Episode 42: AI or Singularity in the Knee of the Curve
Emmett Short
Emmett Short is a standup comic and digital artist. He performs regularly at the The Punchline (SF & Sacramento), USO tours in Tokyo, and the occasional backyard. He was also featured at the Montreal Comedy Festival's New Faces Of Comedy.
As a video creative Emmett has worn all the hats and had many titles including writer, editor, producer and creative director. Currently he is growing a YouTube channel that fuses his enthusiasm for technology, filmmaking and comedy into a show called Knee Of The Curve.
Social media and Contact Information:
YouTube/EmmettShort
@emmettshort
@emmettshortstagram
Damaged Parents: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Relatively Damaged Podcast by Damaged Parents where crooked far out remarkable people come to learn. Maybe just, maybe we're all a little bit damaged.
Someone once told me it's safe to assume 50% of the people I meet are struggling and feel wounded in some way. I would venture to say it's closer to 100%.
Every one of us is either currently struggling or has struggled with something that made us feel less than like we aren't good enough. We aren't capable. We are relatively damaged. And that's what we're here to talk about. In my ongoing investigation of the damage self, I wanted better understand how others view their own challenges.
Maybe it's not so much about the damage, maybe it's about our perception and how we deal with it. There is a deep commitment to becoming who we are meant to be. How do you do that? How do you find balance after a damaging experience? My hero is the damaged person. The one who faces seemingly insurmountable odds to come out on the other side hole.
Those who stare directly into the face of adversity with unyielding persistence to discover their purpose. These are the people who inspire me to be more fully me. Not in spite of my trials, but because of them, let's hear from another hero.
Today's topic includes sensitive material, which may not be appropriate for children. This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as advice. The opinions expressed here are strictly those of the person who gave them.
Today, we're going to talk with Emmett short. He has many roles in his life, sun, boyfriend, nerd geek, who stays in The Knee of the Curve and more. We'll talk about how he injured his back in his early twenties, which changed his path from standup comedy to film, editing, and writing.
And how he believes that an injury doesn't mean letting go of your dreams. It just means a different path. Let's talk
Welcome to Relatively Damage today. We've got Emmett Short with us. He's a standup comic digital artist. He performs regularly at the punchline, San Francisco and Sacramento USO tours in Tokyo and the pond in my backyard. How are you today?
Emmett Short: [00:02:20] Hey, I'm good. How are you?
Damaged Parents: [00:02:23] I'm good. Was that a good joke?
Emmett Short: [00:02:24] Yeah, the pond in your backyard, I would love to perform at the pond in your backyard. I'm available for children's parties. If you want to alienate your friends.
Damaged Parents: [00:02:36] Right.
I have to tell you I've been reading. A humor book lately. Uh, I can't remember the name of it, but it was bringing humor to work and so I thought it was great that we were going to have this conversation because I'm like, man, I've got to practice some of my jokes. If I have any.
Emmett Short: [00:02:54] Yeah, that's a dangerous environment to make jokes. And I've seen some friends have some downfalls. I have one friend in particular that I don't know if it was because of jokes, but anyway, it's a minefield out there in the workplace to make jokes. And I think, yeah, it's getting worse and worse. I don't know Maybe it's not, maybe it's not getting worse. Maybe it's always been worse.
Damaged Parents: [00:03:15] Yeah, I don't know you know, it might not be my idea to offend or that not might not be the intention and the offense generally takes place in the person on the receiving end
Emmett Short: [00:03:26] Always well, unless you're intending to offend. Yeah.
Damaged Parents: [00:03:31] which, I mean, I'm not a psychopath. But I could try to be, maybe, I don't know. I don't think I'd be comfortable with that.
Emmett Short: [00:03:37] Well, jokes just intrinsically are dangerous because there's always, almost always, it's really hard to find a joke where there's not a victim. An almost any joke you could sort of construe it as, as being an attack and in today's kind of world where everybody likes to play the victim. That's a dangerous thing to do.
So unless you're just making a funny face or being self-deprecating I think is a good way to do it safely. Yeah, but any sort of jokes playing on stereotypes or yeah, those are, it's tough to even joke about that these days in the workplace. I mean, obviously people are still doing it with their friends and in the comedy club and stuff.
It's just in the workplace that it's like, Oh, careful. I had a bunch of friends. I would do it. And get away with it in my jobs. Cause I like to live dangerously, but I had some friends younger than me that were very edgy when we're out of work. But in work they would, it was annoying to me how safe they'd be.
