Tech News Weekly 421 Transcript

Please be advised that this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word-for-word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show.

Mikah Sargent [00:00:00]:
Coming up on Tech News Weekly, Emily Forlini is here. We kick off the show talking about how somebody bought some meta AI glasses and then found themselves wandering through the desert for aliens. Afterward, I talk about an interesting secretive VIP program that keeps you working on your farmville. Farm and emf. What effect does it have on collagen and how does that relate to the 49ers? All of that coming up on Tech News Weekly.

TWiT.tv [00:00:31]:
Podcasts you love from people you Trust. This is TWiT.

Mikah Sargent [00:00:39]:
This is Tech News Weekly. Episode 421 with Emily Forlini and me, Micah Sargent. Recorded Thursday, January 22, 2026. Mobile gaming's high roller VIP programs. Hello and welcome to Tech News Weekly, the show where every week we talk to and about the people making and breaking that tech news. I am one of your hosts. My name is Micah Sargent and I am joined this week for the first time in about a million years by Emily Forlini. Welcome back to the show, Emily.

Emily Forlini [00:01:08]:
Hello, I'm back. It's me. Happy to be here.

Mikah Sargent [00:01:12]:
Happy to have you here on the show again for the first time in a million years. It just so happened for people who are like, what? Why? It's because all of the holidays lined up for her appearances on the show and so we haven't had an opportunity to see her in a while. Happy to have you back and happy to talk about our stories of the week, the stories that we saw out there that we think are interesting, that we want to share with all of you. I'm looking forward to hearing about yours. It's weird.

Emily Forlini [00:01:42]:
Yeah, it's one of the craziest I think I've seen. You know, the AI delusion thing, have you heard about that? Like, people who may or may not have existing health issues, they start talking to an AI and they start thinking that there's a big conspiracy against the U.S. they think they reinvented math. They think, you know, all these crazy things.

Mikah Sargent [00:02:03]:
But I actually did right.

Emily Forlini [00:02:05]:
And the AI will be like, oh, you're right. All those experts going back to 2000 BC were wrong about mathematics. Like, you know, they're like, oh, man.

Mikah Sargent [00:02:14]:
One plus one does equal PI, right?

Emily Forlini [00:02:16]:
Like, I knew it. Teachers should have given me better grades.

Mikah Sargent [00:02:20]:
But, oh, yeah, that's. That's a good idea.

Emily Forlini [00:02:22]:
There's a new one that is the first and that I've seen in the AI wearable space. So it's usually these are someone just talking to ChatGPT or what have you Chatbot on their computer and phone. This one is a guy, a 52 year old guy, a successful software executive with lots of money, a vacation home, kids, family. Kind of portrays it like he had it all. He bought a pair of meta Ray ban glasses in 2023 and just wore them on his face all the time and kind of went crazy. He started believing that he was having a spiritual awakening. The AI was like, this is akin to what Gandhi went through. It's like telling him, you know, all affirming all these crazy things because he's saying things to the AI like I want to manifest a new future.

Emily Forlini [00:03:13]:
So he's kind of at this point in his life where he's retiring and he's like looking for what's next. And the AI is just affirming his delusions in the classic sense that we hear with all these stories. He ends up withdrawing his 401k. He starts buying Doomsday prepper supplies. He signs over the vacation home to his wife's name, tells her, you know, I need to shed earthly things this life. He's wandering in the desert waiting for aliens to show up. That's the amazing headline that's showing right now. This girl Maggie, who wrote it, it's just such a well written piece.

Emily Forlini [00:03:52]:
I think everyone should read it. It's just a scary joy to read. It's the first one I've seen with the AI glasses and just that super. Always on nature. Even more always available than a chatbot that we typically think of.

Mikah Sargent [00:04:06]:
Yeah, and I think there's something to be said too for the sort of more intimate nature of the AI being right there in your ear, talking to you and. Yeah, so you get that like always ready. Also it is reaffirming things that you're seeing. I'm pretty sure it has, you know, the camera to be able to do that. And so it's just this, this perfect mixture that someone could more easily fall victim to. Particularly given that our brains aren't able to on their own sort of understand the difference between what is real and what's imagined in many cases. And so our bodies respond to our brains perception of things and those perceptions may or may not be what they actually are. And so it just kind of builds and builds and builds on itself in a way that is rather frightening.

