Tony Cho: The Truth About Cities No One Wants to Admit (and How to Fix It)

31:04We'll talk about that. And I think that's through small business development. But really, how healthy is that environment? How healthy is that city? What kind of public transportation do you have? What type of civic infrastructure that you have? You look at the High Line in New York. You look at the underlying in Miami, the beltway in Atlanta, all this public infrastructure. That's what is an amenity that brings people together in community and brings them in connection with nature. And we know that nature heals us. We know that the more that we're connected to nature, the more we feel happy, the more we feel joyful.

31:41It reduces stress. I mean, the Japanese have been on this forever and they prescribe people to do forest bathing. And people look at forest bathing like it's some woke or tree-hugging practice. No, this is a real scientific therapy that heals people. I know because when I'm getting stressed out in Miami because there's too much traffic or whatever the city design flaw is, I can run to my retreat center, Chosen, and I'm on a 22 ,000-acre nature preserve with 26 endangered species, a river to the most biodiverse lagoon system in North America, and I'm hanging out with manatees and dolphins and otters, and I'm watching alligators protecting turtles from otters, and it's just like we forget that we're not the only species out there, and we're losing this biodiversity because of that lack of awareness.

32:37Not because we're bad people. We're unaware of what we're doing, and we're paving over paradise.

32:43Darin Olien:Yeah, man. Jesus. You know, it's, it's, but it is, it's, it's this, it's systems that have gotten us here. And it's broken systems that have pulled us way over in this direction. And, and, and I think once you start turning on that switch, it's a common sense switch, right? It's, it's, it's common sense in the sense that nature, you're pulled to nature, you're pulled to a stream, you're pulled to, I mean, sunbathing was one of the oldest, like get out in the photons and get, you know, cure depression and cure uh what was the other things not scurvy but yeah they would prescribe sunbathing all the time right so this is the thing that i think that you know water power food shelter is is such a it's funny because you talked about houses i just you know i lost my property in 2018 to it wasn't a wildfire became wild but it was a derelict power pole from a Edison power company that identified this is a broken pole and winds came and created a fire of 96 ,000 acres in 2018.

33:55Darin Olien:So it's like people settled down on it being a it wasn't a you know it wasn't a lightning strike and it wasn't it wasn't arson no it might it might have contributed you know people go crazy. But the point is that what I get to do is I have 50 acres in the Malibu Hills. I get to recreate, right? You know, it's a pain in the ass. It's hard to do. And going back to systems, it's these systems that are ultimately disconnected, profit focused, industrialized, they're embedded pretty heavy right and so I know that even building my new house one of my new houses the guest house will be up at the end of this month and it's all there's no VOCs magnesium oxide uh it's I've got grounding technology into the floors like I'm plugged in there's no EMFs no wi-fi I've got other clean energy tech that's a whole rabbit hole I can get into beyond solar panels like all this stuff um that's the beauty right i get to do this but doing it extremely difficult right because particularly in the u.s yeah because the the the land use and planning and zoning of municipalities is archaic and they're not thinking about innovation and they're not allowing for it and it's stifling it's stifling innovation in america in a way that is going to Said it set us so far back that I'm actually Because I've had so many challenges with my retreat center and getting innovative building materials approved and that's a it's not because they're bad people They're just in a broken system without a lot of innovation and a while out a lot of latitude like a place like Singapore That's more like the private sector running the government where they're innovating like crazy or China where you know It's a communist regime and they can do whatever they want because they know where innovation and investment has to happen that I'm looking at Colombia and Portugal and other places that welcome this type of innovation to prototype the building materials in the communities of the future because the way that we've built our built environment is failing us.

36:10And so America needs to get really progressive in its land use and building codes and building materials because it's falling behind. It's falling behind Asia. It's falling behind even Africa. Africa is leapfrogging. It's wild, the things that I'm seeing in Africa. So I'm very optimistic on a global scale of the innovation that's happening in the built environment. But I'm disappointed in America.

