Retrospect
Retrospect
The 15 Minute City (feat. X-Man) | Retrospect Ep.157
In this week’s episode we discussed the pros and cons of the 15 minute city with a very special guest, X-Man! The 15-minute city is a concept that aims to make essential services and amenities accessible within a 15-minute walk or bike ride. It sounds like a cool idea, but we talk about some of the ways this idea could get taken advantage of.
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Keywords
15-minute city, urban planning, traffic congestion, public transportation, green spaces, gentrification, social segregation, surveillance, AI control, infrastructure vulnerability, economic impact, local businesses, global domination, one world government, civil unrest
Speakers
Jason (32%), X-Man (26%), Stoney (25%), Ian (18%)
Ian
Welcome to the retrospect podcast, a show where people come together from different walks of life and discuss a topic from the generations perspective. My name is Ian, and as always, I'm joined by Jason,
Jason
Hello, everyone
Ian
and Stoney,
Stoney
hello,
Ian
and you got me today with this game I got you got me good today with this guest.
Stoney
Oh, it was fun to watch your face. He set up this elaborate ploy,
Ian
thinking it was somebody else and all this stuff. And I was like, ah, was like, Oh, cool. It's no big deal. Jason was out of town, so we had to change the time that we normally record. Everything's a little different. I was just like, oh, it's no big deal. Got
Jason
back from Gulf Shores. Go ahead, I
Stoney
had a great lunch with our guest today and told him the subject of our next episode and the passion and information that he had. I said, Why don't you come do the show and we'll play a joke on Ian over there, and welcome X. Man, back to the show. Yeah, my
X-Man
pronouns are x and man, okay. So glad to be here. Thanks for hanging. Is back?
Stoney
Yes, house, yeah.
Ian
The last time that you were on this show was our 100th episode. That's right, yeah. And I want to say now we're at 100 and was it 60 something? 155 six, something like, I have the numbers right now.
X-Man
That's incredible. I'm that that's just even hard to even. I mean, you know, this thing started out, and now it's 160 episodes, and that's awesome. Three years are doing great, great stuff. I've had, I've had the chance to listen to a few of the episodes, quite a few actually, and doing great. Interesting.
Stoney
Once again, we have a studio audience. Please have fun. Yeah, that's kind of neat. Yeah.
Ian
So what do we have on the table for today? Well, we've been talking
Stoney
about a lot of stuff going on in the world right now, and the 15 minute city seems to be popping back up in a lot of conversation and in just in our episodes And in the world right now.
Saudi Arabia is building the mile city, which is a 15 minute city. Portland, is basically modeled after what they want to be the next 15 minute city, and then all of the stuff in Maui with them wanting to turn Maui into a 15 minute city, Island type thing for all the ultra wealthy to go to, in case the crap hits the fan in November. Yeah. So I just thought it might be kind of fun to talk about the 15 minute city. And when you and I were sitting there having some coffee, you seemed to like, wow. Well,
X-Man
you know, I mean, you saw it at the Olympics in Paris. That mayor is obviously, you know, very dedicated to that. And, you know, I think 15 minute cities are interesting because while they, you know, while they there's a lot to be concerned about. I see some benefits. I mean, you know, you've got the fact that, you know that it kind of promotes exercise and walking and things like that. I mean to say green spaces. I'm all for that kind of stuff. But I have to tell you, there's plenty to be concerned about too. Yes, well,
Jason
yeah, with any, with any new concept, there's always built in fear.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
I want to at least touch on where did this whole concept come from? Carlos Marino, yes, French, Colombian urbanist. He teaches at a college in Paris, and he's the one who brought up this concept of the 15 minute city, which as x man mentioned, I'm very much like the concept of a 15 minute city, yeah, because the amount of time sitting in traffic, oh yeah, to get to our areas that we need to go, I feel like we have taken a hit to our quality of life. You know, this really came about. If you think about it, you think of cities built before the advent of the car, right? How you think they were built? Right? They were built where you could walk everywhere, yeah, or ride a horse, right? Yeah.
X-Man
Every town had us had a strip, yeah, and you lived as closer, as far away from the strip as you wanted. So I
Jason
mean, I I know we're gonna go into a lot of dark areas, and I know Stoney is gonna really kind of go down that rabbit hole. And there is a lot, there is, there is some concern, I think, if you marry these concepts with other concepts, and I think that's where the issue comes in. So be interesting to see how this plays out. Oh,
Stoney
definitely. I'm excited. You
X-Man
know, for Wolf, this ought to be right down your alley, because as much of a tech and, you know, as much as you embrace technology and stuff, there's got to be some attractive things.
Ian
I feel the same way that you got. As I've already stated, is I like the idea of it, like the concept of it, I like the potential good that it can do. But like you just said, as well, there's a lot of stuff that also kind of comes along with that regulations and a lot of other things that kind of make it more concerning. And what you know, yeah,
Jason
fundamentally, yeah. Fundamentally, this, this really hits at the idea of what it means to be American, and the concept of, you know, we're still grounded in the idea of, I'm gonna blaze the trail and I'm gonna go live on the frontier. And, you know, I don't want nobody. I want elbow room. And, you know, all these things that kind of what made America America. And I think, you know, of course, this concepts worldwide, so different parts of the world, the whole different experience. So you have a lot of people that are living in very, very close proximity to each other. And I can see where a lot of this would would, you know, would really come up?
Stoney
Well, you kind of have to look at it too, in the pendulum. We talk about the pendulum swing on the show a lot. And when the country first was founded, you had a lot of Frontier people. And then as the city started to grow, the pendulum swung to where you lived, on the same street as your grandparents, maybe even the same house sometimes. And now we're in the arena of you move as far away from your family, and I believe, to me, that's the attack on the American family is making people move so far away that you're almost back into the Frontier Days, where you're going to go as far away from your mom and dad as possible, because you're your own man. You're your own woman now, and now it's almost swinging back to we need to kind of confine people back to an area and be close together again. And if it's used right to promote family and community,
X-Man
yeah, nationalism is really changed, right? I mean, you're, you're now where globalism is a more predominant thought, and the world is shrinking, like it or not. I mean, right? You know, we, we've seen that. I mean sanctuary cities. We didn't even have that terminology 10 years ago. I mean, these, these weren't even thoughts in our head. But now you've got a much, much different view of what constitutes community, right? And so, you know, I've never thought I would, I would live to the day where I heard that we would have states that were actually considering withdrawing from the US, much less anything but. But now you are, I think you're right. The pendulum has swung, and now it seems like we're going back to this, this kind of concept that smaller is the new big, right? And so it's going to be interesting, yeah? Well, I
Ian
like, I like the idea of, I've gone to a couple of not super big cities, but, you know, moderate sized. And I like the idea of, like, having public transportation, like, that's available. I like being able to walk most places do I want to live in, like, a hustling and bustling, a big city. No, I like to visit there, like, like, like, we don't we live a we live a pretty good journey away from New Orleans. And I've told it, I've told this to many people. I live far enough away from New Orleans and I love to go there and spend some time there. That's about it. Come back home, because I'm like, it's crazy, it's hectic, it's wild, it's it's just, it's a it's a mess out there, but it's fun to go out there and walk around and see the sights and go see all these places, and go get some good food, and then and have my fill, and then go back home. I'm
Jason
curious. And you, you bring up New Orleans? Would you feel you said you you want to visit there? You don't. You would not want to live there. Is there a reason? And you could really apply that to any right city, yeah, is there a reason that? Is it because you would feel unsafe? You don't feel that, you know, I feel cramped. I mean, what is kind of the driving motive? Because I hear what I visit there, but I don't want to live there, right? What's kind of going on there?
