Certainty isn't coherent deduction — it's a background assumption that lets you function. FAST16 weaponized that assumption, forcing scientists to question not just their results but their own competence. Jags, a philosophy dropout turned hacker, calls this 'epistemological warfare.'
Where this was said
At 28:15 · chapter starts 26:04
Despite their breakthrough, Jags and the Planet Money team are left with three enduring mysteries. First: was Iran definitely the target? North Korea also had active nuclear ambitions in the mid-2000s, but Jags is confident the circumstantial evidence all points to Iran — no similar cyber sabotage has ever been documented against anyone else in that era. Second: who built it? It has Stuxnet-like fingerprints — widely attributed to the US and Israel — but no one has confirmed this. Planet Money reached out to the NSA, CIA, and Israeli Defense Forces; none confirmed, none denied, and the IDF never responded. Jags's own check-in with the intelligence community before publication met no resistance — which he reads as confirmation that 20-year-old secrets don't need protecting. Third: why did the NSA write 'nothing to see here, carry on' about FAST16 in their own detection tool? Was it a genuine misdirection to protect an allied operation? A wink from the agency? One day, declassification may answer all three.
The NSA's own malware detection tool included FAST16 — but instead of a standard 'pull back' warning, it simply said 'nothing to see here, carry on.' The agency apparently didn't deny authorship to Jags either, reportedly signaling: this is 20-year-old history, not a secret worth protecting now.
When contacted, the NSA, CIA, and Israeli Defense Forces all declined to confirm or deny involvement with FAST16; the IDF never responded at all.
Erin Brockovich describes data center expansion as 'a full-on assault' hitting communities across water, electricity, noise, air pollution, and land loss. She calls it the biggest bipartisan conversation she's seen in her 30-year career — and warns that tech companies didn't see the coming backlash.
Demanding an emergency fund balance on a first date is the wrong approach. What you're really looking for is someone with character, maturity, and a direction — not a perfect financial snapshot. You can build a budget in 20 minutes; you can't build character that fast.
The fear of not being financially ready to have children is almost always a failure to run the real budget. On $110K a year, you can afford a child. What you can't afford is the fantasy nursery, the bigger car, and staying home on one income without a plan.
You've already said enough. The enabling, the financial dysfunction, the fear it'll land in your lap — if you can't say yes with full confidence, the answer is no. Tell Mom to rent a cheap one-bedroom, sell her house, and buy a condo near the grandkids instead.
Bobby watching a father hold his baby triggered an existential moment: he and Andrew might be missing fatherhood. They priced out adoption ($40K–$70K private, $0–$2K foster care) and briefly considered adopting a child to timeshare like a condo.
In 1950, 60% of the world lived in extreme poverty. Today it's roughly 1 in 10. Capitalism and economic growth did that — nothing else has ever worked at scale. The challenge now isn't generating enough wealth; it's building the political will to distribute it.
The manosphere begins with genuinely useful advice — get fit, be ambitious, find a partner. But it rapidly devolves into dominance, misogyny, and crypto university grifts. The most famous manosphere figures are running $50-a-month Ponzi schemes, exploiting the very loneliness they pretend to cure.
Throughout human history, only 40% of men have ever reproduced. Romantic success has never been guaranteed — it has always required effort, self-development, and resilience. The incel movement's core lie is telling men they're owed something that no man has ever been owed.
The most common word Scott Galloway has heard in his life is no. That's not a failure — it's the mechanism through which great yeses are earned. For shy young men, the path forward is simple: approach people, accept rejection, repeat. Resilience to discomfort is the only real competitive advantage.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.