Reconcilable Differences 37: A Useless Angle for Swordfighting
This week, John and Merlin reminisce about the Flowbee, sea monkeys, and the alternately disappointing and satisfying quality of the action figures in their youth. Merlin briefly impersonates Dan Moren and shares that his iPhone activation problems were not unique. John conclusively demonstrates the mini ways that Merlin can’t hear himself pronouncing everything wrong and bemoans the travails of jumbled Contacts syncing.
The main topic this week is whether we’re living in a simulation (and how we’d know it). This leads to a spirited tour of scientific methodology and why it so often turns out that some things don’t…turn out.
Is coffee killing us, saving us, or what exactly is the deal here? Your hosts consider the times when it’s useful to question reality, and John still has concerns about smoking.
They read and discuss Sylvester Stallone’s mail.
(Recorded on Tuesday, October 11, 2016)
This episode of Reconcilable Differences is sponsored by:- Squarespace: Enter offer code DIFFS at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
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- The Nuisance Committee: Please stay tuned after the show for a special message about the 2016 election.
An increasing number of iPhone users are experiencing an Activation Lock issue in which the device is linked to an Apple ID email address that does not belong to them, according to crowdsourced information from MacRumors and Twitter.
Odds are we're living in a simulation, says Elon Musk - The Verge"There's a billion to one chance we're living in base reality," Elon Musk said tonight on stage at Recode's Code Conference, meaning that one of the most influential and powerful figures in tech thinks that it's overwhelmingly likely we're just characters living inside a simulation.
I Don’t Want to Be Right - The New YorkerThis is Not a Conspiracy TheoryFermi paradox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaDr. John Ioannidis Exposes the Bad Science of Colleagues - The AtlanticTruth Tobacco Industry Documentsfqnx0045 - [Re: Stallone Tobacco Use Agreement] - Truth Tobacco Industry DocumentsF***ing Magnets, How Do They Work? | Know Your MemeMMR vaccine controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaPower Poses Co-author: I Don't Think Power Poses Are Real -- Science of UsThe Filedrawer Problem - PsychFileDrawer.org1977 Dannon Yogurt Commercials "Georgians Over 100" - YouTubeLincoln–Kennedy coincidences urban legend - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaSpurious CorrelationsFixed points: antipodes on the globe with the same temperature and pressureMonty Hall problem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaLongitudinal study - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaData dredging - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaPost hoc analysis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaBrattoo Propaganda Software - ProductsBackfire effect - RationalWikiThe Backfire Effect – You Are Not So SmartMaladroite Cheval. on VimeoAKA "Humanity Horse"
There are always two opposite points on the Earth with the same temperature - YouTubeIntermediate value theorem - WikipediaIn mathematical analysis, the intermediate value theorem states that if a continuous function, f, with an interval, [a, b], as its domain, takes values f(a) and f(b) at each end of the interval, then it also takes any value between f(a) and f(b) at some point within the interval.