] Malcolm Collins: Hello, Simone. I’m excited to be here with you today. She has spent all day refusing to tell me what we’re going to do an episode on, because she is so excited to spill the beans on this one. So what is it, Simone?[00:00:11] Simone Collins: Yeah. So, okay, you know how gender reveal parties became popular out of nowhere, getting so intense that ultimately five people have died in gender reveal party related[00:00:22] Malcolm Collins: accidents?[00:00:22] Potentially way more than five, because one might have caused that massive wildfire in[00:00:26] Simone Collins: California. No, one did. One did cause the 2020 fiwildfire.[00:00:29] Malcolm Collins: Okay, so way more than five people.[00:00:31] Simone Collins: Yeah. So. Well, I mean, confirmed. You know, directly resulting from the initial thing. Anyway, it turns out that people feel like they’re missing out on the fun since they’re, they’re not having kids, right?[00:00:43] So you can’t have a gender reveal party well, I guess, you know, i- if you’re not having a baby. So what do you guess people are doing instead for their reveal parties?[00:00:54] Malcolm Collins: Oh my God. It’s going to be- Mm ... something really sad and scary. Mm. And I cannot believe you have- Of course I do ... put me on this. Okay, it’s, it’s not gonna be something as straightforward as, like, gender reveal for a pet or something like that.[00:01:06] No,[00:01:06] Simone Collins: that’s, yeah, that’s what you would probably guess, yeah, like a pet.[00:01:08] Malcolm Collins: Or picking a new name for themselves.[00:01:11] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:01:11] Malcolm Collins: It’s gonna be something weirder and sadder. What is it, Simone?[00:01:15] Simone Collins: Disabilities.[00:01:17] Malcolm Collins: Disability[00:01:18] Simone Collins: reveal parties? Disability reveal parties. And I fell down this rabbit hole because Olivia Sorbo posted someone’s autism reveal party video on X, and one of our friends-[00:01:31] shared it with us, Sarah did, and our friend, as well as many others on X, observed this woman is not acting very autistic as she does her reveal.[00:01:41] Speaker 17: Okay, what does everyone think? I think you definitely, absolutely, 100% have autism. What do you think? I’m with her. What do you think? I’m also with Elise. Okay. Okay, what do you think? Uh, I did[00:01:59] wear a pink shirt. Okay, let’s see. I’m so scared. Okay, guys. Cut it straight across. What’s it gonna be? Okay. It’s time. I’m just waiting for there to be pink on the knife. Oh, s**t. Oh, my God, autism.[00:02:15] Simone Collins: Because it, it involves, you know, c- cutting a cake, typically, to reveal the gender. And she’s not a very neat and tidy or precise cake cutter, and everyone’s like, “Dude, this is, she’s, she’s ADHD.[00:02:26] This is not autism.”[00:02:27] Malcolm Collins: Fake autism.[00:02:28] Simone Collins: But every- Yeah, like, so this guy, a, Americanime, which is also an amazing- Twitter handle noted, “Pointing out the obvious, but an autist would cut the cake more perfectly than anyone. Failing to cut the cake is the reveal that she’s not autistic. Pic related.” And he posted architectural drawings of a tank.[00:02:46] Malcolm Collins: A pic related architectural drawings of a tank. So- That is the perfect answer to that. I know. Pic related.[00:02:53] Simone Collins: I know. And then this another, another X user, @pennybigred commented, “As a mother of someone who was born with autism, she isn’t autistic. She’s just an effing moron. Why do so many Gen Z and millennials want and need to have disabilities they don’t actually have, stealing resources, medical care, and funding from the ones that do?”[00:03:14] Malcolm Collins: W- why do they want it? Well, because of the medical care resources, and because- Oh, God ... they don’t have identities anymore. When you tell a person, we’ve talked about this the, the concept of laundering white pride- Mm-hmm ... which is if you can’t have pride in your ancestry, if you can’t have pride in your religion, if you can’t have pride in your national identity- Mm-hmm[00:03:31] what is left to have pride in other than I guess your s- your sexuality or your disabilities? Yeah. And that is what people do. They funnel their Nazi-istic instincts for, like, a, complex towards other people, “I’m different, I’m special,” into their disabilities and arousal pathways.[00:03:49] Simone Collins: Well, and what’s so sick about having disability reveal parties is you’re kind of functionally signaling, “My disability is my baby. It is the thing that I will nurture and care [00:04:00] for and-” Yes. And I’m like, oh my G-[00:04:02] Malcolm Collins: And defend with my life when you tell me you’re not autistic.[00:04:05] Simone Collins: Exactly, though.[00:04:06] Dude, that’s the, the, the, that’s the thing. I,[00:04:09] Malcolm Collins: and I, I, this is coming from the most autistic YouTube family.[00:04:13] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:04:14] Malcolm Collins: So far, th- three, three kids and one wife. You know-[00:04:17] Simone Collins: Yeah, children who are so sensitive to stimuli that they refuse to eat food because it will get wet in their mouths.[00:04:23] Malcolm Collins: Yeah.[00:04:25] Simone Collins: Oh my God.[00:04:27] Malcolm Collins: Oh my God.[00:04:27] Yeah, no, it’s not, it’s not fun all the time. Oh. That’s a very Simone thing, though. I’ve been living with this for a long time.[00:04:34] Simone Collins: I know. When- I know. I trained you. I trained you to parent.[00:04:37] Malcolm Collins: So there was a long time in our relationship, like her symptoms have gone down as she’s gotten older, where she wouldn’t touch door handles.[00:04:45] And so I had to touch all the door handles like she was royalty. To this day ... and, and even today, if you walk around with Simone, you’ll notice she acts very weird whenever she gets to a door. And I think the main reason you got away, around it is because you mostly just live in our house now and you don’t go out much.[00:05:01] But you have all these systems for, like, doing things with your elbows and for all the different types of door handles and everything. Like you’re somebody who’s like no arms or something when it comes to door handles.[00:05:11] Simone Collins: Well, and you see one of our kids doing exactly the same thing- ... with his, like, weird hand things.[00:05:16] You know? And he has to always have his hands clean. It’s, it, it’s, it’s super heritable. It’s insane. Like, it, this is a genetic thing. Anyway I, when I saw that video on X, of course I had to learn more ‘cause at first I was like, “This is too good to be true. This, this can’t... Like, stop. You... No.”[00:05:32] Malcolm Collins: I am so desperately glad that these people are not having kids.[00:05:36] People are always like, “Oh, aren’t you mad at Dinks?” And I’m like, “Mm-mm.”[00:05:39] Simone Collins: They’re, they’re definitely not having kids. I-[00:05:41] Malcolm Collins: Your eyes, by the way, lit up so much at the, the sheer patheticness of these people.[00:05:48] Simone Collins: You just- No, Malcolm, it gets so much better. You have no idea. Okay? Okay. ‘Cause I was like, this has to be isolated.[00:05:54] This can’t, this can’t exist as a thing. But it super does. It’s really amazing, and there’s this whole etiquette around disability reveal parties too. So, like with baby r- or gender reveal parties, they almost always involve some sort of cake cutting or cake reveal. Though, some have suggested pinatas instead because, yes, there are articles on gender, or sorry, disability reveal party ideas.[00:06:20] ‘Cause we need those ‘cause it’s such a thing now. Mm-hmm. And before the reveal- One, one of the things that often has at the, happens at these parties is guests are invited to, to make predictions or guess what the, the guest of honor has, what, what the subject of the party has. Oh my...[00:06:38] Malcolm Collins: Thing, g- the, the insufferability of this.[00:06:42] Simone Collins: It’s r- it’s great. No, it gets better. I am- And then af- after reve- of course, after they, they reveal who they are by cutting the cake or whatever the, of course, they’re expected to affirm whatever that is. You know, like, “Oh, you know, we’re so happy for y- you know, like, you go,[00:06:56] Malcolm Collins: Princess.”[00:06:56] Simone Collins: We’re so happy.[00:06:57] Yeah. You[00:06:58] Malcolm Collins: have[00:06:58] Simone Collins: a[00:06:58] Malcolm Collins: disability. We’re so happy for your disability.[00:07:01] Simone Collins: Yes. Yeah, they get celebrated. Ooh. They get all the attention. You know, this is, like, their accolades. And then you, you also, just in case you’re, you’re planning your party now you, you don’t need to hand-make everything. You can actually get au- autism cupcake toppers at walmart.com, and also there’s, there’s multiple types that you can get.