TRASHFUTURE - *PREVIEW* You Have Unlocked ‘Racist Lapel Pin’ feat. Molly White

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

For this week’s bonus, we speak with returning guest and friend of the show Molly White (@molly0xFFF) about the recent upswing in crypto prices and their resultant dumb hype. But also: meme coin generators, Truth Social, another crypto party that blinded people, Baron Trump Harkonnen, and a Verge review of a supposed ‘smartphone killer’ that manages to suck so much that not even the hardest core of tech futurists can defend it. It’s a $700 lapel pin and it’s also… racist? Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/you-have-racist-102554103 *STREAM ALERT* Check out our Twitch stream, which airs 9-11 pm UK time every Monday and Thursday, at the following link: https://www.twitch.tv/trashfuturepodcast *MILO IN AUSTRALIA ALERT* Check out Milo’s upcoming Australian tour shows here: www.linktr.ee/Miloontour *WEB DESIGN ALERT* Tom Allen is a friend of the show (and the designer behind our website). If you need web design help, reach out to him here:  https://www.tomallen.media/ Trashfuture are: Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), Hussein (@HKesvani), Nate (@inthesedeserts), and November (@postoctobrist)

Bitcoin's upside is still kind of limited, even as a store of value rather than a money fool parter, which a lot of the other coins were. And more things want pumping and things can only be pumped if they start low. And so again, newspapers constantly interview people who run blockchain funds and crypto companies for their opinions on whether or not crypto is good. And so this one guy was interviewed from the Delta Blockchain Fund said, the technology tokens are underappreciated right now. In the last three months, Ethereum is up 60, Solana has doubled and other altcoins are also up such as Immutable X that focuses on gaming applications.

All of them focus on gambling applications. And I've looked even further at some of them, right? Which is there's this really interesting thing built on Solana called Pump.Fun. And... Very cool. Aw man. The pump. It's a meme coin generator, right?

Inventors of meme coins? I'm feeling good. For two dollars, you just create a meme coin, and then you just try to pump it, basically. That's it. That's all it does. It creates gambling tokens. You sort of fire and forget these sort of gambling tokens. Perfect. Yeah, more or less. And it's one of Solana's top revenue generating applications.

Of course it is. Yeah, I mean this crazy memecoin thing is like the reason that Solana is relevant again, because like, Solana... People thought Solana was dead with FTX because it was so closely tied to Sam Bankman Fried. And now it's like, oh, Solana is back. And you're like, oh, cool. Why? And you look and it's like, oh, it's because of Jew Bowden, you know, or because of Hillary Trump. Yeah. The Maga coin. Right.

Slur is one of them. It's just is literally a drooling sloth. Yes, slur was very popular. Yeah, because they messed it up so badly and they they screwed up the launch so badly that they set a bunch of money on fire and people thought, wow, that's cool. And they poured more money into it. I mean, this is aside from like, you know, aside from the actual memes on the coins, it's the part of it I have the least objection to.

It's just people having fun gambling. Yeah, exactly. Like I have to like I have some trouble faulting anyone for it. It's like, you know what? Go for it. You're having a great time. Like, but yeah, I mean, sometimes I'm like, why do I even bother? Because, you know, like I try to I try to write about crypto scams and warn people that all of this chicanery is happening. And then I see literally there was a token not too long ago that was like, hi, we're rug pull token. We're going to steal all your money.

And people were like, amazing. Here's ten thousand dollars. Oh, yeah, I saw this. Then they stole it. Yeah, they said they were going to do right. And everyone is like,000. Oh yeah, I saw this! And then they stole it. They just did what they said they were gonna do. Yeah, they took it! Right! And everyone was like, cool! That's barely even a crime. Like... I know.

I don't actually think that is a crime! That's just to go fund me! It's sort of like the opposite of approaching you at walking pace, departing from you at walking pace. It doesn't really classify as stealing if they do say, I'm going to rob you, and you're like, okay, here's my wallet. Yeah, and you look at their Twitter feed and it's like, please don't give us money, this is a crime.

And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And then you're like, okay, here's my wallet. And if they do say, I'm going to rob you. And you're like, okay, here's my wallet.

