WEBVTT - Listener Mail: That's a Bummer 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:04.960 Welcome Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of I 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:13.880 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, you, welcome to Stuff 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:15.840 to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.000 I'm Joe McCormick, and we're coming at you with some 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.320 listener mail today. A really good crop this month, I believe. Yeah. 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:23.479 I think one of the key reasons is, you know, 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.560 on one hand, people send a nice listener mail, but 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:31.800 also our robot, our mail bot, Carney has had more 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:36.360 free time to uh to to properly collect it and 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.199 assemble it and present it to us. That's right. That's 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.840 because Carney quit social media. That's right. He got off Facebook, 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.200 got off Twitter, stopped scrolling, he listened to our episode 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:49.880 on Bummer and uh now he's he's bummer free. Uh though, 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.760 on the other hand, he has in fact turned into 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.320 a manual social media robot of his own uh and 0:00:56.360 --> 0:01:00.000 no behavior modification. Instead, he just rolls around the world, 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:05.360 delivering messages directly between people by shouting them them at you. Yeah, 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.600 it it takes a little longer, but but he never stops. 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:10.640 That's the cool thing, you know. It's like the he's 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:13.039 like the monster and it follows. He just makes a 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:17.560 straight line from from cinder to recipient and he'll get there. 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:19.680 Most of the time he just zips up and says 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:24.919 like yes or heart or or just presents the proper 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:29.039 emoji in place of, you know, actual emotional investment. He 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:33.000 also deals in um in memes quite a lot as well. 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:37.119 Oh yeah, well, I can't fix everything at once. Okay, Well, 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:39.200 I think we should jump right into it with a 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.560 for this first one is not a single bit of 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.120 listener mail, but it is a theme we got. So 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.560 let's start by talking about our episode on The Tingler. 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:50.760 This was about fear and about the nineteen fifty nine 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.680 William Castle movie The Tingler. Super fun episode. I really 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.960 enjoyed that one. Yeah, and hopefully we inspired more than 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:00.600 a few people to actually go check this film out, 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:03.200 you know, for the first time, or to revisit it 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.120 and admire its weirdness. Absolute camp classic. It is wonderful. 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:09.480 But I wanted to start up front. We usually, if 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:11.800 we get any corrections, we try to put these upfront 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:14.080 most often, and so I'm doing that right now. In 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.840 our episode on The Tingler, in talking about the influence 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:19.400 of our gut flora on our brains. Specifically, we were 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:23.080 talking about the ways and the evidence that changes in 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:27.200 gut flora could have an effect on animal fear response, 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:31.480 including perhaps human fear response. I mentioned an estimate that 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.280 the number of microbial cells in our bodies around ten 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.320 times the number of human cells in our body. Now, 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.080 this used to be a commonly cited figure, but several 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.080 listeners got in touch to point out that the more 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.960 recent and probably more accurate estimates have revised that number down, 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.359 so it's probably closer to a two to one or 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.520 a one to one ratio. But even on the lowest end, 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:57.000 that fact remains about as astonishing to me. On the 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.080 conservative estimate by sheer cell count, only half the cells 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.600 in your body are human cells. Yeah, and and that 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.000 is that is amazing to consider. The Tingler, of course, 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.040 uh involved for anyone who didn't listen to that episode, 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.080 and easy reminder, uh. It involved a plot line about 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:18.680 this weird centipede like creature that resides along all of 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.680 our spines and when we when we fear, when we 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:27.079 when we really gripped by intense fear, it constricts around 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.880 our spinal column and if we don't scream to to 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.679 you know, to drive it back into seclusion. It will 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.360 like snap our spine in half, right, when the fear 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:40.000 starts flowing, you get those spines cracking. Right. But of course, 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.280 the one of the whole weird aspects of the whole 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.280 plot was there's a thing living inside you that's not you. 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.880 And of course the more we we we know about 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.839 the human body and uh, the microbiome, we know that 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.960 that is a reality. Like you said, half of our 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.680 selves are not our own. Half of we are half 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.880 Tingler at all times. Except the only way I might 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.080 argue with that is that maybe those cells are best 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.640 thought of as you, even though they don't share you, 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:10.320 say your d n A. And they are bacterial cells, 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.200 not mammal cells. In what sense are they not you? 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:15.680 If they share body space with you, if they have 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.160 control over your feelings and your thoughts and your behaviors. 