's, for example, what our mining laws are based on here in South Africa, right? Yeah. So if the water is flowing on top of your ground, that's your water. But the underground water is not yours.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Now, is it fair? It's obviously not fair, but I hear you.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
It's like Nas' second album. It was written.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So, generally speaking, as you correctly point out, the world is continually deteriorating. Yeah. And I feel like... Wait, wait, wait.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
But obviously, in the cycle, it's continuing to deteriorate.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
It's going to hit drop bottom. Then we're going to need to rebuild. Okay, cool. Now, I worry that in the short term, because life is relatively short, right? To raise a kid in that environment is going to be very tumultuous. And the tools that personally I had to navigate the world, I see those tools becoming more and more useless every day. Can you give us an example of those tools?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
I mean, just general things. Like, for example... Bullying, a very simple example. There used to be a safe haven for bullying.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Okay, sorry. So you're saying. So you could get bullied.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So you could get bullied and then at 2.30, the bell would ring. You'd be like, shoo. That's so great.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
100%. And when you're a kid, you really don't have the broadened vision to know, actually, what I can do is just turn off my phone.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Unless... Don't you feel like our youth kind of primed us for this, though?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Specifically like our youth in showbiz. Dude, we came out in a time where... I guess the review would have been A, the ratings, the show sucks, whatever.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
That's why when I see... The kids that grew up now in the social media age. Yeah. Right. And I see how seriously they take social media.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
I can understand it because for them, they were made by social media. If you're made by social media, you feel like you can be destroyed by social media.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Like, it feels like we're at a peak. So here's the thing. If I'm using Anele's departure points, right, then I don't necessarily want to take it to cancellation and loss of income. I would just look at it as just how humans interact. And the first thing is some people don't know who they are. That's the first thing. Okay.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
In fact, in that analogy... I would think I'm somebody like Tony Hawk. I'm like the geriatric in a skate park.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
I'm reading late. This nigga's even calling me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Then other people know who they are, but they're uncomfortable with who they are.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So now, when you have a conversation, there are certain things that they want to hold back, specifically when they're with strangers, because they don't want the strangers to gain insights to the part that they're uncomfortable with.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
And it could be anything. Maybe you're a freak. You're just like, ah, too much. So your friends should know you're a freak. Now your friends already know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
There's nothing here that I can say that can shock you guys.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So now we have those conversations. Then you go, okay, okay, okay. Turn it back a little bit. And again, it's not because you fear being canceled. It's just, again, there are certain things that are just appropriate and others that are inappropriate. That's all it is.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
You get like inner thoughts and outer thoughts.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So this year, per se, not too much. Last year, I was worried about maybe the possibility of World War III. I don't think that's going to happen now.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Yeah, it's not going to happen now. Wow. These guys fumbled. They foobarred the bank. What? They fumbled the World War III? They fumbled the opportunity to start World War III.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
so you're no longer worried about World War 3 I mean that's a great way to start but in the short to mid term I am worried about the type of world that my kids will grow up in. You've got kids? In theory. Okay. Guys, you never know. Your friends can now announce things. And it's more to what Anile was talking about as well, right?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
Because you can do everything in your power to protect your children and those that you love within the ambit of your circle, but then they need to exist within a community, right? And when they go out... Hey, man, I'm seeing that we're just getting too liberal right now. And some of those things are going to come back to bite us.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
But I'll tell you, I don't think this is anything new. If anything, I just think we need more perspective. Because if you go into history and just look at how each civilization has a lifespan, it usually ends like this.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
So let me explain. Let me finish. You're 100% correct. So all civilizations do come to an end, but it has to be that way so that a new civilization may begin. You just have the kind of perspective now at your age, are you 40, 41, where you've seen things go from where they were to where they are. But it's not to say the world's going to end tomorrow. No, I don't even think that.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
Wringing in the New Year [VIDEO]
But you're 100% correct. Things are deteriorating at a rapid rate.