Genius finds its level no matter what profession the smart guy happens to be in. Brian May is another great guitar player with a stratospheric IQ. I remember seeing the Doobie Brothers around 1976 with Skunk sitting, literally sitting, right in the middle of the stage playing his virtuouso guitar. Who knew about his virtuoso mind? Interesting guy.
Thank you first for the music, that in itself is enough to inspire me. But what I'm learning about myself lately is never paint myself into a box that everyone expects you to be in.. I bet you felt the same way, don't know what box to be in. Without your talent and insight at my advanced age, who knows, maybe I'll wake up to the enlightenment I've always avoided... I will always aspire to be different and take advantage of gifts I have that I never fully appreciated. Rock on!
So how does he figure all this out with no technical background, and probably only highschool math? I think I now get why he is such a great guitar player.
he studied classical music for years of course, and went to pretty good high school which had it's share of really smart people, and then went to school in the late 60s in boston, when wild atuff was happening, among other things, but IIRC he started with a really good brain. rREe the different versions of my old school.... if you run into him, ask him about what he did to his school alma mater. a bunch of old grads had conniption fits! (one of my favorite musical memories!
I worked in the same studio complex that Jeff had a studio in, in the late 90’s. He was the nicest/coolest guys you could ever imagine to know. Talented, ego-less and a giver.
This may be the first time I have heard someone accurately describe the science behind music in an easy to understand way (36 min mark or so). This should be a required watch for every up and coming musician.
the main thing to understand about this guy is he is a monster guitar player not a great guitar player A MONSTER the point is making music uses your brain in a way that's not your everyday mode in REAL TIME alot like john boyd flying a fighter jet its a good thing to do for your brain
Oversimplification... It's not just music, but a history of taking psychedelics ALSO helps you think and develop in revolutionary, diverse/eclectic ways... A kind of multilateral thinking... Meditation also helps.
I knew of Jeff Baxter since I was a child, mostly because of the Doobie Brothers appearance on What’s Happening and his unique look, which I thought was cool, still do. I learned to appreciate his musical talent as I learned to play guitar. Now I’m blown away by his vast knowledge and keen intellect. He’s one interesting cat and a true nation treasure.
I saw Steely Dan open for Elton John at Balboa Stadium in San Diego on Sep. 1, 1973. My most enduring memory of that show was Skunk, between songs, ranting about “sloppy seconds” (presumably received the night before).
What an incredible video. I would have never imagined a guitar player from the Doobies and Steely Dan teaching the federal government how to do things properly. The modern direction of human culture has created a larger amount of "followers" rather than "leaders". There are so many things that have yet to be understood and discovered in this world and universe. Don't become a follower. Think with your own mind. Create something.
Pity his innovative genius is being wasted in the area of weapons and destruction. He is needed in the world of environmental protection, economic and social transformation. Frank Zappa, also a genius and free thinker, would not have dirtied his hands with the craft of killing.
Good chance is that Zappa was cia early in his adult hood. The entertainment/news/advertising/MSM industries are the propaganda arms for the defense industry/MIC and Big Finance. Look up Black Rock or State Street
Dude , what part of the word DEFENSE do you not understand? As in missile defense. ! , I’ve met Skink on two different occasions. One for music and the other to discuss theoretical ideas. . He is light years ahead of Zappa. Zappa is nothing more than a child with a high I q and did nothing with. Great esoteric music that most people without a mathematical degree can appreciate. Baxter actually care about people and America.
This guy is incredible. I am not bragging but I became an aerospace engineer and worked as such for 40 years. Retired now. But this guy was a rock star (one of my other wishes but never achieved). And he made a significant contribution to the technology field! That is amazing! Everyone should listen to this.
I get you. I'm not bragging either, but I performed music semi-pro though most of my 20s, then got a mechanical engineering degree. Still working, the twilight of my career now. But I feel like a kindred spirit to Skunk after this talk.