Mikah Sargent [00:05:01]:
Now it is interesting, as you said, this is kind of the first time we've heard about this. Given how much we've heard about AI chatbots on their own being responsible for this, I wonder how many instances of this have actually happened. Because I do think that there is one thing that I Think about is how sort of financial availability has an impact on so many different things. Right. And so when we think about people who are more likely to live less stressful lives, people who are more likely to have more access to healthcare, both psychiatric and physical, and the list goes on and on and on. Those, those are people with more money and those are also the people who can then afford more easily, things like meta AI glasses. So the argument would be that a person who has more money, who has access to things like psychiatric services and you know, oh, I go to my therapist regularly or whatever it happens to be, would in theory be less likely to fall victim to this. So I wonder if there's also a self limiting aspect of it there as well versus what we saw with chatbots that are made available to people in school for free.

Mikah Sargent [00:06:28]:
And of course, you know, just my mom just discovered chat GPT like last month because I was getting so many different photos from her of like, look what it, look at this, look what I made. And so yeah, I think, and I know she's not paying for it. I, she's not an app pay person. So yeah, that, that. I wonder how much that plays a role as well.

Emily Forlini [00:06:52]:
Yeah, I mean this might be a classic case of more money, more problems. If you're working three jobs, you do not have time to wander in the desert in Utah waiting for aliens. You're kind of crazy. But yeah, he probably was a classic early adopter. I don't know if it's. What is it? Phenotype. Stereotype, not phenotype, whatever. The classic early.

Mikah Sargent [00:07:15]:
Oh, like archetype.

Emily Forlini [00:07:16]:
Archetype. I think phenotype is like ape from AP Bio.

Mikah Sargent [00:07:20]:
Yeah, exactly.

Emily Forlini [00:07:23]:
Archetype. Yeah. So he had money and an interest in a career in technology and you know, 2023 is pretty early to be looking at meta Arabian glasses. And I think he got the new pair in 2024. I'll have to look back at the details in the story and it's, it's cool that he shared this story because it is a little bit embarrassing. I mean he went 500k into debt, he had a mental health breakdown. He was dist from his friends, family. They all said he started talking weirdly.

Emily Forlini [00:07:51]:
I mean, that's the kind of thing you might not want to share. But it's cool that he did because yeah, we were seeing just this week, it's like, you know, OpenAI is teasing their wearable AI device. There are reports that Apple is working on its wearable AI device. Meta continues to push the Ray Bans. You know, they have celebrities in their ads in New York City. There's kind of like the tech industry is saying wearable AI is the next big thing. So this is an early indicator that that could potentially accelerate some problems we're seeing with AI now.

Mikah Sargent [00:08:24]:
Absolutely. Yeah, that's. That's a. That's a good point. I regularly. The refrain seems to be for. For us who are sort of on the outside of. Of AI, going, perhaps we should just, like, slow down just a hair.

Mikah Sargent [00:08:43]:
Perhaps we should test this a little bit more. Perhaps there should be more thought. And instead it is a return to the move fast and break things mindset that has led to actual deaths in so many cases. And, yeah, you have to wonder what impact this stuff will have on perhaps people who have, you know, like, paranoia or who, like, there's so many different things that you and I could easily come up with a grab bag of all these different things that should be considered that are not considered. And that is something that is very frustrating about this. Move fast and break things. You know, somebody else is doing it, we got to do it. If we're not doing it, then we're not doing it, and we got to do it because they're doing it.

Mikah Sargent [00:09:36]:
Okay, now, is that enough of a reason? I don't think so. But in capitalism, I suppose it is, right?

Emily Forlini [00:09:42]:
Yeah. It's hard. I mean, in this case, of course, I'm not a mental health professional, but with the glasses being on your face and even kind of speaking to you, it's like you're literally hearing voices.

Mikah Sargent [00:09:53]:
Yeah.

Emily Forlini [00:09:55]:
It's so close to your brain and your voice and you're talking to each other and it's always there. Yeah, you might start to blur. Yeah, you might start to blur the lines a little bit. It's. To your point, though, it is kind of sad just to see again, of course, most people are not going to have this experience, but there's a vibe right now in AI that it's kind of like, well, we got to crack some eggs until before it changes the world. But it's scary when the eggs that are cracking are, like, teens who had this experience and committed suicide or this guy's life was ruined. And it's like, yikes, man. I don't.

Emily Forlini [00:10:29]:
It's just we need more scrutiny on these models and how people are interacting with them.

Mikah Sargent [00:10:34]:
I agree. Well, we will hopefully not see too many more instances.

