Real Coffee with Scott Adams - Episode 1494 Scott Adams： Lots of Good Persuasion Content Today, and Trump Too

00:00:00.000 Is it my imagination, or do you all look sexier than usual?

00:00:05.340 Huh.

00:00:07.300 I don't know what causes that.

00:00:10.120 Maybe you're working out?

00:00:14.720 Somebody says no audio.

00:00:17.980 Let's see if I can fix that.

00:00:30.000 I've got a problem with my technology on one of my platforms here, so let's do this, do

00:00:39.120 this, allow my microphone.

00:00:44.380 How about now?

00:00:47.860 Yay, we got sound on two platforms.

00:00:50.400 We're cooking now.

00:00:51.620 I'm going to implement the Rumble platform, too.

00:00:54.980 I think I'm all approved now.

00:00:57.480 Comment for the Locals Development Team.

00:01:02.820 For some reason, your interface doesn't allow me to know if I've hit the right buttons.

00:01:07.780 I'll talk about that later.

00:01:09.720 Well, what's the news?

00:01:11.280 Lots of good things happening here.

00:01:12.620 Oh, wait.

00:01:14.420 Wait.

00:01:15.460 What have I forgotten?

00:01:17.360 Yeah.

00:01:18.360 Yeah.

00:01:18.920 Do you realize that I almost read the news without the simultaneous zip?

00:01:24.680 Crazy.

00:01:25.880 Crazy days.

00:01:26.720 But you need that sip, and all you need is a cup or a mug or a glass, a tank or a chalice

00:01:30.860 or a canteen.

00:01:31.560 Enjoy your last vessel of any kind.

00:01:33.000 Fill it with your favorite lid.

00:01:34.160 I like coffee.

00:01:35.340 And join me now for the unparalleled pleasure of dopamine to the day, the thing that makes

00:01:38.360 everything better.

00:01:40.400 It's called the simultaneous sip.

00:01:41.980 Join me now.

00:01:43.060 Go.

00:01:43.260 Go.

00:01:47.520 Ah.

00:01:50.380 Ah.

00:01:52.940 All right.

00:01:53.880 Story number one.

00:01:54.780 The Taliban have apparently agreed to let 200 Americans and foreign workers who were trapped

00:02:00.620 at the airport out.

00:02:01.560 Now, what did we promise to get them out?

00:02:07.900 Do you think the Taliban said, when we asked, hey, you've got 200 Americans, can you let them

00:02:14.480 out at the airport?

00:02:15.780 What did the Taliban say?

00:02:17.660 Did they say, oh, oh, yeah, we didn't even know they were there.

00:02:21.420 Of course.

00:02:22.220 Let me make a phone call.

00:02:23.400 We'll get them right out of there.

00:02:24.280 Is that how that went?

00:02:27.560 Or is it possible that our government promised them something that the public probably shouldn't

00:02:36.240 know about?

00:02:37.940 Yeah.

00:02:38.960 We kind of self-blackmailed ourselves on this situation, didn't we?

00:02:42.500 We put ourselves in a situation where we blackmailed ourselves by leaving enough people there that

00:02:51.880 we knew we'd have to pay something, I assume, or agree to something, in order to get them

00:02:58.580 out of there.

00:02:59.380 So I don't know how much worse you can do as a government than blackmailing yourself.

00:03:07.320 Has anybody failed that hard in the history of governments?

00:03:10.520 Hey, I've got an idea.

00:03:13.120 Instead of blackmailing our competition, just hear me out on this.

00:03:18.540 We're going to blackmail ourselves.

00:03:21.600 Oh, just try it.

00:03:23.440 You know, we might get a surprising outcome.

00:03:26.960 Well, that didn't work out.

00:03:28.860 In other big news, Jennifer Aniston is launching some hair care situation.

00:03:36.120 I guess a new line of business or something.

00:03:38.240 And the Daily Mail shows pictures of her, and it describes it this way.

00:03:44.280 She's putting on a leggy display. 1.00

00:03:47.660 A leggy display.

00:03:50.340 Now, the story, of course, the point of it was that she's attractive, and she's 52 years

00:03:58.180 old.

00:03:59.940 Is that amazing?

00:04:00.920 Have you seen a picture of Jennifer Aniston at 52?

00:04:06.880 What the hell is she doing? 1.00

00:04:10.000 Like, why can't other people do that?

00:04:12.620 Or can they?

00:04:14.000 I mean, how much of that is genetic?

00:04:16.760 And how much of that is technology?

00:04:19.240 Because I have a feeling a lot of that is just lifestyle choices and doing the right stuff.

00:04:24.520 Now, I would always say that it's easier if you're a famous, rich movie star because being

00:04:30.940 in shape is actually your job, right?

00:04:33.540 If somebody paid you a million dollars a year to go to the gym, you'd probably go to the

00:04:39.180 gym.

00:04:39.680 A lot more than you do now.

00:04:41.720 So, you know, if you're a movie star, you're basically being paid to go to the gym.

00:04:45.460 So, of course, she gets good results.

00:04:48.060 Probably as a personal chef.

00:04:49.440 But I only point that out because you know the story about the four-minute mile.

00:04:57.660 Until the first human being ran a mile under four minutes, it was assumed just not even

00:05:04.200 possible.

00:05:05.320 There was a limit of human capability.

00:05:07.700 But as soon as the first person did it, then the record just fell like crazy.

00:05:12.800 A lot of people did it.

00:05:14.600 And there's something in the psychology about what's possible.

