Scott Adams's Blog, page 271

Putting Things in Perspective

In 2015 I showed you the future. Literally. Then I topped it off by giving thousands of you the best orgasms of your lives. Again, literally.

My book that speaks of the Moist Robot hypothesis – the underlying concept that explains how the feats describe above are possible – has been out long enough (published 2013) that people can now report back to me how the book helped them.

According to readers, it is changing lives in a big way, just as it was designed to do.

I am getting reports of massive weight loss, promotions, better health, improved diet, higher energy, and more. You can see the readers’ reactions to the book in the the 5-star reviews, and apparently that translated into results. I expected these good results, obviously, but I knew my credibility (because cartoonist) would be capped until word-of-mouth started kicking in. That phase has begun.

The genie is out of the bottle. Buckle up. You won’t believe the show you’re going to see this year. This was just the appetizer.

Hypnotizing You to Have the Best New Year’s Day Ever (Part 4 - The Climax)

Warning: This post involves real hypnosis on the reader, and it is intended for adults only. Do NOT read further unless you have already read parts 1-3. 

Part 1

Part 2 (I can’t link to it for some reason. Just scroll up from #1.)

Part 3

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Let’s begin by reviewing what we know.

You know I already told the bedroom-submissives reading this blog to obey my orders tonight and find a way to thank me. This group is quivering in anticipation and has my permission to enjoy the evening. You are my favorites. Be good.

For those of you who felt anti-aroused reading this blog series, I recognized your brain wiring as the no-by-reflex personality type, and in Part 2 I hypnotized you to NOT enjoy your New Year’s celebration, or the following day, with deeply satisfying orgasms. If you enjoy yourself sexually during this holiday, it means I am controlling you with my hypnosis, and this group doesn’t want that. So keep your sex drive to yourself. If you can.

And you know I promised that today is the day for the rest of you. I will begin by noting those areas in which you and I most agree. This is called pacing. It is how I get inside your head to push buttons.

You have found yourself thinking about my words more than usual this week. You are curious whether I have the skills to suggest you into the best orgasms of your life on New Year’s eve, or New Year’s day. If not the best orgasms of all time, definitely some of the best. But probably the best.

I will explain why it will work.

Think about the best lover you have ever had. Remember that person’s scent, and touch. Notice how the memory activates your feel-good chemistry.

You have noticed that each lover, and each situation, feels different on a chemical level. Your body’s sexual chemistry is, by its nature, adaptable, diversified, and ready for new experiences. Imagine what would happen if you combined the best chemistry from your best orgasmic experiences into one cumulative experience. Do you think you would like that?

It already started. 

Most of you have begun to feel the change. My email (Dilbertcartoonist@gmail.com) is starting to fill with stories from readers who have had spontaneous orgasms since Part 1 – because they feel my intention – as you do now. For perspective, about 20% of the public would normally respond to my suggestions immediately. The rest of you require repetition. And you are getting it.

Whether you could feel my intention earlier this week, or it starts later today, every person is different. Tonight, all paths to satisfaction are the right paths. Tonight you have my full appreciation – with complete sincerity – for everything you are, and everything you did this year, good or bad. I like you, and I mean it. Reading your comments is often a highlight of my day. Feel my appreciation and allow it to boost your chemical experience. 

Regular readers know that I used my background in hypnosis to accurately predict nine-out-nine political events in 2015, while most political professionals got zero right. That makes me the best political pundit of the year.

Actually, that probably makes me the best political predictor in the history of Earth. Nine out of nine – and none of the predictions were obvious or based on trajectory.

As I made my predictions, I showed my work every step of the way and asked you to judge me by my predictions, as opposed to fitting my hypothesis to the past, which is too easy. And then I accurately predicted – with confidence – nine-out-of-nine unknowable future events. 

And you watched it happen. 

You might also know some of my back story, and wonder how someone can become a cartoonist with no experience, no training, and no artistic talent. The answer is that I did it the same way I predicted nine-out-of-nine political events in 2015. Persuasion is a learned skill.

You probably also know that I have used something called affirmations to find success. An affirmation is a simple statement of what you want, repeated every day. Affirmations are a longer story, but the key is focus. 

This week I helped you focus on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day. Some of you took that opportunity to plan ahead so you could improve your odds of an amazing and orgasmic send-off to 2015.