Yeah. And you look at their Twitter feed and it's like, please don't give us money. This is a scam. Why are you giving us money? Please stop giving us money. We're going to take it all. I just wonder what they did with it. Like, what do you do with money? That's like, well, we did scam this out of people, but they did think it was funny that we scammed them. You spent it on Sloth with Hat, probably. I mean, Dog with Hat versus Sloth with Hat versus Joe Buden. I think like, Trump, another one, Donald Trump.

So epic. Yeah. But it's the, I just, brief aside, by the way, I think there's a little confusion as to if Donald Trump funded his business comeback from any, like, it was a meme stock rather than a meme coin? Yeah. He was selling NFTs, so. Yeah.

And this is always the thing with Trump, right, I feel like I can see the edges of the simulation with him, right, because there's so much stuff that I feel only exists to get him out of one of the many jams he has gotten himself into. Whether that's the NFTs, or whether that's the meme stock, or whether it's a friendly car dealership billionaire being like, I'll pay you a bond, or whatever. Because he is inexplicably a man of, like, terrible destiny, and cannot be thwarted by mortal power. Yeah, he is the American Quissar Tatarac.

I feel like... Basically. He's using the Benegessor voice, but it's just his regular voice. Mother, mother, gimme the water. Hand me the water, mother. Give it to me, give it right to my hands. Hey you, get up, cut my buns, get me outta here. A terrible jihad would be waged in my name." So what we're suggesting here, following this to its logical conclusion, is that Baron is

gonna rule over us as, like, part worm. I mean, he's like halfway there, height-wise. He's very tall. Worshipping the throne of my father's extremely weird skull. They're worshiping the throne of my father's weird skull. In my Fremen legions they're taking them to paradise. I do like that in this impression Barron Trump sounds exactly like Donald Trump. Oh, sorry, I was continuing to do Paul, but...

Does that make Biden his kind of Phaedra, Arthur? Like, he's like, coming up through the endless gladiatorial combat of the Democratic Party. Well, it was only fighting rigged games against drugged opponents. Yeah. There we go. Basically holds up. Sorry, I got... Because we haven't talked about Truth Social, I wanted to shoehorn it in, because I think

it is very funny that Providence handed him a meme stock that people bought because they thought it was funny. And that was... I don't know the specifics of the financials was funny, and that was... I don't know the specifics of the financials of it, but that his like, thing he made because he was mad at Twitter, sort of he accidentally turned it into, if not a legitimate business, then at least something that was worth a lot of real money for quite a while. ALICE This is the thing. When he became the American

Kwazars Haderach, Donald Trump gained the ability for the first time in his life to make a money because it's worth nothing. And people were like, take my money. You know, like everyone, everyone looked at the truth social spec or whatever it was and was like, oh, this is absolutely worthless. This is going to go to zero. And yet now, you know, the he is paying for his enormous bonds because of the success of people just saying, I'm going to put money into this thing that's destined to go absolutely terribly.

It was worth more than Twitter for a while. On paper. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Of course. I mean, yeah, obviously. I mean, I don't know. I think I've had grocery shopping trips that might be worth more than Twitter is right now. That's a good point. Anyway, anyway. Sorry. That was a digression, a digression because I wanted to talk about truth social briefly and other things being like meme financial instruments. But just going back to it, it's interesting to look at the times that Bitcoin has spiked before and it's spiking now and speculate as to what will emerge around it and who will get suckered? Because inevitably it is the public sector,

average people, and the story just repeats again and again and again. And that's who the narrative really is for, right? I wanna read something. We've talked in the past on this show about this company, Humane, which I'll refresh all your memories about, created something called The Pin.

And The Pin was supposed to be for the iPhone, Stephanie Humein, which I'll refresh all your memories about, created something called the Pin. And the Pin was supposed to be for the iPhone, what the iPhone was to the Motorola Razr. It was supposed to be a kind of smartphone killer that you wear on your lapel and is entirely based on large language models and AI. Yeah, I vaguely remember this. Molly, Hussein, do you remember this thing? I don't, unfortunately, but I'm interested in recalling it. Yeah, I'm familiar.

So when we talked about it, it was the brainchild of like, two ex-Apple people who decided- Much like the entire human race in the creation story. Come on! Listen, you set me up for these things. So Imran Chowdhury and Bethany Bonjorno. Okay, sure. Just a name from a children's book designed to introduce, like, five to six year olds to Italy.

