Scott Adams: In his own words
Note: My Clown Genius Post (about Trump) is nominated for a Best Writing of 2015 award called the Golden Giraffes. You can vote for it here. (Do a page search to find my name.) I don’t care about awards of this type, but this is an opportunity to shine some light on…
Read MoreIf you have nine minutes, and you want to see the most interesting political speech of all time, watch Donald Trump [no longer available] compare Ben Carson to other “pathological” folks such as pedophiles. Yeah, that happened yesterday. For those interested in my Master Persuader Filter, look for the following elements of persuasion in…
Read MoreIn no particular order. Trump the Incumbent When Trump hosted Saturday Night Live, his opening skit involved a future fantasy with Trump as president doing great things. As regular readers of this blog noted that night, he made you think past the sale. I assume Trump was involved in approving…
Read MoreI recently blogged that a Trump presidency would probably boost confidence in the economy and pay a big dividend in GDP over time. Economies move with psychology, and Trump is the best at business-related psychology in all its forms. But what about Ben Carson, you ask? Does he bring an economic upside…
Read MoreI promised myself that I wasn’t going to write about Donald Trump today. Then I saw this video clip in which a bearded fellow claims to know Trump’s morning routine. According to the bearded guy, an assistant brings a stack of Trump-related newspaper clips to Trump every morning. Trump glances at them,…
Read MoreOne of the biggest complaints I hear about Donald Trump is that he wants to become president for personal reasons. Apparently it has something to do with a combination of his narcissism, his ego, and his desire to make money. I can’t think of three worse qualities for a president…
Read MoreWhen I was studying economics in college, the most surprising thing I learned is that economics is what happens when you combine psychology with resources. I had assumed economics was more of a math/formula sort of discipline. There is plenty of that too, but the core of economics is human…
Read MoreYou can’t bomb an idea to death. So how do you ever defeat the idea that is ISIS? To kill an idea, you need a hypnotist, or someone skilled in the art of persuasion. I’ll describe one way to do it. I do not expect any of the candidates to…
Read MoreThe latest poll out of Iowa shows Carson ahead of Trump. And you know what that means? It means Iowa is about to become irrelevant. Here I am assuming evangelicals will band together to give Carson the win in Iowa before Trump goes on to run the table everywhere else….
Read MoreWe humans like to sort ourselves into categories that are based on how our bodies are different. For example, we see the world as men versus women, and one ethnic group versus another, or old versus young. And we organize our political views around those filters. That made sense throughout…
Read MoreThis week the media is starting to realize that maybe Donald Trump has a chance of winning the presidency. Howard Kurtz is calling the turn [archive]. You will see a lot more stories and opinions along those lines, assuming Trump’s numbers stay strong. But here’s the fun part: How do you…
Read MoreI’m reporting for jury duty selection this morning. I have served a few times, and I recommend it to any citizen who has the opportunity. The experience does a good job of getting you invested in the system, and it makes you appreciate your country a bit more when you…
Read MoreThe word “narcissist” gets tossed around a lot, especially when Donald Trump is in the news. That word can mean at least three different things, depending on who is saying it. For example, calling someone a narcissist could mean… 1. I don’t know what big words mean, but I use them…
Read MoreWhen a skilled persuader exerts influence on a large group, people will generally react in one of three ways. 20% Will be heavily influenced right away, and be happy about it. 60% Will be mildly influenced, over time, with repetition. 20% Will be unusually angry, comparing the persuader to evil…
Read MoreSee the updated Persuasion Reading List here.
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