Blog
LatestArticlesVideos
Radio
LivePodcastSerialsStations
TV
Podcasts
The Glenn Beck ProgramThe Glenn Beck PodcastThe Beck Story
Fine Art
Real Estate
Shop
More
AboutCharityBooksSponsorsContact
SEARCH
Live Radio

©2024 MERCURY RADIO ARTS.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

The Forgotten Meaning of the 'Pledge of Allegiance' | Glenn Beck's Patriotic Wake-Up Callplay icon
RADIOOctober 24, 2025

The Forgotten Meaning of the 'Pledge of Allegiance' | Glenn Beck's Patriotic Wake-Up Call

Glenn Beck revisits the true meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance revealing how each word holds the key to restoring America’s moral and spiritual foundation. More than a schoolroom ritual, it’s a sacred promise: to defend liberty, pursue justice, remain united, and acknowledge a higher power beyond government. Have we forgotten what this pledge really stands for and what it asks of us as Americans?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: What is the solution to fixing our country?

Let me take this line by line.

I pledge allegiance.

Those first three words, that's a solemn vow. Okay?

That's -- that's not a casual statement. It is a binding promise.

You are pledging allegiance. And allegiance is more than just an agreement. It is loyalty!

It means, I choose to stand. I'm going to stand here. I'm going to stand with. I'm going to defend. And I'm going to uphold something. I pledge, more than a promise. I pledge allegiance.

And I'm going to do it even when it's hard, even when it costs me. I pledge allegiance. That is not lip service. That is a declaration of devotion to the flag! The flag is not just cloth and stitching.

And you are not pledging your allegiance to that piece of cloth.

You're -- you're pledging can't allegiance to the flag, which is the embodiment of an idea. It is a visual representation of the nation itself.

When I pledge my allegiance to the flag, I am pledging not to the fabric. But to the principles! The history. And the sacrifices that that flag represents.

Every fold, every star, every stripe, is a reminder of lives given, dreams pursued. And a promise kept through centuries of struggle.

I pledge allegiance, to the flag.

Of the United States of America. We look at the United States of America now, and you see that kind of just as words on a map. The United States.

That's not what the United States is. That was never what -- what it was designed to be.

Okay?

The United States means separate, sovereign states. That has joined this union by choice, into one republic!

It reminds us that our strength is not found in our diversity.

It's -- nor is it found in our uniformity. It is found in our unity. The United States of America.

That's diverse people. Diverse cultures. Defers communities. That are all bound and share the principles of liberty and law.

America is not just a place. We have to reframe this.

It's not a place. It's not a map.

It's a covenant between free people in individual states, to -- to build something greater together than any of us could do, by ourselves. Or as a single state.

Maybe except for Texas. But that's a different story.

And to the republic, for which it stands.

This line is crucial!

We are not a democracy. Because a democracy always devolves into mob rule.

Okay?

We are a republic for a reason.

And what a republic means is that you are governed by law. Not whims. It means, our rights are -- are not the subject to popular vote. They are endowed by our creator. And protected by a constitutional system, designed to guard them, even from the passions of the majority!

And the flag stands for that system. The balance of our liberty and order.

One nation. One.

Not fractured by reason. Region. Not fractured by race.

Not fractured by ideology.

Not red states and blue states.

But one single nation. Made up of 50 sovereign states. All different.

This is a reminder that despite our differences, we share a common destiny, a common goal.

We rise together. We fall together.
And that oneness is not automatic. That oneness has to be chosen by each generation, by each citizen.
And defended. And renewed by every generation. One nation under God.

People try to make this all about a theocracy. It's not about a theocracy. This is humility. This is a humble admission that our freedom and our rights come from a source higher than government.

Therefore, they cannot be taken away or changed by government.

Because the government doesn't have the power. They're not issuing the rights.

They can't control the rights.

They can't take the rights away or add new right. Those all are issued by a power greater than man. And certainly, greater than government. It's a reminder also, in humility, that power must be restrained. That we are accountable to more than just ourselves.

It's the acknowledgment that liberty without virtue will collapse!

And that virtue requires something greater than yourself, or greater than man!

One nation, indivisible.

When I was a kid, I always thought, it was invisible. I don't think it is.

But indivisible. This is not a description.

This is a challenge. And one that we have forgotten. Indivisible means we don't allow hatreds. We don't allow division.

We don't allow ideology or faith to rip us apart!

It means that even when we disagree fiercely, we hold on to the bonds, that we have all chosen, as individual sovereign people. And sovereign states. To bind us together.

We hold on to those bonds, that make us one people.