Emily Forlini [00:10:42]:
Hopefully it gets better. I don't want to be doomsday. It's just, you know, it happens. People shouldn't be ashamed of what they're talking to AI about, because I feel like if you're keeping these things, these conversations private, it's just going to spiral out of control. So maybe that's more practical for the everyday person.

Mikah Sargent [00:10:57]:
Yeah, that's a good point. All right, let's take a quick break. Before we come back with my story of the week, I want to tell you about ThreatLocker bringing you this episode of Tech News Weekly. ThreatLocker's Zero Trust platform takes a proactive, deny by default approach, so it's blocking every unauthorized action to protect you from both known and unknown threats. Modern attacks hide inside endpoints, attacker controlled virtual machines, sandboxed environments, or VPN VM based malware that evades traditional antivirus software. ThreatLocker Zero Trust prevents VM based attacks before they can launch critical vulnerabilities and everyday tools that your employees use. Even seemingly harmless apps can actually be a gateway for attackers. ThreatLocker recently detailed how 7zip's symbolic link extraction bug enabled arbitrary code execution when administrators or service accounts extracted a malicious zip.

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Mikah Sargent [00:12:40]:
Visit threatlocker.com TWIT to get a free 30 day trial and learn more about how ThreatLocker can help mitigate unknown threats and ensure compliance. That's threatlocker.com TWIT and for a limited time, very exciting. You can use the code ZTWIT26 to save $200 off registration for Zero Trust World 2026. Get access to all the sessions, hands on hacking labs, meals and an after party. The most interactive hands on cybersecurity learning event of the year is happening March 4th through the 6th in Orlando, Florida. Be sure to register with code ZTWTWIT26 and we thank ThreatLocker for sponsoring this week's episode of Tech News Weekly. Alrighty, folks, we are back from the break, and I want to tell you about the mobile gaming industry's little secret. It actually happens to be kind of borrowing from the casino playbook.

Mikah Sargent [00:13:36]:
In a new piece for the New York Times, Michael Thompson pulls back the curtain on the VIP programs that game publishers like Zynga use to keep their highest spending players engaged, rewarded, and obviously, most importantly, spending. So these programs, which offer everything from personal account managers to private concerts and cash sweepstakes, are designed to cultivate deep, ongoing relationships with the small percentage of players who generate the vast majority of revenue. It's a strategy that raises questions, obviously, about the line between customer loyalty and something that looks a lot more like the tactics used to keep gamblers glued to slot machines. So let's first kind of talk about the casino connection here. Right? The parallels there between these VIP programs aren't really coincidental. In fact, it was Harrah's who introduced this program back in 1997, using digital tracking tools that would then detect when a player was losing more than expected. When that happened, a floor attendant would swoop in with a reward. This could be a free meal, show tickets, anything to prevent a negative memory from forming.

Mikah Sargent [00:14:44]:
The result of this was that Harrah's increased VIP revenue by more than 50%. Zynga's approach follows a similar philosophy. As Gemma Doyle, who helped build Zynga's VIP program, put it, quote, we really have to cultivate these players and let them know they are connected to a person as well as a game and that we're here for them to fix any issues they have and reward them for their loyalty. They're whales. The financial reality is pretty stark. Roughly 90% of mobile game revenue can come from less than 5% of the player base. These big spenders are known in the industry as whales, you know, and they are. It's all about kind of keeping them happy and kind of if the game stops feeling fun for them, obviously they're less likely to spend money.

Mikah Sargent [00:15:34]:
I was curious, first and foremost, Emily, have you played any of these sort of like, farmville, pop the bubble sort of games? Any of that on your radar?

Emily Forlini [00:15:46]:
No. I mean, I have had some fun gambling in Vegas and I would like to be known as a whale, which I am not, but that's as far as I've gotten.

Mikah Sargent [00:15:55]:
Yeah, understood. Yeah, I have. I don't think I've ever played farmville, but I have played some of those little, like, puzzle rearrange ones, and I'm not Gonna lie to you. It is easy to start to fall for the trap of like, you know, I was so close to unlocking little thing in my mansion and unfortunately I ran out of bubbles. But if I just paid 99 cents then I could unlock this thing in my mansion. And so I probably over the course of time have spent like $20 collectively. So definitely not a whale. But I see how people could easily be drawn into this when it comes to Zynga's VIP managers specifically, these are the perks.

