The Babylon Bee discusses life in the Metaverse, including going to church in the Metaverse, with Christian astrophysicist Dr. Jeff Zweerink from Reasons to Believe. The Bee also talks about everything else going in the writer's room and, of course, the notorious hate group, Westboro Baptist Church. This episode is brought to you by Private Internet Access. Get 83% off! Check out Dr. Jeff Zweerink's work at Reasons to Believe. This episode is also brought to you by ADF Legal. Join the fight! This episode is brought to you by Faithful Counseling! Kyle and Adam talk about this week at The Babylon Bee and also the hate group Westboro Baptist Church. They also discuss this week's banger article and this week's bomb. Adam brings Weakly News again. Listeners are also treated to The Bee's latest sketch about an Atheist Chaplain who has discovered the liberating message that everything is meaningless. Dr. Jeff Zweerink joins Kyle and Adam to talk about the Metaverse. Is it the next evolutionary leap for humanity? Is it the Mark of the Beast? If you get baptized in the Metaverse, and go to church in the Metaverse, does that mean when you die you go to Metaverse Heaven? In the spirit of Valentine's Day, The Bee Reads some love mail. Then the usual Hate Mail this week continues the epic saga of Sherry. In the subscriber-exclusive lounge, subscribers get access to the full Dr. Jeff Zweerink interview, get Subscriber Headlines of the Week, and bonus hate mail!
The Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl, but the real winner was the 30 to 40 year old white girls who got to rap along with Snoop Dogg.
The U.S. is suspending avocado imports from Mexico, meaning the price of avocado toast will now double to $427 a slice.
A souvenir eraser shaped like Van Gozier was deemed offensive.
Listen closely.
This is one story you've got to hear.
And the Westboro Baptist Church teaches us that fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
And hate leads to dementia.
Is the metaverse the mark of the beast?
Obviously.
But we ask a Christian astrophysicist about it anyway.
All this and more on the B weekly.
Welcome everyone to another exciting episode of the Babylon Bee Podcast.
This is the part of the show where we make awkward small talk about what we did this week and frantically rack our brains for what we did this week.
I just remembered that I did go to San Diego over the week and I think I had mentioned it's my 15-year wedding anniversary last Friday.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So congratulations.
We did that.
We did some fun stuff.
Wandered around, did the dueling pianos thing a couple times.
The dueling piano?
You know, dueling piano.
You guys fought each other on.
Yeah, we fought.
Yeah, right.
And we also went to a speakeasy, which was neat.
I'd never done anything like that before, so that was fun.
That is fun.
Didn't have any alcohol, of course, just went in.
It's not fair that there were bars that are speakeasy themed that closed during the pandemic.
Yeah, that's true.
That was your chance to be a speakeasy.
The one time you could actually be a speakeasy.
It just shows that they were all talk for all these years.
I know we tried to get into one the following night that actually had the little sliding thing where you have to say the password.
I didn't go to a speakeasy, but I did sneak into a bar that I was supposed to have a vax card to get into.
I was going down there and they told me I couldn't get in.
I was meeting some friends at a bar in downtown LA and I asked them before and I was like, are they checking vax cards?
And our friend was like, yeah, but I know the owner.
It'll be fine.
You'll get in.
So I went down there to meet them and it turned out my friend wasn't there yet.
So I went up to the door and they're like, no, you can't come in.
And I was like, well, I'll sit outside.
And they're like, we'll check with the manager.
So then they said no.
Then I started to walk away.
My friend comes up and he goes, oh, the back door is open.
And I was walking over.
I saw it's ajar.
So you should just act like you're leaving and going through the back.
So I did that.
And I went in to meet them at the table right as the hostess who just told me I couldn't come in was seating them at the table.
So I had to hide my face real quick until and sit down.
But that's how strict they're being about vax mandates in LA.
That's wild.
Was it Gutfeld that was telling us about the secret tunnel between the straight bar and the sidebar?
We'll just leave it at that.
For anyone who didn't go watch the Gutfeld interview, it was fascinating.
Yeah.
All right, let's do a Babylon Banger of the Week.
Banger of the week.
Jinsaki says everyone will have to show proof of vaccination before receiving a free crackpipe.
Last week was the week of crackpipe jokes.
I'm sure by the time this episode comes out, that'll be like two weeks old.
And it was kind of debunked, wasn't it?
It was like, there's parts of a pipe or something.
It sounds like it's true, but it's not like they were just buying crackpipes and handing them to people.
Yeah.
It was they're funding safe smoking kits that may or may not sometimes include crackpipes.
Yeah.
Although it was funny because then all the fact checks were like mostly false.
Yeah.
They're only funding kits that contain crackpipes.
They're only funding kits that have the pieces you need to make a crackpipe.
Can you 3D print a crackpipe like the Second Amendment people do for guns?
Oh, I don't know.
I imagine you could.
Let's give it a try.
We'll try it later.
Do it live on the podcast.
Our next segment will be 3D printing crackpipes.
And then we have the bomb of the week.
Bum of the week.
Adult has smoothie for lunch.
I like that one a lot.
Did that one, that one didn't do well?
Yeah, I guess I don't get it too much.
Is it just because, like, do kids generally drink smoothies?
Oh, I think it's just you feel like accomplished.
The way I took it is, like, I feel like I've eaten healthy if I had a smoothie for lunch.
Oh, okay.
Like, it's like I made an adult decision to have a smoothie.
But how do other people interpret it?
Well, I'm reading the copy of it here.
Uh-huh.
And it says, despite being a family.
I've never read one of the articles.
Yeah, it's true.
