Passing the Torch: George’s Dad on the True Cost of Success

A builder’s world used to be simple: do the job, get paid, move to the next one. Now a “small” task can mean permits, traffic management, insurance docs, inspections booked weeks out, and a council timeline that turns days into months. We sit down with our guest Steve Passas and get brutally honest about why the Australian construction industry feels harder than ever and how red tape, delays, and rising compliance costs force good builders to charge more just to do the work properly.

From there, the chat widens into the kind of perspective you only get from someone who has lived a few lives. Steve shares how he came to Australia young, worked his way through the food industry, then used that hustle to fund his way into building and development. We also talk about Greece, his village on Lesvos, and why he measures “wealth” as quality of life, real friends, and the ability to feel at home in more than one place.

Then we hit the big one: artificial intelligence, robotics, and the future of work. Steve explains why AI makes the internet look like a warm-up, why people fear change, and why ignoring tools like AI assistants is a fast way to fall behind. We debate robot labor, Tesla Full Self-Driving, robot taxis, and what happens to society when transport, warehouses, and even entry-level professional roles get automated. If you care about construction, AI adoption, job disruption, or where the next decade is heading, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe, share this with a mate, and leave a review with one job you think AI replaces sooner than people expect.

Transcript

Welcoming Steve Passis

George 0:00

Welcome back, everyone, to Million Dollar Days to Wait. Today we have a special guest. We have someone that we've been talking about getting on the show for quite some time. And now for the first time on the podcast is Mr. Steve Passis.

Robby 0:16

Sorry, sorry, Nicole.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

I apologize. You might have some issues with uh Nicole on that front. Okay.

Robby 0:24

Welcome. Welcome. Thank you, boy. This is a bit a long, uh, very long-coming episode. Yeah, we've spoken about this. We've spoken about this a few times.

George 0:32

Well, you're you are our biggest fan on YouTube.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Yeah. No, I actually watch the the show. I actually enjoy the show. Uh my only criticism is, you know, and I have told you this before that sometimes it takes an hour and a half. And for me to to watch for an hour and a half maybe a little bit you know that's my my time spent, but a few people say that, but the funny thing is, so many people listen to it.

George 0:54

And even when we actually talk, it doesn't feel like an hour when we're having conversations with people, especially when the conversation's a good one and it goes deeper. I think it's better than as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

I agree with that.

Robby 1:05

I'll get you should pull the mic close to you as well, just to make sure that no, no problem. Yeah. Um, give us all the dirt. Everything about George. Everything about George.

George 1:15

Well, you would look the hard-hitting question is this is the hard-hitting question. Let's be honest. Who's a better builder? Well, it's old school versus new school, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Um, everything started a long time ago, but uh I still believe um the new model is better than the previous one.

George 1:36

Well, you'd like to think so. You'd like to think it does get better as the years go on. I think the old model is just very much getting your hands dirty and doing the do. Whereas these days, there's still an element of that in various parts of the business, but I think ultimately you've got to be managing. If you're the owner of the business, you've got to manage the process. You can't be on the tools day in, day out because the businesses won't grow. You can only do so much, you can only dig so many holes, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

So I I do believe though that as we as the years gone past by it actually got harder. The construction industry.

Robby 2:13

The construction as in as in harder, like as a business, is that what you mean? To make money?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

As a business, yeah, as a business. Um even look, one of the hardest things is um is probably regulations and red tape.

Robby 2:30

Red tape. Yeah, red tape. They make everything uh more and more well you gotta jump through, yeah, jump through this hoop, jump through that hoop, jump through both of the hoops at the

Old School Building Vs Management

Robby 2:40

same time.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah, well, yeah, yeah. And construction should have been so much easier because it's the engine room of the whole economy, and the government's doing everything to to kill it.

George 2:50

Yeah, they're not helping us with that. That's much for sure. No, no, I think it's valid as well. Like you're not it's funny, the way they they put so much red tape in place, but the way to help the industry, the way to build a million homes a year isn't to keep putting barriers up and keep hammering the builder. It's actually to help the builder. They need to put less red tape up, they need to give us the tools and the resources to be able to go out and execute. Whereas at the moment, I feel that there's just way too much uh, not I don't want to use the word responsibility, but as there's way too much onus on the builder to do so many things that when that one thing doesn't happen, everything falls apart and then it's always the builder's fault. So, not to cry poor, but I think there's an element of the industry needing to shift a little bit to say, well, how do we help these guys build and deliver homes? Because we need to build a million of them a year, and that's where I think the the roadblock is. And that's partly why I do the stuff at Builder Elite, is to help the industry and help people get through a lot of this bureaucracy and just things that they've never learned.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

I think the builder is an easy target from the government. Always. And I think look, if you're having a conversation in a room and somebody asks you what you do for a living, you tell them you're a builder, you might as well tell him your name is Tony Mokbell. Yeah, immediately you're associated with somebody who's crooked. Yeah, not all builders are crooks.

George 4:11

I I would argue that the 99% of them are not, and that's the thing, right? And I go when I do events and Robbie see me there, it's like I'll say, I've never, I haven't met a dodgy builder yet. No, there is. Of course there are. Of course there is. I'm not saying there is. I'm not saying I just haven't met one yet. When I'm saying dodgy build, I mean someone that's intentionally going out to do the wrong thing by someone else. Okay, because on that same token, there's bad people in all industries. There's bad dentists, there's bad florists, there's bad butchers, there's bad nurses, like whatever your profession, there are bad people in all industries, except ours gets the flack, I believe, because look, you end up, you end up, you're dealing with the consumers' most often biggest investment in their life is the family home or an investment of some sort. So when a builder does go down that path and goes broke or does the wrong thing, it sort of just paints it for everyone. And that's just the general consensus of it these days.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Anyway, I'm I I've got no idea how how this thing's gonna get better. I've got no idea. I'm I'm just well you kind of step it pretty much, yeah.

George 5:15

You've stepped out of the trend. Retired this year.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Yeah, no, yeah.

George 5:20

Well some call you up at seven. We we have a nickname for Steve. I call him Steve, but on uh when he well during work times uh you called Steve, but I have a nick we have a nickname for him. Hurricane. He'll come in, just cause a massive mess, yell at everyone, scream at everyone, and then leave. Then we've got to pick everything all the pieces.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Well, I'm I'm yesterday's man. Uh I don't know. You you guys today are doing things differently, but uh yeah, it is.

George 5:44

It's definitely an evolving space, that's for sure. And that's why we're at the for forefront of everything we're doing. Like even me doing this podcast, it's an element of building brand. And you know, 20, 30 years ago, when you were building in your prime, you never would have thought about creating videos and taking photos of all your projects. It's like you've you've built multi-million dollar homes that are all in your head that no one would ever see and no one would ever be able to see because you never took photos of them. It was just do the job, build the job, get paid, move on to the next one. Simple. Yeah. Nice and simple. What a life. Different life now. Very different life.

Robby 6:19

Yeah. What's uh what's been the biggest? How long have you been a builder for? How long were you a builder? Oh, 25, 30 years now. 25 years. What was uh, I guess, and you would have seen some significant changes, but what were what were some of the biggest changes you saw in the industry where you're like, you know what, in the in the 90s it was like this, and now it's all well industrial relations, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Um that doesn't affect us too much in the not as much, but nevertheless, look, you're building a house, for example, you're building a house now, you've got only a $20, $30,000 for traffic management. Well, guess what? We never had this. I never had that. Oh, is that a new is that a new thing?

George 7:00

Oh, but in the 90s, in the 90s didn't exist.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

You just picked up a lollipop and just went on the road and grab my own lollipop, I'll get out on the street, just common sense. Yeah, common sense. You hold the lollipop, it basically says stop, you've got to stop. I mean, now you've got to hold BH, you know, uh, what do you call it?

Robby 7:17

You know, a traffic management plan.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Yeah, you've got to have traffic management. Yeah, yeah, you've got to have all this red tape, which it's to everything.

George 7:25

Yeah, it adds costs, it adds time. There's so much, like a small thing. Like we were actually talking about this yesterday. We're applying applying for a crossover permit on one of our projects. One of my team members were. And I was like, oh, it should be a simple process with this council. I've done it, I did it a while ago, and it used to literally be you submit the form, 48 hours, you have a crossover permit, you build your crossover. Now it's like submit the form, get your traffic management plan, give your insurances, give the contractor all this stuff. Oh, 101 things that you have to fill out. And it's like, we'll get back to you in 20 business days with approval to build it. And then you've got to schedule an inspection, which is like 14 business days. So you can't actually build something so simple on council assets or council property. And it takes you two months just to try and coordinate something.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Actually, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, were friendlier to the builder to whoever was building. Now, as soon as you put an application to the council that you're building on this address, they're gonna make sure they're gonna come two or three times there and fine you for at least three to five thousand dollars a year. So you gotta, I mean, how much money can the customer it because the builder's gotta pass the buck on to somebody, the actual government are helping the cost of the actual industry. And other instead of making affordable, they just make it harder because at the end of the day, it's it's the man at the bottom that has has to pay. I mean, the builder's just gonna add it up to his expenses, yeah.

