Welcome to the nervous podcast Number 5 46 We've added a second notice Podcast live at San Diego Comic con. So that'll be Saturday, July 26th A to 7:30 p.m. We're going to announce the guests pretty soon, but tickets are going fast. I hate that phrase because it sounds manipulative, right? Like all you better get on this or you're gonna lose tickets that, you know, going toe. I mean, if you want to go, you would, despite it. It's a beautiful ago. You're probably thinking to go. Oh, I better buy these before so I can keep some other jerk from going anyway.

Now, I've talked far too much about the semantics of how to present a live show ticket offer. So just if you would like to go would be nice to have you there. Totally cool. Um, but we'll see you there. If you do come and it'll be, there will be very, very fun. I'm very excited about these shows in this comic con. So I think stamps dot com for sponsoring this episode The nervous podcast Turn your computer into your own personal post office That does not shout at you or that you don't have to wait in line for. If you want to create the post office experience, just get a lot of your friends to stand in front of your computer and then just wait there for a while and then just have your computer just on a loop. Just shout expletives at you. But if you don't want to do all that, just sit down and print out the exact posted you need for whatever letter or package,

whatever you need, and then just hand it to your mail carrier and then and then you'll be done. We, of course, have this continuing offer with stamps dot com. The promo code Nerdist will give you $110 bonus offer, including a digital scale, which, by the way, calculates the exact postage for letters and packages and up to $55 of free postage. So don't wait. Go to stamps dot com Before you do anything else, click the mike one of the top of the home page in type and noticed that stamps dot com and enter the promo code. Nerdist. This podcast is Alexis Ohanian, who is a co founder of Reddit and I spent a lot of time on Reddit.

Um, and I was very excited to meet Alexis, and he turned out to be such a great guy that we actually became pals. And actually, I believe may have developed on idea that might be fun for you to jump on, but yeah, he was in town a few weeks back and he came out to the at midnight Studios. We got We got to hang out a bit. We exchanged numbers. Oh, bro time. And, uh, so oh, he doesn't a book, by the way,

called without their permission, which came out late last year. It's available anywhere. Books are sold digitally or in real life. Eso check it out. A lease. Incredibly, incredibly smart guy. He's my smarter than I am, Uh, which is totally fine on it was not her to talk to try to feel like I was. So here we go. The nervous podcast number 5 46 with Alexis Ohanian, our begin podcast. Now entering nervous dot com. Should I make my cat look really fat Or like a sheet?

Sometimes it's all about how she spreads out. Like sometimes she will just be like, Here's a reasonable photo. She loves sticking out some like that. And I just I melt Well, OK, then, Yeah, just wait the where you make people know. Okay, that's That's the full Monty. She sea otters. This is what I call this. And it's the most amazing thing ever. Just like just like sweet my sweeping the floor. Swiffer,

like a cat cat should hang out. I, uh Oh, I miss her. Where is she now? Back in Brooklyn. But I never let me go on a few days. I'm just pathetic. No, that's that's that's pathetic. That sweet. I did a five month bus tour for my book, and when I came back, I really worried. I thought it was gonna be like it was amazing viral videos where the vet comes home and the dog flips out. And it's like,

so and you're old, like we be in stuff. They don't have a lot of those with cats, you know? So like, I'm like karma. I'm home. Catch emotional Reagan's prayer. But no, she I mean, she came to the door and expressed about as much love as I could get out of a cat I was I was happening. But it wasn't like I was really expecting. Like the dog jumping up on me, like in the face. But just the cat just goes mirror and just one balloon sadly drops. We threw a party for just bounces.

All right, I'm gonna go shit in a box. Now, See, this is and then make you clean it up. They make you clean it up. Gift. It's like my 16th birthday all over again. I feel like I feel like having a cat is a very co dependent relationship. Because you're constantly just like love me more cat. What if I do this? Do you love me more? Never works. It doesn't. But see, I feel like we were telling us earlier.

I feel like I'm more of a dog person. I just don't I can't with living in Brooklyn and traveling and stuff like, I would just feel terrible having one. And, uh, cat, I don't if she's listening, but I still love her. I just showed she looked kind of what she worried on. She was a a dog would be like, You sounded great in that podcast. Never tell you maybe like did you listen to podcasts and I don't know. I don't know. A lot of a lot of stuff going on in my life. I always feel like having like having a roommate that you slept with once but shouldn't have. And it's just always awkward where you they just walk across the hall and you're like,

Oh, am I supposed to go to you? Are you Are we friends still or do you come to me now? I have. I have never had that roommates set up, but it makes a lot of sense. I've never have either. But I'm assuming that that I'm assuming that's what would happen. What? Welcome to the podcast. It started this started, You know, it's about that a little while ago. We do like scalp Chewbacca. I did owe their guest book. So when we're done ease you will sign this book that just roared and Ricky were.

And then we will, uh, when When the book is full, we auction it off for charity. That's great. Yeah. Wow, A little ways to go, but I think I think we'll get there by the end of the year. Nice, but are you do you spend a lot of time on the West Coast? Or is this just for the book tour? Uh, you know, I some very biased I love. I love these side,

but I do obviously a lot of technology start ups and investing. So I spent a lot of time in San Francisco. No offense, Southern California. But my grandfather lives here, and a lot of things came in a place that was on the West Coast for y Combinator in their latest batch. Only around a startups. New Red. It's new hip monks even better and bigger. And my grandpas, 92 years young and I was like Gramps, like, I got to come visit and I got to get you do in a M A and my grandpa bless his heart used. He actually uses the Internet a good bit, does not use Reddit. He is aware of Reddit.

I may have been working out of the last nine years, so like I'd hope so. And he's and he's very, very supportive of it, but has no idea what it is. But I explained the whole am a procedure to him, and he was like, all right, all right, let's do this. And I was just type ist as he dictated to me. And we didn't amazing aim a couple days ago what you should all check out on. It's really cool. And I got inspired because I've started to seem or like, I'm a 94 year old World War two vet. Ask me anything these,

these these these am A's of people who have lived through so much who may not necessarily be famous but who are part of a limited group of people, have this kind of experience. It just It's really fascinating, and we read its meeting ages like 26 but the But you know what's good questions? What? But the you know, someone who's lived to the age of 94. It's a very strong likelihood that they have a lot of great stories because they've been in the sort of long time, so they may not be pop culture famous, but they're sort of sort of humanity famous in a in a way, because they have experience they have achieved. I mean, if you make it to that age doing some right you're doing yet there's something going on for the most part, um, and there are lessons to be learned in there. There there are parallels to be drawn.

And so you know, the great thing about Reddit or social media or having this connection to people is that a lot of these people in their nineties would have just otherwise have just been dust in the wind and at some point, without having their story to tell. But having this because it's not like most these cases. People aren't being visited every day so they can spin yarns. So to be able to reach out to, you know, ostensibly millions of people and say, What do you want to know? I got stories, and I like This was not. This was absolutely an unintended consequence. Stephen. I started read it just toe have, like one front page of interesting links that would one day hopefully grow into many, many communities there,

like their half a 1,000,000 sub read. It's now, and I also was watching you last night. That's creepy Eyes L A. So I guess you get here on the show, right? Not said so much, said too much. And to see it was a combined gifts. Somebody getting a shot out there like there are half a 1,000,000 communities now on Reddit, right? We built that platform with just one and hope that Okay, we could spend up some others and, you know, anyone could create 11 day. Maybe there'll be,

like, 20 on What's so cool is, you know, the A m a thing spun out because a reddit er or red eaters on our ask Reddit we're getting tired of seeing people come on the ass credit, which is normally a place to ask questions, saying, Hey, ask me anything. I'm a New York subway conductor and they were like, You know what? Just doesn't belong to create your own subreddit and the A m A. All that nomenclature is credible. Users like the hashtag we didn't, Steven. I didn't invent that right happened organically and the best am eight. I'll tell you,

my grandpa does not have a lot of Twitter followers does not. I was actually zero if you went on Twitter and said, I have some amazing stories to tell. Odds are, no one would ask him a question. No, Because of the nature on Facebook, no one would ask what's cool is the best. A maze, I I say, with all due respect to present company, the best a maze come from people who are just like I'm a New York subway conductor or I am like a trauma nurse who's been doing this for 30 years, like they are just normal people who don't have any kind of celebrity, not even like Internet celebrity. They're just people with great stories, and I like that because it's I mean,

it's the nature of the Internet. There are people all over who have had great stories who have had, who would have been great interview subjects. Larry King obviously can't take the time to interview all of them. We have the technology now to allow people to just ask these questions of of anyone who wants to get up and talk, and it's it's just it's very cool. I do. I love thee. I love the Reddit community. I've been a part of it for a few years. Um, my I had no good at it. I'm okay at it. I still feel like I get sometimes I get sucked into things that I shouldn't get sucked into. I'm getting a lot better about that. But I've been aware of Reddit for more than three years.