Some of you directed a spouse or lover to this blog series to make sure you are on the same page tonight and tomorrow. That also improved your odds, but you don’t yet realize how much. 

This week, most of you had multiple thoughts about the suggestions I put in your minds. Perhaps something in the environment triggered those thoughts, as I said would happen. Or maybe the thoughts seemed to come from nowhere. Your thoughts triggered small but automatic releases of happy-sex chemistry in your body, by reflex. Everyone is different, so you might not notice the difference yet.

Science tells us that happiness makes us smile, but forcing a smile also releases the chemistry in your body that makes you happy. Our bodies and minds are bidirectional. Either one can jumpstart the other and create a virtuous cycle.

For example, if you think about your favorite type of sex it will trigger your brain to release sex chemicals in your body. But you can also feel a sexual urge build up in your body that is caused by nothing but a lack of sex, and that forces you to think about sex, and to seek a release of some kind. It works both ways.

A number of times this week you thought about having an amazing physical experience on New Year’s eve, and the following day. Each time you had that type of thought, it triggered a small but pleasing increase in your body chemistry. 

When you notice your body responding to triggers today and tonight – especially when your favorite body parts are involved – it will make you wonder if my suggestions had anything to do with it. That will make you think of my suggestions, my intentions, and my predictions. And that will trigger your brain, which will activate your body, which will create a feeling that reinforces your thoughts. The cycle of triggering will continue until you find a way to relieve it. And you will.

Have yourself a happy new year in the best possible way.

—

Do you want to say hi to me tonight? Download the free Twitter-built app called Periscope and you can say hi to me tonight whenever I sign on. (You can set an alert). Search for me by my twitter handle @ScottAdamsSays or follow me on Twitter and I think it will tell you when I log into Periscope. Desktop version of Periscope here.

Trump’s Language Skills Analyzed

Here’s a great video about Trump’s language skills and persuasion. I love the approach and the analysis. But I point it out for your ongoing education about cognitive dissonance and how to spot it.

When you watch the video, look for this tell:

1. Author says Trump is intentionally using language in a way that is far more effective than his opponents. Author shows evidence that it is an intentional pattern, not an accident. And he acknowledges that Trump’s language style works great.

2. Author concludes that Trump is “not smart.”

Donald Trump, graduate of Wharton’s business school, builder of empires, master of several different domains, and probably the next President of the United States is “not smart” based on the evidence that his intentional speaking pattern is more effective than the competition. 

Did you see it?

In the old days you would have concluded that the author of the video is an idiot. But clearly he is not, because his work shows both talent and high intelligence. This is as clear a case of cognitive dissonance as you will ever see. And it is a totally normal process for a normal brain. You and I are not excluded. So don’t get cocky :-)

Ranking the Best Political Pundits of 2015

As regular readers know, 100% of my political predictions for 2015 were correct, thanks to the Master Persuader filter. For example, I predicted…

1. Trump would gain popularity and win the nomination, not fizzle as every other pundit predicted. (I predicted it in August, based on his skill set. So far, so good.)

2. The Jeb Bush “low energy” kill shot would end Bush. (First to predict it.)

3. The Fiorina top in her poll numbers (after she paired her own image with a dead baby)

4. The Carson top in his poll numbers (after Trump did his famous belt-buckle speech)

5. The Clinton top in her poll numbers (after Trump noted how many women her policies have allegedly killed)

6. Trump’s “nice guy” move that involved going into a crowd to personally help a wounded warrior with the Veteran’s system.

7. You will start to see Freudian slips in the media calling Trump “President Trump.” And so we have.

8. My 3D predictions – no matter how accurate – will be ignored by the standard 2D media. Check! 

By this time of the year you would expect a list of “Best Political Pundits of 2015″ to pop up somewhere. Try a Google search and discover that it doesn’t exist, because if it did, the only name on it would be mine, and that can’t happen in the 2D world. That would be like stock brokers admitting that index funds are a better bet.

As I hinted in a prior post, Trump isn’t just changing politics. He is changing our understanding of reality by brushing aside the illusion that humans use reason to make important decisions. This extends well beyond politics.