George 8:54

Often, right? And this is where a lot of builders will fail, but it also helped hurts the industry too. A lot of these guys won't allow for all these things in their tender. And then here I come along knowing very well that I have to allow for 20 grand in traffic, I have to allow for this time and that time and that time. And a job that should take this long is longer, and a job that should cost this much now costs more. And when I put my price in, they're like, oh, well, you're $50,000, $100,000 more expensive. I'm like, yeah, but we've allowed everything we should. But this builder hasn't allowed traffic manager, and he'll just wear it. Or he has allowed for it. And if he cops a fine and he's he's gonna wear it, it's gonna be on him. So there is an element of that as well that hurts the industry too, because the reputable builder, the one that allows for all the things that they should allow for, they can often lose a job in those little things.

Robby 9:43

Yeah.

George 9:43

So that comes there too.

Red Tape Costs And Reputation

George 9:45

Um, okay, so before you were a builder, like you've always been quite entrepreneurial in the sense of you've always had a business for as long as I could remember. I think there was a a short period of time where you had a job and working for someone, but most of the time you came and and had your own business. So how old were you you were 17 when you came to Australia? You're turning the clock back now. Well, we're giving people a bit of context. 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

20 years ago, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, 20 years ago. Well, I was 17, 16, 17 when I came and I was on my own. My uncle had a a hamburger shop in Blackburn. So basically I went to hamburger university. It was my first um my first job. Um within within a year and a half, two years, I had my own fish and chips, my own hamburger shop. And basically I started like any other Greek through the food industry. And then chicken shops, um, we're back then and that was my business. Yeah, yeah, fish shops and all that. So but everything was was a means. I've always wanted to get involved in the building. I've always wanted to to be in the in the building game. So everything was for me to accumulate enough money and get into into business in into into become a builder. I had a a good good mate of mine, is I've learned a lot of things from him. I was probably next to him every day, and he showed me a lot of things and uh a lot of my knowledge to him. But that's how I learned. And how I learned, I learned with my own money. I started developing my own projects. So instead of doing jobs for clients, I was doing jobs for myself. So that's how I started. And then eventually friends employed me to, and they trusted me to build multi-million dollar homes, you know, for them. Because it was my passion, and it just I loved it. I loved the whole aspect of the building.

George 11:57

Yeah, well, as much as we bash it and say it's difficult. Like I was on site today and we're we're doing the formwork for a suspended slab, and I was there with Simon. I'm saying, like, I love I go, how good is this? Like, it's so cool doing this stuff. This is the great part of construction where you get to bring something to life, where you actually get to work with tools and and work with trades, and everything's coming together. And I go, that's that's the best part of construction. It's kind of it's sort of it's good to be reminded of that every now and then, too.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

All the tradesmen were my friends, and I was friends with the tradesman. Now it's a little bit harder.

George 12:30

Everyone's too now he's not friends with now he's not friends with anyone.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

No, I'm not friends there with anyone. But those days we were all mates, we were all you know, getting a lot of people. A bit more harmonious, you reckon. And the satisfaction factor, it's nobody talks about, you know, you look at a house when you actually complete it or you it's getting completed, you're actually there's a progress. You're actually I you know, I used to get my kicks out of it, you know. That look, I had something to do with this. Yes, uh the the it's something I actually yeah, I liked it and I still like it. If I if if I was gonna start again, I'd probably start all over again and do the same mistakes again. I love the industry, yeah. I love it, I love it. But comes the time I gotta hang my boots, and that's it.

From Food Shops To Building

George 13:17

Well, now you're spending a good part of your your year in Greece and just well living the living the life there.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

I I I was born there and it's my second home. So I'd spend two, three times a year back back in Greece. I I have a brother, I've got a family there, and I've got a family here. So when I go to Greece, I go back home, I come back here, I'm coming back home. Grandkids and my son, you know, my kids. So I'm a lucky man, I got it. I got it both ways.

Robby 13:52

Did you was that your intention? My intention? Yeah, was that always your intention? You're like, oh my goal. You know, I hear people say Greece, yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

I did plan for Greece a long time ago.

Robby 14:01

Yeah, they're like, I want to do, you know, six months here, six months there, or you know, it tends to be, and I assume you may have done this. It's the people who always go to one country all the time, like they'll always go back to their home country for example. Well, I'm I'm I'm like a possum.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Uh I'm I I'll go to the same place again and again and again. That's where George gets up from, right? Done with Albert Bob. I I just I don't know. No funny. Never thought about that. I'm happy what I'm happy. I don't need to go to Paris, I don't need to go to London. I mean, my wife does, or my daughter, my kids do, but I've got no no interest going there. No interest going to Rome or anywhere. I mean, I mean I'm not saying that's no, I've never been. Oh, you've never been? No, I you're not listening. I'm not going anywhere until you've been going back. There's a village. There's a village in to me, it's only it's a small village in Greece.

George 14:54

In Greece. So the island, the island of Lesvos, and then there's a small village called Skalochori. And in that village, there's this massive, what is it, an oak tree? Like what type of tree? I don't know what type of tree it is, but it's a massive tree. It's like 120 years old or something like that, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Yeah.

George 15:08

And everyone gathers in that town center, and like literally he'll spend three to four months just sitting under that tree, just eating and drinking.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

And that's where I've met the richest people on the planet in under that tree. That's where the richest people that I know of that are under that tree. Well when you're rich in wealth or rich in life? Not rich in rich in life. Because it depends how you measure success. Yeah, and wealth and I don't measure success uh only with money. No. Or you know, say richness just in money. You measure it, I'll measure it differently anyway. When you come to my age, you'll you'll probably change your attitude to towards money. Although money is important. Yeah. Important. You gotta money gives you the ability to do things you know the you know it's gives you it gives you the ability to do things. Yeah, that's it. You know, like the trip to Greece. It does. But you don't you don't need to be a multi-millionaire to be um comfortable. Yeah, to be comfortable. All you need to do is have the right attitude towards life and have the right friends. And honestly, in life, I I don't know. Why do I need to know the world? I mean my true friends I can count them on one hand. So I don't need to get mixed up to, you know, a lot of people are you don't you don't happy where I am. That's why I call myself a possum.

Robby 16:43

Yeah, I think um there can be an element of being happy where you are and enjoying seeing something new.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

I travel to Greece. Okay, now you're pushing me. I travel to Greece about three weeks a year. I do travel, but I only travel in Greece. Oh, so you travel around Iran Greece for three weeks. Okay. That's the best I can do.

Robby 17:05

Leaving the village, okay. How many how many trips have you done to Greece? Oh, I don't know about well, more than 20. Where would you say if someone if I was going to Greece, if I said Jung, Steve called you up? Steve and go to Greece.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Listen, yeah, you've got to come to my village. Simple as that. There's nowhere Acropolis, forget everything. Come and come to my village.

George 17:27

You know, it's funny. I went last time I went was a long time ago. I went in 06 to Greece. And I went on a study tour with guys from uni. And I went with is that what you called it? Yeah. Yeah, it was a study tour in Dubai. We were there for two weeks or whatever it was, and then for another two or three weeks we went and did Greece and whatnot. And we spent a week in my dad's village whilst we're there. And it was two of the ossiest blokes you'll ever meet in your life. That were with you. That were with me, yeah. And they said by far, they go out of everything they saw in Dubai, out of everything they did in Greece, all the party islands, all the drinking, all the everything. He goes, My the best week they had was literally that one week in the village. Because it's very traditional Greek life, if you know what I mean. So you're in a village, you're literally farm to plate. What does that mean? What does that mean? What's traditional? I'm talking it's not like city. There's no flashing lights. It's literally houses. There's buildings. Yeah, there's gravel, not gravel, but like stone buildings. Stone roads. It's it's like you're not stepping back in time, like they've got electricity. Okay, I use it.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

They drive cars. There's no fish shop. Okay. There's no there's not a fish shop to go and buy your fish, okay? But there's a small youth, refrigerated youth, that comes along in the village, right? Now you'll see the ladies, the housewives will go there, we'll have a look at the sardines, we'll look at the uh the fish, and you know it's like um the Michelin chefs. They're gonna they're gonna pick up the best. And then there's the fruiterer. He'll come in with his little truck and they go and have touch the fruit and smell the uh uh the fruit. Actually, the fruit needs to have a smell before they pick it up. So everything is is really well it's all fresh food. It's all like it's farm, but it's everything so raw. It's not actually oh I've got to stack up the shelf, I've got a mic looking good or whatever. It's none of that. None of that. Um I'm not gonna say that that's what the beauty is, but the beauty is in its people, and people over there, they're they're not looking to take something away from you or yeah, it's a lot more a lot more laid back there. Yeah, laid back, it's just yeah.

