Real Coffee with Scott Adams - Episode 1576 Scott Adams： The Coming Collapse of China and More Good News

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the best thing that's ever happened to you and to anybody.

00:00:10.020 Not only in the real world, but in your imagination, the metaverse, and everywhere else you can imagine.

00:00:16.840 It's just the best thing that's ever happened.

00:00:18.640 It's called Coffee with Scott Adams, and it features the simultaneous sip.

00:00:22.720 What do you need for that?

00:00:23.780 Well, you need a cup or a mug or a glass of tank or a chalice or a stein canteen jug or a flask, a vessel of any kind.

00:00:28.920 Fill it with your favorite liquid.

00:00:32.840 I like coffee.

00:00:34.680 And join me now for the unparalleled pleasure.

00:00:38.900 The dopamine here of the day, the thing that makes everything better.

00:00:41.980 Really, except China.

00:00:44.480 It's all the simultaneous sipping happens.

00:00:45.920 Now, go.

00:00:50.740 Mmm, yeah.

00:00:52.840 Yeah, that's good.

00:00:54.500 I think that makes my memes more delicious.

00:00:56.760 All right, I have a weird left-field question for you.

00:01:03.060 Has anybody discovered that there's an exact temperature, mostly for indoor living, at which your body shuts down?

00:01:13.780 And your brain doesn't work?

00:01:15.140 And you can't even have sex? 0.95

00:01:17.500 Like, your body will move.

00:01:21.640 For me, it's exactly 76 degrees.

00:01:26.480 Somebody says 58 degrees, and their brain shuts down.

00:01:32.200 Yeah, now, I assume that there's lots of individual difference, but I've been tracking this forever.

00:01:37.140 And at 76 degrees, I can't think.

00:01:41.560 And I can't even, like, I can't even have sex at any age.

00:01:44.580 You know, it's not even age-related.

00:01:46.500 But at 76, I can't function.

00:01:48.800 Now, I would recommend, if you've never noticed, that there's a temperature where it just falls off a ledge.

00:01:55.840 And here's the interesting thing, at least in my case, it's not like 74 degrees I start feeling it, because I don't.

00:02:04.700 It's like 76 degrees I'll be sitting there thinking, I can't do anything.

00:02:08.860 And I'll get up and I'll go to the thermometer and check.

00:02:12.700 It's always 76 degrees, and has been for years and years.

00:02:18.000 And so anyway, I'll just put that out there as a helpful tip.

00:02:20.980 If you feel yourself shutting down, just go check the temperature.

00:02:26.580 And then check it again every time you feel that feeling where you just can't think, just can't get anything done, can't do anything.

00:02:34.660 Yeah, humidity would be part of the answer, too.

00:02:38.100 So where I am, it tends to be lower humidity, so maybe my temperature is always more consistent.

00:02:43.600 All right, I got a little story for you yesterday.

00:02:45.140 Anyway, Christina, my wife and I went to a small Afghan food market locally.

00:02:53.900 I'd never been there before.

00:02:55.840 And here was our experience.

00:02:57.820 We got our little ingredients that we're going to make some kind of amazing soup, I guess.

00:03:03.680 And Christina gets in line, and I'm just sort of hanging around with her.

00:03:09.540 And we're the only ones in line, right?

00:03:13.140 There are two cash registers, but only one of them has somebody attending.

00:03:17.740 And we get in line at the one cash register.

00:03:21.860 And the guy indicates that we should move to the other cash register.

00:03:25.960 So we didn't really know why, but it doesn't really matter why, because there was nobody in line.

00:03:32.360 So we just walk over to the empty cash register, assuming that either that man will walk over and help us,

00:03:38.560 or somebody else will soon be there.

00:03:40.100 But instead, we just sort of waited there.

00:03:44.760 And here's the weird thing.

00:03:47.380 Meanwhile, a whole line forms at the other cash register, the one where he just said he's not going to help us.

00:03:55.000 And he starts waiting on people.

00:03:57.620 And it's one person after another, and there's like this long line, and he's waiting on them.

00:04:02.360 But he told us not to be there.

00:04:05.100 We had to be at this other cash register with nobody at it.

00:04:09.420 Does anybody know why?

00:04:12.880 Yeah, some of you already guessed.

00:04:15.760 It was a man at the cash register, and Christina's a woman. 0.92

00:04:20.400 You wouldn't wait on it.

00:04:21.240 We had to go to the special woman-only cash register. 1.00

00:04:25.860 And when we were waiting, I was waiting, you know, shoulder-to-shoulder with her, as if either of us were the customer.

00:04:36.400 And when I finally figured out what was going on, because there was a woman in traditional Islamic garb,

00:04:42.220 came to our cash register.

00:04:44.920 And as soon as she did, I looked at the other line, and I realized it was all men.

00:04:49.380 Have you ever been in a grocery store with a long line at the cash register that was only men?

00:04:55.080 It's the first time I've ever seen it.

00:04:57.440 And they literally wouldn't wait on her.

00:05:00.660 They wouldn't take her money, because she was a woman. 0.97

00:05:03.420 Her woman had to be taken by another woman. 1.00

00:05:05.900 So now I'm standing at the cash register, and the woman in Islamic garb walks up. 0.99

00:05:11.040 And, you know, I'm the one with the wallet.

00:05:14.280 You know, Christina wasn't carrying her wallet at the moment.

00:05:18.160 So I've got to pay, but I can't pay this woman. 1.00

00:05:23.860 So how do you buy your food?

00:05:26.660 So obviously I gave the credit card to Christina and just, you know, backed away from the situation out of respect.

00:05:35.460 And so Christina paid, and everything was fine.

00:05:37.560 But I never quite...

00:05:39.560 Have you ever experienced that?

00:05:41.040 And I have to admit that I didn't feel put out by it, which is strange, because you would imagine that I would be.

00:05:53.340 Here's what I felt.

00:05:55.100 I just felt that I had entered another culture, and I was actually quite happy to conform to their preferences.

00:06:03.860 So I didn't have any problem with it at all, because I understood it to be important to them.

00:06:09.040 If it's important to them, it's no big deal for me.

00:06:12.620 Of course I'm going to be respectful for it.

00:06:15.600 So it's not my business how they do their business.

00:06:18.280 Now, I mentioned that the woman didn't seem to have a problem with it. 1.00

00:06:22.860 I don't know what her private feelings were, but they seemed happy, so I didn't have a problem with it.

00:06:32.360 Anyway, you would think I would.

00:06:33.880 I imagine if it were more inconvenient, I would.

00:06:36.260 But I think people can be people, and we could respect that.

00:06:42.600 Anyway, here I'm going to add to my NPC spotting list.

00:06:47.260 Here's how you can tell you're dealing with a non-player character, someone who is not capable of independent thought.

00:06:53.420 I've told you before that if they mention the Matrix movie or Soil and Green movie, they're probably an NPC.

00:07:01.500 But I'm going to add jumping the shark when used in the wrong way, which is anybody who has a new idea, anybody who does anything different, well, you're jumping the shark now.

