WEBVTT
00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:03.859
Saturday the 22nd of August 2026 saw the beginning
00:00:03.859 --> 00:00:08.060
of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing,
00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:12.259
China, which is exactly like the Olympics but
00:00:12.259 --> 00:00:15.380
with humanoid -style robots competing against
00:00:15.380 --> 00:00:20.219
each other. The events include judo, soccer,
00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:24.019
boxing, but also non -sporting events such as
00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:29.019
laundry folding. Wow! In one of the running events,
00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:32.340
one of the robots beat the 100 metre record previously
00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:36.679
set by the very human Usain Bolt. The cartoon
00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:40.679
dog's named after him, I believe. The robot completed
00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:45.380
it in 9 .39 seconds in the event, beating Bolt's
00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:49.960
previous record of 9 .58 seconds. Why have I
00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:52.420
got this as the introduction? We'll get there.
00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:57.820
Is this the future for sports? Will we be seeing
00:00:57.820 --> 00:01:01.380
human cricketers replaced? I'm sure that I do
00:01:01.380 --> 00:01:05.780
not want to see robot Googlies. Thank you very
00:01:05.780 --> 00:01:10.840
much. I also don't think that will happen because
00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:13.760
then it isn't really sport, but rather scientists
00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:15.760
trying to compete for the better technology.
00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:19.659
That's not really podcast news, I know, but the
00:01:19.659 --> 00:01:22.900
technology is interesting for sure. Imagine if
00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:26.420
they placed an LLM inside one of those higher
00:01:26.420 --> 00:01:30.140
functioning humanoid robots, as they are called,
00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:35.340
giving them a certain level of sentience. I know,
00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:38.420
that seems like I'm reaching into my science
00:01:38.420 --> 00:01:42.219
fiction loving imagination, but it is no longer
00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:46.480
outside of the realms of possibility. Also, I
00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:49.299
now wish that I could write fiction, because
00:01:49.299 --> 00:01:52.659
I want to write about a humanoid robot that makes
00:01:52.659 --> 00:01:56.560
a podcast. Anyway, on with this show that is
00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:00.040
actually about podcasting. I'm Martin Quabelle,
00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:02.799
known to my friends as Marv, and as well as the
00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:07.959
longest intro for this series, this is Pods Like
00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:16.270
Us Chronicles. On Monday, the 17th of August,
00:02:16.349 --> 00:02:20.090
a great article in Forbes appeared that was written
00:02:20.090 --> 00:02:23.909
by Frank Rassiopi, entitled How the Audiobook
00:02:23.909 --> 00:02:28.550
and Podcast Overlap Can Morph the Podcast Industry.
00:02:29.409 --> 00:02:32.889
In the article, Frank talks about how there is
00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:36.110
a listener overlap between standard talk show
00:02:36.110 --> 00:02:41.289
podcasts and audiobooks, which is helping with
00:02:41.289 --> 00:02:45.110
noiser. having released audio drama versions
00:02:45.110 --> 00:02:50.030
of classic literature by writers such as Dickens,
00:02:50.110 --> 00:02:54.870
Conan Doyle and Jane Austen. It's well worth
00:02:54.870 --> 00:02:57.889
your time reading it and there are some great
00:02:57.889 --> 00:03:04.870
takeaways. Cody McLaughlin posted a Substack
00:03:04.870 --> 00:03:08.889
article on Monday entitled Is Podcasting Becoming
00:03:08.889 --> 00:03:12.979
the Evolution of Television? The piece is an
00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:17.159
interview with Brad Pipkin of IAB's Tech Lab.
00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:22.960
In the talk, Brad looks at how video is potentially
00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:26.900
telling us why, in his opinion, video streaming
00:03:26.900 --> 00:03:31.000
and better measurement are forcing podcasting
00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:36.460
to rethink its technical foundation. It's a fascinating
00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:39.680
article that is worthy of a pot of tea and some
00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:43.050
cake of your choice. and Brad's opinions are
00:03:43.050 --> 00:03:48.129
definitely informed. Among the items in the episode
00:03:48.129 --> 00:03:51.009
of Pod News Daily from Monday, James Cridland
00:03:51.009 --> 00:03:54.830
had an exclusive that Spotify now had shows of
00:03:54.830 --> 00:03:58.389
their own that have what they are calling unskippable
00:03:58.389 --> 00:04:02.889
ads, but also are saying that other shows can
00:04:02.889 --> 00:04:07.069
be skippable basically due to clauses in the
00:04:07.069 --> 00:04:12.080
contracts. In the same episode, he mentioned
00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.460
that the New York Times have a piece speaking
00:04:15.460 --> 00:04:19.899
about Inception Point AI. However, it comes at
00:04:19.899 --> 00:04:25.259
a time when they are now rebranded, when they
00:04:25.259 --> 00:04:28.639
have now rebranded themselves as Liquify AI,
00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:34.139
the company behind Liquid Studios. Later on Monday,
00:04:34.259 --> 00:04:37.540
there was a post on Substack from Sam Illingworth,
00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:41.360
the author of the great book Slow AI, where he
00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:44.360
mentioned that a post of his had gone viral with
00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:53.120
40 ,534 views, 575 comments and 364 restacks.
00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:57.920
That is amazing. Sam also mentioned in another
00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:02.629
post that after someone had put Moby Dick onto
00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:06.129
Substack, they were informed that this document
00:05:06.129 --> 00:05:11.990
they had put on was 44 % AI created. A book written
00:05:11.990 --> 00:05:20.290
in around 1870, no, 1780 or so, 44 % AI created.
