1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, production of My 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,240 Speaker 1: we're back again catching up on listener mail. It's been 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: a while, so this is the second of our recent 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: dives into the long gathering mail bag. That's right. And 7 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: you know, unfortunately, uh, Carney, our mail bot listen to 8 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: our discussion of deja vu and has now updated his 9 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: system to incorporate deja vu simulations. So we're having a 10 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: lot of trouble here because he thinks he keeps he 11 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 1: keeps pulling up emails mail from listeners that he thinks 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: that we have read before, so we have to get 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,240 Speaker 1: them back out of his trash reevaluate them. Uh. It's 14 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: it's really touch and go. Yeah, there is no bigger 15 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: hassle than a robot in the time loop. I gotta 16 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: keep that arrow of time with him, that's right. But 17 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I think he'll maybe he's doing 18 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 1: well enough to get us through one more listener mail 19 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: here and then we'll start, you know, running some corrective 20 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: protocols on him, right diagnostics time, Carney, it's coming. All right, well, 21 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: maybe we should first take a look at this email 22 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: we got from Ming. Now this was in response to 23 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: our episode m I b or n I be I 24 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: think this was. Did we feature this from the vault recently? 25 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: I think we did. I believe we did. Yeah. Yeah, 26 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: So this episode UH concerned similarities underlying traditional paranormal experiences 27 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: that people attribute to supernatural forces like the devil, and 28 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,959 Speaker 1: then you know, mid to late twentieth century experiences of 29 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,679 Speaker 1: the so called men in black or what could be 30 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: the you know, what could be the common underlying psychology 31 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: and stuff like that with those two types of experiences. 32 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: So essentially, we're talking about the ways that UFO beliefs 33 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: might spring from the same wells as more traditional religious 34 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: or supernatural beliefs. And towards the end of the episode, 35 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: I think I wondered out loud if there was any 36 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: modern folklore in Chinese culture similar to the alien abduction 37 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: and men in black complex in in American culture. I 38 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: couldn't find any evidence of that, but I asked listeners 39 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: if they knew of anything like that, and so in response, 40 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: we got this great message from MINGH. So Ming says 41 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: Hi again. Robert and Joe, I hope you're both doing 42 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: well and staying safe inside during this crazy time. Your 43 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,399 Speaker 1: playlists have been powering me through my work from home 44 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: days here in Toronto. I wanted to write in after 45 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: listening to the m I b Or n Ib episode again, 46 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: as your conversation about aliens might be and what it 47 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: would be like in other cultures reminded me of a 48 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: few fun thoughts. I'm not an ancient aliens person, but 49 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: I do like to speculate in the name of science 50 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,079 Speaker 1: fiction and lore. Growing up Chinese, I've also fed off 51 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 1: of legends and myths of Asia. There's an idiom in 52 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: Chinese that literally translates to heavenly clothes have no seams, 53 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: but figuratively describes things that are perfect, flawless, and you know, seamless. 54 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: The story behind the idiom was written during the Five 55 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: Dynasties and relates that a poet napping outside one night 56 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: saw a heavenly figure descending from the skies. She was 57 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: beautiful and her clothes were glowing. She introduced herself as 58 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 1: the weaver girl from the myth of the cow Herd 59 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: and the Weaver Girl, and he noticed that her clothes 60 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: had no seams. When he asked about it, she simply 61 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: answered that clothes in heaven are made perfectly, do not 62 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: require stitching, and therefore have no seams. Going off of 63 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: the alien's idea, it's fun to imagine if she had 64 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: been an alien and was wearing some kind of seamless 65 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: body suit that aliens are often kitted out with in movies. 66 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: To further link it to aliens and space, the weaver 67 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: Girl is the Chinese name for the star Vega. The 68 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: cow herd is in Altair, which makes me wonder if 69 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: she'd meant she was from Vega instead of actually being 70 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: Vega or the Weaver Girl. Oh, like she was from Vega, 71 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: which is great because Vega is where the alien radio 72 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: signal comes from in Carl Sagan's contact. But back to 73 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: Ming's message, there's also another piece of lore about Chinese 74 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: legends that loosely relates to the theory of relativity. A 75 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: day in the heavens a year on Earth. Protagonists of 76 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: stories who were mortal or earthly to start with often 77 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 1: find out too late that once they ascend to the heavens, 78 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: a single day up in the sky means a year 79 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: has passed down on Earth, so the mortal family they 80 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: once had were all but gone by the time they've 81 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: managed to finish the task they needed to do up 82 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,840 Speaker 1: in the heavens. I've read some discussion in Chinese about this. 83 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: Some people think that the concept came about because ancient 84 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: people understood that time passes differently depending on perception, but 85 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: a great many who are into sci fi or the 86 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 1: ancient alien truthers believe this is possible proof that an 87 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: ancient people understood the theory of relativity because someone somewhere 88 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: had experience with space travel. Um Anyway, these stories have 89 00:04:57,839 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: some very loose ties to things you spoke about in 90 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,160 Speaker 1: the episode beings descended from the heavens or space, ancient aliens, 91 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: sleep related phenomena. So thank you both for reminding me 92 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: of these interesting, if stray thoughts. Thank you also for 93 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: pulling in threads from other cultures while discussing many of 94 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: your topics. It may seem a small act for you, 95 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: but it really enriches the podcast experience for people of 96 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: other cultures. Keep doing what you do and much love 97 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,479 Speaker 1: from Toronto. Ming. Awesome, Well that was a wonderful listener, Maile. 98 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: You know, obviously we love to hear about uh, multicultural 99 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: examples of some of the topics we've discussed. And yeah, 100 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 1: this one was was a real treat because I guess 101 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,840 Speaker 1: for me, when I'm hearing this, it reminds me a 102 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: lot of what I'm pretty sure we discussed in that 103 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:47,160 Speaker 1: particular episode, the idea that like an incubus or succubus 104 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: in in various European traditions would have like a tailtale flaw, 105 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: like a goat feed or duck feed or something like that, 106 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: they would allow an individual to realize they were dealing 107 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,919 Speaker 1: with something that is not quite human. And in a way, 108 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:03,719 Speaker 1: this is a version of that, right, Instead of a flaw, 109 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: it is perfection, and like too much perfection is a 110 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: kind of a flaw in any sort of design that 111 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,919 Speaker 1: is allowing an any human entity to pass as human. Yeah, 112 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: and I also really like this idea of ancient approximations 113 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: of relativity. Now, obviously I don't think it's very likely 114 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: that that ancient Chinese people had experience with aliens or 115 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: space travel, but I do think that relativity is one 116 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: of those interesting things where you can into it a 117 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: kind of uh general version of the theory just from experience, 118 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 1: subjective experience of life, right, Like, you don't actually know 119 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: that you know that the uh that mass or velocity 120 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: alters spacetime you know, or or makes you know, extends 121 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: or contracts spacetime, but you do at least know that 122 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,119 Speaker 1: time doesn't always feel like it flows at the same rate. Yeah, 123 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: you would, you would have some idea that uh that 124 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: you know, toiling in the soil uh seems to take 125 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: all day, whereas you know, um uh you know, in 126 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: an hour of pleasure seems to pass by in a 127 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,160 Speaker 1: in a moment. So it seems reasonable that they would 128 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: they would be uh the basic human experience of of relativity, 129 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 1: that they would be able to draw on UH and 130 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: then work into some sort of you know, a mythological structure. 