JOE LONSDALE calls Flock cameras “one little tiny narrow piece of a massive thing.” JOE ALLEN: Flock has become a symbol for the wider surveillance network. In the same way that @PalantirTech has become a symbol for the foreign interventions. These systems, while right now are being built as they’re going to get rid of the immigrants, are more and more going to be used against us. Whoever is in charge of these systems will use them. And as we’ve seen time and time again with January 6th, for instance, these systems will be used against us and used against us disproportionately at any turn.
ALLEN: This creeping suspicion, this fear of dystopia, comes not from leftist talking points. A corp can just as easily monitor you, manipulate you, and ultimately, if you fall out of line, either through the gov’t or through other means, such as cancellation, annihilate you.
LONSDALE questions whether the Right is falling for a psyop from the Left over mass surveillance. ALLEN: I reject the premise entirely. Anyone who is able to observe you all the time would have power over you, simply to understand you inside and out and be able to manipulate you. The utter disdain of having a human being take the place of God who is watching you all the time precedes any of these leftist talking points.
JOE ALLEN: A few days ago, we saw President Trump in AI slop form, flanked by robot dogs and robot soldiers. The image of the future is aggressive. It’s dystopian. Maybe that’s pointed outward today. But the American people imagine, and I think quite rationally so, that these robot dogs and robot soldiers could one day be pointed towards us.
JOE LONSDALE says AI education “just works” and that “you’re on the left if you’re against that.” JOE ALLEN: That is an insane thing to say, that you’re on the left if you oppose. LONSDALE: Parents choosing that education and you’re against that, that is a leftist thing.
JOE ALLEN: Is it okay for an AI company to monitor you or not? Is it okay for an AI company to produce sex bots for your children or not? These sorts of things will be enshrined in law. But for now, it’s a matter of choice.
JOE ALLEN: The free market ain’t going to cut it. For someone like me, and for many tens or hundreds of millions of people around the country, we don’t give a fuck. You’re going to have to have ways to bring these companies to heel, whether it’s state level or federal level.
JOE ALLEN: A community doesn’t want it, then let them reject it. This bullshit line that this is all driven by China or the Left, it’s insane. These people have legitimate reasons. They love nature. They love continuity of culture. Conservative impulses.
JOE ALLEN: People like me, billons of people are subject to the decisions made by billionaires. And we were not consulted. We’ve been told that what will make America great again is to build better machines. I believe what will make America great again is to cultivate finer human beings.
At a first-of-its-kind midterm convention, President Trump mostly offered retreads and self-congratulation. Then, he offered to pay Americans $5,000 apiece if Republicans kept power.
