WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Tomorrow Never Knows 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.560 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.840 Hey you, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. Listener mail. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.880 This is Robert Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.160 it's Monday, the day of each week that we read 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.599 back messages sent into the Stuff to Blow Your Mind 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.560 email account. If you've never gotten in touch before and 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:25.400 you would like to give it a shot, you can 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:28.720 reach us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.320 dot com. Let's see rob I think I'm going to 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:34.879 kick things off today with a response to some of 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:39.200 our older episodes on numeracy the human number sense. 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:40.760 All right, let's have it. 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:49.159 This is from Charlotte. Charlotte says, Hi, thank you for 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.400 a great podcast. A while ago, I listened to your 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:55.560 episode on numerosity and the approximate number system where you 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.280 mentioned that we still don't know much about the ideology 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:02.040 of this phenomenon, where it comes from. Therefore, I would 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:04.880 just like to highlight that I published an article last 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:09.240 year on the heritability of the approximate number system in infancy. 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.520 This is the first study on the heritability of the 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:16.920 ans the approximate number system and the largest infant twin 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.960 study in the world. We found that the ANS was 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.800 partly heritable but also largely influenced by factors unique to 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.240 each twin. Not sure if this is interest of interest 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.399 to you, but here's the link anyway, Best regards, Charlotte. 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.600 So Oh man, I love getting email like this. Always 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.760 love to hear from a researcher who's done direct research 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.520 on a topic we touched on. So I looked into 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:46.120 this paper. This is by Charlotte Victorson at All published 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.600 in the journal Developmental Science just this year twenty twenty three, 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:54.320 called infant sense of approximate numerosity, heritability and link to 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:58.600 other concurrent traits. So, as Charlotte said, the paper is 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.440 looking at the approximate number system, which is a very 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.640 interesting ability that we have in our brains. Of course, 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.840 it's obvious that we can look at two groups of 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.840 objects and tell which group is bigger by counting the 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.400 objects in each group, but actually we can do it 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:17.239 without counting. So the approximate number system is the ability 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:21.880 to distinguish the numerical magnitude of different groups of objects 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:26.040 without relying on language or symbols. So, in fact, to 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:29.000 be able to look at like two groups of things 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.840 and know which one has more in it without counting, 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.760 And the supplies typically to groups of items greater than four. 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:39.639 There could be more than four numbers in it when 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.160 you're just comparing like two of something to three of something. 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:46.520 Apparently the brain uses a different system, but obviously this 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.280 is a paramount use in our lives. We use it 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.920 all the time, in fact, without even realizing we're doing it. 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.280 So like the approximate number system is how you can 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.560 look at two bushes that each have hundreds of berries 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.440 on them and just immediately see that one bush has 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.040 more berries than the other, even though you didn't count them, 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.400 and you didn't rely on any words or numbers to 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.960 form that judgment, And so I was doing a bit 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:13.200 of background. The accuracy of a person's approximate number system, 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.720 it seems, is usually measured by finding the smallest ratio 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:22.200 of difference that you can reliably tell apart without counting. So, 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.680 for example, if you show me two scattering you flash 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.760 at me two scatterings of red dots on a screen, quickly, 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.080 I might reliably be able to tell that a group 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.960 of one hundred and thirty dots is greater than a 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.440 group of just one hundred dots, but I cannot reliably 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.920 tell the difference between one hundred and five dots and 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.560 one hundred dots, And so from there you would keep 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.560 on sort of narrowing it down until you eventually determine 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.920 what the threshold is, like how big the difference needs 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.400 to be before you can usually tell them apart. And 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.040 that might be a difference of ten percent or twenty 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:00.960 percent or whatever. Before you reliably get it right with babies, 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.080 which are studied in this paper, obviously you need a 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.040 different kind of test. I think they used a gaze 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.520 tracking apparatus to see what the babies were looking at 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.560 to determine whether they were sensing novelty. 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.719 Just strap that right onto their heads, right. 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.000 So yeah, it turns out we do have a sense 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.200 for approximate numerosity even in infancy before we can count 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.719 at all. But it's not super well developed. It's certainly 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:29.960 not as well developed as it will be in adulthood. 