1 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to Stuff to Blow 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: Your Mind. Listener mail. My name is Joe McCormick. My 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: regular co host, Robert Lamb is not with me today, 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: So in an unusual twist, I'm going to be doing 6 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: today's episode solo. But for all of the people who 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: have inquired, nothing weird's going on. Rob and I just 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: had a couple of awkwardly timed back to back vacations 9 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,200 Speaker 1: and we're about to be coming back into recognizable form. 10 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: So I'm going to be doing a core episode of 11 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: the show tomorrow with a special guest, and then later 12 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,200 Speaker 1: on this week, Rob and I will both be back 13 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: and ready to chase that fairy fire into the bogs 14 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: of October. So I guess with that, I'll jump right 15 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,199 Speaker 1: into some of your messages. This first batch came in 16 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: response to our series on the Black Death and religious 17 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: responses to the second Plague pandemic. I think first, I'm 18 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: going to read this message from Olivia. Olivia writes, Dear 19 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: Robert and Joe. Hi, my name is Olivia and I'm 20 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 1: a big fan of the show. I was particularly excited 21 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 1: to listen to your recent episodes on God and the 22 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: Black Death, as I did some research on that topic 23 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: in college. I was actually in the middle of researching 24 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: it right as our own plague hit in March of 25 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: uh And she actually attaches a a part of a 26 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: short paper that she wrote on the subject, but then 27 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: explains quote my basic argument is that the poor reaction 28 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: of religious authorities in Europe to the Black Death caused 29 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: a widespread loss of faith in the Church, which created 30 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: an opportunity for new spiritual leaders like mystics to gain followings. 31 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: This endo, the hegemony of the church, combined with the 32 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: rise of new, more individual focused forms of Christian spirituality, 33 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: ultimately paved the way to the Protestant Reformation. And then 34 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: she reckoned men's a book that she found helpful in 35 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: this subject called From the Brink of Apocalypse by an 36 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: author named John a Birth, and then finishes by saying 37 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 1: that aside, thank you both for creating such a great podcast. 38 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: I actually enjoy doing laundry and dishes because it's an 39 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: excuse to listen to you guys. I really look forward 40 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: to part three of the series. All the best, Olivia, Well, Olivia, 41 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:23,920 Speaker 1: as always, thank you for the kind words and thanks 42 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: for getting in touch. I don't know enough about this 43 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: subject to have a strong opinion on whether the Black 44 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: Death weaken the authority of the Catholic Church and whether 45 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: it was truly a determining factor in the Protestant Reformation. 46 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: It does seem plausible, though, then again, it it got 47 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: the gears turning in my head and made me think 48 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: about how, though this is not in particular a counter 49 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: argument against the claim you're making about the Second Plague 50 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: pandemic in the Catholic Church, it did get me thinking 51 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 1: about how things like faith in a religious institution don't 52 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:02,959 Speaker 1: always react to external in puts in predictable ways. Uh. 53 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: And the main example that came to my mind is 54 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 1: a famous book in twentieth century psychology called When Prophecy Fails, 55 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: A social and psychological study of a modern group that 56 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 1: predicted the destruction of the world. This was a book 57 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 1: by three co authors, Leon Festinger, Henry Reichn, and Stanley Shackter. 58 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 1: And this is a somewhat different issue, different than the 59 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: example of the plague, or at least a different type 60 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: of undermining of religious authority, but it did make me 61 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: think about studies of what happens when religious expectations for 62 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: external events are not fulfilled. So this book was originally 63 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: published in nineteen fifty six. We talked about Leon Festinger 64 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: in some episode that we did recently. He's known for 65 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: promoting the theory of cognitive dissonance, where a mismatch between 66 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: um between the beliefs that you hold versus your observation 67 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: of the external world UH causes a state of discomfort 68 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: that you will seek to resolve of through, sometimes through 69 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: rather radical means. And in this specific example, the authors 70 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: here studied a small UFO cult whose leader claimed to 71 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: be receiving messages from another planet. And this cult predicted, 72 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: on the basis of these messages that there was going 73 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: to be an apocalyptic flood that would destroy human civilization 