Ian
I recently just came back from Houston as well, and it's the same feeling I was, like, I they had not, not so much the public transportation aspect, but, like, the places that I was staying in were not but a few blocks of a walk to go, like, to major, like, cool locations and things, or a small drive from, like, our hotel to a mall or whatever. A lot of it has to do with it's just so expensive to live out there. But it's also it's just the kind of that, that fast paced life that, like, I am not a really super big fan of. I live kind of in the suburbs right now. I wouldn't say I live, like, in a rural area, but I live, like, next to a pretty big subdivision. I live in a nice community of people, and I like that feeling of being in a community of people in, like, kind of a smaller city of sorts. I have all the stuff I need, kind of in close proximity, but not too crazy, but like, it's just so much traffic. It's just so much how. Heartache, and just, I mean, it's, like, I said, it's so expensive, there's a lot of factors that I'm like, it's cool to go out there and go, like, and be involved in it for a minute, and to get kind of caught up in, like, the whimsy of it, of like, Oh, we're in a big city, and it's fun, and I can look around and walk on the street and, you know, whatever. But like, I don't think it's my lifestyle, almost the same way that, like, I there are some people that love living way off the grid, like, like, living really off the grid. You know what I mean, like, out in the sticks down a long dirt road and, like, and that's not for me either. I like to go out there and go, like, wow, this is a really cool ranch. You got out here and see some horses, and be a part of a farm and all that kind of stuff. But I'm like, do I want to, like, live and keep up a life out here? No, it's not really for me. So,
X-Man
you know, I can understand why you might feel that way. I don't think that. I think millennials probably have a good awareness of a footprint and green, you know, and kind of embracing green thought, but, but, you know, the other thing that you would have to kind of think about is that you've not been in that place in your generation where the American Dream is even affordable anymore. You have to worry about gentrification and all kinds of things you know, you've seen, you've seen it to where homeownership is a real challenge in your generation. And so, you know, I can understand that, and I'm gonna say that's the thing that concerns me about a 15 minute city, is that, you know, you can very easily, in a 15 minute city, push people out, right? Oh yeah. To me, that's yeah, and well, then here
Stoney
comes in the line with that, like with the UN's 2030 agenda. Oh yeah, okay, I remember reading they want to bring in certain things, and it's and it's modeled for the 15 minute city. So the biggest one on that one that scares me is being microchipped for health, shopping and travel. Have you been vaccinated? What did you say they want to bring in the China's social score. ESG, yes, and which is already happening in China. This is not like something that they're talking about doing, yeah, they're using it. If you jaywalk in the street in certain cities in in China, your face gets plastered all over your neighborhood, yeah. And look at this person jaywalking, and funds automatically come out of your bank account. Yeah.
X-Man
And the, you know, those, the on the medical front you're, you're talking about, if, if we do 15 minute cities, to the extent that that they're talking about, you're talking about extremes and unprecedented. In fact, even new ways to discriminate against people. They were talking about how these chips within you, you could walk through a threshold, and it could automatically scan you for a physical health and then you turn around, and that goes to your insurance company. You could be dropped just because you're constantly monitored. So surveillance, I think, is probably my number one problem with the whole concept, right?
Stoney
Oh yeah. One of the things that bothers me is this, one of the benefits is supposedly going to help local businesses. Well, when you have companies and here we go again, Black Rock, State Street and Vanguard buying everything. How many local businesses are going to be actually there to be used and and and benefit from this? They're buying all the homes. They're not planning on letting you own a home. That's one of the the things in the family unit, in all private property, so you're only going to be able to be a renter, so now you have to pay somebody else to live there. What's that going to do for equality as far as housing? Okay? Again, ultra wealthy are going to have this great building to live in, and everybody else gets to go be in the slums. Well, that's
Jason
usually how it it winds up anyway, it kind of naturally gravitates that because rich people going to want to be around rich people and but
Stoney
it's going to be everybody else's troll that way. It's going to be easier to control that way with the social score, with EV vehicles, okay, electric vehicles. How you going to charge it? Oh, your social score is so bad this month. You know, bad X man, you can't charge or they
Jason
can restrict, right? How much, how much you can charge your car.
X-Man
I think cars are doomed in this plan. I mean, in a 15 minute city plan, cars are off the table. I think that's going to be a form of entertainment instead for the ultra wealthy, yeah, and it's, it's going to be nostalgic, it's going to be anything, but it is. I think cars are done
Stoney
but, but think about this too. One of the big ones on there is they want to end of all non essential air travel. So now you're stuck. In your 15 minute city box. There's your box.
X-Man
I want to know something, and this will be interesting for you, Jason, because with your background, I want to know what you think. So, what do you think about banishment? Because here's the I'm always so skeptical of the government. I mean, what happens if you get the scarlet letter put on you? Man, then what do you do?
Jason
Shame. Shame. Well, look, if you really want to go back and look at kind of the history of punishment and how that was meted out up until just recent, you know, I would say within the last 100 years, right? What was, where was executions done?
Stoney
In the town square, Town
Jason
Square, in front of everybody, yeah, it was a spectacle. I mean, people pack picnic lunches to go watch this stuff,
Stoney
not even just the executions, but when you got whipped or stoned, yeah, or whatever.
Jason
We don't know the, you know, you've ever been to, like the Renaissance Festival, and how they put you in this, in the in the stocks, you know, in the middle of town. And again, there's
Stoney
a way for control. That was a way of control the population by, okay, you know. But then, so, if you were a thief, what did they do?
Jason
Well, that depends on what society you were in, right, cut your
Stoney
hands off, possibly. And some you were an adulterer. You got a big A put on you.
Jason
And I do tell, I will say it was all visible, the idea, though, of public kind of admonishment as a means of controlling bad behavior is not necessarily bad. I think what what's happened is a lot of people can kind of stay in darkness, so to speak, with their and no one else knows about this individual, until you hear about, oh, my God, this person was convicted of this and this and this, and we wonder why he was out of jail and blah, blah, blah and blah, blah, blah, blah, so, so
X-Man
that's when I was, I was wondering, because here's, here's, what happens then, you know, you put this in the animal kingdom. You're talking about the Outlanders, you know, right? You get banished from the kingdom, and you get put in the Outlands, you know, so, so, you know, now you're, you're, you're out there, and now, like, where is it safe to go, where you can still have resources and things like that. And then I hate to tell you this wolfman is that's that becomes a problem for you then, because you can't escape this other world, because out there are all the bad people. That's where the people have gone to be managed. That is no longer your vacation spot,
Stoney
right? So you see, we say this and we're joking and we're laughing about it, but how many times on this show, even back in the original days with UX men, did we talk about Hollywood working with the government and other entities to try to prepare us for things. How many movies have been coming out lately, in, say, the last 15 so years, about a resistance, about people being banished to the Outland, so to speak. I mean, how many movies has come out? How many? It's tribalism all over again, and now they're preparing us for it,
X-Man
although I have to say it, I do think Hunger Games is really cool. Yeah.