But it was. But my girlfriend, Chloe had really like, she was a big predator, and she was like, You know, she's on it constantly, has great taste. I got sucked in, and so she had me doing am A almost three years ago, and it was great. It was because of her was because of her. Yeah. Can I send her like, a swag bag or some nice little Thank you for that? Sure.

I'm sure we were gonna forget that spoiler. Sorry, You're gonna get that. That's really awesome. Yeah. And so, you know, and a bunch of my other friends were editors Wil Wheaton. And, you know, like people who who Ronald, my beard after him. It's a week desk beard. I would have said we, Tony, and we toning,

but But I do feel that, you know, at midnight has and this may, you know, I'm not trying to offend any red. It is buy things, but I feel like spiritually it's red, like, kind of like red at the show, in the sense that were sort of finding things that are kind of popping up on the surface of a lot of different communities, and then we're commenting on it, and we know we have. I have gotten I have, like most people are very nice, but but but the kind of snipes that I get an read it sometime like we're gonna rip off read it now. And it's like we're not ripping enough.

It's like saying that's like saying, You know, Jon Stewart's ripping off politics is like, This is just the source material And then we're adding commentary the way you would as a commenter on a Reddit thread were not just showing stuff and going, Look what we found. All right, here's another thing we found. It's with any kind of, you know, satire show. It's like this is the source material and then we add our comments to it. We add our commentary and see what what builds from there and that to me, it's sort of the soul of red. It's like, What are people going to do with this? And how is it going to evolve?

We're gonna go on house, this thread gonna turn into a weird, slightly related MIM and then just go into something else completely because everyone's one upping jokes and and and actually someone who read it. You guys also have a point system that is utterly meaningless. I was thinking you were very generous with your points. I am. But you know, re general, what happens is that I do give it a lot of points in the show. But, you know, we take, we take it basically, what's a 35 to 38 minutes show and edited to 21 minutes? And so, more often than not,

we're gonna keep the best stuff. So stuff that maybe doesn't get points is pride and get points for a reason. And so we don't keep it on that, you know, like we OK, we don't want to sacrifice good comedy to show off, you know, like something that didn't fly. We do sometimes or why I s which means they're probably instances where someone should not get points because it's bad. But somehow it becomes so funny that it's worth keeping. There's kind of a weird I don't really have ah hard and fast rule about it. It's just that if in very few cases I will not award points, even if the audience laughs. If it's something like, someone took a shot at Harry Potter and I was like Fuck, you know,

points, even though the audience laughed. But in general, if I laugh, it'll get points. If the audience laughs, it'll get points. If it's something that seems relevant in some way or just felt like, Oh, they went a little extra with it. And even though it may not have been hilarious, I'm gonna give him points for the effort. So you know, because I I feel. And you know, one thing that I liked about Reddit from early on is that if in most cases it feels inclusive now there are.

And that's how I like to conduct things I like. I like everyone to feel included, as opposed to like, No fuck you. And you know those are things, book you. That's your thing. I do find sometimes you know on Reddit that it can be a little exclusive in certain in certain areas. But that's just, you know, that's just the nature of That's just the nature of nerds congregating. I mean, it's it's crazy, right? There's, Ah,

there's about 110 million people every month visiting Reddit, which is mind blowing to me, right? Like I live in New York and there's eight million people there. Uh, that's a lot of New York City's, um, And so with 1/2 a 1,000,000 communities, it really runs the gamut. I mean, you know, I think once anything reaches a certain scale, whether it's YouTube comments, whether it's I mean Twitter comments, at a certain scale, you're gonna get just assholes.

Yeah, I think. What? Hopefully I think what hopefully shines more often than not. And I know at least just based on, you know, the sort of stuff that read it deals with Today. The vast majority of content posted there ends up being pretty benign or pretty positive. But this is the nature of Ah, you know of a new world where, like, for better for worse, anyone with a smartphone or a computer can talk and I love I mean, I think things like who shows it with celebrities reading mean tweets, Kimmel that whole it, like brilliantly done on and I think a way to hopefully I don't know.

I toe hopefully prepare people for the fact that like yeah, you have this power. But with it, like Uncle Ben said, comes great responsibility. And then, like I totally agree. I think there's there's so many more opportunities now than ever for us to communicate and share an idea. I hope more often than not, we choose to exercise that for good. At the end of day, I I wish I could control people, but I cannot. I mean, obviously, you know,

I I think it's, I think, dissenting opinions air good. I just find sometimes the people that could be most frustrating or just flat out rude, and then when you challenge them, they're like, You can't handle the truth like, No, you're just a dick if you said it positively and constructively But you know. But that's But that's the idea of like, Well, anyone can say whatever they want, And that's just the melting pot of, you know, that's all. Some people communicate,

but I also find that it's it's like the smaller Subreddit. There's just there's a little more social policing with that stuff because people feel a little more accountable with large ones like our videos are. Picks are funny. You know it gets. That's where that's where you Seymour of the deluge of that because it's just so the numbers are greater. It looks like it looks like YouTube comments. Looks like all those. Yeah, and it sucks. Uh, I wonder. I think this is something I've thought about a lot because it's clear, you know, even with Facebook's, obviously made a huge push for real. I d off your photo for your real name.

It's the only way use the site. But it's clear that even having your real name and your photo and like your mother reading your Facebook post, people will still be awful. They will. But I do honestly believe that a percentage of people would be less awful if they felt that they were accountable for their I mean, for me. Look, it's fine post anonymously. That's totally cool. But for me, personally, I never do. I like being responsible for myself. I mean, I like I like being accountable for what I say, because I feel like it kind of keeps me in check,

and I think that's I think that's good for our culture to be accountable for what you say. I think It's good to learn to be accountable for what you say, because ultimately it just makes it more compassionate and empathetic. Teoh totally agree. I will say, though one can be accountable for a pseudonym, Right there is a difference between totally anonymous posting. Yes, and pseudonymous, pseudonymous, pseudonymous posting, right, Like fluffy bunny 26 or I'm nothing on reddit can. Zero thing, Uh, are you know,

most a lot of people on Twitter are under pseudonyms, allows people to be accountable to a user name, but still be a little liberated. I mean, the things I see all the time, um, you know, you see a subreddit like, um, are rainbow, which is just a rainbow with the slash middle. You see these stories of people who are able to have discussions student on pseudonymously they could never have about their sexuality on Facebook totally agree because of their community, Henry. And it's a gift and a curse, right? That I think I guess it's just when you're using it as a weapon,

right? It's awful. It's awful, but But if you're using it to get in touch with yourself, like like in terms of our rainbow, that's that is that such a powerful tool that you know that a lot of those a lot of those people just wouldn't have had 10 years ago. And how do they How do they feel accepted and normal? Yeah, and in So it's like I said, it's like all these things. These chemical communication platforms are old tools, and I do think the more accountability the better on bits like I. I am the eternal optimist, and I see so many of these things happening all the time, not just already, probably the Internet that give me so much hope for,

you know. And even in one of the yogis, right? Tim Berners Lee did an amazing and May talking about what he had in mind for the World Wide Web and the vision he had in all of his brilliance all those years ago is starting to bear fruit because of social media and because we are like someone is empowered. Now every one of us has a printing press or ah, television station, or whatever you wanna use for the metaphor, and they're able to have a voice where they traditionally would have been voiceless, and they're able to express themselves and be and be creative and and show off an amazing piece of my little Warhammer fan heart, which is another amazing subreddit that they wouldn't have before and connect with other fans of my little Warhammer like That's cool and amazing. And above all, I would love for everyone to treat the Internet and their use of it, just like they would themselves in real life. They would. They would behave with Justus much responsibilities it would in real life and, like I said,

ultimately can control people. But I see so many examples of the good that I know. Look, there's a good and a bad and I still feel like the good will win because there is more of it. I like to. I like to think that, too. I really do like to think that I just I think part of the interesting dichotomy of how people interact on the Internet and communities is that, um, the spiritually you're interacting with other humans, but practically your interfacing with a cold, sterile machine and text. And so you are. You are connecting with people on some level, but it would be really great if the communal. If the digital highways if there was just a way to make it a little more human so that you know that people do remember like you are communicating with other humans,

you know, as opposed to you know, what just feels like, Oh, this is that there's a whole generation of people that just, you know, don't really take a lot of it seriously because they know like, Oh, it's just the Internet, you know? And then there's Then there's me who were very much remembers before the Internet. And so it, you know, it was a learning curve to not take things so personally because, you know, text the like someone could just fire off text and,

um, emotional moment and then a minute later, like, Wait, what I say now, Like they just don't even but you like it's a snapshot of how they were feeling in a moment. But you could take that as, Oh, this is a universal truth that they're trying to lay out, and I take it very personally And why would they do you know, as opposed, Just like that's Internet Well, and and now, celebrity. I mean, like,

you're a real capital C celebrity celebrity is now also being distributed. Right? There's a I mean, they're vine stars with five million followers who are in their teens like Absolutely, they didn't have to get signed. They didn't have to go through a production like they are just now celebrities. I mean, that's a lower case. Weaken disputed, but like they have a following that people are paying them lots of money to endorse stuff. There's no blueprint for this, and I I wonder, and I and I got my dial up by 33 6 in middle school changed my life. But I remember like I remember that transition and I, you know, I grew up on message boards and forms.