00:07:13.980 NPC.

00:07:15.680 Because everybody's doing new stuff all the time.

00:07:19.120 Everybody isn't jumping the shark.

00:07:21.240 Sometimes it's progress.

00:07:22.460 I wouldn't even be doing what I'm doing now if I hadn't jumped the shark, right, from cartoonist to, I don't know, whatever I am now.

00:07:31.800 I mean, jumping the shark is what you should all be doing, looking to get out of your domain, try something risky, etc.

00:07:39.740 I'm going to take a little aside here and give you some advice that will completely change the experience of some of you.

00:07:47.720 Just a few.

00:07:49.100 Maybe 5%.

00:07:50.040 The rest of you just watch.

00:07:52.340 Just watch this experience, okay?

00:07:54.880 How many of you have a problem with sadness or, let's say, depression, but maybe not the full clinical kind, for which I don't have any answers.

00:08:07.940 But, you know, you're depressed, as you use the word commonly, but let's say not in the full medical sense, where you literally can't get out of bed.

00:08:15.800 How many of you have days like that?

00:08:16.940 All of you, right?

00:08:17.980 You have phases like that, periods like that.

00:08:20.120 Let me give you a way out, okay?

00:08:24.380 If you're just in the doldrums, there's just nothing good going on, you just can't find a way to get happy, here's your way out.

00:08:34.540 Increase your risk.

00:08:35.620 Do something that you wouldn't do unless you knew you were going to be dead tomorrow.

00:08:44.160 Live your life like you know you're going to be dead tomorrow. 0.96

00:08:48.580 Because if you're unhappy, you might as well be dead tomorrow, right?

00:08:54.900 The whole point of life is to get some enjoyment out of it.

00:08:57.760 If you're not getting enjoyment out of life, ramp up your risk.

00:09:02.580 Now, when I say risk, I don't mean physical risk.

00:09:05.020 You know, don't do extreme sports necessarily.

00:09:08.160 Maybe, for some of you.

00:09:10.000 But do the thing that you weren't going to do before.

00:09:12.420 Walk up to that person that you were too afraid to ask out, and you get shot down. 0.98

00:09:20.180 Remember, imagine that you're going to be dead tomorrow.

00:09:23.780 Do you mind that you got turned down for a date? 0.99

00:09:26.640 Well, not if you're going to be dead tomorrow. 0.97

00:09:28.900 No. 0.93

00:09:29.860 No, it doesn't matter.

00:09:31.460 You can change your frame from, oh, everything's bad and I'm in a bad mood, to,

00:09:37.220 wait a minute, I just got a free pass to do all the scary things I couldn't do before.

00:09:45.760 For about 5% of you, that changed your life.

00:09:50.100 The rest of you are wondering, I don't know, would that work?

00:09:53.620 5% of you just changed your life.

00:09:57.340 I guarantee it.

00:09:59.740 Just tell yourself, you're not sad.

00:10:02.180 You just got a free pass to do things you couldn't do before.

00:10:07.700 Because what's the difference?

00:10:09.380 What's the downside?

00:10:11.040 Is it going to make you sad?

00:10:13.040 Nope.

00:10:13.560 You're already sad.

00:10:15.020 Have I told you before that when I have a bad day, like, you know, you have these bad

00:10:18.700 days, you know it's going to pass, but you're having a really bad day, you just have to get

00:10:22.220 through it.

00:10:24.060 When I have a bad day, I fire people that I wanted to fire anyway.

00:10:29.360 All right.

00:10:30.480 Now, if you work for me, I'm not planning to fire anybody.

00:10:34.800 I'm talking in general.

00:10:35.960 In general, I do unpleasant things when I'm already feeling bad, because that's the perfect

00:10:42.040 combination.

00:10:43.180 I'm not going to feel any worse.

00:10:44.980 I might as well do those things that I knew were going to make me feel bad, because it

00:10:48.600 won't make me feel any worse.

00:10:50.360 It's already a bad day.

00:10:51.300 So, the same strategy.

00:10:55.960 If you're sad, sad, sad, and you just can't get out of it, go do something that you were

00:11:00.560 scared shitless of five minutes ago. 1.00

00:11:05.340 Scare the shit out of yourself. 0.99

00:11:07.340 See what happens. 0.99

00:11:08.460 One time out of, I don't know, three or five, something great might happen.

00:11:12.500 And the other times, at least you'll wake yourself up.

00:11:14.500 So, give that a try.

00:11:19.100 Anyway, are you watching the story about Congresswoman Robert?

00:11:26.720 So, she told a joke in public that was filmed, in which she suggested that Ilan Omar, you

00:11:35.320 know, might be a terrorist.

00:11:37.520 You know, that was the essence of the joke.

00:11:39.360 Details don't matter.

00:11:40.980 Now, she ended up apologizing, but people had some opinions about whether she should have.

00:11:45.960 It's a common opinion on the right to say you should never apologize, because then you'll

00:11:51.100 just be apologizing for everything all the time, and you're basically giving power to

00:11:55.800 the people who demand apologies.

00:11:57.920 And I have some sympathy for that.

00:12:00.240 I think that's a reasonably good Trump-like strategy.

00:12:04.980 You know, I'm big on apologies if the issue doesn't matter, right?

00:12:09.340 If you can make a, in your personal life, if you can make something go away with an apology,

00:12:13.180 go ahead and do it.

00:12:14.000 But politically, I think apologies probably are just a transfer of power for no reason.

00:12:21.400 But here's my take on this.

00:12:24.080 Did we conflate our standard for how we treat public figures with how we would treat each

00:12:29.820 other?

00:12:30.780 Because that's not the same.

00:12:33.340 If a public figure told a joke about you, a private citizen, suggesting that you were a

00:12:41.160 terrorist because of your ethnicity, well, that would be pretty bad. 0.85

00:12:46.360 That would be pretty bad.

00:12:48.520 You don't want your public servants, elected officials, to be, you know, mocking private

00:12:55.420 citizens for their ethnicity, even if it's a joke, right? 1.00

00:13:00.140 There's no joke that's going to be funny enough that it's going to be okay for our elected

00:13:06.640 officials to make fun of a private citizen, for ethnicity anyway, right?

00:13:11.800 But that's not the standard we use for other elected officials.

00:13:16.900 You can say basically anything about an elected official.

00:13:19.800 How many times has Trump been called Hitler?

00:13:24.780 How many times have Republicans in general been called Hitler?

00:13:28.940 Is anybody apologizing for that?

00:13:31.480 Is anybody asking them to apologize?

00:13:34.140 No.

00:13:35.220 Because it's the standard for talking about public figures.

00:13:37.960 If Boebert, or anybody else, wants to call any member of Congress a terrorist, no matter

00:13:45.380 what, because of their ethnicity, because that's why Trump is called Hitler, right?

00:13:50.980 That's why Republicans are called Hitler.

00:13:52.820 It's because of their ethnicity.

00:13:54.600 If they were not white and male, a lot less Hitler calling, don't you think?