We actually have articles.
We only ever see kids come in here with their parents.
Smoothies are a yummy treat designed for small, adorable children without the maturity to handle solid smoothie.
You were right.
That was the angle, yeah.
So it didn't make sense.
Did you write the copy on this?
No, I didn't write the headline or the copy on this one.
Interesting.
It's one of those ones Joel snuck in while I was busy recording.
See, that's interesting because I guess they interpreted the way you did that it's like juvenile to make a smoothie.
Yeah.
And that's why it's the bomb of the week.
Because we don't even know what it's about.
Yeah.
And we run the baby LMP.
We should all agree that parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children.
But this right is under increasing attacks from public schools.
Many schools have enacted policies that allow students to change their name and pronouns at school without parental consent.
That's insane.
Sometimes they even hide it from the parents.
Some schools have enacted anti-racism policies based on the tenets of critical race theory.
The policies treat students differently based on race and compel students to affirm ideas contrary to their deeply held beliefs.
Indoctrinating students in ideas like these is wrong.
Treating students differently because of the color of their skin is wrong.
I'm just going to go out on a limb and say it.
Neglecting the fundamental rights parents have to raise their children is wrong.
Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom are challenging this indoctrination and threat to parental rights, but they can't do it alone.
They need your help.
Preserving parental rights protects the future of our children, and that is why it is vital that you join us in supporting ADF.
Just go to adflegal.org slash Babylon B and make a tax-deductible donation to ADF's Freedom Fund to ensure they have the resources necessary to continue their challenges in court all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
We've seen what happens when Americans stick together.
We can make a difference.
And with your gift to ADF, we can help protect parental rights.
Please go to adflegal.org slash Babylon B and make your donation today.
All right, well, there's some other weird stuff that happened this week, and let's turn to Adam Jenser with some weekly news.
It's time for the weekly news with Adam Jenser.
The Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl on Sunday, and to celebrate, fans began jumping on cars, setting off fireworks, and committing acts of vandalism.
In fact, downtown LA hadn't seen unruly behavior this bad since 7 p.m. the night before.
The Super Bowl halftime show featured Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and 50 Cent.
Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, has tested positive for COVID.
She should be fine since her doctor has been giving her horse medicine for years.
Did that have a punchline, the 50 Cent one?
Did I miss it?
Yes.
It's a brilliant joke.
I totally missed it.
After an inspector was threatened, the U.S. decided to suspend avocado imports from Mexico.
Luckily, we already have plenty of avocados, and they just went bad.
We'll now have to go back to living like it's 2010 before anyone in America cared about avocados.
You look like you were going to say something.
I don't get the 50 Cent joke.
What was the full slide?
Let's go read it again.
Go back to the...
Can we scroll back?
I just...
I just didn't.
Why is this funny?
We'll scroll back again.
The Super Bowl halftime show featured Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and 50 Cent.
Oh, is that the joke?
That's the whole joke?
Do you get the joke?
No, I don't.
All right, let's keep going.
Does anyone get the joke?
No.
Good.
If you get the joke, post it in the comments for Kyle.
Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer, and Regina Hall will co-host this year's Oscar ceremony.
They want to make sure that just like the best picture nominees, no one will watch them.
An art museum has removed a souvenir ear-shaped Van Gogh eraser from its gift shop over claims that it was insensitive, but you'll still be able to buy the stick-on Fritakalo Unibrow.
The remote North Sentinel Island, which is inhabited by violent natives, is now the last place on earth that is COVID-free.
In order to keep them safe, anyone who still supports mask mandates, please, please go there and try to convince them.
Justin Trudeau has announced that he will freeze private bank accounts linked to anti-mandate protesters.
Luckily, the bank accounts only hold that colorful Canadian play money.
According to the polls, Dr. Oz currently holds the lead in the Pennsylvania Senate race.
Dr. Oz then plans to run for wizard.
Following a brief suspension, Whoopee Goldberg returned to the view, and following a brief suspension, 50 Cent performed in the club.
Rapper Kodak Black was shot in the leg outside of a Justin Bieber concert in Los Angeles.
Kodak said it was excruciatingly painful.
Then Bieber stopped singing and he got shot.
That's it for the weekly news.
If you want to see more, check out the canceled news on my YouTube channel.
And come see me in India.
Where am I?
Indiana this weekend in South Bend, February 18th and 19th.
You sounded very sure that that's where you're performing this weekend.
It's time for our segment, Heroes of the Faith, and we actually have two this week.
And now it's time for this week's Heroes of the Faith.
This first one is a few months ago, Harvard added an atheist chaplain to their ranks.
And we have an exclusive statement from him that definitely not made up.
Hi, I'm the new head chaplain at Harvard University.
That college that's better than the one you went to.
And I'm an atheist.
My name is Greg Epstein, no relation.
And as chaplain, it's my job to provide support, guidance, and encouragement to Harvard students on their spiritual journey.
A journey that for me ended in nihilism and emptiness.
Although I myself am an atheist, I serve a multi-phase student body.
I'm happy to work with students who are Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or whatever other stupid they may believe.
A chaplain is defined as a religious representative serving a public institution.
And an atheist is defined as someone who is not religious.
So, needless to say, it's been a challenging role to fill.
But during the times when the job seems overwhelming or I don't feel like I'm up to the task, I remind myself that, you know, life is meaningless.
And one day, in an instant, I'll blink out of existence.
So none of it matters.
That positive thought gets me through those tough times, and I hope I can communicate that positivity to the young adults I serve.
While away at college, students may have their beliefs challenged or find themselves wondering if they're adhering to their values.
