WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.759 Imagine you're an astronomer. You spend your 00:00:02.759 --> 00:00:05.280 entire life just peering through telescopes, 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:09.599 cataloging the heavens. Right, mapping out the 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:12.320 majestic clockwork of the universe. Exactly, 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:14.800 the permanent stuff. And then, well, the day 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:17.859 finally comes. You actually discover a new celestial 00:00:17.859 --> 00:00:21.460 body. Oh, wow. Yeah, a massive rock that's going 00:00:21.460 --> 00:00:24.239 to orbit our sun in the silent vacuum of space 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:27.420 for like... billions of years. It's a huge deal. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:30.320 It is. And you have the absolute honor of giving 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:33.100 this ancient permanent object a name for the 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:35.240 rest of human history. Right. And what do you 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:38.600 do? You decide to name it after a cheap, fleeting 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:42.039 street crime. Welcome to the deep dive. It is 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:43.880 quite the juxtaposition to start with, I have 00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:45.939 to say. I really cannot stop thinking about it, 00:00:45.939 --> 00:00:47.740 because usually when we do this show, we're looking 00:00:47.740 --> 00:00:50.179 at, you know, a dense research paper or some 00:00:50.179 --> 00:00:52.859 sprawling historical biography. Heavy stuff. 00:00:52.979 --> 00:00:55.880 But today we're doing something entirely We are 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:59.219 looking at a single word, and the incredibly 00:00:59.219 --> 00:01:02.340 bizarre, almost chaotic footprint that word has 00:01:02.340 --> 00:01:05.700 left across human culture. And that word is swindle. 00:01:05.849 --> 00:01:08.430 Yes, Swindle. And the source material we are 00:01:08.430 --> 00:01:11.790 pulling from today is, it's actually just a Wikipedia 00:01:11.790 --> 00:01:14.549 disambiguation page. Just a raw list. Right, 00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:16.390 a list of everything in the world that happens 00:01:16.390 --> 00:01:18.810 to share this exact name. Which is, I mean, such 00:01:18.810 --> 00:01:22.049 a brilliant lens to use, because before you look 00:01:22.049 --> 00:01:24.430 at the different things named Swindle, you kind 00:01:24.430 --> 00:01:26.390 of have to understand the anchor, right? The 00:01:26.390 --> 00:01:28.510 core definition of the word itself. Yeah, the 00:01:28.510 --> 00:01:32.140 baseline. Exactly. At its heart. A swindle is 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:34.760 a confidence trick. It's an asymmetry of information 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:38.719 that has been, um, weaponized against someone's 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:41.439 trust or their greed. So it's a deception. But 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:43.900 not just any deception. I mean, a magician performing 00:01:43.900 --> 00:01:46.439 a card trick is deceiving you. Right. But that's 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:48.329 entertainment. Right. You bought a ticket for 00:01:48.329 --> 00:01:51.450 that. Exactly. A swindle implies a victim and 00:01:51.450 --> 00:01:53.909 a perpetrator. Someone is manipulating your perception 00:01:53.909 --> 00:01:56.870 of reality specifically to extract something 00:01:56.870 --> 00:01:59.290 of value from you, usually money. Yeah. It's 00:01:59.290 --> 00:02:01.810 an inherently cynical temporary human action. 