In this episode
We all use AI. We use it here at the Lens. But AI is no longer just helping us work—it may already be creating the very music, voices, and personalities we trust. In our Season 5 premiere, we unpack the unsettling experience of discovering AI-generated musicians and influencers masquerading as real people, debate whether authenticity can survive in an age of synthetic media, and ask who should be responsible when technology crosses into deeply human spaces.
We also introduce Picks to Click, our new recurring feature spotlighting one book, one TV show, one movie, one album, and one podcast we think deserve your attention. This episode's picks include The Constitution by Melissa Murray, Man on Fire, Michael, Sonny Rollins' The Bridge, and Carlos Watson's Carlos. Thought-provoking conversation, cultural recommendations, and 100% human curation.
How we use AI. Every episode is completely recorded and curated by the hosts. AI helps us with production, transcription, and publishing.
Transcript
Jason: [00:00:00] Yo, this is The Rhythmic Lens, a podcast that explores arts and life by ciphering on the events, new releases, and issues of the day by the editors of The New Obsidian. You can find us at thenewobsidian.com. I’m Jason.
Kim: I’m Kim.
Ron: I’m Ron.
Jason: Hey, hey, hey, y’all. It’s good to see you. Good to hear your voices, man.
This is The Rhythmic Lens 5.1, right? Season five-
Ron: Yay ... episode
Jason: one. How y’all doing? Feel- Feels good. Feels good to be here, man. Yeah, it
Ron: feels good to be here.
Jason: Fantastic. Missed you guys. I missed you too. I missed you too.
Kim: Yeah.
Jason: And, uh, this is what we have on tap tonight, all right? Our main topic is when AI crosses into spaces you expect to be organic.
All right? Okay. And [00:01:00] after this main topic, after we chop this up, we’re going to do a new feature called Picks to Click. And Ron, give us a little rundown on that.
Ron: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, you know, this is something that we’ve done in one form or the other since we started the pod, and it’s also something that we did on the online version of The New Obsidian.
But essentially, what we wanna do for you every episode is, you know, kind of go over some, introduce you to or just talk about one book, one TV show, one movie, one music release, and one podcast that we think y’all need to be up on according to the editors of The Obsidian and the hosts of The Lens. So that’s all that’s gonna be, you know, and, uh, we should have some fun with that.
And if anything is coming up, we’ll also let you know about that too, you know, to, to keep an eye out [00:02:00] on. So that’s Picks to Click
Jason: Fantastic, man. Hey, is this all human generated? I mean, are human beings clicking and picking and stuff like that? Is that something that’s happening here? Are there humans behind it is my question.
100%,
Ron: 100% organic.
Kim: Yay.
Ron: 100%. 100%.
Kim: All right, y’all. So at school, I hear my students talking about AI all the time, whether it’s ChatGPT or they’re repeating some phrases or they’re just ... They’re, they’re in there, locked in there. And I’m curious, what are your kids saying about AI?
Jason: Well, my kids, they say plenty.
I’ve got a, I’ve got a freshman in high school and a graduating senior in high school. And, you know, first of all, they both see it as a tool. I think it’s, it’s a lot closer to them just as a, as a new introduction, as a tool, as, versus honestly as a threat, [00:03:00] right? But they both feel that there should be no place for AI in media, entertainment- Mm-hmm
arts. They feel that is a breach of ... Maybe to say is like the interconnection of feelings that are shared between humans when you understand somebody maybe, for example, um, writes a song, and it’s based off of an ex- an emotional experience that that person had, and the listener connects with the experience shared through the song.
Mm-hmm. Almost like the song is the conduit. And so- You know, they look at AI-produced media to a degree, or quote unquote art, and think, “What’s the purpose? Where’s the connection?” [00:04:00] So a l- a lot of it has to do with that, that organic piece, right? What are feelings? W- you know, why would I care about something that somebody didn’t put the effort or the hours or life years into for a particular expertise to express themselves, but they did in five minutes.
Why should I care about what they produced?
Kim: So your kids, they have that kind of, like, in them already.
Jason: They... Yeah, I mean, a- and I was asking multiple questions. I mean, they’ve said more than this, but I’ve asked multiple questions, and there was a clear line in the sand for them on when it came to media, entertainment, art, stuff like that.