Damaged Parents: [00:04:44] Was it almost like a protective, like they went into protection mode at work. Like I've got to fit in this box over here and I can't be 100% who I am, but over here I can be 100% who I am.
Emmett Short: [00:04:57] Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. It's like, yeah, exactly. Like, and only with certain people. I mean, I think that's normal in most relationships. Some people you joke around with a lot more than others, but I dunno. Yeah, the work thing it's tough.
Damaged Parents: [00:05:14] Well, I do have a funny story just before we get into your, your plethora of struggles that you've been through in your life, right. Of taking an improv class. And I actually took it with, I was pregnant at the time and a couple of things in this specific improv class happened. Number one.
I couldn't figure out where I knew this guy from, and it turned out I had been at a hospital meeting cause I had been in the chamber at the time. And this guy was showing brain surgery at a breakfast business meeting, and I was nauseated and sick and I just could not believe this guy was showing brains.
On the big video. So I'm in this improv class and it finally hits me and he's a neurosurgeon and I'm like, why in the world are you in improv? And he's like, well, we've got to do surgery for 10 plus hours sometimes, and I've got to keep everything fresh. So I'm going to use improv in surgery.
And I thought that was fascinating. The second thing that happened though, is there was that game where you have the line of people and everybody adds on
Emmett Short: [00:06:23] Like one word to, a story to create a story.
Damaged Parents: [00:06:26] I think so. Right. And so I think there were five or six of us in this class and my husband at the time being one of them. And somehow we get down the line and I turn in and I crack the joke and I just started laughing.
But the fear on his face was tremendous because I think it's hilarious that I somehow became something to the effect of a big fat orange.
Emmett Short: [00:06:50] Okay.
Damaged Parents: [00:06:51] Yeah.
Emmett Short: [00:06:51] And your husband was not, he was embarrassed by it.
Damaged Parents: [00:06:55] I know, I think he was afraid that I was going to be offended in here. I always loved to laugh and I, it, because he had used the word fat, I think, was his word that he used, or maybe and I turned it into about me. We'll see what happens in our podcast here, but I think it's, I think sometimes jokes are taken offensively or even unintentionally offensively for the simple reason that they just don't make sense.
And part of the punch is, or the laugh is in the shift in perspective and the surprise.
Emmett Short: [00:07:30] Yeah, I a hundred percent agree. And I think when people do get offended it is like, let's say they get offended to a, I mean, cause you're in an improv class, the whole point is to. It's probably based in comedy trying to be funny. Being funny is the, goal you're trying to achieve.
And when you're watching say like a standup or something, that's the job they're up there trying to be funny but some people will even still take what the comedian says as they're trying to be serious. And they will get offended when you're even in a whole setting.
The whole, the, then there's a name on the, on the outside of the door. It says comedy, trying to create the context of this is all a joke. It may not even be true, like, so people do put a lot of their own judgment on when it doesn't belong there. I like to my friend, Ryan Stout talks about this a lot and I like what he said about it.
He goes it's not the comedians fault that the audience found these jokes funny. And I liked the way he says it's not their fault because some people are upset that it's funny, or that the comedian is trying to be funny, but the comedians to a large degree throw stuff out and what's funny sticks in their act, and it's the audience.
The audience has the responsibility of deciding this is funny. So if something has worked for comedian, like, hundreds of times, and then it remains in their act and then, there's somebody in the audience later that decides this is super offensive. Well, don't talk to the comedian about it.
Talk to the hundred audiences before them that decided. This is funny and, like they're the ones responsible for that joke, continuing to be in the act. If it wasn't funny, the comedian would just cut it from the act they're up there doing a job. But they do get blamed, for stuff.
And it's not their fault that, thousands of audiences before them voted with their laughter and said, yes, this is funny.
Damaged Parents: [00:09:38] That's interesting. So it sounds like even when you get into comedy, as far as up being a standup comedian and really taking that on as is how you want to relate with people or even performing on stage that a joke that was funny yesterday might not be funny today. And then you've got to shift it and change again.
Emmett Short: [00:09:59] Yeah, and people now want to go back and look at jokes that you know, didn't age well and blame the comedian for it. But. Just because something didn't age. Well, it didn't mean that it, also didn't stand the test of time for a little while. With audiences that said, yes, this is funny. This is funny.
This is funny for a long time before it became not funny.
Damaged Parents: [00:10:22] Right.
