TRAINER'S EYE #142 - "Sableye's Fury Swipes For Answers" ft. Jim Tickles

TRAINER'S EYE #142 - Jim Tickles

Jim Tickles: [00:00:00] I am Jim Tickles, and this is my Pokemon story. 

David Hernandez: welcome to As the Pokemon Ball Turns, where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez. I'm joined by Jim Tickles here to share his Pokemon story, his struggle with A DHD, Jim Tickles, welcome to as the Poker Ball Turns.

[00:01:00] Thank

Jim Tickles: you. It's great to be here.

David Hernandez: Absolutely, and appreciate when you reached out and messaged me about it, because I've always been a very huge mental health and disability advocate, because I've always felt that there's such a huge lack of knowledge and experience when it comes to this side of, in your case, A DHD. 

Jim Tickles: Yeah, I mean,

David Hernandez: I think.

Jim Tickles: A DHD in particular alongside a lot of other, different ways of perceiving the world, I guess, are, uh, really not very well understood, I think by most people. I don't think that's necessarily outta malice, it's just that sometimes the information just isn't there.

David Hernandez: In your experience, like what's the common misperceptions that you have experienced or maybe people think about when it comes to a DHD

Jim Tickles: Nine times outta 10. If I tell someone I have a DHD, they think it means pretty much just like I kind of have a hard time paying attention or I'm kind of jittery and like, while that's not [00:02:00] necessarily. Incorrect. I think it's a really oversimplified understanding of what A DHD is.

David Hernandez: so in some sense they say like, oh, because you just can't focus that maybe you're not disciplined enough and that you just need more

Jim Tickles: I

David Hernandez: to kind of develop that skill. Is that kind of how it comes across

Jim Tickles: a lot of the time, yes, it comes across, very much in a. You just haven't figured something out way in a, everybody's like that way. and I think partially that, that's just because if you don't have a DHD, it's pretty hard to really picture in your head how that feels. The same way. It's difficult for me to picture how everybody else feels.

David Hernandez: So I guess give us an insight, like what is it like, I guess in your mind, you know,

Jim Tickles: Um.

David Hernandez: for those who may not be familiar.

Jim Tickles: Yeah. I can't speak for everybody with a HD I'm not, sure how universal it is, but for my personal experience, it's not quite that I can't pay attention to things. in a lot of ways kind of the [00:03:00] opposite issue. I can't control necessarily very well what it is that I am paying attention to.

That part of my brain, as far as I understand it, is just not developed as much. So other parts of my brain, take over and do a lot more of the heavy lifting. And that just causes differences in, how my brain thinks about things. 'cause it is actually physically wired a little bit different.

David Hernandez: so? I guess just to gimme some insight. Say you're playing a Pokemon game, right? You're playing your

Jim Tickles: Yeah.

David Hernandez: Is it like that? Maybe you'll be distracted from what's going on within the Pokemon game to where you think of something completely different? Or is it just more of if something happens on the outside that you're immediately just gonna jump to it?

Jim Tickles: it's almost kind of the inverse where if Pokemon is the thing, if there's like a game that is really, really just catching my interest to where I wanna play it a lot, it's that I can't. Stop thinking about it or concentrating on it. It's that even when I am doing something that I [00:04:00] do enjoy, I'm thinking about that game.

I'm thinking about, oh, what am I gonna do next? How can I beat this next gym at the level I'm at? What Pokemon do I want to get? That kind of thing. and I can stop thinking about it. I guess it's not accurate to say I can't, it's more that it feels a little bit like holding your breath. It's like going underwater.

You know? You can for a while and if you practice at it, you can get better at it. but you're always gonna have to come up for air.

David Hernandez: I did love the visual you gave to where it's like holding your breath to

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: whatever it may be. It's like trying to focus with A DHD is like holding your breath and after you run outta breath, you can only hold your breath for so long. You can't help but focus on it.

And I think that's a very good to kind of bring it to the people who may not be familiar. 'cause I don't have a DHD, I'll be honest. I'm

Jim Tickles: Yeah.

David Hernandez: it because of the field I work in,

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: gave me just such a better insight on how y'all's minds work.