36:34Darin Olien:Yeah, it doesn't seem like that's the case, but it is the case. It is the case. You know, when you can see the need for communities to have better things in Africa and India and things like that. and then the need becomes so strong, even when there wasn't a system there much to begin with, then they can, like you said, leapfrog into these new innovations. And other countries, too, are under threat. When you have things like New Zealand, island, even Australia to a point, there's doors that are opening. Because I think, and what are your thoughts? because I see all the time implosion happens. If you divorce nature, you're ultimately going to have implosion and systems are going to fail, and we see that with power all the time.

37:27Darin Olien:If you're doubling down on archaic ways of creating power and not innovating, it's going to run out. And what we're seeing in the power sector is even behind the scene, When there's demand, like someone says, hey, I think, what was it, the Green New Deal or whatever the hell Biden signed a$286 billion. One of my friends got invited there, and he's kind of like, he's not the type of person to show, but he kind of showed up to see what they were going to do because what could we do with$280 billion, get everyone power on the planet? You could, actually. and he showed up there going this is insane and it's just a almost a money money laundering opportunity rather than an innovation opportunity so you're seeing this you're seeing money thrown around and very very poor systems of getting anything done here in the united states right yeah over and over and over you're seeing things everywhere else that's really kind of innovators particularly in Asia you're seeing a lot of stuff India there's a lot of innovation happening and it's just I think you know we're in a stagnant you know you look at our airports you look at our infrastructure we have no high-speed train in Florida the private sector FEC built a high-speed train between Miami and Orlando and it's transformational it's taking four million cars off the road every month and it's like why are we not doing this and it's special interest America is not a democracy.

39:08It's ruled by special interests. And automobiles and oil and gas is a very strong special interest. There's a lot of others. I'm not pointing that out. And I'm not saying that every industry doesn't have the opportunity to innovate. And I think that those industries that have resources, like you see in the Middle East, like the Middle East is some of the most advanced prototyping of new building materials and innovations. And there's things that I think they're doing well and things that I think that they're not doing well. But it's all good because they're taking some of those resources and reinvesting them into innovation.

39:41And that's what needs to happen. But on the flip side, I think there are so many alternative clean energy options that are being prototyped. And, you know, from all the traditional, you know, hydro to electric to solar to wind, all of these different. Now you've got fission and fusion. You've got nuclear advances that are happening. and so I'm optimistic that we're going to be able to solve the power stack like I think that that's going to that's going to be resolved in the next you know short term and I think with AI a lot of things are accelerating very quickly and people are very concerned about the disruption of jobs but I think in in the short term yes but in the midterm I think we're going to enter a new golden era of what I call the regenerations like much like the enlightenment period or the renaissance people are going to start having more time to do things that they love art music creativity and things made by humans and by hands are going to become very valuable so going back to you know the kind of medieval artisanry well that feeds into creating a new main street and a new you know urban core that's all about small makers and creators and businesses and not that big businesses will go away but i think if we're smart and we want people to have livelihood and creativity we will invest in those and we will pay for those because that's not something that's going to be 3d printed or made by ai that's made by humans and i think the made by human stamp is going to become very valuable in the near future and i think that's what's going to help prompt this regenerations that that's the first chapter of my book it's called the regenerations well we had the renaissance we had the enlightenment and you look at those periods and all this incredible art and music and poetry was created and human beings were thriving during that period well we can now if we how many people want to be doing data entry or spreadsheets like for 10 12 hours staring at a computer screen how many people say that's the life i want to live no you know humans weren't we weren't designed to sit in an office and stare at a screen no like we need to be outside in the sunlight we need to be in nature we need to be playing sports I think sports are going to have a huge revival too.

41:54And that's really what starts to build spirit. So when you look at how do you, from 30 ,000 feet all the way down, how do you redesign the cities of the future? It's got to be a bottom-up and a top-down meeting in the middle to kind of work on it. And that's what I've been able to accomplish in Jacksonville. I have this project called the Phoenix Arts and Innovation District. No one cared about Jacksonville. It was not on the radar. When you say Jacksonville, they're like, Jackson Hole, Wyoming? Like, you know, people are like, where's Jacksonville? And people ask me, well, why Jacksonville? And I'm like, well, why not Jacksonville?