That's how I learned how to code and build websites on. And I would trick nonprofits because they didn't know I was just like a pew Besten teenager in my parents house on I would build websites for them for free just because I wanted the experience and like for the pride, but they didn't know I was a teenager, right, and that was the gift of hiding behind an email address. I never had to meet them and say, Hey, let me build you a website, you know, I was able to just type and they judged me based on my work. Um and I I it's gonna be really, really interesting, and like I said, I am, I am forever the optimist, but I just I look out and I see so many more people now who have access right?

It used to be such a limited number of people who had access to knowledge and a stage. I used the library stage metaphor all the time for the right. So many people wanted access to the best education the world, but couldn't get it. Because all the reasons money selection, all that stuff knowledge is now being widely distributed. You want to be an expert at knitting or python or soft scrambling eggs like those tutorials are there, and you could make a better one. If that recipe is good but not great, great, improve it, make it better. And knowledge is becoming a sort of almost trivial thing to access for people with Internet connection and then the stage to show it off. You know, the distribution required lots of capital and lots of access before to get an idea what he needed to have the printing facility or the television station of the radio station. And now it's anyone and I look at all the things we've gotten,

all the things that we love that make our lives better and culture and technology. And you remember that, like only a small percentage of the world's population could actually really contribute their genius to that. Progress, like so many people, were cut up because all kinds of bullshit, societal, other reasons and the Internets not like a magic wand. But without a doubt, we're seeing more and more people now getting access. And I think we're now going to benefit from the best ideas from so many more people, whether it's in business or non profits, or like what's in it. Like like e sports is a really niche thing, but like that whole thing didn't even exist. And people are making careers out of not only playing video games but talking about well,

the most obvious. The most obvious example of that is the entertainment business where there used to basically just essentially before, people who would just, you know, four people in television like four people in music, four people in film and old dudes who would Yeah, exactly who all old white dudes named Lou? Who would? Who would decide? You? You. You You You You Okay, that's it. There's no more basically that those were the choices that we had. And now you know, that model is completely I mean,

I talk about this, Um, I talk about this a lot with people were you know, I tried to say, Like, do you really grasp the power of Reddit or YouTube or Twitter? Like I know that we all kind of go, Yeah, you know, people composed over there, But I go, But do you really stop and understand that you could, in a moment with no boundaries anymore completely changed the world with an idea or a you know, something that socially relevant or something comedic or something dramatic or like, just in an instant. And that was never possible in the history of mankind.

Uh, except for just this last little chunk of humanity and that to me, it's so incredibly powerful. And of course, the ironic comedy part is, you know, the when I talk about that I was go. It's just it's funny when you but when you look at the comment threads, you can't always expect a set expectations. But ultimately, but ultimately it, you know, the exchange of ideas, priorities. And but then also it's very dangerous. Very,

very dangerous, like particularly, you know, because you never know which way the school of fish you're gonna swim and, you know, watching what happened with Reddit and the Boston bombing, and people got very, you know, their intentions were very good. We're gonna help find these people. We can help find these, general, and then it not really working out exactly the way that they had planned. And then it's like, Oh, shit,

we have a tremendous amount of power. Now we have a train. It's my responsibility. How do we balance these things and make sure that we're using it properly and not just going off half cocked? Because we're kind of drunk on this idea of like, we could change everything. Yeah, yeah, it's, you know, that that was a really unfortunate situation on and and since that happened, you know, Red has taken very active measures to basically curb any sorts of these hunts, Should they bubble up as best you can, you know, in real time,

monitor half a 1,000,000 communities with people, but, um, and it's it's actually it. You know, not long after that bombing there was there was another unfortunate attack and the FBI was looking for people, and, um and it was it was very encouraging to see that, you know, those millions of people who used Reddit had sort of learned their lesson, and it didn't happen again. Um, you know, the challenges also, that, you know,

that was in particular, Really. That was a thread on a particular subreddit that then got validated by journalists who tweeted at The New York Times That a good break down the whole thing. Um, what is so troubling now is we have this. We still haven't figured out like so much of the news world is still built, which is such a vital role is still built around delivering news. First, being fast is right. You would raise your trucks down to get the saddle equipment up and report on the story, and they were built to be as fast as possible and beat their competitors in terms of speed, and now we have these tools that allow either a journalist to just hit out a tweet and say, Hey, check out this threat. I think right figured it out but also allows anyone of us to just be on the scene right. Being first is no longer the news organizations will never beat the Internet and all of us with smartphones as being first to report on.

And there's a dude there's didn't Pakistan who live tweeted the bin Laden raid. I mean, that was hidden what he's doing the time, but like, that's the future we're living in. Well, yeah. And how many times have you seen something really quickly And then just like tweeted it a retweeted it and you go that that I better let people know and then you realize like that was a hoax. That was done, and it mean but Jimmy does a great job with this, faking out those prank videos with right girl on fire like and this is and I don't have an answer for this because again, on the one hand, it's great. Anyone of us can sort of contribute to the knowledge can report on a thing that is happening on the other hand, like the way journalism works is that we know like this is a trusted source. And yes,

journalists have gotten it wrong. They're humans, right? But like there is a standard that they're held to There is like an expectation. And we now have a ton of noise and we have traditional ways of sort of figuring out the signal. But even those people, even those journalists and organisations, are feeling the pressure of like, got to be first gotta be gotta, gotta gotta die this that that's unfortunately, But I like and I don't have an answer because we need I mean, this Democracies don't work without great press and great journalism, and we don't have I don't think we have yet figured out how to balance how to reconcile all of that access to knowledge, all that access to sort of real time reporting. And that's not journalism. But it's like reporting like,

here's what's happening. Click photo, Um, with the fact we need people to tell us like this is actually this is what's happening here is the broader context, like this is the truth rights that have just Oh, here's something we saw, but I can't help but wonder if it has something to do. And I'm not like I don't know, this might make me sound crazy, but I kind of wonder, at least with news if it has to do with sort of like capitalism, because ultimately they are company, like a news organization. They do serve the news, but that's not necessary. Their primary directive,

the primary direct money, their business that they have to scale and grow, and and so and the news is the is the is the engine that drives that. And so when that is happening, then the fuel is. We have tohave, quicker stories, bigger stories and a lot of bigger stories usually involve fear based stories because that gets people Teoh, are you? Would you? Are you more inclined to watch the news and go? You know, Hey, 72 sunny Great day today and nothing really bad. Oh, are you more inclined?

Like the grapes and your grocer's refrigerator might kill you? Oh, fuck. I gotta what? You know, like there's I feel like there's so much fearmongering that happens. Not that there aren't horrible things in the world. But I mean some things, you know, I do feel, get sort of skewed in that direction because they have to service these these financial infrastructures. And I feel like that's kind of where the the audiences and the consumers get fucked a little bit because, you know, each of these organizations has a little bit of bias. They have a little they kind of have their own agenda, and their agenda isn't necessarily to.

And I don't know if there is an unbiased way to deliver. The news is by through the fact that anyone's reporting it, it's gonna be from humans reporting it. Yeah, I think I think what folks like That's interesting robots. Oh yes, your robots are always the solution Brought news, of course. Will eventually one day or leave us the Libya source news. You know the Lambie a source is the greatest dinosaur ever. Yes, I just don't know. I don't know if it's capable of doing real good journalism. Okay, that's it's going very empire here. You,

of all people, very unpopular theme. The the thing I hope we figure out like vice in a lot of their reporting have done this kind of like that gone Zo journalism where they are like they're giving you everything. The journalist is like, I'm really scared right now. They are in it. Sometimes they're tripping on drugs, but like they're doing some really impressive journalism in places where I feel like we don't get a lot of exposure. And that seems to be one fronts for, like, how you could maybe think about it for a test video news. But it's not. It's not real time. And I think what more and more people we spend more and more on more and more time online or realizing is that what we're looking for is not objective ity, but its transparency. It's it's it's this.

It's this acknowledgement that, like anyone reporting on anything, even when it was like Cronkite or Murrow like they had an agenda, they had a perspective. And yes, they did. They were amazing journalists, amazing reporters, but they weren't objective. I mean, there were people and and I think it's more of a concession that, like the new face of it, is going to be, you know, a little bit more. I don't know.

