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Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, A Magical Organization
132 Plays5 years ago
Humans have been interested in the end of the world for thousands of years. Whether it's a religious belief, a psychic premonition, or a science based prediction, many believe life on earth has an expiration date. On this episode of HDI John leads the crew in a rousing discussion about how it will all end. John thinks it's soon, Kevin thinks it's further out, and Greg doesn't care either way as long as he's the first to go.
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Transcript
Introduction and Banter
00:00:00
Speaker
You know a lot of information for someone that doesn't like Dave Matthews. I don't like him. I don't like him. Ant's marching starts up and I want to gouge out my ears. I think you can just put something in front of the holes and you don't have to gouge out your ears. You can gouge out your eyes. No, I can gouge out my ears. Why not? How do you get? You can gouge out anything. You just have to cut out the whole ear. You just got to push hard enough. It's already an inner. Fuck you, Blake.
Podcast Introduction and Charity Event
00:00:50
Speaker
Do not do not poke holes in this argument or your ears. All right. Hello. Welcome to history.
00:00:53
Speaker
Hello and welcome to History Defeats Itself. My name is Kevin Rosenquist. I hope you are all staying safe wherever you may be. This is our third special off-schedule episode, a quarantine episode if you will. After this we will go back to our regular schedule of every other week. We hope these extra episodes have given you some laughs during this tough time.
00:01:13
Speaker
History Defeats Itself is a comedy podcast where we explore if we as people learn from our history or if we're doomed to forever repeat it. If you would like to leave a rating or review on your favorite podcast player, we would greatly appreciate it. There is a website called Podchaser I mentioned in a previous episode, which is a podcast discovery site.
00:01:32
Speaker
They help listeners find podcasts and podcasts find an audience. They have extended their promotion until the end of April, where every time someone reviews a podcast on there, they will donate 25 cents to Meals on Wheels. So if you have a second to jump on Podchaser and leave a review for us, or any podcast that you enjoy, it'll help get some money to Meals on Wheels, something a lot of people are depending on right now.
Meet the Co-Hosts
00:01:56
Speaker
You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and HistoryDefeatsItself.com.
00:02:02
Speaker
As always, I am joined by my glorious cohorts and co-hosts. First out there in Los Angeles, California, Mr. John Banks. How are you, buddy? I'm doing good. I picked up dog shit today, so right now I have a dog shit-free backyard. Oh, okay. Well, it was important for you to clarify that it was in your backyard that you were picking up dog shit. Just walking around looking at for it. Well, I do like to go and they call me dog chick John.
00:02:28
Speaker
Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do. That's mostly me and Greg, though, but... No, I dress up in a dog costume and I go in a salon. Jokes on you, buddy. It's a lot soupier than I would hope for, I'll tell you that. That other lovely voice that we all got a good visual about in LA is our resident stoner, Greg Mitchell. Happy 420. Greg, it's 420 today. It is 420.
00:02:58
Speaker
How you feel? God bless America. Why am I this designated stoner, by the way? You fucking smoke pot every day of your life, Kevin. That is not true. Not every day? I mean, one time, one time I had a gummy and my wife goes, hey, Craig, you know, those are loaded. I'm like, oh, no, I'm doing the podcast. She goes, well, can't be any worse.
00:03:15
Speaker
Oh, that's not nice. That is not nice at all. That is not nice at all. She's probably true, but still not nice.
Show Premise and Listener Interaction
00:03:22
Speaker
Founding member, president of our fan club, Jennifer Mitchell. How are you doing, Kevin? I'm doing well. No one ever asked Kevin. I also took an edible because we talked about it earlier and it's settled in nicely. I feel good. I'm glad I'm not leading because I don't want to read much more.
00:03:39
Speaker
Oh fuck, you know what I just realized? You're leading. I smoked my edible. Does that mean it's not going to work? No, it's double potent. You shot the edible? Why did you shoot the edible? I mean, I get it. I just don't think that's super funny. All right. I mean, maybe in 10 minutes I'll say it again. Do that. Well, I don't get it at all. So that's where I'm at.