74 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: in the r nineteen fifty four, and of course it 75 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: didn't happen. Yet some members of the cult not only 76 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: continued believing in the messages and and in the cult 77 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: authority structure, but increased their dedication to the cult with 78 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: rationalizations about the mismatch between their predictions and observed reality 79 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: and and their increased dedication was measured through things like 80 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: even more preaching UH, public preaching and sharing of the 81 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,720 Speaker 1: cult's message. And I know there's been some later criticism 82 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: of the author's methodology in this book. For example, I 83 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: think how their their documentation of the cult might have 84 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: actually influenced the behavior of the members. So think this 85 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: is a uh not without its critics. But given that 86 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: we can observe lots of other instances similar to this, 87 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: I think there's still probably something useful to be learned 88 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: from the explanation that the authors gave here, which is 89 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: basically that when the cult members were faced with extremely 90 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: uncomfortable cognitive dissonance, and this dissonance would be caused by 91 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: the mismatch between I predicted X would happen. I predicted 92 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,480 Speaker 1: there would be an apocalyptic flood versus I observed that 93 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: in fact, not X happened that or that Y happened, 94 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: that there was no apocalyptic flood. And because they had 95 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: already sacrificed so much on the basis of that prediction, 96 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: so you can think of those in multiple ways, and 97 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: they may have sacrificed wealth, social capital, and so forth. 98 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: One natural way to alleviate that excruciating dissonance is to 99 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:51,880 Speaker 1: double down. So you double down on the original belief 100 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: you believe it even more strongly, you preach it even 101 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: more fervently, thereby potentially adding new believers and increasing the 102 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: faith of other believers, and thus increasing social support within 103 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:06,480 Speaker 1: the cult belief structure. As I mentioned earlier, these are 104 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: clearly two very different ways that a religious authority could 105 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: be potentially undermined, one by making predictions that don't come true, 106 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 1: and the other by simply failing to be able to 107 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: do anything about the cataclysmic human suffering caused by the 108 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: Second Plague pandemic. But I can't see some parallels, and 109 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: so so I wonder I think you could well be 110 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: correct in your characterization that uh, that the Second Plague 111 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: pandemic led to a series of social outcomes that undermined 112 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: faith in the Catholic Church, led to these alternative forms 113 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: of spirituality, maybe more individually focused, and eventually paved the 114 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: way to the Protestant Reformation. That does seem quite plausible, 115 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: though I don't know. I also do find it very 116 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: interesting how uh, things like religious faith and and faith 117 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: in the authority of religious institutions doesn't always react to 118 00:06:54,200 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: external events in a way that's strictly predictable from the outside. Alright, 119 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: this next message comes to us from Ed. Ed is 120 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: also reacting to the Plague series and he says, Hi, guys, 121 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: while listening to your series on the plague images in 122 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: a montage in the nineteen thirty six film Things to 123 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: Come kept coming to mind, as you may recall, after 124 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: civilization is destroyed in Never Ending Wars. I think he 125 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: means in the movie plagues ravage the world. What do 126 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: you think of the film? Thanks? Ed? And this one 127 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: definitely caught my interest because I've never seen this movie before. 128 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 1: I don't think I was even aware of it if 129 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: it If I was, I'd forgotten about it. But I 130 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: looked it up and it does indeed look fascinating. So 131 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: this is a British science fiction movie from nineteen thirty 132 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: six written by H. G. Wells, who we talked about 133 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,119 Speaker 1: in the Weird House Cinema episode on Time after Time. 134 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: But it was based on a book that he wrote 135 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: called The Shape of Things to Come, which I have 136 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: not read, but which seems to operate as a kind 137 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: of speculative future history. So it's a book that spans 138 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,679 Speaker 1: multiple generations of time beyond the horizon of of Wells 139 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: or the filmmakers, and so the broad outline is that 140 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: Wells predicted a global war would break out in nineteen 141 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 1: forty and rage for decades after that, so partially prescient there, uh, 142 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: And that the war would be so brutal and devastating 143 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: that it would cause the world to descend