Mm. When it came to other things, it’s a tool. Yeah. Here it was a breach.
Kim: Yeah.
Ron: That’s [00:05:00] interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I’m actually... I’m glad to hear that.
Kim: Sure.
Ron: My... I did chat with my son about it. He’s a junior in high school. Mm. And I think, like your kids, Jason, he is not concerned with AI whatsoever. He does see it as, “Hey, it’s just tech,” right?
And I think that he and his friends are very comfortable with it, which is probably where we’re probably all gonna end up with it even- eventually. But I did ask him specifically what he thought about, like, fake stuff- Mm-hmm ... with regards to, like, songs or video clips of actors and that sort of thing. Yeah.
And he said, “Well, you know, those things, you just know that they’re fake.” And I was like, “Well, how do you [00:06:00] know?”
Kim: Good question.
Ron: I mean, they’re getting really good at it, and he’s like, “No, you just know. You just know. There’s just, there’s something that’s just off about it.” Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I said, “Well, what do you mean?
Like, how do you know if something’s just off?” He- and he said, “Do you know what it’s like, you know, like how you can read somebody’s, like, signature, and it doesn’t look like any letters at all, but you know what that thing says?”
NPC: Yeah.
Ron: That’s how it, that’s how it is with AI. Like, you can just tell what it is just by what...
how it presents. And I thought to myself, “Man, that’s really cool, and I’m really glad to hear that.” Like- Yeah ... and so maybe that is actually the case. Like, maybe as humans, we’re always gonna be able to tell on some level-
Kim: Mm-hmm ... “
Ron: Hey, this is not quite right.”
Kim: And maybe because kids grew up with more of [00:07:00] it, they are more attuned- Yeah
to it because they’re used to that on a more regular basis than us Gen Xers.
Ron: Yes. Yeah. I think so. I think so, yeah, yeah.
Kim: Yeah.
Ron: But I do have to say this, Kim. That clip that you, that you sent to us.
Kim: Ooh.
Ron: I don’t know if I would’ve known.
Kim: All right. I
Ron: don’t
Jason: know. What are you ta- what are you talking about? What clip?
Yeah.
Kim: Okay.
Ron: Hold on. Should
Kim: I tell you about it?
Jason: Tell me about it. Yeah,
Kim: might as well. Okay. It’s embarrassing, but-
Jason: Okay.
Kim: I’m embarrassed by
Jason: it. Is it a clip of you?
Kim: No. No.
Jason: All right. Go ahead. Okay. Go ahead. I will
Kim: te- I’ll tell you what happened. So, you know, I think how I really love YouTube, and YouTube feeds me music.
I’m walking to school every day. I’m listening. I got my headphones in. I’m listening to music, and it showed me some of my favorite artists to this date, people like Yola, Hermanos Gutierrez, my favorite, favorite. I found them through [00:08:00] YouTube suggestions, right? Black Pumas, Leon Bridges, Khruangbin, Gregory Alan Isakov.
And
Jason: YouTube, YouTube this?
Kim: YouTube will just be like, “Hey, you might like da-da.” Okay. They don’t say that, but in my mind, like, it just shows up. I’m like, “Oh, okay.”
Jason: I haven’t tried that.
Kim: Yeah.
Jason: I... That’s interesting. Okay.
Kim: And that’s one of the things I love about the YouTube feature, is that I found some of my favorite...
Okay. So walking to school the other day, and I hear this new song, and I really like it. I’m... It’s kind of not like what is in my feed right now. It’s more, like, bluesy.
Jason: Mm-hmm.
Kim: I really, really like it, so I’m, like, grooving to it. I’m listening to the lyric. I’m li- I’m just listening to it, and I think, “Wow, this is really tight.
This is really, really, really good.” And I’m listening to it, and I’m enjoying it. Uh, fast-forward a couple, like, hours more th- into the day. I’m checking out a couple of their songs, and then there’s just some- I don’t even like, kinda like RJ was saying, like I’m not even sure what it is, [00:09:00] but there was something about it and I was just like, “Wait a minute.”
And I wish I could remember what it was, but I looked in a little bit further and I looked it up on Google, and I found out that this man, his name is Benny R- wait a minute, not even man. This- ... song came from Benny Rivers’ blues compilation, and Benny Rivers is an AI. So the whole song was created with the AI.