00:02:02.450 --> 00:02:04.670 The con artist rolls into town, creates a false 00:02:04.670 --> 00:02:07.670 reality, takes your wallet, and, you know, vanishes 00:02:07.670 --> 00:02:10.569 before the illusion even breaks. And that is 00:02:10.569 --> 00:02:13.129 the mission for today. We're going to explore 00:02:13.129 --> 00:02:16.710 how this one, very specific, very cynical concept 00:02:16.710 --> 00:02:19.770 of a fleeting crime, has somehow permeated human 00:02:19.770 --> 00:02:24.930 culture, geography, our media, and yeah, even 00:02:24.930 --> 00:02:27.969 the cosmos. It's everywhere. It really is. We're 00:02:27.969 --> 00:02:30.650 going to see how the simple list acts as a completely 00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:33.449 unintentional cultural mirror for you, the listener. 00:02:33.789 --> 00:02:35.849 OK, let's untack this. I think the best place 00:02:35.849 --> 00:02:39.300 to start is, well, with the physical world. Because 00:02:39.300 --> 00:02:40.900 you just mentioned that a swindle is supposed 00:02:40.900 --> 00:02:43.099 to be fleeting. Right, like a ghost. Yeah, a 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:45.819 ghost. Yeah. But when you look at how this word 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:48.960 has actually materialized in our reality, it's 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:51.599 left some incredibly permanent footprints. Which 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:53.960 feels like a massive contradiction. I mean, for 00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:56.180 starters, swindle operates as an actual surname 00:02:56.180 --> 00:02:59.039 for real, living people. They cut the psychological 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:01.340 burden of that. or at least the daily friction. 00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:03.479 You would have to have a phenomenal sense of 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:05.639 humor. Oh, definitely. Imagine walking into a 00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:08.580 bank to apply for a mortgage or, I don't know, 00:03:08.979 --> 00:03:11.879 setting up a financial consulting firm and your 00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:15.939 legal given surname is literally synonymous with 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:19.639 fraud. Hi, I'm Mr. Swindle. Please trust me with 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:21.699 your life savings. Yeah, you'd likely develop 00:03:21.699 --> 00:03:23.939 a very quick disarming joke to handle the introductions. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:26.280 Or you just go by your middle name. Right, exactly. 00:03:26.580 --> 00:03:28.580 But that is just on an individual level. The 00:03:28.580 --> 00:03:30.500 concept gets literally etched into the earth, 00:03:30.580 --> 00:03:33.240 too. Yes. There's an actual physical landmass 00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:36.240 in British Columbia, Canada, named Swindle Island. 00:03:36.379 --> 00:03:39.340 A physical place where tides wash up against 00:03:39.340 --> 00:03:42.280 the shores, where trees grow and weather patterns 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:44.479 form. Yeah, it's permanent. A place that exists 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.199 entirely independent of human deception, forever 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:50.060 bearing the title of con job. I'd imagine the 00:03:50.060 --> 00:03:52.060 local tourism board has a nightmare of a time 00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:54.400 with marketing. I'm sure they do. But that brings 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:57.060 me back to the astronomer because it doesn't 00:03:57.060 --> 00:03:59.699 stop at Earth's atmosphere. There is an asteroid 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:03.639 out there officially designated as 8690 swindle. 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:06.580 A giant piece of rock and ice just hurtling through 00:04:06.580 --> 00:04:09.360 the dark. I have to push back on this or at least 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:12.060 demand some kind of explanation because it feels 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:15.240 entirely backwards to me. How so? I mean, it's 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:17.439 a bit like finding out your local community center 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:20.560 or library is officially named after a pickpocket. 