I try to remind them that their beliefs are merely a result of genetics and conditioning, so it's dumb to care.
Immorality doesn't exist.
Shame, guilt, sadness, or joy they feel are simply electrical signals bouncing between synapses.
So they should give up on their beliefs.
One of the toughest but most important times to be a chaplain is when the school experiences a tragedy and needs healing.
For instance, when one of our students or staff loses their life.
It's those times when the Harvard family needs to hear reassuring words like, come on, existence is terrible.
You're better off dead.
Since I am their chaplain, the students will often invite me to pray with them.
And I close my eyes and bow my head, you know, try not to laugh as they wind to their imaginary Skymen to help them with their finals or heal their grandmother or whatever.
Some of them pray for a really long time, and it gets boring.
So it's hard, but I do my best.
Once a week, the Baptist tour invites me to their Bible study, and I usually go because some of the chicks are hot.
I also provide over non-denominational secular gatherings every Saturday where I administer atheist communion, which is watermelon whiteclaw and flaming hot Cheetos.
I've heard people scoff at the idea of an atheist chaplain, but I'd like to see more atheists in religious positions.
We need atheist priests, atheist rabbis, and atheist Jim Jones.
Maybe even one day we'll even have an atheist pope.
But for now, I'm a trailblazer.
If I believed in blessings, I would truly be blessed to have this job.
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Just don't look at porn.
Well, that was refreshing.
My favorite part is when he pushed that poor student.
What a bully.
He's not just an atheist.
He bullies people.
That shot really got me because I wasn't involved in that shoot at all.
And when he's walking by and he's like, reaches out like he's going to do one of those pats on the shoulder.
And he just goes, Leslo, that's what an atheist would do.
It's so wonderful to meet you.
Cruel to people.
Oh, man.
All right.
Well, we have another Heroes of the Faith, and this is a group of people, Westboro Baptist Church.
Yeah.
So we're excited to talk about these guys.
I don't know that they're that in the public eye anymore.
In the late 90s, early 2000s, they were the ones that were famous for protesting anything, any gay event.
They protested military funerals, and they thought everything that was bad that was happening in the United States was all because the United States embraced homosexuality.
Yeah, that's weird, the stuff that they protested.
Yeah.
Because like you said, it was military funerals and like gay pride events and stuff, which you wouldn't normally think of.
Yeah.
And it was.
So it was founded by this guy, Fred Phelps.
And this church got a lot of media attention, but it was like this small, like independent church in Kansas.
It only had like 70 members, and they were all like somehow related to him.
But he was a minister and a disbarred attorney.
And I think when he, he was like, he was like a really bright kid.
I think he graduated, or he got his high school diploma at 16.
And then he went to college and then dropped out briefly because he had like, he was going to join the military, but then he had like a religious experience.
And then he moved to Kansas and got his law degree.
And he started out as like a social justice warrior kind of attorney that would represent a lot of black people in like civil rights cases.
And then he just sort of adopted this very like fundamentalist.
It was fundamentalist in that they hated homosexuals.
And they were also like hyper-Calvinist where they believed that people were just, there was like a small select group of people that God chose to save and everyone else was just damned to hell, no matter what.
Which is accurate.
Yeah.
But no, Dan, I don't know.
But yeah, these guys are super interesting to me.
But like you said, they were kind of a mainstay, you know, for a long time.
You saw them everywhere.
They got so much media attention for how small it was.
And it was basically just him and his family, right?
Yeah.
It was him and like his, I think it was his wife and his daughters would always appear in like news interviews, just like ranting and raving.
And I'd heard, I don't know if this is true and if you have it on here, but I heard a lot of their strategy was because he's a lawyer, they knew they knew how to provoke people, so they would like push him and then they could sue him.
Yes.
And that's like all their, because they would travel around all these protests and the church was getting money because they could like sue anyone who tried to like threaten their freedom of speech.
But this Fred Phelps guy, he had like a weird list of like groups of people that he hated.
It was like, so he hated gay people.
He also hated Catholics.
He hated Muslims.
He hated Australians.
And he hated the Irish.
That's such a eclectic group of people.
But the one person he did like, there were celebrities that he didn't like.
Like he hated Sonny Bono and Jon Stewart and Jerry Falwell.
But the one person he liked was Al Gore.
This guy was like a Democrat.
Like he ran for, Fred Phelps ran for office in Kansas as a Democrat like five times and lost every time.
But he endorsed Al Gore for president and was like a big Al Gore fan.
That's incredible.
Yeah.
So it says here that he and his church supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democratic primary, but later they picketed the inaugural ball because Gore had changed his views on gay rights.
He also demonstrated at the funerals of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and William Rhynquist.
So it's just kind of like the scattershot approach.
Yeah.
Protest everything.
And I also read at one point he sent a letter to Saddam Hussein thanking him for making Iraq the only Middle Eastern country where the gospel could be proclaimed or something.
So he had this very weird choice of people that he hated and people that he loved.
But I always thought it was weird.
There's a weird conspiracy theory.
And we asked that question on the podcast all the time.
Are there any like conspiracy theories like that you believe?
I've always been skeptical about like, maybe they were a real church, but it seemed like they were either like CIA plants or like they were at least like controlled opposition or something because during the whole like battle over like gay marriage in this country, the media would always hold them up as the example of like, this is who the people are that oppose gay marriage.
So it let them say, you know, that they were holding up these signs with gay slurs on them and picketing military funerals.
And they would go on like Fox News and just rant and rave and say angry things.
And it was very easy for the media to be like, this is who you're siding with if you don't.
