Unf*cking The Republic Show Notes [October 4, 2025.]
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Oct 4, 2025 Max and 99 tackle pressing topics like AI's concentration risks and the ethical concerns surrounding Palantir’s marketing. They delve into the implications of automation versus AI on the job market and explore the complexities of government shutdowns. The pair critique Pete Hegseth's recent military address, addressing toxic masculinity and hypocrisy in politics. They also reflect on Jane Goodall's impact and discuss the cultural distractions of celebrity news while contemplating a listener's idea for a worker-owned gig co-op.
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Engineers And The Logistics Of Atrocity
- Max recounts visiting a Holocaust center exhibit showing how engineers designed camps to solve logistics problems.
- He uses that historical example to warn how technical expertise can be co-opted for authoritarian ends.
AI Concentration Risks In Markets
- The market shows extreme AI concentration risk because massive capital flowed into infrastructure with little revenue to justify it.
- This mismatch could produce a painful correction that destroys the capital base sustaining many AI bets.
ChatGPT And The Job-Openings Break
- ChatGPT's launch coincided with a divergence in job openings that may reflect automation or preexisting corporate trimming.
- The key question is whether AI permanently substitutes roles or merely accelerates the removal of preexisting 'fat.'