We don't secede from one another. We do the hard work of staying united. Because division is the surest path to tyranny. With liberty. This one has gotten so screwed up over the years. Everyone thinks freedom means, I don't know. Freedom to do whatever you want.

Liberty is not license. It's not doing whatever you want, whenever you want.

It is the freedom to live by conscience. To -- to speak truth. To pursue happiness without coercion.

It's freedom that has been purchased with blood and preserved with vigilance. It's the foundation that everything else stands on. All other rights stand on that.

And it must be exercised responsibly or it will be lost. We are not exercising it responsibly. That's why we're having so many problems. We misunderstand liberty and justice, the next line. Justice is not revenge. Be it the Democrats or the Republicans. Be it Joe Biden or Donald Trump. It's not revenge. It's not equity or equality of outcomes. That's not justice.

Justice is the fair and impartial application of the law. Blind to wealth, to power, to politics.

Justice is glue that holds liberty with responsibility, together! And without it, without justice, freedom devolves into chaos.

With it, even the weakest among us are protected.

That should be the goal for all of us, is that kind of justice.

And the final two words are the most radical.

For all! They're also the most difficult. For all.

Not just those who look like me. Not those who think like me. Not those that go to my church or don't believe in God.

Not just those who vote like me.

Not just for the deserving. The ones who followed the rules with COVID. They got the shot!

No. Not those who are popular. Liberty and justice are promises extended to every soul, because the worth of this nation is not measured by how it treats the powerful.

How it treats the popular. But how it treats the least among us. The most despised. The poorest.

The most invisible.

As a kid, I said the Pledge of Allegiance a million times. I still say it.

But I don't think any of us think of each word and why it's there.

It's not a poem. You're not reciting a poem. You're making a personal commitment.

And this is the solution to fixing our country. You want to fix the country?

There's the grand dream, right?

There's the big dream. How?

When you think small, think every single line of the Pledge of Allegiance. Because that's the answer!

No matter how you voted, if you believe in those lines and understand what each line and each word means and why it was chosen, now, you can make a personal commitment.

You can make the commitment to defend liberty, when it's under threat. To pursue the -- to pursue justice, when it's inconvenient.

To remain united, when division is much easier and much more popular.

To place principle above party. And creator above state.

I pledge allegiance to the flag. This is not a vow to the flag. It is a vow to a living idea. That free people bound together, under God, humble under God, can govern themselves with liberty and justice for all.

Is Trump preparing for WAR in Venezuela?play icon
RADIO

Is Trump preparing for WAR in Venezuela?

President Trump just promised to hit Venezuelan cartels “hard” if they “come by land” because he blew up all their drug boats. Is Trump hinting at a coming war with Venezuela? Or is there another message he’s conveying to Nicolas Maduro? Glenn Beck breaks it down using historical artifacts from Operation Valkyrie, the historical World War II operation that the Tom Cruise movie was based on.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So can we talk about what's happening in Venezuela? I told you yesterday or the day before, I can't remember. I'll find it on the podcast.

But I -- I laid out what was happening in Venezuela. That the president is changing the entire structure of the world. You know, the WEF took 30 years ago to do it. You know, the UN took 30 years. He's trying to do it in thee. And I told you for years, what they're doing is they built this framework inside of the framework of the United States and the West. And they have populated it with all of their little droids. All of their -- you know, government officials. All over the world.

And when -- when it's ready, they will collapse the system, and it will fall into that system net, which will be one global order.

We know it. We've documented it. It's absolutely true. Say what you want. We have the facts.

The president knows that that's not the American way. And so he knows that we're in the same kind of situation, but he is dismantling that safety net, and putting together infrastructure inside that I don't think people really understand, that put American sovereignty back in its rightful place. And he is preparing for things like war with China, which we should be doing.

I don't want a war with China. That would be the worst thing that could happen. But we should prepare, because they're planning on it as well. So just like we did with Russia.

I don't want a war with Russia, but can we have Detente? Let's not be sitting ducks.

And so that's what's happening in South America. It's more of a target of Russia, and mainly China. To make sure that China gets the hell out of this hemisphere.

And the war on drugs, I think, is just a -- a nice excuse. And, I mean, yes. We have a problem with drugs, and so we're doing that.

But I think this goes much, much deeper than the drug cartel. This is what the president said yesterday in a press conference at the Oval about this. Listen.

DONALD: This is a national security problem. They killed 300,000 people last year, drugs. These drugs coming in. They killed 300,000 Americans last year. And that gives you legal authority. We have a national security problem -- really. And I will say this: When you look at the people we're dealing with, and we know them. We know the people coming in. We know the boats, we know everything else.