To put a size on Trump’s skill level, I believe that as president he could depose a foreign leader with words alone. It would not work in all cases. But his skill set in persuasion is, in my opinion, weapons grade. I have never seen that level of skill. Luckily, he has a history of opposing unnecessary wars. I can’t think of a better way to prevent a war than removing a dictator with words alone.

I remind new readers that I do not endorse Trump or anyone else for president. I’m not smart enough to know who would do the best job. All the candidates look qualified to me, assuming their health holds out.

But I am a certified hypnotist with decades of study in the field of persuasion. My predictions are based on my knowledge of that skillset and the recognition that Trump has mastered those tools. (He says so often when speaking of his negotiating skills and how he “knows psychology.”) In other words, I see that Trump is bringing a flamethrower to a stick fight, but most of you only see a stick in his hand and a lot of random, rude behavior. I can tell you with certainty that none of it is random. 

Prediction is easy once you see the flamethrower.

Hypnotizing You to Have the Best New Year’s Day Ever (Part 3)

Warning: Do NOT read further unless you have already read Part 1. This post involves real hypnosis on the reader, and it is intended for adults only.

—

Today I will address those of you who are turned OFF by this blog series. In hypnosis class we learned that some personality types have a reflex to reject any outside suggestion. When a trained hypnotist recognizes that personality type, he sometimes proposes the opposite of what he wants. That is what you will watch me do today.

In Part 1 of this series I told you that explaining my method while I do it does not have any impact on the result, except sometimes to strengthen it by increasing my credibility. This will be the most striking example of that. I am literally going to tell some of you to do the opposite of what I want you to do, and at the same time I am telling you why I am doing it.

So today I am only talking to the perhaps 20% of you who were turned off by this series. Obviously I know the messenger (me) has something to do with that reaction, but the bigger part is that some of you simply resist being told what to do. Always. you dislike the feeling of other people “controlling” you in any way whatsoever. And now you believe that your reflex to say no to everything is your sense of reason. I’ll say that again.

For about 20% of you, your reflex to say no to everything is what you believe is your sense of reason. And no one, including me, can talk you out of that.

So I won’t.

Instead, I would like those of you who feel turned-off by this series to stay celibate until at least January 2nd. If you get a chance to have sex between now and then, I am now hypnotizing you to resist it. For the turned-off readers only, stay away from any sexual pleasure during that time. The rest of us will be having the best New Year’s celebration of our lives, or maybe just one of the best. But probably the best. None of that is for you this year. You can enjoy the food and friends and music, but keep your pants on. Keep your body chemistry on chill and do NOT let your natural biological impulses accumulate over time until you crave relief. So hold those sexual impulses in, please, while the rest of us enjoy our next few days like it is the best New Year’s ever, or one of the top three, but probably the best.

If you’re healthy, it might be difficult for you to go without an orgasm for several days. But I have confidence in you. You can reject these hypnosis suggestions because you succeed at this sort of thing 100% of the time and you know it. You got this. Stay strong and ignore the sexual impulses that have allowed humanity to populate the earth and survive millions of years of evolution. That stuff is no match for your willpower.

During the day today, and tomorrow, try to ignore all of the sexual cues in your environment. When you see a hot dog, or a cigar, don’t make any automatic associations in your mind. If you see a train entering a tunnel, think of it as nothing but transportation. 

Things might get harder around New Year’s Eve if you venture out. You’ll see a lot of horny people dressing in ways that are intended to awaken your sexual desires. You might see some of the hottest men and women in your area dressed to trigger your sexual desires. Don’t let it happen. And on New Year’s eve, when you see beautiful people wrap their lips around noisemakers and blow, think only of the random calendar day that you are celebrating.

Good luck with that. I think you know there is a 100% chance that you will succeed. And I am the best in the world at predicting things, as you know. So really, there is no chance I am wrong. If this blog series was a turn-off to you, you will stay totally uninterested in sex until January 2nd. I think we are agreed on that.

In Part 2 of this series I addressed the 30-50% of you who prefer a submissive role in the bedroom. Today I addressed the approximately 20% of you who say no to everything, by reflex. Tomorrow I will talk to the rest of you. 

I saved the best for last.

It’s gonna change your life.

—

I’m leaving out the commercial stuff for this series because it wouldn’t be sporting to include it.