Jim Tickles: Right. [00:05:00] And it was kind of a revolution. I got diagnosed with a DHD very late. I was 16 years old when I got diagnosed, because I didn't really. At least when I was a kid, one of the only things they really looked for for a DHD in kids was the, hyperactivity, but specifically being a disruption in class.

And I was always hyperactive, but I was always a pretty quiet kid too. And, I think for lack of just really knowledge, Teachers and school staff didn't know to look for that as a DHD at that point. So it wasn't until I was 16 that I got diagnosed and it was kind of eye-opening to me that

David Hernandez: not

Jim Tickles: everyone's brain works the way mine does.

David Hernandez: It's like, oh, we're all think differently. Who would've thought, right?

Jim Tickles: Yeah, it's, it seems like such a simple thing and I thought I understood it at that point, but, uh, learning that I had a DHD and my brain is wired different than almost [00:06:00] anyone I've ever met, was really interesting. So I can definitely see how, having a, like not.

A DHD or not autism brain, how that can,

David Hernandez: like

Jim Tickles: how that feels, I guess.

David Hernandez: You know, you mentioned how we brought Pokemon to the example.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: has about Pokemon keeps you, I guess, focused or engaged? Like what do you enjoy about the franchise? Well,

Jim Tickles: I am a biologist. so I think it's from that same love of, I like looking at say a route and seeing what Pokemon Live where, and imagining how that would look if it was like real, if I was there and I could see them just like animals, what the world would look like. And that's always fascinated me since I was a little kid.

David Hernandez: really. So you've, uh, even when you were little, you had an interest in just animals. Would you like try to, I guess, pet 'em or like how far did this animal fascination when you were younger go

Jim Tickles: As far back as I can remember, I was always in love with some kind of [00:07:00] animal or another, whether it was when I was really little, I was a dinosaur kid and I just loved dinosaurs and I only ever wanted to talk about dinosaurs, and I just wanted to watch dinosaur documentaries all the time. and as I got older, it continued just with different animals.

It was bugs for a long time. Then it changed to like rodents for a little while, and now as an adult it's landed on a lot of sea animals. 

David Hernandez: what is the connection when it comes to Pokemon? 'cause? Obviously Pokemon is

Jim Tickles: Oh, right.

David Hernandez: When did you first start playing Pokemon?

Jim Tickles: the first time I played Pokemon, the first time I was ever exposed to the existence of Pokemon is before I remember, because I know there's pictures of me and my older sister watching Pokemon, uh, as very little kids. So it's at least in some way, been in my life. Since before I can remember, but the first time I think I un I knew what Pokemon were was when I was very young.

and a kid that was also [00:08:00] the little brother of someone that was at my sister's like Girl Scout brownies, I think it was meeting, and he had Pokemon cards and we just sat there and looked through the Pokemon cards. And not long after then my older cousins as a Christmas gift, gave me their old game boy color with Pokemon silver, gold, and yellow, and that was really where it started for me.

David Hernandez: That's awesome. So you got exposed to it through the trading card game, I guess, to where you were looking at the hins and. Or not the ho, I'm sorry. The holographics and the regular cards and trainers and energies, and then eventually, I guess that's a very generous family member that gave you this yellow, silver, and gold. Which one did you play out of those three to start out?

Jim Tickles: Well, I just looked at the pictures on all three covers, and Lugia looked really cool to me. So Pokemon Silver was the first Pokemon game I ever played.

David Hernandez: Wow. What do you remember about playing that game, like when you started turning it on and trying to pick your starter and everything?

Jim Tickles: I [00:09:00] remember just when I picked my starter, my first ever was Toad dial. 'cause I thought he was cute and I thought his sharp teeth looked cool. and I didn't really know anything about Pokemon. I think I had only kind of recently learned how to read. So I didn't really know what people were saying or anything, I guess it probably helped me to learn to read a little bit, but um, I just remember being fascinated with the fact that they just made a whole world and put whole new animals in here and I get to go find them.

David Hernandez: you said you didn't know how to read, so were you just like kind of just playing through it, not knowing what they're saying or.