00:05:17.980 And when you look at Jennifer Aniston at 52, and they're still doing like glamour pictures

00:05:24.620 of her to advertise her product, and the point of the pictures is that she's sexy, that completely

00:05:31.120 changes your view of what looking young and sexy could be.

00:05:37.560 I mean, if you could look like her into your 50s, maybe it's worth trying, right?

00:05:44.180 How many people even try to be good-looking in their 50s?

00:05:48.320 I mean, seriously.

00:05:49.640 Who in their 50s who just has a normal job, you know, you just commute to work, how many

00:05:54.440 people in their 50s are saying to themselves, I'm going to work extra hard to like really

00:05:58.760 look sexy?

00:06:00.460 Just about nobody.

00:06:01.740 Because you just give up, right?

00:06:03.720 You just think, well, even if I worked all day long, I'm going to be a 50-year-old or whatever.

00:06:09.220 I mean, there's a limit to how good I can look.

00:06:12.780 But apparently there isn't.

00:06:14.920 Jennifer Aniston is showing you that whatever you thought was the limit, you probably weren't

00:06:20.340 even close.

00:06:21.540 All right, enough about that.

00:06:24.300 Fox News is dunking on its competition by noting that they're ignoring another big story.

00:06:29.880 The story they're ignoring is about the documents that The Intercept published that suggests that

00:06:41.520 Fauci lied to Congress about NIH funding for the Wuhan lab.

00:06:46.560 Now, that's a pretty big story, isn't it?

00:06:48.920 Even if you were going to debunk the story, it's a big story.

00:06:52.980 And it was not covered by CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, or Washington Post, among others.

00:07:01.860 It wasn't even covered.

00:07:04.640 Now, personally, I don't think it's that big of a story.

00:07:10.640 I think that the lying to Congress was more like weasel words, meaning he was just using

00:07:17.780 gain of function in a slightly different context, I guess.

00:07:20.960 So I'm not sure it was a lie so much as a corporate weaseling persuasion thing that wasn't so cool.

00:07:31.260 But I don't know.

00:07:33.180 I think they did need to fund gain of functions research.

00:07:38.020 So I'm not even sure it's a big deal.

00:07:40.180 It's a big tragedy.

00:07:42.000 But I don't know that it made a difference that he funded it.

00:07:44.620 United Airlines is requiring vaccinations for all of their staff.

00:07:52.760 But here's the twist.

00:07:54.580 So that, I mean, that's a story enough.

00:07:56.760 But the twist is this.

00:07:58.700 Any of the United Airlines staff who claim they don't want to get the vaccination for religious exemptions,

00:08:06.040 religious exemptions,

00:08:07.560 they will not have to get the vaccination.

00:08:09.580 So that's pretty good, right?

00:08:11.980 If you claim a religious exemption, you don't have to get the vaccination.

00:08:15.940 You also won't get paid.

00:08:18.340 You also won't be working.

00:08:20.680 You'll be on unpaid leave.

00:08:23.140 So you won't get fired.

00:08:25.340 You just won't get paid.

00:08:27.800 And you won't be working.

00:08:30.020 So United Airlines is playing hardball.

00:08:32.360 I guess they figured people would just claim religious exemptions to get out of it.

00:08:39.000 But follow that story.

00:08:41.040 It's a pretty big one.

00:08:42.560 So Biden has announced he's got a six-pronged plan to deal with COVID.

00:08:47.900 Six prongs.

00:08:49.660 Now, some people would say, I have a six-point plan.

00:08:53.180 Some people might say, I have a plan.

00:08:56.020 There are six elements.

00:08:57.000 But no, the Biden plan has six prongs.

00:09:01.280 Prongs.

00:09:03.040 I'll bet if you say prong ten times,

00:09:05.820 the word will stop sounding like a real word.

00:09:09.280 Try it at home.

00:09:10.840 Prong, prong, prong, prong, prong.

00:09:13.380 Prong? 0.98

00:09:14.600 Prong? 0.98

00:09:17.780 Is prong even a word?

00:09:19.880 Prong? 0.98

00:09:21.160 Anyway, if you watch Ted Lasso, that's funnier.

00:09:24.040 It's a callback to one of their jokes.

00:09:25.400 So federal employees must be vaccinated in this six-pronged plan.

00:09:33.640 So one of the prongs of the six-pronged plan is they all got to get vaccinated.

00:09:38.960 We'll see if that works.

00:09:40.100 Seems to me that that would lose us about 20% of our federal employees.

00:09:45.420 Don't you think 20% of the federal employees are just going to not get vaccinated?

00:09:50.900 I don't know what's going to happen there.

00:09:52.000 All right, I've told you before that CNN has a one-anecdote-per-day schedule for anecdotal persuasion. 0.85

00:10:01.740 And every single day, they will run one new story about the poor bastard who wishes they'd gotten a vaccination.

00:10:10.060 Because data matters, but not as much as anecdotes.

00:10:13.560 So here's today's anecdote.

00:10:16.720 Before she died of COVID-19, she begged TikTok followers to get the vaccine.

00:10:22.500 Megan Alexandra Blankenbiller was waiting to get vaccinated until she had convinced her family to do it together.

00:10:32.060 So she didn't get vaccinated, and she wishes she had.

00:10:35.460 What was the reported weight of the tragic death of Ms. Blankenbiller?

00:10:48.660 What was her weight?

00:10:50.360 Well, it wasn't reported, but they do have a photograph.

00:10:54.440 And she's large.

00:10:56.000 She was a large girl.

