The Attention Economy Navigator, February 2026 w/ Chris Fields Figueredo and Steven Renderos

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors.

[00:00:00] Cayden Mak: Welcome to Block and Build a podcast from Convergence Magazine. I’m your host and the publisher of Convergence Cayden Mak. On this show, we’re building a roadmap for the movement. It’s working to block the impacts of rising authoritarianism while building the strength and resilience of the broad front that we need to win.

[00:00:23] On today’s episode, we are building our Attention Economy Navigator for the month of February, 2026. The goal of Block and Build has always been to help organizers figure out what’s happening, how people are responding, and get a sense for what’s working out there. The world. The Attention Economy Navigator is our way of visually mapping some of the most and least talked about news stories of the month, and help our audience orient to what’s worth your attention and what could use a little less.

[00:00:47] Here’s how the Navigator works. My panel of guests who you will meet in a moment will work with me to plot some of the most discussed news stories from the past month onto a two dimensional graph representing where we think they fall on a spectrum of signal versus noise on one axis, and conspiracy versus reality consensus on the other.

[00:01:04] If you’d like a visual, you can always watch this episode on YouTube, or you can find the final graph in article form on our website. To explain this better, let’s take a trip back to high school geometry and envision a standard XY graph. On the X axis, we’re measuring signal versus noise with high signal being to the right at a 10 and high noise to the left at a negative 10.

[00:01:25] Noisy stories are those with little meaning. They’re part of the chatter, but they aren’t gonna stick with us and they don’t mean much to our long-term media and political environment. Contrast that with high signal stories, which have deep, long-term implications and impact on our world. Then on the Y axis, we’re measuring consensus reality versus conspiracy theory, high consensus stories and a positive 10 are those that are really happening.

[00:01:48] These don’t involve a lot of wild conjecture or fuzzy logic. They’re backed up by research, reporting and hard evidence. High conspiracy stories, on the other hand, out of negative 10, are those which contrary to all reason, have broken through despite having very little to back them up. They’re rooted in conspiracy theories of some kind.

[00:02:06] So this leaves us with four quadrants. The top right quadrant is high signal, high consensus. So these are the stories that are immediate and demand our attention. Those that are high noise and high conspiracy fall on the bottom left and probably deserve a little less of it even if people can’t stop talking about them.

[00:02:22] Like I mentioned previously, the finalized graph is gonna be linked in the show notes. It can be found on Convergence website for you to follow along, and you can of course pop over and watch this episode in video form on our YouTube channel, where producer Josh is gonna help us lay out this graph in real time to help us build this month’s Attention Economy Navigator.

[00:02:40] I’m joined by two comrades who think a lot about movement strategy and also care a lot about pop culture, the internet, and why we are the way we are. Joining me today are Chris Melody Fields Fido, who’s the executive director of the Ballad Initiative Strategy Center and is a bad bunny, super fan. And Bruja, thank you for joining me today.

[00:02:57] Chris, 

[00:02:58] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: thank you so much for having McCade and I am very, very excited to talk about all of it. 

[00:03:05] Cayden Mak: Excellent. Uh, we’re also joined by Steven Randeros, who’s the executive Director of Media Justice and is a DJ and cultural commentator, and it’s always great to see you, Steven. 

[00:03:14] Steven Renderos: It was good to see you Cayden. And I also did my own bad bunny mix tape many years back.

[00:03:20] Hell 

[00:03:20] Cayden Mak: yeah. 

[00:03:20] Steven Renderos: So, you know, also a fan 

[00:03:22] Cayden Mak: come to the right place. So we’ve collected some headlines together for some discussion today, and the way this works is I’m gonna call on each of you in turn, you can introduce a story and then we’ll put five minutes on the clock for discussion and placement. Um, and we’ll figure out where these things land.

[00:03:38] Uh, are you all ready? 

[00:03:40] Steven Renderos: Let’s do it. 

[00:03:41] Cayden Mak: Excellent. Well, I kind of wanna start Chris with you because I mean, I was actually talking with producer Josh before you guys joined, that like, I, there’s a lot of noise in the environment about potential election interference for the midterms later this year. Could you talk about some of the things that you were paying attention to and what do you think they mean for us?

[00:04:02] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Absolutely. I mean, there’s a lot happening right now and has happened over the last month and a half. Right. And we could trace it all the way back to the first Trump administration as well. Right. Um, so something that has been making headlines a lot in the last week is the Save Act, which is making its way through Congress.

[00:04:21] This is part of the Trump administration’s. Prerogative to clean up our elections to make sure they’re more safe and secure. One of the primary, uh, pieces of that is proof of citizenship for voter registration and to, uh, uh, to vote at the elections. Then that you have sort of the mega plus, um, versions of these bills like the make elections great again, right?

[00:04:47] Which is not only talking about proof of id, proof of citizenship, it’s just also talking about vote by mail and things that have been widely popular and have contributed to the expansion of our democracy and who can participate, but that in isolation, right? Like it’s not just that happening, right?

[00:05:06] Mm-hmm. It is also the fact that the FBI rated the Folson County. Georgia Elections office, right? Which was central in the 2020 election. And this lie that the Trump has continued to make his reality, right, that he won the 2020 elections and that he was raped, right? And his very diehard mag up folks believe.

[00:05:29] Absolutely. Right? And then you also have the arrests of Georgia Fo Fort and Don Lemon, right? This is about the freedom of the press. People who have spoken out against the administration telling very, uh, very important stories about what’s the reality that is happening in places like Minneapolis, right?

[00:05:50] I can’t forget also Steve Bannon and many folks in, in, um, on the far right talking about that we have to have ICE at the polls as well, right? All of this, right? If you just look at it separately. But if you look at it all combined, it gives us. A question of whether we will have free and fair elections.

[00:06:10] And I would argue that we have already entered the phase of competitive authoritarianism in the United States, which means we will have elections, but the rules will change and we have to question if they’ve been manipulated in a way that doesn’t actually make us have free and fair elections. And the work that I do, ballot measure work, I think we ha was a canary in the coal mine for the last couple of years where we saw voters pass abortion rights, raise the minimum wage, right?

[00:06:38] We’ve seen these things regardless of party affiliation, right? Republicans too voted to, to protect reproductive reproductive rights. You have seen them change the rules in those states. And these are in Republican trifecta states. They’ve changed the rules. They’ve overturned voter approved in initiatives in those states.

[00:06:57] We had democracy, right? But they changed the rules so much or they flat out undermined the will of the people that. People don’t believe in the integrity of our elections at this, at this moment. There’s a lot of disillusionment. So I would put this if we’re like, you know, putting it in the spectrum, right?

[00:07:16] I lean towards conspiracy because that’s what it’s rooted in. That’s what it’s grounded in. And I would say like somewhere in the, so I would put it like three quarters towards conspiracy root, where, where it’s rooted, right? Mm-hmm. And then maybe like halfway towards signal, because it will have high impact, right?

