#1314 – The Expat Files: AI, Government Efficiency, and Life in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pad wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Top of the morning afternoon or no Che to ya You know just lately lots of people have been asking me in my opinion about AI, you know artificial intelligence Well, here's a take on it. I don't think you've heard before

[00:46] No matter what you and I think about it. I believe that governments will absolutely hate it But businesses will love it. It's all about efficiency because you know In the real world where people make products and have to be competitive Let's say for example your whirlpool and you make washing machines one of your biggest costs after you make the product is shipping those things weigh a lot, right and shipping costs are by the weight and volume What if you set AI loose in your engineering department and you said, okay take all our refrigerator models Check all the technical specs and cut out ten percent of the weight but don't affect the life or durability of the product Well, guess what if you set human beings engineers to the task They'll never be able to do it as well or as efficiently as AI could do it

[01:35] Because in a split second AI will check every single blueprint of every washing machine or refrigerator. Whatever you pick that's ever existed from your company and all your competitors and Select the absolute best and most efficient designs depending on the constraints you give it by the way That's exactly what every single company that manufactures a product is doing today or it will be doing in the next year or so They're gonna be drastically improving and streamlining their products Making them more user-friendly and ergonomic to what's not to like about that. For example having a car That's five ten fifteen even thirty percent more efficient on gas or electricity if it's electric safer and more comfortable, too Sure, you could put five ten twenty a thousand engineers on that project and come up with the better product eventually

[02:24] But never to the degree that AI could because the thing is, you know A car has to be run through crash tests after they change design it Well, guess what AI can simulate crash tests instantly, too by taking all the data that's ever been collected in Millions and millions of crash tests and running those simulations virtually on any and all new tweaks and changes it's made Oh and not to mention all future product lines designed or tweaked by AI will inevitably be much cheaper, too AI will select lighter cheaper more durable materials And if they don't exist right now AI will do the chemistry and show the metallurgists how to make it Take for example a simple black and Decker power drill What if you told AI to make it 10% cheaper, but just as strong

[03:12] durable and long-lasting as the existing model Of course, everything's a compromise, right? If you make something 10% cheaper something's got to give well, not necessarily at all It's not a zero-sum game because AI will most certainly source materials the original designers the engineers Never even thought of using before not to mention AI being the best chemical engineer in the world With the combined knowledge of every single chemical process available a man will come up with brand new Super-efficient previously unheard of and unimaginable materials all the time not to mention AI will completely redesign manufacturing processes in ways human engineers never thought of before Because remember AI has access to every single manufacturing process of every single item ever made and will

[04:05] Instantaneously select the perfect process for the particular application Imagine if you were a brilliant engineering department and had all that at your fingertips When given a mission to design a new product, it would be like having 50,000 of the most brilliant engineers in the world working in your lab Only difference is if you had 50,000 engineers working in a giant lab None of them would know what the other guys do and it would be chaos But with AI it would be like having all their brains wired together in parallel So very shortly we can expect gigantic Improvements and changes in all product lines and they'll be cheaper safer longer lasting and more environmentally sound For example, one of the biggest problems with electric cars is the range problem with batteries, right? Well, guess what? I know a couple of guys working in battery technology or using AI

[04:54] They claim the next generation which AI is working out the details right now That is developing new chemical and manufacturing processes those AI battery Modifications will give you at least a thousand mile range with your electric car battery That's coming into the next two three years That would be twice even three times as much as a regular gas car with the full tank of gas Did you know that these days a full tank of gas will get you only 300 to 400 miles? That means the average guy would only have to charge his electric car battery about once a month Since the average person puts on about ten to fifteen thousand miles a year But I did set up this little rant by saying that governments are extremely afraid of AI why well since AI has turned out to be The greatest efficiency expert of all time

[05:40] Just imagine if a politician let's say a president gave a presidential order to sick AI on every department in government Social Security Education Healthcare military VA Social Services Treasury Department all of them. Yeah, this shit would hit the fan. Alright, in other words program AI Give it the order to analyze Let's say the FBI or CIA point out all the fat all the dead weight all the redundancies all the useless paper Pushers and make work jobs. In other words root out the rot and waste in every government department Then reorganize it into the most efficient entity possible. I know I know that's the last thing government departments want to do They want to expand like a cancer every petty government bureaucrats mission is to hire more people