I got duped, I got bamboozled, I got fooled by AI, and it really fucked me up because I have so reliably been able to count on YouTube. This is the first time that has ever happened to me with music. Hmm. And it really, really pissed me off. And it’s already kinda like what we talked about. And I felt, then I felt [00:10:00] stupid.
I felt like, how could I not know? And then, and you look at it again and you’re like, “Oh, yeah.” I mean, they don’t show him sing- it singing, but you look the face and oh, maybe, like the, there’s a little bit too, too perfect of a- Hmm ... image of a, like an el- elder Black man and, and then the, the maybe the sound of the voice is a little too perfect in the back.
Like- Hmm ... but it sound... I’m t- I’m telling you, and I know Ron is, you, I’ll let you speak next because I was in there and I really liked it, and I’m so embarrassed, but that’s what happened, Jason.
Jason: Oh.
Kim: But now you’ve listened, Ron, so I would like to hear what you said, what you think.
Ron: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So unfortunately, I, yeah, I already knew it was AI.
Okay? Yeah.
Kim: So
Ron: you know what I
Kim: mean?
Ron: When you first heard it- I was about to say that. Right. Right, right. Okay. When I went to the link, I went there knowing that, but then I was still... I was just super curious.
Kim: Yeah.
Ron: So I played it, and it was like, [00:11:00] the coldest part about it is, like, they invented this, like, old, like, typical blues old man, like your old Black man.
Yeah. Playing the blues, right? And you play it, and it’s like, “Oh, man, this is nice.” Hell no. “This is a jam.” Yeah. And then I’m like, “Wait a minute. Stop.” How have I not... So I didn’t... But Jason, you haven’t heard it yet?
Jason: Nah. I, I, I- And
Kim: actually-
Ron: Oh,
Kim: oh, oh ... before- Go ahead ... before you go, Jason, I, I really, I just remembered why I, why it made me suspicious.
I actually remembered. Okay. Okay. What made me suspicious was I looked and saw that he had only been on YouTube for just, like, a couple weeks, like a month.
Jason: Old Black guy? Oh.
Kim: Like, wait a minute. How have I not heard of this guy before? And he’s so good. Uh-huh. And then that, I remember that is what made me suspicious, was just he just joined YouTube at age 70.
Jason: Oh, right.
Kim: And he’s never- Yeah, yeah ... heard [00:12:00] before. That’s funny. And then I, that’s, I told, I told you guys about it, and so that’s why Ron already knew he was AI, it was AI, so.
Ron: Okay.
Kim: Jason’s not heard it. Yeah.
Ron: We gotta let Jason hear it.
[Music Plays]
Jason: Oh yeah, he’s jamming and shit
Be real.
Jason: Oh, this sucks.
Okay. Step by step and barely So Benny Rivers ain’t real? Nope.
All right.
‘Cause for real, he sounds real. Yeah, we are. Well. I know, right? Yeah, we sing That was, like, crazy,
Kim: right? Yeah, we sing. That’s crazy.
Jason: It is crazy. Yeah. If, if, if I heard it on the radio, I wouldn’t know. I wouldn’t know, right?
Ron: No.
Jason: Um, but what’s interesting is knowing that this wasn’t a human being-
Kim: Yeah
Jason: I hear actually no soul.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Ron: Right. Yeah.
Jason: It’s a great song. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It clicks, but guess what? [00:14:00] It, there’s no feeling. There’s great notes. Yeah. Great rhythm. His, his, his chalky, old Black man voice is, is-
Ron: It is. And it, and every note is- Ashy ass voice ... completely, e- every note is on key.
Jason: Yeah.
Ron: May- and so maybe that’s part of it.
It’s too good or it’s too perfect. There’s no imperfections.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Ron: So it doesn’t feel real, right?
Kim: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and in hindsight looking back, I, I’ll, I’ll share it. So I did look back and I was like-
Ron: Yes ...
Kim: I got really pissed. I, I mean, we all, I know, have a similar feeling about, about music. That music is- Mm-hmm
like, spirituality, music s- saves lives. Music is, like, heart and soul. Like-
Ron: Yeah ...
