The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

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00:01:11.260 Welcome to Season 3, Episode 21 of the Jordan B. Peterson Podcast.

00:01:15.560 I'm Mikayla Peterson, Jordan's daughter.

00:01:17.820 I hope you enjoy this episode of Maps of Meaning 6, Story and Metastory, Part 2.

00:01:23.400 If you guys haven't checked it out, I watched Jocko Willing's podcast with dad recently.

00:01:29.320 It wasn't a recent podcast. I think it was from 2018? 26?

00:01:33.580 Oh man, I don't know.

00:01:34.800 Anyway, it was really fun and informative.

00:01:37.880 It had some nice stories my dad shared about working on the railway that I think you might enjoy.

00:01:42.000 I would highly recommend watching it.

00:01:43.380 Also, if you haven't heard of Nicole Arbor and you're in need of some laughs, I would recommend watching some of her videos.

00:01:49.440 She's extremely funny and very sharp.

00:01:51.720 I hope you're doing well.

00:01:53.800 Season 3, Episode 21, Maps of Meaning, Part 6, Story and Metastory, Part 2.

00:01:59.440 A Jordan B. Peterson Lecture.

00:02:00.860 So, I guess the case that I was making last time, at least in part, was that

00:02:16.420 one way of conceptualizing the fundamental problem

00:02:22.820 that human beings face is to conceptualize it as an ongoing struggle with complexity.

00:02:31.780 And complexity emerges as a consequence of

00:02:39.820 the sort of finite boundedness of individual consciousness

00:02:46.600 and the incredible excess of the unbounded everywhere else,

00:02:55.680 even including underneath that consciousness,

00:02:57.980 because, of course, your individual consciousness depends on the function

00:03:01.600 or is related to the function of things that are so complex you can't even understand it.

00:03:06.280 So, there you are, surrounded by some things that you understand

00:03:11.000 in an ocean of things that you don't understand at all,

00:03:14.980 and including things about yourself.

00:03:17.640 And it's not obvious at all how people solve that problem,

00:03:20.960 because, in some sense, it's not solvable,

00:03:24.260 the fact that you don't have the cognitive resources

00:03:26.840 or the conceptual resources to understand everything that you need to understand

00:03:31.180 in order to properly orient yourself in the world.

00:03:33.400 Now, obviously, partly the way we deal with that is that we cooperate with other people,

00:03:38.680 and so that radically multiplies our resources, incredibly multiplies our resources.

00:03:44.020 So, and it's something to consider always when, you know,

00:03:49.260 so much of the political dialogue that surrounds us now

00:03:52.380 consists of a critique of cooperative societies

00:03:56.640 and an analysis of their oppressive nature.

00:04:00.720 And, of course, that's true, because any cooperative system

00:04:04.100 that specifies a certain endpoint and produces a value hierarchy of some sort

00:04:10.540 also simultaneously forces things into that value system

00:04:15.380 and then rank orders people according to the value structure.

00:04:19.120 And so there's an oppressive element to it.

00:04:21.240 But compared to being naked in chaos, generally, it's better.

00:04:29.860 Now, it doesn't always have to be, because it can get murderous.

00:04:32.500 But generally speaking, well, look, we're social animals.

00:04:34.940 It doesn't matter.

00:04:36.060 Our evolutionary pathway has already taken us here.

00:04:38.680 And so we're individuals, but we're unbelievably social.

00:04:42.560 And so that's that.

00:04:44.660 So as far as I can tell, we'd have to be completely different creatures

00:04:47.480 not to fall, not to take advantage of and fall prey to the problems with social being.

00:04:54.960 All right.

00:04:55.520 So I think the way that the problem of complexity has been solved,

00:05:04.840 and this is the best argument I know of for the truth of the Darwinian notion of evolution.

00:05:10.760 Now, I don't think that our models of evolution are complete by any stretch of the imagination.

00:05:16.800 I know they're not, partly because of recent work done on epigenetics,

00:05:21.800 which suggests that you can inherit acquired traits, right?

00:05:27.120 And when I went to university, when I started going to university in the 1980s,

00:05:30.720 that was heresy, really.

00:05:32.920 Like, no, you cannot inherit acquired traits, but actually you can inherit acquired traits.

00:05:39.740 That's the field of epigenetics studies, that.

00:05:41.780 And that's a radical shift in perspective,

00:05:45.880 because we also don't know exactly what that means across any length of time.

00:05:49.180 And when you're thinking about evolutionary lengths of time,

00:05:51.640 you're thinking about three and a half billion years,

00:05:53.780 because that's the span of time over which life evolved.

00:05:56.240 And so even things that don't have an overwhelmingly marked potency for one generation

00:06:04.420 can be unbelievably powerful across time.

00:06:07.340 And then there's also the issue of sexual selection,

00:06:10.300 because, you know, you'll hear Darwinists continually describe the world

00:06:15.120 and the evolutionary world as a place of randomness.

00:06:17.800 And that's not true.

00:06:19.420 And I don't know why they make that statement.

00:06:22.360 The mutations are random or quasi-random,

00:06:26.200 because we don't understand mutations that well yet either.

00:06:28.380 And most mutations are deadly, right?

00:06:30.300 Most mutations are deadly.

00:06:31.700 There's a set of them that are harmful but not deadly.

00:06:34.280 And then there's a tiny, tiny proportion

00:06:35.940 that could, in principle, produce some benefit to the next generation,

00:06:41.560 assuming environmental shifts, say, in the direction of the mutation.

00:06:45.960 So, and that's, there's a randomness element to that.

00:06:49.800 We know that.

00:06:50.400 I mean, part of the reason that you mutate, or your cells mutate,

00:06:54.520 your DNA mutates, is because of background levels of radioactivity.

00:06:59.020 And a lot of that's a consequence of solar activity, right?

00:07:02.140 So cosmic rays come zipping through the atmosphere,

00:07:04.300 and they nail your DNA and produce minor alterations,

00:07:07.660 and that's a mutation.

00:07:08.580 And if you crank up the background radiation rate,

00:07:11.280 like, say, around Chernobyl, then the mutation rate rises.

00:07:14.420 And there's definitely a random element to that.

00:07:16.920 And it's necessary for there to be a random element,

00:07:19.940 because as far as I can tell,

00:07:22.360 the only way you can beat a random environment

00:07:24.940 is by producing random changes, right?

00:07:27.360 So, you know the idea, basically.

00:07:29.800 The environment isn't some static place

00:07:32.380 that's selecting for higher and higher levels of fitness

00:07:35.740 are not in any, not in any,

00:07:38.280 it's certainly not doing that in any static way.

00:07:40.760 And so it's shifting around randomly.

00:07:43.560 And then, you know, you have a structure that's been,

00:07:46.520 your species has a structure

00:07:47.980 that's a consequence of this immense evolutionary journey,

00:07:50.700 and it's moderating itself randomly within certain parameters.

00:07:54.620 The parameters being that most mutations will kill you,

00:07:56.980 like alterations in your fundamental form

00:07:58.860 generally tend to kill you,

00:07:59.980 so they're incremental.

00:08:01.560 And so the mutations are random,

00:08:04.000 and they match, hopefully,

00:08:05.060 they match the randomness in the environmental shift,

00:08:07.660 and so you can more or less keep up that way.

00:08:10.040 But then there's additional complicating factors,

00:08:12.320 and they're not trivial.

00:08:13.360 And one of them is whatever epigenetics does,

00:08:15.340 we don't know anything about that yet,

00:08:16.820 but the second one is sexual selection.

00:08:19.160 And sexual selection is no joke.

00:08:21.720 It could be the primary thing,

00:08:23.700 it's certainly one of the primary things

00:08:25.100 that's driven human evolution.

00:08:26.260 And I think you can say that,

00:08:27.560 you think about the environment again,

00:08:33.920 let's think about the environment.

00:08:35.520 So you have a dominance hierarchy,

00:08:38.060 and that's really an old structure.

00:08:39.460 The dominance hierarchy is 300 million years old,

00:08:42.100 because it emerged pretty much whenever there was,

00:08:44.940 whenever there was a nervous system,

00:08:46.420 emergent nervous system,

00:08:47.580 and whenever animals had to occupy the same territory,

00:08:50.120 they automatically organized themselves

00:08:51.780 into something approximating a dominance hierarchy.

00:08:53.820 So it's a very, very, very, very old structure.

00:08:57.300 It's older than trees.

00:08:58.560 It's older than flowers.

00:09:00.560 It's old.

00:09:02.040 And as far as real goes from a Darwinian sense,

00:09:06.420 permanent is real.

00:09:08.800 And so when you can say,

00:09:10.200 well, you know,

00:09:10.700 our burial ancestors adapted themselves to trees,

00:09:13.760 and so the tree was around long enough

00:09:16.920 to be a feature of the environment.

00:09:18.540 But the dominance hierarchy has been around

00:09:20.740 a lot longer than trees.

00:09:22.680 And you can think of the dominance hierarchy

00:09:24.180 both as an adaptation to the environment,

00:09:26.580 because you'd kind of think about the dominance hierarchy

00:09:28.420 as a cultural construct.

00:09:30.100 But if a cultural construct lasts long enough,

00:09:32.900 then it becomes part of the environment.

00:09:34.840 And so the dominance hierarchy is part of the environment.

00:09:37.300 And what seems to happen,

00:09:38.620 roughly speaking,

00:09:40.020 and this is an oversimplification,

00:09:41.500 but we'll go with it,

00:09:42.280 is that males have a dominance hierarchy,

00:09:45.280 and there's a relatively small number of males

00:09:49.200 that are relatively successful,

00:09:51.220 and those successful males have preferential access

00:09:54.200 to female reproductive capacity,

00:09:56.920 either because the females actively choose

00:09:59.360 the more dominant males,

00:10:01.160 which is very, very common,

00:10:02.560 or because the more dominant males

00:10:04.160 chase all the less dominant males away,

00:10:07.040 so that even if the females don't exercise choice,

00:10:10.460 which they often do,

00:10:11.400 then the only males left around

00:10:14.720 that can serve as reasonable mating partners

00:10:17.640 are the more powerful ones.

00:10:19.920 And so you think you've got two really radical

00:10:22.080 determiners of evolution

00:10:24.380 as a consequence of that.

00:10:25.920 One is that each...

00:10:29.400 I'm not talking about female dominance hierarchies

00:10:31.440 at the moment.

00:10:32.300 I can talk about them,

00:10:33.480 but that's why this is an oversimplification.

00:10:35.580 But what happens is that

00:10:37.260 the males obviously are selected

00:10:39.480 for their ability to move up dominance hierarchies,

00:10:41.980 obviously,

00:10:42.700 because the ones that are at the top

00:10:44.020 of the dominance hierarchy

00:10:44.840 reproduce preferentially.

00:10:46.720 And so that means

00:10:47.360 the male dominance hierarchy

00:10:48.920 becomes a method of selection.

00:10:51.860 But then allied with that

00:10:54.660 is the female proclivity for choice

00:10:57.060 on whatever dimension

00:10:58.060 the dominance hierarchy happens to be arranged.

00:11:00.360 And so then female sexual selection

00:11:02.220 also becomes a radical,

00:11:04.720 non-random selector

00:11:07.640 of what genetic material

00:11:11.500 is going to move into the next generation.

00:11:13.540 And so I fail to see

00:11:15.260 how any of that can be separated

00:11:16.880 from the emergence

00:11:17.720 of complex nervous systems

00:11:19.760 and mind over the course of evolution.

00:11:22.060 Because people aren't...

00:11:23.060 Creatures aren't making random choices.

00:11:25.500 They're not random at all.

00:11:27.580 So we even know such things like...

00:11:31.200 Imagine a peacock's tail.

00:11:33.140 You know, it's covered with eyes,

00:11:34.860 which is quite interesting

00:11:35.800 because eyes, of course,

00:11:36.800 attract attention.

00:11:37.620 And lots of animals have evolved

00:11:38.880 eye-like markings.

00:11:40.520 Like moths.

00:11:41.200 There's moths that

00:11:41.900 when they unfold their wings,

00:11:43.100 they have two big eyes

00:11:43.960 on the back of them.

00:11:44.620 And that's to keep birds

00:11:45.420 from eating them, right?

00:11:46.220 Because the birds don't like

00:11:47.160 being stared at.

00:11:48.020 So they stay away from the moths.

00:11:49.900 But so a peacock's tail

00:11:51.000 is nothing but eyes.

00:11:52.300 And so it's very attractive.

00:11:53.520 And it shimmers.

00:11:54.340 And there's something about it

00:11:55.520 that's beautiful,

00:11:56.220 which is quite interesting, too.

00:11:57.840 The females have obviously

00:11:58.940 been selecting the male peacocks

00:12:00.820 for beauty.

00:12:01.880 They have this insane tail.

00:12:03.920 Well, so the evolutionary biologists

00:12:06.080 have thought,

00:12:06.540 well, what possible utility

00:12:08.400 could that tail be?

00:12:09.620 Is it just...

00:12:10.420 Maybe the females got fixated

00:12:11.840 on tail, so to speak.

00:12:13.540 And, you know,

00:12:14.820 you got a Baldwin effect loop

00:12:16.880 going there,

00:12:17.520 and the male peacock's

00:12:18.420 just got bigger and bigger tails.

00:12:19.760 And it's just like

00:12:20.280 an evolutionary dead end.

00:12:21.520 It's, you know,

00:12:21.960 it's a positive feedback system

00:12:23.880 that's gone out of control.

00:12:24.860 But they have done things

00:12:26.260 that, like,

00:12:26.920 look at the symmetry

00:12:28.380 and breadth, say,

00:12:31.140 or the symmetry and size

00:12:32.920 and overall quality

00:12:34.420 of the male peacock's tail

00:12:35.780 as a marker

00:12:36.860 for physical health.

00:12:37.920 So reduced parasite load,

00:12:39.580 for example.

00:12:40.100 And it does turn out

00:12:40.860 that the healthier male peacocks

00:12:42.160 have better tail display.

00:12:44.360 And so what the females

00:12:45.700 seem to be doing

00:12:46.400 is using some marker

00:12:47.760 or some set of markers

00:12:49.060 as a proxy indicator

00:12:50.860 for health.

00:12:53.140 And I think you could say

00:12:55.960 with reasonable,

00:12:58.160 you could say reasonably

00:12:59.120 that female human beings

00:13:01.940 do the same thing

00:13:02.600 to male human beings.

00:13:03.880 And there's some of that

00:13:04.780 vice versa, too.

00:13:05.740 Like, we evaluate each other,

00:13:06.860 for example,

00:13:07.360 for symmetry,

00:13:08.040 which is one of the elements

00:13:08.920 of beauty,

00:13:09.760 because healthier people

00:13:11.000 tend to be more symmetrical.

00:13:12.360 And lots of animals

00:13:13.400 use symmetry.

00:13:14.400 Butterflies,

00:13:15.400 if butterflies won't mate

00:13:16.760 with another butterfly

00:13:17.560 if it deviates from symmetry

00:13:18.820 by the tiniest amounts

00:13:20.140 you can imagine.

00:13:20.800 So symmetry is a marker.

00:13:22.560 And there's other markers,

00:13:24.060 like shoulder width

00:13:25.300 to waist width

00:13:26.760 is one,

00:13:27.360 and waist width

00:13:28.100 to hip width

00:13:28.720 is another.

00:13:29.200 That's usually what males

00:13:30.400 use that to evaluate

00:13:31.340 females in part.

00:13:32.520 So there's lots of markers

00:13:33.540 of health.

00:13:35.220 But it also looks to me

00:13:37.120 like the data worldwide

00:13:39.000 seems to indicate

00:13:39.800 that women...

00:13:40.800 So imagine that

00:13:42.100 women mate

00:13:43.400 across dominance hierarchies

00:13:44.680 and up,

00:13:45.420 socioeconomically speaking.

00:13:46.820 And on average,

00:13:47.740 across cultures,

00:13:48.520 women go for men

00:13:49.260 who are about four to five years older.

00:13:51.000 You know, it varies.

00:13:51.980 In the Scandinavian countries

00:13:53.140 that's shrunk a little bit,

00:13:54.300 but not that much.

00:13:55.540 And in other cultures

00:13:56.340 it's bigger.

00:13:57.180 I would say that depends

00:13:58.160 to some degree

00:13:58.860 on difficulty

00:13:59.620 of establishing

00:14:00.360 economic independence.

00:14:02.180 Right?

00:14:02.420 Because in richer countries

00:14:03.340 it's easier to have

00:14:04.120 enough economic independence

00:14:05.240 if you're a male

00:14:05.980 to be a useful participant

00:14:09.120 in the process

00:14:10.040 of having children.

00:14:12.180 But it doesn't matter

00:14:13.420 cross-culturally.

00:14:14.280 It's still across and up

00:14:15.420 where men mate

00:14:16.080 across and down.

00:14:17.100 They don't care much

00:14:17.740 about socioeconomic status.

00:14:19.260 It doesn't seem to be

00:14:20.100 part of their selection method

00:14:22.020 generally speaking.

00:14:25.180 So

00:14:25.400 I think that part of that

00:14:29.500 is also the ability

00:14:30.680 of women to select

00:14:31.580 for male health.

00:14:33.040 It's something like that

00:14:33.840 because it isn't only that

00:14:35.740 because if you're healthy

00:14:36.800 and energetic

00:14:37.360 you're much more likely

00:14:38.300 to be successful

00:14:39.080 because it's very hard

00:14:40.040 to be successful

00:14:40.640 if you're ill, obviously.

00:14:42.300 I mean,

00:14:43.040 so because the competition

00:14:44.400 is just too high.

00:14:45.720 And both genders,

00:14:47.100 both sexes

00:14:47.660 select each other

00:14:48.360 for attractiveness,

00:14:49.220 both select for intelligence,

00:14:50.540 both select for personality,

00:14:52.460 although there are differences there

00:14:54.900 in terms of what's stressed.

00:14:57.840 But

00:14:57.860 so

00:14:58.960 I think you can derive

00:15:00.720 a couple of things

00:15:01.480 out of this

00:15:02.380 and this is where

00:15:03.300 I think people are different

00:15:04.360 than other animals.

00:15:05.960 Importantly different

00:15:06.760 is that

00:15:07.200 so you imagine

00:15:08.280 that there's tremendous

00:15:09.020 selection pressure

00:15:10.020 towards the production,

00:15:14.760 let's say,

00:15:15.220 of men who are good

00:15:15.960 at climbing male dominance hierarchies

00:15:17.480 or climbing the male dominance hierarchy.

00:15:20.680 But the thing that's so interesting

00:15:21.820 about people

00:15:22.400 is that

00:15:22.820 we've multiplied

00:15:24.140 our dominance hierarchies.

00:15:26.120 You know,

00:15:26.340 if you take an animal

00:15:27.320 that's got a rather static

00:15:28.540 behavioral pattern,

00:15:30.160 then

00:15:30.500 there's

00:15:31.340 a single hierarchy.

00:15:32.780 Elephant seals

00:15:33.340 are a good example of that.

00:15:34.560 So elephant seals,

00:15:35.420 the males,

00:15:35.820 are absolutely massive.

00:15:36.960 They're way,

00:15:37.680 way bigger

00:15:38.100 than the females.

00:15:39.000 And they basically have harems,

00:15:40.700 roughly speaking.

00:15:41.840 And

00:15:42.100 they

00:15:42.920 use physical prowess

00:15:44.640 as their marker

00:15:45.600 of status,

00:15:46.660 essentially.

00:15:47.160 And obviously size

00:15:48.180 is a huge part of that

00:15:49.100 because otherwise

00:15:49.580 the male elephant seals

00:15:50.520 wouldn't be as...

00:15:51.820 They're massive,

00:15:52.580 these things.

00:15:52.980 They're absolutely

00:15:53.580 enormous.

00:15:54.980 And so it's just power

00:15:56.240 slash health,

00:15:58.620 you know,

00:15:58.900 maybe aggression,

00:15:59.820 something like that.

00:16:00.460 It's whatever makes them

00:16:01.760 more

00:16:02.460 suitable

00:16:04.700 for the kind of

00:16:05.940 physical combat

00:16:06.780 that elephant seals

00:16:07.760 engage in.

00:16:09.320 So,

00:16:10.100 and the degree

00:16:11.300 to which power

00:16:12.080 is associated

00:16:12.840 with dominance

00:16:13.680 status

00:16:14.580 in those sorts

00:16:15.820 of situations

00:16:16.420 seems to be

00:16:17.180 associated

00:16:17.720 with the size

00:16:18.760 differential

00:16:19.260 between males

00:16:20.200 and females.

00:16:21.320 So the more

00:16:22.220 power is an issue

00:16:23.980 with regards

00:16:24.540 to male competence,

00:16:25.560 the larger the males

00:16:26.380 are compared

00:16:26.900 to the females

00:16:27.460 and the more likely

00:16:28.320 the males are going

00:16:29.320 to have a harem

00:16:29.940 relationship

00:16:30.500 with the females.

00:16:31.660 And you see that

00:16:32.180 a little bit

00:16:32.660 in human beings

00:16:33.280 because men

00:16:33.860 are bigger than women.

