Kara Swisher · 29:48
That Eric Schmidt was gonna be in the administration role, I think progressive groups were like, mm-mm mm-mm mm-mm, like that kind of thing.
Scott Galloway · 29:55
I think that's a tough one.
Kara Swisher · 29:56
Yep. Yep. So this is gonna be interesting. So Facebook's obviously gonna gonna gonna fight back hard here. They're gonna hire every lawyer that they can get their hands on and and try to push back on this. But I do feel like this is
Scott Galloway · 30:07
The worm is turned.
Kara Swisher · 30:07
Worm is turned. Worm We'll is see. They could have some wins. They could have some wins. They're very clever people. There's some really books that are coming out that are not so pretty. There's Shira Frankel and Cecilia Wang, who were from New York Times, have a has has a book... Have a book coming out in July that I think is not, it's called The Ugly Truth, I think it's called, on Facebook. That's the name of the book. So I think there'll be a lot of reporting on what happened within there just right when the the the... This stuff is is, is coming out. So we'll see. We'll see. I think it's called the... I'm gonna look it up. Anyway, we're gonna move on to listener mail. Alright, Rebecca. Please play the question. It's for Scott, I think.
Speaker · 30:46
You've got you've got... I can't believe I'm gonna be a mailman. You've got mail.
Guest · 30:51
Hi, Scott and Kara. Scott, this is a former student of yours, leaving a message here. My name is John, based in Los Angeles. And, I have a question for you about what's going on with the Sony sale of the PlayStation five console. It seems like there's a significant violation of the Consumer Protection Act here. The Consumer Protection Act is clear that we have the right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity standard and price of goods to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices. Sony and its retail partners have done nothing to stop bots from buying all the stock. How is this not a violation of the Consumer Protection Act? Thanks.
Scott Galloway · 31:30
So first off, John, it's great to hear from you. I love hearing from my 5,500 alumni. So thanks for reaching out.
Kara Swisher · 31:40
Wait. You have affected five thousand five hundred young minds?
Scott Galloway · 31:43
Infected or affected?
Kara Swisher · 31:45
I said infected actually.
Scott Galloway · 31:46
Infected, yeah.
Kara Swisher · 31:47
Go ahead, here
Scott Galloway · 31:48
we go. Sorry. Thanks for that. Anyway, so scarcity value is really interesting. And essentially like everything it's linked to instinct and that is previous generations or in olden days, you were really smart instinctively or it was an instinct to become obsessed over scarcity. If you sensed a scarcity of food, supposedly have a third of the spinal ganglia of our brain is in our gut, you became obsessed with finding food the moment there was scarcity of it. You became obsessed with finding a mate if there was a scarcity because survival and propagation are really important. And that is still with us. This notion that the moment we perceive whether it's artificial or not, and it usually is artificial scarcity, the value, the perceived value of that product skyrockets. So in this case, so you go buy a Panerai watch and you go into any Panerai store and they're gonna tell you we don't have that model or there's only seven. And it's not because there's a supply constraint on the parts and movements, it's because luxury has mastered or tapped into the instinctive need of scarcity and they create artificial scarcity to increase the value. The latest real gangsters around perceived scarcity are these new NTFs that are trying to convince you that if I create just one digital application of this video or piece of art that it might be worth millions of dollars. That is really tapping into what I'll call instinctive overdrive around scarcity value. And in this instance, what Sony has decided is if some people, some actors, whether they're good actors or bad actors move in with bots and create the illusion of scarcity, it drives up the value and all of a sudden we become very focused, even obsessed in getting the PS5. The problem is the person that pays for that is just the average household that just wants a PS5 when it comes out. So do you, you know, what is the trade off? Schools, universities, higher education have massively tapped into this bullshit notion of scarcity. Harvard has the endowment, the supply, the technology to increase their freshman class tenfold. But they wanna create scarcity because they're drunk on luxury and believe they're Hermes, not public servants. So scarcity value and understanding it and understanding how to leverage it and trade off short term revenues to create an obsession, instinctual, an instinctive obsession with getting more of that product is an incredibly debt business strategy. And that's all that's being applied here. The question is whether or not does it violate FTC or does it violate antitrust? I don't know. At what point does a bot become a person? If I leave my computer and program something to notify me, does that is that a bot or is that a person? I don't know. But I think the interesting thing here is how great brands and companies leverage scarcity value.
Kara Swisher · 34:39
Yeah. Yeah. And yet not powerful for consumers.
Scott Galloway · 34:43
Well, there is some psychic reward to believing that you got something that has scarcity value.
Kara Swisher · 34:48
I don't even know. We still have to talk about NFTs at some point, which we will. Which I It's
Scott Galloway · 34:53
it's been seven minutes. It's it's been seven minutes, and I wanna trigger you. Pearce Morgan, he's my hero. He's my hero. He's my hero. I think he makes a lot of sense. Lot of sense.
Kara Swisher · 35:04
Okay. Alright. All right. We're gonna take one more quick break. That was an excellent answer, Scott. I'm gonna be really nice to you today because that's the only thing that seems to work. Today. Today.
