Latest / Nonsense with cj little and Jeff Parker / EoY Nonsensical Predictions for 2026

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EoY Nonsensical Predictions for 2026 · Nonsense with cj little and Jeff Parker

0:00
Welcome to Nonsense Season 3, Episode 68, our big story and
0:02
our final show of the year. I'm Jeff Parker.
0:04
I'm still. We're off for the next two
0:05
weeks, but we'll of course see you in the new year.
0:07
Yay. This time we are looking at the
0:09
Oracle is out of the office. Educated guesses for
0:12
unprecedented times. Up next.
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Did you know that slop is Merriam Webster's 2025 Word of
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the Year? I had heard that they define
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slop as digital content of low quality that's usually produced
0:22
in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.
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Something people have gotten pretty used to is AI generated
0:27
content, just as everywhere on the Internet.
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Yeah, but. What's so cool about that is
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clearly the fine folks at Miriam Webster.
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Listen to our show. You think our our show is just
0:36
slop? I feel like that got them over
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the top. They were just like, oh, we need
0:39
a word for this. And they were like.
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I'm thrilled we're part of the word of the Year then.
0:42
That's green on the nonsense or slop.
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They just want to give us the free advertising, so they went
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with Slop. We should rename the show slop.
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I'm in just slop. I mean, we start a new season in
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a couple weeks. We could just call it slop.
0:52
Give it a new. Name I.
0:53
I do think it's important though, before we go any further
0:55
in our last show of the year, I have to get like a like an
0:57
errata out of the sorts from from the show earlier this week.
1:01
I gotta get that out of the way. It's not really an errata 'cause
1:03
if we did erratas we wouldn't have a show.
1:05
It would just be 1 errata after another correcting the previous
1:08
errata. So you're already errataing your
1:10
errata. Your errata is not an errata.
1:12
That's your yes meta errata. Yes, it is my meta errata.
1:15
It's really more of a missed opportunity.
1:16
My children, Fortunately, they to listen to the show still.
1:19
Yeah, and they're the ones that caught it.
1:21
It wasn't even me. This episode right now is our
1:24
162nd episode, which is amazing and exciting.
1:27
But what we missed earlier this week was extremely simple.
1:30
It was Season 3, episode 67. My kids heard you say it and
1:35
they immediately went 6767. Oh yeah, in the.
1:38
Backseat, I was like, how did we miss that?
1:40
How did we miss the 6-7 opportunity?
1:42
We're looking to get it once a season at best.
1:44
'Cause I'm a boomer and you're right behind me.
1:46
Yeah, I mean, that is really the answer.
1:47
And I realized that 6-7 is like kind of already jumped the shark
1:51
and my job is to help it get there, push it over.
1:52
So anyway, so my non arata is we just missed earlier this week
1:55
the 6-7 joke that was right in front of us and we could not
1:58
reach out and grab it. Well, probably for the better.
2:00
And on that happy thought, New Year's spoiler alert, CJ and a
2:03
maker. Probably wrong predictions for
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2026. Let's go.
2:06
Robert Evente Incorrecto. Oh boy.
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Man, I start talking about predictions and I just get all
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worked up, all sweaty, hot and bond.
2:30
Take off your shirt there and the music.
2:31
Did you? Yeah.
2:32
I just, I had to disrobe a little because while that music
2:35
was playing, I realized this is we're going to go toe to toe
2:37
here on some of these. Listener, I got a little strip
2:39
show there. You overpaid and he didn't pay,
2:43
which is the funny part. OK, listen, we did predictions
2:45
last year and we had some winners, we had some losers.
2:47
It was not perfect, of course. I mean, it wasn't, it was in
2:49
February. It wasn't really last year.
2:50
I don't know why. I know it felt like last year,
2:52
but we somehow couldn't get our act to together at the end of
2:54
last year, so we did it in February.
2:56
I guess to be fair, there was like a fire, like I did have to
2:59
evacuate. Yeah, the.
3:00
Fire blew out the episode. The fire gonna blow out the
3:02
episode, so whatever, I'm glad we're doing it at the end of
3:05
this year. So we're doing better this year.
3:07
The ones we got right, commercially available roll up
3:09
LCD screens. That wasn't super popular, but a
3:12
laptop came out that had a roll up LCD screen.
3:14
Pretty cool. AI in the workforce becomes
3:16
standard. Yeah, it's pretty much happened.
3:18
I mean, it was kind of already there.
3:19
I think even when we read it, you were like, dude, you picked
3:21
one that has already happened. So you sure we can take that
3:23
one? Wearable eyeglasses powered from
3:25
your phone? Yeah.
3:26
Another one that basically existed when we said it but but
3:29
certainly has continued. I've I've just worn some
3:31
recently that were pretty cool. Were they any good?
3:32
Were they useful? They were very interesting, boy.
3:34
That's a qualified response. Yeah, more aligned with you got
3:38
to set your expectations. They're more aligned with like a
3:40
really modern and non nerdy version of Google Glass.
3:44
So you get a very small focus area that's projected, but the
3:48
resolution and the color and the brightness was exceptional and
3:52
it didn't get in your way. And the glasses, they did not
3:54
make you look like a super dork, they just make you look like a
3:56
regular dork wearing glasses, not like a not like a super.
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Dork who makes these the. The pair that I was wearing was
4:01
from a company called Every Site and they are interesting.
4:04
They're they're doing more of AB to B model to start, but they've
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got some really cool stuff and it's all phone driven, so the
4:11
device is really just a display device.
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But I got to audition their unreleased pair that I think
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they're launching at CES in a couple weeks, which has a camera
4:18
on it and that's pretty cool. So now you can start to have it
4:21
have some awareness of your surrounding.
4:22
That's cool, but it's pretty neat and they definitely had
4:24
these out last year in many capacities.
4:26
You're going to see more of these.
4:27
Satellite Internet services will become more prevalent.
4:29
That happened to I. Would argue this is the one that
4:31
we missed in the other direction it's become even more prevalent
4:34
than I would have expected yeah, you now have multiple countries
4:37
country states that are that are going after this you're.
4:39
About to have multiple. Companies too, yeah.
4:41
I mean, we're, we're, well, we already have.
4:42
I mean, you've already got Amazon who's got a demonstrable
4:45
product up. There, Kuiper's not really a
4:46
commercial product yet it will be.
4:47
Short, yeah, yeah, but I mean you're they're talking about by
4:49
20-30 having over 70,000 satellites in low Earth or Oh
4:54
yeah, that's a function of reduced cost, right And as those
4:55
costs keep going down, these number of sets keep going up
4:59
both. The cost of the satellite is
5:00
getting cheaper and the cost of getting into the space is much
5:02
cheaper. Yep.
5:03
And when we sort of got right was AI regulation.
5:05
Yeah. We, we thought it was going to
5:06
be a little more regulated than it has been.
5:08
There has certainly been some regulation, There's been some
5:11
enforcement under that. Not really a lot.
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I think we kind of got that one probably 1/3 right.
5:15
I think we both expected a little more, but generally
5:17
speaking we're in the right domain.
