The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.15 The Billie Eilish Nudes on TikTok Exposed Lots of New Problems, The Truth About Nuclear Fusion, &

Episode Date: December 15, 2022

Go to http://ro.co/phil  for 20% off your first month PLUS free two-day shipping News You May Have Missed: ​https://youtu.be/Fon1B4mFOcs Check Out This Week’s Rap-Up: https://youtu.be/isMHyIUWyHY TEXT ME! [phone] – 00:00 - Senate Passes TikTok Ban As Safety & Security Concerns Grow 03:48 - Fortnite Developer Sued By Parents for Making the Game as “Addictive as Possible” 06:28 - Sponsored by Roman 07:18 - Trump Announces $99 NFT Collection… And It’s So Much Weirder Than You’d Think 08:56 - California Scientists Reach Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ TikTok News: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/15/1142828852/tiktok-senate-federal-ban-state-agency-governors https://www.mic.com/life/tiktok-billie-eilish-deepfake-ai https://twitter.com/VICENews/status/1603399739629883393 Fortnite Developer Sued By Parents for Making the Game as “Addictive as Possible:” https://roguerocket.com/2022/12/15/fortnite-addiction-lawsuit/ Trump Announces $99 NFT Collection: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2022/12/15/trumps-major-announcement-was-to-hawk-his-99-nfts/ California Scientists Reach Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-63957085 ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ Elon Musk Threatens Legal Action Against Twitter Account Tracking Private Jet: https://roguerocket.com/2022/12/15/twitter-suspends-elon-musk-jet-tracking-account-musk-threatens-legal-action/ Lawmakers Propose Bill to Protect Fertility Treatments Amid Post-Roe Threats: https://roguerocket.com/2022/12/15/bill-protect-fertility-treatments-post-roe/ 100,000 U.K. Nurses Launch Biggest Strike in NHS History: https://roguerocket.com/2022/12/15/100000-u-k-nurses-launch-biggest-strike-in-nhs-history/ —————————— Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle Production Team: Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco #BillieEilish #Fortnite ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into the news. Starting with, there's really been no shortage of bad news for TikTok recently. Like, I genuinely don't know if TikTok is going to be around at least the way it is right now, one to three years from now. So some of the recent things we've seen. Yesterday, you had the U.S. Senate unanimously approving a bill. They all agreed? When was the last time this U.S. Senate agreed on anything? But they actually unanimously passed a bill by voice vote that would ban TikTok from devices issued by the federal government. Though there will be exceptions for law enforcement activities, national security interests and activities and security researchers. And this as Republican Senator Marco Rubio is

heading a bipartisan effort to ban TikTok completely because the legislation he's putting forward would block social media companies that belong to a country of concern. Those being China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. Also, in the last 24 hours, we've seen very concerning reports. Or maybe you've even seen some of the headlines like TikTok promoted deepfake AI porn of Billie Eilish to people's For You pages. And or TikTok is flooding vulnerable teenage girls with self-harm content. But let's start with the Billie Eilish deepfake stuff. So in an exclusive, Vice reported on a photo set video that went viral, with it featuring Billie Eilish's face on, quote, sexually exaggerated bodies. And they said that those photos were seen by 11 million people over four days before TikTok took it down for violating community guidelines, and saying that the TikTok

algorithm pushed it out onto people's For You pages despite the rules on overtly sexual content. And in the report, you have a professor of digital culture saying these images were likely created by using an AI art generator or AI imaging. Noting, the closer you look at the images, the more you can see the problems with them. Like the outfit not really being the same on both sides of the image, and edges not clearly defined, the skin finish looks plastic in places. And to make a concerning or bad thing even worse, Vice found that the user who posted the video of Billie posted similar content on their Instagram story with the caption,

