It’s Not Rocket Surgery Episode 279 – the INRS crew make their predictions for 2021 (with a new, more complex scoring system), and had little time to discuss the latest in science, tech, and geek news.

INRS Episode 279 – the INRS crew make their science, tech, and geek predictions for 2021, and may also find some time to discuss the latest news. Tune-in & join-in @ usual time/places – @NorthWestFMMelb @tunein or https://t.co/iunVBON2GO pic.twitter.com/5aC1azQf48

— RcktSrgry (@RcktSrgry) January 17, 2021

Download Ep.279 (77MB)

Songs Played:

Wellerman – The Longest John

Bad Guy – The Interrupters

Skibidi – Little Big

Sunny – Bonny M

In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company – The Dead South

Think About Things – Daði Freyr

*Podcast also contains Podfix Network Promos for:

2 Girls on a Bench (twogirlsonabench.podbean.com/)*

Scoring

• Each person starts with 10 credits
• Person makes a prediction
• Everyone rates the prediction a 1. Low, 2. Medium, or 3. High difficulty, and the prediction is given a difficulty rating (d) of the rounded average of the ratings
• Person making the prediction MUST wager (w) at least 1 credit, but can choose to add 1 or 2 extra credits
• Non-predictors can choose to wager 1 or 2 credits if they agree, or 1 if they disagree
• Any unspent credits can be spent at the conclusion, but only 1 credit on any prediction
• Score (S) will be calculated based on the wager (w), multiplied by two (2) to the power of the difficulty rating (d) i.e. S = w * 2^d
• Wagers made on disagreeing with a prediction will Score 1pt

Example:

• eg. Someone predicts intelligent life will be found on the moon, and it’s given a 3. high difficulty rating. The predictor wagers 2 credits, one person wagers 1 on it coming true, and the other wagers on it not coming true.
• If the prediction is correct: The predictor will get 2 * 2^3 = 16pts, the person that agreed will get 1 * 2^3 = 8pts, and the person that disagreed will get 0pts
• If the prediction is incorrect: The predictor and the person that agreed will get 0 pts, and the person that disagreed with get 1pt

The Predictions:

Details:

Wild Card

Andrew [14m 26s] – Rupert Murdoch and Henry Kissinger will survive 2021 (Difficulty: 2; Wagers: Andrew 1, Tony 2, Vlado 2)

Vlado [19m 45s] – Trump will do jail time in 2021 (Difficulty: 3; Wagers: Andrew -1, Vlado 1 )

Tony [23m 09s] – Kamala Harris will be President (Difficulty: 2; Wagers: Tony 1, Vlado 1)

Tiny Tech

Vlado [29m 15s] – Xenobots will be used to deliver cancer drugs (Difficulty: 2, Wagers: Vlado 1)

Tony [33m 25s] – New Particle will be discovered (Difficulty: 2, Wagers: Tony 1)

Andrew [37m 06s] – No new pharmacological treatments will be announced for human use within 5 years (Difficulty: 2; Wagers: Andrew 1)

Tech Trends

Tony [49m 00s] – Major hack will bring down Xbox and Playstation servers (Difficulty: 2, Wagers: Andrew 1, Tony 1)

Andrew [51m 05s] – Spot from Boston Dynamics will make an appearance and be utilised in a protest, against or by protesters (Difficulty: 2, Wagers: Andrew 2)

Vlado [56m 22s] – Facebook will be broken up by regulators (Difficulty: 2, Wagers: Tony -1, Vlado 1)

Space

Andrew [60m 55s] – All Mars missions arriving in Feb will be a success, with no craft loses (Difficulty: 1, Wagers: Andrew 1, Tony -1)

Vlado [65m 00s] – Two out of the three missions to Mars arriving in Feb will fail (Difficulty: 1, Wagers: Vlado 1)

Tony [68m 30s] – ISS accident resulting in major repair or abandonment (Difficulty: 2, Wagers: Andrew -1, Tony 1)

Entertainment

Vlado [72m 50s] – No white candidates will win an Oscar in the “Big 3″ categories (Difficulty: 2, Wagers: Vlado 1)

Tony [78m 10s] – Gozilla vs King Kong will do worst than the previous Godzilla and King Kong movies in the series (Difficulty: 1, Wagers: Andrew 1, Tony 1)

Andrew [79m 40s] – All Oscar winners in the

Big 3” categories will be first-time winners and at least will be a person of colour (Difficulty: 1, Wagers: Andrew 1, Tony 1, Vlado 2)