WEBVTT - Humanity's Love Affair with an Apocalypse 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.880 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.560 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.280 are you prepared for the end of the world, because, uh, 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.159 it's coming apparently according to some people. All Right, the 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:26.480 mind calendar, Yeah, there's the mind calendar thing that says, basically, 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.000 this December, the world's gonna end. Then we have, of course, 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:35.200 the rapture predictions that predictions that hold that the world 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.320 way will have actually ended by the time this publishes. 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:40.239 So I don't know if this will pub This may 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.280 publish in a post rapture world. Well, I guess you 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:47.479 haven't seen my bumper sticker over here that when the 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.840 rapture comes, this podcast booth will be evacuated. Okay, Yeah, 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.240 we's been hanging here for We won't be here because 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.320 because we can't. I can't do it by myself. I'm 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.440 sticking around. I've actually ordered a rapture proof suit on 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.039 over the internet. Um, it's like line with lead and 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.720 bubble wrap. Each bubble and the bubble wrap contains a 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:14.639 tiny occultist icon that helps protect my soul from leaving 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:16.520 my body in the case of the rapture. This way 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.040 I can stick around and document the events. Yeah, I 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.400 think that's probably gonna work, just in case. And if 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:23.119 it doesn't happen, well then I just spent a lot 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:25.199 of money in a weird suit. Wouldn't be the first 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:27.959 You wouldn't be the first person either, Right. It turns 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:31.920 out that the end days have been a concept that 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:35.080 that predate Christ. Right, because we typically when we can 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.680 talk about end days or the rapture apocalypse, we usually 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:43.200 think about it being mired in religion. This concept. Yeah, 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:44.920 I mean it's pretty I mean, the whole Book of 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:47.960 Revelations thing and all, it's crazy imagery. I mean that 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:52.960 that is that's certainly into Western audiences, is the predominant idea. 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:56.240 Like I remember growing up and and I was when 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:58.840 my family lived up in Newfoundland, Canada. We had we 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.639 attended this small shirt I remember that the preacher talking 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:03.640 one day about like the end times we're gonna come. 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.640 There was going to be this huge war between the 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.560 forces of good and evil and we would be called 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:11.040 upon to fight in that war. And I remember being 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.760 really thrown back by that. And after such, I was 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:15.840 asking my Mom and Dad. I was like, like, is 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:17.880 that for real? Or we're gonna have to Am I 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:19.320 gonna have to battle in this? Am I going to 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:21.600 suit up? Or what? Yeah? That sounds it sounds kind 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.040 of awful. I'd rather not do that. And they were like, yeah, 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.000 don't worry about that. Where they like it's a metaphor No, 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.200 they were just kind of like, I don't worry about that. Yeah, 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:32.480 I'm not gonna happen. Okay, So all right, obviously today 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:37.640 we're talking about apocalypse, the many apocalypses that have come 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:41.400 and gone and never actually occurred, right, and we're actually 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:45.880 going to talk to right right well who knows, who knows? 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.720 All the matrix were just like hooked up to some 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.119 sort of alien apocalypse right now. And we'll get into 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.359 some of these ideas too, because because in many cases 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:58.680 the apocalypse uh prediction doesn't come to pass, but that 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:02.160 doesn't mean people give up on that prediction. So we'll 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.120 get into exactly how that works on a cognitive level. Yep, 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:08.240 yep um. But we should also talk about the apocalypse. 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:10.320 It's not just in terms of okay, but this is 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.560 the religious thing that we think about, but also um 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:20.320 asteroids nuclear winters, um, you know, natural phenomena that happens, 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:23.040 and people will sit there and say, okay, this must 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.800 be a sign, right and this has been happening forever 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:27.880 since there have been humans right right there. There are 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:31.080 a number of different apocalyptic scenarios. You of course, have 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.440 the spiritual ones, like you said, they're cosmological one. Some 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:36.600 of which have a little more of validity than others, 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.760 like the idea of a meteor comment hitting the Earth 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.600 and causing extreme damage wiping out civilizations. Obviously that has 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.320 occurred before in the past, not within human history, but 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:48.640 I mean nothing on the scale enough to wipe us 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.320 out as a species, but that is it's a possibility. 