00:04:06
Speaker
no smoke somebody you shoot them smoke them okay okay all right well the edibles kicking in apparently you guys are never in gangs on each episode of HDI one of us will pick the topic and do the research while the other two don't do shit they don't even know what we're going to talk about until we hit record
Episode Theme: Humanity's Apocalypse Obsession
00:04:24
Speaker
Also, please remember that we are a comedy podcast, and while we do put time into our research, we are not actually historians. There's always a chance we'll get some things wrong. But if you do take issue with anything that you hear today, feel free to tweet us at defeats itself, and Greg will send you an instructional video on how to roll a joint. Fuck, that's a lot of pressure. I might just send you a link to Seth Rogen's page. Just go to YouTube. Seriously, if you're going to learn, you may as well learn from Seth Rogen, huh?
00:04:51
Speaker
I mean, I'll show you how I do it if you really want me to I will so on this episode It is John's turn to lead this special quarantine episode. So John John banks John banks John banks John banks John banks. All right, John Hello. Hello, everyone Dead voice clear. All right. Keep that instrument loose. All right
00:05:16
Speaker
On July 3rd, 1996, my brother and I waited for the movie Independence Day to begin. This human-verse alien end-of-the-world adventure film ended up grossing $817.4 million. This was not the first end-of-the-world movie my brother and I saw together, and it would not be the last.
00:05:35
Speaker
So, gentlemen, today, my beautiful cohorts, my fellow PJs, podcast DJs. Let's make that a thing. PJs, I like it. The amazing historians. That's our audience. Historians, I'm really going to try to make that stick. You're a historian. Thank you for listening, historians. Today, we are talking about the final days, the big suck. We are talking about human beings obsession with the end of the world. And we're actually going to get into some times where we almost did, or not we, but the world almost ended.
00:06:02
Speaker
All right. Yeah. And before we do that,
Why Are We Obsessed with Doomsday?
00:06:05
Speaker
okay, one of our cohorts is closer to his end than his beginning. Our buddy Greg Mitchell will be turning 50 years old pretty soon. So we have a little birthday treat for him. Greg, look under your chair. Why don't you give her one of my social security numbers? All right. You ready? Ready.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. One, two, three. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Gregory. He's taking his shirt off for some reason. Happy birthday to you.
00:06:56
Speaker
Happy birthday, guys. Thank you. Appreciate it. That was great singing. It was terrible. Off key. Not good. I even did vocal warm ups. I sang happy birthday 75 times a day. And you still got the order wrong. Happy birthday, you two. Shit. Damn it. Almost like almost.
00:07:24
Speaker
Alright, so there have been over 300 films made about either the end of the world, the world after the end, or some guy, usually with a mullet, saving the world from the end. There's been over 100 television shows made just in the United States, and thousands of books have been written about the end of the world. So my question to you guys is, why do you think we're so obsessed with the end of the world as human beings?
00:07:52
Speaker
I could take that. Go for it. I could tell Kevin's thinking. He's like am I obsessed with the end of the world? And right now I'm saying a bunch of words while I buy time so I can think about that. I think we're obsessed about the end of the world just because it's just such a freaking attractive alluring kind of thought experiment to kind of figure out
00:08:13
Speaker
How can we really spell our doom? Those post-apocalyptic movies are endlessly fascinating. I don't want to get into too many details because you probably talk about it eventually, but I've got one that I've thought of like right away that just really fucks with my head. It's just so it's just so tempting to figure out how we as human beings will destroy our planet for future generation. And it's even I don't know. And also aliens like something that we have nothing, no control over.
00:08:41
Speaker
What about the movie Cabaret? That's pretty apocalyptic. Yeah, it is. It's true, it is. But it's a fascinating subject, right? It's like, it's just, there's no end to like, to figure out like what would happen to, would we become our worst enemies or would we band together and try and kind of outlast any kind of virus or any kind of annihilation? It's just, it's amazing. I think it's super fascinating.
00:09:07
Speaker
I think you hit it on the head when even talking about the alien thing too is like it's the great unknown. It's like, you know, we try to figure out our own existence with religion or what have you and, you know, we thought everyone always talks about, you know, well, if the universe goes on forever, there's got to be life out there. I mean, come on, give me a break. There's got to be.