Scott Galloway · 35:12
Today. Well, that's a great goal in a partnership.
Kara Swisher · 35:15
You know what? We're in a long term
Scott Galloway · 35:16
partnership Is that what you say to your wife? I'm nice to today. Here...
Kara Swisher · 35:20
Here's the situation. I think we've just struck a long term partnership, and you're like, what? Just a minute. I want... I I... You're like, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. I'm stuck with this lady for a while.
Scott Galloway · 35:29
You're the future ex missus Galloway just in a professional sense. I mean
Kara Swisher · 35:34
We will delve into that situation later. But right now, we're gonna take one more quick break, and we'll be back for predictions.
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Speaker · 36:43
This podcast is supported by Anthropic, the public benefit corporation behind Claude. Everyone's got a hard question about AI. Anthropic was built to surface those questions and share what it finds along the way, because there's hope in hard questions. Ask yours at Claude dot a I slash Spotify, and keep thinking. That's Claude dot a I slash Spotify.
— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 37:12
Okay, Scott. Prediction time since you're just so good on Roblox. And, one thing I'll... Will note, I predict you're gonna be on Bill Maher's show.
Scott Galloway · 37:20
Go on. Go on. I'm not... I don't know what you're talking about. What did you say?
Kara Swisher · 37:24
You've been invited finally to the Bill Maher show. Tell me tell me about how you feel about that. What are you gonna talk about?
Scott Galloway · 37:32
I think I'm, at the end of the day, I think I'm like Lyle Lovett and that is they bring me on a talk show hoping that Julia Roberts will come on. I think that they're using me to get to you, but I
Kara Swisher · 37:42
don't I'm gonna show.
Scott Galloway · 37:43
I know. I think they want back on. Anyways, anytime I meet someone who's nice to me, I'm like, does this person want me on their podcast or are they just trying to get to Kara? Anyway.
Kara Swisher · 37:51
No, it's You're my gator. You're the gating mechanism for Kara Swisher. Anyway, tell me what you're gonna talk about. What are your... What do you think your themes are?
Scott Galloway · 37:58
I don't know. I think my guess is we're gonna talk about Meghan and Harry and there's a one in three chance I'll be canceled.
Kara Swisher · 38:04
Oh, yeah.
Scott Galloway · 38:04
And we're gonna talk about, think I didn't want we're talk
Kara Swisher · 38:07
to Piers Morgan before you niled off about him, but go ahead,
Scott Galloway · 38:09
go ahead. The honest truth is I don't know what we're gonna talk about. Imagine we'll talk about my book, From Crisis to Opportunity.
Speaker · 38:16
Yes, good idea.
Scott Galloway · 38:18
But Larry Whitmore, who's, as you said, is lovely and funny as on the show as is Anna Gurwitch, is that her name? She's a wonderful author that talks about family dysfunction, which is redundant.
Kara Swisher · 38:26
Right in your wheelhouse.
Scott Galloway · 38:27
That's right. Yeah. There you go. That's great.
Speaker · 38:30
That's That's
Scott Galloway · 38:30
gonna be good. Everybody's
Kara Swisher · 38:31
coming in for Scott. Is this week?
Scott Galloway · 38:33
It's tomorrow. Gotta be honest. It's a dream of mine. I I love Bill Maher. I think he's courageous with me.
Kara Swisher · 38:37
Truly spark. You're of the same mind in many ways, I have to say.
Scott Galloway · 38:41
Aggrieved angry old guys, white boys.
Kara Swisher · 38:42
But I think you'll both feel like you'll bond. I think you'll bond. I think you'll bond rather well. Are you going do it law? Are you going to Los Angeles? It's kind of fun to be on there.
Scott Galloway · 38:50
Yeah, I'm flying out there this afternoon. Unfortunately it's not as much fun. Could do, they are very responsible and it's inspiring. They do rapid tests the same day, no congregating, you know, studio audience is distanced. They're taking it very serious. As a matter of fact, they have two panelists instead of three, so everyone can sit more than six feet apart.
Kara Swisher · 39:07
Yeah. You'll have fun. It's a great set. It's a really fun set. And also there's two bedrooms, there's usually a party afterwards and you're not going get to go to that.
Scott Galloway · 39:14
That just sucks. That just blows. You can have a sack in for the party.
Kara Swisher · 39:17
It'd be you and like who else in California is having real troubles getting everyone. Although some people It are getting seems rather disorganized everywhere, course, as I've discussed. Okay. What is your actual prediction?
Scott Galloway · 39:29
So I... Like, I... Roblox, gangster kind of reengineering or dispersion of video games, I think the IPO to watch. And I need to dig into the s one. I need to understand the pricing. But I think the term Coursera and Coursera IPO are going to be terms we that are going be in the business news and on CNBC a lot. And I think the Coursera IPO I'm not going to predict what the IPO is going to do until I dig in and understand the numbers. But the consumer pickup here and revenue here, and the company's still losing money. But Coursera, if they cement, if the IPO cements and the lead up to the IPO cements their brand as sort of the leader and the pioneer in the dispersion of campus to online learning, you could have a company that could really rock it on its IPO and pull the future forward of that additional capital. So anyways, my prediction is that just as no one had heard about Roblox four months ago and now everyone's talking about it, we're about to go through the same upward cycle of awareness and value creation just through perception around Coursera.