00:14:00.080 There'd probably be some.

00:14:01.920 But to be a lot less of it, and to pretend that calling somebody Hitler is unrelated to

00:14:07.600 their ethnicity is a little disingenuous, right? 0.99

00:14:12.120 Because we don't, you know, call the black leaders Hitler.

00:14:15.600 I mean, sometimes, but it's, you know, that'd be the exception.

00:14:19.900 So I don't think that Boebert, did I call her Roebert?

00:14:25.580 I don't think Boebert should have apologized.

00:14:29.920 I don't think it's a big deal that she did either, either way.

00:14:32.680 But as long as calling Trump Hitler is okay, we can call Omar a terrorist, because she's 0.69

00:14:40.340 a political figure.

00:14:42.860 And she has said things that would make ordinary people suggest she has some, let's say, not

00:14:49.620 enough disavowing of the terrorists, let's say.

00:14:55.000 Yeah, it's a reasonable opinion.

00:14:56.720 You could debate it, but it's in the reasonable zone.

00:15:00.080 But here's my take on it, just to get you all mad.

00:15:04.140 I don't see much difference between the far left and the far right.

00:15:08.600 I think both of them are racist ideologies, and I think they're not practical ideologies.

00:15:17.040 Now, I would go further and say that everybody on the far left has a far right doppelganger,

00:15:24.640 who's just sort of like the same thing, but is racist against different groups.

00:15:29.320 So they're not identical.

00:15:32.640 They're similarly racist and similarly impractical.

00:15:37.380 So you could play this game at home, but I think Boebert is just AOC with a gun.

00:15:44.880 That's all I see.

00:15:47.040 Now, I'm pro-AOC as an influencer, as a persuasive person, as a powerful entity in the country.

00:15:56.300 She does have the whole package.

00:15:59.360 Boebert has a pretty good package, too.

00:16:02.220 Let's say the marketing of herself is pretty strong.

00:16:06.000 They're both pretty persuasive in their different ways.

00:16:09.500 But, yeah, everybody's going to say it's a bad comparison.

00:16:12.840 I'm aware of that, right?

00:16:14.240 I'm aware that you don't like this.

00:16:16.400 But I'm giving you my opinion.

00:16:18.220 You can't really argue with an opinion.

00:16:23.320 It's subjective.

00:16:24.820 So if you say, hey, in my opinion, they're completely different, I'm not even going to argue with you.

00:16:29.260 I'd say, okay.

00:16:30.660 That would be how you see it.

00:16:32.820 And that's perfectly acceptable.

00:16:35.280 But I'm telling you how I see it.

00:16:37.400 You can't argue it.

00:16:38.640 It's just, it's literally a subjective opinion.

00:16:42.280 That they're basically the same person.

00:16:45.260 You know, Boebert sounds, you know, like she's tough on immigrants, which some people will interpret as racist.

00:16:52.960 AOC says she's tough on white people, which reasonable people feel is racist.

00:17:00.320 It's the same person to me.

00:17:03.360 And in some ways, Ilhan Omar is just Steve King, but with better headwear.

00:17:07.940 By the way, if I may give a compliment to Ilhan Omar, because, you know, I'm generally a critic.

00:17:20.580 And I always advise you that if you can't give a compliment to somebody on the other team, you know, maybe you're not as unbiased as you'd like to be.

00:17:29.560 Here's my compliment to Ilhan Omar.

00:17:32.680 I really like her style.

00:17:35.280 Like her actually fashion style.

00:17:36.960 You know, she was always within the, or I don't know if she's always, but within the sort of Islamic, westernized look.

00:17:45.220 She's really good at fashion. 0.99

00:17:48.100 Anyway.

00:17:52.040 So I don't see much difference between the far left and the far right.

00:17:55.160 And I think that we're being hypnotized into imagining that we should be siding with either of them.

00:18:00.220 A Daily Beast columnist named Wajahat Ali, he tweeted that,

00:18:09.740 nothing the squad has said or done is remotely as extreme or radical as Boebert, Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Trump.

00:18:19.260 To which I say, what?

00:18:22.180 Are you kidding me?

00:18:24.140 You don't think that they've been as extreme or as radical on the far left?

00:18:30.560 What news are you watching?

00:18:33.920 How could he possibly think that?

00:18:35.960 Now, again, he's expressing an opinion, and it's subjective.

00:18:39.660 So I can't say it's wrong, because it's subjective.

00:18:43.980 But it sure looks the same to me.

00:18:46.560 I mean, they look about equally extreme or radical, but just in completely different ways.

00:18:50.960 Anyway, here's my favorite story of the day.

00:18:57.400 If you don't follow tennis, you've never heard of this gentleman.

00:19:01.240 But Nick Kyrgios, I may be pronouncing it right, wrong, Kyrgios.

00:19:08.460 He's a young male tennis star.

00:19:10.860 He has been in the top 20, but he's struggling a little bit.

00:19:13.860 And part of the reason he's struggling is that he claims he's too horny to play tennis.

00:19:20.960 No, seriously.

00:19:23.560 Seriously.

00:19:24.500 He said he was too horny to play tennis.

00:19:26.840 Because apparently he goes on the road, and then he's away from his girlfriend or wife or whatever it is,

00:19:32.160 for months at a time.

00:19:34.320 And, you know, allegedly he's not cheating on her, apparently.

00:19:38.080 And he said out loud, this is not even my interpretation.

00:19:42.380 He basically said it's really, it's getting more difficult to play.

00:19:45.560 I was going to say hard, but then you were going to make bad jokes. 0.89

00:19:48.300 It's getting difficult to play because he's too horny.

00:19:53.000 Now, I'm really in favor of this excuse.

00:19:59.860 Because most excuses you've heard so many times, and you're like, oh, yeah, traffic was bad.

00:20:07.140 That's why you were late, right?

00:20:08.820 The traffic was bad.

00:20:10.100 Not because you started out late, and everybody knew the traffic was bad, but because the traffic was bad.

00:20:17.300 Right?

00:20:17.900 Do I have chocolate on me? 1.00

00:20:19.920 Damn it. 0.99

00:20:21.240 I always have chocolate on the edge of my mouth when I do these things. 0.99

00:20:24.420 But the reason I'm so happy about this story is that I plan to use this for a lot of different excuses.

00:20:32.600 For example, if I fail to meet my comic deadline for Dilbert, and my editor calls me and says,

00:20:40.020 you know, you missed deadline, I'm going to say, I know I missed the deadline, but in my defense,

00:20:46.400 I was way too horny to draw a comic.

00:20:49.240 Way too horny. 0.70

00:20:50.120 And I think that has to mean something. 0.72

00:20:53.760 All right, so let's normalize that excuse.

00:20:56.540 I like that one.

00:20:58.860 So there's a poll I saw on, I guess, Fox News.

00:21:02.960 It was reporting on a poll that said, Kamala Harris is the top choice for Democrats if Biden doesn't run again.

00:21:09.540 Top choice.

00:21:11.400 The lowest approval in history for a vice president.