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:24.019 Why on earth do we attach a word that is fundamentally 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:27.480 about a temporary malicious human interaction 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:31.019 to permanent unmoving fixtures like land masses 00:04:31.019 --> 00:04:33.540 and space rocks? That's a fair question. Like 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:36.540 an asteroid is billions of years old, a con lasts 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:39.139 maybe an afternoon. Well, what's fascinating 00:04:39.139 --> 00:04:41.839 here is the sheer absurdity and permanence of 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:44.220 human naming conventions. Okay. When we name 00:04:44.220 --> 00:04:46.399 a place, whether it's a mountain range or a celestial 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:48.720 body, we're usually trying to honor something. 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:51.600 Right, like scientists or Greek gods. Exactly. 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:54.720 We use the names of mythological figures, noble 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:57.839 concepts like hope or discovery, or the names 00:04:57.839 --> 00:04:59.959 of the people who found them by applying a word 00:04:59.959 --> 00:05:03.379 like swindle. to these ancient fixtures, we create 00:05:03.379 --> 00:05:06.019 this permanent cognitive dissonance. It's like 00:05:06.019 --> 00:05:08.199 we literally launched our psychological baggage 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:11.040 into orbit. We absolutely did. It prompts you 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.079 to really think about the legacy of language. 00:05:13.660 --> 00:05:17.019 I mean, to the universe, asteroid 8690 is just 00:05:17.019 --> 00:05:19.019 a collection of minerals. Right. The universe 00:05:19.019 --> 00:05:22.329 has no concept of a confidence trick. But human 00:05:22.329 --> 00:05:25.829 beings cannot help but project our very flawed, 00:05:26.350 --> 00:05:30.029 very specific social constructs onto the blank 00:05:30.029 --> 00:05:33.209 canvas of the cosmos. It strips the word of its 00:05:33.209 --> 00:05:35.629 malice and turns it into just another arbitrary 00:05:35.629 --> 00:05:38.529 sound we use to categorize the void. I mean, 00:05:38.649 --> 00:05:40.350 you'd probably triple check your lease agreement 00:05:40.350 --> 00:05:42.250 if you were buying property on Swindle Island, 00:05:42.449 --> 00:05:45.089 though. Oh, undoubtedly. OK, so if the physical 00:05:45.089 --> 00:05:47.250 world, the islands, and the asteroids represents 00:05:47.250 --> 00:05:50.069 the static, unchanging footprint of the word, 00:05:50.410 --> 00:05:53.550 I want to pivot to how humans process this concept 00:05:53.550 --> 00:05:56.170 dynamically. The cultural side. Exactly. Because 00:05:56.170 --> 00:05:58.490 a Swindle isn't just an event. It's a performance. 00:05:58.629 --> 00:06:00.870 It requires an audience, a script, and a stage. 00:06:01.149 --> 00:06:03.649 And that brings us to how we've spent decades 00:06:03.649 --> 00:06:05.589 trying to capture this performance through art. 00:06:05.850 --> 00:06:09.029 And the transition from the physical world to 00:06:09.029 --> 00:06:11.529 narrative media is incredibly telling. The physical 00:06:11.529 --> 00:06:14.089 world is static, like we said. But in film and 00:06:14.089 --> 00:06:16.810 literature, the swindle becomes a living, breathing 00:06:16.810 --> 00:06:19.529 story. And the cinematic history attached to 00:06:19.529 --> 00:06:22.610 this single word on the disambiguation page is 00:06:22.610 --> 00:06:24.930 absolutely staggering. It really is. We are looking 00:06:24.930 --> 00:06:28.129 at a global tour of filmmakers who are completely 00:06:28.129 --> 00:06:30.870 obsessed with the con. We start in post -war 00:06:30.870 --> 00:06:35.220 Italy. In 1955, there's a film called Il Bidone. 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:38.740 The English titles are The Swindle or The Swindlers. 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:41.379 Right. And this isn't just some forgotten B -movie. 