Emmett Short: [00:10:23] yeah,
Damaged Parents: [00:10:23] Laughter seems really important. to me. I think there's a reason we have comedians,
Emmett Short: [00:10:29] Yeah, we put our finger on the pulse of where the world is at at the time. It's a real time stamp for the public psychology.
Damaged Parents: [00:10:39] Public psychology. What do you mean by, by that?
Emmett Short: [00:10:43] well, the comics have to relate to. All different types of people in all different cities and all different types of crowds. And so every crowd is different. And if you want to have an act, that's going to translate to a bunch of different types of audiences. You really have to know you have to have broad appeal.
And, so, if you're still doing Jokes about subject matter that the whole world has sort of moved on from, then, you're not relevant. But then you could look back at their album from five years ago and say, Oh, it's like a time capsule of like, Oh, that's where the public was at that time.
Damaged Parents: [00:11:20] Right, and then yet also be judged for that and made wrong. And now the, the audience claims they're a victim of this joke.
Emmett Short: [00:11:28] Right. Yeah.
Damaged Parents: [00:11:30] simply because society has moved on,
Emmett Short: [00:11:32] Right, exactly.
Damaged Parents: [00:11:34] That would be confusing and hard for me.
Emmett Short: [00:11:37] Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it's happening more and more. I mean, they want to cancel it's this it's canceled culture. They want to cancel all the old movies they're putting disclaimers now for old movies that uh, because people aren't able to, I don't know, I guess understand that this is a movie from.
1960 about the 1920s, like people were different. And so now I don't know who it is. What channel? I think it's AMC is like putting disclaimers, for the fragile, just to let them know that I don't know. I haven't seen them, but I think it's something like this. You know, Movie shares opinions, not in congruency with our blah, blah, blah. I don't know.
Damaged Parents: [00:12:25] Oh, yeah. Like with our perception
Emmett Short: [00:12:28] Yeah or with, AMC's values, this is a historical blah, blah, blah. I don't know what they say, but they do a disclaimer for, movies that we didn't use to have disclaimers for. It's not like for nudity or violence, it's for like, ideas.
Damaged Parents: [00:12:40] I mean, it seems to me, if that's the case, then we need a disclaimer on every single movie out there potentially at some point. So, you know, we may as well not discriminate when it comes to that
Emmett Short: [00:12:50] Yeah. the disclaimers like the director of this movie is not you. They have different opinions and experiences than you, and you're going to be exposed to those. Be prepared.
Damaged Parents: [00:13:03] Yeah. That's like the disclaimer I have to put at the beginning of the podcast. Well, I don't have to, I choose to write that the opinions expressed here were strictly those of the person who gave them
Emmett Short: [00:13:12] Yeah.
Damaged Parents: [00:13:13] take what you like, leave the rest. It's okay. If you don't like my podcast, I'm totally okay with that.
Everyone struggles and I'm not going to take on your struggle and I hope you don't take on mine because I don't think it's meant for you. Why don't we go ahead and talk about some of those struggles that you said you had this myriad of struggles that came across your mind.
You're like, well, I could talk about that or I might talk about that. I'm not sure.
Emmett Short: [00:13:37] Yeah. Well let's where do I start?
Damaged Parents: [00:13:40] In childhood? I don't know when you were born.
Emmett Short: [00:13:45] Yeah. no, I don't, I don't feel like I've had I don't have a ton of things to complain about. I feel pretty pretty lucky to have been brought up the way I was brought up and with my family, my parents are both still alive and together and in good health. And my sister's family is thriving.
And you know, my career's been had some ups and downs and changes that I didn't foresee and you know, I had an injury when I was 21 that definitely affected the way I pursued things. I'm still dealing with it. But that's. I haven't had, I haven't had to deal with like, I haven't lost a limb, I haven't struggled with addiction. I haven't beat cancer or like, anything like that.
Damaged Parents: [00:14:37] Yeah. And I think that's actually important to talk about because I think that regardless, whatever the struggle was it at 21, the injury that was at 21, that it's still from what I can tell him what you're saying. It still threw you for a loop. You still had to readjust. You still had to reconfigure maybe what things were going to look like next.
I mean, I'm thinking maybe there was. Some frustration and some anger and this whole, what was that like when that happened? I mean, did you go there to that emotion? You
Emmett Short: [00:15:11] Oh yeah, yeah.
Damaged Parents: [00:15:13] The, hopeless
Emmett Short: [00:15:13] yeah, I mean I've had, yeah, definitely had times where I didn't know, if the, pain was going to stop. And it did feel like I had to, do something drastic. I never got like addicted to pain pills or anything. I definitely, took some Vicodin for it.