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.279 And this paper and Developmental Science, where our listener here 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:38.120 was the lead author, it tested five hundred and fourteen 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.719 five month old twin subjects, and I was just thinking, wow, 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.120 that must have been the process for assembling that sample 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.120 group must have been interesting, and it tested them to 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.200 figure out what portion of the infant skill for approximate 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.760 numerosity is heritable. Of course, studies on identical identical twins 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.880 are very useful for figuring out two what extent things 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.480 are genetic or heritable? And the author's right quote. We 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:08.279 found a small to moderate but statistically significant effect of 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:13.760 genetic factors on approximate number system acuity, but only when 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.279 differences in numerosity were relatively large, such as in a 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:21.320 one to four ratio. So to the extent you know 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.040 that there was evidence for a genetic difference in how 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.680 babies can tell the difference in numbers of objects. That 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:31.640 difference in acuity only manifested for big differences in numbers 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.960 for babies. They also found that this acuity for finding 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:40.080 difference in approximate numbers was quote not positively associated with 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:44.720 concurrent attentional, cognitive or motor abilities. So in a way, 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:46.520 it seems to be sort of its own thing. 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:48.560 Fascinating. 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.279 So anyway, thank you so much Charlotte for getting in 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.080 touch for sharing relevant research with us. This is one 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.560 of my favorite kinds of email. So researchers out there, 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:00.279 if you're listening. If you've published a paper on the 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.080 topic we talked about, you want to share it with us, 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:05.000 and especially if you want to explain it and offer 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.680 some interpretive context, please always send it in contact at 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.719 stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. It is absolutely 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:12.880 of interest to us. 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.640 Yeah, absolutely, all right. We also heard from folks already 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:21.440 about our Future Shock series they were doing revisiting the 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.719 topic of Alvin and heid Toffler's Future Shock from nineteen seventy. 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:27.800 I'm going to start off with just a couple of 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.400 messages from our discord server. Now, if you're wondering, well, 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:33.600 WHOA there's a discord server for Stuff to Blow your Mind? 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.040 There is, indeed, and if you would like to access it, 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.479 just email us at that email address that we just 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:40.560 shared with you, and we'll share again at the end 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:50.440 of this program. Anyway, one user named Ymz says, quote 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.440 Rob's wife cracks me up. Future Shock is not real. 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.440 I feel the same way, but I'm still enjoying the discussion. 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:01.479 And then we had then one of our listeners, Steve 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:03.920 here I believe, chimes in and says, I feel it 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.599 is real. What Joe said about AI killing day jobs 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:10.080 for various artists trying to subsidize personal work not the 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:15.000 soul is stuff that AI scraped, homogenized plagiaristic generations so 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:18.640 often are is spot on. Radiologists, surgeons, and many other 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.920 professions are already being affected. This does not have to 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.280 be a bad thing, but it is already happening. Even 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.720 though many experts said just a handful of years ago 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.320 that these changes were at least a decade away. This 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.560 episode is pure stuff to blow your mind. Gold. I 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:36.240 would add that if the primary force motivating future artists 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.800 of any kind involves winning the favor of almighty algorithms 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:44.559 while maximizing likes over convictions and personal vision, a dark 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.920 age of empty digital kitch will add all the minds 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:48.640 of the masses. 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.160 My inclination is to agree with you there, Steve. I 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.040 think the metrics used to measure the quality of a 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.200 piece of media on social media sites and other platforms 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.960 are off and actually do not have a huge amount 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.520 of overlap with what actually brings value to our lives. 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:09.960 There may be things that you're very likely to click 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.640 like on or reshare that are really of quite shallow 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:18.400 interest to you, whereas you were less likely to use 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:23.800 the metric tract interactions on the platform itself that are 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.720 all the platform can really care about. There are things 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:29.400 where you're less likely to do that, but that actual 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:31.720 piece of content is much more valuable to you. 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.040 Yeah. I mean, there's plenty of stuff that's clickable and memeable, 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.240 but it doesn't mean it actually improves your life. I mean, 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.040 I think about I can have cheeseburger every day, but 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:46.200 it doesn't really really impact my life at all. It 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:50.560 just occasionally makes me chuckle or shake my head. And 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:52.440 that was a human creation, by the way, that was 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.280 not AI. I'd like to see AI try to top 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:56.439 I can have cheeseburger. 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.320 I feel like the kind of engagement and value that 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:05.040 is easily tracked on digital platforms will end up prioritizing 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:09.280 things that people like in a very shallow and non 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:13.400 committal way, and things that actually involve you more intellectually 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.120 or emotionally or whatever will will suffer for that. 