42:25And I'll tell you why Jacksonville, because I like the underdog. I like the second tier, the third tier, mainly because they need a new narrative. They need a new story, and they're grateful for people to come and bring innovation. And that gratitude and that collaboration creates the environment for public-private partnership. The public sector cannot get anything done by themselves in America. They need the private sector's innovation, ideas, efficiency to get things done, from affordable housing to job creation to economic development. If they're not working in collaboration, in harmony with the private sector, it's not what you just talked about, an inefficient bill that's wasting millions and millions of dollars.

43:16is, well, why do you think so many billionaires are leaving California? It's not because they don't want to pay taxes only. It's because no one can show that the taxes were spent efficiently and wisely and that it had an impact. As soon as we can show, I mean, like I run multiple nonprofits. If you can't show impact, you're not getting donations. So if the government can't show efficient use of our taxpayers' dollars, I don't blame people for not wanting to pay taxes. Right. Yeah.

43:43Darin Olien:I mean, okay, everybody, are you ready to upgrade your operating system? I know I am. I'm always game to do that. Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. That's what we're doing over at Super Life Patreon. This isn't just behind the scenes membership. It's a global experiment in conscious living that I am connected to, committed with in every cell of my body. Each week, you'll get exclusive access to deeper podcast conversations, extended interviews, voice notes from the road of me personally, personal reflections, behind-the-scenes footage, community wellness challenges, and even surprise drop-ins that I no longer do on social media because I don't really dig it anymore.

44:37Darin Olien:We're talking decentralized healing, reclaiming sovereignty, ancient wisdom meets future tech, and a tribe of people with you walking the path. If you love this podcast, the Patreon is where we go deeper, get more real, and reclaim our power together. Join us at patreon.com forward slash Darren Olean.

45:08Darin Olien:That's I-N-O-L-I-E-N. Join the movement, support the mission, let's rise together. Everyone who has money has earned it to some degree and wants it to do something, right? And so if you're given money, whether through taxes or donating it or investing in a company, you want your money to do something. You want it to build and create and generate. And yeah, if you're not going to get it it's it's just it it doesn't you don't you know i think it's happening more and more in california i mean the the i think the word's out and there's some investigation going on right now that there's billions and billions and billions and billions no one knows where the hell it is someone does but someone does someone does we don't yeah yeah and and being the fourth largest economy on the freaking planet you know there's a lot of ways to hide money when you're You're moving around a lot of zeros, you know, until you look.

46:11Darin Olien:But yeah, I mean, I am also wildly optimistic for the pressures of things not getting solved or creating pressures in other ways and innovation and opportunity. I'm even seeing it in the health space, the the health space where i was on the call with a scientist for the last 40 years working with different types of chemistry different type of sugars and he was like he he discovered mechanisms of how things were going on the body that no one talked about before and we're we're able to thwart diseases in completely new ways and the guy's been saying i can't get into all the details So I'm editing myself for a reason.

47:05Darin Olien:I don't want to come off as being vague. But he is showing through clinical trials of stopping disease in a completely different mechanism that he's been shouting from the rooftops for 50 years. But my point is that door is open. It's open because of failed systems, people suffering, the American Medical Association propped up by the Flexner Report and germ theory and the idea that your body is not sovereign and knows how to heal. And you're not lacking a vaccine per se. So I'm seeing it and then the energy side too. Even though one of my friends went to see those systems, he was getting calls more than anyone from certain countries, states, because they can't fill the needs on the broken, imploded systems.

48:17Darin Olien:Can't do it, right? So the AI thing is, the needs are way too much. So innovation is starting to open just because the demand is so high. And if you can squeeze into efficient ways to do something that's not going to hurt or kill or maim the planet, then however we need to get there, let's get there. Agreed on all of it. And I think what it is is that we need a common language to come together to galvanize because everything we're doing is separating us and it's polarizing us and it's Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals and Jews and Muslims. And it's like, let's stop this, guys.