00:09:26
Speaker
But a lot of science would say there probably likely isn't any life out there if you really if you really look at the science so but I think like our minds wander so much because it's something we just we have no freaking clue what's out there so for alien stuff I think that's where that comes from from the blowing ourselves up I think it's just because we keep creating these weapons of mass destruction and all this time and we have so many
00:09:48
Speaker
you know, because human nature is what it is. I think that people just kind of gravitate towards a thing like, yeah, we're probably going to blow it up someday. It gives you a glimpse into the dark side of humanity, right?
Survival Debate: To Live or Not to Live?
00:10:01
Speaker
Like you have to start a whole new hierarchy, whole new power structure, and it's like, where are you going to fit into that? So it's like, if it's zombies, aliens, disease, it's war. It's just
00:10:11
Speaker
Frickin yeah, I think I think that's where the obsession with the zombie stuff comes in It's not there's nothing to zombies or even even a like a like a sickness or anything like that it really everyone who watches those shows Imagines themselves as one of the survivors and how they would react in that situation, you know I think that's probably where that fascination comes from when the reality is most of us would be zombies Yeah, exactly. Everyone's like, oh man, I'd be so good. No, no, you'd be a zombie most likely Yeah, my I actually have a I hope I'm not jumping too far ahead, but I have a standing little
00:10:41
Speaker
little rule that I go by. If there's any kind of apocalypse that goes on, I want to be the first guy to die of it. Like if it's a nuclear detonation, I want to be like right in the fucking land on your head. Yeah. Yeah. And if there's a zombie apocalypse, I want to be the first zombie. I mean, I want to be the patient zero zombie. Actually want to be the cause of the apocalypse. I don't care if patient one survives like they cure it then I want to
00:11:11
Speaker
I don't think that's an apocalypse. I think you just died of a disease. Well, it's a personal apocalypse. You know, man, more people more people die of the flu each year than get zombieism. I don't want to live through some kind of apocalypse, man. I'm not strong enough for that. I believe you.
00:11:29
Speaker
Like, you know John Kaczynski in that movie? I don't know if you're going to talk about this, John. The one where if you make any noise, what's it called? The Quiet Place? Quiet Place. No spoilers, though. No spoilers. I've seen it, but maybe some of our listeners haven't. I don't want to see people in my family dying. Fuck that. We all go out. Same time.
Favorite End-of-World Media
00:11:49
Speaker
Done. I want to live and I want to watch all of you die. I can also see that. I mean, not that I want to watch you die, but I would much rather watch you die than me die.
00:11:58
Speaker
Will you have an erection during that? I mean, no more than usual. Okay. That's a fair answer. Do you guys have a favorite apocalyptic movie that you just absolutely love, like Armageddon? I will tell you that one of my favorite books of all time was The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
00:12:23
Speaker
That was going to be my movie. I thought I saw the movie. I only saw the first half of the movie. A wife and I watched it and she stayed up. I had gone to bed because I already knew what was going to happen. But I did think it was a good it was a good movie. But there was something about that book because Cormac McCarthy writes so poetically that just the I don't know that sort of that sort of poetic look at something like The End of the World was pretty cool. It was pretty cool. So that's probably going to be my favorite.
00:13:06
Speaker
A couple of nights ago, actually, ironically, is Train to Busan. Have you guys heard of that movie? Well, yeah. There's actually, there's a cartoon and then there's the movie. Oh, I didn't know there was an animated one. Yeah. Well, they did. They, they basically, it was like, you know, like another story of that story. Oh, okay. Cool. Yeah. We watched, we just watched the original movie and that was a zombie movie and I loved it. I thought it was great. It was so different than anyone that I've ever seen. Highly recommend it. It's on Netflix.
00:13:16
Speaker
I know you're not gonna believe me but that book is literally on my nightstand right now.
00:13:36
Speaker
What's it called again? The Train to Busan? It's South Korean, right? Yeah, it's South Korean. B-U-S-A-N. Yeah, it's really good. Greg's writing it down. So my favorite is seeking a friend at the end of the world with Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. You ever seen that? I did not see that.