[00:07:18] And you can buy autism awareness party favors from Oriental Trading Company, which by the way are 54.99, which is insane, ‘cause I remember Oriental Trading from my childhood being, like, super cheap. It was like, “Oh my God, how can I get this many party favors for 9.99?” So I don’t know what happened to them Like private equity or something Private equity?[00:07:38] I’m guessing, right? So if you go to TikTok, you will find that there have been a bunch posted. And I, I could really watch them for hours. I almost did this morning. I just, I couldn’t look away. So- At[00:07:51] Malcolm Collins: the end of this video, you were talking about the tubes, and this concept of, like, these tubes that people go through.[00:07:57] I’ll just put the clip here because it was such an [00:08:00] interesting conversation.[00:08:00] Simone Collins: w- okay, I, this just happened. I am kind of behind on, like, s- monitoring things I do, but every day I check trending items on X, and, like, headlines and Google Trends and prediction markets. And something that was trending on X was this discussion of someone’s AI video in which they depict this, mm, dystopian future city where only the rich people can live, but there’s one way you can get in, and it’s if you survive the tubes.[00:08:34] And it depicts these people struggling through snow and ice and fighting off bears or evading grizzly bears inside these thick, large glass tubes that, that snake through this modern city. So, like, little girls are walking by and, like, pressing their faces up against the glass as men are fighting for their lives and attempting to get through the tubes.[00:08:56][00:10:25] Simone Collins: That[00:10:25] Malcolm Collins: sounds cool as hell.[00:10:28] Simone Collins: That is. So yeah, Octavian’s looking at that and he’s like, “Where’s that?” And I’m like, “That’s that’s a, a city with, you know, tubes.” And he’s like, “I wanna go.” And I’m like, “Into the city or in- inside the tubes?” And he’s like, “The tubes.” And I’m like, “Well, you understand that a lot of people die in the tubes.”[00:10:44] And he’s like, “Well, yeah, but what, what do you get if you win?” And I explained to him, “Well, then you get to live in the city. It’s, it’s a very expensive city only for rich people.” And he’s like, “Okay, well how much does it cost to live in, like, to get into the city?” I’m like, “Well, probably, like, billions of dollars.”[00:11:00] And he said, “And how much does it cost to get in the tubes?” And I say, “It’s free. It’s free to go in the tubes, but you might die. But if you g- if you get through, you’re in.” And he’s like, “The tubes, that’s a good deal.” That’s a good deal. Good deal. So not only did he love the idea[00:11:19] Malcolm Collins: of taking on- That’s a good deal[00:11:20] the tubes. That’s a good-[00:11:21] Simone Collins: He was like, “Look, even if I had a million dollars, I’m going in the tubes.” And it’s just- Check it out ... so striking to me that there’s, like, this, this subset of, of society that sees the tubes and they’re like, “It’s so unfair. Poor people are, like, mm, dystopia.” And there are other people who are like, “Mm.”[00:11:41] You, you react to the tubes. You’re[00:11:43] Malcolm Collins: like, “That sounds awesome.” Yeah. No, that’s a masculine way to react. Actually, as sort of a[00:11:46] Simone Collins: meta- No, is it any wonder that, like, which group do you think ends up with all the money, Malcolm?[00:11:53] Malcolm Collins: The, the, the men? The, yeah. The- No. The, well, the[00:11:55] Simone Collins: ones who are like, “Dude, I’m going for the tubes.” [00:12:00][00:12:00] Malcolm Collins: Well, so what’s, what’s funny is that this is basically society, though. Like, this is capitalism. The tubes are just capitalism, right? Like- I[00:12:08] Simone Collins: know, I know. That’s, that’s[00:12:09] Malcolm Collins: funny ... you, you work really hard and, and- Yeah[00:12:10] and everybody gets to laugh at you while you’re working, which I need to do more of. I need to watch more videos of people failing at life. That is what Caleb, Caleb Hammer is the tubes.[00:12:20] Simone Collins: Oh my God.[00:12:21] Malcolm Collins: Caleb Hammer.[00:12:22] Simone Collins: That’s actually really funny. Okay, because Romie as in who, who radicalized us against abortion Romie- Yeah[00:12:28] who has great takes on X. I, I love following her. She, she was like, “Look, rich people don’t like looking at poor people. It’s always... Like, being rich has always been about separating yourself from the lives of poor people. This would never happen. Like, the tubes would never exist.” But you’re totally right.[00:12:43] The tubes exist, Romie, and we love the tubes. And it’s called Financial Audit, hosted by Caleb Hammer.[00:12:48] Malcolm Collins: You gotta respond to, to that tweet of hers, by the way. Yeah ... also, the person you said that Leafletting wasn’t working on Firefox, did that fix it then, so you can let them know?[00:12:55] Simone Collins: Awesome. Okay.[00:12:56] Malcolm Collins: But I feel like this is your the tubes. This is-[00:13:01] Simone Collins: Oh, God, you’re right. I’m[00:13:03] Malcolm Collins: so horrible. This is 100%. You watching these people getting mauled by the bear- This is so funny ... that is the, the, their own psychology,[00:13:11] Simone Collins: You’re-[00:13:11] Malcolm Collins: And laughing and laughing and being like, “Look at another one.”[00:13:17] Simone Collins: Oh. Oh, God, you’re right. No, I’m the worst. This is horrible. But okay, so obviously the, there, there are a lot of these. I love them. You should go check them out. I link them in the show notes. I link everything in the show notes on Substack and Patreon. And many are coming out in these parties as two things, or, like, multiple things.[00:13:36] So, like, a, a big, a super common one I discovered is autistic plus ADHD, which they’re calling AuDHD. And then some get a little more complex with things like color codes. At, at one party, guests were instructed to go into the bathroom and look at, like, a color-coded, like, color, like, color, so like, you know, red sticker, green sticker, yellow sticker on a little card that listed different conditions like anxiety, depression, BPD, ADHD, complex PTSD, and then they were supposed to put their guesses on their shirt.[00:14:10] And then they would, they went out, and then finally there was the big reveal, and everyone got to see how, like, correct they were. Actually, Malcolm, I have to send you this clip.[00:14:18] Malcolm Collins: No, hold on. I’ve, I’ve got, I’ll tell you exactly what I would do.[00:14:22] Simone Collins: Okay.[00:14:22] Malcolm Collins: I’d go in the restroom. I’d, I’d take a, a blank color code card and just, like, retard it on it.[00:14:28] And then come out like, “You’re retarded, aren’t you? You’re retarded.”[00:14:32] Simone Collins: Malcolm, you got, you gotta watch this. Watch, watch it. I just sent you on WhatsApp.[00:14:35] Malcolm Collins: Okay, okay, okay, okay.[00:14:36] Speaker: Hi, I’m Ally. This is my mental illness neuropsych eval gender reveal party. This is our color code. So I’m having people guess what my diagnoses are. So yeah[00:14:51] Speaker 2: Hi, I’m Yesenia and I think Allie has BPD, anxiety, complex PTSD, ADHD, and depression Hi, I’m Hannah. I’m the funkle, and I think Allie’s real fucked up in the brain. Specifically, I think she has ADHD, OCD, uh, BPD, anxiety, depression, and complex PTSD[00:15:23] Speaker 4: I’m Chris, and I think they threw the whole book at her[00:15:29] Speaker 5: Hi, I’m Mary, and I think that Allie has BPD, anxiety, complex PTSD, and ADHD. Hi, I’m Sophia, and I think Allie has ADHD, anxiety, depression, complex PTSD, and BPD. Okay. I’m Allie, and these are my actual results. So, if you had anxiety, you are correct. Yay. Woo. If you had BPD, [00:16:00] you are also correct.[00:16:04] Speaker: Yay. Yes. If you had ADHD, also correct. Yay. Yes. And finally, if you put complex PTSD, you got it right. Yay. Woo.[00:16:18] Simone Collins: Okay. It, it feels like such an insult that, that, you know, they’re like... I mean, I, I think if, if you say someone has borderline personality disorder, like, you kinda think they’re a[00:16:28] Malcolm Collins: terrible person. That, that is not one of the good ones. I know. That’s like being retarded. Like-[00:16:32] Simone Collins: No, it’s like, it’s... I always...[00:16:33] Well, I, I, I feel like see you next Tuesday is, like, the word. That, that is what you are. Like, you’re just a terrible person that’s, like-[00:16:39] Malcolm Collins: And you’re- ...[00:16:40] Simone Collins: has[00:16:40] Malcolm Collins: s- severe- You’re honestly cucking. No, it’s, it’s being a, a medically, medically a see you next Tuesday. Yeah,[00:16:46] Simone Collins: yeah. You’ve been... Yeah, like you’ve confirmed by trained psychologists, it’s a, it’s... Yeah, you’re a, you’re a complete jerk. A terrible person.