00:05:20.970 --> 00:05:25.750
Sure. That software is not as good as they think,
00:05:25.810 --> 00:05:35.449
is it? On the 18th of August, There was mention
00:05:35.449 --> 00:05:40.449
by James Cridland on Pod News Daily of how YouTube
00:05:40.449 --> 00:05:44.069
have now decided to change what a view means
00:05:44.069 --> 00:05:48.009
on their service. A week after they changed how
00:05:48.009 --> 00:05:51.050
people get paid for advertising. This is now
00:05:51.050 --> 00:05:55.290
called an engaged view, which roughly aligns
00:05:55.290 --> 00:06:01.269
with the AMP's consumption length. James also
00:06:01.269 --> 00:06:04.110
told us that Dan Murphy, one of the founders
00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:08.490
of XM Radio, now Sirius XM, has written a new
00:06:08.490 --> 00:06:12.490
book entitled The Pay for Water that is about
00:06:12.490 --> 00:06:18.189
a country that once had free radio who decide
00:06:18.189 --> 00:06:26.550
to start charging $10 per month to do that. It's
00:06:26.550 --> 00:06:28.810
available everywhere that you can find your books.
00:06:30.730 --> 00:06:33.509
In the episode of Podmastery from Monday, the
00:06:33.509 --> 00:06:36.829
17th of August, where Neil Velio was talking
00:06:36.829 --> 00:06:40.370
about the importance of checking that your show's
00:06:40.370 --> 00:06:44.730
name hasn't already been used, but also gave
00:06:44.730 --> 00:06:47.470
us a very interesting learning experience that
00:06:47.470 --> 00:06:51.329
many of us will not have thought about, including
00:06:51.329 --> 00:06:56.209
Neil himself. How to explain this without giving
00:06:56.209 --> 00:07:03.910
it away? Hear your show title when people tell
00:07:03.910 --> 00:07:08.649
them about it. When they are out in public, does
00:07:08.649 --> 00:07:13.009
it sound the same as you spell it? Can it be
00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:16.410
spelled some other way, what they have heard?
00:07:17.389 --> 00:07:22.730
Have they misheard the title? Just like how Sister
00:07:22.730 --> 00:07:26.790
Sledge stapled the vicar and give love in a femidom
00:07:26.790 --> 00:07:31.480
in the song We Are Family. That misheard lyric
00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:33.959
metaphor is from me, by the way, and not Neil.
00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:39.220
The episode of School of Podcasting from the
00:07:39.220 --> 00:07:42.939
same day saw Dave Jackson looking at recent changes
00:07:42.939 --> 00:07:47.339
to podcasting on YouTube and Spotify, including
00:07:47.339 --> 00:07:52.519
a superb history of Spotify in podcasting, leading
00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:57.439
to the skipping ads or skipping forward button
00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:01.720
news. What is the smallest amount of downloads
00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:06.740
that you would make a show for? He asked. In
00:08:06.740 --> 00:08:09.600
the episode of In and Around Podcasting from
00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:16.199
the Tuesday, the 18th of August, it started wonderfully
00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:19.839
with Rob and Elsie talking about the history
00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:23.259
of skipping forward in the 1930s with reel -to
00:08:23.259 --> 00:08:28.420
-reel tape. through audio tapes, then CDs, videotape,
00:08:28.420 --> 00:08:31.120
and all the way up to today with Spotify's latest
00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.600
skip forward option. When they get by this, or
00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:39.639
when they get by this bit, actually, almost 16
00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.539
minutes into it as the intro, and then you get
00:08:43.539 --> 00:08:48.279
the show music. I was thinking about the new
00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:51.580
Spotify button that skips intros and advertising.
00:08:52.299 --> 00:08:56.980
So if someone was using that ability on Spotify,
00:08:57.179 --> 00:09:02.080
they would have missed the entire first 16 minutes
00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:06.980
of this episode because it was a 16 -minute intro.
00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:10.860
And they would have missed something that was
00:09:10.860 --> 00:09:15.779
incredible in the process. After that, Elsie
00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:19.539
and Rob then looked at YouTube doubling the numbers
00:09:19.539 --> 00:09:23.059
of what is needed to get past. paid for advertising
00:09:23.059 --> 00:09:29.460
and also dave jackson's school of podcasting
00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:38.139
episode after this they looked at a huge amount
00:09:38.139 --> 00:09:41.259
of updates from overcast there was a nice tribute
00:09:41.259 --> 00:09:45.519
to the recently passed john seed vorak they also
00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:50.500
noted that anna xavier sat with barack obama
00:09:50.500 --> 00:09:54.159
at the obama presidential center and they mentioned
00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:57.879
frank rassiopi's article in forbes about in and
00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:02.179
around podcasting the podcast on wednesday the
00:10:02.179 --> 00:10:04.879
19th of august frank rassiopi gave us an informed
00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:08.820
article about this podcast will kill you a show
00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:12.320
that explores the biology history and social
00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.899
impact of different diseases medical mysteries
00:10:15.899 --> 00:10:20.809
and toxins That show is hosted by two disease
00:10:20.809 --> 00:10:30.629
ecologist and epidemiologist, Dr. Erin Welsh
00:10:30.629 --> 00:10:36.950
and Dr. Erin Ullman -Updyke. And each episode
00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:41.309
dives deeply into a specific disease, e .g. COVID
00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:46.070
-19, plague, malaria. as well as poison or health
00:10:46.070 --> 00:10:50.570
topic like cancer or burns. In the same article,
00:10:50.750 --> 00:10:54.629
he also introduces us to Anti -Please, a cultural
00:10:54.629 --> 00:10:58.190
and lifestyle show created and hosted by two
00:10:58.190 --> 00:11:02.450
friends. The host, who identify as being raised
00:11:02.450 --> 00:11:05.909
by antis and now stepping into that role themselves,
00:11:06.230 --> 00:11:11.049
focus on decoding Southeast Asian slash Desi
00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:17.230
culture. midlife, experiences, health, and the
00:11:17.230 --> 00:11:22.289
fear of lociacange, which is what will people
00:11:22.289 --> 00:11:28.470
say. That article is on Frank's Substack. So
00:11:28.470 --> 00:11:30.669
if you go to Substack and look for Earworthy,
00:11:30.789 --> 00:11:34.009
that is Frank's Substack page where there are
00:11:34.009 --> 00:11:44.669
some fascinating and great articles. On Wednesday,
00:11:44.690 --> 00:11:47.850
we saw John McDermott release his Must Read Random
00:11:47.850 --> 00:11:50.950
Thoughts newsletter. The newsletter started with
00:11:50.950 --> 00:11:53.490
how he believes that Dave Jackson's podcast,
00:11:53.649 --> 00:11:57.570
The School of Podcasting, released the best podcast
00:11:57.570 --> 00:12:01.669
episode of the year. He also mentioned that he
00:12:01.669 --> 00:12:04.610
is having trouble embedding Apple podcast links
00:12:04.610 --> 00:12:11.809
into Substack posts. I personally use Podfollow
00:12:11.809 --> 00:12:16.549
links if I can. John also mentioned YouTube now
00:12:16.549 --> 00:12:20.610
changing how many views slash consumptions are
00:12:20.610 --> 00:12:24.789
needed to get any revenue, doubling it from 4
00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:29.009
,000 to 8 ,000, as well as what accounts for
00:12:29.009 --> 00:12:33.929
those consumptions. John is also continuing to
00:12:33.929 --> 00:12:37.610
experiment with short -form video production.
