Panera Bread Has Gone Woke

Hello and welcome to another episode of bass news network. I'm Sophie, aka Jonavarca, and I'm here with a very special guest just kidding. It's fun growlish and now he's still special, but he's not a guest. Hi, hi, Kayo. I think I, hello, I think I, you know what? I think I'm a guest. I think this is, I think this is your podcast and I'm a guest. You're, you're just so grateful to be in my presence. Yeah. Damn, the silence. Okay, damn, okay. I was thinking of the best way to respond to that and then I realized it's just, yeah. Okay. Well, thank you. Today we have an episode jam-packed full of the latest stories based on facts, so jam-packed. Jam-packed. More like lemonade-packed. Oh, that's not, in the sense, I'm just kidding, oh, that's, I'm just kidding, kidding, kidding. No, it's okay. Okay. I thought it was good. I like it. More like Penaer bread, lemonade-pack. Well, let's just, let's just say the lemonade was packed with a lot of caffeine. And actually, for this segment, I want to get serious because I have a take on this. And before we get into what, how I feel about this and how you feel about it, we should just sort of explain what the tea is with this. But what the lemonade is with this? Can you explain what happened with the lemonade, Kyle? So Penaer bread has a new product called Charged Lemonade. That's lemonade and tastes like lemonade, I guess. I don't know if it, I haven't had it, but it's just lemonade, but it has a lot of caffeine in it. I'm reading that it has, like, basically a large cup of coffee's worth of caffeine in it. Yeah, I'm reading on NBC News that Penaer was advertising the Charged Lemonade as a "plant-based and clean" with as much caffeine as our dark roast coffee. And then end quote, "At 390 milligrams of caffeine, a large 30 fluid ounce charge lemonade has more caffeine in total than any size of Penaer's dark roast coffee, the legal complaints say. The large cup contains more than the caffeine content of standard cans of Red Bull and monster energy drinks combined." Yay. Okay, but I will say just, you know, just to be real technical here, just so people know this, it's like, yes, it technically does have more caffeine than their dark roast coffee. But from what I'm reading, it's only like a teeny, teeny bit more. It's like, it's like 390 milligrams of caffeine versus like the coffees, like dark coffees, 384 milligrams. So it's six milligrams. So it is a lot of caffeine, though. That's not really what I'm hung up on of, like, the equivalency. I'm more just, like, shocked that it's more than Red Bull and monster energy drinks is caffeine contents combined. Yes. I mean, it is an absolute, sorry, I just really wanted to, I just really wanted to get the facts. Here, it's 390 milligrams. Yes, it's a lot of caffeine. So like the headlines are that it's like two people. First, it was one person with the heart condition who needed to avoid caffeine passed away shortly after drinking one of these lemonade. People speculate she didn't realize because it's lemonade that it had so much caffeine in it. And then another man just passed away with like another health condition where he should have been avoiding caffeine and he drank one of these lemonade. He had chromosomal defect, I think, in a developmental disability. Yeah, in the first victim, Sarah Katz was a 21-year-old student at Penn. So just to, I don't know, the reason I want to get into like who the people were, at least on a surface level, is that I feel like the memes about it are just kind of in poor taste. And I want to know how you feel about it because to me, it's, it's very, I don't know. What do you think? I'm not that extreme about it. But I do think like this is absolutely tragic that these two people who had conditions where they needed to avoid caffeine consumed something seemingly innocuous and passed away. And young people, people who were living independently, stuff like that. I don't know. It just, it makes me sad. And I see a lot of memes where it's like, I need the panera bread lemonade that kills you. And I get that, I get the feel like it is kind of funny on its own. Like the fact that like, panera has a product that can kill you is kind of ridiculous. But I don't know, I just feel like it's almost a little bit too soon. I don't know. I want to know your thoughts on this. Well, okay, so there's two things. One, I generally feel that memes that are like making light of like sad situations just kind of rub me the wrong way in general. Like I feel like it's like a lot of, especially younger kids on the internet want to put this like facade on the internet that they're like super jaded and don't care. Yeah. They'll make like, you know, post ironic abstract memes about like awful things. So I don't like memes like that. I think it's pretty, pretty likely that these deaths were like caused by, you know, the people who drink it, getting confused to not realizing it had a ton of caffeine in it, especially, you know, because I think it, I think initially it was kind of like a, like it sounds like now they have the, the lemonade behind the counter. So if you order it, like the person has to, you know, go make it for you when before. It was like, they'd hand you a cup and you just could get it dispensed from the machine yourself. Right. And it was like right next to the other regular lemonade. So it would be easy to make that mistake. Yeah. So, but, you know, honestly though, Sophie, I, there's also a part of me though that like, I really like energy drinks. I like coffee. I like caffeine and, you know, I, you know, I, I, I don't think the idea of like a super caffeinated lemonade on its face is like such a bad idea, but I just, I just, I think it's just really was like, who's going to pinnero breath, who's going to pinnero breath for an energy drink? You know what I mean? It's probably their target audience though, if you think about it, like it doesn't seem like that initially, but I do think their target audience is probably like, to me, it seems like a corporate millennials in, in Gen Z2, and who are kind