Kim: if you, if I’m listening to Radiohead all day, if you know me a [00:15:00] little bit, you know that I’m sad, and you know that I need a hug. Right? If you’re paying attention. Mm. Like, I go to certain songs, I go... It’s so fucking personal, and it’s such a betrayal.
It is such a fucking betrayal to have been sucked in by this. And again, hindsight I can look back and say, “Oh, it’s too this, it’s too that.” ‘Cause when I first heard it, I had no idea. And I was trusting my YouTube algorithm, which had done me so good s- up to this point. Yeah. I wasn’t expecting it. And so now I’m on the lookout, of course.
But it was such a betrayal because it’s such a personal, deep connection with music. And so to have this thing breach that without permission was such a violation. And the other thing is walking just to work, life is kinda rough right now with the politics things, and my school are rough too. Like, this is my time that I’m preparing, and I’m peaceful- Mm-hmm
and I’m by my [00:16:00] fucking self. I teach all day, and I have children, and I’ve got a husband, and I’m basically constantly overstimulated. And so my me time-
Jason: Yes ...
Kim: my me time is, like, precious, so- Right ... I was, how, how fucking- Yes ... dare you deceive me like that it, with this precious thing to me at this precious time for me?
So it was a huge betrayal. And I actually went back and I looked, and I was like... ‘Cause that was one of the things. I’m like, “You can’t do that to people,” emphasis on people. So I went back and I looked at the Benny Rivers site on YouTube. Nothing prom- nothing, I scrolled through, like, the list of his, its songs or whatever.
Nothing says AI. I click the description with, from the site. Nothing says AI. And the m- I finally found a place where it says, it mentions it when I looked at a song and I went to the description and I scrolled a little bit, and then it says, “How this was made. Alter or [00:17:00] synthetic content. Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.”
So that’s the only place I could find after s- looking pretty hard and scrolling down. To me, it needs to be emblazoned prominently on the screen and directly underneath.
Jason: And that’s bullshit, YouTube. Straight up, that’s bullshit, right?
Kim: Yeah.
Jason: I, I just-
Ron: Maybe YouTube doesn’t really know, because YouTube is also a computer, right?
So-
Kim: Yeah, that’s a fair point. Yeah.
Ron: I mean-
Jason: Come on, Ron. What are you talking about?
Jason: Uh,
Ron: you
Jason: know what I’m saying? So- The company bears, bears the responsibility ... ain’t no people who work there and shit?
Ron: I, the, I don’t think it’s like that. I, I- Well, what do you
Jason: mean?
Ron: D- because I build software for a living. I- you put up these mechanisms and people feed stuff in.
You don’t have any idea what’s-
Jason: So then,
Ron: like, if, if- And you can only react. You can only react. Right. [00:18:00] So if YouTube was made aware that there is this AI-generated music that’s masquerading as person-generated-
Kim: Right ...
Ron: they should put something up like Kim says.
Kim: Right.
Ron: They should.
Kim: But who’s
Ron: responsible- Right?
And, and-
Jason: But after the fact ...
Kim: responsibility, or is it the person generating it responsibility? That’s what I’m wondering. And this is why I’m trying to-
Ron: I, yeah, I think
Jason: like- That’s somewhere lost in
Ron: Congress ... I’m guessing that I’m... Yeah. I’m, that there is no policy against this.
Carlos: Right.
Ron: And, and so to that extent, maybe what you’re saying is true, like, yeah, this is YouTube’s fault, because they should have a policy against it I would imagine, because- I too look at all of the comments on this cat’s pa- on this AI’s page Yeah I said this cat’s page.
You mean this cat’s page.
NPC: No cat.
Ron: And it’s clear, unless these [00:19:00] comments are AI generated, which is possible. Oh, shit. But it’s clear that these people are listening to this music and they do not know that it is AI.
Kim: I know.
Ron: I think that that’s the crux of this whole conversation is this is going to happen more and more W- A- and one, is it wrong?
I think the three of us agree that it’s wrong
Kim: Hell yeah
Ron: But two, what should we do about it?
Kim: Right
Ron: What can we do about it? Um-
Kim: And who’s accountable for it? I mean, it’s kind of like so many things with tech and with internet and all that, that it got so far ahead of us that it-
Spy: Yeah ...