5:18
And the ones we got absolutely wrong Increased focus on tech
5:21
enabled human interactions. Yeah, that that does doesn't
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seem to have happened. Holographic displays for
5:26
commercial use unless you're Tupac hard no news and
5:28
information communication tipping point.
5:30
That was the one that I. Really, I really did.
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We are you and I were both very optimistic that that that was
5:34
going to happen and that was getting more, more technology in
5:38
how you gathered your news and information.
5:40
I don't really think that's changed at all in the past.
5:43
Year an increased split between return to work and remote.
5:45
Employees, yeah, that just seems like it's getting steamrolled
5:47
more towards. Return to all go and return to
5:50
work. Yeah yeah.
5:50
Return to office. Yeah.
5:51
AI into AI feedback loop in. Increases.
5:54
Yeah, this is one that is hard for me to understand if it has
5:57
or hasn't happened. AI reacting to AI.
5:59
Yeah, basically it seems like the answer is no.
6:02
They've been able to keep that under wraps at least through
6:05
2025. I don't really know, though.
6:07
It's hard until you It's hard to peek behind the curtain to know,
6:09
but it seems like the answer is no.
6:11
AI hearing aids yeah didn't happen now anyone listening need
6:13
that to happen soon. They.
6:14
Can't hear you because they don't have the AI hearing aids.
6:17
It would be. You could kind of maybe stretch
6:19
this a little bit to think about the things that that both Apple
6:22
and Google have released recently around like the the
6:25
live translations that are happening.
6:27
But that's not what you and I thought we were going to see.
6:29
We thought we were going. To see that's not what I mean.
6:30
Yeah, they weren't going to do frequency isolation.
6:32
They were going to actually pick out voices.
6:34
I still think this is coming. Right, we were just earlier.
6:36
Here in 2025. Yeah, productivity augmentation
6:38
through personalization. Tiny bit, but not enough for me
6:41
to call this a win. This was, you know, where you're
6:42
getting your specialized helper like your assistant that knows
6:46
the things you need to do. So sort of a more agentic
6:48
approach. I do think this is this is
6:50
coming real soon, but I don't think we got there this year.
6:52
Portable power. Station I have the scale we
6:54
visioned. You can still go buy big
6:55
batteries that's the thing, right?
6:56
Yeah, buy. Big batteries and there's
6:57
actually even smaller ones that are available now that are that
7:00
are great and price performance is incredible.
7:02
I've got a couple of 300 water and a 500 water that I can just
7:05
plug stuff into and they're really, really lovely.
7:07
They're great. Not the Dynatecs, those are
7:09
bound. Backwards, yes.
7:10
So I was laughing. I figured that's what you're
7:12
laughing at. Mine literally are 300 and 500
7:14
watts. I swear I didn't just make that
7:15
crazy, but I think we were thinking it's kind of a bigger
7:17
scale. Right now.
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You can buy batteries that are like small or big, small or big,
7:21
small or giant. That hookups to the oh you.
7:22
Can buy giant bases. Your options, yeah.
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I mean, I guess if you've got a, if you've got an EV, some EV's
7:26
allow you to to flow power both ways and you can use that as a
7:29
battery for your house. Yeah, but that had that predated
7:31
that. So I, I don't think we've seen
7:32
this yet. I'm not sure there's gonna be a
7:34
market for it, but but we do think it's something that's
7:36
coming. I had my electrician out to look
7:38
at putting in batteries so that I would have my refrigerator and
7:41
freezer. Yeah, smart backup.
7:42
I guess. We figured it all out and he
7:44
looked at it and he goes, do you really think replacing the
7:46
contents of your fridge and freezer is more expensive than
7:50
putting in these batteries? I mean it was like there's just
7:52
no way this works out. Dump out everything in your
7:55
fridge and freezer and just start over.
7:56
It's much cheap I'm. Look at my freezer, well full of
7:59
a lot of meat from different. Countries mine is not.
8:01
My popsicles are easily replaced and my thrifty ice cream I
8:04
think. More often than not about one of
8:06
my freezers taking a dump and then just just being so sad for
8:10
the amount of of stuff that I would lose.
8:12
But at the end of the day, he's right.
8:14
Increase in tech supporting disaster preparedness and
8:16
response well. I mean, look, when we came up
8:18
with this, we had just come out of a fairly major disaster in
8:21
Southern California. I haven't seen much here brought
8:24
to market. My hunch is it's either in
8:26
progress or has been done. We just haven't seen it.
8:28
Yeah, I know there are folks that are working on autonomous
8:30
drones for for like navigating to events, whether it's a fire
8:34
or criminal activity. And that has been deployed to
8:36
some extent. But I think we sort of both
8:38
expected there to be more of that.
8:39
But hey, look, Jeff, that was all 2025.
8:42
Yes, that is correct. That's what that's done.
8:44
It's over. We get to look forward to 2026.
8:46
For 2026, the time for safe bets is over.
8:48
The airhead is a battleground defined by relentless economic
8:51
pressure and the explosion of a genetic AI for an inflection
8:54
point. Will you and your firm ride the
8:56
AI driven productivity wave or be crushed by its competitive
8:59
force? Can companies survive another
9:01
year of geopolitical shocks and unstable supply lines?
9:04
This is not a forecast. This is a mandate for action.
9:06
We've stripped away the noise to deliver some essential
9:08
predictions, challenges that demand immediate, decisive
9:11
strategy shifts. The future does not wait for
9:14
consensus. Read, react and win.
9:16
Sure, OK, True to the nonsense, building the categories for
9:19
today's predictions are going to be business, tech and
9:22
entertainment. And tech can be science and
9:24
innovation as well. As always, we give short shrift
9:26
to entertainment. Yeah, I don't know what we're
9:27
doing to entertainment, but let's let we should just
9:29
certainly pretend. I'm sure we can masquerade some
9:31
entertainment predictions. Box office sales will go down.
9:35
Oh, good job, they're related. Good job Kreskin.
9:37
I mean look with AI and like Sora 2 how much longer is
9:41
entertainment is we not even going to be around like that
9:43
category might just self select itself out of our show.
9:45
Yeah, maybe. Just a reminder, we have to
9:48
choose from hopeful, probable or certain for each prediction.
9:51
And this year we're adding a fourth choice, which is hard,
9:53
no, something that absolutely is not going to happen.
9:55
So you've got hard no and certain, like those are the the
9:58
extremes 0 and one. And then you've got hopeful,
10:00
which is like, yeah, maybe that's gonna happen.
10:02
Like I'd like it to, but I don't see it likely.
10:04
Yeah, sure, yeah, yeah. So you've got hopeful, which is
10:06
like probably unlikely, but I'd love for it to happen.
10:08
And then you've got probable, which is like, I think it's
10:10
gonna happen, but I want to commit certainty to it.
10:12
Is that the basic? Yeah, OK.
10:13
Let's start with business. Do you have a prediction for
10:15
business? Oh, yeah.
10:16
So we talked about return to office.
10:18
I think the sort of flexible two or three days in the office
10:21
model has always been terrible. And that seems where folks have
10:23
been sort of centering on, yeah, I think instead you're going to
10:26
see Anchor days and this, I think this will be really smart.