into a 144 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: new dark Age, especially because towards the end of the 145 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: conflict the belligerents turned from conventional weapons to biological weapons, 146 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: unleashing new forms of disease and plague that kills something 147 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: like half the people on Earth. And after this all 148 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: government falls away in the world descends into anarchy and barbarism, 149 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:51,439 Speaker 1: and everybody lives in this warlord hell of plague vikings. Eventually, though, 150 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:56,079 Speaker 1: the Earth is saved by some sort of international coalition 151 00:08:56,400 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: of strangely pilots and engineers. They're called Wings over the World, 152 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 1: and they're they're based out of a of a hub 153 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,599 Speaker 1: in Iraq, and they fly around re establishing order the 154 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,839 Speaker 1: outlaw war. They rebuild lost scientific and technological capability so 155 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: that its benefits can be spread to all of the 156 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: people of the planet. And I thought it was interesting 157 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:22,320 Speaker 1: here that Wells identified airplanes as one of the technologies 158 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 1: primarily associated with future progress. So there there's also a 159 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: thing in the movie where there's a final section set 160 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 1: far in the future and the inhabitants of Earth are 161 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:34,839 Speaker 1: planning a mission to the Moon, which I guess is 162 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: another extension of the air travel principle taken to the 163 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,679 Speaker 1: next level. And uh and I don't know. I thought 164 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: it was curious that we do in science fiction today 165 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: still associates space travel with UH with sort of the 166 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: cutting edge of future technology, one of the things that 167 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: is emblematic of technological progress overall, but not so much 168 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:58,200 Speaker 1: for air travel. If a similar future history were written today, 169 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,680 Speaker 1: I wonder if it be instead of pilots, who would 170 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: be the people who come in to try to re 171 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: establish order. I don't know if it would be uh, 172 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 1: I T professionals or something. But anyway, so poking around 173 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:12,559 Speaker 1: a bit in the movie. I have not watched the 174 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: whole thing, but it does look really interesting. Uh. And 175 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:16,719 Speaker 1: at some point, I guess things are supposed to be 176 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,840 Speaker 1: taking place in the far future, and everybody's addressed and 177 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: they're they're living in the technological utopia, but everybody is 178 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,600 Speaker 1: also dressed in medieval tunics, and so they look kind 179 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,080 Speaker 1: of like Bunny Breckenridge in Plan nine from Outer Space, 180 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: which which I found funny but definitely looks like it 181 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: is worth a watch. Alright. One more message in response 182 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: to the Black Death episodes. This one came in from 183 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,280 Speaker 1: our listeners, a big Nif, and this was a really 184 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 1: good clarification that that's worth pointing out. So the Big 185 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:57,720 Speaker 1: Nief got in touch to say that to to comment 186 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: on when we were talking in the third Plague episode 187 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: about anti submitted conspiracy theories that arose in Christian Europe 188 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:07,319 Speaker 1: during the Black Death, so there would be these mass 189 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,560 Speaker 1: delusions that Jews had somehow caused the plague epidemics by 190 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,200 Speaker 1: poisoning wells, and uh this led to massacres of Jewish 191 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,720 Speaker 1: people in communities throughout Europe. And we mentioned something about 192 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: how there have been recent echoes, more recent echos at least, 193 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,200 Speaker 1: of this type of thinking in which people falsely accused 194 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: minority groups, sometimes specifically Jews, of causing infectious disease, and 195 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: Rob mentioned I think what he said was a Polish 196 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:37,200 Speaker 1: poster from World War Two blaming Jews for typhus, and 197 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: Zbignia wrote in to emphasize that though this poster was 198 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: written in Polish, it was a German Nazi poster that 199 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: was hung up in Nazi occupied Poland, and this is 200 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: why it was written in Polish. And yeah, that's very 201 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: good to point out if that was unclear to anyone, 202 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:53,440 Speaker 1: the poster was Polish and since that it was in 203 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: the Polish language, not a poster of Polish origin. So 204 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: thank you very much for that clarification. It's a big 205 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: NIF all right now, I think I'm going to be 206 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: moving on from the from responses to the Black Death series, 207 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:13,959 Speaker 1: and I'm going to read a message from our listener, Raj. 208 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,439 Speaker 1: Raj says, Hello, gentlemen. I know you've received many emails 209 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 1: regarding mirrors, but here is one more to add to 210 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: the wall. I was working out recently and was on 211 00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: a stationary bike that happened to be facing a window. 