When did everyone become an expert on everything?

Never before have so many fools uttered complete nonsense with such conviction.

The inflation of unearned confidence over the past decade is incredible. Never before have so many fools uttered complete nonsense with such conviction. Podcasters, pundits, influencers, and even presidential candidates with famous last names are all out here acting like they're experts on, well, what do ya got?

“I am an expert in everything.”
-Everyone now

It takes some kinda ego to ooze “trust me” vibes about every topic in the news. Oh, I get it: You’re one of those economics-science-NATO-gender-crypto-politics-epidemiology-climate authorities. Silly me, I thought you had to, y’know, study those things in-depth to have an informed opinion. Not anymore! Now, books are merely a tool the elites use to red pill the sheeple or whatever.

Note: I tune out whenever anyone uses the phrase “red pill.” If your philosophical views originate in The Matrix, I’m okay passing on the rest of your “wisdom.” That’s like learning about religion by watching The Blues Brothers.

A strong opinion on everything reveals a mindset that's all width, no depth. Lately, I’m most impressed by folks who say things like “I don’t know” and “that’s outside my area of expertise.” True wisdom includes admitting one’s ignorance. As Josh Spector writes, “Revealing you don’t have the answer to a question doesn’t reflect poorly on yourself or your idea — it shows people you’re honest and trustworthy.” If you think you’ve got no blind spots, you’re probably blind.

Piled upon

Pandemic broke us in so many ways. For one thing, it ennobled those who heckle scientists on podcasts sponsored by brain pills and energy enhancement supplements (i.e. 🐍🛢). These guys may not believe in clinical trials, yet they have no qualms hawking crap that “stimulates,” “boosts,” and “optimizes.” Viva anecdotal evidence!

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
-Upton Sinclair

These red pill types love a good pile-on too. Last week, Sam Harris was the guy (back) in their social media crossfire because, far as I can tell, he doesn’t believe Fauci is the new Mengele, thinks undermining an election is a somethingburger, and won’t play their tribalist reindeer games.

I tend to find Harris reasonable because he gives it to both sides, has a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience, and has written voluminously in ways that show how his brain works.

Those that I saw criticizing him? I’ve never read anything by any of them because, well, they don’t write. They just “influence.”

In addition to writing, Harris also meditates and has abandoned social media. So of course a bunch of people who talk but don't write, live inside a dome of monetized fury, and live extremely online lives (a form of mental illness if you ask me) are gonna hate on him. He stands for everything they oppose. Well, actually, he sits silently for it.

Harris did make one big error though: Never go on a podcast where the host sits in one of these dorky gamer chairs:

Any dude who owns a chair like that clearly does not have a woman in his life to say, “Oh, honey. Don’t.”

Conspiracy thinking

It’s so weird that conspiracy thinking has become the lingua franca of the internet. We used to mock “tin foil hat” thinking as a sign of kookdom. But at some point, the flat earthers took over the cockpit. Now, being a loon is the ideal way to monetize naiveté. As a result, everything becomes the fault of some mysterious cabal.

That’s how you get guys who supposedly hate pronouns blaming everything on “them.” Who are they though? We’ll tell you right after this message from H.V.M.N. Ketone-IQ™ Shots. Follow the red string long enough and it always seems to end up at George Soros, the Mossad, the Rothschilds, or something else Jewish. L’chaim!

(This mode of thought isn’t exclusive to one party. You could argue that the left’s obsession with systemic this and institutional that are forms of conspiracy thinking too. And are progressive rants about scheming billionaires all that different from the right’s obsession with Soros?)

Joe Biden is the devil to many of these conspiracy guys too. And look, I’m fine with hating Biden, but I also crave logical consistency. Is he an incompetent, doddering, old fool or a criminal mastermind able to funnel billions from the Chinese without leaving a trace? Is he a senile cadaver unable to ascend a staircase or is he a Machiavellian svengali secretly manipulating the Justice Department to do his bidding? Pick a lane, please. I prefer my hate sans hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, a former military intelligence officer just told a House Oversight subcommittee the government has debris collected from crashed alien spacecraft and has biological remains from alien bodies. So, of course, the conspiracy theorists took to the streets!

Joking, they didn’t seem to care much actually. Why? Ask any dog: The fun part is chasing the car, not catching it. If you can’t believe the deep state when they tell you aliens don’t exist, you can’t believe them when they say they do exist. Don’t you get it, man?

I’ll give anyone a conspiracy theory or two. But if you believe in all of them, that’s just revealing an outsized hunger to believe in nefarious forces controlling the universe. It’s like religious faith inverted – or astrology for dudes.

Seems to me the only two theories you really need to believe are chaos theory (i.e. randomness and unpredictability rule the roost) and Occam's Razor (i.e. the simplest explanation is probably the right one). Pair those two and they explain almost everything. But that’s not gonna make ya go viral.