Jim Tickles: I, I could read just not very well. I was able to like read and sound out the words. I wasn't always able to put together what it is they were saying. Uh, I was very young, but I was old enough to where I'd at least started learning how to read. 

David Hernandez: so when you played through, you know, silver, you didn't have that experience, obviously with Canto because you're playing silver. What

Jim Tickles: Right.

David Hernandez: about [00:10:00] playing the new version of the Canto region once you beat the Elite Four? Did you even make it that far?

Jim Tickles: I did, I remember I beat the Elite four. I, I won the, the whole, like you're the champion of Jodo region, and I was, I felt like king of the world. I had barely scap scraped by that win, by sacrificing my for alligator to use my one and only revive on my sea King.

David Hernandez: I.

Jim Tickles: and that was my winning play.

that was a big accomplishment for me. I had figured this game out and then I win. And not long after I learned there's just a whole other game. I'm only halfway done.

David Hernandez: It's a journey has just begun.

Jim Tickles: Yeah. And I remember walking into that first route on Canto, and it was that first trainer fight and. They out leveled me and I just beat the champion and I just, my brain was just, oh my God.

David Hernandez: There's more.

Jim Tickles: Another one,

David Hernandez: I'm guessing you [00:11:00] probably had to grind your levels a little bit, or did you actually beat the trainer? 'cause I mean, I'd be a little freaked out too. Like I'm still like people

Jim Tickles: I, I did beat the trainer. I did, uh, I believe I did it without any faints. At that point, I had figured out the game decently well, and I was a little bit too stubborn to grind out levels, especially as a kid.

David Hernandez: It's like I'm just gonna muscle through it. Revives be damned.

Jim Tickles: Yeah. I'm just gonna slam my head into this wall until either it gives or I do.

David Hernandez: That's how I always felt whenever I would play the champion and I'm like, I'm gonna figure a way to do this 'cause I don't want to have to go back and beat all the other four Elite four again. I'm gonna somehow use ever revive and Full Restore and somehow win. Of course, a pot twist. I never, something.

There was sometimes where it failed, but still I just didn't want to have to do it all over again. You know,

Jim Tickles: it wasn't until I believe, like Pokemon Black that I had the idea that I could save in between Elite four members. So every single game before then, I [00:12:00] just powered my way through in one shot every time. And I got really good at beating like those first two Elite four members by the time I beat the champion.

David Hernandez: Wow. So you just went straight No deaths, I guess to where if you lost, you just redid it again. Just kept going until you beat it over and over.

Jim Tickles: Yep. I would send it until I beat all five, all the Elite four plus champion in one shot. And it's not because I thought I was just that good, it's just that it never occurred to me to save the game between fights.

David Hernandez: it wouldn't be the first time. 'cause I've had some guests who didn't know they could save and he just restarted the game all over to begin with. So you wouldn't be the

Jim Tickles: Oh, no.

David Hernandez: Hey, I'm not, I mean, like I said, the Pokemon games were unique to where the safe file wasn't a given.

You know, we're

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: auto saving

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: you know, we're not used to actually having to save. That's what made it so unique and I can kind of

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: wouldn't save sometimes, you know?

Jim Tickles: Oh, absolutely. it wasn't till I was playing, I think I had [00:13:00] beat like my first gym or something on my first shot through, and it was a road trip with my family. I was in the backseat and my game boy colors, batteries died and I had not saved the game at all.

David Hernandez: You see it

Jim Tickles: So

David Hernandez: the co, the coach's getting a little more fainter and it's like, oh no. How much time do I really have?

Jim Tickles: yeah, I saw the light getting fainter and I thought, oh, it's fine. It's fine, it's fine. And I just didn't save.

David Hernandez: oh

Jim Tickles: the batteries died before I was ready and I just had to start the game back over.

David Hernandez: Oh, geez. That's gotta be painful.

Jim Tickles: Yeah.

David Hernandez: What are your favorite set? Do you have a particular set of games that are your favorite to kind of play?

Jim Tickles: My absolute favorite are the mystery Dungeon games. I love Pokemon Mystery Dungeon.

David Hernandez: Ooh. What about those that you enjoy over the main series?