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.160 Yeah, all right. We also heard from Fletch in Discord. 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:25.480 Fletch is a frequent contributor to discussions there chimes in 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:30.760 about Tharg's future Shocks in the British comic book series 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:32.640 two thousand and AD. I guess it's more than a series. 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:36.839 It's like a publication. Fletch says Tharg's Future Shocks in 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.080 two thousand and eight was kind of a Twilight Zone 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:43.640 series of one off weird tales, if memory serves, One 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.319 of them was the basis of the Richard Stanley movie Hardware. 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:52.280 Judge Dread also occasionally featured a class of adversary called 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:57.280 fut seats, citizens driven to psychotic outburst by the future 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.760 shock of living in mega city one. 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:03.520 Well, you know, in defense of the Tofflers, I don't 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:05.839 know if they were quite picturing the creation of like 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.559 mad zombies running amok due to future shock. I think 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:15.000 it was more like a state of mostly characterized by 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:19.600 anxiety and stress and all of the downstream effects of 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:20.720 anxiety and stress. 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.360 Well, I either don't remember or have not encountered. The 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:29.080 futzis myself in the Judge Dread comics that I've read. 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:33.120 But I think it is important to recognize that the tone, 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.920 at least for a lot of Judge Dread comics is 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:41.040 more absurdist and inhumorous, something that if you've just seen 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:42.840 the movies you might not get, especially if you've just 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.800 seen like the more recent film The Carl Urban One, 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:47.679 which was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed that 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:53.640 one and an action packed flick, but it does significantly 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:57.040 dial down the absurdest humor that is I think inherent 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:57.720 in the world. 0:10:58.480 --> 0:10:59.440 But was he the law? 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.040 Yeah, he's the law, but he also has like like 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.160 he has a like a like a robot made with 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:07.960 an Italian accent. If I remember, you know, there's all 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:12.280 sorts of really odd things that occur in his life, 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.360 in the life of everyone living in Mega City one. 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.720 It's like, it's intentionally absurd. 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:18.679 When is it my turn to be the law? 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.080 Well, you have to go through the program like everybody else. 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.280 Okay, I guess somebody's got to be the law. Okay. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:35.840 This next message is from email. This comes from two 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:40.560 two says Hi Joe and Robert, a longtime listener, first 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.600 time writer. I wanted to express my deep resonance with 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:47.440 your recent episode on future shock. As a professional technologist. 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.080 The discussion struck a chord I couldn't quite articulate before. 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.240 The concept of future shock, akin to culture shock, but 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.280 caused by the relentless march of time and evolving standards, 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.840 truly resonated with me. In my work. My team is 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.280 often seen as pioneers and innovation, yet we perceive our 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:08.800 efforts as merely keeping pace with competitors. This disparity in 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:12.720 perception between our groundbreaking work and how it's perceived creates 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.800 a significant gap between our team, the creators, and our 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:19.360 target audience, the users. I want to extend my heartfelt 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.760 thanks for shedding light on the insights from a fifty 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:25.080 year old novel. Well, it wasn't a novel, but we 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.480 can get into that that so accurately captures the daily 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:33.960 challenges my team and I face. Best two Well, first 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.040 of all, thank you for getting in touch and sharing 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.640 your perspective on that. I find it interesting that you 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.559 mistakenly thought, based on our discussion, that The Future Shock 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.240 is a novel. It is not a novel. But the 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:49.200 Tofflers do point out that a lot of the work 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.760 of futurology is similar to the work of fiction writing 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:57.240 and the work of writing science fiction. Obviously, if you 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.880 are a disciplined person who's trying to make accurate predictions 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.920 about reality, you're going to be more constrained, probably than 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.760 a fiction writer, because fiction writers have all kinds of 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:13.320 different relationships with reality. Some of them may be trying 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.720 to go for as hard and accurate a prediction of 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:18.920 what they think will happen in reality as possible, but 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.880 many writers are going for a kind of more exaggerated 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:26.400 satirical approach, or are including things they don't think are 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:30.240 actually likely to happen in order to create a world 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.800 where they can illustrate things about human life or something 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.200 like that. But they do highlight that there are big 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.840 similarities between writing science fiction and doing serious futurology, and 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:42.480 they point to the work of great science fiction authors 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:47.160 as being truly important in helping helping create what they 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:51.520 call the shock absorbers for coming changes in technology and culture. 