Recently I started watching My Little Pony: Friendship as Magic on the recommendation of numerous friends. It has been entertaining for the most part, but in episode 15, I hit a problem.
The main character, Twilight Sparkle, is an avid intellectual, who is constantly reading and learning about the magic of the world. In episode 15, a friend of hers, Pinkie Pie, reveals a strange talent for divination: When something is about to fall, her tail twitches. Various other manifestations also exist, in excruciating detail.
Twilight Sparkle is very unhappy with this "unscientific" state of affairs. She attempts (to my delight) to do Science to Pinkie Pie, however her attempts to do Science are frustratingly foiled; in large part because her experiments ignore the nature of the phenomenon.
After watching and being frustrated by this episode, I decided that it would be more fun to come up with better experiments that would cut to the core of the issue and really investigate the subject.
My first idea was, if Pinkie Pie's tail twitches when something falls, place Pinkie Pie in a room. In a room next to her, drop things, and have someone else record her responses and timing.
Once you can reliably predict and cause tail twitches, try holding her tail still. See if, say, the rest of her body starts shaking, or the thing stops falling. See if the twitches return if she is asleep. See how far away you can make something fall and still get a reaction.
The list could continue forever! What ideas do you have? You're welcome to seek out and watch the episode, and give experiments that would apply well to Pinkie Pie in particular, or just consider the idea that someone claims that their arm twitches noticeably when something is about to fall, and has used their twitchy arm to accurately predict several falling objects for you, in an uncontrolled setting. How would you Do Science to them (assuming their full cooperation)?
EDIT: it occurred to me immediately after submitting that "Experimental design" would have been a better title beginning that "Rationality exercise," but assuming the RSS issues are unresolved I will not change it.
I started to watch it but the main thing I got from sampling the first episode was a reminder of the vast psychological divide that separates me from the pre-adolescent girls that the show appears to be aimed at, a divide even deeper and wider than the one that separates me from fans of Twilight. I have put the show on hold until someone, anyone, demonstrates that the repeated mentions of the show are for good reason. An example of such a demonstration would be a summary of one episode which makes an interesting, nontrivial point that is not about coloring or naming ponies, combing their hair, the magic of friendship, or other topics of interest to a limited audience, and that would sufficiently compensate for the cost of sitting through a little girl's toy media tie in.
Superstimulus? It's ridiculously cute without crossing into saccharine. More cute than anything in real life can be.
Anyway, if you don't understand the "why" of its popularity, shouldn't that make you more interested in studying it and figuring out an explanation for your confusion?
Well, I guess the show begins with an explanation of how if you begin with a PR.ogrammed IN.tellect of C.ausal-E.vidential S.entient S.upervision that has as its utility function L.engthen U.tility (N.ighttime A.verage), you'll end up having it seek to eliminate the existence of daytime, because otherwise diurnal creatures will be using up the nighttime for primarily low-fun activities (like sleeping).
You need to use the elements of Friendliness to restrain such minds.
That's a bit non-obvious to the average viewer.