We're allowed to do it. It's in international waters. If we don't do it, we're going to lose hundreds of thousands of people.

Now, they'll be coming in by land a little bit more because they're not coming in by boat anymore. There are no boats in the water. There are no more boats. We know the boat almost immediately. You know, it's pretty unusual, when you see someone with a fishing rod and five engines in the back of the boat. You don't need that to go fishing. Wait. Wait. Wait.
GLENN: Listen to this.
DONALD: And we will hit them very hard when they come in by land, and they haven't experienced that yet. But now we're totally prepared to do that.

GLENN: Hmm. What did he just say?

STU: We're going to hit them very hard when they come in by land. Now, is that just border enforcement, or is he saying we're going to war in some way?

GLENN: I don't know. How do you interpret that know.

STU: I mean, just believing and understanding, you know, what he's been up to over the past nine months.

I mean, I certainly -- it seems to me, that he's saying, we're going to make sure they do not come in.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: You know, I don't know.

It's got to be some message he's sending to Venezuela.

GLENN: Okay. Good.

Because I think this is what he's sending.

I think the overwhelming -- you're. Think of Maduro.

You're Maduro. Put yourself in Maduro's shoes. You have B2 bombers, flying over your head.

You have the United States Navy, surrounding your country.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: And you have the president talking about this.

How -- how well do you sleep at night?

STU: Not very well.

GLENN: Not very well. Why?

STU: You're worried that they can come in and invade. Or try to depose you.

GLENN: Why else might you not sleep at night?

STU: You know, you don't have blackout blinds.

There's a lot of --

GLENN: Because you have -- you have people in your own country. And in -- possibly in your own government.

That you haven't liquidated yet. That don't necessarily agree with you.

That would like the power. That maybe don't want to be a communist country like Maduro et cetera, et cetera.

STU: Right. Because there's big opposition forces in Venezuela.

GLENN: In Venezuela.

So you're not only worried about the outside force.

You're worried about the inside force. Your own people who are close to you. Killing you and toppling.

I brought some -- I brought some stuff in. I heard a quote. And I asked for some stuff to be brought in.

This is from project Valkyrie.

You if know anything about project Valkyrie.

STU: I will say, it's one of the greatest moves of all time.

STU: I have to watch it. No matter what point it's at.

GLENN: Me on top.

STU: It's a Tom Cruise movie, I don't know what year it was. It's about the plot to kill Hitler.

And what was it? '44.

GLENN: Right before. Forty-three or 44.

STU: Yeah. I think it was 44. This is the actual document.

GLENN: I have the order from Himmler to round him up. Yeah, November 44, okay? Right before the end of the war.

STU: Yeah, and they came very, very close to succeeding.

They -- they put in effect, Operation Valkyrie, which was a Nazi-era plan to be able to, if something like this happened, to be able to protect the Nazi regime. They kind of used that against the Nazi regime, and tried to take that over.

GLENN: And why did they do it?

STU: Well, they had -- there was a core of people who believed. Separate cores, in a way.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: A core of people that believed that Hitler was a bad guy. And that was -- they needed to take him out.

Now, there's different beliefs in there.
Some of them were like, "Hitler is doing things that are horrible. We need to stop him."

Some of them were like, "We're about to lose this war. This is about to go against us. We better on the right side of this. And be able to say, 'Hey, we tried to do something about it.'"

GLENN: Okay. So now let me take that very idea. Okay? R they failed.

This is -- this is signed by Himmler. You can see right there at the end. Signed by Himmler.

And you can see how they tried to burn it, as the Germans left. Okay?

We have all the documents from project Valkyrie. We have the death warrant.

Remember the general who stood up, and it was -- it was part of it.

But he wanted to kill.

Remember?

Don't kill them yet.

And I can't remember which general it was. But he was up on the balcony.

Watched him die. He killed him all.

We have his -- signed by Himmler. His execution order signed by him as well.

He got it in the end.

They figured it all out.

But what the president is doing right now, is what the president of the United States did in Germany at the same time. We're coming.

Look at the overwhelming force that is coming. We know who you are. And you're going to capitulate. Now, we're prepared!

To go on ground. Now, in 1944, we were. And we had to.

I believe what he was saying there yesterday, is you try to come across our border, and we will kill you.

Okay?

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: I don't think he's talking about ground troops in Venezuela.

STU: Yeah. That would be shocking.

GLENN: But you don't know. Do you?

You just don't know.

STU: 100 percent right.

GLENN: Again, it's the president.