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:43.519 It's directed by Federico Fellini, one of the 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:45.860 most legendary filmmakers in history. And Fellini 00:06:45.860 --> 00:06:49.220 tackling a con in 1950s Italy. carries a very 00:06:49.220 --> 00:06:51.480 specific weight. Yeah. Yeah, you're looking at 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:54.500 a society recovering from a massive war, dealing 00:06:54.500 --> 00:06:58.120 with poverty and sheer desperation. In that context, 00:06:58.339 --> 00:07:00.920 a swindle isn't just a clever trick, it's a brutal 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:03.000 survival mechanism. But then sticking with Italy, 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:06.360 we jump a couple decades to 1977 for Squadra 00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:09.399 antitrufa, which also translates to the swindle. 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:12.019 Different vibe entirely. Right. Directed by Bruno 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:15.569 Corbucci. Then we cross borders entirely. In 00:07:15.569 --> 00:07:18.230 1997, France gets in on the action, but with 00:07:18.230 --> 00:07:21.290 a massive tonal shift. We get a crime comedy 00:07:21.290 --> 00:07:23.949 film, simply titled The Swindle, directed by 00:07:23.949 --> 00:07:26.050 Claude Chabrol and starring Isabelle Hopper. 00:07:26.250 --> 00:07:28.949 A comedy. Notice how the same concept stretches 00:07:28.949 --> 00:07:31.750 to a comedy, both tragedy and farce. And then 00:07:31.750 --> 00:07:34.829 we jump across the Atlantic to the US in 2002 00:07:34.829 --> 00:07:38.529 for a gritty, dark crime thriller called Swindle, 00:07:38.709 --> 00:07:41.329 starring Tom Sizemore and Sherilyn Fen. Yeah. 00:07:41.389 --> 00:07:43.290 And as if the cross -pollination wasn't enough, 00:07:43.350 --> 00:07:46.829 just two years later, We get a 2004 Spanish -French 00:07:46.829 --> 00:07:49.410 co -production, a thriller called Swindled. That 00:07:49.410 --> 00:07:51.850 timeline and geography provide a remarkable cross 00:07:51.850 --> 00:07:53.470 -section of global cinema. So what does this 00:07:53.470 --> 00:07:56.290 all mean? Look at the wild tonal shifts across 00:07:56.290 --> 00:07:59.269 this source material. We have a 1950s Italian 00:07:59.269 --> 00:08:03.050 neorealist masterpiece. We have a breezy 1997 00:08:03.050 --> 00:08:06.610 French comedy. We have a gritty American thriller. 00:08:06.910 --> 00:08:08.649 I actually struggle with this a bit. What's the 00:08:08.649 --> 00:08:10.529 struggle? I get that scams happen everywhere, 00:08:10.529 --> 00:08:13.069 but why is it such a popular genre? If I get 00:08:13.069 --> 00:08:15.310 scammed in real life, I am devastated. I feel 00:08:15.310 --> 00:08:17.589 foolish and violated. Of course. Why would I 00:08:17.589 --> 00:08:19.490 pay my hard -earned money to sit in a theater 00:08:19.490 --> 00:08:21.910 in Paris or Rome just to watch someone else get 00:08:21.910 --> 00:08:25.149 scammed? Does this repetition across borders 00:08:25.149 --> 00:08:27.610 prove that we have a universal obsession with 00:08:27.610 --> 00:08:30.290 deception? I think it proves that we have a universal 00:08:30.290 --> 00:08:33.389 obsession with the mechanics of deception, provided 00:08:33.389 --> 00:08:36.370 we are at a safe distance. Ah, the safe distance? 00:08:36.529 --> 00:08:40.409 Yes. The evidence here strongly suggests that 00:08:40.409 --> 00:08:42.870 a confidence trick transcends language barriers 00:08:42.870 --> 00:08:45.629 because the underlying emotions are universally 00:08:45.629 --> 00:08:49.169 understood. Trust and betrayal. Precisely. Everyone, 00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:51.870 regardless of whether they grew up in 1950s Italy 00:08:51.870 --> 00:08:54.750 or 2000s America, understands the psychological 00:08:54.750 --> 00:08:57.149 tension of a lie. Right. When you sit in a movie 00:08:57.149 --> 00:08:59.870 theater and watch a swindle unfold, you're experiencing 00:08:59.870 --> 00:09:01.750 the asymmetry of information we talked about 00:09:01.750 --> 00:09:04.929 earlier, but safely. You're in on it. Yes. You, 00:09:04.970 --> 00:09:07.250 the viewer, often know the trap is being set. 00:09:07.490 --> 00:09:09.370 You get to watch the perpetrator build the illusion 00:09:09.370 --> 00:09:11.750 and you watch the victim walk into it. It's the 00:09:11.750 --> 00:09:13.529 