[06:27] Like a cancerous tumor more malignant cells living off the host By the way I know a couple of guys in alphabet agencies and they tell me the guys in charge the big wigs in those agencies are scared shitless what AI would do if let loose and What it will find out about the workings of their department as one high-level government slug told me there's nothing no graft Corruption money transfers sweetheart deals payoffs nepotism that AI can't find if set to the task so I say by all means set AI to the task if Set to the task of being the most super smart detective in the world Nothing can hide from AI Everything's been computerized. It's online or been scanned or has been captured in a telephone call now speaking of AI being a super powered

[07:16] Detective imagine what's going to happen with all those millions of cold cases Gathering dust in the files of police departments everywhere. Just wait You know the last time someone tried to find and root out government corruption was in Reagan's day He hired the J. Peter grace Efficiency firm to come in and check out all the government departments took a year and if I recall cost 10 million bucks And even way back then what is it some 40 years ago now the Grace Commission discovered that about half of everything that the government does is pure bureaucratic waste and fat and even though a Best-selling book came out of it called the Grace Commission. I read it. None of the measures or suggestions were ever put into action So even though we knew 40 years ago half of everything the government did was fat corruption and waste

[08:05] It's ten times worse now and the Fox is still in charge of the hen house That's why government bureaucrats and parasites at the top are so afraid of AI because unlike a human AI can't be bribed cajoled or Swept under the rug and I for one can't wait till someone sets it loose on government My prediction when the dominoes start falling there'll be lots and lots of government parasites taking early retirement Isn't that what always happens when the rats at the top know they're about to get caught they resign and take early retirement Of course with AI can it be used for evil of course, and it will will just have to see how that plays out, right? Meanwhile as all us gringles an expats with a plan B Watch the controlled demolition of the first world from a nice safe distance that same question keeps popping up over and over again

[08:56] Which is how's your plan becoming now? I get the fact that millions of people would like to have a plan B They go round and round in their heads about it But they'll never really pull the trigger though They might schedule a week in a resort in Costa Rica or Cancun They might even look at a few condos and check out some real estate They'll even send me a few emails and we'll talk back and forth promising. They'll be at my next seminar But they'll never sign up. They won't come still I'd say and this is sort of a sad statistic Probably only five percent of all the people who listen to this show will truly pull the trigger and get the hell out of dodge Now some might say cowardice is contagious, but I really do get why most people can't come down

[09:42] It's a predictable list of things whether it's the job kids in school family stuff short on cash little or no nest egg Health problems or someone in the family with health problems But again as someone a lot smarter than me once said you only live once and you can't live someone else's life for them So when I hear excuses like can't come down right now because of my sick mother or my son or my daughter in college Well, isn't that sort of putting someone else's life before yours? Look if the shoe was on the other foot would they do that for you? Would they change their life plan or put it on hold for you? You really should ask yourself that question Alright enough of that rant. Let's take an email from Chris

[10:28] He says Johnny a while back you were talking about bidets on your show I've used lots of bidets in hotels in Europe He says I don't like toilet bowl types that you sit your rear end in a bowl used by other people. That's gross Then he sends me three links one of them He says this is a stainless steel bidet that I've used for many years a plumber hooked it up to my toilet It's an Amazon link Then there's another Amazon link. He says I got this one It's a bottle as well after it was recommended on Gary Nall show when Covid and everyone was hunting down toilet paper works Great super cheap and portable But now he says it looks like the most popular bidets people are using are Ones that look like a kitchen sink spray nozzle and he sends me the Amazon link

[11:15] There's more here, but let me comment on that Chris. I'll tell you what Us guys anyway, you know those of us with an X and a Y chromosome It's not chromosome by the way with the Z. There's no Z in chromosome. It's chromosome It's that old nuclear nuclear thing Anyway, unfortunately for us guys our mothers never told us how to use a toilet without actually making contact Like our mothers taught our sisters at least that's what the ladies tell me they never make contact They somehow have perfected that balancing act even as tiny kids though nowadays since it's been said that 70% of Americans are overweight 40% obese. I'm kind of thinking gravity Sort of makes zero butt contact impossible for most people. Anyway, I don't need to conjure those sordid images in my mind right now