[00:16:54] Malcolm Collins: You act in a way that is just pointlessly cruel to other people-[00:16:57] Simone Collins: I know. Yeah, yeah ... for, for your own amusement And, but, like when she comes out, complex PTSD? Like, what, what does it even mean? Like, you don’t really have it, but we’re gonna give it to you ‘cause we won’t leave us.[00:17:05] But I[00:17:05] Malcolm Collins: also love the pride they have in how many they have.[00:17:08] Simone Collins: Oh, yeah. You know, like- All the dots. All the dots. Yeah ...[00:17:10] Malcolm Collins: it can’t just be one, and you’ve gotta affirm them and be, “I have depression. Yay.” Yeah. You know? Like, what the... Nobody wants depression. Yeah. That’s not like a... I guess- Yeah ... sort of like, “Oh, my life is extra hard.”[00:17:24] And what’s really funny about all of this-[00:17:26] Simone Collins: Mm-hmm ...[00:17:27] Malcolm Collins: if you do one of these, you come out and it’s just a blank card. You’re[00:17:30] Simone Collins: like, “Is this cheating?” Actually, no, no, no. So, so, Malcolm, yes. There’s this one... So yeah, ‘cause parents are hosting these for their young kids, even for, like, just ADHD. Like, I found a video where one mother has her son cut a cake, and he has ADHD.[00:17:41] Like, dude, no, sorry, that’s called being a boy in our modern age. I, I-[00:17:46] Malcolm Collins: Yeah ...[00:17:46] Simone Collins: I challenge you to find a single male child in a, in an elementary school now who doesn’t have ADHD. Like, for real. Oof. I think-[00:17:54] Malcolm Collins: No, I am... And, and just for people coming at this, and they’re like, “Oh, you guys are being so mean as neurotypical people,” like, in terms of diagnoses, I’m like a collect the whole set, right?[00:18:05] Like-[00:18:06] Simone Collins: Yeah ...[00:18:06] Speaker 5: The whole set[00:18:08] Malcolm Collins: they just don’t affect me. You don’t hear about them on the show because they are not relevant- Yeah, well, ‘cause, you know- ... to my[00:18:15] Simone Collins: day-to-day life or identity ... everyone just has slightly different different abilities, you know? Like, it’s just, you know, hey, that’s that’s, that’s Peter. Yeah. Oh, hold on.[00:18:21] He’s like that, you know? That’s,[00:18:22] Malcolm Collins: that’s Jenny I’ll go through everything I’ve e- I’ve ever been diagnosed with. So let’s, let’s go through everything,[00:18:26] Simone Collins: Oh, are we gonna put... Oh my God, no. We should have a little-[00:18:30] Malcolm Collins: Oh, dude,[00:18:30] Simone Collins: we all- ... disability reveal party for you. I- Okay, I’m gonna guess-[00:18:34] Malcolm Collins: Okay. You, g- you know them all.[00:18:36] Simone Collins: I know, I know ...[00:18:36] Malcolm Collins: so, ADD, ADHD bipolar what’s the one where you s- read things backwards?[00:18:43] Simone Collins: Dysgraphia? Oh, no, dyslexia.[00:18:45] Malcolm Collins: Dyslexia. I reveal dysgraphia. Dysgraphia. And I, I, I think those are all the main ones that, that I’m... But like[00:18:54] Simone Collins: I don’t- But you don’t actually have bipolar. Your mom just didn’t like the way you reacted to things when you were a kid, so she like-[00:18:58] Malcolm Collins: Yeah, no, she’s just like spa- y- I’m not gonna spank his butt, I’m gonna spank his brain for- Do, do...[00:19:04] I don’t think I had ADD either. I, I actually have a great attention span. I’m a very focused person. Yeah,[00:19:07] Simone Collins: you actually really do. Yeah.[00:19:08] Malcolm Collins: So I, I... But I liked having that because it allowed me to get amphetamines as a child- Yeah ... which are very- Yeah ... useful for test taking. Yeah. I’m gonna be honest.[00:19:17] They, they do help me focus even more for studying and testing.[00:19:21] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:19:21] Malcolm Collins: That’s true. Which[00:19:22] Simone Collins: is[00:19:22] Malcolm Collins: extremely useful. But I haven’t taken one- Yeah ... in a decade at least.[00:19:27] Simone Collins: Yeah, ‘cause you don’t have anyone who will prescribe it for you now. ‘Cause like you don’t actually have a real diagnosis[00:19:33] Malcolm Collins: for it. No, I’ve got all the old ones.[00:19:35] Simone Collins: You still... Yeah, I doubt they still work.[00:19:37] Malcolm Collins: Oh, they would still work.[00:19:39] Simone Collins: You, you have them somewhere?[00:19:40] Malcolm Collins: Yeah, I’ve taken old, old ones of those pills from like decades ago, and they still work. Oh, my God.[00:19:44] Simone Collins: Hmm. That’s unusual.[00:19:45] Malcolm Collins: I ex- by, by the way, my, my, my amphetamine of choice in that category is Ritalin because I, I would strongly push people away from taking...[00:19:53] what’s the other one that a lot of people took?[00:19:54] Simone Collins: Adderall. Oh. Adderall.[00:19:56] Malcolm Collins: Yeah. Adderall is just Ritalin cut with stuff that makes it more addictive [00:20:00] and fun. Which, which, which- No,[00:20:01] Simone Collins: no, no. The... Malcolm, you’re, you’re behind the times. It’s all about Vyvanse these days.[00:20:05] Malcolm Collins: The re- Vyvanse.[00:20:05] Simone Collins: Everyone’s on Vyvan- Vyvanse[00:20:06] Malcolm Collins: the reason why I liked Ritalin so much is it wasn’t c- it, like, just felt bad to take.[00:20:11] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:20:11] So yeah- Well, that’s... Yeah, then you found Naltrexone and you re- you just love taking things that make you feel horrible.[00:20:15] Malcolm Collins: The, the, the, the... The drugs that, like, I get super into are always the ones that I know I feel worse when I’m on-[00:20:22] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:20:23] Malcolm Collins: Yeah ... so that I don’t ever feel a temptation. Like, if I ever take something and I’m like, “Oh, I kinda like that,” I, I would never touch it again. I’d be like-[00:20:30] Simone Collins: Yeah ... “[00:20:30] Malcolm Collins: No, no.” I, I’ve already got alcohol. You- we already got one thing. We don’t need anything else, okay? I got, I got enough things to deal with over here.[00:20:38] Simone Collins: Yeah, you’re a taken man. Yeah.[00:20:39] Malcolm Collins: But the, the point being, although I will say out of all of those that I have, the one that actually, like, is hugely affected in my daily life is dysgraphia. Like I recently- ... had to write something at a doctor, and they were like can... Do, do you want me to write for you?”[00:20:51] Like- Oh, they offered to write for you? Yeah. Basically it means I can’t, I can’t hand write.[00:20:54] Simone Collins: Yeah, when,[00:21:00] when he does it looks like a kindergartner, first-grader handwriting things.[00:21:04] Malcolm Collins: And it’s ex- Just really, really slow[00:21:07] Simone Collins: Yeah. It’s really sweet.[00:21:09] Malcolm Collins: But now- This is why we have keywords ... my beautiful legacy was AI. This is the thing, when people wanna attack me for, like, my artistic skills or AI or whatever, and it’s like, “Bro, I have a disability.”[00:21:18] I us-[00:21:18] Simone Collins: Bro, I’m disabled. Yeah.[00:21:20] Malcolm Collins: I use AI to overcome my disability with writing things pretty.[00:21:26] Simone Collins: Yeah. Yeah, I, I can definitely, Of all those things that y- your mom, like, slapped on you when you were a kid, dysgraphia, that one, that one be real. That one be super real. Anyway, though, there was one, Dad-[00:21:38] Malcolm Collins: Oh, face blindness.[00:21:39] I forgot about that.[00:21:39] Simone Collins: Oh my God, right. Yes. No,[00:21:41] Malcolm Collins: he’s serious. And Tourette’s. I forgot about that one, too.[00:21:43] Simone Collins: Oh my gosh, yes, the Tourette’s. No, the Tourette’s is real, but it’s a weird f- form of it. It’s super weird. And then the, the face blindness.[00:21:53] Malcolm Collins: Like, it makes conferences so awkward My, my, my[00:21:54] Simone Collins: brain[00:21:55] Malcolm Collins: did not cook right.[00:21:57] There, there-[00:21:57] Simone Collins: Well, what, your mom was drinking, like, how much?[00:21:59] Malcolm Collins: A ton. My mom said she drank, I think it was at least a b- a bottle of wine a day.[00:22:04] Simone Collins: A bottle a day. So- Bottle of a day keeps the blues away.[00:22:08] Malcolm Collins: I, I don’t have fetal alcohol syndrome- I think- ... because you can see that on the face.[00:22:11] Simone Collins: Yeah, yeah[00:22:12] Malcolm Collins: so it’s, it’s, Well, also, if I had fetal alcohol syndrome, I doubt I would have gotten top grades at St. Andrew’s and Stanford Business School.[00:22:19] Simone Collins: You don’t know how top your grades could’ve been, Malcolm. I mean- Yeah,[00:22:23] Malcolm Collins: how, how nerfed am I, right? You know? Let’s meet our kid.[00:22:27] Simone Collins: They end up- You have not seen your final form.[00:22:29] It’s so true, but yeah, you don’t have that face, and so, yeah. I mean, my mom drank too ‘cause she didn’t know she was pregnant until she had her second trimester. Well, I mean- Like, we’re all fine, guys.