00:12:37.929 --> 00:12:43.210
I expect humanoid -looking people a la Max Headroom.
00:12:44.259 --> 00:12:46.740
Actually, I'll take that back, because to me,
00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:48.779
Max Edge Room in the 80s was more compelling
00:12:48.779 --> 00:12:51.480
viewing than watching people sitting at a computer
00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:54.340
talking to each other about something or other,
00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:58.899
with nothing else on the screen. At least the
00:12:58.899 --> 00:13:02.039
video version of Comic Book Nation has footage
00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:04.960
of what they're talking about, although I do
00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:08.659
miss them being sat at a news desk with each
00:13:08.659 --> 00:13:13.149
other. other than Connor Casey, who is no longer
00:13:13.149 --> 00:13:18.389
at Comic Book Nation or comicbook .com, where
00:13:18.389 --> 00:13:23.350
he invariably used to be in a different room
00:13:23.350 --> 00:13:26.350
to the building to the rest of them because there
00:13:26.350 --> 00:13:31.629
were no extra seats for Connor, usually. Connor's
00:13:31.629 --> 00:13:35.610
also the one who gave the superb line, Christ
00:13:35.610 --> 00:13:41.539
on a crouton cracker. in December of 2023. I
00:13:41.539 --> 00:13:44.960
blogged about that back in the day. Anyway, back
00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:48.139
to John's newsletter. He mentions that he's going
00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:52.820
to use the feed he uses already because, as Dave
00:13:52.820 --> 00:13:58.860
explained, YouTube pays $2 .25 per 2 ,000 downloads.
00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:02.980
But you need to hit 8 ,000 downloads before you
00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:07.149
get... paid anything at all and that isn't worth
00:14:07.149 --> 00:14:10.350
chasing he also mentioned that the vertical video
00:14:10.350 --> 00:14:13.350
he made for one platform won't work for other
00:14:13.350 --> 00:14:19.190
platforms etc it's a pain in the neck also on
00:14:19.190 --> 00:14:22.889
substack on wednesday dr sam illingworth was
00:14:22.889 --> 00:14:26.149
looking at the very real gas lighting by llms
00:14:26.149 --> 00:14:30.370
with some very unusual responses to questions
00:14:30.370 --> 00:14:35.240
such as when sam asked where it got his date
00:14:35.240 --> 00:14:38.799
of birth from, and the LLM's actual response
00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:42.299
was, I made a mistake in my previous answer and
00:14:42.299 --> 00:14:48.039
hallucinated that specific date of birth. What?
00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:56.039
What? You're an AI. What? Hallucination? What?
00:14:57.159 --> 00:14:59.980
Sam then continued with three other examples
00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:03.399
before giving ways to get around these issues.
00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:07.980
In the episode of Into the Podverse from Thursday
00:15:07.980 --> 00:15:12.799
the 19th of August, Tony started once again by
00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.299
looking at how podcast discovery has changed
00:15:15.299 --> 00:15:19.080
with LLM searches being a big thing. You can
00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:25.350
ask Claude AI, ChatGPT, Gemini, Siri. alexa and
00:15:25.350 --> 00:15:30.049
others about shows that have specific content
00:15:30.049 --> 00:15:33.950
it's a good job i remember to turn the alexa
00:15:33.950 --> 00:15:38.129
device off in this room isn't it those ai assistants
00:15:38.129 --> 00:15:41.690
then search for shows that fit those parameters
00:15:41.690 --> 00:15:44.909
that you've asked for almost like a google search
00:15:44.909 --> 00:15:50.480
on steroids He also covered YouTube, podcast
00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:54.320
discovery, video podcasting, RSS feeds, hosting
00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:57.779
choices and monetization, which includes the
00:15:57.779 --> 00:16:02.179
steps and risk of migrating from one podcast
00:16:02.179 --> 00:16:06.659
host to another. He also responded to a listener's
00:16:06.659 --> 00:16:09.360
question about whether to trust emails promising
00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:12.580
a large amount of monthly downloads, walking
00:16:12.580 --> 00:16:15.940
through what to check before accepting any growth
00:16:15.940 --> 00:16:20.159
offer. He also gave a shout out to Dave Jackson
00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:23.539
at the School of Podcasting for that episode
00:16:23.539 --> 00:16:29.539
that I mentioned earlier. In the episode of Podnews
00:16:29.539 --> 00:16:32.500
Daily from Thursday the 19th of August, James
00:16:32.500 --> 00:16:35.820
started with a great tool to counter advertising
00:16:35.820 --> 00:16:40.700
issues that comes from Flightpath, entitled Automation
00:16:40.700 --> 00:16:45.360
Playbook. YouTube have added an explanation to
00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:49.940
views and engaged views. And YouTube was actually
00:16:49.940 --> 00:16:54.639
a member of the AMP Accords, even though their
00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:58.980
own ways of doing things aren't in accordance
00:16:58.980 --> 00:17:04.339
with those. Good news from Ireland, apparently,
00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:08.099
as well in the show. James also mentioned issues
00:17:08.099 --> 00:17:13.269
with Megaphone, who are giving... Trouble with
00:17:13.269 --> 00:17:18.549
advertising as well. An episode of Sounds Profitable
00:17:18.549 --> 00:17:21.470
from the 19th of August, entitled That Stupid
00:17:21.470 --> 00:17:25.230
Radio, saw Gavin Gadish reading out Tom Webster's
00:17:25.230 --> 00:17:28.609
great piece about a nine -button Italian radio
00:17:28.609 --> 00:17:31.829
that you had to use an app for in order to program
00:17:31.829 --> 00:17:36.309
the nine buttons for specific digital radio stations.