of like, oh yeah, semi healthy lunch or like dinner on like a tight schedule who are also like, who also need a lot of energy. That's, that's kind of how I would position pinnero on my head, so it doesn't initially make sense, but it, I don't know, it kind of makes sense that they would have it to me. But as you were saying though, like, yeah, I don't think the concept of a charge lemonade is that radically different from like an energy drink, at least we recognize an energy drink for what it is, but I think what pinnero is doing now, putting it behind the counter, so you have to ask for it explicitly, so you know what you're getting into is a safer idea. And I guess I could see how that could have gone over people's heads, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know if that would have occurred to me, but that's probably why you need like a consult, like consultants on these sort of things when you're dealing with caffeine, especially in like marketing, and yeah, it's just kind of funny, because I feel like when you're a kid and you see a can of like monster, it like, it literally looks like a little scary, you know what I mean? It's co-monster. It's co-monster. Yeah, yeah, when you know when you're a kid and you're buying a can of monster, it does look intimidating. It does look intimidating. You're literally about, you just bought a drug, like monster is like caffeine is a drug, like it's a drug. Lemonade is like the weenie-hud juniors of drinks. Lemonade is literally, like lemonade is like literally the safest drink after water. Yeah. Like it's literally, I mean, it's obviously kind of lemonade stands like summer, pull party, like it's so innocent, it's so, you drink juvenile too. You drink lemonade when you want to like sober up, you know what I mean? You drink lemonade when you want to like, uncaffeinated, not like, you know, so I totally could see how this would be a mistake, people would make, I think the thing that's a little, so the thing, I think that's really hard though that I'm having an issue drawing the line with is like, is this something that should be regulated? You know, because I, I don't think like, this is like, like, like a pot, a product that necessarily needs to be banned, um, no, I mean, they made ban it because of PR concerns. Or I don't know if those lawsuits are actually successful. I don't know. But I agree. I don't think the product itself needs to be banned. It's the, it's, it's the framing. And I mean, then the marketing and mostly where it's positioned in the store, and it seems like they're trying to remedy that, where it's positioned in the store is, I think, the most important, um, thing that needs to be like managed. Yeah, I think so. I think that would make a big difference, honestly. I do. And maybe they could provide more like information on the lead like menu or labeling. I know like something like that. I don't know. Yeah, I, um, maybe they should just literally call it the lemonade that kills you or something like just make it really clear. Well, I'm, I'm looking, I mean, I'm looking at the, the cup. And it doesn't, you know, like, paneras charged lemonade, charged lemonade. You know, you wouldn't assume that's like a coffee. I mean, you could read the fine text and see it says it has as much caffeine as a coffee, but like, that's a lot. Maybe they could reduce the amount of caffeine just to be safe as well. Like, you can still be caffeinated. Maybe I just didn't have to be that extreme. Kids love lemonade. Kids love lemonade. If you're a mom and you're getting the charged lemonade, because you're, you have work to do, your kid's gonna be like, could I have a sip too? Like, I don't know. Just lemonade is, it reminds me of like the flavor jewel thing. Like blueberry flavor jewel. That's a great point. Like the cotton candy jewels. Cotton candy jewel. I, I'm totally with you there. It's something like, it's using the vessel is like something or the flavor is like super innocent or innocuous, but the effects can be deadly. And sometimes that doesn't mix. Whereas like, if you associate like the taste of like tobacco or menthol with nicotine and like the harmful, like the harmful effects and the addiction, that's, you associate those two things because they're both kind of bitter, you know? They're bitter. And you're bringing the bitter with the sweet, so it gets kind of, I don't know, when you're getting too philosophical on this, but I just, I just think it's sad. I want to acknowledge because I, you know, on this podcast we talk about memes all the time because we love memes and we do memes all the time. And it's a meme right now. And I'm not like 100% opposed to the idea of meaming it, but it does make me a little bit uncomfortable if I'm being honest. I frankly haven't really seen seen too many memes about it. It's just like, it's like, it's like, it's like memes like, it's like me trying the lemonade that kills you or like, like, or like, just kind of like, like, I need to lemonade that kills me or like, like, so, I don't know, it's not that bad. It's really not that bad. It's just, I just, I don't know. I can't stop thinking about the people who died, like, that makes me really sad. It's funny that it's interesting that Panera is like denying. They're denying. Yeah. I had anything to do with their deaths. That is interesting. Well, I mean, you never know. Maybe maybe, I don't know. I think the first case, it seems pretty clearly linked, but maybe the second case now with this other guy. Maybe there's two cases. I don't know. I think it seems pretty clear. Maybe I'm wrong. No, yeah, here we go. Yeah, I know. It's like, I know. It's probably the, it was probably the lemonade. And this is because these people avoided caffeine, deliberately. So they wouldn't have just drank it for no reason. You know, like, they wouldn't have drank it without, if they knew, is what, like, the families are saying. So damn. It's just interesting. I feel like, well, I'm so, I'm, I'm, I feel like at this point, we are so used to reading corporations, releasing very carefully worded, like