The Cracked Podcast

We have a lot of phrases for describing large groups of humans, and none of them are good. We fear the mob mentality and use words like 'herd' or 'sheep' to describe how dumb we can get in big groups. But what if there were a way to harness our collective intelligence and use it to amplify our best qualities instead of our worst?That's what Louis Rosenberg did when he founded Unanimous AI, a company that looked at how swarms of bees make decisions, and developed a program to allow humans to make decisions and predictions in the same way. Instead of voting, decisions are made as a collective.Okay, but what do you do with this, you ask? Using swarm intelligence, Unanimous AI was able to predict the Kentucky Derby, the Oscars and routinely beats Las Vegas oddsmakers when predicting sports like hockey and football.Rightly amazed by this awesome new superpower, Jack O'Brien chats with Louis about how his technology works, how it was modeled off the behavior of honey bees, and the surprising things it found about human morality.Footnotes:Francis Galton, 'Vox Populi':  http://goo.gl/4TMOAL  The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki:  https://goo.gl/4ULXJQ  Wisdom of the Crowd: Myths and Realities:  http://goo.gl/nBVpZb UNU Publications:  http://goo.gl/op1MWX This episode is sponsored by Blue Apron and Casper Mattresses.

Fan theories are kind of our thing. We talk about them on this podcast ( https://goo.gl/dZXW05 ) and in our articles ( http://goo.gl/dSyV31 ). We even created After Hours ( https://goo.gl/uQqjmK ), a whole series dedicated to fleshing out even the most unrealistic interpretations of our favorite TV shows and movies. But rarely do the creators of the pop culture we love reach out to us about our theories.A few months ago we released an After Hours episode ( https://goo.gl/aFfIAr ) where we presented some pretty out-there speculations about the Simpsons universe. We thought Bart, Lisa and Marge represented Freud's id, ego and superego, and we thought the universe as a whole was populated by thousands of clones. Little did we know how wrong we were.We thought they were fun what-ifs, but long-time Simpsons writer Mike Reiss emailed us to tell us our theories were pure fantasy. So we thought we'd have him on the podcast! Mike along with Simpsons writer Jeff Martin sit down with Jack O'Brien, Dan O'Brien and Michael Swaim for a long discussion about Simpsons fan theories and the origins of some of our favorite episodes and jokes.Footnotes:Every Episode of The Simpsons:  http://goo.gl/cbSi8E List of Simpsons Scholarly Articles :  http://goo.gl/QLqNBc

Fan theories are kind of our thing. We talk about them on this podcast ( https://goo.gl/dZXW05 ) and in our articles ( http://goo.gl/dSyV31 ). We even created After Hours ( https://goo.gl/uQqjmK ), a whole series dedicated to fleshing out even the most unrealistic interpretations of our favorite TV shows and movies. But rarely do the creators of the pop culture we love reach out to us about our theories.A few months ago we released an After Hours episode ( https://goo.gl/aFfIAr ) where we presented some pretty out-there speculations about the Simpsons universe. We thought Bart, Lisa and Marge represented Freud's id, ego and superego, and we thought the universe as a whole was populated by thousands of clones. Little did we know how wrong we were.We thought they were fun what-ifs, but long-time Simpsons writer Mike Reiss emailed us to tell us our theories were pure fantasy. So we thought we'd have him on the podcast! Mike along with Simpsons writer Jeff Martin sit down with Jack O'Brien, Dan O'Brien and Michael Swaim for a long discussion about Simpsons fan theories and the origins of some of our favorite episodes and jokes.Footnotes:Every Episode of The Simpsons:  http://goo.gl/cbSi8E List of Simpsons Scholarly Articles :  http://goo.gl/QLqNBc