— Predictions segment ends —
Kara Swisher · 40:36
Did you notice that Sundar Pichai answered our question about Google courses?
Speaker · 40:40
He did?
Kara Swisher · 40:41
Yes. Sundar himself did. Yeah.
Scott Galloway · 40:42
He's so likable.
Kara Swisher · 40:44
I know, isn't he? Did he
Scott Galloway · 40:45
tag me or he just
Kara Swisher · 40:45
tagged He did. He tagged you. Don't worry. He I tagged that. He said, it was a response, and he said, Professor Galloway and Karis Wisscher, just announced, is now open for Google Career Certificates in data analytics, project management, and UX design. And then he specifically tagged you and me. Wow. Isn't that nice?
Scott Galloway · 41:06
That's nice.
Kara Swisher · 41:07
Yeah. So
Scott Galloway · 41:08
Okay. Don't break them up. I like them. I like them. I mean, that's how easy it is. Right? I'm like, well, maybe Google isn't that bad. That Sundar's so likable.
Kara Swisher · 41:18
Yeah. Yeah. He answered your question. You were said, was wondering about the same thing when someone asked, Ryan Merrill asked, whatever happened to Google's certification program you and Karis Wish talked about nearly a year ago? And then Sundar answered.
Scott Galloway · 41:29
He weighed in. So Could be transformative.
Kara Swisher · 41:32
A little bit more. 50,000 plus have graduated from our IT support certificate and have prepared for careers in IT. We're now adding Google Career Certificates in data analytics, project management, and UX design, expanding our consortium of employers hire... Of hiring graduates. There
Scott Galloway · 41:45
you go. That's nice. 50,000 people?
Kara Swisher · 41:47
Yep. There you That's serious. There you go. You're you're making an impact, Scott. You're having a
Scott Galloway · 41:52
Oh, yeah. This is all about me. Thank you. You seriously... You play me like a fucking fiddle. You're like you're like, okay. I've been... I've I've I've I've smacked him a little too hard. You're like, oh, I hurt you going on Bill Maher. You you literally play... I feel
Kara Swisher · 42:07
I'm happy for you. You're going... You'll enjoy it. I think you'll be great. And the more people should have a little Scott guy.
Scott Galloway · 42:11
Two things. Two things. The first is I feel very manipulated. And second, I like it. I like it.
Kara Swisher · 42:17
Thank you.
Scott Galloway · 42:17
I like it. Well, the whole
Kara Swisher · 42:19
world will get see
Scott Galloway · 42:21
for me.
Kara Swisher · 42:21
The world of HBO Max, at least. We'll get to see, the Scott Galloway we all know. Okay. That's the show. I will... Excited to watch you on Bill Maher. We'll be back on Tuesday. You can tell me about how it went, how Los Angeles is. I I I love Los Angeles.
Speaker · 42:36
Love LA.
Kara Swisher · 42:36
As soon I get vaccinated, I'm flying out to LA.
Scott Galloway · 42:38
I'm gonna get a Cobb salad at the Beverly Hills Hotel. I'm gonna go to Carney's. I'm gonna go get an out burger when we land at the airport.
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Scott Galloway · 42:45
good idea.
Kara Swisher · 42:45
There's a good one on the way to to Bill Marshall. That's Yeah. I love LA. There's a there's a great lunch place. It's so inside, though. I don't know what I don't know what their rules are right now, actually.
Scott Galloway · 42:53
See, my fraternity brother's at dinner at a place called Masstos or Masstos in Yeah.
Kara Swisher · 42:58
Yeah. It's Mastros.
Scott Galloway · 42:59
Mastros? Yeah. Wow. You're so down in LA.
Kara Swisher · 43:01
Know that's I spent a lot of time there. I miss it so... I miss it much. I have many friends there. Anyway, go to ny... Have a good time at nymag.com/pivot to submit your questions for the podcast. The link is also in our show notes. Scott, don't forget to wear your mask too because that's the new season
Scott Galloway · 43:18
for the
Kara Swisher · 43:18
months even though you've been vaccinated. Anyway, read us out.
Scott Galloway · 43:21
Today's show was produced by Rebecca Sinanis. Ernie Intertaught engineered this episode. Thanks also to Hannah Rosen and Drew Burrows. Make sure you subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. If you're an Android user, check us out on Spotify or, frankly, wherever you listen to podcasts. If you like the show, please recommend it to a friend. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back next week for a breakdown of all things tech in business. Kara's son can jump really high and push that round thing down. It's called a dunk. Donk. Throwing down. The Swisher children. The Swisher boys. Throwing down.
Speaker · 44:00
Brussels clean up nicely at Sweetgreen. Maple glazed, roasted, and edges perfectly caramelized, Sweetgreen's fall harvest is back on the menu, and the season's most overlooked little green vegetable is dressed to be devoured. You know what to do. Order on the Sweetgreen app.
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