00:17:37.609 --> 00:17:39.970
Now, though, the radio is pointless because the
00:17:39.970 --> 00:17:43.009
app doesn't work. There's a nice payoff at the
00:17:43.009 --> 00:17:47.170
end of the piece, by the way, Tom. On Friday's
00:17:47.170 --> 00:17:51.109
episode of Pod News Daily, James Cridland was
00:17:51.109 --> 00:17:54.990
a positive potato, as I called him, by giving
00:17:54.990 --> 00:17:59.390
us all good news only. Well, except for one that's
00:17:59.390 --> 00:18:05.809
veiled as good news. If you listen, you'll see
00:18:05.809 --> 00:18:09.519
what I mean. On Friday, Stephanie Fuccio published
00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:13.440
two items on Substack that told us how she was
00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.900
getting inspiration from the book On Writing,
00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:20.680
written by Stephen King, in her experiments in
00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:24.039
podcast show notes and titling. One of those
00:18:24.039 --> 00:18:26.539
was a post and the other a full -on article with
00:18:26.539 --> 00:18:30.470
descriptions, and it is fascinating. You can
00:18:30.470 --> 00:18:32.549
find Pods Like Us anywhere that podcasts can
00:18:32.549 --> 00:18:35.630
be found, and all of the links to the social
00:18:35.630 --> 00:18:38.549
media and email are available on the opening
00:18:38.549 --> 00:18:44.750
page of themarvzone .org. That's themarvzone
00:18:44.750 --> 00:18:51.730
.org. The show is distributed and sponsored by
00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:54.869
rss .com, and we thank them for their support.
00:18:55.789 --> 00:18:58.089
Please rate and review the show on the platform
00:18:58.089 --> 00:19:00.089
that you are listening or viewing the episode
00:19:00.089 --> 00:19:04.349
on. All feedback is gratefully received as it
00:19:04.349 --> 00:19:06.170
helps to know if there is anything that needs
00:19:06.170 --> 00:19:09.869
to be looked at. Thank you for listening and
00:19:09.869 --> 00:19:12.210
I hope you listen again to another episode of
00:19:12.210 --> 00:19:23.690
Pods Like Us. Sometime in the last decade, you've
00:19:23.690 --> 00:19:27.529
proclaimed, I'm leaving the U .S. Well, I did
00:19:27.529 --> 00:19:31.289
just that. In 2024, I left and went back to Peru,
00:19:31.470 --> 00:19:34.509
my home country. I was fleeing heartbreak, a
00:19:34.509 --> 00:19:36.970
health crisis, and the hole left in my wallet
00:19:36.970 --> 00:19:39.829
after said health crisis. I promised myself it
00:19:39.829 --> 00:19:42.549
would be temporary. But I just celebrated my
00:19:42.549 --> 00:19:45.549
second year anniversary in Lima. And if I don't
00:19:45.549 --> 00:19:48.190
actually sit down and think about whether I should
00:19:48.190 --> 00:19:50.990
go back to this American life, I might stay here
00:19:50.990 --> 00:19:56.069
forever. Accidentally. Unpopular opinion. I miss
00:19:56.069 --> 00:19:58.869
the U .S. I miss my friends. I miss living on
00:19:58.869 --> 00:20:01.609
my own. I miss the ability to order anything
00:20:01.609 --> 00:20:04.470
online and have it on my doorstep in a freakishly
00:20:04.470 --> 00:20:07.640
short time. More than anything, I miss its diversity.
00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:10.900
The U .S. always felt more like a doorway to
00:20:10.900 --> 00:20:15.960
the rest of the world. And Peru? Well, Peru is
00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:20.839
a place with massive political instability, staggering
00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:24.279
social inequality, limited economic opportunities.
00:20:24.660 --> 00:20:26.980
We are home to the world's worst traffic jams.
00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:33.440
an insular culture, and an addiction to inefficient
00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:36.319
bureaucracy that somehow runs entirely on WhatsApp.
00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:39.420
But Peru is also where I'm surrounded by family,
00:20:39.779 --> 00:20:47.779
where I've reconnected with old friends, where
00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:53.200
the Pacific Ocean is a short stroll away, and
00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:55.319
where I can access a quality of life that used
00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:58.640
to feel out of reach. And yeah, the food is that
00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:02.039
good. And yet, I don't think I can stay here.
00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:04.940
I left my country for a reason, and I'm having
00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:07.119
a hard time letting go of the American dream.
00:21:07.500 --> 00:21:10.500
But what if being here is fulfilling another
00:21:10.500 --> 00:21:13.539
type of dream? Follow me as I try to find a good
00:21:13.539 --> 00:21:15.779
answer before my three -year anniversary comes
00:21:15.779 --> 00:21:19.480
around. I'll discuss with experts, family, friends,
00:21:19.539 --> 00:21:22.319
and my own psyche what leaving the U .S. and
00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:25.519
living in Peru means in terms of politics, finances,
00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:28.599
friendship, family, dating, and other quality
00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:31.380
of life issues to see if the grass really is
00:21:31.380 --> 00:21:34.220
greener here. Listen to But You Can't Stay Here
00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:35.700
wherever you get your podcasts.
