Scott Adams: In his own words
After the tragic terrorist attack yesterday in NYC (where I am now), leaders were quick to say it was an act of terror and the perpetrator was a coward. Both terms are persuasion mistakes. I’ll tell you why. Terror is what the bad guys want. If we label the outcome…
Read MoreI have a hypothesis that nearly all solvable problems in the modern world are information problems in disguise. For example, unemployment is largely (but not entirely) a problem of people not knowing where to find jobs, as opposed to no jobs existing. I could give you lots of other examples…
Read MorePresident Trump just gave ISIS its new name [archive]: Losers. (Short for Evil Losers). If you think that’s no big deal, you’re wrong. It’s a big deal. This is – literally – weapons-grade persuasion from the most powerful Master Persuader of our time. As I have taught you in this blog, President Trump’s…
Read MorePresident Trump’s critics and supporters agree on one thing: Our new president has a history of “stretching” the truth whenever there is some advantage in doing so, and sometimes even when there is not. You might say he is famous for playing loose with the facts. We all expect a…
Read MoreIn a word, yes, assuming they had lots of help from the CIA to deliver their persuasion. I would not have said this was possible five years ago. But in 2017, cognitive scientists know how to reprogram a human brain fairly effectively. They have weaponized what hypnotists have been doing…
Read MoreI can’t tell if this secret video [no longer available] is real, but it purports to show a scientist proposing to develop a military-grade virus that would eliminate extreme religious thoughts in people as a way to end terrorism. The scary part is that it would probably work. We know which parts…
Read MoreLet’s talk about Trump’s foreign policy speech from a persuasion standpoint. Trump read from the teleprompter and acted more “presidential,” whatever that means. And he softened his position on Muslim immigration to “extreme vetting.” That was a good strategy for rebranding himself as less scary, but I doubt many people will watch that…
Read MoreAccording to the news, the United States is stepping up its use of cyber attacks and psychology against ISIS. For example, our cyber forces are creating fake messages to send ISIS fighters to the wrong places. Update: Here’s more about current efforts. But the funniest part is that the U.S. military is…
Read MoreToday I step aside to let a better communicator do her thing. See this provocative opinion by Janet L. Factor. It is too early to call The Turn on our collective thinking about the motivation of radical Islamic terrorists, but it might happen soon. Keep in mind that Trump’s suggestion is to halt muslim…
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 MoreLast August I described in this blog an idea for creating a safe zone for civilians that want to escape ISIS-held territory. You can see that here. The idea is based on a novel I wrote years ago, the sequel to God’s Debris, called The Religion War. The idea is that a friendly country would create…
Read MoreToday, as is often the case, I will write about a topic I do not understand. You don’t need to remind me of that fact in the comments. But I do enjoy learning, so educate me if you need to. Now let’s get to it… ISIS continues to gain ground…
Read MoreIf your firewall is blocking the image, see it on Twitter here. In the Top Tech Blog… Bionic eye lenses that are better than laser eye surgery (maybe). A digital mirror that shows you what you look like in different clothing. And a gadget that monitors your sleep and tells you how to do it better next time.
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