[00:07:35] Yeah. It will impact who gets to vote in our elections. Right. When you talk about things like proof of citizenship, majority of Americans do not have documentary proof of citizenship. Totally. I can talk about the pers the perspective of my own daughter who I adopted a lot of the documents that are required.

[00:07:52] I don’t have those documents. I’m literally going to the social security office next month to make sure that I have that for her, because when I, when I adopted her, I didn’t have those, those forms and I can’t get her a US passport. I can’t get her a photo ID until I have all these things. And this costs money.

[00:08:10] This costs time. Right. I’m gonna have to pull her out to school. The majority of Americans do not have that. Half of the population does not have a US passport. Right. 

[00:08:20] Steven Renderos: Yeah. 

[00:08:20] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: So, you know, this has a huge impact on who actually gets to participate in democracy. Mm-hmm. And also is very much rooted in the conspiracy and lie that the system is rigged.

[00:08:35] Cayden Mak: All right, Chris, I’m really interested in where you put this kind of like set of stories because like, I don’t know, I, I go a little bit back and forth on it because like to me, one of the things about this being in the conspiracy zone is that you’re right, it’s rooted in conspiracy theory and it also feels like the set of things you’re pointing to.

[00:08:56] It’s like, is this legislation gonna pass? Is it not? The Steve Bannon comments feel highly conspiratorial, but then it’s like the FBI showing up at a county elections office is like very material in like Yeah. A really scary way. And so yeah, I’m, I’m, I’m interested in this. I’m very interested in like finessing this placement a little bit.

[00:09:16] Uh, 

[00:09:17] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: well the other thing is, I mean, Trump literally said Republicans will never lose an election again, at least for the next 50 years if these pass. Right? Right. So like that’s a pretty declarative statement of why, the why behind all of this. 

[00:09:31] Steven Renderos: I think that’s an interesting point that you’re making, Chris.

[00:09:34] ’cause I don’t think that any of these measures are not about preventing that a, an election be stolen. It’s about preventing that Republicans never lose again. That’s really at the core of all of this. The way that you steal an election is not by, you know, stealing it on election day. It’s for all the things that you do before then.

[00:09:51] It’s what we’re seeing play out around, you know, redistricting. It’s what we’re seeing play out in terms of voting laws, like all it just, and, and even comments like Bannon, it’s all about creating friction into the system to suppress democratic participation. 

[00:10:04] Cayden Mak: Yeah, and there’s, there’s a way that, like, that friction also does a sort of like, there’s like a larger narrative move around sort of undermining people’s faith in the process, even if they are like.

[00:10:17] They’re just like, oh, this is all sort of performative. Um, 

[00:10:20] Steven Renderos: yeah, I mean, what’s the point if it’s rigged? Right? 

[00:10:23] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Absolutely. Yeah. That’s right. That’s, this is intended to stoke fear. It is intended for us to distrust the out. I mean, that is, I think, what it’s setting up. As well as for us to, at least on their side, to contest the outcome of the election.

[00:10:38] Right. And we’ve already seen that. And unfortunately so many of these MO moves, they are very US American. If you think about the civil rights movement, if you think about the poll taxes, if you think about, you know, one of my, my previous jobs I did this National Commission on voting rights, you know, where police have been sent to polling locations.

[00:10:58] Mm-hmm. Especially in Native American or where there’s high, um, black populations. So, you know, it, it’s not even out of the context of just today. It is a story that has been very true throughout time and, and our. 

[00:11:11] Cayden Mak: Yeah, no. It’s a story that goes back to reconstruction at least, and like, 

[00:11:14] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: absolutely. 

[00:11:15] Cayden Mak: It actually made me think of the, in 2016 I was doing, uh, poll monitoring in far northern California where the sheriff’s department in that county had been intimidating Asian American voters, um, in this rural county.

[00:11:30] Um, and part of the reason that we were there doing poll watching is we, people were worried that the sheriff was gonna show up like armed. Two polling places. Um, fortunately that did not happen, but, uh, it was, and a lot of these folks were actually Trump voters. Uh, you know, it was like a lot of these rural, older Hmong Americans were Trump voters.

[00:11:49] It was not like there’s, there’s a lot of this that goes on in even recent e recent history that, I mean, I’ve, I’d never been so scared to be an, a visible Asian American in my entire life, frankly. Like it was really, things were tense. Um, so yeah, I, I like where this is mapped. 

[00:12:05] Steven Renderos: I agree. I think it makes sense, 

[00:12:07] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: right?

[00:12:07] Yeah. The one thing I was like, teetering on where, like with signal and noise. ’cause I think the thing, our work, we are, we are, this is high single for us, but we have to connect the dots for people, right? Mm. Like democracy on its own. That’s, that’s just an so abstract and the majority of the people, like we’re totally, we’re plugged in, right?

[00:12:25] We’re literally doing this right? But we have to connect the dots of the why, right? And what you will not have in your life. Like affordability is the thing that people are number one concerned, right? Mm-hmm. Like that is what people are concerned about. And we have to talk about those things in connection to, to this.

[00:12:43] Because otherwise simply saying this election, you know, you, we may not have fair, free and fair elections alone. That’s not gonna motivate people to fight back. 

[00:12:52] Cayden Mak: Yeah. Uh, Steven, do you have a story for us? 

[00:12:55] Steven Renderos: Yes. Um, let’s talk about the Super Bowl and, uh, I’m gonna save, I’m gonna save this any halftime performances for later.

[00:13:03] But, you know, ads are a thing right in the Super Bowl. One of the ads that seemed to have gotten the most amount of traction at the Super Bowl was an ad that was actually placed by Ring. The, the kind of home video surveillance, uh, company that’s online, Amazon. Oh, owned by Amazon? 

[00:13:18] Cayden Mak: Yeah, 

[00:13:18] Steven Renderos: that’s correct. And it was a very happy go lucky ad about, oh no, what if your dog escapes your home and how can Ring actually help you find your, your your missing dog?

[00:13:30] And they were basically announcing a new feature called Search Party. Um, and what it would do, uh, in partnership with other companies like Flock is create kind of a network of surveillance cameras that could be deployed to look for. In this case, your dog specifically, and they have like a beautiful video of like, oh, Milo’s missing, and oh, Milo was found, and this is on this neighbor’s camera.

[00:13:54] Uh, let’s use machine 

[00:13:56] Cayden Mak: vision to identify the dog. Oh my 

[00:13:58] Steven Renderos: God. Yeah. Let’s let the machines actually search for our dogs. Um, and I hate them for this ad because I am a dog owner. And of course, like, you know, like my dog running out of the house is a thing that I’ve certainly worried about. So it definitely taps into like a preexisting fear.