Jason
Prime example, divergence people bring that up, yeah. Well, look. How
Stoney
about priest? Remember the the vampire movie, Priest, where you lived in the big safe city? Yeah? And if you didn't cut it and do the right things. You get put out to the Outlands, send
Jason
you outside. Yeah, I
X-Man
say this 15 minute cities, job security for all priests. Yes,
Jason
exactly. What was the other there was another movie that kind of, there was that kind of concept of, you were self contained, and everything was taken care of, and then if they banished you judge, it was Judge Dredd, yeah, Sylvester Stallone movie, you know, so, but look at the end of the day. I mean, okay, if we don't like the 15 minute city, then do we like sitting in traffic? Are we okay with that? So the question is, I mean, I've seen, there's all kind of stats on this stuff. I mean, I've seen anywhere from stats, I've seen anywhere from 50 to almost 100 hours that people a year per year, right? Are sitting in traffic.
Stoney
And see, I thought it would be more than that, none. I mean, if you just consider an hour a day, that's way more than that.
Jason
To the question is, is that? But that's still lost time sitting in a car. Sure, that's not productive at all,
X-Man
but the wolf loves public transportation.
Ian
No, no, I wouldn't say love it, but I like the I the current city that we live in does not have many other modes of transportation, like if you want to get anywhere in. In, in the, I would say, the greater state of Louisiana, you have to own a car. Oh, you have to see there's, there's not a lot of walking paths anywhere. There's not a lot of bike paths anywhere. And I, respectfully, I did not trust the bus system that we currently have. So, right? And I'm not, we won't go into all that, but what I'm saying is another podcast I lived in. I'm not trying to say I'm not trying to say anything, but I have lived in the city before where, like they did, have very well up kept and very busy, like open bus travel and and they had a lot of bike paths and walking paths in the city that I lived in, where it was like, I don't if I want to go across town, I need to own a car, but realistically, if I wanted to, I have other alternatives that I could get somewhere safely. Right now I don't have that, and it sort of made me realize how much I kind of miss having some of that. I'm not saying, I'm not saying was perfect, but I'm saying, like, it's just things like that. Of like, I'm not saying I want to have everything so close or want to be in a 15 minute city. But just like, if I do live relatively close to a city out in the kind of suburbs, I would like a little bit more safety in transportation. And right now, again, a lot of the roads that we have, a lot of the signals that we have, I don't think, are properly managed. And so, like, we have a lot of at least in the small suburb I'm a part of, there's a lot of red lights and a lot of traffic jams from people coming from the inner city back home to our nose.
Jason
That's that was the design of the post World War Two. Yeah, with the advent of the automobile as I live here, I work there, I go to church there, everything is I've got to travel to. And that was pushed by the automobile industry too. Don't think they it was a a motive there, that way you'd have to have car
Ian
yeah, on, on, personally, if I'm, if I leave, if I leave my office, between four and five o'clock there is, there are roads that merge into one lane and funnel into a red light that, like, is that, like, constantly has to switch through, and there are so many cars that get backed up there that I'm, like, this is so inefficient. And I'm not saying I have the answers because, because, heaven forbid, I don't. But like, there's got to be something that is, like, there's gonna be something that can be that can be worked out, and at least in that area, and that's one of probably two or three areas, the same thing that I'm like, This just doesn't feel this. This feels like it could be improved in some way.
X-Man
And that was designed by the gas companies. So let me just tell you, you can't trust anything. And it sounds all beautiful and sunshiny. I like that. I'm with you. I love infrastructure. I love the idea of people who are who face challenges and getting around that they would have public walkways and great transportation, and those who need help, you know, with disability and so forth, right? I love that part. Here's what I don't love, Jason, I do not love the idea of some terrorist in the future targeting that infrastructure and turning it against me as a citizen of a 15 minute city. Like, seriously, I'm sitting there thinking, Okay, if these 15 minute cities, they're going to have to have resources. They're going to have to all of these things, right? Yeah, and, and you're probably going to live in the same thing. We the same network of stuff we have now. So there's going to be low income, there's going to be kind of middle class, would be higher income. So all of the sudden, some rich city can now attack my city as a middle class city, and take that infrastructure and turn it on its head, and now maybe I don't have clean drinking water, or I have, you know, rolling black and brown outs because I don't have the I'm not living in the right 15 Minute city, right? Well,
Jason
any, as I said, Any system you set up, there's a potential for abuse, of course. I mean it just, it's just what it is. I, you know, I still believe, from a health standpoint, me, just think about it, if I didn't have to have a car, right? Insurance, oh, yeah, car notes, car maintenance, I'd be very curious how much money of your it goes to that. Yeah,
Ian
for me, it's at least hundreds of dollars. It
Jason
is. It's a lot of money. You're going to need it for your rent. Look, I owe your
Stoney
food because you won't be able to grow anything in your backyard either anymore, will you, and that's another thing to target. My name is father David, and I'm a Franciscan friar, and every week, me and my guests dive into some of the most pressing issues of our time. Church and State, immigration, LBGTQ, plus economic inequality, anxiety, depression, climate change and so much more join us in these conversations. Friar time isn't just another podcast, it's where faith meets real life head on. You can find all the links to our podcast channels in your show note.
Jason
Well, I think that's, that's, that's, well, of course, these people that would push this concept right would be more aligned with instead of you having your personal garden a community garden. There you go. That's where you'll see
Stoney
that's that's part of the UN agenda, if you look at it, end of private farms and vegetable gardens, end of animal ownership and a ban on all natural medicine.
X-Man
Who does that make us dependent on the government? Oh, my God, we're doomed.
Jason
I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.
X-Man
Yeah, you know,
Ian
don't hurt me.
Stoney
I mean, there are, there are good, and that's what they're selling it on, is the good things that it could possibly be. But you know, their intention has nothing to do with that good possibility. They want it for the negatives. They want it for control, because it'll be easier to control the population, right?
X-Man
Well, and I'm worried too about the advancements and things like weather control and stuff like that. I mean, you know, they can make it rain on some of these 15 minute cities and not on others. So, I mean, they really could jack with with our ability to be self sustaining communities. The other thing I'm worried about is just, it just becomes the new discrimination, you know, now it's no longer age or race or color or nation, and what it is is okay. What city do you live in? And I'm also worried at like, you know, or part of the city, yeah, or I'm also worried about cities who share similar ideologies, banding together and going to war with cities who don't share that. And we're seeing it even in our own country, in kind of like, like, just kind of preliminary ways. Now again, it's, it's, it's, do you worry about if we do, if we implement a 15 minute city ideology, and we accept that. Do you worry about the fact that we've just created even more division, even more ways to be separated, even more ways, I don't know, very
Stoney
tribal, right? Is the way it was in, you know, the medieval times and before it was very tribal, you had cities that would fight, cities for resources, for this, for that ideology, like you just said, that's, that's very, that's a very good topic that maybe even a whole another show on that. Because what happens to the mentality of people confined into a space? Yeah,
X-Man
and what does that look like? I mean, did the big cities? Are they ones that get all the control because they have the best resource? Like, like, seriously, what is this? Abs, what does this look like? I think it's not. I agree with Jason that it's not a totally bad thing. I just feel like, if we don't proceed with a lot of caution around this, it is just replete with opportunity for the government to take advantage of citizens, even to a much greater extent than what they do now. And the big brother thing,
Stoney
we haven't even talked about AI taking over these cities and doing something there, because, you know, skynet's coming
Jason
Well, I mean, believe it or not, they saw some things that said that AI has already reached awareness. Supposedly,
Ian
I don't quite believe that yet, but,
Jason
yeah, but I there's a lot of it. There's a lot of influential people that are in that world.