Jim Tickles: Well, I think part of it is nostalgia. 'cause that's one of the first, like, when I first got my Ds, it was big gift to me. it was after Pokemon Diamond. It was like the next game that I played. and there's just something [00:14:00] about, it was explorers of darkness. there was just something about it.

That. I think it was that whole, like I love seeing Pokemon in the Wild and all that, and now there's no people getting in the way and now it's just Pokemon. And I think as a kid I really liked that.

David Hernandez: It makes sense because you know, there's always been that fascination for some people to like, what do Pokemon do when the humans aren't around? And I guess mystery dungeon does engage and tap into that idea. And I haven't played 'em personally myself, but I've always had heard good things about them.

Jim Tickles: They're a blast. Gameplay is unrecognizable from mainline Pokemon games, so, not a guarantee. Anyone that likes Pokemon will like mystery Dungeon. They're entirely different genres, but they are very good. It.

David Hernandez: you know, you engage with Pokemon because of your love for animals, and it

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: that love for animals has been consistent throughout how your whole life, do you

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: particular favorite Pokemon or maybe group of Pokemon that [00:15:00] you really enjoy?

Jim Tickles: Oh, it's hard for me to pick one favorite, but I really, really like

David Hernandez: save.

Jim Tickles: S Eye.

David Hernandez: Why save a alive?

Jim Tickles: Uh well, one, he's funny. He's a goofy little guy, and I think he's really cute, but also

David Hernandez: because.

Jim Tickles: I just think like as an animal, he's really interesting. He reminds me almost of like how some of our like ape cousins, behave in the wild where they're like intelligent and they have these highly specific diets and I think that it's just really interesting.

They made like a ghost cave gremlin guy that's diet is eating gemstones.

David Hernandez: It is so interesting 'cause I always have memories of it being one of the first Pokemon that didn't have a weakness at the time because ferry

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: And I always found that concept so cool to where this

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: can never take super effective attacks. Now, of course it didn't have the defense for it, but still that was just such a unique concept back in those days.

Jim Tickles: My first impression of that concept, 'cause I had missed, Gen three [00:16:00] Pokemon. I didn't have a Game Boy advanced. I went straight from the color to the ds.

David Hernandez: wow.

Jim Tickles: so my first ever experience with that no weakness was ome. And that one does have the defensive stats to back it up

David Hernandez: and

Jim Tickles: and yeah, pressure the defense to back it up and Cynthia leads with it.

David Hernandez: Yeah.

Jim Tickles: So I.

David Hernandez: That one.

Jim Tickles: one's also, I love Spirito, but when I learned that there's another one, and it's a goofy little funny guy that reminded me of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, I fell in love with him.

David Hernandez: Oh my gosh. That's such, I'm not gonna be able to get that away from you. It's, uh, s eye is a stitch shadow. Really? That's actually a very good

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: What about Mega S? What do you think about that one?

Jim Tickles: I love it. Um. I love the design. I think just making it a giant gym instead of him getting all big and scary 'cause that wouldn't really fit him. Like characteristically. It would be kind of weird on Save bli. I love that. Instead, they kind of kept him almost the same and just gave him a [00:17:00] big ass Ruby.

David Hernandez: yeah, it's like, oh, it's like, here's your reflection. I've always imagined it like taking your soul away almost.

Jim Tickles: Oh yeah, I love it. I love the concept of it. It leans a little bit more into his, like his ghost type stuff and with like his design and how he played, they lean into his, the idea that he's always been, well, fittingly, a prankster, he's always been like mischievous and that like, I feel like that mega design accentuated both the ghost and dark parts of Save I.

Without losing like what it was that made him interesting in the first place.

David Hernandez: That's a good way to point it. cause sometimes I feel like some Megas absol particularly I didn't care for, not that I didn't like the design, but I just didn't feel like it was a mega evolution. To me that seemed like it was more of an evolution.

It's always been the comparison I've had for the mega evolutions.

Jim Tickles: Yeah, mega Absol, like I love Absol. That's always, that's another one of my favorites. But Mega Absol, just, I don't dislike it. [00:18:00] It just always felt more like almost the difference between like a regional form before a regional form existed.

