Your 5 minute response is excellent!! I struggle with quick responses re:social media use, health management, etc. so it is incredibly helpful to see you do it in real time. I highly recommend your book to anyone reading this post. The other word I love, which you use in the book, that I try to add because it intrigues people is that using cash is a form of rebellion. My translation - It’s a “fuck you” to corporations and fintech. I get “yeah, that’s true, but….” Your analogy to stairs is perfect. I am going to use that one from now on. It’s simple and easy to understand & accept. No arguments against stairs. During 9/11, the stairs saved lives.
As always, thank you Brett! Keep doing what you’re doing!!!!
I know the man is evil but God, there are a couple of fist punch moments in this conversation. I couldn’t agree more that the 2008 cash was poured into AI in a tacit deal with the US gov. That monopoly power is going to be extremely hard to unwind & Bannon nails it over the Deepseek face plant.
Perhaps, but he does get to speak for over an hour on US politics. I suspect if I was allowed to do that on the topic of the monetary system on the NYT, I'd have more scope to get some fist punch moments in too :) Would be interesting to see his 5 minute version though
Yes, sorry - it wasn’t meant as a criticism. It’s just the problem of sound bites vs the long form interview. I guess the point with Bannon is that he can break the rules & swear etc because he has wealth & power & nothing to lose. I recommend the interview though. He gives a whirlwind overview of technofascism which is pretty useful for people to hear.
Stairs to me feels like a much more salient metaphor than public bicycle, but that may just be due to the fact that grew up in America where we generally lack such a utility. With stairs though, not only is it healthy to keep a balance, but in case of a fire or other emergency (like that climate change thing you mentioned) you certainly don't want to be sitting there waiting for the elevator.
Yeah, I know this (which is actually one reason why I include 'mountainbike' in the video too - appealing to the rugged country vibe rather than the European city vibe
They didn't make a 'bet'. They're just doing what capitalism does, which is to automate and accelerate, a process that never makes your life easier. It just makes your life faster, because new tech is never converted into leisure - it's converted into higher output, and higher output is not just an absolute increase in *stuff* - it becomes an absolute increase in *needs*. This is why our current society is neither relaxed (which you would expect if 'convenience' is a reality), or free from poverty (which you would expect if higher output did not simultaneously increase needs)
But sure, there's limits to how much of this kind of thing I can get into that metaphor in 5 minutes
If I can’t use cash because the system has changed, then it is inconvenient. In many areas, cash points are decreasing at a surprising clip. More and more businesses are going cashless in many western countries even though it costs them fees. Yes, some people want to use cash but compare that to the % happily or unhappily going along with cashless.
I believe in cash, I wrote about it myself before finding your substack. However, i am happy to unfollow as this is simply unproductive and your style of engagement is not for me. Good luck converting people with piss and vinegar.
Also, struggling to understand the hostility. I've seen many people's perceptions change with arguments that I've used, including young people who are tired of digital progress stories
The point of view that we need to take is that of the user. Tapping a phone is more convenient than carrying cash. Immediate ease of use consistently attracts users despite all the long term ills you correctly point out. Until we can address something that is immediate, the masses will continue on with bad security, bad privacy, lack of control, and being cogs in someone else’s machine.
Tbh, I find your response off putting as it just rants at me without considering the point. This is a communications battle and people like us, who want different, are losing.
That's maybe because I've had this point put at me for over 10 years now, so it's nothing new to me. Apologies if my response seems dismissive
Actually your point about the user is incorrect. There are many people - especially in lower socio-economic groups - who want to use cash but who find themselves blocked (like someone who finds bicycle lanes removed in a city)
I think what you're struggling with here is that, when someone is stuck in an accelerating economic vortex, they will slowly find themselves punished if they don't use it and they will adjust their cultural perceptions in accordance with that. For example, I live in Berlin - the average person here, especially those in lower socio-economic groups, do not find cash 'inconvenient'. If you go to London, though, you will find that the entire middle class has built that perception, even though they didn't experience that 10 years ago. It's not that they've suddenly realised that cash is inconvenient - what's happened is that the environment around them has accelerated, so - in relative terms - it starts to seem like that. What you're basically then saying here is 'work with this cultural perception' (aka. your phrase 'the view of the user'). What I'm saying is 'challenge this cultural perception'
Your 5 minute response is excellent!! I struggle with quick responses re:social media use, health management, etc. so it is incredibly helpful to see you do it in real time. I highly recommend your book to anyone reading this post. The other word I love, which you use in the book, that I try to add because it intrigues people is that using cash is a form of rebellion. My translation - It’s a “fuck you” to corporations and fintech. I get “yeah, that’s true, but….” Your analogy to stairs is perfect. I am going to use that one from now on. It’s simple and easy to understand & accept. No arguments against stairs. During 9/11, the stairs saved lives.
As always, thank you Brett! Keep doing what you’re doing!!!!