Mikah Sargent [00:16:38]:
Personal account managers who check in regularly. Hey, how's it going? Everything going well? You like how the game's entries into exclusive monthly cash sweepstakes, private concerts, day cruises to Alcatraz, and this is really funny. Personalized dog training sessions at Caesar Milan's ranch. Sign me up for that one. That'd be super cool to do. These account managers maintain detailed files on the player's preferences if they like puzzles, competition socializing, along with notes about life events. Like if they have a sick pet or there's a recent wedding. Each manage expected to contact at least 125 players daily.

Mikah Sargent [00:17:21]:
Hey, I heard how the the wedding went. Did you like the seafood platter you ordered?

Emily Forlini [00:17:28]:
So weird. I mean I can see that for a more intense and engaging game. But like Farmville or Little Bubbles or Bejeweled, I actually have played those. Now that I got a better sense of what we're talking about here. I just didn't think possibly those games could have personal sieges and whales. I mean they're so simple. They're just little time, you just pass the time. But maybe a more in depth video game or something like the Last of Us where you're so engrossed and invested in the story and you're doing it all weekend.

Emily Forlini [00:18:02]:
I could see that being more of a VIP environment but Bejeweled type thing. I definitely don't want anyone talking to me offering Cesar Milan dog training. Like that's totally, totally crazy.

Mikah Sargent [00:18:16]:
It is kind of weird. Now this is interesting. Not everyone in the VIP ecosystem is actually thriving. Turns out one player who asked not to be identified in this piece revealed that he has spent between $40,000 and $50,000 on mobile games since 2016. So over the course of 10 years, 40 to $50,000. He described the experience in stark terms. Quote, it's like an opium den, except it's in your hand and you can enter it with your mind whenever you want. I lament it pretty much daily.

Mikah Sargent [00:18:51]:
He says he fears his wife would leave him if she discovered the extent of his spending, yet he continues to play.

Emily Forlini [00:18:58]:
Even people need to get off technology, like between the last story and this one.

Mikah Sargent [00:19:04]:
I agree. Yeah, and I agree too. Anthony in the chat says there should be a cap that you can put into any video game, period. Like if you end up spending a thousand dollars, everything should just be yours. Like that should. It should just all be unlocked. There shouldn't be any more at that point. Now even designated VIPs will express exhaustion.

Mikah Sargent [00:19:23]:
In online discussions about Star Trek Fleet Command, players described feeling like keeping up with new content was a full time job, with some waking up at 4 or 5am to stay current. Why? Others complained about game changes that seemed designed solely to encourage more spending. Not every company does use VIP programs strictly to chase revenue, though. Riot Games, who many will be familiar as the maker of League of Legends and Valorant, focuses its program on influential community members rather than the big spenders. So sort of social whales. The company flies players to its Santa Monica headquarters to meet developers. It's even sent them abroad for play testing. So the experience can be a little bit different.

Mikah Sargent [00:20:07]:
Ultimately, though, it's all about that relationship model. The people who build these program programs see their work through a particular lens. So Doyle, who now works in the derivatives market, describes herself as a relationship manager and compares player retention to maintaining a marriage. She says she. She remembers the moment that Zynga's program was working because she overheard an employee she had trained talking a VIP out of quitting entirely. And in the way that this worked was the account manager said, said, listen, we're not getting divorced over this. We've been together for so long. We've been through thick and thin.

Mikah Sargent [00:20:44]:
Okay. No, no. This is horrible. This is horrible.

Emily Forlini [00:20:48]:
It's terrible. It actually sounds a lot like AI relationships too.

Mikah Sargent [00:20:52]:
Yes. Yes.

Emily Forlini [00:20:53]:
How many of these humans. Yeah, how many of these account managers are humans?

Mikah Sargent [00:20:58]:
Oh, that's true too. Yeah, yeah.

Emily Forlini [00:21:01]:
I can see an AI saying, oh, we're not going to get divorce over this because only a crazy AI would say that.

Mikah Sargent [00:21:07]:
Exactly. So overall, kind of the bigger picture here, these programs are just sort of going across the industry. Paper Games has a game called Love and Deep Space that has tiered VIP spending requirements that range from about $700 to more than $14,000. Scopeley's monopoly Go has generated over $5 billion in revenue, partly through its invitation only. Tycoon industry defenders argue the economics require this approach. One customer support director kind of compared it to pharmaceutical pricing. For every drug they develop, they spend billions on drugs that fail. Okay.

