RADIOFebruary 22, 2024

Neuralink Just MERGED Man and Machine. Is This GOOD or DANGEROUS?

Elon Musk has announced that the first Neuralink patient can now control a computer mouse “by just thinking.” But while this technology could help a lot of people, should we proceed with caution? Between AI and this new merger of man and machine, Glenn gives a warning about what the future could hold. Glenn and Stu also review the controversy surrounding Google’s Gemini AI, which refused to generate images of white people.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So the website, Down Detector, detected a surge in outage reports from users at AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Customer Cellular, Boost Mobile, US Cellular, and Straight Talk.

That the reports of the system being downed or outages, began at 3:45 a.m. Eastern time. The outages have been reported across many major US cities.

It looks like, that it is back up. I'm not sure.

They say, they don't think this was a cyber attack.

But how did all of them go down at the same time?

I mean, that's kind of weird.

Yesterday, Israel had a cyber attack.

It was from Iran. The Israelis say. And it was an attack on their cell phone services.

So quite a coincidence. But let's not jump to any conclusions. Let's see what actually happened.

Cyber attacks are going to happen. At some point, soon. We will have cyber attacks. And it will leave you vulnerable, if that's what you depend on.

We are becoming more and more, a society that is connected in all things, and absolutely incapable of doing any things, without our electronics.

We hit a milestone yesterday. This is truly like landing a man on the moon, I think. This is -- this is the first real merging of man and machine, I think. I mean, we've had the electronic. You know, the bionic arms and things like that.

But this is in your mind.

It's Neuralink. Elon Musk came up with it. And it is really tempting, because this is -- you know, this will be great to some degree. You'll be able to access information, and have the old internet in your head. You want to speak French?

Okay. Download it. Got it.

I mean, it is really -- isn't that the Matrix?

STU: Yeah. The Matrix too. We're turning into The Matrix. That's the theme of the show today.

GLENN: So that is now the beginnings of that, happened and was announced yesterday. Elon Musk said, Neuralink is active in the first person, to have one of the chips implanted in their brain. They have seemingly made a full recovery.

We -- you know, so far. We don't know what the effects of this are, or will be. But Musk said, the patient can now move the mouse around a screen, just by thinking.

So he has Bluetoothed himself to the screen.

Crazy. Huh.

STU: It's incredible that they can do that. And, you know, also, look at the way Elon Musk does business.

This is a lot of what he does. Which is a lot of kind of just -- let's try it. There's a lot of -- hey, let's give it a whirl.

GLENN: He said I think yesterday or earlier this week, that he had plans by 2029, to have a million people on Mars.

And when I heard that, I thought, there's no -- oh, it's Elon Musk. Maybe.

STU: Well, yeah. And this is his goal, with all of this stuff. He has -- I think it's a T-shirt or something. He wears. Like occupy mars.

This is the central idea of his life.

GLENN: And this is part of it. Neuralink is part of it.

He believes that we are on such a dystopian track right now. That because of global warming, but also because of AI.

He believes AI is just as dangerous as global warming. He believes we cannot compete with AI.

Unless we can merge with it. Okay.

Because it will be operating at such high speeds. We don't have the processing capabilities for the speeds.

You know, it's kind of like -- kind of like dogs. Dog life. Seven years. One year for us.

It's like one year is a thousand years for AI.

So it's moving at such a rapid speed, we won't be able to keep up. So he believes that we need to be able to merge with the machine, until we can get off, this planet.

I don't think he'll be taking Neuralink with him. Or maybe he just thinks we won't have access to this AI on Mars.

But that's really what is -- is driving him. Driving his whole life.

STU: It's really, really hard.

Because I know, it feels creepy. And there are risks. And all of that.

But it's like, it's really, really hard to think about telling someone, who is paralyzed that, no. We could make you move. But we don't want to pursue that technology.

Like, I don't know. I mean, it's just -- it's such incredible technology.

And for all of the other stuff, that he's done. Which is really impressive. I mean, Elon Musk is an impressive dude.

Space travel. You know, the electric car stuff. I don't care about the electric car stuff that much. But it's still really impressive what he's been able to do.

Everyone basically said, you couldn't do it. And no other company could be able to do that. He did that. He's done so many incredible things. But if he was able to take people, you know, with disabilities. And all these -- these issues that have been unsolvable throughout all of human history, and somehow figure out a way to -- through Neuralink or something similar, to solve that for people, it would be the greatest thing he has ever accomplished by a long shot.

GLENN: So my daughter Mary had brain surgery, about three, four years ago.

STU: Yeah. I remember.

GLENN: And it was perfect for a long time.

All of her seizures went away. Earlier this year, I think it was in the summer, she started to have breakthrough seizures.