00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:03.859
Saturday the 22nd of August 2026 saw the beginning
00:00:03.859 --> 00:00:08.060
of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing,
00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:12.259
China, which is exactly like the Olympics but
00:00:12.259 --> 00:00:15.380
with humanoid -style robots competing against
00:00:15.380 --> 00:00:20.219
each other. The events include judo, soccer,
00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:24.019
boxing, but also non -sporting events such as
00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:29.019
laundry folding. Wow! In one of the running events,
00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:32.340
one of the robots beat the 100 metre record previously
00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:36.679
set by the very human Usain Bolt. The cartoon
00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:40.679
dog's named after him, I believe. The robot completed
00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:45.380
it in 9 .39 seconds in the event, beating Bolt's
00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:49.960
previous record of 9 .58 seconds. Why have I
00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:52.420
got this as the introduction? We'll get there.
00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:57.820
Is this the future for sports? Will we be seeing
00:00:57.820 --> 00:01:01.380
human cricketers replaced? I'm sure that I do
00:01:01.380 --> 00:01:05.780
not want to see robot Googlies. Thank you very
00:01:05.780 --> 00:01:10.840
much. I also don't think that will happen because
00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:13.760
then it isn't really sport, but rather scientists
00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:15.760
trying to compete for the better technology.
00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:19.659
That's not really podcast news, I know, but the
00:01:19.659 --> 00:01:22.900
technology is interesting for sure. Imagine if
00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:26.420
they placed an LLM inside one of those higher
00:01:26.420 --> 00:01:30.140
functioning humanoid robots, as they are called,
00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:35.340
giving them a certain level of sentience. I know,
00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:38.420
that seems like I'm reaching into my science
00:01:38.420 --> 00:01:42.219
fiction loving imagination, but it is no longer
00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:46.480
outside of the realms of possibility. Also, I
00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:49.299
now wish that I could write fiction, because
00:01:49.299 --> 00:01:52.659
I want to write about a humanoid robot that makes
00:01:52.659 --> 00:01:56.560
a podcast. Anyway, on with this show that is
00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:00.040
actually about podcasting. I'm Martin Quabelle,
00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:02.799
known to my friends as Marv, and as well as the
00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:07.959
longest intro for this series, this is Pods Like
00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:16.270
Us Chronicles. On Monday, the 17th of August,
00:02:16.349 --> 00:02:20.090
a great article in Forbes appeared that was written
00:02:20.090 --> 00:02:23.909
by Frank Rassiopi, entitled How the Audiobook
00:02:23.909 --> 00:02:28.550
and Podcast Overlap Can Morph the Podcast Industry.
00:02:29.409 --> 00:02:32.889
In the article, Frank talks about how there is
00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:36.110
a listener overlap between standard talk show
00:02:36.110 --> 00:02:41.289
podcasts and audiobooks, which is helping with
00:02:41.289 --> 00:02:45.110
noiser. having released audio drama versions
00:02:45.110 --> 00:02:50.030
of classic literature by writers such as Dickens,
00:02:50.110 --> 00:02:54.870
Conan Doyle and Jane Austen. It's well worth
00:02:54.870 --> 00:02:57.889
your time reading it and there are some great
00:02:57.889 --> 00:03:04.870
takeaways. Cody McLaughlin posted a Substack
00:03:04.870 --> 00:03:08.889
article on Monday entitled Is Podcasting Becoming
00:03:08.889 --> 00:03:12.979
the Evolution of Television? The piece is an
00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:17.159
interview with Brad Pipkin of IAB's Tech Lab.
00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:22.960
In the talk, Brad looks at how video is potentially
00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:26.900
telling us why, in his opinion, video streaming
00:03:26.900 --> 00:03:31.000
and better measurement are forcing podcasting
00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:36.460
to rethink its technical foundation. It's a fascinating
00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:39.680
article that is worthy of a pot of tea and some
00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:43.050
cake of your choice. and Brad's opinions are
00:03:43.050 --> 00:03:48.129
definitely informed. Among the items in the episode
00:03:48.129 --> 00:03:51.009
of Pod News Daily from Monday, James Cridland
00:03:51.009 --> 00:03:54.830
had an exclusive that Spotify now had shows of
00:03:54.830 --> 00:03:58.389
their own that have what they are calling unskippable
00:03:58.389 --> 00:04:02.889
ads, but also are saying that other shows can
00:04:02.889 --> 00:04:07.069
be skippable basically due to clauses in the
00:04:07.069 --> 00:04:12.080
contracts. In the same episode, he mentioned
00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.460
that the New York Times have a piece speaking
00:04:15.460 --> 00:04:19.899
about Inception Point AI. However, it comes at
00:04:19.899 --> 00:04:25.259
a time when they are now rebranded, when they
00:04:25.259 --> 00:04:28.639
have now rebranded themselves as Liquify AI,
00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:34.139
the company behind Liquid Studios. Later on Monday,
00:04:34.259 --> 00:04:37.540
there was a post on Substack from Sam Illingworth,
00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:41.360
the author of the great book Slow AI, where he
00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:44.360
mentioned that a post of his had gone viral with
00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:53.120
40 ,534 views, 575 comments and 364 restacks.
00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:57.920
That is amazing. Sam also mentioned in another
00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:02.629
post that after someone had put Moby Dick onto
00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:06.129
Substack, they were informed that this document
00:05:06.129 --> 00:05:11.990
they had put on was 44 % AI created. A book written
00:05:11.990 --> 00:05:20.290
in around 1870, no, 1780 or so, 44 % AI created.
