If I Ruled the World: The One Where Everyone Tries Crack [VIDEO]

I believe everyone should try crack before they die, but like in a perfect world you would know right before you die. He said do it in hospice.
I would, I would do it in hospice. Guys, if you're going out, go out with a bang, with a snap crack and pop bang.
No, I don't think crack is the best hospice drug. What would you choose? Heroin? Yeah, but they give you that anyway.
That's what I'm saying though, because they already figured it out. Yo, let me ask you something.
Have you seen somebody do crack and then like not be like more mobile than they were? Crack heads keep jobs. That's what I'm saying.
Fentanyl kills. So I'm saying hospice should have crack.
But these people aren't going to be working. Yeah, but that's what I'm saying.
Hospice will just have like a different swag to it. This one is like an end stage thing.
I'm not saying crack for the people. I'm saying crack I thought you were saying crack for the people.
No, I'm saying crack when it's done. When you're old and dying.

When crack when it's done.

Like you know when an airplane is going down and the masks come from the ceiling?

It should be a little crack as well.

That's what should be in the mask.

A crack pipe?

Yeah, that's what should be in the mask.

Plane's going down, crack pipe comes down from the top and then it's like,

and then you're like, man, it's not so bad.

They'll hold the plane up themselves.

Everyone has an engine.

This is What Now?

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it's an episode of if i ruled the world where myself josh and christiana think about ways that we would change the world if we had all the power as is usual each of us suggests our idea everyone votes on it we'll hit the two votes on it. And if you get a majority or if you get two people, then your vote is passed.
So, Josh, Christiana, do you want to start? After you, Josh. Christiana, you're the only person I think who's had one passed.
I know, and I want to be the one that has it again. Now I'm my competitive side.
I feel like that's why she offered for me to go first because it's like she knows mine will be bad. Okay, Josh, you go first.
I think that if I rule the world, everyone, every citizen of the world after the age of about 22, potentially 25, would have to, at some point in the rest of their their life have at least one psychedelic experience. Wow.
Have to. You have to.
And you don't have to do it at 22. I say 22 because between 22 and 25 are the years where the brain of a human really So you're waiting for the brain to settle? The front line has to be in.
Yeah. Because I'm'm not trying to offset where anyone was gonna go without this okay and i want everybody to be able to be themselves but then i think that afterwards it's probably one of the things you can even save it until you're until you're old and if you die yeah but that's what i was gonna ask what if people die before i mean they could die before.
No, but what I'm saying is what I'm trying to say. You've implemented a system because everyone has to, but there's no time limit on it.
I would say the time limit on it is like probably 55. 55.
So before 55, you have to have a psychedelic experience. Yes, because I think that if it has a life-altering effect on on you at 55 there's still time to change your life around and if you do it too late i think it just reshapes how you feel about life you've already lived okay um i'm a little torn on this one i think psychedelics can change the world in a positive way.
I also do think not everyone should have to take them.

And I think some people might take them and have like a really bad trip.

And like,

I don't know if you've read these people's posts on like ayahuasca,

which I know is not exactly the same thing.

People go and do like ayahuasca at one of these gimmicky retreats somewhere in

the world.

And then they come back and they leave their family and they like quit everything and then they go over i don't know if everyone would you give people psych evaluations beforehand would there be a guide i think a guide a perfect example right go is that apparently we have a misunderstanding personally and we've made a tourism out of ayahuasca. Yes, we have.
The tradition of ayahuasca was that the actual doctor, like the elder, would take the ayahuasca and converse with you and talk with you. We've made it so that we want to take the ayahuasca.
So I would say that there would definitely be like a sort of psyche vow to make sure a person could handle it and everything. Okay, okay.
you a little bit more but i do think that the between the years of like 22 and 55 are where you are at your most um your most potential for being like stuck i don't want to disparage people's choices but i think that some people who do fall off the grid after a psychedelic experience maybe really are like loosening themselves maybe that's not the crazy that we think it is okay i'm willing to accept that you know i mean because we don't know who their families are we don't know who their families are and we even know what their job was like what you would even call traditions of like you look at the buddha and the buddha left everything to go find enlightenment but he but he had responsibilities He had a wife and he had children and everything. I didn't know he was a deadbeat.
A little bit. Wow.
Yeah. Didn't know that by him.
Pretty sure he came back, but didn't come back to raise them. Yeah, he just came back to tell them that like.
Oh, that's a bad person. The idea of him leaving isn't real.
He was like, why are you crying? I was never here. So he made someone a single mom.
But he was like, you were always single. this world And people have made him a god He's like You came into this world He's not a god He's like It's an idea He's like a prophet Yeah Yeah but he's just like Yeah man At least Jesus didn't have any kids I'm not saying You should be a Christian But he had no kids He was going to But then Pontius Pilate happened And yeah The rest is history So wait Josh You're saying this Are you saying this firsthand? Or are you saying this as like Just an idea? No As an idea So you've never done psychedelics? No No I haven't done psychedelics Wait wait wait So you don't know What could happen to you? Wait No okay It's different I would love to do it with you No no I don't put anybody on shrooms Why would you say this about me? You're like the shroom pusher No, I'm not I'm the open mind encourager I'm an open mind encourager I think everyone should be open to Like electric cars I was one of the first ones saying to people Yo guys, let's do electric cars And then if people don't want it I was like, I don't mind you not doing it But let's be open to the idea it.
We should all be open to more ideas that make the world a better place. Yeah, I agree with that.
I would never put anything on Josh. You've never done it, but you want everyone, including yourself, to do it.
Yeah, it'll be easier for me to do it. Oh, wow.
But also, also, I will say this. I don't do it now under the current system that we live in.

