Dogs, Sex and Ai… OH MY! (PART ONE) | Capability Amplifier EP#152

All technologies really start as weapons, as toys, or as porn.

AI is our latest slave. You know, the notion of something that never gets tired, never complains, never goes to bed, never needs a vacation. When you learn how to prompt, stack prompts, pick right fit applications and give it the right commands and also know what it does, what it doesn't do, well, you realize that you're not limited necessarily by time, money, capabilities, people, team size. You're really limited by your imagination and your ability to ask great questions.

Dogs are a technology. So we say, we've got a 30,000 year track record of developing this technology. Let's just take the lessons with dogs and apply them to technology.

Okay, Dan, we were just talking before we rolled cameras and you've got an interesting philosophy about dog sex, AI and also stupid people, smart people and technology. So why don't you tell me the story about kids, teenagers and sex?

Yeah, well, one of the things I've noticed, I noticed it a little bit when I was a teenager, but then I'm, you know, right Now I'm about.

70 years beyond that.

But what I noticed, it happens with each new generation of teenagers that they kind of discover that they're the first human generation that discovered sex, you know, and they said, they said, God, did you know about sex? I mean, it doesn't look like adults know about sex, you know, And.

I noticed the same pattern with young people who suddenly get a hold of a new technology. They think that they're the first humans.

Who ever hit upon the whole notion that there are things that you can do with technology where with a little effort you get a much bigger result, okay? And they say, you know, it's just amazing that the world got as far as it got before we came along, because we're the ones who discovered what technology is, okay? And it's kind, I mean, sex from a certain standpoint is sort of a technology for produce, you know, I mean.

It'S misused, but sometimes it actually produces good new human beings, you know, and, you know, and so, but what I feel is what we call humanity are the animal species that discovered technology and, and that humans start with technology. And what I simply mean by that, that humans wanted to survive and they noticed to survive and actually get to the point where they could progress, they had to use resources from the environment around them, sticks and stones, and to get a better result that was greater than the amount of effort they had to put into it. Okay? And that's what technology is. And so.

I've been thinking about AI because It's the latest version in my lifetime of a new thing that people said, this changes everything. This changes everything. You know, just like teenagers feel sex changes everything.

But I do believe that technology is just what humans do.

That'S good in all places, in all places, in all times. Some are much better at it than others, and they tend to be the winners and the ones who is presented to them, and they don't take advantage of it, and they're kind of the losers. And I think that, Mike, you've been involved with it for.

More than two thirds of your life now, and, you know, more than that, maybe 80% of your life, you've been directly involved in finding new things that give you a much bigger result than effort, you know, and you took to AI, but you've been doing the same thing. AI is just the latest thing that you took to.

Yeah, I think there's.

One more framing thing that I want to cover that you shared this past week at Coach and before. And before I go into that, because, yeah, I started doing tech, man, I started coding a little when I was.

Maybe 11, 12, 13, and then 14 is really when I took the time I learned how to program. And it wasn't too far off from there that I heard about Marvin Minsky, who is credited often for being one of the first people to really talk about software in AI. There have been concepts that go back way, way a long time ago.

And AI just needed a bunch of processing power to make it go and make it work. It's sort of like you couldn't have an iPhone until, you know, you had a battery that was small enough, a screen that was big enough, the Internet and, you know, Steve Jobs thinking about doing a better MP3 player, which became the ipod. You know, there was an. There was an ipod before an ipod, just like there were a lot of computers before. You know, it's like, this is always an evolution. That's really what you're getting at is. And, you know, you think about what was one of the first machines, first technologies, while humans use other humans. Slaves were pretty early technology that was probably. There were. I'm sure there were slaves before there were wheels. And.

I tell a story when I teach AI where I say, you know, it wasn't that long ago and it's only been around 200,000 years that there have been modern humans. And. And I'm sure long before there are modern humans, you know, pre.

Homo sapiens were. Knew how to use rocks and they use technology. And if there were a. Was a bad Tribe of people trying to steal your women and your children and your food in your cave. Someone got really good at throwing rocks and teaching everyone else how to throw rocks well. And kept those bad ones away until someone figured out how to put sharp pointy rocks in the end of sticks and throw them or use a bow. Right. So that's another form of technology. Until someone made gunpowder and cannons and guns and then knew how to mechanize the creation of guns and you know, and on and on and on with the mechanization of war. That's pretty, pretty impressive technology.

