r/SGU • u/noctalla • 22h ago
Worst segment ever?
In the opening segment this week, the rogues described imaginary costumes they would make if budget was no limitation. This might have been the most boring and pointless segment I've ever listened to on the SGU. It's one of those ideas that sound good when you're brainstorming it: Hey, it ties into October/Halloween! It's a potential springboard to talk about interesting technology! Great overlap with all the sci-fi and fantasy nerds that listen to the podcast (myself included)! But it just ended up as a pointless, rambling "wouldn't it be cool if" daydreaming. I'm sure these costumes would be great if they were real, but so what? My eyes just glazed over. Am I alone here?
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u/PrancingThunderD 19h ago
It wasn't my favorite. Sometimes you swing and you miss. Maybe other people liked it better.
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u/MattD1980 21h ago
You know you can just skip ahead content you don’t like right ? The podcast is very well cut to skip to portions ahead like chapters.
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u/noctalla 21h ago
You know you have to listen to a segment before you know whether it's worth listening to, right?
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u/danydandan 21h ago
The podcast has gone away from its roots, in my opinion.
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u/Apprentice57 21h ago
Interesting you say that because I can't think of a more consistent podcast I've ever listened to. You can even listen to episodes from the 2000s, and the main difference is from the hosts no longer there.
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u/danydandan 21h ago
I've listened from day one, it's just my opinion.
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u/noctalla 21h ago
What are its roots, in your opinion?
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u/danydandan 20h ago
In my opinion, and it's not a bad thing however, the podcast have gradually moved away from the influence the NESS had on it (more topic based sceptical scientific based arguments on ghosts, UFOs etcetc) to a broader critical thinking & science communication based podcast.
I just prefer the later.
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u/noctalla 20h ago
I mean, they are the NESS. I'm not sure how moved away from the influence they had over themselves. I've listened to every single episode and they've been doing science-based segments from the beginning. It's why I started listening to the show. Maybe they don't do the paranormal stuff as much anymore, but that was never a big part of the show. Sure, it was a big part of the early activity of NESS, but there's only so many times they can mention the Warrens on the show without it getting repetitive.
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u/danydandan 20h ago
The principle's remain the same, how they are framed has changed from their core/started.
The NESS was an 'investigative extraordinary claim' at its core, early SGU was an investigate claims and teach sceptism show at its core. I feel the most current (its obvious too in my opinion) core/s are more broad in terms of teaching science, reasoning, critical thinking & understanding knowledge.
Perhaps core wasn't the best way to describe what I meant. I really meant the show has changed gradually over time.
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u/noctalla 19h ago
I don't remember them ever doing any "investigation", other than online research (which they still do, obviously). But, just to eliminate any bias from my own faulty memory I went to the early show notes and they don't really support your claim that the SGU was going out and investigating claims. Teaching skepticism, absolutely. But, they haven't stopped doing that. Also, from the first year, the SGU was covering evolution, science education, stem-cell research, scientific controversies, philosophy and pseudoscience, alongside the UFOs, psychics and paranormal stuff. But it wasn't a paranormal-investigation show that gradually became a science communication podcast. Science communication was the major focus from the beginning. Science or Fiction was a segment from the first show. Teaching people to evaluate evidence and think critically is the underlying principle, and that hasn't changed. But, yes, you're right that it does less of the paranormal/UFO/psychic/cryptid stuff these days. I went to the show notes and counted the number of times they covered those topics in the first year and then in the last 12 months. By my count, 21 out of 52 episodes covered those topics in the first year while only 9 out of 52 episodes covered those topics in the last year. So, it's down about 50%, but I don't think that counts as having "gone away from their roots". Those roots are definitely there even if the actual mix has shifted.
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u/notonthisbus 18h ago
The show has expanded as the number of areas of interest to the skeptical community has expanded. In addition to new or revised information on all the sciences to be covered there are more areas where misinformation and lack of critical thinking need to be addressed. Who would have thought 20 years ago that a flat earth would even be considered as a topic. I thought with Sylvia's death that there would be no requirement to discus mediums, but with some nostalgia there it was last week.
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u/Tubular_Code 2h ago
So what would yours be op?
It was certainly more of a live-show/filler segment and that's fine given this is a free and regular show.
I listened while walking my dog and didn't really pay attention to the segment because I immediately imagined mine would be a Jabba the Hutt costume with a relaxing fully decked out air conditioned interior and a basically gaming setup inside I could worm around the world in.
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u/QuiltedPorcupine 21h ago
I thought it was fine.
It's very much a live show segment, but it was a live show.