WEBVTT - Boxing Day Listener Mail 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.760 My welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:13.520 of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, you welcome 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:15.640 to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.320 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and welcome to Boxing Day. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.160 It is traditionally Boxing day. Uh if if you've ever 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:25.080 wondered about this one do we call it boxing Day? 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:27.040 As as I was a kid, I remember it would 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.240 always especially be featured on the Canadian calendar, and I 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:32.080 always assumed, well, this is when I guess you box 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:33.960 things back up. Maybe you're not supposed to have all 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.760 these gifts. Um uh. My understanding though, is that it's 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:39.519 tied in with the idea of this being a day 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:41.800 when you would traditionally give a box. You would give 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.120 a gift to um uh, you know, to to various 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:49.360 UM delivery people and whatnot. So it's another day about giving. 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.040 But you could also be inclined to make the mistake 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.280 that our mail bought Carney has made. Uh. He knows 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:57.960 that it is boxing day. He um. He knows that 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:02.360 boxing is a physical combat sport in which humans punch 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.760 each other, generally in the head region with with large 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.399 gloves on. And then of course he has the rockham 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.480 stock'em robot example to go by, and so so he's 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.560 become incredibly aggressive, Yes, incredibly so, I mean lucky. He's 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:17.280 wearing the gluckily, he's learning the gloves because otherwise Carnie's 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:21.039 hands are metal. But that's what we're having to put 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.360 up with today. Still, he has his primary programming is 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.479 to deliver listener mail to us, and he is still 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.320 doing it, granted with a little more punch than usual. Right, 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.479 we'll just have to dodge the fists of fury every 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.160 time we retrieve one. Right. Well, you know, since it's 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:40.160 so close to Christmas, since Christmas is still in the air, uh, 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.320 dissipating in the air around us, we should probably kick 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.400 off with some Christmas holiday related listener mail before we 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:52.360 get into more general listener mail. Okay, let's get ready 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.920 to rumble. Here's the first message. This comes from Corbin. 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:59.920 It's about our episode is Santa of God? Corbin said, 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:04.120 is Hey, Robin Joe. Your discussion about minimally counterintuitive narratives 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.400 brought to mind one of my all time favorite sci 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:11.240 fi series, Dune. I haven't listened to all your podcasts. 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.520 My sincerest apologies, but somehow, I feel like you're familiar 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.800 with the books. How little you know Corbett? Yes? Um. 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:22.000 I found it interesting that Frank Herbert, when depicting Leto 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:26.760 the Second as a god emperor, began his transformation remaining 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:31.120 primarily humanoid and gradually over time became more worm. So 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.000 this is the transformation of a person into a giant sandworm. Right. 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.000 If you only know Doune from the films, you haven't 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.240 really seen this yet. I think the TV mini series 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.200 is about as far into the books as as as 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:48.920 anyone has visually dared go huh uh. Corbin continues, however, 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:52.440 even till his last day r I P. He maintained 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.320 his human face despite the fact that his brain was 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:59.240 a distributed, collective nervous system. It's an interesting thought that 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.840 Frank Herbert this as an illustration not only to the readers, 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.320 but also to the characters in the universe that Letter 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.320 the Second was at one point a human and therefore 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.240 more easy to anthropomorphize. Leto's goal was, after all, who 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.040 rapidly spread his religion across an entire universe, albeit through 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.720 more nefarious means. I feel it's also easier to say, yeah, 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:21.960 we worship a giant worm, but he used to be 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.120 a human. He still has a human face. Then, yeah, 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:27.480 we worship a giant worm with a gullet filled with 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.520 rows upon rows of teeth. We won't get into the 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.480 Fremen and how their worship of Shihlu differs fundamentally. Really 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.040 enjoy listening and typing. This email really felt like a 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.240 good way to create some discussion, even just with myself, 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.520 about something I thought was a very interesting concept applied 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.280 to someone fundamentally more badass than a fat man in 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:50.600 Red Pj's regards. Corbin, Well, I mean you could combine 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.920 them right and you have Santa Santa Leto arriving. But no. 