There’s simply no news today, I’m exhausted from lack of sleep, and as I looked at the latest draft posts I have (there are over 2,600 drafts, most of which will never see the light of day), I was not inspired to write anything, though there are two science posts that I’ll be working on. We’ll see if anybody reads them.
Ergo, enjoy Bill Maher’s comedy-and-politics bit from his latest episode of Real Time. In this 8.75-minute segment, Maher decries Terminally Online Disease (TOD), one of whose symptoms is the fervent need to express an opinion on everything. (The video begins by excusing cat haters, who include Oscar-winning actress Jessie Buckley—not a propitious start.) Maher then goes on to criticize people who spend all their time doomscrolling through social-media sites on “devices”, mistaking what they read for a national or international consensus and apparently anxious to get outraged. The scrollers are contrasted with regular people who have “shit to do.”
All told, it’s a pretty curmudgeonly bit and not as funny as his usual shticks. But it’s all I got.
The guests were Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, Paul Begala, CNN contributor and Democratic strategist, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL).
Please keep posting on science. I always read your posts on scientific matters and find them very worthwhile. They help me keep up with advances that I might otherwise miss.
yeah. Tristan Harris made hundreds of millions of dollars in the exact social media tech about which he now lectures us. A bit raw for me.
D.A.
NYC
Maher has gotten old and too feeble to host a political show. Someone younger, more energetic with edgier humour and better information should take over.
…refreshing…
That might have been the best Bill Maher ever!