[00:22:38] Malcolm Collins: It’s fine ... my, my family just drinks an astonishing amount. Like- Yeah,[00:22:41] Simone Collins: that’s the thing, is, is I think that certain, certain people are just born to be pickled, and we’re, that’s some- That’s us.[00:22:47] Anyway, though, back, back to, back to these amazing TikToks that I found. I found one, to your point, where this dad hosted a party for his kid and d- and he filmed it for TikTok, did the whole thing, asked each family member to say, like, what they thought the son had. And then they cut the cake open, and he doesn’t have anything.[00:23:21] It’s negative. And his dad’s just so pleased with himself. I feel like that was a really good, like, push back against the trend of like, “No, you idiot.” Like, “Stop. This is really stupid. You’re fine.” Oh,[00:23:33] Malcolm Collins: and I will also say more than all the others, the one that always gets me is when people have something as minor as dyslexia, and they act like it’s some major downside in their life.[00:23:42] Simone Collins: Oh, yeah.[00:23:42] Yeah ...[00:23:43] Malcolm Collins: like, dyslexia is irrelevant. I, I would say I have pretty severe dyslexia, and it just, in terms of, like, other things you can have it just doesn’t come close to impacting my daily life. The, the other[00:23:54] Simone Collins: one- I mean, also, I think maybe why it becomes so salient for people, ‘cause I’m s- I’m experiencing this with one of our [00:24:00] dyslexic kids, is it just makes re- learning to read such a drag for them because-[00:24:06] Malcolm Collins: Yeah[00:24:07] Simone Collins: they’re, like- I re- I, I’m, I’m asking him to, like, read off, like, “Well, okay, let’s sound out the word together.” And then, like, the letters come out, you know, ‘cause I’m like, “Well, just tell me the letters in the word,” ‘cause I’m, like, cleaning something sh- always. And you know, he’s telling me, you know, “Well, what’s this word?”[00:24:21] And, you know, then I go, and it’s, like, jumbled up letters, and I’m like, “What are you looking at?” Then I look at the letter, and it’s, you know, it’s like, you know, stroller or something. But he’s, it’s, you know, it’s like S-T-R-O you know,[00:24:33] Malcolm Collins: E-R-L-L No, but one of the ones that would affect you very severely, and this is the thing.[00:24:38] I never hear people talk about the ones that actually have a big negative effect in your life. Mm-hmm. Like dysgraphia, I’ve never heard anyone else complain about dysgraphia. I’ve never heard anyone identify as dysgraphic. I’ve never[00:24:47] Simone Collins: heard- Except for like every doctor ever. It’s the... I don’t know.[00:24:50] There’s some mystery with[00:24:51] Malcolm Collins: that. The, the, the other one is well, no, for doctors it’s just a style because they write quickly. It’s not like, I’ve never heard a doctor complain about dysgraphia.[00:24:58] And then the, the one that actually does affect you, dysgraphia is one that actually does affect you, and face blindness. I never hear anyone complain about face blindness as being a major thing.[00:25:06] It has such a big effect on my daily[00:25:08] Simone Collins: life. People make a lot of like comics about it. I think people just think it’s funny when like their friend like just never recognizes them.[00:25:15] Malcolm Collins: Yeah, like, recently like we were on a one of my classmate’s shows and they were like, “Oh, somebody at school dressed up as you,” and somebody said, “Oh, was it this one kid?”[00:25:23] And I go, “Oh, no, no, he wasn’t Black. I’d remember that.” And they thought that that was me being racist, and it’s like, no, actually I can, I can tell people’s ethnicities apart, I just can’t tell them apart within an ethnic group.[00:25:34] Simone Collins: Yeah, like imagine like a Barbie or Ken doll, but just with no face on it so you can like work out the shape of them, maybe their outfit.[00:25:42] Malcolm Collins: Yeah, like a lot of people don’t really get face blindness. It’s not that I can’t remember people and personalities. If somebody at school has a Mohawk, I’ll always remember Mohawk guy.[00:25:49] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:25:49] Malcolm Collins: Or if they always dress the same way- Mm-hmm ... or if they have some unique feature. Oh[00:25:53] Simone Collins: my God, do you think this is why, ‘cause I have mild face blindness, do you think this is why we find uniforms so appealing and we’re like, “This[00:26:00] Malcolm Collins: is-” Well, it’s one of the reasons why I started wearing a uniform, yeah.[00:26:03] Simone Collins: Yeah. ‘Cause then we were like, “I feel this for other people. Can we just like-[00:26:13] Yeah, why[00:26:14] Malcolm Collins: the heck is everyone out there like a psycho changing their clothing every day, right? Like- Yeah, man ... have one outfit, man. You don’t need- That’s so hard ... more than one outfit.[00:26:17] Simone Collins: Yeah. For real.[00:26:19] Malcolm Collins: My clothing, like, literally only changes with how hot the house is.[00:26:22] Simone Collins: Yeah ...[00:26:23] Malcolm Collins: which you’ll see[00:26:24] Simone Collins: on the show It’s not even that sometimes.[00:26:25] Malcolm Collins: It’ll start going back to me wearing my medieval outfit again once it gets... But it’s just too hot. I can’t. I know,[00:26:29] Simone Collins: it’s too hot. It’s too damn hot. Yeah, I get it.[00:26:31] Malcolm Collins: It’s also why on the Leaflet streams, people actually might have a question over this, why do I take off my glasses on the Leaflet streams?[00:26:37] Mm-hmm. It’s because my face gets too sweaty if I talk for, like, 10 hours in the glasses.[00:26:42] Simone Collins: Oh, God. 10 hours. ‘Cause they’re just...[00:26:45] Malcolm Collins: People do not know how long 10 hours of speech is.[00:26:48] Simone Collins: Yeah. No, 10-hour stand-up routine, mad respect for streamers who go long. Anyway, though, back to these, these disability reveal parties.[00:26:56] They can be extremely sad. Like, one thing that’s really apparent across these TikTok videos is the extent to which those who are having these parties- Both really, really, really want attention and adulation, but are also, like, full of self-hatred. And not in, like, an affirming way, like, “I love myself for this.”[00:27:17] So this one woman hosted a disability reveal party for her friends where she announced her autism and ADHD, and said she’s getting tested for OCD next, adding, “My brain is bad and I’m really sad a- about it, to be honest. So if you wanna give me a hug I’d really appreciate it.” And I don’t know what to think about it.[00:27:36] Speaker 11: Yay![00:27:43] My brain is bad and[00:27:52] Speaker 10: I’m really sad about it, to be honest. So if you wanna come hug me, I’d really appreciate it. I’m so grateful that I had so many friends to come out and support me last night. Um, being neurodivergent can be incredibly [00:28:00] frustrating and incredibly lonely, and I’m very blessed to have so many people in my life who love me so much and who are happy to support me while I navigate this new diagnosis.[00:28:10] If you are also AuDHD and you have any suggestions on books to read or resources to look into while I get to know my brain a little bit better, I would really appreciate it, and I love you, too. Be gay, do crime.[00:28:24] Simone Collins: It’s just, like, my brain is bad? Like, that’s- My[00:28:26] Malcolm Collins: brain is bad? What, w- autism is this one that she-[00:28:29] Simone Collins: Yeah, she says she has autism and ADHD, and then she’s getting tested for OCD. And my brain is bad? Like, dude, no, your brain is different. Just deal with it. Like, it’s...[00:28:41] Malcolm Collins: These people want excuses for themselves so hard, right?[00:28:45] Like-[00:28:46] Simone Collins: Yeah ...[00:28:46] Malcolm Collins: i, I, you and I have been very successful, both of us in, in our academic lives and in our professional lives despite all of this, and it just, like, doesn’t come up. Your autism is just, like, not, like, there, we, we find ways to work around it.[00:29:00] Simone Collins: Yeah. Okay, don’t don’t watch this yet. I just sent you my brain is bad video, just in case you wanted to watch it later.[00:29:06] But the, I do want you to watch the one I just I, I just sent you most recently. Don’t watch it yet, because, okay, so, like, this, I think, is my favorite one of all of them. And, and this is where I just get kind of confused by some of them because there’s this, it’s unhinged. This, it, I think it’s supposed to be funny, ‘cause, like, the people participating- So the poster’s friends make guesses in this video about her disability that are jokes.[00:29:30] You know, they’re like, “You know, I’m so-and-so’s daughter,” and it’s, like, a grown man. Like, you know, they’re joking about who they are.[00:29:37] Malcolm Collins: Yeah ...