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.760 I don't know, it's kind of hard to argue that 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.000 those bacterial cells aren't you in some way. This is 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.839 another reason we we really need to do the fly 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.560 yeah show. You know, probably the Cronenberg version, that's version 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.400 as opposed to Vincent Price, uh is that's the one 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.440 that I'm I'm most attracted to. But you get into 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.719 a lot of this in that film as well, like 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:45.200 the idea of your genetic identity being disrupted by the 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:49.760 by an interloper, in human interloper that flies into the 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.080 telepod with you. But of course we already have so 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.960 many interlopers that are just part of the package that 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.040 are I guess going. They have to be attract and 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:03.000 we assembled by the computers that are maintaining the telepods. 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.400 To begin with, it's okay, we're all brundle fly. Okay, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:07.960 do we want to look at our next email about 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.120 the Tingler? I think this one starts off being in 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.599 response to a question we asked in that episode, which 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:18.360 was could having a sort of imaginary personification of your 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:22.680 fear response be helpful in overcoming your irrational fear response? 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.760 Liken thinking of it as some kind of animal that 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.000 you have to contend with that's separate from you. Uh, 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.120 does that give you some kind of power over it? 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.920 And our listener Anna got in touch with several thoughts. 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:36.880 But first off, I think that's what she's talking about, 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.360 all right, She writes, Hi, Robert and Joe, I've been 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.040 listening to your podcast for a while now and really 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.480 enjoyed other podcasts I listened to. I find interesting when 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:46.520 I am listening to them, but then I move on. 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.320 But with yours, I find myself having lots of thoughts 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:52.160 about the topic you were discussing. Oh no, in one 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.359 of your recent podcasts that you were discussing anxiety and 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:57.640 if it could be personified it would be easier to 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:00.160 deal with. I suffer from some anxiety myself, and one 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.719 analogy I found useful was the image of a smoke alarm. 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:05.800 The smoke alarm is there to go off if there 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.599 is a fire, but often goes off if you burn 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.599 or toast, or forget to put the fan on above 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:15.400 the stove. The smoke alarm responds the same whether it 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.840 is a major disaster or a minor incident. I find 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:21.200 this useful way of describing my anxiety to others. I 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:23.719 often forget to put the fan on above the oven 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.719 and the smoke alarm comes off. I keep a broom 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:28.679 nearby so I can poke the button on the smoke 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.000 alarm with the broomstick. Perhaps I should imagine poking my 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:36.680 anxiety with a broomstick. I think that's a really good analogy. 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.039 You also discussed why you enjoy horror films and this 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.479 reminded me of something I read in a Newal gaming book. 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.520 It was in the introduction to the Coraline and Other 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.520 Stories book. He was saying it was a shame that 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.800 modern children's literature wants to avoid scaring children, but some 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.960 of the best children's stories are scary. He quoted Ogden 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.760 Nash quote. Where there is a monster, there is a miracle. 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.039 He says. A world in which there are monsters and 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:04.560 ghosts and things that want to steal your heart is 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:07.440 a world in which there are angels and dreams, and 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.520 above all, a world in which there is hope. And 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:12.600 from there she goes on to make a reading recommendation 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:14.400 that we may come back to in a future episode, 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.040 but she closes out by saying, keep up the great work. Annah. Yeah. 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.119 Uh so this is a really interesting thought. Now, Robert, 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:22.400 I think you've sort of covered that idea on the 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:24.440 show before, right this. I think this was before I 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:26.080 came on the show. But you did something a long 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:30.920 time ago about children children's like scary kids stories. Yeah. Yeah, 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.840 there's an older episode on that about because there was 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:38.280 there was a study about like terrifying elements and children's literature. 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.400 It would be interesting perhaps to look at it again 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:43.320 and see if there's gon't have been any new scholarship 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:45.280 on it. Uh, And of course there are all there's 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.200 always the you know, observations of like the horrific aspects 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.600 of not only like Grimm's fairy Tales, like that's a standard, 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.480 but you know you expect it from the brothers Grim 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.040 But then you look at Disney films as well. Yeah, 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.040 and the you know, at a ton of replexing, lye 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:06.600 traumatic moments that occur in those films. Yeah, it's um, 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:08.880 it's it's it's interesting. Of course, the whole argument about 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:10.520 like you know, you've got to have the monster so 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.840 you can have the angels. Um. I think maybe that's 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.080 part of it. I mean, that's also kind of a 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:21.120 theological argument for the existence of horrible things in the 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:25.240 world that sometimes people take issue with. So I don't know, well, 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.200 I don't I don't know if you should take like 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.200 the angels thing literally there, because like I sometimes have 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.480 the thought, obviously, we want a better world, you know, 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.160 you want pain to be taken away and like more 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.679 good things to happen to more people all the time. 