Scott Adams' Blog

President Trump’s First 100 Days

Posted April 25th, 2017 @ 12:07pm in #Trump First100Days

Everyone observing politics seems to agree on two things about a president’s first 100 days in office:

1. 100 days is a meaningless, arbitrary marker for a president’s performance that is likely to be more misleading than useful.

and…

2. Let’s treat it like it is important! Reeeeeeee!

The thing that fascinates me the most about this situation is that the so-called “pro-science” people are giving Trump low grades for his first 100 days.

Allow me to connect some dots.

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WhenHub Hackathon - An Example of Systems over Goals

Posted April 24th, 2017 @ 11:28am in #WhenHub systems vs goals

Regular readers of this blog know that I wrote a book about the benefits of systems versus goals. You also might know that I cofounded a startup (WhenHub) using a systems business model approach. I’ll use this blog to keep you updated on how that works out compared to the traditional goal-oriented business model that almost all startups follow.

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How a Systems-Thinking President Can Settle the Climate Science Debate

Posted April 21st, 2017 @ 7:59am in #POTUS #Trump Climate Science

This idea in today’s Wall Street Journal talks about creating a “Red Team” to dig into the climate science debate and come up with a conclusion for the public. I call that a good system.

Systems are better than goals. A goal, in this case, might be to “Convince the public that climate change is a big problem.” That’s a clear goal, but what if it isn’t the best outcome? That’s where a system (such as forming a Red Team) comes in handy. The system will solve for credibility while informing the public of whatever comes out of the exercise.

You can’t govern better than that. Period.

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Big Red Flag for Cognitive Dissonance

Posted April 20th, 2017 @ 10:49am in #climate science #climate change #cognitive dissonance

When I see an obvious case of cognitive dissonance in the news, I like to point it out so you can see reality through what I call the Persuasion Filter. Today’s example comes from an article in SLATE about climate change.

The author, Tim Requarth, correctly points out that facts and logic have limited value in changing anyone’s mind about climate science, or anything else. He speaks from experience because he teaches workshops on how to better communicate science. I like this guy. He’s on the right path.

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My Interview with Greg Gutfeld

Posted April 20th, 2017 @ 9:09am

I know you prefer reading over listening, but some of you might want to hear my interview with FOX News’ own Greg Gutfeld on his podcast.

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You Don’t Have Free Will – but You Might Get It Someday

Posted April 19th, 2017 @ 9:48am in #free will

Regular readers know that I don’t believe in the superstition of “free will” because the laws of physics don’t stop at your skull. Whatever is happening in your brain is the result of cause and effect, and perhaps some randomness. But “free will” isn’t a real thing, except in our imaginations.

But it might be a real thing soon.

We’re hearing in the news that someday, perhaps within ten years, humans will be able to implant microchips in their brains to boost performance or fix problems. When that happens, we’ll have our first opportunity for something like genuine “free will.”

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The Air Comes Out of the Anti-Trump Balloon

Posted April 18th, 2017 @ 11:32am in #Trump #taxes

In January of this year, President Trump’s critics were marching in the streets because they believed he was about to go full-Hitler. Or maybe he was just crazy, and about to do something dangerously stupid.

Today their biggest complaint is that President Trump hasn’t shared his tax returns with the public.

How’s everything else looking?

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How to Structure a Deal With North Korea

Posted April 17th, 2017 @ 6:06am in #Trump #North Korea

One of the most useful things I learned in business school was that you can usually make a deal whenever the parties involved don’t want full control of the same limited resources. That’s why a peace deal in Israel is impossible – because both sides want the same land. But that’s a rare situation (fortunately).

The more normal situation is the one we see with North Korea and the United States. The United States doesn’t want the same limited resource that North Korea wants. And China has their own interests. That kind of situation almost always means you can reach a deal if you look hard enough.

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Am I Shadowbanned on Twitter?

Posted April 14th, 2017 @ 9:37am in #Trump #Twitter #shadowban

Earlier this week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey contacted me to discuss my ongoing public observations that Twitter appears to be “shadowbanning” me because of my writings about Trump. Jack introduced me via Direct Message to Del Harvey, Twitter’s Head of Trust & Safety, for the official answer.

The official answer is that no one, including me, is shadowbanned on Twitter. It has never happened.

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U.S. and Russian Relationship at a Low?

Posted April 13th, 2017 @ 8:15am in #Trump #Putin

Everyone is saying the relationship between the United States and Russia is really, really bad right now. President Trump says it is bad. Russia agrees. All the pundits agree too.

So it must be true, right?

In the 2nd dimension – where things are just the way they look – it does seem that the U.S. and Russia are in a bad place with each other. The United States attacked Russia’s little buddy, Assad, for allegedly using chemical weapons. But Russia says Assad didn’t use chemical weapons. Now Russia is mad at the United States.

Maybe the situation is exactly what I just described.

But just for fun, let’s hop up to the 3rd dimension (of persuasion) and see what the view looks like.

Hopping up now. Looking around…

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