[12:06] Thank you very much Anyway, Chris goes on in his email commenting about other things We recently spoke about like those electronic speed sign billboards that have on the highways these days You might remember when I said I'm starting to see those things around Latin America. No cops just speed signs I also mentioned they don't seem to impede anyone from breaking the speed limit laws In fact, I haven't met a single person here in Latin America in all these years who's ever got a speeding ticket Except guess where in Mexico and Costa Rica could that maybe be because that's where all the gringos are You think? Anyway about those road signs that flash your speed Chris says they're all over the place in the US They've been there for decades not sure what the point is It's a huge waste of government money once again because look

[12:54] We've all got gauges and odometers staring us in the face while we drive telling us exactly how fast or slow we're going Reminds me of so many people. I know who wear a wristwatch. What the hell for After all you look at your smartphone a hundred times a day the times flashing in your face every time you look at it So why the hell do you have a watch if not to signal people around you you've got a certain status I can tell you one thing Latinos who can't even afford an upscale watch Will wear a copy or counterfeit one anyway because they love to put on the dog By the way when I'm sitting down with one of these guys I make a point of looking at that watch to see if it's actually working at least half the time the hands don't move I just don't get it, but there's a lot of things I just don't care though I can tell you when the hands don't work

[13:41] I can't help but instantly stereotype the guy in that moment. I kind of know where his head's at That's not to say I haven't noticed a lot of Latinas with a watch that doesn't work though in that case You can really cut them some slack because a watch with a lady is a fashion accessory I've been to some Latinas houses where they've got 10 or 12 watches all lined up on the dresser and none of them work I suppose they're just being realistic They look at their phone a thousand times a day to they always know exactly what time it is to the minute So why keep buying watch batteries over and over and over again by the way I never knew a Latino or Latina who knew how to change the battery in their watch can you oh? And how about those car key fobs the battery eventually dies in those things, too

[14:27] I never knew a Latina or Latino who knew how to change the battery in one of those things either. Oh, and it's funny I know so many latinas and Latinos whose battery in that car fob is just about ready to die And when that happens you got to get closer and closer to your car because the range starts dying and wouldn't you know it? This is Latin America, so That little situation where the signal gets weaker and weaker in the range less and less that Situation can go on for months and the Latino or Latina they know the battery is dying But they still won't get it replaced generally not to let day where the car door will not open at all then Suddenly, it's an emergency, and they'll have to scout out a key place Yep, that's how things work here in Latin America. No one ever seems to plan ahead

[15:12] I mean look half the people you see driving on the road don't even have a spare tire and With the ones that do have them don't have air pressure. They're flat in fact sometimes I'll tell Americans who've never lived here in Latin America about Latinos and spare tires I tell them it's kind of an IQ test it should be a question on every job application, too Because if a Latino has a spare tire that's fully inflated and looking good by all means hire him All right moving on the next thing Chris talks about in his email he says Johnny I don't know if you've talked about this, but what about RVs in Latin America? You know recreational vehicles are there lots of RVs roaming around? Trailers RV sites with hookups stores where you can buy campers and accessories Do Latin Americans even like RVs and campers are they a thing down there or not?

[16:03] All right Chris me Johnny here. You know I almost never see RVs on the road Though I know they're down here Bitcoin Dan drove one down when he was done with it It's sold in a hurry oh, and about RV dealers places you could buy campers and accessories I've personally never seen a standalone RV dealership But I've seen some places where they sell boats and stuff where there'll be one or two campers or RVs on the lot Though as far as replacement parts and accessories forget about Of course if you have an RV down here, there's always Amazon you get everything on Amazon The thing is though there are all kinds of RV sites on the internet fakebook and instant crap RV sites connecting up people, too The fact is I know gringos who plotted an entire trip from the u.s. To Panama driving a camper or an RV down through Texas through Mexico, etc