I can't just be a black man out in the streets on psychedelics for the first time.

I don't know.

I might take my shirt off and start running.

No, we go to Oregon.

We find an open field, and then we just get in touch with ourselves.

I guess so.

Wait, Josh, do you even drink?

No, no, I don't drink.

I've never done anything. This is just- Have you smoked weed? No this is me raw Wow This is just what I'm like Wow I think You've done nothing in life Nah You know what we should do We should Well you just made it seem like He's done nothing in life That's extreme You just made it like You were like Have you lived? No but I know what she meant You don't take antidepressants.
You're just raw dogging the world.

No.

Yeah.

No.

Wow.

Yeah.

This is deep.

What we should do then, Josh, we should start.

Why don't we start with a cigarette?

You might discover yourself.

Have you ever smoked a cigarette?

No.

You might like.

No, you never know.

Josh, you're so pure that you might smoke a cigarette and have like an ayahuasca experience.

I might smoke a cigarette and die. That's right.
I'm saying you might smoke one cigarette and have like an ayahuasca experience i might smoke a cigarette and die i'm saying you might smoke one cigarette and be like i see my ancestors we'll give you like one like marlboro like an old school yeah yeah just like one i think nicotine would be enough for him man let's go you know josh can i tell you what we should do we should do we should do podcast episodes and on each one we give you one substance you try it and then we discuss it with you to see how you feel i feel like in this scenario you accidentally make crack the first episode if we don't do any other episode we're like we can't find no no no no for trevor crack is the end game yes it is okay so it'd be like season 40. Yes, it would definitely be crack.
Yeah. Yeah.
I think Josh, with your psychedelics thing, since you like, don't drink, you don't smoke weed. I don't know if you're the best authority on people trying the whole population, trying other substances.
I think it's a fantastic idea, but carry on. No, but like, it doesn't come from experience.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. It comes from just a lot of reading guys i thought you were on the same journey this guy's on no no expert but now to find out that you actually seem crazier now that you haven't done it the first the first helicopter was not invented by someone who flew in a helicopter let the man be what does that even mean you don't have to do the thing to have the idea for the thing That's what I'm saying Josh is clearly An enlightened gentleman No but he could do You could take him to Oregon And you do the thing And he comes back And he's like Absolutely not So I want We doing that Josh I think Josh should do it Because Josh doesn't do anything Do it Do it Do it Do it You know So I hear what you're saying, Christian.
I do get it.

But I'm just saying off of both the things that I've seen from people, like from not my firsthand experience, but from the knowledge of other people trying things and everything. I just, in the same way that I have not seen anyone be better for being drunk, I have not seen people whole lots of worse off for having a psychedelic experience, especially ones that they are even intended to be a little bit life altering or mind opening and are not habitual.
I've just not seen any negative repercussions in like a major way. Maybe they had a bad trip, but I think that bad trip also made them think about why it was a bad trip and exposed no i think you're coming from it to it from a very considered perspective i respect it but i still think you should do it because i'm not gonna do it so you do it can i tell you what's funny about christiana is this you are gonna be scammed i'm letting you know you're get scammed by, because remember this moment and bookmark this episode.
The pharmaceutical industry is working on synthesizing psychedelics that grow from our own mother earth. They're finding a way to synthesize it.
And once they've figured it out, they're going to get it passed by the governments. And then they're going to make it illegal to have the stuff that everyone can grow for themselves and not lose all their money on and then they're going to sell the thing that was natural to the people and it's not going to have the full effects because they still want it to like make you like latch onto capitalism so they're going to find a way to like it'll make you feel good for a few moments and then it'll like go away but it won't have like the real life-changing possibilities that like real psychedelics can have and then when that comes out It'll be in a pill form It'll be widely accepted by society Like most drugs are That have like the worst side effects And that get people You know Opioid addictions And you name it And then you see Josh Christiana will take that bottle And she'll tell us that she's on it And we'll be like Why didn't you take the mushrooms? And she'll be like Because my doctor prescribed this one i'm gonna say after we we spoke to michael pollin right josh after that um i'm in my politics group chat that you guys my nerdy mom group chat yes we had a thing and we were like okay we're gonna do a trip and we we want to get a guide and do shrooms oh we want to get your person look at this we want to get your wow this is amazing but we kept being mothers there's so many caveats already it's just like with you should this person like maybe this person sits out and like make sure like our phones are this so we were we are considering it i don't i think we're all chicken to ever do it okay and we're tired exhausted one step in the right direction probably just like sleep most of the trip yeah but like i'm i'm becoming more open to it i.
I think you should do it before you propose a law about it.

It's only fair.

Yeah.

Unless it's political hypocrisy.

You know what, Josh?

I see what she says.

She thinks you're chicken.

You're not chicken.

No.

After this episode,

me and you,

we go

and we're going to make it happen.

Any questions from you, Christiana?

I'm ready to vote on this.