David Hernandez: Mm, 

Jim Tickles: it felt like different enough to be worth categorizing, but it didn't feel like a mega evolution where like megas to me seem like intentionally unsustainable or unnatural to like, not just like exaggerate on the design ideas of the original, but to like over exaggerate those ideas

David Hernandez: Right.

Jim Tickles: mega absol, to me at least, the design just doesn't really do that.

Commercial Break

[00:19:00]

David Hernandez: When it comes to just playing the Pokemon main tier games, do you identify more with a Pokemon that are within a region, or do you di identify more with the region itself? And if so, like which ones I guess stick out to you?

Jim Tickles: Oh, I think there's kind of both. I think they're both together. The Pokemon that are in a region, not just like the originals to it, but like. all of them that are found there is a big part of the appeal of the region to me. Like, you know, Eno wouldn't feel like Eno if the entire northern part wasn't covered in ice types.

Hoen wouldn't feel like Hoen if half the thing wasn't just water types. it's really hard to separate the two for me. But my favorite total, like together of them I think would have to be [00:20:00] the, it's really hard to beat Univa in that regard because it was like a soft reboot for Pokemon to where until after the elite forward champion.

Everything is a unique to there. So everything was designed and placed where it is with its environment in mind. I think the Univar region is fantastic.

David Hernandez: I think the new region's a very good example. 'cause you think about, you've got the parts where mostly it's forest.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: desert right there from what I remember. But a lot

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: like lakes and forest. You've got the big city. Just seems like

Jim Tickles: Yeah.

David Hernandez: roads

Jim Tickles: You, you have.

David Hernandez: go through in a here in the States and then just,

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: city separating it.

Jim Tickles: Exactly. It's, you have all different kinds of ecologies that you could ever imagine, whether like real or fantasy stuff. It's you have deserts and grasslands and big forests and like beaches and [00:21:00] rivers and lakes, and there's just anything you could want in the Univar region and every part of it.

The Pokemon that are there, feel designed for their environment in a way that you don't really see with any of the other regions, in my opinion.

David Hernandez: I think that's what I've always enjoyed because Novo was also the first region where you didn't need surf to beat the game.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: always bugged me in a, not in a way to where I would downplay it on a game or make it make me feel negative,

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: where cantos, I'll use canto. Since everybody, most people know Canto,

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: why. The trainer couldn't, especially over there by the, where the, uh, factory is, where Aptos is. Why

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: the little cliff, like even when

Jim Tickles: Yeah.

David Hernandez: it, but you have to go surf through all this with some imaginary barriers. It never made sense to me in that regard.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: what it did differently is it had the little puddles of water, especially when it rained.

It had the seasons and that world made more sense to where you wouldn't always go to a [00:22:00] random. Body of water that would just stop you.

Jim Tickles: it felt more like you were exploring in a way, walk, like going through Univa. It didn't feel like you, a route stopped feeling like a level and started feeling just like an area for you to look at.

not necessarily in a bad way, an area for you to look at and like experience, I guess would be it. but comparing it to canto where, you know, a lot of canto routes, they're kind of like putting you on rails through the thing. You have to go through this water.

You have to have something that knows surf. You have to go through this grass and fight this trainer. And in a lot of ways, Univa just to me, it, it was able to achieve the feeling that it wasn't like that.

David Hernandez: Now, I know you said you know, you hyper fixate with regards to animals and you know, you, you were maybe diagnosed with a DHD at the time of Pokemon black and white. How does Pokemon, I guess, help or maybe hinder your A DHD symptoms?

Jim Tickles: to me it feels like help, I guess, whether it's help or hinder, depends on who you ask. But to [00:23:00] me it always feels like it helps because I'm going to hyper fixate on something. There's nothing anyone can do about that.

and it just feels better to hyper fixate on something that has depth, I can really sink my teeth into it.

So it's just, feels good as an outlet for that need.

David Hernandez: and it also sounds like it, it's, guided your career path. 'cause you said you have a patient interest, or at least you're involved with biology in some way.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm, currently a student in biology. but yeah, Pokemon, I don't know if it guided me or if I liked it because I was already gonna go that way, but they're definitely related somehow. And I think it just had that same, I have that same love of discovery that I talked about with going through a route and thinking about how all the different Pokemon interact with each other and stuff, and I just have that same love for animals and

David Hernandez: Plants,

Jim Tickles: and fungi and whatever it is in the real world.