00:16:34.940 They're not

00:16:35.320 overwhelmingly bigger,

00:16:36.940 that's sexual dimorphism.

00:16:38.540 And, you know,

00:16:38.900 there's some men

00:16:39.540 that are smaller

00:16:40.060 than some women,

00:16:40.840 but on average

00:16:41.420 men are taller

00:16:42.020 and they have

00:16:43.020 more upper body

00:16:43.780 strength and so forth.

00:16:44.660 So there is a power

00:16:45.500 element to male competition,

00:16:47.540 but it's not

00:16:48.620 as extended

00:16:49.600 as it would be

00:16:50.340 among animals,

00:16:51.080 say,

00:16:51.280 like elephant seals.

00:16:52.380 So in the elephant seal,

00:16:54.420 you see maybe

00:16:54.940 there's one stable set

00:16:57.420 of traits

00:16:58.020 that's being selected

00:16:59.300 for that makes

00:17:00.360 the males more likely

00:17:01.160 to reproduce.

00:17:01.980 But human beings

00:17:02.860 were very weird creatures

00:17:04.000 because we're so

00:17:04.900 conceptually flexible.

00:17:06.980 And so what seems

00:17:07.680 to have happened,

00:17:08.900 maybe we started,

00:17:11.620 males started selecting

00:17:12.700 each other

00:17:13.380 in dominance competitions

00:17:14.980 for something like

00:17:15.720 cognitive flexibility

00:17:16.660 and conscientiousness.

00:17:18.520 It's something like that.

00:17:19.420 So that would be

00:17:20.720 the ability

00:17:22.340 to abstractly

00:17:23.120 represent the world

00:17:23.880 and then the ability

00:17:24.660 to operate effectively

00:17:25.880 within it,

00:17:26.540 to represent yourself

00:17:27.640 socially in a way

00:17:28.580 and then to carry

00:17:29.540 through with that

00:17:30.320 because that enables

00:17:30.940 people to trust you.

00:17:32.480 So it's something

00:17:32.980 like that.

00:17:34.480 And so that produced

00:17:35.980 cortical expansion

00:17:37.920 and then women

00:17:38.580 were selecting men

00:17:39.800 who were good at that

00:17:40.580 and that produced

00:17:41.160 cortical expansion

00:17:42.000 and then there's

00:17:43.780 an arms race

00:17:44.380 between women and men

00:17:45.440 with regards to intelligence

00:17:46.560 so the women kept up

00:17:48.220 or they certainly kept up

00:17:50.040 with intelligence

00:17:51.460 as the evolutionary cycle

00:17:53.960 continued.

00:17:55.460 But one of the consequences

00:17:58.260 of selection for

00:18:00.460 cortical expansion

00:18:01.900 and increased

00:18:02.700 cognitive flexibility

00:18:03.640 was that the number

00:18:05.140 of dominance hierarchies

00:18:06.280 that human beings

00:18:07.240 could produce

00:18:07.720 started to multiply.

00:18:09.260 Right?

00:18:09.520 Because there's all sorts

00:18:10.260 of ways that you can

00:18:10.940 be successful.

00:18:12.240 You think about how many

00:18:13.560 ways you can be successful

00:18:14.580 in a modern culture

00:18:15.440 and you can be successful

00:18:17.320 in dimensions that aren't

00:18:18.460 really even associated

00:18:19.380 with each other.

00:18:20.380 So you can be successful

00:18:21.420 socially.

00:18:22.300 That's what an extrovert

00:18:23.360 would do.

00:18:24.040 You could be successful

00:18:24.920 in terms of intimate

00:18:25.760 relationships.

00:18:27.020 That's what an agreeable

00:18:28.100 person would do.

00:18:29.040 A disagreeable person

00:18:30.120 would be more successful

00:18:31.060 with regards to competition.

00:18:32.860 A person who's high

00:18:33.800 in neuroticism

00:18:34.480 would be trying to

00:18:35.920 protect themselves

00:18:36.640 and to establish

00:18:37.340 some sort of security.

00:18:38.780 An open person

00:18:39.640 would be looking for

00:18:40.420 a flexible creative environment.

00:18:42.060 And so there's this

00:18:43.220 multiplicity of ways

00:18:46.020 that you can establish

00:18:47.140 a dominance hierarchy

00:18:48.160 and be successful in it.

00:18:49.940 And if you're creative

00:18:50.720 you can come up with

00:18:51.320 your own damn

00:18:51.860 dominance hierarchy.

00:18:53.160 Which is exactly

00:18:53.860 what you're doing

00:18:54.460 if you're creative.

00:18:55.280 Right?

00:18:55.500 You spin up a game

00:18:56.680 that's your game.

00:18:58.340 And then you make

00:18:59.520 the rules.

00:19:00.180 And that's hard

00:19:01.000 because if you make

00:19:01.720 a new game with new rules

00:19:02.740 it's hard to monetize it.

00:19:04.240 But you can be the best

00:19:05.540 at playing that game.

00:19:06.900 And so that's a huge

00:19:07.740 advantage to being creative

00:19:08.920 if you can pull it off.

00:19:10.800 So then you think

00:19:11.560 well what's happened

00:19:12.200 among human beings

00:19:13.060 is the multiplication

00:19:15.060 of the set

00:19:16.160 of possible

00:19:17.160 dominance hierarchies

00:19:18.160 so it's become

00:19:18.800 very broad.

00:19:20.040 And then you could say

00:19:20.780 well what's driving

00:19:21.880 selection now

00:19:22.680 is the ability

00:19:23.300 to be successful

00:19:24.120 across multiple sets

00:19:25.200 of dominance hierarchies.

00:19:26.400 And that accounts

00:19:27.200 at least in part

00:19:27.940 for our cognitive flexibility.

00:19:29.640 And so that's really

00:19:30.260 what a human being is.

00:19:31.460 A human being

00:19:32.080 is a creature

00:19:33.160 that has high potential

00:19:34.460 for succeeding

00:19:35.180 across a very wide range

00:19:36.900 of potential human

00:19:37.860 dominance hierarchies.

00:19:39.580 And so that gives us

00:19:40.500 our transformative psyche.

00:19:42.320 That's the niche

00:19:43.100 that we've both produced

00:19:46.120 and occupy.

00:19:47.340 And I think it's out

00:19:48.160 of that that hero mythology

00:19:49.340 emerges fundamentally.

00:19:51.200 Because I think

00:19:51.780 what the hero is

00:19:52.660 the mythological hero

00:19:53.680 is a representation

00:19:55.000 of that part

00:19:56.040 of the psyche

00:19:56.660 that's particularly good

00:19:58.180 at being successful

00:19:59.360 across sets

00:20:00.120 of dominance hierarchies.

00:20:01.620 It's a very

00:20:02.180 very biological way

00:20:03.780 of thinking about it.

00:20:04.540 And I've thought

00:20:06.420 about this for a long time.

00:20:07.360 I can't see any way

00:20:08.860 that that just

00:20:09.580 can't be the case.

00:20:11.500 And how else

00:20:12.100 could it work?

00:20:14.620 If we had a fixed

00:20:15.760 behavioral pattern

00:20:16.680 like beavers,

00:20:17.620 you know,

00:20:18.200 you're the most successful

00:20:19.160 beaver if you build

00:20:20.000 the best dam.

00:20:20.860 It's like, fine.

00:20:21.560 Then you know

00:20:21.920 what's going to be

00:20:22.500 selected for.

00:20:23.240 But that isn't

00:20:24.060 what people are like.

00:20:24.860 And it's also

00:20:25.320 why we're so multi-purpose.

00:20:27.040 You know,

00:20:27.700 we have hands.

00:20:28.760 What's a hand for?

00:20:30.480 What's the evolutionary

00:20:31.260 function of a hand?

00:20:33.000 Well, you can't specify that.

00:20:34.640 You could say

00:20:35.160 it's something like,

00:20:36.660 well, a hand is useful

00:20:37.540 for doing a whole bunch

00:20:38.340 of different things with.

00:20:40.100 Well, and mouth, tongue,

00:20:42.340 same thing.

00:20:43.100 What are words for?

00:20:44.240 Well, it's the same thing.

00:20:45.580 They're for communicating

00:20:47.340 a very wide range

00:20:48.840 of information.

00:20:50.100 It's something like that.

00:20:51.140 So we're these weird

00:20:52.340 general purpose animals.

00:20:53.860 You know,

00:20:54.040 we're not great

00:20:54.740 at any one thing.

00:20:56.620 But we can swim better

00:20:58.180 than most terrestrial animals.

00:21:01.300 You know,

00:21:01.540 we can run faster

00:21:03.160 than most animals.

00:21:04.500 And we can certainly

00:21:05.060 run longer.

00:21:05.740 Like a human being

00:21:06.560 can run a horse to death

00:21:07.980 over the course of a week

00:21:09.100 if they're in good shape.

00:21:10.840 So like,

00:21:11.580 we're really good

00:21:12.540 at being a multi-purpose entity.

00:21:15.220 Like a rat,

00:21:16.060 you know,

00:21:16.340 where they call rats

00:21:17.780 weedy species

00:21:18.660 because they can be anywhere.

00:21:21.000 They don't have

00:21:21.620 a specific niche.

00:21:22.560 Like, you know,

00:21:23.180 there's animals down

00:21:23.940 in the Amazon

00:21:25.680 that they're specialized

00:21:26.960 for like one tree,

00:21:28.400 you know,

00:21:28.840 or one type of tree

00:21:30.040 in one tiny little area.

00:21:31.540 That's not what

00:21:32.220 human beings like

00:21:32.980 because we're like

00:21:34.060 cockroaches or rats

00:21:35.180 which is a nasty comparison.

00:21:37.000 But we can go anywhere

00:21:38.080 and thrive.

00:21:39.500 And so,

00:21:40.520 and so being particularly

00:21:42.700 good at that,

00:21:44.040 being particularly good

00:21:45.220 at being able

00:21:45.880 to go anywhere

00:21:46.540 and thrive

00:21:47.180 also seems to me

00:21:48.400 to be a canonical element

00:21:49.520 of the hero mythology.

00:21:50.560 So,

00:21:51.820 so,

00:21:52.920 okay,

00:21:53.440 all right.

00:21:54.560 Now,

00:21:56.340 I started to introduce

00:21:59.760 all those topics

00:22:00.620 because I was

00:22:01.380 trying to address

00:22:02.560 the issue

00:22:02.980 of how it is

00:22:03.680 that we've come

00:22:04.800 to deal

00:22:05.400 with the fact

00:22:06.620 that things are so complex

00:22:07.780 that we can't deal

00:22:08.600 with them.

00:22:09.760 And so,

00:22:10.500 a huge part of the answer

00:22:11.660 to that is the Darwinian answers.

00:22:13.400 One is,

00:22:14.520 well,

00:22:14.720 you keep up with things

00:22:15.600 you can't keep up with

00:22:16.500 by changing unpredictably.

00:22:18.100 So,

00:22:18.400 there's,

00:22:18.760 here's an example

00:22:19.580 you know,

00:22:21.240 sometimes if you're

00:22:22.280 driving down the road

00:22:23.060 and there's a deer

00:22:23.840 on the road,

00:22:25.040 maybe you'll run into it

00:22:26.000 and it'll,

00:22:26.540 instead of jumping

00:22:27.200 out of the way,

00:22:27.620 it sort of jumps randomly

00:22:28.840 and then you run into it.

00:22:30.020 You think,

00:22:30.320 well,

00:22:30.420 that's a pretty stupid strategy.

00:22:31.780 It's like,

00:22:33.260 natural selections

00:22:34.160 that work there.

00:22:34.980 But it turns out

00:22:35.660 that deer jump randomly

00:22:36.960 when wolves are chasing them.

00:22:38.820 Well,

00:22:39.260 why would you do that?

00:22:40.600 Well,

00:22:40.820 because you can't predict it,

00:22:42.000 right?

00:22:42.740 If,

00:22:43.020 if something horrible

00:22:43.940 is after you,

00:22:44.680 acting unpredictably

00:22:45.620 is actually a pretty good strategy

00:22:46.980 and that's basically

00:22:47.820 what mutation does.

00:22:49.020 means the horrible thing

00:22:51.480 that's after you

00:22:52.380 always is the rapid transformation

00:22:53.960 of the environment

00:22:54.860 and the only thing

00:22:55.900 you can possibly do

00:22:56.780 in that,

00:22:57.200 in that case

00:22:58.160 is capitalize on chance.

00:22:59.980 Okay,

00:23:00.220 so that's one thing.

00:23:01.440 So that's partly

00:23:02.240 why the Darwinian story

00:23:03.440 I think has to be right

00:23:04.960 because the environment

00:23:07.040 does move unpredictably

00:23:08.720 and the only way

00:23:10.600 you can keep up

00:23:11.320 with something

00:23:11.700 that's unpredictable

00:23:12.360 is to generate variance

00:23:13.680 and hope that one of them

00:23:15.360 has drawn the lucky lottery card.

00:23:17.880 But then there's

00:23:18.880 these additional issues

00:23:19.940 which is that

00:23:20.840 we're also,

00:23:21.320 we also seem to be

00:23:22.120 tightly selected

00:23:23.280 for the capacity

00:23:25.100 to cooperate and compete

00:23:26.280 so that multiplies

00:23:27.380 our cognitive ability.

00:23:28.660 That's a huge part of it.

00:23:30.320 And then

00:23:30.680 we're also,

00:23:31.980 we also seem to have

00:23:33.420 constructed ourselves

00:23:34.480 so to speak

00:23:35.160 through sexual choice

00:23:37.080 into these

00:23:37.920 general problem,

00:23:39.660 general purpose

00:23:40.380 problem solving creatures.

00:23:41.540 And so we've internalized

00:23:43.340 some of the Darwinian process.

00:23:45.100 So you think,

00:23:46.220 well,

00:23:47.420 most animals

00:23:48.200 will produce variants

00:23:49.120 of themselves physically

00:23:50.320 and then most

00:23:51.420 of those variants die.

00:23:53.280 But human beings

00:23:54.440 have built a lance,

00:23:56.620 built a mechanism,

00:23:58.120 let's say,

00:23:59.320 that's like a game engine.

00:24:00.920 I think that's a really good,

00:24:01.940 you know how

00:24:02.440 there are game engines now

00:24:04.000 that people have devised,

00:24:06.080 they're computational devices

00:24:08.540 and you can take a game engine

00:24:10.180 and you can generate games with it,

00:24:11.660 like computer games.

00:24:12.880 So

00:24:13.020 the game engine

00:24:15.100 is a mechanism

00:24:15.700 for producing games.

00:24:16.880 Well,

00:24:17.060 that's what our brains are like.

00:24:18.600 Our brains are game engines

00:24:19.800 for producing games.

00:24:21.420 And so what happens is

00:24:22.640 that

00:24:22.860 when you think

00:24:24.140 you produce an avatar

00:24:25.000 of yourself,

00:24:26.620 you produce a fictional world

00:24:27.920 that that avatar inhabits

00:24:29.480 and maybe you produce

00:24:30.920 multiple fictional worlds

00:24:32.060 and multiple avatars,

00:24:33.300 that's the you

00:24:34.240 that could be tomorrow,

00:24:35.500 which is what you're doing

00:24:36.220 when you're planning

00:24:36.860 and you walk the avatar

00:24:38.860 through its potential roots

00:24:40.680 and those that look good,

00:24:42.480 you keep

00:24:42.820 and those that don't look good,

00:24:43.800 you kill.

00:24:45.000 And so

00:24:45.360 you can

00:24:46.300 then you can embody

00:24:48.120 the ideas that you keep

00:24:49.560 and act those out

00:24:50.400 and hopefully the idea is

00:24:51.640 that when you embody them,

00:24:53.080 you're successful

00:24:53.980 and you don't get killed.

00:24:56.160 And so we're select,

00:24:57.280 we've also,

00:24:58.000 when we've been selecting

00:24:59.380 each other for cognitive prowess,

00:25:01.160 we've been selecting ourselves

00:25:02.660 for the ability

00:25:03.360 to generate avatars

00:25:04.660 out of ourself

00:25:06.180 and kill them

00:25:07.180 instead of dying.

00:25:08.320 It's unbelievably brilliant

00:25:09.600 and that's really akin

00:25:12.080 to the human discovery

00:25:13.060 of the future, right?

00:25:14.080 The future is a place

00:25:14.980 where variants of you

00:25:15.880 could exist.

00:25:17.440 It's something like that

00:25:18.320 and other animals

00:25:18.960 don't seem to be able

00:25:19.740 to do that.

00:25:20.760 So we're very sneaky

00:25:22.700 and, well,

00:25:24.140 so far it doesn't seem

00:25:25.060 to be working too badly,

00:25:26.180 although we haven't been around

00:25:27.100 for very long, right?

00:25:28.060 I mean,

00:25:28.640 human beings

00:25:29.200 of our particular subspecies,

00:25:31.780 about 150,000 years,

00:25:33.320 something like that,

00:25:34.040 which is from an evolutionary

00:25:35.820 time frame,

00:25:37.020 it's like,

00:25:37.860 it's nothing,

00:25:39.200 you know?

00:25:39.680 It's 2,080 year old men.

00:25:42.280 It's not very long,

00:25:43.780 you know,

00:25:44.220 if you think about it that way.

00:25:45.880 Okay.

00:25:46.160 So...

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00:28:56.660 on board and on shore.

00:28:59.260 And every Viking voyage

00:29:00.660 is all-inclusive

00:29:02.100 with no children

00:29:03.480 and no casinos.

00:29:05.140 Discover more

00:29:05.940 at viking.com.

00:29:08.880 Now, what I want to do

00:29:10.700 is draw a relationship

00:29:12.280 between that

00:29:13.060 developmental process,

00:29:14.460 that evolutionary process,

00:29:16.040 and the emergence

00:29:16.780 of these underlying

00:29:17.740 motivational systems.

00:29:20.340 It's something like this.

00:29:21.620 So you imagine,

00:29:22.260 you go back in time

00:29:23.000 to the emergence

00:29:23.740 of the development

00:29:24.440 of nervous systems.

00:29:26.000 So, there's cells

00:29:27.940 that creatures use

00:29:29.160 to produce motor output,

00:29:32.720 and there's cells

00:29:33.320 that creatures use

00:29:34.240 to map the patterns

00:29:35.860 around them

00:29:36.480 onto themselves,

00:29:37.880 and so those are

00:29:38.380 that sensory,

00:29:39.460 that's the sensory layer,

00:29:40.860 so to speak.

00:29:41.900 Imagine.

00:29:43.120 Sensory layer,

00:29:45.260 nervous layer,

00:29:47.200 motor layer.

00:29:48.420 In simpler animals,

00:29:49.400 you just have

00:29:49.880 sensory motor cells.

00:29:51.900 Then they diversify.

00:29:53.500 Sensory layer,

00:29:54.780 nervous layer,

00:29:55.960 motor layer.

00:29:56.580 In fact,

00:29:56.900 that's actually

00:29:57.440 what you consist of

00:29:58.800 when you're first

00:29:59.400 developing in utero,

00:30:00.680 after the blastocyte stage,

00:30:02.600 when your cells differentiate,

00:30:03.700 that's the differentiation.

00:30:04.980 Sensory layer,

00:30:06.180 nervous layer,

00:30:07.300 motor layer.

00:30:08.040 So then you think

00:30:08.600 there's a sensory layer.

00:30:10.560 Now, what's that

00:30:11.080 sensory layer doing?

00:30:13.860 Think about the world

00:30:14.880 as consisting of patterns

00:30:17.020 of all sorts.

00:30:18.680 Like, maybe there's

00:30:19.520 an animal in the ocean,

00:30:20.560 and it's being subjected

00:30:21.840 to wave motion.

00:30:23.460 And so,

00:30:24.220 its sensory systems

00:30:25.460 map the wave motion

00:30:26.780 onto the motor output.

00:30:27.880 So, if you look

00:30:28.700 at a sponge,

00:30:29.320 for example,

00:30:30.260 sponges are good examples

00:30:31.300 because they're sort of

00:30:32.020 half unicellular animals

00:30:33.580 and half multicellular animals.

00:30:34.960 You can take a sponge

00:30:35.900 and run it through

00:30:37.140 a colander

00:30:37.680 and separate it out

00:30:38.920 into cells,

00:30:40.120 say, in salt water,

00:30:41.720 and it'll assemble itself

00:30:42.720 back into a sponge.

00:30:44.260 So, it's sort of at the,

00:30:45.340 yeah, amazing, eh?

00:30:46.940 It's kind of what

00:30:47.740 you do in utero.

00:30:50.040 The cells somehow

00:30:51.380 know enough

00:30:51.900 to communicate

00:30:52.440 with another,

00:30:53.520 to organize themselves

00:30:55.320 into an organism.

00:30:56.700 It's unbelievable.

00:30:57.700 We have no idea

00:30:58.340 how people do that

00:30:59.180 because when you're

00:31:00.320 in the initial form,

00:31:02.020 blastocyte form,

00:31:02.820 all those cells

00:31:03.480 are identical genetically.