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:55.120 Unlike some of the other weirder things that are ideas 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.440 that have populated on the Internet, such as like planet 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:02.080 X colliding with the with Earth planetary alignment scenarios that 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:04.960 end up, you know, wiping everything off the face of 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.080 the planet. Things of that nature are a lot more 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:09.920 far fetched, but are at least based in uh, in 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:14.280 actual science at some level. You exaggerated uh. And then 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.000 and then there of course economic predictions. You don't have 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:19.560 to go far to tune into some economic doom and 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.400 gloom these days. And granted, economists predicting the future of 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:27.480 global economies is a far different kettle of fish than 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:29.919 um a guy in the street corner telling you about 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.440 when the demonic or UFO invasion is happening. But still 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.440 it's it's very much a prediction of things going really 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.800 really bad in a very catastrophic manner with dire consequences 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.839 that people will buy into with their fear. Well, and 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.080 I think that we can't help but look over our 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.000 shoulder and see what might be coming at us or 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:51.359 try to predict that. And I was just thinking about 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:57.640 the panel that I heard on Cryptography and the World Sciences. Well, 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.560 thank you. Yeah, and uh, the guy who was retired, 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.000 I don't know if it was c I A, but 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.839 he was sitting there saying, this is actually a really 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:09.920 big issue, the security issue online, because if certain people 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.880 wanted to, they could bring down the U. S. Economy 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.080 and they could basically like close down the grid, closed 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:19.039 down the economy, and we would have something like thirty 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.640 days where we could exist in a sort of peaceful 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.840 manner before all hell broke loose and civilization just sort 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.279 of collapse on itself. So you hear this, you know, 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:31.760 And it's not just this guy, it's just even someone 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.440 like say Stephen Hawking, right, who couldn't help but say, 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.280 you know, hey, I'm going to sound the alarm here. 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:44.360 Quit talking to the aliens. Um. Yeah, if there anything 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.720 like us, they're jerks, you know. They they're really into hierarchies, 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:52.000 um I and b um. You know, if they do exist, 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:55.280 they're probably much more complex than we are in advance. 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.360 So what will that lead to our doom? Yeah, Jeff 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.680 Bell Gold, him and Will Smith are not going to 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:03.080 be able to fly up there and just stick a 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:05.400 disk in the mothership to shut it all down. It's 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.680 gonna be a far different situation. Yeah. Technology has has 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.160 played a partner a number of predictions. There's, of course, 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.400 the the y U K's situation that did not come 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:16.400 to pass, but that had people heading for the hills 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:20.039 and stocking up on water and beans. If you have 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.080 a chance, check out the House Stuffworks dot COM's article 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:26.080 UM two thousand and twelve Apocalypse survival guide. That's one 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.640 I wrote that kind of humorously takes you through ten 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:32.520 of the sort of out there in many cases scenarios 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:36.880 for how the world is going to end, uh this December. Yeah, 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.040 and and some of those are like there's yeah, there's 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.719 one based in computer programs trying to predict the course 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.440 of events, and and people pointing that these computers have 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:47.760 dictated exactly when the world is gonna end, and it 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.039 lines up in two twelve. You know, so we just 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.080 got a clue and you know, got an inkling of 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:58.000 what they were up to. Yeah. So you you know, technological, economic, spiritual, political, 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:00.840 I mean, there's like anything that any kind of movement 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:03.280 or or system that is big enough to fail with 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:07.200 dire consequences. People are uh and and have been predicting 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:11.120 a failure for ages. Yeah. And before we talk about 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.360 some good examples of apocalypse is um or you know 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.480 in the past that people have thought would come to pass, 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.400 let's talk a little bit why we're hardwired to like 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:23.080 a really good apocalypse story. Why does it appeal to us? Yeah, 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.000 because obviously we keep doing these these mental circles for 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.760 a reason, and it's because our brains are are central 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:32.480 to it. Yeah. And there's this in this story of 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.200 the apocalypse or is a promise of renewal, right, and 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.400 the yeah, I mean it's sort of like the phoenix 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:42.200 from the flame. Um. It's an impetus to right our wrongs. Right. 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:44.320 And there's a moral code in some of these which 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:46.040 says that you know, if I live my life right, 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.720 then in the rapture, Um, you know, I will be 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.080 spared from the scorched earth. And speaking of scorched earth, 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.600 I mean, you know, if you're talking in secular terms, 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:58.280 you could even say that, uh, in something like the military, 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:03.040 which has scorched earth policies sometimes and applied to warfare. 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.240 If you take a country down, a community down to 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.920 the studs, you're scorching the earth. There's this idea that 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.880 you can then fill that void with a renewal for 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:18.119 these people. Yeah, right, besides dominating them to a certain degree. Um. 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:19.880 So I mean you can you see it in all 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:23.680 different areas. Um. But again, it is a sort of 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.720 a cathartic experience, and I think that that's why people 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.200 are gravitate to it so much, or some people do. Yeah. 