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.080 But there is a part of you that says like 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.199 if I never faced any kind of pain or any 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.840 kind of struggle or anything, something about that seems very 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:52.600 scary in itself. There's a kind of like brave New 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.240 World is kind of quality to that that there's some 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.719 part of us I do think that yearns for struggle, 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.760 and that would maybe feel like life was meaningless if 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.400 everything was always good and happy. I've been thinking about 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.880 about some of this recently, I mean, particularly with with 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:14.920 with say horror and uh in dystopia. You know, at 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.719 times we have like just extremely grim models of this, 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:21.080 and I feel I feel like, you know, obviously, fiction 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.760 is always going to speak to the time in which 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.160 it is created. It's going to speak to the experience 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:29.199 of the people that created and and I don't mean 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:31.360 to like, you know, make a you know, to to 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:35.480 over inflate that and try and make an outrageous overstatement 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.400 of the obvious here, But but you know, I think 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.959 I feel like at times, maybe the horror is dwelt 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:44.920 on in times and by people you know who do 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.400 not who who have the privilege of not having to 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:52.160 confront uh such horrors head on. But then what happens 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.000 is later on, in a more horrific time, or a 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.480 time when the horror is more obvious to us. We 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.960 still have those same stories to look back on, and 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.720 they don't always match up, you know, they don't always 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.320 deliver what we need to either make sense of the 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:13.800 world that is occurring around us or to escape from it. Um. 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:15.400 And then the other thing I was thinking of two 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:19.560 is the the idea of you know, personifying anxiety, uh, 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:23.360 you know, and about how it often seems like I 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.960 often feel like, you know, there's there is the shape 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.880 of of the anxiety that must be filled with something, 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:32.760 you know, and if if I'm not worrying about this thing, 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.840 like something else is going to fill that shape. And 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.760 I think that's just part of of like how we evolved, 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.720 you know, like we evolved to be a being that 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.800 would always encounter that shape. That shape would be there, 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.200 perhaps very physically in the form of a predator or 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.200 just you know, in the form of the you know, 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.360 the hurdle of surviving in a in a hostile world. 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.880 And as we remove ourselves from that world of just 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.960 pure survival, you know, we have we still have that 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.520 shape in our lives and it will be filled with something. 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:09.000 It cannot remain a vacuum Um, it may fill up 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.920 with paper tigers if that's all it has in your life, 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:14.600 or it just may fill up with dreads about things 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:18.679 that may occur or certainly will occur in your future. Um. 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:20.040 And then yeah, I guess we have to poke it 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.280 with a broomstick. That's the only thing to do, or 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.960 we'll wait. I'm I'm not sure. Were you suggesting that 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:28.920 it's possible that the that that shape could be filled 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.560 in with sort of fictional exercises as well, like that 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:36.440 this is a value of scary or or challenging scenarios 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.800 and so yeah, I think so, I mean there, I 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.959 try to think of times where I've I've done that 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:47.080 either like consciously subconsciously, and I think I have. But 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:49.800 they were often sort of simpler times in my life too, 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:51.960 where not to say the world was simpler, but maybe 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.960 I was just more oblivious, you know, to the you know, 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.440 the dangers of saying you know, geopolitical situations or you know, 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:02.360 or less um, you know, if it's familiar with you know, 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.360 the state of my own privilege, that sort of thing. Uh. 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.160 And so yeah, you just sort of lump a horror 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.160 film in there, like imagine this and uh and then 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:11.520 I don't know. I feel like later on I reached 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:12.680 a point where it's like, oh, I don't have to 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.040 imagine that that like this is this is all real, 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:18.120 and that's what gets sucked into the into the vacuum 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.200 of the shape. If that's making sense, all right. We 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.640 also have another Tingler related a bit of a listener 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:26.480 mail here, and this one comes to us from Jonathan. 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.240 Jonathan Rites, thanks for choosing a film that dates back 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.760 to my generation. I was eight when I saw The 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:36.480 Tingler in the theater. I wasn't sitting in a vibrating seat, 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:38.880 but at the moment when the creature walks across the 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:43.400 projection screen, the theater momentarily shut off its emergency floor lights. 