00:10:57.900 Now, I feel as if the news and the medical community are just screwing us by not reporting the weight class of the people who are dying.

00:11:15.560 It's a big deal.

00:11:17.880 And just ignoring it like that's not a thing.

00:11:20.460 I mean, they do report it, you know, as a statistic and stuff every now and then.

00:11:25.060 But every single day, they should report, we had 300 overweight people die and six people of normal weight.

00:11:37.500 Do you know why they don't report that?

00:11:39.740 Because you wouldn't get vaccinated.

00:11:42.100 If you weren't overweight, you wouldn't get vaccinated. 1.00

00:11:45.660 So they have to fuck you. 1.00

00:11:50.140 Let's just put it that way. 1.00

00:11:52.360 They have to fool you and manipulate you to get vaccinated.

00:11:59.220 And so they don't want to tell you that your risk, if you're not overweight, is not nearly the same as overweight people.

00:12:07.100 Now, you know, whether or not you should get a vaccination should probably have nothing to do with your weight.

00:12:12.300 But they know that it will.

00:12:13.620 I mean, logically, the choice to get vaccinated probably shouldn't depend on that.

00:12:21.560 But it will.

00:12:22.540 I mean, people will make their decisions based on stuff like that.

00:12:26.740 Interesting question here.

00:12:28.140 Let me put this to you.

00:12:29.760 So see what you think about this.

00:12:31.540 So here's a persuasion, subjective opinion I want from you.

00:12:36.900 When Texas introduced their new anti-abortion law that allowed private citizens to sue abortion providers,

00:12:46.820 did that make it more or less likely that the governor of California would be recalled?

00:12:53.620 Because abortion is such a rallying cry that it might make people want to make sure that they maintain that they're democratic governors to maintain abortion.

00:13:08.400 Now, I don't think California is really at risk to have any kind of law like they have in Texas.

00:13:14.820 We're so far away from that being a thing in California.

00:13:18.840 But I don't know if that matters.

00:13:21.280 If people are afraid, they'll just vote based on their fear.

00:13:26.840 And so if Texas makes them afraid to lose their abortion rights, and that's their top issue, 1.00

00:13:32.880 Texas may have guaranteed that Democrats keep a majority in Congress.

00:13:38.520 Because the California recall isn't just about the governor.

00:13:43.680 If Feinstein leaves office, and she's not going to last that long.

00:13:48.300 I mean, she's a really advanced age.

00:13:50.220 If she leaves office, she'll be replaced by the governor. 0.99

00:13:53.880 If it's Larry Elder, he's going to put a Republican in there.

00:13:57.880 And then, you know, the balance of the Senate changes.

00:14:02.340 So this is a gigantic, you know, variable.

00:14:06.200 And suddenly, Texas, with their little abortion law,

00:14:10.040 may have changed the entire nature of the political equation in the country.

00:14:15.320 Now, it's probably good that they did this well before 2022.

00:14:19.280 I mean, it's not that far before.

00:14:21.640 But it's going to have a big impact.

00:14:23.140 I have a feeling that the Texas abortion law could be one of the biggest variables

00:14:29.320 for the next, I don't know, five or ten years of political life.

00:14:33.740 We'll see.

00:14:34.380 But it also could be nothing.

00:14:36.440 The other possibility is it's just nothing.

00:14:39.320 Because I live in California, and if you tell me, you know,

00:14:43.120 I should be influenced by something that happened in Texas,

00:14:46.500 I say, well, I hear your argument, but I just don't feel it.

00:14:50.480 It just feels like it's the other side of the world.

00:14:52.720 So I'm not sure people feel it in California,

00:14:55.480 but if they can be made to feel it, it'll matter.

00:14:57.500 Did you see Greg Guffeld's interview with Trump?

00:15:02.980 I guess it's going to be airing in three parts, started last night.

00:15:06.760 It's really great.

00:15:07.880 I haven't watched all of it, but I've watched a number of the clips.

00:15:11.620 Watch especially the clip where Greg asked Trump how to convince Greg's wife to get vaccinated.

00:15:18.540 So, you know, she was born in Russia, and so they both joke about her being hard to convince.

00:15:26.020 But you have to see the quality of Trump's answer.

00:15:29.900 It's really good.

00:15:30.980 Have I taught you pacing and leading?

00:15:35.820 Right?

00:15:36.300 Pacing and leading.

00:15:38.280 So first, you have to agree with the person you're trying to persuade.

00:15:44.140 So watch when Trump is asked to persuade Greg's wife.

00:15:48.040 What does he say right off the bat?

00:15:51.180 Right?

00:15:51.460 He says he got the vaccination.

00:15:53.060 That's the context we need.

00:15:54.660 So that's the first thing.

00:15:56.200 So Trump got the vaccination.

00:15:57.400 The second thing he talks about is freedom.

00:16:00.980 Right?

00:16:03.480 Because he's pacing her.

00:16:05.080 He's like, you got your freedom.

00:16:06.960 And he's making sure that he's acknowledged that completely.

00:16:11.600 That's good persuasion.

00:16:13.520 And that's what the bad persuaders are getting wrong.

00:16:17.080 You have to acknowledge the other side's argument, or you're done before you start.

00:16:22.560 If you can't acknowledge their argument, then they know you're not really arguing,

00:16:25.800 or you're not persuading, you're just, you know, talking.

00:16:30.980 So Trump does that.

00:16:33.020 And then watch how gently he gets into his reasons why she should be considering vaccination.