10:28
All coming in on. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are
10:30
mandatory in office because there's no point in going into
10:33
the office when no one else. There aren't going to be other
10:35
people there, right? And there's barely a point in
10:36
doing it when other people are there.
10:37
But that's a separate debate. So I think you're going to see
10:39
some sort of concept of like anchor days deployed across
10:42
many, many businesses. My mind is blown at the fact
10:44
that that work from home has not been more acceptable to large
10:48
corporations. They really have just resisted
10:50
this tremendously. Yeah, I mean, I like all things.
10:53
I'm sure some small percentage of people have done a really
10:55
good job of ruining it for the rest of.
10:57
Us. I'm going to say probable
10:58
because that just makes sense. Yeah, I'm going to go with
10:59
probably certain on that. I feel pretty confident in that.
11:02
These things are related, actually.
11:03
Yeah. But it's, it seems tangentially,
11:04
but it actually is completely related.
11:06
Commercial real estate crisis will deepen.
11:08
Oh, yeah. Commercial real estate defaults
11:10
accelerate as hybrid work models solidify, forcing some major
11:13
banks to write down significant portfolio losses in urban
11:16
centers. Yeah, I, I, I, I would.
11:18
I'm going to go ahead and call this one certain.
11:20
The only reason I would not be certain is if they're just
11:22
dragging their feet to write it down for for some reason.
11:25
They always do. They drag it out as long as
11:26
they. Can I mean, there was this
11:27
movement around like, hey, we're gonna control these offices to
11:29
residential buildings and I, you know, residential spaces it's.
11:32
Really hard to, yeah. And, and some just can't support
11:35
it. There's just no way to cost
11:36
effectively support it. And I think that that is the
11:39
thing I'm more concerned about is they're realizing that that
11:41
is true. Like, so you're gonna see stuff,
11:43
I don't know, 30 cents, $0.40 on the dollar.
11:46
Like you're gonna see stuff go cheap that they're gonna have to
11:48
write down and just, and just move.
11:49
Yeah. I mean, we already have this.
11:51
There's a decent number of of what I think of as like zombie
11:54
commercial real estate, like stuff that's just empty and dead
11:57
and it's not. Bad drive down Sunset Blvd.
12:00
Not an unpopular St. You always say location,
12:02
location location with real estate drive down Sunset Blvd.
12:04
It is almost more empty than full.
12:06
Yeah. OK, I'm pretty certain about
12:07
that one. I'm pretty certain about that
12:08
one too. Your turn.
12:09
I've got one. I think you're going to see
12:11
emergence of some sort of what I'm going to call proof of work
12:14
software. And I think this is going to be
12:16
to try to fill this glut of knowing if you're quote working
12:18
or not. So instead of looking at like
12:20
keystrokes or some stupid metric like that, Oh my gosh, it's
12:23
going to be some sort of like proof of outcome or deliverable.
12:26
I think there's a good way to do this and a bad way to do it.
12:28
But I think you're going to see some emergence of like a
12:29
standard of this is how we know you've done your thing.
12:32
That gets us a scaler like yes or no.
12:34
You've worked quote UN quote for the week.
12:35
Yeah, those things always strike me as crazy, how you try to
12:38
quantify work other than productivity, other than output
12:41
of what we actually need you to be doing.
12:43
Absolutely. I think productivity is the
12:44
right metric. I think the problem is on some
12:47
things productivity is really hard to define.
12:49
Like if you're bending conduit as an electrician, it's
12:51
relatively easy to go well. That looks complex.
12:54
So we're going to slow, you know, we're going to expect less
12:55
from you and all these bends over here.
12:57
But this other thing is easy. I think it's easier to measure
12:59
productivity. So you get into some of the
13:00
knowledge work that it's just harder to know what that looks
13:02
like. Yeah, you can spend, you know,
13:04
this, you can spend hours, days staring at a problem set trying
13:07
to solve it. And your output might only be a
13:09
limited amount of of lines of code that might not be
13:12
functional, but you might be 80% of the way through the problem.
13:15
How do you measure that? Well, you have the AI measure it
13:16
and finish the last 20% of the code.
13:18
Yeah, I mean that that's what everybody thinks.
13:19
I'm not convinced, but yeah, that's that's where we're
13:21
headed. That strikes me as probable.
13:23
Yeah, I'm going to. I'm going to go, yeah, probably
13:24
probable on that. I feel like someone should
13:26
probable in certain probable, plus I think I called it before.
13:28
I like the idea. My next one is there will be
13:31
more consolidation in financial services like the Discover
13:34
Capital One merger. We're just going to consolidate,
13:36
consolidate because that's what's happening right now.
13:38
You have all you have to do is tip the president with a nice
13:41
$20 million or something like that, and your merger gets
13:43
approved. And so you're going to see lots
13:44
of companies continuing to gobble up other companies.
13:46
Are we still giving him the nonsense Peace Prize?
13:48
Oh, of course, yeah. Who else would you give it?
13:49
To I mean, otherwise we're not going to be able to buy our
13:51
competing slop podcast. Our Slop podcast.
13:54
Are you saying this at any level in particular, like at a
13:57
national level or at a regional level, like regional banks
13:59
gobbling each other? Up or it's hard to know about
14:00
regions. Regionals kind of get gobble
14:02
each other anyway. But I think at a national level
14:04
you will have fewer financial service firms at the end of the
14:06
year than you have at the beginning.
14:08
Interesting. I would go I'd go with probable
14:10
on that too. Your turn.
14:11
I'm going to call this an entry level drought to our we already
14:14
have sort of started to see this.
14:15
I think it's going to ramp up. I suspect you're going to see
14:17
about 1/3 less entry level analysts and like junior coders.
14:22
Yeah, get hired because that's getting hand that out to, to
14:24
more mid level and senior level folks via AI.
14:28
And my fear is it's going to create this big training gap.
14:31
The way you get into a senior role is by starting in a junior
14:33
role. And if you don't have a place
14:34
for the junior role, then what happens?
14:36
Like I understand that the AI can do it, but now you're going
14:38
to end up with this potential glut.
14:40
I'm not saying folks aren't going to get to the the higher
14:42
level, right? That's not what I'm saying.
14:43
I they're not going to get down the same path.
14:45
And I don't know what that looks like.
14:47
And it's going to be really crappy.
14:48
I think it already has been for a couple years and it will be
14:50
for the next few years. For folks that are coming out of
14:53
school with an expectation of doing what people did five years
14:56
ago. Sure, sure.
14:57
Like they've got to redefine what that looks like and I think
14:59
that's great. I think that's opportunity.
15:00
I don't, I'm not like losing sleep for them.
15:02
I just think it's an opportunity for them to to pivot and do
15:05
something differently, not enroll, but in approach to
15:07
getting to that role that makes any sense.
15:08
Nobody graduates college as a senior engineer.
15:11
Yeah, of course of. Course, that just doesn't
15:12
happen. So I like, let's talk about
15:14
software because it's what you and I think of I think the most.
15:16
Does that mean you see more folks working in like open
15:18
projects potentially like a place they can just jump into?
15:21
That could be a thing? Yeah, it's possible.