Yeah.
It's definitely a convenient, like, I don't know if that's, what is that, controlled opposition or whatever.
If it's not like a CIA or FBI plan, then it's definitely just the media.
They exploited.
Yeah.
Because they were such a small church.
It's like they didn't have any real influence.
Yeah.
They wouldn't.
Nobody would even know.
Nobody cared who this small church was in Kansas, except that the media loved like shining the spotlight on them.
But then it was funny because as Fred Phelps got older.
There was like rumors that he was having like cognitive decline, like it was like possibly Alzheimer's or some sort of dementia or something.
But he started to soften on his views.
And at one point, there was a non-profit called Planting Peace, and they set up a cross from the Westboro Baptist Church with an LGBT rainbow flag.
And he came out to them and said, you're good people.
And then he was excommunicated from his own church for not for not hating people enough.
Oh, my gosh.
Insufficient levels of hate detected.
You're kicked out.
But it was funny.
I seen like a statement about their beliefs where Fred Phelps once said his interpretation was the Bible was you can't read the Bible without coming to the understanding that God hates people.
And he thought that was what was at the core of the Bible is that you're supposed to hate other people.
Yeah.
That's such a weird connection to make.
Yeah.
It's the opposite conclusion that so many other people reach.
And it's like, even if God does, you know, eventually pour out his wrath on people.
It's like, that doesn't mean that you're supposed to go hate on everybody.
I'm looking up some interesting facts about him now.
He served some jail sentences and he is also, he was banned from Great Britain.
They were barred from entering Britain while they were trying to go there to pick it.
Oh, he's a list of 16 individuals that were banned, including him and his daughter, it looks like.
But then I think later his Michael Savage also exists, but at least some of his family members and daughters have like since like left the church and spots.
There was an interesting thing where one of their one of their social media people was going online and like blasting people.
And then she started actually having conversations with people and found out like, oh, they're not all like these horrible people that I've been taught.
And you could watch online as her tone changed.
I get actually started interacting with people, which was cool.
Yeah.
I've seen cool documentaries about them where they like they go show their warehouse where they have all their signs and it's like organized by sin and cross-referenced by color and like I always thought about that.
Like it's funny that like, you know, they're a hate group and they went out with all these like hateful signs.
But you always imagine like the week before they're out there spreading their hate, they're like out there with their construction paper just making like colored glitter.
They're gluing construction paper together, making their hate signs.
Yeah.
I would say we should do a segment where we or we should continue on the segment here where we read some of the signs, but we probably can't.
They have a lot of, yeah.
I mean, there's some that are, one says, God sent the coronavirus in fury.
And then it says Deuteronomy 28, 58 to 61.
Is that a direct quote from there?
Yeah.
God hates your feelings.
God hates Obama.
I think Ben Shapiro said that.
Oh, yeah.
God hates your songs.
Oh, these are bad.
Yeah, a lot of them just have like gay slurs and stuff on them.
But again, it's like they said and did horrible things, but the media gave them like an inordinate amount of attention for it.
Yeah.
This one says, you will eat your babies.
I don't know what the message is.
Is there a Bible verse after that?
Yeah, there is, but I can't, it's cut off.
I can't read what the reference is.
I'm curious what that reference says.
You're going to hell.
That's pretty standard.
That seems pretty uninspired.
If you're just going to do it, you're going to.
There's one with a classic on that one.
They really phoned it in.
Israel is doomed.
And then there's one that says the beast.
And it shows Obama's head with a frog jumping out.
I forgot.
Yeah, they also hate Israel.
Yeah.
So they're not like this neo-like pretty much anything you name, they hate except Al Gore.
And eventually they hated him too.
Oh man.
Yeah, it's basically every tragedy they have something that's saying like, God did this because you're sinners like no matter what happens.
Yeah, it was everything.
It was AIDS was because of that.
9-11 was because of that.
Everything in their mind was because of that.
Did we read this one from their sign, Westboro Baptist Church?
COVID-19 equals God's trumpet.
Be warned of recompense for proud sin.
Ezekiel 33.
So, yeah, okay.
Yeah.
Well, good job, Westboro Baptist Faith.
Westboro Baptist Church, heroes of the faith, giving us all a good name.
Yeah.
And we really appreciate being the light of the world.
What a terrible example that the media can use to say this is what Christians are.
All right.
Well, we're going to now go talk to Dr. Jeff Zwierink.
How'd I do on the pronunciation there?
I think that's right.
He's been on our podcast before, and this time he's going to be talking about metaverse, which he's done some thinking on.
So we're going to talk to him about Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse.
He's a Christian astrophysicist.
He's like a really, really smart guy.
As a Christian, you know that God is always there for you.
But sometimes things in this life can get overwhelming.
It's a crazy time, especially with the pandemic and all that stuff.
It's important to speak to a counselor, but you definitely want to talk to one who shares your faith and values.
Online counseling from Faithful Counseling is there for you.
You have Christian counselors who share your faith, who can deal with crisis of faith issues, and just deal with normal stuff that every human deals with, like depression, stress, anxiety, relationships, all that kind of stuff.
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You can schedule a secure video chat with a counselor.
Everything you share is confidential.
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It's secure, convenient, professional, and affordable.
Listeners get 10% off your first month at faithfulcounseling.com slash Babylon B. Don't wait another minute.
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That's faithfulcounseling.com slash Babylon B.
And now for another interview on the Fee Weekly.
So we had you on before and we talked about a lot of stuff, apologetics and all kinds of good stuff that I'm not remembering 100% of what we talked about.
We did talk about a lot of people.