David Hernandez: you know, since you're studying biology [00:24:00] and you're learning concepts, I know you're not an expert, but have you ever like read something in like a biology book and immediately thought and be able to kind of connect it with Pokemon, and if so, can you give us an example?

Jim Tickles: Absolutely. whether it's the design of a specific Pokemon, just learning what it is, like sealant or relic cant, is very obviously the sealant than just learning about what the sealant is. It's a fish that they had found fossils of and thought had gone extinct until someone fished one up and turns out.

They're still here. and that's why they make like Relic Relic in its name being old, and that's why it's a rock type like the, uh, fossil,

David Hernandez: Mm-hmm.

Jim Tickles: Pokemon are because it's called like a living fossil.

David Hernandez: because you know, it sounds like it was one of those animals, or I guess Pokemon who didn't ex go extinct, like an almond dad or a Kabuto or any fossil Pokemon.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: went into maybe, I would say, hiding to where it was so far outside of [00:25:00] humans' reach to

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: until humans finally discovered it, they didn't realize like, oh, we thought y'all were gone, or maybe not even know that existed.

Jim Tickles: Yeah, absolutely. They seal cans in real life are fish that live in very deep, pretty cold Underwater oceans and like cliff faces and caves and stuff, very, very out of the way from where we go. so it's not really in hindsight that surprising that turns out they weren't extinct after all.

But, 'cause they had already found their fossils, they, they're only 50 million year old ones. But then, you know, there's other things that we can be pretty confident as scientists to the extent that you can be confident about anything, are a hundred percent extinct. Like no one's gonna discover living megalodons. they were shallow water apex, predators, and shallow parts of the water is exactly where humans are.

So someone would've seen one by now.

David Hernandez: [00:26:00] Either. Either they're hiding the biggest scientific discovery in all of the world. Yeah.

Jim Tickles: Yeah. Somehow there's a conspiracy of every person that has ever been to a beach,

is hiding the existence of megalodons. 

David Hernandez: I was curious 'cause you know, you come from a scientific perspective and for me, I think as an everyday person, even myself, I think there sometimes are misperceptions or distrust when it comes from the scientific field.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: In your opinion, when you see the public's distrust in science. Why do you think that is?

Jim Tickles: Uh, I think it, especially right now, distrust in science, it's not an accident. It is, cultivated, by interests who would rather be able to dismiss what scientists say because it's inconvenient. it's not profitable to scale back production because climate change is an issue. So it's better to silence those scientists or make sure people don't trust 'em when they talk.

and I like to use an [00:27:00] analogy to explain to people why that doesn't make sense. And if you were to ask anyone that doesn't ha really have trust in science, which there are valid reasons not to there. Uh, scientists throughout history and in the present there are scientists who have done some really evil things, but just like every profession, and I would compare it to your mechanic, your mechanic, there are mechanics that lie to people and steal from them.

you know, tell them that there's work that needs to be done when there isn't, just so that they can charge 'em. That's an outlier. That's the exception. If your mechanic tells you, sorry, your timing belt is completely broken, we're gonna have to replace that.

David Hernandez: most

Jim Tickles: people would probably trust their mechanic 'cause the mechanic knows more about cars than they do.

Not trusting scientists in their field of science is like. Assuming that you know your car better than the mechanic does 'cause Well, I have eyes. I can see the same car. You can.

David Hernandez: to [00:28:00] me. You know, to wrap it, to maybe compare it with Pokemon, it's almost like whenever

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: games that are announced come out and you see all the rumors that go on to where, oh, it's gonna be this legendary, or it's gonna be, this, Pokemon's gonna evolve into this,

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: doesn't become true, but. Just because those sources say it's wrong doesn't mean that say, SEBE or any other major source about Pokemon is wrong. Does that kind of maybe connect the dots in a way?

Jim Tickles: like when people speculate

David Hernandez: Yes.