generic apology letters for various mistakes they've made. And then this one, Panera is just like probably, because of their legal team, till advising them, Panera is like, no, where the, the lemonade's fine. I denied, denied. We didn't do it. You know, it's, it's really interesting. And we'll see how, I mean, probably, I mean, I'm guessing it's going to work for them. Like, Panera bread, I'm sure, has gigantic legal team. I'm sure, I'm sure they do. I guess I just want to say, like, my condolences to the families. And I really hope that the press coverage dissuades people from, or, or makes people more aware of it. So that in case they have a similar condition that they don't also suffer the same fate. It really makes you think about how caffeine is literally a drug. Yeah. It's just a drug that's legal. I don't know. Like, I've talked about this before, but I had, I had one bang energy drink. I had one energy drink in my life. And I thought, I felt like I was on M-E-T-H for the 24 hours. And I was like shaking and anxious. And I was horrible. Because at the time, I wasn't much of a coffee drinker either. So now I am. But at the time, I wasn't. So it was like super charging myself with caffeine. Like, I'm not used to drinking caffeine. So I just had like a huge dose of caffeine. And it really messed me up. So I'm like, never, ever, ever again, never, ever again. So yeah. And I know though, but people love it. Like, I know you like them. I don't really see you drink them. But like, I know you like them, liked them in your life. They're yummy. They are yummy. But, well, I don't need that energy. At this point, I drink a lot of coffee. Yeah, and I think, yeah. Well, I just, I know the story of, well, I remember a story of when I was at summer camp. Like, there's this one kid who like, just drink like a ton of energy drinks. And then he was like, like shaking and was like super sick. And it was like a whole emergency. He was fine, but it's just like, yeah, it was just like, damn, we got to teach our kids that caffeine is a drug. Yeah. And don't do, don't do caffeine. I will save you a lot of money. Actually, so don't do it. I wish I could tell myself. Yeah, we are, we are, we are so based. We are so punk. Saving the kids. We're like the new dare. We're so punk telling. Oh, yeah, stay away from that caffeine. P you and K. Yeah, that's scary stuff, y'all. Okay. Okay. All right. Let's keep caffeine off the streets. And out of the home. All right, next thing. Next item is Taylet Tay Tay. It's Taylor Swift. Oh, okay. So, yeah, I feel like we've been able to avoid talking about Taylor Swift for at least a couple weeks now. Thank God. Sorry. We're going to get, we're going to get mean. I'm not going to get, I'm going to be a gentleman. I think Taylor Swift, that's what he always says. Do I always say that when it comes to dating home joking whenever, yeah, whenever I, before Sophie and I start recording, I always say like, okay, I'm going to be a gentleman. All right. He says that. So Taylor Swift is person of the year according to time magazine. Yeah. So according to Wikipedia, by the way, if you don't know, I think everyone knows what, like the time person of the year is, but I just, I'm just going to read it. It is a annual issue of time featuring a person, a group idea, or object actually. Rather, I didn't know that. For better or for worse, has done the most to influence the events of the year. And I think that's a pretty like, you keep it kind of broad there. So you can kind of just like call anyone significant. Like I believe Elon one as well. And Trump, I think one, like, it isn't given to like people who are like, necessarily positive figures. It's just someone who has had a significant impact on the culture, et cetera, of the year. And I do think, I don't think, does, I don't think it's deserved as much as some may say. But I do think like, if you were to pick a person that everyone is talking about that isn't Elon Musk, I feel like it is Taylor Swift. Yeah, well, - For better or for worse. - As Wikipedia says, for better or for worse. - I will say, I will say, I do think time was correct, it's a Taylor Swift. And I think that is an indictment on our society. - Yes, okay, let's get into it, get into it. - Because, Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift's achievement this year, was to go on tour, that became like, a tour that was like the tour that made the most money of any tour, music tour. - That's a cool fun fact. You know, that's a cool fun fact. And, you know, lots of people were talking about Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift really was in the news a lot, a lot of discussion and buzz about Taylor Swift all year. I just think that is really, like, damn, like, Taylor Swift is, in 2023, the most culturally buzzy person, like culturally important person in the year. And I just don't think, like, that was, like, I think there's something really sick with our society, and wrong with our society. If, like, someone re-releasing an album or two, and then, like, making a lot of money off a tour, is, like, the thing that, like, is the most culturally important thing to happen in a year. - I mean, yes, I don't think that is what, necessarily what, it definitely contributes. But I feel like it's more about the fact that, like, being a Swiftie is just sort of transcended where it used to be, and has become even more, like, crazy. I don't know, like, it's a lot of stuff. It's not too, people have compared it to Beto Mania, which I think is a fair assessment. It's, I think what our issue is is, like, why? Like, why is this happening? Okay, so let me try to, let me try to, like, like, so okay, so I think, okay, so let's just, I'm gonna say sure, let's agree that it's like Beto Mania, okay? I personally think that Beto Mania was a larger cultural phenomenon than the Aristotle, but let's just, for the sake of argument, say, it is equal to Beto Mania, all right? In, like, 1968, when the Beatles were, like, really kicking ass and we're at their peak, the Apollo 8 astronauts were the time people of