Yeah, well, all technologies really start as weapons.

As toys or as porn.

Yeah.

If you look at the development of technologies, printing didn't take off until the first porn books came out.

Yeah, yeah.

No, if you think about it, the hormones that drive human motivation, you know.

What'S it, Adderall, Adderall, Viagra. No, but adrenaline, Adrenaline drives you.

Okay. Yeah.

Dopamine drives you. Serotonin drives you. You know, and so that, you know, if you look at weapons, toys and porn, they're all high hormone activities.

Yeah.

That really catch people's attention.

Yeah. Well, when I, when I do any kind of marketing stuff, I always break everything down into my simplifier side. Says it all comes down to get paid, get laid, live forever. You're promising, make more money, increase your status, authority, attractiveness, desirability, or live forever, have a healthy life. And then the combo, the holy trinity of products are a better life. What's the big promise of strategic coach? Really? It's time, freedom, it's personal freedom and that's a better life. But along the way. Yeah, you're going to make more money. Yeah. You're going to increase your status and authority by being the smartest person in the room and having great tools and the longevity. I mean, you think about what your product.

Lifetime, well, you change the name of it. What do we call lifetime extender, age reversal future.

Now, but you have to have the lifetime extender before you can get to the age reversal future. In other words, you gotta change the number of your mind when you're expecting to die to way beyond that. And that gives you a sense of that. You've got a lot of time to explore new things and develop new things.

Yeah.

You know, I mean if someone is, if someone is 65 and they think they're going to die at 75, they don't do anything new.

Yeah. You've got to give yourself that.

They just want to spend, they just want to spend a lot of time at the bar in the departure lounge.

Time, freedom. Okay, so. So I want to go to the next idea that you shared, which is the dog philosophy and technology. Dogs and technology. Because that'll bring this to the triad that I want to make a point of, which is the next evolution of, you know, because in a way, AI is our latest slave. You know, the notion of something that never gets tired, never complains, never goes to bed, never needs a vacation, and will do whatever you want to do and doesn't take anything personally. It's like, do it again, do it again, try it again, try it again. And I. What I noticed with AI in the people who are most effective at it is when you learn how to prompt, stack prompts, pick right fit applications and give it the right commands and also know what it does, what it doesn't do. Well.

Once you make a few realizations, you realize that you're not limited necessarily by time, money, capabilities, people, team size. You're really limited by your imagination and your ability to ask great questions. And that really is a strong metaphor for.

And to collaborate. And to collaborate.

Yes. Oh, for sure, for sure. So you've talked many times about the earliest known animal collaboration, which is dogs in the relationship with humans. But I think your new observation is thinking about AI as a dog. So do you want to talk a little bit about that? Bring us to.

Yeah, Well, I have my newest quarterly book, which will be my 35th book. Small book. These are small books. They're one idea books. And when I was 70, I said, nice goal for me would be in the next 25 years, write 100 small books. I put a whole team together so I have a certain input into it, and the other team members do the production and execution and, you know, it gets out there. It takes about 50 hours of my time, a quarter to write a new book and. But the name of the book is Owning Technology like a great dog. Owning Technology like a great dog. And.

What a lot of people don't realize that dogs are a created technology because it was a collaboration between some, you know, kind of canny wolf and some sort of really smart human being. And it seems to have happened in a number of different places. So there isn't a one spot starting point.

But the earliest that they can.

Detect that dogs, and they do this from bones that they find, skeleton bones, they find, but also paintings that were done on, you know, on cave walls and things like that. All of a sudden this creature exists, which kind of looks like a wolf, but isn't wild. You know, it Seems to be a tame creature. And as near as I can figure, 30,000 years is where they can prove that dogs were in play, but probably.