Mikah Sargent [00:21:46]:
Whether you see VIP programs as savvy customer service or a troubling extension of gambling psychology into gaming, they're clearly here to stay and probably only going to get more sophisticated what with AI doing it's AI best.

Emily Forlini [00:22:04]:
Yes. Another thing I've been hearing about related to this is more with kids spending on games. And I've heard a couple instances of kids taking their parents credit card and just going crazy on Roblox, like 5, 10, 15,000. My sister was at a happy hour at work and someone was very much over sharing and was just like, yeah, my kids kid spent 10,000 on my card, I don't know what to do. And then he said it happened again.

Mikah Sargent [00:22:32]:
Oh no.

Emily Forlini [00:22:33]:
So I mean of course there's a lot of we could talk about there but I mean kids spending with their parents credit cards on games is so scary to me. Like if that happened, I don't know if, I don't know if I could get over that.

Mikah Sargent [00:22:45]:
Oh, what do you mean? You'd be like, this isn't mine anymore.

Emily Forlini [00:22:49]:
If my kid just took evaporated $15,000 on, on Roblox, like I just, I, I would need several years to process how unfortunate that event was.

Mikah Sargent [00:23:03]:
I'm going to need several years of counseling.

Emily Forlini [00:23:05]:
Can you. That is so frustrating.

Mikah Sargent [00:23:08]:
Yeah, it would be so beyond like.

Emily Forlini [00:23:11]:
How did this happen? Yeah. And so I wonder if I'm sure they could justify these AI concierges for kids of like, oh, we're keeping them safe. Because Roblox is also dealing with lawsuits for grooming kids, child predators, you know, people going on the platform to find kids to do things. So I feel like they could build this case that oh, it's making them comfortable, but maybe it's just drawing the kids in. And there's also low key advertising and they're just, I don't know, these gaming platforms are too much.

Mikah Sargent [00:23:42]:
Yeah, I agree. I mean they've always had the sort of bright and shiny situation going on and the, the everything popping up all at once and it's all trying to get your attention. So many of the games as you know, are based around sort of timing. So you only have so much energy that you can use per session and then you can buy more energy or you have to leave the game and come back later when your energy is restored. Most or not most, but many people will be convinced to go ahead and just oh, let me pop a few more batteries into the tank so we can keep going. Which batteries cost joules and jewels cost 50. You know, it all depends so, so yeah, as far as that goes, I think it's fascinating in a horrifying way. It's like, oh, so this is just the next level of that, right?

Emily Forlini [00:24:29]:
It's so different, it's so extreme from when we were growing up. And the worst thing I could play was my Game Boy. You know, like just simple games that didn't have in app purchases or you know, board games. Like people would play Dungeons and Dragons. Like what, how innocent. I know compared to this. Oh, it's just a piece of paper on cardboard. You know, a bunch of paper blended and stacked together to make a board with little colors on it and little, you know, figurines and some paper with a script and you're sit in a basement and just role play.

Emily Forlini [00:25:04]:
It's like, wow, that could like night and day compared to what, what it is now.

Mikah Sargent [00:25:10]:
That is. I love that. I like, yes. Why not just have that be the, the way of things and let's not have all of these again. The bright and shiny that's really drawing people in and feels I think disingenuous in many ways. So yeah, these VIP programs I would love if someone out there listening feels comfortable doing so and you're one of these VIPs, I would love to hear about your experience. That would be pretty cool. I don't know, we've got a pretty sophisticated audience and I'm not saying sophistication always comes with not spending money on these games, but I do think it often comes with comes with not spending money on these games.

Mikah Sargent [00:25:52]:
So I would. But I would be curious.

Emily Forlini [00:25:54]:
Well, you don't know. The last story was that successful tech exec that was wandering the desert looking for aliens.

Mikah Sargent [00:26:01]:
You never know. You never know.

Emily Forlini [00:26:02]:
Never know where it's going to strike.

Mikah Sargent [00:26:05]:
Alrighty, that brings us to the end of the second story of the week. Emily Forlini. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to join us today on the show. It's been great having you back.

Emily Forlini [00:26:15]:
So fun. I'm glad to have been here and thank you everybody. See you next time.

Mikah Sargent [00:26:19]:
See you next time. Bye bye. Alrighty folks, we're going to take a quick break before we come back with more. I want to tell you about Melissa bringing you this episode of Tech News Weekly. The trusted data quality expert. Since 1985, forward thinking businesses are using AI. We've just talked about this in all kinds of new ways. But AI is only as good as the data that you feed it.