I've always said, I wanted the president with a twitch eye for our enemies. Somebody that they go, I don't know. I think he'll do it.

I think he might be crazy. I think he might just do it. Okay?

That's how you get people to capitulate.

I think what he's saying here. And I think this whole thing is saying to the General Becks of the time, in Valkyrie. He was one of the guys who was going to be. You know, he had to get out of the country at the very end, because he was going to be picked up before Project Valkyrie. And he was one of the guys saying, we have a government.

We have a government. We're going to be able to have when the -- when the -- when Hitler is dead, we will assume the roles of the government. We will call the allies and say, you don't need to come in.

We've got it. We're your friends. We're your friends.

We agree with you. I think that's part of this strategy with Donald Trump.

I think he is trying to make everybody in that part of the world, who is against the United States.

Who is for communism. Who is in bed with China. Who are dealing with drugs.

I think he's sending a message. We're going to kill you!

Now, you can either help us on the inside, and then we'll let you clean up the mess.

We'll let you turn the country around.

Or you're part of the problem.

I don't know if that's true. But history always rhymes. And -- and Donald Trump knows how to project power. He knows how to -- I mean, look what he did with that rocket man.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: He didn't blow him up. But he kept him in a cage. He made friends with him. And like, kept him in a cage, in his first term.

STU: And people with -- would try to put him in a box with this sort of stuff. It's different strategies with this kind of people. The strategies he used for little rocket man. Totally different than what he did with Maduro.

And Maduro, you have to go back to the history of his first term. Where they outwardly tried to overthrow, Maduro.

And this is one of the very few things he agreed with Bolton, while he was working there.

Bolton said, that was basically a coup attempt.

He basically attempted that.

And he basically said, hey. We're now recognizing the opposition. Leader.

We went pretty far down that road once.

This is something we've focus odd for a long time.

GLENN: We cannot have an ally much Iran and China in Venezuela.

Just can't.

You cannot do it.

They have the terrorist camps with Hamas and Hezbollah. They send for final training. They send them to Iran. They train them on this island, right off the coast of Venezuela. They send them back for final training in Iran. That cannot stand!

Not off the coast of America.

STU: Most importantly.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Can I tell my wife that I need to watch Valkyrie for work?

GLENN: Yes. Yes.

I might have to do it as well. I might have to do it as well.

STU: We have her studying this.

GLENN: I have to show you. I don't know if we've ever seen this.

This is something with the project Valkyrie stuff.

This is after we went in and we won the war. We were looking for all the scientists. But one of the things we were looking for were all his doctors. We wanted to know, what the hell was wrong that guy?

STU: Yeah. For sure.

GLENN: So we did an interview with all of his personal doctors. This whole document. It's fascinating to read.

This whole document is all of the interviews, with all of Hitler's doctors. What was he taking?

What medicines did you give him?

What was the diagnosis? You know, why was he -- his hand twitching. Look at his face. Why does his face have this line on it?

I mean, it has everything in it. The only thing, and somebody took it out, at some point, and probably either kept it or sold it separately.

We spent so much time trying to find complete documents. And we usually have to -- we usually have to go piece them all together. And buy them separately.

Some things are sold separately. In this one, somebody kept or -- or sold separately.

We had to come up for auction yet. We haven't found it. The x-ray that was that was taken right after Valkyrie. Remember, he was hit.

STU: All right.

GLENN: This is Hitler's blood, from that project Valkyrie bombing.

STU: Jeez.

GLENN: And he had to have his brain checked. Because they thought he had a really bad concussion. And so the only piece that is missing from that is his x-ray of his head for project Valkyrie. And I can't until we find it. It might take us 15 years until we find it. But we'll find it. It's amazing.

STU: Hey. It's the news. There's some history here, that I've never read.

Just so everyone knows. Quote, Hitler did not complain of bladder or rectum weakness.

GLENN: Okay.

STU: So now we know.

GLENN: Finally. I can check that one off our list.

Glenn Beck warns: Are Democrats putting ICE agents in the crosshairs?play icon
RADIO

Glenn Beck warns: Are Democrats putting ICE agents in the crosshairs?

Democrats IN CONGRESS are launching a “master ICE tracker” so radicals can know where ICE agents are at all times. Glenn Beck explains why this is a dangerous and potentially treasonous idea.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Now, I warned in 2008. I was sitting next to Linda McMahon.

What? Saturday night, we were at a dinner. And Linda McMahon were sitting next to me.

And we were talking about the teachers unions. And I said, I don't remember if you remember this, Linda. But I remember in 2008, there was a little story in the Los Angeles times. And I read this, and I thought, oh, my!