There's more of a concession that, like you know what? This is how we're seeing the world. This is This is the perspective. We can't we acknowledge we can totally give you unbiased news unless it's, like a very, very fact based sort of headline driven thing. And so it's about acknowledging those biases. Um, but I don't know if there is. I don't know if there is a business model. Um, well, there. Okay, So,

uh, through y Combinator on, that also has an investor. There's a startup full disclosure that I invested in called Beacon, which is doing sort of like a patri on style model of subscription model for journalism. So if you pay $5 a month, you get access to the entire network of beacon journalists. But you can also specifically target for journalists writing on certain beads. So they had some that it was a couple women who were fundraising for reporting on the prison system, which is horribly screwed up in this country. The prison industrial complex is ridiculous, and they're thinking is people are going to want to put money towards investigative journalism is the hardest of fun because it's ongoing. You can't do a Kickstarter campaign for investigative. It's It's also sort of the least sexy because it's it's gonna take a month to do a ton of research. But you get out of it could be world changing, but it's so vital and ostensibly will believe like,

yes, should we have journalists who are investigating our government or our businesses or whatever? And then the answer is yes. And so the thinking goes, Well, if it can be a subscription model, people will feel. I mean, I asked my dad why he still subscribes to the Baltimore Sun, and I'm like that I love you, but like, really, and he's like because I believe in this institution and the people who work there to do the journalism they're doing. And I'm like, You don't even really read one article online every day. Why are you subscribe to the paper?

It's like it's the principle of it. I want I want to know that it exists and it is there. And so I took that apart from the fact that he gets dead tree sent home every day, and I'm like, Well, the dead tree part isn't that important. It's that he's funding journalism that makes him feel like it's making Baltimore in the surrounding area better place to live. And so that's why the Beacon model appeared appealed to me. And I hope we can figure that part of out because you're not gonna get good journalism without funding. I mean, there's the non profit route like the Guardian, right? If you find enough money, if you could get a trust, you can have non profit journalism. Um,

but the business model is always gonna be there unless we find a way that's not based on advertising, not based on the headlines and getting page views. Yeah, but I don't have a good answer for that. I mean, I don't know that there's something notice wants to tackle. I think the fates of our free democracy here it's well, and that's interesting is that that there is that sort of, um, there is that sort of like micro capitalist structure of the currency of points and karma and attention and, you know, and also individuals its first. You know, it's it's it's first comment ever. Its first. He's culture.

Whoever does that stop on usually usually don't quite get it. Yeah, yeah, I know it's usually like the 3rd 1/3 1 But but ultimately it is because we crave attention. We crave validation and, you know, especially the Internet, you know, not knowledge. Information is the currency. And so that is how people established significance, you know? And certainly, I think I mean, I given talking all the time where people, when people say to me like you're not a nerd or not honored,

you know, And I go, you know, Why did they say that? I don't know, because they think I don't. Because of your rugged good looks, I don't know. You know, I think I think just because I look like Seacrest and so I think they just sort of go, you know, you can't can't be that are, you know, and I was not a comic book guy growing up. I was a tech guy in a scifi guy in a video game guy growing up. And so,

you know, I don't know why. I think they just don't whatever. Whatever it is, you know, maybe they're right. Maybe they're not. I don't know, but I feel like it's not about the superficial things that people consume. I feel like It doesn't matter if you read comic books or, you know, like how deep the trench goes for your SciFi viewing or how many you know how many Ray Bradbury books you've read, and I think it's I think it's a way that we process information on. I think the way that nerds and ultimately the sold the Internet processes information is I'm going to understand this thing more than any other living creature. And then I'm gonna use that information against, you know,

sort of. It's now it's the knowledge is power like power with a capital P and power, the word powers throbbing, you know, like that, that kind of it's on. So it's not a good look. We use that, you know, we use that. It's very empowering to be the person who delivers bad news or tell someone else that they're thing is wrong or goes. You know you're dumb and here's why I like there is that we are there is that sort of drunkenness on that on that kind of power that I think, you know, we all have now as being a part of this, you know, mega community of Internet culture.

Tonight Can I use your platform for something? Please try. All right, some of this. What if I don't know if you've ever dared your listeners? What if everyone right now, listening This goes and leaves a positive or uplifting comments somewhere on the Internet on a stranger, Not you can't just go to your like moms Facebook page and be like I love you, Mom. Your great that. Anyway, you should do that anyway. Yeah, but everyone pays it forward Way You're not supposed to create a hash tag. What would we way? We need it.

We need to get hashtag for this. Tweet your hashtag ideas at us, but, uh, pay forward slash No, I don't know. Um say good shit. Hashtag good karma. Hashtag you know? Well, we've got the perfect Don't be a dick. Yes, he does. Although, but don't be a dick. Doesn't necessarily mean going out and doing something good.

This is this is that's more like, Just don't be a jerk. This is go very proactive. Leaving positive common on some stranger's, uh, whatever whatever social media you want to use. You say something nice about this because ultimately I do believe is really good I do. But I do believe that in most cases, um, you know, you could look at anything, Any object, any event, anything. No, I mean,

obviously there are exceptions, but in But in most cases you can look at things and you can write down five positive things about in five negative things. And I feel like it's it's more challenging a lot of times to find the positivity and things because in general were scared, insecure. We feel bad about ourselves way expect defeat, you know, keep the Barlow, you know, and let me go further. I I think we talked earlier about how the media and all of its forms were controlled by a few people. And I'm talking about media like music and film. But even even press media, um, you had limited access to disseminating ideas and the people who could disseminate it as I could throw governments in there to governments, large businesses, advertisers,

all those people. It was in their best interest to make us afraid of one another. It was it was in their best interest if they were trying to sell us deodorant to make us think if we didn't buy their deodorant. No one would go out with us, right? Or if they didn't elect? If we didn't elect them, something awful would happen. Or etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. It has always been in people with powers. Best interest to make everyone else feel worried about one another or skeptical of one others. When you're sitting on the subway with, um, you're you're worrying about that thing you're worried about the deodorant you're wearing or you're worried about just what they might do to you or whatever.

Um, what I hope comes out of the fact that, like we've sort of, we've essentially democratized this ability to communicate. Is that weaken start to dispel some of this because I really like, I really do think most people are reasonable people and reasonable people never got platform No. One, no one wrote the headline News of Like Father of Four goes home and spends time with his family. Exactly That stuff never spread that never showed. And now even a subtle you know, even a subtle Instagram photo that goes viral of a couple of dad's brushing their teeth with their kids makes people think like huh, that's that's That's a normal thing that happens in the world. And for some people, that starts to chip away at a perception of how they sort of have believed the world is. And I know I'm I'm pretty optimistic by this stuff, just,

I guess, by my nature. But I do think I do think there are ways to turn the tide on this because I've just and it is not exclusive to read it. It is all over the Internet. I see people doing things for total strangers that I didn't think would have been possible. Like I didn't think someone would want to gift someone a pizza just cause they had a bad day. But I also wouldn't think that, like, you know, a bunch of people could start a Twitter hashtag campaign to fundraise to help ah little girl get a prosthetic arm that they didn't know. Like they didn't need that someone just had an idea and it spun out. And I think people have always craved this. We want to feel like we're part of a community whether we go toe religious groups where we find community and whatever it is. But like the Internet is a chance for us to see that like there's a much bigger world out there that actually is full of other people who are just is insecure and normal and weird and like, you know, Warhammer my little pony like we dio and I hope I mean,

I'm not getting all combined. There's obviously lots of shit going on in the world. But, like, I really hope that's what comes out of this on. And it's gonna be because of this notice campaign we just started today. I think I think it's way number one, I agree. But number number two I really think that there's a fundamental thing about humanity and maybe for some people, a spiritual. But in other cases, I think it might actually just be fundamentally biological about the way that we evolved. But I think you really do. There is something you feel your molecules align when you feel like you're contributing to something bigger than you are. Yes, and you know,

for some people, that is religion. For some people, that could be politics. For some people that could be charity For some people. It could just be giving a pizza to a guy who had a bad day? Absolutely. You know, because something because of the way that again that we interface with these machines. We we have allowed ourselves to become these isolated bubbles of and and so much technology. So many algorithms basically help us create this selfish bubbles a bubble. You know, there's this. There's this old there's this old there's a song by yes, the band, Yes,

and and one of the lines is don't surround yourself with yourself and that's all we dio that sound like a fucking hippie. But ultimately, that's all we do is we surround ourselves with ourselves on and so it, you know, these are all the things that like and this is me. And this week it very myopic and that everything's right here and it's all everything must be about me. And you know it's important. Teoh force yourself to step out of that sometimes and go No, it's fucking not. It's about that guy and those people in that kid and that guy in his pizza and and so this is you know, it's it is very important, and we do focus on the shit a lot much in the same way that um, I don't I don't dislike kids, but I do know that I don't have any kids. But I do know that my perception of kids is what I see in airports and on planes, which I am in a lot.