Here are some words you usually don't find in the same sentence: rocket science, orgies, jet propulsion, and the occult. Believe it or not, the beginning of modern rocket science wasn't helmed by some nerds in a laboratory, but by a group of rockstar scientists who blew stuff up by day and did drugs and animal sacrifices at night. Jack Parsons was the leader, and in his short life he fought with L. Ron Hubbard over women, led a branch of an occultist religion and founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.Parsons is just one of the many consequential people we discuss on this week's podcast who shaped the modern era, but had life stories that you wouldn't believe. Jack O'Brien and Michael Swaim are joined by comedian and host of 'Paranormal You & Me' Ryan Singer to delve into the life and beliefs of Parsons, and discuss others such as George Washington's femme fatale superspy and the Russian officer who prevented the end of the world.Also make sure to buy tickets to our next LIVE podcast taping on Saturday June 11th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles!Every summer we're treated to the same buffet of three or four science fiction movies with the same basic conceits. There's man vs. aliens, man vs. robots, man vs. army of clones and man vs. complicated time travel rules. With virtual reality and self-driving cars fast approaching, it's time to consider what type of sci-fi movie we want to be living in for the rest of our lives. Co-hosts Jack O'Brien and Adam Tod Brown are joined by Cracked's Tom Reimann and Josh Sargent and comedians David Huntsberger, Adam Newman and Caitlin Gill to figure out which sci-fi trope would be the best to make a reality.Tickets are only $5 and on sale here:  https://goo.gl/EjlM4L This episode is sponsored by Squarespace and Casper Mattresses.Footnotes:Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Jack Parsons:  https://goo.gl/n4O06G 'An Honest Liar' on Netflix:  https://goo.gl/pizuCp Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man in the World:  https://goo.gl/bFlh6F The Man Who Only Loved Numbers:  http://goo.gl/r8qMX Cracked: 5 Backup Plans That Would Have Changed Modern History:  http://goo.gl/3pkVhz Biography of Agent 355:  https://goo.gl/odCkcE Biography of Jandamarra:  http://goo.gl/X1FH6C New Yorker: Ada Lovelace, The First Tech Visionary:  http://goo.gl/LUZRkc The New Economy: How Nils Bohlin invented the three-point safety belt:  http://goo.gl/ZKuT7p Daily Mail: When Harry Met John, Paul, George and Ringo:  http://goo.gl/R2LewY Blind Willie Johnson on Spotify:  https://goo.gl/Qx1ecz

Here are some words you usually don't find in the same sentence: rocket science, orgies, jet propulsion, and the occult. Believe it or not, the beginning of modern rocket science wasn't helmed by some nerds in a laboratory, but by a group of rockstar scientists who blew stuff up by day and did drugs and animal sacrifices at night. Jack Parsons was the leader, and in his short life he fought with L. Ron Hubbard over women, led a branch of an occultist religion and founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.Parsons is just one of the many consequential people we discuss on this week's podcast who shaped the modern era, but had life stories that you wouldn't believe. Jack O'Brien and Michael Swaim are joined by comedian and host of 'Paranormal You & Me' Ryan Singer to delve into the life and beliefs of Parsons, and discuss others such as George Washington's femme fatale superspy and the Russian officer who prevented the end of the world.Also make sure to buy tickets to our next LIVE podcast taping on Saturday June 11th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles!Every summer we're treated to the same buffet of three or four science fiction movies with the same basic conceits. There's man vs. aliens, man vs. robots, man vs. army of clones and man vs. complicated time travel rules. With virtual reality and self-driving cars fast approaching, it's time to consider what type of sci-fi movie we want to be living in for the rest of our lives. Co-hosts Jack O'Brien and Adam Tod Brown are joined by Cracked's Tom Reimann and Josh Sargent and comedians David Huntsberger, Adam Newman and Caitlin Gill to figure out which sci-fi trope would be the best to make a reality.Tickets are only $5 and on sale here:  https://goo.gl/EjlM4L This episode is sponsored by Squarespace and Casper Mattresses.Footnotes:Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Jack Parsons:  https://goo.gl/n4O06G 'An Honest Liar' on Netflix:  https://goo.gl/pizuCp Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man in the World:  https://goo.gl/bFlh6F The Man Who Only Loved Numbers:  http://goo.gl/r8qMX Cracked: 5 Backup Plans That Would Have Changed Modern History:  http://goo.gl/3pkVhz Biography of Agent 355:  https://goo.gl/odCkcE Biography of Jandamarra:  http://goo.gl/X1FH6C New Yorker: Ada Lovelace, The First Tech Visionary:  http://goo.gl/LUZRkc The New Economy: How Nils Bohlin invented the three-point safety belt:  http://goo.gl/ZKuT7p Daily Mail: When Harry Met John, Paul, George and Ringo:  http://goo.gl/R2LewY Blind Willie Johnson on Spotify:  https://goo.gl/Qx1ecz