And So what happened was I was wakeboarding and and fell wakeboarding, fell weird and hung onto the pole or to the to the grip too hard. When then the, and the boat kind of kept pulling and sort of ripped my lat and my back and my shoulder got really injured from it. And then the doctors couldn't really see it.
There wasn't a broken bone. There wasn't anything that was just snapped. But there was a lot of soft tissue damage that they couldn't really say what was wrong. And so I went through like years of physical therapy with people guessing, and me guessing and trying different things. And just being in constant pain.
I mean, when I first had it, there was months. Of not being able to sleep, not being able to do much. And for years it just lasted like that. I, I met my girlfriend Chante and she started giving me deep tissue back massages and changed my life. Took my pain from like probably a seven every day to uh, down to like a five or a four.
Damaged Parents: [00:16:38] Oh, wow. You're so lucky. That's all. No, really, to me, that's fantastic.
Emmett Short: [00:16:44] it was a huge job. It was like half the pain. Like when I was 23, all of a sudden, for like two years, it's like really hardcore pain. And then to have it like be cut in half was pretty awesome. Yeah, I was able to drink less for the pain. Take less Vicodin. But this was right when I was getting out of college and trying to start my stand-up career and.
Figuring out what kind of jobs I could have. And I was trying to bartend, and I didn't want to lift anything, like try to get a bartending job and be like, no, I can't lift kegs or like stock the shelves. I can't put my arms out in front of me for more than a minute, like 30 seconds without a ton of pain.
And It, also made me not want to go on the road as a comic, so that idea of like trying to be a comic and not wanting to go on the road and live that life because I would be away from like a physical therapist or just my comfort in all my stuff that like makes me feel better. That was definitely something that changed my career path.
I think made it harder for me to advance as a standup, but, I mean, I did pretty well, I guess, still, even still in that early, the early days of doing standup. But yeah, I think, things could have been better if I was able to go out on the road more. If I hadn't made that choice.
Damaged Parents: [00:18:03] It seems like you don't live in that discipline disappointment though. Like even when we were kind of talking about struggle and things like that, like you don't live in the mindset of, oh my gosh, I had this struggle. It made my life so hard. You almost, what I hear from you is you live in the mindset of, well, I've not had that hard of a struggle.
And, what you're telling me sounds really hard to me. How did you shift the mindset or how do you stay in the positive mindset when it comes to that past struggle?
Emmett Short: [00:18:34] I don't know. I guess I just decide that. I want to keep that, like, my goals haven't changed. Well, they've adapted, but, I don't know. I think my goal was It was malleable enough to adapt to this thing. Yeah, it'd be great to have a Netflix special or an HBO special or have like, 50 clubs and venues that I can always call for work.
When I really only have, a handful, but it steered me toward other creative opportunities. Like I became an editor because I, was able to, I mean, I'm not handicapped from this thing. Like I'm after having this injury firm for 20 years, even though I still deal with like muscle imbalances and pain and whatnot, I'm able to work out.
I'm able to stay in good shape. And I'm able to, I've gotten a lot better. I've like figured out how to treat this thing. Yeah, I mean, after 20 years, you kind of like, it's not nearly as bad as it was in the first, like five years.
Damaged Parents: [00:19:37] Yeah, the key word I think I heard from you is adapt.
Emmett Short: [00:19:40] Yeah.
Damaged Parents: [00:19:42] And that you didn't really change your goals. You still have similar goals.
Emmett Short: [00:19:45] I'm still after that Netflix special on still after that, that that comedy special, I'd love to put out a couple of albums. I do feel like I took a huge detour, and I don't even know if I could blame it on the injury, I think like six or seven or eight years into doing stand-up I realized that it was really hard to make money and especially, it was really hard to make money as a standup. If you're not, if going on the road is not your main thing. You either have to have a strong road career, or you have to like get booked in something in Hollywood and like be on a show or get a writing gig or something like that, that sort of supplements your standup career. And and so I was close to getting booked on some stuff, but it never panned out.
And instead of going toward the writing route, I kind of went toward the filmmaker like editor route. I always was interested in, editing and creating the things. So I started shooting and editing and doing YouTube stuff, and it led me into more of a entrepreneurial videography, lane for a few years.
And then that led me to doing a bunch of advertising work and being a creative director at a at a startup where I built a marketing team and all the while I'm like, I'm going to do this YouTube thing. I'm going to make a YouTube channel. And my YouTube channel is going to help me kind of come back and get back into doing more standup.
