Scott Adams and Philosophy Read online

  Popular Culture and Philosophy® Series Editor: George A. Reisch

  VOLUME 1 Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000)

  VOLUME 2 The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer (2001)

  VOLUME 3 The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002)

  VOLUME 4 Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (2003)

  VOLUME 9 Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (2004)

  VOLUME 12 Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (2005)

  VOLUME 13 Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (2005)

  VOLUME 17 Bob Dylan and Philosophy: It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Thinking) (2006)

  VOLUME 19 Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (2006)

  VOLUME 30 Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene! (2007)

  VOLUME 35 Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant (2008)

  VOLUME 36 The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am (2008)

  VOLUME 42 Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes Evil Is Its Own Reward (2009)

  VOLUME 49 Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (2010) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad

  VOLUME 54 The Onion and Philosophy: Fake News Story True, Alleges Indignant Area Professor (2010) Edited by Sharon M. Kaye

  VOLUME 55 Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the Inside (2010) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka

  VOLUME 57 Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United (2010) Edited by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman

  VOLUME 58 Dexter and Philosophy: Mind over Spatter (2011) Edited by Richard Greene, George A. Reisch, and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 60 SpongeBob SquarePants and Philosophy: Soaking Up Secrets Under the Sea! (2011) Edited by Joseph J. Foy

  VOLUME 61 Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy: The Footprints of a Gigantic Mind (2011) Edited by Josef Steiff

  VOLUME 63 Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Do Androids Have Kindred Spirits? (2011) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

  VOLUME 64 The Rolling Stones and Philosophy: It’s Just a Thought Away (2012) Edited by Luke Dick and George A. Reisch

  VOLUME 67 Breaking Bad and Philosophy: Badder Living through Chemistry (2012) Edited by David R. Koepsell and Robert Arp

  VOLUME 68 The Walking Dead and Philosophy: Zombie Apocalypse Now (2012) Edited by Wayne Yuen

  VOLUME 69 Curb Your Enthusiasm and Philosophy: Awaken the Social Assassin Within (2012) Edited by Mark Ralkowski

  VOLUME 74 Planet of the Apes and Philosophy: Great Apes Think Alike (2013) Edited by John Huss

  VOLUME 75 Psych and Philosophy: Some Dark Juju-Magumbo (2013) Edited by Robert Arp

  VOLUME 82 Jurassic Park and Philosophy: The Truth Is Terrifying (2014) Edited by Nicolas Michaud and Jessica Watkins

  VOLUME 83 The Devil and Philosophy: The Nature of His Game (2014) Edited by Robert Arp

  VOLUME 84 Leonard Cohen and Philosophy: Various Positions (2014) Edited by Jason Holt

  VOLUME 85 Homeland and Philosophy: For Your Minds Only (2014) Edited by Robert Arp

  VOLUME 86 Girls and Philosophy: This Book Isn’t a Metaphor for Anything (2015) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 87 Adventure Time and Philosophy: The Handbook for Heroes (2015) Edited by Nicolas Michaud

  VOLUME 88 Justified and Philosophy: Shoot First, Think Later (2015) Edited by Rod Carveth and Robert Arp

  VOLUME 89 Steve Jobs and Philosophy: For Those Who Think Different (2015) Edited by Shawn E. Klein

  VOLUME 90 Dracula and Philosophy: Dying to Know (2015) Edited by Nicolas Michaud and Janelle Pötzsch

  VOLUME 91 It’s Always Sunny and Philosophy: The Gang Gets Analyzed (2015) Edited by Roger Hunt and Robert Arp

  VOLUME 92 Orange Is the New Black and Philosophy: Last Exit from Litchfield (2015) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 93 More Doctor Who and Philosophy: Regeneration Time (2015) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka

  VOLUME 94 Divergent and Philosophy: The Factions of Life (2016) Edited by Courtland Lewis

  VOLUME 95 Downton Abbey and Philosophy: Thinking in That Manor (2016) Edited by Adam Barkman and Robert Arp

  VOLUME 96 Hannibal Lecter and Philosophy: The Heart of the Matter (2016) Edited by Joseph Westfall

  VOLUME 97 The Ultimate Walking Dead and Philosophy: Hungry for More (2016) Edited by Wayne Yuen

