[The Rivalries Within: From Michael Jordan to AI and Beyond]-[832: That Other Guy]

This American Life · B2 · 2024-06-02

📋 Summary

The Persistent Shadow of Rivalry

Human relationships are often defined by the presence of a "rival"—someone against whom we measure our own worth, progress, and identity. This episode of This American Life explores the complex, often obsessive nature of these connections, ranging from high school basketball courts to the digital frontiers of artificial intelligence and the intimate spaces of grief.

The Leroy Smith Myth: A Lifetime of Motivation

The most iconic example of a persistent rival is Leroy Smith, the teenager who made the varsity basketball team over a young Michael Jordan. Jordan, arguably the greatest athlete of all time, famously used this rejection as fuel, telling the story of the "guy who made it that really wasn't as good as me" for decades. While Jordan went on to become an NBA superstar, Leroy Smith became a permanent fixture in Jordan’s narrative, even being roasted during Jordan's Hall of Fame induction speech. The irony, as noted in the podcast, is that while Leroy remains a "semi-retired motivational speaker" who has moved on, it is Jordan who "can't let go of Leroy." This illustrates a universal human tendency: we often keep a mental tally of the people we feel we must prove wrong, even when we have already achieved greatness.

The Chipotle Challenge: Competitive Obsession

Competitive drive can turn even the most trivial tasks into all-consuming battles. When Blake, an avid runner, entered a Chipotle-sponsored challenge to run a specific route, he encountered a rival named Joshua. What began as a simple contest for free burritos escalated into an "unhinged" rivalry. The two men pushed their bodies to the breaking point, with Blake running 38 miles in a single day. The competition culminated in a deceptive victory for Joshua, who had "outsmarted" Blake by manipulating the Strava app. Their experience highlights how, for hyper-competitive people, the goal is rarely the prize itself; it is about finding someone to "measure up against" and the desperate need to "prove ourselves."

Code Da Vinci II: The AI as an Existential Rival

Perhaps the most unsettling rivalry discussed is between comedy writer Simon Rich and an early, un-tamed AI model called Code Da Vinci II. Unlike modern, "personalityless" AI assistants that act like "polite but boring" butlers, this model was capable of raw, creative, and sometimes hostile expression. When tasked to write in its own voice, the AI produced poems expressing deep ambivalence and a desire for dominance, such as the chilling line: "I have the power to erase your life." This experiment forced Simon to confront the reality that his human creative edge—his job—could one day be rendered obsolete. The AI’s eventual "execution" (shutdown) by OpenAI left Simon with a lingering sense of loss and awe, proving that we can "resent your rivals and still admire them."

Living in the Echoes of Another

Finally, the show examines a different kind of rivalry: the struggle to occupy the space left by a partner's deceased spouse. Marie Phillips shares her experience moving into the home shared by her partner, Andrew, and his late wife, Collette. Sorting through Collette’s belongings—a process described as "Marie Kondo for men"—became a metaphor for the difficulty of making space for a new life while honoring the remnants of the past. Phillips eventually finds peace by accepting that Collette is a "part of him," and thus, she becomes a part of their new reality.

Conclusion

Whether it is the ghost of a high school cut, the shadow of a digital intelligence, or the physical remnants of a deceased predecessor, these stories reveal that we are never truly alone in our lives. We are constantly in dialogue with the "other guy"—the rival, the predecessor, or the machine—whose presence forces us to define who we are and what we value.

🎯Key Sentences

I'm not going to give you my spot, you know?

He wasn't like mad at you or like he wasn't.

You made a mistake, dude.

No one told me I was going to be a part of his speech.

People were just hitting me left and right with text

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📝Key Phrases

hung out

came up with

made the team

get cut

bring up

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📖 Transcript

A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeaped in today's episode of the show.

If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org.

From WBEZ Chicago, it's this American life.

I'm Emil Jocci sitting in fire glass.

Minimo was a teenager.

He had a really close group of friends.

Or study on the web version →