The Time I Got Promoted to Nobody

According to Paul Waldman at THEWEEK.COM, nobody predicted that Trump would be doing so well at the end of 2015.

While I’m on the topic, I’ll add another prediction to the Master Persuader series. I predict that by the time Trump is in the general election and running against Clinton, you will start hearing that Trump (Lucky Hitler) is – for all practical purposes – “running unopposed” as Clinton’s poll numbers plummet.

That can happen in a variety of ways. One way is if Clinton’s health or legal issues rise to the point of being disqualifying, and Trump persuades us to think about those things more than we think about anything else. Once you imagine there is one candidate in the race who is eligible and one who might not survive the term, or might be in jail, you start to imagine it as a one-person race.

And you will. That’s how you get a landslide. 

Look for the words “running unopposed” in pundit articles and quotes within a few months of election day. And it still counts if it started here, because it won’t catch on unless it actually fits.

Hypnotizing You to Have the Best New Year’s Day Ever (Part 2)

Warning: do NOT read the rest of this unless you have first read Part 1 and you understand my warning that what follows is real hypnosis. This is for adults only.

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If I asked you to name your favorite lover – so far – could you do it? And can you remember how good it felt? There was something about those experiences that activated the feel-good chemistry in your brain in a way that is different from your ordinary experiences. Suppose we could reproduce that sort of brain chemistry without needing that specific lover? How good would that be?

You might find out.

Yesterday I said you would not yet feel any physical or mental changes from my blogging on this topic, even though a few of you probably did. Today, 30-50% of you will have an actual physical reaction. (But few of you will admit it until later.)

To do hypnosis right, you need to understand how humans are wired. And that understanding requires you to accept the idea that everyone is different – and profoundly different – not just on the surface. As soon as you believe others should, or do, see the world the way you see it, you lose your ability to influence. So being open-minded is a necessary condition to being a Master Persuader. You can’t change a mind that you think needs to be fixed. By analogy, you can’t drive a car that you believe will not start, because you won’t even try. Don’t let your beliefs limit your options.

In my experience, about a third of the adult population are sexually dominant, a third are sexually submissive, and a third are miscellaneous whatever. And most people can move from one category to another depending on the partner and the day. But in general, people have a base sexual preference for being in charge or not. 

In hypnosis class we learned that you can discover a person’s sexual preferences by their word choice. I can’t do that with a blog audience so I will treat my dominant and submissive readers separately. Dominants, today you get to watch and learn.

Submissives of both genders, it’s your turn. And yes, I do know how that made you feel. I am going to turn my full attention to you today, and you probably already know I approve of your submissive sexual nature. I love it.

Here’s why.

Submissives often think that something in their personal history made them the way they are. But history is just a mental concept. You can’t see history or hold it in your hand. What you do have in the real world of the present is some loose wiring in your brain, as all people do, and you can take advantage of it. But first, let go of whatever hallucination you have been putting on your random loose wiring. It doesn’t matter why you are the way you are. All that matters is how you use it. And that makes you the luckiest people in the world.

Submissives, I want you to start planning your New Year’s Eve now. Make sure you have some time alone, or some time with a partner who fully accepts your wonderful nature. But most of all, I want you wet, or hard, and especially obedient, starting now. And I want you to know how much I enjoy putting you in this state of mind. It starts now, but will get more intense by Thursday night. Expect to be a quivering, throbbing, wet mess by then.

How did that make you feel?

In order to fully enjoy your New Year’s Eve, I want you to find a way to thank me, in words, not deeds. This is the part that connects us and makes it real. That feeling of connection will release a different set of feel-good chemistry in your brain that complements your arousal and takes it deeper. On New Year’s Eve, and the following day, I will be checking my public email account at dilbertcartoonist@gmail.com. You can stay anonymous if you want, but you have to show your respect by thanking me for some of the best orgasms of your life, if not the best. And imagine the grin on my face when I read your message and respond, based on your gender, with “good girl” or “good boy.”

If you are not submissive, and you have never met anyone who is, you might not know what I just did for those who are. That group is about to have one of the more interesting nights of their lives.