00:31:05.100 And then all of a sudden

00:31:05.740 they differentiate

00:31:06.320 and they move

00:31:07.420 to the places

00:31:07.980 they're supposed to go.

00:31:09.020 We have no idea

00:31:09.840 how that,

00:31:10.580 how the hell

00:31:11.240 can that happen?

00:31:11.940 These cells are all

00:31:12.580 identical,

00:31:13.620 except for their position.

00:31:15.580 So, they're obviously

00:31:16.320 communicating with

00:31:17.380 one another

00:31:17.900 in some unbelievably

00:31:19.040 complicated way

00:31:20.080 and saying,

00:31:21.080 well, you're

00:31:22.100 this sort of cell

00:31:22.980 and so you're

00:31:23.460 going to differentiate

00:31:23.980 that way.

00:31:25.100 God only knows.

00:31:26.140 But anyway,

00:31:26.700 sponges can do this.

00:31:27.660 Now, a sponge

00:31:29.800 isn't complicated

00:31:31.540 enough to have

00:31:32.180 the sensory layer

00:31:32.920 and the nervous layer

00:31:33.900 and the motor layer.

00:31:35.020 It's just sensory

00:31:36.000 motor cells,

00:31:36.620 if I remember correctly.

00:31:37.560 But what the sponge

00:31:38.180 is trying to figure out

00:31:39.020 is it wants to get

00:31:40.720 water through its pores

00:31:41.920 inside because

00:31:43.240 that's how it eats.

00:31:44.180 And so,

00:31:44.960 there's wave motion

00:31:45.860 constantly.

00:31:46.800 And so,

00:31:47.080 what's happening

00:31:47.560 is the wave motion

00:31:48.460 is a pattern

00:31:49.080 and the sponge

00:31:50.040 is reacting to that

00:31:51.060 in a patterned way.

00:31:52.360 And that's a really,

00:31:52.980 it's really useful

00:31:53.980 to think about

00:31:54.720 what you're responding

00:31:56.540 to as patterns

00:31:57.420 instead of objects

00:31:58.480 because we think

00:31:59.400 we react to objects.

00:32:00.480 But objects are actually

00:32:01.760 a specific subcategory

00:32:03.180 of pattern.

00:32:04.580 And so,

00:32:05.260 because it also helps

00:32:06.220 to explain perception.

00:32:07.580 It's like,

00:32:08.000 what does it mean

00:32:08.840 for you to see something?

00:32:10.400 Well,

00:32:11.200 it means a bunch of things.

00:32:12.880 But one of the things

00:32:13.680 it means is

00:32:14.380 when I look at that thing,

00:32:17.060 it manifests itself

00:32:18.520 to me

00:32:18.960 as a grippable object.

00:32:21.760 I mean,

00:32:22.020 that's built into

00:32:23.000 the way I see it.

00:32:23.920 So,

00:32:24.700 if you think about

00:32:25.840 the way that you see

00:32:26.620 that on the surface there,

00:32:27.780 you can tell that

00:32:28.400 it's separate from the surface

00:32:29.420 because it has a bit

00:32:30.240 of a shadow

00:32:30.780 and it's a different color.

00:32:32.980 And it's obviously

00:32:34.080 shaped for a hand

00:32:35.400 and so that thing

00:32:36.520 tells you

00:32:37.340 when you look at it

00:32:38.040 that it's a grabbable object.

00:32:39.380 Well,

00:32:39.540 it's hand-shaped.

00:32:40.700 Like a stone tool

00:32:41.960 would be.

00:32:43.040 And so,

00:32:43.820 and the things around you

00:32:45.440 in the world

00:32:45.840 manifest themselves

00:32:46.880 as patterns of utility.

00:32:48.800 That's the appropriate

00:32:49.760 way to think about it.

00:32:50.800 You say,

00:32:51.160 well,

00:32:51.240 what does this thing mean?

00:32:52.600 Because that's a hard question.

00:32:54.480 Well,

00:32:55.020 one of the things

00:32:56.280 that your eyes do,

00:32:57.520 it's like,

00:32:58.160 imagine you've got

00:32:59.240 this representational surface

00:33:00.700 at the back of your retina.

00:33:02.180 It's made out of pixels,

00:33:03.340 roughly speaking,

00:33:04.200 right?

00:33:04.380 Those are the cells.

00:33:05.500 And what it does is

00:33:06.540 map that pattern

00:33:08.400 onto your retinal pattern.

00:33:10.400 And then the retinal pattern

00:33:11.460 propagates itself

00:33:12.580 as a nervous pattern

00:33:13.740 along your optic nerve.

00:33:15.020 And then that manifests itself

00:33:16.780 as a neurological pattern.

00:33:18.100 And that neurological pattern

00:33:20.020 manifests itself

00:33:20.880 as an action pattern.

00:33:22.560 And so,

00:33:23.260 the meaning of the object

00:33:24.400 is the action pattern

00:33:25.600 that is mapped

00:33:26.820 onto the percept.

00:33:29.880 And so,

00:33:30.840 what does this mean?

00:33:32.300 This is what it means.

00:33:34.020 You think,

00:33:34.740 this is a Piagetian observation.

00:33:36.460 It's like,

00:33:36.980 one or many?

00:33:39.740 One.

00:33:41.360 Right?

00:33:42.340 Because I'm acting

00:33:43.140 like it's one.

00:33:43.740 But if I do this,

00:33:46.600 then it's many.

00:33:50.800 Why?

00:33:51.780 One.

00:33:52.560 Two.

00:33:53.400 Right?

00:33:53.680 They're separately

00:33:54.280 manipulable entities.

00:33:56.620 And so,

00:33:57.140 the concept of number

00:33:58.200 is,

00:33:58.860 in fact,

00:34:00.300 predicated,

00:34:00.960 at least in part,

00:34:02.440 on the idea of

00:34:04.500 singular usability.

00:34:06.440 But you're mapping it.

00:34:07.500 It's like,

00:34:07.820 well,

00:34:08.000 what is this?

00:34:08.540 It's a key.

00:34:09.220 Well,

00:34:09.440 what does that mean?

00:34:10.180 Well,

00:34:10.300 I'm mapping that shape

00:34:11.280 into this motion

00:34:12.420 for that action.

00:34:14.080 Say,

00:34:14.400 well,

00:34:14.500 it's not just a key.

00:34:15.840 It's a weapon.

00:34:17.640 Right?

00:34:18.620 And so,

00:34:19.040 that's because I've mapped it

00:34:20.040 onto a different output pattern.

00:34:21.380 But,

00:34:21.740 if you think about perception

00:34:22.920 as the matching of patterns

00:34:24.520 onto patterns,

00:34:25.900 it makes way more sense.

00:34:27.820 You can really start thinking

00:34:28.780 about how perception works

00:34:29.860 because then you can also

00:34:30.760 start thinking about

00:34:31.640 unconscious perception.

00:34:33.260 So,

00:34:33.780 you know,

00:34:34.120 the blind sight experiments

00:34:36.260 show,

00:34:36.740 for example,

00:34:37.340 that

00:34:37.520 if you've had cortical damage,

00:34:40.420 so you think you're blind,

00:34:41.740 you can't see objects anymore.

00:34:44.500 But,

00:34:45.060 I show you a picture

00:34:46.080 of a frightened face,

00:34:47.400 you'll show a skin conductance

00:34:48.980 response to it,

00:34:49.760 and you think,

00:34:50.080 well,

00:34:50.200 how the hell can that happen?

00:34:51.280 It's like,

00:34:51.700 I have to see the face

00:34:53.540 in order to infer the emotion

00:34:55.660 in order to have the reaction.

00:34:57.380 It's like,

00:34:57.660 no,

00:34:57.820 you don't.

00:34:58.420 You don't need that at all.

00:34:59.720 You need a pattern recognition

00:35:01.000 system

00:35:02.080 that maps that

00:35:03.640 right onto an amygdalic output

00:35:05.280 that produces physiological

00:35:06.900 readiness.

00:35:08.140 You don't need

00:35:08.900 the perceptible entity

00:35:10.340 because,

00:35:10.840 you know,

00:35:11.020 you think you see something

00:35:12.420 and then you think about the thing

00:35:13.820 and then you evaluate the thing

00:35:14.940 and then you act.

00:35:15.700 It's like,

00:35:16.300 you do do that,

00:35:17.220 but there are parts of you

00:35:17.980 that don't do that at all.

00:35:19.480 Way faster parts,

00:35:20.780 more primordial parts.

00:35:21.920 And so,

00:35:22.480 another example would be

00:35:23.520 Darwin's trick with the snake

00:35:25.240 that I told you about.

00:35:26.040 He'd go to this museum

00:35:27.400 that had a cobra

00:35:28.200 in a glass cage

00:35:30.120 and the cobra,

00:35:31.180 he'd put his face up

00:35:31.960 to the glass cage

00:35:32.660 and the cobra would strike at him

00:35:33.980 and he'd go like this

00:35:35.140 and there was no way

00:35:36.140 he could control that.

00:35:37.160 Well,

00:35:37.720 it's because

00:35:38.180 the part of him

00:35:40.000 that saw the snake

00:35:41.140 wasn't the part

00:35:42.100 that was doing this.

00:35:44.220 There's a part of him

00:35:44.980 that does this to snakes.

00:35:46.660 That's what it does

00:35:47.560 and it's,

00:35:47.980 it's way faster

00:35:49.120 than the,

00:35:49.720 you figure the,

00:35:50.740 to see the snake,

00:35:52.460 you have to,

00:35:53.540 the image is obviously

00:35:54.540 the image,

00:35:55.680 the pattern

00:35:56.220 is portrayed

00:35:57.660 on the retina,

00:35:58.680 it propagates backwards.

00:35:59.860 To see it,

00:36:00.620 it has to be elaborated up

00:36:01.880 through a very complex set

00:36:03.140 of neurological connections.

00:36:04.320 That takes time

00:36:05.500 and so you're dead.

00:36:07.820 Well,

00:36:08.020 the thing that,

00:36:09.020 snake means this,

00:36:10.260 that's like three neurons,

00:36:12.500 super fast

00:36:13.380 and so,

00:36:14.980 what is a snake

00:36:16.120 at that level

00:36:17.580 of representation?

00:36:18.560 It's like,

00:36:19.160 a snake is that

00:36:20.140 which makes you do this

00:36:21.280 and then you could also say

00:36:22.700 that at that level

00:36:23.660 of representation,

00:36:24.880 everything that makes you do this

00:36:26.440 is the same thing,

00:36:28.140 right?

00:36:28.460 Because the same

00:36:30.020 would be defined

00:36:31.280 by the pattern

00:36:32.020 that you manifest

00:36:32.780 in response to that entity.

00:36:34.680 So then your nervous system

00:36:35.860 is layered,

00:36:36.880 very,

00:36:37.260 very,

00:36:37.560 that's sensory layer,

00:36:40.040 neurological layer,

00:36:41.340 motor layer.

00:36:42.860 As you become more complex,

00:36:44.580 the sensory layer

00:36:45.240 differentiates

00:36:45.980 into the different

00:36:46.560 sensory systems

00:36:47.480 and the neurological level

00:36:49.720 multiplies

00:36:51.380 in terms of its

00:36:52.260 potential number

00:36:53.160 of connections.

00:36:53.820 So what happens

00:36:54.440 is that you can map

00:36:55.420 patterns

00:36:56.460 that manifest themselves

00:36:57.760 in multiply different ways,

00:36:59.920 in multiply different ways,

00:37:01.380 to multiple motor outputs.

00:37:03.640 So you start

00:37:04.140 with a fixed action pattern

00:37:05.240 which is just like

00:37:05.980 the sponge reflex.

00:37:09.880 What's the world

00:37:10.600 to a sponge?

00:37:11.500 The world is what

00:37:12.300 makes you go like this

00:37:13.480 or like that.

00:37:14.540 That's it.

00:37:15.520 That's the whole world.

00:37:16.580 The sponge has compressed

00:37:18.020 the entire world

00:37:19.020 into pores open,

00:37:20.280 pores closed.

00:37:21.160 That's it.

00:37:22.220 Two states.

00:37:23.760 And then,

00:37:24.500 well,

00:37:24.660 once the nervous system

00:37:25.600 gets differentiated

00:37:26.600 and the senses

00:37:28.080 get differentiated

00:37:29.120 so there's

00:37:29.840 specialized kinds

00:37:30.640 of cells,

00:37:31.580 then you can

00:37:33.240 detect more

00:37:34.260 forms of patterns.

00:37:36.260 You can produce

00:37:37.840 more patterned output

00:37:39.100 to that.

00:37:40.060 But even more

00:37:40.880 interestingly,

00:37:41.580 and this is where

00:37:42.100 the nervous system

00:37:42.920 starts to come

00:37:43.880 into play,

00:37:44.940 the mapping

00:37:46.100 of the pattern

00:37:46.900 onto the output

00:37:47.560 is no longer

00:37:48.100 one-to-one.

00:37:48.780 You can use

00:37:49.340 the same pattern,

00:37:50.320 roughly speaking,

00:37:51.100 to produce all sorts

00:37:51.940 of different outputs

00:37:52.720 that are context-dependent.

00:37:54.680 Because you might say,

00:37:55.400 well,

00:37:56.440 so,

00:38:01.180 okay,

00:38:01.520 I picked that up.

00:38:02.320 You say,

00:38:02.620 well,

00:38:02.740 he picked that up.

00:38:03.480 It's okay.

00:38:03.880 Well,

00:38:04.160 what about that?

00:38:07.060 You think,

00:38:07.640 well,

00:38:07.720 he picked it up.

00:38:08.320 Well,

00:38:08.540 yeah,

00:38:08.920 I did,

00:38:09.460 except the pattern

00:38:11.660 of musculature

00:38:12.440 that I used

00:38:13.060 to do this

00:38:13.860 is by no means

00:38:15.620 identical to the

00:38:16.460 pattern of musculature

00:38:17.340 that I used

00:38:17.860 to do that,

00:38:18.660 right?

00:38:19.020 I mean,

00:38:19.420 the fact that

00:38:19.980 the orientation

00:38:20.420 is different

00:38:21.060 is actually

00:38:21.560 extraordinarily important.

00:38:23.360 So,

00:38:23.500 well,

00:38:26.480 my point is

00:38:27.120 is that

00:38:27.480 with sufficient

00:38:30.600 nervous complexity,

00:38:31.920 you can take

00:38:33.480 the same thing,

00:38:34.460 so to speak,

00:38:35.200 and map it

00:38:35.920 all sorts

00:38:36.340 of different ways.

00:38:37.180 And human beings

00:38:37.840 are unbelievably

00:38:39.300 good at that.

00:38:40.260 Okay,

00:38:40.560 so now,

00:38:41.140 go back to when

00:38:41.960 things were simple.

00:38:45.480 So there's

00:38:46.120 single-celled organisms,

00:38:47.220 we'll say,

00:38:47.560 and then they start

00:38:48.320 to differentiate

00:38:48.900 to some degree

00:38:49.600 and they start

00:38:50.080 to propagate.

00:38:50.720 And so then

00:38:51.760 the environment

00:38:52.940 starts to shift

00:38:53.680 because the fact

00:38:54.980 of the prevalence

00:38:56.120 of all of these

00:38:56.980 competitors means

00:38:58.300 the environment

00:38:58.820 isn't exactly

00:38:59.520 the same as it

00:39:00.220 was when that

00:39:01.260 system first evolved.

00:39:02.540 New problems

00:39:03.260 emerge.

00:39:04.160 And so then

00:39:04.580 there's selection

00:39:05.160 pressure on those

00:39:06.040 creatures to

00:39:06.560 diversify to some

00:39:07.520 degree.

00:39:08.180 And then the

00:39:08.640 diversification

00:39:09.360 produces a

00:39:10.060 transformation in

00:39:10.820 the environment

00:39:11.240 and then there's

00:39:11.860 pressure on those

00:39:12.560 new entities

00:39:14.120 to diversify some

00:39:15.240 more.

00:39:15.480 And so you get

00:39:16.500 this weird

00:39:16.920 bootstrapping process.

00:39:18.560 Maybe the

00:39:19.460 environment is one

00:39:20.300 thing when there's

00:39:20.980 ten of you,

00:39:21.560 but a completely

00:39:22.060 different thing

00:39:22.600 when there's a

00:39:23.060 thousand of you.

00:39:24.660 Right,

00:39:25.020 so just sheer

00:39:25.780 multiplication is

00:39:26.700 going to transform

00:39:27.380 the environment.

00:39:28.080 And so then

00:39:28.520 because the

00:39:30.780 environment has

00:39:31.360 now become more

00:39:32.020 complex than it

00:39:32.820 was,

00:39:33.080 there's selection

00:39:33.680 pressure to

00:39:34.340 produce diversification

00:39:35.480 in the underlying

00:39:36.780 organisms.

00:39:37.480 And that took a

00:39:38.360 long time to get

00:39:39.120 off the ground.

00:39:39.780 Like,

00:39:39.940 there were single

00:39:40.400 celled organisms

00:39:41.100 for a huge

00:39:42.520 span of history.

00:39:44.040 I mean,

00:39:44.580 if you look at

00:39:45.340 evolutionary history,

00:39:46.880 the amount of

00:39:47.640 time that there

00:39:48.840 were single

00:39:49.360 celled organisms

00:39:50.160 is far longer

00:39:51.100 than the time

00:39:51.740 that there's been

00:39:52.300 since there were

00:39:52.840 multi-celled

00:39:53.420 organisms.

00:39:53.960 It's like,

00:39:54.360 it's like Moore's

00:39:55.480 law.

00:39:56.500 You know,

00:39:57.120 the law that

00:39:57.660 governs the

00:39:58.280 increase in

00:39:59.180 computational power.

00:40:00.060 You can trace

00:40:00.520 that back to

00:40:01.060 about the year

00:40:02.240 1400,

00:40:03.040 something like

00:40:03.480 that.

00:40:04.220 So it's been

00:40:04.740 going on for a

00:40:05.420 very long time.

00:40:06.420 And maybe you

00:40:06.920 can make the same

00:40:07.520 case from an

00:40:08.080 evolutionary

00:40:08.460 perspective.

00:40:09.180 It's like the

00:40:09.580 flat part of the

00:40:10.340 curve is really

00:40:11.600 long,

00:40:12.180 but once it starts

00:40:13.060 to move up,

00:40:13.620 it starts to

00:40:14.040 move up really

00:40:14.820 fast.

00:40:15.520 And obviously

00:40:16.060 that's the

00:40:16.540 position that

00:40:17.060 we're in now.

00:40:18.120 So single

00:40:19.020 celled organisms

00:40:19.700 for a long

00:40:20.240 time.

00:40:21.200 Then they

00:40:21.680 started to

00:40:22.260 diversify.

00:40:22.960 And then you

00:40:23.280 could imagine,

00:40:23.880 well,

00:40:25.160 from the

00:40:26.100 single celled

00:40:26.740 organism,

00:40:27.080 you start

00:40:27.500 getting multicellular

00:40:28.460 organism,

00:40:29.040 and then it

00:40:29.380 ends up with

00:40:30.160 this tripartite

00:40:31.300 structure.

00:40:32.140 Sensory layer,

00:40:33.280 nervous layer,

00:40:34.700 motor layer.

00:40:35.180 And then that

00:40:36.580 starts to

00:40:37.080 differentiate.

00:40:37.760 And every

00:40:38.560 time there's a

00:40:39.140 differentiation,

00:40:40.040 that's

00:40:40.280 conserved.

00:40:41.620 And that's

00:40:42.520 these systems,

00:40:43.760 the motivational

00:40:44.260 systems.

00:40:45.460 They emerged a

00:40:46.480 long, long

00:40:47.060 time ago as

00:40:48.960 emergent solutions

00:40:49.920 to emergent

00:40:50.560 problems, and

00:40:51.520 you've conserved

00:40:52.140 all of them.

00:40:52.860 I mean, you've

00:40:53.320 conserved your

00:40:54.240 snake reflex,

00:40:55.280 which is like

00:40:55.720 three neurons

00:40:57.120 long.

00:40:58.160 So that's

00:40:59.000 really, really

00:40:59.520 primordial.

00:41:00.200 But you've

00:41:01.040 conserved function

00:41:02.660 at almost every

00:41:03.780 temporal level.

00:41:05.500 So there's

00:41:05.820 parts of you

00:41:06.260 that are quick

00:41:07.340 and dirty, and

00:41:08.700 parts of you

00:41:09.120 that are slow

00:41:09.780 and sophisticated.

00:41:11.400 And a lot of

00:41:12.360 the contents of

00:41:13.040 consciousness is

00:41:14.040 slow and

00:41:14.660 sophisticated.

00:41:15.580 So it can't

00:41:16.340 help you out in

00:41:16.920 an emergency.

00:41:18.120 But it can do,

00:41:19.000 what consciousness

00:41:19.600 seems to do is

00:41:20.460 take your

00:41:21.040 structure, it

00:41:23.320 analyzes the

00:41:24.400 worlds for, let's

00:41:25.500 say, mismatches

00:41:26.440 between what you

00:41:27.380 want and what's

00:41:28.160 happening.