00:13:53
Speaker
Have you seen it, Greg? No, I haven't. Seriously, write that down. It's so good, because I'm not going to ruin anything really. Like the way the movie, like the way I said, write that down. Write that down. Hang on. Hang on. I'm fucking doing it, too. I'm writing this down. If you're listening to this podcast right now, Drive A New Car, pull over. Get a pin. There's no time to pull over. But it starts with, and this is like the first two minutes, so it starts with,
00:14:20
Speaker
Like Steve Carell is sitting in the car with his wife and like the radio announcers talking about how they didn't blow up the meteor or the asteroid and it's going to hit Earth in like 75 days. So that's like it. That's like the like that was the last hope. And so it's like, you know, they're going to die. And then it's just it's so funny. And so it's just so funny and so well written. It's my favorite movies, actually.
00:14:44
Speaker
This is the end Yeah, that's pretty good. That's pretty funny, but it's it's way. I think it's way better than that. I thought this is I Wanted this I want I wanted this is the end to be better than it was because yeah because of the cast Yeah, I think it did fell it fell a little short It was pretty fucking it was pretty fucking stupid. Yeah. Yeah, but I like that. Yeah, I enjoyed it, but yeah, I
00:15:08
Speaker
They did much better than I would do making a movie, so, you know. You don't know until you try, Jon. That's true. That's true. Yeah, why are you putting a ceiling on yourself right there? Don't do that. That's a good point. You know what? Hey, thanks, guys. No problem. You know what? Fuck this. I gotta go. I gotta write a script. I gotta make a movie. I got a life to live. Fuck this.
00:15:29
Speaker
All right, so I'm going to read you like this was just a list of things that I thought of movies I've seen in ways in which we die or don't die. But like if you think of if you think of anything else, please add to the list after I'm done. But so in these films, books and TV shows, we have perished or almost been annihilated by aliens, robots, artificial intelligence.
00:15:48
Speaker
vampires, zombies, volcanic eruptions, comets, asteroids, cyborgs, sunflares, nuclear war, sentient 18-wheelers. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Maximum Overdrive. Hell yeah, I loved that movie when I was a kid. With Emilio Estevez. Emilio Estevez, yeah, Stephen King, right? Yep, Stephen King. Pandemics, dragons.
00:16:11
Speaker
The world freezing, the world flooding, the core of the earth stops spinning, apes kill us, drought, starvation. No one under 30 gets to live because they have no value to society. God comes down and kills us, makes us pay. And I don't know, what else? I was thinking, what are other things where, like other ways we die? Like there's all kinds of weather stuff, right? Like tornadoes. Did you say nuclear war?
00:16:40
Speaker
Uh, I think I did. Yeah, I did. Okay. I did. Yeah. I don't know. I think you've covered most of it. You even got vampire vampires and cyborgs. Yeah. That was pretty good. That was pretty thorough. I guess time traveling robots, right?
Cultural Impact of 'Terminator 2'
00:16:55
Speaker
So there's, you know, um, Oh, wait, I know what you forgot.
00:17:00
Speaker
You forgot about these cyclical weather patterns that go over the ocean and pick up a bunch of sharks. That's right. That's true. He did forget. He did forget about the shark. I did forget about the shark. That's why I asked. That's why I said, you know, what else, what else do we got? So I guess, oh, I guess that's it. Like giant, giant insects, uh, giant reptiles, animals of some kind. Yeah. Or animals of some kind. Yeah.
00:17:24
Speaker
But I remember when Terminator 2 came out, because you just mentioned time-traveling robots, and man, that was a big deal. That was a kid. I loved Guns N' Roses. You could be mine. I loved everything about that movie. That was like right in my wheelhouse. Well, because it was 10 years after the first one, right? I think, or something like that. Yeah, that sounds right. It's been a long time. Yeah. Technology had come a long way. You mean the cyborgs had come a long way. And so did Linda Hamilton. Yeah.
