VIP Class Notes (Nicholas)

“they won’t know what hit them” / “they won’t even see it coming”

“human rights” / “basic human rights”

Vocabulary

drink some alcohol / have a few drinks / drink the pain away / get fucked up

blackout – you drink so much you can’t remember what happened
e.g. Holy shit, Leslie blacked out last night.
e.g. Do you remember what happened last night? No I must have blacked out.
e.g You have to get really fucked up to have a blackout.

I need an outlet / blow off steam / I need release
e.g. I need to blow off some steam — I’m gonna go for a walk.
e.g. Painting is my creative outlet. So painting is the outlet for my creativity.

blow off steam – to release your frustration with an activity
e.g. How do you blow off steam?

in my routine / daily routine / robot / robotic
e.g. My life is sometimes way too robotic. I am just going “through the motions”. Even interesting lives can become routine.
e.g. I don’t want to get stuck in a routine so the first thing I did was acknowledge that I was in a routine. I became mindful (or aware of my thoughts).

routine – the same thing everyday

“you gotta put in the work” / “put in the work” / do work / you need to have self-discipline
“you gotta put in the time” / “you can’t skip steps” 

gotta = you have to

kissing ass / they are being a kiss ass / being a “brown noser”

integrity – 诚信
e.g. They kiss ass because they have no integrity.

the technology will make it so that I don’t have to work
universal basic income (UBI) – everyone gets a monthly check (money) and they don’t have to work
universal / universe – applies to everyone – is true for everyone
universal healthcare – everyone gets it for free

basic
the usual healthcare – the basic healthcare
basic needs – housing, healthcare, education, food

productivity / productive
e.g. Technology and AI is so productive and create things so cheaply — they are so much more productive than humans. The productivity is very high!

they associate universal healthcare with Communism and Socialism.
Communism – 共产主义
Socialism – 社会主义

democracy or one-party government 
another form of government / different forms of government
e.g. Aristotle thought democracy was the worst form of government because it was “mob rule”.

the mob = the mass of crazy, poor, uneducated, hungry, violent people
rules = they make the decisions

violent – 暴力
e.g. People can be very violent.

Obama was very modern / progressive
Trump is very old-fashioned / too conservative 

conservative – wants to conserve (保存) – doesn’t like change / traditional
the opposite of conservative – progressive
progressive – thinks of the future – adj

the best – [the most developed] country in the world

consciousness – 意识
e.g. Will A.I become conscious? Will AI achieve consciousness?

the phone is phone – the phone was very limited – the phones functions were incredibly limited

Grammar

in the few months ago – a few months ago

in the Beijing – in Beijing