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.400 I yeah, obviously I love this email because it ties 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.600 in with the episode but also drags Dune into the 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.760 whole picture. I like how Corbyn is not sure whether 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:07.040 we've read Dune or not. Things maybe we have, so 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.800 we definitely we have, of course, uh, and we're we're fans. 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.280 We did a couple of episodes years back about the 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.000 science of done the technology of Dune. We didn't talk 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:21.919 about everything in the first book or certainly the the series. 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:23.960 We talked about a few things we talked about still 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.200 suit we talked about sandworm biology. We even got into 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:31.760 consideration of the the face dancers and how that might 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.880 work based on some folks interpretations. Yeah, somebody was recently 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:39.200 asking us to do an episode on Goala's Wait Wait 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:41.560 is that the same as face dancers are different? Different 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.360 difference I've made by the same people. Um, so yeah, 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.520 maybe we could come back and do Dune Part three 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.080 sometime in the future. I think so. I think basically 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:52.520 we would want to We need to couch the first 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:54.640 part of it in something familiar, something we would tie 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.680 into the first movie, especially the first book in movie, 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.040 especially since we're getting a new film adaptation coming up 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.560 in So yeah, we definitely definitely need to do it, 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:08.720 and there's plenty to talk about. Uh, do you want 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.039 to do one more quick one about whether or not 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.919 Santa counts as a god before we move on. This 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.360 comes from Clarence. Clarence says, Hey, guys, my name is Clarence. 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.720 Is my first time writing, although I've been listening for 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.599 a few years now. Um, honestly hoping to get this 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.279 read in the next Listener Mail episode. Well here you go, Clarence. Uh, 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:29.520 Clara says, anyway, just listened to the episode entitled is 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:33.120 Santa God? Part One? Interesting? And I oh and Clarence 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.680 appreciated the warning we put in at the beginning of 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.640 the episode. Maybe Clarence listens with some kids. Um, But 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.080 as I was listening, I thought about something few people 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:45.520 knew about, and even fewer still remember. Santa is actually 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.360 one of the most powerful entities in the Marvel Comics universe. 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.000 It has been alluded to in a few issues I've 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.159 read over the years. Most recently I can remember in 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:58.880 Spiderman Deadpool issue number twelve Food for thought. I'd like 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:00.800 to know what you guys think of Santa as a 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:05.839 Marvel character clearance. Well, obviously I'm in favor of this, 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.000 and I think he absolutely needs to be incorporated into 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.240 the Marvel Cinematic universe. It's a shame that he did. 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.600 He wasn't in there in that big, you know, battle 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.200 against Thanos. I think he'd be fighting on the side 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.120 of Thanos. Right, is Thanos the one that wants everybody 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:25.520 to be good boys and girls? He will? I think 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:29.080 I haven't seen them. He's all about overpopulation. Really, really, 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:31.920 I don't know the whole Thanos thing. Yeah, I think 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.800 that's basically it in the films, it's it's a little 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.279 different in the comics. As I recall the comics is 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.560 more about love, like he's in love with Death daughter 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:45.200 or something, or Death herself. I'm a little he's trying 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.280 to impress her by like killing everybody. Yeah, sort of thing. 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:50.760 But no, I would love for SANTAA to pop up 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.240 because there's so many. Every every matchup, every team up 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.040 is great. Like you could have Santa team up with 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:02.159 Blade to go after Christmas Ferrato's. That would be good. 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.240 That would be good. Um, well, this fits into our 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:08.680 discussion of is Santa more Superman or is he more Batman? Yeah? 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.600 This this is a good question. I guess in the 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:15.240 Marvel cinematic, in the Marvel universe, he is more Superman. 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.080 It sounds like I wonder if it's different in d C. 