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:46.720 What frightened me, though, were the sudden screams from the audience, 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.360 multiplied by the screams on the soundtrack. Those live screams 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:52.920 seem chilling at the time. I'm not proud to say 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.040 that I thought this was the best horror film I 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.560 had ever seen, and going to the movies to watch 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.240 Saturday matinee horror films was a regular part out of 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.800 my life. In the years since, I've experienced way too 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:07.079 much cortisol to enjoy horror anymore. Amazing how you can 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:10.240 create such a fascinating episode on such an unlikely topic. 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:13.480 Oh thanks Jonathan. Yeah, that's great that we got to 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.160 hear from someone who was actually there for not only 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.480 The Tingler, but other horror matinee films. I need to 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:22.120 I need to write Jonathan back and ask him, you 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:25.320 know what, what are some more memorable entries from the 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.240 Horror Mountain matinee that he remembers seeing turning off the 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.800 exit lights. I envied the people who got to have 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:35.120 the experiences before, like insurance demands on theaters would prevent 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:38.199 those kinds of stunts, right opposed from like whatever kind 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:42.199 of like gimmicky insurance. Uh that William Castle might have 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:48.400 been proclaiming to the film. Alright, So we next are 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.040 going to turn to a message from our listener Cody 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.200 about our episode on the asteroid twenty nineteen okay, which 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.440 passed very close to the Earth not too long ago. 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.800 Cody writes, Hey, guys, just listen to your episode about 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.080 the nineteen okay. I actually work in the field of 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:07.560 planetary defense. Amazing. Uh, So sometimes we ask for messages 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.560 like this and sometimes we get them. Cody continues, and 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:13.840 there is unfortunately quite a lot of misinformation on this subject, 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:17.320 mostly spread by academicians and journalists who don't actually work 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:20.440 in this field or sit on any policy discussions. So 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:22.920 let me get this out of the way. The nuclear 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.880 option is, by leagues, the better tool available to us. 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.920 So let me explain why, with the caveat that these 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.800 are my personal opinions on the subject as someone who 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.760 works in this field, not the position of any particular organization. Alright, 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.160 so we're gonna get a nuclear nuclear weapon in space, advocate, right, 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.000 and really the first like pro nuclear weapon argument, I 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:47.520 think we've really properly entertained on this show. What about 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:49.920 this is good, you know, finally finding a good use 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:54.240 for nuclear weapons that isn't killing people. Okay, uh, Cody continues. 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.200 Every asteroid that is ever going to hit the Earth 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.560 is going to go through a very long period of 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:03.920 having a vanishingly small probability of doing so. This is 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.800 because the probability of an impact is calculated by taking 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.480 the ratio of the cross section of its probable location 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.680 when it passes Earth. With errors factored in, this looks 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:16.640 like a big ellipse with the Earth inside. To the 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:21.360 cross section of the Earth itself. For asteroids detected foreign advance, 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.440 this ratio is close to zero i e. A very 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.160 large number divided by a relatively small number. This is 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:32.480 still true for asteroids that will strike the Earth. This 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.560 is just how errors factor into the calculation of probability. 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.520 The really dangerous aspect of this is that at the 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.000 time scales that would be required for something like a 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.800 gravity tractor to work, the probability you would calculate for 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.960 an impact is you guessed it basically zero. So who 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.040 in their right mind is going to spend the billions 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.080 of dollars required on such a mission when there's almost 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.840 an absolute certainty from an accountant's perspective that it's a 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.000 waste of money. This is also true of any painting 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.400 or mirror or solar sale venture that's been proposed. We 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.240 just don't have infinite money to play those kinds of 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.680 games on asteroids that were not certain are even going 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.360 to strike the Earth. Now, by the time we are 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.120 much more certain of an impact, like let's say we 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:21.600 have calculated a five percent chance, the only remaining tools 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.560 that stand a chance of working are a kinetic impact 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:29.320 or or a nuclear standoff. Explosion, nobody actually contemplates blowing 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.240 it up in this field. At that point, the cost 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.520 of the mission still controls the equation. Here, a kinetic 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.800 pusher will be moving at the same speed as a 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.840 nuclear device when it reaches the asteroid, and pound for pound, 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.480 a nuclear device just delivers more energy for the cost 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.800 of delivering it to the asteroid. Let's not forget the 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:51.680 US does not currently possess any vehicle capable of delivering 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:55.040 a kinetic impact or of sufficient mass to be relevant 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.040 to anywhere in the Solar System. We need a Saturn 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.920 five to just to even try the expanse version of 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.679 space travel isn't here yet. As for elegance, nuclear winds 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.399 there too. Since any kind of explosion next to an 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.640 asteroid causes the near part of the asteroid to heat 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.439 up and blow off for quite a while, you're not 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.760 just pushing it, you're turning the asteroid into a rocket. 