The Skeptics Guide #1091 - Jun 6 2026
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What is discussed at the start of this section?
You're listening to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. Your escape to reality.
Hello and welcome to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. Today is Thursday, June 4th, 2026, and this is your host, Stephen Novella. Joining me this week are Bob Novella.
Hey, everybody.
Cara Santamaria. Howdy. Jane Novella. Hey, guys. Evan Bernstein. Good evening, folks. And we have a very special guest this week who's going to join us for the whole show as a guest rogue, Christian Hubicki. Christian, welcome back to the SGU. It is great to be back as a guest rogue.
What an honor. It's great to chat with you all.
So in case anybody out there doesn't know, Christian, you are the director of Optimal Robotics Lab and an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Florida State University. And that's pretty much how you are best known to the world.
Would you agree with that? That's precisely right. 100% I agree with that. Without a doubt, no one knows me for anything else. So what's going on with the show?
I mean, incidentally, we could mention offhand that you were in two seasons of Survivor.
Who is Christian Hubicki and what is his connection to Survivor?
If anybody watches that show, I don't know. What's Survivor?
Yeah.
Is that still on?
No.
Not right now. Not just any two seasons. Just finishing season 50. 50. Yep.
Yep. They just keep making those. They just keep adding numbers. It's funny how numbers work. But yeah, they have been pumping out two seasons a year since 2000 with a one-year break for COVID. So I think just to, as mathematicians would say, 2026.
But season 50, that's probably the most special season ever yet. So it's an honor just to be on that season. I think it was just like, whoa, what a huge pat on the back, I think, clearly.
It was a lot of fun. I mean, it was quite a flattering call to get. I mean, there have been like 751 people who have played the show, but who's counting? And I think that it's a rarefied error that they even call you for consideration, but to actually be out there, it really felt like something special. I was out there with people that I watched on television when I was 14 years old when the first season came out. So I'm like, oh, I'm there with them. I'm on a beach with them. And I might have to vote them out tonight.
We'll see what happens.
Okay.
Did you have fun when you were on the show? Was that fun or was it really this massively stressful or both?
It is both, but it is extremely fun. There's a reason I went back two times. It's an incredibly intensive fun for a very particular type of psychotic person. What type is that? Well, Skeptics Guide Rogues, of course, is what I mean. That's what I mean. I'm sure we'll talk about it more later, but it is the kind of show that, for those who don't know, it's more than just a Naked and Afraid-style survival show. Not that there's anything wrong with that, except me being naked on television. I like those shows. But they're great. But like there's a strategy element to how you have to vote people off. It's a game of social politics of trying to get to the end without being voted off. And that emits this whole world of like high strategy and deception and like game theory and like multi-agent dynamics that tickles the roboticist in me.
And it tickles it good.
Yeah.
But you didn't get to bring any robots with you to the island, though.
Just on his shirt. Just on my shirt. Otherwise, you know, ironically, though, Steve, one of the things I was working when I first applied to be on Survivor, I was working in a robotics lab that specialized in walking on sand. And I was like, that was a nice little talking point. It's like, oh, yes. It's like, you know, this is your strategy for walking on sand. We run these kinds of algorithms for that. And you promptly lose energy.
everyone's attention on the island and just hope you aren't immediately consequence i gotta mention christian um early in the show when you made fire with the glasses oh boy i was like in heaven from seeing you do that it was so it was so awesome because you you clearly displayed science on the show and it was such a profound like you know making fire is awesome but you did it with like a you know like a rusty spoon and a rock you know i was like guy i've
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is discussed at the start of this section?
0:01–1:01
2
Who is Christian Hubicki and what is his connection to Survivor?
1:01–6:24
3
What unique skills does Christian bring to Survivor?
6:24–8:59
4
How does the science of Survivor relate to strategy and psychology?
8:59–1:13:07
5
What are the issues with expensive audio cables?
1:13:07–1:14:44
6
How do biases affect our perception of audio equipment?
1:14:44–1:16:36
7
What is the significance of room treatment in audio quality?
1:16:36–1:17:33
8
How does Survivor serve as a social experiment?
1:17:33–2:14:52