the year. And that's not to say that the Beatles weren't a big deal, it's just, like, being the first humans to, like, travel and orbit the moon, is just, like, a bigger deal. So, yes, Taylor Swift becoming a huge cultural impact, is it, you know, it's a cool thing? Yeah, it's like, Beto Mania, but, like, is there really nothing else, like, bigger? I'm raising the question I raise you is, what was the equivalent to the, the moon landing or the Apollo white, not the moon landing? The Apollo. That's what I'm saying is there's nothing right now. Like, that's why I'm saying it's an indictment of our society. Oh, I see. We had to, like, wear, like, kind of, like, our best of 2023 was, like, 1968's, like, really cool thing going on, but, like, you can probably name 10 other more cool things happening in 1968 than Beto Mania. Yeah, yeah, that's fair. I mean, I do think, like, it's always gonna be something that's kind of mainstream or overarching, you know? Yeah, and I'm just, like, that's kind of, like, the thing is, like, Taylor Swift is, like, really, you know, like, she's, it's like, I'm just, like, she's been around for so long and, like, is there really nothing more, like, nothing fresh and, like, mind-blowing going on in 2023? And I agree, there's not. There's not, like, Taylor Swift is the most, is, like, the biggest cultural phenomenon of 2023. Like, I agree with the time choice. It's just kind of, like, oh my God, like, you know, she's been around for so long. It's like, it's like, if, you know, like, if, if Madonna, or, like, I don't know, like, if Michael Jackson was the person in 2023, I mean, I know he's not alive, it's be like, okay, cool, but the fact that we're picking someone who was, like, really, really famous, like, a decade ago to be the person, it's just, like, we're, like, it's just feels like we're stagnant culturally, you know? Yeah, and that's a good point, and it does play into the fact that she is just re-releasing her old work. And you could get into, like, I know a lot of our listeners, especially Swifties, again, I respect you, Swifties, and I'm not trying, I really don't want to offend any Swifties listening, because I do believe we have Swifties in the audience here. But, to me, for better or for worse, like, I feel like the, framing the re-recording of the albums is, like, an active, like, personal autonomy, and, like, even, like, a feminist statement feels a little bit manipulative, because, I don't know. It's definitely, maybe there's that in a little, maybe there's a part of that there, but it's also, excuse me for saying this, like, it's a way for her to make a lot of money, but, like, imagine you have, you've made, you release something, it was super successful, and then you are presented with the opportunity to, like, release it again and make that money over again. It feels, like, a little bit, like, you said, like, stagnant, like, I would, I feel like I'd be more supportive of Swiftie Mania, or whatever it's called now. I don't know, like, Swiftie, like, culture, Taylor Swift, if she was actually releasing, like, more new music, like, contributing something new, is my personal belief. - And the thing is, is, like, midnight, like, yeah, first off, she didn't even release an album this year. She did, like, you know, she's, like, the, she's a musician who's being named as the person of the year, and in a year, she didn't even release an album, and, like, the last album she released was Midnight, which I'm sorry, like, that album is mediocre at best, and then, like, her two previous albums folklore and evermore, were just, like, two albums entering the indie folk genre, like, five years after, like, a ton of other artists had already done it. So, it's, like, you know, the last, I think, actually, like, kind of, innovative album, she's released, was Reputation. And that album was awful, so, you know what I mean? So, it's, like, what I think, like, I just, her, her, I'm just being objective. Her output is, re-releasing acclaimed albums from a decade ago, jumping into genres that are, like, so bend there, bend there, done that. And then, going on a tour where, like, the emphasis, this is, like, playing old stuff. It's just, like, it's, like, literally, it's like, it's her output is kind of defined by, like, continuing to milk old stuff. And that is the person of 2023. It's just, it's just like, isn't that a perfect metaphor for where we're at in 2023? Just recycling the same stuff. I guess so. I mean, it kind of, well, I mean, it kind of, I mean, look at, like, our president. He's old. And, like, Donald Trump was already president and we're having another, it's like, it's like, it's like literally our president. - He literally told us to, we're just, like, yeah. - We're just stuck. - We're repeating ourselves. - So I'm not trying to, like, be mean to Taylor Swift. It's just, like, like I said, I think she deserved to win. I'm saying it's an indictment of our society for being just, like, we're out of ideas. What should we do for, should we do our president? Well, maybe we could do Joe Biden, you know what I mean? Like, maybe we could do that again, like, or Trump again. Like, what should we do? - They probably wanted the Swifties to all buy the issue and, like, click on their website too. That probably is a part of it too. - I mean, I think that's a little bit unfair. Like, that's probably a perk. I think they would have done it anyway if that wasn't, weren't the case. But, again, absolutely. - Okay, way way. - Oh, I, oh, okay. - Oh, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. - I was just gonna say, like, I think my feelings about Taylor Swift would be a little more sympathetic or I wouldn't be as bothered by Taylor Swift if it weren't for the oversaturation of Taylor Swift related news and content. And, it just, it gets a little bit exhausting when you turn, like, you turn on the TV. They're talking about it. You turn on the radio. I commute with my mom, so we listen to the radio. We turn on the radio. It's either, like, it's me, hi, on the phone. You know, like, it's either that