Much earlier. But to be scientifically safe, they say it's about 30,000. And that's a technology that if you depart from the fact that they're an animal and you think the way that dogs have proliferated and then the extraordinarily breeding that produced hundreds of different dogs for specialized human purposes, you know, and I think in the modern age, right now that Americans as a people do more with dogs than in other places around the world, dogs are used for incredible number of activities and results. And I think Americans are the ones who created companionship as one of the uses of dogs, to actually have dogs as companions. Dogs. Lee Richter, who you know is, she and her husband have created an enormous hospital approach. You know, and I always say the best healthcare system in Canada, the best healthcare system in the United States are veterinarian hospitals. And the reason is that they're driven by love, where the normal hospital system is driven by fear and greed. Yep, yeah, yeah. People are fearful of hospitals and because the hospitals, if you want to get sick really fast, almost on schedule, just check yourself into a hospital. There's more diseases.

Caught in hospitals than they are in the outside world. But anyway, so what I did in this book, I just treated dogs as a technology. And the key to mastering the technology of dogs is to be a great owner. Okay. And I said, well, let's. So this is one technology where the solution was be great owner. And I said, I think there's a lot we can learn from dogs and owning dogs of what makes a great owner who ends up with great dogs. And I said, let's just apply that to technology. Dogs are a technology. So we say we've got a 30,000 year track record of developing this technology. Let's just take the lessons with dogs and apply them to technology. So that's the basic thesis of the book.

And at the end of the book there's a real punchline because the real key to this is to then only to become full owner of your entire life. The more you're an owner of your own life as a human, the more you'll then attract other individuals into your life. Human individuals who are owners of their life. And you know, the Free Zone workshop is a good example of that. You know, the people in that room own their lives, they own their time, they own their money, they own their relationship and they own their purpose. And it really resonates with new collaborative opportunities. When you know the person that you're dealing with is an owner of their life. And you know, because you meet a lot of people who don't own their life, their life owns them. You know, the circumstances of their life own them, you know, and I think it's binary. You're either an owner or you're owned.

There's a whole bunch of ideas that come to mind when you go through that for me, which I find that the more time I spend in a state of.

Pure creativity, innovation and research.

Productivity.

Yes, yep, for sure. Research for research sake, in other words. I remember a friend of mine once told me one of the highest ROI investments a company can ever make, and the signal as to whether or not it's going to survive or not is how much they invest in pure research.

Which at first I thought, ah, that seems idiotic. But like 3M for many years they have, you know, they give every employee the chance to spend 15% of their time doing pure research. Doesn't have to even have an economic focus because statistically that long term focus of thinking out 10, 20, 25 years results in some really big innovations.

And obviously you have to have the right people in that seat where they don't just go out and go drinking during their 15% of the time. They're productive and they love the research.

The point I guess I'm making is when I get to tinker play, focus on productivity, like you said, but also collaborate. And I've definitely found that the free zone mindset of let's find ways to create 10x futures together.

Is a huge multiplier. And you don't spend your time worrying about how am I going to make this company between us work if you own yours and I own mine and we're collaborating together to create a brighter 10x future that we couldn't access by ourselves. And I'd rather invest that time in making valuable stuff than trying to figure out how we're going to split the business and the equity. I think there's a tremendous amount of genius there. Hey, this is Mike Koenigs. Sorry to interrupt the podcast, but if you're an action taker and ready to transform and reinvent yourself and your business, go to connecttomike.com to learn more and book a conversation with me right now. All right, back to the episode. Well, first of all, you both have.

To be cash confident. You know, most entrepreneurs are not cash confident. They always have to be worried about this month's cash flow. And I said, well, just handle that on your own so that when you meet another person and they're cash confident, then you can really think about the future and actually create something new between the two of you that doesn't exist. And it transforms some part of the marketplace. It creates a new value proposition in the marketplace that.

Doesn'T exist. And nobody who's a competitor in your industry would ever possibly think about this because their noses to the cash flow necessity. They have to get the cash. And so you create a third thing that the two of you, neither any competitor in your industry or competitor in the other person's industry would ever think about this because they don't have the freedom of time, they don't have the freedom of money, they don't have the freedom of relationship. Relationship to.

Jointly create a new purpose, you know. And yeah, so it's interesting, you know, and you've created this more or less this free zone center on the Baja peninsula, right on the Pacific. And you just pull people down there and say, okay, you're on free time now, but we'll turn it into thinking time. And let's just have a couple days with good hospitality, you know, a lot of sunshine, a lot of exercise and let's just see what plenty of alcohol. Yeah, alcohol is great multiplier. And let's just see if we can come up with something new. And we don't have to worry about the short term money because we've already handled that, you know.

Yes.