Okay, I'm only going to notice the ones who were being dicks. Truth, I don't notice. Just like the guy going home. The family before. I don't notice the good kids because they just blend into the background. But there's probably a lot more of them than the loud, squeaky wheels. Much like the trolls are much like people who are like, you know, thank you. This is this is there's a This is a well studied psychological bias that I'm totally blanking are now, But it took a cock side class in college, and it's all flooding back to me. It's totally it's the same same fallacy.

Why, uh, whenever people remark how they always forget their umbrella on the days that it rains, it's like No, because it was just a non event. The days when it wasn't raining or the visit was writing. You had your umbrella. You were just like due to do a brother great life's great, but it's it's those moments that stand out. Like you said that the kids screaming on the plane. Uh and I hope I mean, it's tough, right? Humans were not. We're smarted. A lot of stuff are also really stupid with a lot of stuff and how we sort of process and understand the world on evaluate things like risk and all this stuff.

But I want it. I really want to believe that this stuff can win, that the good stuff can win because there's so many of us. And now, for the first time, we all have an ability. We all have a platform. Yeah, and I don't know, I think it all starts here. Frankly. And this is gonna history will look back on this podcast and realized this was a seminal moment. The promise were missing. A really snazzy name for in a mascot in a massive talking reddit. Hipmunk Like everything I do bread all I draw mascots for them. You got an alien.

You gotta look like you need. We need We need something. We need something. I think someone from team Nerdist someone in the in the Nerdist community is gonna come up with some ideas. I feel like it should be me. I feel a lot of responsibility that it should be me. So the idea being that we that you go on once it is it once a day or you just go on right now, let's do that one. So let's make it consistent. I mean, once a day, once a week, once a day. That's not asking too much, right? It's not that,

you know, I think that the potential problem with that is that some people could, you know, like, you know, people don't tend to look at things that can't. They don't really compartmentalize things a day at a time, So sometimes we'll go. I gotta do this 365 times. Yeah, well, technically, you dio, but don't think of it like don't take it all on you don't 365 minutes, all on it. One way.

Maybe we should all I know we can do, you know, like throwback Thursday. Obviously, let me tell you about how the Internet works. Your throwback Thursday reference was actually a throwback. Who? Nice and so matter. Is that what I don't know? what it is. Great. Okay, so what if What if we just need a day where we decide? Like Aargh? It's too. It's It's nice thing Ners day Now There's no nerves.

Need it. Liberation. Here something, Um how Workshop this. Uh huh. But I like and I'll go even a step further. So my my body lives. A founder of upwardly wrote the book Filter bubble, which was a lot of stuff you're talking about. We as humans like, we join bowling leagues, pre Internet, I guess. People bold like with people who we got on way. We're probably kind of similar to us and our Twitter follower Subreddit. We subscribe to the Twitter people we follow.

Probably things were into the Facebook feeds we like and one of his best suggestions for dealing with this. I mean, it's not the most like, like creative, but it's actually really when I found that works is just following people who you just wouldn't otherwise follows. Every couple days on Instagram or Twitter, I'll just randomly follow some people and I'm subscribed a suburb. It's like our black ladies, which I am just to be clear for anyone listening. I'm not a black lady? No. But by by dipping into these communities in these feeds and I mean, like, I'll get it all every now and then see a tweet from Karl Rove. And I'm like, Why the fuck in my Oh,

right. But it's like, OK, I guess you know, I see I have decided toe open up a bit and it gives me sort of a broader sense of how the world is looking, which is smart, because again, you and when you surround yourself with stuff that's just your own bubble, you're essentially going to spend the rest of your life just trying to feed things that you already believe, even if those things might evolve or change or might not even be true. And I think that's you know, that's why you see a lot of people, like a lot of older people, you're like, Did they go crazy? They go fucking crazy,

just like No, because they went down a path and they started piece by piece, just sort of building this kind of weird hive around themselves and then all of a sudden, at a certain point, they just don't have the energy anymore to look outside that bubble Do that Is that is that terrifies me about getting old. I hope we're gonna be different because we have so much access to so many different viewpoint. I think tragedy if we fuck that. I think I think the idea of old is when you cease to devote energy to experiencing new things. That's good. When you when you have decided like I don't have time or energy for these new things. I don't want them anymore. I don't have the emotional energy you expend on. It's not worth it. Then I think that's when you really start to get old because ultimately that's you know, when a flower says I don't need any more sun or fertilizer, it's like,

Well, then there's really only one place to go eso you You know you can be 92 but still experience new things and still not technically, be old. Even if your body is hopefully I'll be up in the Matrix by then, but yeah, yeah, yeah. You're kind of hoping for your you're hoping for the trans humanists, not invent horizon. I'm not betting on the whole Kurzweil's singularity thing, but it would mean a Sfar asl like future risk. Oh, I'm happy. He's on the sort of like, optimistic side instead of like, a nuclear annihilation or about the sleeve.

Like I'm happy it's that one. But what are some of your What are some of your favorite separate? It's oh, man. Uh, but, Bo, how do you choose? Oh, so ask our psalm a history major, which is very atypical. Uh, state school UV A while. Who? History major. That's where I met Steve.

He was a CS majors. He's the brains. The operation I asked historians is one of my favorites because it makes me smarter. Or at least I feel like it. And you know that if I if I go a little deeper in that that I have, you got to give love to ask science. But then there's just random stuff, like are mildly interesting. Yes, that one's come up a lot between me and my friends and like, the email list every now and then, um, our whoa dude is great, especially when I'm here in California because it is such a progressive state were guarding their marijuana laws. Um, jeez,

uh, our space porn, Yes, that's a great one. It's a safer work. Porn site. Let me very clear. People sharing photos of space. Beautiful high red stuff. Great desktop wallpaper. Um, I don't know. I should look, I like misleading thumbnails. Who you play 50 50. Uh,

you know, Chloe plays 50 50 a lot. I'm just to know that I'm I'm too afraid of the dark 50. Yeah, Yeah, I really I enjoy the winds, but I take the losses too hard. Yeah. So that was really tough for me emotionally. And with that I love are obscure media. I think that's maybe one of my favorites. Obscure media basically just directs you to, you know, um, here's ah, you know,

here's a weird ALF commercial from 1984. And it or or like, you know, here's the Spiderman TV movie from 19 you know, from like, the mid the mid seventies on it. Or here's a super trippy KFC ad from 1963 like, it's it literally just I've just explained to the audience what has your media is, but it is literally immediate. Um, what's the one Gene dinosaurs Fucking trucks? Yes. Track No Dragons, Dragons, fucking trucks. Does a good old school.

Cool is great if you haven't seen that one height while you were in school, in the half a 1,000,000 of these great old pictures of like, Oh, these, you know, just like here's my grandpa. You hear some kids playing in a fire hydrant in Brooklyn in 1984. So cool, yeah, yeah, so good. Like that. Subscribe. Yeah, there's I and as obviously as a cat owner are such cats is good. I've actually gone there for cat advice just because it was a little worried about what we talked earlier about my cats.

Wait, I was teaching her how to sit. Was really proud of this. But every time I would sort of encouraged her with a treat. And then I bring her to the vet. The vets like she's fat, way to go, Way to go, and I can't even blame. It can't be like I shouldn't have left the snickers in the house because, like she's a cat like I am fully responsible for feeding her and I've screwed up. What's one of the things it's like. I I interviewed George Lucas one time and and I was sort of fascinated by the idea that he created this thing that no matter what it, no matter what it was to him, it's not his are notice belongs to the It belongs to the world. And he might say things about it.

And people go. I created to go, not buck you. That's not what it is. So there must be stuff like that with Reddit. So you know, what are some of the what are some of the positive things that you've seen? And what are some of the things we're like? Yeah, I don't know. There's this one aspect that may I didn't forsee that maybe I could do without. You know, that's interesting. I can't believe you're I can't believe I'm just compared to George Lucas Created it. I mean, look what you created,

you cook. Well, the thing that is is as impactful, actually, Mawr impactful because because the prequels were so bad. Oh, yes, Well, and and let's keep in mind, right? Like we built. But the way Stephen I always thought about it was like we're gonna minutes form software. The today we grew up in web forms. We didn't invent the forum. We just built a really good platform for communities to share links. Now,

discussions were we thought of it like we're gonna build the best, like, sort of community printing press that we can where anyone can take a stab, you know, using this printing press. Um, I think what you know, Star Wars is awesome as it is is still just, you know, it is a bunch of ideas and some content. If you create a platform to create content, you're gonna potentially empower mean right? What do you teach a man to fish? Yes, and and so I was a gunman. Poor Gungan didn't have a chance.

