Joe Rogan Experience #1402 — Boyan Slat Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Three, two, what's up, fella? You had some bumps in the beginning, right? So what we saw was that the have to concentrate it before we can take it out it's not going in. We'll try and adjust the systems. So we've been going on at this since 2013. really took it well What if we turn it around and actually slow it down so that it goes slower than the plastic?

3:48 20 foot, so probably two of these rooms. That's the objective. So now we just finished this first step with the system number one. I mean, I hope so. It would be a very sustainable business model. Actually now, just last week, with that first plastic onshore, Flip-flops seem like an easy one, right? Appreciate the beach. People like belts. Like the foam that they make running shoes out of.

7:33 Yes. If you have your own company drop-off points in cities And people would do that if you made it easy for them. and then make those first products Eventually, we should have Yes. So that's the other thing, right? So on one every day, mostly from countries To your point, what's easiest, people will do. this ocean thing will work out, who knows. Rivers are like these arteries that carry the trash from land to sea because when it

12:03 Near the coast, that's where most of the leakage, most of the emissions occurs. And it's this scalable system that's almost like plug and play. So you bring it to a river and you install it and it just works. For people that are just listening, How does it avoid doing anything with fish? is coming from that one river. Two of them have already been deployed.

14:02 the plastic to the mouth of the interceptor jamie so people need to find it rivers interceptor 002 cleaning in malaysia is the title of the We should probably post that photo. Monitor, you're right. And most importantly, leaves wildlife alone because everything else can just swim underneath that. Not a single? Yeah, just 9 a.m. to usually 9 p.m. So it's actually really hard to enjoy successes in a way.

17:26 When people find out about the Great Pacific garbage patch, they get panicky. Exactly 20 years ago. And it keeps getting bigger and bigger, right? He was shocked about it. due to the working of the waves And fortunately, what we see is that still 92% of the plastic the cleanup system in the patch wasn't just catching plastic not just the big stuff it was

20:04 And because waves are kind of One is the 50% in five years for the patch. How many people are working in your organization? The first idea is when I was 16, but really founded the organization when I was 18. wouldn't have started it it was just too big and i remember doing the um giving my first presentation And yeah, he was closer to the truth than I could have ever imagined.

23:15 It's, by the way, hilarious that you're talking about And I mean, I think the exciting thing for me is that I can pick this problem as the first one not only solve more other problems in the future but also inspire others to do the same thing. Ideas are like viruses, and when they enter your mind, Right, to achieve something, you need full focus. It's kind of concentrating in these accumulation zones.

26:47 I do think that's definitely not a good starter problem to work on. And really, it was just a huge vacuum cleaner for carbon. This right here? More than 10 years in the making that can capture carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. Right. That's so weird, though. What do you, you make shit out of it? What do you do? A diamond that's actually made

29:44 It must be. They bond together to start growing crystals. I've never even seen that word. which is this weird lockdown fucking strange market. bro and actually plastic again it's just carbon chains oh that's right yeah we could even make In quotes. You could be the first guy to do this. sahoyas right louis sahoyas who uh directed the cove on yeah and we were talking about um the

33:34 So, of course, since agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago, If you think of wealth, health, violence, education, rights, all these things. so inventing technologies and also inventing institutions. Technology is bad. We should all get rid Corporations are bad. Technology is bad. What I, however, believe is that, first of all, I don't think it's a very realistic thing.

36:55 And that's why I believe the overconsumption of fish is not going to end by people all becoming vegan, and really other energy uses as well. I'm not saying that the world's – you have to say that, even you. I get it. i think it's a trick i think uh there's just a lot of people looking for every single opportunity that although there's much work to be done, we're in a great place in comparison to the rest of

39:46 So they call that the decoupling. there are a pro and a con into their technology. But yeah, I don't think technology is neutral. And if more people thought the way you're thinking, It doesn't really move us forward. It can be done. We don't have the technology ready yet to really clean up the patch. people can donate. People can also... And so are you getting a lot of success with that?

44:34 It's amazing that this is taking you so long So I usually feel that with a lot of my, Eventually, it is better. obsessed about it. um, That must be – that's like my biggest nightmare. A lot of people don't realize that the biggest asset they have in their life is their time. directly on working something that matters. Well, I think what you just said is like

48:54 make an impact something that you're drawn to something that That's as inspirational as anyone you know a couple people have some bags yeah you know and on the rivers we yeah i've put that So we don't position these interceptors as being the solution, And I was standing on the interceptor with just such a diffuse source five million people was just so hard to imagine. And of course, that's where we have to go to.

51:50 So, hell yeah. It's the best place to throw your plastic because they've got a thing now. Yeah. It's the best place to throw your It's a phrase from economics whether you're going to throw something on the street or not. maybe municipalities should also And then there's this other effect So the similar effect has been observed with a park. they love effort for that and yeah once once it's clean i think that would actually be a motivation to to to not litter i

54:40 Now it is if you could see like a time-lapse video of these oceans from like go I hope where we're aware of how much we can change our environment, I think it's good to be optimistic. eventually it's going to be fine. It's just a question of how long is it going to take? I read people that were actually happy And when it failed, people actually enjoyed it.