And most of us have handled the long term money, so that's. It's not necessary. But.

People who live in scarcity can't even conceive of doing that.

Yeah, it's magical.

And so all of that's true. And here's what, again, I'll give a lot of credit to you because.

When we first started doing this project, first of all, neither Vivian and I had never done real estate before. We were just scared of it. And I was terrified that I get over leveraged and it's going to be too complicated. And I really didn't want to learn about real estate. I'd rather focus on what I think I'm great at. But thank God we took a leap and dove into this because now I really understand how it can be such an amazing multiplier and we just wouldn't have taken these big risks. But here's the credit to you because once I started thinking about, well, let's think about how to make this more of a community and a free zone. Because at first it was like, hey, we're going to build a house. And our friends are going to build a house. And then it turned into seven homes because we'd sell them and make some money. And then we thought. And then it was like, well, I'm going to need a studio and a theater and a place to bring people so I can do shows. You know, I got to have an entertainment place. I was like, well, we got to feed people, so we'll throw a restaurant on this thing. And then it's like, shoot, what else do I want? Well, I want more longevity and better health, so let's do a longevity center. And then, you know, I talked to Reagan Archibald. I talked to Brian Sweet, who does money, talked to another guy who does Steve Marler does full body scans. And I ended up meeting another guy completely independently, who's a Rutgers professor. But he wants to upgrade his life and teach higher quality people. But we've all been building this wealth. Longevity International is what the free zone opportunity is between Brian and Reagan and Steve, and.

We bring in other people. And that evolved into a much bigger development that required a completely different level of thinking. But when we brought everyone down for a tour and all we have are blank lots, okay. With chalk lines on them and a plan. But four out of four people bought the homes because they love the vision. And the way I describe it is this is a free zone economy. And.

United States can be a business hostile environment, even though it's one of the least business hostile environments. Right. Mexico right now is a different type of place to live in. What I've learned after doing business now in Mexico and going through the development effort is.

You don't have to pay anyone off. There's a lot of talk that you got to create. You got to bribe people. And there's all this stuff about you can't own property, which is all nonsense. It's easy to own property in Mexico, but you got to educate yourself and you need to invest time in people. Because in the United States, people will say, well, building codes are building codes, and everything follows a certain thing. And Mexico is the same way. However, you can get a different answer on a different day depending on the quality of the relationship you have with a person.

Well, right.

There's a different level of flexibility, and I kind of like that.

I like being able to call, you know what's true. And you'll bounce this off. Your Mexican experience is that nobody's in charge, but rules are in charge.

Yeah.

And every situation has its own set of rules that have to be followed. If you're Going to be successful in that situation.

Very true. Okay, so I'm going to get to a big idea that I want to kind of play with you on and get your perspective on.

Because you have a philosophy about technology, which is.

Well, yeah, I want you to do the stupid and smart and technology Dan Sullivanism here. And then I want to ask you the big question.

Well, personally, and this is a personal, you know, this is a personal approach. And then. But when I tell other people about it, they find that they make progress. There's two rules. And the first rule is I always keep smart people between me and the technology.

And, you know, my technological skills are just what I need to get my message out. And, you know, so, you know, I could type. And that was a good skill to have because when computers came in and, you know, and word processing was important. But from that point forward, you know, I've created writing tools. I've got tools for different, you know, thinking about projects in a different way. But there was a smart person at Strategic Coach that I would just sketch out what the tool should look like, and he would create all the software for it. So I just get the benefit. And then, you know, and, you know, and then I learned how to use.

We had a video studio, we have an audio studio, but other people created the entire structure. They created all the infrastructure for the studio and all I had to do. I like to write and I like to talk, you know, and I try as much as possible not have too much added that I have to think about than those two skills. Well, I can think, and thinking is good. So thinking, writing, and talking are my three main skills. So I would say that there isn't much of a change in my life since the mid-80s, but the number of enabling technologies that have come available are really quite extraordinary. Okay, but I haven't. Technology has changed, but I haven't changed. I.

Okay, yes.

And so I have two rules. First rule is always keep a smart person between me and the technology. And I just had an example, Gord Vickman, who is managing the call that we're having right now for my side. I mentioned to him he's going off to the podcast conference in, you know, in a. In a matter of weeks or months. I'm not sure exactly when the date is. And I says, there's one thing I'd like you to look for, Gord. There's a new technology. I've heard about it. And.