131 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: But I do also like this idea how there are 132 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: myths of people going up into the heavens and then 133 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: experiencing this time dilation. It reminds me of like the 134 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: scene in UH in Interstellar where they have to go 135 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: down to the planet that's very close to the black hole, 136 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: and the you know for them, they're down there for 137 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: like twenty minutes or whatever, but they come back to 138 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: their their their friend and colleague up in the space 139 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: station that's been orbiting it, and for him it's been 140 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: twenty years. Yeah. All right, Well, let's meals pull up 141 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: another bit of listener mail here. This one comes to 142 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: us from Jonathan. Jonathan writes, this moment in time is 143 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: one of those where we and hopefully you too, are 144 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: reaping what you've been sewing for years. Well that's a 145 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: strange statement to make. I don't know. I think it 146 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: sounds either hopeful or or or or potentially ominous. I 147 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: think he's being very nice, but yeah, that statement in 148 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: isolation sounds like a threat. Over many years, he continues, Uh, 149 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: I had a huge number of other listeners have grown 150 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: to trust stuff to bowl your mind to the extent 151 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: that when you do an episode on COVID nineteen that 152 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: we can depend not only on the factual information, some 153 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: of which may be available from other sources, but also 154 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: your suber mature, well considered advice, opinions, and evaluations. I 155 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: realized while I was listening to that particular episode, how 156 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:37,559 Speaker 1: glad I am that you've earned my trust from years 157 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:39,480 Speaker 1: of not only what you guys do, but how you 158 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 1: do it. The other thing we're reaping now is the 159 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: much needed reassurance of your future podcast to entertain and 160 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: forms stimulate, and provide a welcome retreat in sense of normalcy. 161 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: As you know, lots of us have grown to consider 162 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: you guys for virtual friends, and I'm sure all of 163 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: us appreciate hearing from you regularly as a kind of 164 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: social stimulation. On another subject, thanks especially for the two 165 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,559 Speaker 1: parter on invertebrate emotions. Hope you can do a future 166 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: episode on planted intelligence. My own personal view is that 167 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:11,440 Speaker 1: consciousness and its definition as awareness or responsibility is a 168 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,599 Speaker 1: fundamental aspect of the universe and is a nearly infinite continuum. 169 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: So the question might be best put not as do 170 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: inverte of it's have emotion, but where on the gradient 171 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,839 Speaker 1: of consciousness do they fall? Thanks a million, Jonathan, Oh well, 172 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,839 Speaker 1: that that is far too kind, Jonathan. That we appreciate 173 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: hearing that we've earned your trust. Oh yeah, yeah, And 174 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: I mean certainly that's what we seek to do with 175 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: the with the show in general. I will just remind 176 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,840 Speaker 1: everybody something about that COVID nineteen episode that we uh 177 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 1: that we also mentioned in that episode is that that 178 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 1: particular episode was very much um set in the time 179 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 1: of its recording, and it does not represent like the 180 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: current best information about COVID nineteen. Well, yeah, I mean, 181 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: as we talked about in the episode, that's why we 182 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: don't tend to do like eveloping news stories and stuff. 183 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: But one example that comes to mind that it was, 184 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 1: it was an extended discussion in the episode was was 185 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: about masks. Now. I remember at the time we were 186 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,800 Speaker 1: going along with all of the public health advice that 187 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 1: we were reading, saying like, you know, normal people don't 188 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: need to go out and buy up masks and and 189 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: all that kind of thing, and that that seemed to 190 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: be like basically all of the expert messaging um. And 191 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,839 Speaker 1: then there's kind of a shift over time, right where 192 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: clearly there were different values pulling intention in what kind 193 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: of messaging was going out to people about whether they 194 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:36,800 Speaker 1: should wear masks or not. On one hand, there was 195 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: like a shortage of masks and you know, healthcare workers 196 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: needed them and stuff like that, so there was kind 197 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: of a discouraging of people to wear masks, uh, And 198 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: and a lot of that discouragement came along with the 199 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,959 Speaker 1: opinions of many experts that like normal surgical masks are 200 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,440 Speaker 1: not very likely to reduce your likelihood of catching the 201 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: disease through inhaling it. But there's been a shift over time, 202 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: and I think a quite reasonable one to saying, okay, 203 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: if masks supplies are available, it actually is good to 204 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 1: encourage people in general to wear masks, because especially it 205 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,480 Speaker 1: helps prevent the spread of COVID nineteen. You know, if 206 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,680 Speaker 1: you are infected with the coronavirus, and that you know, 207 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: I think people have made some very good cases since 208 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: then that even if you are unlikely to be infected, 209 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:28,320 Speaker 1: you've been practicing social distancing and all that kind of stuff, 210 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: it's good for you to wear a mask when you 211 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: go out because, first of all, you know, it's still 212 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: possible that you're infected and you don't know it, and 213 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:36,720 Speaker 1: this could help prevent you from spreading it. But second, 214 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: the more people wear masks, they'll more It reduces the 215 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: stigma on masks, so that you know, if somebody has 216 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:45,719 Speaker 1: a higher likelihood of being infected, they're not going to 217 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: feel like, you know, the like they're getting dagger eyes 218 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,560 Speaker 1: if they're out wearing a mask somewhere. Yeah, yeah, it's 219 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: um and and you know it's been noted too that 220 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: like when you don't even necessarily need to fall back 221 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 1: on some sort of like medical official mask, like just 222 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,680 Speaker 1: some sort cloth covering for your your face, right, yeah, 223 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: better than nothing? Yeah. Uh and and and it's a 224 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,959 Speaker 1: chance to to spruce up your personal fashion. Like if 225 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: you had told me a year ago that, you know, 226 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: a year in the future, my whole family WI would 227 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: be decked out with fancy handkerchiefs around our next when 228 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 1: we go out, you know, and uh um, without adding 229 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: the detail that we'd have to you know, we'd be 230 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 1: pulling them up onto our face. Um frequently, I would 231 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: have I would have laughed. But here I am wearing 232 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 1: a jaunty handkerchief from me Undy's. Uh and uh and 233 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: I don't know, it's it's it's kind of fun in 234 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: a way. Wait me Undy's really yes, by not a 235 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: paid plug though, I though I am a subscriber, because 236 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: they put out you know, lots of fun designs for underwear, 237 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: but they do other garments as well. And for a 238 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: long time they've been putting out these handkerchiefs. I don't 239 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: know how many people were buying them previously, but it 240 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: was suddenly like a really great option because it's like 241 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: stretchy material, it's and it's you know, has jazzy designs. 242 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: You can customize the color. So yeah, so we ordered up, 243 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: ordered up three of those. We also have some some 244 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: face masks that kind of go around the ears that 245 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,840 Speaker 1: were custom made by a friend of ours who does 246 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: a lot of crafting and she's been making a whole 247 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: lot of different masks for people, I think, donating them 248 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,440 Speaker 1: to places as well. That's great. Yeah, we got some 249 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: homemade masks from from crafty family members as well. Oh yeah, 250 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 1: I should mention the the one that my friend made 251 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,440 Speaker 1: actually has um. It doesn't have Gammera on it, but 252 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:34,079 Speaker 1: it has um. What was the flying creature gaos gios 253 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: something like, yeah, the radioactive bats that emit rays. Yeah, 254 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:40,679 Speaker 1: that's on the face and face mask. I should take 255 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,319 Speaker 1: a picture of that and uh and share that with 256 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:47,320 Speaker 1: the discussion module on Facebook that for anybody who's not aware, 257 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 1: that's where that's the Facebook group for stuff to blow 258 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,040 Speaker 1: your mind where you can go and interact with other listeners, 259 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: and then Joe and I sometimes pop in there as well. Well. 260 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: I would say the subject of Gammera and guios provides 261 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: a great segue to our next message, and this comes 262 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: from our listeners. Sebastien I assume that's Sebastian and not 263 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: Sebastian based on spelling, and that the fact that this 264 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: person is in Canada, but I'm not positive it's the 265 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: e n kind. But I'm sorry if I said that 266 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: wrong one way or another. Anyway, the message begins, Hey guys, 267 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: I just took a look through your catalog and realized 268 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: you've never done an episode on the topic of camp. 269 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: As an old fashioned gay man, camp is a huge 270 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: part of the bread and butter of the media I 271 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: prefer to consume. The topic itself may seem pretty literary, 272 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: but it does have interesting implications. There are two broad 273 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: definitions Susan Sontag's failed seriousness such as the Schwarzenegger Conan 274 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: movies or The First Evil Dead, or John waters definition 275 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,360 Speaker 1: of camp being a celebration of poor taste, so not 276 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: only John Waters himself, but also the entire Trauma Studios catalog, 277 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 1: as well as most exploitation genre movies. Some things are both, 278 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: like American pro wrestling, and some things intend on being 279 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 1: camp but end up being accidentally really good. My favorite 280 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: example will always be Surf Nazis Must Die. Oh I 281 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: have not seen Surf Nazis Must die and I'm vaguely 282 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:19,240 Speaker 1: familiar with it, but I haven't seen Is that a trauma? 