[00:14:14] And that’s what these companies do, right? Is they like, they love to stoke the fear. Um, but it’s being done in this kind of innocuous way. Like help, like let’s help save puppies. Yeah. That’s what, that’s what surveillance can do. What was interesting is it was a 4 0 4 media report recently, um, that. Went sort of behind the curtain and like looked at communications among employees inside of Ring.

[00:14:36] And what they found was the company’s been signaling that what they actually intend this feature to do, search party is to use it to essentially make crime obsolete in communities because it can be deployed to solve all kinds of crime and to tackle the criminals, quote unquote. So this one I just want to select in terms of the placement.

[00:14:55] I’m definitely seeing it. In the noise, but it is in the reality for a few reasons. But the reason it, it stuck out to me is because here’s yet another example of where technology is being presented to us and marketed to us as this, as this thing that is an aid in our society. I mean, if we look back to the genesis of drones, for example, they were like introduced in society as a tool that can be used to monitor weather and to like monitor crops, right?

[00:15:22] But now they’re being used to blow up ships in the Pacific. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, we’re seeing AI being told that it can cure cancer, but actually it’s being used by rock to cr to create like revenge porn and, and surveillance tools, cameras on our homes. They can help like find puppies when in reality what it’s actually doing is just criminalizing our neighborhoods and making us just suspicious against each other and further stoking criminalization.

[00:15:47] So I think it’s like the. The argument that this thing can actually solve for, for the pleasant things in life is complete noise. But where it is reality is that it, it is a, it is a problem that has now, that now exists in our backyards, which is that like these tools have been sold, everybody uses them.

[00:16:05] And constantly the marketing line from companies like Ring, you know, has been just around like its role in just helping people feel safer in their homes, but there’s clearly an intent beyond like the, the individual use case. Right? Yeah. And over the years, you know, we’ve worked on campaigns that have been about the collaboration between ring and law enforcement agencies and how they’re accessing that data and that those recordings, um, you know, we’ve seen recently with a lot of the Nancy Guthrie case, the role of a tech company, again, coming up in like scraping data from a video camera that was supposedly not recording any video.

[00:16:43] Um, but again, like being. Being brought to the forefront as like, here’s, here’s this tool that can be used to solve crime. The, the uproar around the creepiness of like your video doorbell being used to search for your dog, uh, was enough to get like ring to back away from mm-hmm. From that search feature for now, but it’s very clearly like where they’re trying to go.

[00:17:06] Cayden Mak: Well, I, I mean I think it’s really testament to the work of organizations like Media Justice, that there is a sensibility that like we can’t trust companies like Ring. Right. That like, and, and I think the, the reporting that 4 0 4 Media has been doing about, about Ring the reporting that they did year, like several years ago, um, when they revealed the like extent to which Ring was collaborating with local law enforcement, uh, the reporting they’ve been doing about Flock has been really, really useful.

[00:17:36] And just the fact that like, yeah, once, once this infrastructure is installed, it’s also really hard to take it down. Right. That like the similar to the thing about. Nancy Guthrie, like one of the things that I am always thinking about, ’cause I live in Oakland and there’s a huge to-do right now in city Council about our contract with flock, uh, and their license plate reading, uh, cameras that, like, I keep thinking about that 4 0 4 media story.

[00:18:01] It’s like even when cities have ended their contracts with flock, flock has kept the. Cameras functional. Like they’re still feeding data, like massive amounts of surveillance data back to their centralized database. And it’s just like, this is, it’s just a, it’s a privacy nightmare. 

[00:18:18] Steven Renderos: Absolutely. I mean, there’s nowhere you can walk and I mean, there’s an interesting study we worked on with, uh, with uh, uh, a group out of MIT just trying to map like.

[00:18:28] Walking through San Francisco and could you actually make it from point A to point B without necessarily hitting a camera that was networked and be en capturing your information? And the point of it is like to, to really try to get from like, you know, the East Bay and Oakland to, you know, down by the financial district in San Francisco, there was absolutely no way to get there without being tracked, you know?

[00:18:49] And that’s, that’s the world that’s been created here. And a lot of that is through residential home surveillance cameras that, that are being installed, you know, on our doorbells, on our homes, et cetera. 

[00:19:02] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: And I think it makes us really call into question certain things. Like certainly I have a ring camera after I saw that I, I was like.

[00:19:09] Battery die. I, I Right. Get it outta here. And again, like, and, but it’s, these things are important and I think it’s the tie to pop culture when we see these things in an ad on our phones, right? Like it creates an awareness where, you know, it might just be noise. I’m, I’m not advocating for change, but where it initially is noise, but it may be a signal to us.

[00:19:32] It’s like, wait, I need to interrogate this. Why, why is this happening? What, what are the other tools that I have that I think are out of convenience to make my life easier? I’m a single mom. I’m trying to make my life easy all the time. Right? But mm-hmm. When you see these things in popular culture, right?

[00:19:50] Then you’re like, wait a minute. And you, you’re essentially, people are responding to that gut feeling. This feels icky. Right. This doesn’t feel good. 

[00:19:57] Cayden Mak: Yeah. That you’re, so you’re, you’re saying that maybe it should be a little bit closer to the, to the, to the center axis? 

[00:20:02] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Maybe a slight, just like a little move.

[00:20:05] Yeah, because it, it, it, it, it’s, it taps into something that in our bodies that we react to. 

[00:20:10] Cayden Mak: Totally, um, frightening, but thank you. Uh, so I have a story for us that is, uh, I mean, I, I think, you know, there are very few of us who are paying close attention to what the FCC is doing, but, um, actually Steven and I worked on, uh, met each other when we were working on FCC related stuff.

[00:20:33] So I feel like this is, this is the right audience for this story, but I don’t know if folks saw this, but, um, CBS preemptively blocked. The airing of this interview that Stephen Colbert did with, um, Texas Senate candidate, uh, James Teleco, because basically the FCC director, Brendan Carr was like, oh, this is going be like violate, uh, the equal time clause that you have to give equal time to both sides of a political issue, um, as a broadcaster.

[00:21:06] Um, even though Carr has indicated that he wants to end that. So it’s like some very, it’s some very like selective application stuff. But I think the other thing that’s, that’s concerning is Barry Weiss’s CBS decided that they would comply in advance instead of waiting for the FCC to, to actually give them.

[00:21:26] Real official directives. And I mean, there’s a lot of interesting things to me about this story, right? So it’s like a government agency is basically trying to suppress an interview with an electoral candidate. Tallarico is an interesting guy too because he is a, uh, sort of like center left, like white passing dude, who is a like very, like he talks about his Christianity as part of his politics, right?

[00:21:54] Is that in a lot of the things that he says in this interview, which was then later posted to YouTube are about sort of reaching across the aisle and talking to people who are taken by white Christian nationalism to talk about a Christianity that is not invested in white nationalism, which I think is a very interesting message, right?