George 19:48

Yeah, very different lifestyle. Different lifestyle, very different, especially from what different values here and what we're doing, and yeah, yeah, different values.

Robby 19:56

Does it uh does the contrast impact you? Like when you go and then you come back and you look at so you know you you ever go somewhere and then you come back and then you think, what the fuck are we doing here?

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Uh at the beginning. No, no, no. No, no, it's fair, fair point. Yeah, but I when I started going, yes, it was but now it's not. Now I I'm used to I'm used to going to Gris. As soon as I go there, it's like I've never left. But the minute I step at the airport, it's like I've never left here either. So I'm very comfortable in both spots, both places, very comfortable.

Robby 20:28

If you had to, uh if they sat there, we're stopping at all aeroplanes and ships, and uh you've got to pick where you're on that airport.

George 20:35

Well, you said this, you said that you actually answered this question on Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Did you? Yeah, you actually did. I was on there. I don't know, I can't remember what I said on Sunday.

George 20:43

Well, you said you go honestly, you actually said, and this was probably more because the conversation was going a little bit political, but you said if it wasn't for the grandkids, you would be living in Greece.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Well, I don't know if I have to repeat it, but yes.

George 20:57

Yeah. So we'll just talk about the state of the current affairs of Victoria and how everything is and at the moment, and then you were like, if it wasn't for them, I'd probably be we're not gonna get political

Greece Village Life And Success

George 21:07

now. No, no, we always do. You always do? No, we'll talk about almost anything.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

I mean, look to me, like in the COVID years, what Dan Andrews came up with and the things that he he he pushed people to to do, it felt the years that I was in a young man in in back in Greece, we had a dictatorship. And it was the first time in this country that I felt like I'm in a dictatorship.

George 21:38

Well, it was very much like that. Look at all the stuff that we had to go through.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

If I could get a plane and get the hell out of out of the country, I would have would have gone. I think you and everyone else better I felt about though you know the COVID years. And it wasn't the first time that I realized that a state premium. It was more powerful than the actual prime minister of the country. I mean, nobody had the balls to stand up to this man, or I don't know. Nobody had the authority over their. I don't know. I don't know how the government works, but they shouldn't have done what they did.

George 22:19

Yeah, look, I think I lived that a lot of people. They did, and I think they've still continued it to a degree now. The just the carelessness and and all the things that they're doing. It's like the recent thing I've seen today was they've spent $70,000 on replacing a couple of plaques in the city. Did you see that one? Yeah, so they there's a couple, there's a couple of plaques. I saw it on social media. So when I say plaque, I mean like a 300 by 300 plaque. All right, like this. And it was in bronze, whatever it might be. And they made a spelling mistake on it. So it's it didn't say the honorable Jacinta Allen or whatever it might, whatever it said. It just said the name. They've forgotten, they misspelt it or they didn't put it in there. So then the state spent $70,000 to replace two plaques. That's like 30k per plaque, 35k per plaque. Well, and it's like that that to me blow my blows my mind. Like if some how could you go that this it's like saying, you know, these headphones here cost you don't even know what to get. Well, I don't know, but okay, let's just say they're 500 bucks. Let's say they're $500 headphones. But saying, okay, you one of these are dinted and I need new ones, it's going to cost you $13,500.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Yeah. And you're like, yeah, yeah, cool. Approved.

George 23:29

And that's why I think we're in a position now of, yeah, there's there's got to be a level of either someone's lining their pockets or they just have no comprehension of money, they have no comprehension of consequence. There is no consequence. You know what I mean? There's none. Like that's what I found in their way. When Andrews was in power with the the new lady that's in power now. There's just no consequence to the decisions they make. And if they were accountable to their decisions, I think that would be very different decisions. When someone said, no, no, if you fuck up and spend $70,000 on something like that, that's coming off your wage. Or you're going to be held to account for that. Like there's none of that.

Robby 24:06

And that's where I think we fail. I think it's the um this it all comes down to efficiency. Like it okay. If someone spends 30 cents in your company, do you sit there saying, hey, that 30 cents is coming up? You're like, that's not worth my time.

SPEAKER_03 24:18

Yeah.

Robby 24:19

This is multi-billions of dollars. So a few thousand dollars, they're like, we're gonna have time to sort that out.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Now there's no acceptability anywhere in the government. Yeah, and the other thing is they make the rules to suit themselves. Yeah. I mean, the why it's it's it's an international mafia. It's not just here in this country, we've got Albanese or whoever is up the top there, but incompetent leaders are everywhere, all around Europe, all around the world. Yeah. Even Trump, look at I mean, when he got elected, I thought he was the best thing ever happened to America. It probably still is, in a way, in comparison to the other guy that was slipping on the wheel. Uh so you you think Trump's gone off the I think it's gone off the rails, too.

Robby 25:04

Yeah, I yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yeah, that's why I'll give it to way off the rails. But the the I mean I don't understand why things uh they make things complicated. Well, things are so simple. I mean, I reckon if you put me in charge of the country tomorrow, I'll sort of our Australian problems. I will never get re-elected. Say the same thing. I will never get re-elected. That's okay. But I will fix that everything. I will fix the country. I will put it on the map.

George 25:34

And do you think this is an issue? I I and this is what a lot of people are saying. No, no, as in this is what a lot of people are saying now is that a lot of the elected leaders of the country, none of them have they've got no background in finance, no background in running a business or running any sort of organization before they step into power. They've literally done a politics degree. No, and they're like, oh, let me take up and because they might be able to speak well. Like, and this is probably credit to I mean, and this is the only compliment I'll give this bloke. Uh, Andrews was able to communicate very well and be convincing and have conviction in what he was saying. More so, I I think so. And I one of my a family members went and saw him speak live. Um, I can't remember what it was for, but he went there and he goes, Yeah, I think he was at some presentation of some sort. He got up and spoke, and he reckons he was uh phenomenal with how he speaks. But they also twist it, like they'll answer questions indirectly, they answer them with another question, they answer it with there's a there's there's definitely training when it comes to them speaking and communicating. So I think that's where people win votes over, is with their promises and their influence to a degree. But I think there's got to be a qualification to step up.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

And the voters are responsible for not electing the right people. Well, to me, I I reckon a fruitero, a guy with a fish and chip shop, a farmer could tomorrow take a farmer out of his farm and put him in charge of the country. He will run it better those than those imbeciles in Canberra. Look, it's very simple maths. It's like you you're running your own house. What you're bringing in and what's what's going out. I mean, yeah, the the country, they just keep printing money. Yeah, yeah, we're going back. America does. Uh I mean, Australia does the same. They don't care.

Robby 27:24

They don't care because they've got the printing machine. I I think the issue is the um it's a it's a 20-year problem, and they're giving you three years to fix it.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

And then no one nobody, no, nobody's willing to fix nothing. Because they can't do it in the world. But it can be fixed. I agree. I it can be fixed. Okay, have a look, have a look at Saudi Arabia. I keep bringing this up all the time. What have they got then, apart from Sentinel um petrol, you know, petrol dollars or whatever oil. But as a country itself, I don't know, I'm not um all that well-bridden or whatever, but I would say it seems to you that Australia is probably richer than Saudi Arabia. We probably got similar from resources. Resources. Yeah, but I mean, we got everything. If you come to think, we've got everything, but we got nothing for ourselves. I mean, the this thing, the way they govern the country, it's like you know, 200 years ago when England came over and took all the gold and everything. And the same principles continue today. They've got two, three companies. I mean, they've got BHP Rio and whoever else is out there digging with huge excavators and taking everything out of the country. What's left for the country is nothing. I mean, I'll come in your backyard, I'll start digging your backyard, and I'll say, Oh, look, I will only employ your son. That's it. I'll take everything you have in your backyard and give you nothing. Hang on, mate. Give me something. Why can't somebody get up tomorrow morning and say to Big HP or Rio 4SQ or whoever and say, listen, 10%, 15%, whatever you take, leave it for us, leave it for the country. You don't want to leave it. Pack up your shit and fuck off. Yeah, or as simple as that. Yeah, yeah, or tax them on it. Yeah, that's right. No, no, but they they don't even do that. That's what I'm saying. Once you start putting something like that, the whole mining industry will go up in smoke or whatever. They're gonna put all the right people in the right places, they're gonna fight you, they're gonna do no, no, no. Don't put it up for vote. You're a prime minister, get up and do it. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. But nobody, nobody has the the balls, yeah, to do it. Nobody has it. Yeah, yeah, and they're all puppets, they're all puppies.