Ian
Again, is there a type of AI that probably has Yes, do we have access to any of it? No,
Jason
no, we don't, not, not to our level, right, right, right? You know where we're at now. But, I mean, if it's there, it's just a matter of time. What
X-Man
Ron's already told us it's there, you know. I mean, he knows.
Jason
I mean, you know, that's what I'm saying these people that are in those in that world. I mean, oh, it's here. The The question is, how do you push it down to the everyday person? So, I mean, that's kind of what I mean. All that's going to play into the part with the 15, yes, it is. It just is,
Stoney
because it's going to start like everything. It's going to start well, it's going to benefit humanity. We're just going to use it on the traffic lights, and we're going to use it for our fancy little drone cars and our, Hey, you don't have to have delivery. It's going to start off with these little things that are. Supposedly going to help you. We're going to monitor the watering system. We're going to do this. We're going to how does your trash getting picked up by robots now? And we're going to use AI to pick up that, because they can be able to tell where there's more trash and concentrate on those areas. And then you're going to have robot police, which they already have. Yeah, I have a friend of mine in California who the parking lots are monitored by robots? Yeah, yep. And so what's the next step for that? Wait till AI gets a hold of these 15 minute cities well. And
X-Man
you know, my fear is just that, you know, it's not necessarily going to be the bombs and things like that that are going to be the most concerning thing, it's going to be a whole new wave of of different kinds of evil, like eco terrorism. I mean, they can they can target of air filtration. They can target, if you're dependent on solar power in a 15 minute city, who's to say that AI couldn't just go out and just wipe out all of your solar power and then cause you to be crippled in a split second. I mean, you're devastated at that point. If you can have clean water and good food and and and and have power and energy to run your community, you are devastated. And then what happens? I mean, that then your Carnage is going to be person against person, and it's not going to take long. I mean, you don't have to drop a bomb on that three days with no water. It makes people
Stoney
happy. Go a week with no food. You're You're they say you're eight to 12 days away from cannibalism, exactly, right?
Jason
That's a scary thought,
Stoney
I mean, but that's inside a city. But then think about this too. You're in this confined city. How many poo poo pipes, you think, coming out of that city, right? Okay, what happens if somebody turns some valves on that? You talk about eco terrorism, yeah. Stop the Poopoo from running, yeah. And watch what happens now. Now you're back to the medieval times, plague and the plague and everything else run now, running through your city because you can't get your poopoo opened up again.
Jason
Well, that's what I'm saying it's I, I know the World Economic Forum is pushing this and because they're all tied into this green and carbon footprints, and, you know, trying to make the planet healthier, and we have too many people, and all this other thing I'm gonna go with the depopulation, you know. I mean, my question is, are you? Do you really want? Are you okay driving two hours a day,
Stoney
being rather drive than somebody try to control me?
Jason
I mean, are you? Because ultimately, that's really what this comes down to, in the associated cost of being in a car for about two hours a day. Are you okay with that? If you are, then nothing will convince you. Nothing will convince you that the 15 minute city is worth it. But I'm telling you, stone, this comes down to age, because what's happening is, you know, who's generally in favor of this, or generally older people and younger people? It's not the people in the middle, yeah,
Stoney
I'm the older person in this group. And I can tell you I'm not, yeah, but I'm talking
Jason
about general numbers, because if you think about it, for someone that's elderly,
Ian
again, and you don't associate with all this stuff that you're aware of stuff, you just talk about the promise of it being close and safe and all that stuff. But
Stoney
then again, you say that the elderly, or the elderly, really going to be the people brought to these cities, because the elderly, once they get to a certain age, have nothing to benefit this city. They're only going to bring people that they can control and benefit from the ultra the Ultra Rich aren't going to want to do the work, but they're going to need people that can do it like That's why Rockefeller started the school system, started the Big Pharma, with the farm, with the petroleum drugs, because he wanted people to work in his factories. And that has taken, you know how many? That is your world economic forum. That's the money, the the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds. That's all their money. That's who the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization, and all these people, that's that money. And so they want slaves. So the elderly aren't going to be there. They can want it because it's easy life. I'm gonna get three meals a day, I'm gonna have a toilet, I'm gonna have everything I need. They're not gonna be asked to go there, right?
Ian
But I think we're talking about the fact of like, whenever this gets started up, like, who? Like, like, I think that.
Jason
Think about it, who? I mean, the older you get, you you what you want to be. You want to be around hospitals, doctors offices. I mean, you don't want to be out in the in the hinterland. I mean, unless you're just kind of wired differently, but generally. As people get older and the health issues start coming up, and I know people now that have to drive an hour and a half to get to a doctor's office, but you have a problem medically, and you need help now, You know, right? You're in trouble. You just are, especially with traffic. I mean, we all think about we see it every day. Ambulance is trying to get through rush hour traffic. They're probably going, somebody's having a heart attack,
X-Man
right? I think it's very interesting, because right now, everybody is all concerned about the fact that we can be attacked for our data, for our identity being stolen, hackers, all that stuff. I think this returns us back into a medieval time where actually the true the truer threat is an uprising or some kind of guerrilla warfare internally in a 15 minute city where you're actually your food supplies and things like that are overtaken by citizens and then held hostage in order to, you know, advance whatever the agenda is that they're trying to to accomplish. And so that, to me, is a is a great concern, because, you know, if you're if you're truly talking about a shrinking world, you're talking about vertical farms and all these things. Those are very easy things to commandeer. You know, they really are. Those are, and that can be devastating in a 15 minute city scenario, transportation systems, things like that. I mean, those are so easy to take down. Look at the Olympics opening day, right? Bam, everything gets shut down because there's attack on the subway system and so, you know, it's just, I really think we're kind of setting ourselves up for a return to a much to an old day when our infrastructure becomes target instead of our data and computer systems and all that. I think that, I think that, you know, you have a legitimate concern regarding AI. And, you know, unfortunately, the idea that AI has awareness and things like that, I think that's already done. I mean, I think it's there, and I think it scares me, and it's kind of like ignorance is bliss. But this sets us up for some new I'm not saying they're, they're, they're worse problems, just different, different kinds of issues than what we're used to.