Jim Tickles: about a game before it comes out, uh,

David Hernandez: you've got those

Jim Tickles: you're saying like.

David Hernandez: You've got sources who are like making shit up, and then you've got Sarah B and other major outlets who are actually authoritative figures in a way actually telling the truth.

Because in your example you're saying, oh, just because that this source is obviously lying doesn't mean that sebe iss not lying.

Jim Tickles: Yeah. Yeah. Right. it's, it's almost like that and like to. Put it on a specific example. [00:29:00] It's almost like before Pokemon X and Y came out and everyone was really excited for em. I think it was X and Y. It might've been Sun and Moon, but either way, it was one of those two

David Hernandez: Sure.

Jim Tickles: that came out, I remember that a demo came out and immediately it got data mind, completely killed.

All speculation because there was objectively, this is what is in the game file. This is the Pokemon that are in the game. 

And it's almost like comparing the speculation from before that data mine happens to the documentation of what people observed after the data mine happened. to where one just doesn't have evidence.

They're not even really talking about the same reality anymore.

I use that example specifically with the, uh, data mining because your average person doesn't know computers well enough to data mine. but there are people who do, there are people who have access to the hard data and can prove it, but to an extent, you kind of have to trust that they're not deceiving you.

And that's why I do to an extent understand [00:30:00] why people might have a hard time trusting scientists. 'cause it's hard to trust anybody.

David Hernandez: I guess, you know, on that topic, because you know you're con, you know, from a scientific field, what's your biggest, or what are, what concerns do you have the public doesn't learn to trust the scientist this mistrust continues?

Jim Tickles: Well, uh, I think it could be really harmful, um, particularly as climate change progresses, as. Global travel becomes more common and then pandemics become more common and severe. I think it's really important to listen to people who know what they're talking about because these issues are too big for common sense to work.

You have to study it. you can't look with your eyes and see that a hurricane's coming until it's already too late. You have to trust scientists to figure it out beforehand, and a lot of people don't realize that the weather is science, but it is, it's just as much science as biology [00:31:00] is.

Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: say, maybe doesn't have familiarity with science or maybe wants maybe the opposite side, they do and they want to get involved, what would you kind of suggest for somebody on either spec side of the spectrum?

Jim Tickles: Right. to me, I mentioned it briefly earlier. if you're interested in science, science to me isn't a career path. The same way art and

David Hernandez: spirituality,

Jim Tickles: aren't career paths. You can make all three of those into your profession, but that's not what defines what a scientist is. That's not what defines what an artist is.

A scientist is someone who engages in science,

David Hernandez: and

Jim Tickles: and so if you are interested. And you are willing to learn about science, and that means you're willing to understand the scientific method, understand what science is, and

David Hernandez: the most

Jim Tickles: the most important, the two important things to be a scientist. In my opinion, the only thing that it takes is having the curiosity to observe the world around you [00:32:00] and having the discipline to follow the evidence where it goes.

Sometimes the evidence doesn't go somewhere fun.

David Hernandez: but

Jim Tickles: as scientists, we follow the evidence. We don't lead the evidence,

David Hernandez: science

Jim Tickles: is really more, just a framework, a methodology of understanding the world around you. and doing that based on what we can observe, there's a whole hours long, conversation about philosophy you could have there.

And I only took intro to philosophy, so I am not capable of conversation,

David Hernandez: If you

Jim Tickles: but.

David Hernandez: reach out to me. I would love to have you on the podcast. We might be able to dive in

Jim Tickles: Oh, I, I would love to know more about philosophy, but I do know the foundations of, uh, scientific thinking come from the origin of materialistic thinking. if you think about how the world came to be around you, if you are, this is not me bashing. religion in any way. By the way, uh,

David Hernandez: Yeah.

Jim Tickles: is just how scientific thinking developed as a way to say there are other ways to think about the world than [00:33:00] spiritually.

materialistic views of the world is where that is where naturalistic, I think is what they're called. But, um, how do you explain the natural world if your answer is the supernatural? That's great. How do you explain the supernatural? You're only left with the super supernatural or the super, super supernatural, and it's a endless feedback loop.

So the,

David Hernandez: might.