But we didn't talk about metaverse.
It really wasn't a big deal at the time.
I don't even know if it was announced yet at the time because we talked to you back like in the summer and maybe he had just kind of said meta.
We're now meta, but you know, this is kind of a recent thing that they're kind of pushing this whole VR thing as this metaverse thing.
But I don't know if it's, I mean, is metaverse just virtual reality or is it like, I don't really know what his grand vision is that we're all going to go to work and shop with these helmets on or something.
Well, the best I understand it, it is.
It's, you know, virtual reality is a part of that.
You know, and what's cool about the virtual reality is that when you engage in the digital platform, you can start to see.
It's a more immersive experience.
But I think the idea is, can you make technology where you actually touch and hear and smell?
And it's like, it's as close to the real world as you can get.
It's really wanting to mimic the real world experience, except without the physical limitations of needing to be in the place, if you will.
Yeah.
I find VR headsets are like really cool, you know, and to play games and stuff, it is kind of a really neat experience.
And I thought it was going to be kind of a gimmick, but when I first tried out, you know, the Oculus Quest and the HGC5 and stuff, I was like, oh, this could be the future of games.
Like, I could see this.
I don't think you'll ever lose like the classic, you know, sitting there with a controller type game, but it did feel kind of futuristic to me.
But you're right, there is something that it's almost an uncanny valley where you hit a point where it's not realistic enough because there isn't that sense of physics and moving around and smell and touch.
And I know they have some things like the haptic vest feedback.
I don't know if you've ever seen that, but like where you get shot in the game, it'll actually like punch the gesture or whatever.
Well, and it seems like you actually die.
Yeah, it seems like people want to develop that technology so that it does feel I'm a little, I've never actually done VR, but I have gone to places where you're kind of immersed in the screen and they're moving you around.
And what's odd about that is that I love roller coasters.
So I'll go out and ride roller coasters.
Unfortunately, I'm getting older and I can't do it as long as I'd like to anymore.
But there's something about the look at it on the screen and move me around type things that I end up getting headaches and feel bad.
And so I'm curious how I would do in virtual reality because there's something about what you're doing and what's actually happening that doesn't line up.
And I think my brain says, wait a second, I can't do that.
Yeah.
And I'm going to have problems.
Yeah, there's certain games, especially games that have a lot of motion, you know, where you like really think you should be moving and you're not.
Right.
That just really messes with, you know, you start to get sick.
We do have an Oculus Quest here.
We should have planned the segment where he tries to be our friend.
We could all be talking in the metaverse for this interview.
Well, the motion thing, I was asking them because one of our guys here was trying it earlier.
And like the characters don't have legs, like the avatars.
And he said that has something to do with like, like when you look down, it's like dizzying and you see like legs sliding along the grass.
So I guess that has something to do with like balancing.
You look down, my legs aren't there.
And it is true that there's a fairly large fraction of people.
I don't know.
I think it's something on the order of 25% that when they do VR stuff, they actually get nauseous and have a reaction.
So that's a little bit problematic for how popular the metaverse is envisioned to become.
There's going to be these haves and have-nots.
It is strange to me the shift, though.
Like I understand the appeal of, like you were saying, like when you're playing video games and it's this sort of diversion and it's fun.
What's weird about the metaverse is it seems like it's like this is becoming where you live and engage with other people and just do life.
It's not like you're just going on there.
Yeah.
Well, I think one of the things that people want to do in there, you know, and I see some really good uses of it.
You know, you could imagine you've got a company in California, it's very expensive to have people here.
You could now have your company where there's the actual interactions inside a room, the more realistic you can make it.
You can have that in-presence, interacting with people, have a very productive business meeting where Zoom, it's okay.
I mean, you can do the interaction at some level, but it just gives a little bit more of a community feel to a company where you no longer have to have everybody living in the same place to do it.
You know, if you need to be in a certain place to take care of your parents because they're older or something like that, you've got more flexibility.
So I do see a lot of things that people could do that are beneficial.
And I think there's a lot of people who have a business model that once you start get people start engaging in the metaverse, you could use that to make research or to make money.
And so I think it's an interesting idea.
I'm curious how we're going to end up using it and what the net outcome is going to be.
Yeah.
It does seem like you mentioned like 3D immersive movies and like simulators and stuff.
It seems like it's one of those things that they've tried a few times in different forms over the years and it always just becomes like a gimmick.
Like it kind of fun for a little while, but it never really takes off and becomes what meta now seems like it's doing is it has a chance to actually become this virtual world that people like interact in.
It is.
And I wonder what the difference is there.
I wonder some of it is, you know, if you go back 20, 30 years ago, the idea of carrying a phone around in your pocket was a little ludicrous.
You know, the people who did, you know, the occasional person who wanted to just order pizza on their way home from work, or it was a, I've got to travel a lot.
And so I've got that.
But really, it just wasn't a big deal.
But I got to say, at some marketing genius decided, hey, let's eat the cost of the phone for a while and get people to where they're used to using it.
And so you could upgrade the phone.
And there were all these free services that were offered.
And eventually, you know, now we are in a place where 30 years ago, I couldn't have imagined everybody wanting to carry around a phone, where now I can't imagine people not wanting to carry around a phone.
And so I don't know how you'd go about marketing or whether it'll play off.
But I think some of that is how do you get people engaged enough so that it becomes this is what people want to do.
And I don't think that's going to be a healthy thing to do, but I think I could see ways where it becomes this is what people want to engage.
And it is a similar tactic where they are, you know, they're selling the headset.
They got to be selling that at a loss, right?