Funny synchronicity here. My dad (a musician named Jimmy, the guy who sent me this video, and HUGE Dan fan) told me when I was little that "All wars are for money." My German maternal grandmother, who spent the war in Berlin, also told me the same thing. I'm now in my 30s and make what I call "antiwar propaganda" videos. (Which are constantly censored from RU-vid nowadays.) My latest project actually ends with a montage to the Steely Dan song "Dirty Work". (Which is probably my favorite of Jeff's guitar parts)
@@clicheguevara5282 after awhile, i had to wonder what exactly his genius thesis was, other than "here's how the defense industry can keep getting obscene plus-profit contracts from the government for decades to come"-of course the pentagon and congress want to listen to what this roguish guitarslinger has to say
Highly educated man from universities in Connecticut and Massachusetts. They hire kids out of college to military contracts and national security. This man was a proven rock musician with a high aptitude for intelligence. Anyone that thinks he isn't credible or made a crazy jump from musician to working in the Pentagon needs to understand that this man is HIGHLY EDUCATED and thus as qualified as any of the brass wearing a uniform and especially college kids hired in government out of college. Yes, I was in the Marines. He's right about the Marines having the poorest budget in the Department of Defense.
This is not just for musicians....who knew Jeff was such a great philosopher with great sensability. Genius guitar player and Genius human being. just great stuff!!kudos
It still blows my mind how he made the leap from rock star to high-level government clearance on classified missile defense systems, all from reading a bunch of articles and writing a paper for the hell of it. It must take a level of dedication and cojones that few people have.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Jeff were an agency man all along. The American deep state deeply infiltrated, was heavily involved in, and likely helped to create the 60s counterculture.
fr lmao how did this dude get a clearance, he works in intelligence and likely has access to super sensitive information. Legendary guitar player tho, dig his playing in SD
"To the thinking man life is a comedy, to the feeling man life is a tragedy." They never teach you HOW to think in school, only what to believe... This was a great lecture on the craft. Facebook was created by DARPA. It was "Lifelog" rebranded. Aether is that glue that holds everything together. [Energy, frequency & vibration] My Old School is a great freaking song. Love all those versions.
When he talks about harmonics (frequencires). An example is say a block of wood (which is energy just in a lower frequency state) - but when it burns, it is changing its state of frequency, or changing from one form of energy to another. Its how the entire universe is constructed. Its all energy. Just in different states of "frequency".
I personally think it's a mistake to confuse the potential for transmutation of matter into energy and vice versa, for "it's all energy". It wouldn't be as strong a case to say "it's all matter", but your case is still not strong. I don't deny that the potential is amazing, and yes, once matter is broken down into sufficiently small particles and given sufficient velocity, it will behave partly as a wave, and consequently will have a frequency (but will still be quantised, reflecting its particulate character): that's authentically and without embellishment miraculous, but to repeat myself another way, I think you diminish it by overstating it. One last thing: The frequency of which you speak, only arises if we add enough energy to accelerate the particles to VERY high velocities. And the frequency is partly a function of which particle we choose, but ALSO what velocity we achieve in our particle accelerator.
Skunk, I love all your guitar playing....but please dig a little deeper regarding the people you're dealing with. Read "American Invasions" by Rocky Mirza as a starting point. Then read the books of Deanna Spingola followed by the books of David Irving. Then you'll have a clear perspective on the military industrial complex and it's agenda.
Brilliant Skunk, thank you. I'd like to point out, though, that when faced with a really incompetent conductor (which happens more often than one might suppose), a symphony orchestra creates an interpretation based on teamwork and recognizing fluid leadership within the ensemble.
That sounds very interesting and logical though I have never thought about this before. I imagine a symphony orchestra is filled with amazing musicians well up to the challenge of a mediocre conductor.