00:41:28.960 And then it

00:41:29.440 either,

00:41:30.200 helps you alter

00:41:30.960 the world so

00:41:31.620 those mismatches

00:41:32.420 go away, or

00:41:33.420 it turns inward

00:41:34.280 and modifies the

00:41:36.400 structures that

00:41:37.320 you're using.

00:41:38.140 So, if you're

00:41:39.100 playing the piano,

00:41:40.720 you've got this

00:41:41.260 automatized routine,

00:41:42.560 it has very little

00:41:43.160 to do with

00:41:43.580 consciousness if

00:41:44.300 you've practiced

00:41:44.760 enough, and you

00:41:45.600 make a mistake.

00:41:46.700 You stop, and

00:41:48.100 you note the

00:41:49.380 mistake, and you

00:41:50.200 stop, and then

00:41:51.720 you slow it down,

00:41:53.380 and then you

00:41:53.880 re-you practice

00:41:55.440 the new thing,

00:41:57.180 and then you

00:41:57.500 speed it up,

00:41:58.080 then you speed

00:41:58.500 it up, then you

00:41:59.060 speed it up, and

00:41:59.920 as you're doing

00:42:00.420 that, the

00:42:00.840 neural representation

00:42:01.620 shrinks until

00:42:03.000 you've developed

00:42:03.640 this little

00:42:04.020 specialized machine,

00:42:05.240 and then you

00:42:05.940 run that a few

00:42:06.520 times, and now

00:42:07.180 you can ignore

00:42:07.740 it, you can

00:42:08.660 look at the

00:42:08.980 notes and just

00:42:09.480 play, and

00:42:10.260 away you go.

00:42:10.980 And that's

00:42:11.400 kind of what

00:42:11.800 consciousness is

00:42:12.480 doing all the

00:42:13.000 time.

00:42:13.620 You're laying

00:42:14.340 out an

00:42:14.700 automatized

00:42:15.360 routine, and

00:42:17.160 then if that

00:42:19.220 doesn't produce

00:42:19.900 the intended

00:42:21.320 outcome, you

00:42:22.460 stop, you

00:42:23.260 become conscious,

00:42:24.200 really, because

00:42:24.780 there's nothing

00:42:25.380 like an error to

00:42:26.060 make you

00:42:26.360 conscious.

00:42:26.740 then you

00:42:27.820 do a

00:42:28.480 high-resolution

00:42:29.460 analysis of

00:42:30.400 the space in

00:42:31.280 which the

00:42:31.680 error emerged,

00:42:32.940 you rematch

00:42:34.680 your motor

00:42:35.340 output, your

00:42:35.900 perceptions, and

00:42:36.540 all of that to

00:42:37.060 make that error go

00:42:37.780 away, and away

00:42:38.920 you go.

00:42:39.860 And so your

00:42:40.260 consciousness is

00:42:40.980 continually, your

00:42:42.400 consciousness seems

00:42:43.240 to be continually

00:42:44.100 building your

00:42:44.940 unconscious, your

00:42:46.440 procedural

00:42:46.940 unconscious.

00:42:48.220 And so to

00:42:48.680 some degree, the

00:42:49.260 purpose of

00:42:49.780 consciousness is

00:42:51.020 to make you

00:42:51.600 functional

00:42:52.180 unconsciously,

00:42:53.400 right, because

00:42:54.820 that's way

00:42:55.240 better.

00:42:55.680 You don't

00:42:55.920 want to be

00:42:56.260 conscious of

00:42:56.780 most things,

00:42:57.400 because it's

00:42:57.820 just, what are

00:42:58.500 you going to

00:42:58.660 do, be

00:42:58.940 conscious of

00:42:59.400 your digestive

00:42:59.920 processes?

00:43:00.680 It's like, no.

00:43:02.940 If you're good

00:43:03.820 at something, you

00:43:04.360 hardly have to be

00:43:05.040 conscious of it

00:43:05.620 at all.

00:43:06.280 So consciousness

00:43:06.960 is something like

00:43:07.700 an error detection

00:43:08.580 and rectification

00:43:10.060 system, something

00:43:10.920 like that.

00:43:12.380 And so you

00:43:12.940 say, well, you

00:43:13.560 could practice

00:43:14.040 being conscious,

00:43:14.900 because what

00:43:15.700 that means in

00:43:16.280 some sense is

00:43:16.860 you're always

00:43:17.240 attending to your

00:43:17.960 errors, and that

00:43:18.840 seems to be a

00:43:19.460 really intelligent

00:43:20.100 thing to do, if

00:43:21.700 you don't take it

00:43:22.280 too far and

00:43:22.880 collapse yourself,

00:43:24.240 because if you're

00:43:24.960 always attending to

00:43:25.740 your errors, you're

00:43:26.980 always improving

00:43:27.660 your automated

00:43:29.160 adaptability, something

00:43:30.940 like that, right?

00:43:31.760 Pay attention.

00:43:33.140 See if things are

00:43:33.780 working out the way

00:43:34.560 that you want them

00:43:35.220 to, and if they're

00:43:35.680 not, modify your

00:43:38.300 approach, your

00:43:39.660 perceptions.

00:43:40.340 Okay, so you've

00:43:40.960 conserved these

00:43:41.780 systems, and the

00:43:44.200 systems emerge to

00:43:45.460 solve the problems

00:43:47.240 of emergent

00:43:47.820 complexity, and you

00:43:48.740 end up at birth with

00:43:50.140 all of these

00:43:50.600 conserved systems, and

00:43:51.700 so those would be

00:43:52.380 proclivities that

00:43:53.720 would enable you

00:43:54.500 to manifest the

00:43:57.440 necessary realm of

00:43:58.520 behaviors in the

00:44:00.020 social, natural, human

00:44:01.420 environment, something

00:44:02.520 like that, so you're

00:44:03.360 basically prepared for

00:44:04.740 that, and I told you,

00:44:06.000 we went through what

00:44:06.840 those were last time,

00:44:07.720 and you can break

00:44:08.620 them down into

00:44:09.320 self-maintenance

00:44:11.280 motivations and

00:44:12.160 self-propagation

00:44:13.160 motivations, something

00:44:14.080 like that.

00:44:15.220 So, okay, now the

00:44:16.980 question is, how do

00:44:17.980 those manifest

00:44:18.620 themselves?

00:44:19.900 And that's where

00:44:20.700 we get, that's where

00:44:22.840 we can make a

00:44:23.460 shift, say, from

00:44:24.300 evolutionary ideas and

00:44:26.060 biological ideas to

00:44:27.840 narrative ideas.

00:44:29.820 So, I've made the

00:44:32.000 case for you that you

00:44:33.280 exist within this

00:44:34.740 thing.

00:44:35.040 I've never figured out

00:44:35.760 exactly what to call

00:44:36.660 it, because you can

00:44:37.280 call it a game, or you

00:44:38.260 can call it a frame of

00:44:39.140 reference, which is a

00:44:40.180 pretty good one, or you

00:44:41.600 can call it a story, or

00:44:43.800 you can call it a unit of

00:44:44.920 perception, but that's

00:44:46.440 not exactly right, because

00:44:47.400 it's more than

00:44:47.880 perception.

00:44:48.700 It's really this, it's

00:44:50.100 a really, what it is, is

00:44:51.100 a micro-personality.

00:44:53.460 It's your personality as

00:44:55.920 it manifests itself at

00:44:57.720 the highest possible

00:44:59.200 resolution.

00:44:59.900 That's what this is.

00:45:01.060 And so, if I'm, you

00:45:03.280 know, say I set myself

00:45:04.360 the task of moving those

00:45:06.460 keys from there to

00:45:08.340 here, so my perceptual

00:45:11.940 frame is, it's this

00:45:14.520 thing.

00:45:14.980 I think, well, what's

00:45:16.000 the world?

00:45:17.700 Everything else can be

00:45:18.640 ignored.

00:45:19.880 I need to make an

00:45:21.720 object out of my

00:45:22.580 hand, these keys, that

00:45:26.020 tiny spot on the table.

00:45:28.380 And my goal is to

00:45:29.880 transform this pattern

00:45:32.580 into that pattern.

00:45:35.240 And it's a pattern,

00:45:36.280 because it maintains

00:45:37.700 itself across time.

00:45:39.340 Right?

00:45:39.560 It's not like smoke or

00:45:40.700 cloud, it persists.

00:45:42.580 So, there it is, there

00:45:44.040 it is, there it is,

00:45:44.960 there it is.

00:45:45.540 That's a pattern that's

00:45:46.680 extending across time.

00:45:48.180 So, I have this goal,

00:45:50.500 which is the transformation

00:45:51.500 of this into that.

00:45:53.080 And that goal, so that

00:45:54.180 would be, roughly speaking,

00:45:55.740 the goal is point B.

00:45:57.060 But you can't just think

00:45:58.740 about this as something

00:45:59.580 that's a goal, because it

00:46:00.760 isn't just a goal.

00:46:01.580 So, there's a goal, which

00:46:04.820 is the end, which is the

00:46:06.280 end state of this entire

00:46:09.340 process.

00:46:10.080 The end state is, I've

00:46:11.940 moved the thing from here

00:46:13.240 to here, I've transformed

00:46:16.180 this into this, and I've

00:46:17.940 done it using action.

00:46:19.360 And that's, so that's a

00:46:20.620 useful thing to know, too.

00:46:22.380 I have an abstract notion,

00:46:24.860 that's my decision, that I'm

00:46:29.020 going to get the world to

00:46:30.460 manifest this pattern,

00:46:31.760 instead of this one.

00:46:33.580 Okay, so that gives me my

00:46:34.720 target.

00:46:37.200 That's an abstraction.

00:46:39.740 But, when I actually do the

00:46:41.540 transformation, that's not

00:46:42.640 an abstraction, because now

00:46:43.960 I'm using actual action,

00:46:46.460 actual behavior.

00:46:47.940 And so, I take this abstract

00:46:49.660 micro-personality, this is

00:46:51.100 the part that's operating on

00:46:52.820 this tiny little section of

00:46:53.980 the world, I make the

00:46:55.360 transformation, and as soon as

00:46:56.960 I do that, another thing

00:46:57.960 happens, which is I don't

00:46:58.880 need that anymore, right?

00:47:00.640 I move to the next one of

00:47:01.860 those, whatever it happens

00:47:02.780 to be.

00:47:03.600 And so, one of the things

00:47:04.600 we're going to have to

00:47:05.280 figure out is, what is the

00:47:06.560 relationship between these

00:47:07.900 things?

00:47:08.620 Because you're always in one

00:47:09.600 of them, and they're

00:47:10.400 scalable.

00:47:11.420 It's like, when you're doing

00:47:12.580 a specific action, it's

00:47:13.640 really high resolution, and

00:47:15.440 that's kind of where you

00:47:16.420 want to be operating.

00:47:18.440 When you know what you're

00:47:19.360 doing, that's where you want

00:47:20.220 to be operating, roughly

00:47:21.340 speaking, when you're

00:47:23.160 trying to do something new.

00:47:24.340 But it's scalable.

00:47:25.160 And so, the framework, which

00:47:28.800 is constructed in part from

00:47:30.760 these motivational systems

00:47:32.060 that emerged over

00:47:33.080 evolutionary history, the

00:47:34.780 framework specifies the

00:47:36.280 current condition, the

00:47:37.600 desired condition, and the

00:47:40.020 behavioral manifestations

00:47:41.020 that are necessary to make

00:47:42.400 the transformation.

00:47:43.800 And so, you can't think

00:47:44.940 about it as a drive, because

00:47:46.480 instincts are often thought

00:47:47.900 about as drives, or as a

00:47:49.180 goal.

00:47:50.100 It's not correct, because the

00:47:52.280 thing actually determines

00:47:54.400 your perceptions.

00:47:55.880 It determines what objects

00:47:57.200 manifest themselves to you

00:47:58.600 in the world, or what

00:47:59.500 patterns.

00:47:59.980 That's another way of

00:48:00.700 thinking about it.

00:48:01.340 Because, like, when I'm

00:48:01.940 looking at this, it's hard

00:48:04.120 to watch your own

00:48:05.120 perceptions.

00:48:05.740 But when I'm looking at

00:48:06.560 this, I really, I can see

00:48:09.440 that chair, but if I didn't

00:48:10.520 know it was a chair, I

00:48:11.320 wouldn't be able to tell by

00:48:12.120 looking, by my visual input.

00:48:14.440 I can kind of see this one.

00:48:15.820 Although, I really can't

00:48:19.180 tell what color it is.

00:48:21.060 That one's slightly clearer.

00:48:22.740 This is pretty blurry here.

00:48:24.540 Like, I can't see my fingers

00:48:25.700 if I'm looking at the keys.

00:48:27.420 I can't see my fingers

00:48:28.600 unless they move.

00:48:30.420 And I'm very, very focused

00:48:31.800 on that.

00:48:32.260 So, what happens is that all

00:48:33.940 the rest of the world turns

00:48:35.020 into a low-resolution

00:48:36.140 representation that vanishes

00:48:37.660 on its periphery.

00:48:39.180 The resolution increases as I

00:48:41.880 move towards the central part

00:48:43.140 of my visual field.

00:48:44.520 And here, it's sharp enough

00:48:45.520 so that I can actually see

00:48:46.560 the letters on that key.

00:48:49.200 So, so my desire, which I'm

00:48:52.700 indicating by the point of

00:48:53.760 my eyes, is specifying the

00:48:55.600 objects that I see and

00:48:56.760 specifying their level of

00:48:57.860 resolution.

00:48:58.860 So, you can't just call that

00:49:00.340 a drive or a goal.

00:49:01.580 It's, it's, that's not right.

00:49:02.980 It's, it's the mechanism that

00:49:05.160 makes the world manifest itself

00:49:06.520 to you.

00:49:07.460 So, that's, that's an

00:49:08.800 unbelievably crazy thing, is

00:49:10.760 that the world manifests itself

00:49:12.100 to you in keeping with your

00:49:13.180 goals.

00:49:14.140 Now, that doesn't mean that

00:49:15.120 you can make the world do

00:49:17.020 any old thing, because it

00:49:18.180 pushes back, right?

00:49:19.680 It objects to you.

00:49:21.360 So, but still, it's, it's a

00:49:23.360 very strange thing.

00:49:24.980 Okay.

00:49:26.780 So, fine.

00:49:27.700 So, it specifies your

00:49:29.760 perceptions, your target,

00:49:31.940 the current reality, and the

00:49:33.580 likely procedure that you're

00:49:35.760 going to use to make all of

00:49:36.960 that interrelated.

00:49:37.660 it, but it does more than

00:49:38.800 that.

00:49:39.720 So, let's, we're going to, we're

00:49:41.020 going to look at it from a

00:49:41.720 couple of different

00:49:42.260 perspectives.

00:49:42.760 So, the classic and archaic

00:49:47.940 way of thinking about

00:49:48.760 perception is the world's full

00:49:49.960 of objects, you see the

00:49:50.880 objects, you think about

00:49:51.760 them, you evaluate them, then

00:49:52.920 you act on them.

00:49:53.640 It's like, no, that isn't how

00:49:54.700 it works.

00:49:55.160 First of all, the world is not

00:49:56.160 made out of objects.

00:49:57.500 The world is made out of, I

00:49:59.240 think, the world is made out of

00:50:00.360 tools and obstacles.

00:50:01.840 And it's because you can't not

00:50:04.100 perceive the world in

00:50:05.160 relationship to you.

00:50:06.140 What you perceive, actually,

00:50:07.600 are the meaning of objects.

00:50:09.480 You perceive the patterns.

00:50:12.120 A tool is something like a

00:50:13.680 meaningful pattern or a

00:50:14.920 useful pattern.

00:50:15.760 It's something like that.

00:50:16.580 And so, look, look.

00:50:18.060 Again, you look at, I might

00:50:20.760 say to someone, describe this

00:50:23.540 room.

00:50:25.520 Now, you're going to pick,

00:50:27.120 you're going to pick a level of

00:50:28.620 description that's very

00:50:30.100 particular.

00:50:31.000 You're going to pick one that

00:50:31.980 other human beings could

00:50:32.940 understand.

00:50:33.720 So, it's going to be

00:50:34.400 predicated on your size.

00:50:36.140 for example.

00:50:36.920 And so, you're going to be

00:50:37.420 predicated on your knowledge

00:50:38.560 that that other person is a

00:50:39.940 lot like you and has a lot of

00:50:41.680 the same underlying structures

00:50:43.820 and motivations.

00:50:44.900 So, and that's an implicit

00:50:46.100 predicate of your description.

00:50:47.700 So, we're going to say, well,

00:50:48.600 it's kind of an ordinary

00:50:49.500 classroom.

00:50:50.480 It's got 20 rows of tables that

00:50:53.740 each have five chairs at it.

00:50:55.660 And each of them does have five

00:50:57.620 chairs.

00:50:58.040 There's some posts that hold

00:50:59.160 them up.

00:51:00.340 There's a couple of speakers.

00:51:01.540 There's a podium.

00:51:03.000 There's a screen.

00:51:04.020 There's some additional chairs.

00:51:05.880 There's a scattering of people.

00:51:07.240 There's some electronic equipment.

00:51:09.320 And so, you know, of course, that

00:51:11.340 there's an infinite number of

00:51:12.320 things I could be describing in

00:51:13.500 this room.

00:51:14.600 Right?

00:51:14.880 Like, I could be describing,

00:51:16.360 there's a lot of color

00:51:17.420 variation in that tile.

00:51:19.620 So, if I look at it, I can see

00:51:20.860 that it's unlike the other tiles

00:51:22.940 because the light is reflecting

00:51:24.460 off it.

00:51:25.100 So, it's got a shiny white

00:51:26.440 element.

00:51:27.220 There's about, God only knows,

00:51:29.420 a million different scratches in

00:51:31.080 it, each of which are unique.

00:51:32.840 I can't even really tell what

00:51:34.140 color it is.

00:51:34.980 It kind of looks like an off

00:51:36.380 grayish green.

00:51:37.520 But if I was painting it, to get

00:51:40.220 a reasonable representation, I'd

00:51:41.700 have to have at least six or

00:51:44.700 seven shades of green ranging

00:51:47.600 from quite dark to almost white.

00:51:50.680 And that's only if I look at it

00:51:52.140 from here.

00:51:52.520 If I look at it from here, well,

00:51:54.680 then you get the point.

00:51:56.080 Right?

00:51:56.300 I mean, there is an infinite

00:51:57.980 number of details in this room.

00:51:59.660 There's an infinite number of

00:52:00.960 facts in this room.

00:52:02.440 That's also why I don't believe

00:52:04.240 that you can derive an ought from

00:52:05.820 an is.

00:52:07.080 It's like, you know, that's the

00:52:08.440 old Humean issue, right?

00:52:09.700 You cannot derive ethical

00:52:11.020 guidelines from factual knowledge.

00:52:14.460 And I think the reason for that is

00:52:15.940 which facts are you going to

00:52:17.020 pick?

00:52:17.600 How are you going to select

00:52:19.900 them?

00:52:20.320 There's an infinite number of

00:52:22.700 them, even in a constrained

00:52:23.720 situation.

00:52:25.040 So, merely by attending to some

00:52:28.280 and not attending to others, you're

00:52:30.060 already using an ethic.

00:52:31.780 Because you can't attend to one

00:52:34.160 thing and not another without being

00:52:36.340 ensconced in one of these value

00:52:37.840 structures.

00:52:38.620 Because the value structure is

00:52:39.780 what determines the direction of

00:52:41.060 your attention.

00:52:42.480 So, you can't make the argument that

00:52:44.320 you're using the infinite number of

00:52:48.220 facts that are available at your

00:52:49.780 disposal to govern how you're

00:52:51.220 looking at the facts.

00:52:52.300 You're not.

00:52:53.000 That isn't what you're doing.

00:52:54.000 It's not possible to do that.

00:52:55.960 So, what do you do?

00:52:57.260 Well, you describe the things in the

00:52:59.980 room that would be relevant to other

00:53:02.080 people.

00:53:02.500 Otherwise, you're going to bore them to

00:53:03.620 death or they're going to think you're

00:53:04.860 insane.

00:53:06.180 You know?

00:53:06.560 So, or an artist, maybe.

00:53:08.320 Because an artist might do the kind of

00:53:09.760 concentration on a detail that I just

00:53:11.460 described.

00:53:12.000 But he's obviously or she's obviously

00:53:13.740 trying to paint the thing or represent

00:53:15.600 it somehow.

00:53:16.340 So, it's still tool-like.

00:53:17.880 Well, why do you want to know that

00:53:19.460 there are tables?

00:53:20.620 Well, because you sit at them.

00:53:21.720 Why do you want to know if there are

00:53:22.700 chairs?

00:53:23.180 Because you sit in them.

00:53:24.940 No?

00:53:25.280 What about the screen or the camera

00:53:27.120 equipment?

00:53:27.740 Well, they're all usable tools.

00:53:29.900 And so, that's what you describe.

00:53:31.220 You describe the world at the level of

00:53:33.040 usable tool.