Like 200, 300 bucks or whatever for technology that was thousands of dollars just a few years ago, you know, so they're really kind of getting in the door with that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
Well, and you see that kind of modeling.
I think that's what happened with a lot of social media platforms too.
It was like, here, just a way to connect and interact.
At some point, they realize, hey, we can't just, we got to be able to make money off of this somehow if you're going to have a successful business.
I mean, that's the way life works.
So is the Oculus Quest and Metaverse, is that the mark of the beast?
I don't think it's the mark of the beast.
I think no more than a hammer or a car is the mark of the beast.
I mean, there are tools out there we can use.
Are hammers and cars the mark of the beast?
Are they the mark of the beast?
No, cars and hammers are also not the mark of the beast either.
Checking things off.
You do put it on your forehead, right?
Yeah.
That's true.
And you hold the controller in your hand.
That is true.
I still don't think it's the mark of the beast.
We'll wait and see.
You haven't changed your mind yet.
Not yet.
Not yet.
Now, last time you were on, I think you spoke a little bit about evidence for that the universe had a creator.
Two of our recent guests, Elon Musk and Greg Gutfeld, both talked about this idea that we're living in a simulation, which is something I've heard before.
How do we know, like even if the universe is created, how do we know we're not already in some elaborate metaverse-like simulation?
Yeah, is there evidence for God that is specific to that this couldn't all be simulated already and tricking us?
Same evidence as a civilian.
It's really an interesting question, and it may surprise you to know that there are scientists who are out asking the question, how would we go about measuring that?
Because, you know, I mean, think of the kind of simulations we run.
There are always boundaries to the simulation.
And so if you could ask yourself the question, how would we detect the boundaries of our simulation?
You go ask the question, how could you detect the boundaries of the simulation if the universe is a simulation?
And that might show up in areas where you get down to small enough scales and the laws of physics don't behave a certain way.
Or, I mean, maybe even quantum mechanics is a measure of the edge of the simulation.
These are the sorts of ideas and that people are probing and wondering that question.
But there's a part of me that looks back, steps back at that as a Christian and just says, you know, at the end of the day, this isn't the ultimate reality.
This isn't where we're going to be.
And I think the world is very physical.
Metaverse is the ultimate reality.
That's where it's going to be.
No, I would say heaven is the ultimate reality.
But in a very, you know, I don't know, this may be pushing the language a little bit, but in some sense, God set up a simulation.
You know, he put us in this world.
It's not our final home.
It's not the permanent, but it has a purpose.
It's an arena where there's this battle between good and evil.
And are people going to follow God?
Are they going to rebel from God?
Are they going to follow Satan?
And at the end of the day, that simulation is going to be done and we're going to be in the new heaven and the new earth.
And so, you know, that question isn't as bizarre as it sounds at first glance.
And in some sense, Christianity describes it as though we're in a simulation.
And so I think it's a fascinating idea to think about.
And then like traveling and getting a job and stuff, that's like side quests.
Side quests.
Well, could be, yeah.
So a lot of people are using metaverse now to like, I don't know if a lot of people are, but there's videos of people going to church in the metaverse.
Does that count?
Do you only get to meta heaven if you go to meta church?
Well, I think, you know, I was just reading with my kids today.
We were reading through Psalm 1, and, you know, it talks about the difference between the righteous and the evil person.
And it talks about how blessed you are to not walk in the council of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.
But the righteous man's delight is in the law of the Lord.
And in his law, he meditates day and night.
And so I think you can be in the metaverse.
You can be on a Zoom call.
You can be watching a streaming event.
And you can be immersing yourself and meditating in the law of the Lord.
So I don't think there's anything wrong or, ooh, this is less than.
On the flip side, God's created us for relationships.
And so I, and he's created us for in-person physical relationships.
And so part of what he's challenged us and called us, and in fact commanded us to do, is to not forsake assembling together.
As good as virtual reality and all that stuff may get, it's not the same as being there in person.
And so I think if we're using that as a substitute for gathering together, that's problematic.
But I can listen to lots of cool people who know a lot about God's word by watching their sermons online.
That's just not a replacement for me going to church as well.
Yeah.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Thanks.
I've been practicing that one.
If you die in the metaverse, do you die in real life?
You know, I don't know how to answer that.
Part of what I'm thinking about is cool about the metaverse.
One of my bucket lists, and it won't happen in this universe because one, I can't get there and two, I'd die if it happened, is that I would love to be up close experiencing a supernova.
I mean, this is just a phenomenally huge, powerful explosion.
And I like, like, I just like stuff like that.
And so to be able to be up and witness a supernova.
And so I was actually thinking, what happens if you tried to do that in the metaverse?
You know, there's a part to where if you make the metaverse actually simulate reality, the types of physical responses, your suit and everything, would be enough to kill you because that's what the blast from the supernova is going to do.
So if you make things realistic enough to where you could overwhelm the senses, you could have heart attacks, those sorts of things, you could actually die from interacting in the metaverse.
But we're not meta people.
We're physical, real people.
So unless if you do something that makes you really die physically, the metaverse is just a playground.
So it's like the holodeck on Star Trek when the safety protocols would go down and they'd actually get hurt.
They'd actually get hurt.
Yeah.
Effectively, yeah, it would be like that.
Do you like Star Trek?
I do like Star Trek.
We might have talked about this last time.
I don't remember.
Yeah.
We always tend to veer into Star Trek.
Oh, yeah.
I'm odd.
And I don't know why exactly, but I like The Next Generation as the one that I tend to like.
That's my favorite.
Yeah.