$20 uncensored images. Inbox pretty heavily implying that they were selling more explicit versions of these pictures. While obviously people were concerned about the individual here, the article and many others were focused on TikTok in general, fumbling on protecting their users from this type of content. The director of End Violence Against Women Coalition saying, we know that content which violates TikTok's terms and conditions often remains visible and even widely amplified by its algorithms across the platform, which is incredibly alarming given that its audience is primarily children and young people. And doctoral researchers chiming in

with we definitely need to develop regulations, increase public awareness, and deploy mechanisms such as screening, reporting, and removal policies to reduce or limit the spread of harmful deepfakes. But that is also not where this ends because there was another report that gained a lot of traction about TikTok's algorithm,

with this one citing the Center for Countering Digital Hate, or the CCDH, in their latest published research. And what they found is that TikTok's algorithm takes less than three minutes to show vulnerable teenage girls' content featuring self-harm and restrictive eating, with researchers finding that accounts that had the characteristics of at-risk young girls saw this type of content 12 times more than normal accounts. This including videos with razor blades, a discussion of self-harm, and hospitalization. And in one instance, even three videos of teens discussing suicide plans within one minute of scrolling. So you had the CEO of CCDH saying about the findings, it's like being stuck in a hall of distorted mirrors where you're constantly being told you're ugly, you're not good enough. Maybe why don't you kill yourself? It's a really full-on

experience for those kids because it's just rushing at them. And that's the way the TikTok algorithm works. And as far as TikTok's response to this research, it was deny, deny, deny. According to Vice, they disputed the researcher's findings, saying that the CCDH's methods do not, quote, reflect genuine behavior or viewing experiences of real people, saying that they, quote, regularly consult with health experts, remove violations of our policies, and provide access to supportive resources for anyone in need. Though, because it appears that TikTok is not going to be changing anything, the researchers did also publish a parent's guide to help parents with suffering teenagers. They're detailing how the app works and how to spot worrisome behavior. Yeah, I guess the main point of that story is if you are any of the people that gave us a billion views over the last year on TikTok,

you're probably going to see way more content on YouTube Shorts in the near future. I believe we live in a world where a company can be too big or too popular to fail. The number of things working against TikTok right now is very unique. So we're going to have to wait to see what happens there. And in the meantime, of course, I'll pass the question up to you. What are your thoughts here? And then, is your child addicted to Fortnite? Then you may be entitled to financial compensation. Because Fortnite is getting sued, y'all. So there's this lawsuit that was filed in Canada against Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, back in 2019, and was recently approved by a Quebec City judge. And the class action lawsuit centers around the

deliberately addictive nature of the game, saying, There is no doubt that the defendants have achieved their objective of making Fortnite as addictive as possible, and have therefore knowingly endangered the health of users without warning them of the danger associated with the use of Fortnite. With the parents involved in the lawsuit claiming their children have become so obsessed with the game that in some cases they've stopped eating, showering, or socializing. And the lawsuit claiming that these kids have played thousands of rounds of Fortnite since its release back in 2017. And one example provided a teenager played over 7,700 games in less than two years. And if this lawsuit ends up succeeding, players

addicted to Fortnite living in Quebec since September of 2017 could receive compensation. And the plaintiff's attorney claims that over 200 parents outside the lawsuit have reached out to him saying their child's well-being has been diminishing since downloading Fortnite. And saying they feel very confident about their chances in court. But you have a representative from Epic Games, however, saying otherwise. Saying we plan to fight this in court. We believe the evidence will show that this case is meritless. And going on to tell the Washington Post that their game does allow parents to supervise their child's playtime and require permission for purchases.