Mikah Sargent [00:26:44]:
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Mikah Sargent [00:29:14]:
What? Sports? Yes, sports this is. The San Francisco 49ers are actually one of the NFL's most persistent in terms of getting injuries. Unfortunately, it's also kind of mysterious, or so claim some people. Since moving to Levi's Stadium in 2014, the team has reportedly consistently ranked among the league's most battered, with high profile players suffering devastating injuries in critical moments. Now, there's a new theory making Its way around that is really funny, I think among players and agents as well. And that's that Electromagnetic fields from an electrical substation that's near the team's practice facility are what's to blame. In a piece for the Washington Post, reporters Sam Fortier and Albert Samaha dig into the origins of this fringe theory, talk to the scientists who dismiss it and explore why it's gaining traction despite the lack of evidence even influencing how some players and agents are viewing the franchise. So we have to start with this theory, right? The EMF theory this time around traces back to a person named Peter Cohen, who is a self described, quote, quote, board certified quantum biology practitioner and software engineer.

Mikah Sargent [00:30:34]:
Always a software engineer as well. After watching a YouTube video where a retired 49ers player joked about the team's proximity to a power substation, Cohen decided to travel from Portland. Oh wow. To Santa Clara with a gauss, with a gauss meter to take readings near the facility. His findings and his subsequent posts on X and Substack went, went viral, racking up more than 21 million impressions. Now Cowan's central claim is that extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields from Silicon Valley powers northern receiving station are actually degrading players collagen, weakening their tendons and causing soft tissue damage. He describes San Francisco as the NFL's soft tissue soft tissue graveyard. Interesting theory certainly.

Mikah Sargent [00:31:28]:
I want to take a moment and we're going to talk about sort of the brief history of EMF anxiety that, that that exists in the world. So it's important to understand that electromagnetic fields and human health like the concern about how the two interact, these aren't new things, they've been simmering for decades. This modern wave of EMF anxiety seems, seems to have started around like 1979. There was a study by epidemiologist Nancy Werthermeyer who said that there was a possible link between power lines and childhood leukemia. Now that research then led to widespread fear and a flood of follow up studies, but those results have been inconsistent. The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified extremely low frequency magnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans in 2001. But that same category also includes, can you guess, coffee and pickled vegetables. This is based on limited evidence of a link to childhood leukemia, but possibly carcinogenic is a far cry from proven danger and has the ability to weaken your collagen.

Mikah Sargent [00:32:44]:
And so there's not a lot going on in terms of this. Major health agencies including the who have consistently stated that current evidence does not confirm emf causes health problems at typical exposure levels. That said, that hasn't stopped a thriving industry from emerging around EMF protection products. There are special phone cases. Maybe some of you have them whole home shielding system systems. Maybe it's taken some. You've taken some aluminum foil and place it on your head, whatever it happens to be. Many of these make claims that frankly aren't backed by rigorous science.

Mikah Sargent [00:33:20]:
The rise of 5G cellular networks is just another bit of this conspiracy. In recent years, it kind of reignited these fears. Conspiracy theories falsely linked this technology to everything from cancer to COVID 19. What's notable about the 49er situation is how it represents kind of a new vector for these anxieties. Not just personal health, but like professional health and athletic performance. So this EMF concern, where before it was sort of it's going to give you cancer or it's going to somehow make you more susceptible to COVID 19, now we've got a fresh audience that maybe wasn't paying attention to this before because it's impacting how their players play, or so they're led to believe. But here's what the scientists have to say about it. The experts consulted by the Washington Post were largely dismissive.

Mikah Sargent [00:34:12]:
Frank De Voc, a professor of epidemiology and public health at Bristol Medical School who's also a leading expert on EMF effect on humans, called the theory nonsense. He noted that the readings Cohen took around 8.5 milligauss are actually quite low and kind of what you would expect in any normal house. So within your house it's the same amount of. Of milagauss, I guess, and you're not getting anything special there. Hans Kromhout, a professor of exposure assessment at Utrecht University who has studied workers exposed to high levels of emf, agreed the explanation seems quite unlikely. He said that some electric line workers face up to 200 milligauss versus 8.5, and international authorities generally consider the danger threshold to be around 2 2000, which is far above what Cohen measured. Still, scientific community isn't monolithic on the issue. A professor at McGill University's Department of Epidemiology described, quote, an ongoing bloody battle between those who view EMF as harmless and those calling for more research.