ultimate intellectual puzzle. It's an engine 00:09:13.529 --> 00:09:16.450 for dramatic irony. It's the suspense of waiting 00:09:16.450 --> 00:09:19.570 for the other shoe to drop. You're either marveling 00:09:19.570 --> 00:09:22.129 at the genius of the trap or you're watching 00:09:22.129 --> 00:09:25.450 the tragic, inevitable fall of the victim. And 00:09:25.450 --> 00:09:27.710 depending on who the director wants you to sympathize 00:09:27.710 --> 00:09:30.230 with, it becomes either a dark thriller about 00:09:30.230 --> 00:09:33.970 human cruelty or a fast -paced comedy where the 00:09:33.970 --> 00:09:38.090 swindler is a charming rogue outsmarting a corrupt 00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:40.750 system. It really bends to whatever the creator 00:09:40.750 --> 00:09:43.450 needs. Exactly. The word is incredibly flexible. 00:09:43.610 --> 00:09:45.549 Which brings up another fascinating piece of 00:09:45.549 --> 00:09:47.649 media on this list. It's not just the moving 00:09:47.649 --> 00:09:50.710 image. The source notes a bimonthly arts and 00:09:50.710 --> 00:09:54.129 culture magazine simply named Swingle that ran 00:09:54.129 --> 00:09:57.529 from 2004 to 2009. That's a great example. Why 00:09:57.529 --> 00:09:59.850 would an arts publication name itself after a 00:09:59.850 --> 00:10:02.330 crime? Think about what underground or avant 00:10:02.330 --> 00:10:05.610 -garde art tries to do. It tries to expose the 00:10:05.610 --> 00:10:07.889 artificiality of mainstream society. Right, pulling 00:10:07.889 --> 00:10:10.330 back the curtain. By choosing Swindle as its 00:10:10.330 --> 00:10:12.809 title, that magazine was actively co -opting 00:10:12.809 --> 00:10:15.149 the word. It suggests that the word isn't just 00:10:15.149 --> 00:10:17.730 about criminal behavior anymore. It's a subversive 00:10:17.730 --> 00:10:20.350 statement. It's a reclamation. They're winking 00:10:20.350 --> 00:10:23.029 at their readership. They're essentially saying... 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:26.559 The real swindle is corporate culture or mainstream 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:30.139 consumerism, and we are the ones exposing the 00:10:30.139 --> 00:10:31.700 trick. They're letting the reader in on the con. 00:10:31.940 --> 00:10:34.600 Which perfectly sets up the final and I think 00:10:34.600 --> 00:10:37.480 the most surprising conceptual leap we see on 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:39.879 the stage. Where are we going next? Well, because 00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:42.259 up until now, whether we're talking about an 00:10:42.259 --> 00:10:45.179 island in Canada, a Fellini film, or an arts 00:10:45.179 --> 00:10:48.480 magazine, we've been passive observers. Right. 00:10:48.620 --> 00:10:50.820 We live on the island, or we watch the movie, 00:10:51.059 --> 00:10:53.639 or we read the article. But the final category 00:10:53.639 --> 00:10:56.820 here forces us to transition from passively watching 00:10:56.820 --> 00:10:59.820 a deception to actively participating in one. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.179 Ah, so we move out of the realm of narrative 00:11:02.179 --> 00:11:04.309 and into the realm of strategy. Here's where 00:11:04.309 --> 00:11:06.129 it gets really interesting. Right at the top 00:11:06.129 --> 00:11:08.690 of this final section is a definition for swindle 00:11:08.690 --> 00:11:12.250 as a specific highly technical chess term. Chess, 00:11:12.269 --> 00:11:14.750 of all things. Yeah. The source defines it as 00:11:14.750 --> 00:11:17.470 a ruse by which a chess player in a losing position 00:11:17.470 --> 00:11:20.269 tricks his opponent. A ruse from a losing position. 00:11:20.970 --> 00:11:23.809 That context changes the entire emotional weight 00:11:23.809 --> 00:11:27.419 of the word. It totally flips the script. A chess 00:11:27.419 --> 00:11:30.039 window isn't just a malicious fraud. It's like 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:32.000 throwing a smoke bomb when you're completely 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.159 cornered in a laser tag match. That's a great 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:36.100 way to picture it. Imagine you're down to your 00:11:36.100 --> 00:11:38.679 absolute last hit point. Your opponent has you 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:42.120 pinned behind a wall. They're closing in, completely 00:11:42.120 --> 00:11:44.299 confident they've won. They think it's over. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:47.779 And instead of surrendering, you pull off this 00:11:47.779 --> 00:11:51.059 wildly unexpected desperate illusion that causes 00:11:51.059 --> 00:11:53.440 them to shoot their own teammate, allowing you 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:56.340 to escape. In this context, the word completely 00:11:56.340 --> 00:11:58.940 morphs. Yeah, it really does. It goes from being 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:03.120 a greedy street crime into a brilliant desperate 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:06.179 survival tactic. If we connect this to the bigger 00:12:06.179 --> 00:12:08.460 picture, you can see how interactive formats 00:12:08.460 --> 00:12:11.039 completely reframe our moral judgment of deception. 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:14.000 How do you move? When a con artist steals money, 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:17.220 it's a crime because it violates the social contract. 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:19.700 Right. But when two people sit down at a chess 00:12:19.700 --> 00:12:21.940 board, they are entering a sealed artificial 00:12:21.940 --> 00:12:25.080 universe where the explicit goal is to outsmart 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:27.740 the other person. The social contract is temporarily 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:31.139 suspended. Exactly. In that arena, deception 00:12:31.139 --> 00:12:35.259 isn't a crime. It's a tool. And a chess swindle 00:12:35.259 --> 00:12:37.899 specifically relies on exploiting the opponent's 00:12:37.899 --> 00:12:40.159 psychology. Playing the player, not just the 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:43.240 board. Yes. The opponent thinks they're winning. 00:12:43.820 --> 00:12:46.720 They experience cognitive ease. They drop their 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:49.639 guard. The player in the losing position weaponizes 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:52.720 that overconfidence against them. Wow. The swindle 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:55.559 becomes an honorable, almost heroic display of 00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:58.600 intellect against overwhelming odds. And because 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:01.000 it's interactive, you are the architect of the 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:03.019 deception. You are the one throwing the smoke 00:13:03.019 --> 00:13:05.039 bomb, which is exactly what happens in video 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:07.639 games, too. The 2015 game, right? Yep. The source 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:10.679 explicitly lists a 2015 video game titled The 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:13.350 Swindle. You aren't watching someone pull off 00:13:13.350 --> 00:13:15.769 a heist. You are the one holding the controller, 00:13:15.789 --> 00:13:18.610 hacking the systems, executing the ruse. You're 00:13:18.610 --> 00:13:20.730 invited to appreciate the cunning nature of the 00:13:20.730 --> 00:13:22.649 trick from the inside. Which finally explains 00:13:22.649 --> 00:13:24.350 something that was really bothering me on this 00:13:24.350 --> 00:13:27.029 list. What's that? If a swindle was purely an 00:13:27.029 --> 00:13:29.250 evil destructive act, you would absolutely never 00:13:29.250 --> 00:13:31.490 find it in children's media. Good point. But 00:13:31.490 --> 00:13:34.370 the source lists Gordon Corman's 2008 children's 00:13:34.370 --> 00:13:37.929 novel simply titled Swindle. It was a huge hit, 00:13:38.289 --> 00:13:42.529 even became a 2013 television film. Why are we 00:13:42.529 --> 00:13:45.009 handing children a manual on confidence tricks? 