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Back to #2571 - Jimmy Carr, with Jimmy Carr.

Why Is a Rolex Worth More Than a Casio?

Jimmy Carr says a Casio tells the time the same as a Rolex, but the Rolex has a metaphysical value attached because of what it says above telling time.

People mix up what they want intrinsically with what is only an instrument. Love, connection, and joy are wanted for themselves. Money is the classic instrument for getting them. Respect from other people often stands in for self-respect, and a locus of control within you is a massive advantage in life. A line from Fight Club puts the trap plainly: spending life making money to buy things to impress people you do not care about. Social media hijacks the same habit, with people chasing likes all day and collecting agreement that says I like you. The attribute of being envied is what passes as glamour. René Girard talks about mimetic desires. A lot of desire starts because people do not know what to want, so they want what other people want. An object can have an intrinsic value and a further value above its function.

A Ferrari splits the same way. Some people want one because they care about the manufacturing and the speed and want to drive it properly. Others want one because other people want it. Pull up to the valet and the question is whose Ferrari it is, and the answer is Jimmy Carr.

Grokipedia·Rolex·Casio

Transcript

#2571 - Jimmy Carr ·

The Joe Rogan Experience

More from this episode

  1. Had Jeremy Clarkson Ever Been to a Comedy Club?Jimmy Carr does not think Jeremy Clarkson had been to a comedy club before last night. Clarkson is exactly who viewers already think he is.
  2. What Is the Difference Between an Artist and an Entertainer?Jimmy Carr says the difference is what the person needs from the crowd.
  3. Is Cleopatra Closer to Us Than to the Pyramids?Joe Rogan says we live closer to Cleopatra than Cleopatra lived to the building of the pyramids. He and Jimmy Carr are talking about Egypt.
  4. What Happened to Summer in Europe After Krakatoa?Jimmy Carr and Joe Rogan use Krakatoa when the talk turns from impacts to the environment. The claim is that Europe had no summer the year after the eruption.
  5. What Four Events Equalize a Society?Joe Rogan says four things cause equality to happen: war, revolution, civilizational collapse, and pandemics.
  6. Is Adderall Basically Speed?Joe Rogan says Adderall is basically speed. Meth is an amphetamine.
  7. Why Does Jimmy Carr Back Gambling on Yourself?Jimmy Carr says the useful gamble is gambling on yourself, the big gamble in life, because taking a big gamble means you do not need the little gambles.
  8. When Did Joe Rogan Meet His Pool Friend?Joe Rogan met a friend 34 years ago, when the friend was 19 and he was in his 20s.
  9. How Much Do Chinese Pool Tournaments Pay?Joe Rogan says winners of pool tournaments in China are paid like half a million dollars, on tables whose corner pockets and side pockets curve like a snooker…
  10. Where Does Musical Notation Come From?Jimmy Carr says musical notation comes from Pope Gregory, who wanted every church to sing the same songs and ordered the music written down.
  11. How Does Jimmy Carr Treat Alcohol?Jimmy Carr treats alcohol as borrowing happiness from tomorrow.
  12. What Is the Fourth Turning?Jimmy Carr lays out Neil Howe's case that history runs in four turnings and that the world is entering the fourth one now.
  13. What Is the Kailasa Temple?Joe Rogan says the Kailasa Temple is one immense temple carved right out of the mountain, so the entire structure is a single piece of volcanic rock, massive…
  14. Why Was Fritz Haber Wanted for War Crimes?Jimmy Carr says four things hold the world up: ammonia, steel, concrete, and plastic, and all four take huge amounts of petrochemicals.
  15. How Does Drone Warfare Threaten Fixed Military Bases?Joe Rogan says bases have become liabilities because asymmetrical drone warfare lets an attacker hit a site everyone already knows and that cannot be moved.
  16. Why Don't Joke Books Match a Comedy Show?Jimmy Carr says there are no books of jokes that match a show, because comedy is two-way communication and it lives in the room, in the space between the…
  17. What Is Anthropic's Project Panama?Joe Rogan reads a Northern California court case decided in late July this year about Anthropic's model Claude.
  18. Why Does AI Make Mass Surveillance Cheap?Jimmy Carr says AI made mass surveillance cheap because the cost of a Stasi-style police state has fallen by five orders of magnitude.
  19. How Does Tim Urban Rank Ways of Thinking?Jimmy Carr describes Tim Urban's ladder for how people think: a scientist, a sports fan, a lawyer, then a zealot.
  20. Why Is Changing Your Mind Called Hypocrisy?Joe Rogan says changing your mind became the worst sin, treated as hypocrisy, and he would rather wear that label than stay the same person for life.
  21. Why Do People Think They Will Stop Changing?Joe Rogan calls the pattern the end of history fallacy, and it is why people think they will stop changing.
  22. Why Do Schools Still Teach Like the Prussians?Jimmy Carr says schools still teach like the Prussians because the Prussians taught information and discipline to staff an empire.
  23. What Is the Opposite of Faith?Jimmy Carr calls certainty, not doubt, the opposite of faith. He does not like being certain and would rather leave it open. He likes people who believe in God.
  24. Why Is Life Hard for Young People Now?Jimmy Carr says life is hard for young people now, and for everyone, because this is the first generation that has had to ask whether to get married, whether…

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