00:53:33.800 Or you might also say, you know, look

00:53:37.560 out for that girl who's third, in the

00:53:39.480 third row.

00:53:40.000 She's trouble.

00:53:41.360 And so, you might call out someone if

00:53:43.880 you're describing the room.

00:53:45.000 Because there's somewhere in that room

00:53:48.180 that if you go, you're going to get

00:53:49.840 into trouble.

00:53:51.080 And so, those are sort of the things

00:53:52.920 that seem to me to be relevant.

00:53:54.400 There are tools that move you along

00:53:56.480 your way.

00:53:57.300 Facilitators.

00:53:57.820 That's another way of thinking about

00:53:59.060 them.

00:53:59.520 And there are obstacles that get in

00:54:01.120 your way.

00:54:01.540 And there's a tiny set of those.

00:54:04.840 Otherwise, you get overwhelmed.

00:54:06.040 You're not going to go anywhere where

00:54:07.380 it's all obstacles.

00:54:09.040 Right?

00:54:09.360 You don't even want...

00:54:10.260 You don't want to be in that place.

00:54:12.240 You want to be in a place where it's

00:54:13.460 mostly this.

00:54:14.860 And then there's the biggest category,

00:54:17.540 though.

00:54:17.760 This is what's cool.

00:54:19.300 This is...

00:54:19.740 And this is so important.

00:54:21.300 Is the biggest perceptual category is

00:54:23.740 that which is not relevant at this time.

00:54:26.300 Because it contains everything.

00:54:28.920 You know, like when you're writing on

00:54:30.520 this pad, you assume the entire world

00:54:34.980 around you is constant.

00:54:36.460 And therefore, you can ignore it.

00:54:38.100 It's everything out there.

00:54:39.900 All the transformations that are taking

00:54:41.540 place, you turn to zero.

00:54:44.060 And you just focus on maybe the space

00:54:47.080 that's occupied by a single letter.

00:54:49.000 The whole world shrinks down to just

00:54:50.540 that single letter.

00:54:51.700 And everything else is ignored.

00:54:53.160 Well, what happens if something goes

00:54:55.260 wrong?

00:54:55.900 This is the thing.

00:54:56.780 This is why this is so important.

00:54:58.540 What happens if something goes wrong?

00:55:00.860 An indeterminate set of those

00:55:03.340 irrelevant entities has now become

00:55:05.780 relevant.

00:55:06.880 That's the problem.

00:55:08.340 Is the invisibility disappears.

00:55:11.320 And so, for example, you're all treating

00:55:14.360 each other in this room right now as

00:55:16.020 ignorable entities, roughly speaking.

00:55:17.980 You could all be blobs from a perceptual

00:55:20.440 perspective.

00:55:20.900 And if you look at how you see the

00:55:22.940 room, except for the person that you're

00:55:24.920 focusing on, everyone else is a blob.

00:55:26.580 And some of them are virtually invisible

00:55:28.100 blobs.

00:55:29.020 And that's fine because you're adequately

00:55:31.620 represented as a blob unless you do

00:55:33.980 something that disturbs the ongoing flow

00:55:36.700 of goal-directed action.

00:55:38.000 Just like the gorilla thing, right?

00:55:40.300 So the damn gorilla was invisible because

00:55:43.180 it didn't get in the way, even though you'd

00:55:45.100 think, of course, you'd see a gorilla.

00:55:46.540 It's like everything that doesn't get in

00:55:47.880 the way is invisible, except for that small

00:55:51.000 fraction of things that you can use for

00:55:52.680 your purpose.

00:55:53.620 And that's how you perceive.

00:55:55.520 So it's so mind-boggling, that, because it

00:55:59.260 puts perception into the realm of ethics.

00:56:02.540 It isn't what you'd expect.

00:56:03.920 You see what you're aiming at.

00:56:06.060 And you know that.

00:56:07.000 You know that.

00:56:07.580 You're standing on a street corner and you

00:56:09.940 look up.

00:56:10.840 And soon there's 10 advanced chimpanzees like

00:56:14.180 you right beside you looking up to see what

00:56:16.400 the hell it is that you're aiming at.

00:56:18.060 Because they assume just by watching you that

00:56:20.280 if you're focusing your perception on

00:56:22.460 something and you're fixated on it, that it's

00:56:25.160 relevant and important.

00:56:26.280 It's tool-like or maybe obstacle-like.

00:56:28.300 It's relevant for some reason.

00:56:30.560 And so we live in a landscape of relevance.

00:56:34.100 And that's a mind...

00:56:34.960 To me, that's an absolutely mind-boggling idea

00:56:37.200 because that is way different than living in

00:56:38.860 a landscape of facts.

00:56:40.160 It is not the same thing even a little bit.

00:56:43.580 And there are philosophers who've pursued

00:56:45.920 that idea quite...

00:56:48.200 Well, I would say to quite an incredible degree.

00:56:51.340 Heidegger is probably the one who's done that

00:56:53.060 more than anyone else.

00:56:54.340 But the 19th century pragmatists were very

00:56:56.620 interested in that as well.

00:56:58.180 But the...

00:56:58.540 Because you think, you know, the classic

00:57:00.320 scientific idea is something like you perceive

00:57:02.640 a universe of facts and derive conclusions

00:57:04.960 and act.

00:57:06.160 It's like, no, you don't.

00:57:07.780 You perceive a landscape of pre-categorized

00:57:11.140 relevance that's dependent on your ethic.

00:57:13.820 Jesus.

00:57:14.500 It's so peculiar, that.

00:57:16.340 And so that brings up real questions like

00:57:19.220 what ethic best structures your perceptions?

00:57:23.840 Well, that is an interest...

00:57:25.860 That is the interesting idea as far as I'm concerned.

00:57:28.460 Okay, so then we can make this a little bit more...

00:57:31.640 Interesting, I think is the right way of thinking about it.

00:57:36.480 Okay, well, so you've got tools and obstacles,

00:57:38.260 but they're not dead.

00:57:39.580 That's the other thing.

00:57:40.360 Because we're in an ethical landscape,

00:57:41.800 because we're in a motivated landscape,

00:57:43.320 whether something is a tool or an obstacle

00:57:45.780 actually matters to you.

00:57:47.440 And we can actually define matter.

00:57:50.560 Matter is a weird word,

00:57:51.660 because there's matter,

00:57:53.840 and then there's the things that matter.

00:57:55.760 And you could say the world is made out of matter,

00:57:57.960 or you could say that the world is made out of

00:58:00.360 things that matter.

00:58:02.600 And I would say,

00:58:03.520 you act like the world is made out of things that matter.

00:58:06.200 You might say,

00:58:06.720 I don't believe that.

00:58:07.600 I believe it's made out of matter.

00:58:08.840 But no, you don't,

00:58:09.640 because that's not how you act.

00:58:11.100 It might be what you say you do,

00:58:13.280 but it is not what you do.

00:58:15.860 So why do things matter?

00:58:17.500 Well, first of all,

00:58:18.600 irrelevant things don't matter.

00:58:20.460 And thank God for that, right?

00:58:22.300 Because if everything mattered,

00:58:23.560 it's, well, you're either,

00:58:25.440 you're either in the midst of an LSD trip,

00:58:29.200 or you're schizophrenic,

00:58:30.720 or you're in real serious trouble.

00:58:34.700 So you want most things to be irrelevant.

00:58:36.780 Now that's kind of dull,

00:58:37.760 and it takes the glory and the glamour out of the world.

00:58:40.220 But from a cognitive perspective,

00:58:42.200 it's definitely an advantage.

00:58:44.860 So irrelevancy, man, that's critical.

00:58:47.680 And a huge amount of what you have done

00:58:50.340 is learned irrelevance.

00:58:53.420 It's the basis of your cognitive knowledge

00:58:56.100 is learned irrelevance.

00:58:57.340 What to ignore.

00:59:00.140 Okay, fine.

00:59:00.840 So that zeros things out.

00:59:02.660 You turn most of the world into zero.

00:59:05.760 Well, then you have this small subset of things

00:59:08.140 that are beneficial to you,

00:59:09.520 that you can use for the purposes

00:59:11.420 of your current operation,

00:59:12.860 which we'll define in more detail.

00:59:14.580 You can use that for the purposes

00:59:15.700 of your current endeavor.

00:59:20.080 And then you have obstacles.

00:59:21.680 And so, for example,

00:59:23.320 if I'm late for class,

00:59:27.200 so I'm in a particular state of mind,

00:59:29.740 and I walk in here and I see that,

00:59:31.180 I'm going to get a little burst of negative emotion.

00:59:34.220 It's irritation.

00:59:35.020 And the reason for that is that is not a recycling bin then.

00:59:42.040 It's an obstacle that some dimwit left there

00:59:44.500 just to annoy me.

00:59:46.380 And I mean, you know what I mean.

00:59:48.020 That's how you react to the world

00:59:49.220 in a situation like that.

00:59:50.220 It's like, it's not a recycling bin.

00:59:53.000 If it's here,

00:59:54.360 and I don't want to stand there,

00:59:58.940 then it's a recycling bin.

01:00:00.460 If it's there, it's an obstacle.

01:00:02.800 And as soon as I look at it,

01:00:04.680 it isn't that I see it and then get annoyed.

01:00:07.300 It's that annoyance is part of the perception.

01:00:10.200 Because it's an obstacle in my pathway,

01:00:13.180 the emotion comes along with the perception.

01:00:15.660 It's not laden on top of it.

01:00:17.120 It's not, oh, that's a, I don't think

01:00:21.760 that's a recycling bin.

01:00:23.600 That's in the wrong place.

01:00:25.180 Now it's in my way.

01:00:26.480 I should be annoyed.

01:00:27.620 That isn't what happens, is the annoyance.

01:00:29.840 My suspicions are that the damn annoyance

01:00:31.940 is faster than the object perception.

01:00:34.280 Because it's a more primordial circuit.

01:00:38.220 So you actually, that's, now,

01:00:39.940 there's a great book,

01:00:40.660 if you're interested in this sort of thing.

01:00:42.300 There's a great book called

01:00:43.420 An Ecological Approach to Visual Perception,

01:00:47.580 which was written by a guy named Gibson

01:00:49.220 back in the 70s.

01:00:50.340 And it's brilliant.

01:00:51.740 His fundamental conclusion is, I think, wrong.

01:00:55.140 But it doesn't matter.

01:00:56.860 The book is not only brilliant because,

01:00:59.340 see, he was the guy that came up

01:01:00.660 with the idea of affordance.

01:01:02.900 And an affordance is something

01:01:04.240 that affords some utility.

01:01:06.740 And that can be positive or negative.

01:01:08.200 And he thought about the world

01:01:09.360 as being full of furniture,

01:01:11.120 roughly speaking, something like that.

01:01:12.700 And that what you saw,

01:01:13.940 what you perceived directly,

01:01:15.900 was the affordance.

01:01:17.320 And so he, imagine the visual cliff experiment.

01:01:20.760 So, let's say I put a piece of glass

01:01:23.720 over top of this,

01:01:25.720 the space between these two tables.

01:01:27.060 No chair there.

01:01:28.000 And I take a duck,

01:01:29.240 and I put the duck here,

01:01:30.120 and the duck walks out on the glass.

01:01:31.480 The duck doesn't care.

01:01:32.760 It'll just walk out on the glass.

01:01:34.420 Well, it's an aquatic animal.

01:01:35.700 And so, if there's depth underneath it,

01:01:37.760 it doesn't really bother a duck.

01:01:39.220 But if you put a human infant on there,

01:01:41.600 old enough to crawl,

01:01:43.060 the human infant will look over,

01:01:44.460 and that's not going on that glass.

01:01:46.220 And you might say,

01:01:47.040 well, what does it see?

01:01:47.960 And you could say,

01:01:48.560 it sees a space between the two tables

01:01:51.900 and infers that it might fall.

01:01:54.900 But it's like eight months old.

01:01:56.460 Like, what the hell?

01:01:57.080 Is it inferring that?

01:01:58.040 No, it's not.

01:01:58.780 It sees a place to fall off of.

01:02:01.620 And that's Gibson's fundamental point,

01:02:03.920 is that you don't see a cliff.

01:02:05.320 You see a falling off place.

01:02:07.660 And of course,

01:02:08.320 why wouldn't you see that?

01:02:09.300 Because if that isn't what you saw,

01:02:11.220 you wouldn't be here,

01:02:12.380 because one of your dopey ancestors

01:02:13.920 would have wandered off the cliff and died.

01:02:16.600 The ones that saw a falling off place,

01:02:18.600 they just stayed away from that.

01:02:20.240 And you know,

01:02:20.840 if you have vertigo,

01:02:22.620 and even if you don't,

01:02:24.520 if you're up on the 35th floor

01:02:26.220 of an apartment building,

01:02:27.400 and you walk out onto the balcony,

01:02:29.280 it's really interesting to notice your perception,

01:02:32.760 because you might think,

01:02:33.720 well, you see the space,

01:02:36.260 and you become afraid.

01:02:37.740 It's like, no, you don't.

01:02:38.700 You walk closer to it,

01:02:39.640 and your body,

01:02:41.940 you perceive the damn thing with your body.

01:02:44.760 You can also see it,

01:02:45.920 but you perceive it with your body.

01:02:47.300 It's like,

01:02:48.120 don't go there.

01:02:49.100 Don't go any closer.

01:02:50.880 Your whole,

01:02:52.060 there's an automatic mapping

01:02:53.640 of that place on to do this.

01:02:55.740 Go away from there.

01:02:56.680 And that's underneath

01:02:58.680 and faster than the actual,

01:03:01.180 quote,

01:03:02.000 conscious object perception.

01:03:04.280 So,

01:03:04.920 anyways,

01:03:05.600 the other thing about Gibson's book

01:03:07.120 that I love is,

01:03:07.860 he is so clear,

01:03:08.900 that guy,

01:03:09.380 he's such a good writer,

01:03:10.800 because he takes you through

01:03:11.680 a very complex argument,

01:03:12.900 but it's just a pristine example

01:03:14.520 of reasoning.

01:03:15.280 It's,

01:03:15.540 the whole book is reasoning.

01:03:16.760 It's brilliant,

01:03:17.620 brilliant.

01:03:18.540 So,

01:03:19.180 anyways,

01:03:19.660 so,

01:03:19.940 if you want some background

01:03:20.880 on that idea,

01:03:21.820 the idea of perception

01:03:22.980 of utility,

01:03:24.360 let's say,

01:03:24.860 that's a great place to look,

01:03:27.260 but it's also worth

01:03:28.280 thinking about it

01:03:29.100 from a biological perspective,

01:03:30.400 because of bloody,

01:03:31.120 well,

01:03:31.240 of course you're going to see

01:03:32.360 the world as what matters,

01:03:34.140 because you're the sort of creature

01:03:35.760 that cares about what matters,

01:03:37.580 mostly because you don't want to die.

01:03:40.100 So,

01:03:40.840 you can't

01:03:41.800 remove

01:03:43.120 the fact

01:03:44.320 that you don't want to die

01:03:45.760 from your perceptions.

01:03:47.000 Well,

01:03:47.180 if you did,

01:03:47.840 well,

01:03:48.080 you can imagine what would happen

01:03:49.040 if you did.

01:03:50.340 You know,

01:03:50.660 you do something like

01:03:52.140 wander off a falling off place,

01:03:53.680 and that would be the end of you.

01:03:55.100 So,

01:03:55.440 it's built into your damn perceptions.

01:03:58.400 And so,

01:03:58.700 it's built into the facts

01:03:59.920 that you see,

01:04:00.880 because there's an infinite number of facts.

01:04:02.980 And so,

01:04:03.200 even just selecting the facts,

01:04:04.780 that's an ethical issue.

01:04:06.620 So,

01:04:07.680 this actually matters

01:04:08.720 practically,

01:04:10.120 too,

01:04:10.280 because one of the things

01:04:11.560 that I've come to understand

01:04:12.580 about political arguments is,

01:04:15.800 well,

01:04:16.120 people say,

01:04:16.940 well,

01:04:17.180 you know,

01:04:17.800 the person on the other side

01:04:19.540 of the ideological continuum

01:04:21.060 has different opinions

01:04:22.660 than I do.

01:04:23.320 It's like,

01:04:23.700 no,

01:04:23.840 they don't.

01:04:24.360 Or maybe they do.

01:04:25.780 But they don't see the same facts.

01:04:28.320 Because the filter they use

01:04:29.920 to select from among

01:04:31.280 the infinite number

01:04:32.280 of available facts

01:04:33.520 preferentially presents them

01:04:35.580 with the facts

01:04:36.660 that are relevant to them.

01:04:38.520 And that's already built

01:04:39.400 into their ethic.

01:04:40.920 And so,

01:04:41.700 one of the horrible things

01:04:42.740 about political discussions

01:04:43.760 is that you're actually

01:04:44.700 having a discussion

01:04:45.620 about what the facts are.

01:04:46.920 And you say,

01:04:47.160 well,

01:04:47.260 the facts are the same

01:04:47.980 for everyone.

01:04:48.420 And it's like,

01:04:49.100 yeah,

01:04:49.660 it's like saying,

01:04:50.780 I have an infinite library

01:04:52.200 of books.

01:04:53.680 And you can come into it.

01:04:55.180 It's like,

01:04:55.540 well,

01:04:55.640 you're going to pick out

01:04:56.260 the same book?

01:04:57.260 Seems highly improbable.

01:04:58.960 And that's the problem

01:04:59.760 with facts.

01:05:00.420 It's like,

01:05:01.560 there's a lot of them.

01:05:03.560 You know,

01:05:03.760 you try to do something

01:05:04.600 like untangle

01:05:05.840 the Israel-Palestine conflict.

01:05:08.260 I mean,

01:05:08.460 one of the things

01:05:09.060 just to start with

01:05:10.460 is like,

01:05:10.820 okay,

01:05:10.980 how far back

01:05:11.600 are you going to go?

01:05:12.940 Well,

01:05:13.220 I would say,

01:05:13.640 it depends on what argument

01:05:14.400 you want to make.

01:05:15.720 You know,

01:05:16.160 if you want to make

01:05:17.100 argument A,

01:05:17.660 you go back 100 years.

01:05:18.640 If you want to make

01:05:19.080 argument B,

01:05:19.620 you go back 3,000 years.

01:05:20.940 And then you could have

01:05:21.640 an argument about

01:05:22.300 which timescale

01:05:23.240 you should use.

01:05:24.000 But it's not like

01:05:24.760 it's obvious.

01:05:26.680 You know,

01:05:26.940 is it 10 years?

01:05:27.640 Is it one year?

01:05:28.380 Is it six months?

01:05:29.540 Like,

01:05:29.960 it's not 3,000 years.

01:05:32.040 Is it 2,999 years?

01:05:34.020 Like,

01:05:34.660 where are the borders

01:05:35.600 of relevancy

01:05:36.460 when you're laying out

01:05:37.500 the landscape

01:05:38.040 of the argument?

01:05:40.660 God only knows.

01:05:42.120 It's intractable.

01:05:45.920 And,

01:05:46.400 you know,

01:05:46.620 partly the way

01:05:47.180 your temperament

01:05:47.800 solves that problem

01:05:48.820 because it does

01:05:50.300 is say,

01:05:50.700 well,

01:05:50.980 a creature like you

01:05:51.860 with your temperament

01:05:52.600 preferentially attends

01:05:53.520 to this set of facts.

01:05:54.920 And that'll work

01:05:55.600 because attending

01:05:57.380 to that sort of facts

01:05:58.240 is likely to produce

01:05:59.200 a reasonable outcome

01:06:00.140 for you

01:06:00.560 in most circumstances.

01:06:01.740 And it's a way

01:06:02.440 that you simplify

01:06:03.140 the world

01:06:03.580 and make a tremendous

01:06:04.780 amount of it irrelevant.

01:06:08.780 A priori filters.

01:06:12.120 Okay,

01:06:13.200 good.

01:06:13.940 Now,

01:06:15.300 the next cool thing.

01:06:18.200 What happens

01:06:18.960 when you see a tool?

01:06:20.740 You're happy.

01:06:22.140 What happens

01:06:22.700 when you see an obstacle?

01:06:24.120 You're unhappy.

01:06:25.260 And there,

01:06:25.580 now you understand emotions.

01:06:27.660 And that's so,

01:06:28.460 that doesn't take much.

01:06:29.760 That's,

01:06:30.080 once you've got

01:06:30.560 this initial framework,

01:06:31.520 it's like,

01:06:31.860 okay,

01:06:32.060 well,

01:06:32.220 what's an emotion for?

01:06:33.240 Positive.

01:06:33.660 Move forward.

01:06:37.280 Negative.

01:06:38.020 Get away.

01:06:40.440 Indeterminate.

01:06:41.580 Stop.

01:06:42.360 That's anxiety.

01:06:43.980 Stop.

01:06:44.580 You're not,

01:06:44.840 you're not where

01:06:45.500 you think you are.

01:06:47.120 Your map

01:06:47.760 isn't producing

01:06:50.020 the desired outcome.

01:06:51.440 It's wrong.

01:06:52.560 What should you do?