Thanks Manisha - appreciate the support!
I can very much recommend Brett's book!
I’m not going lie, I think 90% of the audience was checking their notifications by the time you got to stairs. (Sorry). But your point is utterly right. It’s just it may be better to yell it. On which, I recommend this NYT interview with everyone’s favourite ethno-nationalist, Steve Bannon: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/opinion/steve-bannon-on-broligarchs-vs-populism.html?context=audio&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare.
I know the man is evil but God, there are a couple of fist punch moments in this conversation. I couldn’t agree more that the 2008 cash was poured into AI in a tacit deal with the US gov. That monopoly power is going to be extremely hard to unwind & Bannon nails it over the Deepseek face plant.
Perhaps, but he does get to speak for over an hour on US politics. I suspect if I was allowed to do that on the topic of the monetary system on the NYT, I'd have more scope to get some fist punch moments in too :) Would be interesting to see his 5 minute version though
Yes, sorry - it wasn’t meant as a criticism. It’s just the problem of sound bites vs the long form interview. I guess the point with Bannon is that he can break the rules & swear etc because he has wealth & power & nothing to lose. I recommend the interview though. He gives a whirlwind overview of technofascism which is pretty useful for people to hear.
Stairs to me feels like a much more salient metaphor than public bicycle, but that may just be due to the fact that grew up in America where we generally lack such a utility. With stairs though, not only is it healthy to keep a balance, but in case of a fire or other emergency (like that climate change thing you mentioned) you certainly don't want to be sitting there waiting for the elevator.
Yeah, I know this (which is actually one reason why I include 'mountainbike' in the video too - appealing to the rugged country vibe rather than the European city vibe
It’s incredibly difficult to argue against convenience. Big tech made the right bet that increasing availability and ease would win.
Your metaphor is okay and all the reasons are spot on but without explaining how cash makes life better now, as in right now, it’s a very tough sell.
They didn't make a 'bet'. They're just doing what capitalism does, which is to automate and accelerate, a process that never makes your life easier. It just makes your life faster, because new tech is never converted into leisure - it's converted into higher output, and higher output is not just an absolute increase in *stuff* - it becomes an absolute increase in *needs*. This is why our current society is neither relaxed (which you would expect if 'convenience' is a reality), or free from poverty (which you would expect if higher output did not simultaneously increase needs)
But sure, there's limits to how much of this kind of thing I can get into that metaphor in 5 minutes
If I can’t use cash because the system has changed, then it is inconvenient. In many areas, cash points are decreasing at a surprising clip. More and more businesses are going cashless in many western countries even though it costs them fees. Yes, some people want to use cash but compare that to the % happily or unhappily going along with cashless.
I believe in cash, I wrote about it myself before finding your substack. However, i am happy to unfollow as this is simply unproductive and your style of engagement is not for me. Good luck converting people with piss and vinegar.
How would you do it?
Also, struggling to understand the hostility. I've seen many people's perceptions change with arguments that I've used, including young people who are tired of digital progress stories
I tell young people "when I was your age, I lied to my parents that I was working at a children's summer camp for 3 months, and took off to Indonesia.
I'd call home from a phone booth every so often, how's the summer camp going, all great, until I returned, and they never found out.
Try doing that now, with your phone recognition and your credit card tracking your every single move.
I know what it feels like to be invisible, but you never will."
The big question is though, does someone long for freedom if they've never experienced it?
Here in Canada often I have come across the younger generation unable to make change correctly
The point of view that we need to take is that of the user. Tapping a phone is more convenient than carrying cash. Immediate ease of use consistently attracts users despite all the long term ills you correctly point out. Until we can address something that is immediate, the masses will continue on with bad security, bad privacy, lack of control, and being cogs in someone else’s machine.
Tbh, I find your response off putting as it just rants at me without considering the point. This is a communications battle and people like us, who want different, are losing.
That's maybe because I've had this point put at me for over 10 years now, so it's nothing new to me. Apologies if my response seems dismissive
Actually your point about the user is incorrect. There are many people - especially in lower socio-economic groups - who want to use cash but who find themselves blocked (like someone who finds bicycle lanes removed in a city)
I think what you're struggling with here is that, when someone is stuck in an accelerating economic vortex, they will slowly find themselves punished if they don't use it and they will adjust their cultural perceptions in accordance with that. For example, I live in Berlin - the average person here, especially those in lower socio-economic groups, do not find cash 'inconvenient'. If you go to London, though, you will find that the entire middle class has built that perception, even though they didn't experience that 10 years ago. It's not that they've suddenly realised that cash is inconvenient - what's happened is that the environment around them has accelerated, so - in relative terms - it starts to seem like that. What you're basically then saying here is 'work with this cultural perception' (aka. your phrase 'the view of the user'). What I'm saying is 'challenge this cultural perception'
Also, you might find this of use https://www.asomo.co/p/tech-doesnt-make-our-lives-easier