A bit of advice from Kevin Kelly I keep thinking about: “Trust me: There is no ‘them.'” Here’s how that notion turned around one conspiracy-minded guy from external to internal locus of control thinking:

Changing my mindset to expend less energy on these detractors, frees me up to focus on those aspects I can actually control. Instead of thinking what they will do, I think about what I can do…I know it is really difficult to accept at times, but what if there really is no “them”? What if nobody is really spending inordinate amounts of time plotting your downfall? If you believed this, what would you change? What would you do differently?

Are you not amused?

The Age of Experts is the logical end game of influencer media (i.e. YouTube videos, podcasts, and TikTok/IG Reels) combined with the algorithm. Mindful, nuanced analysis? Good luck with that. Instead, we get the scrim of learning, entertainment disguised as education.

The prophetic book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman called it all. In it, he explains how writing leads to ideas – and a culture that can process them – in a way that show biz doesn’t.

The written word, and an oratory based upon it, has a content: a semantic, paraphrasable, propositional content…Whenever language is the principal medium of communication—especially language controlled by the rigors of print—an idea, a fact, a claim is the inevitable result…In a culture dominated by print, public discourse tends to be characterized by a coherent, orderly arrangement of facts and ideas. The public for whom it is intended is generally competent to manage such discourse.

He also discusses how sophisticated thinking pairs with with writing/reading:

Almost all of the characteristics we associate with mature discourse were amplified by typography, which has the strongest possible bias toward exposition: a sophisticated ability to think conceptually, deductively and sequentially; a high valuation of reason and order; an abhorrence of contradiction; a large capacity for detachment and objectivity; and a tolerance for delayed response.

According to Postman, when a culture relies on show business over writing, it becomes less sophisticated and more immature. Increasingly, it has a bias toward obfuscation. And that results in discourse that’s unreasonable, disordered, tribal, and intolerant.

Phew, that sure does sound on point. But what do I know? I’m no expert.

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Comedy

🃏 I post clips of my standup (and more) at Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and YouTube. Here’s a bit on tats in strange places:

🃏 NYC: Misguided Meditation with Matt Ruby returns on 9/14 to the Psychedelic Assembly (a trés cool space/society in midtown). It’s a comedy show (re: psychedelics, death, mindfulness, and therapy), visuals (mixed live by Sophia Sobers), and sounds (ambient soundscape performed by Steve Pestana). There’s a one hour open bar from Misguided Spirits before the show too. Early bird coupon code – MISGUIDED5 – gets Rubesletter readers $5 off. Tickets/info here. (Want MM to come to a venue near you? Let me know.)

🃏 Check out my other newsletter: Funny How: Letters to a Young Comedian

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Quickies

🦕 Me in therapy:

🦕 People need to stop jumping to conclusions. Maybe Hunter Biden is really knowledgeable about Ukrainian energy and playing beer pong with Clarence Thomas is a blast.

🦕 The evolution of ick…
Gen Z: "Ick"
Millennials: "Red flag"
Gen X: "Dealbreaker"
Boomers: "Whatever, we'll make it work and then get divorced once the kids go to college.”

🦕 Texas toddlers: All brat, no rattle.

🗯 How to use social media without it using you.

The problem arises when people try to use these platforms as something they’re not: representative samples of the public. This tends to result in wrong conclusions about our world, because the sites were never meant for this purpose…Places such as TikTok and Twitter tend to privilege the loudest, most entertaining, or most abrasive voices—not necessarily the wisest or the kindest. Moreover, as is the case with most new technologies, the user base of social-media platforms skews young, which means one is less likely to hear from the elderly about their perspectives and experiences. 

🦕 AI comedians gonna rule the future. Can’t wait for the heckler comebacks: “Listen, ChatGPT. I don't log in to your UNIX server and slap the bugs out of your codebase."

🦕 I’ve got a podcast too: Kind of a Lot with Matt Ruby.

🗯 How Ric Flair influenced hip hop.

Ric Flair had a larger-than-life personality with an enviable collection of robes to match. Feathery, sequined and rhinestone-heavy, Ric Flair put on a show no matter where he was in the arena. And it's this decadence and excess that attracted hip-hop artists like Offset to make songs in his honor. Because that is hip-hop: the flamboyance, the flashiness, the braggadocio. It's the announcement that one is here and (re)claiming a title before anything has been proven yet, because there is nothing to prove. When Offset speaks of his "Ric Flair Drip," there is no room for humility. You let the people know that you intend to be ostentatious with your persona. After all, how does one intend to become great by playing small?

🦕 Me: “I can't believe how much the internet is filled with lies.”
The internet: “Before we let you online, you clicked the box that said you read the Terms & Conditions. But did you really?”
Me:

Up ahead for Rubesletter subscribers: actors dancing, how art is like therapy, the base, the greatest bass player of all time, MAGA as mental health crisis, AI vs. your job, and more…