01:06:53.300 You don't know.

01:06:53.960 Stop.

01:06:54.900 Because if you don't

01:06:55.500 know where to go,

01:06:57.120 there's no point

01:06:58.180 going anywhere.

01:06:59.300 And then what?

01:07:00.100 Prepare.

01:07:01.180 That's anxiety.

01:07:02.340 Stop.

01:07:02.940 Prepare.

01:07:03.840 Well,

01:07:04.100 people hate that

01:07:04.800 because,

01:07:05.880 well,

01:07:06.060 for obvious reasons.

01:07:07.020 Prepare.

01:07:07.460 For what?

01:07:08.480 Everything.

01:07:10.120 Yeah.

01:07:11.220 Very,

01:07:11.880 very demanding

01:07:14.560 psychophysiologically.

01:07:16.560 And that's also

01:07:17.400 something that's

01:07:17.940 really worth knowing.

01:07:18.800 It's like,

01:07:19.360 anxiety isn't just

01:07:20.240 a psychological state

01:07:21.580 that's unpleasant.

01:07:22.640 It's like,

01:07:23.280 you're revved up.

01:07:25.060 And you're burning

01:07:26.000 resources like mad.

01:07:27.800 And you're

01:07:28.320 in a biochemical state

01:07:29.900 such that,

01:07:31.520 that's optimized

01:07:32.360 for quick action,

01:07:33.680 but that's toxic

01:07:34.680 if you inhabit it

01:07:35.760 for any length of time.

01:07:37.620 So not knowing

01:07:38.640 what to do,

01:07:39.420 that is not good.

01:07:40.420 And it isn't just

01:07:41.060 that it makes you feel bad.

01:07:42.460 It hurts you.

01:07:43.320 It damages you.

01:07:44.120 It can kill you.

01:07:45.240 It'll make you age.

01:07:46.240 It'll make you fat.

01:07:47.080 It'll give you diabetes.

01:07:48.320 It'll suppress

01:07:49.180 your immune system

01:07:49.940 so you're more likely

01:07:50.620 to develop cancer.

01:07:51.860 It'll damage your brain,

01:07:53.040 your hippocampus.

01:07:53.960 It'll increase the probability

01:07:55.200 that you have Alzheimer's.

01:07:56.720 It's like,

01:07:57.100 it's no joke that.

01:07:59.180 It's you're running

01:07:59.880 your machinery faster

01:08:00.940 than you can replenish it.

01:08:02.700 So it's not a state

01:08:04.500 that you can be in.

01:08:05.660 It's not a state

01:08:06.300 you can tolerate

01:08:06.980 because it's anxiety.

01:08:08.420 It's anxious.

01:08:09.460 But it's also not a state

01:08:10.460 you can live in.

01:08:12.120 And so,

01:08:12.660 I don't know where I am

01:08:14.080 means everything's relevant

01:08:15.500 and I have to ramp up

01:08:17.760 my capacity for action

01:08:19.620 to deal with that.

01:08:21.120 Bad.

01:08:21.840 People do not like that.

01:08:23.300 We do not like

01:08:24.220 not to be

01:08:25.520 where we think we are.

01:08:27.060 We really,

01:08:28.100 really,

01:08:28.520 really don't like that.

01:08:29.860 And we structure

01:08:30.520 almost all of our environments

01:08:31.800 constantly

01:08:32.340 so that never happens.

01:08:34.180 You know,

01:08:34.480 we're all dressed the same

01:08:35.660 with tiny,

01:08:36.740 tiny variations.

01:08:37.760 You know,

01:08:38.240 we all follow

01:08:39.020 the same traffic laws.

01:08:40.560 Everybody's behaving

01:08:41.440 according to the proper code

01:08:42.740 in this room

01:08:43.400 and everyone in this building

01:08:44.680 is doing the same thing.

01:08:45.800 It's like,

01:08:46.240 we're doing everything we can

01:08:48.160 to make sure

01:08:49.040 that everyone knows

01:08:50.100 exactly where they are

01:08:51.400 and what they're doing

01:08:52.060 all the time.

01:08:52.860 And that's because

01:08:54.660 when we're in that state,

01:08:56.360 we can advance cautiously

01:08:58.900 using positive things

01:09:00.700 and maintain a modicum

01:09:02.360 of positive emotion.

01:09:04.560 That's what we're

01:09:05.400 basically trying to do.

01:09:06.960 Okay,

01:09:07.260 so you want to set up

01:09:08.060 your world

01:09:08.480 so that you're surrounded

01:09:10.320 by things that move you

01:09:11.300 along your way,

01:09:12.780 that obstacles are minimized

01:09:14.300 and that almost everything

01:09:15.160 can be ignored.

01:09:16.400 Okay,

01:09:16.700 so emotion.

01:09:17.880 Positive emotion,

01:09:18.780 that's dopaminergic.

01:09:20.540 That's incentive reward.

01:09:21.960 You experience it

01:09:23.160 in relationship

01:09:24.020 to a goal.

01:09:25.460 Because,

01:09:25.740 you know,

01:09:26.040 most of the time

01:09:27.060 when you talk

01:09:27.480 to behavioral psychologists,

01:09:28.660 they'll tell you

01:09:29.120 reward is a satiation consequence.

01:09:32.800 You're hungry,

01:09:33.280 you get a piece of food,

01:09:34.080 that's rewarded.

01:09:35.080 It's like,

01:09:35.940 that's consumatory reward.

01:09:39.380 And that shuts down

01:09:41.200 the motivational system.

01:09:43.760 It's satiating,

01:09:44.740 it makes you satisfied.

01:09:46.200 That's not the same

01:09:46.960 as incentive reward.

01:09:48.220 Incentive reward says,

01:09:49.300 come this way,

01:09:49.940 come this way.

01:09:50.620 Good things are over here.

01:09:51.560 Good things are over here.

01:09:52.940 And that's dopaminergic.

01:09:54.180 And that's the kind of reward

01:09:55.300 people really like.

01:09:56.920 We live for that.

01:09:58.500 So when you talk about

01:09:59.740 positive meaning in your life,

01:10:01.840 this is an oversimplification,

01:10:03.500 but a tremendous amount

01:10:04.360 of that is incentive reward.

01:10:05.720 You're in a goal-directed structure.

01:10:07.800 It's a value structure.

01:10:08.900 Let's say it's fairly well-developed

01:10:10.460 because you're sophisticated.

01:10:12.140 Everything you do

01:10:12.900 is linked to something else.

01:10:14.580 You move ahead,

01:10:15.520 it works.

01:10:16.200 Yes.

01:10:16.680 You move ahead,

01:10:17.300 it works.

01:10:17.840 Yes.

01:10:18.180 And it's that constant

01:10:19.660 moving ahead

01:10:21.200 and the validation

01:10:21.960 of the frame

01:10:22.920 that makes your life meaningful.

01:10:24.680 And so that also means

01:10:25.700 no value system,

01:10:28.020 no positive emotion,

01:10:29.220 which is another thing

01:10:30.580 that's so much worth knowing.

01:10:32.540 You know,

01:10:33.080 the postmodernists

01:10:34.840 complain about value systems

01:10:36.260 constantly,

01:10:36.720 and they say,

01:10:37.440 well,

01:10:37.600 the problem with the value system

01:10:38.960 is that it includes

01:10:41.020 some people,

01:10:42.060 winners,

01:10:42.560 and excludes other people,

01:10:44.140 losers.

01:10:44.860 It's like,

01:10:45.240 yes,

01:10:46.220 that's true.

01:10:47.460 What's the answer?

01:10:48.800 Flatten the value system.

01:10:50.380 So there's no losers.

01:10:52.080 Fine.

01:10:52.940 No winners either.

01:10:54.340 And if there's no,

01:10:55.020 if the value system is flat,

01:10:56.920 there's no point B,

01:10:59.060 what the hell are you going to do?

01:11:00.380 Where's your positive emotion?

01:11:02.140 You got nothing to,

01:11:03.060 you're going to wander around

01:11:04.040 being happy that

01:11:04.820 the value system is flat.

01:11:06.640 It's like,

01:11:06.980 no,

01:11:07.160 you're not.

01:11:08.260 Because when you flatten out

01:11:09.420 value systems,

01:11:10.040 you don't get rid of suffering

01:11:11.400 because you can't.

01:11:12.960 All you get rid of

01:11:13.760 is the possibility

01:11:14.500 of positive emotion.

01:11:15.860 And that is not

01:11:16.660 a good solution.

01:11:17.900 So then you leave people

01:11:18.900 with nothing

01:11:19.960 but negative emotion.

01:11:22.020 It's so naive.

01:11:24.080 Okay,

01:11:24.400 so good.

01:11:24.840 So now we know.

01:11:26.140 You're going from point A

01:11:26.900 to point B.

01:11:27.520 You're doing that

01:11:28.000 with an action.

01:11:29.140 If things are working out,

01:11:30.800 if you see facilitators

01:11:32.100 along the way

01:11:32.720 that you can utilize,

01:11:34.200 you get a kick

01:11:36.840 of positive emotion.

01:11:38.060 You know,

01:11:38.240 and you can even see

01:11:39.280 that calibrated.

01:11:40.080 Like,

01:11:40.240 let's say,

01:11:40.900 you do better than expected

01:11:41.980 on a test.

01:11:43.540 Yes!

01:11:44.400 It's like,

01:11:45.320 that's better than

01:11:46.680 doing as well

01:11:47.420 as you expected.

01:11:48.860 Because what the message is

01:11:50.380 is that

01:11:50.720 not only am I moving

01:11:52.180 towards my desired goal,

01:11:53.440 but I'm moving along

01:11:54.880 faster and with less effort

01:11:56.560 than I thought.

01:11:57.760 It's like,

01:11:58.260 bang!

01:11:58.900 Positive reinforcement.

01:12:00.620 Right?

01:12:00.820 You think,

01:12:01.180 yes!

01:12:02.560 Well,

01:12:02.760 that's it.

01:12:03.220 That's meaning.

01:12:04.120 That's a big chunk

01:12:04.980 of meaning.

01:12:06.100 And so,

01:12:06.600 a really meaningful event

01:12:07.960 is one that gets you

01:12:09.260 to the next step.

01:12:10.700 and simultaneously

01:12:12.400 increases the probability

01:12:13.780 that you're going to get

01:12:14.620 to all the steps

01:12:15.400 after that.

01:12:16.180 That's like a maximally

01:12:17.300 meaningful event.

01:12:18.840 So,

01:12:19.260 you know,

01:12:19.500 you get,

01:12:20.040 you're opening an envelope

01:12:22.360 about whether or not

01:12:23.060 you got into medical school.

01:12:24.520 It's like,

01:12:24.860 you're going like this,

01:12:25.720 right?

01:12:25.960 Why?

01:12:26.540 Why are you shaking?

01:12:27.880 It's an envelope.

01:12:29.800 No,

01:12:30.240 it's not.

01:12:31.140 It's a portal.

01:12:32.420 Right?

01:12:32.920 It's a portal.

01:12:34.820 And what's in that envelope

01:12:35.960 either puts you that way

01:12:37.320 into one world

01:12:38.200 or that way

01:12:38.900 into another.

01:12:39.800 And you think,

01:12:40.680 you're looking at it,

01:12:41.380 you think,

01:12:41.700 well,

01:12:41.800 that's an envelope.

01:12:42.540 It's like,

01:12:42.940 your body isn't thinking that,

01:12:44.340 not for a bloody second.

01:12:45.480 It knows perfectly well

01:12:46.600 that that's a portal.

01:12:47.820 And you open it up,

01:12:48.720 it's like,

01:12:50.120 collapse.

01:12:51.380 The whole,

01:12:53.360 what would you call it?

01:12:55.280 That whole avatar-related future

01:12:57.380 just goes,

01:12:58.680 ashes.

01:13:01.380 Or,

01:13:02.760 bang,

01:13:03.260 it springs into reality.

01:13:04.980 And you perceive that,

01:13:06.480 and that,

01:13:06.820 you perceive all of that

01:13:07.900 almost instantaneously,

01:13:09.140 and that produces that

01:13:10.740 radical transformation

01:13:13.020 in emotion.

01:13:14.460 You're not reacting

01:13:15.420 to the envelope.

01:13:16.820 Or maybe the envelope

01:13:17.860 isn't what you think it is.

01:13:19.280 Or maybe the envelope

01:13:20.120 isn't what you see.

01:13:22.220 And that's more accurate.

01:13:23.500 That's way more accurate.

01:13:24.900 The envelope is way more

01:13:26.120 than what you see.

01:13:26.900 Okay, good.

01:13:34.320 Let's break for 15 minutes,

01:13:35.880 okay?

01:13:36.280 And then we'll,

01:13:36.960 we'll go ahead

01:13:37.640 with the next part of this.

01:13:40.400 Well,

01:13:40.900 so that's just a transformation

01:13:42.020 of the previous diagram.

01:13:44.320 While you're moving around

01:13:45.500 long from

01:13:46.140 what is to what should be,

01:13:47.960 we'll say,

01:13:48.820 as long as things

01:13:51.220 are working out,

01:13:51.920 well,

01:13:52.080 then you're mildly happy.

01:13:53.200 And if they don't work out,

01:13:54.120 well,

01:13:54.340 then you're,

01:13:55.480 that's the,

01:13:56.100 that's another problem.

01:13:57.100 You see,

01:13:57.420 these are different sizes.

01:13:58.640 There's a reason for that.

01:13:59.780 And that's because

01:14:00.860 negative emotion

01:14:02.500 has more potency

01:14:03.500 unit for unit

01:14:04.480 than positive emotion does.

01:14:06.560 And so,

01:14:07.100 what that means

01:14:07.780 is that people

01:14:08.420 are more reactive.

01:14:10.480 People hate

01:14:11.240 a small loss

01:14:12.060 more than they like

01:14:12.920 an equivalent gain.

01:14:14.800 And so,

01:14:15.220 we're tilted

01:14:15.680 to some degree

01:14:16.960 towards

01:14:17.540 a bias

01:14:19.900 for negative emotion.

01:14:21.020 And

01:14:21.120 that is also

01:14:22.700 dependent on temperament,

01:14:23.760 because somebody

01:14:24.340 who's

01:14:24.680 very,

01:14:25.700 very low

01:14:26.120 in neuroticism,

01:14:27.580 that's basically

01:14:28.660 anxiety and emotional pain,

01:14:30.160 susceptibility,

01:14:30.980 something like that.

01:14:31.640 So that would be

01:14:32.100 the threshold

01:14:32.680 for experiencing

01:14:33.560 a certain level

01:14:34.620 of anxiety

01:14:35.180 or emotional pain.

01:14:36.120 But also,

01:14:36.780 the length of time

01:14:37.520 that it would take

01:14:38.020 to recover,

01:14:38.900 it's something like that.

01:14:40.340 And so,

01:14:40.900 but,

01:14:41.800 for the standard human being,

01:14:44.260 loss hurts more

01:14:45.220 than gain

01:14:46.160 rewards.

01:14:49.100 And so,

01:14:50.480 well,

01:14:50.740 it's useful

01:14:52.260 to know that

01:14:52.820 because it helps you,

01:14:53.780 it helps you

01:14:54.660 understand yourself

01:14:55.680 and other human beings.

01:14:57.620 Even if you're trying

01:14:58.420 to motivate someone

01:14:59.420 to do something,

01:15:02.320 loss avoidance

01:15:03.200 is often a powerful

01:15:04.160 motivation

01:15:04.760 as well as gain.

01:15:06.320 So,

01:15:06.900 all right,

01:15:07.800 prevention,

01:15:08.540 fundamentally.

01:15:10.540 Okay,

01:15:10.920 so now,

01:15:11.300 here's another way

01:15:11.940 of thinking about this.

01:15:13.240 And this is a more

01:15:14.120 abstract way

01:15:14.860 of thinking about it.

01:15:15.540 So we talked about

01:15:16.220 the idea

01:15:16.640 that the world

01:15:17.180 might be divided

01:15:17.840 into tools

01:15:18.560 and obstacles

01:15:21.400 and irrelevant things.

01:15:23.140 Most of which,

01:15:24.120 and irrelevant things,

01:15:25.080 that's a huge category.

01:15:26.140 And it's the one

01:15:26.620 you don't want

01:15:27.000 to have disrupted.

01:15:29.540 And also,

01:15:30.360 that the obstacle category

01:15:31.660 produces more emotion

01:15:33.100 than the tool category.

01:15:35.080 But here's another way

01:15:36.180 of thinking about it.

01:15:37.900 And this is thinking

01:15:38.840 about it more

01:15:39.380 from a purely

01:15:39.960 emotional perspective.

01:15:41.220 When you think

01:15:41.760 about the world

01:15:42.260 as tools,

01:15:43.520 it's dead practical

01:15:44.960 and it's sort of

01:15:45.800 grounded in the idea

01:15:46.660 of motor usage

01:15:47.500 in some sense.

01:15:48.580 But you can think

01:15:50.760 in an analogical fashion

01:15:53.720 about the same system

01:15:55.960 in a slightly

01:15:57.260 different manner.

01:15:58.100 You're in the situation

01:15:59.000 that you're in right now

01:15:59.900 and that's not good enough.

01:16:01.120 And so,

01:16:01.800 that's another thing

01:16:02.760 that's kind of interesting

01:16:03.680 about people

01:16:04.220 is they're chronically

01:16:05.100 dissatisfied

01:16:05.800 with the way things are.

01:16:08.000 Well,

01:16:08.860 that's okay

01:16:09.420 because you wouldn't

01:16:10.160 be motivated

01:16:10.920 to move forward

01:16:11.620 if you weren't

01:16:12.160 chronically dissatisfied

01:16:13.220 with the way

01:16:13.800 that things are.

01:16:14.580 But it's kind

01:16:15.260 of annoying

01:16:15.800 because you might think

01:16:17.260 well,

01:16:17.420 why aren't you

01:16:17.860 just happy

01:16:18.380 with what you have?

01:16:19.620 And the answer

01:16:20.100 to that is generally

01:16:21.240 because I don't know

01:16:22.180 if it's going to last.

01:16:24.240 And so that's part of it.

01:16:25.440 And the other is

01:16:25.980 well,

01:16:26.460 if the situation

01:16:27.480 shifted a bit

01:16:28.160 maybe I'd have

01:16:28.740 more options

01:16:29.480 and some of that

01:16:30.060 would be

01:16:30.420 it would last longer

01:16:32.340 it'd be more stable

01:16:33.220 it'd be more promising.

01:16:34.940 And so,

01:16:35.780 you can say

01:16:36.380 well,

01:16:36.620 you should be satisfied

01:16:37.420 with what you have

01:16:38.280 but it's kind of

01:16:38.960 really a stupid thing

01:16:39.960 in some sense

01:16:40.560 to tell human beings

01:16:41.600 because no matter

01:16:42.500 what you have

01:16:43.160 it isn't going

01:16:43.720 to solve

01:16:44.200 your fundamental problem.

01:16:46.040 So the problem

01:16:46.900 isn't going away

01:16:47.760 and you can't

01:16:48.500 just fool yourself

01:16:49.480 into saying

01:16:50.100 well,

01:16:50.520 what I have

01:16:51.440 is great.