And my favorite episode out of there is the one where Lieutenant Barkley gets exposed to the probe and then he ends up becoming really smart.
And he's had that scene where he's in the holodeck discussing with Einstein how relativity works.
And then he builds the interface, brain interface to the computer.
And they take him, you know, I thought that was one of my favorite episodes.
Okay.
Yeah.
I don't know why.
I had written down, what is your favorite Star Trek episode?
So really, you've taken away.
No, not really.
Like, I'd have been really impressed if I'd have done that.
It says here that you've talked about in the past that there was a spike in depression after Avatar came out.
Yeah, well, one of the things that is the blue people one, right?
Yeah, the blue people one.
And one of the things that happens and a concern that I have about engaging in something like the metaverse or this virtual reality is that you can make worlds that are bigger, better, or more stimulating than the real world.
And I remember when I was taking a vacation, we drove up to Yellowstone.
My folks met us up in Yellowstone.
And so we were up there.
And one of the things they did that one of the nights was the local astronomy club set up their telescopes so you could go out and look at objects in the heavens.
They had one on Saturn and one on Jupiter and some globular clusters.
And I was kind of interested to see how my parents and my family would react because my daily interaction is I get to see pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope that show all of these minute details of Saturn's rings.
And I know when you go look through that telescope, you're going to see a blob with a couple of ring, you know, maybe the ring around it, but that's about all you're going to get.
And so my comparison of what I'm used to seeing and what you see in the telescope are very, very different.
And if I'm used to seeing the rings and everything all the time, and then I get to see this blob, it's like, nah, interesting, but not that.
That's the, that's what I wonder if we're going to experience as we start getting into the metaverse.
If I can go to the Grand Canyon every day, well, my house is going to seem kind of uninteresting because it's not nearly as spectacular.
If I can build a world where colors are more vivid and the sensory input is more stimulating, that's kind of what you do when you're dealing with drugs is that it takes things and makes them bigger than what we're designed for.
And then normal ordinary life just seems depressing, dull, and you end up with problems with that.
And so I think that's a big concern that we need to think very carefully about in terms of how we're engaging the metaverse.
We're going to cause a lot of people to have a lot of problems.
That's probably what people said, though, when, like, the Super Mario Brothers came out on the Nintendo.
You know, this is going to be so realistic and crazy that people are going to...
But that's probably true of a lot of people with, like, video game addiction that...
What's hard?
That's a good point.
There are people who get addicted to it.
Yeah, and what's hard about that, I think, is that in the same way, like casino gambling, if these are metaverses are run by companies, there's an incentive to get people addicted financially and just as terms of how invested they are and that they keep going back.
Like, how do you, it seems like you can't let the companies regulate that themselves, but there's no real way for any government or anything to step in.
It's like, what, what keeps these things in check?
Well, I know in my wrestling, you're talking about the video games, my particular video games, I like the little Mario Kart type games.
And so they are brilliantly designed to get me addicted to them because not only do you race and do you win the cup, it's like, are you gold, silver, or bright?
You know, do you get the gold cup?
Okay, so you get the gold cup.
Ah, now I got it.
But did you get it with one star or two stars or three stars?
And then not only that, we can go race each track and you can race and see if you're faster than the ghost there.
And if you get fast enough, there's another.
There's all this little, there's always something more, always something more and being a little bit obsessive until you get everything.
And I found myself putting a lot of time into that.
And ultimately what stopped it is, fortunately, I started playing when was a little older and had a little bit of maturity and said, wait a second, this is not a healthy way to live and was able to step back and go do that.
But you're right.
There's not a overseeing body that says, ah, we've got how this will make sure all the regulations are there.
Ultimately, the people have to be strong enough to do that.
And we have to be wanting to take care of people so that we don't allow corporations need to not be wanting to take advantage of people and people want to be able to take care of other people.
There also seems like it'd be hard.
There's a temptation.
I've read about this even on social media already and how people are interacting online more.
People are, they're starting to care more about like their online identity takes primacy over their real life.
It's like, how much can I achieve and how popular or how influential can I be in this, you know, virtual realm?
And it's like, you know, whether they're getting out of shape, whether they're letting their real life relationships deteriorate.
It's like there's that temptation of just putting all you have into this like fake virtual world.
Right.
Well, I mean, that's essentially what Adam and what humanity has been doing since the dawn of time is that we're designed to be in relationship with God.
And Adam and Eve decided, ooh, hey, this is better than God.
And this is just the latest incarnation of the thing that we're saying, ooh, this is better than God, then we're going to pursue.
And what I find troubling about that is that, you know, I mean, there's some kind of historical money, power, status that are things that are out there.
But with this, this is kind of powerful and designed to prey on, it has psychological manipulation built into it, if you will.
And one of the things that I found as I was looking at just artificial intelligence, there's a lot of talk of when will artificial intelligence get better than the strongest, the best that humans can do, which misses a very important question of what happens when the artificial intelligence gets more powerful than the weakest of humanity.
Because that's when it's going to start manipulating and there's going to be a lot of damage done here before it ever gets up to where it can compete with the best of the best, if you will.
It'll get smarter than Kyle before it gets smarter than you.
And that's still a problem.
When it gets, I'm not going to answer that question because there's no good way to answer that.
What's your favorite version of Mario Kart and who's your favorite racer?
So we got Mario Kart Double Dash was actually one of my favorite.
I love the GameCube part.
I like Mario Kart Wii.
That's the one which I've spent the most time learning how to do.
I like Baby Park, you know, that little short one that has like eight laps and you go around real quick.