Kim: it feels like so far.
Even just, like, all the stuff about social media and teens and kids, like, we have lost that. And there should’ve been, like, regulations and rules and da da da for, like, age limits, all this stuff, but we’ve lost that. [00:20:00] And now we haven’t even caught up with that, and here comes AI, like, a whole nother level.
It’s kinda terrifying to me.
Jason: It should be such a cool- So, so- ... awesome tech, like, for the future. Instead, it’s like it’s coined under sucks for people, great for capitalism and a few people. You know, otherwise- Yeah ... they’re just... And the politicians haven’t caught up, caught up to the internet, or, you know, the internets, so why would they figure out...
I mean, you’re saying almost like going back to YouTube, like, what, you know, we could only react. It- that’s kind of like an LLM in a sense. It’s a black box. We don’t... Nobody knows what’s actually- Yeah ... going on in it. So we’re in that phase of Earth time where we don’t know what the fuck- Yeah ... is gonna come out on the output.
Yeah. But guess what? You gotta just deal with it. It might be real, might be fake. Probably fake, right? I mean, [00:21:00] AI is- Yeah ... seeping into everything kinda like plastics do, which is backed by the oil companies- ... because plastic- Yeah ... is made from oil.
Ron: From petroleum, yeah.
Jason: Yeah. Yeah. So we’re kinda getting screwed going in and coming out.
Yeah. If that’s possible.
Kim: Well, you know-
Ron: Yeah,
Kim: yeah ... th- there’s a another example that recently happened to me too. Mm. We all know, like, there’s been a ton of deep fake videos and people’s- Mm, mm-hmm ... voice and images, and that’s been talked about for a while. But, like, this particular part where, like, they’re going into your heart and your m- your soul uninvited is really killing me.
That’s what really kills me. And here, another example is, like, on Instagram. I love my curated Instagram, and it’s lift up. It’s a lot of Black and brown people, like, with positive messages or, like, just preaching the truth or talking about politics or lifting [00:22:00] up and various things. And so I get this message, and it’s from this elder Black woman, and this is just one of those Instagram boop-boop, you’re scrolling, boop-boop-boop.
She pops up. Her name is Yo Mama Graves, and she talks specifically to mothers about giving themselves a break or, like, she’s passing down generational information to mothers who are younger about from her knowledge, and make inter- It’s kind of a lift up thing. I- I’ve heard several of them and... Or just like, “Here’s the truth.
Don’t feel bad because this. Here’s the truth about motherhood, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.” And I, I kinda, I knew there was something up with her. This was after Benny Rivers. And kinda like that- Oh, no ... too perfect image, too polished, da-da-da-da-da. And so I looked her up, and she is [00:23:00] AI. And I- Oh. You look at those comments, a lot of those, a lot of the women, those moms who are, like, validated by her c- what she says are like, “Thank you, you’re preaching truth, da-da-da,” and, “Thank you, blah-blah-blah.”
And so she’s not real and a c- like a, I think, am- amalgamation of, like, various other people who aren’t receiving credit are... This- Right ... company created her, turning into this voice and this image of m- of, like, an elder, elder matriarch. But even worse than... N- maybe not even worse, I don’t know what’s worse, but as a part of that, you go to her comment section and you comment.
She replies back to you, “Did you get your No More Survival Guide yet? Because self-care and other talks,” da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I don’t know if I’m supposed to read it anyway. But it’s a message selling you something.
Jason: It’s a product. Yeah. It sucks for people, but it’s great for capitalism- Yeah, man ... for a few. [00:24:00]
Kim: I think that is so shitty.
Jason: What if some people don’t care? Because obviously we shut shit down, right? But do people even care? I mean, m- my kids are like, “I can tell if that’s real or not.” My daughter says, “I can tell by the lines.” The what? Any line. Any line. She’s, she can tell by the lines, the perfection of the lines shouldn’t be so perfect.
Things are more, there’s more entropy.
Yeah. But i- i- it feels to me, without some legislation, without countries controlling it, there’s gonna be parts of the world that are unfettered internet, you know, where the borders... How, I mean, and people are gonna end up buying products based off of this because they don’t know?
Kim: Yeah. [00:25:00]
Jason: Uh-
Kim: And also who’s making them?