15:23
And you could easily get from a junior coder.
15:25
I'm out of school. I have no real experience to a
15:28
senior level in a couple of years.
15:30
You know, if you have an aggressive pace in open source
15:32
projects. Yeah, as a potential employer,
15:33
that's really interesting to me. I can see your entire body of
15:36
work as opposed to you being a junior at at Meta for two years.
15:40
I can't see any of your work, so I'm not sure how this is going
15:42
to shake. Out yeah, that's interesting
15:43
you're. Going to see less folks getting
15:44
hired there in those junior roles.
15:46
I'm going to say that I think you're.
15:47
I think it's probable, but I think you're ahead of yourself.
15:49
I think you're. Ahead of timelines ahead, Yeah,
15:51
the timeline is. Going to happen in 2020. 6 The
15:52
hard part really is driving this to time.
15:54
I'm pretty certain you're gonna see the next couple of.
15:56
Years, but absolutely we'll. See a lot more of it.
15:58
I, I made-up a number of 1/3 next year.
16:00
That's something we can quantify, but who knows, you
16:02
know, it might be 10%, might be 40%, don't know.
16:04
My next one is major US auto manufacturers will continue to
16:07
avoid making a low cost BYD sort of electric car, which will
16:11
leave a wide opening for a new. Player Interesting.
16:14
You're predicting Stasis. You're saying like they're gonna
16:16
keep doing what they've been doing.
16:17
Right. Yeah, They want margins on
16:19
things that cost them less money.
16:21
Yeah, of course. Therefore they aren't gonna come
16:22
down and make that Super or cheap Xiaomi car.
16:25
How do you feel about Slate in that lineup?
16:27
Do you do you think of Slate? As Slate's the one I'm thinking
16:31
right, that can drive right into that hole.
16:32
Like they're the closest to taking that approach where
16:35
they've taken a real slim down starting, you know, starting
16:37
from nothing, a real slim down. Like we're going to build
16:39
transportation and get rid of all the extra crap.
16:42
I can see the guys like Slate filling that hole for sure.
16:44
But I agree with you, I would say certain on the big guys, the
16:47
established players not doing this.
16:48
So I would I would go certain on.
16:50
That and it will hurt them that they miss this opportunity
16:52
because it's going to be a big opportunity.
16:54
So you're you're not shoving that genie back in the bottle.
16:56
You can make these things for a lot less now.
16:57
When you see the Xiaomi electric car and that's like a $42,000
17:00
car or whatever it is and you see how luxurious and what a
17:04
delightful vehicle this thing is for that price, you go wow, our
17:08
car companies are all missing the boat I.
17:09
Am certain the the big and medium sized guys aren't going
17:11
to move into this space. You look at someone like Rivian,
17:13
by the way, who is trying to go downmarket.
17:15
They're going downmarket from the bigger, more expensive
17:17
vehicle, but nowhere close to what you're talking about.
17:19
Even there are three, which is years away, yeah, it's still
17:22
going to not be one of these things.
17:23
I think slight if and when it finally comes out, we'll be the
17:26
ones who step into that gap and it will change.
17:28
Everywhere were you on this? What was your?
17:29
What was your ranking? I'm certain.
17:31
I'm not certain of the timing, but I would like to think it
17:34
will be this year. Yeah, OK.
17:35
I'm with you on that. Back to to corporate HR for me,
17:37
I've been sort of suggesting this for quite some time.
17:40
I think you're going to see especially in the the larger
17:43
corporate players as some sort of regulation around what I call
17:46
overemployment. And this is specifically like
17:48
working 2 full time jobs and saying you can't do this, right.
17:52
Not for every role, but for many roles.
17:53
And I think they're they're gonna require disclosure as
17:56
opposed to bans over the other things that you're doing, which
17:59
I do not think is unreasonable. I think how the employer
18:01
responds to that could be reasonable or unreasonable.
18:03
Sure. I don't think that's it's
18:04
unreasonable for an employer to know what else you've got, so
18:07
they can try to make sure they're considering that and how
18:09
they treat. You there was a guy who had like
18:11
two or three full time jobs. He couldn't possibly have had
18:13
enough hours in his life. Yeah, and he got.
18:15
Busted for it. Yeah, we talked about on the.
18:16
Show. Yeah, that was an interesting
18:17
story. That happens a lot.
18:18
Most especially in the pandemic. There were a lot of folks that
18:21
were doing that. They're just so I get a job over
18:22
here and a job over here. Look at all this money I'm
18:23
making. I'm like, you know, you're
18:24
ruining it for everybody, including yourself, right?
18:26
Right. So yeah, you know, short term
18:28
income over long term industry I guess.
18:29
Pretty certain on that one. Yeah, I want to be certain on
18:32
this one. I'm somewhere between hopeful
18:34
and probable. I'm definitely hopeful.
18:35
I want to get the probable, just depends on how fast the
18:37
corporate will will move. So I'm gonna go with probable,
18:39
probable minus. I have one.
18:40
More. I'm on business, and then we're
18:42
gonna move on. You ready?
18:43
Yeah. The Fed will cut rates three
18:45
times, largely because of politicization, and especially
18:47
after May with the new appointee, who will obviously be
18:51
a dovish sure person because of the president's predilections
18:54
with easy employment, will fight to stabilize as the rate of
18:57
inflation increases. Normally I would say you're nuts
19:00
to try to to try to predict this.
19:02
Normally I would be like. There's no way to really know.
19:04
Because we don't normally politicize the feds.
19:06
Actually, in this particular example, I'm going to go ahead
19:09
and give this certain, which is kind of nuts this.
19:11
Is pretty predictable. To say certain on three cuts
19:15
next year. Depends how long Congress takes
19:16
to prove the new Fed chief, but of.
19:18
Course, I think that's also going to go probably pretty
19:20
quick. So yeah, I'm going to go ahead
19:21
and give you certain on that one.
19:22
That's a good one. That's a really good one.
19:24
Tech predictions ready to go? Technology.
19:25
We're going to talk about technology.
19:27
It is the show, yes. OK, I've got an easy one.
19:29
Let's start with an easy one. I do think you're going to see a
19:32
move this year from what I'm calling a chatbot interface
19:36
right The lol. Oh my gosh, that's my exact
19:38
first one go. Ahead So instead of like telling
19:41
a chatbot what to do, you're going to have agents that you've
19:44
picked and already sort of quote, pre programmed what to do
19:47
that are going to just do the things you need them to do.
19:49
You hear the word agentic a lot. It's going to be that it's going
19:51
to be these identity based workflows.
19:53
Not forever everything, but if you travel a lot to the
19:56
southwest because you sell shower rings, you're not going
19:59
to be asking a chat bot to do it for you.
20:01
It's going to just do it for you.
20:02
That's I I see that coming in 2026.
20:05
Mine was a slight. Variation after that, which is
20:07
AI moves from being a chat bot to being a useful assistant.
20:10
That is to say, it can actually check your account.
20:13
Make sure you have enough money in your pocket account so that
20:15
you can pay the painter and if it doesn't transfer more money
20:17
into your pocket account, fix it for you and then write the check
20:19
and give it to the painter. I mean, those kind of tasks I
20:22
think which we have were promised last year, I think
20:24
we'll probably actually get them this year I think.