[00:29:37] Simone Collins: but then their, like, guesses about her are, like, that she has BPD, fetal alcohol syndrome, schizophrenia. One woman says, “A festering hemorrhoid that has made her way to the endocrine system, her nervous system, and it has given her fierce anxiety.”[00:29:52] And then at the end when she reveals her disability, which is just ADHD, they all end up start cheering. Like, they were like, “Adderall. Adderall.” And I don’t know. I kinda, I kinda like her. Like, I kinda dig it, but at the same time, her friends being like, “Yeah, girl, you got fetal alcohol syndrome.” You-[00:30:09] Malcolm Collins: No, what’s funny in these is that the friends seem to be taking sort of digs at their friend throughout these.[00:30:15] Simone Collins: Yes. I don’t know.[00:30:17] Malcolm Collins: Why[00:30:17] Simone Collins: are[00:30:17] Malcolm Collins: they friends? These are not friend, friend groups that really like each other that much. That- Well,[00:30:20] Simone Collins: and also, like, why are you friends with this person? Like, they sound unhinged and toxic and... Anyway, n- like, see what these people are saying. It, like, it’s said with love and, like, joking, but I, I don’t know what to make of it, so watch it[00:30:37] Speaker 7: I’m her pawpaw, and I think that she has BPD. I’m her secret lesbian lover, and I think she’s got the gay sickness. Oh. I’m her Nini, and I think she got multiple personality disorder. Oh. I’m the auntie, and I think we’ve got a touch of the ‘tism. Hi. I’m her bubba, and I think she has a little bit of schizophrenia.[00:31:00] Speaker 8: I’m Sophia’s small group leader, and I think she has fetal alcohol syndrome. Oh. I’m her conversion therapist, and I think she needs to get right. I’m her ma, and I think she got don’t make me drink alone disorder. I’m your daughter, and I think you might be a drinking problem. I’m her cheetah, and I think she has schizophrenia.[00:31:23] Ah. I am Soph’s sister, auntie, niece, cousin, and I believe that she has a festering hemorrhoid that has made her way to the endocrine system, the nervous system, and it has given her fierce anxiety.[00:31:47] Speaker 7: Is it a boy or girl? What is it? Wondering. It’s ADHD. [00:32:00] Hey.[00:32:09] Malcolm Collins: Okay, what I love is the one guy who’s clearly just being honest and- ... and says it very differently from everyone else. He’s like, “She has a drinking problem.” You know, e- everyone else is, like, giving their cutesy little answers. Yeah. I think she needs conversion therapy. This guy’s like, like, “I could tell from some of the other answers she probably does actually have alcoholism.”[00:32:30] Yeah. ... and it’s like, I hope... No, I would love to do one of these. Switch out their cake for the, for the alcoholism one. And you know, turn it into, like, an intervention.[00:32:41] Simone Collins: An intervention? Oh my God.[00:32:45] Malcolm Collins: Be like, “You have alcoholism. Woo-hoo.”[00:32:47] Simone Collins: Yeah, this is like the one where I’m like, this is a fun party. Like, that in contrast to the, like, my, my, my brain is bad where, like, her friends are just, like, sitting there looking uncomfortable with the Costco hot dogs she bought them.[00:33:01] This, this looked like it’s a fun party. Look, at least people, you know, before they go sober, like, can be pretty fun, so it’s okay. But I again, I could watch these forever. But here’s a dark side of disability reveal parties. So obviously not everyone’s super thrilled about these. There’s one poster on r/autism on, on Reddit who wrote, and I’m just gonna read part of what they said, but they said, “I’m not sure if this is the right place to put this, but I was looking for thoughts.[00:33:30] So my psychiatrist has me diagnosed with autism, but I already had an evaluation scheduled and she recommend doing that as well, so I’m hesitant to say that I have autism-” “... but I would be surprised if I didn’t at this point.” So first off, this is someone who, like, is very cautious about being diagnosed.[00:33:46] They’re not, like, internet diagnosed. Like, they already have one person[00:33:49] Malcolm Collins: who, like, confirmed it. Yeah, he’s what, what do they call this in the trans community? A true scum.[00:33:52] Simone Collins: A true scum. So anyway, they continue, “My evaluation is on Tuesday. I was thinking to my sister,” or, “I was talking to my sister today and she shared that she saw a TikTok where someone did an evaluation, and then their friend got the results and did, like, an autism reveal party.[00:34:07] Like a gender reveal thing where if they cut into the cake and it’s colorful, then they have autism. She said she thought it could be nice to do that and celebrate it. I don’t like this. I told her. I didn’t know if it was something worth celebrating because of how much it affects me.” “She seemed disappointed and said it could be.[00:34:25] I said I would know already.” And she said that we could set it up where sh- she found out first to make it happen. I don’t get it, and I’m not sure if I’m weird or wrong about this, but it makes me really uncomfortable. This is a thing that, assuming I do have it, has greatly affected me in negative ways my whole life.[00:34:44] It’s something I’m struggling with and has caused issues even between her and me. I don’t like surprises. I hate having to mask and react as expected to everything while I’m under pressure. This is a very personal thing for me, and I’m struggling with how I, to feel about it to begin with. I also want to get this information first and not have my family know before me.[00:35:02] Like, diagnosis is about me. I want to go to my appointment where I get my results and be able to talk about it, not have my sister go instead or something. I don’t know how that would work anyway. I don’t know if I’m reaching or thinking about this wrong. Like, maybe I should do what she wants to make her happy, but I hate this idea.[00:35:19] It feels really insensitive.” And then I cut it short. And basically everyone in that thread is like, “No, your sister’s psychotic. Don’t do this.” Like, this sounds horrible. And if you think about it- No, what’s[00:35:29] Malcolm Collins: funny is both of these people have psychologically, like, terrible ways of thinking about this.[00:35:34] Simone Collins: Yes.[00:35:35] Malcolm Collins: This person who’s, like, all whiny about it, like, “Oh, it’s been my struggle my entire life.” Yeah. And the sister who’s like, “Make it your new thing, hun.”[00:35:43] Simone Collins: Yeah. But it, also, if you are autistic Do you like parties? Like, pr- probably not. Like, do you wanna be surrounded by yelling people who are all paying attention to you?[00:35:56] Like, probably not. You know? The, it’s, it’s sensory [00:36:00] overload. Like, it’s not fun. You’re masking to try to make everyone happy at the party. Like, it’s super freakin’ stressful, so... especially for autism. I mean, like, I could get there b- I, I like your idea of an alcoholism reveal party. That sounds super fun.[00:36:14] Like, the last hurrah. But yeah, this, this is horrible. The other issue that[00:36:20] Malcolm Collins: I relate- This is... I mean, just the way our society, and this is one of the, the things that I hope people take away the most from this podcast, is- Mm-hmm ... you’re, if you have any sort of, like, mental disability or anything like that, like, it is deeply psychologically harmful to take it in either of these directions.[00:36:35] Simone Collins: Yes.[00:36:36] Malcolm Collins: Right? Yeah. Like, it’s, it’s z- like, any mental disability you have should be no different from, to you than, like, your skin color, right? Mm-hmm. Like, it’s, it’s just a thing. It’s, it’s a, it’s a part of who you are, it’s a part of how you think, it’s a part of how you relate to reality but it, it doesn’t matter other than that.[00:36:53] And this i- this is how I mean, a lot of people relate to this stuff. You know, a lot of you know, you know, blind people or, or, or people who are bound to a wheelchair, or people who are whatever, the ones who are, like, psychologically healthily relating to it are just like, “It’s, like, whatever. It’s just part of who I am.”[00:37:06] It’s like, you know, in the same way that you’re, you’re white or you’re X tall or you’re whatever and I just make it work, right? Mm-hmm. Like, because you don’t have a choice but to just make it work, you know?[00:37:15] Simone Collins: Yeah, you’re dealt a hand. And you’re also dealt a hand in terms of, you know, your religious background, your ethnic background, the geography into which you’re born, the time into which you’re born, your parents, how cool or horrible they are, your siblings, how much money your family has the education you’ve acce- like, there’s all these things that you can’t...[00:37:34] You just have to, like, look at your hand and do the best you can with it. Y- and you don’t get to choose. And especially I realize with, you know, autism as we’ve, like, raised our kids and things like d- s- dyslexia and ADHD, you can’t... This is super genetic. Like, you, you really can’t. Y- you d- this isn’t your fault.