This episode contains: Devon doesn't feel the valentine's spirit this week. Ben's kid loves Trailmakers, Ben used barter.vg to trade for the game. "Are we back to bartering?" asks Steven. Did we ever stop? Steven knows about bartering thanks to Fallout 1. Devon & Ben watched the Superbowl. Steven went to a SB party but didn't watch it. Steven is really enjoying Hogwarts Legacy. Steven recognized Ben was way too stressed out over debt in our Traveller game. Ben learned that he had more fun in an RPG by making it a "yes day." We don't want to be Murder Hobos in RPGs. Context around the term "murder den" is helpful.

This Week in Space: Ring discovered around dwarf planet Quaoar confounds theories. There's a ring around the dwarf planet Quaoar just outside the solar system. How is the dwarf planet Quaoar pronounced? Devon tries his best. Quaoar has rings further away from the planet than we thought possible. The Roche limit is the zone where a planetary ring can be created. Scientists discover planets by observing their gravitational pull.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/08/ring-discovered-around-dwarf-planet-quaoar-confounds-theories#:~:text=Astronomers 

THE YEAR 2000! I mean 2038: Remember the year 2000? Destiny's Child was huge. Y2K was a thing. Is Y2K behind us? Maybe! Y2K38 is upon us. It's the Epochalypse! Unix time started 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970. What's a Unix system? Got an iPhone or an Android? You have a Unix system. Watch out! The Epochalypse bug will happen 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038, and all 32-bit systems will crash! When was Unix first created? Development started in 1969. We can solve the Epochalypse by going 64-bit, and give us 292 billion years more time. In 2038, do you think Destiny's Child will make a comeback?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

The Back Half: Devon encourages our Patrons to keep doing what they're doing. We talk about some feedback we got from a Patron! You know Ben has a Merriam-Webster's unabridged dictionary. Silly Ben said Roget's Thesaurus, meant Merriam-Webster's unabridged dictionary.

The Big Question: Is technology making many jobs obsolete? If so, should we have a universal basic income? We talk the iterative nature of societal development. Are white collar jobs becoming obsolete too? YEP! Should government slow the pace of tech to ensure worker's can keep up? No. We talk about how cool universal basic income would be. Ben grew up a welfare kid: his parent's had govt support, and Ben is grateful. Ben's family had the benefit of society helping people, and made Ben who he is. Steven talks about how life changed after getting laid off. Life would have been easier for all of the hosts with universal basic income. Do you think less people would be willing to work with universal basic income? The 1980s concept that more money = happy life is not true. A good emergency can financially derail anybody. Is there a solve? Just because some people leech off a system, does it mean we shouldn't have nice things? Is offering help with conditions really offering help? Is it fully altruistic? Which other social programs would be superceded by universal basic income? How can we fix the inflation problem with universal basic income? Minimum wage is not a living wage. Would universal basic income be a living wage? Will Devon go to the robot-run McDonalds in Texas? Time will tell.

Kurzgesagt Universal Basic Income video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl39KHS07Xc 

Patreon Only:

Patreon-only pre-show: "Up is go!" The Lost in Space movie has a cool level of 1 million, says Ben.  Devon has trouble with embedding websites in Notion, and he's frustrated. Devon doesn't know what a fuzzy search is. Even if you're a boomer on TikTok, you can say "get off my lawn" to mean gatekeepers. Ben is happy to be a house spouse.

Patreon-only mid-show: Have you guys heard about bit flips from cosmic rays? Devon has. Steven: Player's Guides are trash, now that we have the internet. Next week we'll be recording in person! All three of us! Maybe talk Quantumania.

Patreon-only post-show: We talk Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. So touching. Devon likes the book Anxious People. There's a reason for the different zombies in The Last of Us. That new Flash trailer looks fun. Ever wanted to know why Ben is pissed at a Star Trek novel?