Back to episode — Episode 650 Scott Adams - China, Hurricanes and More
Context —
Let's talk about gun control. I've heard you say that the United States is really two countries depending how you want to slice things. It could be lots of different countries in one. But on gun control, since there are big swaths of the country where they're pro-gun, there are parts of the country where they're more anti-gun, how do you have one set of policies that apply to everybody when some a…
← Previous segment →All right, somebody made a great suggestion for my Interface by WhenHub app. Listen to the suggestions. So most of you know the app my startup makes lets you contact any kind of expert on any topic whatsoever. But you have to be an expert and you can set your price for anything you want. So right now there are, I'm checking out how many people are hurricane watchers. I've got one, two, three, four, five. So there are five people on the app right now on the Interface by WhenHub app who are in Florida and you could call them and they could point the camera out the window and they could show you what the weather looks like as a hurricane is approaching. Probably not too fascinating at the moment because the hurricane is still out there but it's out there.
But here's a better idea that somebody had. Somebody suggested, what if you have people just register on the app as either Democrats or Republicans and they make themselves available to debate? Just to debate. They're not experts. They're just a Democrat or they're just a Republican or whatever. And they just say "available to debate." They don't even have to put a price on it. You could do it for free. Say your price is zero.
Because here's what I found out. There are so many people who want to discuss politics but can't. How many people do you know who want to discuss politics with somebody who's not a troll on Twitter and you just want to have an honest discussion with somebody who's completely on the other side? When was the last time you've had that discussion? I don't even remember. I can't even remember the last time I had an honest political discussion with somebody who was completely on the other side. Literally I can't remember ever. I mean I'm sure I've done it but I don't remember the last time. It's because you end up talking to people who agree with you or because things are so polarized you end up not having the conversation.
So if I happen to find myself alone in a room with somebody who agrees with me, we'll have a conversation about politics but it's useless because we already agree. If I'm in a room with somebody who's got an "Impeach Trump" hat on, I'm not even going to start the conversation if I don't want an unpleasant situation. But there are plenty of people in this country who would simply like to have an honest conversation with somebody who's completely on the other side, somebody who will actually engage with you and enjoys being there. And I thought that's actually a great idea for the app.
So if anybody wants to sign up as an anti-Trumper or a pro-Trumper or a Democrat, it could serve. Illiberal, whatever you want to sign up with, just say that you're there to debate. See if anybody calls you up to debate. I'd be surprised if people don't use that for that purpose. Because I often find myself wanting to know what a typical Democrat is thinking because you can't really tell online because everybody lies and trolls and you don't really know what you're getting online. But if you're actually looking at a person on a video call, a little bit of cross-pollination, it's scary.
Somebody says there should be a mediator. No, I don't think so. Because if somebody lists themselves as available to have the conversation, they're already incentivized to be nice about it. I mean I don't think trolls are going to go on there and just be obnoxious. If you debated them, what could they say except "You're a racist"? Well if they do say that, I recommend this in my book "Loserthink" and I say it online a lot, you should say, "Can you give me your one strongest piece of evidence that the president is a racist?" And before they do, you say, "And can we agree that if your number one best reason isn't real that you would rethink the other ones because they might not be real either?" Because usually they'll come up with whatever their top thing is and it's usually not real.
So I just say doxxing rules. Somebody's talking about doxxing rules and I don't know. Within the app you don't have to give your identity away or your contact information. So you can have a conversation in the app. Well actually you should give away your identity, your name, but not your contact information. You don't need to do that. We do that behind the scenes so we connect you. But you don't know how to connect with each other unless you tell each other.
Can you rate the experts? Yes you can. You can rate the experts.
Ted Cruz said he'd be happy to talk with AOC. She said yeah, we can livestream so people can hear your BS. Did that really happen? AOC and Ted Cruz talking about actually live-streaming a debate? I would love to see that. I would love to see Ted Cruz and AOC have a debate as long as there was no time limit. They have taken it if they could just livestream that thing and just chat it up. Oh my God.
In fact they could do it here. Let me make a better idea. They could pay-per-view that thing for charity. AOC and Ted Cruz could have a live-stream debate in which you have to pay something to watch it and donate that to charity. Like let's say a veterans charity or wherever makes sense. Or maybe helping, how about donated to helping the families on the border? How about that? How about a pay-per-view debate between Ted Cruz and AOC and the proceeds of that go to help families and children at the border or in a bad situation? Okay, well who could say no to that?
Now here's the reason that I love this idea. Ted Cruz, whatever you think of him as presidential material, he's one hell of a good debater. Have you ever seen him doing his congressional stuff where he's interviewing somebody in public? I think he's one of the top three Republicans who can do that sort of stuff. He's really good at that. Is he also amazing at her public communication skills? Now which of them has a better grasp of the facts? I don't know because I'll bet they both have a pretty good grasp of the facts that are relevant to their side anyway. So I can't think of something I would rather watch.
You could make it one topic or multiple topics. I would prefer that they did it with, let's say, pick three topics. Let's say immigration, gun control, climate change. I think it's better if you limit it to something so that they don't just talk forever. AOC would say no, she's trying to stop the beds for children's detention center. Well whatever it is, I'm sure that they need more money to make people's lives more comfortable at the border. I'd be in favor of that. Let's do it.
And by the way, I think Ted Cruz and AOC could be friends. I think she could actually be friends. Now those of you who are anti-AOC, yeah I hear you. I hear what you're saying. I'm just saying that you're wrong. Cruz is a Vincent member. Upset truth. I wouldn't be surprised. He seems like he's convinced. Equality. Joe Rogan is moderator. Yeah could be. But you know what? I think they wouldn't even need a moderator. You could do it without a moderator so long as they both agreed to let the other one have some time to talk. And I don't think they would go into it thinking that they were just going to shout over the other one. I mean I imagine that they would both be smart enough to know there's no point in doing it unless you're really going to let the other one talk. If there's no time limit you can let the other one talk, make your notes, address all their points when they're done. I don't know that they need a moderator other than maybe an introduction. I'd be happy to do it myself although Joe Rogan would be better.