George 29:43

And and this is why I saw on the I again I saw it on either social, but One Nation is now the leading preferred party in this country.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Well, give it a go. That's what everyone's saying.

George 29:55

Everyone's saying, like, we've got like at this point we're we're going to go in a completely different direction because we have no faith in the current government. They've just fucked everything. But then even going to liberals, like, what are they bringing to the table? They're just going to be it's just the same shit with them as well. And they've got imbeciles leading their parties too. And it's like, well, you know what? Pauline's stuck to her guns for 30 years that she's been there. She's always said it. Her story hasn't changed. She's been ridiculed, she's been put in jail. So many things have come up.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

She's the right person. I don't know. Australia is still is the lucky country, though. We're still we're still the envy of the world, mate. We still say that a lot. We're still the envy of the world. We are far away from a lot of shit that happens in the Middle East, in Europe, or in the US or whatever. We got our own sort of thing. We've got our own identity. We're not, I mean, I love the place, you know. Yeah, well, you've been here your whole or more life. Well, I'm more Australian than you. Yeah. If you come to think of it, there you go.

Robby 31:01

I have been here longer than you have. That's it. That's uh that's a very good point you make. How much time do you spend in Greece every year? It doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

I still love this country. Why'd you come to Australia? Seeing it, seeing it, well, that's another it will take more than this uh podcast. Um, but um, yeah, I just don't don't like what we're heading. But I still say if I was gonna live anywhere, this is a place to live as well. But yeah, well, you're doing it. Yeah, anyway.

Robby 31:34

Yeah, that's but okay, so we won't get into why Australia, but if you didn't come to Australia, where would you have gone?

SPEAKER_00 31:42

No, I would have still been in Greece. No.

Robby 31:44

You're in New England.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

I would have still been in Greece, yeah.

George 31:47

Very different life. Would have been a very different.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

You're done now. I mean you can't answer that question. What would I be? Sliding doors. Sliding doors.

Robby 31:56

Yeah, yeah. It's always the you know, the what the what if, or the, you know, if my life went this way, maybe like I would have gone to the state, I would have stayed in a different country in Europe, I would have stayed where I was, I would have gone to happen in Greece that I came here.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Um, not uh my intention was never to stay in Australia, it was never to come to Australia. Uh, I came in because we had family here as well. Yeah. You had family here as well. What made you say? No, we were at school and we wanted to go on uh an excursion. We wanted to go somewhere. It was a beautiful day, and we were not um we didn't want to go inside the classroom. Now, me and a couple other kids were the rulers basically, you know, the big boys in the school. We we just didn't want to. This is in Greece. This is high school in Greece. Yeah. Didn't want everyone to go into the classrooms. So anyway, the the teachers come here, start kicking us around, and eventually got everyone in in a class, and the next day, or the same day, my father gets a phone call from the police uh man in the village where I was on the next big village, and he goes, Look, George, you gotta make your son disappear. He goes, What are you talking about? He goes, Your son's name has come in in my desk that he was one of the ring leaders in the school or whatever. Now what happened at the time there was tanks in Athens going over students. But how the hell do we know that in in the village what I you know that what I was going in in in there that so they thought you were linked? Yeah, one of the teachers, somebody went to the cops or whatever to the police and said that I was linked. But that was the dictatorship that was at the time. So basically within a week I was here in Australia on the first visa. I did I had no intentions of coming to Australia.

George 34:06

Well, you had your uncle here.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

I had my uncle had a hamburger shop. We guess what where I end up in the hamburger university, like I called it. I learned how to make hamburgers. That's wild, huh? Yeah, it's look, but that's how things end up, mate. Sometimes you just uh no the best plans you might have, you just go out of the window.

George 34:28

Anyway. Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face.

Robby 34:32

Did you have were you too young at that point, or did you have a plan in your head like I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna go to the first one?

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Oh, I wanted to go to i i i in Greece, I want to go to the army or the the air force or the I was gonna go to some military school, that's where I wanted to go, believe it or not. That was my my intentions as a young man.

George 34:52

Yeah, well, there was it was part of it and still is today. Everyone's gotta do their time in the air.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But this was a career basically for me. I was looking. But anyway, all those things going out of the window. Um I've never revisited those dreams ever again.

COVID Politics And Accountability

George 35:08

Hmm. For an older generation type person that you are, I remember when you first got an iPhone and you're trying to figure out how to use the thing and how to um make calls and download apps, and you're calling me for your iTunes password and all that sort of shit. I still do about uh Well, I've got all your passwords saved in a location, so at least that way I know the quick access and I can send it to you. But I think for someone of of your uh generation, you're actually quite advanced in your way of thinking with technology, but also with where everything's going at the moment with the use of AI and and whatnot. So, you know, you said we were at your house, uh, I went over on Sunday and we were having dinner there, and you you made a comment and you said that you were concerned about the future of my children and where they're gonna be in they're not gonna be able to get a job in 10 to 15 years. Well, so what's your thoughts then on on the current traject trajectory of AI and what he's doing?

SPEAKER_00 36:14

Well, we'll start with the fun. The first thing you mentioned was the fun. I remember the fun, I remember I had um I had a Nokia, you know those flip fonts? Nokia flip phone? Yeah, it was it Nokia or something like that. Sam's uh Mitarola? No, he's no, no, I'm talking about the years are too fat, but the years of the Apple, Apple Fawn.

unknown 36:35

Nokia.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

I remember the Apple before the Apple, wasn't that a Nokia? Was it a flip?

George 36:38

There's a few, there's a few different things I can't remember.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

It was a flip anyway.

George 36:41

There was one that just slid down, I think that you had a few.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

Yeah, it could have been one of those. But yeah. And a friend of mine had an Apple phone. And I said, mate, what is the use of a phone? I mean, it's useful, you know, you grab your phone, you ring up somebody, you talk to somebody, you hang up. Remember, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is the last thing you want to do with your phone. This phone does this, this, this. What are you talking about? Then we started, you know, the building and everything, you know, you had to go and print everything, uh plans and all that. Plans and everything. Then I started, I bought my first iPhone, and then I started learning, which was very frustrating for me because it was my first basically um technology learning for me in other curve.

Robby 37:35

Did you have much to do with computers and nothing, mate?

SPEAKER_00 37:38

Okay. When I was growing up and everything, I grew up on the back of a donkey and a and a horse. I mean, we had no cars, nothing. I mean, the phone was a big thing, and I even I mean, what I've seen in my lifetime is just phenomenal. The the the advances, but I had no that's why my phone was my I uh my Apple phone was my first sort of technology jump. Then I learned where was this?

Robby 38:05

What you like, you know, remember roughly what this been like uh you know, 2010?

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Yeah, no, no, even before that. I must have been before that, I reckon. Somewhere there, I don't know. 15 to 20 years ago, yeah, 15, 20 years ago. That's when I actually started looking because it was the internet. The internet, you see, I got to where I am here now with technology or whatever. I mean, I'm not a guru in technology, but I thought if I've been if I've been if I was gonna be left behind because of internet, I'm gonna be yesterday's man. I I won't be able to operate. I mean I can see people still, all old people my eyes, they still have an issue with uh with a phone. They can't they can't figure it out. And now you got artificial intelligence, which is it makes the internet look a baby in comparison to what this is. Yeah, the internet the internet looks dumb. It does, it does, it does, but there's so many ignorance amongst people around my age.

George 39:17

But it's not only you. Oh, it's everyone, it's everyone. I'm telling you, people still using AI to ask them, you know, just simple questions.

Robby 39:27

But no, no, so he's saying people, okay, okay, at least they're using it. Yeah, but we still we do events, and uh, there is always someone who'll say, I've never used it. Yeah, now refuses to. Yeah, and you look at her and you're like, I tell her, hey, like after this, we're gonna have a break. Go, you need to try this on your break. Like, it's this is not a fad.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

My wife, uh she watches this uh podcast, she she'll probably gonna argue with me about it, but she's got no idea about it. She's got she's she's not even looking at it. You know, you don't know a recipe. All you need to do is just ask AI. I mean all you need to do is ask. I mean, how more simple can it get to that?