Not a chance. The I think the thing for me was we had no We had no clue. We never I mean, the our expectations were just let's hopefully make this thing work and get like a few 100 people to use the one community we launched with and then get a few more people to use the next. Um, everything on Reddit is people like everything on reddit. Like I didn't like Lucas created entire canon like he set the table with all these things. We've gone and created so much fan fiction of things for like, we created a bunch of tools. We basically you know, if I could stretch this metaphor like we created the canvas and handed a bunch of brushes or the printing press and handed a bunch of fonts and type and just said Go make stuff. So, I mean, aside from the reddit alien like, which I love seeing tattooed on people and what? Not like we can't take credit for anything like it was creating these tools,

and I don't know how I wonder how the twitter guys feel. I mean, I would never I would never think any of that stuff happens because of Reddit. Because, like you here, like my, uh um, we're sitting from microphones like it would be just as absurd to give Reddit or Twitter credit, as it would be to say, like, you know, the I have a dream speech. That microphone did an amazing job with that speech. Like what? A great microphone that change that set the world on fire, right?

Uh, and and so I feel the same way I am. And that's not just like it's not some kind of false humility or even genuine, like That's just the truth. Like it. It was an amazing platform that has done really cool stuff, but it's it's a microphone. It's about from that. Ultimately you, you've given people. It essentially amplifies humanity. Yeah, for better, for worse. And I think obviously I can't take credit for humanity. Uh,

will not. Will not take credit. Sure I will not. I was gonna give it. Almost came in here ready to do it? No, but that's how I feel. And so I am. I am looking out at this for the last nine years. We just had a knife anniversary, actually. A knife birthday, the first commission, Reddit. Fun fact was a link I submitted to the Downing Street memo, which was a more relevant memo back in 2005.

And and Steve promptly down, voted it first. The first vote ever read. It was from my best friend and co founder, and he down voted. My leg was just the two of us in this little apartments I knew exactly was really, really, really Steve. He's a dick. So maybe I'm employing community with people, so I think, uh, we knew from the start it would never work unless we had users and gave him these great tools and and so every of the whole way, like Lucas to his credit, right? Actually created.

I mean, he borrowed a lot but and had a lot of help. But, you know, he created a universe, right? He created all these things. He put a bunch of things on canvas and then said, Go, You know, this is no longer mine. The only thing I put on a canvas or Stephen I put on a campus was like the red Italian. We just handed out those tools, and I feel I feel so much. I don't know. I feel so much joy knowing that it could be a part of this and also be open source so red,

it's entirely open. Source. You can go downloads on, get up to download. Ready right now roll your own. Read it, Go for it. Because what? Let's Steve and I start a startup. None of the guys suck Twitter that these guys never talk about this stuff. And I wish they did. Anyone know they don't talk about the fact that the reason we could start Steve and I were to Nobody's out of u V. A. Who we raised 12 grand from y Combinator to live for a summer in Boston and we build something with our laptops and, you know, like 12 grand and budget that now has 101 100 million plus users all because of open source software.

The cost of starting that was so low because a bunch of people have contributed to this knowledge computer that contributed free knowledge to allow us to build on their platforms. And so, you know, a few years in it was very clear to both me and Steve. The only thing that was an open source about Reddit was Reddit itself. And we knew that the value on reddit, right? The tools we made were Onley valuable because of the people using it. And so giving those tools out all not unlike Tesla opening up the right right was actually in our long term best interest. Make these right, like go. Please spread these ideas. Um, because in the end, we think it's just going to enrich everyone all, you know,

the rising tide, lifting all boats and what's crazy is no. Tesla's a for profit. Publicly traded I am a shareholder company and everyone's asking me after they do this, like how altruistic was it? And I'm like, Well, why does it have to be mutually exclusive? Why, like like, why does it have to be either an altruistic thing or a sinister corporate thing? Like maybe it's actually in the best interest of a for profit company to open up this database? And it's It's valuable because if the world moves to electric cars, Tesla just knows they're going out, innovate and they're building the supercharger stations. And that's the key.

Word is like, is that you can't be afraid if anything, opening up the field forces you to innovator you and how you know. So it's really just how comfortable are you with, like with And, you know, ultimately, if someone out innovates you, it might suck for you selfishly. But it's better for any Oh, yeah, with it. I tell people all the fucking time, Bill, take a look at our source crush. Read it.

You know what? And I say that it will make me sad, but like I really do feel that way and we like, I think we thrive on this in technology, and it's starting to bleed out into other industries. And I see like okay coming from and being here in L. A and hanging with friends who are like starting their music careers or film careers and they're doing it online, right? They're launching their kick starters. They're launching their patrons there on YouTube, they're creating content. I see how the rate of innovation for them now is starting to look like the rate of innovation was for us in the early days of like 0506 Because now you're creating something amazing with your GoPro. Do you remember the Superman GoPro video, right? Like, you see this now and you're like,

Whoa, OK, now now 100 other people in film makers are like That was cool. What's the next level? How do we take that thing and do something even more badass with a GoPro? And it just you ever growing Pyramid is going up in up everyone's house, and I'm sure there are people listening to this who are like that. Chris Hardwick's good, but I can do great and I owe. And she's getting started on some great an artist. I would tell people when people like If they say to me like you know you do this or you interrupt people or you talk too much or you do this, I always go fine. You start your own and do it exactly. I don't say that aggressive edge Make the thing that you want to see exist in the world because if you're dissatisfied, that's a good place to be. But people who achieve greatness do something something positive and constructive with that dissatisfaction.

They don't just go good demon and then just write a bunch of shooting comments like truth. Your contribution to the world is not writing should comment. Your contribution of the world is making like like manifesting things that innovate and make the make the world a more interesting place. The be a maker, be a do, er be a creator. I, the the TLT are that I gave to these 80 universities on the college tour, was have ideas and do them like the Internet lets you not just settle for having a great idea or, in the worst case of it, just like leaving a shitty common about how it could be better. But like actually be someone who does stuff. He's someone who says, like, you know what? I'd really like to start an Etsy empire for knitting and be like,

All right, I'm gonna go find I'm gonna go find a YouTube tutorial and start learning how to join a knitting community. What's that? There's an amazing one on raffle rounded up cavalry. That is one. Really? I think so. Okay, I think rivalries, when I think about like, more knowledge is available than ever and yet or if you find something that you just don't think is good enough, may start. You have no excuse now not to start your own and literally have no excuse. And this is I think this is one of the reasons why and I don't know that you care very deeply about this. And I know Reddit community read it cares. Radio was wide.

Net neutrality is so important, roof, because again, we can't much in the way that you were talking before. Like in the old days, only certain types of people had access to certain re sources and information. And we, as a Z human culture can't really have happened, you know, like it will go so far back. Yeah, so we can't We can't have that happen digitally when it's like, you know, when we're so on the forefront now. But, you know,

I still feel like it's so much a part of, like like people are just so in it now with the Internet that it's I feel like that people in general. Is this sort of like, Oh, you don't want to pirate this? Well, here's 50 ways I just figured out how to do that. I feel like the Internet will will always undertake the challenge to subvert, you know, when when necessary, people people are very resourceful, right? We've known that for all history, even before the Internet. People are very resourceful. But the Internet itself is a technology like What is it that it interprets interprets censorship as damage and routes around it?

Um, people always find a way. The answer to piracy is service name Gabe, Gabe Newell of Valve Sediments, piracies of service problem and any such a boss not only for half life, although I guess we're all waiting for half life. Three. The clues are there, man. It's all it's all coming together. They're there. But like he my favorite anecdote. This dude went into Russia and everyone said, No, you can't go there, man.

It's a whole industry of piracy. You guys, you're gonna fail miserably. Don't do it. Don't do It was like, you know what? I got this. Piracy is a service problem. And they went in there with steam and offered a service that was better than piracy. And now they're It's one of their biggest markets Now, they went into the lines, then offered something that was a better service than piracy and are winning like innovation is what's gonna win the day. It's not gonna be legislation or tryingto just mess with the net. And then when it comes that neutrality, if I can use the platform, um,

I've been going anywhere, Anytime anyone give me airtime, I encourage people just like hopefully you saw John Oliver. Please go to the FCC's website that he fucking crashed. It took down the site. This is a public comment period. We have until September 10th. You can call them. I've called them up. They're very nice people. They're just let me know that title to reclassification is what we need for broadband. It's gonna make broadband. The utility. We all know it is so that Comcast and Verizon and I guess there's only really three companies. Cox can't discriminate traffic on the Internet, and then all bets are treated equally because they should be.