00:21:17.920 Top choice.

00:21:18.560 Oh, but wait.

00:21:21.500 I don't want you to think that the Democrats don't have a deep bench.

00:21:25.680 Because here are the other people who also did well.

00:21:29.720 And by the way, the top choice only gets 13% support on their own team.

00:21:35.840 13%.

00:21:36.320 Top choice.

00:21:38.400 Here are the ones that are not the top choice.

00:21:40.260 Bernie Sanders, who will be, I believe, 273 years old when the election happens.

00:21:50.540 Elizabeth Warren.

00:21:52.740 Cory Booker.

00:21:53.580 Michael Bloomberg.

00:21:56.520 Andrew Yang.

00:21:57.800 And Pete Buttigieg.

00:21:59.800 Also were named.

00:22:01.740 So that's their bench.

00:22:03.440 Now, of this group, I would say that, you know, Michael Bloomberg at least looks like, you know, a serious person.

00:22:14.740 But how old is Bloomberg now?

00:22:16.560 Isn't he like 107 or something?

00:22:19.880 That's it?

00:22:21.660 Give me an age on Michael Bloomberg.

00:22:23.720 Somebody Google that quickly.

00:22:27.660 Is he 80?

00:22:31.440 He's 69.

00:22:32.500 He's not 69.

00:22:34.100 He's got to be older than 69.

00:22:36.660 Isn't he?

00:22:38.340 All right.

00:22:38.900 Well, somebody will have that number in a moment.

00:22:40.660 79, I'm seeing.

00:22:42.060 I don't know.

00:22:43.100 He's too old.

00:22:43.760 So anyway, the Democrats have absolutely no bench.

00:22:47.720 How in the world is anybody going to keep Trump from being president again?

00:22:52.880 Like, what would have to happen?

00:22:54.820 There's no way he's going to be beaten straight up.

00:22:58.500 Am I right?

00:23:00.220 So we're seeing Bloomberg at 79, almost 80.

00:23:05.400 This is the weakest bench I've seen in a long time.

00:23:10.240 Pretty weak. 1.00

00:23:10.820 Because the people on here are proven losers. 0.99

00:23:14.580 We're too old. 1.00

00:23:17.020 Yeah.

00:23:17.440 Now look at the Republican side.

00:23:19.820 Imagine DeSantis.

00:23:22.500 Strong choice.

00:23:23.820 Imagine Tom Cotton.

00:23:26.640 Strong choice.

00:23:27.660 Rand Paul.

00:23:29.140 Serious choice.

00:23:30.820 Trump, of course.

00:23:32.680 I mean, I feel like you could go down the line and you could find, you know, a reasonable

00:23:37.320 number of Republicans who have a shot at it.

00:23:40.820 Yeah, Kristi Noem.

00:23:45.140 Oh, you know, Newsom is interesting because he was not on the list.

00:23:49.740 See, you know, we're all critics of, not all of us, but many of us here are critics of

00:23:55.260 Governor Newsom, including myself.

00:23:58.040 But he's a really good politician.

00:24:00.780 You know, he's got the look and the play.

00:24:03.580 So if he got serious about running for president, I think he could make a dent, actually.

00:24:10.200 Let's talk about China.

00:24:12.360 So my favorite NBA player of all time so far is NS Cantor, who has been dumping on China 1.00

00:24:19.680 like crazy.

00:24:20.280 And now he's going after the Olympics.

00:24:23.000 Yay.

00:24:23.400 And NS, he says, quote, shame on organizations like the International Olympic Committee that's

00:24:31.240 setting up an Olympic Games this coming winter in China.

00:24:34.080 So he's going right after the Olympics.

00:24:35.540 And China's kind of weak there because of the tennis star disappearance.

00:24:41.960 So their top tennis star has semi-disappeared, obviously is under something like a house arrest

00:24:48.780 for speaking out against Chinese leadership.

00:24:53.280 Or specifically talking about getting raped by a member of leadership. 0.93

00:24:58.160 So NS, I am backing you 100%.

00:25:03.020 And I don't think we should attend the Olympics in China or anybody else should.

00:25:07.840 We will probably, but I don't think we should.

00:25:09.960 In other good anti-China news, China Telecom Americas, which is a telecom services provider 1.00

00:25:19.400 in the U.S., is being blocked.

00:25:22.920 So the FCC is kicking them out.

00:25:25.720 So they won't be able to do business in the United States anymore because they have ties

00:25:31.400 to China and they lied about where their data was being kept.

00:25:34.640 And they have ties to the Chinese government specifically.

00:25:38.840 So they were considered not trustworthy.

00:25:42.840 Now, when I heard that America was going to start to dump on Huawei, you know, the big

00:25:49.100 Chinese telecom company, I immediately bought shares in their competitor.

00:25:55.720 And those Ericsson shares went down, I think, 16% in like just a few weeks.

00:26:04.500 Now, why is Ericsson stock going down when Huawei, I think its biggest competitor, should

00:26:12.940 be almost, you know, approaching extinct in a lot of markets?

00:26:18.320 What exactly is happening?

00:26:19.720 I don't give investment advice.

00:26:24.280 And if you were to take any based on this conversation, it would be a big mistake.

00:26:28.380 But I don't see why the competition could possibly be down when their biggest competitor is sort of in big trouble.

00:26:37.580 Anyway, I'm watching that.

00:26:39.660 There's something I don't know about that market that's happening right now, probably a lot.

00:26:44.760 But seeing the United States shutting down Chinese businesses here is good stuff. 1.00

00:26:50.960 But that's not all that's happening.

00:26:53.000 So I saw a tweet by Dan Harris.

00:26:55.740 He has some international experience that makes him look qualified to say this.

00:27:00.420 So there's an article talking about how there's a commission that's looking at shutting down investment

00:27:07.460 from the United States in Chinese government-connected businesses.

00:27:13.920 But it looks like maybe...

00:27:16.940 So this is what Dan says.

00:27:18.660 He says within a year at most, the U.S. will have shut down nearly all investment money flowing to China.

00:27:24.540 Is that real?

00:27:28.620 Now I'm talking about people investing in their stock market to prop it up.

00:27:32.780 I'm not talking about companies moving in with production facilities.

00:27:37.820 I don't know about that.

00:27:39.520 I don't know if that's slowing down or stopped.

00:27:41.940 And I'd love to see some news on that.

00:27:43.980 Can you tell me why there's no news on what companies in the United States have recently decided to do new business in China,

00:27:51.660 as in manufacturing plants?

00:27:54.840 Why is that not reported?

00:27:57.240 Maybe the single most important thing we should know.

00:28:01.420 Am I wrong?

00:28:02.920 Is there anything more important in the world than knowing how many Americans are still moving into China 0.87

00:28:08.980 versus whether or not it stopped?

00:28:11.500 I can't think of anything.

00:28:12.900 Because even climate change is going to take a while.

00:28:15.940 But the China problem is a little bit more immediate.

00:28:20.900 All right.

00:28:23.440 So that's happening.