[16:52] There are nice safe RV parks along the way you could plot out your trip quite nicely on the internet I know those RV parks exist especially in tourist areas, but I've never seen one The question is is it a good or bad idea to have an RV here in Latin America? Well, I can tell you one great use for one do like Bitcoin Dan did buy a used RV up in the States or Canada Load it up with all the things you want to bring on down Let's say your plan B destinations Panama or Guatemala or Honduras you plaid out your route hit the RV parks along the way When you finally plant your feet and your plan B destination stay with that camper or trailer for six months or so While you investigate your housing options that way you've got all your belongings with you too You don't have to ship anything down or have to buy much when you get here as far as selling the thing when you no

[17:42] Longer have used for it. You should be able to do that really fast In fact Bitcoin Dan told me in his particular neighborhood when he finally rented a house He parked his RV in the driveway and parked it there for quite a long time And he said every so often someone would knock on his door usually someone from the neighborhood It was an upscale gated guarded community Some of them he found out were very interested in buying his RV and when he finally put a for sale sign on the thing He sold it in a week by the way, if I recall I think he said he paid seven grand for it up in Canada and Some years later in Guatemala. He sold it for the same price seven grand now You might be thinking seven grand. Well, it must have been a really cheap RV Well, it wasn't there's lots of used RVs up in the states in Canada Older RVs that are in really good condition, but very cheap

[18:29] Just like there's a lot of cheap Harley's for sale up in the states in Canada to older Harley's very cheap So back to the question do Latin Americans like RVs and campers? Well, they seem to but it's just not a thing like it is up in the states or Canada just hasn't caught on yet And finally speaking of AI let's put on our tinfoil hats for a second here Chris says Johnny. Have you seen the Joe Rogan interviews with Bob Lazar? Do you know about the Bob Lazar story? Chris Chris you asked if I know about Bob Lazar man. I'm one of the original listeners In fact, I called in a few times to the art Bell show when he was on what coast to coast a.m. Back in the 70s and 80s, you know before the internet before anyone had ever even heard of area 51

[19:16] I've listened to hours and hours of Bob Lazar interviews So then Chris says what do you think about the US government applying AI technology to? Re-engineer UFO technologies they might have at area 51 etc Then he said maybe AI was used by civilizations on other planets to get them to such an advanced level That they were able to seed the galaxy Weird he says how some people I know react when I talk about UFOs Seems everything Bob Lazar has said over the years has been proven right so far. He was correct and the government lied well, Chris I'm a hundred percent with you on that one Now I know you've heard me say many times that some very interesting and brilliant people have come to my expat insider seminars Guys a lot smarter than I am a few of these guys admitted to me off the record

[20:02] That they actually had worked in some of these clandestine programs for the government They were snapped up whilst in their early 20s as stellar Graduate students in engineering schools ended up working on black projects though soon enough We're really shocked and demoralized when they found out what the government was doing But you know they'd signed on and had to fulfill their contracts I can't tell you much more except to say none of them would say Bob Lazar was a fraud or a liar In fact, they told me stories beyond Bob Lazar beyond the fantastic But the million dollar question is just the US have alien technology or alien bodies Well a good friend of mine with a couple of engineering doctorates under his belt has a best friend working in government Who is an eyewitness my friend says he'll introduce him to me So at the risk of sounding like I'm all hat and no horse tinfoil hat that is am I a believer damn right

[20:54] Especially after my brother and his wife told me they both had an encounter They saw exactly the same thing when on vacation in upstate, New York way out in the boonies It was one of those missing time things too. They both lost six or seven hours Time completely wiped from their memories. It's a great story If you ever run into me personally someday ask me about it I'll tell you the thing is if just one person let's say my brother's wife or he had told me it happened to them Well, there's always room for doubt there, but they both had the same experience I always wanted to see a UFO, but I would not have changed places with them All right now an email from longtime listener. Mr. G says. Hi, Johnny Have you ever talked about installing and using a wind turbine in Latin America? Has that been covered? He says I understand it's a limited application given solar is readily available more scalable and more bang for the buck

[21:45] Unless you're short on space. Maybe wind power would be the way to go At least for a specific operation like pumping water Then he says, you know, there is a canadian expat business success story a young guy named eric branel In maridia yucatan mexico Started out like many expats doing creative management and gig type work Until launching a solar panel installation company in 2015 The company has grown into full-time staff with commercial and residential clients. He's achieved 34 installations in just 2023 with similar success stories in previous years All right, mr. G. Thanks for that. You know being a previous engineer in a former life You better believe if there's one thing I hate more than government. It's utility companies