00:17:52
Speaker
Linda Hamilton hit the gym, man. She hit the gym harder for that shit. Yeah, she was seriously jacked for that. That was a really cool movie. Very inventive, very different. You know they filmed a lot of that movie at The Wash.
00:18:06
Speaker
I do remember The Wash in that movie. A lot of that movie. Let's not go there again. John, continue. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. So now we're going to kind of get into why we are so obsessed with the end of the world.
Scientific Insights on Apocalyptic Comfort
00:18:20
Speaker
So this information is from Scientific America. It's from a December 18th, 2012 article written by Daisy Juhosz.
00:18:29
Speaker
So this University of Minnesota neuroscientist, Shamal Lizik, suspects individuals with a history of traumatic experiences, for example, may be fatalistic. For these people, finding like-minded individuals is comforting.
00:18:46
Speaker
So basically, like, and it's kind of funny because when I was reading this, I was thinking of me because I grew up kind of like in a crazy household. And it's like, I tend to be, I think, way more fatalistic than the two of you when we get on topics. I'm like, yeah, we're kind of fucked. And you guys are like, well, no, we're not fucked. There's technology and there's this. And so, you know, just I don't know. I thought that was kind of fascinating. I'm not necessarily like an apocalyptic. I don't think it's like I don't think there's anybody can predict it. But I do think that one day we will end where I think you guys have more optimism about it.
00:19:14
Speaker
You know, I think you're probably right, but interestingly, I actually think about death more than I would like to. Really? Yeah, it's weird. Your own dad got to go now. It pops in my head. It really does. I don't know what it is. I don't necessarily fear death for myself, but sometimes if you let your mind wander enough, I can get stressed thinking about losing people close to me.
00:19:42
Speaker
Oh, that makes sense. It's weird. Even my dogs have thought about it before. So what you're saying is you're a human being. Yeah, but I guess what I'm saying is I think about it more than I would like to. Okay, so I think what we should do now is we should keep our own personal logs. And every time we think about death, we put a little check mark. And then at the end of the month, we'll see who has more check marks.
00:20:06
Speaker
But are we thinking, again, is it our own death or other people's deaths? Doesn't matter. It's open. OK, just death. Just death. It's just a weird thing. I mean, it's not I'm not obsessed with it. I'm not like it doesn't cause me to go seek therapy. It's just something that I've I think about. It just pops in my head more than I would like. You think it's daily? No, I don't think daily. No, but a few times a week, I would say. Think about it. OK.
00:20:33
Speaker
That's heavy, man. That's heavy. I think we should workshop this for the rest of the episode. Let me know when you need a hug. I'm gonna give you, you want some dime store advice? Some dime store psychiatry? Yes. Sure. Isn't that what the show's all about? Absolutely. Just completely unresearched, life-changing advice. I think that you should accept the thoughts
00:21:01
Speaker
John is now masticating on some form of an edible marijuana thing. And he's going to wash it down with water. I saw the tenant came from. This is actually a big deal. This is the first time he's used any kind of substance in nine months over up nine months, nine months. Cause he just had his baby. Congrats. That baby was, that baby was beautiful. Glad you're healthy. Welcome back.
00:21:32
Speaker
Congratulations. I totally love. Okay. Here's my, here's my little time advice is accept the thoughts. Don't fight them. Don't resist them, but then don't put any weight into them. See, that's the hard part though. No, come on. Let them go. It's okay to have thoughts. You don't, you know, you don't create the thoughts. You create the emotion that's attached to them.
00:21:53
Speaker
It's true. God damn, Greg. That's pretty good. Right? All right. I might actually give him a quarter for that. Yeah. Sometimes you get a chain of thoughts and they keep coming and coming and coming, but don't give him any emotion. And the emotion that you could give them is maybe sorrow or grief or anger or despair and then thinking, okay, knock this shit off. I'm done thinking about this fucking shit and just don't
Apocalyptic Beliefs and Religious Comfort
00:22:14
Speaker
give it away. See, that's okay. It's normal and let it float away.
00:22:18
Speaker
and then turn on you, you porn. Dr. Greg, this is a, I'm John. I'm a, I'm a long time listener. First time caller. How can I help you today? So when I am masturbating and I'm thinking about you, I can't seem to have an orgasm. I always have to finish thinking of Kevin. What is that about? Well, I'm the, I'm the one that titillates you, right?