49:01Let's focus on the solutions for humanity. We all have the same needs. We need to take care of our families. We need to feed ourselves. We need to be healthy. We all want to live in great places that have vibrant cultures. So we need to come up with a new, and to me, regenerative placemaking and regenerative everything is not left or right. It's not religious. It just makes sense. And so to me, that's why this is really my mission. And I've also, you know, I've been able to, I can sit in a room with anybody because it's really just talking about what's practical and what's pragmatic. And I don't really, I don't have a dog in the fight.

49:38I'm not dogmatic. I'm not religious. I'm not politically passionate. I'm passionate about humanity. you know and i want what's best for humankind and as long as you said as long as you know and chozen which is my retreat center i grew up in a guru lineage where whatever the guru said like that is the law of the land and there's something beautiful about that tradition and i also feel like everybody should be given the sovereign ability to choose their own path as long as it's in right relationship it's not hurting yeah exactly as in right relationship with nature and right relationship with community, God bless.

50:15And it's like allow people. It's not even about tolerance. It's around acceptance and collaboration because we need each other. We need to work together. And there's so much intellectual capital out there and so much innovation. You talked about all the medical stuff. There's CRISPR. There's gene editing. There's microscopic robots that can go and fight cancer. There's all kinds of amazing things that are happening, but we're at gridlock and we can't agree on anything. And we're fighting over archaic resources that in five years from now may not be relevant. So it's like, let's focus on the most innovative, amazing solutions that are going to solve our food systems, our health systems, our political system, our land use to create places that are alive, that are thriving.

51:08where people planet are are together in a symbiotic relationship not because it's woo or woke or liberal it's just because we want to have healthy thriving societies that are diverse and diversity in nature is celebrated it's not a dei thing it's it just makes sense you know monocropping doesn't make sense it weakens the dna of those plants and we see it in florida We've lost all of our citrus to pests and white fly because they're weak. And you talk about vaccines. Well, what has vaccines done for us? Yeah, maybe, you know, and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I looked at my blood recently and I got the vaccine.

51:54I got two jabs of Pfizer and I looked at my blood under a microscope compared to non-vaccinated blood and I can see the junk that's in there from it. And it's just evidence is there. And there wasn't enough time to really understand the long-term impacts. And we don't know what that's going to do to us. But I believe that it has made us weaker. And we're more susceptible to disease and pandemics and things coming in the future. And so there's a lot in there. And I'm not a medical expert. I want to stick to my domain, which is placemaking. But I think it goes back to our systems and having holistic systems that look at the whole system of how we heal.

52:40And the built environment plays a role. How we live, work, and play, how we engage, how we move about in society is really important. These third places are very important. How we're coming together is very important.

52:53Darin Olien:Yeah, I mean, I think how you're describing that is as within, so without. So it's so so as as you take care of your terrain from a holistic standpoint I talked about this. There's a whole nother thing where Louis Pasteur Had an orated Message that he basically won and he said you catch things right germ theory and then dr Antone Bisham was a microbiologist and he was he was viewing it and was doing like know the terrain the terrain creates the opportunity for disease to flourish so from this conversation you go back into if you create your environment your community and you abide by the nature and the sovereign this of that it thrives that way but once we start isolating we monocrop we shove people in box over here we eliminate the access to food you know all of this stuff you're now creating walk around and you see an environment that is polluted and isolated and cancerous in a certain sense right so you see it out there but but it's also happening inside so So that's where health should be approached the same way as we're building the new generation regenerate.

54:30Darin Olien:The blueprint is exactly the same. I always say that regeneration starts from within. You have to tend your internal garden within before the garden outside can be beautiful. And that is the work that we all have to do on ourselves. And I 100 % agree. and what we've done is how we've designed our society is we've separated the generations, right? We put the elderly and old age homes to die alone. I mean, that's wrong. Let's just, let's agree on that. That's not a good design feature. You know, we separate kids. Kids are now addicted to their screens and they're lonely. They're not engaging socially.