  VOLUME 98 The Princess Bride and Philosophy: Inconceivable! (2016) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 99 Louis C.K. and Philosophy: You Don’t Get to Be Bored (2016) Edited by Mark Ralkowski

  VOLUME 100 Batman, Superman, and Philosophy: Badass or Boyscout? (2016) Edited by Nicolas Michaud

  VOLUME 101 Discworld and Philosophy: Reality Is Not What It Seems (2016) Edited by Nicolas Michaud

  VOLUME 102 Orphan Black and Philosophy: Grand Theft DNA (2016) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 103 David Bowie and Philosophy: Rebel Rebel (2016) Edited by Theodore G. Ammon

  VOLUME 104 Red Rising and Philosophy: Break the Chains! (2016) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Kevin McCain

  VOLUME 105 The Ultimate Game of Thrones and Philosophy: You Think or Die (2017) Edited by Eric J. Silverman and Robert Arp

  VOLUME 106 Peanuts and Philosophy: You’re a Wise Man, Charlie Brown! (2017) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 107 Deadpool and Philosophy: My Common Sense Is Tingling (2017) Edited by Nicolas Michaud

  VOLUME 108 The X-Files and Philosophy: The Truth Is In Here (2017) Edited by Robert Arp

  VOLUME 109 Mr. Robot and Philosophy: Beyond Good and Evil Corp. (2017) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 110 Hamilton and Philosophy: Revolutionary Thinking (2017) Edited by Aaron Rabinowitz and Robert Arp

  VOLUME 111 The Man in the High Castle and Philosophy: Subversive Reports from Another Reality (2017) Edited by Bruce Krajewski and Joshua Heter

  VOLUME 112 The Americans and Philosophy: Reds in the Bed (2018) Edited by Robert Arp and Kevin Guilfoy

  VOLUME 113 Jimi Hendrix and Philosophy: Experience Required (2018) Edited by Theodore G. Ammon

  VOLUME 114 American Horror Story and Philosophy: Life Is But a Nightmare (2018) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 115 Iron Man vs. Captain America and Philosophy: Give Me Liberty or Keep Me Safe (2018) Edited by Nicolas Michaud and Jessica Watkins

  VOLUME 116 1984 and Philosophy: Is Resistance Futile? (2018) Edited by Ezio Di Nucci and Stefan Storrie

  VOLUME 117 The Dark Tower and Philosophy (2018) Edited by Nicolas Michaud and Jacob Thomas May

  VOLUME 118 Scott Adams and Philosophy: A Hole in the Fabric of Reality (2018) Edited by Daniel Yim, Galen Foresman, and Robert Arp

  VOLUME 119 Twin Peaks and Philosophy: That’s Damn Fine Philosophy! (2018) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 120 Amy Schumer and Philosophy: Brainwreck! (2017) Edited by Charlene Elsby and Rob Luzecky

  TITLES IN PREPARATION:

  The Twilight Zone and Philosophy (2018) Edited by Heather L. Rivera amd Alexander E. Hooke

  Westworld and Philosophy (2018) Edited by Richard Greene and Joshua Heter

  The Handmaid’s Tale and Philosophy (2018) Edited by Rachel Robison-Greene

  Tom Petty and Philosophy (2018) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Megan Volpert

  Rick and Morty and Philosophy (2018) Edited by Lester C. Abesamis and Wayne Yuen

  Stranger Things and Philosophy (2019) Edited by Jeffey A. E
wing and Andrew M. Winters

  For full details of all Popular Culture and Philosophy® books, visit www.opencourtbooks.com.

  Volume 118 in the series, Popular Culture and Philosophy ®, edited by George A. Reisch

  To find out more about Open Court books, visit our website at www.opencourtbooks.com.

  Open Court Publishing Company is a division of Carus Publishing Company, dba Cricket Media.

  Copyright © 2018 by Carus Publishing Company, dba Cricket Media

  First printing 2018

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Open Court Publishing Company, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, Illinois 60601.

  Scott Adams and Philosophy: A Hole in the Fabric of Reality

  This book has not been prepared, authorized, or endorsed by Scott Adams.