Yeah, the problem is, is you never know whether you're in first.
Well, I mean, you can read the first one.
That's why I like the chaos.
You like the chaos.
All right, yeah.
I like the rainbow roads.
The rainbow road is good, yeah.
I still have yet to beat the fast staff ghost on Rainbow Road on Mario Kart Wi.
And there was one time where I was just right there and something happened right at the last second and the fast staff passed me and I've never been able to replicate it.
So I'm still, it still bothers me to this day.
I can tell.
We should all agree that parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children.
But this right is under increasing attacks from public schools.
Many schools have enacted policies that allow students to change their name and pronouns at school without parental consent.
That's insane.
Sometimes they even hide it from the parents.
Some schools have enacted anti-racism policies based on the tenets of critical race theory.
The policies treat students differently based on race and compel students to affirm ideas contrary to their deeply held beliefs.
Indoctrinating students in ideas like these is wrong.
Treating students differently because of the color of their skin is wrong.
I'm just going to go out on a limb and say it.
Neglecting the fundamental rights parents have to raise their children is wrong.
Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom are challenging this indoctrination and threat to parental rights, but they can't do it alone.
They need your help.
Preserving parental rights protects the future of our children.
And that is why it is vital that you join us in supporting ADF.
Just go to adflegal.org slash Babylon B and make a tax-deductible donation to ADF's Freedom Fund to ensure they have the resources necessary to continue their challenges in court all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
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And so we usually do hate mail, but Valentine's Day is just behind us here.
So we're going to actually do some love mail.
This is from Adam's Not-So-Secret Admirer.
So this is someone named Chad Eric27.
Can we just do a hate mail instead?
How is Adam Jenser so sexy?
Three X's.
I don't know what you want me to say about this one.
How, Adam?
I was just asking a question.
Yeah.
Someone was saying that's a French name.
Is that true?
Or were they just pulling our leg there?
Chad Eric is a strange name for a girl.
Chadarie.
Chad Eric.
Other?
Oh, this is more love mail.
This isn't all about Adam.
That was the only crush on it.
Only one, probably a dude.
Or two dudes.
Chad and Eric.
Yes.
All right.
So here's one.
Woman driving alone in carpool lane claims preferred pronoun is they sketch when she refused to provide an ID but gladly gave medical records had me laughing on floors.
Holy crap, this is so good.
I'm glad that we had you laughing on floors.
I feel like she went to another house or another building just so she could laugh on a different floor.
This is from Michael Kennedy.
Brilliant and ballsy.
I dare say that it is reminiscent of SNL news parodies in the late 70s and at least 183 times funnier than that post-morn Norm McDonald SNL skits.
Keep up the good work, you comedic heroes.
Maybe a little bit of an exaggeration.
Yeah, maybe, maybe not today's so much.
Yeah.
And Major Kong, is there a word for laughing so hard your milk comes out your nose while simultaneously throwing up a little bit in your mouth?
And it got 14 likes.
14 other people thought that exact same thing.
Yes, there should be a word for that.
It said 14.
All right, but we do have some hate mail also.
Miss Adam Ford.
This is from Sherry, who we billed her for the service of explaining our jokes to her.
We tried to bill her $100 and she got mad.
This is a continued one, a continued hate mail.
Yeah.
So we replied, she said, just as a recap, she said our jokes were hurtful.
We said, why is it hurtful?
And she said, if you don't see why, I might have to unsubscribe from your site.
And then we said, please note that all joke explanations come at a cost.
We charge a fee of $100.
We'll be sending you an invoice.
And then she replied, so we have an update.
This is an update here.
You have no right to charge me for answering an email, she says.
I was a fan until this incident.
And then our glorious CEO, Seth Dylan, replies, dearest Sherry, it was a joke.
That's what we do here.
We make jokes.
Please be on the lookout for a second invoice for this latest joke explanation.
And we send her another $100 invoice.
And she says, how dare you try to charge me for answering an email?
I am not paying you and you can stuff it up your collective.
Donkey.
And then Seth says, we sent you the invoice as a joke.
It is funny.
Please clap.
And he used his own account.
Okay, so then she replies, not a joke in all appearances.
I don't care what you say.
And then Seth replies, it's the greatest joke we've ever made.
Just following up with you on this, if you'd like to receive a third joke explanation, we can offer you a bulk discount.
So instead of paying $300, we will bill you $250.
That is a savings of 16%.
Or we can give you a much larger package, 20 explanations for $1,000.
That works out to just $50 each.
We're just giving them away at this.
Let me know if either of those interest you both are great deals, in my opinion.
And then he replies, and then she blocked us.
I guess she blocked our email or something, so we can't select her anymore.
Which is very sad.
We should send a bill collector to her home.
If you've been wanting to do more man on the street stuff, yeah.
Oh, yeah, she should show up there.
All right.
Well, we love you, Sherry.
And we're going to move into our subscriber lounge where we have more of an interview with Dr. Jeff Swerink.
And we also got some more hate mail and subscriber headlines of the week.
Coming up next for Babylon Bee subscribers.
That is good.
Was there a female ref this year?
Yeah, well, there was last year, too.
We did a bunch of jokes about it.
Oh, okay.
Because they were making a huge deal about the first female.
And we just like to mock women whenever we can.
Catholic Church announces new patron saint of email.
Dude, bravo here's huge.
Say it.
Say it, Kyle.
Say it.
Saint Francis of Assisi.
Amazing.
This has been another edition of the Be Weekly from the dedicated team of certified fake news journalists you can trust here at the Babylon Bee.
Reminding you that someone out there knows something about Carmen.