Great video! Most normal people do not realize that radio frequencies, and our color spectrum, as well as infrared, ultra violet, X-rays, gamma rays...etc., are all on the same spectrum. I used to talk about this with my past students, when I was a music professor decades ago. ... Peace! 🎼❤☮
Guitarist for 56 years. Worked in print graphics color labs for years. I have never felt so encouraged and empowered. I feel as if some of those meaningless keys I've picked up over the years have met the correct lock in the correct way. Connected dots. Joy.
Brilliant mind, and in person, quite humble. A privelige to get inside his head again. When I was a young Apple contractor, I got a chance to visit him for an evening. A mutual friend introduced us, and we all talked technology and music from 7ish to midnight at Jeffs house. Still gobsmacked after all these years and grateful for his hospitality and kindness.
How I went from musician and jazz major/ piano to lawyer to conflict resolution and legal management software company owner to advocate for independent dentistry made no sense to me UNTIL NOW!! Thanks Skunk! btw ... we play a lot of Steely Dan. THANKS AGAIN!
It's not about nations winning wars anymore. The people they mean to get ahead are mega-billionaires. You just don't get what their end game is. They are winning big time, while you and I struggle to pay rent. Yeah, for decades. It's not about Iwo Jima and go go USA anymore.
The goal of warfare is to maintain continuous systemic chaos; the purpose is to stabilize illegitimate hierarchy and control through stochastic violence. This assures the driving motivation of asymmetrical dominance, whose purpose is pure acceleration towards dislocation of the Social Order, which becomes a cyclical Great Reset of civilization. War is peace in the harmonic continuity of injustice.
There's no one more dangerous than a passionate politician, bureaucrat, or scientist. They believe the end always justifies the means, even if it includes criminal activity and genocide.
Don't forget the damned religions, the worst of the bunch! Condone tax evasion, child rape and murder. For THEM it's ok, but you're going to hell for farting crooked, of course.
The trinity; water, ice, and steam. Positive stimulus equals postive reactions. Negative stimulus equals negative reactions. Some believe in the opposite, and that's part of the solution in the art of war, dissonance. Mojojensen.
Very interesting lecture! At 38:31, Mr. Baxter says that Charles Townes "came up with the idea that the human spirit is a set of coherent oscillations." I can't find ANY further reference to that idea connected to Charles Townes (via Google search). Does he discuss it in one of his books, such as "Making Waves"? Any help finding more on this idea from Townes would be appreciated!
Been a big fan forever....I knew the "skunk" was a Genius just by trying to figure out some of his tasty "licks"....I had no idea his Genius was off the chart ..... excellent post, thank you !
I was fortunate enough to have seen/heard him on 11/14/23 at Sellersville Theater (Philadelphia area). Been a music fan of his since the first Steely Dan album. He did some cool versions of the same stuff he did here, amazing mind!! And he’s now 75!
@frank bennett You are a brain washing victim. You even use CNN’s terminology. Unbelievable. You probably think you are part of the “progressive” party too, “on the right side of history”. What else are you automatically repeating on the internet with your brain disengaged?
One of my favorite guitar players since 1973. I am still trying to understand how he played what he did. And now he's paid a fortune for helping Northrop Grumman and General Atomics take their big fat scoop from the pork barrel. Fortunately I don't have to like what he does to love what he played.
oh wow! A quick wiki read caught me up, what a trip. It’s always interesting how right leaning artists are the exception. Thankfully the ability to express and connect usually leads to open mindedness and compassion.
Poor Skunk, had to really work hard to that dead pan audience. Not many had heard of the subjects of any of his questions, usually he could count on one hand! Brilliant mind! Brilliant Musician!