[00:22:13] Like say what you will about him as a candidate. I think that’s a conversation that I’m seeing people more and more hungry to have. Um, the other thing. That’s interesting is tele Rico’s main primary opponent is, uh, Texas representative Jasmine Crockett, who has her set of, you know, like she has her set of political issues, but like is a black woman is very outspoken.

[00:22:38] And so it’s interesting that the FCC is going after tele Rico in particular. It’s like there’s like some, some like racial and gendered political calculus here. I also saw somebody talking. Some big conspiracy theory about how the Trump administration wants Crockett to be the democratic nominee for this Texas Senate seat because they think that she can’t win, but they’re worried that tele Rico can.

[00:23:03] Who knows, right? Like this is a lot of, this is a lot of projection. But I will say that like I feel like this does for that reason kind of live in conspiracy land. So it’s like below the X axis. Um, and I actually don’t know how much signal versus noise. It’s like, it feels kind of on the, like it feels a little bit noisy, but it’s like not strongly on the noise end.

[00:23:27] The other thing that’s interesting is. Uh, the YouTube video of this interview is also Colbert’s most watched YouTube video. So it’s like the government suppression and then Colbert’s willingness to call out the government suppression on the internet actually, like got him way more viewers than would’ve happened if they just let the damn interview air.

[00:23:46] So that’s also the other thing that feels like weird and conspiratorial about it, is like, does Brendan Carr understand internet? Maybe not, I don’t know. That’s the story. What do you guys think 

[00:23:58] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: and how people consume media like Right. Majority people consume information on the internet. YouTube is probably, I think is one of the top streaming platforms, so that is where people consume their information.

[00:24:10] So you kind of did ’em a solid Right. You weird for that reason. 

[00:24:14] Cayden Mak: Right. 

[00:24:15] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: And first of all, when I hear FCC, I always think about this line for rent. The FCC won’t let me be.

[00:24:24] And, but Right. And just, I will say like the FCC has been in the news also around Bad Bunny and his Super Bowl performance too. Yeah. Where they tried to say that, have the FCC investigate, uh, his vulgar behavior. Right. And, and all that. But yeah, it’s, it is one of these things where, you know, I think it’s a little bit in that noise for sure.

[00:24:42] Because you don’t know, like who, who’s watching this, who’s listening to it, is it really. Going to last beyond this. But, you know, I think it, it does have further implications for sure. Uh, I’m, I’m, uh, of what’s, again, to like the topic I started about like what this government is trying to control. Um, so I don’t know.

[00:25:06] It’s, it’s one of those weird places where it’s like, time will tell on this one is, I think ultimately what, what I’m, I’m arguing here is like, I think this is something we probably will come back to, especially as the, the, the, the 2026 midterms gets, we get closer to election day. Okay. 

[00:25:23] Steven Renderos: I’m all in on the conspiracy side.

[00:25:25] I’m gonna, I’m gonna argue that it actually belongs more on the signal side of the, the mix. And here’s why. I think, so for starters, I think like, let’s keep in mind who owns C-V-S-C-V-S is owned. It’s under kind of a paramount umbrella, which is then owned by Skydance, which is then owned by the Larry Ellison family.

[00:25:45] Cayden Mak: Yep. 

[00:25:45] Steven Renderos: Um, and that’s one of these tech oligarchs that has been very cozied with the Trump administration. You know, keep in mind that when, uh, Stephen Colbert. Uh, made his comments over the summer that related to Charlie Kirk that were fairly and Jimmy Kimmel. This all happened around the same time. 

[00:26:04] Cayden Mak: Right?

[00:26:05] Steven Renderos: Uh, yeah, he made his comments like he got a serious pushback from, from his parent company at the time. Uh, Skydance was trying to merge with Paramount and one of the, one of the big concessions in that whole deal was, uh, a payoff, first of all, um, to Trump to settle this lawsuit around, like the previous lawsuit around like, um, kind of an, an unequal treatment, uh, related to him as a presidential candidate because of the air time they had provided.

[00:26:34] Kamala Harris. Yeah. Right. Sure. So they paid that off. Um, that had to happen before. Uh, and, and like. That happened. And then Colbert announced that he was not gonna be basically, that his show was gonna be ending in a few months, and that this all happened like in the span of like a week. And then shortly after that, the, the merger between Skydance and Paramount was approved.

[00:26:57] Now, fast forward to where we’re at right now. Uh. And the same company, Skydance, uh, slash Paramount is attempting a hostile takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery. You know, that’s, that’s your hbos, that’s your CNN and uh, obviously Netflix was, you know, the, the, the company that had actually gotten, gotten into the bid first and had had a deal in place.

[00:27:21] But Paramount is trying in a very aggressive way to basically steal the deal away from them. Uh, and what they can promise and what they’re signaling is we can get through the regulatory hurdles way more than Netflix can. And for some reason, I mean, there’s a good reason for why they can believe that they can get through a Trump FCC and a Trump DOJ.

[00:27:42] They have the relationships and actually Matt Stoller, um, ended up writing something on his substack recently, just p previewing. Why, like Paramount, even though they don’t have an agreement in place, is already doing things internally in their company that signals to them that they’re ready. For the deal to, to fall into their laps.

[00:28:00] So I think the, I think the political things you’re talking about, Cayden, of like the political moves around what the fate of Texas might or might not be, depending on who the candidate is. I think that’s very real. But I would say like really behind this, this kind of self-censorship, um, that’s happening at CBS under Barry Weiss, I think a lot of it has to do also with the deals that they’re trying to make happen.

[00:28:21] And so that, that keeps me in the conspiracy land, but I think it signals like something that we’ve been thinking a lot about, which is that the main media barons behind our media system are becoming tech. Um, and I think that’s happening at CBS that’s happening across all layers of our media ecosystem.

[00:28:41] It’s the people with the money, those are the people buying up the companies. And very soon CNN could be under Ellison, Larry Ellison control, and 

[00:28:49] Cayden Mak: yeah, 

[00:28:49] Steven Renderos: we’ll see what happens there. 

[00:28:51] Cayden Mak: Uh, change approved. I’m, I’m into moving that over just to the other side of the y axis there. That makes sense. Chris, I know that all three of us are really excited to talk about Benito Bowl.

[00:29:01] So tell me about, tell me about what’s been on your mind. Why, why do you think this is a story that we should be talking about as we navigate retention economy this month? 

[00:29:11] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: I mean, Benito’s been in the news, not just for the Super Bowl performance, but I would argue for the last year with his latest album, deto, I am wearing one of my t-shirts from his residency.

[00:29:26] You know, his, his residency alone has had a huge cultural impact about Puerto Rico, about people learning more about the island, the fact that he chose to do his residency in Puerto Rico to make people come to his country, his ho or his home. Right. And he, and he made a choice in his world tour to not come to the United States too.