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.600 Yeah, that's a great point, Yeah, because like on one hand, 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:58.040 something like Mega City one from two thousand and eight eight, 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:03.520 you know, it's not really so much prediction about what, 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:06.920 you know, supercities of the future might look like. It's 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.360 more a commentary and kind of a you know, a 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:14.160 change in commentary on where we are now. But you know, 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.480 I guess it's always the case with science with science fiction. 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:20.640 But then yeah, you have other works that that engage 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.800 in both activities, you know, a little bit predictive but 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:29.240 also as always speaking to contemporary anxieties, fears, and hopes. 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.760 Another thing I want to mention about this email. The 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:36.960 writer doesn't say exactly what products it is that they're 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:41.200 working on in the technology space, but still I think 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.680 it's interesting that it highlights a lot of us who 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.800 don't work in the tech space just kind of assume 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:51.080 that people who do are like the masters of future progress. 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.560 They're like the ones who are on top of it. 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:56.680 They figure out what's going to happen next, and they've 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:00.800 you know, they they understand what's going on. But I 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.280 think that that may often not be the case. In fact, 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:04.840 I think a lot of people who work in the 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:10.359 technology sector are just they're they're feeling also confused and overwhelmed, 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.720 and you know, they know the one thing, the project 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:14.920 that they're working on, and what they're trying to do 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.600 to achieve that, but may perceive the other, you know, 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.640 other changes in technology in the world around them as 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.960 being a thing that is hard to understand and outside 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:28.240 their control and and happening faster than they can keep 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:28.560 up with. 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:39.480 Yeah, all right, here's another one. This one comes to 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.520 us from Taylor. Taylor says, Hello, Robin, Joe, happy to 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:46.080 oblige your request for decision fatigue and future shock experiences 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:48.400 like the two of you. I'm not sure what to 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.320 make of the top fours predictions about decision fatigue regarding 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:55.520 personal style, but I've definitely experienced the phenomenon in another 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.520 aspect of my life. I've been an avid video game 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:00.640 player for as long as I can remember, but it 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.480 felt overwhelmed in recent years by the sheer quantity of 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.520 compelling video game releases. When I was growing up, it 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.440 was a reasonable desire to experience every video game that 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.120 piqued my interest, But as the medium has grown, that 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:17.200 expectation has fled away from me at an accelerating pace. Today, 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:19.880 a gamer of any persuasion could gluck themselves on their 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:23.480 favorite genre day in and day out and never complete 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.280 all the offerings available to them. I'm certain my assessment 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.680 is partially colored by the information bias of childhood, when 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.440 my ability to consume video games was defined by the 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:37.640 consoles I owned, my allowance, my parents, content restrictions, and 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.520 my greater free time. But the data backs me up here. 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:45.200 According to the market data company Statista, the number of 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.440 new video games published on the popular video game platform 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:52.240 Steam skyrocketed from four hundred and thirty four in twenty 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.360 twelve to teny nine hundred and sixty three in twenty 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.880 twenty two, and the rampant development increase isn't the only 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.920 bit of future shock effecting my favorite hobby. Playing a cooperative, competitive, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.840 or narrative video game is definitely a form of quote 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.200 unquote serious leisure, akin to reading a book or watching 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:12.040 a movie, and is similarly threatened by the many things 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.680 competing for our attention moment to moment. In response, many 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:19.520 game developers compete for user attention by shifting their games 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:23.840 to quote unquote living game models, where content is drip 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:27.159 dead instead of being released as a single, discrete experience. 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:32.000 All of these changes have introduced sour frustration into a 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.440 hobby I've always enjoyed and left me with a constant 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.000 fear of missing out. If I choose to play X game, 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.240 what might I be missing from Y and Z game. 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.879 It's a similar experience to the phenomenon Rob described of 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.159 browsing a streaming platform until going to bed instead of 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:50.399 watching any movies at all. Ultimately, I have had to 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.040 reconcile myself to the reality that there are many exciting 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:54.920 things in the world I don't have time to experience. 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.800 Perhaps these abundant choices give us greater self determination than 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.960 ever before, but the fatigue of making these decisions takes 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.040 a toll, and I'm not certain whether I'm happier for it. 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.399 As ever, thank you for creating your wonderfully weird and 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.760 stimulating podcast. I look forward to the rest of your 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:14.480 future Shock series. Cheers Taylor. Ps. I also often find 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.399 myself racing through one game in the anticipation of another 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:20.720 game's pending release, which diminishes my enjoyment of both. I 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.560 imagine this kind of race to keep up with media 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:25.240 isn't unique to video games. 