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.680 So many of these systems involve a like a system 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.280 that is flawed to its core ultimately fails, and when 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.120 it fails, that gives us the room to create a 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.640 new system. Be that you know, typically we're talking about 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.440 a civilization. It's like humans for ages realizing that the 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.760 that the systems they create or the systems they inhabit 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.679 are not quite perfect or not completely to their liking. 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.320 And surely if this system were to run its course 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:57.760 and have enough rope to hang itself, we'd be able 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.840 to build some new system that obviously wouldn't be horrible. 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.400 Well to your point, um Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:09.000 actually talks about an Assyrian clay tablet that dates back 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:13.520 to b C. And it was unearthed and it bears 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.720 the words our Earth is degenerate. In these latter days, 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.120 there are signs that the world is speedily coming to 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:24.640 an end. Bribery and corruption are common. Okay, So BC 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:27.880 people are like, you know what, this is, this planet, 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:29.760 this thing that's going on here on Earth, it's just 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.760 not working out. Surely it will end. Surely the Second 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.000 Coming is at hand, right yeah. Yeah. And it's just 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:40.120 one example of you know, perception of moral decay in society. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:42.320 But you know, there's there are a ton of them. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.000 Um Romans saw the a D. Seventy nine eruption of 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.720 Mount Vesuvius as a sign that society was about to 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.319 get its kick in the pants, um when POMPEII went 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:56.000 up in smoke, or excuse me, when Pompey was actually 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.560 buried in smoke. As the eight said, again, it's no 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:00.760 country for old men, right. The We're always looking at 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.400 the world around them and seeing forces that are endangered 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:05.840 in them rising up, and the end systems that are 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:08.680 not working all around them. And patterns always patterns, right yeah, 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.480 because we are brains, as we've discussed before, are all 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:16.080 about finding patterns. We have to navigate this world of 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:20.400 fixed and movable objects, of symbols, of information, of of 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.160 social systems, and we have to navigate all of this. 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.120 So we need a brain. We've we've evolved to have 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:31.080 a brain that is ideal for surviving this environment. Well. 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:33.480 And also think about Haley's comment, right, there's another example 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.600 something happening um getting a lot of press and people 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.360 not quite understanding what the impact, what they think the 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:42.960 impact will be Haley's common only in this nineteen ten 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.640 people believe that the commons tail contained a gas that 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.960 would impregnate the atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.000 on planet Earth, and they began to sell like all 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:57.200 sorts of goofy little relics to help people survived this event. 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:00.320 You know. So again, yes, people, you can't help it, 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:02.680 right if it depends on how much you know about 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.599 an event. And then later we have Heaven's Gate. He 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.680 believed that the comment is going to is actually signals 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:11.959 that the UFO is coming to take us away, or 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.719 at least take this small selection of believers away, right, 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.319 which had a very very sad ending, right, I mean 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.280 this this was this is the case where they actually 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.360 all poisoned themselves, Is that right? Yeah, they all committed 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:27.080 suicide and uh. And the leader he actually, um, he 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:31.000 also had himself surgically castrated. I don't know why that 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.200 was a prerequisite for the alien ship, but you know, 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.679 dude had some issues. Seriously, It's not funny, but just 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:45.439 another good example is the Seekers, right, going back to aliens. Yeah, 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:47.160 the Seekers are quite an interesting story. This is a 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:51.320 small Chicago area cult and whose members thought that they 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:55.920 were communicating with aliens. Uh. It's specifically communicating with Sanan Sananda, 0:11:56.400 --> 0:12:01.480 who they believed was the like a cosmic incarnation of Jesus. Uh. 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:03.120 And the leader and all this was this, uh, this 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.000 lady Dorothy Martin, and so she she had. She was 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:11.200 basically a housewife, like she was not. You know, there's 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:13.880 nothing really spectacular about her life up to this point. 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.720 But then she picked up a little, uh, theosophy, she 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.480 picked up a little scientology. Yeah, she was all about 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:22.839 the dynatics, right, yeah. Yeah. And then by the way, 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:26.319 theosophy is kind of like a found in eighteen seventy five. 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.080 It's kind of a combination of some elements of Buddhism 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.719 and Brahminism and uh, some some reincarnation throwing them with 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.040 some spiritual evolution and uh and there's some spinoffs, right, 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:38.360 like the High Faith, although I don't think that they 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.920 subscribed to I'm well, I'm not sure. I know. Rain 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.000 Wilson is uh this one. Oh I didn't hear that. Yeah, 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.440 he has a really cool site called Soul Pancake, I believe, 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.360 and it's all about like reaching young audiences, getting them 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:55.160 talking and discussing like spiritual ideas. But anyway, so Dorothy 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:59.160 Martin fifty four years old, um oak Park, and she 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.120 suddenly she starts communicating with these with these aliens, and 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:08.480 she learns from them. She says that December, the day 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.040 of the Seas are gonna rise. The continent's gonna split, 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.440 and flying saucers are gonna swoop down to the rescue 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.600 of her and the believers. Uh and and they it 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:19.720 was even to the point where everybody gathered for this. 