20:27
We're saying the same thing in that one.
20:28
I do, yeah. And I'm and I'm pretty certain
20:30
on that. Again, you have the timing
20:31
component, but I'm pretty damn certain on.
20:32
That and I also think maybe end of 2026, beginning of 2027,
20:36
somewhere in there, we're going to allow AI to be more of a
20:38
decision maker. What you're saying?
20:40
Yeah, where I don't have to tell it I need the to book the
20:42
flight. It just can do that.
20:44
Yeah, I, I do think in 26 you will see people and corporations
20:47
that will give them control like we'll give AI control, I do
20:50
think. It'll be more control, yeah.
20:51
The vast minority, but but yeah, I I do see that I do see that
20:55
coming. I'm I'm certain.
20:55
Where are you at on? This.
20:56
I think there'll be a checkpoint where it actually says, you
20:59
know, do you want me to book the Southwest flight for 2:30 on
21:01
Wednesday? You know, and then you'll say
21:03
yes or no. Yeah, but it'll figure
21:04
everything out before you even have to ask it.
21:06
For this, that's the primary agentic rollout that I see next
21:08
year for sure. But I'm just saying some subset
21:10
of people are going to click always remember on this and just
21:13
give it access and go and that's going to be very interesting.
21:16
But on the former, what's your confidence on the?
21:18
Former. I think it's probable.
21:19
Yeah, I'm going to. Certain.
21:20
My only issue is the timing. Always one year is a shorter
21:23
time span than you you always think it is.
21:24
I mean, it's when you get progress, you kind of get it all
21:26
at once, but sometimes it's a long time before you get the
21:28
progress. Yeah.
21:29
I mean, if you expand it to two years, does that get you to
21:30
certain? Probably, Yeah.
21:32
Wait, damn it. Wait, what?
21:34
What? Probably certain.
21:35
Half, 100%, half full. I have a related prediction on
21:38
Apple continues to fall behind an AI, instead devoting more
21:41
resources to advancing its liquid glass.
21:44
OK. We need doesn't.
21:47
It doesn't have the fluidity, it doesn't have the viscosity that
21:49
we need. It's not see through enough on
21:51
the interface. After 162 episodes, I know not
21:54
to take the bait on that. OK, I have learned.
21:57
I have learned. My probability is.
21:58
Certain I I'm just not gonna respond now I have one for you I
22:02
think you're gonna like try I think you're gonna like and I
22:04
think you're gonna be sad by for a minute and then you're gonna
22:06
get over very quick. I think 2026 will be the end of
22:09
the Turing test. I think that is over I think
22:12
that is gone. I kind you could kind of I know
22:13
what you're thinking. You can always argue you're
22:15
already there. Yeah kind of argue the majority
22:17
of the stuff the quote slop that comes out you and I as you know,
22:21
I'll call middle of the roads like oh.
22:23
I think the slop's still coming out.
22:25
I don't think the slop's going away.
22:26
Is that what you're saying? No.
22:27
What I'm saying is you're not gonna be able to distinguish.
22:29
The average person won't be able to distinguish the slot from the
22:32
non slot. That's what I think is going to
22:33
come in 2020. Seven that that may be true
22:35
already we're. Very close.
22:36
Yeah. So what I think is going to come
22:37
of this is like, and I don't know how it's going to be
22:39
implemented, so just just just be abstract with me for a
22:41
minute. Like everything is going to have
22:43
a CAPTCHA on it. Some proof of personhood is
22:45
going to become a thing. Interesting.
22:46
I have no idea how it's going to work.
22:48
You're going to need to know was this a human or not a human did.
22:50
A human vet this. Or yeah, just, I mean, I can see
22:53
not next year, but I can see that the world in the future,
22:55
like you're walking through the Louvre and you're like, computer
22:58
did that, computer did that, computer did that.
23:00
Oh, look, the Mona Lisa, it's terrible.
23:01
Computer did that computer. It's going to be something like
23:03
that. I don't know how that's going to
23:04
work, but there's going to be a thing where you have this sort
23:07
of like, like proof of humanity that we're going to have to
23:09
apply to these things. It's just like a giant CAPTCHA.
23:11
Have you heard some of the country songs that were AI
23:13
generated that like are indistinguishable from country
23:16
songs you would hear on the radio?
23:17
OK, this is AI has this. Down I mean it's it's it's
23:21
really incredible so I'm just saying the body of work that's
23:23
produced by AI from the average person will completely 100% pass
23:27
the Turing test and once that happens there is no going back
23:30
so I think the Turing. Test is dead next year.
23:31
I I think it's specific models necessary, not necessarily AI
23:35
generally 'cause I think you're still going to get slop from a
23:37
lot of bad AI models. I think bad AI models aren't
23:40
going away. OK.
23:41
Sure, but I think the vast majority of the stuff that's out
23:43
there will will no longer be bad.
23:45
The only thing that changes that is if you start introducing huge
23:47
costs. If there's huge cost to that,
23:49
then people go back to making garbage on the cheap stuff.
23:51
But I I think we're probably going to skim right over.
23:53
That now search will get better for the Internet because the AI
23:57
will get smarter at looking at things and saying is this legit?
24:00
Hopefully is this actually something worth looking at?
24:03
Yeah, that's a cat and mouse. Game so I think search will get
24:05
better by the man, but the search entirely but basically
24:07
goes away for the end user, but the AI still does quite a bit of
24:10
search. Yeah, you still have search,
24:11
it's just abstracted from the user more, but it's still there.
24:14
All right, what you got? Apple TV will add Google Cast
24:17
streaming. Oh, but only on Android.
24:19
Oh, really? Only on Android.
24:20
Interesting. Oh, this might be my first hard
24:23
no. I'm gonna go with hard no on
24:25
this one. You could maybe convince me of
24:27
hopeful. The streaming channel Apple TV?
24:29
Yeah, my Android phone will be able to cast to a Google Cast
24:33
device Apple TV. And you and you have Apple TV on
24:35
your Android device. Now I.
24:36
Don't, but I could. OK, well, OK, it exists.
24:38
It exists. Yeah.
24:39
OK, now I understand. Unlike my child, I do not like
24:41
looking at shows on a tiny, tiny screen like that.
24:44
I put them up on the TV. So what you're saying is that
24:46
Apple is going to allow you to Google cast from an Android
24:49
device from within Apple TV, where right now they don't,
24:51
right? Oh, interesting.
24:52
OK, I'm not a hard no of that. I'm saying they won't do it on
24:55
iOS. But on iOS you can.
24:56
You can just use Airplay if you're going to an Apple device,
24:59
and if you're going to an Android device you can use
25:01
Chromecast. I do or their TV streamer.
25:03
Do they specifically? Block it on the TV streamer.
25:04
I mean other streamers work. Apple has not allowed their
25:06
streamer to their Chromecast. OK.
25:08
Yeah, in any way. OK.
25:09
But they will allow it on Android.
25:10
Sure, maybe this doesn't feel like lockout, this just feels
25:13
like a feature that was way down their list.