57:11 there have been people, now unfortunately there aren't many new arguments anymore, And I think there's probably four reasons. So you can, for example, say, okay, nuclear power, super risky. be caught potentially there are are these moral hazards. and just dump the equivalent amount of plastic that we were to take out, So I think that's one argument behind people's opposition.

1:01:10 about the plastic pollution issue. That's foolish. fucking serious it's a dumb argument both of them are important to think about the giant Pacific garbage patch that's twice as big as Texas? Are you fucking serious? It's a dumb argument. All those things are profitable today. Social media. is what you're into if you're into fucking getting mad about uh the border and getting mad about the

1:03:41 is human nature we are compelled to get upset about things, There's a lot of what's going on. What you're worried about, you're just angry. This is amazing. And, yeah, I suppose it's, you know, opinion exactly that's a big part that people can choose to look at There's a lot of negative things, So they're looking to define things, and they're looking for control, and they're looking to

1:07:10 Fuck that guy. Consensus. phase and i also think technology is going to make a lot of what we're concentrating on man i might have been i've been looking that up yeah i mentioned it once or twice you definitely did It'll probably work on Siri. So I think it's underappreciated how much our behavior is also guided by technology. That's a huge amount.

1:11:06 Look again at violence. while with smartphones, again, it's something that you want to use. And who knows? the fact that you were able to read that article and objectively assess whether or not someone has Yeah, it's kind of the, one way to look at problems because the technosphere, the technology that is the interface between the world, It's cold outside and you got to get somewhere in a snowstorm.

1:15:38 I think it's much more effective to change the, to smartphones in particular. You hear about phones. And I suppose that's, again, this sort of infantile stage of that technology, I suppose. think it's our bodies and our minds and the way we view the world it's we're not designed to live You're just all day, all day interacting with some digital device.

1:18:06 Well, Instagram is kind of dabbling with this idea of taking away the likes. No. Right. Give some likes. You get like a... Does that and you climb in. and if they make it more interior-exterior me 10 off if i stick this you know this credit card chip under my skin somewhere yes i suppose So the people that can afford it initially are the people that have money in the first

1:21:37 That seems like a Black Mirror episode. wealthy people of the future Yeah. aren't ready yet Yeah, both of them scare the shit out of me every time I talk about it. I was like, this is inevitable. it's also getting riskier. The whole of humanity could be wiped out in a day. It's like, well, maybe at some point in time it would just not be economically feasible anymore

1:25:25 someone some savage just like let's do it um nick bolstrom freaked me out man we had a conversation So, yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe. It just makes a cocoon and becomes a butterfly. They take very clear pictures. production bitch it's gonna be better and faster it's gonna wrap around your dick and keep you that makes the caterpillar make the cocoon yeah i mean it's probably just making use of the same um biological mechanisms

1:29:52 Well, so probably if it's possible, and it likely is, it's probably pretty inevitable that it's going to happen. I think it was Edison that said that, Yes, you just have to discover it. Marshall. So probably that's going of there. It's in the air. It just needs to be invented. Yes, you just have to discover it. but it also allows us to kind of think about the risks and to try and mitigate the risks before

1:31:27 and and also that perhaps some technology like i'm not exactly sure what this neural link thing is I, right? Yeah. um, the understanding media or media? Understanding media. by our technology. So, of course, the risk with artificial intelligence is that a similar thing happens, Look what wheat's got us doing. Right. That's always weird for me when I drive by a place like Boulder, Colorado does a really

1:35:09 Everybody thinks it's harmless. You'd see this spread where this weird wart of humanity 30 years ago, nothing. There's another one. Oh, my God. That's amazing. it would get stale yeah like the outside rim you can't just pump everything so now what do they do with all the stinky water That's true. Do they do a Virgin spaceship, fly above the earth and look down?

1:38:09 in the space area. himself, right? What is this, Jamie? It's the perspective shift. Oh, god damn, people are crazy. Motherfucker. That puts the word burst mode on a new perspective to that term. Are these Russians? Dude, look at my hands. No, shut the fuck up. Oh my god, they're hanging on! Are these Russians? Kurt, with a K. happens to people when you see people hanging on to something, your hands sweat.

1:40:58 He has a video posted on September 11th No more. A free solo climber that goes El Capitan with no ropes. That's his thing. and he, I wouldn't, I mean, Why? August 22nd. They demonetize it, but yet they still have it up. we can't be a part of that. I don't think you could do illegal shit on YouTube and get money off of it. Yeah, I think so. we'd love to

1:44:17 or you want to let people know what is an incredibly worthy cause.