212 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:30,240 Speaker 1: Since it was early in the morning and the lights 213 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: in the studio were not too bright, I could easily 214 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: see my reflection in the window, thus acting as a 215 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,440 Speaker 1: pseudo mirror. Noticing this observation, my mind immediately went to 216 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: your episodes regarding the mirror, and I then remembered a 217 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,440 Speaker 1: listener mail episode where Joe explained how mirrors work. I 218 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 1: apologize for not remembering the specifics, but it had something 219 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: to do with the notion that mirrors reverse the image 220 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:57,240 Speaker 1: along the Z axis and not the X or Y axes. Yeah, 221 00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 1: I guess I'll interject here if this helps to give 222 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 1: a quick refresher. I was answering a question about why 223 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: a mirror appears to flip our image horizontally, so your 224 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: left hand becomes your reflections right hand, even though it's 225 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: still the image of your left hand, but at the 226 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,200 Speaker 1: same time does not flip your image vertically. You don't 227 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,959 Speaker 1: seem to notice any equivalent phenomenon going on with the 228 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: reversal of your head and your feet. And my conclusion 229 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: was actually that this impression we have about it reversing 230 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:30,599 Speaker 1: the horizontal axis but not the vertical is an illusion 231 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: that's predicated on the fact that human bodies are horizontally symmetrical. Uh. 232 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: And you can test this out a bit just by 233 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: imagining that human bodies looked exactly the same except they 234 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,559 Speaker 1: floated sideways in the air. So imagine a human body 235 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 1: floating sideways. If it raises its left arm to its side, 236 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:51,439 Speaker 1: it's going to be pointing toward the ground. If it 237 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: raises its right arm to the side, as if you know, 238 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:55,959 Speaker 1: to the side, as of doing a jumping jack, it's 239 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,199 Speaker 1: gonna be pointing towards the sky. In this case, it 240 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,720 Speaker 1: would be exactly the opposite. If humans floated sideways like this, 241 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: a mirror would appear to flip you vertically, but not horizontally. 242 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:09,319 Speaker 1: And so I think the most accurate way to describe 243 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,520 Speaker 1: what a mirror does to your image is neither horizontal 244 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:16,839 Speaker 1: nor vertical flipping. It's actually turning your image inside out. 245 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: The mirror reverses your image along the axis of depth 246 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: a distance from the mirror, not height or width. And 247 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: human bodies just happened to be constructed in such a 248 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: way that an inside out image of our front facing 249 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,560 Speaker 1: side is confusing like this. So you raise your left hand, 250 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,280 Speaker 1: and your reflection raises the hand that would be the 251 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: right hand if it was another person looking at you 252 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: from your mirror images position, but it is the image 253 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: still of your left hand. Uh. And so that this, uh, 254 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,880 Speaker 1: this is just not something we encounter in everyday life 255 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: anywhere except looking into a mirror. So it kind of 256 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: short circuits the brain. Anyways, Raj continues, I was recalling 257 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: this memory while I happened to be looking at my 258 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 1: reflected feet, and all of a sudden, my feet looked 259 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: as if they were peddling backwards. Not only that, I 260 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: then began to feel as if I were physically peddling backwards. 261 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: I tried to make sense of this, but trying to 262 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: reconcile my confused perception with trying to understand how mirrors work, 263 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: all while keeping up with my workout was too mentally taxing, 264 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: and I ultimately had to look away from my reflection 265 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: to reorient myself. Looking back to this moment, I'm still 266 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:30,320 Speaker 1: not sure what happened, and trying to make sense of 267 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: it just invokes more confusion. But in the end, it's 268 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:35,640 Speaker 1: still a comical memory to think about, and so I 269 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 1: thought i'd share it with you, Laurage. I I don't 270 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: know exactly what to make of that. That that's very interesting, 271 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:44,000 Speaker 1: and I'd be interested if if other listeners have insights 272 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: on what's going on here. It almost seems like a 273 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: combination of the way mirrors mess with our heads. But 274 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:51,920 Speaker 1: then also, um, I don't actually know what the name 275 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: for it is, but the the optical illusion where there 276 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 1: is the twirling ballerina and you can see it twirling 277 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: either direction. It appears to twirl either clockwise or counterclockwise, 278 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: depending on just sort of Nothing changes about the The 279 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: animation is just the way your brain sees it. You 280 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 1: can look that up and find the name of it 281 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,080 Speaker 1: if you're trying to figure out what I'm talking about, 282 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: but ultimately I don't know. Yeah, that's very curious, so 283 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: Rage goes on moving on. I was thinking about addle 284 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: audels one day, as one does, and I thought to myself, 285 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: that would be a pretty cool weapon to wield in 286 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 1: D and D. I don't recall D and D being 287 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: brought up in the addle addle episode, but it made 288 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,120 Speaker 1: me wonder if it was an actual item. It turns 289 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: out it exists in both D and D and Pathfinders, 290 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,800 Speaker 1: some of which are cannon and some are homebrew extensions. 