Yeah, I'm ready to vote on it.

I don't have any questions.

Okay.

Yeah.

And you're voting?

I'm going to vote no.

Damn.

But I think that

Thank you. I'm ready to vote on this.
Yeah, I'm ready to vote on it. I don't have any questions.
Okay. Yeah.
And you're voting? I'm going to vote no. Damn.
But I think that the spirit behind it is a really beautiful thing because you're saying everyone should get the chance to be free. Yeah.
Which is what psychedelics can possibly do. But you're voting no.
Yeah, because I don't think we should compel anyone to do things with their bodies. I'm truly pro-choice.
Damn, Josh, you are not pro-choice. Well, we compel people all the time.
You are on the record as not being pro-choice. No, but I wouldn't even force people to take vaccines.
Do you know what I mean? Wow. No, no, Josh is like, we recorded Josh.
Let her hang with me. She said no vaccines.
No, I do vaccines. I want my kids to be around people who have vaccines, but I would never say if I was running a government, I'd be like.
So like your body, don't come near it. Don't touch it.
Don't do anything. Autonomy, radical consent.
If I was Gen Z, I'd be like one of the people. Can I kiss you? Okay, now I'm going to take off your toe.
I'd be like that type of person, but I'm like a millennial. But yeah, I just, I feel we can't,

I don't want to compel anyone to do something with their body,

especially that affects their mind.

So I'm sorry I said no, Josh.

Well, I still vote yes

because I think it's a wonderful idea

that could set many people free.

And I think we've lost many of the traditions

that have helped people do that.

But Christiana wants us to be stuck

sipping on the juice that capitalism gives us only.

It does sound a little like that. She wants us to be stuck in our little cubicles and doesn't want us to be stuck Sipping on the juice That capitalism gives us Only It does sound

A little like that

Yeah she wants us

To be stuck in our

Little cubicles

And doesn't want us

To be free

Cause you know what

Affects the mind

You know what

Affects the body

The phone

We all have one of those

We need them to survive

We never let them go

Maybe I should have

Tricked everyone

I'm laced at everybody

Josh got a no

We'll see what

Christiana's suggestion is

We're gonna continue This conversation right after this short break. All right, Christiana, it's your turn.
If you rule the world. If I ruled the world, everyone would get an assigned partner.
And whatever you'd want that partner to be. So if you're a gay man and you really want a husband, we'd make sure you get a husband.
If you're a lesbian, you want a wife. I'd make sure you get a wife straight.
Or if you're someone that's like, I just want platonic love, we'd get you a best friend. Now, when you say get you, what is this? Who's the getting and how is the getting work? But I'm like, am I going to get got? Like when you say getting, someone's like, I want to have Trevor.
We'd have like social work. No, no, no, no.
No, everyone would be compelled to have an assigned partner. You can say what that assigned partner has to be.
Like, is this somebody I want to? But we have to have them. Yes.
So no one's single in the world. No one's alone in the world.
So remember. But no one's single as well.
Well, you can have an assigned partner and not be romantically involved with them. So you can just make your assigned partner a friend? Some of it would be a friend.
Oh, okay. Because some people struggle to make friends.
Oh, wait, wait, wait. Okay, wait.
So imagine you're like, everyone has to have an assigned partner. And as long as you're both alive, you are contractually obliged to each other in some way.
Okay, But what does that mean? What is it? It could be some people will be like, I want a husband. Okay.
So I would make sure that person got a husband or a wife. And so they wouldn't be matched up with somebody who wanted the opposite.
Yeah. Okay.
Okay. Okay.
Okay. And then some people would be like, I never, I don't want a husband.
I don't want someone in my house, but I want to know, but when I grow old, I'll have a companion,

but I would prefer that person to be a woman.

And then we'll be like,

okay,

we're going to find you a best friend.

And you would arrange it and you'd have to be together.

And this is what I think it does.

It solves our loneliness problem.

Cause there's so many people that like die alone and live alone. But if you have an an assigned partner that side of your life is taken care of i'm not mad at this idea the only problem is i've read multiple studies that have said some of the loneliest people are those in a marriage no but it doesn't have to be a marriage If you don't want a marriage Imagine having an assigned person who doesn't like you No but we would do our best To ensure it's like a good match Okay so you're like using like algorithms And stuff Algorithms, human wisdom, prayer maybe I'm just saying It's just like Let's be clear be clear people make really bad choices picking their own partner so it's not like you can do it any better this is true right and i'm like let's outsource that to some sort of government body and mind you in the government it's in their interest for you to be happy because happier people are more productive citizens and they there's less crime there's less violence violence, etc., etc.
No, you guys are not sold. I'm not looking at your faces.
Well, I mean, my face is giving me away. Yeah.
Well, I think one thing to your point is I have to look it up. But it was like they did this is a survey.
But basically, they found that the divorce rate in arranged marriages when divorce was allowed and the divorce rate of love marriages was like pretty close. Oh, interesting.
It was like not exactly the same, but it was like very close. So I do agree with your thing of like you are just as well off based off of your general personality and disposition of picking yourself as having someone pick for you because happy people make happy couples yes okay my worry is that some people are like such proper like cat people that they're like guys i don't want a person you don't understand i only like alligators but that person definitely needs a person as somebody who's had like family members who just like isolate themselves from like the family for whatever reasons and you like you don't know where they are you don't know what they're doing it's a big worry so in your system you'd like pair them up with somebody who likes to dress up as an alligator sure if that's your thing i don't kink shame you see no no i'm just saying because we're trying to solve problems here.
So I think in your scenario, you would have to align them with someone who was like so passionate about outreach and social work that they didn't mind just being a pen pal for maybe years until this person wanted to talk. Well, there are people like that.
Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah.
I think it would, it'd be like, it wouldn't be like an opposites attract thing.