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018946392

  This book is also available as an e-book (ISBN 978-0-8126-9983-8).

  Contents

  The Reality of Scott Adams

  IIn Front of Your Eyes

  1. How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Tolerate the Master Persuader Hypothesis

  IVAN WOLFE

  2. Persuade Me Once, Shame on You . . .

  RICHARD GREENE

  3. How I Could Have Made Hillary President

  DAVID RAMSAY STEELE

  IIComic-Strip Kafka

  4. Scoundrels, the Lot of Us

  JOHN V. KARAVITIS

  5. The Serious Point of Scott’s Humor

  ENZO GUERRA AND ADAM BARKMAN

  6. The PowerPoint Conspiracy Theory

  CHRISTOPHER KETCHAM

  IIIIt Tastes Better if We All Do It Together

  7. Scott Adams’s Joy of Logic

  RICHARD BILSKER

  8. Is It a Fact that Facts Don’t Matter?

  DAVID RAMSAY STEELE

  9. But Women Can Vote . . .

  SANDRA HANSMANN AND CYNTHIA JONES

  10. Intelligence and Duh-mocracy

  BEN SAUNDERS

  IVComic-Strip Camus

  11. Dilbert’s Absurd World

  ALEXANDER CHRISTIAN

  12. Dilbert Is an Asshole and That’s Why He’ll Never Be Happy and Nobody Loves Him

  CHARLENE ELSBY AND ROB LUZECKY

  13. The Essence of Dogbert

  ELLIOT KNUTHS

  14. Of Course It Sucks—It’s Work

  ANDY WIBLE

  VGolden Age, Ready or Not

  15. Bias Is Rational!

  RAY SCOTT PERCIVAL

  16. Why Scott Adams Is Stupid

  DANIEL MIORI

  17. Sweeping Up God’s Debris

  RACHEL ROBISON-GREENE

  18. Scott Adams and the Pinocchio Fallacy

  DAVID RAMSAY STEELE

  Bibliography

  Author Bios

  Index

  The Reality of Scott Adams

  Some philosophers claim that you always know when you’re in a dream and when you’re awake. But 2016 was a year in which reality often took on a dreamlike quality.

  You’d be walking along the street with a friend, engrossed in her phone, and she would suddenly turn and run down a sidestreet, shouting: “Hold on, I’ve gotta catch this magikarp!” This was the phenomenon of Pokémon GO. News reports told of people who walked off roofs or walked off piers, plummeting to their deaths, in pursuit of wild Pokémon. It hardly seems real, looking back now, but the casualties are still missing.

  That wasn’t the only strange thing that year. The Cubs won the World Series! That seemed to violate some of the laws of physics and mathematics, perhaps even the most fundamental laws of metaphysics. Metaphysicians used to debate whether not winning was a necessary or merely a contingent property of the baseball team called the Chicago Cubs. Well, no they didn’t, if you take the boring old line that facts matter, but they might have done and they probably thought about it.

  Oh yes, and then there was politics. Surely it was high time for a woman president! But, out of nowhere, there came a supernatural surge of support for Bernie Sanders, a dry-as-dust self-proclaimed “socialist,” and every trick in the book had to be used to fight off this infuriating challenger. Yes, a few tricks that weren’t in the book, too.

  On the Republican side, rich entertainment was provided by the entry into the race of the joke candidate, Donald J. Trump. All the most authoritative experts agreed that Trump had absolutely no chance of winning the nomination. In a field of seventeen Republican claimants, Trump was always the center of attention, but obviously, once the field was narrowed, and it became a straight choice between Trump and some more serious candidate, Trump the politician would be flushed down the toilet bowl of history.

  In years past, Trump the generic big-city pro-choice liberal had often been tagged as a likely future president, and had been pressed, sympathetically, on this issue by several celebrity media people including no less than Oprah Winfrey. But more recently Trump, following the lead of some of Hillary’s supporters in their 2008 primary battles against Obama, had become a proponent of the “birther” theory, that Barack Obama could not legally be president because he was not born in the United States. This gave Trump a different kind of image: a flaky conspiracy crank, pathetically out of the mainstream.