00:16:42.080 It's really gently and perfectly done.

00:16:47.160 He just sort of is talking.

00:16:49.680 He acknowledges her side of it.

00:16:51.440 He stays light.

00:16:52.640 He's not trying to push anybody.

00:16:54.260 And then he says, you know, but I think the vaccinations may have saved millions of people.

00:16:59.840 Now, that's not even about his wife.

00:17:02.500 Right?

00:17:03.780 It's the same topic, but he takes it away from Greg's wife so that it's not like a personal thing.

00:17:11.100 He says, you know, I think we saved millions of people.

00:17:13.420 I don't know if that's true, but it's good persuasion.

00:17:15.840 And then there was something else he added.

00:17:20.300 Oh, he added that if you get the vaccination and then you get infected, your odds of having a bad outcome are really low.

00:17:27.920 And that was the kill shot.

00:17:31.640 But he got to the kill shot while you thought he was serving you tea and biscuits.

00:17:37.160 Because he had agreed with you from the start.

00:17:41.440 Oh, he's agreed with me.

00:17:42.620 Personal freedom.

00:17:43.600 All right.

00:17:44.020 All right.

00:17:44.360 All right.

00:17:45.180 Yeah.

00:17:45.840 Did he save millions of people with the vaccination?

00:17:51.000 Oh, it makes you think.

00:17:53.060 Yeah.

00:17:53.400 What's he talking about now?

00:17:55.140 Oh, yeah.

00:17:57.060 The last thing he says, so it sticks in your mind, is that the vaccination will keep you from getting really sick or dying.

00:18:03.780 Now, did he go after his statistics and science and stuff like that?

00:18:11.060 Nope.

00:18:12.240 Because probably none of that would have been persuasive.

00:18:15.120 He is so good at this.

00:18:17.700 You don't realize it until you understand technique.

00:18:21.360 Once you understand technique, you see him apply it correctly time after time.

00:18:27.800 And yesterday in the live stream, I talked to you about the doctors who are doing exactly the opposite of good technique.

00:18:33.060 And you watch them side by side, and then you learn the technique, and you can see the difference.

00:18:38.400 It's a big difference.

00:18:40.660 All right.

00:18:41.220 So watch the rest of the Gottfeld interviews.

00:18:43.200 There's a few more coming up on subsequent nights.

00:18:46.060 The Robert E. Lee statue, the biggest one in the country, came down in Virginia.

00:18:51.080 Of course, that gives us plenty to yak about.

00:18:53.120 But speaking of Donald Trump, speaking of that, what did Trump say about the statue?

00:19:03.000 Oh, I hope I did not write that down.

00:19:07.580 He said, oh, he said that Robert E. Lee, if he'd been the general in Afghanistan, he would have won the war in Afghanistan for the United States.

00:19:15.880 I miss him so much.

00:19:27.060 God, I miss him.

00:19:29.520 Are you serious?

00:19:31.180 Robert E. Lee would have won in Afghanistan?

00:19:34.220 Come on.

00:19:36.220 Come on.

00:19:37.880 That's the funniest thing anybody ever said in public, or at least this week, because it's so provocative.

00:19:45.480 It's not really serious, right?

00:19:47.280 I mean, it's not really a serious comment.

00:19:49.000 But you cannot walk away from that comment.

00:19:53.260 That's not a comment you could hear and then think of something else right away.

00:19:58.360 You put that thought in somebody's head, and they have to stop and think about it.

00:20:04.180 It's just so diabolical, the way he takes this normal, he takes this totally normal topic,

00:20:11.880 and he combines it with, like, gasoline and matches.

00:20:16.920 And he just does it so effortlessly.

00:20:19.000 You know, Robert E. Lee, I think he would have won in Afghanistan.

00:20:30.260 People don't understand how funny he is.

00:20:33.320 Like, if you don't get it, that he does this intentionally, if you don't know it's intentional, you don't get it.

00:20:42.000 The other person who's like this is, have you ever watched a Norm MacDonald comedy?

00:20:49.000 Especially at these, I think it's still on, a show on a live stream.

00:20:54.860 And one of his continuing themes he does in his stand-up and his shows is he tells jokes that are going to make you really uncomfortable.

00:21:03.960 And usually it's because it's uncomfortably sort of racist, but it's not.

00:21:13.720 And you say to yourself, I'm having a reaction to this.

00:21:16.900 Even though it's not racist, it's like so uncomfortably close, and that's the joke.

00:21:24.220 He's making you uncomfortably close to something that you don't want to deal with.

00:21:28.460 And then it's funny, because he's just making you uncomfortable, but he's doing it intentionally.

00:21:33.120 And he does it with, you know, sexism jokes and stuff like that.

00:21:36.720 You know, you'll tell the joke and you'll think to yourself, well, that's really sexist.

00:21:40.960 Wait a minute, he's doing this intentionally. 0.99

00:21:43.280 You screwing with me. 0.98

00:21:44.780 Oh, the joke is on me. 0.98

00:21:46.460 Because the joke is about how I react to it.

00:21:49.100 Right?

00:21:49.520 So the joke is not the joke with Norm MacDonald, often.

00:21:53.860 The joke is what he made you think and how you reacted to it.

00:21:57.840 That's the joke.

00:21:58.920 Right?

00:21:59.100 So Trump does that, too.

00:22:02.220 You know, you don't realize that you're always part of the larger part of the joke.

00:22:07.860 It's either on you, or at least you're laughing from the sidelines knowing what he's up to.

00:22:14.640 I don't know.