Cause I think fundamentally they'd have to be assigned someone That has the same value system as them Even if they have a different personality But it would just mean that You would always have a person What if I kill my person? Do you give me another one? Well the thing is If you go to prison You're going to have Lots of assigned people Wow In other cells So my assignments follow me Yeah, yeah Okay, I was just trying to figure out Like, okay No, I feel like I don't think it would become contentious All human relationships have stuff But I think it would do A lot of things for loneliness Because people get to a certain age And they just wake up Maybe they get widowed Or maybe they I hear Look, I think the sentiment behind it Like most of our sentiments are right I think it would do a lot of things for loneliness because people get to a certain age and they just wake up maybe they get widowed or maybe they you know i hear i hear look i think the sentiment behind it like most of our sentiments are right i think it is a beautiful idea the area where i think it falls short is this i think that loneliness is always relative to what we perceive the the other thing to be okay so if you're on an island and there's only one other person on the island you might find over some time you're like this is life and this is great and you get what i'm saying but if you're on an island and there's only one other person on the island, you might find over some time you're like, this is life and this is great.

And you get what I'm saying.

But if you live in a world where there's like a thousand people

and then you only know like one of them, you might still be lonely.

Because you're like, oh, I wish I had more friends.

I only have one friend.

So I think people would just make that the baseline.

Now you'd become the loser in your basement.

Oh, you probably only have an assigned friend. Oh, look at is that your wife Is that an assigned wife So you would I think you'd still Have the same loneliness And I also think Like on a societal level There's also got to be A thing that like Pushes us as humans A little bit It's like you know That's the push I don't think it's the push Okay so I don't think it all these, but every year we pick up the newspaper, we watch news and

there's a story of somebody who has died in their apartment and it's been there for years.

Yes.

And there's a smell coming from it and the neighbors are like, what's that?

And then the police come and it's a skeleton.

There's a specific case of actually a black British woman and it's a skeleton watching

TV and it's like the apartment stuck in time.

Right, right, right.

And I think about that happens so much in cities.

Yes, but I'm arguing, I agree with you.

We'll be right back. And it's a skeleton watching TV.
And it's like the apartment stuck in time. Right, right, right.
And I think about that happens so much in cities. Yes, but I'm arguing, I agree with you.
We've never heard that story happen in an African village. Yeah, but I've never heard a story.
In Africa, you need to unassign people. You need less people in your business.
What I'm saying is I argue the thing that you're pitching isn't the root cause of what's happening I would argue you've ruled the world and you've thrown in like a way to like treat the symptom but the real issue is just like us living isolated lives in our world you know what I mean it's like that's why I say I love the sentiment but I personally I'm going to vote no because I think you've fixed it the wrong way in my opinion as a voter and I think it's just going to be like it's just going to be a different way to be lonely and then some people you know there's a weird thing i think some people might even feel more rejected when their assigned thing doesn't work out because like an algorithm said it's supposed to work out and then it didn't work out and imagine how much lonely you would be if you failed at the thing that was Pre-chosen for you that was supposed to be perfect. So I'm going to vote no.
I love the sentiment behind it. It's a beautiful idea, but it's a no.
Before I vote, I have one more question and one potential suggestion. One question.
Would you daisy chain the people? So let's say you have your person and then you're both like

28 and then your person your assigned person passes do you get another person or are you like

alone for the rest of life now no i feel like i think the assigned person is sacred oh okay

oh i'm gonna go back now and vote more no

because i feel like knowing how human you know i have a very dismal view of human nature yeah

I'm going to go now and vote more no Because I feel like Knowing how human You know I have a very dismal view of human nature I feel like to Trevor's point You just forced the soulmates on Have you watched that twin flames documentary You've just twin flamed people Have you seen that scam Everyone who's just listened to this Go and watch escaping Flames and you will see what Christiana has just pitched to her.

Because she just said sacred.

Your partner is sacred.

This is the fundamental premise of Twin Flame scams.

I'm more voting no.

So I am voting yes.