  In his pursuit of the Republican nomination, Trump fulfilled the worst expectations—and kept winning. He said the most outrageous things, and wouldn’t apologize for them, but somehow, this didn’t drive away too many Republican primary voters, and he continued to win primaries. Even the release of an old tape in which Trump boasted that if you were a big celebrity, women would let you grab them by the pussy, somehow failed to dislodge him. Uncharacteristically, on this one occasion Trump issued an apology, and explained that his remark was “locker room talk.” He might have said it was “Game of Thrones talk,” for record millions of Americans were regularly imbibing this epic, filled with words and deeds amid which “grab them by the pussy” would have been way too mild to register even a flicker on the Richter Scale of outrage.

  As Trump kept winning, some Democrats began to nurse a delicious fantasy: There was actually a chance Trump might be nominated as the Republican candidate! Then, naturally, Hillary could only win by the most colossal landslide.

  One distinguished Republican after another came out as a “never Trumper.” So a substantial number of leading Republicans were solemnly pledged never to vote for Trump. Demonstrably, that must have sealed his inevitable doom.

  Among the many experts who predicted Trump’s defeat was Nate Silver, who, especially with his best-selling book, The Signal and the Noise, had established himself as a household name for accurate, reliable scientific prediction. Silver pronounced the verdict of statistical science: Trump, with a probability of ninety-eight percent, would lose.

  A few days later, Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, the world’s most popular cartoon strip, predicted that Trump had a ninety-eight percent chance of winning, yes winning, the presidency by a landslide. What?

  Adams was politically an ultra-liberal, to the left of Bernie Sanders on most issues and no friend of Trump’s policies. Yet he was clearly bowled over and captivated by Trump’s personality and behavior. On his blog, Adams kept elaborating and expanding on his prediction of a Trump victory. The blog rapidly gained subscribers, including many Trump supporters, no doubt desperate for any word of hopeful encouragement.

  Adams’s argument was that Trump was that rare thing, a Master Persuader. Adams claimed, and substantiated by detailed analysis, that the apparently wayward and irresponsible things said by Trump were really precisely calibrated “weapons-grade” persuasion technique.

  Scott Adams was a trained hypnotist and an enthusiast for the popular “persuasion” literature headed up by Robert Cialdini. One of Adams’s key ideas is tha
t people are, overwhelmingly, not rational. They make their most important decisions on purely emotional grounds, and then produce fake “rationalized” stories about why they made those decisions. As a result, when it comes to persuasion, facts really don’t matter.

  Watching the political game play out, Adams foresaw, not only that Trump would win the presidency, but that his victory would generate a serious mental health problem. Trump was about to “rip a hole in the fabric of reality.” The world was about to become darkly alien and incomprehensible to a big segment of Democratic voters. There would be massive emotional distress, “cognitive dissonance,” and “mass hysteria.” Some folks would need counseling help in coming to terms with what had happened, and Adams saw himself as providing that help in the form of a patient, lucid explanation of the Trump phenomenon. Adams was confident that in office Trump would moderate his policies and effectively govern as a centrist, but this wouldn’t placate all of the mentally disturbed Hillary supporters, who would continue to “hallucinate” that horrible Trump was doing horrible things.

  Adams, a member of Mensa and long-time dissector of logical fallacies, saw in Trump a highly intelligent and superbly self-controlled individual with a formidable “talent stack.” The theory of the talent stack had been developed in Adams’s best-selling book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life. In this work, Adams kicked aside many of the established platitudes of self-help manuals. He advised his readers to quit their day jobs. He favored “systems” over “goals.” In his theory of the talent stack, he argues that success most often comes not from being the absolute best at any one thing, but from being pretty good at a bunch of different things, which could be harnessed together for effectiveness.

  Trump won the Republican nomination! Just how big a disaster was this for the Republican Party? Could the Party even survive? All the polls showed, what was obvious anyway, that Trump could only lose catastrophically in the general election . . .

  Scott Adams was born in upstate New York in 1957. His family, like many American families, cherished the legend that they had some Native American ancestry, but a recent DNA test has shown this to be untrue. A childhood admirer of the Peanuts comic strip, Scott started drawing his own comics at age six, and won a drawing competition at age eleven. In his early twenties, having just got a degree in economics from Hartwick College, he bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco.