WEBVTT - Listener Mail V: Computing the Hyper-Real 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:05.880 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:14.480 Works dot Com. Hey, wasn't the Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.880 My name is Robert Lamb, and I am Christian Seger 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:19.480 and I am Joe McCormick, and we're here for another 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.280 listener mail episodes. We've been doing more of these lately 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:26.000 because we begin we've been getting so much good listener mail. Yeah, 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:30.080 the mail bag inside Carney has been very full. It's 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:32.600 and it's and it's been full of really good stuff too. 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.240 And I gotta throw this out up front, like, we've 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:37.279 gotten so much that there's no way that we can 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.519 address it in every listener mail episode. Now, even if 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:41.839 we do them more often, we could do them like 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:44.240 once a week, and we wouldn't be able to get there. 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.800 That's right. I mean, we're hearing from people via email 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.080 blow the mind at how stuff Works dot Com. We're 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.400 getting people from Facebook and Twitter. We're blow the mind 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:54.640 on both of those. Some people right into us on 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:56.800 Tumbler where we were stuff to Blow your Mind. Some 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:00.520 people on LinkedIn. We did get one on LinkedIn once, Yes, 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.280 and I don't even think it was just your LinkedIn profile. Yeah, 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:09.160 everybody go follow Robert on LinkedIn, but yeah, somebody wrote 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:11.880 us there, So yeah, thanks for everybody who's written in. 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:14.480 And you know, just these are the ones that we 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:18.000 felt would make like the most compelling listener mail episode. 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.119 But there's lots of other stuff out there, and I'm 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:22.960 gonna make an effort to try to sit down and 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:24.600 respond to all of them. I need to take a 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.480 day and just go through everyone. Yeah, it kind of 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:28.760 depends on what day they come in, but we get 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.360 a lot of great stuff for sure. Anyway, the takeaway 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:33.880 is if you sent us an email, we don't get 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:35.640 a chance to read it today. Please don't take that 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.119 as a slide against We've just got way more than 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:40.759 we can get to. But we really do appreciate all 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.480 of your correspondence. And Carney does too. Because Carney is 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:48.680 just bulging with happy energy. I see a lot of 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:53.920 energy around him. There's like a rainbow field of luminescence. No, 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:57.920 you know what that is. Earlier this week, I set 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.880 Carney to try to solve all of the P versus 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:04.520 MP problem, and I think this morning he might have 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.560 actually found a solution. He hasn't. He hasn't given us 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:09.760 the solution yet. Maybe he judged that it's not for 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:12.600 our minds to know, but he has been glowing with 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.120 a radiant light and emitting choirs of angels. The sound, 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:20.160 you know, it's just coming out from inside him. So yeah, 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.000 it's it's been kind of warm and happy sitting in 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.360 his presence. Yeah, I'm basking in the glow of Carney. Well, 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:31.519 if if Carney has not evolved too far beyond our understanding, 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:36.840 perhaps he slash, she slash yet can present us with 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:41.200 some listener mail. Alright, so this first message is from 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:44.440 our listener, Nicole, and it's with reference to the episode 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.200 Robert and I did on the intelligence of birds. Nicole says, Hi, 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:52.079 I just finished listening to your episode on avian intelligence 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.400 and it brought to mind and experience I had as 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:58.119 a teenager. We had some problem crows that were attacking 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.360 our postman and ripping the shingles off our roof to 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:04.400 pitch them onto the lawn. My dad heard that if 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.640 you kill a crow and hang it from a tree, 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.239 it will drive the other crows off, so he shot 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.560 one with a pellet gun and hung it from a 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.480 tree in our backyard. I've heard this as well, not 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.360 I've never I haven't shot one but I've heard this, yeah, 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:23.040 she continues. The next morning, I looked out the window 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.720 to see hundreds and hundreds of crows sitting in the 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:31.320 trees encircling our backyard like a black wall. They were 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.200 making no noise and staring at the body of the 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:38.400 dead crow hanging from the tree. They stayed the entire day, 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.480 barely moving, never making a sound. I don't know if 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:44.240 crows typically hold awake, or if my dad happened to 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:48.120 have shot their grand chief, but the experience was chillingly terrifying. 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:53.640 Love your podcast, Nicole. That that is the most disturbing 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:57.760 piece of listener mail I've ever read. That's like the 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.480 Dark Half. Do you remember that it was a dark half? 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:05.120 What it was it sparrows and the sparrows are flying. Yeah. 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:09.040 They were like psychopomps. They were like embedded with the 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:12.600 energy of of malice or something that kind of drag 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.840 you away. Yeah. Well, I mean I do kind of 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.560 wonder about her question, there was there something special about 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.719 this crow or was it? Was it just don't you 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.599 guys come across anything even even remotely like this in 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:29.400 the episode. I mean, crows do have a startlingly complex 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.640 social intelligence. Yeah, they have social relationships, and they seem 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:37.320 to display theory of mind where they can imagine the 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.080 intentions of other entities. Maybe they were like fronting to 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.040 her dad. They were like, oh, you want to kill 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.320 one of us, and then just like swarmed and we're like, 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:51.440 this is our gang. You can't row more so than 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.680 most birds. I believe there's the possibility for something I 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:59.240 had to be taking place. Yea though. Yeah, so thanks 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.440 for sharing, Nicole. That is very weird alright. This next 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:05.799 one is from Issha. I believe, and she says, hello, 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:08.200 I love the podcast and love the episode on Jeff 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.440 the Killer. That's the creepy pasta two episode we did. 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.160 I'm not trying to nitpick, but when you guys were 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.039 talking about acid burning, one of you said it is 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.440 more prevalent in countries where it is quote more acceptable 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.320 in society. I'm from Pakistan and I would like to 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:27.000 assure you that acid burning is not socially acceptable there. 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.200 It is a crime and perpetrators are punished. Saying it 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.279 is acceptable in society simply because the rate of occurrence 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:35.839 is high is the same as saying that gun violence 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:39.520 is acceptable in America's society for the same reason, I 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.120 have attached an article detailing the legal repercussions of committing 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.800 the crime of attacking someone with acid in Pakistan. Once again, 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:48.960 I love the podcast and apologize if it was a 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.120 little harsh. I don't I don't think that's a little 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.039 harsh at all. And actually when I first read this, 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.359 I was like, oh, jeez, I really hope I didn't 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.960 imply something like that. I think what we were trying 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.159 to get across was just that there are societies where 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:08.240 it's culturally prevalent. Yes, so that the exact quote in 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.960 that bit in in that episode was there have been 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.480 a couple of incidents where there have been Western tourists 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:17.159 in foreign countries where this is more acceptable, and um, 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.560 you know, to the to the listeners point, yeah, acceptable 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:25.000 is maybe not the right word here, said yeah, yeah, 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.479 that that I mean, that's a spur of the moment 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:29.920 thing that and that's my bad. But I would say, 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:33.599 like to her analogy here, like, I think you could 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:39.080 make the the statement that gun violence in American society 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.960 is prevalent. Yeah, I think that there there's a strong 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.279 comparison to be made here where a gun violence is 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:48.320 not something that is at all. I mean particularly the 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.159 kind of like mass shooting thing to it it's been 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.240 dealing with. Certainly, nobody is out there saying this is good, 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:55.760 this is great, this is happening, but it is happening 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.479 with enough of of a frequency that it exists in 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.360 the uh in like the public mindset. And if one 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.920 is to get you know, slightly poetic here, I guess 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.040 if one's heart were to go to a dark place, 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:12.400 then that experience, that motive behavior is waiting for them 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:16.080 there as an American um. But yeah, I don't. I 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.320 think it's the use of the word acceptable. Maybe that 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.520 caused the confusion, and that's certainly not what I was implaying. Yeah, 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.920 but that's a good clarification. Thank you, actually, and thank 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.080 you for letting us know. All right, Well, you know, 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:30.480 Joe and I did an episode on the Tip of 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.280 the Tongue or taught so we when we asked everyone 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.040 out there to share their taughts, and we receive a 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.720 lot of good feedback. So here's one from Ashley says, Hey, guys, 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:40.160 just finished up your Tip of the Tongue episode and 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.160 I thought I might have some insight into a couple 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.239 of topics that you brought up. First, I am fluent 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.400 in both English and as all American Sign Language. I 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.280 found that this is a most helpful skill in resolving 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.720 taughts in my world. Not only is a s L 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:57.360 far more primitive of a language than English, whose discrepancy 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.360 aids me in thinking of words by their death nisition 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.680 and not just their uses, but since ASL is a 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.960 physical language and English verbal, I often have the pieces 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:10.200 in one side when I don't on the other, translating 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.760 the discovery into the desired language becomes easy at that point. 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:15.800 This is an interesting point because we talked in the 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.880 episode about how I was surprised to find that there 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.520 is such a similarity between looking for the word in 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.440 English and or any language in a spoken language. And 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.200 then this also this thing known as the tip of 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.680 the fingers phenomenon in deaf signers, where they have the 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:33.520 same experience. They're looking for the sign and they have 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:35.960 the semantic meaning of the word, but they can't remember 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.320 what you do with your hands. So I wasn't on 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.960 this episode, but it reminds me of when we did 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.520 the Cyborg episode recently. We were talking about how one 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:46.160 of the guys had coined the word cyborg was very 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:51.120 interested in the ways that uh cyborgs could process language differently, 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:52.960 to the point that he was trying to come up 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:56.560 with a way to come up with averages of words, 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.800 like he was thinking about words as math and I 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:01.320 think there's a bit of a connection here. And at 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.200 the time I said, you know, this reminds me of 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.319 structuralism and post structuralism. This seems to be, as often 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.160 happens on stuff to blow your mind, one of those 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.920 topics that we circle around. Maybe we should do something 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.000 about it in the future. Although uh Man, post structuralism 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:19.120 with your real tough topic to try to spell out 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.040 in a like an hour long podcast. It would be 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:24.560 a challenge, but hey, we're all about a good challenge. 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.439 But anyway, Ashley does continue. Yes, she says, I also 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.199 produce write the words the anchors say at my local 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:32.800 news station. You mentioned during the podcast some of the 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:36.040 differences between speech and written Producing is a fun exercise 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:38.200 in both rooms. Not only must the words make sense 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:40.280 to the viewer who listens, but also to the anchor 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:43.640 who reads the words I assemble. Anyways, thanks for keeping 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:47.319 my mind entertained as I drive about town. Ashley. So, 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.920 Ashley is the shadow figure behind the news echo borg. 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:53.559 This is kind of like how you and I are 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:57.320 the shadow figures behind brain stuff. Yeah. Yeah, Jonathan Strickland 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:59.480 is our little puppet. Yeah. Most people have only seen 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:01.959 him from the but from the behind. But from looking 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.320 him from behind, it's just like the flesh opens up 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:09.280 into these rods. They've never seen the armhole. I kid, 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.600 Jonathan Strickland is full of wonderful insights on his own 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.480 and rods and gears. Okay. Also a couple of quick 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.120 messages we got back about the Tip of the Tongue episode. 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.240 Listener Sophia writes in good morning, gentlemen, love love, love 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.320 of the podcast. You're too kind, she says, seeing as 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:26.559 you asked, I constantly have a tip of the Tongue 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:29.840 moment with Christopher Walkin. I've seen most of his films, 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:34.240 his infamous SNL episode, and perhaps every celebrity imitation of him. 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.040 But when I talk about him, for whatever reason, I 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.640 cannot get his name out. Fun fact of which I'm 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.439 sure you're aware. He was in The Deer Hunter, which 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.440 is what I googled to get his name with wait 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:49.760 for it, John Kaze, John Kaze. Christian figured big into 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.360 our tip of the Tongue episode, Oh is he one 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.120 that you? One of you have a tip of the tongue? 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.199 We I mean, if i'd asked you who played Fredo 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.920 in The Godfather, would you have that name? No, and 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.680 I'll tell you why. I've never seen The god What. Yeah, well, 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.800 I know it's stunning. I've never seen any of the 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:11.400 Godfather films. I'm planning to sometime this year though. Okay, well, um, 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:13.520 don't let anybody build them up too much for you. 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.880 Oh okay, but I think I know who Jun Kazale is. 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.120 I know he was in a Deer Hunter dog day 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.240 after Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that guy. Yeah. So 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.199 thanks for writing in, Sophia. Sophia comments that she's in 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.200 Rome and so we appreciate that message. But I had 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:30.920 to read back to back with this, also a message 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:35.760 from Parker, who has a strange convergence here with Sophia's comments. 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.840 So Parker writes in says hey guys. Also Parker's referencing 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:41.600 the Tip of the Tongue episode. He says, hey guys, 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.599 super interesting episode. As always, you asked what were the 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.319 words that always tripped us up? For myself, I had 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:51.559 many years where I had ceaselessly confused Paul Giamati, Steve Bashemi, 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:56.120 and Christopher walkin Uh. It's likely that they all have 0:11:56.240 --> 0:12:01.360 somewhat sad faces, and specifically that Giomati and Bashemy have 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:05.600 Italian last names, while Bashimmy and Walking looks somewhat similar 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:09.280 in their character, acting a bit scrawny and pale. It's 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:13.000 interesting as a Venn diagram, however, because the subsets of 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.839 two would always be confused, but never all three. I eat, 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:22.120 Giamati and Bashemmy interchangeable. Bashemy and Walking were interchangeable, but 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:26.240 I would never confuse Geomati and Walking. Uh. This aspect 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.280 is surely an extra phenomenon of its own, but it 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.480 seems as if it came into play as well. Do 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.439 you think the same part of the brain would be 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:37.640 affected when confusing people and trying to recollect people slash words? 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.400 Thanks for everything always entertained as I listen to you 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.400 guys while crunching numbers at my business management job. Have 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.599 a great day. Thank you for the message. But I 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.840 think that's an interesting question. I do pretty much think 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:50.960 it's it's going to be the same part of the brain. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.520 I am not a neurologist, or a psychologist or an 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.480 expert on speech production. So that is my my lay 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.040 person's opinion as somebody who's read about this. But from 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:03.120 what I've read, I think, yeah, that we use sort 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.959 of most of the same gear in our brains to 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:07.920 come up with proper names that we do to come 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:10.880 up with words where in either case, you know the 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.640 semantic meaning you're either thinking about the person, you're thinking 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:15.800 about the definition of the word, but you just can't 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.600 come up with the sounds your mouth is supposed to make. Yeah, 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:22.000 so spoilers for our our listeners. Actually this happens to 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:25.040 us in the studio quite often, and we just edited 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.440 out where it will be me going, uh that, what's 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:34.040 his name? Uh, and then our producer Noel thankfully edits 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.319 it out so we sound, uh, you know, the right 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.320 thing as we as we brought up in the episode. 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:41.800 The best thing you can do to solve that problem 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.200 more or less on your own as quickly as possible. 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:49.360 That otherwise that the part of the brain ties Paul, 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:51.920 part of your brain. Yeah, don't sit in that tip 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.439 of the tongue state forever. It's not interesting to think 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.000 of Steve Bushemi as being like the sort of center 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:00.400 of this uh universe of character actor is that are 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.200 easy to confuse with one another. I would never be 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:05.800 confused about Steve to shimmy like his name. I look 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:07.720 at people who aren't Steve for shimmy, and I think 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.679 Steve a shimmy. All right, here's another one. This one 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:16.120 comes to us from Jonathan in Melbourne, Australia says, quote 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.840 in the show, you mentioned the French version of the phrase, 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.120 which translates to hole in the head. However, I think 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:24.720 you may have taken the phrase too literally. From your 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:26.560 banter around the show, it sounds like you interpreted the 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:29.680 phrase as being like a hole through the skull. And granted, 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.800 given a trepidation style, and since we've covered trepidation on 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:34.360 the show, we kind of can't help but do that. 