Ian
I like the idea currently of, like, I see what we're talking about here, that, like, we're talking about forcing and pigeonholing people into making this decision. But like, this is probably the least popular opinion in the room. But it's like, I'm okay with there being a 15 minute 15 minute city and then allowing people to choose to live there, if someone again, because it currently happens now, there are people to bring back to a previous point that love living in Houston, that love probably living in New Orleans, that love living in a hustling and bustling city. I currently have friends that live in this kind of suburb area that want to go, move to a big city, to go involved, for the opportunities, for all the things. And I'm like, go, go do that. If you can, if you have a job that can, that you can afford, the place that you want to stay at, if you have jobs that you can work out there, and you want to, like, be a part of a city that has better transportation, go do that. Go what makes you happy? And if there's a 15 minute city that like that, it probably has all these control things and make people feel safe, or that there's old folks that feel like they can be a part of a smaller community. If there's young folks that want to be that don't want to own a car ever, I'm like, if you have the freedom of choice, I'm all about it. Go live your life. Go live in a city that has that. Now we're now, this is where we start to talk about, like, the forcing of things. Now, if you're like, Okay, now you have to uproot your life and you have to go live there. That's what I'm like, Okay, I don't like that. Once you start taking freedoms away, that's when it starts to
Jason
get more Well, that's the, I mean, for this to work, of course, the way I think, yeah, these groups it, there's gonna be some forcing of this on people, and I don't know how you get around it, and what I really don't what
Ian
I was saying before, about prefacing, about this whole situation, about, you know, having the middle are not going to be very accepting of this is, I think that, like what we would see, just like you said for AI, it's all about A trickling out. It's going to start off with building one or two of these that people congregate towards. And then, of course, it's going to be more and more popular, until eventually that middle portion that doesn't want to move is going to get forced into it. And then, you know the
X-Man
I mean, that's the matter is it already exists. We already have these things in the world today. And what's funny is, some people pay a lot of money to experience them. Yeah, you said that you like to visit these kinds of places. But did you know like, live there? Well, what do you think a cruise is? I mean, come on, it is a 15 minute city on water that floats around. And I guarantee you like
Jason
they going on one in February.
X-Man
Yeah. Exactly So, and some of them are much more fun than others. So, so just want you know, I mean, we already have these things, but you're talking about a widespread thing. It's going to change the dynamics of people's interactions, of of what constitutes community, of what constitutes nation or nationalism. This is a game changer, and you think the world's small now you just wait.
Jason
Oh yeah, yeah. Well, they the the cities with the worst traffic, talking about living in big city. Guess what? Number one is Los
Ian
Angeles. No Detroit. I don't know, New York. Oh no, that makes sense. Yeah, New York City, either Washington, DC. After
Jason
that, it's London, Paris and Mexico City. Really. Wow.
Ian
Okay, yeah,
Jason
so And But guess what? People in New York want to live in the here at all time. I want to live in the city. Oh, yeah, you know, because, and that is where all the action
Stoney
you have to think about that as as much as they want a 15 minute city there. New York is not a 15 minute city, no, right? It's not closest to it's not even that because of just your travel time to go from point A to B. Let's just, let's say tomorrow, they decided to make New York City a 15 minute city. How much do you think it would take to change the infrastructure to make New Orleans, New York, or even New Orleans, redo
X-Man
it? They would have to completely because it's one of the most segregated cities in the world. You've guys where I'm going, Chinatown, you've got a little Italy, you got Wall Street, all these things. I mean, that city's not but to me, it's vertical. Those
Jason
cities, though, see once again, why the traffic so bad? Because those cities were designed originally, not with cars in mind. Yeah,
Stoney
you think about it. Well, that and that's or not, yeah.
Jason
I mean, it's so good, true. They were not. They were designed for people to live there and walk down the street to the shop and do whatever they needed to do and but just real quick you talk about Los Angeles. Los Angeles is seven on that list, and Houston is 10. Oh,
Ian
I believe it, dude, I drove into Houston, and I was consistently, anytime I want, I merged onto a highway and then like, like to go where I wanted to go, I had to cut across like, three lanes of traffic every time. Like, it was like, if I hopped on this interstate, I hopped on this big highway, and it was like, okay to go to your next destination. Cut across three rows of traffic instantly to go to that exit right there. And I was like, this is not and do. When I looked at it and I zoomed out the map, I was like, What is this spaghetti network of roads? It was so I was so frustrated because I was like, I I had to turn into that driver that I hate, of like, just cutting across traffic and just like, swerving around like a maniac to get where I wanted to go, because obviously I didn't know this city at all, and I'm looking at my map trying to be like, What am I doing? So you can want
Stoney
to drive two miles in Houston and take an hour to an hour and 15 minutes to get there. Two miles. It was crazy. It's ridiculous.
Jason
They say, yeah, the Big Apple lost. They they lost 101 hours to traffic jams at 2023 cost them more than $1,700 in lost time and productivity.
Stoney
Wow, see, I think it would be more in the US, Yeah, but
Jason
you're talking about kind of general averages. I'm sure they're probably larger. And you know, so in the US, traffic delays cost a typical driver more than $733 in lost time, or 70 billion nationwide in 2023 according to i, i n, r, I x,
X-Man
wow, yeah, I, you know, I definitely think that there's going to be this monetary thing, because the you know, you also lose. Once you take that away with this improved infrastructure, you lose the income off of gas and jobs and things, all of the things that support those infrastructures, but the, but I think kind of the one of the greatest costs in this, I know I keep going back to him, is freedom. Like, I'm very worried about the cost of freedom. And you brought this up, Jason, when you talked about, you know, be access to other cities, other places, like, how restrictive is that going to be? Right now you have to have, you know, visa and passports and things like that. Well. How does that load going forward?
Stoney
Wait until it becomes mandatory vaccinations on top of that too well, if you don't have all what happens if this other city wants these vaccinations, and you don't have it over here because your city doesn't believe in that particular vaccination, but it's mandatory over here?
Ian
Well, I'm
Jason
gonna tell you, you're talking about some of the fears, and this is kind of some of the stuff that I think you can kind of. Go down. It can go down a very dark path, because once you open that door, you open the door. But it says here in 2003 the City of London introduced the congestion charge which charges cards being driven within the congestion charge zone in central London during specific hours, 15 pounds a day. Drivers who don't pay the congestion charge are found 160 pounds. So you can see how these kind of things, because once you implement something, okay, we gotta, we have to make it work. So I've got to start doing certain things to kind of direct behavior, right? And that's where this is coming from. But in
Stoney
my research, I came up with my pros and cons of it, and that falls I came up with three cons, and my first one was economic and social segregation, which we've already talked about, but number two was over regulation, and that's exactly what you're talking about.