00:22:15.360 What else is going on here?

00:22:20.300 All right.

00:22:20.880 Here's some interesting info I got from Machiavelli's Underbelly.

00:22:29.100 Your best accounts.

00:22:30.960 Machiavelli's Underbelly.

00:22:32.260 So just search for that on Twitter.

00:22:36.820 And he asked people, or he gave some statistics. 0.95

00:22:41.060 Damn it, did I forget to write those down? 0.88

00:22:44.100 Apparently, exercising, if you are not an exerciser, but you get on an exercise program, 0.98

00:22:51.860 your odds of having a bad outcome with COVID go way down if you're a regular exerciser.

00:22:59.100 It's a big difference.

00:23:03.660 And so this issue of weight and exercise is a big deal.

00:23:07.680 But where is Biden telling us to exercise?

00:23:09.700 I don't know if we've ever had a better president for fitness.

00:23:19.020 Maybe Bush Jr.

00:23:21.960 Am I right?

00:23:23.740 Will you give me that, even if you're anti-Biden, if you don't like him as president?

00:23:28.540 But will you give me that he is a good role model for health?

00:23:33.380 He doesn't smoke the way Biden does.

00:23:36.460 You don't see him going to McDonald's.

00:23:39.180 Right?

00:23:40.120 Am I right?

00:23:41.320 On that one area, he's actually a really good role model.

00:23:44.960 He's thin.

00:23:45.720 He exercises.

00:23:47.080 I think he's been running up until recently, probably. 0.64

00:23:50.560 Well, you know, you say he's skinny fat.

00:23:52.780 I get what you're saying.

00:23:54.140 But yeah, he eats ice cream.

00:23:56.980 I'm not sure that's the worst problem in the world.

00:23:58.460 Yeah, he does eat a lot of ice cream.

00:24:01.680 I don't think that's the problem relative to...

00:24:04.480 You know, I see ice cream as entertainment, whereas eating at McDonald's is a meal.

00:24:10.820 So anyway, I think Biden is missing a big play because he should be telling the country to exercise.

00:24:19.140 Exercise makes a big difference.

00:24:20.980 He's got a six-pronged plan.

00:24:24.380 I feel like he's missing a prong.

00:24:27.000 I feel like he should be a seven-prong play. 1.00

00:24:31.840 And that seventh prong should be, get outside, you bastards. 1.00

00:24:35.480 Start walking. 1.00

00:24:36.920 Start running around.

00:24:38.040 Maybe eat a little less.

00:24:39.540 I feel like the president should tell us that.

00:24:42.420 And just give us statistics and say it'll improve your odds against the coronavirus by whatever percentage.

00:24:48.520 It's a big deal.

00:24:49.220 And also at Machiavelli's underbelly, he tweeted this.

00:24:58.380 He said, based on reactions I've received to tweeting the most up-to-date science on exercise and weight,

00:25:04.620 the stuff I just told you about, as it relates to COVID outcomes,

00:25:08.620 he thinks that the biggest reason is, quote, I have given up on life is the reason I perceive.

00:25:13.800 So this is just his judgment.

00:25:15.360 You know, it's not a survey or anything.

00:25:18.480 But he says the more overweight someone is, the more they have given up.

00:25:22.240 And the more they object to data quality, saying, ah, the data's not good.

00:25:27.480 I don't fully agree with this interpretation.

00:25:32.500 Because there's another factor going on.

00:25:36.260 And I call it the pleasure unit theory.

00:25:40.600 Now, this is my own little, you could call it a hypothesis if you prefer.

00:25:44.820 So this is my own little invention.

00:25:46.580 And it goes like this.

00:25:48.160 That every human being needs a certain minimum amount of pleasure in their day,

00:25:55.000 or else they'll just give up. 1.00

00:25:57.240 They'll just literally put a bullet in their head. 1.00

00:25:59.380 But you have to have some pleasure every day. 0.98

00:26:05.540 Now, what happens in the pandemic?

00:26:08.140 Our pleasure got taken away, right?

00:26:11.400 Well, huge, huge portions of our pleasure just were taken from us.

00:26:16.440 So what are you going to do?

00:26:18.140 You're going to make the difference.

00:26:20.020 And you're going to make up the difference in any way you can.

00:26:23.400 Because if you can't find a healthy way to get pleasure,

00:26:26.380 you will find the unhealthy one.

00:26:29.380 You will not sit there without pleasure. 0.99

00:26:32.800 Because you'd rather be dead. 0.91

00:26:34.600 A day without pleasure is you'd rather be dead, literally.

00:26:38.680 So you will do whatever it takes.

00:26:41.640 You will do cocaine.

00:26:43.160 You will do heroin.

00:26:45.120 You will overeat.

00:26:47.180 You will drink.

00:26:48.440 You will do whatever it takes to get enough pleasure,

00:26:51.620 the minimum, into your day.

00:26:52.780 And that's a model that explains almost everything you see, basically.

00:26:59.040 So when I was watching a kid's stream out of high school the other day,

00:27:04.700 I was noticing that, I don't know, it could be just confirmation bias,

00:27:08.620 but they look a lot fatter than they did last year.

00:27:12.600 Has anybody noticed that?

00:27:13.760 I mean, I think statistically it's true.

00:27:16.360 But if you noticed it just visually,

00:27:19.060 go to the mall

00:27:20.120 or watch a high school class streaming out of class at the end of the day.

00:27:26.400 They look visually way fatter.

00:27:30.280 Now, it's a big deal.