00:28:24.540 And the Jerusalem Post is reporting that apparently there had been some math done at the Peking University

00:28:39.600 about what would happen if China opened up to travel.

00:28:43.540 Because China is still locked down for travel.

00:28:45.660 If China opens up for travel, apparently it will be a pandemic disaster in China, according to some modelers.

00:28:55.080 So they can't open up for travel, maybe ever.

00:28:58.520 What are they going to do?

00:29:01.220 So China is in a world of hurt.

00:29:04.940 So they're losing their ability to compete in any company that has a government connection in China.

00:29:10.860 They're losing their investment from at least the United States in their stock market.

00:29:15.000 And they can't open up their country, but probably countries will be able to open up.

00:29:22.020 So how do you bring new business to China?

00:29:23.880 If you were going to build a manufacturing plant in China, you know that you would have to visit it a lot, right?

00:29:30.180 If you were going to do it right.

00:29:31.640 Let's say Apple wanted to open a new or do new business with somebody in China.

00:29:36.440 They would put an American Apple employee like right on scene checking stuff out.

00:29:42.900 If you can't travel, I don't know if you can do new business there, if there's any physical part of that business.

00:29:48.120 Because you have to see it to believe it.

00:29:53.100 So here's a little difference of experts.

00:29:59.720 So this Omicron variant, do we know if it's more dangerous or less dangerous yet?

00:30:11.240 We're thinking it's more virulent or spreads faster than the normal ones.

00:30:16.380 But we don't know if it's more dangerous yet, right?

00:30:20.460 Because we're seeing some indication, and I would say these would be preliminary reports,

00:30:25.080 that it's way less dangerous than the existing big ones.

00:30:30.620 But then I saw this comment from Dr. Eli David.

00:30:37.000 He was quoting the chair of the South African Medical Association who said about the Omicron variant,

00:30:43.640 that it may be highly transmissible, but so far the cases we're seeing are extremely mild.

00:30:49.400 Extremely mild.

00:30:52.680 And then Dr. David says, this makes a lot of sense,

00:30:56.560 because less virulent mutations have greater evolutionary advantage.

00:31:01.580 Makes sense.

00:31:02.600 And this is exactly how the Spanish flu ended, he says.

00:31:06.420 Wait, do we know that?

00:31:07.820 I thought it was still a mystery how the Spanish flu ended.

00:31:14.000 But is this a true statement?

00:31:16.860 That we know how the Spanish flu ended,

00:31:19.300 and it was because a variant was more transmissible but weaker,

00:31:24.940 so it basically was like a vaccination?

00:31:27.380 How many of you remember a long time ago

00:31:31.860 that I was wondering why we don't make a variant of our own

00:31:36.440 that's highly transmissible but gives you extremely mild symptoms,

00:31:40.820 so everybody would just get vaccinated sort of naturally,

00:31:43.800 just by hanging around?

00:31:45.620 And it turns out that maybe that's a thing,

00:31:49.520 but you have to wait for it as opposed to engineering it.

00:31:52.400 Right, the tech didn't exist to test the Spanish flu, exactly.

00:31:58.580 So we wouldn't really know what happened with the Spanish flu, would we?

00:32:01.980 Or do we just assume that's the only way it could have stopped?

00:32:06.960 Because I don't think the Spanish flu ever reached herd immunity, did it?

00:32:13.420 I don't think it did.

00:32:15.320 It just stopped, and we don't know why, right?

00:32:18.960 Oh, the Dark Horse podcast went over this.

00:32:21.140 Did Dark Horse conclude that the variants, the weaker variants,

00:32:25.620 were the reason that the dangerous variant died out?

00:32:33.160 All right, so I'm going to say that that's still a mystery to me.

00:32:39.080 And then Michael Amina gave us a reminder here,

00:32:42.680 said it's not inevitable that the viruses mutate

00:32:45.240 toward becoming less pathogenic and virulent.

00:32:48.580 And he says the idea that viruses inevitably become more infectious

00:32:53.540 but less transmissible has been isolating,

00:32:57.800 but it should really be put to rest.

00:32:59.960 So apparently your virus can go in either direction,

00:33:03.060 but wouldn't it be reasonable to assume it goes in both at the same time?

00:33:08.120 Wouldn't you see, for any massive pandemic,

00:33:13.000 wouldn't you see the virus having some variants that are worse

00:33:17.840 and some that are better?

00:33:19.620 Better meaning it transmits, but it doesn't make you sick.

00:33:22.960 Very sick.

00:33:25.220 So I'm a little confused about what is and isn't happening here with these variants,

00:33:29.740 but I'm tentatively going to be of the opinion

00:33:33.860 that there's no other explanation for how any pandemic ends.

00:33:39.000 I feel like the weak variant hypothesis has to be the only way they end, right?

00:33:46.380 I can't think of another way.

00:33:47.580 So I would think that if you wait long enough,

00:33:50.720 you inevitably get worse ones.

00:33:54.020 Inevitably.

00:33:55.180 But inevitably you would get ones that would inoculate you forever also, right?

00:34:03.140 Herd immunity is the end of the virus, Scott.

00:34:06.900 Well, you're acting...

00:34:07.740 And then LOL?

00:34:08.780 What's the LOL for?

00:34:10.220 Because you imagined I said something I didn't,

00:34:14.000 and then you dunked on me in your imagination,

00:34:16.980 and then you're like, ha-ha, LOL.

00:34:19.480 Good job.

00:34:21.060 Hallucinating and then dunking on your hallucination. 0.92

00:34:26.320 Dr. Jew has been saying this from the beginning. 0.73

00:34:32.360 All right.

00:34:32.980 So I saw an Andy Ngo video montage.

00:34:41.460 He didn't make it, but he tweeted it.

00:34:43.540 Of all the Democratic leaders saying that the vaccine was dangerous

00:34:47.580 because it was a Trump vaccine in the early days.

00:34:51.220 Now, how much trouble has the fake news 1.00

00:34:54.740 and the Democrats caused by lying about shit? 1.00

00:34:58.940 I mean, how many people have died because of fake news? 1.00

00:35:01.340 It's not zero.

00:35:03.360 Fake news is killing people in a variety of ways.

00:35:08.600 All right.

00:35:11.860 Here's what I would call true but fake news.

00:35:17.860 Are you ready?

00:35:20.320 This is now my opinion,

00:35:21.980 so the next stuff I say,

00:35:23.420 you need lots of fact checks on this

00:35:25.100 because it's pretty preliminary.

00:35:28.320 But you have your Dr. Malone,

00:35:30.960 a lot of you have heard of.

00:35:31.960 He's getting a lot of attention on the Internet.

00:35:35.180 And I believe his take is that the vaccines

00:35:38.960 would cause selection pressure

00:35:40.980 and cause more variants that could be dangerous.

00:35:44.340 How many of you believe that's the case,

00:35:47.920 that vaccinations create selection pressure

00:35:52.060 because if something gets out,

00:35:54.220 then that's really a super bug

00:35:57.220 if it got out past the vaccines?

