Episode 2: Prophecies, Predictions, and Oracles

[originally posted to Patreon on 29/5/25]

TRANSCRIPT:

Frankie: Seer, predictions, prophesies. When was the last time you had a prophecy given to you?

Sari: I don't even think I've had one.

F: I've had not very nice ones. You're going to be such a disappointment.It has come true, though. 

S: You're going to be together. You're going to be alone forever.

F: Yeah, that one so far for you has really worked out.

S: I've done that.. I've predicted that to other people. You're going to die alone. 

F: Wow. Not nice, but- No, not nice. But you don't have to go all the way to an Oracle in Greece to make some prophecy.

S: But it's like, prophesies don't exist that much anymore. It's predicting shit. The stock market is going to increase, inflation is going to increase by 2% or something like that, which I guess works in a stable world.

F: The Broncos are going to win the Super Bowl.

S: Yeah, I guess. But I wonder if there used to be, I don't know, different stuff. Maybe it's always at the beginnings of things. You have a child and you go, This one is going to be the smart one, or this one is going to be a doctor.

F: This one is going to kill his father and marry his mother.

S: Well, yeah, they used to do shit like that. Even in the Disney story, it's always at the beginning of it. It's almost the thing that moves the narrative, moves the action forward. Without it, nothing would have happened.

F: I think as a literary tool, It's definitely very prevalent. But people used to go to Delphi for real in real life and ask for a prophecy, an oracle, a question, and that That bitch was high on some whatever, some gasses coming up from the Earth and would give out these things. But I think the reason we don't have them so much is because you would seek them from a person of knowledge who would have a connection to some higher power. In an age of technology and science and advancement, there is no higher power to ask.

S: It has to do with legitimacy, right? Why does this individual have access to some information that we don't have? Yeah.

F: How do you get that information? I mean, the clear parallel, which would be an interesting thing to explore in art, is an AI prophecy machine. You know what I mean? That analyzes behaviors and data of recordings of whatever. And from that, you can ask it a prophetic question, and it would give you an answer, or it would just dole them out randomly.

S: But I guess what I'm saying, even if it doles them out randomly, but people believe in it because they think it's AI and there's lots of data behind it. Because let's say, I don't know, they tried to... There's lots of these political predictions. I've read some papers that go, We can predict up to 80% accuracy, which is fucking bullshit. No one predicted any of the conflicts that happened recently. But just saying it, almost, If you go, I don't know, in 2001, you go, Oh, this think tank thinks that there will be war in Iraq. You're just putting the story out there and then backing it with some legitimate source. We have something similar in Lebanon where it's like, I think due to the instability, I think that predictions and instability come together. Because if it's predictable and you know there's not going to be war next year, no one's talking about it. But then because of all the instability, we have New Year's people going like, Oh, next year, I don't know. They name specific politicians. This politician is going to have a really bad Friday or something like that. Then when something happens, they dig out these prophecies and go, See, we told you so.

F: I wonder as well if those predictions very individual focus. You know what I mean? But also it sounds like there's a bit of this self-fulfilling prophecy.

S: Yeah. I don't think it's just a literary thing. I think once someone tells you that this is going to happen to you, it directs your, I don't know, your consciousness. You're a hippie, this manifestation, this shit.

F: It puts out the law of attraction It's like, let me let it happen.

S: Something like that. I believe that somehow.

F: I didn't expect that from you. 

S: I didn't expect that from myself either, but I see it more. It's like when you get a dog and you start seeing dogs, it's like what you think- 

F: Because there's dogs living in your house. You're like, What are these dogs. 

S: Yeah. All of a sudden everyone's getting a dog, but it's just about what you're looking at. I do think that a prediction like that, especially about something important, will definitely direct your, I don't know, action, thoughts, and then somehow make it happen or make the complete opposite happen. But either way, the starting point is the actual prediction.

F: Going back to your 2001 example, somebody says, Oh, there's going to be war in Iraq. It almost makes the... Then, say, the American public hears something like It makes them more willing to get behind the idea of war.

S: Because it was prophesized. Someone already knew it a year ago, and it's already in your consciousness. Because before that, if you just go, Oh, we're going to war with Iraq, everyone would be like, What the fuck are you talking about? Why does it have to be a prediction? This is just me spitballing. Does a prediction work better than a statement?

F: I think so because there's a sense of, like we were saying for a higher power and legitimacy. Even if you're not saying what that is specifically, there's still a like, There's something else rather than some random guy with a microphone thinks that this thing's had.

S: Even like a fortune cookie. You want to believe...

F: Part of you always leaves a fortune cookie. You're like, my lucky number is 7, 12, and 28.

S: Or I should let go a bit more of my anxieties. Thank you, fortune cookie.

F: Like, your true love will have brownish, greenish, bluish eyes. And you're like, God, they definitely will, won't they?

S: How did you know? I wonder who fucking writes them, these fortune cookies.

F: The fortune cookies?

S: Yeah.

F: These days, it's probably AI. I mean, I would have loved to have been a seer.