00:22:40
Speaker
But I'm the one who can finish the job. I'm the allure and I'm not very talented with another man. I'd like to be, but I'm not. Kevin has all the expertise. That's true. That's true. All right. So Lizzick says, quote, apocalyptic beliefs make existential threats.
00:22:59
Speaker
the fear of our mortality predictable. So one of the reasons we like to come up with all these ways we're going to die or predict the end of the world is we want to be able to put a pin in it. Like this is the moment I will die because not knowing that makes us very anxious.
00:23:19
Speaker
That makes sense. According to this article. I like that. Not according to me. You mean more like our society, our culture is kind of spinning chaotically and we don't know how it's going to end and it gives us a little bit of comfort to know. We're heading there. That's where we're heading.
00:23:35
Speaker
Well, I mean, that's also, that's a lot of religion, right? I mean, is the fact that because of that chaos, you feel like it's more, like you can wrap your head around it a little bit more when you're like, oh, well, there's a God up there, you know? Like, that's why, that's where all this comes from. It just makes, it simplifies probably the same way in what that article said, is that when you
00:23:56
Speaker
If you can actually point a finger at how you're going to die, then you don't have to worry about it anymore. If you know you're going to heaven after you die, then it's okay. You don't have to worry about it anymore.
00:24:09
Speaker
Not only, not only is it okay, but you may actually prefer it, right? It even becomes something that you desire because I mean, I know the three of us were all believed that this is it. So I don't want to die. Like I want, I want to get as much out of this as I possibly can. Cause I once I'm dead, that's it. I don't exist anymore. I don't pretend to believe that John. Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. I don't know what happens after you croak.
00:24:35
Speaker
Okay, that's fair. That's fair. There might be like a garden of dicks. That's a lot of dicks. Just Adam and Steve. Adam and Steve. Adam and Steve. Lots, millions and millions of Adam's and Steve's. You're going to be space dust. You'll be space dust. You'll be space dick dust. Space penis dust.
00:24:57
Speaker
So LISCC, in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health, neuroscientist Christian Grillin and colleagues has found that when an unpleasant or painful experience such as electric shock is predictable, we relax. So they did this experiment where they actually
00:25:18
Speaker
would tell people when they were going to get shocked and then they wouldn't and then they would randomly and the people who knew they were going to get shocked but knew the moment they were going to get shocked because there was no uncertainty in it they were actually able to be a really chill that is exactly why when i get a shot I watch I get a shot in my arm I I what I was much like the needle going in so once it starts to look away but I want to know when it's about to happen because of that very thing because if you look look away the whole time you're just like
00:25:47
Speaker
Are you going to do it or what? Come on. Fuck. Let's go. Let's go. It's the same thing. It's kind of the same thing when you're getting a tattoo, right? And they he they'll pause for a little while and you're not really looking.
00:25:58
Speaker
And then you're like, okay, how long can I tense up for? Especially at the very beginning, like when you first start a session. Yeah. You're sitting there, you're just like, you hear the thing going and maybe he's looking at the artwork or whatever. And it's just like, all right. Okay. Okay. Are you going to do it or what? Are you going to, cause you just want that first one so that you can just kind of relax after that. So I totally get that.
00:26:18
Speaker
Always forget that it that first one feels like someone stabbed me with a hot knife It's like and then once I'm in it I'm like, oh right. This is incredibly painful. It's gonna be that way through the whole thing. I'm like, all right, that's fine But it's always that first that
Romanticizing Apocalypse: Simpler Times
00:26:33
Speaker
first second. I'm just like fuck. I forgot how bad this hurts so fucking yeah Anyone who's like yeah tattoos aren't that bad. Fuck you. Yeah, I love they're great But they hurt a lot
00:26:45
Speaker
If they made tattoos that I could just stick on that would wear off in three weeks that I really liked, I would totally do that instead.