Yeah, that’s exactly it. Who’s making them? Like, these are both elder Black people that were created. Do we know who’s creating them?
Jason: Mm-hmm.
Kim: Of, like, white- ... male millennials who create, you know, who leech off- Oh, yeah ... you know? And they create- Absolutely ... these images, and then they’re profiting off of
Jason: it? Any, any fool who, regardless of- It’s true
color, creed, or what have you, it’s a problem. And what I’m trying to say is it’s a real problem for me, but I’ve got old school ways to a degree. I have expectations of my own autonomy, and the autonomy of my feelings and, and expression and what I expect from other people, and this is definitely a breach on that.
But you’re gonna have a whole bunch of people, I think, that also don’t care. And is this e- without legislation, is this just an unfettered runaway train? I mean, it’s not like [00:26:00] AI models are getting weaker, uh, or less pervasive.
Ron: Yeah. Yeah. I, I don’t see how it stops.
Kim: Yeah.
Ron: Uh, because we don’t even have people who are supposed to be in the roles of protecting the citizenship from unbridled capitalism.
That is one of the roles of the government.
Kim: Yeah.
Ron: And we don’t have people in government who, at this time, who are concerned with these things. And it, and it’s just unfortunate that it’s happening at this particular time, because we are definitely at an inflection point with respect to the technology’s capabilities and their effects on society.
So what we saw happen to our society- Through s- through just the technology of social media, which was something that got away-
Jason: Mm-hmm ...
Ron: from [00:27:00] the people who created it.
Kim: Yeah.
Ron: We’re seeing it exponentially more so with AI. So I don’t think there’s going to be any solution to this particular issue and the issues...
I mean, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s... Right? We, we can, we can- Yeah ... acknowledge that.
Kim: Yeah.
Ron: So the only thing that’s going to beat this particular technology is another set of technology, or people using technology to protect us from bad actors using this technology. The bad actors are the people who are standing up to Benny Rivers and saying, “Hey, this is an old Black man singing the blues,” and, and it’s not.
The bad actors are the people who are standing up this Yo Mama lady, uh, on Instagram. Those are bad [00:28:00] actors. But I think that there are a lot of well-intentioned people who hopefully, if they can be made aware of the potential impact to our society, we could convince people to combat this with-
Kim: Oh
Ron: technology, ‘cause it’s not gonna be through regulation. It’s not gonna be- Um ... through policy.
Kim: The government. Yeah, you’re absolutely
Ron: right. It’s not. I think that the o- only thing that can counter this to our benefit is more technology.
Kim: Well, that’s really-
Ron: I’m a bi- I’m biased ‘cause I’m a technologist. You know, that’s what I do.
No, but- But yeah ...
Kim: I, I’m so glad you said that, ‘cause I hadn’t thought of that, and you are both in the tech industry, so I’m gonna ask you both a question. Like, so what you mean is that can someone invent like an app or like some sort of th- something you can install in your, in your YouTube or in your compu- or in your phone that will automatically scan for AI?
And then f- if [00:29:00] you’re listening to YouTube, for example, and it’s AI, because you added that to your situation, it’ll, it’ll- Yes ... pop up and flag it. That can happen.
Ron: I, I think so. I think that as this becomes more of a problem, I believe if you believe in any benefits of capitalism, the forces of self-interest and greed will cause somebody to invent and market- Yeah
this solution And the weird and funny, ironic part about this is it w- is we’ll probably use AI To implement this feature.
That’s so true. So so, yeah.
Jason: I don’t know. I, I mean, there was, there was more millionaires made selling products to people searching for gold in California around- Yeah ... 1849 and after- Mm-hmm ... than millionaires that were made finding [00:30:00] gold, right? Right. So- Right ... there’s a whole other, other industries that bubble out of nothing, the, for an invention that was created to solve nothing.
This just happened. The internet, AI. As you guys were saying, we do have, as humans, we have a choice, right? We can pick something, we can click something, or we don’t have to. Pick it
Kim: or click it
Jason: Yeah You know?
Kim: Well, or until that, uh, like you said, Ron, until that exists where, like, I don’t know what you call it, like, an AI, uh, I don’t know what you call it, but some-
Ron: Detector
Kim: AI detector. Until that-
Ron: Yeah ...