[22:36] In fact even 30 plus years ago in chicago Since I had a little homestead out in the county. I actually bought one of those high efficiency wood burning stove inserts Because I had so much damn firewood I thought i'm not gonna pay the gas company If I could chop my own wood shove it in the hearth and get some energy out of it It worked too. It didn't heat the whole house But it sure took a big dent out of my natural gas bill I was always looking to get over on the utility companies I even looked into windmills way back when of course, they were terribly inefficient The newer ones are much better and of course having quite a few engineer friends I had a few friends who set up windmills and they all told me the same thing I'm talking about windmills for their own personal use out on their homesteads or wherever Every last one of them tells me it ain't worth it. The payback's no good

[23:24] I'm talking about engineering buddies up in illinois and wisconsin who set those things up It's just not windy enough when you want it to be now as far as wind power down here in latin america Sure, there are some big commercial wind farms here and there but they're not making a big dent either I'm hearing from utility people. They're not cost efficient either So then who's building those things mostly it comes from us grant money and ngo money Now as far as the individual units you can use to get off the grid yourself etc over the past couple years I've spotted a few good-sized windmills on private property And I was interested and happy to see that i'd slow down and look at though I also noticed something that wasn't good at all Every other windmill one out of two was not spinning

[24:10] Even with a headwind, so i'm thinking something's wrong They've got a big powerful windmill like that and it's out of commission Not good and i'd say about a year and a half ago. I was talking to a guy who's windmill what's a spinning Actually, it was the next door neighbor. I spoke to he told me it got hit by lightning some months back And the owner was waiting on parts which were he said way too expensive So the owner had some soul searching to do he said the price of the parts were about three years the cost of The regular electric bill if he was hooked up to the grid. Yep, but dilemma All right, by the way off the grid solar has become so cheap I know exactly the system i'd buy if I was in the market again I could buy a complete turnkey system with 20 500 watt solar panels. That'd be about

[24:55] 10,000 watts a solar power peak with about 30 kilowatts of battery backup for nighttime use just like having two tesla power walls With the inverter putting out about a hundred amps max An all inclusive system like that for probably around 18 grand That's enough to power a nice big house. Even if you have a couple air conditioners And recharge a nice big electric car Now if you dish out half that around nine grand you won't be able to charge your electric car But it'll still take care of a whole house Whereas a big windmill might set you back 20 grand, but it's only going to work while the wind's blowing By the way If you want the details on that off the grid turnkey system that I would buy right now If I was setting up a solar system send me an email the expat files at gmail.com Again, I don't get any kickbacks for recommending these things

[25:41] Do remember though. I do keep up the latest tech All right changing gears and not so breaking news not so breaking because I brought this up a couple of weeks ago already The u.s state department has finally gotten involved in warning gringles and expats about using dating apps in columbia due to a series of deaths Involving u.s citizens in the country, of course you long-time listeners have heard me talk about this before While the u.s government state department slugs are always the last horse in the race, right? What else is new should fire them all turns out if you check the website You'll see they've put columbia under a reconsidered travel advisory starting in january this month primarily due to concerns about crime terrorism civil unrest kidnapping and Specific warnings that came out last wednesday drawing attention to eight suspicious deaths of private u.s citizens in meti in columbia

[26:33] Columbia's second largest city In just the two-month period between november 1st and december 31st 2023 just two months ago These eight fatalities were thought to be forced overdoses and killings connected to those gringos using online dating services in meti in columbia Where criminals use dating apps to lure victims into public places like hotels restaurants bars, etc Where they become targets of assaults robberies and occasional fatalities Though when it comes to non-fatal scam dating incidents thousands of cases go unreported According to police simply because the victims are too embarrassed to come forward and make a complaint They take the loss and are quiet about it Then it cites the tragic case of minnesota comedian tao jerging who was kidnapped

[27:22] Hell for ransom in medellin and later found dead after arranging to meet a woman he encountered online All right, meet you in here. So what do you think for these guys is that bad luck or just stupidity? You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america If you need some help with your own plan b we can schedule a one-on-one phone or skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in central america Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan b Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com