S: You're still too young for it. 

F: What? 

S: What I mean is that there's still your whole life ahead of you. You can start doing that on birthdays, on New Year's. I guess also giving- Just doling out prophecy.

F: Absolutely. Yeah, that's true. What's to stop me from just doling out prophecy?

S: Yeah. If people want it or don't want it, you're just- It doesn't matter. You want one of your friends to, I don't know, move somewhere or change their job and you just go next year, I think things are going to happen in your job. Just be careful or something like that. I'm just going to start doing that. But also, if When you say, I see it for you, you know that it's your intention. It's like, I dreamt of you changing your job. It was so real dream. Something particular happened sometime in August, and then I always have these prophetic dreams. Something like that. I think we should start utilizing these prophecies.

F: Great. Should we start right now? For you, I see an embarrassing toilet accident happening.

S: Again, we said, if something's stable and predictable, that's not really a prophecy anymore. I have toilet accidents all the time.

F: That's true. You will find a steady, committed, stable relationship. I guess got to be within the realm of possibility.

S: That's probably the thing. Too crazy.

F: Too out there. Yeah, it's sci-fi.

S: But I guess it could be also like... This is pointed if you want someone to do something. It could be vague shit. Beware the man with the black hat.

F: Yellow is going to feature heavily next month.

S: Something like that. Then I wonder if they just start wearing yellow shit or they're afraid of people wearing yellow.

F: I'm just going to start doing it on birthdays. Write in a birthday card and be like, My prediction for your year.

S: Yeah, absolutely. Think once you give it the significant date, it's a birthday, it's, I don't know, New Year's, anniversary, something like that, it also gives it a bit more weight.

F: When it came to the Oracle, they would ask a question.

S: Yeah, but then that means it needs to be solicited. We're unsolicited. We're working on the unsolicited prophecy, pushing your intentions onto someone else through the medium of prophecy. 

F: I feel like I need to, I don't know, get dressed as like a hag and wander around the streets and just see what comes. You know what I mean? It's hard to, like, find the inspiration when you're not in the right outfit.

S: I feel that. Honestly, and also imagine, like, being, you know, I don't know, drunk one day on a Glasgow Street and, like, a weird hag looking lady comes up and just says something to you and fucks off.You know?

F: It would be me in the reflection of a window, doing it to myself. But I know I see what you're getting at there. I'll be like, woah.

S: Oh, god. 

F: Also context. You know? Yeah. 

S: Yeah. That would be pretty great. Because they do the whole smoke and mirrors shit again, to give themselves legitimacy. Right? Like, I communicate with higher powers, or I know some things. 

F: Know something. That's the beauty of a crystal ball, I think. Because it's not telling you anything, but it's something to stare at while you really think of something good. You're like, right. Oh god. You're gonna go grey early?No. That's just a crystal ball.

S:  I saw I saw this this, like, German show, and they have prediction. And it's just a lady with her cards. And someone calls her and goes, like, is my relationship gonna be okay? And she shuffles the cards, puts them out, and just goes, nine. That's it. 

F: No explanation. 

S: She just says no. You know? So, like, prophecies, because I would've expected the solicited ones to always try to give the person what they want. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Like, they go, am I gonna get my funding? Am I gonna get a visa? And you go, it's gonna be difficult, but you shall acquire a visa. And then they just go, no. Imagine. And then you stop trying or something like that.

F: Yeah. It also is one of those things of, like, being like, do you have to be a psychic? Mhmm. Do you have to be a medium? Mhmm. Do you have to have some connection with a higher power? Or can you just be like, well, I just have a strong intuition? 

S: I think, like, for people to believe it'll be more like a higher power. Do you know the difference between a seer and a soothsayer and a and a, like, predictor? 

F: Well, I think the last one's not a real thing. No. A seer 

S: Sees the future. 

F: Yeah. It it's like things become clear whether they're doing that maybe through, like, entrails or crystal balls or

S: You went for entrails first.

F: Yeah. Yeah. Entrails first also. Or cards or whatever maybe. Mhmm. Whereas a soothsayer sooth comes from the sacred root of truth. Oh. Truth forsooth means for truth. 

S: I thought it was, like, to soothe someone's worries or something like that.

F: No they dont give a shit about soothing, it's just that speaking truth. So that can come from, like, there's, like, a seer feels like the answers they answer questions. A soothsayer, it feel more like just doling out predictions. There's no questions involved. It's just like this is the truth that I have received.

S: Is it like a prediction, or could it be like, you know, capitalism is bad? Like, they see the truth, you know, or something like that. 

F: Could be something like you know, instead of it being a prediction, maybe it's something that, like, happened in the past. Because prediction implies life's future Mhmm. Whereas I feel like a soothsayer could be like, your wife's having an affair. Or like the the the dog that you murdered as an eight year old. Everybody knows about it.

S: Oh my god. How did you know about the dog I murdered? 

F: Fido is coming back.

S: Oh my god. 

F: So I don't know. Something like that. Soothsayer, seers, oracles Oracle. There you go.