X-Man
The fast food industry tried to do that to us last year when they were going to do their drive through peak time charges on your Whoppers and your Mick and your Mick, BLTs. I mean, bull like I mean, they got totally rejected by the American consumer. And now look, the fast food industry is crashing right at an alarming rate because they wanted to take advantage of the consumers that way. So I think some of this is going to end up in complete revolt. You know, you're going to or again,
Ian
like, again, you're trying to incentivize people to not drive in a certain area to certain time. But like, what is that going to do? That's going to direct the traffic somewhere else? And then the problem is now, the problem's not gone. The problem has now shifted towards like lower infrastructure, roads or or smaller neighborhoods or wherever else to get around that restriction. Well,
Jason
I will say here just follow up that says last year, the city of London shared the results of the congestion charge with the city's traffic congestion having fallen by 30% while boosting public transport, transport use along with walking and cycling. So okay, I guess you could say it's having the desired effect of stopping people from driving, and these are reducing that and forcing people to say, You know what, just take the bus. Not
X-Man
me, man. I'm gonna, you know what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna revolt, I'm gonna get all all frustrated, and then I'm gonna Bud Light that company big time, or that group, and that's what I'm worried about. Like, what happens? What What does economic I mean, what does unrest look like in the future? And what is the, what is the ramifications of that? Because people are going to get tired of that kind of stuff real fast. And I think you're I think you're in for a lot of unrest, a lot of civil unrest. I
Stoney
agree with that, because it's going to be all about control at that point. You say the wrong thing, you vote the wrong way, you don't believe like everybody else. What left, what little of left of local businesses? What's going to happen? They could think about a local business. Talk about a cancel culture. Now, wait till you're in a 15 minute city, and now they they put you on the big screen and say, Look what they did here. Nobody go there, and then you can't get your goods and wares, and then all that, you're shut down, you're done, you're over. Oh, guess what? Now you're exiled.
Jason
There's a lot of though. There's a lot of just criticism of the concept of the 15 minute city as unrealistic. And there's a It's not like I'm not even talking about potential conspiracies or, you know, he issue. I'm just talking about the practicality, practicality of the idea that everything should be within a 15 minute reach of an individual, whether they bike or they Well, they walk, or whatever the case may be. The fact of the matter is, government can't really force that. I mean, think about it. Hospitals. You can't have a hospital in every in every little city, city. It doesn't happen that way because a lot of these institutions are specialized. Where do they set up? They set up in the greatest population areas where generally people that have the aptitude to go into that kind of work generally congregate, you know. So there's issues with hospitals, universities. What do people normally do for universities? They don't always go to the university. It's right there the closest to the I sometimes they go somewhere else. I
Stoney
can respond to that, and let me find it on my list here, when it comes down to the UN agenda for 2030, all businesses run by the state. And also, hold on, where is it? Where is it? Oh, crap, where is it. It's on here. I know it is. Us. Oh yeah, end of the family unit. And your children raised by the government, right? Well, here's okay, because you know what, you can't raise your son. We need a doctor, so your son is now going to be a doctor. Oh yeah, we need a garbage man. Your daughter is going to be the garbage woman. Now, right? Because you won't be able to dictate what it's government raised children.
X-Man
It's North Korea.
Stoney
It's exactly North Korea, basically. Is
X-Man
that the and, you know, that's just the beginning of the problems with all of this. I mean, you have, I agree with you, from the standpoint that there are great things about this, and this is going to be hard to do, but I do not agree with the whole the government can't control it, because the government heading towards city planning is the government, that's right. And we are going, we're in a place right now where we're starting to run out of room in some of these places, and so new cities are going to get planned. And so how do you change culture? You change it through new people and leadership. Well, whatever
Stoney
you do in Saudi Arabia, what is a mile city? They're, they're building it. It's, it's under construction now. They're building a new city in the desert, one mile long, that's going to be one of the first true 15 minute cities. Then
X-Man
they're going to take it and dupe it all over
Stoney
the world. That's right, that's right. And that's what Maui was supposed to be, maybe
Ian
in the future, but right now, from what I've heard, it's so because, because it's because that I think it's called the line, and it's so lofty line that I think financially, it may fail before it even finishes right? It's like, because it's so, yeah, because it's so, it's so crazy. I
Jason
like, I just kind of go back to what I said. I personally think there are some logistical issues with the concept of 15. And I think when, when Marino poached the, you know, put the idea out there, I think it's more of a guide and how things should be, you know, template that you right, and not necessarily a hard, fast. I mean, there are some places that will they would have to be a lot of and I'm not saying it can't happen, right? I The world would have to change radically. America would have to change. America would have to change radically. And then ultimately, knowing America, what it is stubborn it is, there's going to be people that are going to fight and resist that that just is,
X-Man
let's talk about radical change in America today. Look at Maui. Maui, Hawaii. That's right. I mean, it's already happening. You've got super rich going in, yes. And what they did was they commandeered that island so that they could have their 15 minute city dream come true. And so you can, you can call that a conspiracy all you want, but let's look at the facts. Why don't you ask the residents there what they think happened?
Stoney
Yeah, I agree. 100% they were already two years before the fires, trying to buy the land from the locals, and they said, No, ask the ask the people there now how much help they've gotten to rebuild? 00. They get offers to buy their property. They get offers to buy their property and relocate them to the States or somewhere else, but they don't. They're not getting their their money to rebuild right now. And Stoney, let
X-Man
me ask you this, why Maui?
Stoney
Why Maui? Where is it located? In
X-Man
the middle of nothing, the middle of nothing, which is where the line's located, that's
Stoney
right the middle of nothing. So that the ultra rich have a place to go when the crap hits the fan in the world, they have a place to go really far away and live their life. So
X-Man
these are new developed, intentional, 15 minute cities that are self sustainable out in the middle of nowhere, so that they're not easily attacked, right? Because you're going to know if you're going to be attacked in that location, right? Because you can see it incoming. And so this is the government fundamentally changing through the development of new development and, and it's already been happening, come on, Dubai. It wasn't even there, right? When I was a kid. That's right. So, so you've got, you've got the government changing this through city development. And who's who, who are the residents of them, the ultra
Stoney
wealth. They're super rich. And the governments now are run by the super rich and wealthy. The Black Rock State Street and Vanguard have a combined and they're all owned by each other. It's still one corporation, because all of the board sits on the board and they, you know of each other. They are a combined $69 trillion entity. Okay? That's the whole world added together,
X-Man
yeah, and that's, that's justification for Wolf's, you know, concept about being concerned about gentrification and being priced out of things, it will absolutely happen. It will happen.
Stoney
Absolutely will because that's who's running this now best predictor of the future the past. That's right, how many times have they done it? They've shoved it down our throats. How many times over and over and for me, this is why there's such a large attack on the American family, because while America is strong, this will never happen. Well,
Jason
yeah. I mean, I mean, the fact is, the more diffused that a population is in is self sufficient. Well, I my need of a central governing authority is not nearly as, you know, I don't need it as much as maybe somebody that lives inside of a highly urbanized environment. You know, I don't need the government you hear about, I mean, you hear it now by people who live out there in the middle of nowhere. What do I need the government for? I don't need a grid. I got my own food. I mean, and let's be honest, that's how America started. That's right, that's how America started. But there was a time, though, where people were fleeing the countryside and coming to the city. Why is that? But
Stoney
you see, they tried to push that again with covid. What happened with covid? They made you go into your house. They took the human they compartmentalize your life, mentalized your life, right? Made you work from home, made you not talk. Couldn't go see your grandmother in the hospital or the old folks home. You couldn't go to church. So they're trying to see what can we get away with? How many times now have you heard monkey pox is coming out? Yeah, I've heard that. And then my favorite thing is, is now when you look at what people know, has anybody heard of the Prophecy of the Popes?