00:35:59.560 I'm seeing a lot of yeses.

00:36:01.080 Yes, yes, yes.

00:36:04.560 So would you say that it's true

00:36:06.740 that vaccinations create an extra danger of variants?

00:36:13.180 True or false?

00:36:14.200 Give me a yes or no in your opinion.

00:36:15.980 Do vaccinations make the odds of a dangerous variant worse?

00:36:22.980 Yes or no?

00:36:25.320 See, lots of yeses, but lots of nos.

00:36:28.480 How could we be disagreeing on such a basic question?

00:36:33.620 By now.

00:36:34.380 Now, a lot of you are saying,

00:36:36.900 hey, stop talking about the pandemic.

00:36:38.880 I'm not really talking about the pandemic anymore.

00:36:42.260 I'm kind of talking about how we're processing information.

00:36:45.460 That's the interesting part to me.

00:36:47.880 But look how many people are on different sides

00:36:50.280 of this very basic question.

00:36:52.380 Does a vaccination cause variants

00:36:55.880 to become more dangerous?

00:36:59.380 All right.

00:37:00.080 Here's why this is fake news.

00:37:02.360 This is real news, in my opinion.

00:37:04.960 So I need some help on this one.

00:37:06.980 But here's my take.

00:37:09.680 It's true that vaccinations make variants

00:37:13.020 to add selection pressure,

00:37:17.580 meaning that anything that gets out past the vaccination

00:37:19.740 may have a little extra characteristics

00:37:22.760 that would be dangerous.

00:37:23.800 So I think that's true.

00:37:27.700 But here's why it's fake and true at the same time.

00:37:31.700 Here's the twist.

00:37:33.800 Because if you had no vaccinations, what would happen?

00:37:37.520 More virus, right?

00:37:39.440 Everybody agree with that basic statement.

00:37:41.820 If there are more vaccinations, there are fewer virus.

00:37:45.540 Because fewer people have it for a long period of time.

00:37:49.180 You can still get it, but you get it less often

00:37:51.800 and you don't carry it as long.

00:37:53.800 So you'd all agree that vaccinations

00:37:56.300 greatly reduce the amount of total virus in the world

00:38:00.440 compared to no vaccinations?

00:38:03.320 All right.

00:38:03.880 Does anybody disagree with that?

00:38:06.760 So if you disagree with that, you're just lost.

00:38:09.860 Yeah, there's one thing that I don't think any experts disagree on.

00:38:18.820 The vaccinations reduce the total amount of virus in the world.

00:38:22.960 Now, here are two things that are true.

00:38:26.060 Getting the vaccination might create some selection pressure.

00:38:30.180 True.

00:38:30.640 Not having any vaccinations at all would also create more virus,

00:38:37.700 which would create more variants.

00:38:39.600 Which one is the bigger effect?

00:38:41.360 All the virus in the world raging out of control and all of the variants that that would create.

00:38:49.420 Because the more virus, the more variants.

00:38:52.860 That much science knows.

00:38:54.960 The more virus, the more variants.

00:38:56.860 That's pretty much direct, right?

00:38:59.360 Direct causation.

00:39:01.640 And so you have two effects.

00:39:05.080 One is the vaccination might make the chances of you specifically creating a variant a little bit higher.

00:39:11.840 But if nobody's vaccinated, the total risk of variants is just off the chart.

00:39:19.980 So it's true that vaccinations can create that pressure.

00:39:23.740 But it's also true that if you didn't get vaccinated, it would be way worse with the variants.

00:39:28.840 That, I believe, is the current scientific opinion.

00:39:32.560 So if you see Dr. Malone say that vaccinations could cause selection pressure and variants,

00:39:39.900 that would be true.

00:39:42.520 But it doesn't answer the question.

00:39:46.880 Somebody says, on the other hand, wouldn't we reach herd immunity faster?

00:39:50.820 Yes, we would.

00:39:52.100 Yes, we would.

00:39:53.020 But with what level of death and damage?

00:39:56.960 All right.

00:39:57.400 Shoplifting is out of control in San Francisco.

00:39:59.840 You may have heard.

00:40:01.140 More stores are going down.

00:40:02.980 Some security guards have been killed now, defending one of them.

00:40:06.820 And the San Francisco Chronicle runs a story where the headline, at least the tweet, was,

00:40:13.940 we explore what police data, especially numbers from one particular corner in the city, can and can't tell us about what is happening.

00:40:22.340 Seriously?

00:40:23.340 Seriously?

00:40:25.340 The San Francisco Chronicle is wondering why the looting is happening?

00:40:30.440 Like, what's the cause of it?

00:40:33.800 Seriously?

00:40:34.240 Is there anybody who doesn't know the cause of it?

00:40:37.700 The cause is that the penalties were taken away.

00:40:39.980 And it became a good business model.

00:40:43.120 It didn't used to be a good business model to steal stuff, because you'd get caught.

00:40:47.520 You'd be prosecuted.

00:40:48.840 But now you won't get caught and you won't get prosecuted, or the odds are so low,

00:40:53.020 that now it's just an obvious good thing to do.

00:40:55.440 You really need a newspaper to do research on this?

00:40:59.040 I'm pretty sure we know what's going on there.

00:41:01.160 So the Democrats have literally destroyed retail commerce and won't admit it.

00:41:10.720 They've destroyed retail, I think, forever, and won't admit it.

00:41:17.300 How in the world can a Democrat ever get elected president again?

00:41:21.440 How in the world?

00:41:22.920 I don't see any way a Democrat could win the presidency in this context.

00:41:28.800 It seems impossible.

00:41:29.680 I mean, Trump would have to declare war on Switzerland or something, wouldn't he?

00:41:35.340 I mean, what would he have to do to lose this election if he runs?

00:41:39.160 I'm not convinced he's going to run, but if he does.

00:41:43.000 All right.

00:41:46.900 So here's a comment I see a lot.

00:41:49.380 So Shane Hazel said this today.

00:41:51.800 He tweeted,

00:41:52.240 Remember when the vaxxed people weren't going to need beds? 1.00

00:41:56.460 So basically, hearkening back to the fact that we were told the vaccinations would be real vaccinations and blah, blah, blah.

00:42:04.880 And that way of thinking is so broken.

00:42:10.260 Because you know what?

00:42:11.180 We can't go back.

00:42:13.000 It's already done.

00:42:14.740 It's history.

00:42:15.780 You can't change it.

00:42:17.380 And what we knew when we started is very different from what we know now.

00:42:21.740 In the fog of war, you're supposed to make mistakes.

00:42:27.500 So if in the fog of war, the government made mistakes, and they made lots of them, that doesn't mean anything.

00:42:34.780 It doesn't mean anything.

00:42:36.380 Because of course they were going to make mistakes in the beginning.

00:42:39.780 It doesn't mean the next one's a mistake.

00:42:42.060 It does mean you should be very skeptical about your government, but we're already there.