283 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: I don't know. I've never seen that one either, though 284 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: I have seen the I remember seeing the box cover 285 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: in the video store. Anyway, the email goes on. There's 286 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: also some interesting research on the topic. So camp is 287 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: often associated with working class intellectualism and minority populations, but 288 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:37,760 Speaker 1: it also has a strange link in that people who 289 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: enjoy camp tend to also enjoy hard to watch, high 290 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 1: art cinema, like Tarkovsky or Yodarowski. Some camp is both 291 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: high art and in poor taste, like some select Lynch 292 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 1: or the Canadian punk director Bruce le Bruce, whose movie 293 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 1: Hustler White is on the very short list of movies 294 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 1: censored by Bravo and Showcase. Think of Kara, there's like 295 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 1: Richard Feynman when you think of a camp consumer, erudite, 296 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 1: but also somehow low brow, or at least that's the stereotype, 297 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: maybe the lads from Red Letter Media. There's also a 298 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: place for camp in music, with irreverent bands like The 299 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 1: Bonzo Dog Do Da Band or The Dead Milkman, as 300 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: well as literary camp, which is perhaps best captured in 301 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: harlequin romance or pulp fiction on the one hand, or 302 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 1: in the bizarro fiction genre on the other. Seriously, it 303 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: only takes an hour to read Shatton or Quake. I 304 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: don't know what that is. It sounds good. Gosh, I 305 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 1: never read it, but I remember when it came out 306 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: and talk of it was making the rounds. Yeah, I'm 307 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: sure if you guys took an interest, you could easily 308 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 1: speak to it for an hour or more, as well 309 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:46,240 Speaker 1: as engage in the philosophy and sociology of it. Either way, 310 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: keep up the good work. The Comma Muda episode is 311 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: uh so far my favorite, with the Library of Babel 312 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: being a close second. These two episodes actually did blow 313 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: my mind. Take care Sebastian from Canada, Oh wow, Well, 314 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,840 Speaker 1: there's it sounds like Sebastian isn't into a lot of 315 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,439 Speaker 1: the same things we are, that's for sure, because you know, 316 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: he maybe brings up like Jodarowski, for example, I would 317 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 1: argue that Jodarowski is there are plenty of moments where 318 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,919 Speaker 1: Jodarowski is in poor taste, but it's also you know, legitimately, 319 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:19,880 Speaker 1: there's a lot of a lot to admire in there. 320 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: There's a lot of you know, very inspired, uh, you know, 321 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:29,120 Speaker 1: fantastic artistic achievement, but it often doesn't seem like they're 322 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: as much of a filter there to keep one thing 323 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: from going through. Yeah, it's funny that he also mentions 324 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:39,880 Speaker 1: Tarkovsky because I just recently watched my first Tarkovsky movie. 325 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: I watched Stalker. That's when I have not seen Oh man, 326 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: it's incredible, and I understand like some people are like, 327 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: oh my god, the Tarkowsky movies are too slow. I 328 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,400 Speaker 1: cannot deal with them. Uh, And it's true the pacing 329 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: is slow, but if you just allow yourself to commit 330 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: to the slow pace, Stalker at least is an InCred 331 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,880 Speaker 1: a double work of art. It's I can hardly think 332 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: of another movie I've seen that comes anywhere close to it, 333 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,320 Speaker 1: and in the kind of experience it creates, it's an 334 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,639 Speaker 1: otherworldly experience. Nice. Yeah, I need to I need to 335 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:13,879 Speaker 1: give that one of viewing. That would have been on 336 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:15,399 Speaker 1: my list for a while. And I know they have 337 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,360 Speaker 1: it a video drome, but um yeah, the main one, 338 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 1: my main my first experience with his work was the Sacrifice. 339 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: I think that was it, or the fine, not the 340 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: final sacrifice, but yes, The Sacrifice. This was a six 341 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:31,959 Speaker 1: film that he put out, and it is extremely slow. 342 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 1: It has to do with a middle aged intellectual who 343 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 1: attempts to bargain with God to stop and impending nuclear holocaust. 344 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: And I seem to recall it all takes place in 345 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: this kind of uh you know, um isolated um island 346 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,720 Speaker 1: or coastal environment. So it was very I remember thinking 347 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: I saw it in college on the big screen. Uh. 348 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 1: And I remember thinking this is beautiful, but also I 349 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,320 Speaker 1: wonder when it will ever end. Not that I necessarily, 350 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:01,160 Speaker 1: you know, I had my in the clock. I'm just like, 351 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: it's really it's really still going on, and I don't know, 352 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: I'd have no way of not really knowing how close 353 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,680 Speaker 1: we are to the end here um, which is it's 354 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: kind of a beautiful feeling that's lost in the way 355 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 1: we will watch watch cinema today. I think, you know, 356 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,679 Speaker 1: we generally know what the run time is gonna be. 357 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,399 Speaker 1: We have it in our schedule. Uh. And it's certainly 358 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:22,199 Speaker 1: if we're watching it on the small screen. You know, 359 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: we have a ticker there you you pause it and 360 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 1: you can see exactly how much time you have remaining. Yeah, yeah, 361 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,880 Speaker 1: obviously movies today tend towards the tight and the formulaic 362 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:34,639 Speaker 1: um and so it's it's incredibly refreshing to watch. So 363 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: Stalker is also it's kind of a science fiction movie 364 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:42,640 Speaker 1: or very very uh low technology science fiction. There's there's 365 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: this vague idea that there's this zone where something has happened. 366 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:50,479 Speaker 1: It's never been it's never explicitly spelled out, but the 367 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,400 Speaker 1: Stalker is a character who leads people into this restricted 368 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,960 Speaker 1: zone where the laws of reality don't quite seem to hold. 369 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: Oh man, I need to see that, and that's that's 370 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 1: that's that's gotta I gotta push that up on the list. Yeah, 371 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 1: it's gorgeous. Um, let's see. Well, yeah, what else It 372 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: was brought up in this email from Sebastian Um, well, 373 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: this certainly he brings up pro wrestling, American pro wrestling specifically, 374 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: that's a pretty obvious example. He brings up Lynch. Um, Yeah, 375 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,120 Speaker 1: this is really there might be something, especially if they're 376 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 1: you know, there's been a fair amount written on it 377 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 1: over time. Camp could be something worth looking into. I agree, 378 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: um real quick having mentioned the Library of of Babel 379 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:36,240 Speaker 1: episode that we recorded, brings to mind um Borhyes, I 380 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: have to say. Just the other day, I was reading 381 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: on my own. I was kind of reading about the 382 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: minotaur a bit, and I realized that I had never 383 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:48,040 Speaker 1: read borhey short story The House of Asterion, which is 384 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:50,280 Speaker 1: a like all of his works, super short. I think 385 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,119 Speaker 1: it's like two and a half pages or something, but 386 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: it is the story of the minotaur in the Labyrinth 387 00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:00,000 Speaker 1: from the minotaurs point of view, and it is just beautiful. Um, 388 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: it's it's a gay you know. He's one of those 389 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: the master of the short story, where you read something 390 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,400 Speaker 1: by Borhyes, and you're like, why would anyone ever write 391 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,959 Speaker 1: anything longer than two and a half pages? Because this 392 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,159 Speaker 1: is perfect. Oh and by the way, I looked up 393 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,000 Speaker 1: Surf Nazis Must Die and it is a trauma film. 394 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: Oh of course. So really that that came out with 395 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: the year after the Sacrifice, Okay, all right, possible that 396 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 1: maybe they were in the theater at the same time. 397 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe, probably not. That's a double feature. 398 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,920 Speaker 1: All right, we'll be right back, thank thank you, thank you. 399 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 1: All right, we're back. Okay. So this next email comes 400 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: to us from Matthew. So Matthew had a bunch of 401 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:46,960 Speaker 1: great stuff to say, A big part of his email 402 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 1: was focused on response to our Hobbit biology episode. He 403 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 1: had this interesting Hobbit self domestication hypothesis. But it's a 404 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,000 Speaker 1: long email, so I apologize Matthew. In the interest of time, 405 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,240 Speaker 1: I'm skipping to the second half of the email where 406 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:04,439 Speaker 1: he shares ideas in response to several different episodes, and 407 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,159 Speaker 1: so one of them is also about Hobbit biology. Remember 408 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 1: a lot of what we talked about in the Hobbit 409 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: biology episode was about like Hobbit metabolism and caloric requirements. Um, 410 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:15,760 Speaker 1: you know that they've got to eat so much. So 411 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: Matthew says, what if the incredibly high caloric requirements of 412 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 1: Hobbits were due to some mutation which reduced their ability 413 00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: to absorb or utilize a particular nutrient like an essential 414 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,920 Speaker 1: amino acid. In such case, they would have to eat 415 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 1: much more of foods rich in this nutrient. It probably 416 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: wouldn't go without general increase in caloric intake, which in 417 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: turn would prime selection for individuals with faster metabolism, because 418 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: others would suffer greatly from obesity and other consequences of 419 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,520 Speaker 1: overeating and thus have their fitness substantially reduced. This could 420 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,399 Speaker 1: happen in a food abundant area such as the Shire, 421 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,240 Speaker 1: and if the initial population would be small enough to 422 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,639 Speaker 1: allow the founder effect. Also, other more positive effects of 423 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: this mutation would make its revival in the gene pool 424 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:04,359 Speaker 1: more likely. By the way, this was the explanation for 425 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,160 Speaker 1: why Peter Watts vampires must eat humans. This is Peter 426 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: Watts vampires from the from the book blind Site. Matthew says, 427 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:17,639 Speaker 1: they cannot synthesize why protocaterine, a vital peptide which is 428 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 1: unique to hominins. So the idea, yeah, they're in the story, 429 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:25,160 Speaker 1: was that these these plausibly biological vampires have to eat 430 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: humans because they need this nutrient that basically only exists 431 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 1: in apes like us. All right, so kind of a 432 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: Peter wattson read on the hobbit, right? Uh? Then a 433 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 1: second one. This one is related to the idea of 434 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 1: plants developing intelligence. This has come up in other episodes 435 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,879 Speaker 1: like could you imagine other kingdoms of life? Not animals, 436 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: but maybe plants or fungi or whatever ever? Ever, over 437 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:55,120 Speaker 1: billions of years of evolution developing intelligence of their own. 438 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,879 Speaker 1: Matthew mentioned somebody named Isaac Arthur. He says, If you 439 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,040 Speaker 1: don't know this guy, high recommend his YouTube channel. He 440 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 1: mentioned in one of his episodes that it would be 441 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: more plausible for fun gui to develop intelligence than plants, 442 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,080 Speaker 1: since they do not rely on a regular and perpetual 443 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: source of energy such as sunlight. If their source of 444 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: energy gets depleted, this may motivate them to search for 445 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,920 Speaker 1: another one, which would require some degree of mobility and, perhaps, 446 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: in a more complex and unpredictable environment, some kind of 447 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,400 Speaker 1: higher intelligence. I like this idea. All right, well, that's 448 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,360 Speaker 1: that's a pretty pretty cool take, ill admit. Third, now, 449 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: this one is in response to our episode of Invention, 450 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: where we talked about the invention of words and how 451 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: new words are formed. One of the things we talked 452 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:46,439 Speaker 1: about was back formation and false etymologies. Uh Matthew singles 453 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: out the word algorithm as an interesting example of a 454 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: word invented by back formation. I looked this up and 455 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:58,639 Speaker 1: this is extremely interesting. So apparently the word algorithm comes 456 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:04,360 Speaker 1: to English through several steps, beginning with the medieval Latin algorithmus, 457 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:09,120 Speaker 1: which is actually a botched transliteration of a proper name. 458 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: There was a medieval Persian polymath named Mohammed Ibben musa 459 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:18,919 Speaker 1: al Quarezmi, and when his works on mathematics were translated 460 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: into Latin, the name al QUAISMI got changed into Algorithmus, 461 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,359 Speaker 1: which became algorithm over time. Uh so this, this is 462 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:32,960 Speaker 1: like a lost reference to an actual person's name. Very fascinating. 463 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,640 Speaker 1: And then finally Matthew brings up the subject of invertebrate emotions, 464 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,120 Speaker 1: which we did a two parter about, and he says, 465 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:41,680 Speaker 1: when you did it, I couldn't believe you didn't mention this. 466 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 1: And he makes reference to an article in the Guardian 467 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: where there's a study where basically they were giving M 468 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: d M A two octopuses um. And so Matthew says, 469 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,879 Speaker 1: when given m d M A, octopuses act similarly to 470 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 1: human users of M d M A, whose behavior under 471 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 1: its influence we would interpreted signs of kindness, greater openness 472 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 1: to fellow specimens, and desire for closure and intimacy. Uh 473 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 1: And I looked this up. But apparently when you give 474 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,200 Speaker 1: octopuses m d M A, a lot of their con 475 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:17,120 Speaker 1: specific aggressiveness decreases or vanishes. Normally, octopuses are not very 476 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 1: social and they're not very friendly to each other. When 477 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:22,159 Speaker 1: I'm one octopus comes on the other they often you know, 478 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 1: fight or try to eat each other or something. When 479 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,440 Speaker 1: you give octopuses m D m A, apparently they're much 480 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,719 Speaker 1: more likely to to approach peacefully and sort of like 481 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:36,160 Speaker 1: extend arms toward one another. Mm hmmm interesting. I mean yeah, 482 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:41,359 Speaker 1: because octopus octopuses are generally solitary creatures. This this brings 483 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 1: to mind, like the possibility like what if you had 484 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:49,200 Speaker 1: something like uh, the monolith in two thousand one of 485 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: Space Odyssey, but instead of like uh imbuing surrounding organisms 486 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:57,879 Speaker 1: with with the knowledge of tool you sort of it 487 00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: had kind of an M D m A effect on 488 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:04,000 Speaker 1: that and and inspired them to to be more supportive 489 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,960 Speaker 1: than uh um, you know, an accepting of each other. 490 00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 1: I wonder what the the long term effects would that 491 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,840 Speaker 1: would love? That would be for a species. Yeah, instead 492 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:19,119 Speaker 1: of giving hominins, uh you know, like violent mechanical ingenuity, 493 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: it gives octopuses love. I bring you love. Or maybe 494 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:25,919 Speaker 1: they would have all these if they would just have 495 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,639 Speaker 1: been eaten by what were they leopards or jack I 496 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,680 Speaker 1: can't remember jaguars in the in the movie. Oh yeah, 497 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: I think there's a leopard. Yeah, yeah, the leopard would 498 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 1: have just eaten all of them. Maybe it wouldn't have worked. 499 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: Maybe that was the first monolith that they sent down. Anyway, 500 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 1: Matthew finishes by saying thank you for all your work 501 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: and sorry for my English. I'm sure I've made at 502 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: least a few mistakes. No, Matthew, your English is great, um, 503 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,359 Speaker 1: far better than my Polish. Right. I've been listening to 504 00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your mind and more recently Invention for 505 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: almost two years and dug through a lot of episodes 506 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:01,040 Speaker 1: to or thereabouts podcasts on my subscribe list come and go. 507 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 1: But since I discovered you, there probably wasn't a single 508 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: week when your voice didn't play in my earbuds. Best regards, 509 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: Matthew from Poland. Oh well, that was so sweet. What 510 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: a great email, Matthew. Yeah, that was good. Lots of 511 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:18,280 Speaker 1: cool ideas in there. All right. Here's another bit of 512 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,439 Speaker 1: listener mail. This one comes to us from Lauren and 513 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,639 Speaker 1: it's another Hobbit email. Hi, Robert and Joe love the 514 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: podcast and it's keeping me interested and motivated to learn 515 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 1: new things during these strange times. A quick note about 516 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:32,959 Speaker 1: dinner versus supper in your Biology of the Hobbit episodes. 517 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:35,120 Speaker 1: Since you both said you weren't sure of the difference. 518 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 1: It's a very modern thing to use these terms interchangeably. 519 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: But anyone who's read a lot of books set in 520 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,560 Speaker 1: regency England, as I have, will know that one eight dinner, 521 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: probably around seven pm before one attended a ball or 522 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,880 Speaker 1: evening's entertainment, and one eight supper a few hours later 523 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,960 Speaker 1: during the ball, to keep up your energy for dancing 524 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:59,800 Speaker 1: or after coming home from the theater. Very Tonish, you 525 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,800 Speaker 1: of these words, and very British. So while the Hobbits 526 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 1: don't seem very aristocratic, they do seem very British, and 527 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: it's probably why Tolkien had been eating both dinner and 528 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:13,520 Speaker 1: supper along with their other meals. Thanks for all you do, Lauren. Well, 529 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: wait where the Hobbits having to go out dancing? I 530 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,640 Speaker 1: don't to eat dinner or eat supper to keep their 531 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 1: energy up. I don't remember a lot of dancing. Well, 532 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: they had festivals and celebrations, you know, so you know, 533 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,360 Speaker 1: and certainly, if, especially if your bilbo, you might have 534 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,240 Speaker 1: to entertain a lot of out of town guests for 535 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: an extended period of time. That's true. Well, thank you, Lauren, 536 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: I I appreciate that clarification, and then, on a very 537 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:43,440 Speaker 1: similar subject, we got this next message from Samantha. Samantha says, hi, guys, 538 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:46,320 Speaker 1: and your recent Biology of the Hobbit episode, you mused 539 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,600 Speaker 1: on what the difference was between dinner and supper in 540 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: regards to the different meals enjoyed by Hobbits. While I 541 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: can't speak to the Hobbit lifestyle, I am in a 542 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:56,479 Speaker 1: relationship with a man who used to power lift, and 543 00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: I can tell you that I've decided that the difference 544 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: is that dinner is the meal he eats with me, 545 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: and supper is the meal afterward that he eats in 546 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 1: bed before going. It's not so much a midnight snack 547 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: as a midnight entree anyway. Thanks for the amazing work 548 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:14,680 Speaker 1: you guys do, and thanks for the extra episodes lately, 549 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,000 Speaker 1: sam Well, I what I love about this is just 550 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 1: that it brings to mind the possibility of of powerlifter 551 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 1: Hobbits and that it's pretty great. Uh what a Hobbit 552 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,760 Speaker 1: strong men look like? I want to see that. I mean, 553 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 1: I can kind of aren't we told it was the 554 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: hooks that were more adventurous. Maybe they were kind of 555 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:40,960 Speaker 1: powerlifters in their own way. Oh, maybe. All right, here's 556 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: another one. This one comes to us from Anna. Hi, 557 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: Robert and Joe, I just finished listening to your episode 558 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,960 Speaker 1: on Hobbits. This reminded me of how my dad used 559 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: to have a cat called frod Oh. The cat used 560 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: to go on long journeys in the car with him. 561 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: This got me thinking how cats have many of the 562 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 1: same characteristics as Hobbits, and she listed for us. They 563 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 1: like their home comforts. True. Uh, they can be very 564 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,680 Speaker 1: adventurous when they want to be. They're very light on foot. Uh. 565 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 1: They are good at hiding and stealing things. They would 566 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,960 Speaker 1: prefer to find a few people they like and only 567 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: hang around them. They have hair on their feet, They're small. 