Robby 40:11

I mean, the the next thing is it knows that you don't know and it just tells you that's the next thing. Like you don't even have to ask anymore, right? It's like all you need to do now is ask. You see, the the the question that bothers me is is people gonna lose their ability to think? Yes, brain atrophy. That's gonna be a thing. What is it called? Brain atrophy. So you know muscle atrophy? Like you know when people don't know the word atrophy because it's Greek anyway, so I understand everything. It used to be Lebanese, you know, Lebanese is made better.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Uh 30 40 percent listen, 30-40 percent of the English uh lingo is is Greek anyway. Is it is it? Bloody hell. If you if you look into it, uh I mean when I came to Australia, uh I mean yes, no, I love you, and something else.

Robby 40:57

All the important things. You went asked about that something else, right?

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Now I can read. I can write, but I can read. And I think you can't um I've never been to school here, man. No, but you can write a message, no? I can write a message, I can write, I can read, but I can make you know spelling mistakes here and there. But yeah, that's right.

Robby 41:16

Nevertheless, I can write and read. Yeah, it's less less uh it's less required as much as it you was there was a level of intelligence shown with people who could spell. That's not a thing anymore. Because now the stupidest people are writing like geniuses. Yeah, I mean, because you speak to someone who's not intelligent, sending you the case.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

Okay, there is I was just just before I came in, uh I was at a friend's house, and his son uh we were talking about with his father, which were on the same vintage, whatever, we're the same vintage, and we were talking about artificial intelligence and our concerns about it and this and that. And his son popped in, and honestly, in a way, it was nice for me to see that the next generation are more positive than than me or whatever. Than or how old is the son? Oh, he's twenty something very sweet stone kid, but but it's he's not trying to fight it. I mean, I'm not fighting uh artificial. I don't think you can. I don't think you can. I think you have to embrace it and you have to use uh But any anyone who doesn't

Learning Tech And Using AI

SPEAKER_00 42:30

die is gonna be left behind in a big way. Yes. Especially if you're in business. That's what I'm talking about. But even even without business, um even if you don't have a you know a financial benefit from it, there's so much to to know. There's so much it can help you with. I mean, I'm starting to use it. So when you say you use it, how do you use it? Oh well, I want to go to Greece. I find me the best ticket, quickest way to to Greece. 100%. Yeah, you used to have to spend it. In two minutes comes back, uh, this airline, that airline, that much price, one stop, you're in Greece. Why would I need to start uh searching on the internet? Searching on the internet. Well say, I don't know. It's all I've used the other day. You know, like Elon Musk says, you gotta ask, you gotta know to ask the right questions. And that's how simple it is for anyone to use it. But I don't understand why people don't use it.

George 43:34

People are stuck, they're just it's habit. That's what it comes down to. They're this is how it's like I've always done it this way. Why would I change? Why would I ask that? I can just go to a travel agent and ask them the same question.

Robby 43:45

That's what people think, though. I also think people fear change. Yeah, absolutely. They do, they fear they it's a genuine fear around change. You know, we spoke to a guy the other day on this podcast who is building. Building software through AI, and he spoke about how scared he is of seeing robots. And I just looked at him thinking, you're doing something you can't do because of this, but you're scared of what this is gonna bring. That makes no sense.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

The robots might be the answer to the problems, but anyway, um that's gonna happen. But no, no, you can't you can't stop a river by by placing your hand in the river. There's no way because that that's what everybody is, and they're trying to it's impossible. This thing is the the genie is out of the bottle. There's no there's no way it's gonna go back in the bottle, but the changes that it it's gonna bring to society are people are ignorant, and unless you prepare yourself in a way, you you'll be in for a big shock for the next five-10 years.

Robby 44:47

I reckon people less, I reckon less than five years.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Less than five years?

Robby 44:50

I'll read you. You spoke about um Moonshot this morning.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

I was a podcast that I'll do.

Robby 44:57

Yeah, so it's a podcast by a guy named uh Peter Diamandis. Highly recommend uh if you like this uh I guess level of futurism, highly recommend it. He talks about some really cool stuff, and there was a thing they put on today. I'm gonna re I'm gonna read it to you. So I get his emails um where he just they basically put the podcast into like a blog, the things they spoke about. And one of the things they said where is it? Let me find it. Because it was something along the lines of that's not it. Something something along the lines of we're going to hit a point um where people think like we're not ready for what's coming. Like the amount of change that's gonna happen by I think they said 2029 now, uh, they're like the world is gonna change so significantly, and no one's ready. Like no one's prepared. Most the average human has no clue in the world how much their life is about to change. They think you think you were gonna like there's a good chance in five years' time you don't go to work anymore. And people can't fathom that.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Okay, this guy's uh probably at the cutting edge of things. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they they know things uh they know what they know what we don't know. Okay, I understand that. But I I I don't see look, there's a lot of things have been said on the internet, and you hear a lot of people making predictions for the future. Um you got Elon Musk saying the economy is gonna go 10x. Well, that's hard for anyone to to put in his head. I mean, it's hard for me to understand that. It's it's not possible. Um 10x, no way. But it can triple in 10 years. It can go 4x, 3, 4x in 10 years, but 10x, no. I is is go it's okay. The YRC II is is it is a tool that compresses time. So basically, if something took a hundred years to accomplish, I I would accomplish it in ten or five. So it's a multiplier. It's a multiplier. So things will come in quicker, but I don't think as quick as everybody some some of those futurists are predicting. I just can't see it. Yeah, but I think that's the but if it does, nobody's ready for it. No one's ready. I'm sort of half ready. Me, yeah.

Robby 47:36

If I'm still already, we're still gonna get we're still gonna get caught with our pants down. Like we're still even the ones who think they're ready, it's like you're not that ready. Like, because we can't even fathom what it's gonna do. Like everyone, anytime you say it's gonna replace your job, they say, Oh, but it can't walk onto a construction site and do it. And it's like you're thinking like a human.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

Yeah, but look, this is where you you're coming to the robots. This is where look, artificial intelligence is is is knowledge in a computer, right? Yes, that's what basically is. The computers now have all the knowledge. In probably four or five years, they're gonna have more knowledge than all of us. Yeah, I would say uh to a year or two. Okay, well, we're arguing about time, yeah. But that it's gonna happen. So we're not gonna be the the guys who are calling the shots, or basically us humans, being the smartest people on the planet. It's gonna be actual artificial intelligence. We'll become pets. Well, this is where the the dry areas come in, and we don't know where we're gonna end up. This is sometimes, you know. I was having those conversations with George the other day. Um I don't know. I don't know. We're gonna become pets or plants where artificial intelligence would actually spread amongst people and everywhere is one once uh intelligence gets from being an idea to actually go to action to actual implementation implementation. Now the first implementation that is happening already now, it's it's the cars because the cars are robots, autonomous robots. So a car is a robot. So and it's not far off cracking the the cod of FST, which is you can get into I mean now they say in the US they reckon full self-drive is okay. They they got a Tesla the other day I was watching on YouTube. He went to 48 states, done seven and a half thousand miles or whatever, 48 states in the US with no intervention, nothing. It will refuel it it went to the refuel. It just goes to the thing and fear fills up.

George 49:52

Someone have to plug it in. Obviously, not it's not gonna come and plug in, but it'll go to it. Well, I mean, I mean now I know some of the Porsches have the self-charging. Uh, not this they've got a map that it drives over and then it charges it through. You've got to be 100% to put it on anyway. I know, but I'm just saying, like it'll get better. It will so then it eventually it'll just come into a parking spot and charge through like charge wireless.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

Or it'll do it'll be the road will be that. But I'm saying there's a vehicle now that's done seven and a half thousand miles or kilometers with no intervention, but it's still not fully FST because us humans we can invent a way of doing something stupid on the road. I mean, FST cannot accommodate for every moron on the road. Yeah, yeah. But generally speaking, it's already happening. It is it is FST, they just can't say it. Yeah, but that's yeah, but that's the first robots in Hawaii amongst us. And Tesla has 10 million of those robots, or say five million of them would be capable of being robots 100%. And then you're gonna have uh the humanite robot, which is already happening in China and everything, and in America in Hawaii. But what Tesla is building is not building a monkey that to backflips and I can do this or I can do that. What Tesla is building is building a robot that can come in on air building side, your building site, and do the cleaning or or do sit a lot of the things in a brick line, probably everything, because it can get programmed like that to do all that. So it will be an optimus that goes after the blue-collar worker. So we'll call it blue-collar worker optimus. It'll take a lot of jobs here are the blue-collar workers, but it will be digital optimus, which will be capable of building bricks in the afternoon and then going into a hospital and doing a neurosurgery on somebody's brain. And it's coming. And it's people are oblivious to this, and it's not that far away that a lot of people think of. Because what they're building in America, Tesla especially, is building. I mean, I've been looking at what they're doing in Austin, Texas. They've got this massive place which they're building now, which is gonna hire all their compute. Yeah. And that thing is gonna train, it's only, I mean, they're spending 10, 20 billion dollars for a computer place, uh a computer factory. It's like a data center. A data center to only train Optimus and the cars. Now, if you come to think that which company will spend 20, 30 billion dollars on a on something that it's not actually gonna work or it's not working, they know nobody does. They know it's gonna do it. So it's just a matter of time before we see all these robots.