00:27:02
Speaker
My guy except doing I'm working as you guys know I'm working on a sleeve and my guy will say like he'll be like So this is gonna suck Thanks What do you do like three hours at a time or how long do you go my longest one was nine hours my longest session? Dude three hours is that's I can't sit more than three hours
00:27:25
Speaker
I was there for 12 hours, and we tattooed for about nine of those. It's a lot. That's a long day. It's a miserable, miserable day. But it looks very cool. Were you reading The Road while you were getting tattooed? It's the only way I could get through it, Jon. All right, so Steve Schulzman, a Harvard Medical School child psychiatrist and zombie novelist, believes it's the post-apocalyptic landscape that fascinates most people.
00:27:55
Speaker
People frequently romanticize the end times they imagine surviving, thriving, and going back to nature. Scholzman believes in today's complicated world, with terrorism, war, fiscal cliffs, and climate change, people are primed for panic.
00:28:13
Speaker
So, yeah, I think, again, it's just kind of going back to, in fact, like the rest of it is just all the same kind of stuff. But it's like, yeah, we're obviously, it's like we, you know, it's like life can be so, especially right now, right? I think there's like a lot of people where it's just like, it's so uncertain what's going to happen. And it's the uncertainty.
00:28:31
Speaker
of being quarantined or social, it's like the uncertainty of what comes next that I think is a stressful part of all this, which I know we say we're not gonna talk about it, but you know, I mean. I think, you know, one thing, I like that quote you just read, but one thing that I'll say is, so if he's saying that people kind of romanticize the going back to being a hunter-gatherer and fending for yourself and all that, why?
Knowing When You Die: Would You Want To?
00:28:57
Speaker
Why do people wanna go back to that?
00:29:00
Speaker
I think because if you look at the way society is structured, there are very few people who do very, very, very, very well. There's a smaller percentage of people who do OK. And then it's like over half the world is on that below poverty line. It's considered not achieving what a Western dream would be. So I think maybe it's that. Maybe it's like you look
00:29:26
Speaker
And you, I don't know, you have whatever job and you look at your life, you look at someone else's life and you think that's unattainable and maybe there's part of you where it would be just way better if everything was on a level playing field.
00:29:36
Speaker
Well, I think it's interesting. I think it wouldn't be level though. I think we would come up really quickly with a new order, a new hierarchy. So it would, and it would start with probably might. So strength and intelligence probably would be the two things that guns and well, yeah, and guns. Yeah, I suppose. And I think people are looking forward to that. Like, look at these preppers, man. They're like fucking ready for that shit. Let's go start again. Reset. But they also, after a month of like not being able to go out, they're like protesting because they want to go back out.
00:30:05
Speaker
that's a good point not exactly the you know it's like I've been preparing this for 10 years oh fuck I want to go to the mall it's like after two weeks they're like reopen Chili's I got a goddamn anniversary
00:30:21
Speaker
I just thought of something that you've touched on before, and I don't know, maybe it's too far back of a callback, but if you had the chance or the opportunity to know your own mortality, would you take it? If you had a way to know how you would die, would you want that answer? I don't think I would. I don't think I would. Wait, how would I know when?
00:30:44
Speaker
When? When. No, if I know, yeah, I would love to. I would take it in a minute. Why? Because I feel, so in other words, if I knew that I was going to die in three years from now, my life in the next three years would be very different than- But what if the guy was like, it's a, oh shit, it's like 37 seconds. This is awkward. Well, I mean, then I have 30 seconds to be like, fuck, I don't want to die. Oh shit. Okay. I was like, I'd go through the stages of grief for myself really fast. Does anybody have any blow? Anybody have any blow? Then he's like,
00:31:13
Speaker
He's like, I totally forgot to move that decimal point. It's really 37 years. You can stop trying to suck your own dick, Bouncer. Don't tell anybody. Greg, would you want to know? Would you want to know? Yep. I would want to know, yes. You would? Okay. So I'm the only one there. You know why? Because if the option was available to me, I would spend like forever
00:31:37
Speaker
Like, if I decided I didn't want to know, I would spend forever contemplating. Is it now? Is it now? I mean, I know it seems like a normal thing. I know, but you're going to do that anyway, right? But you actually have the option to find out. I would have to fucking know. Because here's the thing. Say I found out it's like 40 years from now or 30 years from now, right? Do you know how many drugs I could fucking do and drive drunk and not give a fuck about fuck all? I'd go on a rampage. If you had 30 years to live, you'd go on a rampage.