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.720 We can just have a predisposition to talk about holes 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:42.240 in the skull. Um. That's another topic that the show keeps. Yeah, well, 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:43.760 it's kind of in the title of the show, right, 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:45.320 stuff to blow your mind? How are you gonna blow 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.680 the mind of not creating a hole? And speaking of Todd, 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:49.760 what's the guy we've talked about him on the show before, 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:56.360 the famous guy with a rod through the head. Yeah, yeah, anyway, 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.720 Jonathan continues, However, I interpret it as a meaning u 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.920 of a void or space in which the name or 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:05.800 idea should exist but is missing. That makes the phrase 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.200 more like the descriptions earlier in the episode where you 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.360 quoted descriptions of the feeling is being similar to have 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.440 having the shape for the idea in your head and 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.040 nothing else would quite fit there, but the idea itself 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:19.040 is missing, it can't be grasped. That interpretation makes the 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:21.960 French version of the phrase perhaps the most accurate. Thanks 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:23.920 again for a great podcast. I think it makes it. 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:25.800 I like this, It makes this as a black hole 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.960 in the mind. Yeah, I think Jonathan sounds like you're 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.560 exactly right. I bet you are interpreting this right and 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.800 we were interpreting it wrong. Uh. The hole in the 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.200 head is like what you're referencing is when we talked 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:40.320 about William James. You know, William James sort of has 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.520 this idea of the wraith, the wraith of the name. 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.160 It's this mold where the name should be, and nothing 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:48.440 else will fit in the mold except the name. But 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:52.120 you can't come up with the name. Yeah, that's scary. Actually, 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.640 I thought about the black hole in your head, and 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.000 it getting larger larger the longer he's been thinking about it. 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:02.560 Always starts with Steve. Okay, one more about the tip 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.920 of the tongue episode before we move on. We heard 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.840 from our listener Tyler, who said, hello there. I frequently 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.080 experience taught moments as a bilingual, and this is something 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:15.320 that actually comes up in the literature, is bilingualism and taughts. 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.160 Tyler writes, often I experienced the problem of having the 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:23.360 correct word but not in the correct language. This happens 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:25.920 more frequently in times when I've when I have to 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:29.280 switch back and forth from Spanish to English. I enjoyed 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.560 the explanation on knowing the starting point and the ending 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.960 but not being able to make the connection. I've personally 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.880 felt that it's caused by modes. Sometimes when I'm in 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.480 a Spanish mode, it's hard to get out of it. Uh. Similarly, 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.960 I experience it when talking on different subjects. I might 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.440 be in a movie mode and then the conversation goes 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.320 to music, but the connections are still trying for movies. 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.720 Thanks for the episode. I very much enjoy your explanations 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:59.440 of every day often overlooked occurrences Kadado uh Tyler, and 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:03.520 so I think that's an interesting insight, like the different modes, 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:06.800 Like you're you're almost in one warehouse in your brain 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.919 looking for product codes to locate the correct items on 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:13.280 the shelves, and if you quickly transition to a different 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:16.240 warehouse part of your brain, that that it might be 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.520 harder to locate the things you're looking for. I can 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.320 see how that would be true. Yeah, yeah, indeed. Okay, 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.600 here's two that are about the same thing, and it's 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.000 something that came up in our episode on cargo Cults 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.200 and Richard Feynman. The first comes from Carson and he says, 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:31.919 just listening to the cargo cult episode, I laughed at 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.600 the part about the reflexology student and then realized what 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:36.960 was probably going on. I'm not going to call it 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.760 mumbo jumbo because someone near and dear to me practices it, 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.320 but I am also not ready to deny the placebo effect. Well, 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:45.240 I'll just say that I think that we should do 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.360 an episode on reflexology. So I don't think it's mumbo 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:51.080 jumbo either. But anyway, the theory is that your body 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:54.080 has energy fields that are all connected, all across the body, 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:57.400 and using this knowledge, you can massage a specific pressure 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.359 point on the foot and have an effect on the pituitary. 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.399 So the student probably didn't think the pituitary was actually 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.000 in the foot. He probably just meant he was on 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.719 the pressure point. However, I wasn't personally there in that 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.320 hot tub, so I can't say for sure. Thanks for 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.840 that clarification, Carson. Yeah, and then we received another message 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.560 from Jonathan similar thing. He says, a wonderful podcast on 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.040 cargo cults. But I have one comment that's not for you, 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:25.600 but for Richard Feynman. I don't think Richard Feynman still 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:27.879 a lot of this now. He's quite yeah, I have 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.080 no desire to validate foot reflexology as a science. But 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:33.320 according to a system, there are channels of energy that 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:35.520 run through the body. Points of the feet correspond to 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.000 different organs of the body. So this is the same thing. Uh. 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:41.479 And he's basically saying that it's possible that Feynman just 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:43.600 took this the wrong way. So to recap from that 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:46.480 episode Fineman, the story goes that Fineman wasn't a hot 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.480 tub with some reflexology students, and they were kind of 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.840 like rubbing on each other, and one said I think 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.280 that I've got your pituitary and he was rubbing on 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.239 a girl's foot, and Fineman was like, clearly, that's not 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:01.000 your pituitary, and he uses that as an example of 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.880 cargo cult science and then like they didn't really understand science. However, 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.280 these two messages seem to indicate that the student actually 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:14.200 was probably thinking he was accessing the energy lines connecting 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:18.640 to the pituitary, and that Feynman was just being grumpy. Well, 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:21.360 I don't want to be unfair because I haven't read 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.080 all that much about reflexology, but it it sounds like 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:27.680 it is a reasonable assumption to say, massaging somebody's foot 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:32.320 is not really affecting the energy lines going to their pituitary. See, 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:33.800 I don't know, And that's why I think we should 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:35.320 do an episode on it, because I don't know. Well, 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:37.840 I mean, it sounds like it's based on some kind 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.960 of non evidence based thoughts about like spirit energy and stuff. 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.760 Maybe well maybe I I always took it to be 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:47.919 like more like pressure points and things like that, like 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:51.280 similar to acupuncture. But yeah, maybe we should investigate this 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:53.960 and unravel it. Oh man, if we want to open 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:56.800 that can of worms. I don't know if you. We 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:59.640 could start with me rubbing your feet, Joe, see what happens. Well, 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:01.800 we can do some acupuncture and see if we get 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.920 the CBO effect. Okay, alright, So next we're gonna talk 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.399 about some emails we got with reference to the episode 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:10.960 Robert and I did on hyper Real Religions. That was 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.879 the episode about religions that are founded based on texts 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:18.720 or or canons or ideas that the believers in the 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:22.919 religion explicitly acknowledge our fictional and there's not like a 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:25.920 you know, somebody thinks there's a real spiritual revelation, you're 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.679 basing it on the Big Lebowski or Star Wars or 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:31.560 something you know is not real to begin with. And 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:33.560 the way that Robert put it to me later on 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.280 was sort of like a Cyborgian version of religion, and 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:40.400 that like, you take aspects that work for your personal 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:43.520 worldview and helped the kind of guide you along what 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.720 you consider to be a sort of righteous path already. Yeah, 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.400 so we got a lot of interesting feedback about this episode. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:51.760