Trouble is coming.

The teachers unions in California had decided to remove one of their restrictions on teachers. And one of the restrictions was, you could not have ever been a part of the communist party, or anything that had -- you could have never been involved with any group that had tried to actively overthrow the United States of America.

And they removed that plank!

And I thought, why on God's green earth would you remove that? Now, this was before anybody thought, "Oh, there's lots of Communists and radicals and revolutionaries," okay? This was right at the beginning of the Obama administration. And before anybody really understood what we were facing.

And I saw that. And I remember going on the air and saying, hmm. Something is really wrong with the teachers unions. Look out. Why would you do that?

Well, we know why you would do that. That's what brought bill airs in. And everybody else.

And you can do whatever it is you want.

And it was in California.

I've told you about this teacher, in California, three times now.

I think the first time I talked about him was in now and then.

And he was at -- well, I was at Fox. And he was with La Raza, a/k/a, the race.

And I showed you something that he was saying. He was saying at the time.

This is not about immigration or immigrants.

This is about the global struggle against imperialism and capitalism.

And I said, how is this guy teaching in high school? How is this guy a teacher in high school.

I then showed you him, last year, or earlier this year. Time just gets away from me now.

During the LA riots, during the last 9 months. The LA riots, and he was one of the organizers of Union Del Barrio.

And he was one of the guys, who was out saying, we've got to stop ICE. We've got to track ICE. Whatever it takes on the streets. These are our streets.

Okay? Revolutionary.

He's just won from the California Teacher's Association, the Human Rights Award. Why am I bringing him up again? Because it's not about that. I just want to show you that the teachers unions are embracing him.

Okay?

He is now in the news today, because he was at an anti-ICE protest, where he stood in front of cameras and microphone, and said, "We want the ICE agents to know. You're not the only one with guns."

You are threatening the lives of civil servants. You are embracing a culture of death.
You are saying, I don't agree with the law! And so I will take the law into my own hands, and I will start shooting civil servants. Husbands, boyfriends, fathers. I'll just shoot them!

Because I disagree with them! And this man is still teaching in California. Now, let me take this a step further.

Representative Robert Garcia, at a press conference, announced with democratic lawmakers, their intention to create a master ICE tracker.

Listen!

VOICE: Over the course of the next couple of weeks, the oversight committee will be launching on their website, a master ICE tracker.

Where we can -- essentially, tracking every single instance that we can verify that the community will send us information on.

GLENN: So I want to remind you that the killer, or the -- the guy who attempted to kill ICE. Agents here in Dallas, just a few weeks ago.

Was using a tracker, exactly like that. Now this is our democratic representatives from the Democratic Party. That are now saying, they are putting a tracker together for ICE a little.

This is assisting premeditated murder.

I believe this is treason myself!
You are going against the law! And you are now tracking federal civic -- civil servants. This is like saying, I'm going to put a tracker on every police car.

No. Try this. Would you be allowed to put a tracker on every Democrat in Congress?

And show, where they are. I know, it's verified. They're at this restaurant.

It's verified that they're eating at this restaurant. I verified they're at their house right now. I verified they're going to this meeting, and they're going to go through this door. Would you be able to do that?

Of course not. Why? Because insane people would try to kill them! Could I put a tracker on Air Force One? Could I put a tracker on Donald Trump and tell you his every move and where he's going to be at what time, all the time?

I mean, we get close enough to that. But you would not be able to put a tracker on the plane. Why!

Because people could shoot it out of the sky!

And if you think he's Hitler, why not shoot it out of the sky?

This is lawlessness. Can the president send in the National Guard to these cities?

Yes! By request of the governor. Or, if it is impossible because of the local community, and local governments, state governments. If it is impossible for the federal law enforcement officers to enforce the law!

You are giving him no other option. And they want it that way!

They want him to send in the federal troops. They want him. They need him to do that. Because that will prove to all of their lackeys. All of the people who are not thinking at this critical time in our country.

It will give them proof, see, he is a dictator. He's taking over law enforcement.

No. He is protecting the lives of civil servants, who are just doing exactly what the law is enabling them to do and demanding that they do!

And you're targeting those fathers and mothers and sons. You're targeting them. What option does he have?

The left is creating this culture of death. And if you honestly think, I mean, remember, look at -- look at what they did, when you got out of line with the left, they cancel you!

How many people were big on the left, and then suddenly, you think Bill Maher is going to parties with everybody? They cancel you. You're dead to them.

Well, what do you think is going to happen?

You're on their side today. You get out of line with people who are building a culture of death, you -- read about the French Revolution!