00:27:33.880 I mean, we're actually killing ourselves by locking ourselves in

00:27:36.480 and taking away all our pleasure.

00:27:38.380 So, here's the filter to put on this.

00:27:40.640 Say you're the President of the United States,

00:27:42.600 and you know that people are going to overeat

00:27:45.240 if they don't have access to pleasure.

00:27:48.140 Make sure they get it.

00:27:50.200 Make sure that they're getting enough pleasure,

00:27:53.420 whatever that takes.

00:27:54.560 Might be getting rid of some mandates or whatever.

00:27:56.980 But you've got to make sure they get enough pleasure

00:27:59.160 that they have the option of losing weight.

00:28:03.480 Because you don't even have the option of losing weight

00:28:06.180 if it's your only pleasure.

00:28:09.100 You think you have free will?

00:28:11.120 You think you have good willpower?

00:28:13.280 Try having no pleasure except food.

00:28:17.460 Then tell me about your willpower.

00:28:19.960 It won't exist, because it's an illusion.

00:28:22.300 Willpower is an illusion.

00:28:23.800 We respond to the greatest urge.

00:28:26.680 That's it.

00:28:28.300 That's it.

00:28:29.160 That's all you need to know about people.

00:28:31.180 There's no such thing as willpower.

00:28:34.280 Doesn't exist.

00:28:35.120 It's an illusion.

00:28:36.200 You always respond to the greatest urge.

00:28:39.020 So, if you're not hungry,

00:28:40.800 and somebody says,

00:28:41.420 do you want a cookie?

00:28:42.620 Does it require willpower to resist the cookie?

00:28:46.000 No.

00:28:46.400 You just weren't hungry.

00:28:47.680 Now you're starving.

00:28:48.780 You haven't eaten in three days,

00:28:50.040 and somebody offers you ice cream.

00:28:51.440 And you know ice cream isn't the healthiest thing in the world.

00:28:53.440 Do you say no to the ice cream?

00:28:55.740 You haven't eaten in three days.

00:28:56.880 No, you eat the ice cream.

00:28:59.220 Even if you're allergic to it,

00:29:01.000 you eat the ice cream.

00:29:02.840 It's just urges.

00:29:04.740 That's all we are.

00:29:06.260 And when somebody can resist food and somebody can't,

00:29:10.000 just a different urge.

00:29:11.400 That's it.

00:29:12.380 No willpower difference,

00:29:13.580 because willpower doesn't exist.

00:29:15.040 It's how you learn to eat sea rations.

00:29:21.680 Okay.

00:29:23.920 There's good news in fusion energy,

00:29:26.240 although you should take this with a grain of salt,

00:29:28.500 because there's been periodic good news in fusion energy for 30 years,

00:29:32.560 and we still don't have fusion energy.

00:29:35.180 But there's some new superconducting magnets,

00:29:37.820 breaking magnetic field strength records.

00:29:39.960 Now, if you're predicting the next 80 years of climate change,

00:29:45.840 where do you put in your prediction fusion?

00:29:49.360 It's not in there, right?

00:29:51.360 You've got an 80-year prediction of what the planet's going to be like

00:29:55.220 with your solar power and your windmills and whatever.

00:29:58.300 But nowhere in that prediction is,

00:30:00.440 and 30 years in, we developed fusion.

00:30:03.900 It's just not in there.

00:30:04.980 Are we going to get fusion in the next, I don't know, 30 years,

00:30:10.400 where it would make a difference?

00:30:12.360 Yeah, probably.

00:30:14.000 Let me tell you this.

00:30:15.340 One of the smartest people in the technology field

00:30:19.700 told me five years ago about fusion,

00:30:24.740 because he was a billionaire and still is a billionaire.

00:30:27.780 So he's a billionaire genius.

00:30:30.160 I won't give you the name,

00:30:31.340 because you'd be thinking about the person instead of the point.

00:30:37.700 And the person said that fusion energy

00:30:41.920 is now just an engineering problem.

00:30:46.040 Now, if you're not an engineer or a scientist,

00:30:48.760 that doesn't mean much to you.

00:30:50.340 But let me explain.

00:30:51.700 If it's a scientific problem,

00:30:54.100 it means we literally don't know how to do it.

00:30:56.460 Like, the math doesn't work.

00:30:58.140 If it's a scientific problem,

00:31:00.740 it means that no matter what you do,

00:31:03.460 you're going to use more energy than you produce.

00:31:06.520 That's a scientific problem.

00:31:08.280 And therefore, you just can't do it.

00:31:10.820 It's impossible.

00:31:12.880 But the scientific problem is solved,

00:31:16.580 which is a big deal.

00:31:19.660 It's like a really big deal.

00:31:22.000 And let me put this in terms that some of you will understand

00:31:25.040 and some of you may not appreciate.

00:31:27.420 It's an engineering problem now.

00:31:33.200 Goosebumps?

00:31:34.560 Did you get goosebumps?

00:31:38.280 Fusion is one of the most long-sought,

00:31:42.380 impossible-sounding goals of all time.

00:31:45.860 It's now an engineering problem.

00:31:49.920 Let me tell you what that means.

00:31:52.020 It means it will be solved.

00:31:53.460 When something is reduced to an engineering problem,

00:31:58.240 it basically guarantees it's going to be solved.

00:32:01.600 Because engineering is trial and error, trial and error,

00:32:04.960 you know, experiment until you get there.

00:32:06.800 And you know how to do that.

00:32:08.620 We know how to experiment until we get there.