And they are even on medication now, they are grand mal. They are --

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: They're just terrifying. And -- and I said to her, this was about four years ago.

I said, honey, if you wait. Elon Musk is doing experience with Neuralink.

And one of the things that Neuralink will do. Is it will -- you know, patch all of the brain damage.

It will take where -- when you have a stroke, it's like a highway.

And there's you all these highways running to different parts of your brain. And if you have a stroke, that highway is cut.

So there are other paths to get to where it's going, but it makes it much slower. And sometimes it can't just get to where it's supposed to go.

STU: You can't get there from here.

GLENN: You can't get there from here.

So Neuralink will connect the different parts of the brain, back to each other.

And it doesn't need roadway. It's just Bluetooth to all the different parts of the brain, it needs.

In effect --

STU: Incredible.

GLENN: Yeah. Incredible. Absolutely incredible.

You know what she said to me.

Dad, I think I'll wait.

Because I know the savior will heal me, even if it's just in the afterlife.

STU: Jeez.

GLENN: What a giant.

STU: Raised a good kid there, jeez.

GLENN: I had nothing to do with it. Nothing to do with it.

STU: That's incredible.

GLENN: So we have this now. We have what I've been talking about, the singularity, the merging of man and machine. And also, what I've been talking -- I've been talking about this particular category for 30 years, plus. And I said, there's going to come a time, merging man and machine. There's also going to come a time, where you cannot believe your eyes or your ears. We're there now. Did you hear about -- what was her name.

Bobbi Althoff. Did you read about this? Bobbi Althoff, apparently, a very sexually explicit video of -- she's a podcast person. Spread on X, all day yesterday.

This was -- they tried to get it down as fast as they can. But it was just populating everywhere. And it's a complete deepfake. But you can't tell it's a deepfake. Okay?

It looks absolutely real, apparently. And she had to come out and say, this -- I mean, violation of me, you know, this goes beyond violation of privacy.

STU: What was the -- the video?

Was it like one of these --

GLENN: Yeah. It was sexually explicit. It was a porn tape.

STU: Like the Taylor Swift stuff that came out.

GLENN: Yeah. Okay.

But you cannot tell the difference. We are at the point to where you don't know what's real and what's want.

We are also now, and I find this fascinating.

We're -- in one of my early books, where I talked about AI. I remember saying, don't fear the system.

Don't fear AI.

Don't fear the machine. Fear the programmers and the algorithms. Because whatever you put into that algorithm, it becomes reality. And it's the basis of everything.

Okay.

Google, they had the bard. What happened to the bard. The bard has become General Artificial Intelligence. So Google, the Gemini can not only answer all of your questions, but it can also just type in, and it will create a scene for you.

Okay.

Apparently, it has no problem, producing images of black, Native American, and Asian people, when prompted.

But it refused to do so, with white people.

STU: I mean, I know this is serious. But it was also really funny. Like, if you would request like give me a picture of an antebellum plantation owner. And it would just be like an Asian and a Native American.

GLENN: Right.

STU: They couldn't find -- just could not bring themselves to create white people.

GLENN: No. No.

You're asked to show a white person. George Washington. Gemini said, it could not fulfill the request. Because, and I'm quoting, it reinforces harmful stereotypes and generalizations about people based on their race.

STU: Amazing. They knew the founders, that it would come up like all the Founders would be. All these different races.

GLENN: Races.

It's important to remember, that people of all races are individuals with unique experiences and perspectives. Reducing them to a single image based on their skin color is an inaccurate statement and unfair.

We have to be more inclusive and equitable.

STU: That's our point. Our point is we shouldn't reduce people to their skin color. You guys are constantly pushing that nonsense on us all the time.

GLENN: Quote, when you ask for a picture of a white person, you're implicitly asking for an image that embodies a stereotyped view of whiteness.

This can be damaging both to individuals who don't fit those stereotypes and to a society as a whole. As it reinforces biased views.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

So Fox followed this down the rabbit hole. And Google replied immediately. And took it down.

Oh, yeah. We're working on that. But are you?

STU: Right. They obviously didn't intend for it to do this.

But what they did put in there, is bias.

GLENN: Is bias.

STU: And you're not just supposed to notice it. It's supposed to be much more subtle, than it wound up turning out being.

And that's what they will go back and fix.

GLENN: Right. They won't go back and fix it and take that out. They will fix it, so you don't notice it.

By the way, AI currently is going throughout all of the history of the world, all over, it is suddenly changing our documents, our history books, and everything else.

Anything that's online. If you don't have a paper copy of something, you're going to find yourself in your lifetime, sooner rather than later, going, well, no. Wait. I know that was there.

I was there. I saw it.

Wait. And I know it was reported.