25:14
They just don't care to get to. All right, I'll I don't I don't
25:16
have no passion on this. I'm hopeful, maybe probable.
25:19
I mean, I don't think they're trying to corner the market and
25:21
try to lock in on like non Chromecast devices.
25:23
Most TV's now have Apple TV apps in the TV you can just stream
25:27
right to. It Oh sure, sure, sure.
25:28
When you go to a hotel, there's tons of hotels that have on the
25:30
TV these screens. Oh, that's a good use case.
25:32
Right, Yeah, you have tons of Google cast devices on the
25:35
hotel. TV's, OK, I've got one that I
25:36
think is a, is a prediction, It's a, it's a layup.
25:38
But I want to throw this out there because it's in the, in
25:40
the innovation science bucket. Artemis 2 is going to launch.
25:42
This will be for humans that we send into the orbit of the moon.
25:46
And this will be the first time that humans have left low Earth
25:49
orbit since the early 70s, which is kind of.
25:52
Cool. And what are they going to do?
25:53
Just just orbit the moon and come home?
25:55
What are they going to do? What's the plan?
25:56
They're looking for buzzes, golf clubs.
25:58
He's he's lost his last favorite putter.
26:00
Favorite putter? Yeah.
26:01
No, this is like the the preemption for getting folks on
26:06
the surface of the moon, right. We're trying to put some sort of
26:09
colony and probably doing some mining on the moon.
26:11
We're going to screw up every rock we can get to.
26:13
Yeah, sure. And the moon is is not is not
26:15
excluded from. That I would take the opposite
26:16
on that. I would say that's, I would say
26:18
that's unlikely. I don't think we're sending
26:20
humans. I think we're sending
26:21
telepresence to the moon to do the mining and to go around to
26:24
do all the work for us. I mean NASA is planning on
26:26
getting this off the ground early ish next year so my bet is
26:28
that it's not going to get pushed out past the year.
26:31
We will see. Again, my hunch for all of these
26:33
things is telepresence is better than personally being there.
26:35
Well, yeah, I I get that. I don't think we'll be sending
26:38
robots to the moon to do the thing.
26:39
And we set the goal of putting humans out there.
26:41
That was literally the goal was the humans.
26:42
Yeah, not the work, but alright. So you're you're a hard no on
26:45
this. I could be hopeful on it.
26:46
I just, I think I'm not even hopeful because I don't, I don't
26:48
think I don't the human presence is is necessary.
26:52
Sure. I actually think in many cases
26:53
slinging meat where at the moon is useless.
26:55
What's the point of that? I mean, look, I'm just here
26:58
making the predictions. I don't know why you're so much
27:00
so much hate here. I think we're putting humans
27:02
outside of Leo for the first time and or and that will be
27:04
orbit around the moon, yes. Got one more Apple one here.
27:07
Apple will release a foldable and they will give up on the
27:09
iPhone air type product. That's super lightweight thing.
27:13
Oh. Yeah, I think they'll put more
27:14
energy into their budget line, the E line of iPhones.
27:18
That's interesting. I think the air, it was a market
27:20
test to see how that thing would perform at that price point and
27:23
ultimately a hard work test. It went nowhere.
27:25
Of shoving it yeah, well, I don't know.
27:27
I don't I don't know what I mean.
27:28
I don't think they've said how much I don't know what their
27:30
expectations were. But I agree with you on the
27:32
foldable. I think the foldables are really
27:34
compelling you to basically have a iPad mini that I can carry
27:37
around as a phone. It's basically the size of a
27:38
phone is I think it's somewhat compelling.
27:40
I don't know about certain because again timing component
27:42
but I would say above probable. OK, yeah, I'm above probable.
27:45
Great. I'm gonna go back to space, OK?
27:47
I think we're gonna see our first commercial space station
27:49
in 2026, probably from Vast or maybe another competitor.
27:53
But you're gonna see commercial space stations be put up,
27:55
probably off of Falcon Nine if I had to.
27:56
Guess in 2026. In 2026, yeah, they're good.
27:59
Look, they're really close. Wow, I think that's really cool.
28:02
It might be 5050, it might be on the inside, but we'll see it's
28:06
coming. I'm.
28:06
Hopeful and certainly not certain, but wow, that's really
28:09
a fun, fun idea. I mean, you can give some credit
28:11
here to SpaceX because they've, they've proven that there's
28:13
value here and doing it and it you can't do it quickly.
28:16
So a bunch of folks have have come running along, right?
28:19
And now they're, they're catching up pretty neat.
28:21
Give me a give me an aggressive one.
28:22
Give me one that's not just a lock for you.
28:23
OK with Google with. Gemini has moved into first
28:26
place with AI. Google will continue to stay in
28:29
first place with AI both on Edge devices and on Gemini.
28:33
Interesting. OK.
28:34
I think it's nuts to say that you're certain about anybody
28:37
leading the AI race over the next 12 months, right?
28:40
That is insane. You asked for a bold prediction.
28:42
However, if I were to, to have to pick one for certainty, it
28:46
would be Google. And I'm also willing to say that
28:49
like, I think this is probably true.
28:51
You might have like a, just the, the, the cadence of a release
28:54
cycle where like open AI releases a 6.0 and you're like,
28:57
oh, that's better for like a hot minute, just because their,
29:00
their press release was two weeks before Google's, you know
29:03
what I mean? But like I, I I, I'm with you on
29:05
this. I think Google has been the
29:06
sleeping giant on this from a research and execution
29:08
perspective. And the sleeping giant has been
29:10
awoken. Yeah, and they have so much
29:11
engineering and infrastructure at their back that they can
29:14
lever that open AI and all the others have to build that.
29:18
It's more attention they don't have to put the Google doesn't
29:20
put towards these things. So I'm, I'm with you on this.
29:21
I'm going to give this one a certain as well.
29:23
Yeah, I'll give it certain also, but I'm going to say for a
29:25
slightly different reason, I think Open AI is going to
29:27
flounder a bit as they deal with the avalanche of lawsuits.
29:30
Yeah, that is coming their way. And also Sam Altman's ADHD.
29:34
Man of. He's all over the place.
29:36
Sure, of all the public figures that are bouncing around on
29:38
things, he is far from the top of the list.
29:41
He's pretty high up there in my book.
29:42
I don't have. That read, I, I really don't
29:44
have that read on him. I, I see a guy who's trying to
29:46
get a lot of stuff done and navigate a very treacherous
29:49
minefield of future. And I think he knows that this
29:53
is either you either get all the chips or you get none of the
29:55
chips. Yeah.
29:56
And he's aligned towards that. I'm not sure that's even true,
29:58
but I do think the whole thing starts moving more and more
30:01
towards edge devices. But that's not in the next.
30:02
I mean, that's in the next 10 if.
30:04
You want to be a friend to your lab.
30:05
How many is the world going to support in N years?
30:08
Do we need 10? Do we need 5?
30:09
Do we need 2? I think there will be room for
30:12
more than one, but I think the answer is probably like 3.
30:15
I think that's probably what the answer looks like.
30:16
You've got to be one of those three.
30:18
And if you're not one of those three, you don't exist.