And that's exactly what I've done. I mean, I kind of wish it didn't take that detour. But I am thankful for all the skills that I've been able to develop with shooting and editing and producing. Okay.
Damaged Parents: [00:21:26] Okay. Would you say that having the perspective of a comedian and the surprise that's involved in making the joke and all of that, that when the struggle happened when the injury happened, that that's, maybe I'm just guessing, I'm thinking maybe that's why it was so much easier for you to shift and still have that goal in mind.
What are your thoughts?
Emmett Short: [00:21:50] Well, I think it had to shift. I think if I wasn't so distracted with the injury and didn't have in my mind that I am not going to like be on the road, 30 to 40 weeks a year that I would have done it. And and who knows what would have happened because I have friends who were not injured, that did pursue comedy, really great comedians. Who have still not been able to like really break through in the comedy biz because it's competitive, it's hard and really great comics, no injuries. I don't know what their struggles are. I'm sure they have theirs, but you know, and I find myself, feeling, to a certain degree, like I've like I've got more options now to make money and to, build, build a retirement.
And instead of like, having not made it 30 years or 20 years into comedy and going like, Oh shit, what am I qualified to do now?
Damaged Parents: [00:22:43] Okay, so if you would've stayed and gone down the stand-up comedy road, then you would have been much more limited. Whereas now that you've done video editing,
Emmett Short: [00:22:52] Yeah. Yeah. It's make it a break it as a comic. And then what are your life skills after that?
If you decide when you're like 40 and you have no retirement and you're like, Oh shit. W w what can I do?
Damaged Parents: [00:23:07] Ooh, that I think would be very scary.
Emmett Short: [00:23:10] Yeah.
Damaged Parents: [00:23:11] Yeah. But with the surprise of the injury, so I'm trying to kind of get into the idea. Here's my thought is that, because you're used to surprise shifting is easier when challenges come along, would you say that that's true of most comedians that because. The surprise is generally the end of the laughing point.
If you will, that, that then helps in day-to-day life. If you have a, somewhat of a humorous outlook on it.
Emmett Short: [00:23:41] Well, I'm not sure if the injury has as much to do with it as maybe even just like a sense of humor, has to do with it.
I think a lot of people can relate to that. You don't have to be a comedian to have a sense of humor, obviously.
Damaged Parents: [00:23:55] I did it earlier. No,
Emmett Short: [00:23:57] did it right now. You just did it right now. And but I think having a sense of humor, like, you brought up the improv class, just being able to improvise having a sense of humor is improv, improvisation being adaptable. Seeing the incongruity or creating it just for a laugh is there's a huge amount of adaptability that has to come with a sense of humor. you know, It's like even just like being able to take a joke, you have to adapt, like you could decide not to take this joke. I am not going to let these people make fun of me and that's not adapting.
That is that is being stuck in your lane, but if you can say, okay, all right, I can laugh at myself for this. That's adapting. So I don't know. I don't know if it's the injuries sort of teaching me that, or just kind of basically having a sense of humor to start with like most people,
Damaged Parents: [00:24:51] Or maybe with the injury, what my thought was maybe with the injury, you were better able to adapt because of the humor that you were engaged so much in.
Emmett Short: [00:25:01] Yeah. I had to adapt and yeah, you gotta laugh it off at some point, and not everything goes your way and uh, getting injured and having to adapt to all that stuff definitely helps to have a sense of humor during those situations.
Damaged Parents: [00:25:15] Yeah. It's really hard. Now, in those five years though, where you said it was really, really hard,
How did you do that? Because, okay. Here's my thought process. I have a pain disorder, so my mind. It more easily goes negative. Right. And I'm thinking that probably happened with you with the amount of pain you were in.
So how did you get there?
Emmett Short: [00:25:38] I don't know. I, I have no idea. I, my goals, it didn't matter to me whether I was like, it didn't seem to have an effect on what I wanted out of life. It's an, and the injury's an injury, like the pain is the pain. It doesn't really, I wasn't going to go. I don't know, like how would you get something like that?
Like if I lost a leg, I wouldn't, I mean, there's a joke right there. I'm doing standup. I only got one leg, like. I'm barely standing up up here. I'm more I'm I'm doing lean up. So. I dunno, it doesn't seem to me that your goals in life have to shift when you hit something like that.
Damaged Parents: [00:26:22] So. Almost like the outside might change or the injury might change or you might have an injury, but the reality is who you are on the inside does not change those emotions, those goals, those hopes, those dreams.