[00:29:48] So he is, he has been in, he has been the, the top streaming artist on Spotify for the last several years. Um, and the moment that he was announced as the speaker, uh, uh, the speaker, the performer of the Super Bowl, that was all anybody could talk about us, especially on the right. How, yeah. People lost 

[00:30:07] Cayden Mak: their minds.

[00:30:08] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: They, they like. Lost their minds. And it’s not just the far right, it’s not just Maga. There are a lot of folks that were like, wait, why would we only have a Spanish, uh, a span, a person who only speaks in Spanish, be on this American stage? Right. That, that football Right. Is is a, is is primarily American sport.

[00:30:27] American football. Football. Right. It is a global sport. And so, you know, it has dominated, I would say the, the conversation for the last year and certainly the last several months leading all the way up to the Super Bowl as well and his. Performance was an act of re resistance. It was apt. He has been a choice he has made as an artist to be speak as to sing in, in Spanish language.

[00:30:56] It’s the first, uh, super Bowl performance to be in, in primarily, uh, Spanish. He just won Album of the year, the first Spanish language album to, to win, uh, album of the, the year for the Grammys. And, you know. Now it’s not only the viewership on Super Bowl Sunday, it is the impact that it has had. Beyond that the three pious performing social media for the NFL.

[00:31:23] They’re all about bad Bunny in the Super Bowl performance. Apple Music, after the performance there, bad bunny music went up seven times. Immediately after Duolingo usage, after the Super Bowl went up for Spanish language, 35% flight searches to Puerto went up by 2245%. Right? So like it, it’s not only just like the show itself in the conversation he was having from the moment he said Latino, to starting in the sugar canes, to showing the daily life of what it means to be Latina, like the criticism that he has on colonialism and.

[00:32:04] Puerto Rico, which is part of the United States, right? He is a, an American. He is a US citizen to like his, his, his proclamation of love and that love is gonna conquer hate, right? That nothing is more powerful than hate. Like he. Everything he made in there was an intentional choice to like alert us and actually to bring us together the black and brown solidarity that I have seen.

[00:32:29] Mm-hmm. Because of his performance. The fact that he, his final statement of the show is this is All the Americas. He said et haah. Right? 

[00:32:40] Cayden Mak: Yeah. I lost my mind when he started listing, 

[00:32:42] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: you lost their minds. Canadians who say they’re from Canada, that has been one of my favorite things on, on social media, right?

[00:32:51] Like he’s a global artist and it is going to, he is consumed and will continue to consume our, our conversations beyond this, this, this su the Super Bowl performance and it will have a lasting cultural. Impact. And it was so important in a time, especially for Latina people in the diaspora who are being targeted by us, who are being targeted by the federal government, who are being kidnapped.

[00:33:20] I literally saw someone on, in front of my house one, one morning get, get, um, kid kidnapped by ice. It was a proclamation to be yourself. And you do not have to pretend you don’t. I, I am a latine kid born in Venezuela who came here and was essentially told to assimilate. And it was a signal to so many people that you don’t have to apologize who for who you are.

[00:33:42] You can speak your language. And it was something that connected all of us, right? Like I, some of my South Asian friends, that kid who was asleep at the wedding, they’re like, oh, we know that kid. That’s, that, that’s in, that’s in our community too. So, you know, I would put this as, as something, you know, towards the.

[00:34:02] Certainly there’s been a lot of conspiracy around it. Mm-hmm. Um, but I would say it is, uh, towards, uh, you know, towards higher signal. ’cause we’re gonna be talking about this, uh, move it over a little bit more. Um, and then like a little higher, I would say halfway in between reality because, um, there’s so much people are still learning and will learn, but like, listen, I, people are learning so much from his performance that I think people didn’t even know.

[00:34:30] It never learned in their, their own history books. And, and so I, I, it’s, I think it, the story and what Beit Antonio Martinez Ocasio has done, um, is gonna impact generations. I 

[00:34:42] Cayden Mak: mean, it certainly is a rich text, like the uh, like amount of, sort of like deep conversation that after watching it at the Super Bowl party I was at, that we immediately started having about like, what do we think was the meaning of this?

[00:34:57] Or like, you know, what do we like about that? That there was just like so many details that like, it’s, it is really amazing to have a sort of, and and rare these days to have a shared cultural experience like this that is such a rich text that’s like so many people saw this around the same time and so many people can now talk about it with one another in the sort of like streaming entertainment moment that we’re in where everybody’s like a micro audience and everything is narrow cast, like having something like this to talk about together is like.

[00:35:27] Actually just by itself really cool. Like, I don’t know, like that, that, that feels like that means a lot, uh, to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. Steven, do you have thoughts about this? 

[00:35:39] Steven Renderos: Ooh, so many. I mean, first off, I’ll say it. I feel like the last two Super Bowl performances. Absolutely. I think Jay-Z was thinking about me.

[00:35:49] Absolutely. And I think I was, I was like, this is the blueprint. We’re gonna build the halftime performances around this person. 

[00:35:57] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Yep. 

[00:35:57] Steven Renderos: Growing up in LA in an immigrant household, like watching Kendrick, uh, last year, you know, do an ODE to LA mm-hmm. In a really, I mean, incredibly beautiful way. And anybody from LA I think like, felt that as a, like, as a, as a collective experience.

[00:36:13] Right. Um, and then seeing, seeing Benito do his thing this year. Yeah. I think to your point, Cayden, how rare is it to feel like you have a shared experience mm-hmm. Um, nowadays, especially in, in the context of like our current like media environment that is so diffuse, right? 

[00:36:32] Cayden Mak: Mm-hmm. 

[00:36:32] Steven Renderos: And you think back to like moments like Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon and how, how much of a collective experience that was for people to, like everybody was doing that.

[00:36:41] Everybody was watching that at the same exact time. And there is something about like. The level of connection you feel, uh, across divides, across geography, that just you’re part of something together. And, and over the years, I think culture has been that, that, that, that the only thing really that’s brought us together in that way.

[00:37:03] Mm-hmm. Um, and increasingly in the last few years, because of our current environment, it’s only been live sports that does that to some degree. But then you have moments like this where, you know, I, I, I can’t think of a moment at least in. In Latina history where I felt so interconnected, you know? Yeah.

[00:37:22] Maybe the closest I’ve ever experienced with that is watching Walter Mercado do the horoscopes during like, you know, the 

[00:37:30] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Yes, absolutely. 

[00:37:31] Steven Renderos: And that was like, you know, that’s all across the Americas. Everybody’s watching Walter Mercado and like you have that experience. But panto, I mean, there’s so many vignettes in, in the performance that deeply connected to an experience.

[00:37:45] And as someone who, like my whole career has been inspired by the idea that the, the stories that are told about myself and the communities I come from are not accurate, are not grounded. And to, to see myself in the performance, to see myself as the kid being woken up at the wedding, um, to see the outdoor dancing, um, and to hear El Salor be called out as a country on that stage.