01:16:52.080 You could say

01:16:52.800 I could have

01:16:53.540 a hell of a lot less

01:16:54.620 and that would be bad

01:16:56.280 and most people

01:16:57.260 have a lot less

01:16:58.100 than me

01:16:58.580 and I should be grateful

01:16:59.540 for what I have

01:17:00.400 that's fine

01:17:01.040 that's perfectly reasonable

01:17:02.140 but you're stuck

01:17:03.440 in this

01:17:03.760 you're stuck

01:17:04.600 with this chronic

01:17:05.400 sense of unfinished

01:17:06.460 business

01:17:06.980 and the reason

01:17:07.800 for that is

01:17:08.340 well,

01:17:08.640 you're permanently

01:17:09.200 vulnerable

01:17:09.760 so how else

01:17:10.760 would you

01:17:11.160 how could it

01:17:12.520 be otherwise

01:17:13.120 and even if

01:17:14.480 you've got

01:17:14.900 your problem

01:17:15.480 solved

01:17:15.900 and there's

01:17:16.400 three or four

01:17:16.800 people in your

01:17:17.360 family that

01:17:17.940 by no means

01:17:18.700 have got

01:17:19.020 their problems

01:17:19.600 solved

01:17:19.980 so the problem

01:17:21.560 of problems

01:17:23.040 never goes away

01:17:24.260 that's an

01:17:25.460 existence

01:17:25.880 that's a good

01:17:27.000 thing to know

01:17:27.500 existentially too

01:17:28.420 because it helps

01:17:29.760 you calibrate

01:17:30.280 your life properly

01:17:31.160 because you might

01:17:32.280 be thinking

01:17:32.720 well,

01:17:33.120 if I just got

01:17:33.720 everything together

01:17:34.480 you know,

01:17:35.140 I'd hit some

01:17:35.620 plateau of satiation

01:17:36.960 and stability

01:17:37.600 and then I would

01:17:38.780 just be there

01:17:39.380 it's like,

01:17:39.720 no,

01:17:39.860 that's never

01:17:40.200 going to happen

01:17:40.680 it's never

01:17:41.280 going to happen

01:17:41.800 so you might

01:17:42.560 as well just

01:17:42.840 forget about that

01:17:43.740 what you can

01:17:44.860 it's a Sisyphus

01:17:46.120 issue

01:17:46.880 you know,

01:17:47.260 the guy who

01:17:47.680 pushes the rock

01:17:48.620 up the road

01:17:49.180 and it

01:17:49.480 up the hill

01:17:50.340 and it rolls

01:17:50.800 back down

01:17:51.380 I think it was

01:17:52.020 Nietzsche who said

01:17:52.720 we must presume

01:17:53.520 Sisyphus to be

01:17:54.500 happy

01:17:54.900 something like that

01:17:56.020 well,

01:17:56.420 maybe you want

01:17:56.860 to push your

01:17:57.260 damn rock

01:17:57.800 up a hill

01:17:58.300 you know,

01:17:58.660 it's going to

01:17:59.000 roll down again

01:17:59.720 it's like,

01:18:00.120 what are you

01:18:00.320 going to do

01:18:00.600 just sit there

01:18:01.180 by the rock

01:18:01.820 it's okay

01:18:03.280 to be active

01:18:03.980 even if the

01:18:05.140 problem you're

01:18:05.620 trying to solve

01:18:06.180 is not

01:18:06.580 fundamentally

01:18:07.220 solvable

01:18:07.900 that doesn't

01:18:08.900 mean it isn't

01:18:09.400 worth trying

01:18:10.020 to solve

01:18:10.660 so,

01:18:12.280 although people

01:18:12.840 can despair

01:18:13.400 about it

01:18:13.840 and it's not

01:18:14.380 surprising

01:18:14.800 okay,

01:18:15.480 so another way

01:18:16.580 that I should

01:18:17.340 have really said

01:18:18.000 instead of

01:18:18.560 predicted outcome

01:18:19.480 here

01:18:19.820 this is like

01:18:21.040 an old model

01:18:21.800 this would be

01:18:22.220 a model

01:18:22.640 that I derived

01:18:23.640 from work

01:18:24.020 that was done

01:18:24.580 at least

01:18:25.720 initially in the

01:18:26.520 60s

01:18:27.080 or even in the

01:18:27.940 40s

01:18:29.060 but

01:18:29.420 and that still

01:18:31.200 underlies the

01:18:31.980 thinking of

01:18:32.480 I would say

01:18:33.180 the vast majority

01:18:33.960 of psychologists

01:18:34.680 it isn't that

01:18:35.740 you're predicting

01:18:36.280 outcomes

01:18:36.780 and failing

01:18:38.360 it's not that

01:18:39.140 it's that you

01:18:39.520 desire outcomes

01:18:40.520 and sometimes

01:18:41.320 you get an

01:18:41.840 undesirable outcome

01:18:42.780 and it's really

01:18:43.880 important to get

01:18:44.740 that distinction

01:18:45.320 correct

01:18:45.840 because if you're

01:18:46.780 thinking about

01:18:47.220 expectation

01:18:47.820 it's just a

01:18:48.440 cold cognitive

01:18:49.260 model

01:18:49.780 it's like a

01:18:50.340 rational model

01:18:51.080 I know the

01:18:51.820 world

01:18:52.100 I understand

01:18:52.760 its relationships

01:18:53.640 I can predict

01:18:54.640 what's going to

01:18:55.200 happen next

01:18:55.720 and that's what

01:18:57.480 I'm trying to do

01:18:57.980 is predict it

01:18:58.620 it's like

01:18:58.920 no you're not

01:18:59.520 you're not

01:18:59.920 trying to predict

01:19:00.460 it

01:19:00.640 you're trying to

01:19:01.740 get what you

01:19:02.640 want from it

01:19:03.700 and there's a

01:19:04.720 prediction element

01:19:05.460 to that

01:19:05.820 which is

01:19:06.200 well you know

01:19:06.740 I'm going to

01:19:07.600 pick that up

01:19:08.160 so that's a

01:19:08.740 prediction

01:19:09.140 and there

01:19:10.200 that work

01:19:10.800 verifying my

01:19:11.660 prediction

01:19:12.020 but

01:19:12.280 but what's

01:19:13.840 missing there

01:19:14.260 is I want

01:19:14.940 to pick that

01:19:15.600 up

01:19:15.860 and you can't

01:19:17.340 throw that out

01:19:18.140 of the equation

01:19:18.920 because as soon

01:19:20.060 as you throw

01:19:20.440 motivation out

01:19:21.120 of the equation

01:19:21.740 then you're stuck

01:19:22.780 with the mystery

01:19:23.400 of perception

01:19:24.120 right

01:19:24.540 so how do you

01:19:25.040 organize your

01:19:25.500 perceptions

01:19:25.920 unless you want

01:19:26.620 something

01:19:26.960 well you can't

01:19:27.940 so you don't

01:19:28.340 get to get rid

01:19:29.040 of the want

01:19:29.720 and just substitute

01:19:30.960 cold expectation

01:19:32.320 it's a sleight

01:19:33.140 of hand

01:19:33.600 and the

01:19:34.480 cognitive

01:19:35.160 behaviorists

01:19:36.120 do that

01:19:36.600 they almost

01:19:37.900 always do

01:19:38.340 that

01:19:38.580 that's how

01:19:39.060 they

01:19:39.240 well it's not

01:19:41.760 like a conspiracy

01:19:42.500 or anything

01:19:42.940 it's perfectly

01:19:43.540 reasonable to

01:19:44.260 have a simplified

01:19:45.100 model for the

01:19:46.100 way that people

01:19:46.620 act

01:19:47.000 but you don't

01:19:47.680 want to throw

01:19:48.040 motivation and

01:19:48.760 emotion out of

01:19:49.380 the equation

01:19:49.880 because obviously

01:19:50.520 there's or

01:19:51.040 embodiment

01:19:51.700 they're so

01:19:52.100 important

01:19:52.580 okay so

01:19:54.160 forget predicted

01:19:56.740 and unpredicted

01:19:57.400 think desired and

01:19:58.300 undesired

01:19:58.800 okay so I come

01:19:59.640 walking in here

01:20:00.420 and I have

01:20:01.180 this low-level

01:20:01.920 desire which is

01:20:02.700 to make my

01:20:03.260 way to my

01:20:04.460 podium with the

01:20:05.940 least amount of

01:20:06.760 effort necessary

01:20:07.920 and I see that

01:20:08.660 that chairs in the

01:20:10.740 way and it's

01:20:11.200 mildly annoying

01:20:12.040 and so there's

01:20:12.880 something undesired

01:20:13.760 there so the

01:20:14.780 desired outcome

01:20:15.580 produces positive

01:20:16.660 emotion it's

01:20:17.580 promise what's

01:20:18.780 technically speaking

01:20:19.800 you could also

01:20:20.480 think about it as

01:20:21.220 hope it's related

01:20:22.920 to the attainment

01:20:23.760 of a goal it

01:20:24.420 indicates the

01:20:25.200 potential attainment

01:20:26.080 of a goal that's

01:20:26.880 what hope is or

01:20:27.940 what promise is

01:20:28.820 hope is I can

01:20:29.960 probably attain

01:20:30.800 this goal

01:20:31.280 promises promises

01:20:33.660 if something is

01:20:34.840 promising it

01:20:35.600 indicates to you

01:20:36.560 that you can

01:20:37.040 probably attain

01:20:37.840 the goal or if

01:20:38.780 someone makes a

01:20:39.820 promise to you

01:20:40.780 then they're

01:20:41.500 telling you that

01:20:42.300 they're going to

01:20:42.800 facilitate movement

01:20:43.760 towards a goal

01:20:44.560 and so that's the

01:20:46.320 emotional level that

01:20:47.320 the dopaminergic

01:20:48.060 system works on

01:20:48.840 again it's promise

01:20:49.740 or hope or or

01:20:50.920 technically it's

01:20:51.580 called incentive

01:20:52.140 reward that's the

01:20:53.220 technical term but

01:20:54.440 it's the indication

01:20:55.420 that something good

01:20:56.240 is going to happen

01:20:56.940 well so when I see

01:20:58.080 a clear pathway

01:20:58.980 then I know I

01:21:00.440 can make my goal

01:21:01.320 pretty efficiently

01:21:03.000 and so it's

01:21:04.000 going to produce

01:21:04.440 just a well it's

01:21:05.940 going to produce

01:21:06.320 enough positive

01:21:06.920 emotion to make

01:21:07.700 me walk forward

01:21:08.480 that's that's the

01:21:09.480 right amount so

01:21:10.860 and so it's

01:21:12.460 interesting so you

01:21:13.340 can actually use

01:21:14.080 this when you're

01:21:14.960 thinking about room

01:21:15.820 design or house

01:21:16.860 design it's like so

01:21:18.180 you're in a room

01:21:18.820 you think well what

01:21:19.720 am I going to use

01:21:20.120 this room for it's

01:21:21.180 like okay you sort

01:21:22.080 that out well then

01:21:23.000 you want to make

01:21:23.400 the pathways to that

01:21:24.620 use as clear and

01:21:25.700 pristine as as

01:21:26.740 possible unless you

01:21:27.740 want to put in some

01:21:28.340 interesting variation

01:21:29.260 just for you know

01:21:30.400 decoration but

01:21:31.300 fundamentally what

01:21:32.140 you're trying to do

01:21:32.720 is to set up the

01:21:33.520 environment so that

01:21:34.800 it facilitates the

01:21:36.660 actions you intend

01:21:37.640 to pursue there if

01:21:40.380 you go into your

01:21:40.960 room and it's all

01:21:41.540 covered with stacks

01:21:42.240 of paper and

01:21:42.900 they're all messy

01:21:43.540 you know and and

01:21:45.200 you know the bed

01:21:45.880 isn't made and

01:21:46.580 there's rubbish

01:21:47.300 everywhere by your

01:21:48.960 definition of rubbish

01:21:50.080 then what you're

01:21:51.440 doing basically is

01:21:52.200 walking into a room

01:21:53.100 of snakes and it's

01:21:54.720 the same system

01:21:55.480 that's responding

01:21:56.420 to all of those

01:21:57.160 undone things that

01:21:58.760 would respond to

01:21:59.580 snakes you know

01:22:00.840 not like a cobra

01:22:03.520 that's right beside

01:22:04.400 you but it's the

01:22:05.140 same damn circuitry

01:22:06.360 that's the circuitry

01:22:07.280 that responds to

01:22:08.040 chaos it's the

01:22:08.880 circuitry that

01:22:10.160 responds to the

01:22:10.960 dragon of chaos

01:22:11.900 that makes you

01:22:13.660 uncomfortable in a

01:22:14.760 room like that

01:22:15.560 it's it's not

01:22:17.180 explored territory

01:22:18.180 it's not a place

01:22:19.080 where you can easily

01:22:20.080 see the proper

01:22:21.460 relationship between

01:22:22.360 the tools and the

01:22:23.020 obstacles it's not a

01:22:23.920 place that you can

01:22:24.520 make things irrelevant

01:22:25.640 not at all in fact

01:22:27.400 it's a place full of

01:22:28.540 obstacles how are

01:22:30.120 you going to be

01:22:30.460 comfortable in a room

01:22:31.140 like that it's full

01:22:32.540 of things that get

01:22:33.680 in the way of your

01:22:34.280 goals you're going to

01:22:35.620 be nervous in there

01:22:36.340 all the time so

01:22:37.920 it's like it's full

01:22:40.960 of envelopes that you

01:22:41.800 haven't opened and

01:22:42.520 most of them have bad

01:22:43.460 news in them you're

01:22:44.580 not going to be

01:22:45.020 comfortable in a room

01:22:45.800 like that you think

01:22:47.240 well can't you just

01:22:47.920 ignore those envelopes

01:22:48.980 it's like well it's a

01:22:51.240 stupid way of looking

01:22:52.000 at it so promise

01:22:54.820 produces hope slash

01:22:56.080 pleasure curiosity

01:22:57.520 all the incentive

01:22:58.640 reward related emotions

01:23:00.100 sort of fit in that

01:23:00.900 box and then undesired

01:23:02.780 outcomes produce threat

01:23:04.240 they're threats and

01:23:05.640 they produce anxiety

01:23:06.560 but that's not even

01:23:08.040 exactly right that's in

01:23:11.020 an elementary discussion

01:23:13.220 of the role of

01:23:16.060 comparator systems in

01:23:17.480 the brain which we'll

01:23:18.340 talk about in more

01:23:19.220 detail the general

01:23:21.880 notion is is that the

01:23:22.920 violation of an

01:23:23.600 expectation produces

01:23:24.540 anxiety and that

01:23:26.640 that's a pretty good

01:23:27.320 model and you it's got

01:23:29.280 some support from the

01:23:30.320 psychophysiological

01:23:31.540 pharmacological

01:23:32.260 literature because if

01:23:33.100 you give animals

01:23:33.840 anti-anxiety agents

01:23:35.880 like benzodiazepines or

01:23:37.060 alcohol or barbiturates

01:23:38.320 they do respond less to

01:23:41.060 the violation of quote

01:23:43.240 expectancy it does

01:23:44.900 dampen the response

01:23:45.860 but but it's an

01:23:49.220 oversimplified model and

01:23:50.480 to get understanding of

01:23:51.880 human behavior correct

01:23:53.000 you have to expand it a

01:23:54.520 bit it isn't precisely

01:23:56.200 that

01:23:56.660 unpredicted outcome is a

01:23:59.540 threat and it produces

01:24:00.600 anxiety

01:24:01.220 it's that unpredicted

01:24:03.400 outcome makes the

01:24:04.780 irrelevant relevant and

01:24:06.660 it produces an

01:24:07.420 undifferentiated emotional

01:24:09.020 and motivational state

01:24:10.180 it's a better way of

01:24:11.680 thinking about it because

01:24:12.480 it isn't just that you

01:24:13.260 you don't just get

01:24:14.060 anxious for example if

01:24:15.080 something goes wrong you

01:24:16.340 get anxious you get

01:24:17.120 angry you get curious you

01:24:19.280 get frustrated you get

01:24:20.520 depressed like it's a

01:24:21.860 whole bursting forward of

01:24:23.320 emotions and motivational

01:24:24.840 states and that's

01:24:26.000 because when something

01:24:27.980 doesn't work the way it's

01:24:28.960 supposed to even when you

01:24:30.040 just encounter an

01:24:30.880 obstacle it means that

01:24:32.740 you're the way that you're

01:24:33.920 construing the landscape

01:24:35.740 is wrong in some manner

01:24:37.620 and you don't exactly know

01:24:39.860 what you're going to have

01:24:40.660 to do in order to fix that

01:24:41.840 unless it's a very trivial

01:24:43.020 trivial violation and you

01:24:44.840 know it's it's one that

01:24:45.560 you know immediately how

01:24:46.480 to redress like if i'm

01:24:48.100 again

01:24:49.260 so i come around the

01:24:53.840 corner and i look at that

01:24:55.040 chair and i'm annoyed

01:24:55.920 because it's in the way you

01:24:57.180 might think well how

01:24:57.860 annoyed should i get and

01:24:59.400 the answer should be

01:25:00.080 something like your

01:25:01.180 annoyance should be in

01:25:02.680 proportion to the amount of

01:25:03.960 time and energy it will take

01:25:04.980 to move that chair right

01:25:06.760 because that's kind of like a

01:25:07.620 proper perception so it's

01:25:09.340 like i should be that

01:25:10.620 annoyed i should be annoyed

01:25:12.280 enough so that i've indexed

01:25:16.400 doing that because that does

01:25:19.260 actually take some time and

01:25:20.320 energy and that actually has

01:25:21.340 a cost and the fact that i

01:25:22.620 have to pay that cost should

01:25:24.120 be signified by something

01:25:25.420 because otherwise i wouldn't

01:25:26.420 be sensitive to costs and so

01:25:28.700 the annoyance if it's in

01:25:30.540 proportion to the effort is

01:25:32.220 exactly indexed properly now

01:25:33.860 often unfortunately you don't

01:25:36.000 know how to index so you have

01:25:38.700 an old car you're driving to

01:25:40.040 work someone bumps you from

01:25:43.400 behind and then your car

01:25:45.020 doesn't work it's like well

01:25:46.080 how annoyed should you get

01:25:46.980 you don't know that's a

01:25:49.960 problem and so then all of a

01:25:51.060 sudden a bunch of things that

01:25:51.900 were irrelevant which is the

01:25:53.120 whole damn car poof become

01:25:55.360 relevant plus you have to deal

01:25:56.820 with this person that just ran

01:25:58.440 into you and what are they

01:25:59.640 like well they're stupid enough

01:26:00.780 to run into you so you don't

01:26:02.240 know what else might be wrong

01:26:03.260 with them and maybe they're

01:26:04.320 going to be a bunch of trouble

01:26:05.220 and you have to get their

01:26:06.000 insurance information and now

01:26:07.220 you're on the side of the road

01:26:08.280 and you don't know if you're

01:26:09.020 going to go to work and so

01:26:10.500 that's when your emotions can

01:26:12.140 unravel because they're trying

01:26:14.040 to compute the effort and time

01:26:17.060 you're going to have to take

01:26:18.140 in order to rectify this and

01:26:19.800 the span this the the what we

01:26:22.640 call it the domain that is

01:26:25.180 opening up as a consequence of

01:26:27.540 the problem isn't easy to map and

01:26:30.000 so you get stressed and you go

01:26:32.000 home you said a stressful day and

01:26:33.700 the person says what happened

01:26:34.720 well someone hit me on the

01:26:35.860 highway and they go oh that's

01:26:36.900 terrible they figure that out

01:26:38.480 it's like well i was in this

01:26:39.600 little map it was only this

01:26:40.780 long i was just going from here

01:26:42.420 to here and all of a sudden

01:26:43.300 poof i didn't know where i was

01:26:45.440 or how many places i was going

01:26:46.760 to have to wander around in

01:26:48.160 before i could get that map

01:26:50.300 working again but the car is an

01:26:52.700 invisible predicate of multiple

01:26:54.540 potential future maps as well

01:26:56.660 right it's an axiom you make the

01:26:59.140 map presuming that you have the

01:27:01.020 car and the car isn't a metal

01:27:03.340 thing with wheels the car is a

01:27:05.000 conveyance for moving you from

01:27:06.260 point a to point b and the fact

01:27:08.320 that you have all these maps of

01:27:09.720 moving from point a to b that are

01:27:11.300 predicated on that conveyance

01:27:12.680 means that when it turns into a

01:27:14.680 car instead of a conveyance

01:27:16.740 poof all those maps become

01:27:18.660 extremely complicated as well and

01:27:20.820 so your body goes well i'm my

01:27:23.200 landscape is way more complex than

01:27:26.260 i thought up goes the heart rate up

01:27:28.780 goes the cortisol all of that right

01:27:31.320 and you're more paralyzed and you

01:27:32.700 like if you're a neurotic person

01:27:34.780 let's say something like that can

01:27:36.180 just paralyze you you're done you

01:27:37.980 have to phone someone for emergency

01:27:39.960 help which means you're in a map

01:27:42.100 that you cannot put your map back

01:27:43.900 together you have to call on

01:27:45.840 outside help in order to do it so

01:27:48.140 and you might not even know how to

01:27:50.400 do that

01:27:50.860 okay so that's another way now here's

01:27:54.660 another way of thinking about it

01:27:55.940 you want to stay inside this little

01:28:00.020 map because it's working you want to

01:28:01.720 get from point a to point b and this

01:28:03.540 is good this indicates that you are

01:28:05.640 moving forward that's the first thing

01:28:07.580 it indicates and the second thing

01:28:09.760 it indicates which is even more

01:28:11.100 important and you'll never hear this

01:28:12.720 from behavioral psychologists is that

01:28:14.760 your map is correct so every time you

01:28:17.180 move a little bit forward and

01:28:18.360 something that you want happens it

01:28:20.040 says oh the game i'm playing is the

01:28:22.060 right game and so not only does the

01:28:24.440 reward indicate progress it indicates

01:28:27.920 that the frame within which progress is

01:28:29.920 being calculated is the right frame

01:28:31.860 and that's good because it's the

01:28:33.800 frame that makes things irrelevant

01:28:35.060 and you want them to stay irrelevant

01:28:37.760 so if you don't move forward and you

01:28:40.460 start to question the frame that's way

01:28:42.040 worse than merely not moving forward

01:28:43.900 you get a bad exam grade what do you

01:28:45.900 think what the hell am i doing in

01:28:47.080 university anyways it's like probably

01:28:49.400 that's not the first place you should

01:28:50.880 go with that piece of information and

01:28:52.860 you think well why why is that worse

01:28:54.740 well as far as i can tell your map of

01:28:59.340 you as university student is a

01:29:01.600 comprehensive representation it tells

01:29:03.460 you what you should do every day it

01:29:04.860 kind of tells you where you're going

01:29:05.920 in the future and if something

01:29:07.600 emerges as an anomaly you get worse

01:29:09.900 grade than you expected and you blow

01:29:12.120 that whole map it's like okay what

01:29:14.100 have you been doing for the last four

01:29:15.260 years what kind of high school student

01:29:17.080 were you how clueless are you about

01:29:18.860 how you're arranging your future what's

01:29:20.740 your identity going to be if you're

01:29:21.780 not going to be a student where are

01:29:23.300 you going to end up in five years it's

01:29:25.300 like so it's like a that little grade

01:29:27.580 that bad grade is like a portal through

01:29:29.320 which snakes can crawl and that's

01:29:31.340 exactly how you respond to it especially

01:29:33.200 if you open the door too much well maybe