568 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:21,200 Speaker 1: They like fish. They also really enjoy eating. I wonder 569 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: if anyone else has noticed these similarities, Anna, I find 570 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: no fault in this. No, the other sounds about right. Um. 571 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,800 Speaker 1: As a cat owner, I can say my cat is 572 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:36,400 Speaker 1: often like a Hobbit, except when she is hunting my 573 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 1: feet for sport in the house, in which case I 574 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,120 Speaker 1: would say she's more like a goblin. This maybe she's 575 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 1: more like Sneagle uh or Gollum in this respect, So 576 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,240 Speaker 1: she is like a Hobbit. But like a hobbit whose 577 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:53,959 Speaker 1: soul has been tarnished and perverted by the power of 578 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: the ring over time, she thinks your feet are nasty 579 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: tricksy humans is yeah, I think the ring in this 580 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:05,880 Speaker 1: situation would be human domestication or you know, certainly being 581 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: being asked to live inside a house is kind of 582 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 1: the ring here, because that can only corrupt and and 583 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:17,000 Speaker 1: alter their their psychology. Our cat is an indoor cat um, 584 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 1: but clearly she wants to go outside, and her behavior 585 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:24,720 Speaker 1: is such that it ultimately, you know, evolutionarily spinking, it 586 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:28,240 Speaker 1: belongs outside. But we've made this pact right that we're 587 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:30,600 Speaker 1: going to keep her inside because she also does not 588 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: belong in the immediate vicinity. She doesn't belong out there 589 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:37,560 Speaker 1: eating birds and whatnot, um, you know, and likewise she 590 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: would end up getting in fights with the local ferrells, 591 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 1: she'd be run off, or she'd be hit by a car. 592 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,040 Speaker 1: Like there's you know, all these other considerations. But clearly 593 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: we're dealing with a very artificial environment, artificial situation that 594 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,239 Speaker 1: has been brought on by humans uh spreading themselves and 595 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,560 Speaker 1: their environments around the world and nine rings to the 596 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: kings of cats who desire power of of all else, 597 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 1: but to something I know some people are gonna going 598 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 1: to want to remind us cats are only semi domesticated, 599 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: and again I do agree with that. They're they're clearly 600 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: uh not on the same level as the dog and 601 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 1: being uh you know, a part of our our our community. 602 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 1: No knock on them of course. Now who would the 603 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,880 Speaker 1: dogs be in um uh? In Middle Earth? Oh? I 604 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: don't know. Who's loyal and true? Uh the only brew 605 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 1: for the brave and true. Maybe maybe they would be 606 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,520 Speaker 1: the dwarves, you know, no, maybe, yeah, yeah, yeah, I 607 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: think yeah, it could be dwarves. Sometimes they dig too 608 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,719 Speaker 1: deep dogs, and that's something that shouldn't be brought up 609 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: to the surface. Dogs are all tom bomba dill. There's 610 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:49,960 Speaker 1: just an entire species of bomba Dill's all right. So 611 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,239 Speaker 1: here's one that I didn't know if would you hear 612 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:55,240 Speaker 1: anything back on? In our episode about the Bone Palace, 613 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:58,200 Speaker 1: where we talked about stone age huts made out of 614 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: made out of mammoth bones, we ended up talking about 615 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: a house in Wyoming I believe that is made out 616 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,360 Speaker 1: of purported at least to be made out of dinosaur 617 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: bones or dinosaur fossils, and we ended up saying like, hey, 618 00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:13,840 Speaker 1: do we have any listeners in Wyoming? I know it 619 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: is a sparsely populated place, but we heard from a couple. 620 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:20,160 Speaker 1: I was delighted. So first of all, we heard from Louise, 621 00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 1: who said, Hi, Robert and Joe. First of all, love 622 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: the podcast. I heard the Wyoming mentioned in the Bone 623 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,279 Speaker 1: Palace episode. I thought it was pretty funny. As a 624 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:31,239 Speaker 1: matter of fact, I listened to you guys from Casper, Wyoming, 625 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:33,319 Speaker 1: and thought I might as well send an email about it. 626 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:35,719 Speaker 1: I hope I'm not the only one listening from over here, 627 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 1: but you never know. Keep up the good work. Podcast 628 00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:41,320 Speaker 1: is awesome, Louise. And then we also heard from Landon, 629 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:45,879 Speaker 1: who said, uh, Landon listens from Cheyenne, Wyoming, and if 630 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:48,279 Speaker 1: and says if we ever do a show in Wyoming 631 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,800 Speaker 1: that that Landon will bring friends, so we'll keep you posted. Alright, 632 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:59,319 Speaker 1: good enough? All right, here we have a listener mail 633 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: from Britain about our episodes on Deja Vu. Hey guys, 634 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,719 Speaker 1: I just finished listening to your second episode on Deja Vu, 635 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,760 Speaker 1: which I found very interesting. You ask at one point 636 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:13,960 Speaker 1: for listener experience with Deja Paradox feeling like you have 637 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:17,880 Speaker 1: experienced a paradox before. As you described it, I recognized 638 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,279 Speaker 1: it as a feeling I sometimes experienced during religious exercises 639 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: such as prayer, when I am contemplating the paradox is 640 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,439 Speaker 1: inherent in my faith. On rare occasions, I do get 641 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:30,279 Speaker 1: a flash of something very much like deja vu. The 642 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 1: paradox I am meditating on seems to take on a 643 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:37,760 Speaker 1: new depth and become somehow more essentially contradictory, more paradoxical, 644 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:42,840 Speaker 1: while simultaneously feeling powerfully familiar and deeply fundamentally necessary to 645 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,640 Speaker 1: reality as it is. I have always known this paradox 646 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:49,040 Speaker 1: to be real, but I am usually blind to it, 647 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:51,840 Speaker 1: and it is only clear in little flashes like these. 648 00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: Yet at the same time I am experiencing their depth 649 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,319 Speaker 1: in a way I know is entirely new. Obviously, I 650 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,560 Speaker 1: am familiar with the surface paradox I am contemplating in 651 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,920 Speaker 1: these times, so perhaps this isn't a perfect fit. But 652 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 1: the paradox I seem to uncover is always new to 653 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,120 Speaker 1: me and entirely beyond my ability to describe. And that 654 00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:14,719 Speaker 1: is when I get a deja vou like experience. I 655 00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:17,000 Speaker 1: had never thought about it. In those terms before. But 656 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,560 Speaker 1: the subjective experience is remarkably similar to my experience with 657 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:23,960 Speaker 1: deja vous. I think this has happened maybe three times 658 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 1: in my life, but it's such a powerful experience, even 659 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 1: with how short it is, that I remember each one. Anyway, 660 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,120 Speaker 1: now that I wrote all of all of that out, 661 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,600 Speaker 1: I'm questioning whether this is truly deja paradox or not. 662 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,280 Speaker 1: But maybe you can decide if you think it counts. 663 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,320 Speaker 1: Thanks for all the work you put into the show. 664 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: I truly love exploring the weird and cool things of 665 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:47,239 Speaker 1: the universe with you both. Brittany. Oh, thanks Brittany. Yeah, 666 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:49,960 Speaker 1: I found that really interesting because it got me thinking 667 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:54,000 Speaker 1: about what is the like, what is supposed to be 668 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 1: happening in the religious practices that encourage you to contemplate 669 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 1: a paradox. I don't know how widespread this is, like 670 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 1: if there's something like this in almost every religion. The 671 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:07,000 Speaker 1: main examples I can think of are in like Zen Buddhism, 672 00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:11,880 Speaker 1: which encourages the contemplation of paradoxes, and in Christianity. You know, 673 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:15,320 Speaker 1: one tradition of Christianity has a kind of um mystical 674 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,760 Speaker 1: flavor that encourages encourages you to think about the apparent 675 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 1: paradox of the trinity. You know that there can be 676 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 1: one being in three, how is that possible? And so forth. 677 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:26,919 Speaker 1: But I'm sure there are things like this and other 678 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 1: religions too. Yeah, and and as for whether this count 679 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:33,920 Speaker 1: says deja paradox deja vu, I don't know. I'm a 680 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,759 Speaker 1: kind of the mind that you know, deja vu when 681 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,839 Speaker 1: you feel it like it's it's undeniable. So if one 682 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: is inclined to interpret what is happening is deja vu, 683 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,800 Speaker 1: then it is probably deja vu or some related experience, 684 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:48,680 Speaker 1: you know, like I would, I would lean into the 685 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:51,799 Speaker 1: individual's experience of the thing. Yeah, deja vu is in 686 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:56,000 Speaker 1: the sensation, not in any kind of like externally verifiable quality. 