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.400 Does d C also have an incarnation of Santa, And 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:24.320 if so, is it more Batman esque? I would love 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:29.720 to know. All right, here is another holiday related bit, 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:31.320 a bit of listener mail. This one comes to us 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:34.800 from Martin Martin Wrightson and says, Dear Robert and Joe, 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.120 thank you for the very interesting show on Crampus. Although 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:40.680 I am from Austria. I've never given this tradition any 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.680 second thought. Crampus was just a natural part of the 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.680 folklore I was brought up with, same as Christmas. In 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.800 the Easter Bunny. On St. Nicholas's Eve, our parents filled 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.880 our stockings with sweets and my father rattled some iron 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:58.080 chains pretending to chase away Crampus. It was exciting for 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:02.560 us kids picturing my father Finn ending off some goat demon. Anyway, 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:04.640 as I grew older, I realized that Crampus was not 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.880 real and kept him as a childhood memory, again, same 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.640 as the Easter penny. One thing that came to my 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.000 mind while listening to your podcast is the role that 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.440 the Crampus actors take on. You focused on the effects 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:18.720 Crampus has on children, but I think it also has 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.280 some effect on the Crampus impersonator. Not having any studies 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:24.640 to back this up, I believe that Crampus also serves 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.560 as some kind of outlet, a controlled and socially acceptable 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.120 way for grown men to act out violent acts and 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.880 let go of themselves in a cathartic way. I was 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.840 wondering if you came across such an explanation while researching 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.600 Thanks again for your wonderful show. Kind regards Martin, and 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.480 he has a ps but let's talk about what he 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.600 just said before you get to the PSU. Well, that 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:48.319 didn't come up with respect to anything specifically about crampus, 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.440 but we absolutely have looked at studies before that, at 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.280 least in some cases show that people have UM reduced 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.600 inhibitions when their identity is hidden. So there have been 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.680 like studies, for example, finding that UM people are more 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.640 willing to march around in public with a sign that 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.280 says something embarrassing if their identity is hidden. That's obviously, 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.200 you know, that's not very surprising. But I guess one 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.080 thing that's interesting is they're more willing to do that 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.640 even probably if they're around people that you know, might 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.720 not recognize them personally. There's something about having your identity hidden, 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:23.959 putting on the mask, putting on the costume that allows 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.120 you to shed some of the normal barriers to behavior 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:29.520 that that would be inhibiting you. Yeah, and I think 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:34.160 there's also a link to animism because you see various 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:39.080 examples of practices around the world in which someone wears 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:42.560 the fur or the horn, or the skull of or 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:46.520 even just the the painted or tattoo likeness of the beast, 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:49.560 and then as a part of a ritual, becomes the 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.400 beast to some extent, and it sort of enables a 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:57.319 more you know, a wilder acting out. So I think 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:00.679 there's there's definite connection to that as well in the 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.840 crampus tradition. Yeah, oh yeah, that that putting on the costume. 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.040 It removes, but it also adds, you know, it takes 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.880 away some of your natural personality and inhibitions and it 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.200 adds to you know, you get to take on the 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.880 qualities of this character, right, And it's uh and certainly 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:19.960 in terms of it being you know, this outlet and 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.959 being a um me, this release valve and to a 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.240 certain extent, well, I mean we also see examples from 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:27.720 I think even this year there are a couple of 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:31.400 news stories about some perhaps overly rowdy or even um 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:36.360 offensive crampas impersonators in a few uh uh cities, and 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:38.600 I mean that kind of goes, I think to the 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.760 nature of what this is doing. It's it's like having 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.640 an exhaust valve on say, you know, a boiler, right, 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.840 if it's working properly, it's letting just enough steam out 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.080 to keep the tank from exploding, right, But for some 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.760 it could also be like an excuse to be bad, right, 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:58.880 So it's uh, it's one of those those aspects of 