Jason
I think I've heard that. I would love
Stoney
to do an X man. Maybe you can come on and do that with us. When the Vatican was built, what did the Popes know? Because if you go to the Vatican, I don't know who's been here. I've been to the Vatican. There is a a finite number of frames, of frames. We're in the last hole now, right? 2027 and one of the popes did some predictions on this timeline, this timeline? Yeah, I think I remember hearing about what did they know? And 2027 is the year. So with all of this going on now and forcing us to do something, why is there going to be no more Popes? What did they know? Very interesting. And so with this being pushed on us now, what happens? Well, and you know the other does that Armageddon happen? Does the rebellion, as you said, come into effect? Well,
X-Man
and that's the banishment, right? And if you don't go along with it, are you going to get bandaged to the outer lands, you know, and then, but
Stoney
how biblical is that? How biblical is that's huge, the mark of the beast, right? That's your digital ID, or your
X-Man
or your or your key to the city, or your key. That's right, that's right. You know,
Stoney
if you don't have it, you can't get into the city, yeah, because
X-Man
what are you going to do if you live in the Outlands because you've been banished, or you don't want to live in the city, or you want to be out in the middle of nowhere, or you want to be self sustaining, or you want to, you know, all of that. What are you going to do when a city like LA cuts off your resources because they exactly control them all,
Stoney
that's right. Well, they
Jason
make you they make you conform. I mean, look at the end of the day when it comes to my basic well being, my food, my water. Guess what you're
Ian
going to do? Or, just like London, you're going to
Jason
pay a fee for are you going to pay a fee for it? That's right. I mean, which
Stoney
will be higher depending on what your social score is.
Jason
I've had this discussion about, you know, you know what we're going to do, and if this happens, if that happens, I mean, the fact of the matter is, there's very few people that can survive on their own. They just can't. But that's their point. I get that. But depopulate everybody. Most people are going to do what they going to be told, that's right. It's just what it is. Well,
Ian
it's the same thing with, like, all the you made a point earlier about, you know, McDonald's making that whole claim about the whole was insane, wouldn't it, but the funny thing, but you say that, but then again, just like every company does, just like every government, a government does, just like I've done in the past. And I'll, and I'll say this proudly on the show, I. You give it some time. You let a situation diffuse a little bit, let everyone kind of forget that it happened a little bit, backtrack on it, or whatever, or let go however you want to say it. Let us let it, let it all simmer down for a second, and then give something that they actually really enjoy. They McDonald's is bringing back, like a an actual, like dollar value menu for like and people are going crazy for it, and now their stocks are up higher than they ever have been, supposedly. And it's like, and so it's like, they do something. They shoot themselves in the foot. They're like, oh, let's go ahead and let's Well, yeah,
Stoney
like I said earlier, and then again, seeing what they can get away with, right? They're trying it out and seeing what they can do,
Jason
right? Yeah. But the fast food industry, though, I think the biggest thing facing the fast food industry is people are finally smart, yep, with with the quality of there is a lot more consciousness. And I think this goes along with the Green Movement, right, and in its at the heart of its argument, I'm very much, you know, I count myself as a a conservative Republican, whatever moniker you want to, but there are many parts of what would be traditionally Democrat that I'm in favor of. Sure I'm in favor of clean water, right? Our food to be healthy,
Stoney
right? I don't you know Republicans or the Conservatives don't want those Well,
Jason
generally, though, but you talk about, as far as, once again, you're talking about generalities. Republicans have always been typically associated with big corporations, right? Businesses looking for the bottom line, and if I've got a push, make this cheaper, yeah, you know, I'll sacrifice quality to get the right price point where people will buy it. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Generals. Now I think that love that's changed. 70% of the 70% of the wealth is owned by Democrats. That's right, it's funny how it has switched, which
Stoney
hasn't switched. It's always been that way, but they've mobbed. They've said that we're for the people. We're for these things. They've never been for the people.
X-Man
Well, the other thing is, it brings up like and here is, to me, the million dollar question and all this, if I answer it, a million dollars, sure, who gets to decide what's available locally, right? Who gets to decide what these little cities, these little 50 or these 15 minute cities get to have, you know, like, who gets to determine that? I'm telling you, it's gonna be global domination and control, and it is going to it all of this is just a setup to you said the biblical kind of forecast for
Stoney
one world government, one world government, that's exactly what they're going for. That is on the UN Charter for 2031 world government, one world bank, one world monetary, six years from one world police. You
Jason
know, then that's right. I will bring up a point based on an episode that you all did when x man was with y'all, what if aliens landed on the White House lawn? That's right, okay, at that point, think about it. If that happens in front of everybody, a spaceship lands and these beans come out. Yeah, we're here. We come from here, blah, blah, blah, and we're hungry. Guess what? We're no longer Americans, we're no longer Russians, we're no longer Chinese. We're human beings now. And guess what, one world government didn't make sense.
X-Man
Everybody tackle wolf because he loves aliens.
Ian
And that's and I said that, I said the very same thing because I had, because I my, my best friend, had that realization. And like, a really, like a big revelation moment, he's like, there is nothing right now, currently, that we can do for us to all be unified as one people, except for some external threat from another world. You
X-Man
know that we just heard that our new little hardware out in space received a message, a clearly, yes, intelligent, repeated message. And so it's so
Jason
that's what I'm saying. I think that if one I don't, I think depending on we have no idea if we could stick ourselves in a in a time capsule and wake up 250 years from now, just like people 200 the founders of this country, if they woke up in today's world, this would be an alien world to them. It would right, and it will be an alien world for us 200 years from now. We will be if somehow you could wake up and say, Good lord, yeah. What does this place turn into?
X-Man
Yeah. They'll be saying, you didn't see it coming. We've had the revelation for over 2000 years.
Jason
What it is, I mean, I don't, I think we adapt and we grow to whatever situation faces us. I mean, I, I mean, I don't get too much into the end of the world because, you know, I mean, Lord, we don't know what that means. Yeah, all
X-Man
of this is going to be. All of this isn't a matter of if. This is just a matter of when it's going to be, how tolerant to this change towards that end goal are we going to be, and how resistant are we going to be? It's not if it's just how much time is it going to take?
Jason
I think there's going to be, definitely, I agree there are forces at work right now that want to fundamentally transform America from something that it was into something different. That was said by was it? Barack Obama said that, and a lot of issues have come up since then, and you could see it in the presidential elections, it's nearly 5050, I don't you got half, you got half the population that thinks one way, and half the population. I
Stoney
think that's the liberal media spinning. I think we're in the pendulum the other way, more of the conservative route.
Jason
Well, I think you what's happening is you're getting pushback. Yeah, you're getting, you're getting, you're getting, I
Stoney
think the media, the liberal media, is trying to give her a chance. I'm not so sure she's got that much of a chance right now. Yeah,
Jason
well, she's in trouble.
Stoney
She she's in
Jason
she's in trouble when the teamsters no back when I saw that like but that's neither here nor there.
