Scott Adams' Blog

History’s First Quadruple-Wizard

Posted September 29th, 2015 @ 9:08am in #Trump

This post is just for fun, as part of my Master Wizard series. The first half is inspired by a tweet from one of my Twitter followers. 

Master Wizard: A human that is extraordinarily skilled in the methods of persuasion.

I think historians would agree that Abraham Lincoln was one of the great Master Wizards of persuasion. Americans are well aware of Lincoln’s linguistic gifts. But you might not know that Lincoln and Mark Twain – another Master Wizard – were alive at the same time. History does not tell us if the two met. But if you have been reading my Master Wizard series, you know that skilled persuaders can recognize each other from their tells. At the very least, we can be sure Mark Twain studied Lincoln’s communication style, as writers do. Perhaps Twain even learned a few things.

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The Periscope App

Posted September 28th, 2015 @ 12:31pm

If you haven’t used Twitter’s Periscope app, you might want to check it out. It projects you into people’s personal lives – their homes, their work, or their public events – in a way that is intimate and sort of amazing. It is all live and instant and free.

Last night I was watching the lunar eclipse through a number of personal phones on the East coast while excited moon watchers did play-by-play. The video itself was poor, but simply being part of the action was exciting. Likewise, I just watched Trump’s tax speech live because someone on his team fired up Periscope from the audience. 

I started doing some live Periscope broadcasts and plan to do more. Sometimes I will be at my desk, drawing and asking for ideas. Or I might be in my man cave answering your questions.

The app is free. Just download it and follow me on Twitter and Periscope at @ScottAdamSays. You will get an alert when I go live, according to no particular schedule.

I don’t have a financial interest in Periscope. I just think you will like it. If it seems like 99% of the content is bad, remember that is also true of television and music as well. It takes a while to find what you like.

Violating the Wizard Prime Directive

Posted September 27th, 2015 @ 11:43am in #Trump

New readers of this blog are encouraged to catch up on my past posts. Otherwise this one will make no sense. Search for my #Trump posts to view this one in context. 

The summary version is that I am interpreting recent world events (mostly the U.S. presidential election) through what I call the Master Wizard Filter. 

The filter is not meant to be a true view of reality, if such a thing even exists. The idea is to see if my predictions under the filter fit observed outcomes. And also, just for fun, I will be “fitting” observable data to the filter and showing you how an alternate view of reality can be surprisingly persuasive.

This is just for fun. Truth is at a different URL.

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Opinion Vs. Stupidity

Posted September 25th, 2015 @ 9:27am

I try to respect opposing opinions. That is important to me on a lot of levels. But sometimes people try to disguise stupidity as an opinion. That can be awkward. I respect opinions, but how can I show respect for stupidity without being a liar?

Let me give you a concrete example.

During an American election cycle you will see a lot of “opinions” that looks like this:

“The Constitution clearly gives us the right to do X. Therefore, that’s the way it should be.”

That sounds like an opinion, right? 

But it really isn’t. 

Here’s why.

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The Persuasion Reading List

Posted September 24th, 2015 @ 10:58am in #Trump #persuasion #hypnosis

Update: New Book added: Impossible to Ignore

Background: Readers of this blog have been asking for a reading list to learn more about hypnosis, persuasion, and influence in general. This is the start of the list. I will update it over time.

If you wonder why people are asking a cartoonist about persuasion, it is because I am a trained hypnotist, and mention it often in the context of blogging. I have also studied the various tools of persuasion for years because it is directly applicable to my job as a writer.

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Spot the Fake Review on Amazon

Posted September 23rd, 2015 @ 9:14pm

This new one fits all the tells for a fake review. (Allegedly!) 

See if you agree.

Those of you who were smart enough to read my book can confirm that this fellow didn’t get the central theme, which would be hard to miss. (He thinks systems and habits are sort of the same, I think, for example.)

If you look at the good reviews for the same book, people usually show an understanding of the content. The fake reviews look like someone guessing incorrectly based on skimming or looking at the summary description.

The fake reviews pop up whenever I hit a hot button on a political issue in my blog.

Clearly I am pointing out the fake reviews for self-serving reasons. But it also fits the persuasion theme I have been writing about. The fake reviews stand out to me because detecting lies is one of the skills you pick up almost accidentally while mastering hypnosis and persuasion and negotiating and the like. People lie according to certain patterns. Law enforcement folks have the same training. We look for the same tells. I blogged on fake review tells before.

Tim Ferriss and I Talk about Everything on his Podcast

Posted September 23rd, 2015 @ 10:08am in #tim ferriss

My Twitter account is going nuts today because people are enjoying whatever I said to Tim Ferriss on his podcast. We covered a lot of ground. I don’t think I was filtering anything. You might like it. Very long though. Save for your commute.

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In Top Tech Blog, using 3D printers to help regrow damaged nerves. This is a huge deal, assuming it works.

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If you enjoy the Tim Ferriss podcast, you would probably like my book. 

The “Reason” for Trump’s Success

Posted September 23rd, 2015 @ 10:03am in #Trump

A month ago the media was saying Trump was ahead in polls because he is an outsider. All the evidence pointed that way. For example, more than half of Republicans say they support an outsider in Trump, Carson, and Fiorina. And Bernie Sanders seems sort of outsiderish too.

The big problem with that analysis is that if we try to imagine no Donald Trump in the race, it is also hard to imagine that one of the other outsiders would have taken out Jeb Bush so easily. (Low-energy indeed.) So I see Carson and Fiorina as along for the ride, basking in Trump’s “outsider” halo because no one is quite sure what ELSE could be behind Trump’s success in the polls. The media is telling us that we must like outsiders this year, so we start using that explanation ourselves. It becomes self-fulfilling in surveys because no one really has a better explanation of why they want Trump as president. 

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Living Among Men

Posted September 22nd, 2015 @ 7:11am

I can’t imagine being a woman living among men. It sounds horrible. For starters, there’s a stat that 20% of women in college will be sexually assaulted. Apparently it is dangerous for women to be around men … in general.

Contrast that with being a guy. When I encounter a dangerous situation, my first thought is to feel sorry for my future attacker. I’m smallish, so I calculate that once I get him down I’ll have to finish the job so he doesn’t get up again. I feel sorry for my would-be attacker even before I kill him in my imagination.

I didn’t say I manage risk well. I’m just saying I don’t feel as if I am in physical danger from other humans, at least in normal situations. That’s just one advantage of being a guy.

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Scott Adams on Tim Ferriss’ Podcast

Posted September 22nd, 2015 @ 6:10am

Tim Ferriss Interviews me for his popular podcast. We talk about lots of stuff. Tim is a friend, and brilliant, so this is more fun than most interviews.

I can’t listen to myself talk, so let me know if I embarrassed myself.