But I have a little tweak because I do think it would work better this way if you were already going to implement it. I for the amendment i just want the vote i think wow this is the problem with politics i think that your assigned person has to be someone on a different part of the world than you and i think that uh at some point you each get a trip to see each other so you can see each other as much as you want like cultural exchange cultural exchange exactly because i think that you having a person in a place that you would probably never go and something you know nothing about that's actually what like brings more humanity into it and a terrible system what you guys are like ridiculously terrible what your assigned partner is going to be in another country yeah now you can't afford to go see the one person who's assigned to you? No, but you get a trip.
Yeah, one. Yeah.
Even worse. Here's what you could have had.
Here's what you could have had if you could have fought flights. No one says you have to go back.
Yeah, but what if you're like, this person's perfect for me, and now you can't go back? Have you heard of visas? This is American. This is what this is.
Americans travel the world not knowing how hard it is to travel the world. You whip out your passport.
Every country lets you in. If you came from any other country, you would never make that suggestion.
Imagine meeting your assigned sacred partner. You fall for them.
You're like, wow, this is the best person for me. And then the other country's like, you can't come in because you don't have a visa.
And then what? But if they are assigned partner, you wouldn't need visas.'t need visas Yeah that's what I'm saying You don't need visas This is her world Where everyone has an assigned partner So we don't have to worry About the borders You don't You guys are adding Like a bunch of If I rules into one If I rules No it's just No no It's amendments No she has the power To go ahead And make you the person Vote Go ahead You voted yes Yeah Well mine's still a no. This is the craziest, most ridiculous combination of ideas.
Can I tell you something? Yeah. This situation that you got, I would make a movie about this world, and my movie would be about somebody escaping this world, and I would call the movie Unassigned.
That's what it would be. I could see the trailer now.
It would be like, in a world where everyone is forced to be with someone they don't know. Michael, come meet your assigned partner.
I gotta get out of here. I gotta get out of here.
The government locks everybody down. They tell you who you should be with.
I say hello to your little friend. One woman decides to fight back.
I'm not gonna take this shit. I don't need to sign anything.
It's sacred, Mary. God damn it, you're sick.
G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g. Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo.
One girl. Get her, get her now.
Up against the odds. Mr.
President, do we have permission to take her out? She's gonna shut it all down. I hate this system!

Buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh, buh.

Unassigned.

Coming to theaters soon.

That's what I would make.

I mean, I would watch it.

Yeah, I would escape that world.

I would watch it, but I would also wish I was in that world.

Don't go anywhere, because we got more What Now after this. Okay.
If I ruled the world, I would say we have no more politicians. They're gone.
No more. No more presidents.
No more senators. No more congresspeople.
No more none of them. I think it is a defunct position.
I think we no longer need it because the reason we needed it before was because we didn't have like telephones and internet. So villages and communities needed to get a person to go to the central body to tell the people there what they needed and because we like we as the people were like working on our farms and stuff we couldn't all leave our stuff to go and tell the people what we need so we'd send a representative that's where the term comes from a representative to go and tell the other representatives what our neck of the woods needs.
We no longer need this.

Now I know what you're thinking.

You're saying, but then Trevor, this seems like a world of chaos.

Who is making the rules?

I, in my world, the rules are now made by the people, for the people.

And what would happen is everybody would have a device.

It is secure.

Don't worry.

We've done the work on this already.

It's secure.

And what you would do in your daily life is you would pick the things that you want to be a certain way. So you would say like, oh, I think we should spend more money on roads.
And we should spend more money on books and education. Teachers should get more salary.
And no, I don't want more war. And I think we should also do this.
And we shouldn't do that. And that's all you would do.
Every day. No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no. You just do it when you want to do it.
You don't even have to do it like in one go. Essentially.
Elections. But all of, let's put it this way.
All of this information will be pertinent at the time that it needs to be pertinent. But it isn't on the fixed cycle that it is the way it is now in elections.
Because now this is arbitrary. So it's a referendum, which I hate because of Brexit.
Wait, wait, wait. It's not a referendum because it's going into law it's not a referendum right so instead of voting for a person who could not do the thing you say i must always point out many people get voted in and then do not do the thing that they say you would vote and then if most people have voted for free health care there would now be free health but who would give the free health care bureaucrats oh so bureaucrats still run what's happening you need because people who push paper this is what you need you need actuary actuaries and you need like accountants and you need you need this world right and they're making the thing happen they're executing what has come from the people but there's no longer a leader who gets to take the thing that came from the people and then like make it about themselves And then not do it How do you get to be a bureaucrat? No, no, it's just qualifications Because all you're doing is working things out It's like economists, accountants, engineers, scientists That's what they do, it's your job You don't have power You just have to do what the people said Bureaucracies have a lot of power No, no, no, but not in this system Because Because in this system, it has to be executed.
It just has to be done. So let's say a community votes, they want a park, and they want the park to be funded with their taxes.
Then they would vote on this. Everyone has their little app, and they would vote on it, and it would get passed as a measure.
And then the bureaucrats just have to make it happen. So you're almost having like elections towards policies.
Yeah, there's no people involved. There's no people involved.
There's no leader. There's no leader.
It's just do you want debates? Do you want access to this thing? Because the reason that I that I worry about there not being debates is that I think there's a disconnect. And some of this is just how we live as people.
but there's like a disconnect between when you get to the ballot box and how something is worded versus the points that people made before you got there.

Okay, cool.

And so there are sometimes things that are like intentionally vague as in like there have even been courts that had to throw out certain ballots before the vote because they were like, this is worded in a way to be confused. It becomes backward mumble, right? Yes.
It's like a riddle almost. So then how would you stop people who, let's say, don't want women to have access to abortion? That's still a belief someone will hold.
How do you stop them from using, whether it's the bureaucracy or their ballot? The great thing in this system is, in the same way you can use your phone today to reiterate or to explain or to define, if you use any of even basic-level AIs now, I'm not even talking about ones connected to the internet, like a simple large language model, you can have that on device, and it can just explain this to you. So it can say to you as Josh, hey, Josh, this is what this measure is.
So you go as Josh, I do not think, because you've said this on the podcast and I see you've brought it up again, you don't want women to have a choice over their bodies. I see you brought it up again.
And so for you, Josh- That's not- For you, the thing would say to you as Josh,

Josh, do you think that a woman should be allowed to make choices over her body medically?