[00:37:53] This is something that you inherited in, in your genes. It just, that’s how it[00:37:58] Malcolm Collins: is. But again, I think the things that you inherit just are not really meaningfully, because you don’t y- you don’t choose them. Mm-hmm. Something that you don’t choose is, like, the least meaningful part of who you are.[00:38:07] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:38:08] Malcolm Collins: Right?[00:38:08] Simone Collins: But how you choose to deal with it is meaningful, and to deal with it as like, “Well, this means I don’t have to do anything in my entire life ‘cause I’m disabled” is the complete worst thing you could possibly do.[00:38:19] Speaker 5: Hello? Hello. You are right now. Um, do you need help? I’m disabled.[00:38:44] Malcolm Collins: Oh my God, could we get disability money?[00:38:46] Simone Collins: What do you mean? Why? Because you’re full of all the disabilities?[00:38:49] Well, don’t[00:38:49] Malcolm Collins: they, like, give disabled people money or[00:38:51] Simone Collins: something? So actually yes. No, not really. So, mm, interest-free investment is basically the best option we have. Because I am, for example, actually diagnosed with autism which it can be, like, I guess legally construed as a d- d- disa- sorry, debilitating mental illness and, ‘cause I can’t open doors.[00:39:10] I have a, a PA ABLE account, and our autistic kids who are diagnosed do as well, which means only the kids who are diagnosed. And that is an account that is meant for disabled people as like sort of a, a, a life support and saving account that like with retirement accounts, the, the interest on it isn’t taxed.[00:39:27] So it can, you know, it’s, it’s like a tax advantaged savings account basically.[00:39:31] Malcolm Collins: That y- that, and it can only be spent on certain things or it can be spent on anything?[00:39:34] Simone Collins: It can only be sp- yeah, it has to be spent on, on... But it can, you, you can spend it on, like, housing. So, like, you could spend it on, like, your property taxes or your rent.[00:39:41] Malcolm Collins: Functionally anything.[00:39:43] Simone Collins: Yeah, like food. Yeah, like the stuff that you need-[00:39:44] Malcolm Collins: Wait, that’s crazy. Autistic people get to invest without paying taxes?[00:39:47] Simone Collins: Well, no, no, no. So there’s a limit. I think you can only put in $20,000 a year. So you can ma- you can try to max out that account every year. I’ve maxed out what we can put in for our kids.[00:39:57] The, the, the, the two that are actually diagnosed. [00:40:00] And so there are advantages like that 100%, and that’s I think why a lot of people get these diagnoses. But I think a lot of them just[00:40:06] Malcolm Collins: get- That’s a f*****g wild loophole. That is a wild loophole.[00:40:10] Simone Collins: Yeah. You wanna get diagnosed with something, you go ahead, Malcolm.[00:40:16] I you, you don’t have- I’ve never,[00:40:18] Malcolm Collins: I’ve never been[00:40:19] Simone Collins: tested for, for- Don’t have a touch of the ‘tism. You don’t. Yeah ... autism. We, we’ll have to figure something else out for you. We’ll figure out what qualifies you for tax advantaged ABLE accounts. God. Okay. But, but the other issue is that, of course, this, this makes a disability aspirational to those who do not have disabilities.[00:40:39] And there’s this one Redditor in autism in women who posted about her autism reveal party saying, “Hi, officially diagnosed yesterday at 26 years old. I hosted an autism reveal party, and though the community... and thought the community would appreciate it. My friends dressed up as my special interests and, and I served all of my favorite foods.[00:40:59] I made everyone cupcakes and told them it was vanilla. Neurotypical, funfetti. Neurospicy. My name’s Amanda, and for the first time, I have autism. Heart emoji, cupcake emoji.” And then she posted photos of her eating her autism cupcakes on her granite kitchen counter and her autism infinity symbol themed charcuterie board.[00:41:23] And her, her sweatshirt is embroidered with the word overestimated. I’m, I’m not sure what she’s signaling with that, but I don’t know. But so the top voted comment on her post is, “Oh my God, this is absolutely precious. I would give anything for a diagnosis. It would be so validating. Congratulations, I am truly happy for you.”[00:41:44] It sounds like- I would give[00:41:45] Malcolm Collins: anything for a diag- These people.[00:41:47] Simone Collins: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and that’s, that’s what makes me like, oh.[00:41:52] Malcolm Collins: You are who you are,[00:41:53] Simone Collins: whether or not you have a diagnosis. Yeah, like the diag- well, but I mean, at the same time, I just told you how, like, a diagnosis can give you tax advantaged accounts and[00:42:00] Malcolm Collins: True, yeah.[00:42:02] Simone Collins: I don’t, I don’t know, man. But, like, to have a party about it. I, I, yeah, I guess if someone’s like, “Gosh, I mean, I, I max out my Roth IRA every year, and I max out my HSA account, and I have, I still have excess money I wanna save. If only I had a PA ABLE account or, like, an ABLE account, then I could save even more with tax advantaged benefits, but whatever.[00:42:28] It’s weird. I’m delighted by the fact that there’s a huge party format that I didn’t know about that I can now watch videos about. And yes, this is my tubes, along with Kele Hammer’s show, which I freaking love.[00:42:40] Malcolm Collins: This is your tubes. Mm-hmm. I love it. I love that the, we’re, we’re, we’re watching the tubes.[00:42:45] We’re watching their brains get mauled. It is freaking hilarious. It is fantastic. It is so joyous. You know, so many people think that like... This reminds me of like what I loved to do back in the day when I, you know, could have fun on the internet and, and Reddit’s like this. And this sort of feels like that to me, like when I[00:43:03] Simone Collins: worked at- Do you, you don’t have fun on the internet watching your MAWAs vibe coding?[00:43:08] Malcolm Collins: Well, yeah, I, I like my MA- I, my, I like my WAs. I, I, I like vibe coding. But you know, there’s no like fat hate or Tumblr in action anymore, right? Like, you’d go to Tumblr in action and you’d find out some new way that progressives are being crazy. And I loved this like even back when I considered myself a Democrat, right?[00:43:24] Like I was- I know,[00:43:26] Simone Collins: I[00:43:26] Malcolm Collins: know ... I was like proto. I was an egg for becoming a far right chud or whatever. I[00:43:31] Simone Collins: know. I[00:43:32] Malcolm Collins: know. Then I was laughing at people who were too fat to get their fMRI and they had to go to the zoo, and somebody found that. And they posted that in a Yahoo News article about me. That my account had laughed at people on Fatkin Blade.[00:43:43] Simone Collins: And when I read that out of the blue, ‘cause I didn’t know that you post. I don’t know what you post on a Reddit,[00:43:48] Malcolm Collins: you know? Like- I don’t know how they found it. I don’t know. I mean, they must have gone deep, but yeah, I mean-[00:43:51] Simone Collins: Well, when I read that I laughed out loud ‘[00:43:56] Malcolm Collins: cause it was so funny. I had no idea you posted that.[00:43:56] But these sites were so good at tracking these random losers [00:44:00] online. Like, Reagan Christian, the fat, fat healthy activist, right? Like, that being, being fat and she was a hate activist. Hate Healthy As Healthy,[00:44:08] Simone Collins: yeah.[00:44:08] Malcolm Collins: And she was so fun to follow ‘cause it’s not like she had like a big following or something, but she just repeatedly would say she was going to do things like marathons, and then very blatantly cheat in the marathon.[00:44:21] Like it was very obvious given like the way the timestamps, because they’d like do investigations.[00:44:25] Simone Collins: Oh, no. That[00:44:26] Malcolm Collins: she had gotten in a car and driven most of the marathon. Oh dear. Oh[00:44:29] Simone Collins: dear. Oh dear ... just[00:44:30] Malcolm Collins: like over, and o- or, or she wouldn’t show up if there was like monitoring that day. Or she’d, you know, randomly...[00:44:36] And it was always just deflection about the state of things, right? And I don’t know, I don’t know what happened. And so many of the people we used to follow died in, in fat community. Yeah,[00:44:46] Simone Collins: a lot died, and then a lot stopped posting because they discovered peptides. So-[00:44:54] Malcolm Collins: Yeah, that really, peptides really fucked up the Hays community, right?