[00:38:12] I mean, it’s, yeah. There’s not a whole lot that, that can really replace that in terms of the, the level of pride and connection I felt. And man, it was, it was, it was just beautiful. And, uh, I wish I could stay in that moment forever, you know? I agree. Yeah. But those 10 minutes were precious though, in the context of, of everything.

[00:38:31] Krista, you were talking about. 

[00:38:33] Cayden Mak: Amazing. Well, thanks so much for, for bringing this story. This is, this was the thing that I was like, oh, I gotta have y’all and talk about this. ’cause I know, I know it will be rich. I have another high reality, high signal story that I don’t think people are paying enough attention to that I wanna share with you all, which is the story of these, I think it’s nine folks who are on trial this week because of an alleged attack against ICE facility in, uh, Texas, in North Texas.

[00:39:01] A mistrial was declared this week in their trial because one of their attorneys, I guess, wore a shirt that had some civil rights leaders on it for Black History Month. I mean, the whole thing is like absurd, right? So the original story is there are 19 people who went to this ICE facility in near Fort Worth, um, to do a noise demo.

[00:39:22] The purpose of a noise demo for folks who do not know is to tell express to people who are on the inside of a jail or detention facility that people outside care about you. We remember you. We know you’re there. We’re paying attention to you. And they brought fireworks with them. This was also like on July 4th, so they were like, cool fireworks.

[00:39:41] I don’t know what the, uh, fireworks laws are in Texas, but you know, I imagine that you can, 

[00:39:45] as 

[00:39:45] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: a Texas ed. But we love, we love them. 

[00:39:49] Cayden Mak: Yeah. Um, several of the folks on trial are also members of leftist gun clubs, which has been like a, a new thing that has, uh, sort of cropped up, um, and become a lot more popular over the past decade or so.

[00:40:02] Some of them did have firearms on them. Um, and the official story from the, uh, prosecution is that they fired first on an official at the detention facility who came outside to confront them about the noise demonstration. I don’t wanna talk about the case itself ’cause there’s a lot of stuff that we still don’t know.

[00:40:19] Obviously this, um, trial now is gonna have, they’re gonna have to empanel a new jury, all this different stuff. But a lot of legal, like civil liberties, legal experts are worried about what. This case is going to mean for our right to assembly and to protest going forward. And um, this is also the first federal criminal cases being brought under the new on N-N-P-S-M seven directive calling Antifa a quote unquote domestic terror organization under, under like federal criminal law.

[00:40:56] So there are a lot of things that are kind of like at stake here for both the individuals who are being charged, but also I think for our movements, right? Yeah. Like I think that like the, the stuff that we do know about the folks who are on trial right now is that they, uh, legally possess the firearms that they carried with them to this facility.

[00:41:16] And I think that part of the reason that we’re not hearing as much about it is because so many people who are maybe more towards the center, but. But might be sympathetic to what they’re doing, are really uncomfortable about the part of the story where these folks were carrying firearms to essentially a protest.

[00:41:36] And I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna lie and say that it doesn’t make me a little uncomfortable, but I also think that there are a lot of things that the government is truly clearly trying to say about what these folks were up to that are making them sound like they were like blood thirsty. Like, you know, like going into start a war with ice or whatever.

[00:41:57] And that is. Doesn’t make any sense based on all of the information that is available to us as the public right now. I think that like, it, this is a, this trial is something that we should all be paying more attention to and be talking more about. Like, I think it is unfortunately high reality, right? That this is like the way, uh, uh, manifestation of the way that the do OJ the Pam Bondy’s, DOJ is being weaponized against our movements.

[00:42:24] Like I think it’s definitely in the signal quadrant and part of the reason it’s it’s up there is also that I think we’re, this is the first time that the, the NN Psm seven playbook is really being revealed to us through the court system. So I think it’s really high reality. I think it’s really high signal.

[00:42:43] Um, and I think it’s really scary. 

[00:42:45] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Yeah, I mean, I, I think about, you know, all, all of us, all of us who are organizers in the, in the work that we’ve been doing, especially in the last, um, you know, if you think about Minneapolis and the way that folks have come out in support of their communities, I think of, I live in Washington, DC and like, you know, at night people come out with their little, um, banging their pots and spoons to like say they’re, uh, they’re speaking out against ice, right?

[00:43:09] Like that, that, that we do not want federal occupation of our city. Guess what? It still exists here in dc We are still occupied by the federal government. Um, and so it is a signal to us that, you know, these protections that we allegedly have under our constitution, who actually gets them, right? Mm-hmm.

[00:43:28] I’m from Texas. You know what we love? Uh, you know what? A lot of Texans love guns, God, and football, right? And you know, I think about Alex Preti too, who also had. Illegally. Yes. Cons, you know, concealed, you know, weapon, it, it, things like this. And I think especially for white Americans, they’re, they are starting to say, especially with these oligarchs and these people who are high, high, have high wealth individuals, um, they’re, they’re starting to question, oh wait, maybe these things aren’t for me either.

[00:44:02] Um, and I actually think it’s interesting how all of our stories are connected in, in some way of who gets to actually, who does this democracy actually belong to? 

[00:44:12] Cayden Mak: Hmm. 

[00:44:12] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Who does America actually belong to? Which, you know, I think in the question of like, what is it really, who gets to be to James Tarika?

[00:44:23] What does it mean to be a Christian in this country? Right? Yeah. Like, they’re all very inter interconnected and I think these are the things that people. They do fly under the radar because they’re like, well, it doesn’t, I immediately impact me. And I, I agree with you. These are the stories that fall under the radar and we don’t hear about or talk about.

[00:44:43] And we as organizers have to do the really hard work of keeping them in, in, in the public sphere and, and in conversation. So then people understand that. Maybe what they believed their entire life actually isn’t a reality. Um, and that’s hard for a pill, a hard, our hard pill to swallow. I think for the three of us, it has been our reality, but I think about what we have to do to move forward and we have to come across together across difference.

[00:45:16] These are the things that we have to know and understand if we are ever gonna get past this, these authoritarian times. So, you know, I, I agree with you. It’s, these are the ones that, the stories that we have to talk about and cannot forget, um, because they have large, a larger impact on all of our lives. 

[00:45:36] Steven Renderos: I totally agree.

[00:45:37] I mean, I think that. Part of the, the, the thing I would add to the mix is for movements, I do do think we need to be paying attention to these kinds of prosecutions. And you know, there was the, there was the Antifa cell that was broken up in the desert of California who were like making bombs and stuff like, and there was like an FBI and like undercover or like an FBI informant that was engaged and, and very much like the FBI has done for, for decades, but especially after nine 11, like.