00:32:11.380 We didn't necessarily know how to invent it in the first place,

00:32:14.420 but apparently that's solved.

00:32:16.220 We just have to engineer it.

00:32:18.640 Making, you know, god-awfully powerful magnets

00:32:21.200 that we've never made before.

00:32:23.020 An engineering problem.

00:32:24.100 Not really so much the science.

00:32:25.820 Well, maybe there's some science in there, too.

00:32:27.240 So, this is one of those stories that you could just totally miss.

00:32:33.680 You know, you're just looking at the headlines.

00:32:34.940 Oh, fusion.

00:32:35.860 I heard that a million times.

00:32:37.620 But there is some possibility it's the biggest news in the world.

00:32:43.940 Because if fusion ever became a reality,

00:32:47.200 the entire energy model of the world changes permanently.

00:32:52.660 It never goes back, right?

00:32:54.680 Oil is dead if fusion works.

00:32:58.000 Well, I don't know.

00:32:58.860 That's an exaggeration.

00:33:00.360 But in the long run, it would be dead.

00:33:03.140 So, look for that.

00:33:04.220 Because that's gigantic.

00:33:06.700 All right, let's talk about a dog that is not barking.

00:33:09.800 Same topic.

00:33:11.820 Do you remember when it was common to see groups in the streets

00:33:15.960 protesting nuclear energy?

00:33:18.900 Most of you are old enough to remember that, right?

00:33:21.000 You've seen protests against nuclear power.

00:33:24.680 Not just nuclear bombs, but nuclear power.

00:33:28.600 Where are they?

00:33:31.060 Where is the person going on television to tell you nuclear power is a problem?

00:33:37.560 They stopped.

00:33:39.540 There aren't any.

00:33:41.600 Do you know why nobody is going on television to tell you nuclear power is a bad idea?

00:33:45.300 Because nobody smart thinks it's a bad idea anymore.

00:33:50.680 Nobody.

00:33:51.960 Nobody's left on the other side.

00:33:54.900 But if you'd made your job for the last 20 years in the media of saying bad things about nuclear energy,

00:34:01.620 can you just change and just put people on and say, oh, well, it turns out that it's safe.

00:34:08.180 Now, a lot of it is because time has passed and we know how to do things more safely.

00:34:12.620 We're smarter about storing the waste.

00:34:15.800 They just store it on site now, which is the obvious thing to do.

00:34:18.460 You know, because it's already a nuclear power plant, right?

00:34:23.680 So the question of do you want to live near a nuclear power plant is sort of already solved.

00:34:30.120 So they just store the nuclear waste next to the power plant.

00:34:34.560 It turns out it was sort of obvious because it's the one place that, you know, what else were you going to do with it?

00:34:40.860 Just use part of the parking lot and turn it into your storage area.

00:34:44.260 You're done.

00:34:46.020 There are other ways to take care of the waste.

00:34:48.240 For example, Generation 4 nuclear power plants will burn it for fuel.

00:34:52.200 So you can take all of that waste and just repurpose it for fuel for the newer generation of nuclear reactors.

00:34:59.260 So here's my point.

00:35:01.220 We didn't notice, because it happened gradually, that all of the opponents for nuclear power stopped talking in public.

00:35:07.720 They'll still talk privately, but as soon as you tell them that their information is out of date,

00:35:13.640 they'll walk away and change their opinion.

00:35:16.260 Because people's opinions against nuclear energy are really data-related.

00:35:21.040 You know, the data says it's unsafe, you know, whatever.

00:35:24.480 But once you show them that current data makes it obviously the thing you need to do,

00:35:31.920 it's a different story.

00:35:33.120 All right.

00:35:34.180 So I don't know why, but nobody wants to talk about the fact that nuclear energy is now liked by the left and the right.

00:35:42.340 Biden likes it.

00:35:43.760 Biden's pro-nuclear.

00:35:45.360 He just doesn't make a big enough deal of it, in my opinion.

00:35:48.340 Well, China has threatened to send a warship to our coastal waters,

00:35:52.540 because apparently we sent a warship within 12 miles of one of their artificial islands made in the South China Sea.

00:36:01.900 Now, if China sends a warship to our coastal waters, should we sink the first one? 0.94

00:36:08.320 Should we just sink it?

00:36:10.400 Probably not.

00:36:11.720 Probably a bad idea.

00:36:12.620 Because then, you know, they'd feel like they had to sink one of ours in the South China Sea, right?

00:36:19.460 They'd sort of have to retaliate.

00:36:22.620 But, I don't know.

00:36:27.340 I feel like we should at least consider sinking it.

00:36:31.120 Just consider it.

00:36:32.660 Somebody says, hit it, but don't sink it.

00:36:34.860 Yeah, that would be smarter, I guess.

00:36:36.100 I'd have to think about that.

00:36:41.420 So, let me just say this out loud.

00:36:44.540 China, I know you're listening.

00:36:46.760 As a citizen, I don't know if I would fault my government if we took out your warship,

00:36:52.620 if it entered our coastal waters.

00:36:54.860 I don't know that I would fault them, even if there was a pretty big blowback.

00:36:58.720 I feel like I might be okay with that.

00:37:01.880 So, if you want to send your warship, just tell your sailors.

00:37:07.000 Some of them aren't coming back.

00:37:09.580 Just let them know.

00:37:12.780 So, these are three things that China has ruined in 2021. 0.97

00:37:16.540 These are three things that used to be okay, but now they've ruined them.

00:37:23.540 Breathing.