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:00.960 of culture that I guess you want the balance to 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:04.280 be just right. You don't want your crampus is rampaging 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.640 through the city actually terrorizing people. But on the other hand, 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.280 if you have a culture without the cramps, if the 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.840 cramp is cannot actually be unleashed at this part of 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:15.400 the year, then what does that mean You get like 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.600 a little more crampas in every day. That doesn't sound 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:23.720 good either. Keep crampas and Christmas. There's your bumper sticker. Okay, 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:25.920 I think maybe we're going to get away from Christmas. No, 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.960 we have one more bit. We have the psorry. So 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:33.400 Martin also shares this ps if you like weird traditions, 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.640 I bet you're into shopping. That's s h A P 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.280 P e N. It's a custom prevalent in the southern 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.440 parts of Austria where small children go from door to 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.880 door on the December and whip the grown ups buttocks 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.520 with a rod. Good, very good, And he includes a 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.000 link to a Wikipedia page about this, but it is 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:57.520 a German only page, so it leads me to suspect 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:02.000 that shopping is not proper really appreciated or known outside 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.120 of uh, you know, German speaking cultures. Oh, this is 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.280 like making the fool of the pope and like the 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.160 boy king stuff, you know. Uh yeah, yeah, yeah, I 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:12.440 like it. These kind of reversals are good. They should 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:19.800 definitely involve children inflicting corporal punishment on adults. All right, Okay, 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:21.840 so now we are going to get away from Christmas 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:23.760 for a bit, but we'll come back to some holiday 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:25.959 theme stuff I think later in the episode. So this 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:30.720 one is in response to the episode we did uh 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:32.920 I Drink Your Blood Type, where Robert and I were 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:37.520 talking about uh, vampires and blood types, the real science 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.479 of blood types and pseudoscience about blood types and personality 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:44.600 and all that. And this comes from Maya. Maya says, hey, guys, 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:46.560 I love your podcast. I've been listening to it for 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.240 a while now. In October, I listened to your episode 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.960 on vampires and blood types, and I remember you questioning 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.120 why a vampire might ask about recent dental work. This 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.280 came up on some TV show. Oh, this was an 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.920 episode of Tales from the Cryptos. The start believe Malcolm 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.040 McDowell or was it Roddy McDowell, one of the two McDowell's. 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.560 For sure. Um, I thought i'd let you know that 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:12.120 recent dental work is a risk factor for infective indocarditis, 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.360 where the heart valves become infected. When this happens, little 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.560 flex of bacteria flick off the valves and through the 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:23.280 blood circulation, which would probably make the blood taste pretty gross, 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.200 even to a vampire. I'm a medical student and it's 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.079 something we've been told in medical school a bunch of times. 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.640 Thanks so much and love the podcast, Maya. That is interesting. 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.000 That gives me a new respect for that episode. Yeah, 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:38.240 I've I've heard of this before. Yeah, that like dental work. 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:40.680 I think some stuff from the mouth, I think maybe 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.800 you can get into the blood and then affects the heart. 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.520 So definitely if you're looking for blood to drink, keep 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:50.800 an eye out for the dental surgery. Alright. This next 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:54.240 one comes to us from MICHAELA and it is in 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.880 reference to our episode on prototax It t s Hello, 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.679 just listen to your Prototaxid episode. And since you were 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:04.240 talking about soil structure as well as fun Guy Algae 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.400 Live rewards and liking. I was a little surprised not 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.960 to hear the mention of biocruss. Biocruss being living soil 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:15.240 aggregates of soil which host communities of mosses, fun guy 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:20.600 like in ciano bacteria and other organisms, mainly in desert systems. 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:24.520 They're their own amazing little ecosystems and keep ground from 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:28.920 blowing away and by creating mats of filamentous ciano bacteria, 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.400 so possibly the ancient world might have been a bit crusty. 