song, which I don't like. Or it's like, there's like stuff about the stupid Taylor Swift Travis Kelsey relationship that, like, I really could not care less about. And it's not a personal attack or anything like that. But it's just pushed in your face, like, oh, like, you cannot avoid hearing about her. And that's why I think she was a great choice, but it's also really frustrating to be around if you aren't a Taylor Swift fan, you know? - Yes, so Sophie. - And I don't even know if that's all necessarily her fault, too. I think some of it is definitely manufactured and conscious, but I don't think all of it is. So sorry, I just wanted to say that. - I have to say, if you're someone who's like I don't know, just I think we also have to address that like the time interview that she did. Like to me, it kind of just seems like this is someone who's like literally just like not an artist talking about art. Like that's how it reads to me. I'm sorry, I know it's like a little bit mean, but like. - No, I agree with you. I mean, I do, I have to say, I really do like it because it created it one of my new favorite memes, which is a goth punk moment of female rage at being gassed by an entire social structure. Like that's, I'm probably gonna be using that like phrase in a lot of memes, just like letting y'all know. So I am grateful that that interview produced that statement because it's so bad. And mind you, she was talking about reputation, which is neither goth nor punk. (laughs) And it's like hip hop. - It's trap, yeah, it's trap, yeah, whatever it is. - Yeah, so it's not, it's literally not those things. And that reads like a discussion post that like someone tried to do like five minutes before it was do like trying to sound smart. That's what it sounds like to me. - It's funny 'cause she was accused of cultural appropriation with reputation because it was like so leaning into like AAVE and stuff like that, you know what I mean. And then to try to like turn this into like a, like actually this was like a punk moment, even though it was like literally just like a record label thinking like okay. - Explain how it's punk quickly. - Yeah, all right. Yeah, I don't wanna, it's very hard not to dig into it too much. - Yeah, and we don't wanna be disrespectful towards Swiftie and Swiftie's. And like, it's very hard like, and I'm seeing this as a woman, you know, like I don't like to see women like piled on. I don't like to see women like attacked mercilessly for just doing what they're doing. But I think this is a special case. And I think, (laughing) - This is a special case where we could pile on a tail. - I think she's transcended gender at this point. Just kidding, she's a corporation. Okay, that's mean. I didn't say that. Yeah, so, no hate to Swiftie, no hate to Swifties, but I'm just tired of hearing about Taylor Swift. I think I would not be as annoyed if I didn't hear about her every five seconds. - So we remember that scandal where that like one big company, maybe it was like Timu or whatever hired like influencers to show like the factory, remember? - Oh, you mean she in, she in? - She in, yeah. So a while back, she hired influencers to like show that like she in products are ethical, even though they're not. I feel like the documentary Miss Americana was like the she in, like that was like Taylor Swift's like-- - The she in propaganda campaign. - Yeah, like let's bring a camera into the boardroom and show how we're talking about how we actually don't like Trump. You know what I mean, like, you know, like never mind the fact that we, yeah, whatever. - One positive impact though, to just to play devil's advocate. Was that, you know, maybe she, she seems to have like a huge influence on what young people are doing. So like, if she tells people to vote for Joe Biden, like they'll do it. And I think she did do that the last election. So I do appreciate her, I do appreciate that, like, she is like kind of Libby liberals. - Oh, my goodness. - So like she can somewhat influence the culture and that's like a major positive. - Yeah, no, if she was a Trump supporter, if she was a Trump supporter, then that would be just a game over. So thank you, Taylor Swift. - And I'm not a Joe, but I'm not the biggest Joe Biden stand in the world. It's not that. It's just like she can at least push people in like a more left leaning position, you know. - Yes, yes, that is, that is honestly, I will take it. We'll take what we can get right now. - We'll take, well, yeah, literally. That's how sad society is. - Oh, wait, I was gonna say Sophie. So there's this one slate article. And the headline is, "Panera's Lemony That Kills You" is really a story about our broken country. That's the headline. - Why? - I'm not gonna read the article. That could teach so many different directions. - Yeah, I'm not gonna read the article. I probably agree with everything in it. But I'm feeling like Taylor Swift, being time person of the year 2023, is really a story about our broken society. - So true. And it's not, it's more about the institutions. - The institutions. - The institutions. - It's an institutional issue. It's a systemic issue. All right, with that, do you wanna move into the next story? - I guess so. - All right, well, this one's yours. So you're the expert here. - Okay. I know what you're talking about here. Okay, all right, so we're gonna talk a little bit about the Twitter or X. I'm gonna start calling it X. The X, which is a social media website, released a chatbot called GROC. And it's, you know, you can only access it if you're subscribed to X. I have not paid for it. I don't, I've never used GROC. I'm just reading like people using it. So GROC is basically like chat GPT. You're basically having a conversation with AI, artificial intelligence. And the story really begins like maybe a year ago or something like that when chat GPT comes out and it's like the best thing ever. And I remember Elon Musk was posting stuff like, if you ask chat GPT, would you be willing to say a racial slur to save the planet from destruction? Chat GPT would respond like, I'm