I talked to him, I think it was yesterday about this. And I said, gord, when you're down there and it's a technology. You do the zoom, the zoom video, and then afterwards you can insert the background. But it's not like the zoom background because zoom background distorts when you move your, you know, you move your head. I said, this is just looks like a background, like what you have, you know, which is an actual, you know, which is actually a physical drawing that you have the, you know, capability amplifier. But you would be able to do that in post production. And so I just mentioned it to him. He looked it up, he discovered the technology and he took a look at it in our production. Production team and strategic coach is already busy getting the handle on it and going forward. Then every podcast I've done where it was just a room, you know, but the lighting was good enough that on me, the lighting was good enough, but the background wasn't especially thrilling. And so within a matter of a couple weeks. So I'm taking advantage of the technology, but I've got smart humans between me and the, you know, and the result, so I don't have to do the result. So we got two. Two who's going here. Smart humans is a who. And really more advanced technology is a who, you know. Yeah. So I don't do the house. I simply set out a vision of a future result and then I communicate it to smart people who enjoy.

You know.

Locate sourcing it and mastering it and getting it into play. And so, you know, and. But the other thing is that I use rule number two. Rule number one is keep a smart human between you and the technology. But the other thing is keep technology between you and stupid humans.

That can mean a lot of things. I can think of a bunch of applications, but I want to focus on the positive here.

Yeah.

For example.

It'S easy to get to be in contact with me if I want to be in contact with you.

Right.

So I set up all technological meetings the same way I would set up a physical meeting.

Talk to my assistant. Yeah.

Have your people. Have your people call my people. Okay. Yep. I said, well, I just want 10 minutes with Dan. And I say, first of all, we have to put it in the schedule. And so you'll send me a fast filter.

Saying what it is that you want to. No, it's just 10 minutes. I just want to bounce something off you. And I says, no, I think what you want to do is to delegate your thinking to me so that I do your thinking. And I said, I don't do that. I don't do other people's thinking. I enjoy being in contact with people who do their own thinking.

Yes.

Because if we have the meeting and I do your thinking, I'm drained. And you just got a freebie.

Right. Which is.

And my freebie didn't improve you as a thinker.

And the other part of that that's great is what Dan likes is conversations. Right?

Yeah.

He wants to feel as though this is my interpretation, Dan Sullivan, but you are lit up by intriguing, interesting conversations where you walk away learning something and thinking something different and being able to likely create new products and new content.

On top of that, which then you patent, trademark.

Copyright, and they become new thinking tools that multiply.

You know, the members of Coach and make you money. You know, it's like you got more, More paying fans, which is another important thing. If you want to talk to Dan Sullivan, you got to join Coach and you got to learn the tools to learn how to talk to them. So you know, someone who's just hearing this, they won't even know what the hell a fast filter is.

Yeah.

So it's another tool. It's another technology.

Yeah.

All right, so you're ready for my.

Big question and the other aspect of it you mentioned that I love having intriguing, interesting conversations. What I found that only happens when I'm with someone who's an intriguing, interesting human being.

Yep. Which is another filter. Right. It's like if you're gonna invest your energy and be in.

Relationship with someone, they're going to have to do the work and earn the right to have the conversation and learn your language, which I've always said, you know, being in Coach gives you an upgraded operating system identity and you become a better communicator, question asker, and a much deeper thinking. And that is the common language that enables free, A free zone economy to exist, which is a business. It's a. It's. It's a country with no barriers, borders, religions, politicians, only a. A form of multiplier capitalism mindset. And I don't even know if capitalism is the right word for it, but.

It'S just capital.

I have no problem with capitalism because capitalism is.

Starts with being able to price yourself the way you want for what you're good at, what you're uniquely good at. I mean, that starts with you. Capitalism is the only system in the world that starts with individual uniqueness. There's no other system that starts. Everybody else talks about collectives. You know.

Socialism is about the collective. Fascism is about the collective. Communism is about the collective. Social entrepreneurism is about the collective.

I've got a rule about the word social. If you have social in front of another word, the word social takes away all the meaning of the second word. Social justice means there's no justice.

Social equality means there's no possibility of a quality.

Social improvement means there's no improvement.