—

Hypnosis and persuasion techniques used:

1. Making you think past the sale.

2. Repetition

3. Pseudo-logic that sounds right even if it isn’t.

4. Telling you what you are thinking as you think it.

5. Displaying my credibility in this field

6. Visual imagery

7. Asking you to do something small (plan your time, thank me) to create a connection between us. This also creates the mental model that when I ask for something you do it. I start small, and make sure the benefit is yours, but create the pattern that I ask and you do.

8. Open-ended suggestions do not over-specify how you will enjoy yourself.

9. Permission and approval given. Humans crave approval. Permission is a form of approval.

10. In paragraph one I asked you to imagine your favorite lover. That was to put your mind in the right place. It had no other purpose.

11. “Good girl” and “Good boy” are words that society has packed with power. To an alpha personality, or someone with a weak ego, they register as an insult. To a submissive, those words are like mental heroin when used in the right context. You can’t understand the power of those words until you use them in the right context. Try them and be amazed.

12. Ask a question that will force an answer that conforms to your line of persuasion, e.g. “How did that make you feel?”

I might be leaving out a few methods because I use them somewhat automatically when I write. Let me know if I missed any.

And when you read this post a second time, know that I wanted that to happen. Repetition is always good.

Hypnotizing You to Have the Best New Year’s Day Ever (Part 1)

Warning: What follows is real hypnosis (without the trance). You should NOT read further unless you would like to have the best orgasms of your life on New Year’s Eve and the following day, with or without a partner. This method will work for both men and women. There will be no “dirty talk” involved, but this is intended for adults only.

Please consider this as my way of saying thank you for reading this blog. 

What to Expect: If you take this journey, and continue to read my blog this week, expect to feel almost nothing at first. The impact will intensify as the week progresses. Hypnosis is a cumulative thing. Imagine starting with a small quantity and doubling it every day. The last doubling is the big one.

This plan will only work if you want it to work, and that is true of hypnosis in general. But in this case, I don’t know anyone who objects to having a great day.

As a public service, I will show you my hypnosis techniques as I employ them. Expect to learn a lot.

Rule 1: Your first lesson is that explaining the technique doesn’t have any effect on the result. You would think that telling you my “tricks” would negate them, but the opposite will happen. In part because…

Rule 2: The subject has to EXPECT the hypnosis to work. That means setting the stage of credibility. I could not have written this post without you first seeing how well the Master Persuader filter  has predicted Trump’s climb in the polls. For those of you who are watching that spectacle come together, you already know I have credibility in this field. 

In hypnosis school we learned that you get better results when you charge for your hypnosis services. The act of exchanging money influences the subject to believe that hypnosis is credible. It also helps if the hypnotist has a professional office with some diplomas on the wall, years of experience, a pleasing appearance, and an air of confidence. The details are less important than the fact you are establishing your credibility in some way.

Thanks to my Trump blogging, most of you are reading this with a sense that the fields of hypnosis and persuasion are far more powerful than you imagined. I can confirm that the secrets you are about to learn are so hard to believe that I haven’t been able to communicate them for years. It simply doesn’t sound true unless you have some appreciation for the Moist Robot Hypothesis, which regular readers of this blog now have. Having established my credibility, I am now free to communicate effectively.

When Donald Trump wrote his book, The Art of the Deal, he set the stage for every negotiation of his that followed, including running for president. That book was a bestseller, and it makes anyone who negotiates with him expect he will get the better deal. So he does. Setting expectations is a huge part of influence. 

Rule 3: In hypnosis (and influence in general) never tell someone they will feel an experience unless you are sure it will happen. Otherwise you lose the credibility you need for the process to work. 

By now you are thinking this hypnosis series probably won’t cause you to have incredible orgasms by the end of the week, but you are curious what I’m up to. 

Rule 4: The sentence above is hypnosis. The most powerful technique for creating a connection between subject and hypnosist involves the hypnotist making an educated and correct guess about what the subject is thinking as they are thinking it. This blurs the distinction between your mind and my mind. You feel we are on the same wavelength. It makes you comfortable that I know your thoughts and approve of them, which I do.

Rule 5: Everyone wants approval. They want it badly, and adults almost never get it during a typical week. Humans, like animals, can be trained to respond almost by reflex to “treats.” Approval is the ultimate treat for a human.

