Topic: Uber

The conversation explores how companies like Uber and Amazon are already integrating carbon footprint tracking into their interfaces. Davis suggests that future programmable money will include "meters" for energy use, where a transaction might be denied even if the user has sufficient funds. This is described as a method of social engineering designed to limit consumption of meat, travel, and other resources.

James Madden defines the "Umwelt" as the specific environment an organism perceives based on its sensory package, using a tick's reliance on butyric acid and heat as a primary example. He proposes the "Uber-Umwelt Terrestrial Hypothesis," suggesting that just as a tick only perceives a sliver of a human, humans only perceive a sliver of a much larger "super around-world." This framework suggests that UFOs may be entities existing within this Uber-Umwelt that occasionally intersect with human perception.

The sharing economy, led by platforms like Uber and Airbnb, uses technology to make capital like cars and homes more efficient, but it also creates significant labor insecurity. Without an income floor, workers in these flexible markets face high stress regarding rent and basic survival. UBI would provide the necessary stability to make a flexible, on-demand labor market work for the participants rather than against them.

Guffey contrasts the intense surveillance of harmless individuals like Damien with the apparent lack of monitoring for individuals on terrorist watch lists who successfully carry out attacks. He also discusses the case of the Kalamazoo Uber driver, Jason Dalton, who claimed the app made him feel like a puppet. Guffey links these incidents to electronic harassment and the "ELF" (electromagnetic frequencies) carvings found on the Navy Yard shooter's weapon.