55:09They're not having romantic relationships. There's a lot of things that are happening in our society that are having an impact because of technology, because of bad design. And we're meant to be intergenerational. We're meant to live in a village context, like you talked about the Dunbar rule of 150 people. Well, that's how I grew up. I grew up in a community of 150 people. There's something beautiful about it. And it was something natural and familiar. And I was talking about this recently is you know we have to stop trying to invent new ways of being and go back to our indigenous understanding and the knowing what we already know to be true and indigenous people always believe when planning a community or a village that you have to employ what's called seven generation planning you have to look to the three generations before you recognize the current generation and think about the three generations ahead of you and how what you're doing today is going to have an impact.

56:11And that's completely counterintuitive from the way we've designed our society because it's quarterly profits, in and out as quickly as possible. We don't build products to last. They all go to the landfill. It's like, this is all messed up. This is not, it's just not smart. It's not wise. And then a lot of people are talking about the future of smart cities. And I'm like, well, a city is only as good as how wise it is. It's not about how smart it is. The technology layer can't be leading. Technology is theoretically there to serve humanity. And are we serving technology or is technology serving us?

56:57And I think that's one of the foundational questions as we explore the future of AI. We explore how is this serving humanity?

57:07Darin Olien:yeah and that's that's the and that's you you you push kind of this soulless way and then and i'm not attracted to whatever that scientific lead of a city is i'm like i'm going the other way i'm going like put i want feet on the ground i want to be talking to my neighbor i want to pick some fruit. I want to like, you know, that, that is like, that needs to enter back into the equation again, because that's what feels like you said, like, we know this. There's so much knowledge that we already know. And it's bringing that back rather than thinking we need to scientifically induce a new community and, and put, you can only go in your city for certain period of time you can't leave if you spent this much money like whatever the hell that whole thing is it just feels like um what what are you so people listening today and they're sitting at home they're spending too much time we all are spending too much time myself included um even though i can walk out my door and put my feet on the ground thank god um and i did that because i needed it right i knew my mental health if i was choosing to live in LA I had to be very close to nature inside enveloped by nature good on you for doing that yeah yeah it's important mental health like you talked about big time yeah so people are listening today what what are some just as a side what what are some things that they can maybe implement into their life today and think about maybe starting from their community as their family and ways that they can implement to feel a little more connected a little little less disconnected yeah great question and i think that that's really important i think it starts with your habits and kind of what you do and for me you know i walk out we have this beautiful boardwalk in front of the beach in Miami Beach where I live.

59:23And I walk out and I see a lot of the same people with the same dogs. I get to greet my neighbor. And that connection already starts you out on the right foot in the day, getting sun if you can, if you live in a place with sun. I mean, for me, that's very important. And I noticed that when I went to school in Chicago and I actually experienced winter depression syndrome, which I didn't know was a thing because the sun would set at 3 p.m. And I grew up barefoot on the beach surfing, you know going you know and so that for me was very foreign not everybody has that luxury but there's also infrared you know light therapy there's other things that can supplement because we know the sun is critical and that vitamin d for you know for happiness and for joy so i think that that's important but as simple as like you know just getting to know your neighbor and understanding who's around you instead of living this isolated lifestyle like many of us do getting out of your car, having a bicycle, being able to walk around or bike around to places.

1:00:23That's really important. This concept of the 15 minute city and making decisions on where you live, where everything is within walking or biking distance is going to change, you know, your life. It's going to have a super positive impact. You know, plant a garden, you know, it's, there's so many new systems out there where just getting your hands in the soil is a form of mental wellbeing and health. And that's what we do we have garden volunteer days and if you don't have a garden or the knowledge then there's so many co-ops and community gardens and get involved in those types of organizations that are doing this and i think that's just a really great way to meet community you know find a third space find a place that's maybe not your typical place that you would go whether it's to do sports or whether it's to do you know some sort of civic engagement or community or wellness or Or a sauna place where they have cold plunge and sauna where you can meet new people and engage.