[00:46:09] Infiltrating and instigating and coercing people into behaviors that then that they can then break up and say, Hey, here’s evidence of us stopping, uh, a potential quote unquote terrorist attack. We have to one. Know that infiltration is happening, uh, is being attempted. It’s happening on a, on the signal threads that are popping up right now very rapidly in response to like immigration enforcement surges.

[00:46:36] And that just represents a vulnerability for our movements. ’cause what, what I think the, the Pam Bondy, DOJ is attempting to do is trying to flood, you know, much like Bannon’s, like flood the zone of the media ecosystem and Bondy’s trying to do that. But in the judicial system, trying to throw a bunch of things at a, at a legal system that actually can’t sustain all the challenges, all the prosecutions, everything.

[00:47:01] And in particular, I think with, with this, like they’re trying to establish new norms. You know, it’s not like we haven’t seen domestic terrorist designations be generated by the FBI. We’ve seen that before. We saw it after 2016. And, and the uprise of like Black Lives Matter as movement. The f FBI created a.

[00:47:18] The black identity extremist designation. 

[00:47:21] Yep. 

[00:47:21] Steven Renderos: Mm-hmm. That like, you know, it’s like, here, here’s like for all these people that are protesting police violence in the streets, that represents an ideology of violence. You know, and we need to, we need to investigate that, you know, and Antifa, like the domestic terrorism designation related to Antifa, it’s just an extension of that.

[00:47:37] Mm-hmm. Um, it’s a way to criminalize protest. And I think the other thing we need to be mindful of as organizers and as movement. Is that the kind of charges we’re seeing come up, particularly like conspiracy charges are gonna continue to be a thing. Um, yeah. And so that will be, that will be their attempts to really suppress the momentum that is currently being built.

[00:48:00] Exactly. Um, but I think to Chris’s point, you know, this is where I get nerdy and think about, you know, star Wars shows, like, and, or like the overreaction of the state in some ways is helpful to us because it shows their hand. Um, and, and I think to, you know, like. To the, to the gun owning Texas. Folks, when they see that, they’re like, wait a second, wait a second.

[00:48:25] That’s not what I signed up for. Yeah. You know, I see that here in Chicago with like, you know, the more conservative pockets of the city, like waking up and saying, wait a second, wait a second. I didn’t, I didn’t sign up for all this immigration enforcement in my backyard. Yep. Um, so, you know, I think it’s real.

[00:48:43] It’s, it’s reality. It’s signal. We should be concerned about it from like an operational security standpoint, and we should also find the opportunities, uh, there for organizing to leverage, to build a bigger tent. 

[00:48:56] Cayden Mak: Yeah. Love that. Steven, I, I know you shared this big essay from Matt Schumer about something big happening in ai.

[00:49:04] And I wanna know, is something big happening in ai?

[00:49:10] Steven Renderos: I mean, I’m gonna, okay. Uh, I’ll just say, uh, I’ll place this, uh, in the. Noise and conspiracy category. Um, and, and, and I’ll, I’ll explain why. Um, so, so first of all, like there’s this essay, Matt Schumer, um, who’s a, an AI executive. Runs a company that is very much steeped in the business of ai, who wrote this, uh, essay, uh, published it to X of all places, um, that was, uh, titled Something Big is Happening and it’s signaling like, oh my God, we’ve just hit this major inflection point.

[00:49:47] And I guess what I would say is, so, so what it’s pointing at is it’s saying that, uh, artificial intelligence has hit a new tier now that, um, large language models are essentially. Being, using themselves to build smarter and stronger large language models. And that, that rep represents a real difference.

[00:50:05] Whereas before, you know, it’s still humans involved in the process and pumping in data, training data. Now the, the AI is reinforcing itself and there’s the, the most recent version, um, of chat GPT was built on, you know, was built on, on a model that it reinforced itself. So like humans were not as involved in the process.

[00:50:27] Cayden Mak: Yep. 

[00:50:28] Steven Renderos: And, and it, it is sort of signaling, like it’s getting smarter, it’s getting better. And the promise that people like Sam Altman of OpenAI have been saying that this thing can replace, like, uh, and do things better than humans can. Like, that we’re closer to that promise than ever before. I think that’s the gist of it.

[00:50:47] And, and so it’s trying to scare people into that reality and. So that first half of it I do think is real. Like there is reality in like the AI is, is getting better. It’s getting sharper. Um, much like, you know, in the early days of facial recognition, we could critique it to say like, oh, but it, it, it predicts, you know, black people and or just, it identifies black people and people of color, uh, at less, um, less accurate rates than white people.

[00:51:16] Mm-hmm. And for a time that was true, but the technology caught up. And I, I do think that that is happening with artificial intelligence, where I think it’s just complete noise and complete conspiracy is the, the diagnosis or like the solution to that is you should use ai. That’s what Matt’s argument is.

[00:51:33] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:51:34] Steven Renderos: So it’s like, okay, man, like you own an AI company. Of course you want people to use the damn thing. Like, and that’s, that’s been the solution for so many people. You gotta catch up to the reality. And so you might as well start using the tools and figure out what you can so that you can adapt to this, to this new world.

[00:51:51] I think we’re in a moment where like, I think we need to really ask ourselves, is this what we want? 

[00:51:57] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Yeah. 

[00:51:58] Steven Renderos: You know, do we want artificial intelligence? In the way that it’s currently being organized at the scale that it’s being organized with the impacts that it’s having, not just because of the revenge porn that it creates, but also the data infrastructure that has to be built to sustain it.

[00:52:15] That is draining our water in our local communities and, and driving up our utility rates. Like do we want that version of ai? Um, I think that’s the real question that I’m like, that I’m sitting with. I’m wrestling with like, we’re gonna be pulling together a few hundred people at a gathering in Atlanta in a couple months.

[00:52:33] Uh, that Media Justice is hosting with Metech called Take Back Tech. And that’s a question we wanna bring to that table. Like what is the technology that we want in our lives? Because the version that the tech bros, the more we keep waiting for them to tell us, um, you know, what the future looks like, the more they keep telling us that we’re hitting an inflection point and oh my God, these robots might actually kill us and, and therefore learn to use the technology.

[00:52:58] That’s, that’s, that’s always their conclusion. 

[00:53:00] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think are all three of us millennials, right? Like mm-hmm. When I was reading the article, I immediately thought of the Matrix and it did read like a sales pitch, right? Where, you know, I’m an early, I have been an, I’m a millennial, I’ve been an early adopter of a lot of technology, right?

[00:53:17] Throughout, throughout time it’s, we came of age with, with the internet, we know a world before the internet. We know a world when we had, you know, big ass home computers and Omega right? Like things that don’t exist anymore. And you know, I have been very hesitant, uh, around AI ’cause to what you just presented.

[00:53:36] Steven, is this the world that I wanna live in? Because to me it feels like an isolation. It is, feels like it’s putting us in our corners even more. And listen, I think there are benefits to a AI that will make our lives easier. And, and we do. I think all of us want to, to be able to, to find, you know, solutions that make our lives a little less stressful, right?