00:32:10
Speaker
I get what he's saying though. So that's an interesting caveat though. If you're, if you're getting told this, does like, can you, can you change that though? No, you can't change that. So it's like 30 years, but they're saying, so you're saying no matter what you do, you can drive drunk, do all that stuff you want to do, do all the blow in the world and, and you're not going to die until that said time.
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's my fucking rule. But the problem is you create a paradox because you're right, because now you probably die a lot sooner. Yeah, because you're going nuts. Yeah. And here's the thing, statistically speaking, you have less than 30 years now. So if you take what the average man lives. So what I'm saying is, though, I'm going to do more risk taking. If I know that I have 30 years, that's actually kind of a long time for me. OK, OK, let me play devil's advocate here then.
00:33:01
Speaker
But what if the way you die is just awful? Just the worst? Like going into a fucking meat grinder?
00:33:10
Speaker
I mean, like a long, drawn out, horrible battle with a painful disease or something, you know? Or, yeah, or I guess that you're brutally murdered in a very slow way. I mean, like, can you put it, if you had a really- You're murdered by a sloth. Yeah, if you were in a situation where you learned how you were gonna die and it was really a rough way to go, you're gonna be thinking about that so much.
00:33:38
Speaker
Yeah, but I think I kind of modified it a little bit as opposed to how, I changed it from how to win. Oh, it was just win? Yeah. Oh, okay. All right. Well, that's a little better. I mean, how, yeah, I don't know.
Cultural Beliefs About the End Times
00:33:52
Speaker
And there was, I'm not going to read it, but there, so there was another psychiatrist or psychologist, Daniel Sullivan, and he was saying one of the other things that people, is it, because life is so unpredictable.
00:34:03
Speaker
Having these apocalyptic things that we predict or believe are gonna happen that gives us like one Focal point one simple thing that kills us rather than the chaos that is our lives right rather than dying in a meat grinder, which is Which is pretty well that a lot more common than people think Well, that's how the meat died It's true
00:34:30
Speaker
78 million people a year Oh shit shit seven sorry seven So do you guys want to kind of get into some different
00:34:48
Speaker
I guess historical beliefs of ways that like different groups thought how they would die or how the world would have been. Yes. I mean can we say no? You can. That would be a different kind of podcast. I'll just start this to the side. I've got more stuff. I want to hear it though. I'm just kidding. Yeah, I'm ready.
00:35:05
Speaker
All right, so I'll just do some of them. So the Hoppy Indians believe the world will be covered by iron snakes, stone rivers, and a giant spider's web. Just one spider web. So I guess if there's one spider or multiple spiders, I'm not sure.
00:35:23
Speaker
The seas will turn black, and to top all that off, we're going to be hit by a huge blue star. That's pretty bleak. Yeah, I know. Well, I mean, all these things are, right? Like the Norse mythology is they basically believe that we would be wiped out when the gods fought when the gods were fighting. Zoroastrians, which is actually, it's like a 5,000 year old religion.
00:35:48
Speaker
I think this is my favorite because it's just, it's so pleasant. No, like seriously, like it's just so pleasant. This is like nice. So it's not the beginning, but then it turns out really well. So they believe the world will be devoured by fire. That does not sound nice at all. Yeah. That's not a good start. After which sinners will be punished for three days and then everything's cool. I think like seriously, I could do three days. I could do three days. Yeah. You can live your life. However you want to live your life. You don't have to believe in anything.
00:36:16
Speaker
world's gonna burn in like a second you're gonna be I guess brought I don't know do you get brought back you get tortured for three days and that is suck cuz you guys gonna be a rough three days you're not gonna know when it's gonna end right I'm imagining there's not like a like a time on the wall like dictating 72 hours 71 it would be or maybe it would be worse Mormons believe 72 hours
00:36:47
Speaker
Come on.