00:05:20.970 --> 00:05:25.750
Sure. That software is not as good as they think,
00:05:25.810 --> 00:05:35.449
is it? On the 18th of August, There was mention
00:05:35.449 --> 00:05:40.449
by James Cridland on Pod News Daily of how YouTube
00:05:40.449 --> 00:05:44.069
have now decided to change what a view means
00:05:44.069 --> 00:05:48.009
on their service. A week after they changed how
00:05:48.009 --> 00:05:51.050
people get paid for advertising. This is now
00:05:51.050 --> 00:05:55.290
called an engaged view, which roughly aligns
00:05:55.290 --> 00:06:01.269
with the AMP's consumption length. James also
00:06:01.269 --> 00:06:04.110
told us that Dan Murphy, one of the founders
00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:08.490
of XM Radio, now Sirius XM, has written a new
00:06:08.490 --> 00:06:12.490
book entitled The Pay for Water that is about
00:06:12.490 --> 00:06:18.189
a country that once had free radio who decide
00:06:18.189 --> 00:06:26.550
to start charging $10 per month to do that. It's
00:06:26.550 --> 00:06:28.810
available everywhere that you can find your books.
00:06:30.730 --> 00:06:33.509
In the episode of Podmastery from Monday, the
00:06:33.509 --> 00:06:36.829
17th of August, where Neil Velio was talking
00:06:36.829 --> 00:06:40.370
about the importance of checking that your show's
00:06:40.370 --> 00:06:44.730
name hasn't already been used, but also gave
00:06:44.730 --> 00:06:47.470
us a very interesting learning experience that
00:06:47.470 --> 00:06:51.329
many of us will not have thought about, including
00:06:51.329 --> 00:06:56.209
Neil himself. How to explain this without giving
00:06:56.209 --> 00:07:03.910
it away? Hear your show title when people tell
00:07:03.910 --> 00:07:08.649
them about it. When they are out in public, does
00:07:08.649 --> 00:07:13.009
it sound the same as you spell it? Can it be
00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:16.410
spelled some other way, what they have heard?
00:07:17.389 --> 00:07:22.730
Have they misheard the title? Just like how Sister
00:07:22.730 --> 00:07:26.790
Sledge stapled the vicar and give love in a femidom
00:07:26.790 --> 00:07:31.480
in the song We Are Family. That misheard lyric
00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:33.959
metaphor is from me, by the way, and not Neil.
00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:39.220
The episode of School of Podcasting from the
00:07:39.220 --> 00:07:42.939
same day saw Dave Jackson looking at recent changes
00:07:42.939 --> 00:07:47.339
to podcasting on YouTube and Spotify, including
00:07:47.339 --> 00:07:52.519
a superb history of Spotify in podcasting, leading
00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:57.439
to the skipping ads or skipping forward button
00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:01.720
news. What is the smallest amount of downloads
00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:06.740
that you would make a show for? He asked. In
00:08:06.740 --> 00:08:09.600
the episode of In and Around Podcasting from
00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:16.199
the Tuesday, the 18th of August, it started wonderfully
00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:19.839
with Rob and Elsie talking about the history
00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:23.259
of skipping forward in the 1930s with reel -to
00:08:23.259 --> 00:08:28.420
-reel tape. through audio tapes, then CDs, videotape,
00:08:28.420 --> 00:08:31.120
and all the way up to today with Spotify's latest
00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.600
skip forward option. When they get by this, or
00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:39.639
when they get by this bit, actually, almost 16
00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.539
minutes into it as the intro, and then you get
00:08:43.539 --> 00:08:48.279
the show music. I was thinking about the new
00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:51.580
Spotify button that skips intros and advertising.
00:08:52.299 --> 00:08:56.980
So if someone was using that ability on Spotify,
00:08:57.179 --> 00:09:02.080
they would have missed the entire first 16 minutes
00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:06.980
of this episode because it was a 16 -minute intro.
00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:10.860
And they would have missed something that was
00:09:10.860 --> 00:09:15.779
incredible in the process. After that, Elsie
00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:19.539
and Rob then looked at YouTube doubling the numbers
00:09:19.539 --> 00:09:23.059
of what is needed to get past. paid for advertising
00:09:23.059 --> 00:09:29.460
and also dave jackson's school of podcasting
00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:38.139
episode after this they looked at a huge amount
00:09:38.139 --> 00:09:41.259
of updates from overcast there was a nice tribute
00:09:41.259 --> 00:09:45.519
to the recently passed john seed vorak they also
00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:50.500
noted that anna xavier sat with barack obama
00:09:50.500 --> 00:09:54.159
at the obama presidential center and they mentioned
00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:57.879
frank rassiopi's article in forbes about in and
00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:02.179
around podcasting the podcast on wednesday the
00:10:02.179 --> 00:10:04.879
19th of august frank rassiopi gave us an informed
00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:08.820
article about this podcast will kill you a show
00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:12.320
that explores the biology history and social
00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.899
impact of different diseases medical mysteries
00:10:15.899 --> 00:10:20.809
and toxins That show is hosted by two disease
00:10:20.809 --> 00:10:30.629
ecologist and epidemiologist, Dr. Erin Welsh
00:10:30.629 --> 00:10:36.950
and Dr. Erin Ullman -Updyke. And each episode
00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:41.309
dives deeply into a specific disease, e .g. COVID
00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:46.070
-19, plague, malaria. as well as poison or health
00:10:46.070 --> 00:10:50.570
topic like cancer or burns. In the same article,
00:10:50.750 --> 00:10:54.629
he also introduces us to Anti -Please, a cultural
00:10:54.629 --> 00:10:58.190
and lifestyle show created and hosted by two
00:10:58.190 --> 00:11:02.450
friends. The host, who identify as being raised
00:11:02.450 --> 00:11:05.909
by antis and now stepping into that role themselves,
00:11:06.230 --> 00:11:11.049
focus on decoding Southeast Asian slash Desi
00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:17.230
culture. midlife, experiences, health, and the
00:11:17.230 --> 00:11:22.289
fear of lociacange, which is what will people
00:11:22.289 --> 00:11:28.470
say. That article is on Frank's Substack. So
00:11:28.470 --> 00:11:30.669
if you go to Substack and look for Earworthy,
00:11:30.789 --> 00:11:34.009
that is Frank's Substack page where there are
00:11:34.009 --> 00:11:44.669
some fascinating and great articles. On Wednesday,
00:11:44.690 --> 00:11:47.850
we saw John McDermott release his Must Read Random
00:11:47.850 --> 00:11:50.950
Thoughts newsletter. The newsletter started with
00:11:50.950 --> 00:11:53.490
how he believes that Dave Jackson's podcast,
00:11:53.649 --> 00:11:57.570
The School of Podcasting, released the best podcast
00:11:57.570 --> 00:12:01.669
episode of the year. He also mentioned that he
00:12:01.669 --> 00:12:04.610
is having trouble embedding Apple podcast links
00:12:04.610 --> 00:12:11.809
into Substack posts. I personally use Podfollow
00:12:11.809 --> 00:12:16.549
links if I can. John also mentioned YouTube now
00:12:16.549 --> 00:12:20.610
changing how many views slash consumptions are
00:12:20.610 --> 00:12:24.789
needed to get any revenue, doubling it from 4
00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:29.009
,000 to 8 ,000, as well as what accounts for
00:12:29.009 --> 00:12:33.929
those consumptions. John is also continuing to
00:12:33.929 --> 00:12:37.610
experiment with short -form video production.