X-Man
I do think that the and I'm gonna, I'm gonna put this outside of America, I think the world is waking up, in some ways, to just accepting that things have to be a certain way. I think everybody's starting to get tired of being told how it's gonna work. Oh, I agree. So I definitely and that that may could be a good episode too. What are you tired of being told has you have to deal with a lot
Jason
of people. A lot of people in around the world are bucking this. I mean, you talk about China, we talk about China, but the young people in China are very much pushing back against the Chinese Communist Party that's been running the country.
X-Man
Oh, yeah, yeah. All I know is, when all hell breaks loose, I'm going to take all my water and go to stoney's because he has lots of guns. We don't
Stoney
want to tell everybody that sorry about that world. We don't want to tell
Jason
everyone. Well, the question then comes in. I mean, this is kind of off topic, but I mean, do you shelter in place, or do you become nomadic? You do
Stoney
both. You have to do both. You have to start off. You're going to shelter in place, and then you have to move. Thank God.
X-Man
I watched all those episodes of Naked and Afraid.
Jason
Well, look back to our just some, some, some things I saw here. The average annual cost of commuting is somewhere between two and $5,000 Wow, because we live in a commuting society. Mm, hmm. You're spending on average, two to five grand a year,
Ian
sounds all right. Yeah.
Jason
You spend, even if you spend $10 more a day on coffee and lunch at work, that adds up to about 2500 per year. Eating at home calls half that amount.
X-Man
Wow. So if you're not in one of these little cities, and you're out in the country, your costs are higher, but you're likely not going to be earning a higher wage. So that's, that's the other thing. How do you navigate this, this idea of these 15 minute cities? Jason with, you know, with the idea of how to, how to bring the rural community into the picture. I mean, I
Jason
think does the rural community, I think it look in a perfect world which we don't live in, if you could design a city from scratch, the fact of the matter is, you would have to have all necessary essentials to the extent possible. Now, there's just some things you're not going to be able to because you can't have a university, you know, in every city, or you would have to reduce the amount of urban centers that actually exist. That is be the only way you could accomplish, I think, the goals of making each urban center truly a 15 minute where I literally have everything a person could possibly need or want. I. That they would live, born, live and die. Well, in that city,
Stoney
this has kind of been experimented with. If you think about it, think about it, kind of in the medieval times, you had a castle in the middle, yep, oh yeah, church, and you had the church in the middle. You had everything around it, the farmland, the hunters, the gatherers, the people that did all the work. And when somebody attacked it, what happened? Everybody went into the castle. Yep, it's a smaller scale, right? But there was fewer people then. But think about that now. That's kind of what they're going to have to gravitate to, is having everything kind of around the outlying areas. There's poor people, there's there's your workers and your slaves and the Ultra Rich. Where were they? Which was
X-Man
exactly my point, because you know what you just said, basically that the government's going to commandeer the rural community to be the slave of the 15 minute city. Here it is so
Jason
because you got to have something to support it, unless you within the 15 minute city you actually incorporate, I could say the advances in agriculture. You could you could look at hydroponics, I mean, on a mass scale, I could see how that, that could work. You could grow the vegetables you want with hydroponic from, from
Ian
what I from what research I did on the line itself. I think it was originally supposed to be 100 miles long, and it's supposed to be segmented in like cities like that, where, like, where you can technically, if you wanted to go from one end of the line all the way to the other. And then there's like, portions of it that are sectioned out. I think it's supposed to be 500 meters tall by 200 meters wide. I think currently, I think it's ending at about a mile and a half, because 100 was not going to happen. But it's
Stoney
that may be their ultimate goal. This is just how they're going to
Ian
start, right, right. But again, again, you're supposed to like you. You have this area, this portion of that you can throughout all the floors of this between the two areas of the both sides of it, you can live in this area, and then maybe you go all the way down to one side for a university section. Just
X-Man
think though how, how precision the attack is going to be. Because we're warring. We have a warring nature. Just think what they're going to do. They're going to take out your water filtration system, your your power grid and your hospitals,
Ian
but then, but then my this is where, this is where, I guess I get real because, because you're right. But if these big, 15 minute cities are going to be the hubs of all these rich elite, who's to say we can't do the same thing? I'm not saying we're revolting right now. But like,
Jason
I mean, oh, is it a desire for you to be rich in elite I mean, no, to all of us drive toward to be rich, but when I be richer than we were before,
Ian
I can understand if I'm one of those people live in that city, the concern, the fear and all that, but it's just you turn it back around. Who's to say we don't we're not the back. We're not the pirates that infiltrate this billion dollar 15 minute city and then make it collapse and go, because you're ruining my life now. We're the rebellion. We're the resistance. Stoney keeps talking about demolition. I'm just saying demolition,
Stoney
right?
Jason
I mean, you think there's been a lot of things. What was that movie that came out that kind of touched on this a little bit. It was Demolition Man, not Demolition Man. I was, think it was a where all the rich ended up in the on a on a spaceship, uh, kind of Elise, yes, yeah, yeah. What happened all the rich had kind of built their own city, and what the earth was polluted, oh, yeah, unhealthy. You didn't really have health care. It
X-Man
was right. It's just the next generation's Maui, sorry, it is, yes, yeah, could be it's already happening. We're looking right now at developing colonies on Mars. Look, look, it's already right. Well, Cornell,
Jason
Ellen musk, yeah, they he wants to go to colonize Mars because he
X-Man
knows things he's not worried about. Maui, he's going to Mars.
Stoney
The funny thing about it is I asked a question in the
Jason
last she thinks the earth is doomed.
Stoney
And I listed a couple of movies, and I said, you sided with the resistance. You sided with the resistance. And I got four or five texts and emails from people saying, that's right, that's right. Why can't you see it in real life? Yeah, it's happening now.
X-Man
It already is.
Stoney
It's happening. We're not at that point. Remember Ronald Reagan said in the 80s, we're one generation away from losing all of our freedoms. Yep, we're at that point right now. That's exactly right, and that was 40 years ago. So 40 years from now, we're talking about it like he did, and we could be in that spot. And
X-Man
your comment about being predestined into certain lives, that's the government is going to control the children and what they become, that's what they want. Yep. So, wow.
Jason
Well, been an interesting discussion. I mean, this. So many different rabbit holes you can go down with this topic, but I hope that we were able to really give the topic justice and really talk about what is, in theory, a concept, and we'll see how this plays out over time. Oh, what a heavy
Ian
episode. But to be honest, I knew this was going to happen. The second is, Stoney was like, let's talk about 15 minute City. I was like, Oh, I was like,
Stoney
Oh, I got a buck. Oh, no,
Ian
you were happy to talk about, yeah, air it out. You're right, but at the same time there's a good conversation. Like, anyways, if you were, I figured at some point somebody's gonna probably have some frustrations and some comments they want to make on it. You can type in at retrospect pod, and you can find us on all the social media, some major podcasting platforms, or you can go to our email address get offended together@gmail.com, where you can give us more long form feelings, and you can really type out all your frustrations there again, I also have the ability now to look at comments on Spotify. I didn't have that before, so on YouTube and Spotify, scroll down. You can see the little comment section. You can give us some comments there if you feel like it. So there's ways you can get in touch with us, and until next time, thank you so much for listening. Bye, bye.
Jason
Goodbye everyone.
X-Man
God bless. See ya.
Stoney
You're the best. Peace.