30:20
You get gobbled up for bits or you, you know, you BK yourself
30:23
right off stage. So I, I think that's the
30:26
approach that they're taking, not just open AI.
30:27
I think all of the big guys realize they have to do this.
30:29
That's why they can raise money at such an insane rate because
30:31
they're just like, if we don't do this, we're dead.
30:33
There's no point in raising 10 million bucks.
30:36
I need 300 million bucks so this thing doesn't exist.
30:38
No, it's going to be billions and billions of dollars,
30:39
hundreds of billions of dollars, hundreds of billion dollars.
30:41
That's right. Much larger.
30:43
That's right. I think AI, large AI,
30:45
state-of-the-art facilities, it's going to be a little bit
30:47
like pot dealers, but there won't be maybe not ten of them,
30:50
but there'll be enough of them that it makes it not profitable
30:52
for all of. Them Oh interesting.
30:53
I don't know how long it's going to take for it to become that
30:56
commoditized, but at some point it will become that
30:58
commoditized. I I'm with you on that.
30:59
Actually, we want to entertainment.
31:00
Yeah, let's move on to entertainment.
31:01
Where we always excel. You want to go first.
31:03
Yes, I do. Actually.
31:04
My bunch is you're going to see, I don't they're gonna be called,
31:07
I'm gonna call them super aggregator apps that unify all
31:10
of this crap together. So you can go to like, you know,
31:13
an Amazon Prime or an Apple TV and then get access to Netflix
31:17
and Disney Plus and Max and all that crap.
31:19
That's already happening. It's the exact same thing we had
31:21
with cable boxes. It's the same effing experience.
31:24
Right now it's like it's just the things just cyclic and it's
31:26
gotten here much faster than I expected.
31:28
I think that's that super aggregator app.
31:30
All content on these various forms is gonna be a thing.
31:33
Can I give something related please?
31:34
There will. Be a streaming consolidation,
31:36
which means not just will they bundle together and be available
31:40
through. Actual.
31:40
The streamers themselves, The actual.
31:42
Number of streamers, we will have fewer streamers at the end
31:45
of the year and the mid tier platforms, the Paramount Pluses,
31:48
the Peacock or whatever, they will be absorbed, I mean or
31:50
enter into non exclusive distribution partnerships.
31:53
But they they will combine. I mean all that will collapse.
31:55
You're already seeing that now, right?
31:57
I mean, we've already seen that tip in well.
31:58
That was my first one was going to be Warner Brothers Discovery
32:01
goes to Who's your Prediction? I really think I robot's going
32:05
to win it. No, it's.
32:07
Highly. Probably highly.
32:08
Probable. I'd say certain as they file for
32:11
bankruptcy. I'd say certain as they
32:13
completely lose the market that they should have owned and
32:15
dominated. Who's it going to go to?
32:17
I is it? Going to go to the big players,
32:18
of course, are paramount. Yeah, and Netflix.
32:20
Yeah, I don't see a world where it doesn't go to Paramount.
32:23
Yeah, it kind of seems that way, although I think Trump could
32:26
easily have a falling out with the Ellisons because he tends to
32:29
have a falling out with people. So crazy to watch my.
32:32
Prediction for 2026 is that Time Warner Discovery goes to no one.
32:36
Really. I bet this thing does not get
32:38
done in the next. Year, no, I'm not going to take
32:40
that. And 100% it does depend on if
32:42
the Trump Ellison alliance stays intact for the amount of time it
32:46
takes to get this deal closed. To get it done, yeah.
32:49
This is basically doing deals in junior high school.
32:52
That's really what this is. I'm not even sure Netflix wanted
32:55
this thing. I I'm halfway convinced that
32:57
what Ted Sarandos wanted was just to drag this thing out and
33:01
maybe make the price go up a little bit.
33:03
He's effectively stop this from happening right now, by the way.
33:05
Yeah, Ted Sarandos is one of the best.
33:06
Salesman on the face. Sure.
33:08
Yeah. If anyone can convince Trump,
33:09
oh, please consider Netflix, Keep considering Netflix and
33:12
drag it out longer. It's Ted Sarandos.
33:14
Well, why would you? Why would he want to do that?
33:16
Because then he has less competition.
33:18
He doesn't have the combination of Paramount and Warner Brothers
33:21
Discovery. It just so it just it just yeah,
33:23
it stays in this in this smaller state just.
33:25
Stays in limbo for another year or two.
33:27
Every minute he keeps it in limbo.
33:29
It's better for him now. I see that you still had to
33:31
write a pretty big check on this bet if there was a breakout.
33:34
But he doesn't have to write the check for another two years if
33:36
this thing drags out two years, if that's how this story.
33:39
Ends up going down. If that's what's told when the
33:41
biography is written, I'll be super impressed because that's a
33:44
money play to say, hey, we're gonna put a couple billion
33:46
dollars. Oh.
33:46
For sure. OK.
33:47
He also can bet on the fact that over time, yeah, eventually
33:50
Ellison and Trump get into a, a tiff of some sort.
33:53
I mean, that's the other thing you're banking on with time.
33:56
Look, there's a lot, there's a lot of time to tell here.
33:58
Do you have a prediction that I can put a claim against?
34:00
DOL close before the end of 2026.
34:02
Oh, interesting, man. Oh, that feels like a hard no to
34:05
me. I don't see.
34:06
I get what you're saying, right? You're told a very.
34:09
I could. I could totally be wrong.
34:11
I could completely be. Wrong.
34:11
And I have a hard time subscribing hopeful to that.
34:13
I'm gonna just because it feels like the easy bet is to say hard
34:16
no. I'm gonna take hard no on that
34:18
one. OK.
34:18
What are you saying? I'm hopeful you're you're
34:20
hopeful that it doesn't close. That's funny.
34:21
I'm I'm not certain. I'm absolutely not certain in
34:23
any way, shape or form. They could close this thing next
34:25
week, but I don't think that's gonna happen.
34:26
That's it. And I think, and I think Ted
34:28
Sarandos bet of by time by time by time is.
34:31
The right bet. Yeah, No, that part.
34:33
I'm I'm with you. I agree with that.
34:35
I oh man, you're you're you're convincing me away from hard.
34:38
No, we should move on before I'm gonna end up in the probable
34:41
cause just thinking about this for more than a couple minutes.
34:43
The other thing that I think, and I wanted to just throw this
34:45
and tag this on the end and say somebody is going to make a
34:48
feature film using AI. Yeah, and they're going to make
34:51
shot for shot this entire feature film for pennies.
34:54
And it will look like a tent pole film.
34:56
And I think 2026 is the year it will happen.
34:58
I think you're right. We're already seeing it with
34:59
shows, TV shows that are really. Good.
35:01
Well, you're seeing pieces of it with shows.
35:03
Pieces, yeah, you're seeing the whole.
35:04
I think you're going to see an entire feature film someone is
35:07
going to make shot for shot with that is.
35:09
Probable. It's hard for me to say certain.
35:11
Yeah. But of course, the timing is the
35:12
hard part. Yeah, it's coming eventually.
35:14
Oh, that's a good one. You got some good ones.