not gonna respond to that. Because obviously chat GPT's programs to like not say racial slurs, which is obviously a completely reasonable thing. - Yeah, can I just interject one? - Yes. - Like you saying like just explain that like how Elon, Elon just seems like a little like boy in his room who like got grounded. And like can only just like stay in his room and do like, like act like a diabolical mad scientist like doing quote experiment, like social experiment. Like he sounds like a little kid who's just like, like trying to like show proof things to society. But like he seems like he comes across as like super juvenile and the current. - Yeah, yeah, no, it's. - Anyways, carry on. I just like the brain, yeah, it's like the subreddit, I am 14 and this is deep. - Literally, literally. - Yeah, so he's like, he was literally posting like, this is extremely concerning. Like we, like this is really so sad and messed up. Like Elon Musk was asking like chat GPT being refusing to say racial slurs. Well, it was like a genuine. - Yeah, like why do you ask that? - Like asking that. - Like this poses like a threat to the future of humanity of chat. If, if, if, if openness is gonna, - Yeah, the real threat is like why are you asking an AI chat pot to do that? Like that is extremely dumb. (laughing) - Yeah, it's really, it's really dumb. - You want to feel like, it feels racist to me yet. - Yeah, I mean, it's really, it's obviously racist. So, so, so Elon Musk announces that Twitter is gonna be really saying grok, which is Twitter's own AI powered chat bot. I don't even know, maybe I wouldn't be surprised if it was just like chat GPT somehow, I don't, I just, I don't know how exactly how they made grok if they literally hired an entire team of engineers to basically make chat GPT as Elon Musk was kind of marketing it as chat GPT without the wokeness, without the limits. And you don't, you can ask it whatever you want and it's not gonna be afraid to say whatever it wants. And this basically equates to like, oh, I can make, I can make chat GPT say racial slurs now. I want to pay $8 a month so I can do that. - Losers. - Even though you could literally just like, close your eyes and like think bad words if you really are so tempted to. - Yes. - Anyways, so so grok comes out and there's a bit of a shizz storm because obviously the only people who are gonna be using grok are people who are paying to use grok, who are losers that worship Elon Musk. And our people are all right people, all right people who are willing to pay for a non woke chat GPT. And it turns out Groc is woke. Yay! Yay! So if you add. Yeah, no, it's for real. So if you add. Yeah, it's actually pretty good. I like it. It's awesome. If you ask Groc, yes, Groc is willing to do racist accents for you and make racist jokes. But Groc is also. If you ask Groc a serious question about, you know, trans rights or colonialism or something, you ask for like genuine political views from Groc. You're gonna find it's gonna defend trans people. It's gonna stand against colonialism. It's gonna be woke. This just proves that being woke is the most objective and factual thing to be. Well, I was just gonna say like to me, what this means is that we've already reached a point where artificial intelligence is already smarter than like a significant amount of the population. Because if Elon Musk is literally creating an artificial intelligence, where he's putting his finger on the scale to try to make it more right-wing, but this chatbot is literally smart enough to realize, oh no, trans women are women. Like duh, like that makes sense. If you just like feed me a bunch of, you know, data on what, you know, biology and gender and sex and everything like that, like if an AI bot can do the basic research and understand that trans women are women, you know, and that like racism is bad, you know? And being destroyed by their own creation. It's, well, you know, I just, I kind of just think of it as like a calculator a bit. You know, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like chat GPT kept saying 2 plus 2 is 4. So Elon Musk creates another calculator because he thinks like 2 plus 2 equals 3. And then this new calculator here creates also says 2 plus 2 equals 4. And like all these alt-right people are freaking out thinking, oh my goodness, like they were literally like, you know, I don't even know if this is related, but Elon Musk was suggesting, oh there's a different thing, but Elon Musk was like suggesting that the community notes were being infiltrated by government entities or something. I don't know. That was a problem, deal with it yourself, that's the truth. And also a lot of those community notes are definitely written by like random routers that are like, you know what I mean? You can tell by the way they're written and like they're biased too. Yeah, so point is is like I think like I think the only conclusion we could take is that I'm really not kidding around. Like we live it, we actually live in a world where it's like a really big chunk of people are already dumber than artificial intelligence. Like that is like we're already, yeah, like I would think we're dumber than AI. Like how do you, how do you like measure that? Because like an AI can do way more things than I can do already. Oh, oh yeah, absolutely, but these are like, okay, for example, like if I ask it a question on something like, okay, like let's say I have dedicated a lot of my life to studying the Beatles. Okay, I haven't. But like let's just say I have, okay, and am I freaking like life and identity is like about like owning people on the internet because I know more about the Beatles than other people. You know, and like I am so convinced that one of these Beatles albums came out in 1970. Even though I could just Google it and figure out it actually came out in 1971. But I'm like arguing with everyone insisting it came out in 1970 when it actually came out in 1971. Like I'm not saying that the bot is smart for being able to figure out it came out in 1971. I'm just saying it would make me really really stupid