687 00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:58,200 Speaker 1: So yeah, it's if it feels like deja vu, it's 688 00:37:58,239 --> 00:38:00,600 Speaker 1: deja vu. All right, Well, I we need to take 689 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 1: another break, but then we will be right back to 690 00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:07,439 Speaker 1: round this out with a couple more emails. Thank thank 691 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:15,200 Speaker 1: All right, we're back. Okay, So we got a bunch 692 00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 1: of great mail about our episodes on MEDUSA. This first 693 00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:22,000 Speaker 1: message comes from Jim Jim in New Jersey, who's a 694 00:38:22,040 --> 00:38:26,480 Speaker 1: long time correspondent Jim says, Robert and Joe, your painted 695 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:30,239 Speaker 1: eyes comment to protect cattle from lions in Medusa too 696 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:33,880 Speaker 1: reminded me of this story about eyes watching those with 697 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:37,880 Speaker 1: an honor system for office refreshments, and he links to 698 00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:41,400 Speaker 1: an uh to a piece by Freakonomics that's about a 699 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:44,640 Speaker 1: study on whether you know you can basically use scarecrows 700 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:48,160 Speaker 1: to affect honorable or honest behavior of humans in an 701 00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:52,160 Speaker 1: office setting. Um so to read a quote that he provides. Quote. 702 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:56,319 Speaker 1: Melissa Bateson and colleagues at Newcastle University in the UK 703 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:00,000 Speaker 1: put up new price lists each week in their psychology 704 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:04,160 Speaker 1: g department. Coffee room prices were unchanged, but each week 705 00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:06,600 Speaker 1: there was a photo copied picture at the top of 706 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:11,399 Speaker 1: the list, measuring fifteen by three cinameters of either flowers 707 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:15,319 Speaker 1: or the eyes of real faces. The faces varied, but 708 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,720 Speaker 1: the eyes always looked directly at the observer. In weeks 709 00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 1: with eyes on the list, staff paid two point seven 710 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:24,280 Speaker 1: six times as much for their drinks as in weeks 711 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:28,040 Speaker 1: with flowers. Quote. Frankly, we were staggered by the size 712 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:31,279 Speaker 1: of the effect. Gilbert Roberts, one of the researchers, told 713 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:34,239 Speaker 1: New scientists. So yeah, it looks like here, you just 714 00:39:34,239 --> 00:39:36,839 Speaker 1: put up a picture of eyes staring at somebody. Maybe. 715 00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 1: I don't know if a Gorgonian image would work, but 716 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:42,600 Speaker 1: any kind of like image of eyes looking right at 717 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:46,680 Speaker 1: you this may have a psychological effect that discourages uh 718 00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:55,480 Speaker 1: sneaky or or stingy or dishonest behavior. All right, This 719 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:59,880 Speaker 1: one comes to us from Carolina. Carolina Rights. In the 720 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:03,280 Speaker 1: Head of the Medusa, Part two, you discuss how monster 721 00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:06,640 Speaker 1: faces an ancient art are depicted looking back at the observer. 722 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: It made me think of the tao Te, a monstrous 723 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:15,160 Speaker 1: creature that frequently is depicted on Shang Dynasty ceremonial bronze vessels, 724 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:18,440 Speaker 1: which looks kind of like a tiger with a bull's horns. 725 00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:23,960 Speaker 1: The Tauti image was too common to have been meaningless, 726 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,400 Speaker 1: but there are no extant records from the Shang dynasty 727 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:30,520 Speaker 1: indicating what it signifies. After listening to the episode, it 728 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:33,799 Speaker 1: crossed my mind that the tau Ti images might have 729 00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:37,960 Speaker 1: been apotropaic. It was a fascinating episode and left me 730 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,160 Speaker 1: with a lot to think about. Thank you, best regards, Carolina. 731 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:44,080 Speaker 1: I looked up the tao Te image and it is 732 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,520 Speaker 1: very interesting. It's like a um It almost in some 733 00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:50,440 Speaker 1: ways looks kind of like ancient Meso American art with 734 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:53,839 Speaker 1: the some of some of the types of the way 735 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:56,840 Speaker 1: the lines come together to form the facial structure of 736 00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:59,880 Speaker 1: the monster. I I really liked it. Yeah, yeah, this 737 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:03,360 Speaker 1: is pretty cool. I I don't think I was familiar 738 00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:07,920 Speaker 1: with this um this particular motif, but it's it's quite interesting. 739 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,560 Speaker 1: Apparently this is also the name they give to the 740 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,840 Speaker 1: monsters in that Great Wall movie. I never saw the movie, 741 00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:16,480 Speaker 1: but I remember that thing. It has like Matt Damon 742 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:19,440 Speaker 1: in it or something where there's like monsters attacking the 743 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:22,239 Speaker 1: Great Wall and and all these warriors have to fight 744 00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:24,520 Speaker 1: them off. The monsters are like these big, you know, 745 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,880 Speaker 1: lizard dog frog type things, and I think they're supposed 746 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:30,759 Speaker 1: to be tau t. Yeah. I remember seeing the trailer front. 747 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,920 Speaker 1: I'm really surprised I didn't see that one. On an 748 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:39,879 Speaker 1: airplane that looks like a good airplane viewing. Okay, one 749 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:43,160 Speaker 1: more message about Medusa. This comes from Dan. Dan says, 750 00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:46,279 Speaker 1: hello again, Robert and Joe. I just finished listening to 751 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:49,000 Speaker 1: part one of your Medusa episode. I greatly enjoyed it 752 00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,279 Speaker 1: and look forward to part two. I'm writing, do you 753 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:55,160 Speaker 1: regarding movie depictions of Medusa from listening to the podcast 754 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:58,480 Speaker 1: and watching your trailer talk videos on YouTube. WHOA, that's 755 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:02,960 Speaker 1: a Blastphroem Yeah, I know you both love Hammer horror. 756 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:05,960 Speaker 1: So I was wondering if you're familiar with The Gorgon, 757 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:10,000 Speaker 1: a movie from nineteen sixty four starring Peter Cushing, the 758 00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:13,759 Speaker 1: Man with Cheekbones that could cut diamonds, and Christopher Lee. 759 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:16,279 Speaker 1: I think that may be a reference to something we 760 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:19,799 Speaker 1: said about him in the past. It definitely is. It was. 761 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,960 Speaker 1: I think it was possibly Uncanny Valley, where we were 762 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:27,879 Speaker 1: talking specifically about Peter Cushing as resurrected in the Star 763 00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:31,600 Speaker 1: Wars movie Rogue. Yeah. Yeah, it's on my mind because 764 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:34,400 Speaker 1: I've just watched Rogue one again the other day as 765 00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:38,839 Speaker 1: part of the family viewing of all the Star Wars movies. Dan, 766 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:41,239 Speaker 1: you're going deep in the stuff to blow your mind lore. 767 00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:44,719 Speaker 1: This is crazy, um, So Dan goes on, I've never 768 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:47,560 Speaker 1: seen the film talking about the Gorgon from nineteen sixty four, 769 00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:49,799 Speaker 1: but I remember reading about it a long time ago, 770 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:53,480 Speaker 1: and Jeff Roven's Encyclopedia of Monsters. I've included a link 771 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:55,719 Speaker 1: to the trailer below. I hope you are safe and 772 00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:58,920 Speaker 1: doing well under these current circumstances. May crom watch over 773 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:02,000 Speaker 1: and protect both of your family stand. Oh well, that's 774 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:04,520 Speaker 1: so sweet, Dan, and I went and I watched this trailer. 775 00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:06,400 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for sharing. I did not know 776 00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:08,440 Speaker 1: about this movie, and now I'm going to watch it 777 00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:11,440 Speaker 1: because not only does it not only is it Hammer 778 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:13,759 Speaker 1: horror with the Gorgon and it, but also Christopher Lee 779 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,840 Speaker 1: is so scruffy looking in this movie. He's got this 780 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:22,200 Speaker 1: bushy mustache and and and bushy hair. He looks extremely unkempt. 781 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:26,040 Speaker 1: For for Christopher Lee. Yeah, like he looks more unkempt 782 00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:28,400 Speaker 1: in this film than he does when he's playing The 783 00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:33,440 Speaker 1: Mummy or Frankenstein. But yeah, he looks. He looks pretty 784 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:35,879 Speaker 1: rough in this one. I have never seen it, but 785 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,360 Speaker 1: after this email came in, I did watch the trailer 786 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:40,120 Speaker 1: and it looks like a lot of fun I mean 787 00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,239 Speaker 1: all the all the Hammer horror films look like a 788 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:45,359 Speaker 1: lot of fun um. And I guess I'd probably seen 789 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:48,080 Speaker 1: the trailer before because and forgotten about it because I 790 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:51,960 Speaker 1: have this this beloved disc. I love compilations of trailers, 791 00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:55,640 Speaker 1: and I have a Hammer horror films of comp disc 792 00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:58,960 Speaker 1: an official one from years back, and I still occasionally 793 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:01,000 Speaker 1: put that on and I'll just let the let the 794 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:03,600 Speaker 1: beautiful trailers roll over me. I'm gonna say, maybe I'm 795 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:06,600 Speaker 1: gonna watch the Gorgon tonight. Yeah, it looks it looks fun. 796 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:10,839 Speaker 1: I scanned the other people involved, and there's no one 797 00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:14,560 Speaker 1: else on the IMDb that I'm especially familiar with. But 798 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:16,839 Speaker 1: you know, those films tended to be filled with a 799 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:20,440 Speaker 1: lot of a lot of very talented actors, even if 800 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:22,680 Speaker 1: you you don't know who they are. It was directed 801 00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:25,359 Speaker 1: by Terrence Fisher. I was just looking this up here. Yes, 802 00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:29,640 Speaker 1: Terrence Fisher directed the Hammer version of the Mummy that 803 00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:33,399 Speaker 1: has Christopher Lee as the Mummy and also has Peter 804 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:35,720 Speaker 1: Cushing in it as the kind of like the bony 805 00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:40,200 Speaker 1: faced hero. And uh and I've got a copy of 806 00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:43,680 Speaker 1: the Belgian version of the poster for this movie on 807 00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:46,359 Speaker 1: the wall in my office, for the Mummy, where it's 808 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:51,280 Speaker 1: not called the Mummy, it's called Le Mala dixion de Feron. Yeah, 809 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:54,040 Speaker 1: he also direct I mean he Transfisher directed a bunch 810 00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:57,520 Speaker 1: of of Hammer horror films. He also directed Frankenstein and 811 00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:00,640 Speaker 1: The Monster from Hell from seventy four, which has one 812 00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:03,720 Speaker 1: of my favorite monster designs from any of these, because 813 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:06,160 Speaker 1: it looks like it looks like a man eate that 814 00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:08,799 Speaker 1: had the top of its head sewn back on and 815 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:12,040 Speaker 1: a monster was played by David what is David pros 816 00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:16,040 Speaker 1: David Prouse, Uh, Darth Vader himself. Oh wow. And of 817 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:19,359 Speaker 1: course Peter Cushing was in it as Baron Frankenstein, so 818 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:24,800 Speaker 1: you had, you know, wonderful um uh star wars energy 819 00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:26,880 Speaker 1: going on in that film as well. And this of 820 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:29,759 Speaker 1: course we're just we're pitching our next podcast, which will 821 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:33,720 Speaker 1: be Robert and Joe just talk about hammer horror movies 822 00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:39,279 Speaker 1: for us for let's do it. Would anybody listen? I 823 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:41,480 Speaker 1: don't know if if we had an audience for that, 824 00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:45,040 Speaker 1: I would absolutely do a hammer horror podcast. Oh yeah, 825 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:47,919 Speaker 1: there's so many, there's plenty to talk about. So yeah, 826 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:54,120 Speaker 1: let the let the letter write in campaign begin. All right, 827 00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:56,080 Speaker 1: here's another one. This one comes to us from Tyler. 