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:27.800 Well, thank you, Taylor. No, I don't think it is, 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:30.760 And yeah, I think this is. This is an excellent perspective, 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.320 and in one sense, there's a feeling that, like, well, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:35.920 what what does one have to complain about with this 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:38.919 particular issue. You know that there are more great games 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.840 to enjoy than ever before, But there is this other 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:46.680 side to it, because we're we're not necessarily always made 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.600 happier by having more things to choose from, like there 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.879 is a there is a psychological cost that comes with 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.560 this greater diversity of content in the world, even if 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:00.879 in certain ways you could you could absolutely say it's 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:01.440 a good thing. 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.439 Yeah, I feel like just ten years ago, it was 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.600 more likely that my friends and I would be playing 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.560 the same games. Yeah, you know, And nowadays it's like 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:13.480 there's just so many choices. None of us are playing 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:16.080 the same games because I mean, and in a way, 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:18.560 you know that we have such great options. You can 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:23.400 just whatever if you're more into you know, simulation versus 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.880 you know, something real time, I don't know whatever. The distinction, 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:29.760 like you're just going to sort of go down that hallway, 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.000 go down that avenue, and your friends are going to 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:34.000 go down their own hallways and avenues, and then you 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:36.720 it seems like it's less often that I have something 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:40.200 to connect with with them in the video game realm. 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.320 I've had exactly the same experience years ago. It used 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:45.040 to be like if I was playing a game that 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.520 was probably also the same game that my friend was 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.600 currently playing, and now it's like, I don't know. Also, 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:56.199 I'm rarely playing something new. Yeah, I'm always like years 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.000 behind whatever the hot thing is. 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:02.479 Yeah. Yeah, sometimes that's easier because it's already out, it's cheaper, 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:06.239 and it's like Okay, I'm going to I'm going into this, 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:08.399 but it's not like a living system that I have 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:09.520 to live with as well. 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.920 Right, it's gotten all the patches and now it's ten 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.000 bucks instead of sixty. Right. 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:17.359 But yeah, and the other side, coming back to what 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:19.520 Taylor said, these games these days, some of these games 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:23.280 are so long, and you have so many other games 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:25.040 or other experiences in life you want to get to. 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.040 It's just you end up feeling this rush in the 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:32.320 latter portion of it if you actually complete the game 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.600 at all, which you know, makes it feel a little 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:38.320 more hollow, because it's like, I'm not even completely enjoying 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.160 the back half of this game because I'm thinking about 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:42.960 the next thing that I am going to try and 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:46.200 make time to play. And yeah, and I think part 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:48.800 of that's a product of just length and scope of 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.800 these games, the whole play to Extinction model on some 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.919 of them, for sure. As I've said before, I actually 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:56.680 kind of get excited when I see a review for 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:58.399 a game and people are like and it's so short. 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:00.480 I'm like, great, yeah, wonderful. 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:05.480 I totally agree. I really appreciate a well crafted, tight 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.480 video game. I like one that's tight. It's like the 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.639 whole experience is there. Maybe it could even be played 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.359 in one long sitting. And it's all good because like, 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.000 this whole thing is the main experience you were meaning 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:20.399 to get. It's not like an open world that you 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.400 explore for one hundred hours or something of variable quality. 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:26.679 Yeah, no, grind, none of that. 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:29.920 But anyway, Taylor, Yes, it does seem we were talking 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:32.800 mainly I guess about like like books and movies and 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.760 music in the episode, but I think video games follow 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.520 an absolutely similar pattern. Yeah, all right. Next message comes 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:49.000 from Matt. Matt says, Hey, Robin Joe, longtime listener and 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:51.760 big fan here, just wanted to share the perfect example 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:56.879 of future shock, gentlemen, I present you Squidward. And then 0:21:56.960 --> 0:21:59.080 there was a link. Matt says. It's a link to 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:03.479 a thirty second clip from SpongeBob in which Squidward, SpongeBob's neighbor, 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:06.720 ends up in the future and has a short mental 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:10.800 breakdown over the changes. But then Matt says, I know 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.000 links from strangers on the Internet can be dicey. You 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:16.439 can also just search Squidward Future and find it easily. 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:19.280 Keep on doing what you'all do, Thanks Matt. Matt I 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:23.000 appreciate that. Note. Yes, I am very hesitant to click 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:25.240 links in listener emails, not because I don't trust you 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.439 all out there, but it's just, you know, it's smart 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:32.840 to be hesitant about clicking things, so appreciate the search terms. 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:35.160 Anybody else who wants us to click something that would 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:37.639