35:16
I had enough with the predictions we have to get out
35:18
of here, but quickly before we do.
35:19
Have you seen or read anything good this last week?
35:21
Yes, I I came across a post on Threads a little while ago.
35:26
It mentioned a story from Car Talk that I had never heard of
35:29
before. Do you remember Car Talk from
35:30
from NPR? Of course I do.
35:32
I bet you're going to recommend a poster on thread, which would
35:34
have been like a new a new minimal recommendation.
35:38
Oh, this is a minimal. Recommendation.
35:39
Oh my God, this. Is a guy wrote a guy wrote 30
35:41
words and I'm gonna. Recommend him.
35:42
That's actually what I'm recommending.
35:44
No, you're 100% right. No, it's multiple posts, but but
35:46
there's one post in particular you got to start with.
35:48
No, I am 100% doing that. Kevin wrote this really funny
35:50
thing. You got to go look at it, OK?
35:52
Clearly, you read my notes. So for those that don't know,
35:55
Car Talk on NPR was a show where listeners could call in to share
35:58
problems they're having with their cars.
36:00
I'm a car guy. I like this.
36:02
The Car Talk hosts were Tom and Ray Magliozzi.
36:05
Yeah. These are also known as Click
36:06
and Clack, the Tappet brothers. Sure they would diagnose
36:09
problems. It was a really fun show.
36:11
Now, these guys both graduated from MIT course, and they were
36:13
the former owners of a DIY car repair shop near the MIT campus.
36:17
Like, truly the tinkers that just want to fix stuff.
36:20
And these guys are smart. They're articulate, car savvy.
36:23
They were funny. And the post that I'm referring
36:25
to on threads was written by the Flight operations, the guy that
36:28
ran flight operations at NASA Mission Control in Houston.
36:31
OK. And he tells the story from I
36:33
think it was 19, 97 of patching in NASA astronaut John
36:37
Grunsfeld. Yeah, who was a former MIT
36:39
student that was very familiar with both Tom and Ray and their
36:41
DIY car repair shop. He patched them in while John
36:45
was in Leo, while he was in low Earth orbit, right.
36:48
They connected him to the show. So he coordinated this between
36:51
NASA, Houston and the folks at NPR, all without anybody else
36:54
know. Except for his phone call had a
36:56
Bing in it every 20 seconds. So yeah, it's really good.
36:59
You can actually hear that it's simplex in the call, which is
37:02
really fun. Yeah, sure.
37:03
I was able to find the recording of the actual call, which I
37:05
wasn't trying to be able to find.
37:06
So I do have more than the post. I have the post and the call
37:09
itself. I don't want to give it all
37:10
away, but but Grunsfeld introduced himself as just John,
37:13
which I also think is hysterical.
37:14
He just called in his job. Sure.
37:15
And then he launches into the issues he's having with his,
37:18
quote, government vehicle. And he complained how he's like,
37:20
it starts up great and ran incredibly rough for about two
37:23
minutes, sure. Then he said there would be like
37:25
a jolt whereby the engine would run smoothly for about another
37:27
six to seven minutes and then the engine would die completely.
37:30
And this had happened on multiple times, right?
37:32
Like it's so funny. He's just setting it up.
37:34
It's it's really a ton of fun. And how long did it take before
37:36
they figured out who they were talking?
37:38
They probably took them 90 seconds.
37:39
I mean, they you could kind of hear when they sort of figure it
37:42
out, but it's really fun. And John the astronaut mentions
37:45
how he actually had his car worked on in their shop in their
37:49
DIY shop. That's so cool.
37:50
Yeah, and Tom and Ray don't miss a beat.
37:52
And they're just like, oh, yeah, he's slow.
37:53
It's 5 bucks for that. Like, it's just, it's really
37:55
fun. It's really playful.
37:56
And then you realize this guy is in space calling into this show.
38:00
And it's just sort of these like these folks are all awesome
38:02
giants in their own regards, talking to each other.
38:04
The other thing that I learned from this thread is that Tom and
38:07
Ray, the hosts of of Car Talk. They were also the Rusty's
38:11
brothers, Rusty and Dusty in the Cars franchise.
38:14
Oh, that's awesome. Which is that's really.
38:15
Cool. Yeah.
38:16
Isn't that awesome? Like they got cameos.
38:18
Yeah, as Rusty and Dusty, which I thought was super cool.
38:20
So that's great. I'll put links in to for Car
38:23
Talk in the show notes and I'll put the link into the the
38:25
thread. This is like literally 10
38:26
minutes of your time. It's not very long, but it's
38:28
really fun if you're a car guy or if you're if you're a space
38:31
nerd. I really think you'll enjoy
38:33
this. I had a lot fun reading it and I
38:34
say I was saving it for the end of the year as our send off, so
38:37
I thought it'd be it's great, really enjoyable.
38:39
How about you? What do you?
38:39
Have Mine is a silly little ROM com that I found absolutely
38:42
delightful in season 1. It is season 2 of Nobody Wants
38:45
This. The unlikely spark between a hot
38:46
rabbi and a shiksa podcast host wasn't just a fluke, it was a
38:49
revelation. Following a cliffhanger ending,
38:51
Nobody Wants This returns for a second season to explore whether
38:54
Joann and Noah's magnetic chemistry can survive the weight
38:57
of real world expectations. More of a sharp, self
39:00
deprecating wit and agonizingly romantic tension that made
39:03
season 1A viral sensation, with the supporting cast bringing
39:06
even more chaotic energy and family drama.
39:08
This season proves that while nobody might want the
39:10
complications, everybody wants this couple to win, and the
39:13
supporting cast is ridiculous. So good.
39:15
You have told me about the show off the air on numerous times.
39:18
I need to go watch this. I will do this over the.
39:20
Break. Do yourself a giant favor and
39:22
don't look up the creator of the show and her sister's podcast.
39:25
Oh, and I say that because as good as ours, No, if you.
39:28
I say that because if you find out anything about her real
39:31
life, you'll have a lot of hints as to where the show is going.
39:33
Ah, OK, Central tension. Point of the whole thing is, can
39:36
the rabbi and the shiksa make it work?
39:38
There's there's built in conflict there.
39:40
The longer you keep that conflict alive, the more you
39:42
have the show going. As long as Addie and David don't
39:45
sleep together, you've got a show.
39:46
So as long as the hot rabbi and the shiksa can't get together,
39:49
you've got a show. So that's awesome.
39:51
But in real life, you know the answer.
39:52
If you follow Aaron Foster. Anyway, check it out.
39:55
Netflix. Nobody wants this.
39:56
I will absolutely do that. That is the episode.
39:58
Thank you for joining us for all this nonsense.
40:00
A truly terrible podcast from our awful company is on the web
40:03
at Nonsense dot Productions. I'm Phil.
40:05
I'm Jeff Parker. You like this program?
40:06
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You'll be so glad you did. Oh, Barkley, we'll be here every
40:25
Tuesday and Thursday mornings for more nonsense, except for
40:28
the next two weeks that we have off, but then we'll be back in
40:30
2026 to watch all of our predictions come true.
40:34
Or not. Happy holidays and happy New
40:48
Year. Happy new Year, yay.