[00:44:58] ‘Cause all the influencers with the money started to be like, “Well-” Yeah,[00:45:01] Simone Collins: as soon as there was a cure for fat, we, “[00:45:03] Malcolm Collins: Now that I can lose weight and, and without self-control, yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t wanna die young.” But yeah, very f****n’ th- that, that just used to be like a thing on the internet.[00:45:19] Looking at the glass of like, the cr- I enjoyed the craziness of Tumblr. In fact, I still... Like, Strange Aeons is basically a channel that goes through old crazy stuff that happened on Tumblr. Oh[00:45:28] Simone Collins: my gosh, yeah.[00:45:29] Malcolm Collins: A fantastic channel by the way, if you like those sorts of stories. She’s so much fun. But she still considers herself, like, part of that community.[00:45:35] She hasn’t like-[00:45:36] Simone Collins: Yeah ...[00:45:36] Malcolm Collins: had, had the reflection of like, “Wait. Is the toxicity of this community, did it go all the way to my life? Like, did I never emerge from the muck? Like, am, am I-”[00:45:47] Simone Collins: She seems to be doing well, you know? She has a, a committed partner. They have their- Yeah ... gremlin cats. What do they call them?[00:45:54] Malcolm Collins: Whatever. She, she, she’s, she’s got her... She’s in a committed gay relationship with a bunch of cats[00:46:00] Speaker 22: She’ll become a crazy cat lady.[00:46:02] Speaker 23: She only has one cat.[00:46:04] Speaker 22: Give her time.[00:46:06] Malcolm Collins: which is, you know- Livin’ the[00:46:07] Simone Collins: life, man ...[00:46:07] Malcolm Collins: about as- With your[00:46:08] Simone Collins: cozy[00:46:08] Malcolm Collins: ass cheeks and her- ... reasonably healthy as you can get in that, in that world, right?[00:46:11] Simone Collins: Yeah. No, it’s good.[00:46:11] I’m happy. I’m ha- I’m very happy for them.[00:46:13] No,[00:46:14] Malcolm Collins: she, she- I love them. They’re so great ... she’s also a very good creator. I think she’s, She’s[00:46:16] Simone Collins: a fantastic creator ...[00:46:17] Malcolm Collins: her, her videos are well done in terms of pacing- Mm-hmm ... delivery- Mm-hmm ... interjections. She do- she talks at the right speed so it doesn’t feel like she’s wasting my time. Yeah. She doesn’t fill up with like random nonsense that’s unimportant.[00:46:30] And she’s[00:46:30] Simone Collins: a fun person. Like, her personality, like even if she was talking about something super boring she’d still be fun to listen to. And then she just finds the weirdest stuff, like the guy in the bathroom re- remodeling.[00:46:41] Malcolm Collins: Oh, I, I found- F*****g weird ... those recent ones less interesting. I like her older, like the rabiosexual one.[00:46:45] I[00:46:45] Simone Collins: could listen to her talking about paint drying, okay? It’s fine.[00:46:49] Malcolm Collins: L- go search the one on the rabiosexual phenomenon on Tumblr where people thought- No,[00:46:52] Simone Collins: I’ve, I’ve watched all of her videos. I’m well versed ...[00:46:54] Malcolm Collins: rabies was a sexuality. Yeah. And you had to... Just feeling a little, And people had to explain to them that it’s like the most horrible way to die.[00:47:03] Do not go out and bug catch rabies. You know, people with AIDS are like, “Bro, like AIDS is bad, but like rabies?”[00:47:11] Simone Collins: That’s so good.[00:47:11] Malcolm Collins: You’re gonna go out in the woods and get bit by a raccoon?[00:47:16] Simone Collins: So good. So good. So good.[00:47:17] Malcolm Collins: I, I don’t... I love, I love the tubes. I just love it, and I love the tubes- The tubes. The tubes ... when they just completely die like idiots.[00:47:25] And, and, and not passing on your genes is fundamentally dying, so like that’s what we’re watching here, right? Oh[00:47:30] Simone Collins: my God.[00:47:31] Malcolm Collins: These people- We are watching the[00:47:31] Simone Collins: tubes ...[00:47:32] Malcolm Collins: th- these are, these are the Darwinistic tubes. This is, this is the Darwin Awards of the tubes. The when we, when we see Anita Sarkeesian get married to herself, that’s the tubes.[00:47:43] We’re watching, we’re like, “Wow, that one was a real psycho. Watching that go down.”[00:47:48] Simone Collins: Oh, God. Well, and now that AI video hits super different.[00:47:52] Malcolm Collins: I, you know, well, a- actually I, with the tubes, I feel like The Hunger Games. I’m the guy there, there’s like little places that [00:48:00] you can like attach things, like buying hornets to like release into the tube just to make it more hilarious.[00:48:06] Oh my God. Just to watch them run around.[00:48:11] Simone Collins: This is horrible. This is horrible. Oh.[00:48:14] Malcolm Collins: Well, thank you for sharing this with me. You have made my life better on two fronts, the tubes and, and people dying in the tubes.[00:48:21] Simone Collins: You’re so welcome. I’ve been looking forward to this all day. This was... The moment Sarah sent us that link I was like, “No, we have to do this.[00:48:28] We have to do this.”[00:48:30] Malcolm Collins: This is, this is fantastic. This is fantastic. And for all of you who are watching this, your disabilities do not cucking matter. I, I don’t care, I don’t care if you are a little person, I don’t care if they’re bl- if you’re blind. I don’t care if you’re just[00:48:43] Simone Collins: like a actual retard. Oh, we have, we have a blind listener.[00:48:44] Hi. Oh, I, I’m waving. Hi.[00:48:49] Malcolm Collins: We got... I love it. You, you, you’re waving at the one[00:48:53] Simone Collins: cucking blind listener. So sorry. Respect, sir. We, yeah, we’re... Shout out.[00:48:57] Malcolm Collins: Yeah ... actually now that I’m just thinking about it, AI must be such a cucking game changer for blind people.[00:49:03] Simone Collins: It is.[00:49:03] Malcolm Collins: Yeah, it’s gotta be. Because it’s gonna really change the...[00:49:06] Like if I was blind, with AI I’d just constantly be building tech to make it, like cool stuff that I wasn’t able to do before.[00:49:12] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:49:12] 100%. Yeah. But- Because AI vision is, is getting so good.[00:49:15] Malcolm Collins: I, Mm. What I was just thinking about is like, “Oh, how would I handle the YouTube UI if I was blind?” Like, how would, how would a blind person discover our podcast?[00:49:22] And then I was like, “Oh, I could build such a cool system with AI to, to automate all of that.”[00:49:26] Simone Collins: Mm.[00:49:27] Malcolm Collins: And to make that. That’s, that’s pretty... But yeah, the point being is like none of this stuff matters to who you are, right? Like, none-[00:49:32] Simone Collins: Well, it only matters in so far as you have to look at your hand to decide your next move smartly.[00:49:36] And your next move isn’t give up. So that’s it. That’s it. You know?[00:49:42] Malcolm Collins: Yeah. We, we, we had a, you know, this reporter asking, “What, what are you gonna do if this next implantation doesn’t take?” And I was like, “I’m gonna try again?” Like, what do you mean what am I gonna do? Like, that all, that’s all you can do in life.[00:49:57] Simone Collins: Yeah. No, but like genuinely people are like, “Why are... Why don’t you give up?” Why don’t, why don’t we give up?[00:50:05] Malcolm Collins: Yeah,[00:50:05] Simone Collins: I’ll[00:50:05] Malcolm Collins: give up. Let’s. Sure, that’s a very Malcolm thing to do.[00:50:08] Simone Collins: Yeah. Like, “Oh, sorry, this is hard. We’re not gonna do it anymore,” you know?[00:50:15] Malcolm Collins: Having done that with... I know, like, l- literally, that’s, like, our personality.[00:50:19] We take on something that’s, like, pointlessly hard, like the RFAB project or, like, the leaflet streams or, like, doing this podcast every day of the week and we’re just like, “No, I’m gonna f- I’m gonna f*****g make it work. I’m gonna make it work.” And that, like, doubles the chance that we do it.[00:50:32] Simone Collins: Yeah, man.[00:50:33] That’s true. That’s true. And I think that’s, that’s actually super common across the life stories of the people who listen to this podcast, too, whenever we learn more about them. It’s like, oh, these are the people who choose the hard thing. These are the people who enter the tubes for fun, ‘cause they’re like, “You know what?”[00:50:46] For[00:50:46] Malcolm Collins: fun, right?[00:50:46] Simone Collins: It’s a good deal. I know. It’s a good deal, plus it’ll be fun. No,[00:50:48] Malcolm Collins: I, I, I, I you know, go into the tubes in a way that, like, gave me a significant advantage. Like, I’d put all the money I would’ve spent on buying my way into the city to get, like, laser guns and, and, like- ... you know, arm- th- th- fr- fricking, like, m- what is it?[00:51:06] Like, tech suit armor and stuff like this, you know? And power suit, power suit armor. Go in and just, like, th- beat the sh- out of, like, bears and any other person on my path in the tube, just, like...[00:51:17] Simone Collins: Ah, yes, underrated element of the tubes. You can also just hunt humans for sport within it because-[00:51:23] Malcolm Collins: That would be so fun.