291 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 1: I'm not sure where or how I'd be able to 292 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: fit the audle addle in any of my current D 293 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:46,200 Speaker 1: and D or Pathfinder campaigns, but I'm excited at the 294 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: prospect of being able to use it. I wonder if 295 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: either of you have considered using it in any of 296 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,000 Speaker 1: your campaigns. Well, Rage, this would be fun to ask 297 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 1: Rob about once he gets back. We may have to 298 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 1: revisit this in the next listener mail episode if we 299 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: were called to bring it up. But I have not 300 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: used it. I don't know that that seems like a 301 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:07,800 Speaker 1: It seems like a weapon for a for a brawnier 302 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,359 Speaker 1: and more courageous character than mine, who is who is 303 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,120 Speaker 1: mostly a liar and a coward. Um. So so yeah, 304 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:16,680 Speaker 1: I have not gotten around to the autolatal use yet, 305 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: but maybe in the future anyway, uh find Moving on 306 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: to Roger's last point about whispering weapons, Roger says, another 307 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 1: great episode and once again another tie into D and D. 308 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:29,919 Speaker 1: In one of the campaigns I'm playing in, one of 309 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 1: the players got his sword as part of a loot. 310 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: Since that player's character doesn't use swords, my character eventually 311 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: got his hands on it. Shortly afterward, my character started 312 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,639 Speaker 1: to hear a voice in his head, and it was 313 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: the sword. My mind immediately went to your episode on 314 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: the whispering sword, so I asked it what its name was. 315 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: It replied that no one had ever thought to ask 316 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: it that question, so it didn't have a name. So, 317 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:55,159 Speaker 1: like with any great weapon, I'll have to give it 318 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 1: a name, though admittedly that's still a work in progress. 319 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:00,600 Speaker 1: More excitement of bounds as I might have to go 320 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: back and re listen to that episode and get some 321 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,600 Speaker 1: inspiration on how to role play with this new item. 322 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:07,879 Speaker 1: Thanks as always for the wonderful content and keep up 323 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: the great work. Cheers Raj. Well, yeah, Raj, thanks as 324 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 1: always for writing in and very intriguing about the sword. 325 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,119 Speaker 1: You'll have to keep us updated on on how it 326 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:19,399 Speaker 1: turns out, though I would be slow to trust a 327 00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: sword that speaks. I'm I'm not quite sure why. Okay, 328 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:32,399 Speaker 1: maybe one last message here about Weird How Cinema and warning. 329 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 1: The following email contains some Gaelic that I am I'm 330 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,480 Speaker 1: sure I'm going to fail at pronouncing um. This is 331 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 1: from Aaron. Aaron says, Hi Robert and Joe Dia Dewet 332 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: from Ireland. I have to say that I think Weird 333 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,280 Speaker 1: How Cinema is probably my favorite offering from your good selves. 334 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: If I haven't seen the film being discussed, I normally 335 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: listen to the first part of the podcast to see 336 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,719 Speaker 1: if it's something i'd be interested in watching. It usually is, 337 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,639 Speaker 1: much to the dismay of my wife, uh the not 338 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: less into the rest of the podcast after watching the film, 339 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: or more often just start the whole thing over from 340 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,479 Speaker 1: the beginning. My favorite part of the podcast is usually 341 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,160 Speaker 1: the plot breakdown section. It can be interesting to see 342 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 1: what strange moments you pick out to talk about, and 343 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: I sometimes find myself laughing out loud if we noticed 344 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:20,120 Speaker 1: the same things, such as the young fella's nail collection 345 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 1: in the Russian space movie. Oh Yeah, teens in the Universe, 346 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: that was a good one, Aaron says. I found this section. 