What? It's being done right now.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Clay pots comes to mind.

Could passengers have SAVED Iryna Zarutska?

Surveillance footage of the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, NC, reveals that the other passengers on the train took a long time to help her. Glenn, Stu, and Jason debate whether they were right or wrong to do so.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I'm -- I'm torn on how I feel about the people on the train.

Because my first instinct is, they did nothing! They did nothing! Then my -- well, sit down and, you know -- you know, you're going to be judged. So be careful on judging others.

What would I have done? What would I want my wife to do in that situation?

STU: Yeah. Are those two different questions, by the way.

GLENN: Yeah, they are.

STU: I think they go far apart from each other. What would I want myself to do. I mean, it's tough to put yourself in a situation. It's very easy to watch a video on the internet and talk about your heroism. Everybody can do that very easily on Twitter. And everybody is.

You know, when you're in a vehicle that doesn't have an exit with a guy who just murdered somebody in front of you, and has a dripping blood off of a knife that's standing 10 feet away from you, 15 feet away from you.

There's probably a different standard there, that we should all kind of consider. And maybe give a little grace to what I saw at least was a woman, sitting across the -- the -- the aisle.

I think there is a difference there. But when you talk about that question. Those two questions are definitive.

You know, I know what I would want myself to do. I would hope I would act in a way that didn't completely embarrass myself afterward.

But I also think, when I'm thinking of my wife. My advice to my wife would not be to jump into the middle of that situation at all costs. She might do that anyway. She actually is a heck of a lot stronger than I am.

But she might do it anyway.

GLENN: How pathetic, but how true.

STU: Yes. But that would not be my advice to her.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Now, maybe once the guy has certainly -- is out of the area. And you don't think the moment you step into that situation. He will turn around and kill you too. Then, of course, obviously. Anything you can do to step in.

Not that there was much anyone on the train could do.

I mean, I don't think there was an outcome change, no matter what anyone on that train did.

Unfortunately.

But would I want her to step in?

Of course. If she felt she was safe, yes.

Think about, you said, your wife. Think about your daughter. Your daughter is on that train, just watching someone else getting murdered like that. Would you advise your daughter to jump into a situation like that?

That girl sitting across the aisle was somebody's daughter. I don't know, man.

JASON: I would. You know, as a dad, would I advise.

Hmm. No.

As a human being, would I hope that my daughter or my wife or that I would get up and at least comfort that woman while she's dying on the floor of a train?

Yeah.

I would hope that my daughter, my son, that I would -- and, you know, I have more confidence in my son or daughter or my wife doing something courageous more than I would.

But, you know, I think I have a more realistic picture of myself than anybody else.

And I'm not sure that -- I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. I know what I would hope I would do. But I also know what I fear I would do. But I would have hoped that I would have gotten up and at least tried to help her. You know, help her up off the floor. At least be there with her, as she's seeing her life, you know, spill out in under a minute.

And that's it other thing we have to keep in mind. This all happened so rapidly.

A minute is -- will seem like a very long period of time in that situation. But it's a very short period of time in real life.

STU: Yeah. You watch the video, Glenn. You know, I don't need the video to -- to change my -- my position on this.

But at his seem like there was a -- someone who did get there, eventually, to help, right? I saw someone seemingly trying to put pressure on her neck.

GLENN: Yeah. And tried to give her CPR.

STU: You know, no hope at that point. How long of a time period would you say that was?

Do you know off the top of your head?

GLENN: I don't know. I don't know. I know that we watched the video that I saw. I haven't seen past 30 seconds after she --

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: -- is down. And, you know, for 30 seconds nothing is happening. You know, that is -- that is not a very long period of time.

STU: Right.

GLENN: In reality.

STU: And especially, I saw the pace he was walking. He certainly can't be -- you know, he may have left the actual train car by 30 seconds to a minute. But he wasn't that far away. Like he was still in visual.

He could still turn around and look and see what's going on at that point. So certainly still a threat is my point. He has not, like, left the area. This is not that type of situation.

You know, I -- look, as you point out, I think if I could be super duper sexist for a moment here, sort of my dividing line might just be men and women.

You know, I don't know if it's that a -- you're not supposed to say that, I suppose these days. But, like, there is a difference there. If I'm a man, you know, I would be -- I would want my son to jump in on that, I suppose. I don't know if he could do anything about it. But you would expect at least a grown man to be able to go in there and do something about it. A woman, you know, I don't know.

Maybe I'm -- I hope --

GLENN: Here's the thing I -- here's the thing that I -- that causes me to say, no. You should have jumped in.

And that is, you know, you've already killed one person on the train. So you've proven that you're a killer. And anybody who would have screamed and got up and was with her, she's dying. She's dying. Get him. Get him.

