The Best One Yet - 🐒 “Elon’s Luke Skywalker monkey startup” — Neuralink’s brain computer. Rupert Murdoch’s succession. Walmart’s puppy splurge.

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

Elon’s musk’s most secretive startup (Neuralink) is moving to human trials — It’s connecting humans to computers to save the world from robots. The most influential media mogul of his era, Rupert Murdoch, is retiring from Fox News, News Corp, and more — It’s Succession, but in real life.And Walmart is adding vet clinics to its stores — Because Walmart’s done trying to be like Amazon.$WMT $AMZN $NWSA $TSLASubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday, the real Friday. September 22nd. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. It is a T-boy. What did Stox do yesterday, Nick? Okay, stocks, what did they do?

Talk to me, Chuck. What did they do? They sank a little bit. But, Jack, can I tell you, we were walking around Beverly Hills. Can I tell you what I learned? What? The term break a leg, you know where it comes from? Hollywood?

Yeah. You know why? I don't know why. Because when you're on stage, if you break a leg, you get in the cast. I don't understand. It's like good luck. So you get in the cast. That's why they say break a like to you.

Oh! You have to excuse me, I'm a little slow today. Bring us back to where stocks went. First story, what do we got, Jack? Rupert Murdoch, the real-life Logan Roy, just retired at age 92. The most powerful media tycoon of this era just completed succession. For our second story, the newest addition to Walmart stores is vet clinics. Yeah.

And dog washing stations. And why are they doing that, Jack? Because Amazon can't groom your pooch. Amazon can't groom a pooch. And our third and final story, Elon's most secretive company just made its biggest announcement yet. Neerlink is putting computer chips in human brains like Star Wars with monkeys. But before we hit that wild mix of stories. What? A mix of stories for our last day in L.A., man.

As you know, Yeties, when we research a story for this show, we go deep into the details. As you know, besties, Jack and I, we jump in T-Booy. style. So, when we were researching the Walmart vet story about dogs, we noticed something. We noticed that dogs don't have thumbprints. What do they have, Jack? Nose prints. Dogs have nose prints. Get this, Yet he's the most unique physical feature of a puppy. Isn't its paw? It's the dog's nose nose. Oh, yeah, darling from Duncan's dog. He doesn't have a fingerprint. She's got a nose print. Every dog's nose is distinctive. Every dog's nose is unprecedented. That's why a startup called Pet Now just raised

$5 million so you can identify your dog by their nose. You grab it and you scan that nose to get the name. No need for a name on your dog car in case your dog gets lost. Yeah, your dog's nose, it is like a sloppy QR code, Jack. Just scan the dog's nose with your phone, it'll say who the dog is. Oh, he's a good boy,

who's a good boy. And you thought Fido in the French he was one of a kind. Yeah, but it's her nose that's the most unique. You thought spot the Cocker Spaniel was like no other. But it's his schnauz, that's literally special. So you don't really know your dog. Unless you know they're nose, that's how you know your know your dog.

Their nose. That sloppy, snotty, smushed little snout. That adorable little thing, that is your dog's driver's license. But we got to ask this company, what about cat noses? Can you scan those? Cat, oh, they're not even going to let you touch them. Cat's noses all look the same. Scary. Can I just test

your nose? Let's just hit our three stories, Jack. Let's do it. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best of yet but the best is anorn. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice.

50% that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. For our first story, the shocking news yesterday, Rupert Murdoch, the real life Logan Roy, has retired at the age of 92. Which means we have a real winner of succession. Yes, we do.

The eldest boy, Blacklin, Mark. Sorry. Okay. Yeah, it is. Before we jump in, Jack and I were talking before the show. And there's this one line from Seinfeld that we just love. Newman. Yes.

The mailman lives down the hallway. He says that when you control the mail, you control information. Well, Rupert Murdoch is a conservative media tycoon who controls information. Born in Australia, Rupert Murdoch has owned newspapers for 70 years since he took over the first ones from his father. Get this. Jack and I added it up. Rupert Murdoch has owned over a hundred news sources worldwide, one man, all those headlines.

He owns media companies you've heard of. Nike, Fox News, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, the book publisher Harper Collins. And some media companies you probably haven't heard. Ah, Sky, Deutschland, Fox Asia. How about Kansas City local Fox? WT.V.T. And it's not just news that Rupert Murdoch controls. It's also entertainment, isn't it? He used to own a big Hollywood studio, 21st Century Fox, until he sold it to Disney for

71 billion dollars. Yeties, this man even owns Sunday. Yeah, the day Sunday. Because Fox, the Sports Channel, has had NFL football games every Sunday and always has top ratings. And until yesterday, this one man was the executive chairman of the board of

it all. Information is power. But now, at age 92, worth an estimated $18 billion, Rupert Murdoch is stepping down. He's retiring to his third home on his fourth yacht. And that means his eldest son Kendall, I mean Lackling, takes over as CEO.