1:01:19We're social creatures. We're not meant to be isolated in front of screens for hours and hours and hours. So I think, and that's something that brings me joy. Like last night we had this gathering of 30 people and we had a little salon and a talk. And Daniela made food. And it was just like, that's human. That's the way that we connect. There were no screens there. It was just conversations with humans. You know, that's how we socialize. That's how we come together. And on a bigger level, you can get more involved in your planning departments, in projects that are happening. And as an involved citizen, you can advocate for things that are going to bring more health and well-being to your street, to your neighborhood.

1:02:06you know learn about the projects that are happening that are going to impact and give your input you know write your city officials meet with your commission commissioners your senators your congress people talk to them about what matters most to you and what's missing in your community because that's if they don't hear from it then you're not going to be able to have an input in what's happening this is supposed to be an informed democratic society which we know There's a lot of flaws in our society, but theoretically, you know, that's how it works So I would say people feel very powerless and they feel like how can I do anything?

1:02:45Well, you can make a decision on where you shop You can make a decision on where you go You can make a decision on what city you live in what neighborhood you live in And so I think that's why people a lot of people are moving to Florida, you know, it's very pro business It's open the weather is good. There's sunshine and you look at I want to, and I don't have the stats, but I definitely, maybe you do, because this is more your space in the wellness space. But in Florida, we had a very open liberal policy during COVID. There was not a lot of restrictions. People were going to nightclubs, people were on the beach.

1:03:19And, you know, I would like to know how many more people died of depression and suicide from loneliness during the pandemic than from actually from COVID. It's massive, right? It's

1:03:31Darin Olien:massive number yeah because because we lose the acute number to the long-term effects of that chronic issue change people's lives and and i don't know the number either but you know that's where the the myopic view of everything is a really bad idea because going back to the generational thing we we're not looking at that so it's not even a statistic that is entered into the conversation about your choice here is not just about this situation currently happening it's about what what is that effect happening for the generation of these children and people so that's the the massive western flaw of this whole thing over control everything without having an understanding of what those effects are.

1:04:26Darin Olien:What are you most stoked about right now? Obviously, your book's coming out in August. It comes out August 11th, the week of my birthday. And I'm super stoked about the book, but I'm most stoked about the impact that I hope and that I'm passionate about that the book will have to inspire a new generation, to co-create the cities and the communities of the future that are going to improve people's lives and make for more thriving people, planet, and places. And we're doing an online summit in July where we're inviting experts from regenerative agriculture, regenerative well-being, the whole gambit, the spectrum of regeneration.

1:05:08So generation regeneration is about co-designing and redesigning our future that we all know is possible because we have all the tools. we just now need to align on the narrative. We need to align on the language and how to move forward. And I believe truly that if we come together, that anything's possible. So that is, it's the optimism in an age of a lot of fear and a lot of division and a lot of polarization. And I'm not just a ungrounded, aloof optimist because I know the challenges of development. And I'm developing entire neighborhoods in places. And I know the friction and the rub. But what I've seen, the advancements, where I think sustainability as a movement has largely failed.

1:05:56Because it's failed to inspire people. Because no one wants to do less harm. They want to be fired up. They want to be excited about a revolution. And that's what regeneration is about. It's not about doing less harm. It's about reinventing a new system that's going to make the old system obsolete because there are smarter, you know, ways to do things. And we're just doing a lot of stupid things. Let's just be honest.

1:06:21Darin Olien:Yeah, well, it kind of feels like, you know, it's not necessarily black and white, but there's this old system that is hell bent on keeping that in place. Right. And then there's all this enlightened awareness popping. More and more people are waking up. You get a lot of pressure in a broken way. It tends to wake people up quite a bit. And ever since COVID, there's a ton of people waking up all kinds of, and we want something different. I think there's a revolution happening. I think there's an underswell going on, and it's just when is that going to pop? And you don't need 50 % of the population.