Then the whole train is responsible for stopping that guy. You know. And if you don't stop him, after he's killed one person, if you're not all as members of that train, if you're not stopping him, you know, the person at the side of that girl would be the least likely to be killed. It would be the ones that are standing you up and trying to stop him from getting back to your daughter or your wife or you.

JASON: There was a -- speaking of men and women and their roles in this. There was a video circling social media yesterday. In Sweden. There was a group of officials up on a stage. And one of the main. I think it was health official woman collapses on stage. Completely passes out.

All the men kind of look away. Or I don't know if they're looking away. Or pretending that they didn't know what was going on. There was another woman standing directly behind the woman passed out.

Immediately springs into action. Jumps on top. Grabs her pant leg. Grabs her shoulder. Spins her over and starts providing care.

What did she have that the other guys did not? Or women?

She was a sheepdog. There is a -- this is my issue. And I completely agree with Stu. I completely agree with you. There's some people that do not respond this way. My issue is the proportion of sheepdogs versus people that don't really know how to act. That is diminishing in western society. And American society.

We see it all the time in these critical actions. I mean, circumstances.

There are men and women, and it's actually a meme. That fantasize about hoards of people coming to attack their home and family. And they sit there and say, I've got it. You guys go. I'm staying behind, while I smoke my cigarette and wait for the hoards to come, because I will sacrifice myself. There are men and women that fantasize of block my highway. Go ahead. Block my highway. I'm going to do something about it. They fantasize about someone holding up -- not a liquor store. A convenience store or something. Because they will step in and do something. My issue now is that proportion of sheepdogs in society is disappearing. Just on statistical fact, there should be one within that train car, and there were none.

STU: Yeah. I mean --

JASON: They did not respond.

STU: We see what happens when they do, with Daniel Penny. Our society tries to vilify them and crush their existence. Now, there weren't that many people on that train. Right?

At least on that car. At least it's limited. I only saw three or four people there, there may have been more. I agree with you, though. Like, you see what happens when we actually do have a really recent example of someone doing exactly what Jason wants and what I would want a guy to do. Especially a marine to step up and stop this from happening. And the man was dragged by our legal system to a position where he nearly had to spend the rest of his life in prison.

I mean, I -- it's insanity. Thankfully, they came to their senses on that one.

GLENN: Well, the difference between that one and this one though is that the guy was threatening. This one, he killed somebody.

STU: Yeah. Right. Well, but -- I think -- but it's the opposite way. The debate with Penny, was should he have recognize that had this person might have just been crazy and not done anything?

Maybe. He hadn't actually acted yet. He was just saying things.

GLENN: Yeah. Well --

STU: He didn't wind up stabbing someone. This is a situation where these people have already seen what this man will do to you, even when you don't do anything to try to stop him. So if this woman, who is, again, looks to be an average American woman.

Across the aisle. Steps in and tries to do something. This guy could easily turn around and just make another pile of dead bodies next to the one that already exists.

And, you know, whether that is an optimal solution for our society, I don't know that that's helpful.

In that situation.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266

Disclaimer: This episode was filmed prior to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But Glenn believes Max's message is needed now more than ever.
The political world is divided, constantly at war with itself. In many ways, our own lives are not much different. Why do we constantly focus on the negative? Why are we in pain? Where is God amid our anxiety and fear? Why can’t we ever seem to change? Pastor Max Lucado has found the solution: Stop thinking like that! It may seem easier said than done, but Max joins Glenn Beck to unpack the three tools he describes in his new book, “Tame Your Thoughts,” that make it easy for us to reset the way we think back to God’s factory settings. In this much-needed conversation, Max and Glenn tackle everything from feeling doubt as a parent to facing unfair hardships to ... UFOs?! Plus, Max shares what he recently got tattooed on his arm.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Demonic Forces to Blame for Charlie Kirk, Minnesota & Charlotte Killings?

This week has seen some of the most heinous actions in recent memory. Glenn has been discussing the growth of evil in our society, and with the assassination of civil rights leader Charlie Kirk, the recent transgender shooter who took the lives of two children at a Catholic school, and the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, how can we make sense of all this evil? On today's Friday Exclusive, Glenn speaks with BlazeTV host of "Strange Encounters" Rick Burgess to discuss the demon-possessed transgender shooter and the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. Rick breaks down the reality of demon possession and how individuals wind up possessed. Rick and Glenn also discuss the dangers of the grotesque things we see online and in movies, TV shows, and video games on a daily basis. Rick warns that when we allow our minds to be altered by substances like drugs or alcohol, it opens a door for the enemy to take control. A supernatural war is waging in our society, and it’s a Christian’s job to fight this war. Glenn and Rick remind Christians of what their first citizenship is.