It started all noble.

Let's get the king.

And before you knew it, they were turning on themselves.

You've betrayed the revolution! You're a traitor to the revolution. And they started putting their own people into the guillotines and chopping their heads off.

And I'm telling you right now, Chuck Schumer and the rest of the weasels in Congress, the people who allowed these radicals in, in the first place. In 2004, I said, "You cannot let Michael Moore into the presidential box at the Democratic Convention! You can't do it!"

Because they will eat you in the end! And that wasn't a fat joke.

Well, it might have been at that time, also a fat joke. But people didn't see it coming.

And I'm telling you right now. Chuck Schumer is afraid of a literal guillotine being rolled in front of his office or his house.

Why are they not doing all of this with -- you know, with the shutdown?

Why are they just absent and they're like, "Yeah. Yeah. We're just going to keep going?"

Why?

They're terrified of their own side.

Because they know their own side will kill them.

And they just keep encouraging it.

They want a Colour Revolution. I did this show last night on this. I've been talking to you about Colour Revolution forever.

I -- I -- I just -- oh, that I would have the voice of an angel. And I could shake the earth. I wish more people could hear the warnings and pay attention.

But that is not my concern. My concern is just to speak to you. Please, please, listen!

Colour Revolution is the plan. Civil War is on the horizon.

Unless we live like Christ and we stand for the truth, our own side is -- is starting to fracture. Because you're buying into all of these crazy conspiracy theories. It's not this difficult!

Restore the eternal principles. Stop going down these rose of conspiracy theories. That just divide you from me. And me from that person.

We must stand together. Let's just agree on the Bill of Rights.

Let's just agree on a constitutional republic. Let's just agree, God lives!

God loves us. We have to serve him, and the best way to serve him, is by serving our fellow man with love and choosing life!

If we get lost in all of the other stuff, we are done!

MIT physics professor warns: Artificial Super Intelligence is uncontrollableplay icon
RADIO

MIT physics professor warns: Artificial Super Intelligence is uncontrollable

Artificial Super Intelligence cannot be controlled, MIT physics professor Max Tegmark warns. It WILL take power if we create it. And meanwhile, Silicon Valley elites like Sam Altman are planning to merge man with machine - without consulting us first. Max joins Glenn Beck to discuss his efforts to end this insanity and convince the US and China to stop their race to ASI before it’s too late. And it revolves around a petition signed by a widely diverse group of people, from Glenn Beck to Yuval Noah Harari…

Sign the petition at https://superintelligence-statement.org/

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Welcome to the program, Max Tegmark. It is an honor to have you on. I've been a fan of yours for a very long time.

MAX: It's an honor for me to be here.

GLENN: So -- so, Max, I'm seeing the statement that you have put out. And let's just -- can we go through it.

Here it is. We called for the prohibition on the development of super intelligence, not lifted before there is broad scientific consensus, that -- that it would be done safely and controllably, and a strong public buy-in, that's the whole statement. Right?

MAX: That is.

GLENN: And what do you hope. Because I've seen who you have studying. Here's the first five signatories. You ready? Steve Wozniak. Sir Richard Branson. Steve Bannon. Glenn Beck. Susan Rice. Prince Harry. Yuval Harari, which is mind-boggling to me. You have all of these leaders from all walks of life. You have faith leaders.

And it runs the spectrum.

What is it that we all have in common here?

MAX: Yeah. And you also have the most cited scientist in the world, Yoshua Bengio and Stephen Hanson. They are like my Einstein and Oppenheimer of today, who developed much of this technology and pioneering work. Saying their own work. What these all have in common is hilarious to see people express confusion.

This is a bewilderingly diverse group of people. Why don't they agree on anything?

It's because they aren't human. This is a question about, do we want the future where machines work where you live?

Or a future, which is all about the machines.

GLENN: So can you stop super intelligence?

I mean, we've had a conversation on this. You know, Sam Altman believes he's creating God.

And that's a terrifying. And there's a lot of people in Silicon Valley, that want to meet God. Of their creation. How do you stop this? China is rushing towards it.

We're rushing towards it. How do you stop it?

MAX: Well, let's start by talking just a little bit more what Sam Altman and people -- what folks want. And that I -- you know, how we can solve it. It's very doable. You know, I was just listening this morning, at some of the early writing of Sam Altman before his media team started telling him to tone down the rhetoric a little bit. This is a direct quote from a blog he wrote, called The Merge. When he said, we will be the first species ever to design our own descendents. My guess is that we can already see the biological boot loader for digital intelligence, and then save into an evolutionary tree branch. How does that sound to you? For the future for our children. Or we can figure out what a successful merge looks like.