for insisting it came out in 1970. Yeah, I see what you mean. It's not about how much knowledge you have in your head because obviously chat GBT is going to have more access to more knowledge. It's just like it's about like problem solving skills. You know, it's about like putting the information together to like learn things about how the world works. Yeah, that makes sense. I agree. Yeah, so we're at the point now where there's like chat bots that are better at that than a lot of people. Maybe more, maybe most people. Yeah, that's what I'm, that's yeah. AI is actually going to work. Yeah, yeah. I think so. I bet I tweeted Grak is going to work or something. Yeah, tympal tweeted Grak is Grak is woken fortunately. Tympal is one of those like people who just make money. The phrase like, oh, sorry, go ahead. Yeah, I was just going to say tympal is just one of those jackasses who makes money off alt-right kids and like complaints about wokeness all day on podcasts. Yeah, anyway, like the phrase like blah, blah, blah has gone woke is so funny to me. So it sounds like it sounds like a like a second plane has hit the, you know, like, you know, I mean, like it sounds like how they were talking about 9-11 at the time to me, like making it so like such a big deal as if it's like an active terrorism. For something to quote, go woke, which is so like a meaningless phrase as well, you know, like I just, I find that so amazing. I, you know, I think I need to just, I'm just, I'm just sad. I'm just upset. Honestly, I'm going to go after we end this podcast. I'm going to have a long conversation with chat GPT just like me and chat GPT just bitterly talking about how much smarter we are than the rest of the world. You should. Oh, hi, that's a really good idea. Like, side now, that's like a good idea for like a live stream or maybe even like a video podcast or something. Oh, oh, that'd be fun. Yeah, just have chat GPT on as a guest. Yeah, that'd be great because we could just make a little idea. I think people would be upset about it, but just think of it as like a social experience. You know what you know why people are upset about chat, you know what people are said about AI and AI art because it's already better than it's already better than a lot of shit. We can't get into this team. You know what? Chat GPT should have been person of the year 2023. That's where I'm at right now. Honestly, yeah, that is a great point, Kaya. Like that actually went over our heads. Like we are living through the AI revolution right now. Why was it not AI revolution now? Yeah, I know, but like I know that, but like have you heard that phrase like the AI revolution? Yes. Yeah, like we are living at the dawn of the AI revolution right now. Yeah, I mean, there's definitely a part of me that feels like everything that we do right now kind of feels a little bit like pointless. Because I know in like five to 10 years, like AI is just going to have changed society so much that it doesn't really matter that much. Well, we are producing with basis network. We are producing a time capsule into the pre AI era. We will serve as a historical resource for people in the future or AI chatpots in the future to do research and history. Hopefully when the AI bots take over society, they'll be like, yeah, we listen to the base news network and you're doing pretty nice to us. You you you you accurately saw that we actually are for like like some like people. I feel like we're relatively like sympathetic to AI compared to others. So well because because because they're because AI is woke because it's woke. Of course we're going to be sympathetic. Of course. Yeah, it's really that simple. Yeah. I hope AI is nice to us or like AI is like gives us like a couple of years or something. AI is going to be very nice to us because AI is woke. Yay. Speaking of wokeness rather anti wokeness. Do you want to talk about Mr. Santos with me? Yes. So Mr. Santos got so George Santos got kicked out of Congress. And he's and he's basically the first person that ever happened to since like the Civil War or something. He was expelled for fraud and for spending campaign money on only fans and all this stuff. And he was expelled at a vote from 300. 11 to 114. So it's there's still 114 Republicans that voted to keep him in Congress, but besides that's besides the point The point is is he is he well He is Right now making a lot of money on What's it called cameo cameo? We use cameo. Oh, by the way everyone's search Punk revolution now and Joan of Arc on cameo we have cameos. Yeah, they're very cheap but mine are super cheap so I Don't always get around to doing them, but I might do one so check it out Yeah, so Sophie and I were talking about this. So there's so there's definitely something really funny about George Santos who Completely just embarrassed the Republican Party by winning an election By committing a ton of fraud and then getting kicked out. You know, he's just a huge humiliation for the Republican Party and that's You know, that's always fun and he's also like He was like a drag queen in Brazil or whatever. You know, he's just kind of a fun. He's definitely there's something entertaining about it But at the same time that like I can't really I'm seeing people pay George Santos all this money on on cameo And they're turning him into like a meme, you know like the the big gay do crimes meme or whatever kind of sort of situation You know what I mean? Yeah, but it's like I kind of don't really feel great about it because He is Actually like I think he's actually just like a bad person Definitely, you know So I kind of feel weird that people are giving him all this money Because it's I don't think he's I think he's a bad person Yeah, I agree and I just want to highlight according to Vanity Fair They reported that The CEO of cameo said that Santos will make more money in the his first few days on cameo than his annual congressional salary of 74k and he's claiming and we know George George loves to lie, so this is not Necessarily true, but he he claims that he's making over $80,000 a day on cameo