00:13:45.190 --> 00:13:47.289 Well, consider the alternative. If you shelter 00:13:47.289 --> 00:13:49.429 a child entirely from the concept of deception, 00:13:49.990 --> 00:13:53.570 they become the perfect mark. Oh, wow. Yeah. 00:13:53.690 --> 00:13:55.710 Teaching children the mechanics of a swindle 00:13:55.710 --> 00:13:59.070 through a novel or a TV movie acts as a psychological 00:13:59.070 --> 00:14:01.690 inoculation. An inoculation. I like that. You 00:14:01.690 --> 00:14:03.850 give them a safe, dead version of the virus, 00:14:03.870 --> 00:14:06.159 so they... build immunity. Exactly. You're allowing 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:08.940 them to explore the concepts of trust, betrayal, 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:11.860 and manipulation in a completely safe controlled 00:14:11.860 --> 00:14:14.740 environment. Through a story. Right. They learn 00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:17.419 how to recognize a trap by reading about characters 00:14:17.419 --> 00:14:19.340 who fall into one or characters who have to use 00:14:19.340 --> 00:14:22.279 a clever ruse to defeat a bully. It demystifies 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:24.299 the manipulation. It takes the power away from 00:14:24.299 --> 00:14:26.759 the real world con artists. That makes so much 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:29.769 sense. It's very practical. But we cannot wrap 00:14:29.769 --> 00:14:31.750 up this section without mentioning the absolute 00:14:31.750 --> 00:14:34.129 most surreal evolution of the word on this entire 00:14:34.129 --> 00:14:35.909 page. I think I know where you're going with 00:14:35.909 --> 00:14:39.389 this. We've gone from a crime to a place to a 00:14:39.389 --> 00:14:42.210 movie to a chess move. But we also have to talk 00:14:42.210 --> 00:14:44.909 about the Transformers universe. The action figures 00:14:44.909 --> 00:14:48.070 in the cartoons. Yes. The disambiguration page 00:14:48.070 --> 00:14:51.090 specifically notes that Swindle is the name of 00:14:51.090 --> 00:14:53.690 several fictional characters in the Transformers 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:56.090 franchise. Think about the linguistic journey 00:14:56.090 --> 00:14:59.070 that represents. It's wild. It goes from a verb, 00:14:59.389 --> 00:15:01.990 an action you do to someone, to being personified 00:15:01.990 --> 00:15:05.309 as a distinct, walking, talking character trait. 00:15:05.649 --> 00:15:09.149 The hustle personified as a giant, sentient robot. 00:15:09.649 --> 00:15:11.690 In the context of a Saturday morning cartoon, 00:15:12.210 --> 00:15:14.909 Character names are heavily coded. If a child 00:15:14.909 --> 00:15:18.370 sees a character named Optimus or Valor, they 00:15:18.370 --> 00:15:20.769 know exactly what moral framework that character 00:15:20.769 --> 00:15:22.929 operates within. Right, the good guys. But a 00:15:22.929 --> 00:15:25.029 character named Swindle, that tells you immediately 00:15:25.029 --> 00:15:27.309 that they are the wild card. They are the manipulator. 00:15:27.490 --> 00:15:30.110 Their allegiance isn't to a noble cause. Their 00:15:30.110 --> 00:15:32.269 allegiance is only to the hustle itself. Yeah. 00:15:32.389 --> 00:15:35.029 It turns a complex psychological concept into 00:15:35.029 --> 00:15:37.870 a visual archetype. It is brilliant branding. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:40.779 You know exactly who not to trust with your energon 00:15:40.779 --> 00:15:43.600 cubes. So stepping back from all of this, looking 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:46.480 at the entire landscape of this one seemingly 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:49.539 boring Wikipedia period, it is kind of mind blowing. 00:15:49.779 --> 00:15:52.080 It really expands your perspective. We started 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:54.960 with a single dry definition at the top of the 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:57.679 page, a kind of fraud. And what did it turn into? 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:00.320 A rather comprehensive map of human behavior 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:02.759 and psychology. Think about the journey we just 00:16:02.759 --> 00:16:05.279 went on. For you listening, we looked at a simple 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:08.690 word for a con job. And that single word connects 00:16:08.690 --> 00:16:11.169 a floating space rock millions of miles away 00:16:11.169 --> 00:16:14.990 in the freezing dark to a 1955 Federico Fellini 00:16:14.990 --> 00:16:18.009 cinematic masterpiece about post -war desperation, 00:16:18.590 --> 00:16:21.289 to an intricate desperate survival tactic on 00:16:21.289 --> 00:16:24.090 a chessboard, to a giant transforming robot. 