But he's arguing in his speech, that we should merge with machines. And, you know, the average person listening to us right now on this program. Who asked them if they want to merge with machines?

GLENN: Nobody.

MAX: Or if they want to merge with machines. I was just playing with my 2-year-old son Leo this morning. I find that basically from 1776 -- someone will force my son to merge with machines, whether that's him or his parents or anyone really having a say on this. It's completely nuts.

There are a bunch of dudes in San Francisco, who had too much Red Bull to drink, should make these decisions for the rest of us.

GLENN: For all of humanity.

MAX: Yes. Indeed.

GLENN: The -- the race though is on. So how do you stop it?

MAX: Well, first of all, the lobbyists from these companies, keeps trying to convince us that it's unstoppable. That's the number one thing in the book, right? If a big, powerful country invades another country, the first thing they are going to try to persuade, don't bother fighting. It's pointless. Right?

So we have to make these decisions, when the same people say, it's stun stoppable. Are actually -- many are working for the companies.

Second, let's just look at the logic, you know. The argument is, you can never stop a new technology that can give a lot of money and power.

Because that's historically false. You know, I could make so much money human cloning. If I could clone you, Glenn, and a bunch of other talented people.

And mess with your DNA. And tweak you. And sell your services. You know, we didn't feel that as a society. There was a big discussion about this in the '70s. And the consensus around the world was, we could lose control of our species, if we start messing with ourselves in that way. And it became so stigmatized. So it didn't happen.

GLENN: There is -- there is a guy -- wasn't there a guy who did it know. Wasn't there somebody in China?

MAX: There was a guy. Yes, actually. This is such a great thing that you bring up. People often say, well, if don't do it, China is going to do it. well, there was a dude in China who did it. And guess what the Chinese government did with him? They sent him to jail.

Because they thought human cloning was a really bad idea. And the Chinese government. The Chinese communist party, really liked control. So the idea that they're going to let some -- some oddball in China do something. To sort of lose control of the human species, doesn't land well there. Right?

So there is where the optimism comes. Your first question, how can we stop it?

Of course, the predominance between the US and China. But there actually are two races going on here. There's the dominant race. Economic dominance. Military dominance. Technological. Cultural dominance. And the way it narrates, is we're building tools that are controllable.

Where there's a second race, who can be the first to build super intelligence the way we lose control over. And it wipes out humanity, maybe.

That's a suicide race. The way the US or China will compete for -- for predominance. Possibly doing something that will take away the power from both countries. I think of it as really analogous to something that has already happened already. The Cold War of the Soviet Union.

There was the race for dominance. Economic military might. We Americans won that one.

And then there was the race to see who can put the most nuclear creators in the other country?

And both the Americans and the Soviets openly decided to not nuke each other. And not engage with that suicide race.

Why? Was it because Reagan is on the stage? And looked each other in the eye. And hugged each other. And promised to not nuke each other.

No. There was, in fact, a trust. But it also wasn't necessary. Because we knew. The Soviets knew that it was suicide.

We knew that they knew, and vice-versa.

And that's all it took to avoid the suicide race.

GLENN: And so the suicide, you're talking with ASI is if China gets it, China would know, we'll lose control over it.

They're control freaks. And we'll lose control of our own country. We won't be in control. ASI will be running everything. Right?

MAX: Yes! Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

GLENN: So how do you -- how do you deal then with people like Sam Altman?

I mean, I would imagine. I mean, because there will be people who have labs, and -- and compute time.

To be able to pursue this.

Can you -- can I catch those people before they go down that road? Is that even possible?

MAX: It certainly is possible.

You know, the question -- in the interest of these companies to make us think it's impossible, right?

So we shouldn't trust. But it's very possible.

Look, we do this with every other industry. Let's look at Biotech, for example. The industry that is now not doing human cloning, right? But they're -- they're doing fine, making a ton of money on other investments. Right?

And once upon a time, there were no regulations on biotechs. They could sell any medicine they wanted. In the supermarkets.

And the -- sometimes it's called tragedy. Sometimes it's called tragedy in China. Sometimes it's called a tragedy here. In the US, it was a town called Solidify (phonetic). You probably remember. Right?

It caused over 100,000 American babies to be born without arms or legs. And that triggered so much anger, that resulted in the political will to have biotech create safety standards. And now, it actually has a ban on selling unapproved medicine in the US. We can argue about how to make that system less efficient, more efficient.

GLENN: Right.

