Erik Bethel

What I found super interesting, Eric mentioned that Xi Jinping's predecessor, Hu Jintao, was taken off the stage.

That's right.

I know what you meant.

So he's taken off the stage in a very embarrassing sort of way, sort of cringeworthy.

But what I noticed wasn't necessarily the spectacle that was going on between Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping.

I was looking at the hundreds of other faces around this spectacle looking literally straight ahead.

They were scared to look down.

And to me, it's kind of emblematic of where things are in China.

No one dares do anything that isn't in conformance with what the government wants.

Because you can get disappeared, you go to jail, you get exiled, you get your fortune taken from you.

So everyone lives in this sort of state of abject fear.

And I mentioned techno-authoritarianism, you literally have surveillance cameras everywhere.

And you're- Facial recognition, yeah.

Facial recognition.

So as you are crossing, if you're jaywalking, I'm not sure if I mentioned this in our last podcast, but as you're walking across the street, if you're jaywalking,

Your phone is geolocating you.

It knows that you're jaywalking.

The cameras are recognizing that it's you.

And your phone, your Alipay connected to your bank account, is deducting money from your bank account as you're jaywalking across the street.

Are you serious?