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.760 Biocross are super underappreciated except by the people who passionately 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.520 study them, including my master's advisor, who is uh. And 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.880 then there's a Twitter address here. It is at dry 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.520 Land Algae. That's d r y l A n d 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:51.200 A l g A on Twitter. I thought you guys 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.560 might be interested anyway as a future astrobiologist and lover 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:58.320 of all things strange. I adore the show Keep It Weird. Michael, Oh, 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:01.240 that's great, that's in interesting. I didn't know much about that, 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:06.240 so maybe we'll come back to that. Yeah, absolutely, all right. 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.720 We got one message from Brett. It actually wasn't much 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:10.840 of a message. It was it seemed to be in 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:14.240 response to the Monstrosity Cuteness rerun we did and the 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.040 Uncanny Valley rerun we did. Um, it was a link 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.920 to stuff about the new Sonic movie Sonic the Hedgehog, 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.280 where they had to redo the animation on Sonic the 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.480 Hedgehog because when they first released the trailer, people were 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:31.680 just horrified by the way Sonic looked. And I gotta admit, 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.960 his eyes were small, and he had human teeth, and 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.080 there's something wrong with human teeth on a non human animal. 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.640 It's like that fish that's got teeth that look too human, 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.440 you know, Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, I, for one, 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.440 I did I didn't really have a dog in this hunt. Um, 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.560 I can't say it was particularly excited about a Sonic movie. 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.560 I wasn't. I wasn't really turned off by this image. 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:57.800 And even I will admit that the new version does 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:00.400 look a lot more like Sonic character that I did 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.600 enjoy playing the Guys Big Guys looks more like the character, 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:05.440 and I enjoyed the character in the games back then. 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.040 But um, you know, by and large, I feel like 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.040 this is this was the Internet blowing things out of proportion. 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.960 And uh, the Internet is of course the domain of 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:17.800 dr robotnick. Uh. That is, it's exactly the kind of 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.880 system he would inflict on the world. So, uh, you know, 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:26.400 I have suspicions about the the ultimate motivations behind the outrage. Here. 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:28.760 Wait a minute, I'm not sure I understand like you 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.760 think people were not actually horrified by the appearance of 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:34.400 the original Sonic. I just I don't know. I mean, 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.880 he it doesn't look that weird. I mean, it looks 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:41.920 like oh man, but the improvement just looks more like 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.000 a cartoon. Uh. Well, I will say the original looks 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:47.480 more unique. The new one just looks more like every 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:50.120 other cartoon character. But I guess there's a reason cartoon 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.400 characters look like that. You know, they're they're tailored to 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:55.920 look kind of like cute and approachable instead of like 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.800 strange and uh and unsettling. Why does it look like 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.560 Sonic is holding the one ring in this photo here? Well, 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:06.000 I think because Sonic the Hedgehog collects golden rings. Well, 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:07.679 that's not the one ring. That's only going to get 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:12.119 him into trouble if he winds up in Middle Earth. Okay, 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:13.920 let's let's move on to the next thing. We got 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:17.159 a couple of messages about our ship of theseus uh, 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:20.320 of all episode. This comes from Brett. I don't think 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:22.959 it's the same Brett as the other message. Somehow, this 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.000 is Brett who's a chemist. Yeah, this is Brett who's 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.000 a chemist. Brett says, Hello, gentlemen, great episode. Glad you 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.600 looked at the premise from multiple directions. My two cents. 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.479 Being a chemist, I work with very sensitive instrumentation like 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.040 an hp LC. I'm sure you'll look it up if 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.320 you've not heard of it before. Uh. Yeah, it's a 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.360 high performance liquid chromatography machine. It's a method that's used 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.440 to analyze the chemical constituents of a sample. So you 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:48.520 put in a sample of something, it'll separate out the 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:50.479 chemicals and tell you how much of each one there 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.760 is and stuff. Uh So, Brett says, Uh. I also 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.960 do maintenance on the instruments I use, being a GMP facility, 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.800 and I think that's good manufacturing practice. Is just like 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.360 having high standards. Uh. Any changes to the instrument must 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.800 be documented and also validated. Well, what do I mean 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.680 by this? We expect the instrument to reproduce the exact 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.040 same results every time we use it. Therefore, any changes 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.640 to the instrument must not affect the instruments performance. Now, 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.800 over the life of an HPLC, capillaries, frits, pumps, etcetera 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.200 do get changed. It is the same instrument, but if 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.439 it does not produce the same results, we have to 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.240 figure out why and make the proper adjustments in order 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:31.960 to get it back to where it used to be. 