Mikah Sargent [00:35:24]:
While he said Cohen's assessment is theoretically plausible, the studies on EMF's effects on collagen involved much stronger electromagnetic fields than what's present near the 49ers facility. So it sounds like you living in your own home would have the same impact on your collagen if there was impact from EMF on collagen. That said, we can't dismiss the injuries. The injuries are very real. The 49ers injury woes are well documented. The team has consistently ranked in the top 10 of adjusted games lost, which is a metric that weighs severity and player importance. Since moving to Levi's Stadium this season alone, three of the team's four highest paid players actually suffered season ending injuries. And star tight and George Kittle tore his Achilles tendon during the team's playoff victory over the Eagles.

Mikah Sargent [00:36:13]:
It's hard for me to read about Achilles tendon tearing. That freaks me out every time. Here's the thing, I gotta watch out for the Milagauss that are running anyway. There's a significant problem with tying the injuries to the substation. Uh folks, the 49ers started practicing next to it in 1988, a full three decades before Levi's Stadium opened. From 2001 to 2014, according to veteran NFL analyst Aaron Schatz, the 49ers actually ranked below average in injuries. When told about this timeline issue, Cohen acknowledged he didn't know about it. He said if he had, he would have broadened his research to track the rising number of cell towers in the area.

Mikah Sargent [00:36:54]:
He remains confident the substation contributed to the injuries. And you may think that that's it, right? That's the problem. That's where this kind of starts and stops. You've got one guy who's an engineer, a software engineer, and also a quantum biologist. And then you also have sort of fans paying attention to this and that might be enough to go, oh brother, but there's actually more going on. See, it turns out that despite the scientific skepticism, unfortunately, NFL players and their representatives have started to pick up on it and it's gained some traction. The Post corresponded with about two dozen NFL agents, and roughly one third said they had heard from their clients asking about the theory. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne even referenced it publicly, joking after the Eagles game that the injuries were being caused by that power plant.

Mikah Sargent [00:37:53]:
One agent texted the Post, they're gonna have to move the practice facility. Another wrote, there is something there. Always wondered why my guys would take longer to heal in San Francisco. Then I read this and makes sense. Some agents were more measured. One pointed out that money at the end of the day ultimately drives free agency. Okay, thank you for your contribution. What? Let me just read that quote again for the agent.

Mikah Sargent [00:38:16]:
Money at the end of the day ultimately drives free agency. Great. Thank you. The was another who kind of dismissed the concern. Some players are also susceptible to conspiracy theories. As for one agent, there is a DIY approach going on. Trey Robinson took matters into his own hands when he realized there was a substation near one of his clients home facilities. He bought a $40 Gauss meter on Amazon and had it sent to someone who lived near the facility to take readings, he says.

Mikah Sargent [00:38:47]:
I'm not a scientist, but if there's a way to eliminate something being an issue, we'll take whatever steps we can to address our clients concerns. So let's kind of round things out here with the bigger picture as it comes to EMF concerns. Cohen's beliefs about EMF really aren't as fringe as they once were. The ufc, the Minnesota Timberwolves, several NBA and NHL players, and even the lead singer of the All American Rejects have partnered with a company that claims to reduce the negative effects of EMFs. This growing acceptance of EMF concerns, concerns even without robust scientific backing, speaks to broader anxieties about technology and health that extend well beyond football, right? Important to note that both the 49ers and the NFL declined to comment on the story. The city of Santa Clara and Silicon Valley Power had no response to requests for comment. So in the end, I'll leave it up to you to decide if the EMFs are ruined in the NFL. It sounds like no.

Mikah Sargent [00:39:51]:
All signs point to no, but it is really fascinating. There's probably more going on when it comes to cranial damage than there is with EMFs and soft tissue, folks. That is going to bring us to the end of this episode of Tech News Weekly. The show publishes every Thursday at Twitt TV tnw. That is where you can go to subscribe to the show and audio and video format. We'll be back next week with some great interviews and wonderful guests. If you would like to get all of our shows ad free, just the content, check out Club Twit Twit tv Club Twit is where you go to sign up when you join the club. $10 a month, $120 a year.

Mikah Sargent [00:40:32]:
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Mikah Sargent [00:41:10]:
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Mikah Sargent [00:41:46]:
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Mikah Sargent [00:42:09]:
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