And then you would say yes or no based on that.

But it would make the language as clear for you as possible.

So you're letting a robot do that work?

What do you mean?

An AI would do the interpretation.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll tell you why why let me tell you why ai so no no wait wait let me explain why okay let me explain why so the first thing we have to do is separate types of ais right there's some ais that are very they're the insular and then there are other ais that are that are not so they're connected to things and they no no no this is locked in it's.
It's insular. All it's doing is explaining.
Does that make sense? It's not intelligent in that way. It is just, it's able to like rephrase the thing and explain it to you in a way.
It could translate into your language. It could use, you know, words that you understand more than others.
That's essentially what it's doing. Okay.
Okay. So in, you're basically pitching direct democracy, it's like what the Greeks used to do, like, but a digital version.
Yeah. Yeah.
So that means everybody gets a say. Everybody gets a say.
And it's easy to have a say. Yes.
Okay. I don't like that.
Everybody shouldn't get a say. Everybody shouldn't get a say.
No, everybody should get a say. Huh.
My other question is, is there still religious religious institutions yeah we it's in the world we're in but so that means you still have leaders and politicians no no no no i get what you're saying because you're my worry is that humans are like inherently hierarchical and now we don't have politicians okay they are going to find other like people to do the thinking on their behalf so it's either going to be religious leaders in my will probably be tick tockers okay it's going to be going to be people who used to dance as a hobby but now make bread we all used to dance I think okay so two last questions on it right

one is but now make bread online. We all used to dance.
I think, okay, so two last questions on it, right? One is, are you going to be voting all the way down to making distinctions about the spending when we judge the spending? Because we say we want free healthcare. Now someone has to decide out of the money that we do have, how much of the budget should leave other things to go to the free healthcare? Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.
Is that also going to get a vote? No, because this is where I believe somebody who's good at numbers is better than somebody who's good at talking. Okay.
And I think a lot of the time our issues in society come from the fact that politicians get involved in that, but what do they know about it? Like who are they to divide up a budget and be like, oh, we should send this much to defense.

But aren't they getting advice from their bureaucrats?

No, they're not.

But they're not.

We know that they're not.

They're getting advice from lobbyists.

They're getting advice from special interest groups.

They're getting advice from, like, someone who's scratching their back.

They're getting advice from the company they're going to go to after they leave government.

That's where they're getting their advice.

So I'm, again,

I'm not even saying my system is perfect.

We will discover things we might need to tweak,

but I'm saying the current system

is that humans who don't know numbers

are saying what the number splits should be.

Have you ever seen these stories

where the American military

has to like spend money, but like really fast just because they have excess money yeah yeah and they'll they'll tell you these stories they're like they told us they said uh we have to build something and we were like we don't need to build anything and they said we don't give a shit build something and so we built we built we built a warehouse in afghanistan and you're like what is the warehouse for they're're like, we don't know. We just built it.
But that's a system

that's not working correctly, right?

Because you had an excess.

Instead of building

an empty warehouse in Afghanistan,

you could have built like 50 schools,

maybe even more,

but you just had to finish that money

because then that's how budget,

you see,

that's what I'm saying.

I would eliminate,

those people are not involved in that.

My,

the issue I'm having is

people vote against

their own interests all the time. Yes.
And they vote for things that are bad for them. Yes.
And in history, the best, not even politicians, the best leaders have gone against, like, say a Fred Hampton RIP, gone against the status quo. Yes.
The people are like, no way. Do you know, like really deeply unpopular idea.