828 00:45:56,520 --> 00:45:59,000 Speaker 1: Tyler says, Hey, guys, just wanted to reach out and say, hey, 829 00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:02,160 Speaker 1: I'm listening into your episode on Cars and Driving where 830 00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:05,360 Speaker 1: you talked about the knowledge that taxi drivers of yesteryear, 831 00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:09,680 Speaker 1: specifically in London had to have and how that has 832 00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:11,920 Speaker 1: been shown to generate more gray matter in the brain. 833 00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:14,600 Speaker 1: Not sure if you've considered it, but I think bicycle 834 00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:17,400 Speaker 1: messengers could be a more current example of this. I 835 00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:19,920 Speaker 1: worked as a bicycle messenger for three years in the city. 836 00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:25,720 Speaker 1: Most messengers ride brakeless bicycles designed to be raced on velodromes. 837 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:28,440 Speaker 1: It seems crazy, but they are simple machines that are 838 00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:31,160 Speaker 1: extremely durable and reliable. They give the user a lot 839 00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:35,440 Speaker 1: of control and feedback. Messengers ride in dense and unpredictable 840 00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:39,080 Speaker 1: urban traffic, and like taxi drivers, have varying destinations around 841 00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:42,000 Speaker 1: the city throughout the day. They're often in this setting 842 00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:44,640 Speaker 1: for eight or more hours a day. On top of that, 843 00:46:44,719 --> 00:46:48,120 Speaker 1: they're breakless bikes can't stop very fast. As a result, 844 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,520 Speaker 1: they end up developing incredible predictive and spatial awareness skills. 845 00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:54,400 Speaker 1: It gets to the point that they can fairly accurately 846 00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:57,800 Speaker 1: predict traffic aberrations and develop this sort of third eye 847 00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:00,239 Speaker 1: where they know what's going to happen. Three I gets 848 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:03,200 Speaker 1: into the future, I would imagine that researchers would find 849 00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:06,319 Speaker 1: similar growth of gray matter in these subjects. Just thought 850 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:11,480 Speaker 1: i'd share cheers. T that's interesting and scary. I I 851 00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:14,200 Speaker 1: admit I so I know how to ride a bike, 852 00:47:14,239 --> 00:47:16,280 Speaker 1: but I have not done a lot of bicycle riding 853 00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:18,800 Speaker 1: as an adult. And the idea of like cutting around 854 00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:22,640 Speaker 1: on a breakless bike in city traffic, it's just it 855 00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:25,480 Speaker 1: fills me with dread. Yeah. Yeah, I'm kind of in 856 00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:29,120 Speaker 1: the same boat. I haven't done a lot of bicycle riding, 857 00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:31,560 Speaker 1: and what I have done as an adult has been, um, 858 00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:34,400 Speaker 1: has not been in a like a purely urban setting, 859 00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:36,760 Speaker 1: Like it's not been on the streets of Atlanta or anything. 860 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:39,640 Speaker 1: And um, And I have to say that though I 861 00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:43,000 Speaker 1: certainly feel this desire, especially now, like maybe I need 862 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:44,560 Speaker 1: to get a bike. Maybe now is the time to 863 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:47,279 Speaker 1: get a bike. Um. And it may be. But on 864 00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:50,359 Speaker 1: the other hand, I am, you know, a little trepidacious 865 00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:52,520 Speaker 1: about getting out there on the streets, even in their 866 00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:55,200 Speaker 1: current form. Robert, you want to finish up with these 867 00:47:55,239 --> 00:47:59,239 Speaker 1: emails about pointing. Yeah, let's get into pointing. We we 868 00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:05,080 Speaker 1: had a wonderful old two partner on that. So this 869 00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:07,040 Speaker 1: one comes to us from Sophia. Hi, just listen to 870 00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:09,799 Speaker 1: your two partner on pointing. Very intriguing stuff. What came 871 00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:12,279 Speaker 1: to my mind regarding pointing and non human animals and 872 00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:15,320 Speaker 1: curious animal communication in general, was the way that bees 873 00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:18,480 Speaker 1: communicate in a high using something called a waggle dance 874 00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:21,800 Speaker 1: to tell each other where food water can be found. 875 00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:25,400 Speaker 1: With these movements, they can communicate the direction and distance 876 00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:28,120 Speaker 1: to the source with amazingly high precision. Thought you might 877 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:29,880 Speaker 1: find it interesting. I love your show, keep up the 878 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:33,000 Speaker 1: great work. Best regards, Sophia. Yeah, I don't know how 879 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:34,839 Speaker 1: I didn't think of this in the episode. Clearly this 880 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:38,319 Speaker 1: is an example of pointing right. It indicates directionality, and 881 00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:42,600 Speaker 1: it directs the attention of other animals to the target. Yeah. 882 00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:44,239 Speaker 1: I don't know why I didn't think of this either. 883 00:48:44,239 --> 00:48:47,360 Speaker 1: I was even fishing around a little bit for information 884 00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:51,680 Speaker 1: about pointing in uh in youth, social um insects, and 885 00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:57,760 Speaker 1: uh Yeah, here we have an example. This next message 886 00:48:57,800 --> 00:49:01,760 Speaker 1: comes from Gilead. Gilead says, Hi, Joe and Robert. First, 887 00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:03,759 Speaker 1: I'd like to thank you for the wonderful podcast you 888 00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:05,680 Speaker 1: put out every week. It's a great way for me 889 00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:08,279 Speaker 1: to pass my commute and experience new stuff with your 890 00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:11,960 Speaker 1: really neat style of presenting. Thank you. Two points I 891 00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:14,400 Speaker 1: thought you might find interesting in connection to your latest 892 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:17,719 Speaker 1: episode on pointing. First, the morning after I listened to 893 00:49:17,719 --> 00:49:20,120 Speaker 1: your podcast, I went to the supermarket for my weekly 894 00:49:20,160 --> 00:49:23,120 Speaker 1: purchase of goods, and since they rearranged it, I found 895 00:49:23,120 --> 00:49:25,640 Speaker 1: it difficult to find the stuff I usually buy. I 896 00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:28,200 Speaker 1: stopped by a worker to ask her where rice was, 897 00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:31,359 Speaker 1: and she pointed out the direction. I noticed that she 898 00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:34,439 Speaker 1: was turning her wrist at ninety degrees to the right, 899 00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:37,320 Speaker 1: so the back of her hand was facing right instead 900 00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:40,640 Speaker 1: of up. It immediately clicked with all that you talked about. 901 00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:43,960 Speaker 1: As I was walking in the direction she indicated looking 902 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:46,360 Speaker 1: around to find the rice, I understood that she was 903 00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:48,920 Speaker 1: trying to indicate that the rice was hidden behind a 904 00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:51,439 Speaker 1: corner to the left. It was pretty neat to see 905 00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:54,560 Speaker 1: what you were talking about in real life action, right, 906 00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:56,400 Speaker 1: So I think what they're saying here is that the 907 00:49:56,520 --> 00:49:59,160 Speaker 1: pointing of the hand, the hand turned so that it 908 00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:02,600 Speaker 1: was oriented so fingertip could have reached around to touch 909 00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:06,040 Speaker 1: the rice. Yeah. But anyway, going on with the email, 910 00:50:06,200 --> 00:50:08,200 Speaker 1: I don't think she was even aware that she did that, 911 00:50:08,320 --> 00:50:10,000 Speaker 1: Nor am I sure that I would have picked up 912 00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:13,120 Speaker 1: on it if I hadn't listened to your podcast. Second, 913 00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:15,719 Speaker 1: growing Up in Israel in the eighties, there was only 914 00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:19,240 Speaker 1: one public channel on TV. At the end of each day, 915 00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:22,919 Speaker 1: before sounding the national anthem and ending the transmission. Yes, 916 00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:25,279 Speaker 1: that's the way it was back then. They would read 917 00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:28,760 Speaker 1: one verse from the Bible using the traditional yachd. Remember 918 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:30,279 Speaker 1: we brought that up in the episode. It was like 919 00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:33,720 Speaker 1: a pointing device that has sometimes a little hand shape 920 00:50:33,760 --> 00:50:36,000 Speaker 1: at the end of it that you can scan along 921 00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:38,240 Speaker 1: on the torah with or scan along on the text, 922 00:50:38,719 --> 00:50:41,360 Speaker 1: Gillyad continues. So I thought it might be interesting for 923 00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:43,880 Speaker 1: you to see how that actually looked, since it was 924 00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:46,560 Speaker 1: part of the TV experience of every kid at that time. 925 00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:49,400 Speaker 1: Here's a link you can watch. I did watch the 926 00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:52,080 Speaker 1: link and it looks very interesting. I also like the 927 00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:55,920 Speaker 1: way that as the reader is moving along the text 928 00:50:55,960 --> 00:50:58,800 Speaker 1: with the odd and reading out loud, the cameras also 929 00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:02,360 Speaker 1: slowly zooming out. I don't know exactly. It creates this 930 00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:07,319 Speaker 1: very weird feeling of of kind of like power and revelation. Yes, 931 00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:10,560 Speaker 1: I watched this as well. It's it's it's wonderful. I 932 00:51:10,560 --> 00:51:13,640 Speaker 1: would love to share it with everyone, but the title 933 00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:16,920 Speaker 1: of the YouTube is in Hebrew and I am and 934 00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:19,920 Speaker 1: I'm not sure how to how to share that. But 935 00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:24,200 Speaker 1: but it's really interesting. I like it a lot. Yeah, anyway, 936 00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:27,040 Speaker 1: Gilliad finishes. Thanks again and keep up the great work 937 00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:33,280 Speaker 1: all right. This one comes to us from Matt, Good Day, Robert, 938 00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:34,920 Speaker 1: and Joe. I've written to you before in response from 939 00:51:34,920 --> 00:51:36,880 Speaker 1: an episode of Invention, though not yet for stuff to 940 00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:38,680 Speaker 1: blow your mind. I thought I would send a note 941 00:51:38,719 --> 00:51:42,120 Speaker 1: regarding your most recent episode on pointing part two. Specifically, 942 00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:44,640 Speaker 1: you briefly discussed plant communication and whether there is any 943 00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:47,759 Speaker 1: directional element to it. I farm with my family in 944 00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:50,880 