Robby 52:54

Yeah, the only thing that might slow it down is human adoption in the sense of we might experience some pushback.

George 53:01

Oh, I think you will for sure.

SPEAKER_00 53:02

Because people will free that they said Sam, I'll who's who's who's who's not gonna who's gonna push back? Let me tell you this. If an optimus is $20,000, $30,000, you're either gonna be forced to buy one or two and do your work in the building site, or you're gonna lease one. Yeah, yeah. Or so how are you gonna push back? You're not gonna put listen.

Robby 53:24

No, no, human human adoption, like day-to-day. Like I can tell you for a fact, I know my mom would push back. No, no, like I don't want to push it back.

SPEAKER_00 53:30

Forget about your mom. Your mom's not ready for it. Yeah, absolutely. When optimus is gonna be around, it's gonna be very young, mom. It's not gonna be your mom or my mom. No. So all I'm saying is that this thing is not that far away that people think that it is. And it's not far away taking jobs away. And this is when it comes back to me not being a hundred percent rosy about the abundance that a lot of people are talking about in the future.

George 53:58

Yeah, it's definitely gonna shift. It's gonna, I think, but you have to shift with it. It's like the Industrial Revolution. Everyone was losing their mind that machines were digging all the farms up now and doing all the work. What about all the people that are gonna pick the fruit and do this and do that? A little bit different, but people did evolve and change and shift and did other things. It's I think it's gonna be the people that adopt and utilize it that will benefit. Uh exactly.

SPEAKER_00 54:24

Well, everyone needs to have an open mind on this front. And gotta we've got to try and and make it work for us. Look, if you come to think, boys, uh three, four hundred years ago in Athens, where democracy was whatever invented, whatever, those days they had all these philosophers, whatever, in in the agora talking shit or whatever they they were coming up with. But at the same time, they had people working for them. They had they had slaves in a way. They had basically slaves, and that that era was called the golden years of Athens. Now, the golden year of Athens can be implemented tomorrow here in around the world by these robots because we're gonna have what the the Athenians said, we're gonna have people who are gonna have the robots working for nothing. So we're gonna have an abundance. But what is that gonna bring to society is is is the question that bothers me.

Robots Take Jobs Then What

SPEAKER_00 55:31

Do you uh yeah? It's definitely gonna be a replacement of human labor is massive.

Robby 55:38

I I think we'll have a um a purpose uh crisis. Like people will be like, what's the point of a okay?

SPEAKER_00 55:46

You might have a crisis, but you might have a um uh a society like a meaningful. You might end up with something like that because we're already we're already stuck. Yeah, yeah, but look, in the future might end up bigger because will they be able to share that wealth with the bottom feeders? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know which way it's gonna go. Artificial intelligence is a double dagger, it's not a doesn't quite does not cut one way.

Robby 56:18

Nothing that makes any significant change cuts one way. You know what I mean? Like if you look at if you look at um you know what's interesting? What is it you you you have taken this on? Is that fair to say?

SPEAKER_00 56:32

Like I would say that No, I'm looking at this because I'm worried about my grandkids. I'm looking at this and I'm saying, oh, if I can actually do something about the grandkids, as in how set them up? Alright, no, that but like in the all right. Even that question, yeah, pops up, yeah. But what is the future holds for them, you know? I mean, look, I'm not that I'm I'm perilous, but it would be irresponsible of me or him actually looking at all these things. Because if you're a a father today, any father, it'll be irresponsible not to not to get on with this what we're discussing.

Robby 57:12

But you so you the internet revolution happened, which changed the world, like interconnected the whole world. Yeah. But you didn't seem to that didn't seem to really uh attract you.

SPEAKER_00 57:26

No, you look, the internet made the world smaller. It made it more reachable, yes. Yeah, but this one made the world go spin at the speed uh speed of light. Yeah, this is gonna be bigger than internet. Well, well, this is this is what what's coming is it's the speed of things, and this is what people are gonna get with their pants down, yeah. And not watching this, no, but not many watching this. Yeah, I'm I'm 68, 69, mate, and I'm watching this. I'm I'm questioning things. First of all, sometimes I'm saying to myself, why the hell am I looking at this? You know, I shouldn't be I should be drinking my ozo in Greece and don't worry about anything, but I'm still looking at it. Well, it's also very interesting, too. It's a watch this space thing. Yeah, it's interesting, but it's look, I can see benefits, but I can see I can see uh nightmare scenarios too. Yeah, it's gonna be very difficult to see which way I ask AI itself, you know, what do you think about the future? They still don't know what what the future holds.

Robby 58:32

I don't think anyone knows. Nobody knows, but if we it's it's it's very interesting because like if we do become pets and it's like what do you do now? If your pet goes and bites someone, what do you do? You put the pet down. Is that how they're gonna start treating humans? It's like cool, you broke the law, come here. It's real, I know. Yeah, look and hey, honestly, wouldn't be that bad. Do you know what I mean? What it do you ever do you ever sit there like oh the dog they killed that? No, you don't. You don't. That's the reality. The other thing is, I also feel I feel very lucky. I feel like my generation, I'm 35. I feel like my generation specifically, like you said, you've experienced great change in the world.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

I reckon what I've seen in my 68 years of life, I don't think the um the existence of human race uh has achieved what I've seen in my last in my 60 years. Yeah, and then you saw you saw the world go from like I told you, I was on the top of a donkey when I was a kid to now to now you're on a podcast. Yeah, I'm driving a car anyway.

Robby 59:42

The other the other side I see it as like I feel like I got to experience I feel like I was young enough to experience the you know, outdoors, no phones, you know, experience childhood the way kids don't experience that anymore. Well, not as much.

SPEAKER_00 59:58

Okay. Now you're touching something that a lot of the young kids, my grandkids or whatever, they need to feel that. I actually feel sorry for my grandkids because they haven't grown up the way I did, because I grew up in the place, basically no rules. I had there were rules, but I was free. The freedom was freedom. You know, I opened the door and off you go, and there were another 10 kids outside. Just come back before sunset. Yeah. In here, you can't open your door. You lock your door, you lock your windows. Yeah. Over there, in the where I grew up, it was a problem. The whole village. I was the village problem. I was it was not no kid was just a a problem for their family. The whole village was very different, was looking after.

Robby 1:00:43

Very different. Yeah, different culture.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:44

Yeah, different cultures, different things. But even today, though, people need to experience the raw things of life, you know. You know, what you were touching before, you know, we need to, we need to be more down to earth, and you know, we need to get our hands steady.

Robby 1:01:04

I I don't think we will, and I think technology has only pushed us further away from that. And I I I a lot of people say, oh, it's gonna allow us to faith chase our passion and connect with people. I don't believe it. Social media allows you to connect with people, people are more isolated than ever before. Now, what do we do? We go into a lift, and there's three people with you. You don't look at anyone, you look at your phone the whole time. Most people do that, right? Um, but I feel lucky because I feel like I was young enough to experience that, and I was also grew up as technology grew up, and I feel like I'm in peak position to capitalize on this. Yeah, I've been doing some real I could show you some really cool stuff, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But look, I understand what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, but look, everyone needs to be prepared in life now. Yeah, I agree. You you need to to acquire tools in life that makes you, you know. You need to. And I think going forward, I think what you actually guys providing now, today, or whatever, or tomorrow, it's important for a lot of people to listen to. And I think I think in the future, people will lead a lot of psychologists. I think it's it's gonna have down that path.

Robby 1:02:18

We'll have a mental epidemic.