00:12:37.929 --> 00:12:43.210
I expect humanoid -looking people a la Max Headroom.
00:12:44.259 --> 00:12:46.740
Actually, I'll take that back, because to me,
00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:48.779
Max Edge Room in the 80s was more compelling
00:12:48.779 --> 00:12:51.480
viewing than watching people sitting at a computer
00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:54.340
talking to each other about something or other,
00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:58.899
with nothing else on the screen. At least the
00:12:58.899 --> 00:13:02.039
video version of Comic Book Nation has footage
00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:04.960
of what they're talking about, although I do
00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:08.659
miss them being sat at a news desk with each
00:13:08.659 --> 00:13:13.149
other. other than Connor Casey, who is no longer
00:13:13.149 --> 00:13:18.389
at Comic Book Nation or comicbook .com, where
00:13:18.389 --> 00:13:23.350
he invariably used to be in a different room
00:13:23.350 --> 00:13:26.350
to the building to the rest of them because there
00:13:26.350 --> 00:13:31.629
were no extra seats for Connor, usually. Connor's
00:13:31.629 --> 00:13:35.610
also the one who gave the superb line, Christ
00:13:35.610 --> 00:13:41.539
on a crouton cracker. in December of 2023. I
00:13:41.539 --> 00:13:44.960
blogged about that back in the day. Anyway, back
00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:48.139
to John's newsletter. He mentions that he's going
00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:52.820
to use the feed he uses already because, as Dave
00:13:52.820 --> 00:13:58.860
explained, YouTube pays $2 .25 per 2 ,000 downloads.
00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:02.980
But you need to hit 8 ,000 downloads before you
00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:07.149
get... paid anything at all and that isn't worth
00:14:07.149 --> 00:14:10.350
chasing he also mentioned that the vertical video
00:14:10.350 --> 00:14:13.350
he made for one platform won't work for other
00:14:13.350 --> 00:14:19.190
platforms etc it's a pain in the neck also on
00:14:19.190 --> 00:14:22.889
substack on wednesday dr sam illingworth was
00:14:22.889 --> 00:14:26.149
looking at the very real gas lighting by llms
00:14:26.149 --> 00:14:30.370
with some very unusual responses to questions
00:14:30.370 --> 00:14:35.240
such as when sam asked where it got his date
00:14:35.240 --> 00:14:38.799
of birth from, and the LLM's actual response
00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:42.299
was, I made a mistake in my previous answer and
00:14:42.299 --> 00:14:48.039
hallucinated that specific date of birth. What?
00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:56.039
What? You're an AI. What? Hallucination? What?
00:14:57.159 --> 00:14:59.980
Sam then continued with three other examples
00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:03.399
before giving ways to get around these issues.
00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:07.980
In the episode of Into the Podverse from Thursday
00:15:07.980 --> 00:15:12.799
the 19th of August, Tony started once again by
00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.299
looking at how podcast discovery has changed
00:15:15.299 --> 00:15:19.080
with LLM searches being a big thing. You can
00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:25.350
ask Claude AI, ChatGPT, Gemini, Siri. alexa and
00:15:25.350 --> 00:15:30.049
others about shows that have specific content
00:15:30.049 --> 00:15:33.950
it's a good job i remember to turn the alexa
00:15:33.950 --> 00:15:38.129
device off in this room isn't it those ai assistants
00:15:38.129 --> 00:15:41.690
then search for shows that fit those parameters
00:15:41.690 --> 00:15:44.909
that you've asked for almost like a google search
00:15:44.909 --> 00:15:50.480
on steroids He also covered YouTube, podcast
00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:54.320
discovery, video podcasting, RSS feeds, hosting
00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:57.779
choices and monetization, which includes the
00:15:57.779 --> 00:16:02.179
steps and risk of migrating from one podcast
00:16:02.179 --> 00:16:06.659
host to another. He also responded to a listener's
00:16:06.659 --> 00:16:09.360
question about whether to trust emails promising
00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:12.580
a large amount of monthly downloads, walking
00:16:12.580 --> 00:16:15.940
through what to check before accepting any growth
00:16:15.940 --> 00:16:20.159
offer. He also gave a shout out to Dave Jackson
00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:23.539
at the School of Podcasting for that episode
00:16:23.539 --> 00:16:29.539
that I mentioned earlier. In the episode of Podnews
00:16:29.539 --> 00:16:32.500
Daily from Thursday the 19th of August, James
00:16:32.500 --> 00:16:35.820
started with a great tool to counter advertising
00:16:35.820 --> 00:16:40.700
issues that comes from Flightpath, entitled Automation
00:16:40.700 --> 00:16:45.360
Playbook. YouTube have added an explanation to
00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:49.940
views and engaged views. And YouTube was actually
00:16:49.940 --> 00:16:54.639
a member of the AMP Accords, even though their
00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:58.980
own ways of doing things aren't in accordance
00:16:58.980 --> 00:17:04.339
with those. Good news from Ireland, apparently,
00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:08.099
as well in the show. James also mentioned issues
00:17:08.099 --> 00:17:13.269
with Megaphone, who are giving... Trouble with
00:17:13.269 --> 00:17:18.549
advertising as well. An episode of Sounds Profitable
00:17:18.549 --> 00:17:21.470
from the 19th of August, entitled That Stupid
00:17:21.470 --> 00:17:25.230
Radio, saw Gavin Gadish reading out Tom Webster's
00:17:25.230 --> 00:17:28.609
great piece about a nine -button Italian radio
00:17:28.609 --> 00:17:31.829
that you had to use an app for in order to program
00:17:31.829 --> 00:17:36.309
the nine buttons for specific digital radio stations.