But there, parents are claiming they weren't aware of the dangers playing Fortnite could pose for their children. With a lawsuit saying of one guardian, if she had been informed by the defendant of the risks and dangers associated with the use of Fortnite, she would have categorically refused to allow the game to be downloaded. And here's the thing, we'll have to see how this lawsuit plays out. But, and I'm going to try and say this in the least judgy way possible, because everyone parents differently and I fucking hate people that are like, this is what you're supposed to do for your child. But there are things that are in your control as a parent. For example,

I allowed one of my sons to play Fortnite for a while. It was something that we actually did together. Then the amount of time that he was playing seemed detrimental to a number of things, including him being just an asshole after playing for a while. So then I did this thing that you can do as a parent and he just does not get to play the game anymore. And instead I give him other opportunities for other fun stuff. And in the rare opportunity that we do actually play, we play together for a very limited amount of time. Well, I think there is merit that social media platforms, video games, all these, pretty much anything entertainment, they make it to be as addictive as possible. There is still, at the end of the day, some personal responsibility. And understand, I say that knowing that as a parent, I will inevitably fail in this space

where I'm trying to like talk about my feelings because there are many aspects of parenting that are fucking hard. You know how they say practicing medicine because in that field, you're always kind of learning? Yeah, same thing with parenting. I feel like I'm practicing parenting. And sometimes while it sucks,

you can't be their friend and you have to be their parent. But again, to reiterate, take my words as softly as possible because parenting is hard and every kid is different to be their parent. But again, to reiterate, take my words as softly as possible because parenting is hard and every kid is different to a certain degree. And then I want to thank the sponsor of today's show, Roman, the digital health clinic for men. Did you know that 52% of men will experience ED?

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But no, it was the unforeseen third option. Here, he actually, he made a video announcing it. Hello, everyone. This is Donald Trump. Hopefully your favorite president of all time. Better than Lincoln. Better than Washington. Oh, God, he really said, better than Washington. Oh God,

he really said that. I know he believes that too. But after saying he's better than Lincoln and Washington, he makes the announcement. I'm doing my first official Donald J. Trump NFT collection right here and right now. He's dropping a slew of $100 NFTs. Also, regarding the NFT images, he says, These cards feature some of the really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career. It's been very exciting. Ah, I love it! You know, like when he launched himself to the moon, or when he laser-eyed that loud lib outside of Trump Tower like Homelander.

Like, oh my god, he's been such a massive threat to society and democracy in general that it's so easy to forget that he's just a stupid fucking clown. Just an absolutely embarrassing grifter, except for the fact, here's the thing, it's probably gonna work out for him, because even though there have been all these reports, like, oh, DeSantis is a real threat for him as the nominee, it's important to remember that there's a portion of people

that support Trump that are just pure cult level. So mixing that with buying these, entering you into sweepstakes to meet him or get signed stuff, I'd honestly be surprised if this didn't sell out. I don't even know how to end this piece. Everything's dumb. Like I get that he has no sense of shame, but like somewhere deep down, there has to be an acknowledgement that this is embarrassing, right? And then scientists have recreated the sun on earth. Though that is a little bit of an exaggeration, but they did actually do something massive at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California,

creating the world's first successful nuclear fusion ignition, simulating the same reaction that takes place in the sun and other stars. But before you get too excited, this does not mean that we're going to have power armor anytime soon. But it's still a monumental leap forward for scientists around the world who have been struggling to achieve this for almost 70 years. This can and will likely have a huge impact on our understanding of the universe, national security, and most importantly, the looming climate crisis. Which is why at the announcement of this breakthrough this week, Biden's energy secretary stated in no uncertain terms. It's the first time it has ever been done in a laboratory anywhere in the world. Simply put, this is one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century. So what exactly is nuclear fusion?

Most of us are at least kind of familiar with the general concept of nuclear fission. You split atoms apart. It's what your standard nuclear reactor does to produce energy. But fusion does the opposite, literally fusing atoms together, which also produces energy. And for the first time ever, the lab generated more energy than it used. Almost like they put in a dollar and two dollars came back. Like an infinite money glitch, but for energy. And for the first time ever, the lab generated more energy than it used, almost like they put in a dollar and two dollars came back. Like an infinite money glitch, but for energy. Meaning in theory, it could produce cheap, limitless power with zero carbon emissions or toxic waste. Which is why you may have seen a lot of headlines calling this the holy grail of clean

energy. So okay, I guess climate change is over. Why have we not seen parades in the street? Well, it turns out because this is a lot more complicated. Also to you beautiful bastards that are like, wow, I can't believe you didn't talk about it. Yay of little faith. I was looking at this news and I was like, Okay, if I talk about it, I'm just gonna be regurgitating stuff I don't actually understand. So instead of trying to be the first person on YouTube to talk about this, I was like, hey, let's get someone that actually knows their shit.