George 1:02:20

A lot of people were just gonna fault. We saw that even just during COVID as well, and the aftermath of that, too.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:25

No, no, this is I reckon it's gonna be a massive wave. I mean, yeah, yeah, I reckon you're I think creating context, stories, uh, gating people, I think that's that may be a bright future, uh, uh even as a business or whatever. Listen, everyone needs to to equip themselves with something and go for it, whatever they know.

George 1:02:50

Yeah, I I agree. And I've even noticed it, funny enough, in the last 12 months with the events that we're running, I feel that more people are coming to the events from the perspective of wanting extra help and wanting to do better because it's so tough out there or they're struggling with that space. So I feel that that's that's definitely something I've noticed within the crowd uh of people attending events.

Robby 1:03:14

Yeah, and you guys when as soon as we talk about AI, everyone's yeah, they're paying attention, yeah.

George 1:03:19

It's a hot topic.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:20

Everyone's paying attention now, they're listening to what we're doing and saying because people do need help on that front.

Robby 1:03:26

You need they don't do anything, Steve. No, even even give them so much. Yeah, we literally tell them what to do. Oh, wow, wow, wow, wow, and they go back to living their lives. Yep.

George 1:03:34

They don't take up on offers.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:36

And I say it to them now, say most of you're not gonna do anything. I know. Yeah. Look, I've got on my front, I've got groc, I'm paying 50 bucks a month. I know it's not the sharpest tool in the shed because you know, you've got anthropic now, you've got GPT, whatever, which are probably more advanced or whatever. But the things that I ask through Groc and the and what the way I'm using Grock, I'm not using it in a business manner or whatever, basically assist me on this, and you know, what do you know about this, or things that I don't know. And it's just basically asking questions.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:09

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:10

And in the last two years that I've been on on that, there's so many subjects that I had no idea or do you have didn't know the origins of it or whatever, I just found the answer through through Grok.

Robby 1:04:25

I can I can set up something for you to be set up to set up Open Claw for you, Dad. I'm gonna show you something now. I've got so we've got this thing called um have you ever heard of OpenClaw? No, no idea what you're talking about. I want you to think, you know how Grok is uh is the same as Claude and GPT and so same thing, yeah. We like to refer to that as the brain. It is. I want you to think of this as the harness that connects it to a body. So I've got on my phone, I've got telegram, I've connected to my bot, I can message my bot and I can say, hey, email George, tell him this, this, that, and it'll send George an email. I can say, book this in my calendar, it'll book it in my calendar, like it works. I can say every morning, make sure you go and you tell me what everyone did yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

Are you talking about like agents or whatever? Yeah, it's a gen. Yeah. Like access to whatever you have no idea. I'm I'm I was asking about a agentic AI the other day, and she ran me through, but I got no use for that shit anyway. Uh, but you guys are probably gonna be using it.

Robby 1:05:28

It'll get to the point where you could order your groceries every week. Oh, you can do anything and everything. Yeah, like things like that. You know, you can top up your groceries, you can make the order, you give it a card. Yeah, you tell it don't spend more than $200.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:40

Look, like I said, I've got no idea about all that, but oh we no, you do have an idea.

George 1:05:46

I have an idea, but you know it's there, it's just more whether you're gonna you utilize something like that now.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:51

No, no, not not not for me anymore. But who knows?

George 1:05:53

Who knows in five years' time? It could very well be the thing that you have at plugged in at home. Yes and it does that because might be I'm sitting in the nesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

Home and I just want an oranges or something. Yeah. Who knows? Anyway, look, that's how things are are happening.

George 1:06:07

Yeah, it's a very interesting space, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:09

But good on you for staying on top of it. I think that's very important. When I flipped to the fan, when I went to the fan, I I realized how much difference it made me. And then when artificial intelligence came out, it it was for me immediately was something that I didn't want to ignore.

Robby 1:06:32

What would you say to someone who is ignoring it? Whether they're aware of it or not. Like I believe a lot of people now, there's not anyone you go to now, or very few people, where they don't know uh everyone knows about AI. There's no one that sits there, like what? No one. Everyone knows about it. Few people haven't used it, but most people have okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:57

Okay, you're a truck driver or a taxi driver. I reckon in ten years, if you're a young man, get the fuck out. Go and get another job. The driving thing, that that's that's not ten years. No, no. I'm just saying I'm giving you ten. Yeah, I'm giving you ten. But if you're a young man, just get out of it. Stop because uh that is one of the fast things gonna go down. So when you have a transport industry going on its on its head, look at this what's happening. Uh I just won't put a f fuel, two dollars fifteen diesel. Um look at what's going on. If you take the driver out of the air of the transport industry, everything will become uh twenty-thirty percent cheaper.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:43

But all the all the drivers, all the you know semi-drivers and everyone's gonna get done. Cost goes down. Okay. So you're working in a warehouse in Amazon. Guess what's happening? It's just a matter of time because the robots are already sorting sorting parcels out. So the the low-hanging fruit are gonna go first. So if somebody's saying, oh, I don't care, whatever, but if you're in that industry, you're gonna get steamrolled. You're gonna get wiped, yeah.

Robby 1:08:17

You're gonna get wiped out. We're gonna I I believe this year we will start to see that. You'll start to I I said this a few months back. I don't know if you remember, but I said this will be the year where we'll see it'll be like, oh yeah, my friend lost their job. Like you'll start to know he's lost their job.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:33

Oh, it's happening here. Meta. No, no, the oh yeah. The graduates, the graduates coming out out of unions can't get a job. Yep. What for? Speaking to a solicitor the other day. They can't get a job. He was so you go there, you spend four or five years, you're showing somebody you're actually a punctual to show to work or whatever, and then you can't get a fucking job. So, what's the point of going to union?

George 1:08:55

Yeah, I was speaking to a solicitor the other day, and he owned his own practice, and he goes, We're not employing paralegals. He goes, We're not employing, we're not employing. He goes, We're utilizing AI now to do a lot of the groundwork, to do a lot of the reviews. Imagine you used to have to sit there and read the actual articles and all the stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:12

The doctors are only gonna be there just to make you feel good. You're gonna go there, you're gonna have a microphone, you're gonna tell your doctor your knee hairs or this, that, and basically AI will tell you what to what you need to do. Do that now. I know, I know. You just think I have physical. Just to say, yes, Steve, yeah, yeah. That's how it's gonna be. The human touch, it's gonna reinforce you, you're gonna feel better, but it's gonna be AI.

Robby 1:09:38

It's gonna be very, very true.

George 1:09:40

Yeah, it's gonna see it's gonna be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:42

Nobody's safe. I don't think anybody's safe.

George 1:09:45

We say this at our events as well. It's like one day you're gonna get into a

Self Driving Cars And Robot Taxis

George 1:09:48

self-driving car. Oh, you're gonna get into a car, like you call an Uber, you're gonna get into the car, and then a person's gonna be driving. And you'll be like, oh nah, fuck that. I'll wait for a self-driving.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:56

That's all happening in the US, George.

George 1:09:57

Yeah, but I'm saying they're they're not gonna feel safe with a person driving. They go they're gonna say, no, no, no, we'll wait for the next one.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:04

George, it's already happening in the US. We were there. People don't want to put their their kids in a vehicle from school to home with another driver, yeah, which they don't know from a butter shop. So they're calling uh Weimar, they're gonna start calling rubber taxes.

Robby 1:10:19

So why don't we have that here? Why do we have that here? We saw that that was uh well over 18 months ago now.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:25

Australia has let FSD in the country, operates, you pay 99 bucks or whatever. What with Tesla?

Robby 1:10:33

Tesla, no, you can you can start a subscription but a subscription, yeah. When I was gonna buy the Tesla, it was flat fee, 10 grand.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:40

For the to have the just just get the 99 bucks or whatever, that thing, and yeah, it's a thousand bucks a year, whatever that is. Yeah, and it's probably gonna get cheaper, yeah. And it's gonna go gonna take you anywhere. So I can sleep in the car while I'm going home now. You can you can it it works here? It works anywhere in the world. What what uh uh what Tesla has it's it's uh intelligence and uh what they call FST it's uh okay. If you think artificial intelligence was a big big thing, now the holy grail the holy grail of of artificial intelligence is autonomous driving. Why? Because it's a lot harder. I mean you talk to Grok now, she comes up, oh Australia has only 23 million people. I said you don't know what you're talking about, have another look. Oh, Australia has 29, 30 billion people. But but a robot taxi, an FSD vehicle cannot go and smash onto somebody and then say, sorry, I made a mistake. So that's why it's gonna be the holy grail of of IA. And it's probably the tipping point, huh? You you I I don't think it's that easy of cracking, and I don't give a shit what Tesla says. You don't so you don't think they have it now?