Please do that. Um, and I just got to know that you have a heart out. You have to be. You have to go. You have to do more. But I have a flight. Oh, shit. Yeah, that's very hard. Now it's OK. I think the whole on middle check. What's traffic like in L. A. Oh,

it's hardly anyone on the road. I don't think between here and the airport, it's not that bad. You're like, 20 minutes. Now, let's do the Californian sketch. I would recommend taking low Bria away to Stocker and then over to Sepulveda and then into the airport. And that after a lot, no. Yes, a polyta. La Tierra. Yeah. Okay. Was that Was that the right way?

If I'm outta here, one, I should be fine. You'll be baby. Okay. Um, even 1 15 You'll get to meet Gary Cole on the way out is coming in the next podcast. Oh, it's just an assembly line, I think just the two of you today. So I'm trying to think about anything about names for this thing. And I came up with one, but real bad because it's a shooting port. Manto. Bring it ample of Friday. I like that because we're talking about We're talking about humanity.

Amplifiers like that with that Friday, and I don't know that it's almost faith in humanity. Should it be purposely clunky one. It's just say that's too long. It's too long. Should be a purposed or or wait or Or it could just be reduced to, like, you know, the TBT Once enough people know about it, So this would be faith in humanity. Fifth, if fifth, Fifth Faith in Friday's 50 Faith in Friday's I like this Friday thing, Um, because that's, you know,

like you start your weekend, you know, Do we like it Mondays? Because Monday people come back in. You start a week. Monday got the case of the Mondays. Um, there should not have anything to do with anything. And should it just be like, um, nards day, like, what's Nards Day? Oh, well, it's just this like it's just whatever it is,

it has to be amazing. I think it's the only thing we should definitely ground. Um, me Monday Monday, zing one. But so So the idea is that monitor full Monday Just It just fell out of my mouth. Sorry. That's Olivia Munn fan group. Is it something about because Because the Okay, So the basic idea is that one day a week, you go out of your way to make someone feel better about themselves. Your or something rated or something that they've Yeah. So is it Is it Is it a karma based pun which was which essentially ties it back? Teoh to karma. Um, car Monday right now is just screaming at right here.

They will tweet it up. You created Run it. How could you think of something? Right? Way. Actually, uh, we read it was almost called, so I registered our e d d i t. And r e d. I t t at the same time. This was senior U v. I was in the library alderman library trying to come up with names for our company. And I was really products. I was like, Oh,

people say I read it on Reddit and I was gonna go with R e D. I t t because I just kind of thought that made more sense. And I asked my friend Melissa shot up Melissa which one, like, if you're gonna bastardize read it like, read it, which one of these bastardization is makes more sense. And she's like to tease. I was like, All right. Done. Done. And other names suggested by Paul Graham include octo pop. Well, shaking my head. Um,

read. Was it? Oh, there's a Sierra topless photos. There were some Really? There was some really awful ones, too. Um, you blue goo There was a mobile. A Google Ghouta? No pop. Lex. That was one I have. I've always email popular lexicon. Yeah, box We couldn't We thought about voxpops for a minute,

but I think was already registered Voice of the people. That was a little too heavy, but anyway, I think I'm basically all I'm saying is I'm not great with names. Hipmunk was almost bounced pounds. Okay. And then Adam's girlfriend was, like, just come up with a cute animal and then misspell its you could get the domain name. So than Alexis can draw mascots without the sea and nothing to a travel search. But what your grandfather's name? John. Yeah, I know. Not a lot to work with. Uh,

sorry, Grandpa. I love you. Let's any listens every every week. Me? I don't think you podcasting is not. Maybe maybe on this special day of the week help it for way go. I mean, I have I actually have faith that your followers on the 20 people following me are gonna come up with something good. What? We just call the payday. Who and then do it on Friday. Ugo card. And it's Friday. My brain's vagina needs Teoh. Just feel good.

Just spit out on. I was good. Maybe I need a cigarette. I know. I was good. Was it good for you? I just need a savvy or something. Teoh. Okay. Okay, that's good. Okay, so it's Friday. Payday and payday basically means you're paying. You're paying it forward in some way. Now,

in general, that could mean, you know, you go into a forum and, you know, like and support someone in that way, Or, like, tweet out of photos or tweet out the link to someone's amazing thing on their Etsy store or share it some love. It's about sharing and nothing. Nothing is successful without a community total community like you. Look at anything that's that has become relevant, and it's because there was a community holding it up, and except for except Kim Kardashian, except for sorry. Kanye is the community.

But except for the show community is ironic. Such a bummer. Yeah, Joe, but but ultimately, But ultimately it's just idea of creating this sort of like positive stratum of our culture and using the power for good. Friday, Friday's From now on, we'll see how long this last will be paid. A. You should probably see if there's a there's probably a payday subreddit r slash payday and maybe it's just about the candy bar. You guys like candy, but the candy's everything is the white rapper. What you mean so selfies eating the heyday? I I think I think we get this going about Wheaton. We'll be on will be,

oh, will be all over. It would be all we will organize. I'll get our nerve forces. But yeah, because you know you want one thing that close very mindful of, isn't it? If you know someone's, she'll find something about people that she likes and she'll say, like, Hey, your nails look really cool or that's a great sweatshirt or hey, cool hat, you know, because it's just even even on an incremental level that can change the course of someone's day. Absolutely change the course of their life.

Totally. I think back on so many of the little decisions. There's a great for getting the Borders poem about this forking passing. It's called anyway. I think about how really at the time and consequential decisions have made such an impact on my life. Like I when I was applying for U V A, uh, first year, freshman year dorms you choose, you get this is random form that's like old dorms or new dorms. And it's this innocuous, just like you have a preference for, like old school, hallway style dorm or like new school sweet style. And I chose old school for no reason other than I was like OK, I move in and look across the hall and there's this blond haired,

blue eyed angel playing Grand Turismo, and I was so thrilled because I play video games growing. I didn't think people played games in college. I don't have any older siblings to tell me how college works. So I was like, Oh my God, this guy's He's in the games I introduced myself. He says, I'm Steve and I'm like I'm Alexis And I was so thrilled to see him. He was bombed because he then realized he was not living on a coed hall because he had seen my name on the door. Oh, yeah, I was a girl, but we still became really good friends and eventually talk to me is starting. A company with me should become read it. And if I hadn't checked that box,

think about the check box all the time because for whatever reason, it's still in my head remembering like, Yeah, I guess, ago told if I checked the new dorm box or if I turn it up in any other hall in the old arms like I probably an immigration lawyer right now, and there'd be no read it and I wouldn't be here doing this podcast, and every one of us has these moments in our lives all of the time you get doing that, Amy, with my grandpa, I was hearing, you know, I was re. It was hearing him retell stories about what his family went through in these little decisions that happens that, you know, if you mean you can go and make movies about this stuff that put us on the course to end up here and like, it's it's crazy.

So don't go on this too much unless you're high, and then it's really good. But, like, really, the littlest things could make such a big impact. And I totally believe that. So I'm very excited about this payday said about this precedent, man. What, do you want to plug your book row fast? Oh, yeah, I guess. I mean, so my publisher is at war with Amazon right now,

So my book has been throttled eso get it on Barnes and Noble. Uh, or I've also been told it's called without their permission and always have these college students on the tour sheepishly coming up to me saying, Hey, what's up, dude? Like if I don't have money to buy your book? But I downloaded it on the Pirate Bay and they tell me this, and I'm just like I dare you Not like that's cool and it's all right. You're a college student. It's all right. It's not a loss sale. So I'm not endorsing downloading my book. But if you're strapped for cash and just don't want to spend the money, I am told it's available on the Pirate Bay, which is a good sign.

Wouldn't know. I know that. No, I'm not endorsing that. But I'll tell you, that's how it was gonna be A best seller was because it was on the Pirate Bay within 24 hours. And it's like if you're willing to pirate a damn e book like, I must be doing something right So that, that is that is what I have to say about that. Excellent. Um, and maybe just one. Do people are fairly aware of you on Reddit like they're aware of your yes and no, I think I think it's at us. I mean, 110 million people,

like it's cool. Steve and I never made it about us. You could look at some of our former competitors so hard not to do that. You know, someone starts stepping on your neck, and you're like I think. I think one of one of the things we got very right was we knew it was going. It was only gonna work if it was a platform for communities. And if 1/2 1,000,000 communities were one, they're going to use it like the community at our rainbow would have to feel ownership over that form, But they wouldn't. You know, our black ladies isn't there because me and Steve are there, our competitors at the time. Dig. We started by,

by all accounts, a very nice guy, Kevin, who I think was coming from a place of celebrity as a TV host and trying to build a forum that was essentially about him. Like that community was essentially there for him. Indignation. And so there is a ceiling on that. There's only so many people who are gonna want to be there for Kevin renew. If we're gonna be a real platform, we'd have to be bigger and broader and make it about at most the alien, but not about mere Steve. So I take great pride in knowing like, I'll comment on posts and people will down vote maybe Like, how do you know that about the founding of Reddit, right? And then someone else might chime in and be like,

It's funny what you're talking about. Dig about building around the platform around itself. Like what did I do that I think I might have done that. But you're building a media company, right? I think we are. I mean, like, that's that's what I'm trying to do. And so I'm trying to bring on is, you know, a bunch of different voices. So it's just me, but like like I said, I think it works in build it. It works.