And sometimes it's like top down, this is what we're going to do. Like, to give an example, like the COVID mandate.
Like, well, if you don't get this shot, you're not coming to work. And then people are like, oh, some people are like, okay, I'm going to quit my job.
But most people are like, all right, shoot me in the arm. And then it, you know, kind of didn't eliminate, but this life-threatening virus slowly receded from society, even though it's still there, right? So the thing that we need about politicians is that they can push through unpopular things by force that people do not want.
But we can take back that power, right yes so now and we can get rid of them yes however if i'm in a society where i'm in like a minority that knows that this will be better for us as a group yes let's think about gay marriage it was like never a popular thing people were like no no no no and then the supreme, oh, yeah, actually, why not? You know what I mean? But by the time that happened, the American population in general was not opposed to it. But there were enough.
It was not contrarian when it was passed. But there were enough people that would still vote.
No. But not enough to win the vote.
That's what I'm saying. On the app, they wouldn't have won the vote.
That's what I'm trying to say. And so I agree with you.
I actually think sometimes, I don't think people vote against their best interests just like randomly. I think a lot of people vote against their best interests because they've been sold something that is different to what it is.
So if we look at Fred Hampton as a good example, the leader of the Black Panther organization, when he formed his Rainbow Coalition, what did he do there? He found a way to connect poor white people and poor black people and poor other color people. And he was like, whatever race you are, if you're poor, we're putting you together in a group.
And he said to these white people, I know you think that I'm a nigger. Forget that for now.
Are your kids hungry? Yeah, well, their kids are also hungry. Is your house leaking? Their house is also leaking.
Let's forget your racism for now let's just fix these issues let's let's band together and let's let's work on this right and what that shows you is that those people once presented with an issue that solves their problem don't vote against their best interests but what politicians do is they get in the way of fixing things so they say you you want to vote for uh free health care you know who's going to use your free healthcare? The Mexicans And then people are like Damn we shouldn't vote for free healthcare So I'm actually arguing Get the politicians out of the storytelling Everyone just has it on their app And when they're in the privacy of their own home With their own little device Talking to their own version of Siri They just get to have a conversation Where it goes like And they go like So where's the money going? And it's like well the pool And what are we spending? Well your teachers need more money And this is Do you want them? And you can still vote no But now What you vote Is what happens There's no one who inflames tensions There's no one who gives you a story around it Well that's where That's my issue Because I think that you under like politicians is just the name and the label no i know what you're saying i hear what you're saying there's gonna be that person that's gonna go around do the work yes go door to door yes and say like well the machine is telling you this but i know right they go straight to the machine like elon would just buy's money. It's capitalism.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. How are you going to pay for all of this stuff? Because I rule the world.
That's how I'm doing it. You guys forgot that I rule the world? Oh, my gosh.
I said I rule the world. You think I'm going to need money if I rule the world? So there's no wealthy people in this society that can pervert.
No, no, no, no, but they can't buy this thing. Same way, you can't just buy the election system.
Like, no, in a functioning country, you cannot. You can't just buy it.
You can't just be like, I'm buying election. One day I want to buy an election.
What I mean is you can't just buy election. It's not for sale is what my point is.
That's the thing. I'm not a tyrant.
I'm not saying no stories, no narratives. No, the difference is though.
Let's use America as an example. In America, when you ask people about gun safety Overwhelmingly I mean the number moves But like you find at some point It's like 75% to 80% Of the American population Agrees that there should be Stricter regulations On certain types of weapons And who can hold them And who can sell them And who can buy them And what magazines And all of it It doesn't get passed by the people that have been elected to represent the people that for me makes no sense but why don't you just ban lobbyists or like because i don't have less money in politics no because i still don't think it's because i think this issue has long it's like lived beyond lobbying and it's lived beyond does that make sense one thing i agree with within that is that like even without the lobbyists you you can never underestimate the level of laziness that any given politician has like there's all this stuff where politicians have let their aides read the entire bill yes then describe it to them people are lazy we're giving them an app some people may just look at their kid you go ahead you vote for me no no no no Our thing has biometrics You can't do that Oh so it's a surveillance No it's not No no it's not It's not surveillance It's biometric It's biometric Okay It's biometric The same way This is like Fucking dystopian shit Wait wait wait Can I just say Can I just say This is dystopian I'm sorry Miss assigned by force You're telling me about dystopian That is dystopian I don't want to give the government my eyes Okay, okay Does your phone lock using your face? No What is your phone lock using? A number Like a normal person So your phone, no fingerprint No, you can get my phone right now And your phone I'm not taking the mark of the beast So then I'm saying to you I'll give you a device That locks using a number It's just biometrics But I would know that it's you Trevor just paper Tick No I would know I would know that it's you No I'm making it the most simple You don't have to go anywhere You know Can I tell you what has the highest Voting rates American Idol They never complain about Low voter turnout Yeah They've never once been like Nah we couldn't get enough people to vote Yeah because it's like the same pool of people voting no but it's also because it's simple it is simple okay i don't think voting should be hard because now i'm gonna sound like a gerrymandering like republican but we should make it too easy i think it should be too easy to vote no no no i think it should be completely easy because it is the will of the people okay and my last question go ahead very last question uh because one thing that comes to mind is uh something that just happened in australia a little while ago where the uh first nation people were basically trying to get a uh like a parliamentary advisor yeah recognition in the constitution recognition and and basically because all of australia had vote for it, it got a no.
Okay. Even though it polled well, obviously some of this is politicians.
And by the time people went there, they were like, wait, are they going to lose their land if they get this? So there was some confusion there. But this is something that will never see the light of day as long as everybody gets a vote on it.
people who really have no stake in it and then the people with all of the stake in it because they are such a minority of the group. They don't have the advocacy that shows the people who aren't affected by it how important it is.
So I'm not saying a politician and not necessarily even a lobbyist. But if we're missing out on those people, do we miss the opportunities for, let's say we're in a country with more men than women.
I want women. Josh Johnson wants women to have reproductive rights, right? And so if more men are voting than women and men feel some type of way or they're like, I don't care because it's not me.
Completely. How do we fix that in your system? So you say this, you say this, Josh, and this is what I love about you.
You have a beautiful open heart, Josh Johnson. That's what I love about you.
It truly is one of the things I love about you most. Contrary to popular belief, contrary to popular belief and popular meaning Christianity predominantly, human beings are good and human beings are kind, right? And it may seem like that is not the case but you do realize for most of the biggest movements and changes we've experienced in society the group who is not affected or at least thinks they're not affected has voted for white people had to vote to give black people the vote In America, in South Africa In many places

Literally they had to be like yes

The black people, and in South Africa think about how crazy it was

It was a minority as well

In America you can be like ah they were like well what's the worst that could happen

In South Africa a group of people

Who are like what 7-8% maybe of the population

Were like

We're gonna let 90% of the population vote

And see what happens They had to vote for. When it came to women's voting rights, men were the ones who voted to let women vote.
So I think we should not take for granted that human beings are a lot better and kinder than we think they are, because history is littered with examples of people voting, even for people who aren't the majority and aren't the most. And to go back to what you said, there was confusion.
People didn't know what it meant. They didn't know if they were actually disenfranchising the First Nations people.
So in my system, it wouldn't do that. It would ask them a simple question and they'd be able to get clarification.
And then they would be able to vote on behalf of the people who do not have the majority, which is what I think most voting is anyway.