Emmett Short: [00:26:38] Right. I mean, it just adds one more thing that you want. Well, I want all the stuff that I wanted before, but I also want to not be in pain.
Damaged Parents: [00:26:48] I really hadn't thought of it as an, as a new want
Emmett Short: [00:26:51] yeah. Just add it to the list.
Damaged Parents: [00:26:53] Like now I want that, like that's an interesting perspective. It's true.
Emmett Short: [00:26:59] Yeah. Yeah, it actually did get me into a lot of the stuff I'm into now, technology wise, I think it really helped me get into like this idea. That I try to explore a lot on the show of Longevity escape velocity.
Damaged Parents: [00:27:14] Longevity escape velocity.
Emmett Short: [00:27:17] velocity. Yeah. It's the idea that like medicine is like getting exponentially better every year.
They're adding like months and years. I know that we've had this like epidemic of like, narcotics and whatnot. That's making the Life expectancy in America go down, but like take that out of the equation. And life expectancy through medicine has been getting longer and longer, and eventually they're going to be adding like a year to your life for every year that you live.
And then maybe they're going to be adding two years to your life for every year that you live. And that just like goes and tell there's really no limit, unless you get hit by a bus, to how long they can sort of keep you around and hopefully keep you young and vibrant, not just, alive in a decrepit, body, but I got really into researching like HGH and And like genetic engineering and stuff, because I was in this mindset for all my twenties.
I had this thought going on that like, I'm kind of missing my twenties. Like I didn't get to be. Young. like super vibrantly athletic and, awesome twenties body, because I had this like, injury. I used to play a lot of basketball and do a lot of sports and surf and stuff. And all that stuff was way harder.
I still did it, but it was just, I just worked through the pain. I always thought like, Oh, I'm really missing being like at my peak. And so I started researching all this, like what's HGH going to do to me. And what's, testosterone replacement stuff. What's genetic engineering maybe, and maybe if medicine gets good enough in the future.
There'll be able to put me back to perfect. And like I was before this injury and now I explore that idea of longevity escape wise. I like I'm really into biotech now. I do a lot of biotech videos on my channel.
Damaged Parents: [00:29:09] Yeah. Yeah. I see those. My experience has been, we don't get to go back to perfect or what we thought was perfect.
Emmett Short: [00:29:16] Not yet.
Damaged Parents: [00:29:17] So you're still of the belief that there is a fixed somewhere, somehow. Maybe it's not going to happen right now.
Emmett Short: [00:29:24] No right now, but my latest video is on exponential growth and the laws of exponential growth. And, computer speed has been doubling like every 18 months for ever And so AI is growing exponentially. There's like a double exponential going on in AI right now. And AI is then, being used to like alpha fold Google's alpha fold just was able to like use AI and a genetic code.
It'll read the genetic code and then infer how the proteins folded. Which used to take like a million dollars to understand how proteins fold and now this AI can do it for like cents like pennies. And so things like that, keep happening like this CRISPR technology where like, it used to be millions of dollars to do genetic engineering.
And now it's like hundreds of dollars. Like that stuff. And it keeps growing every year. There's new breakthroughs that add to the other breakthroughs. It's like the AI helped the biotech and the AI couldn't have gotten there without the computer speed growing and now they're all converging together.
I just think we're going to hit the singularity and computers are going to wake up in 20 years and they're going to start solving all our problems. So we could hit an inflection point where change starts happening so fast that we can't even keep up with it. And that's the singularity.
And beyond that, yeah, they'll fix your body. I'll give you a cyborg, Android body.
Damaged Parents: [00:30:58] Right, right. I don't know. Where where's, that would be fantastic. The human body. I mean, even with I know we're in vaccine mode right now with COVID and everything and the different reactions. Like some people are doing great, other people aren't and maybe even some of those gene therapies, it might have to go as deep as to specific gene therapies for specific people in order for things like that to work out.
Emmett Short: [00:31:21] Yeah, I think it's all going to be personalized. Very soon. I don't think we're going to see less vaccines after this. I think this is the start of like, vaccines are going to be the new hot commodity product. There's going to be vaccines for everything coming up. Like, these companies, the ones that are.
Putting out vaccines for coronavirus. they were already working on mRNA vaccines, for like so many other things I think Moderna has a personalized cancer vaccine. They've got one for flu, like a bunch of them. I'm doing an interview with the Arcturus. They've got one for flu and like,
Damaged Parents: [00:31:56] Whereas the personalized flu vaccine based on that, person's.