Building immediate company. If you're trying to build a platform, you you're only gonna have a ceiling, right? If, like, Twitter can't be about the founders of Twitter if you're gonna have everyone in the world tweeting ready can't be about the founders, right? You're gonna have everyone else. Like I said, we built the tools we built the campus, you guys air creating content, and we're Yeah, he's a different like And so, Kevin, try to take a model that would have been better suited towards creating content and creating a content empire,

then creating a platform, right? And I am, uh, I'm very excited to, um I want if I'm gonna get karma for this interview, I feel like maybe people I don't know that's nothing to write you. I'm not gonna post my own interview you. I mean, I just I'm just bracing you, you're probably not gonna get a lot of up votes. People just feel like whatever. You know, it doesn't matter, though, because ultimately there is.

There isn't are noticed that I don't that I don't run someone else, runs it And they do a great job community and it's and it's and it's really nice that I do. I love watching where people take things. This is the one that's that's that's what mean culture is is going How did you start here and get here? It's like a bunch of people just chipped in. And then, you know, I mean, like, I you know, I spent one year, I went to the m i t the puzzle hunt do and and I was so blown away by the sheer power of that experience, I was like, Okay, you guys are just doing this for for no fucking reason. What if you took all of that brain power and focused it on hunger or so.

So I think the idea that, you know, if you focus enough, if you throw enough nerds at something, then they like eventually you'll figure it out. You know, like that to me, that's what I besides, besides watching the weird train of non sequiturs, then happen on Reddit. But that's the other thing. That, except cites me about, is like if you throw enough people, it's something they'll fucking figure it out Well, and and to that point,

I'm glad you have that perspective. I think the the the content creators who will win are the ones who know that, like once they create the message, once they create the content, they lose control of it. And that's always been the case, right? Like whether people are talking at the water cooler about the episode of mash they saw last night or whether they're posting on our game of Thrones about all of their like talking about magic. I spoke up from a coma. No, I'm using them saying, like the old school at the water cooler mash was the first That was a TV show, right? Yeah, OK, yes,

Interestingly, like 100. It's, I think, the same number of users that Reddit has watched the finale. A finale. Wow! Okay, respect. So Mash was, was it wasn't It was a cute one of the most popular shows in history. And and though those fans were limited by geography to basically geek out about stuff today, right there is when the show goes off the air, the conversations can begin and like like it's amazing like Game of Thrones, for instance, is a bit of a fan,

right? There are people discussing it 24 7 creating new fan art and debates and quizzes and discussions. And the content producers that get that, like you're saying like you love seeing it and where it goes and where it spirals, realize like that's That's where the future heads. The more things you can kind of throw out your community to give them the excitement of feeling, like, involved or connected the better, because they've always controlled the message, like at the end of the day, whether you sell like bottled water, whether you're producing content like media, you know your customers, we're gonna talk. Your fans are going to speak and they're gonna connect. And the more that you can do to kind of give them cool stuff toe mess with and acknowledge that you know what,

It's not mine anymore, the better. Well, where do you think that, you know, like as sort of digital culture continues to subvert traditional media structure? Where do you see, like, where do you see things going As audiences just kind of splintering splinter more and they, you know, they get stuff wherever they get it. And I think I mean, we are We're already seeing People are very, um I guess it's like Brando gnostic like on the Internet that the content you consume, it's coming from everywhere. And it could be a multi $1,000,000,000 company that produced it.

Or it could be a little kid with an iPhone and there are still gonna be his. It is. I think they're still gonna be superstars, But they're gonna be a lot more people kind of in the middle, who historically would not have been able to make a living like the idea of content creators. And we can say, like, just creatives, artists, whatever was always binary, is always you either you either made it or you're starving. Artists are starving. Creator starting whatever. Um and now the reason I invested in Patri on the reason I think there's so much happening here is because there's a middle ground like there's a dude named Smooth My Groove. Who does? Ah Capella video game theme songs,

videos on YouTube is a very talented a cappella singer also owns a black cat. So where, you know you have shown me like that lives in Oklahoma and he's earning. He's already getting a few grand a month to produce these videos, and he distributes them for free. YouTube's made that trivial, and he has a following. He's not gonna ever be Beyonce, but that's okay. Like if he can make a living like every day, just producing, thinking about making great what's the thousands of fans things like. I don't have to appeal to everybody. You have to appeal the 300 million people over 50 million people in America. You can still, it's the knish defying of our culture.

Physically, if you can appeal Teoh enough of a community to support the thing that you want to do, then you can continue to do that thing and the fact that, like the distribution part, got solved by YouTube over the last nine years. But the monetization has not. And I think it's gonna be these kinds of micro patronage platforms that are going to do it because, like, what happens now, when there's a world of smooth Mulgrew's who I don't need to work freelance jobs or don't need to work as baristas or bartenders to sort of pay the bills in between making the stuff they really want to make, they can spend all of their time thinking about creating and making, like they're gonna get their 10,000 hours, whether they play the ukulele or the do podcasts or what they do, whatever way, faster. And that's gonna mean more people getting more skilled faster than ever at a broader in a broader way,

like more of them all over. And I think it was gonna be in just a lot of amazing content, much, much better content and just really cool new stuff bubbling up. And instead of looking at trends like over the span of like years or months, it's gonna end when it's gonna be weeks and then days and then minutes. I mean, that's gonna get crazy, right? Because there are. I mean, I already feel like if I miss a day of the Internet, I miss a lot of stuff has happened sort of bubbled up in kind of pop culture. But that's only gonna keep accelerating until it's just it's going right into our brains. It's probably one of the seconds platforms with me, that is,

I'm that I'm so curious to see how how it all shakes out, and I don't know if it'll I mean, I don't think I think we're so far into it at this point that it's not going to shake out in anything that resembles the traditional model. It sounds like there's just a handful of, you know, it's ultimately, you know, I think it's sort of like you said, with trusted sources, people will find brands or organizations that are sort of there. This is my trusted source for this particular thing and, you know, and then it's not about like television or Internet. It's just like, oh, the deliveries stuff.

It's just stuff. It's just become stuff and it's gonna be It's This change is happening right now and then, right? So let's go a little further. This has been a lot of time with college students right on this tour, and there are a bunch I'm always telling. People learn to code. By the way, if you have any interest in technology doing startups, you want to set the next predator Hipmunk. Learn to code. Um, but the there's a whole other segment who your humanity made humanities majors like me, history, majors or who Maybe they wanted to. They want to podcasting or they want to make you want to play saxophone and they want to just make cool videos.

They never had a model right there. They grew up. They have been growing up with this idea of right. It's either right you've made it or you haven't. But as more and more examples as more smooth, smooth grooves kind of show up, those become role models to be like Wait, there's another way. Like I can actually take time to start building an audience and start like making start to make a living from it. And I could make a living making my crow Shea mug holders. I don't know if that makes any sense, but, like they can start taking the things they're passionate about and actually see if there's a way to make money from it and maybe even make a living from it instead of looking at that path of like, Well, this is always gonna have to be something that's like a hobby, because you're either a starving artist or your Beyonce right on.

That's just gonna beam. Or people who can now look at creation differently because they don't have to think about well, you know, Yeah, you've got a nice hobby, but you got to get a real job. You gotta work in that 9 to 5 gig because those jobs aren't there and and the economy is still sorting itself out. And I hope I hope the best comes out of it because there's some really talented people who we know we never used to get, you know, never used to get the best ideas from who hopefully now will start get a chance to do it. Well, thank you very much for not only thank you for being here. Thank you for read it. Oh, sure. Thanks,

Steve. Steve to on, uh I would like to thank sky dark for giving me user sky dart on Reddit for giving me the gift of Reddit. And, um, you know, I'm there. I'm in your community, so thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, thank you for having me and for creating heyday, and and I would Friday's payday tomorrow. What? I'm only thinking about what we do for tomorrow's payday.

And then And then I hope that you know that off podcast, that we can catch up every so often. Sure. And just, you know, Yeah, good to be pals. I would love that. OK? Yeah. And I'm gonna I'm gonna get I'm gonna send a little care package. I would greatly appreciate it Feels too. All right. Thank you so much, Alexis. Going to see you?

Thank you, Chris. Enjoy a burrito. Everyone. Our enjoy your burrito. Create that right now. Now leaving Nerdist dot com. Enjoy.