[00:51:24] That’s, like, my number one thing. You’re[00:51:26] Simone Collins: right. Like, actually, the more realistic depiction of the tubes, it wouldn’t be the rich people on the outside, it’d be rich people on the inside just taking them all out, because they’re like, “Wait a second. Why am I watching this? I could be in there.”[00:51:37] Malcolm Collins: Why am I on the outside?[00:51:39] Oh, God. I should be on the inside.[00:51:40] Simone Collins: We’re not helping the perceptions of all the socialists, leftists who hate people on the right[00:51:47] Malcolm Collins: with that. Well, I, I don’t think, I don’t think this is because... I w- you know, I was on the leaflet stream and I was reading the account of, like, the rough and tumble fights that they used to have in the part of the America we’re from.[00:51:56] Yeah, the,[00:51:57] Simone Collins: the, the eye gouging,[00:51:58] Malcolm Collins: yeah. And it’s like, the moment everyone knew the fight was gonna happen, [00:52:00] apparently the entire town showed up to watch, and the one guy bit the other guy’s nose off, and the other guy tore the guy’s cheek down all the way so it’s just, like, flapping off. And I’m like, “This is what my ancestors...”[00:52:12] The people who didn’t like this stuff, they weren’t like-[00:52:15] Simone Collins: They[00:52:15] Malcolm Collins: died ... “[00:52:15] Simone Collins: Whoo![00:52:16] Malcolm Collins: You go. Get f*****g bear on, going to town on a guy.” Like, the people who were, like, grossed out by this stuff, they left the, the regions that my ancestors were in.[00:52:26] Simone Collins: Yeah, they did. They selected out.[00:52:27] Malcolm Collins: My ancestors were, like violence maxed-[00:52:31] In terms of, like, innate desires.[00:52:33] Simone Collins: Mm,[00:52:33] Malcolm Collins: yeah. So thank God I have AI, right? You know, very, very fun stuff you can do with AI if, if your, if your brain accidentally got violence maxed.[00:52:43] Simone Collins: Yeah. Yeah, I think that that’s a, maybe a separate episode. The, that they’re, it’s not about people who have violent instincts.[00:52:52] It’s about having the lack of intelligence to not act on them- Yeah ... that’s dangerous. That like, it’s actually super okay for people to have violent instincts because if you’re not an idiot, you won’t act on them and get caught. Oh[00:53:07] Malcolm Collins: yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s the same thing of being like, it’s okay to think someone is hot.[00:53:12] You don’t have to rape them.[00:53:13] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:53:14] Malcolm Collins: Right? Like-[00:53:14] Simone Collins: Exactly. Yes. Yeah, yeah. It’s having the good sense to-[00:53:17] Malcolm Collins: Actually, like fans are like weird. They’re like this happened on the Leaflet stream. So it’s like, “Do, do you have a crush on Leaflet?” Right? Like, like accusatorily. Like, it’s weird[00:53:25] Simone Collins: that I’m talking to somebody- Who doesn’t have a crush on Leaflet, though?[00:53:27] I...[00:53:27] Malcolm Collins: Yeah. Come on. Like her personality, I, I can’t see what she looks like, but her personality is objectively attractive. I mean, that’s why you’re all here too.[00:53:34] Simone Collins: Yeah.[00:53:35] Malcolm Collins: That doesn’t mean that[00:53:36] Simone Collins: I’m like- Everyone in the stream ...[00:53:36] Malcolm Collins: creping on her or something. Or like, I’m thinking about hooking... Like, the, do you not understand that like, you can have like a committed relationship to a wife and that doesn’t immediately make no one else in the world hot to you?[00:53:49] Like the other- It was[00:53:49] Simone Collins: what Mike Pence was like that, right? Or that was his thing? Yeah.[00:53:52] Malcolm Collins: He’s like, “I, I can’t go to a dinner with someone because I cannot control myself[00:53:56] Simone Collins: around a woman.” He can’t control himself. Yeah. That is,[00:53:57] Yikes ...[00:53:57] Malcolm Collins: it’s like, what, what... Guys, you can have instincts and just not listen to them, or better than even not listening to them, use them to fuel an alternate behavioral pattern.[00:54:11] Simone Collins: For real.[00:54:12] Malcolm Collins: So the, what I’d say is every time you look at something and you think that’s hot, that, remind yourself that’s your brain telling you that you should be having children. Every single arousal pathway you’ve ever sent is your brain trying to get you to go out there and have children, or exterminate your genetic competition.[00:54:30] Because that, that pathway appears to use some of the arousal stuff as well. That, that is... So don’t, don’t, you know, go, “Oh, then I’m gonna do what that pathway is telling me to do.” Go like, “Oh, but what’s the downstream effect that that pathway is telling me to do?” Right? Which is fi- go, go out and find a spouse.[00:54:47] Simone Collins: Mm-hmm[00:54:50] Malcolm Collins: Or treat your spouse better, you know, whatever. Anyway, love you.[00:54:55] Simone Collins: I love you too.[00:54:58] Can you hear the kids downstairs-[00:55:01] Malcolm Collins: What are they doing? ... losing their minds?[00:55:03] Simone Collins: They’re screaming.[00:55:04] Malcolm Collins: I mean, I hear the screaming and the occasional thud.[00:55:07] Simone Collins: Can you tell they’ve inherited a bit of you? Anyway. All right.[00:55:11] Malcolm Collins: Okay. Every night, hold on, every night when I go to bed, it’s, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, fight. Fight me. I won’t give you my iPad unless you fight me.”[00:55:22] And then at the end of the night they’re like, “Daddy, so don’t go... Before you hug me, come on, hug me.” And I go, I hug them, and they jump on me and they’re like, “I, I got him.” “Take him down.”[00:55:33] Simone Collins: The house, and I’m not exaggerating, the house literally shakes. Like, even if I have earplugs in. No, now they’ve learned- I- it’s like airplane turbulence[00:55:40] how to[00:55:40] Malcolm Collins: tell Alexa to play the Mortal Kombat t- theme song, so they do that every night.[00:55:44] Simone Collins: Yeah. Yeah. Now they’ve finally seen Mortal Kombat, so they understand the context. Cultural literacy. Cultural. Very important. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Okay. Bye. Bye. Bye bye bye. Bye bye[00:55:57] bye.[00:55:58] Malcolm Collins: And, Oh my[00:55:58] Simone Collins: God, there’s a bee in my room.[00:55:59] [00:56:00] Okay.[00:56:00] Malcolm Collins: Did you reach out to Romie about, like, doing something together[00:56:02] Simone Collins: or? Romie. I have it. I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna catch this hornet real quick.[00:56:07] Malcolm Collins: Hello. She’s just gonna[00:56:09] Simone Collins: hang out with me. Oh, she[00:56:15] makes quite the sound of[00:56:17] tinkering, tinkling on her... God, okay. Well, this is gonna be disturbing, sitting right next to a, a very angry hornet. Maybe it will make podcasting better.[00:56:28] Malcolm Collins: Did you, d- so you didn’t kill it or are you not taking it[00:56:30] Simone Collins: out? Oh, I could... You know what? I’m just gonna open... I’m so sorry. I’m gonna open a window and let her out anyway, oh, speaking of biting i- insects I got the initial answer back on the ticks that I sent in for testing thanks to Eric, and they’re American dog ticks. They’re not-[00:56:48] Malcolm Collins: The, that’s the largest form of tick.[00:56:51] Simone Collins: Oh, is it?[00:56:52] Malcolm Collins: Yeah. The, the Ameri- I, I asked in Pennsylvania, what’s the, what, what, what are what, what could a large brown tick be?[00:56:58] And the American dog tick is the largest form of tick.[00:57:01] Simone Collins: Well, the two other ticks that have provably come back on the kids that I’ve taken off and that we just sent in to sampling are those, so that probably means that’s what we have around our house, hopefully.[00:57:12] Malcolm Collins: Yeah. The the dangerous tick varieties are the lone star tick, which give, has a meat-eating disease, and deer ticks, which have Lyme disease.[00:57:20] Simone Collins: Mm-hmm. So phew. I mean, they still have two other diseases, but now I know what to look for, and they’re not, you know, I mean, they, they are pretty bad if... Anyway. The more you know. Okay, I’m gonna get started. I’m so pre- super stoked for this.[00:57:36] Malcolm Collins: Can I do the you, you haven’t, you’ve refused to tell me about this all day start?[00:57:41] Simone Collins: Yeah, sure. You always do this.[00:57:46] Speaker 19: You wanna battle?[00:58:20] You wanna be on my team?[00:58:34] Tosi[00:58:37] What is it?[00:58:41] Octavian, toast the other question[00:59:01] Speaker 20: Come back to me? We’ll be hit by copyright claims if I do that This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit basedcamppodcast.substack.com/subscribe