Jim Tickles: line of thinking led to, well, the only explanations we can really definitively have for the natural world must be inside the natural world. So science doesn't necessarily say that that can't be true, that, uh, supernatural things can't be true. But science isn't interested. In investigating whether they are or not in the first place, because it's built specifically to not have to investigate that.

David Hernandez: It's in, in a way, if we bring it back to Pokemon,

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: of promotes that in a sense because again, Pokemon is built on. You know, connection is also [00:34:00] built on the idea of evolution to where

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: up something, it more, although I know it's not exact evolution, I think it's more of, um, I forget what the word it's called, but it's, you know, more of

Jim Tickles: It would be a,

David Hernandez: I think that's probably what it is.

Jim Tickles: it would really, what happens in Pokemon, if we're bringing it to the real world, it's a le it's more boring. It's just like a kid evolves into an adult.

David Hernandez: right.

Jim Tickles: It's uh,

David Hernandez: what I was thinking to where,

Jim Tickles: mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: when, you know, most people start in either gen one or gen two.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: You start in canto

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: and if all you believe is what you see in Canto, miss everything else. You

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: of Jo to and then reliving that experience to go back to Canto.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: the opportunity of going to Hoen and seeing all the islands. You

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: of going to Seno and experiencing the legendaries of time and space and the whole idea of Garina. You miss

Jim Tickles: Yeah.

David Hernandez: with all the big cities

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: out on other opportunities. That doesn't dismiss what Canto [00:35:00] was.

Canto was the foundation.

Jim Tickles: Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: the other Pokemon, I would argue, or the other games further enhance your appreciation if you really love that canto experience.

Jim Tickles: Right, right. It's just giving yourself access to all the experience and thought and angles of looking at it that you can get, because you could play every single region that Pokemon has ever played. That doesn't make canto any worse, and it never stops you from going back and just playing canto again.

But you might find something you like even better.

David Hernandez: tickles, thank you for coming on as the pickleball turns. Before we go, I wanna ask this last question to close off the show.

Jim Tickles: All right.

David Hernandez: If you could bring a team of six Pokemon

Jim Tickles: Oh.

David Hernandez: battle, what?

Six Pokemon would you choose,

Jim Tickles: Ooh, it's to a battle. Ooh, well I gotta take gastro on. Uh, that's another one of my favorites. And just so happens to be pretty good. Uh.[00:36:00]

David Hernandez: the, was it the blue or the pink one?

Jim Tickles: Ooh, I love both. If it was shallow, so I say pink, if it's gastro on, I say blue.

so I take gastro on. my favorites don't tend to be very strong, so I'm gonna get stopped, but I don't care.

David Hernandez: no. This is your favorites. This is your dream team.

Jim Tickles: Yeah, I think mimic you has gotta be on there too. I.

David Hernandez: I love miq.

Jim Tickles: I am a big fan of Mimic U I've never been a fan of like the Pikachu clone. Well, that's not true. I've love, I've always loved Amalga too, but, uh, that's the only one.

and I know Mimic U isn't like technically the Gen seven Pikachu clone. That's to get a Maru, but it's kind of another Pikachu clone. but yeah. Anyway, uh, mimic you, I'd have to have Sab I, uh, I would have, I guess if, if I'm allowed to do mega evolution that's he's holding his mega stone,

David Hernandez: Yes.

Jim Tickles: let's see.

Another not so strong one. But if I had the opportunity to see a real life survivor and didn't take it, I would never forgive myself.

David Hernandez: Ooh, that's a [00:37:00] spicy one. I like that. Yeah, that's an,

Jim Tickles: gotta take Survivor.

David Hernandez: that's an underappreciated Pokemon, in my opinion.

Jim Tickles: Oh, absolutely. I think Survivor is so underrated. I think it's so cool.

for sure not underrated power wise.

David Hernandez: is true.

Jim Tickles: Um,

David Hernandez: could use a buff. Yeah. Yeah.

Jim Tickles: yeah, I, I'm fine with it being weak.

I'll use it anyway.

Oh, who else? Being kind of a gen four loyalist. It's gotta be chump. And I love Nover and I have since the moment I've seen him, so that would have to be my six.