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.800 As for turning the asteroid into a radioactive asteroid, I'm 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.600 sorry to say, everything in space is already radioactive, and 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.159 an asteroid we'd be trying to deflect would find our 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:31.480 attempts to make it radioactive cute by comparison to what 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:35.040 the Sun already does love the episode. And yes, there 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:39.200 are actually people working very hard on this problem. Cody. Well, 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.280 this is great. I mean we you know, we we 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:43.119 we knew there were people working on this problem, and 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.400 we celebrate them. And it's great to actually hear from 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:50.359 someone like this. So you know, keep up the great work, Cody, 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.800 because we need it. This is this is, as I've 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:55.680 said in multiple times, like this is one of the 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:59.879 those those few endeavors that can actually you know, have 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.080 the potential to save the earth. Uh um and uh 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.199 and we should absolutely celebrate it, acknowledge it, and end 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.160 above all things funded. This is a really great example 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.840 of how firsthand knowledge of working with a problem in 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:15.480 a field can inform your decisions better than just thinking 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.000 about the problem. And you know, from an abstract point 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.199 of view for not very long can because like a 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.399 lot of these astrophysicists that you talk about would say, okay, 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:25.879 you know, like the gravity tractor sounds like a great idea, 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.600 and it is a great idea except for the considerations 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.679 that Cody mentions here, right, the idea of calculating the 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.879 probability of an impact far enough in advance for it 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:37.880 to work. It seems like we would have to have 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.800 the ability to predict with much greater accuracy than we 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.960 can right now whether something would hit us way away 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:47.240 in advance. And I don't know what it would take 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.080 for that kind of accuracy to come online. Maybe we 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.679 just can't ever expect that it would, I guess, unless 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:54.840 we want to go, you know, put gravity tractors on 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.000 all kinds of things, which, as it points out, nobody's 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:58.960 going to show out the money to do, right, Yeah, 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.720 yeah it is. So it does make a I think 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.080 a strong argument for this being the far more practical 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:07.200 choice as well. Alright, well, on that note, let's take 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.160 a quick break, and when we come back, we will 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:14.640 roll into some bummer email than alright, we're back, So 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:16.880 the next batch of emails is going to concern our 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:21.280 episodes on social media the bummer business model, as so 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.760 dubbed by Jarren Lanier. And we got quite a few 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:26.240 of these, so we might try to roll through some 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:28.320 of them pretty quickly. But but well, well, I guess 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.480 we'll stop to comment wherever we can, right, and just 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:35.359 reminder every everybody. Bummer was Lanier's acronym for what behaviors 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:39.399 of users modified and made into an empire for rent um, 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:41.800 which which which? Which is nice and eloquent, But then 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:44.480 when you get down to it, like bummer just feels appropriate. 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:47.040 So now I just refer to all social media as 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:51.080 bummer just in my daily conversations. I'm probably really annoying 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:54.720 some people in the process. But anyway, first we heard 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.480 from Hannah Hannah Wrightson and says, hello, I'll just listen 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:59.560 to the social media bummer episode, and I thought it 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:01.720 would shy. I'm in As a junior in college, I 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:04.800 took a substance abuse class, and our semester long project 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:06.720 was to give up something we were addicted to for 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.040 the semester. A lot of my classmates chose coffee, soda, 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.440 and one or two even chose cigarettes. I chose Facebook. 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.919 When my classmates found out, many of them seemed surprised. 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.720 Most of them said they could never give up Facebook, 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.959 and some even admitted to being addicted to Facebook, like oh, 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:27.639 I'll quit cigarettes, but Facebook, Yeah, so she continues. For 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:29.399 the first week or so, it was really hard. I 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:32.080 found myself to be grouchy and bad tempered, almost like 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:34.960 I was kicking a chemical habit. I guess I kind 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:37.240 of was in a way, because social media is primed 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:39.440 to reward our brains in a way that encourages more 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:42.960 usage of social media. However, I found something interesting after 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:45.600 and after the initial withdrawal. I found I was actually 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:49.480 much happier without social media. After the semester ended, I 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.040 created a new account, but found that I didn't really 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.639 want to use it anymore, and found that it actually 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:58.040 made me anxious and sometimes even depressed. The same is 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:01.280 true of other social media platforms, include Instagram. I find 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:03.840 that I am happier and less anxious and generally more 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.720 productive without them. I still stay in touch with all 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:08.879