Sorry, Roman, I mean James. Someone texts ship, I mean Elizabeth. Does that smell like Wamsgan? Wamsgan. Greg, get in here. Now, Yaddies. When the most influential media tycoon of his era steps down, we have to look at what his last words were.

And Rupert actually published a letter to his employees that we jumped into T-Boy style. In this letter of goodbye to his employees, he called himself a champion of truth. He really actually really pumped himself up. It was a lot of like what I've done. He called himself a champion of truth. Here's the problem. The Court of Law disagrees. Yeah.

And here's the context, Jettys. Murdox Fox News has been the top-rated cable TV network in America for years. And after the 2020 election, various hosts on Fox News said things that they knew to be untrue. So instead of a humiliating trial, the big news about Fox News this year was that Rupert's business paid an $800 million settlement. In that settlement, Fox News even acknowledged that what they said on air was false. No, champion of truth, it's a free country. You can say what you want. In the rest of his letter, Rupert went on to say,

there's a battle for free speech that he'll continue to fight even in retirement. Which honestly, sounds a lot like Logan Roy, episode six, season four. Yeah. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at News Corp? As Rupert Murdoch rose, those around him fell, which is exactly what happened in succession to. Like, Yeties, although Murdox had a lot of businesses over the years, His profit puppy, it was always Fox News.

But in these last 10 years, as Fox News had the most influence on American society, Murdoch fired his biggest stars. That's the funny thing, Yeti's. That theme of Rupert Murdoch's real life is the exact same theme of Logan Roy in the show's succession. In real life, Roger Ailes was the 20-year president of Fox News until Rupert Murdoch fired him. For sexual harassment. And then Bill Riley was the top-rated conservative news host until Rupert fired him. For sexual misconduct. And then Tucker Carlson, who replaced Bill O'Reilly,

was the top star on Fox News until Rupert fired. For his role in the 2020 election lies. As Rupert Murdoch rose, those around him fell, just like in succession. For our second story, Walmart's newest product, it's vet clinics for your pets, all of them. After 10 years trying to be like Amazon, Walmart is back to being its old self again. Walmart's being Walmart. But, you know, we heard this story.

First thing we're thinking of Jack, we should just say, It's puppy. P-U-P-P-P-Y. People ultimately prioritize poppies. Yeah. Yeah. Walmart just announced their first pet services center at one location just outside Atlanta. And Jack, why is Walmart pivoting from two-legged humans to four-legged beasts?

Because two-thirds of U.S. households have a pet living there. Including the 23 million that got a pet during the pandemic. You want a full disclosure of this one, Jack? 23 million U.S. households adopted a pet during the pandemic. I'm looking at you. I was one of the first ones. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?

Rivers a good girl. So pretty soon, Yetis, you can walk into any Walmart and get a $3 set of tube socks. And get your cat a $25 rabies shot. Okay. And your iguana, a $15 nail clippet. And if it's your iguana Scali-Walley's birthday, maybe you get them a cricket cake to celebrate. Maybe. Because Yeties, nearly half of pet spending is not spent on toys.

It's spent on services. So that's why Walmart's offering pet health care, pet grooming, and even a self-served dog wash station at this new pet services center. You're going to go wild with that hose and Fido is going to eat up every minute of it. And the vets who will give your dog an examination. It's not the guy who's working in IL6 and checking you out. No, it's a certified veterinarian who works for Pet IQ, a nationwide vet clinic. Now, you're just why Jack and I were curious about this story. Why is Walmart doing this? Because the Walmart executives don't really seem like dog people. They're doing this because Amazon.com can't. Emphasis.

on the dot com. For a while, Yetis, Walmart was trying to match Amazon's e-commerce offerings. Walmart bought an e-commerce company for $3 billion. Walmart offered free shipping. Walmart launched Walmart plus tech subscriptions. It did all that because Walmart was afraid that Amazon would steal Walmart's customers. So for years, Walmart copied Amazon. But guess what? Amazon didn't steal Walmart's customers. Amazon has not defeated Walmart. In fact, Walmart is actually beating Amazon right now. Over the past five years, Walmart's stock price is up by twice as much as Amazon's is. Sit down, stand up, and sit back down in a $2 seat. Walmart stock has doubled Amazon stock in the last five years. And it's not because Walmart's e-commerce is as good as Amazon's.