And I think it would alleviate a lot of those problems.

But humans have shown they have the capability to do it. So I've made my pitch.
I'm ready to take the votes. Okay.
I'm going to vote yes. because even if we don't see the politician as a as a sum a zero-sum good or evil i do think that

their ability to just not care – just be like, I'm chilling.

I represent these ideas, but guys, I don't really care what happens.

I just want to get elected again, so don't even make waves this time.

Preach, brother.

Preach.

I think if you're missing that, then you have a little bit more access to change quicker than the clip that we've seen. I'm going to vote no, but not for the reasons that Trevor thinks.
Not because I think human beings are so awful and terrible, even though I do think they are. But because I think that it's easy to get burnt out.
thinking like most people do not like to think about political choices all the time. That's why they outsource these decisions.
And I think what would eventually happen, it would be a dictatorship. Like people would be so burnt out.
They're like, actually, I don't want to think about this ever again. Is there one person that can do for me? If it's a good outcome, it'd be a woman dictator, which we Get to see often So There would be more burnt out Than the system we have now Yeah Where people have to like See campaigns And go to a ballot station Yeah because most people Listen to things And read things One thing I believe about humans Is that there are a lot of Apolitical humans out there Like most people do not I agree with you But this is not They don't want to think about this But this is not politics This is just issues They don't even want to think About issues Politics are what humans put on top of an issue.
This is just an issue. I don't want a life with issues.
But everyone handles issues. No, no.
Some people have good lives, Trevor. But even those people, even those people, if you say to them, should we build another opera house? They're like, yeah, I would like a say in this.
So you're saying no because you think that people won't like it more. I think it sounds really tiring, the system that Parents are telling you They're going to be like please no Wow Well I guess my vote doesn't go through Because Christiana is tired I like that Now's your chance to defend me and be like there's reason i mean she's just saying she's tired well and that's why she doesn't want to make the world a better place no no here's my pitch here's my pitch for what christian is saying though is that i think that right now we think that people are politically exhausted because of like candidates or ads or just like yeah yeah i I think that that level of engagement doesn't necessarily increase just because the quality of someone's life gets better.
It's why people stop taking their medicine. You ever see somebody who's sick and then they get prescribed the medicine and they're like, man, I feel great.
I feel so good. I'm not going to take my medicine.
That's kind of what I hear when when Christiana's making these points is that it's like, there's a level of apathy that we think we're solving with this, which we are. Okay, I'll throw one amendment at you.
Yeah. We gamify it like Candy Crush.
Candy Crush has never struggled with people. I've never seen anyone on the train be like, oh, another level.
So I'm saying I'm going to gamify it. I'll make it really entertaining, really cool.
This is insane. No, you'll be playing.
He's the Joker. You'll be playing the game.
You'll be playing the game. And then you'll be like, it'll be like exciting.
And it'll be like, it'll be like level four. And then I'll be like in between level four.
I'll be like, hey, do you want to fund another school? And then I'll be like, you're like, yeah, we should fund another school. And then you go back.
That's crazy. Candy.
It is a little dystopian. People always have time for games.
People one. Guys, the reason social media makes so much money, it's not because people are tired of being, people are not tired of engaging.
People are tired of engaging in boring things. I can't believe this.
People are tired of engaging in boring things. I'm with you.
Not even one person puts down their phone and goes like, oh, too much TikTok. Christiana, you're guilty of this.
I know. You spent seven hours on your phone and you don't have 10 seconds to vote in my app.
10 seconds to vote in my app. Guys, I will make my voting system cutesy and demure.
I'm with you, but now you're beholden to the attitude of somebody who is getting annoyed because they can't pass a certain level. Yeah.
And, and? No, I'm saying there's different gamifications. We'll find a way.
I just think it's a little dystopian to be like, play for your rights.

What?

No, what I'm saying is we'll make it interesting.

Opening the app with the iris was a dystopian.

We'll make it interesting.

You know what?

If I ruled the world, I wouldn't ask you guys before I've lost any laws.

I should have said that.

If I ruled the world, I would just do shit.

That's what I would do.

I would just do shit.

And we'd live in a better world.

You guys could play your game.

Anyway, thanks for coming.

Thanks for joining us here.

I need to go and

re-evaluate my views on democracy

and the system.

Josh, Christiana, as always, it was a pleasure. What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Spotify Studios in partnership with Day Zero Productions.

The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah, Sanaz Yamin, and Jody Avigan.

Our senior producer is Jess Hackl. Claire Slaughter is our producer.

Music, mixing, and mastering by Hannes Brown.

Thank you so much for listening. Join me

next Thursday for another episode of What Now?