Kim: exists, that is me. So from now on- ... every shit that I, uh, that I am leaving a little moved by, I am going to check like hell for sure. I
Ron: think so.
Kim: And that’s-
Jason: I think
Ron: so.
Jason: That’s so annoying. I think, but- That’s so annoying ... no, but it’s going to be- Why do I [00:31:00] have to do that?
Kim: I hate it, but- You do.
You do. Why do
Jason: I have to do it? We do. But I don’t w- it’s like I don’t have to... Then I’m like, is this honey real? You know, I mean, is shit real? Then it’s like, yeah, when I find out, like, oh, that’s a beautiful diamond, it’s not a real diamond, you know? Uh, i- is that fake sunshine? Is it... I mean- ... fuck, man. What the fuck?
You know, that’s fake sex. It’s like, God damn it. It was a- I thought this shit was real. I mean, it just seems like a real fucking- But, I mean, would you care? Sure. Just kidding. I would care. I would. I think. I mean, listen, like I was saying, we all have a choice, and I think there might also be a time when certain companies will tout that they are organic, they’re humanly organic.
Yes. Nothing in their product- Yes ... has been- Yeah ... touched by AI. Not their marketing, right? Not their financials. [00:32:00] Fucking get somebody to do the math, right? And I think- Yeah ... people will actually pay for that as a reward for, hey, this movie was made with real actors, with real sets, and real costumes, and real people who do hair and shit, you know?
I think that it’ll... In a capitalistic society, well, then that becomes a highlighted commodity. I want- Authenticity. I want soul. I want heartbreak, man. And, and the way that, how do you get up in the morning the next day? That’s human. AI could tell me about it. They could tell me how it feels to have sunshine on my face early in the morning, right?
But it doesn’t know how it feels, and it can’t talk to me about it in that way. And that’s for shit. Yeah. You know? I need a human. I need a human even at CVS and Walgreens, at the [00:33:00] checkout, goddammit. I hate that self-checkout shit. If I got a bottle of bourbon, you can’t even go there. You still need a human.
Come on.
Ron: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Jason: Last, Ron, I was saying picks the click. I was saying you got- Oh ... people have a chance to click and to pick what they want, and that’s really important- Okay ... because the obsidian pays attention to that shit.
Ron: Well, well, I, yeah, that’s perfect. That’s perfect. Yeah, let’s go right into that picks the click.
That is 100% organic as we were saying earlier. This is, uh- It is 100.
Kim: Yeah ...
Ron: 100%. 100%. But yeah, picks the click is, you know, we’re gonna kinda highlight a few titles in, in media that you should be up on. The first title that we’re gonna talk about today is, is, is a book that we think that you should be getting into.
It kinda has a relation to what we were just talking about. This book is called The Constitution. Have you ever heard of the Constitution? [00:34:00] Any of
Jason: you
Ron: guys? Yeah. Yeah.
Jason: Piece of paper, right? Yeah,
Ron: so it’s a piece of paper. It’s the foundation of our government. I’m not saying to go out and get the actual Constitution, but go get the book called The Constitution by an author named Melissa Murray.
Melissa: The reason I decided to write this book was, um, about three years ago I was in the Twitter streets. Do you remember when Twitter was great? One day I was on Twitter, and someone that I knew from my childhood, um, he was a public figure. His name is Luther Campbell. Does anyone know who Luther Campbell is?
Uncle Luke from 2 Live Crew. If you’re from the South, he, yeah, a rapper, um, Uncle Luke from 2 Live Crew. He was on Twitter, and he’s really going in on Joe Biden, who was the President of the United States. And, you know, he had a litany of things that Joe Biden needed to do, things Joe Biden should do. Joe Biden should bring down the price of gas.
Joe Biden should deal with healthcare. Joe Biden should do this. Joe Biden should [00:35:00] deal with police brutality. I mean, it was a really long list. It was like a thread almost on Twitter. And as I was reading it, I realized about half of the things that Luke was talking about Joe Biden couldn’t do because the president isn’t authorized to do that.
Um, other people may be able to do that. Congress could do it. Um, a mayor might be able to do it of a local, a locality. And it occurred to me that Uncle Luke probably had not read the Constitution. And then I began thinking, I wonder if anyone has read the Constitution.