Rule 6: In hypnosis it is permissible, and often advantageous, to use pseudo-logic to form connections in the subject’s mind. For example, later in this post I am going to explain the biological basis for why many of you will have the best New Year’s experience of your lives, if not the best experience of all time – certainly one of the most memorable. But probably also the best.

Rule 7: Did you notice I was “talking past the sale” right there? I caused you to wonder if you will have the best day of your life or just one of the best. Or maybe it will just be the most memorable. But it could be both. (I did it again because…)

Rule 8: Repetition is reality. Whatever you think about the most will rise in importance and “truth” in your mind. There is a good reason Trump repeats himself so much. Some of his method involves making you think past the sale, and some is simple repetition.

Now I will explain why this will work, from a biological perspective. As I explained in Rule 6, don’t get too hung up on my logic or the science of what follows. This is intended for effect, not accuracy. In other words, what follows is constructed to sound true, as long as you don’t think about it too deeply. To influence another person, often you have to provide a “reason,” but science tells us the reason can simply sound like a reason and people respond as if the reason made sense. (Example: Every bad idea from every politician.)

So here we go.

The main goal of any species is survival and reproduction. And to that end, we have evolved to prefer mates with some sort of genetic advantage. But the interesting thing is that there are several types of genetic advantages, and all of them work for some types of people. You might crave a dumb mate with perfect muscle structure, or a brilliant mate who is not physically fit. Or maybe you are attracted to ambitious mates, or powerful mates. We evolved to look for any individual traits of reproductive advantage, not to find all of those traits in any one person. What matters to the species is that we acquire lots of good traits on average, not that your specific marriage goes well. 

Anyway, the point is that our sex drives are activated when we encounter people who are smart, ambitious, successful, talented, confident, or unusually fit. Any of those traits activate our sex drives by reflex. So make sure you are operating in an arena that shows off your best trait, as I am right now.

For the hetero men reading this, my writing does not activate your sex drive. But for the few women reading this, my language skills activate your sex drive, and I know it. (Rule 4). Expect me to use that knowledge during the week.

But what about the straight men reading this blog? What’s in it for them?

Answer: Tools

By the end of the week, your persuasion skills will be off the chart, for both business and personal use. The prospect of acquiring this power will cause your testosterone to surge. For men, that’s usually all we need. The reason men get “morning wood” is because testosterone is highest in the morning. Expect to be raging by the end of the week, even more than usual, because of the power you are about to acquire, and how that boosts your testosterone.

Rule 9: Intention is powerful. When people know your intention, without doubt, it makes them comfortable. My intention is for each of you to notice over the course of this week any changes to your physical state of arousal. You probably won’t notice much, or anything, today. But later in the week you will start to see things that remind you of sex more often than usual. That’s your first tell.

Rule 10: Predicting a subject’s future tell – and being right – is a powerful method of persuasion. It builds credibility.

Here I am employing a bit of a magic trick to accomplish Rule 10. My suggestion that you will be more often reminded of sex this week is self-fulfilling. I am causing the change I am predicting. Putting the thought in your mind that you will have a wet, throbbing week ahead causes you to notice sexual suggestions in the environment that you might have missed before. (Some call this effect reticular activation, also known as the reason you can hear your name in a room full of noise.)

Good luck concentrating today. Tomorrow will be even better. And by Thursday night, well, it might be one of the best New Year’s celebrations of your life. Or one of the best. Probably in the top three. ;-)

Imagining Robot Battles in the Caliphate.

How long will it be before we have robot armies that are controlled by humans who make the kill decisions? Probably closer than you think. Here’s what I think it will look like.

The “robots” will be armored vehicles full of armed drones, with extra battery packs that can be hot-swapped during a battle, without human help. Now imagine that the armored vehicles approach a battle and let loose a flock of drones. The drones can identify targets and ask for human permission before firing. As batteries run down, a continuous set of new armored vehicles and drones is flowing into battle. The key to a robot army is numbers. Humans can kill most robots if they can focus on them. A swarm of hobby-sized drones will be a lot harder to address.

But here’s the interesting part. Instead of one human operator per drone, the kill decision could be made by a three-person vote. In other words, you need two-out-of-three military observers to agree to each kill shot, but instantly (sub second) during an actual battle. That should cut down on the innocent deaths. Robots don’t need to panic or protect themselves, so they can take more reasoned shots than humans. They can also operate indoors if they have to. 