Robby 1:12:07

You don't think they're FSD? Yeah. Fully? When I'm saying fully, you're saying like trucks and no, no, no. All transport transport as a as a business will be changing.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:18

He's saying now, look, I I'm invested in Tesla, admittedly, I've got to say this. So invested interest. Yeah, I have invested some amount of money in Tesla, so I do know what they do and what where they're going. Now he's saying that next year they're gonna have FSD. But he's been saying FSD since 2019. He's also yeah, he's also very optimistic. Correct. But I don't think he can solve FSD in the in 27. I don't think so. Now, compute it grows and gets bigger, the numbers are spinning faster, maybe in 28. Now, when I'm saying when you have truly FSD, when I'm saying the car will rot the cars they have now and what they setting up in US is basically geofenced. So this is this is where it's working. Yes, yes, it's got a it's got a particular uh area.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:21

Twenty square miles, a hundred square miles, it's geofenced. But FSD, the one we're talking uh unlimited or whatever, it will work anywhere on the planet. It will work anywhere. So that's why what Tesla is working on is is way more advanced than WaiMo because Waimo works on LiDAR and RIDAR and cameras, but FSD in in the Tesla vehicle is purely cameras. So we only got ice. We don't have a sauna, we don't have radars, we don't we got ice.

Robby 1:13:58

That's yeah, that was a big push by Elon too.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:02

It is, it is, but it will work everywhere, but it'll take more than a year, but it will happen. So when that happens, what every semi-trialer done, every every everything is gonna go autonomous.

Robby 1:14:18

There's 10 million, I think there are 10 million truck drivers in the US. Who's something like that? Something, some insane number. Oh, 10 million people that drive for a living in the states. Well, they'll all be made redundant uh in a very good.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:35

But also Uber. It'll kill the Uber industry.

George 1:14:38

Because think about Uber employs a lot of people too.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:39

Yeah, but Uber will adjust to autonomous vehicles.

George 1:14:42

Yeah, the company will survive. The company, yeah, yeah, of course. I'm just saying Uber itself, uh as in the drivers for Uber, what you'll find is people will buy a Tesla and put it on Uber, like they'll buy the car, yeah. They can own the car and they'll they'll lease the car.

Robby 1:14:55

I don't think I don't think they'll the company won't have an interest in having you own the car. I'll just own the car.

George 1:15:01

Yeah, I don't know.

Robby 1:15:02

Do you know what I mean? It'll be like me lending you my Milwaukee tools.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:06

Because Tesla will would produce the vehicle, will produce a robot taxi for 15-20 grand, and a taxi and a robot taxi can earn that money in a year. Yeah, so then then Tesla might have a lease deal. Well, Tesla would be not interested in selling you a vehicle after, he will be interested in just having robot taxis. Because why would I sell you a vehicle make for five grand when I can grab one of those vehicles, put it on the road, and then 20,000 a year? Yeah, yeah. So that I reckon they will cut it. The margins become like software margins, not a car manufacturer.

Robby 1:15:40

Yeah, 98%. They um I I think they will cut deals because they'll be like, you guys have the thing, you guys have the software, the program, the clients, we'll give you the car, and they'll cut like a JV deal.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:52

Yeah, but all that have implications to society. 100%. This is what I'm saying. Good and bad. That's what I'm saying. It might bring costs down, but what about all these people going out of work? You know, how are they gonna find money? How they're gonna look, there's a lot of questions. Anyway, time will only tell, and time will probably sort out those things, but I don't know. I've got I've still got a lot of questions about it for the future, and not everything we're gonna answer.

George 1:16:22

No, no, you know, there's gonna be a lot of questions, but not a lot of answers for for some of that stuff. But in time, time will tell.

Final Questions And Subscribe

George 1:16:30

That's what it'll be. Yeah. There you have it. There you have it. All right, well on that note. On that note, I'll give you a couple more questions before we finish up. Who's winning the AFL grand final this year? Who do you follow first of all? Come on, who's he follow?

Robby 1:16:49

I'm gonna say um who do I follow? I don't know, I was just trying to be.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:53

Who's gonna win the grand final this year?

Robby 1:16:56

I'll say hawks. Optimistic.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:59

That's very optimistic. It is optimistic, but I'm a horse of support. I can't can't help myself.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:05

Fair enough. Good. Okay, you have three kids. Who's your favorite?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:09

Fuck off.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:11

Who's your least favorite? Not answer this.

George 1:17:16

Good, good, good. All right. Well, you said that you couldn't believe that people would stick around for an hour, but here you are, and here you've been. We've spoken about topics high, low, left, right.

Robby 1:17:28

It's been it's been about an hour and a half.

George 1:17:30

There you go. There you go. So hopefully your friends will now watch this as well. This will probably be our most viral episode as well. You think so? Absolutely. And we say that every week as well. But now you're gonna have to get all of your friends that are watching this, and I'm all know who you are. So you're all gonna have to subscribe now. We're all gonna see Steve the influencer. We're gonna have to blow up blow up your Instagram page.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:52

I will show this back to the village. They get uh coffee and nuzu.

George 1:17:58

They get AI to translate it. They're gonna say that's AI. Yeah, they're gonna say that's like the thing, right? You could probably get it to a point where this whole podcast could now be translated into another language. I know, but not to the sense of it's voice over, it's our lips moving to the right same points to the right same voice, yeah. Yeah, and actually have it in a complete different language, and it'll get to that point too. I mean, Mr. Beast does it with a lot of his stuff, it's although the the the lips and the oh you haven't seen it.

Robby 1:18:31

That's that what you're talking about is available now.

George 1:18:32

Oh, is it? Oh, look, that doesn't surprise me. The diary of a CEO does it that that honestly doesn't surprise me in the least, yeah. Yeah, and and then and also what are you doing? Wasting your time not reaching the world. Spanish people, yeah, and the Greek people now. And the if I think we have to do a Greek Greece first and and Lebanon to go back to our heritage.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:52

It's gonna be a lot harder, but no, it's a podcast. Yeah, I don't know what to expect, what you were gonna ask or whatever, but it's a chat chat. Yeah, that's it.

Robby 1:19:02

Isn't it just that it was a good chat?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:03

We have a thing is we don't have the Uzza, we don't have the Hey, that's that's that's episode two.

Robby 1:19:08

Yeah, that's that's when you come back from Steve 2.0. You get you'll have to bring us back a box.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:13

I'll bring you all my experiences and uh the things and then we talk about your last three months.

George 1:19:17

Yeah, but also imagine how maybe same time next year, and you can talk about how different AI's been from that perspective.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:23

All right.

George 1:19:24

So before you go up to Greece next year, before I leave, and then we'll talk and see if a lot of the stuff you've spoken about today comes to get enough viewers to watch your podcast. Oh, we'll now we have to.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:34

Yeah, exactly.

George 1:19:35

Especially now that all your friends and and half of our family in Greece will watch this now. But uh, thanks a lot for coming down and seeing us. Probably getting towards your bedtime as well. Old man now. Um, but no, it's been good chat, and I think a lot of people can learn a lot from listening to the older generations, especially the ones that are actively growing and learning, not so much just stuck back in the day, you know. It's like back in the day, I think you can learn a lot from the past, but I think you've always got to be moving in the right direction and looking towards the future. Because if you don't, you're gonna be stuck in one era that's not really gonna be serving you too much, especially in this world.

Robby 1:20:14

But something something has called you to this to take it seriously. Honestly, that's what that's what I find fascinating. Because you didn't, if you did it with everything, I'd be like, Yeah, he just he keeps up to date, but you don't, and he doesn't, but you don't, you know what I mean? Because if you didn't do it with the computer, you never used the computer, you know, you're not you were you could have used a computer, you're not that old. I mean you can use a computer, I know that a turn. No, no, yeah, but like as in he wasn't like back. I'm sure, yeah, yeah. You don't have you have you have an email.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:42

I pinch myself uh the distance that I have covered uh to where I am now. It's good. And you should uh yeah, but uh I encourage everyone to you know look at things with an open mind, that's all. That's all I can say.

George 1:20:57

I think that's a great way to wrap up the episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:00

Look at things with an open mind.

George 1:21:02

That's it. All right, thank you very much everyone for tuning in. If you haven't subscribed, especially all of Dad's friends, you now have to, and we will follow up and see if you are subscribed.

Robby 1:21:11

Uh Steve's gonna call you. Absolutely.

George 1:21:14

Other than that, thanks uh for listening, and we'll see you next week.

Robby 1:21:17

All right, thanks everyone.

George 1:21:18

Nice talking to you guys.