Yeah. So anyway, the whole point of this pin, right, is, oh, instead of a smartphone with a screen that you have to break your concentration to look at, it will just be kind of listed, you can tap it and then you can sort of talk to it like you would a large language model. ALICE This is, like, different kind of nerd visions, right? The Apple Watch is chasing after the kind of spy watch thing, this is chasing after, this is I want a Star Trek com badge. ZACH Yeah, basically. And it's... ALICE It's just fine, I want a Star Trek, like, com badge. Yeah. Basically. And it's...

It's fine. I kind of want one. Sure. Why not? And it uses a laser to beam your calendar onto your hand, for example. Fine. Whatever. This kind of thing. Yeah. Okay. I can talk to my friends through it and stuff like this. It costs hundreds of US dollars. It only works with T-Mobile and Tidal. So you can't play music

on it. You can't make calls unless you're on T-Mobile and listening to Tidal. If you're on a call as well, it operates through a speaker system, so you have to talk to it because it doesn't have a screen or any other input setting. computer? Yes, exactly. ALICE This is the problem with so much of this stuff. To an extent, true of AppleVision and stuff as as well, it requires a high degree of social confidence, and the people who tend to be early adopters of tech are very anxious people

in social situations. RILEY So, anyway, catching you up, that's what it is. The Verge has finally got their hands on a review of it, and this is the review of someone who desperately wants to like something. I never trust tech information from a place with a logo with like three multicolored triangles. I just love that very specific niche of tech review though that's like, I want to like this so badly and yet it's impossible.

So, the article begins. Humane has spent the last year making the case that the AI pin is the beginning of a post smartphone future I came into this review with two big questions about it. The first is the big picture thing, which is is this anything? and In two weeks of testing I've come to realize that there are in fact a lot of things for which a phone kind of sucks Often all I want to do is check the time or write something down or text my wife and I end up sucked in by TikTok or by email or whatever notification is sitting there on the screen. Anyway, fine, right? The phone is actually an inconvenient way to interact with some information some of the time. So that's like the main

thing. Is this going to replace your phone? And the writer goes on. The AI pin is an interesting idea that is so totally broken in so many ways that I can't think of anyone who I'd recommend spending $699 to the device and the $24 monthly subscription." In a response to this article, which we'll go through before we go to the actual road testing of the features, AIPIN and its AIOS Cosmos are just about the beginning of the story of ambient computing, said Imran Chowdhury and Bethany Bonjorno. Today marks not the first chapter, but the first page. We have an ambitious roadmap, new features, additional partnerships...

ALICE This is like peak kind of tech people cope and seize. We know it sucks. We are aware that it sucks. But we are gonna try and make it suck less. METE Yeah, but you have to love it now so you can say I told you so to the other people. ALICE Yes. METE All of this will enable your AI pen to become Yeah, but you have to love it now so you can say I told you so to the other people. All of this will enable your AI pen to become smarter and more powerful over time. It seems like, 20 years ago, not to be nostalgic, but a lot of technological advances would

happen and then it was clear what they would do? Right? But... This is just, it makes you slight, it's like a slight convenience edge, maybe. Or, but also it's like, it's the idea of, oh, it will work when we finally figure it out, like, that's true for crypto, it's been a young technology for the better part of like a decade and a half now. I mean, that's true for everything, right? Like, the infinite motion machine will work once we finally figure it out.

So, so, so, so, like, what's actually wrong with it? Like, aside from the fact that if you're wearing a $700 thing just on you, I can come up to it out. So, like, what's actually wrong with it? Aside from the fact that if you're wearing a $700 thing just on you, I can come up to you and I can just rip it off you even more easily than I can take your phone. Yeah, it's a big rob me sign that you've just pinned to your lapel. So it's not actually pinned to your lapel, it's you put a magnet under your shirt, and then attach the AI pin to the magnet over your shirt. That's even less secure! Well that's sustainable though, at least you're

not poking holes in all of your t-shirts. RILEY And let me tell you something, the main thing it does, according to this review, is get really hot. KATE Oh good. ALICE Okay, sure. I show up to the function with my $700, 700 degree lapel pin. It is white hot. There is a heat haze coming off me.

It is burning through my lapel. It is pretty much constantly warm. In my testing, while it never got painfully hot, even after a few minutes of using it, I could feel the battery. Beautiful review line. Didn't actively harm me.