Ron: This sister is on MS Now a lot.
She’s on podcasts. She is a law professor. She breaks it down. She, she lists each passage, and she gives you a history of how the writing of that particular article and clause came to be. She does a breakdown of each of the Bill of Rights. It’s fascinating, the backstory behind every sentence that’s in the [00:36:00] Constitution.
So it’s a really great book, actually. Uh, so that’s the book we recommend. TV show. So there’s a couple good TV shows out there that we think you should watch. If any of you out there are fans of Denzel Washington- ... he had a movie out, I don’t know, about 15 years ago called Man on Fire.
Jason: Yep.
Ron: And, um, really, really cool movie.
There is a kind of a reboot of that. It’s a TV series on Netflix starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen, so we recommend you check that out. Moving on to movies. Yeah, so w- we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that there is a movie out about the gloved one, the King of Pop. The King of Pop. The, the controversial Michael Jackson starring his nephew, Jaafar.
[Michael Trailer plays]
Ron: I, I wanna do a whole pod on this one. Let’s do that. Um, but, uh- Yeah, I w- I
Jason: do want to.
Ron: It’s, it’s worth
Jason: it.
Ron: I, I r- I think one of our, the best pods that we had was the one where we did the dive into Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby.
Do you guys remember that
Jason: one? The Black All Stars.
Ron: Oh my gosh, yeah. So this movie does not cover much of the more controversial aspects of Michael Jackson, and there’s a Netflix documentary that attempts to tell the rest of the story, so maybe watch both. Okay. In terms of music, in Picks to Click for this episode, we wanna recommend [00:38:00] an album by somebody who just passed.
His name is Sonny Rollins.
Jason: Amen.
Ron: And he is a legend, a saxophonist, saxophone colossus, yeah, his peers called him. I call my man Jason “Young Sonny Rollins.”
Jason: Hey, a- anything, anything with that man, that’s a compliment.
Ron: Oh, my, my, my. So we recommend you listen to an album called The Bridge.
That’s your picks to click in terms of music. And to bring it to a close, we have a podcast that we recommend. It’s by a brother who’s out there, he’s got a very unique story. We’re going to give him support. His name is Carlos Watson, close to some of us here from the Bay Area. He has released a series of podcasts, one of which is called [00:39:00] Carlos, and it’s really, really good.
Carlos: Both as a technologist and as a former spy, how do you think current spies are using AI, or how do you think they will use AI?
Spy: Well, like everybody else, okay? But AI doesn’t know, doesn’t know yet what is in decision-makers’ minds. So we don’t know what, we can’t hack Vladimir Putin’s brain yet.
Carlos: You’re saying that you could really, if you were the government, you probably would train one of these models to think like Putin, to think like Xi Jinping.
Ron: The podcast interviews are really on point, and we, we think you should give the brother a listen. I think, uh, in terms of our first picks to click, that’s going to do it. We’ll say the Constitution, Man on Fire, Michael, The Bridge, and Carlos.
Jason: Fantastic.
Ron: Nice.
Jason: I like that. Yes, sir. So, and two, Melissa Murray, she’s fantastic.
Yeah. And I need to check that out for sure. And, you know-
Ron: Yes ...
Jason: how can you not [00:40:00] see, you know, Michael? Yeah. Just, it’s, it, it’s gotta happen. That, that’s gotta happen. What was so cool as I hear this music coming on was chopping it up with y’all again, uh, on this, our season five premiere of the Rhythmic Lens.
Uh, and just to let you know, we’ll be back at you with more episodes, y’all, this year. So- Yay ... get ready. Check us out at thenewobsidian.com. A curation born of multiple colors and patterns, a field of flowers, a translucent random act of atoms, bearing weaponry to beautify gemstones. We invite you upon this journey.
The price of the ticket measured by the distance traveled between destinations sought. Definitely check for the next episode of the [00:41:00] Rhythmic Lens. Peace. Come on!
Production Transparency
The Rhythmic Lens is produced by humans. We use AI to assist with transcription, editing workflows, research, and publishing. AI is never used to generate the opinions, conversations, recommendations, or cultural perspectives presented by the hosts.