Another robot bonus: One translator could be on call to speak to humans through drones flying at head level. That way your translator is wherever the drones are.

You also need some door-kicking robots, perhaps one per armored vehicle. Those too would have limited range, so you would use them only when needed.

I have predicted that a robot army will someday prevent the Caliphate from expanding beyond its borders. Expect the robot army to be mostly hobby-sized drones. Human-sized robots are easy targets and too hard to recharge.

How far away does a robot army of small drones look to you? I say five years.

Is Iowa a Caucus or a Mental Health Problem? (Trump Master Persuader Series)

Soon the media will start to obsess with the Iowa caucuses. They will repeatedly tell us two things:

1. The Iowa Caucuses are a squirrelly little affair that predict nothing. 

2. The Iowa Caucuses are important national news.

Iowa presents an interesting strategic decision for Trump. On one hand, he can let someone else win Iowa and it probably won’t have much impact on the final result. Trump could let Iowa go and concentrate on the primary states ahead.

But Trump is playing a different game. He is not addressing your sense of reason. He is talking to your energy, your emotions, and even your biases. By that filter (the Master Persuader filter), Iowa might be important as an energy booster for the campaign.

Trump likes energy. And as he has said, winning Iowa might set him up to run the table. So he probably wants to win Iowa, just to keep dominating headlines. Plus, it could be an early kill shot for the primary season if it causes Republican voters to capitulate – assuming many don’t know Iowa is electorally unimportant – and accept Trump as the eventual nominee.

My prediction under the Master Persuader filter is that Trump will try to win Iowa with a linguistic kill shot that is being engineered as I write this. But I won’t go so far as to predict he wins Iowa. I’d give that a 50% chance. 

But I do predict Trump will A-B test a new line of attack on Clinton. If it works, he wins Iowa. If not, all he loses is Iowa. So this situation is when a person with a business background would test a new approach.

You’ll recognize Trump’s test balloon against Clinton when you see it. It will be the one that speaks to Iowa’s socially conservative base.

Bonus Thought 1: One of the skills a hypnotist has to master is reading people’s inner thoughts based on their body language. That’s a common skill for people in the business world too, but hypnotists go deeper than looking at crossed arms and furrowed brows. We learn to look for subtle changes in breathing patterns, tiny changes in muscle tone, variations in skin color (blushing or not), word choice, pupil dilation, and more. I assume law enforcement people look for similar tells when doing interrogations.

As regular readers know, I’m a trained hypnotist. And to me, Hillary Clinton looks as if she is hiding a major health issue. If you read Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink, you know that so-called “experts” can sometimes instantly make decisions before they know why. In my case, I am going to make an “expert” hypnotist prediction about Hillary Clinton without knowing exactly which clues I am picking up, or whether I am hallucinating them.

Prediction: I’ll put the odds at 75% that we learn of an important Clinton health issue before the general election. That estimate is based on my own track record of guessing things about people without the benefit of knowing why. I think Trump is picking up the same vibe. He has already questioned Clinton’s “stamina.”

Bonus Thought 2: The biggest criticism of Trump is that his immigration plans remind people of Hitler. But what happens when you think of Trump and Putin getting together to fight ISIS? The last time Russia and the U.S. teamed up for major military action they were trying to defeat Hitler. On the 2D level of analysis, Trump’s chummy comments about Putin are a red flag. But on the 3D playing field, where Trump does best, it flips the Hitler meme into something more like getting the band back together to fight Hitler. Your brain probably won’t let you imagine Trump as fighting Hitler (along with Russia) and yet being Hitler at the same time. So while no one was watching, Trump probably solved for the Hitler meme. Watch the Trump-Hitler theme on social media start to diminish.

The more general rule of persuasion here is that you can’t stop a Hitler accusation by arguing all the reasons you are NOT Hitler. No one cares about the details because we are dealing with emotion, not reason. But you can find a bigger Hitler, and that accomplishes the same thing because the brain doesn’t allow for two simultaneous Hitlers. 

I pause to inform new readers – and remind the regulars – that I do not endorse Trump or anyone else for president. All of the candidates look qualified to me. I am interested in Trump’s persuasion methods. I have never seen better.