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:24.960 People were removing zippers from their garnaments and by the way, right, yeah, 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.600 removing the wire from their bras because supposedly that would 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.679 interfere with the spaceship or or perhaps it would just 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.480 slow slow your your journey down as you tried to 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.240 make it through security to board the space ships. She 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.640 divined this, by the way, from automatic writing, which I 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.080 thought was funny because that's sort of old fashioned to me. 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.480 Like that, to me, that's like the Silences and Turn 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:50.160 of the Century, sort of kind of like table raising gig. 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:54.880 So obviously the date came and went, and everyone was 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.800 still here. The world was still continuing, uh, all around 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:01.079 the albums, and they kind of face to I mean, 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.480 they did face a crisis of faith here. What do 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.360 you do when you've come to believe that the world 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:08.920 is gonna end, when you've invested, when you've done this stuff, 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.160 like uh said, well, I'm not I'm never gonna have 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.240 to pay this credit card off, or well I'm not 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.120 gonna need a car again. I'm gonna sell that and 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.520 support this, uh, this group or cult that I'm that 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.800 I've become a part of it, become Yeah, you're committed 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.080 to this idea. Um, if not completely, then substantially. And 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:30.040 then when this core part of your belief system fails 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.920 on you, what do you do? Well, We're gonna take 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:34.920 a quick break and we'll find out what you do. 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.520 This podcast is brought to you by Intel, the sponsors 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:45.000 of Tomorrow and the Discovery Channel. At Intel, we believe 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:49.000 curiosity is the spark which drives innovation. Join us at 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.920 curiosity dot com and explore the answers to life's questions. 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:57.920 All right, we're back, just like we said we would. 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:01.160 That was not a false prediction, came to pass as 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.280 the prophecy foretold. We have returned, and we are going 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.400 to discuss the question of what happens when you predict something, 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:10.560 ideally the end of the world or some sort of 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.760 major spiritual reckoning. What happens when you predicted and it 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.360 doesn't come to pass. Well, when you say, oh my goodness, 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:20.840 this was all you know, Bally who this was a mistake. UM, 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.880 I need to reassess my life and perhaps get my 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.680 job back. When wouldn't that be sort of logical? Well, 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:30.040 that would that would be the logical. But like we said, 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.560 you've already invested a lot in this idea. Yeah, I 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.600 quit my job, I've sold my car. Yeah, and uh. 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.000 As this was happening though with the seekers back in 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.480 the fifties, they were out there preaching the message. They 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.120 really believed this. They were not trying to hoard the 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.720 afterlife and uh and redemption and about board the UFO. 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:48.880 They were not holding those seats for themselves. Apparently there 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:51.360 was plenty of seating available and so they were spreading 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:55.040 the word and uh. One individual that heard this and 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:59.920 was particularly fascinated was a Stanford University psychologist, Leon Festing, 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.320 and so he and some of his colleagues decided to 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.200 infiltrate the group, which I love. This is great, right, 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:07.960 because how else are you going to be able to 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.760 observe people who, you know, what passes over their face 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.840 went December twenty first comes and goes yeah, I mean 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.240 on another level, it's kind of jerky, you know, because 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.320 it's like you're kind of you your way into their 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.160 midst and saying that you believe what they believe. I mean, 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.000 it's like if you you know, started going to uh 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.760 sports games with somebody and then you're really getting into them, 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:31.800 into the into the game, and you're like, oh yeah, 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.640 go falcons or whatever. And then they were then found 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:36.560 when they were like, actually, I don't really like the falcons, 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:38.400 but I've been studying you this wholtime. Yes, you're right, 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.960 you're right, but but but from from an experiment, from 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.920 from research perspective, from a research perspective, this was this 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.600 was an irresistible situation, a real deal. Yeah. Gave them 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.320 the chance to to infiltrate this group, study from the 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.600 inside how they were thinking about the end of the world, 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:58.040 and then study how they behaved once their prediction did 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:00.320 not come to pass. Yeah, And so Fassenger found something 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:04.400 out that was pretty fascinating that when this did come 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.680 to pass. Well, first of all, Dorothy Martin started writing 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:11.000 again really quickly, right we assume, with her automatic writing, 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:14.840 and she received a message that said, hey, wow, the 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:19.399 aliens have spared Earth because we are so committed that 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:21.800 they decided, you know, never mind, we're not going to 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.920 destroy you, which sort of restored people's faith in in 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.439 in what was going on right I I think the 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.919 message was going to be the Aliens saying, hey, we 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:35.320 hit traffic, so we're gonna be a little late. Um, 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.399 someone has metal on, take it off. It's totally slowing 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:42.000 down the our arrival here. But that that's what was 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.520 so amazing, that that people would double down on their 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.080 beliefs in the face of of data that was basically 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.240 telling them that their belief system was wrong. Yeah, because again, 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:54.200 you've already invested so much in are you're just gonna 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:58.479 give up? It's I The podcast that we're recording right 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.240 after this one is going to deal with worts fandom 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:03.520 and as I can't help but wonder if it's a 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:05.160 similar case, like what do you do when you believe 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.879 in a sports team absolutely and you support them and 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:09.760 then they fail on you, and they fail on you 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:11.800 again and again and again. Well, and I know we're 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:13.560 not doing that podcast right now, but I will tell 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.800 you that a lot of times people will blame it 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.320 on bad luck or on the other team, or instead 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:21.359 of actually looking at the raw data and saying, my 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.879 team is not so good so you can't help, but 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:28.720 but seek out some sort of explanation that squares with 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:33.479 your idea, your original idea, and that's what Fastinger based 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.800 cognitive dissonance on correct correct. What's it reminds one of 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:40.520 the situation with Harold camping Um, the the current big 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.040 rapture scenarios that of course had a lot of play 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.600 in the summer. This was May one, right, yes, and 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:47.720 and of course it didn't it didn't happen. But he 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:51.960 immediately said, well, let me revise. I've done the math again, 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.760 and actually, yes, this this date was correct, but it 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.000 was a spiritual judgment and not like the actual judgment. 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:02.320 So it was like, are the file was settled and 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:06.040 stamped by heavenly authorities and then then the actual apocalypse 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:12.080 just explore exploratory committee. Right, they had. But basically he's 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:16.600 in one swoop. He is, he's quantifying what has already happened, 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:19.480 and and he's not backing down from his previous claim, 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.480 but he's also excusing away the fact that the world 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.199 didn't end a lot, and he's bumping that date up 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:27.520 to when it will supposedly actually end, which of course 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.040 he had done in the past. I mean, unfortunately for him, 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:34.480 they didn't get as many contributions after that point. They've 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.239 they've received less money from from their supporters, but they 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.680 still have supporters, and of course this guy still supports 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.000 the idea completely. But yeah, even in the face of 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:46.520 the original prediction not coming true, they've they've simply doubled down, 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.560 revised it a little. And apparently this is common to 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:52.320 when it when a when a when an end of 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.000 the world event does not come to pass, it's spiritualized. 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:57.600 So it's it's suddenly, oh, it didn't take place in 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.800 the real world, but it took place in a spiritual means, 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.720 or there's some sort of other message. Uh. So you 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.800 come up with ways to reinterpret what has happened so 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.159 that the movement can continue, and in some cases you 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:12.360 end up splitting off and becoming you know, the followers 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.199 end up having to really shift gears and becoming a 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:17.199 slightly different faith. Right, which again I always think that 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:20.440 it's interesting this concept that we are creating our reality 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:25.120 every single second, right and then stall just our individual perception. So, yes, 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:27.959 there are some things that are are constants, like like, uh, 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:30.119 you know, the stars in the moon and the sky, 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:33.760 but how you interpret what happens underneath the sky is 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:37.200 completely up to that individual um and there was another 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.760 thing that I read to about cognitive dissonance, and they 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:44.880 were actually saying that, you know, apocalyptic thinking. It's not 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:49.200 unlike people who are skeptical of global warming. Are people 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.960 who are very ardent about the existence of global warming, 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.359 and that the problem here is not that people don't 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.000 have the right data. It's not it's that it's being 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:03.080 framed from a how use perspective and not a data appreciate. 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:05.640 You end up with emotions intertwined in there, and reasoning 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.520 ends up intertwined with that emotion. Even something like global 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:10.600 warming comes down to. Uh, you end up with the 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:15.960 emotional political ideas fueled fueling into that personal uh feelings 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:20.040 of guilt or responsibility become a part of that as well. UH. 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:23.080 And just to recap cognitive dissonance, which we we've covered 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.240 in the past, UM, this is a situation in the 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.679 mind that arises when there's conflict between two opposing thoughts, 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:33.840