1:07:05Darin Olien:You don't you use fairly small Population to get the wheel going down the down the hill right up and when people see it because you know, there's vision But like you said you may have had many visions but when you put it in action and you then people could step into a community and Experience it's a whole different thing. It's all experiential. You know, it's it's it's show me don't tell me it's that somatic embodiment of regeneration and I think that's what people need to feel and so I think it's hard to come up with examples of places where you can actually feel that and Bhutan you talked about you know comes from the top down and really it's the leadership of the king and you know what's happening in terms of really focusing on happiness as as a key value you know over profit or other things and their culture which is very strong in Buddhism.

1:08:05And I have a friend who's an amazing architect, Bjarke Engels, who's been designing the airport and the Happiness City and the dam, which is beautiful, which is this multicolored, incredible thing with a Buddhist temple integrated. And that is regenerative placemaking in and of itself. And so there are examples of these things happening in places like Bhutan and other places around the world. And how do we become inspired by that? How do we create a a new narrative, a new story around the future of humanity, one in which it works for 100 % of life, not just for a small sliver of society. And people talk about creating all these bunkers and these end of the world Armageddon scenarios, and I'm like, listen, if the majority of the population is hungry and starving and without jobs, you can't build a wall high enough to protect yourself.

1:08:58And so instead of building walls, let's start building bridges between us.

1:09:03Darin Olien:Yeah, for sure. Yeah, give me another week, but that's about it. Exactly. So enjoy that week. But yeah, I mean, I agree, man. There is a huge opportunity for us. I mean, I see it in business too. I have friends that have created alternative chemistries that are benign for PFAS and they're at scale and already in packaging and massive companies right now and no one knows about it. So it's happening. It is. There's energy. The groundswell. Yeah, there's energy systems that I know that people are massive funding that's going to 100 % clean energy, like no destruction, free energy that we've actually shown in the 1900s.

1:09:52Darin Olien:1900s tesla was obviously a leader and a lot of that so there's a lot of things that are kind of now it's the time again there's frequency photobiomodulation advances diagnostic advances that's literally built in the plasma of our existence that was already here before and is easily accessible so you know that's the beautiful thing that the pressure of whatever weird society we've set up as the pressure of that kind of breaking is creating also the the generation regeneration it's it's it's great and then seeding that even more for the and I think your work and others but specifically seeding that generation and giving glimpses of hope and showing that and showing that generation that oh here here's a way here we go through videos through TV shows through whatever that that needs to happen more and more because I can only imagine the hopelessness that children feel and kids feel at this at this point just seeing this society especially in the west oh yeah it's it's it's very deflating i think and very scary and we do need to have a new narrative and a new story and a new myth um for people to hang on to and it needs to be co-designed by you know people of different backgrounds and diverse cultures because we have a very rich rich civilization that we're just doing things that don't make sense and that are not in our best interest.

1:11:46Darin Olien:Yeah, because if, I mean, if hope is lost, that you can do whatever you want. If you don't have hope, that's... It's hope and it's trust. We have a crisis of trust. So first, we need to inspire people with hope, but then we need to start trusting again. We don't trust anything. We don't trust our governments. We don't trust each other. We don't trust the healthcare system. We don't trust anything. We don't trust social media and AI and all that. So there's a lot of distrust. And so I think I always say that success moves at the speed of trust. And so we need to really go back to that trust building exercise.

1:12:24First come up with the vision and the mythos, build trust, and then we can reimagine anything that we want.

1:12:32Darin Olien:I'm here for it, man. I'm here for it. So let's create that. Let's keep going and and whatever we need to do to get there great thanks brother thanks Darren it's been incredible talking with you hanging and inspired to continue to do the work man oh no August in August pre-order can pre-order it now on my website at Tony Cho calm and you can subscribe to my sub stack or you can follow me on Instagram at Tony Cho and follow the journey yeah I'm excited to to bring regenerative placemaking out to the world. Yeah, well let's keep going. I'm with you. Thank you. Whatever I can do to help, I'm here for you.

1:13:14Darin Olien:You're already doing it. Thank you, man.