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:34.960 In this sense, the instrument is not the same anymore 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.400 because of its sensitivity, which leads me to ask if 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:40.960 a ship has been refurbished, So, if you know, you 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.000 go with the original thought experiment and replace all the 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:46.040 pieces of ship. Is it the idea of what the 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:50.280 ship has accomplished that we humans hold onto. The ship 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.480 still performs the same task as before, but what it 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:55.880 has been through is in the mind of those who 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.240 have used it. We could look at a replica of 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:00.000 the ship, but it would not conjure up the same 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.520 and thoughts and emotions as someone who used it at sea, 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.720 for example. It seems a physical object can change, but 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:08.840 the perception we cast upon an object can change, leading 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.119 to how stories are told about it. Wondering what you 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:14.280 think about this and how the human mind likes to 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:17.679 cast its perceptions into this world to make us feel reality. 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.640 Keep up the good work. Love thinking about new topics. 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.760 Your show introduces Brett Chemist. Oh wow, well, I mean 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.240 Brett really touches that a number of issues related to that. 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:30.879 I mean, because yeah, the story changes what the thing is, 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.359 and then the thing itself changes if you're refurbishing it. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:35.840 I mean, I guess a lot of it kind of 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.760 swirls around the idea that is, humans were often stuck 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.240 on this idea of there being some level of permanency 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:44.119 about anything like that there is a me that is me, 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:48.000 and it's consistent. There's a the ship is a ship, 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.359 and it's a constant that this story is constant. This 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:53.080 belief for an idea that even the truth is a 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:55.560 is a is a constant thing that does not change 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:58.400 over time. Well, this is an interesting idea that's being 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.600 introduced here about like the idea of whether something is 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:07.120 the same instrument actually having like epistemic relevance, Like it 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:10.080 matters whether or not it was the same instrument for 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:12.119 whether or not you can count on it to be 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:15.360 scientifically reliable. Yeah, And in this example, I mean, it's 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:17.719 easy to make the case because there's a specific thing 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:20.360 that needs to be done with this device and it's measurable. 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:22.600 You can you can tell if it's out of whack, right, 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.879 But with the ship, the experience of the ship, the 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:29.320 thing that the ship does is kind of it's all 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:30.920 over the place. Yeah. Is it how it makes me? 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:33.120 It's about how it makes us think about the ship. 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:35.359 Is it about the stories told about the ship, about 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.680 thinking back about what the ship once did? Um, you 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.640 can't reduce that to a numerical value. I will say 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:44.879 that one idea that comes to mind here, and this 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:46.600 is because you and I were talking about Star Wars 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:48.920 before we came in here is the idea of the 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:52.040 original Star Wars trilogy and the you know, of course, 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.320 George Lucas famously came back and refurbished parts of it, 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:57.960 the parts of the furbish. Yeah, as if they were 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:00.240 you know, there's the ship of theseus and of the 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.560 boards were a little, by some people's estimates, a little 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.480 out of date and needed to be replaced, and thus 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:09.240 we had c g I elements added in or other 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:13.000 slight changes. And from their point of view at the time, 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.240 you know, we're just we're making the ship seaworthy, we're 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:17.879 keeping it from sinking. But for the most of the 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:20.479 rest office. We're like, no, that is not that's not 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:22.920 the ship we fell in love with. You're changing the ship. 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:25.800