00:37:25.180 Breathing.

00:37:26.580 Yeah, we can't breathe anymore, because we'll breathe in the coronavirus.

00:37:31.760 And, of course, pollution.

00:37:33.040 The ocean is no longer safe, because they're going to start a war in the ocean and make 1.00

00:37:41.420 the South China Sea too dangerous to navigate.

00:37:44.760 So, the ocean, forget about that.

00:37:47.180 And commerce.

00:37:48.620 Commerce isn't safe, because they're going to steal your IP, and they're going to do bad

00:37:54.220 trade deals with you.

00:37:54.920 So, if you liked any of these things, breathing, the ocean, economics, commerce, if you liked

00:38:03.940 any of that, China's not your friend.

00:38:07.740 China's not your friend. 1.00

00:38:08.620 Now, as you know, China has some big problems coming. 0.90

00:38:13.880 They might know about some of them.

00:38:16.000 They definitely don't know about all of them.

00:38:18.300 I can promise you that.

00:38:20.800 But they have some big, big problems coming.

00:38:25.020 So, to anybody in China, you better think twice about your form of government, because your 1.00

00:38:34.540 form of government is taking you off the edge.

00:38:37.600 You're going off the cliff.

00:38:39.460 Now, it isn't up to me to tell you in China how to run your government, but it's taking you 0.99

00:38:44.780 off the cliff.

00:38:46.320 And if you like that, keep going.

00:38:49.180 If you don't like that, maybe you might want to think of a change. 0.99

00:38:52.520 I'd also like to reiterate that the U.S. has every right to kill your fentanyl dealers 0.99

00:38:58.860 in Chinese lands, right in their house. 0.98

00:39:04.100 And I encourage the government to do exactly that as soon as possible.

00:39:08.200 I want to see bodies hitting the ground, fentanyl dealers, the big ones.

00:39:12.480 I'm not talking about a street dealer, but the big ones in China that are sending the massive

00:39:17.060 amount of precursors to the cartels. 1.00

00:39:20.500 We need to kill them in place. 1.00

00:39:22.520 Kill them where they are, right? 1.00

00:39:24.760 We gave China a chance to handle it. 1.00

00:39:27.300 Did we not?

00:39:28.360 We gave them the names of the dealer.

00:39:30.620 I'm sure they have their address.

00:39:32.560 They know the names, the face.

00:39:34.640 They know exactly who it is.

00:39:35.980 We told them who their dealer was.

00:39:38.440 And they decided not to do anything about it, apparently. 1.00

00:39:41.660 Now, we have every right to kill that dealer. 1.00

00:39:44.100 In place. 1.00

00:39:45.640 Right in front of their family if we want.

00:39:47.180 Anything. 0.99

00:39:47.420 There is no moral, ethical, or legal restriction anymore that I recognize against killing those 0.97

00:39:55.440 dealers in place in China. 0.99

00:39:57.060 Got to do it.

00:39:58.600 And I know the first time you hear that, it's so shocking.

00:40:02.200 You say, uh, that's World War III.

00:40:04.800 You can't do that.

00:40:05.680 No, you can.

00:40:08.100 You can. 1.00

00:40:08.880 We can kill them in place. 1.00

00:40:10.480 And we have to do that. 1.00

00:40:12.160 All right.

00:40:12.720 That's it for today.

00:40:14.520 And I hope you enjoyed this episode.

00:40:19.760 I'm going to do a little testing on the Rumble platform.

00:40:22.280 See if we can get that up.

00:40:23.360 And, uh, yes, I have to go do some driving.

00:40:27.640 And, uh, I will talk to you.

00:40:29.800 Oh, did you like today's, uh, live stream?

00:40:32.180 I saw some complaints as I was talking.

00:40:35.140 Oh, good.

00:40:37.000 Good, good.

00:40:38.100 Uh, Larry Elder.

00:40:38.960 You're asking about Larry Elder.

00:40:40.380 Well, I did hear he had a little, uh, some issue, uh, at an event.

00:40:46.200 There was some protester there or something.

00:40:48.300 Uh, oh, there was a racist protester.

00:40:50.180 You know, when I see somebody, uh, protesting Larry Elder, I guess they were dressed in a

00:40:57.720 gorilla costume and were doing racist things.

00:41:01.460 I'm not so sure that was an anti-Larry Elder protester.

00:41:06.540 Are you?

00:41:08.040 Because would that hurt him or help him to know that he was being treated poorly by racists

00:41:14.820 in California?

00:41:17.340 Uh, I don't know.

00:41:19.340 It's hard for me to imagine that whoever put on the gorilla outfit, uh, thought that

00:41:24.240 this would hurt Larry Elder because it doesn't.

00:41:30.460 He's pretty anti-fragile, if you know what I mean.

00:41:34.560 Anti-fragile in the sense that, uh, if you, if you go after him, all it does is give him

00:41:41.220 attention and the attacks don't seem to be, you know, having any effect.

00:41:45.960 So the more they go after him, I just think it raises his profile.

00:41:49.360 It makes him look like the leader, makes people think, why do I want to vote for the person

00:41:53.040 who has 1% support when I can do the one that might actually win?

00:41:57.880 You know, uh, I think it works in his favor.

00:42:01.860 All right.

00:42:02.340 That's all I had to do for today.

00:42:03.600 And I will talk to you all tomorrow.

00:42:05.380 You

Real Coffee with Scott Adams - September 09, 2021

Episode 1494 Scott Adams： Lots of Good Persuasion Content Today, and Trump Too

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