Sorry to get personal, but which way do you wipe? The only reason we ask is because a recent thread ( http://goo.gl/49Viln ) melted the Cracked.com forums when our dear readers realized that people had slightly different bathroom preferences than them.As we looked upon the carnage, we realized there are so many insignificant topics that people feel almost violently confident about: hanging your toilet paper over or under, oxford commas, whether to say 'the' before the number of a freeway. No matter which side of the aisle you come down on, you know that anyone who disagrees with you is wrong and should probably be sent via a rocket into the sun.These insignificant topics are what we're talking about on this week's podcast. Special guest-host Soren Bowie is joined by Cracked's Cody Johnston and Michael Swaim and comedian Annie Lederman for a graphic conversation about what these topics are and why they're so easy to fight over.Also make sure to buy tickets to our next LIVE podcast taping on Saturday June 11th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles!Every summer we're treated to the same buffet of three or four science fiction movies with the same basic conceits. There's man vs. aliens, man vs. robots, man vs. army of clones and man vs. complicated time travel rules. With virtual reality and self-driving cars fast approaching, it's time to consider what type of sci-fi movie we want to be living in for the rest of our lives. Co-hosts Jack O'Brien and Adam Tod Brown are joined by Cracked's Tom Reimann and Josh Sargent and comedians David Huntsberger, Adam Newman and Caitlin Gill to figure out which sci-fi trope would be the best to make a reality.Tickets are only $5 and on sale here: https://goo.gl/EjlM4L This episode is sponsored by Squarespace.

Sorry to get personal, but which way do you wipe? The only reason we ask is because a recent thread ( http://goo.gl/49Viln ) melted the Cracked.com forums when our dear readers realized that people had slightly different bathroom preferences than them.As we looked upon the carnage, we realized there are so many insignificant topics that people feel almost violently confident about: hanging your toilet paper over or under, oxford commas, whether to say 'the' before the number of a freeway. No matter which side of the aisle you come down on, you know that anyone who disagrees with you is wrong and should probably be sent via a rocket into the sun.These insignificant topics are what we're talking about on this week's podcast. Special guest-host Soren Bowie is joined by Cracked's Cody Johnston and Michael Swaim and comedian Annie Lederman for a graphic conversation about what these topics are and why they're so easy to fight over.Also make sure to buy tickets to our next LIVE podcast taping on Saturday June 11th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles!Every summer we're treated to the same buffet of three or four science fiction movies with the same basic conceits. There's man vs. aliens, man vs. robots, man vs. army of clones and man vs. complicated time travel rules. With virtual reality and self-driving cars fast approaching, it's time to consider what type of sci-fi movie we want to be living in for the rest of our lives. Co-hosts Jack O'Brien and Adam Tod Brown are joined by Cracked's Tom Reimann and Josh Sargent and comedians David Huntsberger, Adam Newman and Caitlin Gill to figure out which sci-fi trope would be the best to make a reality.Tickets are only $5 and on sale here: https://goo.gl/EjlM4L This episode is sponsored by Squarespace.

If you know that the early bird gets the worm, I'm sure you also know to stop and smell the roses, that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and variety is the spice of life. Or maybe not, because those are all completely contradictory and made up by who, exactly? Some sort of internal rhyme shaman or sarcastic centuries-old grandmother?Where the hell did we get all these idioms from? A stitch in time saves nine? Turns out we've been saying that one wrong, there should be a comma in there. Don't put all your eggs in one basket? Well, I only have two hands, how many baskets should I be carrying? These situational little quips make us feel better in very specific moments, but the amount of them that seem to be direct opposites lead us to believe maybe none of them are worthwhile. On this week's episode, Jack O'Brien is joined by Michael Swaim to pour through the dozens of axioms that, when you think about them for a little bit, don't really give the best advice. Later they open up Poor Richard's Almanack, the 18th century source for many of these proverbs, and go through some of the sayings that didn't quite make it to the 21st century.Footnotes:Quotes from 'Poor Richard's Almanack':  https://goo.gl/MUCZ4m Source Amnesia:  https://goo.gl/PNIf9W Fake Kurt Vonnegut Speech:  http://goo.gl/TgT9Xg Richard Dawkins' 'The Selfish Gene':  https://goo.gl/n8BTJA Nicolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince':  https://goo.gl/wKZV75 5 Famous Wise Sayings That Are Secretly Dumb:  http://goo.gl/uVM6p2 5 Bits of 'Common Knowledge' Science Has Disproved:  http://goo.gl/apg2r1 6 Famous Movie Wisemen Who Were Totally Full of Shit:  http://goo.gl/mgBo 5 Staples of Wisdom That Need To Be Retired:  http://goo.gl/TMBDbH 7 Quotes By Famous Geniuses (That Everyone Gets Wrong):  http://goo.gl/imTECQ This episode is sponsored by Harry's and Adam and Eve.