No, because Walmart's, it isn't as good as Amazon's. It's because Walmart offers what Amazon can't. Yes. In-person, everything. Walmart, you know thyself. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? over at Walmart. There's power in proximity. Yeties, Walmart's advantage to the rest of like every company, every retailer out there, it's this hero stat that Jack and I love. You can see it on the screen here. It's a great, great

pick. 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of their closest Walmart. Okay, Jack, hit that again so it can sink it. 90% of Americans, myself included. All of us. Lives within 10 miles of their closest Walmart. Yeties, that proximity, that is why the number one grocer in the country is Walmart by far.

You could order groceries on Amazon.com, but people seem to prefer their local Walmart. And that same thing, proximity is why Walmart is adding pet services now. You can't wash your dog on a website. Not the last time we checked. Walmart was insecure about the e-commerce revolution. Walmart tried to digitize itself. Today, it realizes its original strength is enduring. That 90% of us are within 10 miles of a Walmart.

And there's power in that proximity. For our third and final story, Elon Musk's least known startup just made its biggest announcement yet. Neurolink is connecting a computer to monkeys' brains in order to save humanity from robots. We're not embellishing that headline. No, no, no, we're not. That's the story. It's the craziest headline we've ever said on this show, Jack, but yet is we'll explain. Yeah, we have some explaining today.

And Star Wars and Luke Skywalker are both involved, too. True, we'll explain that as well. more on that in a second. In the meantime, he's Elon Musk. He basically has a lot of transportation startups. That's it. Tesla is for cars. SpaceX is for rockets. And boring company is for tunnels. But here's the interesting thing. Back in 2016, Elon founded a company called Neurrelink for humans. Neurlink is actually his most secretive company and the one with the grandest ambitions. And Jack, can you just describe the plan for us over there? He wants to drill into human skulls to connect the brain to the internet director. All right. All right, Bezies, we're going to get a little technical

Here, can we go deeper, Jack? He's going to cut into the cortex, probe 96 tiny wires into the brain's neurons, so that your thoughts can control a computer. Just makes sense. Where's the computer, by the way? Is it nearby? It's in the computer. Yet he's what Jack and I are saying here is that Elon Musk's neuralink wants to let your brain

Google the internet for information hands free. But we're not there yet. No, we're not. So far, Elon's neuralink has just been testing on monkeys. But according to Wired Magazine, those monkeys, The monkeys are dying. Elon says that the deaths of the monkeys from the trials are unrelated to the trial. They just happen to die after the Neurrelink trial with their brains.

Monkeys aside, here's the news. Neurlink is now beginning trials on humans. Specifically, Neurrelink is coming for the brains of paralyzed people. First, Neurlink hopes in these trials to help quadri-polegic people communicate through brain-connected computers. And then it hopes to help those paralyzed people become mobile again. Here's how to think of it, James. Talk to us, Jack. Remember when Darth Vader cut off Luke's arm?

Adam, can we get a lightsaber sound? And then in episode six, Luke had a bionic arm to replace the one he lost. This company, Neurrelink, is exactly like Luke Skywalker's arm. That's how Elon describes it. Elon actually literally says this company's like Luke Skywalker. Neurlink wants to attach bionic limbs to paralyze people who could control those bionic limbs with their brain. And that would be amazing. Yeah, that'd be amazing if paraplegics could walk again.

But again, the dead monkeys. And again, Elon. And time for our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies doing some crazy stuff over at Nerling? The end-end goal of Nerlingk is to save the human race from the singularity. Yeties, Jack and I have actually never talked about the singularity on this show. Jack, it's about time we defined and talked about it. I didn't know about it until you told me today.

I mean, that was a wild breakfast conversation, Jack. The singularity is a deep tech term for a future in which. artificial intelligence has surpassed human intelligence. Well, Elon and other big techies are afraid of that moment. The singularity. When our computers take over us. So Neurrelink is actually Elon's solution to save us all from the singularity. Because if the human brain has a computer to sync it with artificial intelligence...

Then human intelligence, by definition, is better than artificial intelligence. So, yadies, the news is Elon's brain startup is moving from monkeys to people. So we can all have Luke Skywalker Bionic Arms if we need him. But the real reason is to save humanity from an AI apocalypse. To save the human race from the singularity. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us

before the weekend? Rupert Murdoch is retiring from his media empire, letting his eldest boy take over. As Rupert rose, those around him fell. Just like succession. For our second story, Walmart opened its first pet services center, probably the first of many. Walmart done being like Amazon.

