In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: Here's How the Average American Household Spends Its Money This Is the 1930s Novel that Described Sci-Fi Tropes Decades Before Anyone Else https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/525304.Star_Maker Some People Are Born With Their Organs Reversed Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/american-spending-habits-reversed-organs-and-the-sci-fi-predictions-of-star-maker
CODY GOUGH: Hi. We've got three stories from curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today you'll learn about a novel that describes science fiction tropes decades before anyone else, how the average American household spends its money, and why some people are born with their organs reversed.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity. All right, Ashley, what percent of your income would you guess you spend on food?
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, gosh, too much.
CODY GOUGH: If you had to throw in a number, any idea?
ASHLEY HAMER: 10%, 15%.
CODY GOUGH: 10%, 15%. OK, all right, that's about in line with the average American.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, OK.
CODY GOUGH: Curiosity today wrote about how the average American household spends its money. And we got this info from a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which looked at data from 2016. And they found some changes in spending habits from the previous year.
So you can get all these numbers on curiosity.com or on the Curiosity app for Android or iOS. But where does most of the money go? Housing. If you're the average American, then that's 25% of your spending. Next is actually transportation at 12% of your spending, then food at 10%.
The study also looked at spending compared to the previous year. And in 2016, the average Americans spent more than they did in 2015 on every category but two, transportation and apparel and services. Sorry if you manufacture t-shirts.
There's one thing that really stands out, and that's cash contributions to charity. The average American household spent more than $2,000 on cash contributions to charity in 2016. And that's an increase from the previous year of 14.4%. That's nearly double the next highest spending increase. So people spent way more, more money in 2016 than 2015 on any other category.
So why so much? There are two interesting theories. First there's a thing called rage philanthropy. 100 days after the 2016 presidential election, Democratic voters said they planned to give about 50% more than they usually would.
But according to MarketWatch, that might have been a relatively small factor. They say the increase is because of a well-known phenomenon, donations increase when the economy improves. And at the end of 2016, the stock market was higher than ever. Either way, giving to charity is good so no complaints here.
ASHLEY HAMER: I did look into that for the election of Obama, if the reverse was true, if Republicans donated more to charity. And they didn't, but the economy was the worst it's been. We were in a recession. So that kind of lines up with what MarketWatch was saying.
CODY GOUGH: There you go.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, speaking of how you spend your money, want to save some money on groceries? Well, we've got a special offer from today's sponsor whose mission is to make healthy living easy and affordable for everyone. That means you can save money on your food and groceries.
CODY GOUGH: That would be great because I've been on a tea kick lately. And I'm spending probably way too much money on Yogi brand's tea, which I'm sure you've heard of.
ASHLEY HAMER: I have.
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On Thrive Market you can get a full pound bag of cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, all sorts of nuts for up to 44% off the price you'd usually find in your local store.
CODY GOUGH: Man, you're going nuts for those snacks.
ASHLEY HAMER: I am.
CODY GOUGH: Well, you can save money on your next grocery trip by going to thrivemarket.com/curiosity and get 25% off your first order, plus a free 30 day trial. No code necessary. Discount apply to checkout.
ASHLEY HAMER: Thrive Market's prices are already up to 50% off. On top of that, Curiosity Podcast listeners can visit thrivemarket.com/curiosity to get 25% off your first order plus a free 30 day trial. Everybody wins.
CODY GOUGH: Sign up today.
ASHLEY HAMER: OK, Cody, I know you're a big sci-fi nerd. What science fiction do you think most accurately predicted the world we live in today?
CODY GOUGH: I mean, Star Trek immediately comes to mind, right with communicators and iPads and all that stuff.
ASHLEY HAMER: Sure, but we're also not living on starships.
CODY GOUGH: Yet.
ASHLEY HAMER: I would say that the sci-fi book that nailed it is one from 1937. I've talked about this before on the podcast, and how obsessed I am with it. And today we wrote about it on curiosity.com. It's called Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. And it predicted a ton of stuff.
The book is about a human who finds himself transported out of his body, and onto a journey through the cosmos. He learns the true history of the universe while he's traveling through time and space.
Along the way he runs into lots of different civilizations, some are utopian, others have self destructed. But every time he meets a new one, he telepathically merges with one of its beings until he's a collection of consciousnesses that travels freely through the cosmos.
Eventually he meets the star maker, the creator of the universe who sees all the suffering in the universe as necessary in the big picture of things. If that sounds pretty deep, that's because Olaf Stapledon was a philosopher and psychology lecturer at Liverpool University.
It said that he was actually disappointed to learn that his book was classified as science fiction and not philosophy. But it's had a major impact. Theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson cited the book and a scientific paper, writer Jorge Luis Borges called it a prodigious novel.
So, obviously, it predicted the Dyson sphere, which we've talked about on this show before. But it also introduced the idea of alternate dimensions or a multiverse. Star Maker also includes a version of the prime directive from Star Trek, which is the guiding principle of the Federation that says not to interfere with the natural development of alien civilizations.
And then there are also themes of panpsychism, the overview effect, and other far-reaching concepts. It's all in a book with fewer than 300 pages, which was written before the invention of Velcro. I highly recommend it, so we'll include a link to buy it in today's show notes.
CODY GOUGH: All right, Ashley, which side of your body is your heart on?
ASHLEY HAMER: The left, right?
CODY GOUGH: Usually, but that's actually not always the case. Today you'll learn why because Curiosity wrote about a rare genetic disorder called situs inversus. It's a one in 10,000 condition that puts all of your organs on the opposite side of your body. Your heart leans towards the right instead of your left, your liver is on the left instead of the right, and your spleen is where your liver should be.
The thing is your organs will probably work just fine. You might not even realize there's a problem unless you go searching for a heartbeat with a stethoscope and you can't pin down where it's supposed to be.
People with this condition can live a perfectly healthy life. But there's one catch, if they end up needing an organ transplant, that organ might be facing the wrong way, not fun. But here's a fun fact, Enrique Iglesias, Catherine O'Hara, and Donny Osmond, all have situs inversus. In fact, Donny Osmond's doctor almost didn't diagnose him with appendicitis because he didn't expect the appendix to be on the left.
You can read more about this condition, and some of its other medical quirks, in addition to some pop culture context, on curiosity.com and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS. Coming up this weekend, we have even more great articles coming your way in addition to our first ever Sunday edition of this podcast. Ashley, what can people read about this weekend?
ASHLEY HAMER: Saturday you'll learn about how you can stress your bones to strengthen them, a traditional deep sea canoe that went around the world without a compass, and why scientists taught a jumping spider to jump on command, and more.
CODY GOUGH: Plus, like I already mentioned, you can now catch this podcast six days a week. And this weekend you'll be able to hear our first ever Sunday edition. They'll be a couple of minutes longer than usual, and the perfect way to start your Sunday, or end it, or listen to whenever. Tune and actually you may learn something new in a super casual fun format that we are sure you will enjoy.
ASHLEY HAMER: And if there's something you're curious about, then email us a question about anything at all and I might answer it on Sunday's episode. Just send it to podcast@curiosity.com, and we'll try to satisfy your curiosity.
CODY GOUGH: And if you have a suggestion for this Ashley answers segment, email that to us as well to podcast@curiosity.com. Join us again Sunday to learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Have a great weekend. And stay curious.
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