So we reached out to Tony Rolstone, who is a lecturer in nuclear energy at the University of Cambridge. When he started talking, he tried to put this breakthrough in some historical context. I think at the time when fission was done theoretically in the 1930s, they realized that fusion was possible as well. They realized it had much larger quantities of energy could be delivered by it, but it was probably harder to do.

Seeing efforts to master nuclear fusion focused on magnetic methods, which make up something like 95% of all research today, which is why it was so surprising fusion was first accomplished by the lab in California. Instead of magnetic fusion, it uses inertial fusion. And here's how it works. You've got 192 high energy lasers forming the largest and most energetic laser system in the world. And together, all of them point at a single tiny cylinder, which is just the container for an even tinier capsule about half the diameter of a BB. And then inside that capsule is the fuel,

which is made of deuterium and tritium, both of which are isotopes of hydrogen. And in a split second, those lasers heat up the capsule to over 3 million degrees Celsius, almost as hot as your mom's bedroom when I visit this Christmas. Damn it, Chris!

While that's something that scientists have done countless times before, this is the first time that the fuel remained hot enough, dense enough, and round enough for long enough to ignite fusing the elements, hence nuclear fusion. With this specific test producing roughly 1.5 times more energy than the lasers put in. So they spent around two megajoules and got around three in return. But here's a big caveat and the first reason we can't just hook this thing up to the power grid. While it did get more energy out, it actually took around 300 megajoules to get the lasers fired up in the first place. Meaning if we

want to make this even close to practical we need to dramatically increase the lasers efficiency and decrease their size we also understand when i say we i mean people smarter than me we got to make the capsules more affordable because right now they're in the tens of thousands of dollars and then even if we do all that we still need to figure out how to harness the energy after it's produced which is a lot harder than it sounds plus let's not get ahead of ourselves we ignited one fusion capsule one time. To make this a feasible power source, we'll need to do that 10 times per second. And the current facility only fires once a day. And then, of course, there's the materials required for the fuel. So obtaining deuterium, not actually a problem.

Oceans are full of it, so much so that just one gallon of seawater could produce as much energy as 300 gallons of gasoline. But tritium is extremely rare, so they're going to have to produce it synthetically. And that requires lithium, which is also used in electric cars, laptops, cell phones and other products. And I think as people have learned more and more, lithium mining can have severe environmental impacts where it's extracted, something that's become more and more apparent as the market for it grows. And so for all these reasons and more, Rolstone believes inertial fusion will not lead to a viable power plant. This is a great scientific achievement. It's probably not the basis for a power station.

Though I guess people will try and do engineering studies now based on this idea. And saying the real technical potential lies in Europe with ITER, the massive magnetic fusion reactor currently under construction in France that Rolstone says could lead to power plants by 2045. Also another idea is to use high temperature superconducting magnets, which result in smaller facilities.

These smaller ones, you can build more quickly and you can learn more quickly and you can therefore get to the power stage more quickly. So a key thing to know here is that if a world powered by nuclear fusion is on the horizon, we likely won't see it for a while. Even the director of the lab in California expecting power plants to become feasible in a few decades,

which is much less ambitious than Biden's goal of creating the first one within the next 10 years, which is part of the reason we shouldn't go, hey, the climate crisis is gonna be fine now because of this. But whatever reality turns out to be, we'll have to wait to see, because as Niels Bohr,

the Nobel Prize winning atomic physicist once said, prediction is very difficult, especially when it's about the future. But that brings us to the end of today's show. My name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you Sunday.