MAX: Stuff like that. But I don't know any scientist or people in biotech who wanted to abolish the FDA and legalize it. Right?

GLENN: Right.

MAX: And we have done the same thing with every other industry. Even if you -- if you visit one of these tech companies, and I go for lunch across the street. That restaurant, before they can sell their first sandwich, has to have a health inspector pitch in and show that they some basic safety standards, right?

Saying that AI companies should be the only companies in America, that don't have to meet any safety standards. It's really just asking for corporate welfare for AI companies.

GLENN: Okay. Okay. Hang on just a second. I want to take a one minute break. I want you to read this statement. They're asking for signatures. I have signed on to it.

There are plenty of people who I disagree on almost everything, that have signed on to it. There are plenty of people that are my friends, that have signed on to it. Really, really brilliant people. Faith leaders, et cetera, et cetera. We -- I think the reason why it's so diverse is because this -- this is it. This is the end of humanity, if we lose control of our technology.

It will become a master and not a tool. And I want you to go to futureoflife.org. Futureoflife.org.

Look for the super intelligence statement. It was just released a couple of hours ago. Superintelligencestatement.org.

You can go there and find it. Or at futureoflife.org. And sign it. And I want to ask -- I want to ask Max, what your signature means. And what -- what -- what is this going to be used for?

We'll that do in 60 seconds. First, there was a time when choosing a cell phone carrier wasn't just about coverage and price. It's about something much, much bigger now. Because every company you support, every monthly bill you pay. Every statement, you know, is something. A statement about what you value. The big cell phone companies who decided your money should help fund causes, that undermine many of our values. And Patriot Mobile is the only Christian conservative wireless provider. And they are putting principle back in a business, that I long time ago, lost its way.

Same reliable coverage. Same reliable network.

But unlike the others, they donate a portion of every dollar to organizations that are fighting for your religious freedom.

Your First Amendment right.

Your sanctity of life. And you deserve to know that the money you spend every month, isn't being used against you.

Patriot Mobile. If you sign up, you are getting excellent service. Fair pricing. And something far more powerful.

The ability to stand up for what you believe in.

Take a stand today. Go to PatriotMobile.com/Beck. Or go to 972PATRIOT. It's promo code Beck.

Get a free month of service. PatriotMobile.com/Beck. Or call 972PATRIOT.

Make the switch today. Ten seconds. Back to Max Tegmark.
(music)
So what is your goal with this statement, Max?

MAX: Yeah. For your listeners there. Future hyphenated statement. When you go and add your support, if you like.

The goal of this statement is to make publicly known, that if you are concerned about this, you are not crazy. You're not alone.

You have an incredible amount of support from leaders across the political spectrum here.

Up until now, a lot of people who have this horrible feeling, right? Are afraid of speaking up.

They -- a lot of people have told me this. Because they don't want to sound like Luddites. Fearmongers.

You know, now is the time to -- to speak up and say what you think.

Because this is -- this is -- this is, Glenn. You're so right.

You know, the reason we're seeing such remarkably broad people agreeing on this.

That's also what happened if we actually got invaded from aliens in space, just like you said from the beginning.

If some weird spaceship started showing up and started shooting at us.

Everybody --

GLENN: Right. Right.

MAX: And that's what happens now. That's fundamentally also why we can stop this. Almost nobody wants this.

We also just released a poll showing that less than 5 percent of Americans actually want a race -- a race to super intelligence.

That's less than one in 20 Americans. Right?

And yet, we're having this stuff shoved down our throat.

GLENN: Agreed.

Max, I can't thank you enough for this.

And all that you're doing.

We need to have more conversations, about artificial intelligence. Artificial super intelligence. General intelligence. The world is going to change. And millions of jobs are either going to change or be lost, and it depends on how we apply AI. It's not something to fear if you realize it is a tool and you are the master.

But too many people are just going to use this. Their brain is going to go soft. And they will let it take control of their lives.

And make their decisions. Et cetera. And then if it becomes general intelligence or super intelligence, you're a slave to it.

And it -- it has to stop. It has to stop.

So if you would like to sign this, I have signed it.

And I urge you to sign this.

It's a very simple statement. We call for a prohibition on the development of super intelligence. Not lifted before there's a broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably. And a strong public buy-in. That's all you're signing. And you can go to super intelligence-statement.org. I -- I found it at FutureofLife.org. And you can -- you'll find it there as well. You scroll down the page. But superintelligence-statement.org.

I urge you to sign it and to pass it on to somebody else. This is a conversation we must have.

MIT physics professor and author of Life 3.0, Max Tegmark. Great talking to you, Max.