S: That was it Oracle, not predictor

F: Oracle feels like a question answer. Uh-huh. Right? Like, you ask them a question, and they answer it. A seer, maybe there doesn't need to be a question. But look, man. I'm I'm only at the beginning of my seeing journey. 

S: Do you think you they just, like, sit there and, like, write shit down that comes into their head and go, like, I'll use this at some point, or is it just off the cuff? 

F: Do they, like, meditate? Mhmm. And then they're like, clear my mind, and then this thing's really strong idea has come into my head. 

S: Well, that's out for me. I don't know how to clear my mind. 

F: There's nothing in there. 

S: True. Just clutter. 

F: Just clutter. I've I think I'd probably go for, like, a I've got a higher power that's telling you know what I mean? Like, I've outsourced it to somebody else. That way people couldn't argue with me. I'd be like, look. I'm just the messenger. 

S: Don't shoot the messenger, man. 

F: Just the goblin in my head tells me these things that I I think it's my need to pass it on. Mhmm. Those shoes are ugly. That's what the goblins say.

S: Mhmm. Mhmm. 

F: Well, that’s soothsaying, bitch. You got soothsayed. 

S: You got soothed.

F: You got oracled. No. You got seen. You've been seen, son.

S: Some people just appreciate being seen. 

F: Oh god. I don't wanna see anyone. Well, yeah. 

S; Well, you know, I predict that.

F: Yeah. Let's hear our predictions. 

S: People are gonna think that this is stupid. 

F: Wow. I don't think Soviets are meant to be soothsayers

S: Too self-deprecating.

F: Yeah. You're just like they just all they're seeing is the worst. You know what I mean? You need a balance. Mhmm. Bro, get back into that get into those Arab roots and see, like, you know, the glorious future of 

S: Arabs are down the blank. Are notoriously very optimistic now. Yeah. Yeah. It's a very it's a very good time to be Arab.

F: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I have noticed that. You know, for sure. Mhmm. Let's see. What do I predict for let's say let's do predictions for the next year. Okay. 

S: Okay.

F: So for the next year, I predict the, social, economic, and spiritual collapse of The United States Of America. 

S: Nice. 

F: Yeah. Yeah. For you?

S: But, you know, like, my dad and his commie friends have been predicting that for fifty years. 

F: Okay. I got news for your dad and his commie friends. They have no mana. They have no magic. They have no abilities to predict things. 

S: That's right. 

F: Look. I'm you know, I think they would actually be offended if they suddenly, like, absorbed some sort of mystic abilities. They'd be like, what the fuck? But the world is only pain and suffering. Right? Right. With drinking in between. You know?

S: I was I was also I liked your prediction last year that, you know, all bad people are just gonna go to jail. Bad people are all going to jail. Yeah. We're gonna get, like, big, you know, like, Israel is gonna go to jail. America is gonna go to jail.

F: America is gonna go to jail. 

S: Just all of it. 

F: All the big baddies. Bad boys going to jail.

S: Big jail.

F: Yeah. Yeah. The the the justice system The systems will work out. Uh-huh. They are completely weighted fairly.

S: Uh-huh. 

F: And they're gonna do their jobs. 

S: It's gonna be good. You know, people are gonna live a leisurely, non stressful Yeah. Predictable life.

F: People are gonna come together. There'll be no more war. Mhmm. There'll be no more

S: I feel like that’s likely 

F: There'll be no more, like, reality singing competition. There'll be 

S: Frankie versus Eurovision.

F: Dude, I have issues with Eurovision. So, yeah, that'll be the first one on my list. Mhmm. Yeah. Everybody's big bad boys going to jail.

S: Mhmm. 

F: And everybody live happily ever after. 

S: I need to work on my predictions game, I think. 

F: Yeah. For real. Come on. Come on. Try try one,  here at the end, give us a good a good prediction. 

S: Okay. I predict that the dolphins and the whales are gonna rise up and take over the seas again.

F: Yeah. And to be fair, that's a good one because we've been seeing some evidence of it with the orcas sinking the yachts. Mhmm. I mean, they say that that billionaire submarine just, like, malfunctioned, but what if it there was a deep you know, a giant squid just nabbed it and dragged it down? 

S: We need more, billionaires that just 

F: To die via sea.

S: Yeah. They just believe in their in their own scam, you know, because everything seems like a scam now. 

F: Well, they need to be there needs to be more hubris being dulled out. That's what it is. 

S: Absolutely.

F: Dolphins, all all sea life just decides to dole out hubris to everybody. 

S: Beware, Echerus. It shall be your downfall. 

F: I mean, he it was kind of the sun was his downfall, but he fell into the sea. 

S: I suppose, 

F: you know, Can't wear wax and wings, my friend.

S: Right. So, we'll be back next year with more predictions. When America has fallen, big bad boys go to jail, and the dolphins are our new overlords. 

F: Could be yeah. I think I see good things for 2026.

S: Same. Should do a dolphin outro. 

F: That's like a horse.