Last week’s episode of Real Time With Bill Maher went to a lot of different places, thematically and politically. This week’s did as well, but overall it felt more focused, in no small part because multiple segments addressed technology, CEOs and the risks posed by their ventures. It wasn’t quite a themed episode, but its strongest aspects came from its coverage and skepticism of all things tech-related.
Frequent Real Time guest Kara Swisher was up first, there to discuss — in part — the themes behind her CNN special Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever. After touching on their own feelings on mortality, their conversation turned to the tech barons looking to live forever. “Do you think this is elitist?” Maher asked. “I do,” replied to Swisher.
The two then pondered what, precisely, makes people want to live forever. They focused on the example of venture capitalist Bryan Johnson, whose quest to slow his aging has led him to do things like be injected with stem cells. Swisher observed that Johnson was “spending two million dollars a year,” but was dubious if any of the lessons he might learn could be more broadly applied. (She used the phrase “an experiment of one.”)
Swisher contrasted Johnson’s approach to spending money with Reed Jobs’s work funding cancer research and Mark Cuban’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices. More generally, she spoke about the measures that they were taking as things that could “work for the rest of us and not this elite, rich group of people.”
Swisher had plenty of critiques to make, including the present administration’s cuts to science funding. She made the case for universal health care and for more social connections. “Covid really broke us, in many ways,” she said. “One of them was the connections between people.”
Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and former Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel joined Maher for the panel discussion. They had a lot to cover, from war with Iran to the number of Democratic Senators who recently voted against weapon sales to Israel. From there, the three men discussed the resignation of Eric Swalwell and the presence of “open secrets” in politics. Emanuel declined to say whether he would seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, but he sure sounded like someone planning to run.
This Week’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” Covered Fitness Wearables and Longevity
And also discussion of war. It was a wide-ranging episode.
Maher brought the episode to a close by returning to the subject of technology — specifically, AI. He has long been a skeptic of this technology for multiple reasons; the security risks of Claude Mythos have (understandably, to my mind) increased his concerns.
The argument that he made from there was simple: the risks do not outweigh the benefits of this technology. “I thought it would have figured out cancer by now. No; not that,” Maher said. “But it can write your emails for you, and make it look like Spongebob is getting blown by Stephen Hawking on the Moon.” He went on to call AI “a bullshitting sycophant that is seducing everyone with flattery.”
“AI programs are geniuses,” Maher said. “They’re also psychopaths.” And his warning — that an embrace of AI involved “selling your humanity for bar tricks” — felt especially resonant. Not all of Maher’s critiques of modern technology cut this deeply. This segment did.
Other notable moments from this episode:
- Maher on the Strait of Hormuz: “Iran has called their blockade off, but our blockade is still on. Which means…oh fuck it, why write a joke about this? It’ll be obsolete before I get to the punchline.”
- Maher on looksmaxxing: “Don’t make me learn who Clavicular is.”
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