Emmett Short: [00:32:00] I don't know if that one's personalized, but the cancer one is, and they've got stuff for, herpes and AIDS and all sorts of ones that I don't even have sickle cell and just like names for disease that I don't even know they're creating. And. I just think I think that sector's growing exponentially.
So I know it sounds crazy to say that they're going to cure aging in our lifetime. I realize that sounds insane. But like every time an AI has like beat a human at something, they thought it was 10 years away. Like the day before it happens, people think there's no way it could happen. And then it happens.
Damaged Parents: [00:32:41] yeah, we get surprised. Here's my thought, like, I mean, at least from my perspective, I'm here to learn and grow and if I'm here to learn and grow and then we solve all these problems. What's left? I don't know. Maybe
Emmett Short: [00:32:56] Well, you don't have to
Damaged Parents: [00:32:57] at the struggle.
Emmett Short: [00:32:57] Yeah. Well, I think we'll have bigger, better, more fun problems to solve, like
Damaged Parents: [00:33:03] Oh, bigger, better, more fun.
Emmett Short: [00:33:05] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like.
Damaged Parents: [00:33:07] Does that also mean more painful?
Emmett Short: [00:33:09] I hope not, but right now we're spinning around glowing rock on a speck of dust in a void. And we could be annihilated any second by a asteroid. I mean, wouldn't a bigger, better problem for us all to think about is like, how do we populate the solar system? How do we spread out throughout the galaxy?
Like if we've solved some of these other problems, like, aging and death and health stuff we can focus on that and you're still gonna have like relationship issues. I don't think people don't want to lose their humanity and just get uploaded, but so there's going to be that stuff.
Damaged Parents: [00:33:50] There is that show on Amazon. I think that's what it's called Uploaded.
Emmett Short: [00:33:53] Yeah.
I have strong arms, this podcast into my crazy futurism world speculation.
Damaged Parents: [00:34:01] I think that's okay because it, it shows that regardless of the struggle. If we can look to the future, we can keep our dreams. If we can keep our hopes, then maybe the struggle right now it's okay. It's okay. That we're struggling to find these answers. And it's okay. That with me, that the podcast went down this interesting path because right above my computer, I have, how will I be surprised today and stay curious.
So I'm going to learn from every single podcast. If I let my mind be open. What I really heard you say is bigger and better prevalence. And I love that thought and idea that it's, that the struggle is important and maybe it just might not, it might be bigger and better. And even so like with this podcast, when I heard you say bigger and better struggles, I thought of.
Humanity coming together as a whole and not being as divisive amongst groups, whether it's with disabilities, skin, color intellectual challenges, mental health challenge, whatever the differences are that you see in everyone that we can start recognizing the similarities instead, which I think is a bigger problem.
Emmett Short: [00:35:12] Yeah, I love the idea of if there was an alien threat that humanity would like come together, and unite as like we're all human, like that might have a really profound effect on the way humanity treats itself. And how we as individuals like, look at each other. And I think the idea of the, like any sort of existential threat to intelligent life, whether it's an asteroid or a climate change or whatever, these are the kinds of things that bring us. Hopefully together to say, Hey, we're all, you know, sentient beings. Like I like how Elon Musk says we have to spread the light of consciousness throughout the solar system and the galaxy. And it's not even just humans. I mean animals and just life. Like we have this earth is alive.
And I, I like the idea of spreading that throughout the Throughout the solar system, but you were talking about, how bigger struggles, like bring us together. Yeah. So I think that's pretty much what my show is about. It's it does take different technical technological topics and, focus on them.
But the overarching. Thing about the show is that we're in this period of time where we're in the knee of the curve, that's the name of the show and things are changed. This is the point of most extreme change. That's what the knee of the curve is. We're not behind the curve, we're not ahead of the curve.
And there's a bunch of existential threats that come along with that. I am hoping that people can find optimism in that, but there's optimism in that if we get past. If we see these challenges coming, then hopefully we can get past it. And that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to let people know, these are the crazy technological challenges that are going to happen, that we should be thinking about.
And hopefully that will bring people together and we can solve them and not be wiped out by our own technology.
Damaged Parents: [00:37:10] Yeah, that reminds me of something that another guest said in, in that not waiting for the struggle that happened, but instead looking for the struggle so that they could learn. So it which really reminds me of what you're saying about your show. Hey, we're right in the curve. This is what we need to be thinking about so that we can learn and become better.
Emmett Short: [00:37:31] Yeah.
Yeah. That's exactly it.