00:17:37.609 --> 00:17:39.970
Now, though, the radio is pointless because the
00:17:39.970 --> 00:17:43.009
app doesn't work. There's a nice payoff at the
00:17:43.009 --> 00:17:47.170
end of the piece, by the way, Tom. On Friday's
00:17:47.170 --> 00:17:51.109
episode of Pod News Daily, James Cridland was
00:17:51.109 --> 00:17:54.990
a positive potato, as I called him, by giving
00:17:54.990 --> 00:17:59.390
us all good news only. Well, except for one that's
00:17:59.390 --> 00:18:05.809
veiled as good news. If you listen, you'll see
00:18:05.809 --> 00:18:09.519
what I mean. On Friday, Stephanie Fuccio published
00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:13.440
two items on Substack that told us how she was
00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.900
getting inspiration from the book On Writing,
00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:20.680
written by Stephen King, in her experiments in
00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:24.039
podcast show notes and titling. One of those
00:18:24.039 --> 00:18:26.539
was a post and the other a full -on article with
00:18:26.539 --> 00:18:30.470
descriptions, and it is fascinating. You can
00:18:30.470 --> 00:18:32.549
find Pods Like Us anywhere that podcasts can
00:18:32.549 --> 00:18:35.630
be found, and all of the links to the social
00:18:35.630 --> 00:18:38.549
media and email are available on the opening
00:18:38.549 --> 00:18:44.750
page of themarvzone .org. That's themarvzone
00:18:44.750 --> 00:18:51.730
.org. The show is distributed and sponsored by
00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:54.869
rss .com, and we thank them for their support.
00:18:55.789 --> 00:18:58.089
Please rate and review the show on the platform
00:18:58.089 --> 00:19:00.089
that you are listening or viewing the episode
00:19:00.089 --> 00:19:04.349
on. All feedback is gratefully received as it
00:19:04.349 --> 00:19:06.170
helps to know if there is anything that needs
00:19:06.170 --> 00:19:09.869
to be looked at. Thank you for listening and
00:19:09.869 --> 00:19:12.210
I hope you listen again to another episode of
00:19:12.210 --> 00:19:23.690
Pods Like Us. Sometime in the last decade, you've
00:19:23.690 --> 00:19:27.529
proclaimed, I'm leaving the U .S. Well, I did
00:19:27.529 --> 00:19:31.289
just that. In 2024, I left and went back to Peru,
00:19:31.470 --> 00:19:34.509
my home country. I was fleeing heartbreak, a
00:19:34.509 --> 00:19:36.970
health crisis, and the hole left in my wallet
00:19:36.970 --> 00:19:39.829
after said health crisis. I promised myself it
00:19:39.829 --> 00:19:42.549
would be temporary. But I just celebrated my
00:19:42.549 --> 00:19:45.549
second year anniversary in Lima. And if I don't
00:19:45.549 --> 00:19:48.190
actually sit down and think about whether I should
00:19:48.190 --> 00:19:50.990
go back to this American life, I might stay here
00:19:50.990 --> 00:19:56.069
forever. Accidentally. Unpopular opinion. I miss
00:19:56.069 --> 00:19:58.869
the U .S. I miss my friends. I miss living on
00:19:58.869 --> 00:20:01.609
my own. I miss the ability to order anything
00:20:01.609 --> 00:20:04.470
online and have it on my doorstep in a freakishly
00:20:04.470 --> 00:20:07.640
short time. More than anything, I miss its diversity.
00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:10.900
The U .S. always felt more like a doorway to
00:20:10.900 --> 00:20:15.960
the rest of the world. And Peru? Well, Peru is
00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:20.839
a place with massive political instability, staggering
00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:24.279
social inequality, limited economic opportunities.
00:20:24.660 --> 00:20:26.980
We are home to the world's worst traffic jams.
00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:33.440
an insular culture, and an addiction to inefficient
00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:36.319
bureaucracy that somehow runs entirely on WhatsApp.
00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:39.420
But Peru is also where I'm surrounded by family,
00:20:39.779 --> 00:20:47.779
where I've reconnected with old friends, where
00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:53.200
the Pacific Ocean is a short stroll away, and
00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:55.319
where I can access a quality of life that used
00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:58.640
to feel out of reach. And yeah, the food is that
00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:02.039
good. And yet, I don't think I can stay here.
00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:04.940
I left my country for a reason, and I'm having
00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:07.119
a hard time letting go of the American dream.
00:21:07.500 --> 00:21:10.500
But what if being here is fulfilling another
00:21:10.500 --> 00:21:13.539
type of dream? Follow me as I try to find a good
00:21:13.539 --> 00:21:15.779
answer before my three -year anniversary comes
00:21:15.779 --> 00:21:19.480
around. I'll discuss with experts, family, friends,
00:21:19.539 --> 00:21:22.319
and my own psyche what leaving the U .S. and
00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:25.519
living in Peru means in terms of politics, finances,
00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:28.599
friendship, family, dating, and other quality
00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:31.380
of life issues to see if the grass really is
00:21:31.380 --> 00:21:34.220
greener here. Listen to But You Can't Stay Here
00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:35.700
wherever you get your podcasts.