00:42:46.000 Rich says, I keep moving the gold posts. 1.00

00:42:51.360 All right, so let me talk to Rich, who is obviously a fucking idiot. 1.00

00:42:55.360 So Rich, am I moving the gold posts, or did we learn new fucking information, Rich? 1.00

00:43:02.060 Rich, if you don't change your opinion when the fucking information changes, you're a goddamn moron. 1.00

00:43:10.080 Okay? 1.00

00:43:10.600 And if you thought that during the fog of war, people were going to make good decisions, well, you're a fucking idiot. 1.00

00:43:18.060 Because nobody, no matter how smart, no matter how much they're like you, Rich, they can't make good decisions without data. 1.00

00:43:26.660 And we didn't have data.

00:43:28.220 We were guessing.

00:43:29.920 Some of those guesses are going to be wrong.

00:43:32.160 Do you know what that tells you about the next decision? 0.99

00:43:34.540 Fucking nothing. 0.99

00:43:36.280 Nothing. 0.99

00:43:36.660 So grow up, learn that the past is gone, doesn't tell you anything about the future, analogies are not thinking, you're going to have to look at every situation individually.

00:43:48.840 And yes, we all fucking understand that we don't trust the government about everything and every decision, and sometimes they make mistakes.

00:43:56.420 And sometimes it's about money and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 0.97

00:43:58.640 So telling us that they got one wrong doesn't tell us any fucking useful thing. 0.93

00:44:05.540 And it bores me. 0.94

00:44:07.600 All right.

00:44:09.680 So, moving the goalposts.

00:44:12.720 Scott, you're moving the goalposts.

00:44:14.640 You thought the vaccines were going to work.

00:44:16.680 Well, first of all, probably one of the few people who said publicly that I didn't think the vaccines were going to work.

00:44:24.080 Fact check me.

00:44:24.900 I said that the experts say that they've been trying for decades to make a coronavirus vaccination.

00:44:32.480 It hasn't worked for decades.

00:44:34.420 The experts said it won't work this time.

00:44:37.120 I said, well, it looks like it's not going to work, but I think our therapeutics will probably be pretty good.

00:44:42.940 Right?

00:44:43.920 That was my prediction.

00:44:45.520 So my prediction was that vaccines wouldn't necessarily work, but therapeutics would save us. 0.99

00:44:50.580 Did I move the fucking goalposts, Rich? 0.98

00:44:56.620 No. 0.99

00:44:57.720 I was fucking right, is what I was. 0.89

00:45:02.240 Now, if I had been wrong, I would have been like everybody else because we didn't have data. 0.91

00:45:06.220 Chad asks, why are we not doing wide-scale serology to, I assume you're asking to see how much immunity we have.

00:45:22.540 I'll bet those studies are going on.

00:45:25.380 Has anybody seen a study on wide-scale serology just to see if people already have antibodies?

00:45:32.340 I assume that's going on, right?

00:45:40.620 Yeah, Matt, that was worth $5 for the chuckle.

00:45:47.600 How many times have they been wrong?

00:45:50.580 The government?

00:45:53.120 If you're trying to get me to admit that a government sometimes makes mistakes, or even often, 1.00

00:45:59.260 shut up, shut up, just shut up. 0.99

00:46:04.880 Nobody needs to know that. 1.00

00:46:06.540 We all know that.

00:46:08.580 Let me tell you another way to spot an NPC.

00:46:12.820 If they're arguing something that 100% of the world knows.

00:46:17.200 All right, here's an NPC thing.

00:46:19.960 But, Scott, the vaccinations don't stop the flu or the virus completely.

00:46:27.960 Right, everybody knows that.

00:46:32.940 You don't really need to tell us that again.

00:46:39.560 A micro lesson on how to handle trolls.

00:46:42.420 Well, don't do it the way I do it.

00:46:44.460 I'm not sure I'm the one who can give you the lesson on that.

00:46:47.500 Because, you know, remember, if you're an energy monster, you look for conflict because it gives you energy.

00:46:55.180 And I'm a bit of an energy monster, too.

00:46:57.040 So when I go after a troll, it's part of my business model.

00:47:02.620 If you go after a troll, it's probably just a bad day.

00:47:05.880 So I'm not sure you should bother.

00:47:07.900 Maybe you should ignore them and leave that to the people who have a business model where mocking trolls is actually part of the entertainment.

00:47:19.500 Energy vampire.

00:47:20.360 Have you watched, let me give you some TV show recommendations.

00:47:27.700 Curb Your Enthusiasm is back for another season.

00:47:31.460 And oh, my God, it's good.

00:47:33.660 Oh, my God, it's good.

00:47:35.440 It's just so good.

00:47:36.420 The other is What We Do in the Shadows.

00:47:45.420 Just incredibly funny.

00:47:47.240 I think it's off now, but you can see the ones that are on.

00:47:50.860 I hope it's coming back.

00:47:54.200 I don't think it's canceled.

00:47:55.680 It's a terrific show.

00:47:57.180 And then there's another one called Wellington Paranormal.

00:48:01.820 Have you ever heard of it?

00:48:03.600 Wellington Paranormal.

00:48:06.120 It's actually great.

00:48:07.260 It's about two cops in New Zealand who were put on the Supernatural Task Force, but nobody gets to know.

00:48:17.220 And they're both. 1.00

00:48:18.520 And one of them is a dumb guy. 1.00

00:48:21.380 He does the best dumb guy. 1.00

00:48:24.140 You know, you're used to seeing somebody play the dumb guy on movies and stuff. 1.00

00:48:28.800 But he does the best dumb guy since Dumb and Dumber. 1.00

00:48:32.400 I mean, he's a really good dumb guy. 1.00

00:48:34.760 He's brilliant. 0.99

00:48:35.520 And, yeah, Ted Lasso, I think, maybe, I didn't finish watching.

00:48:44.240 It sort of slowed down.

00:48:45.320 I might get back to it.

00:48:46.340 I don't know.

00:48:47.640 So that's good.

00:48:49.060 And if you want a guilty pleasure, I'm embarrassed that I'm even going to recommend this.

00:48:55.740 But if you want one that's like pure empty calories, but entertaining, what's it called?

00:49:02.640 The Sex Life of College Girls or something? 0.55

00:49:06.480 Is it on?

00:49:07.900 I forget which streaming service it's on.

00:49:10.380 But it is purely for your worst instincts.

00:49:14.580 But the show, they keep kind of lively, you know?

00:49:19.840 So I like fast-paced shows where nobody is tied to a chair and tortured.

00:49:24.800 By the way, that's my turn-off-the-movie point.

00:49:29.300 If I watch any movie, the moment somebody is tied to a chair, boop, turn it off.

00:49:34.820 Because that tells me the writers are bad.

00:49:37.620 If you have to tie somebody to a chair in your movie, you're a bad, bad writer.

00:49:42.980 Sorry.

00:49:43.280 All right.

00:49:49.580 All right.

00:49:51.620 That's about all I've got for today.

00:49:53.380 And I think that's plenty.

00:49:55.000 Don't you?

00:49:56.720 Let's see if we can talk less about the pandemic in the future.