347 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,360 Speaker 1: I guess the plot breakdown conspicuous in its absence from 348 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: your cast about time after time. I really enjoyed the 349 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: film and was looking forward to the plot summary, but 350 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: this didn't occur, and instead you were careful to avoid 351 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: any spoilers. Is this a new direction you're heading in? 352 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:44,359 Speaker 1: I hope not, because your take on the proceedings and 353 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:48,160 Speaker 1: some seriously crazy films can be hilariously entertaining. I hope 354 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,280 Speaker 1: this doesn't come across as being overly critical. I really 355 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:53,920 Speaker 1: enjoy listening to YouTube rambling on about stuff I would 356 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: I would genuinely never consider in a million years, especially 357 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,200 Speaker 1: like the October monster stuff and the prom us of 358 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 1: a new anthology of horror episode. Anyway, all the best, 359 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: uh Slow August banoched Aaron oh and then finally, Aaron says, ps, 360 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:11,040 Speaker 1: one of the bits I hoped you'd mentioned in Time 361 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 1: after Time was the bit where Malcolm McDowell hailed the 362 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 1: cab by imitating the woman doing it before him. I 363 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: must have rewound that part about twelve times. Malcolm mcdwell 364 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 1: could be seriously funny when he wanted to be. Uh well, Aaron, No, 365 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: this is not a general direction. I think we'll just 366 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 1: go case by case, and some movies seem like it 367 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: would be more fun to break down the plot in detail. 368 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: I know we've got one coming up this week where 369 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 1: we go into great detail. I think it may have 370 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 1: been maybe our longest weird house yet because we got 371 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: so wrapped up talking about it. But yeah, with others, 372 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: it just feels more appropriate to talk about the movie 373 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: from a higher altitude, so or sometimes somewhere in between. 374 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: It just depends on the movie. Oh well, one one 375 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: last short message before we go, Um, this will be 376 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: This will be from Tom subject line Tom bomba Dill. 377 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: These of course keep pouring in, and Tom suggests a 378 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:09,440 Speaker 1: so far unique one that we've not heard this one yet. 379 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 1: The pick is Elton John very interesting. You know that 380 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:18,480 Speaker 1: these casting choices never ceased to amaze me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, 381 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:20,719 Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of the tumble Weed Connection, in 382 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: which Elton John it was one of his earlier albums 383 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:25,480 Speaker 1: and which he sort of, uh he sort of performs 384 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 1: as a cowboy. I don't know if that's too far 385 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 1: off from from becoming a sort of uh jolly god 386 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: of the woods. So yeah, I can see it anyway. 387 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:37,639 Speaker 1: I guess that's going to close things out for this episode, 388 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: but hey, stay tuned for the rest of the week. 389 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:42,479 Speaker 1: There is going to be so I'm going to do 390 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: a core episode with special guests tomorrow and then later 391 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,120 Speaker 1: in the week after that or Rob's going to be back. 392 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: We'll rejoin me for some uh some great October content 393 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,920 Speaker 1: that we've been excited about all years. So so stick 394 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 1: around and uh and uh and and keep listening. You can, 395 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:00,480 Speaker 1: of course, if you're not subscribed to this podcast, you 396 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: can find it probably anywhere you get podcast. It is 397 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,480 Speaker 1: the stuff to blow your mind podcast. Uh what. We 398 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:08,399 Speaker 1: do a number of different episodes in our in our 399 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: daily offerings today, So on Monday's we do listener mail 400 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,520 Speaker 1: episodes like this one, though usually Rob is here with 401 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: me on Tuesdays and Thursdays we do Core episodes, which 402 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: are our classic style episodes. They tend to be usually 403 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: focused around UH science and science intersecting with other cultural topics. 404 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:28,840 Speaker 1: On Wednesdays we tend to do an episode called The Artifact, 405 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:32,360 Speaker 1: which is a short form series usually UH sub ten 406 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: minutes and focused on a particular object, idea, or a 407 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,159 Speaker 1: moment in time. And then on Friday as we do 408 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:41,199 Speaker 1: Weird House Cinema. Rob and I both love strange movies 409 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: and that's our time to talk about them. And then 410 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:45,359 Speaker 1: on Saturday, as you will get a vault episode, an 411 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 1: older episode of the show that we've selected to rerun. 412 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: So if you're not subscribed to the podcast, please do subscribe. 413 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,640 Speaker 1: Thanks as always to our wonderful audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. 414 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:57,959 Speaker 1: And if you would like to get in touch with 415 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:00,399 Speaker 1: us with feedback on this episode or any other, to 416 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: suggest topic for the future, or just to say hello, 417 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 418 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is 419 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for 420 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,440 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 421 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.