[00:53:57] And allow us to get information. That was the beauty of the internet, right, is the access to, to inner, uh, information. But even the internet has devolved right into a space that, uh, is incredibly isolating. It, it, it, it. Feeds a lot of conspiracy, the theories, um, and, you know, with, with AI and, and you know, that this like, well, it is just gonna happen, so get over it and, and sit back.

[00:54:21] Like, if anyone ever says something like that to me, that is, and immediately raises the hair in the back of the net. Like, just get over it. Just get it done. And big 

[00:54:31] Cayden Mak: red flag territory, 

[00:54:33] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: red, big, big, no green flags there. Um, and, and I, I think. We all need to question with any type of technology, with anything that capitalism is going to com promote, we have to question why.

[00:54:48] And is this mm-hmm really actually going to be something that serves all of us, that ultimately brings about greater good in our, our world? Or is it something that is going to further isolate and, and make us as humans maybe ultimately obsolete? I don’t, I, I don’t want that to be the reality, right? I, I wanna, I wanna touch, I wanna feel, I wanna, I want, I want to be in, in community with, with folks and, um, you know, I’m a person that I, I trust my gut and intuition a lot, and that takes ai, takes that away.

[00:55:22] What we know in our bodies, what we know as human beings. 

[00:55:25] Cayden Mak: I mean, the other thing that I think is so important about mapping this into the noise and conspiracy territory is like the structure of this essay also almost feels like a masterclass. Indoctrinating somebody into cult, right? Mm-hmm. It like scares the shit outta you, makes you, makes you feel like everything that you know and understand is under threat and is like, but guys, I have the solution.

[00:55:47] That’s cult shit. I’m sorry. It just is like, that is, this is the, this is the, um, bound to choice like cult playbook, but make it ai and I think that it makes perfect sense to me. This lives in noise and conspiracy as a result. For 

[00:56:02] Steven Renderos: sure. I mean, it’s like, and we have to also reckon with like the big tech, the big AI companies, what are they doing to our world?

[00:56:10] What are they doing to our planet? We’ve seen them completely dismantle. Democratic institutions. Yep. You know, with the introduction of artificial intelligence, it’s a whole bevy. I mean, when you look at like the workforces that, um, have sustained the biggest job losses, federal workers are right at the top.

[00:56:28] Um, and it artificial intelligence where it is reality. And what this assay gets into is it does actually stand the potential to actually replace a lot of white collar workers, like in the near future. Um, so there is there that, that fear is based in some, like, in a nugget of truth, but when you really think about like what the, the big ai, uh, billionaires are doing in our world, I mean, it’s like arson is setting fire to a thing and then telling you like the solution is to hug the fire.

[00:56:57] Like, come on. You know? 

[00:57:00] Cayden Mak: Right. 

[00:57:00] Steven Renderos: So, uh, but I think the other thing is like it’s worth paying attention to and also like worth thinking about like. What is the function of this technology that’s been innovated here in, in our, in our world moving forward? And I think there are a lot of thinkers and technologists, folks like Tim Nit, Gabriel and, and her organization at Dare who have been thinking about like, how do we build it in a way that’s different.

[00:57:23] You know, they’re building small language models that are outperforming the large language models on very specific tasks. Right. So, you know, the technology can have a utility, I can tell you, like, it’s not being used right now to, to cure cancer. Like, no. What it’s being used for is for a bunch of garbage and slop.

[00:57:42] Yeah. 

[00:57:43] Cayden Mak: Yeah. Absolutely. Y’all, there is so much more we could talk about, about this month. There’s like, I, I, whew. I just kept every, like, whatever. I, when I picked my stories, I always like kept them being like, oh, and also this, and also this, and also this. I really wanted to talk about, and I’m, I think our listeners will be grateful that I’m not gonna subject you to discussion about the kid Rock RFK, junior shirtless workout video that is like, can I make 

[00:58:06] Steven Renderos: a confession?

[00:58:07] Well, I gotta confess something Cayden. 

[00:58:09] Cayden Mak: Yeah, yeah. 

[00:58:09] Steven Renderos: Um, because like I was Okay. I bought the ball with the ball album when it came out. Um, sure. 

[00:58:16] Cayden Mak: The nineties 

[00:58:17] Steven Renderos: was a weird time. I was a kid Rock fan. I was a new metal fan. Like, you know what, if Democrats have been paying attention to the new metal fans back then, they maybe would not have lost so many elections over the years.

[00:58:29] Cayden Mak: Hot Takes Steven. 

[00:58:32] Steven Renderos: They should have listened to Kid Rock back then. No. Oh

[00:58:39] Cayden Mak: man. The whole thing’s a sensory nightmare. I just like, I can’t stop thinking about just RFK Junior wearing jeans, doing all those things. It’s 

[00:58:46] Steven Renderos: there they are. 

[00:58:47] Cayden Mak: There they are the Maha Boys. Um. I mean, the, the Maha also showed up hardcore in this. I mean, this is obviously, so much of this is also circling the drain on the Super Bowl, right?

[00:58:56] Like the turning point. USA alternate halftime show that weird Mike Tyson, Maha commercial. There’s just like so much, there’s so much. But, uh, yeah, I think the fact that the internet can’t stop talking about it, it is very noisy and like it’s 

[00:59:11] Steven Renderos: very 

[00:59:11] Cayden Mak: noisy. Yeah. There’s, there’s nothing but conspiracy in Maha.

[00:59:14] So let, let’s, let’s put it on the grid. Let’s put it on the grid. Uh, y’all, this has been a delight. Uh, Steven, where can folks find you on the internet and learn more about your work? I’m 

[00:59:26] Steven Renderos: hanging out with me on LinkedIn. I haven’t been hanging out as much on the, on the, uh, on the Xs anymore. Um, and, uh, you can check us [email protected].

[00:59:36] Cayden Mak: Awesome. And Chris, where can people find you and bis work? 

[00:59:39] Chris Meoldy Fields Figuerdo: We keep it pretty simple. ballot.org is our website at ballot strategy on all the socials, not et. And yeah. Uh, come, come and find us. I, I’m trying to do more on TikTok, uh, so I don’t even know what my handle is. That’s terrible.

[00:59:57] Cayden Mak: Like, once again, we’re outing ourselves as millennials. Amazing. My thanks again to Chris and Steven for making the time to join us. This week for another episode of the Attention Economy Navigator. We’ll have links to connect with both Fisk and Media Justice in this show notes. This show is published by Convergence, a magazine for Radical Insights.

[01:00:16] I’m Kate Mak, and our producer is Josh Stro. Kim David designed our Cover Art Convergence Magazine is a proud founding member of the Movement Media Alliance. And if you like what you heard, please do let us know. Be sure to subscribe for more episodes, tell a friend or rate and review the show wherever you listen.

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