Speaker 1: southwestern Ontario, but my day gig is working as a 945 00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:54,759 Speaker 1: freelance agriculture and science writer. The subject of plant communication, 946 00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:58,200 Speaker 1: specifically crop responses and communication in response to weeds, is 947 00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:00,319 Speaker 1: the subject I've covered a number of times. It's not 948 00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:02,440 Speaker 1: exactly the same subject as you're both discussed, but it 949 00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:06,480 Speaker 1: is related. University of Gelf research back in the nineteen 950 00:52:06,520 --> 00:52:09,080 Speaker 1: eighties showed the presence of weeds early in the growing 951 00:52:09,080 --> 00:52:14,240 Speaker 1: season caused clearly quantifiable drops in crop yields several bushels 952 00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:16,880 Speaker 1: per day for corn, in fact, which is quite alarming 953 00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:19,919 Speaker 1: for farmers. But the mechanism by which this happens has 954 00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:23,359 Speaker 1: not been well understood until recently. Now we know these 955 00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:26,960 Speaker 1: yield drops are a direct result of crops detecting and 956 00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:30,400 Speaker 1: communicating the presence of weeds even before seedlings emerged from 957 00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:34,520 Speaker 1: the soil. That detection cue stress induced adaptive responses, which 958 00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:38,120 Speaker 1: have a rapid and irreversible negative effect on yield. This 959 00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:40,719 Speaker 1: is why early season weed control is so vital for 960 00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:44,160 Speaker 1: the farm business. The detection process itself works as corn 961 00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:47,799 Speaker 1: and soybeans registered light reflected from the far red end 962 00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:51,480 Speaker 1: of the spectrum by weeds. Crops. Seedlings can even perform 963 00:52:51,560 --> 00:52:55,360 Speaker 1: this detection and responsive action before emerging from the ground, 964 00:52:55,760 --> 00:52:59,360 Speaker 1: permanently altering their own morphology. The younger the plant, the 965 00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:02,800 Speaker 1: more suscept double it is. Uh. And then he also 966 00:53:03,200 --> 00:53:06,480 Speaker 1: shares the article that he's referencing. Anyway, I hope you 967 00:53:06,520 --> 00:53:09,000 Speaker 1: find the subject interesting as I did. And one last thing, 968 00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:11,560 Speaker 1: I would also like to reiterate how thankful I am 969 00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:14,680 Speaker 1: to have such excellent, high quality audio content to consume 970 00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:17,960 Speaker 1: during these strange days. Yes, that's the HP Lovecraft reference. 971 00:53:18,480 --> 00:53:21,919 Speaker 1: When that stress beastie gets its teeth in, Sometimes it's 972 00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,720 Speaker 1: the apparent conversations with virtual friends that make all the difference. 973 00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:28,200 Speaker 1: Thanks very much, for your work. Stay healthy and remember 974 00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:31,439 Speaker 1: to have a good time as well. Matt. Thanks Matt. 975 00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:34,480 Speaker 1: We were we weren't sure what the HP Lovecraft reference 976 00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:36,880 Speaker 1: there is that the phrase strange days. I don't I 977 00:53:36,880 --> 00:53:39,759 Speaker 1: don't don't know. I mean, certainly there's some plant shenanigans 978 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:44,880 Speaker 1: in uh at least one HP Lovecraft story. But uh um, 979 00:53:44,880 --> 00:53:47,200 Speaker 1: this may be a way Homer. Of course, I'm always 980 00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:50,319 Speaker 1: home now, so it's not not really, And I guess 981 00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:52,400 Speaker 1: my way to another room. It will suddenly occur to 982 00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:54,120 Speaker 1: me what he's referencing, and we'll have to bring it 983 00:53:54,200 --> 00:54:01,279 Speaker 1: up on another on another another episode. Alright, this next 984 00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:04,040 Speaker 1: message comes to us from Ilva, and this will be 985 00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:08,319 Speaker 1: the last one. So Ilva says, Hello. While I've been 986 00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:11,080 Speaker 1: an avid listener for nine years now, I've never quite 987 00:54:11,080 --> 00:54:14,360 Speaker 1: felt like emailing you before. I just found today's episode 988 00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:17,240 Speaker 1: on pointing a lot of fun, partly because I always 989 00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:21,520 Speaker 1: love stuff on communication, because I'm autistic and finer social 990 00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:24,680 Speaker 1: skills often passed me by. I'm suddenly made aware of 991 00:54:24,719 --> 00:54:27,080 Speaker 1: all the times I've made a faux paw and pointed 992 00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:30,200 Speaker 1: at myself and other people with an extended finger. Oops, 993 00:54:31,239 --> 00:54:33,319 Speaker 1: i'd say, you know, depending on the context, it might 994 00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:35,040 Speaker 1: not have been a faux pau. It's just like I 995 00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:38,520 Speaker 1: don't know. It varies, right, Yeah, I mean yeah, it's 996 00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:43,000 Speaker 1: situation is key. Yeah, but Ilva continues. Uh. And partly 997 00:54:43,040 --> 00:54:46,040 Speaker 1: because of the non human animals part. I have a 998 00:54:46,080 --> 00:54:48,920 Speaker 1: medical alert and service dog. He's been with me for 999 00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:52,480 Speaker 1: nine years and he's smart. Suddenly I realized how much 1000 00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:55,920 Speaker 1: of our communication happens by me pointing at things. I 1001 00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:59,160 Speaker 1: can point with my hand finger and object like a 1002 00:54:59,200 --> 00:55:03,360 Speaker 1: shoehorn or with my foot. Eyeline is not necessary because 1003 00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:06,440 Speaker 1: I wear sunglasses outside and it works great without him 1004 00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:09,239 Speaker 1: knowing my line of sight. It's a huge part of 1005 00:55:09,239 --> 00:55:12,560 Speaker 1: our everyday life. Bring me that thing, go over there, 1006 00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:15,799 Speaker 1: put that thing there, et cetera. While he knows a 1007 00:55:15,800 --> 00:55:18,600 Speaker 1: lot of words and commands, pointing is really the only 1008 00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:21,879 Speaker 1: way to differentiate between different pairs of shoes or give 1009 00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:25,880 Speaker 1: him directions. I cannot recall consciously teaching him this, but 1010 00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:28,560 Speaker 1: it's never been a problem for him. He also does 1011 00:55:28,640 --> 00:55:31,640 Speaker 1: some sort of pointing on his own. He indicates things 1012 00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:34,600 Speaker 1: I should pay attention to by scratching his paw on 1013 00:55:34,640 --> 00:55:37,560 Speaker 1: the floor in front of it, like dropped medication. He's 1014 00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:40,279 Speaker 1: not allowed to touch, or when he just wants me 1015 00:55:40,320 --> 00:55:42,960 Speaker 1: to give him something, or his toy is stuck under 1016 00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:45,800 Speaker 1: the sofa, or I need to refill the water bowl 1017 00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:48,480 Speaker 1: and such. My other dog was picked up as an 1018 00:55:48,520 --> 00:55:51,319 Speaker 1: adult from the street four years ago, and while he's 1019 00:55:51,360 --> 00:55:54,360 Speaker 1: not a hurting dog like my service dog, he's probably 1020 00:55:54,360 --> 00:55:57,560 Speaker 1: of normal dog intelligence and pointing just goes over his 1021 00:55:57,640 --> 00:56:00,319 Speaker 1: head with him. I've tried to train it, but he 1022 00:56:00,360 --> 00:56:03,200 Speaker 1: gets what I mean maybe twenty five percent of the time, 1023 00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:05,359 Speaker 1: and that's a lot better than when I first got 1024 00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:08,680 Speaker 1: him home. Possibly it's a skill acquired in puppyhood while 1025 00:56:08,719 --> 00:56:12,400 Speaker 1: interacting with humans. If it's not inherent, this episode was 1026 00:56:12,520 --> 00:56:14,719 Speaker 1: very interesting and I hope you can talk more to 1027 00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:18,080 Speaker 1: an elephant slash dolphin expert. I'm sending you a picture 1028 00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:21,720 Speaker 1: of the dog in question Atlas uh and much appreciation 1029 00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:25,160 Speaker 1: for me here in Sweden Ilva uh and what an 1030 00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:28,280 Speaker 1: adorable dog in this picture. It's a pretty good dog 1031 00:56:28,640 --> 00:56:30,960 Speaker 1: and it's it's looking up. I thought i'd heard that 1032 00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:35,520 Speaker 1: dogs couldn't do that, but you should check your sources 1033 00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:39,000 Speaker 1: on that. Well. This has been a great mail bag. 1034 00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:41,880 Speaker 1: Thank you everyone so much for getting in touch. Um. 1035 00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:44,839 Speaker 1: This has been really great, And as we always say, 1036 00:56:44,880 --> 00:56:47,520 Speaker 1: you know, if your message wasn't featured, please don't take 1037 00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:50,280 Speaker 1: it personally. We get too much to read on the show, 1038 00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:53,919 Speaker 1: but we really do appreciate all the correspondence we get. Yeah, 1039 00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:56,080 Speaker 1: I mean, and it also lots of cool stuff comes 1040 00:56:56,160 --> 00:56:58,960 Speaker 1: up on the discussion module, the stuff to about your 1041 00:56:58,960 --> 00:57:02,640 Speaker 1: Mind Facebook group, Like somebody shared a video of someone 1042 00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:06,000 Speaker 1: pointing with both fingers on a basketball court. Oh yeah, yeah, 1043 00:57:06,080 --> 00:57:09,200 Speaker 1: yeah yeah, and it was it was incredibly aggressive, was 1044 00:57:09,280 --> 00:57:11,560 Speaker 1: what they were pointing out. Was that, you know, we 1045 00:57:11,640 --> 00:57:14,920 Speaker 1: talked about the idea of pointing with both hands, seemingly 1046 00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:17,520 Speaker 1: as a way to blunt the taboo of pointing with 1047 00:57:17,560 --> 00:57:20,320 Speaker 1: a particular hand or pointing with an index finger, but 1048 00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:22,720 Speaker 1: in this case, is the pointing with both hands happened 1049 00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:25,640 Speaker 1: after like somebody got dunked on and then the guy 1050 00:57:25,760 --> 00:57:28,600 Speaker 1: who dunked on the other guy pointed at him with 1051 00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:31,120 Speaker 1: both hands as he's lying on the floor, and it 1052 00:57:31,200 --> 00:57:36,280 Speaker 1: was like it was the most savage owning I've ever seen. Alright, 1053 00:57:36,280 --> 00:57:39,520 Speaker 1: so you have so probably don't try that, um in 1054 00:57:39,560 --> 00:57:43,600 Speaker 1: real life unless you're really going for a savage presentation 1055 00:57:43,720 --> 00:57:47,080 Speaker 1: like that. All right, Well, in the meantime, if you 1056 00:57:47,080 --> 00:57:48,840 Speaker 1: want to check out other episodes of Stuff to Blow 1057 00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:51,400 Speaker 1: your Mind, you know where to find them. It's wherever 1058 00:57:51,520 --> 00:57:54,400 Speaker 1: you get your podcast and wherever that happens to be. 1059 00:57:54,720 --> 00:57:57,240 Speaker 1: Just make sure that you rate, that you review, and 1060 00:57:57,400 --> 00:58:00,120 Speaker 1: you subscribe. Those are the three things that you can 1061 00:58:00,120 --> 00:58:02,400 Speaker 1: do that really help out the show. Also in general, 1062 00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:04,760 Speaker 1: if you enjoy the show, you know, share it with 1063 00:58:04,800 --> 00:58:07,160 Speaker 1: other people, tell them about it. If there's an episode 1064 00:58:07,160 --> 00:58:10,040 Speaker 1: that uh, you know, and then it's by episode. You know, 1065 00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:12,040 Speaker 1: we cover a lot of ground. Not every episode of 1066 00:58:12,080 --> 00:58:14,040 Speaker 1: the show is gonna appeal to everybody, but you know 1067 00:58:14,080 --> 00:58:16,640 Speaker 1: occasionally you're gonna come across one where you're like, you know, 1068 00:58:17,200 --> 00:58:20,160 Speaker 1: I bet Uncle Steve would dig this episode of Stuff 1069 00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:22,520 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind. I'm going to send it to him. 1070 00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:25,600 Speaker 1: That's right, get us into Steve's ears. That's that's your 1071 00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:30,320 Speaker 1: job this week. Yeah, we're going after that Steve demographic. Anyway, 1072 00:58:30,760 --> 00:58:33,560 Speaker 1: Huge things as always to our excellent audio producer Seth 1073 00:58:33,680 --> 00:58:36,040 Speaker 1: Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in touch 1074 00:58:36,080 --> 00:58:38,240 Speaker 1: with us with feedback on this episode or any other, 1075 00:58:38,280 --> 00:58:40,360 Speaker 1: to suggest a topic for the future, or just to 1076 00:58:40,400 --> 00:58:43,400 Speaker 1: say hello, you can email us at contact at stuff 1077 00:58:43,440 --> 00:58:53,400 Speaker 1: to blow your mind, dot com stuff to blow your 1078 00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:56,360 Speaker 1: minds production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts for 1079 00:58:56,440 --> 00:58:59,480 Speaker 1: my heart Radio because the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts 1080 00:58:59,560 --> 00:59:12,160 Speaker 1: or where every you listening to your favorite shows f