If you know that the early bird gets the worm, I'm sure you also know to stop and smell the roses, that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and variety is the spice of life. Or maybe not, because those are all completely contradictory and made up by who, exactly? Some sort of internal rhyme shaman or sarcastic centuries-old grandmother?Where the hell did we get all these idioms from? A stitch in time saves nine? Turns out we've been saying that one wrong, there should be a comma in there. Don't put all your eggs in one basket? Well, I only have two hands, how many baskets should I be carrying? These situational little quips make us feel better in very specific moments, but the amount of them that seem to be direct opposites lead us to believe maybe none of them are worthwhile. On this week's episode, Jack O'Brien is joined by Michael Swaim to pour through the dozens of axioms that, when you think about them for a little bit, don't really give the best advice. Later they open up Poor Richard's Almanack, the 18th century source for many of these proverbs, and go through some of the sayings that didn't quite make it to the 21st century.Footnotes:Quotes from 'Poor Richard's Almanack':  https://goo.gl/MUCZ4m Source Amnesia:  https://goo.gl/PNIf9W Fake Kurt Vonnegut Speech:  http://goo.gl/TgT9Xg Richard Dawkins' 'The Selfish Gene':  https://goo.gl/n8BTJA Nicolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince':  https://goo.gl/wKZV75 5 Famous Wise Sayings That Are Secretly Dumb:  http://goo.gl/uVM6p2 5 Bits of 'Common Knowledge' Science Has Disproved:  http://goo.gl/apg2r1 6 Famous Movie Wisemen Who Were Totally Full of Shit:  http://goo.gl/mgBo 5 Staples of Wisdom That Need To Be Retired:  http://goo.gl/TMBDbH 7 Quotes By Famous Geniuses (That Everyone Gets Wrong):  http://goo.gl/imTECQ This episode is sponsored by Harry's and Adam and Eve.

When you picture a serial killer, what do you think of? Do you think of Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant and sophisticated doctor who treats murder with the joy of a foodie at a gourmet mac & cheese bar? Or do you think of John Doe from 'Seven', a man who goes out of his way to create the most elaborately constructed crime scenes in order to make a thematic point to the police?Either way, you're probably imagining someone way more competent than an actual serial killer. Real murder is messy, and the real reason serial killers get away with what they do is because they're brilliant at feigning human emotion. Evil, yes, but they're not super-geniuses, laughing maniacally at a collage of pictures and string on a wall.On this week's episode, Jack O'Brien is joined by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, the hosts of the podcast 'My Favorite Murder' ( http://goo.gl/gpaZN8 ) to discuss the common assumptions we get wrong about serial killers, theories surrounding the JFK, RFK, and JonBenet Ramsey murders and, of course, some of their favorite murder stories.Footnotes:- HBO's Tales of the Grim Sleeper:  https://goo.gl/t9yLF4 - Popular Crime by Bill James:  http://goo.gl/X6w1HC - The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule:  http://goo.gl/MywKqw - The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout:  http://goo.gl/aXatW8 - Nikolai Dzhumagaliev (Metal Fang):  https://goo.gl/qiwnur - Metal Fang Escapes:  http://goo.gl/zAGKGZ - Latest DNA Evidence in JonBenet Ramsey Case:  http://goo.gl/GI2Uy7 - Possible CIA Involvement in RFK Assassination:  http://goo.gl/bCKS54 - Lost RFK Photos:  http://goo.gl/9agV9 - Souflikar the Strangling Executioner:  http://goo.gl/xYMmK - Hinterkaifeck Urban Legend: http://goo.gl/iYAg2p - Cropsey:  http://goo.gl/szUCjU - Woman Fed Her Own Dog: http://goo.gl/iYAg2p - Hikers Killed in Avalanche:  http://goo.gl/xpSo - Woman Murdered in Penn State Library:  http://goo.gl/iYAg2p