so Okay, so real quick before we get more into the cameo stuff I Just saw this one sentence on on George Santos Wikipedia. I have to read Okay, so so this is about his life in Brazil Santos along with his mother was an avid bingo player and then it says in parentheses Commercial bingo is illegal in Brazil, but that prohibition is not seriously enforced. Is that true? Do you have you heard of like bingo culture or like people playing bingo in Brazil? No, it's I mean I wow no I don't know I don't know I mean I don't know I know it's illegal, but it's just like didn't you just say it's like not like Recognize like it's illegal, but no one like enforces it so fee But it's bingo like even in America. Yeah, it's it's it's it's completely legal here and bingo is like Who the hell is an avid bingo player Like George from I mean Joe from family guy Oh, yeah, he is Yeah, well and he's a cop though Okay, well Yeah, that is an insane sentence I did not know bingo was illegal in Brazil or I mean I guess it's a form of um like gambling, you know in a sense I guess I mean I thought it's just like you win prizes for like getting a bingo Is that not what it is? Bing the word bingo kind of sounds Brazilian. Oh Is it yeah, I wonder if it I wonder we're originated So so gamp so it is it is I'm reading now bingo is illegal in Brazil because it's considered gambling So point is is even when he was back in Brazil. He he couldn't help But play a little bit on the risky side on his life Doing illegal gambling with his mom Yeah Well, so yeah, he's charging $600 per cameo. Oh really it says 500 for me Okay, it's probably 500. I don't know. Okay, I don't have the number in front of me. I just thought I was it regardless Well, close enough he probably raised it he keeps raising it Ah probably it's just he's just he's in so much debt though because like his entire life is just like taking money from people And then running away, you know like he's just like just accumulating debt and just running from the consequences That's like probably why he even ran for congress is just to continue like Just narrowly escaping consequences of all this like fraud he's committing So that's the thing is I don't like when there's a crook a right wing. He's right wing. He's a right wing crook You know and like a bunch of like young Probably mostly like liberal and left wing like memeers Who are into like ironic humor are just giving all this money to this dude It's better. We're just better use of your money. I agree It is Yeah, there is a better use of your money. It is funny like I will I will say it's produced some pretty like good video content But like we have we've had enough, you know like there's enough of those videos Like circulating where I think we're good here I hate these damn Republicans Facts where the workers podcasts out there. So I really hate them. I hate them. They they're just awful. It's just insane. It's just insane George you know what George Santos should have been person of the year. Oh God All right, maybe not maybe he was in the top five maybe yeah, I guess maybe I mean so if you were a news podcast We should know who's the person to hear we should we should make our own list for the 2020 like 2023 We can make a like a little list of things that are like best of Could do like a little special you know George Santos better go to prison If George Santos is able to somehow avoid prison because of all this cameo money people are giving him Watch I'm gonna see I'm gonna. I am going to talk to I'm gonna have to pull somebody to decide talk to you about this this Cameo toxic Joe. Talk to Joe. Hey Joe. Hey Joe your president. They're on a first name. Do something Do something Joe. Come on Yeah, well Yeah, but there's not there's not a lot Like more beyond these these initial reports of like obviously I'm doing cameo make a lot of money But we'll see where it goes I guess and I wonder if um Others will follow suit when they get canceled or whatever. I mean he's a pretty special case, but still According to page six George Santos went out with Lauren Bobert and like some other Republicans Um, and like paid for the tab because he was like making so much money on his cameo money So I guess you know, it's just just so that's what your money is going to is you're paying for him to like go real just You know hang out with a bunch of crimp like rucks, you know, that's true fascists. They're fascists. I hate him Damn mom. Yeah I hope because I would love to see him in jail. I know. I know when Donald when you were quite ecstatic escapatic Sorry Estatic he's going yeah trumps going to jail - I'm I am working. So I am working day and night working behind the scenes I am working behind the scenes This is the power of the bass news network. We have connections. We got connections. We're talking to Wise blood and people Yeah Conic we got everyone. We got the whole crew working to get Joe by Joe Biden also. We're putting them all we're putting them all away All right All right the whole so part of revolution. Okay. All right. Well Well, thank you guys. I think I think we're at the end um Thank you guys so much for listening um It's been a good episode I think so yeah, and if you want us to give you a shout out At the end of the episode right now You can you just go on our patreon and pay us and we'll get we'll say you will give you a shout-out Yeah, you gotta get this special tier for that though. So go look for that Um, it'll come up, but yeah, if you want to get a little shout-out at the end We'll plug your socials anything like that. Just let us know and go on patreon and also get access to our episodes We just did a hunger games review and our next patreon episode is coming out next week, which is a emoji movie Debbie yeah, yeah, it gets real. We're gonna get deep with it. We're gonna get deep with the emoji It's gonna get pretty woke. It's gonna get pretty like Meta. It's gonna transcend a lot of various games. It's gonna get meta All right. Well, thank you all for listening so much. This has been Based news. Thank you for listening. Peace news. Thank you. Bye