Damaged Parents: [00:37:34] yeah. That's fantastic. And I do love watching your show. It's a lot of fun and, I love that you dabble in the comedy side of it to make it fun, to think about
Emmett Short: [00:37:44] Yeah.
Damaged Parents: [00:37:45] that. It's not this serious. Oh my gosh. This is what we're doing. It's. It's fun.
Emmett Short: [00:37:50] Yeah. I want it to be an entry point for people that you know, that you like Sci-Fi say movies and TV and stuff, but you don't necessarily want to read the. The scholarly journals about uh, you know, all the quantum computer inner workings, blah, blah, blah. Like just watch my quantum computer video. And I equate, I think I equated super position to bisexuality,
Damaged Parents: [00:38:17] You make it easy and relatable into in what's happening right now in society, which I think , is also important because a lot of us don't understand or don't like you were saying, don't want to go and read the scholarly articles. And I don't know about you, but it's a whole nother language for me.
Anyway. It's like going into the medical field, you have to learn a whole new way of, a whole new set of words. That mean something. And I think the same thing in what you're talking about. It's a whole, I mean, the biotech for certain and technology, there's all these words. I don't know what they mean.
So please equate them to something simple so I can get it. And if I can laugh at it too, even better, because then I'm relaxed.
Emmett Short: [00:39:00] You're relaxed. And if you are understanding the joke, then you're understanding the concepts behind the joke. And that's when you, that's, when the learning really takes place. Yes.
Damaged Parents: [00:39:10] Yeah. Fantastic. Okay. Three tips that you might want to give my listeners, doesn't have to be about a struggle. I'm thinking, watch the show and laugh a little bit, but you tell me three tips that you might want to give them three gifts. You want to give them.
Emmett Short: [00:39:26] For people that are like going through a struggle or for just people, anybody.
Damaged Parents: [00:39:30] I think anyone who might be listening to the podcast, so anyone that's wanting to learn empathy and understanding for other people or going through the struggle one or both
Emmett Short: [00:39:39] okay. Well, how about this? I don't know.
Damaged Parents: [00:39:43] Oh, I know. Use that statement. No.
Emmett Short: [00:39:47] Yeah. Hey, say be willing to say, I don't know. That's a good one. I'll take that.
Um,
Thank you. Yeah, bill would be willing to say, I don't know uh, is a great one. I was going to say to laugh at yourself. Cause we talked about that. Practice, not making your first reaction to take it personal. Like, I don't know. I think I go through this with a, I think I've dealt with this with my relationship with Chante and too, it's like, always monitor. Like when you feel that anger, you just have to be like, okay, why am I doing that?
And then be able to, it takes practice, not being mad.
Damaged Parents: [00:40:26] So number two is practice by being mad. Got it.
Emmett Short: [00:40:29] Okay. Yeah, sure. Is that number two fine. I'll take that. I was going with not taking things personally, but I think , that's the same thing. It's the same thing. Ah, yeah, sure. I don't know. Never give up on your goal. It sounds like stupid. Everybody says that don't give up on your dreams.
Damaged Parents: [00:40:45] gosh.
Emmett Short: [00:40:46] I don't practice giving advice to people. I don't think it's, it feels weird for me to say here's three.
tips. I don't know. I wish I had better.
Damaged Parents: [00:40:53] There was something you said early on, uh, be adaptive.
Emmett Short: [00:40:57] Yeah.
Damaged Parents: [00:40:57] Yeah. But I think that's all in what they'd be willing to say. I don't know if you're willing to say, I don't know. And you're willing to investigate the purpose of your anger and you're willing, what was the other one? To try and learn something. Then that's all in being adaptive, I think, and laughing at yourself.
Emmett Short: [00:41:15] yeah. laughing at yourself.
I think that's a form of being adaptive. Even like practicing, not being angry, that's like a form of being adaptive. Yeah. The Bruce Lee quote, be like water.
Damaged Parents: [00:41:26] Hey. Fantastic. Thank you so much. Emmett Short, we were not short on talent today. I'm so glad I had you on.
Emmett Short: [00:41:36] Awesome. Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Damaged Parents: [00:41:38] Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Relatively Damaged by Damaged Parents. We've really enjoyed talking to Emmett about how he believes AI is an answer to some struggles, which means we might be able to work on bigger problems. We especially liked when he talked about struggles, simply leading down a different path and maybe it might just work out better.
Check out his show on YouTube. The Knee of the Curve by Emmett Short To unite with other damaged people, connect with us on Facebook. Look for damaged parents. We'll be here next week still relatively damaged see ya then.