He says the old ways are not going to help us ,,, and yet he quotes Winston Churchill , and rock and roll Elvis and so on, I can think of many ways the old ways can help us and are helping us every day in life
I kind of giggled for a moment there: time 42:16 when Mr. Baxter is explaining that "... we are all coherent vibrations from zero to (the speed of) light...", I thought: NOW, he's talking like a hippie! No disrespect meant, but I spent a lot of time with hippies, and they "realize" that kind of stuff when they're stoned... probably because the hippies I knew were college students - maybe? On another level, I have formally studied higher math, and physics, etc, and I can see how someone would arrive at such a conclusion. I have my different conclusions, but remember: speculation is speculation. That is to say: ----------------------------------------------- Observation leads to theory (everyone has theories) Theories lead us to construct experiments (where we try to minimize the variables) The experimental results either confirm, or deny the theory. ------------------------------------------------ That is called "The Scientific Method". Peace
Works for everything except in the climate sciences. Then that method is thrown out the window. In fact there is absolutely NO scientific method used in climate science that isn't skewed or altered to achieve an outcome. That is many things. Fraud is one that comes to mind. But that isn't the scientific method.
@@plantfeeder6677 I don't mean to be rude, but when you use terminology like "absolutely No..." you are employing a logical fallacy known as an appositive. Appositives, are rarely true. It is an easy mistake to make. By the way, what kind of technical training have you received? My background includes, Nuclear Physics, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, and Advanced Mathematics. The combination of study along with real life experience (so called empirical data) is a real eye-opener. Thanks for your comment. Peace
@@eggburtdilusia9599 okay....drop the absolutely and just go with NO! 😣 Show me a governmental graph concerning the historical temperature record, burn acreage record, sea level record, ice level record in the Arctic/antarctic that hasn't been manipulated and altered in the last 20 years by mainly NASA/NOAA and of coarse the Liars in Chief...East Anglia Unniversity. Climategate was REAL buddy. No matter what you think. Governmental Climate "science" is ripe with FRAUD. If you are as smart as you Brag about, how do you not know this?
"ASYMMETRICAL THINKING IN A CONVENTIONAL WORLD" is a tiny bit hypey, dontcha think? Why not, "FAMOUS MUSICIAN SMOKES A JOINT AND SOLVES ENGINEERING PROBLEM THAT MILITARY EMPLOYEES DIDN'T SO NOW THEY THINK HE'S A GOD"...? You're welcome.
I would love to hear a professional analyze people who post after videos like this and try to point out faults in the presentation. Wonder if they ever learn anything from the excellent messages presented?
The a he played is not a 440 the 440a is at the fifth fret of the high E string. The low E on a bass guitar resonates around 41 cycles a second. The low E on a electric guitar resonates around 82 cycles a second. I am also a lifelong professional musician and also a techie to the extreme. And many people who know me think I'm a genius. Who's to say. All I know is that drugs take you to another level of artistic consciousness. And people who study music to a high degree academically are 15% more intelligent. And being an artist in any form leads you to have the ability to be an abstract thinker. And music being as it's based on math teaches you to think about abstract math concepts subconsciously. So together with drugs and being a professional musician Jeff Baxter and I have a lot in common. Much respect Jeff.
As a guitarist and a fan of Jeff Baxter's for many years, but also as a big proponent of science and mathematics, I found this talk to be quite profound. But, as a musician and an amateur mathematician, I feel compelled to point out a couple of inaccuracies. When Jeff hit the open A string on his guitar, he stated it was A440. It wasn't. It was A110, two octaves below A440 (440 then 220 then 110). And then when he was hitting the harmonics, he said the first one was A880 (it wasn't, it was A220) and the second harmonic he claimed was A1620 (it wasn't, it was A440), but even if it had been double A880, it would be A1760, not 1620. 3rd grade math, folks. OODA, a new methodology for me.
i was thinking the same thing, but we both understood what he meant, right? Im sure if you were on stage in front of a huge stiff crowd youd make a mistake or 2 as well.
That ditzy blonde with the permanent smile should have asked him where he picked up the knowledge he needed to become a defense consultant. He didn’t just pull it out of the air.
