Scott Adams' Blog

The Time of Kings

Posted September 4th, 2015 @ 9:39am in #Trump

Everything that follows is true.

As far as I know.

—

Centuries ago, in the time of kings, a young autodidact discovered the linguistic interface to the human mind. Some say he was the first wizard. This we cannot know for sure.

The source of the wizard’s power was a simple discovery. He learned that when he described to people a better version of themselves, they automatically rewired their minds to become the person of his description. At first the wizard used his method to control one person at a time. Before long he learned how to move entire crowds. 

And then he was dangerous.

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Then You Own the Bank (part of my Trump Persuasion Series)

Posted September 3rd, 2015 @ 6:22pm in #Trump

There’s an old saying in business: If a bank gives you an average-sized loan, the bank owns you. But if you take out a gigantic loan, you own the bank. 

Trump only takes out gigantic loans. 

Why? 

Is it because he is an egotistical clown who goes big no matter what the situation deserves?

Maybe.

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The Tells (for cognitive dissonance)

Posted September 3rd, 2015 @ 11:08am in #persuasion #Trump

Today I offer you a new and probably different filter for interpreting your reality. You can try the filter in the same way you would try on a new pair of sunglasses. See for yourself if the new filter fits the data better than your old one. This is for entertainment only. Science is probably at a different URL.

What follows is a description of some of the tells for cognitive dissonance. If any of what follows is accurate, it might set you on a path that changes your life in delightful ways. Or maybe reading this post will do nothing but leave you with less time to interact with other people. Either way, you’re welcome.

This might be a lucky day for you.

Pay attention.

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Build a Habit-Robot in your Brain

Posted September 2nd, 2015 @ 9:31am

Did you hear about a book that is designed to put little kids to sleep when parents read it aloud?

The book uses words that act on the subconscious to make kids sleepy. Is that possible, you ask the trained hypnotist writing this post?

Yup.

I don’t know if the author executed the concept well, but the idea is well within the range of things I have seen in person. Kids are highly suggestible.

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Trump: The “Bad System” Linguistic Bayonette

Posted September 1st, 2015 @ 1:50pm in #Trump

“Bad system” is a test balloon.

Watch what happens to that phrase in the next 24 hours. If it gets quoted a lot (more than this blog would explain) it will be lethal.

Why?

Big Picture move: Fix the money, fix it all.

Who agrees with him that the system is bad? Every human alive. Even the lobbyists doing the bad.

And “system” is a fresh word. Notice he uses fresh ones, or in this case an underused one. That lets you control its content. No leakage in the way of reminding people of unrelated things.

Engineered.

I’m almost positive that the other candidates are going for 55% of the vote. Trump is going for them all. Watch what happens with his VP pick and his immigration plan. I have never seen a chess board so well set. (A big part of that is luck, obviously.) But look for some surprise flanking moves on his problem topics.

I remind you that this blog is for entertainment. I am making predictions based on Trump’s persuasion skills so you can compare the Master Wizard hypothesis to the Lucky Clown consensus in the media. See which one fits the data better as we go.

In any event, looks like we have a systems guy competing against goals people. I say systems usually win whenever the contest is long and the variables are many. We have plenty of time to find out.

Someone should write a book about that. I mean someone else. I already did mine.

Correlation or Causation: You Decide

Posted September 1st, 2015 @ 12:45pm in #science

Does reading to your kids make them smarter?

Studies show a correlation. And it seems like common sense. I am certain that reading to a kid helps the kid’s mental development.

But I also know that certainty can be nothing but a failure of imagination. I try to avoid trusting my first reaction.

So I try to think of any reason why the parents that are smart enough to follow the advice of experts and read to their kids would also have smart kids. 

I got nothing. 

It must be the reading that makes those kids smart, because science.

Just to be clear: Reading is good. Science is good. Science plus journalism in a click-driven business model, use caution.

Identifying the Smart Voters

Posted September 1st, 2015 @ 9:40am in #Trump

What follows is an engineered set-up to induce cognitive dissonance in the reader. Do not read past the break if that sort of thing would be uncomfortable for you.

I do this as part of my series on Trump’s persuasive brilliance. You will have a better understanding of the power of cognitive dissonance when you see it displayed in the comments.

You might find it interesting that I can warn you in advance that the cognitive dissonance is coming and it will not influence the outcome. That’s one of many reasons I developed the Moist Robot hypothesis. I am going to push a button on your user interface and 80% of you will react the way I expect. 

I am going describe you in a way that sounds quite reasonable and yet violates your internal idea of who you are. That will trigger cognitive dissonance, and you will see it spew into the comments over the course of the day.

My follow-up post will describe the “tells” for cognitive dissonance that hypnotists look for. I can’t describe the tells in advance without ruining the experiment. We can agree that no science is happening here. This is just for fun. And maybe we will learn something.

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Robots Read News - about Celebrity Apprentice

Posted August 31st, 2015 @ 6:01pm in #trump

If you can’t see the image below because your company fire wall is being a dick, follow me on Twitter here.

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Trump Engineers a Clinton Linguistic Kill Shot

Posted August 31st, 2015 @ 9:12am in #Trump

An alert reader noticed that Trump is already beta-testing a linguistic kill shot for Hillary Clinton.

As Yohami accurately notes, this kill shot is also a high ground maneuver. It takes you out of the weeds of the email server question (where reasonable folks can be confused and disagree) all the way to national security where we all have the same opinion that risk is unacceptable.

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A Glimpse Into the Creative Writing Process

Posted August 30th, 2015 @ 9:54am in #creativity writing

At about 11 PM last night, I was locking my doors and turning out the lights to go to bed. It had been a long day, mostly work. My mind was everywhere, as usual, flitting from one topic to another, as my body, operating mostly on habit, went through its evening routine.

Suddenly, and for no particular reason that I can identify, a thought started forming in my head. It wasn’t a normal one. I knew that right away. I had an almost tactile sensation of the thought trying to birth itself by collecting language around it to form a sentence. It felt as if I heard the sentence – in the way you hear yourself think – before I had a sense of its meaning. 

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