Zuby – Joe Rogan Experience #1346

Key Takeaways

• News companies need to be more upfront about their political views and biases
• The further you move away from face-to-face communication, the easier it becomes to distort the message
  • Real-life > video chat > phone call > text > tweet
• Zuby’s razor: If someone has their pronoun in their Twitter bio, there’s a 95% chance you can dismiss their opinion
• Podcasts, social media, and YouTube allow any person to create a message that has the potential to be shared by millions of people worldwide
• When people start calling everyone a racist or bigot, it dilutes the term and lets the truly horrible people escape the spotlight
  • “It’s gotten to the stage where words just lose their meanings…I don’t take these accusations seriously anymore”
• Too many people live in echo chambers and think their ideology is the only one that’s correct
  • Know you can easily find common ground with someone you disagree with as it’s highly unlikely that either side is 100% correct

Intro

• Zuby (@ZubyMusic) is a professional rapper, podcast host, author, public speaker, creative entrepreneur, and social media influencer with over 180,000 followers online
  • He was born in England, raised in Saudi Arabia, and is a graduate of Oxford University

Books Mentioned

• Strong Advice: Zuby’s Guide to Fitness for Everybody by Zuby
• The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Jonathan Haidt 
  • Both Joe and Zuby recommend reading this book
• Joe recommends The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz

Zuby’s Claim to Fame

• Zuby became an internet sensation when he identified as a woman for just 7 seconds to break a world record in powerlifting – here’s the video

The Ultimate Nigerian Scam

• In the 1990s, a Nigerian man sold a nonexistent airport to a Brazilian bank for $330 million
  • The con-artist convinced a bank manager that he was selling a yet-to-be built airport
  • The con-artist had knowledge of banking from working in the industry and pretended to be the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria while talking to the bank manager
  • The bank manager paid him $191 million in cash with the remainder as outstanding interest

The Problem With the News

• Joe wishes there were a news site that gave 100% unbiased information and explained issues from multiple perspectives
• The world needs real journalists, but the news industry is struggling to survive
  • Joe pays for the Washington Post and The New York Times, but the average person likely gets their news for free
    • When things are free, there’s usually a biased viewpoint behind the message – to add, the articles need to be clickbaity to drive traffic and generate revenue from ads
• News companies need to be more upfront about their political views and biases
  • Companies shouldn’t claim to be impartial but then put a spin on their stories
  • More and more people are seeing the biases in news and are losing trust in the media

Twitter, Social Media, & More

• The idea of a lifetime ban for a social media account seems rediculous
  • Two problems:
    • People change their views over time
    • Text is a difficult medium to understand and can be easily misinterpreted 
      • The further you move away from face-to-face communication, the easier it becomes to distort the message
        • Real-life > video chat > phone call > text > tweet
• Zuby’s razor: If someone has their pronoun in their Twitter bio, there’s a 95% chance you can dismiss their opinion
• As the use of social media has gone up, so have rates of depression and anxiety
  • The combination of social media AND smartphones is what makes things dangerous because people always have their phones with them
• Some will go to crazy lengths to get likes on social media – people keep falling into the Grand Canyon in an attempt to get an awesome selfie picture
• A new generation is growing up in unchartered territory with smartphones, social media, and all of the world’s information in their pockets
  • Joe and Zuby recommend reading The Coddling of the American Mind to learn more about this topic

Thoughts On Tech

• Technology is advancing at an incredible rate
  • When Zuby first started playing video games, the technology to render circles didn’t exist, so most characters had square or octagon-shaped faces
    • This may seem ridiculous now, but imagine how outdated our current technology will seem in 10 or 20 years from now…
• The amount of opportunities and level of power people have now because of technology is insane
  • Podcasts, social media, and YouTube allow any person to create a message that has the potential to be shared by millions of people worldwide
    • Whether you’re a comedian, musician, or an actor you can create something out of nothing and share it for free with the world
  • “The opportunity out there now is incredible”
    • All you really need is a smartphone; it has everything you need: a camera, editing apps, social media apps, video platforms, etc.
      • Smartphones have 4K video capability and many of the features found in professional film cameras

Additional Notes

• A lot of people in the UK were blindsided by the Brexit vote just as many people in the US were blindsided by the Trump vote
• It’s likely that President Kennedy was on methamphetamines and that President Trump is on some kind of pill
  • Zuby believes Trump will win the 2020 election
• Just as women can get breast cancer from breast implants, doctors are starting to see cancer from butt implants
  • Instead of getting implants, women just need to do squats and work out their lower bodies (deadlift, run stairs, etc.)
• A great way to stay humble: Remember that everyone is superior to you in one form or another
• When people start calling everyone a racist or bigot, it dilutes the term and lets the truly horrible people escape the spotlight
  • For example, Zuby has been called a Nazi and white supremacist even though he’s black
    • “It’s gotten to the stage where words just lose their meanings… I don’t take these accusations seriously anymore”
• Too many people live in echo chambers and think their ideology is the only one that’s correct – these people don’t even bother talking with others that disagree
  • You can easily find common ground with someone you disagree with as it’s highly unlikely that either side is 100% correct
• When someone says they can’t do something because of their religion, that’s okay. But if someone says YOU can’t do something because of their religion, that’s crossing the line.
• People are drawn to individuals that help bring out their potential
  • Both Joe and Zuby are fans of David Goggins and Jordan Peterson
    • If you want to make society better, start by making yourself better first