At 5:24 and at 10:14:00 in- there're good examples of what is WRONG w/ 'closed captions'- especially as done by a program &/or a fool or just tasked to someone whose English is not the first language for that lucky winner. Eg- Jeff says "NOW THESE GUYS ARE NOW FRIENDS" but! THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU WILL READ AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN & IT'S RARELY CORRECT WHEN IT'S NOT TAKEN AS SERIOUSLY AS IT SHOULD BE WHEN QUOTING ANYONE IN ALL SITUATIONS JUST AS YOU'RE GOING TO SEE BELOW - 'now these guys have no friends' IS A HUGE MISTAKE & AN EXACT OPPOSITE OF ''NOW THESE GUYS ARE NOW FRIENDS"... ARE THOSE SYNONYMOUS IN ANY WAY? NO! THE AVERAGE PERSON GETS CAUGHT UP W/THE DISTRACTING LINES AS THEY'LL CRAWL ALONG ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SAME SCREEN AS I KNEW WOULD BE SCREWED UP BY THE SAME FOLKS THAT PROBABLY CONTRACTED THE LOW COST WUHAN CLINIC FOR VIROLOGY TO PUT CONTAMINANTS FROM BAT FECES AROUND THE 🌏🌎🌍 AT VERY ATTRACTIVE RATES OF COURSE. SADLY, IN cHINA, THEY'RE USED TO SCREW UPS & THE PLANNED & DELIBERATE BREAK DOWNS & OBSOLESCENCE THEY WERE PAID TO DO JUST AS THAT WORK BY THE US' CDC CONTRACT CHOICE. I'M IN FAVOR OF LEAVING BAT FECES IN THE CAVES WHERE SUCH FILTHY SPECIES RESIDE. I wonder what else we finance to fail that keeps coming up -& not just Germ Warfare but the myriad uses of the spectrum of viruses. 🤔I think it's better to proofread the quoted spoken or written words- DOWN TO THE LETTER- & IT'S VERY FKG SIMPLE AS TO 'WHY DO THAT DAVE?' A MISQUOTED WORD, PHRASE, SENTENCE, PARAGRAPH, ETC CAN MEAN A TOTALLY, 180° OPPOSITE (IE- DIFFERENT) THING LIKE HISTORY AND I'LL REPEAT THE FIRST ONE I NOTICED (FOR CLARITY) AT 10:14> "NOW THESE GUYS HAVE NO FRIENDS" TYPED/ENTERED isn't the same that was spoken: "NOW THESE GUYS ARE NOW FRIENDS". I'd bet a shiny new Penny (they're all steel blanks btw) the 'transcriber' (if human & familiar w/stereotypes) was of the opinion that Jeff was going to be of an anti- establishment disposition & start bad mouthing as soon as he was enunciating his real thoughts re the Military in all aspects. I see these errors ALL OF THE TIME WHEN I LEAVE THE cc ON & RUNNING OR CAN'T TURN IT OFF. IT'S PATHETIC FOR ANYONE WHO RELIES ON THE TYPED WORDS IN THE CRAWL TO HAVE TO DEPEND ON OR SIMPLY FALL INTO. READ IT FOR YOURSELVES & TELL ME I'M MISTAKEN; I HOPE I DON'T HAVE TO RETURN W/MORE CORRECTLY TYPED & WORDED QUOTES. I DON'T LIE. > I knew it: at 5:24 in> 'MORE IN GENERAL' (AS THEY GREETED EACH OTHER & BAXTER'S 1ST SPOKEN WORDS " 'morning General," NOT 'MORE IN' AS TYPED. THIS IS JUST SAD. TWO IN CASUAL READING IN THE FIRST 5th - 11th MINUTES ‽
Retired. Power on. Open RU-vid. Yawn. Browse. Stumble upon "my" Skunk Baxter, now a national security advisor, giving a talk on Asymmetrical Thinking. Hooked for an hour. Wow! I still play his vinyl from Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers where for decades I tried to get into his head as he played. Now he's in my head. Thank you, man. Peace.
I'm with Jeff..War is Human FAILURE...Inevitable ?..Ha...Mutually Assured Destruction ?..We CREATED that...wasn't a given 1000 years ago..anyway..Good Work...