00:50:02.240 I mean, I'd really like to.

00:50:03.240 But I feel as if all the psychological phenomenon is sort of happening in that domain.

00:50:11.380 So the stuff that I'm interested in is way less about the science and way less about the politics.

00:50:17.620 I'm just fascinated by how we're processing the information.

00:50:21.380 Because you saw that, you know, Rich the Troll here.

00:50:24.480 You see how some people process information.

00:50:26.840 It's just shocking.

00:50:30.040 Please stop talking about it.

00:50:33.240 John, I'm not going to do that.

00:50:35.340 I'm not going to do that.

00:50:36.980 It is the biggest thing in the world and the thing that I find most interesting from the psychology of it.

00:50:43.740 Those of you who want it to go away by not talking about it, well, good luck with that.

00:50:48.720 That's not going to happen.

00:50:49.960 So, I mean, you can have that dream, but, you know, it's a useless dream.

00:50:57.700 And I also think these are the biggest decisions we need to make.

00:51:00.480 Now, I would like to give you this following reframe.

00:51:09.120 And I've said this often, but the more I say it, the more useful it is, I think.

00:51:14.340 The citizens run this country.

00:51:17.620 We only delegate when we can't decide.

00:51:20.600 So, if the citizens, you know, are sort of close to split, or even 60-40, that's pretty close to a split, we say, you know, it would be better off if we just let the politicians work this one out.

00:51:32.740 We're kind of happy with that.

00:51:34.480 But that doesn't change the fact that the citizens are completely in control.

00:51:39.500 It's only when the citizens don't have an opinion.

00:51:42.120 It's a split opinion.

00:51:43.100 That's the only time the government has control.

00:51:46.580 So, if you're worried about the pandemic lasting forever, which citizens want that?

00:51:53.140 Which ones?

00:51:54.640 There are no citizens that want the pandemic to last forever.

00:51:58.200 The citizens will end the pandemic when there are enough of them that want it ended.

00:52:02.920 Now, of course, it is, you know, brainwashing the citizens, and that's part of the problem.

00:52:08.040 But I feel at this point, you know, we'll be able to directly observe, you know, is it getting worse or is it getting better?

00:52:17.040 Do you know people who are sick?

00:52:18.800 You know, so I feel like the public went from completely helpless, it's getting more and more informed, taking a little bit more control.

00:52:26.900 And as soon as it reaches, I don't know what the ratio is, 75% on the same team.

00:52:33.260 You know, if we reach a point where 75% of any place says get rid of the masks, do you think the government could keep you masked if 75% of the public said no?

00:52:46.040 I don't.

00:52:47.400 So, imagining that the government has control over these decisions is a little bit misleading.

00:52:54.260 Misleading.

00:52:54.700 If you could get your fellow citizens, whenever I say that, it sounds sexist, doesn't it?

00:53:01.480 Your fellow citizens.

00:53:04.940 If you can get them to change their mind, then the government will change its mind.

00:53:08.780 It really isn't up to the government.

00:53:11.240 Do you think that California, or that Governor Newsom is acting the way he is, you know, tighter in California than other places,

00:53:18.300 do you think he's doing that because the, without support of the public?

00:53:23.040 He's not.

00:53:23.620 The reason California is different than Florida is that our public is different, not because the government's different.

00:53:31.000 It's the public.

00:53:32.280 So, every time you feel helpless, you're not helpless because of the government, at least on this issue.

00:53:39.120 You're helpless because your fellow citizens have different opinions.

00:53:41.900 And if you can change their opinions, and you have the ability to do that with social media, go ahead.

00:53:50.580 Go do it.

00:53:51.140 They can take your money, Scott, in all caps.

00:53:56.160 Was that supposed to mean something?

00:53:59.320 They can take your money?

00:54:00.960 Oh, you mean the government can take your money in terms of taxes?

00:54:04.300 Yes.

00:54:05.560 Yes.

00:54:06.400 But do you know why the government can take your money, even at a gunpoint, in terms of taxes?

00:54:12.120 Because the citizens are okay with it.

00:54:15.760 As soon as the citizens don't want it, it goes away.

00:54:19.040 But there are enough people who want it that we delegate to the government.

00:54:23.420 So, and I don't think this is necessarily like other countries.

00:54:27.680 Australia, for example.

00:54:28.920 Well, I feel like the government might be in control there.

00:54:32.260 You know what I mean?

00:54:33.240 It looks like the government is in control.

00:54:36.040 But if the United States said, you all have to stay home for, I don't know, a month?

00:54:42.540 You can't go outdoors?

00:54:44.340 Well, that would be the end of it.

00:54:46.360 That would be the end of the pandemic.

00:54:48.480 Because you certainly get more than 70% of Americans to say, no, no, we're going outdoors.

00:54:55.460 Yeah, we're done with your rules now.

00:54:57.940 We're just going outdoors.

00:54:59.940 So, I think that it, well, I'm not worried about the boiling frog syndrome.

00:55:07.200 I see that in the comments.

00:55:08.680 Meaning that they'll slowly condition us to do more and more.

00:55:13.660 Because the problem is there's nobody who wants it.

00:55:16.820 You would need somebody who's on the side of wanting the public to be locked down and wear masks.

00:55:24.440 There's nobody in the government who wants that.

00:55:26.300 They don't want it for its own purpose. 0.97

00:55:30.940 I think that's ridiculous. 0.98

00:55:35.560 Florida, baby. 0.99

00:55:37.340 Yeah, the public in Florida is different.

00:55:39.720 So, their government acts differently, of course.

00:55:43.500 But it's not the government, it's the people.

00:55:45.320 All right, that's all I've got for now, and I will talk to you tomorrow.

00:55:52.960 Take my money, you said, we can deal with the age that might be later.

00:55:56.140 At least we can find happiness in China's poor. 1.00

00:56:00.300 Okay, well, I don't know if that was worth $5, but thank you anyway.

00:56:03.960 I'll talk to you tomorrow.

00:56:05.040 Have a good day.

00:56:05.380 I'll talk to you tomorrow.

00:56:05.680 We'll talk to you tomorrow.

00:56:06.020 We'll be right back.

00:56:06.520 Will be right back.

00:56:07.100 I'll get this from you or the next episode.

00:56:07.460 Bye for now.

00:56:07.700 Bye for now.

00:56:08.400 Bye for now.

00:56:09.380 Bye for now, guys.

00:56:09.440 Bye for now.

00:56:10.020 Bye for now.

00:56:10.380 Bye for now.

00:56:10.460 Bye for now.

00:56:10.660 Bye for now.

00:56:11.720 Bye for now.

00:56:12.540 Bye for now.

00:56:12.860 Bye for now.

00:56:26.860 Bye for now.

00:56:28.020 Bye for now.

00:56:31.020 Bye Good morning.

00:56:31.600 Thank you.

00:56:32.460 Bye Ergebnis.

Real Coffee with Scott Adams - November 28, 2021

Episode 1576 Scott Adams： The Coming Collapse of China and More Good News

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