Walmart is actually beating Amazon because there's power in proximity. And our third and final story, Neurrelink is moving on from monkeys to begin trials on humans. First to give us brain internet and then to give us Luke Skywalker arms, but finally to save humanity

from the singularity. No big deal. Just another headline. Just your corporate, standard mission statement. But yet, this pod's not over. Yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, MGM in Las Vegas regained control of its casinos 10 days after the hack attack. No word on whether they paid a ransom to the hackers or not.

And second, in Congress, conservative hardliners voted down a bill to fund the government. It looks like we're headed for a government shutdown beginning October 1st. And finally, whip out the seven irons. Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake are opening a golf bar right now in New York City. It's called T-square. Yeah. Because sports and media are the same. industry. Tom Brady, if you got involved, that could have been a T-cubed.

T-Pain, T-quad. Playing T-Swift. Okay, we're confusing. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one actually told to us in person by Erlon Niesinoff, who we met in Los Angeles today. He actually sang us our jingle in person today. It was fantastic. So we had this long conversation with Erlon about country borders.

It was really interesting. And then he dropped this shocking stat on us. What is the largest landlocked country in the world? What is the biggest country surrounded completely by land? It's not surrounded by oceans or seas or rivers. I mean, we went full Carmen San Diego on this thing. We're thinking Latin America, maybe Mongolia. We threw out a bunch of ideas.

Well, so many countries has rivers as their borders. Right, right, right. And then so many countries have oceans as their borders. Kaspian Sea comes out of nowhere. Turkmenistan's off the table. I don't even know what country to guess for this one. The answer for the biggest landlocked country in the world. Kazakhstan. It's Kazakhstan. You can walk by foot around the entire country without hitting water

if you have a lot of time on your hands. Kazakhstan? You don't even need a towel. Ladies, you looked fantastic all week. Jack, you've been glowing in lovely Los Angeles. Stop it. Any feed forward you want to share for this entire time to get anything going on? What do you think? Yeah, you should have wore more black. I know. I know. Fitting with the Los Angeles. I think that's why we couldn't get in on the list. site of Angelinos. Jack and I are celebrating some wins in Santa Monica. Have a fantastic weekend.

We'll see you Monday. Can't wait. And before we go, a happy 100th birthday to Yeti, Grandpa Neil Miller, who is celebrating his 100th year in Tucson, Arizona. And happy birthday to Agnes Lamb, who's celebrating his birthday with pizza in Toronto, Canada. And Ibrahim Aziz, happy 26th birthday in Toronto, Canada also. Happy 40th birthday to J.C. Aguarez. in Mexico City. And Papa Patrick Moore,

happy 40th birthday down in Arlington, Virginia. Happy 34th birthday to Holly Chan, who's also having a baby up in Minnesota. Congrats. And Alex Crancler, happy 30th birthday down the street in Los Angeles. Happy birthday to Monica Gunther in Chicago. Eric Brada, we know you're celebrating that birthday with Logistics also in Chicago.

Happy birthday to Ava Brickman, celebrating in New York City. Dawson Fish, turn in 3 in Holden, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. And happy birthday to Kevin, who's celebrating with his Apple buddies down in Sunnyvale. And Rob Anito Pinal is turning 70 at a family reunion in Phoenix. Fantastic way to do it. And congratulations to Chris and Marie, who just got engaged in Oregon.

Amy Sue, we can't wait to you say I do in Brooklyn this weekend. And congratulations to John and Jenny, who are kicking off their wedding weekend at a beer arcade in Chicago. And Hope and Amgat Armanus are celebrating an anniversary in Sanjublj. Switzerland. And happy birthday to Elena, a speech pathologist in Boulder who's going on a mystery birthday trip planned by her husband, Steven. Okay, Elena, here's the deal. Sit down, stand up, sit back down again, and then you're going to have to pack a baby. You're going somewhere warm. Yes. So bring some SPFT boy and your best suit. Elena, your birthday surprise destination is Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Not too shabby.

We hear the weather there is perfect right now. Stephen, you're a keeper. Celebrate that win. Salt water, it's the ultimate shampoo. If you know. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Disney. A weird finish by me.

That was great. That's kind of like becoming a thing. You kind of said different things too. You feel like, it's the moisturizer. Like, what are you selling that? It's nature's natural miracle tonic.