00:16:24.090 --> 00:16:26.289 It's quite the list. All living side by side, 00:16:26.470 --> 00:16:28.669 bullet point by bullet point. This raises an 00:16:28.669 --> 00:16:30.789 important question though about how the digital 00:16:30.789 --> 00:16:33.320 world organizes human knowledge. What do you 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:35.440 mean? Well, when you look at a disambiguation 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:38.580 page, you are seeing vastly different human endeavors 00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:40.840 stripped entirely of their traditional hierarchy. 00:16:41.059 --> 00:16:43.500 Stripped of hierarchy? How so? Well, in the real 00:16:43.500 --> 00:16:46.899 world, an ancient celestial body is fundamentally 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:50.320 different from a 2015 indie video game. And a 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:53.320 legendary Italian film is culturally categorized 00:16:53.320 --> 00:16:55.740 differently than a 2008 children's book. Sure, 00:16:55.740 --> 00:16:57.399 they don't usually sit next to each other in 00:16:57.399 --> 00:16:59.580 a library. Exactly. They occupy different spheres 00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:02.759 of importance. Yet here, On this one digital 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:06.079 crossroads, they are presented as absolute equals. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:08.900 They're linked only by the arbitrary phonetic 00:17:08.900 --> 00:17:11.539 sounds we use to label them. That's fascinating. 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:14.220 It forces you to realize that language is the 00:17:14.220 --> 00:17:17.460 ultimate chaotic equalizer. It is the great leveling 00:17:17.460 --> 00:17:20.480 field. Federico Fellini holds the exact same 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:23.319 weight as Gordon Corman. The cosmos holds the 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:25.740 same weight as a game of chess. It is all just 00:17:25.740 --> 00:17:28.099 data under the umbrella of a single word. It 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:30.779 is a beautiful kind of disorder. Well, as we 00:17:30.779 --> 00:17:33.059 wrap up this deep dive into the anatomy of a 00:17:33.059 --> 00:17:35.200 swindle, I want to leave you with one final thought 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:37.259 to chew on. Something for you to think about 00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:39.940 the next time you look up at the night sky or 00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:43.009 the next time you sit down to play a game. We've 00:17:43.009 --> 00:17:45.309 established today that a swindle can be both 00:17:45.309 --> 00:17:48.009 a desperate, brilliant move to save a losing 00:17:48.009 --> 00:17:51.710 chess game and a permanent piece of rock silently 00:17:51.710 --> 00:17:55.390 orbiting our sun. a wide spectrum. So consider 00:17:55.390 --> 00:17:57.769 the people who hold the power to name things 00:17:57.769 --> 00:18:00.410 in our world. Think back to that astronomer we 00:18:00.410 --> 00:18:02.450 talked about at the very beginning, the one who 00:18:02.450 --> 00:18:04.390 first spotted that rock through a telescope, 00:18:04.970 --> 00:18:07.210 calculated its trajectory, and then officially 00:18:07.210 --> 00:18:10.430 submitted the name Asteroid 8690 Swindle to the 00:18:10.430 --> 00:18:13.009 international registries. Right. Was that astronomer 00:18:13.009 --> 00:18:15.230 just pulling a fast one on the rest of us? Were 00:18:15.230 --> 00:18:18.049 they, in fact, executing their own quiet permanent 00:18:18.049 --> 00:18:21.420 cosmic swindle? A delightfully paranoid possibility 00:18:21.420 --> 00:18:23.579 to consider. Something to keep you awake tonight, 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:25.660 wondering if the universe itself is in on the 00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:27.940 joke. Until next time, keep driving deep.