Catch-22

So my fact wasn't in the episode, but it came from Joshua's book that's associated with the Game League of the Lexicon.

And it's that Joseph Heller's Catch-22 was originally called Catch-18.

Ha! Yeah, they changed it because another book called Mila, I think it was called Mila 18 or Milia 18.

I can't remember.

What did I do? What should I have done? What will be expected next time? How can I prevent this from happening again? And because there is rarely a complete answer, the search can continue long after the conversation has ended.

And this is where the Catch-22 metaphor becomes especially powerful.

Yossarian is trapped in a system where the requirement for release is always changing.

He cannot complete enough missions because the number keeps increasing.

But within other organisations, maybe not so much because they have unconscious biases.

Were you surprised your book intersected with Joseph Heller's Catch-22 in parts?

Yes, I've always tried to avoid reading that book because it's too depressing.

I've got through a few chapters.

You know, I was just there.

So think of that and then go and ask for help.

We noted the intersection with Joseph Heller's Catch-22, the end of last section, you branching that mythological depth of the humanness of it all.

I'm reading The Iliad at the moment by Homer, and you definitely do hit the nail on the head.

I will make it about money, mate, and I will make it Jack Bogle's comments about the story he tells about enough.

And I will butcher the story, but Kurt Vonnegut and Catch-22 Ryder, whose name escapes me, please help me, Chris, because I've lost it entirely.

Anyway, they're in the room at a hedge fund manager's party.

And there's a hedge fund billionaire over in the corner.

Joseph Heller, thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Turns to Joseph Heller and he says to Heller, that guy over there made more money today than you've ever made in your entire life through royalties on Catch-22.

Famous book for those who don't know it.

Potentially it's the only rational thing to do.

I mean, if you ever read Joseph Heller's Catch 22, right? Like, you know you have intrusive thoughts, you know bad things will happen if you voice those or y- you know, your life will drastically change if you voice those, whether that be, you know, having to go into a hospital or inpatient only or whatever, right? So then isn't it more rational to withhold them? But then you're not getting the help, so you're kind of in a weird...

Again, not defending Lindsay or the hospital or the hotline or whatever, it's just think about the things.

Yeah.

And so here's a quote out of that book, Ben.

At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal Joseph Heller that their host, the hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history.

Heller responds, yes, but I have something he will never have.

Enough.