01:29:35.220 this means that i shouldn't be in

01:29:36.800 university well one of the rules is

01:29:39.660 don't you want to you want to constrain

01:29:42.800 the anomalous event to the minimal

01:29:44.680 necessary domain it's really really

01:29:47.460 important you want to do that when

01:29:48.640 you're arguing with your partner which

01:29:50.680 you'll do all the time we have an

01:29:52.240 argument well i should never have

01:29:53.860 married you it's like no no that's not

01:29:55.660 the first response that's a bad

01:29:57.620 response or here's a really good one

01:29:59.260 you've always done that sort of thing

01:30:02.900 and you always will it's like oh good

01:30:06.120 great it's like the only answer to that

01:30:07.820 is to hit someone because like you're

01:30:09.600 done right you're you're like that

01:30:11.340 you've always been like that there

01:30:12.440 isn't a chance that you can be

01:30:13.680 repaired and none of it is acceptable

01:30:15.160 it's like the person's going to fight

01:30:16.780 with you right away because what else

01:30:18.240 are they going to do so what you want

01:30:20.140 to do is you want to minimize it isn't

01:30:22.340 rationalization you want to say okay

01:30:24.040 this person did something that

01:30:25.280 disrupted our joint map okay what's the

01:30:28.540 smallest possible thing they could do

01:30:30.520 to put it back together and you have to

01:30:32.420 know well we need to make a plan so you

01:30:35.760 don't do it again or we need to have a

01:30:37.720 discussion so that you know that it

01:30:39.220 wasn't a good thing to do but i'm not

01:30:40.960 going to go after your whole character

01:30:42.360 i'm going to say when i come home

01:30:46.060 and you're watching tv just come to the

01:30:50.600 door and say hello not don't you love

01:30:53.000 me or something like that it's like no

01:30:54.680 no you just have to walk to the door and

01:30:56.200 like give me a hug or something and then

01:30:57.760 that's good enough and so then the other

01:31:00.380 person might be able to tolerate that

01:31:01.920 much corrective information maybe if you're

01:31:04.740 kind of nice about it and you also

01:31:06.260 understand that they're probably going

01:31:07.680 have something equally horrible to say

01:31:09.580 about you in the next 15 minutes because

01:31:11.660 you're going to do something stupid

01:31:12.860 so so you don't want to you don't want

01:31:16.240 to open the door so that every possible

01:31:18.380 snake comes crawling through because

01:31:20.360 that's a pathway to depression and you

01:31:22.560 actually see that happening in depressed

01:31:24.120 people is that every small event produces

01:31:27.320 a cascade through their entire value

01:31:30.000 system and they end up saying well

01:31:31.760 that's just another reason that i should

01:31:33.080 jump off a bridge and they really see it

01:31:35.060 that way it's really awful because

01:31:37.200 they've got no defenses it's like well

01:31:39.200 i didn't do so well in this course it's

01:31:42.480 like i'm going to get a bad mark in the

01:31:44.140 or in the exam i'm going to get bad mark

01:31:46.580 in the course that's going to screw up

01:31:48.000 my ability to finish my degree i'm never

01:31:49.920 going to get into the field of my choice

01:31:51.820 it's just another piece of indication

01:31:53.600 that i'm useless and that life isn't

01:31:55.420 worthwhile bang i'm going to jump off a

01:31:57.260 bridge and if you're really depressed

01:31:58.960 it's like each of those things hits you

01:32:00.680 with the certainty of truth it's really

01:32:03.460 not good and so you want to be careful

01:32:05.740 you want to be careful about walking

01:32:07.540 down that pathway when you make a mistake

01:32:09.660 you think okay

01:32:10.320 what's the narrowest framework of

01:32:13.000 interpretation within which i can

01:32:14.560 i can understand this that will require

01:32:17.520 minimal behavioral change to decrease

01:32:19.600 the probability that it will happen again

01:32:22.200 it's mental hygiene fundamentally yes

01:32:26.000 when you say that these frames are scalable

01:32:27.800 yeah

01:32:28.420 we'll get to that we'll get to that that is

01:32:32.020 the next question it's because they

01:32:33.960 don't exist in isolation so and that's

01:32:36.380 another thing frequently when you when

01:32:38.460 you hear behavioral accounts of

01:32:40.440 cognitive processes they generally only

01:32:42.700 focus on as if it's an isolated thing

01:32:46.480 it's not it's scalable it's scalable a

01:32:49.680 bunch of ways it's scalable temporally

01:32:51.780 because what you do now is associated

01:32:53.920 with what you'll do tomorrow and that

01:32:55.300 with what you'll do next week and so

01:32:56.760 forth so it has to be scalable

01:32:58.740 temporally and it's also scalable socially

01:33:01.420 right so it has an effect on you that

01:33:04.120 has an effect on your family that has

01:33:05.880 an effect on the community and so forth

01:33:07.940 and so you don't want to take it's very

01:33:12.580 difficult to think through the effect of

01:33:14.340 your action and all those scaling levels

01:33:16.380 simultaneously but but you have

01:33:19.800 mechanisms that allow you to do that and

01:33:21.800 we'll see i think that the sense of let's

01:33:24.420 assume that you're not lying to yourself

01:33:26.780 constantly so your head isn't full of

01:33:28.620 chaos and garbage and you have reasonable

01:33:30.840 relationships with people in the world

01:33:32.800 i think that this is leaping way ahead

01:33:35.760 i think that your sense of meaningful

01:33:37.680 engagement with what you're doing is the

01:33:40.560 psychophysiological marker that you're

01:33:43.080 acting in a way that takes all of the

01:33:44.840 stacked representations into account

01:33:46.560 simultaneously because you're you're

01:33:49.080 you're like you're trying to figure out

01:33:51.260 where you are and you might think well

01:33:53.360 that means where i am in this room but

01:33:55.300 look this room is not a simple thing

01:33:58.720 right it's nested it's it's a subset of

01:34:02.600 the university that's a subset of society

01:34:04.400 it's a subset of your life the room is a

01:34:06.580 complicated thing and you need to figure

01:34:08.620 out where you should be in the room and

01:34:10.720 you can't do that surely with perception

01:34:12.720 because all you see is me and some of the

01:34:15.980 wall right it's you got this little

01:34:17.600 narrow this little narrow portal and so

01:34:21.780 you can't really rely on your perceptions

01:34:23.920 to orient you but you do orient yourself

01:34:26.900 and i think what you do is you it's

01:34:29.520 engagement it's like does this seem

01:34:31.760 meaningful and deep and engaging yes then

01:34:35.360 it's an indication that it's serving

01:34:37.600 multiple masters simultaneously so both

01:34:40.780 maybe both socially and also temporally and

01:34:44.360 so i think the sense of meaning is actually

01:34:46.680 an instinct that orients people in time

01:34:49.700 in space it's not an epiphenomena it's the

01:34:52.400 most fundamental form of perception and

01:34:54.840 that's the only optimistic thought that

01:34:56.480 i've ever been able to derive from

01:34:57.780 psychology is that that actually could be

01:35:00.660 true it could be that the sense of

01:35:02.640 meaning is an orienting reflex and that

01:35:06.120 would be wonderful if it was true

01:35:07.420 because it would make it real you know

01:35:09.060 and it's one of the you know the one of

01:35:13.080 the devastating elements of nihilism is

01:35:15.060 something like well who the hell cares

01:35:16.380 what you're doing what differences are

01:35:17.580 going to make in a million years it's

01:35:18.820 like your sense of meaning is just an

01:35:20.260 illusion you know you're you're a limited

01:35:22.560 creature in a limited place and nothing

01:35:24.700 you do really matters it's like that's a

01:35:26.640 powerful argument especially if you're an

01:35:29.120 objective materialist and a reductionist

01:35:31.080 it's a killer argument but it looks to me

01:35:33.380 like it's wrong it's actually wrong because

01:35:36.880 meaning looks to me like it's an actual

01:35:38.560 phenomenon it does say that you're you're

01:35:40.720 positioned properly between chaos and order

01:35:43.520 something like that it's real so well so

01:35:48.480 we'll see we're gonna develop that argument

01:35:51.900 because if if it's real you want to know

01:35:55.600 that because it gives you something to

01:35:56.860 stand on you know maybe it's as real as

01:35:58.940 pain but it's not pain it's something

01:36:01.600 positive and you need something positive

01:36:03.780 that you can rely on all right so we're

01:36:07.960 concentrating now on the unpredicted outcome

01:36:10.100 or the undesired outcome because we said

01:36:12.460 well that's like a portal right it it's a

01:36:14.460 portal through which doubt can pour and it's

01:36:16.240 the thing that makes the irrelevant relevant

01:36:18.620 again and so that's why i use this little

01:36:20.940 diagram it's like oh that's a that's a

01:36:25.340 fear face roughly speaking and i put all

01:36:29.520 those stripes on it to indicate that it's

01:36:31.640 not just fear it's preparation for all

01:36:34.420 sorts of different for all sorts of

01:36:37.220 different perceptions and all sorts of

01:36:39.660 different motivational states so imagine

01:36:42.100 what happens when something knocks you back

01:36:44.880 on your heels it's like not only does your

01:36:46.640 body prepare but simultaneously with all

01:36:49.220 that preparation all sorts of fantasies are

01:36:51.580 generated like and what they are is all

01:36:53.520 sorts of alternative worlds well why did

01:36:56.660 this happen you go back into your past and

01:36:58.740 you say well here's one route well here's

01:36:59.980 another route here's another route here's

01:37:01.140 another route here's another route like i

01:37:03.120 don't know what i did wrong i don't know

01:37:04.360 what anybody did wrong but there's something

01:37:06.000 back there that someone did wrong it can

01:37:08.120 take people years to sort that out and so

01:37:10.420 those fantasies are all generated and

01:37:12.160 then the same thing happens with the future

01:37:14.080 it's like well what does this mean well

01:37:16.800 could mean this it could mean that it

01:37:18.360 could mean i'm getting divorced it could

01:37:19.660 mean i'm losing my house it could mean i'll

01:37:21.140 never talk to my kids again it could mean

01:37:22.900 that my career is going to collapse right or

01:37:25.000 maybe i'll get be able to get out of this

01:37:26.280 stupid job that i've always hated and

01:37:27.840 something better will happen all at the

01:37:29.760 same time so that's that's the response

01:37:32.600 to anomaly and the reason you respond that

01:37:35.640 way is because you're no longer where you

01:37:37.260 thought you were okay so there's a simple

01:37:46.480 way of looking at it so what what does an

01:37:50.200 unpredicted or anomalous event mean and i

01:37:52.480 think this is this is maybe the most

01:37:54.920 important thing the most important theme

01:37:56.880 of the entire class might be what does an

01:37:59.980 unpredicted or undesired outcome mean the

01:38:03.880 only thing that would be equally important

01:38:05.340 is what should you do about it but we'll

01:38:07.500 start with what it means and the answer

01:38:09.900 is well you don't know what it means it

01:38:11.920 could mean anything and that's a strange

01:38:13.900 category right the category of anomalous

01:38:16.340 events contains indefinite possibility so

01:38:20.260 what the hell do you do about that well

01:38:21.980 you prepare to do a variety of things you

01:38:23.820 can simplify it and say well it's half

01:38:26.080 threat because something bad might happen

01:38:29.600 and it's half promised because something

01:38:31.140 good might happen okay so that's a good way

01:38:33.660 of thinking about it's a portal all of a

01:38:35.900 sudden instead of the thing being

01:38:37.320 irrelevant the thing is ambivalent it

01:38:39.840 contains some slice of all possible

01:38:42.600 meanings positive and negative okay so

01:38:44.800 you're trying to sort that out that's

01:38:46.340 partly why it's so stressful too and

01:38:48.380 anger is a good response to that because

01:38:50.060 anger is partly a it's partly an advanced

01:38:52.700 emotion because it's got a positive

01:38:54.420 emotion element which is why anger can be

01:38:56.480 righteous you know but it's got a

01:38:58.260 negative element too it's negative emotion

01:39:00.200 and positive emotion at the same thing

01:39:01.820 same time so it's like the canonical

01:39:04.100 stress emotion so but it's very hard on

01:39:07.340 people anger it's very psychophysiologically

01:39:10.140 demanding so i started with that model

01:39:13.880 and then i developed it into this model

01:39:15.380 which i like better so you're moving from

01:39:17.960 you haven't seen this because it's not in

01:39:19.320 the book moving from point a to point b

01:39:21.980 and you're using your actions your known

01:39:24.240 actions to get there okay and what

01:39:25.800 happens you you run into an anomaly and

01:39:28.760 it's like a hole it's a hole through the

01:39:30.940 map it's like a hole is burned in it or

01:39:32.780 something like that and the map's no

01:39:34.540 longer relevant and so what happens

01:39:36.500 while your positive emotion systems are

01:39:38.720 activated or disinhibited that's a

01:39:40.780 better way of thinking about it and

01:39:42.420 your negative emotion systems are

01:39:44.680 disinhibited and what might those be

01:39:46.520 well in positive emotion you have hope

01:39:48.540 and interest and exhilaration and

01:39:50.120 curiosity and confidence and in the

01:39:52.880 negative emotional space you have anxiety

01:39:54.700 and fear and hurt and anger and guilt

01:39:56.820 and shame and disappointment and

01:39:58.680 disgust like there's quite a stacking of

01:40:00.640 emotions and you don't know which of

01:40:02.280 those is going to be useful and relevant

01:40:03.860 and so it all emerges at the same time

01:40:07.320 now one of the questions that was being

01:40:12.420 begged let's say by this discussion was

01:40:15.140 the idea of the relationship between

01:40:18.400 these frames of reference to one another

01:40:19.980 i'm going to describe that relationship

01:40:23.420 because one of the things that i want to

01:40:26.980 describe to you is how you determine how

01:40:29.780 upset you should be when something

01:40:31.300 anomalous happens because it's really

01:40:33.520 hard to figure out right so because

01:40:36.280 well you see this often especially if

01:40:38.700 you're unsophisticated in in dispute

01:40:40.500 settlement with an intimate partner

01:40:42.340 every little bump in the relationship is

01:40:44.600 the potential dissolution of the entire

01:40:46.400 relationship that's actually why people

01:40:48.560 get married you know just so you know

01:40:50.380 because this is built into marital

01:40:54.680 vows i'm not leaving ever no matter

01:40:59.520 what it's like okay well that definitely

01:41:01.880 puts a boundary around our arguments

01:41:03.480 right because i can't say every time you

01:41:06.080 manifest one of your flaws which you're

01:41:07.940 likely to do just as often as me well

01:41:10.840 enough of this it's like that's horrible

01:41:12.820 man if your whole life is well every time

01:41:15.600 you get out of line i'm out of here it's

01:41:17.420 like how the hell are you first of all

01:41:18.860 you're not going to admit to ever doing

01:41:20.400 anything wrong second you're going to be

01:41:22.760 on your you're like a like a scared cat

01:41:26.580 the entire relationship because well who

01:41:28.820 knows it could just come to an end at

01:41:30.160 any moment it's like you know people say

01:41:32.720 well if you're if the possibility of

01:41:35.200 divorce is open it makes you free it's

01:41:37.460 like yeah that's what you want you want

01:41:38.700 to be free a really really so you can't

01:41:42.600 predict anything that's what you're

01:41:44.080 after it's a vow and it says look i know

01:41:49.160 that you're trouble me too so we won't

01:41:54.260 leave no matter what happens well that's

01:41:57.780 a hell of a vow but that's why it's a

01:41:59.220 vow right that's why you take it in front

01:42:00.700 of a bunch of people that's why it's

01:42:02.260 supposed to be a sacred act it's like

01:42:04.080 what's the alternative what's the

01:42:06.280 alternative everything is mutable and

01:42:08.940 changeable at any moment well go ahead

01:42:11.260 you live you live your life like that

01:42:12.740 and see what you're like when you're 50

01:42:14.020 jesus it's dismal two or three divorces

01:42:16.780 your family's fragmented you've got no

01:42:18.700 continuity of narrative it's and it's not

01:42:21.340 good for the kids not by any stretch of

01:42:23.120 the imagination and so it's a form of

01:42:26.120 voluntary enslavement i suppose but it's

01:42:29.960 also equivalent to the adoption of a

01:42:31.660 responsibility and there's more to it

01:42:33.260 than that if you can't run away then you

01:42:35.120 can solve your problems because it might

01:42:36.960 be okay well i'm stuck with you so how

01:42:40.200 about we fix things because the

01:42:43.300 alternative is we're going to be in a

01:42:44.580 boxing match for the next 40 years

01:42:46.520 that's the alternative so and you think

01:42:49.700 you're going to fix problems without

01:42:50.940 something like that hanging over your

01:42:53.000 head there isn't a chance you'll just

01:42:54.900 avoid them because that's what people

01:42:56.200 do it's really hard to solve problems

01:42:58.320 especially in a relationship we're

01:42:59.940 having a fight and i find out that it's

01:43:01.460 you know because you're you were abused

01:43:03.240 by your uncle when you were five or some

01:43:05.260 goddamn thing you know it's like it's

01:43:07.480 very frequent that that sort of thing

01:43:09.080 happens you there's the partner your

01:43:11.180 partner's you know manifesting some

01:43:13.120 weird anomalous behavior you just can't

01:43:15.160 make heads or tails of it it doesn't

01:43:16.660 seem related to what you're doing at

01:43:18.080 all they don't want to talk about it and

01:43:20.580 so as soon as you bring it up they get

01:43:21.940 mad and then you bring it up again they

01:43:23.860 even get madder and they tell you that

01:43:25.440 you're not going to talk about that or

01:43:26.940 they're going to leave and so maybe

01:43:28.600 you're really really persistent because

01:43:30.580 you're kind of a son of a bitch and

01:43:32.000 then they break down and cry you know and

01:43:34.780 then they have this horrible memory

01:43:36.780 that comes flooding forward that's

01:43:38.380 completely you don't know what to do

01:43:39.980 with it and then you have to sort it

01:43:41.360 out so you think you're going to do

01:43:42.960 that unless there's a good reason you

01:43:45.400 have to know we better sort this out

01:43:47.160 and we're going to be carrying it around

01:43:48.180 for the next 40 years that maybe is

01:43:50.660 enough motivation so you'll actually

01:43:52.180 try hard to solve a problem it's a lot

01:43:54.580 easier to say well sorry we're not

01:43:57.140 going there but then good you'll have

01:43:59.140 it every day every day every goddamn

01:44:01.220 day for the rest of your life anyways

01:44:05.620 back to this all right so what's the

01:44:10.680 relationship between your frames of

01:44:12.360 reference well we can we can well we

01:44:15.700 let's do it this way let's see if i can

01:44:18.100 think of a good of a good example why'd

01:44:22.020 you get up this morning

01:44:22.740 okay why why did you want to come to

01:44:28.320 class

01:44:28.680 to

01:44:31.380 this class yes okay so why do you want

01:44:36.160 to come this is a serious question why

01:44:37.440 did you want to come to class

01:44:38.360 to

01:44:39.760 to get the knowledge that it's going to

01:44:43.000 be

01:44:43.260 that is something i'm going to be

01:44:46.160 tested on

01:44:46.740 okay okay is there is there any reason

01:44:50.160 other than the testing that you came

01:44:52.020 to class

01:44:52.540 it's okay you can start this is not a

01:44:58.640 trap i'm you can say whatever you

01:45:00.060 want i'm just they're just they're

01:45:01.520 just straight questions

01:45:02.540 okay so let's say no for the time

01:45:11.900 being or not for reasons that you can

01:45:13.580 immediately

01:45:13.980 bring to mind okay why does the test

01:45:17.580 matter for the degree okay why does

01:45:21.400 why do you care about the degree to

01:45:23.560 get a job okay whose decision was it

01:45:26.120 that you took the degree that you're

01:45:27.900 taking

01:45:28.240 yours okay did your parents have any

01:45:31.320 influence on that

01:45:32.160 no no okay okay what job are you after

01:45:36.080 psychology

01:45:37.180 clinical yes clinical psychologist why do

01:45:40.600 you want to do that

01:45:41.340 again you don't i'm going to question

01:45:44.720 you till you run out of answers you

01:45:46.340 will run out of answers so if this is

01:45:47.940 the time that's fine why do you want

01:45:49.200 to why do you want to do clinical

01:45:50.780 psychology

01:45:51.320 to help people to help people okay okay

01:45:54.240 why is that more important to you than

01:45:55.680 making money

01:45:56.320 because it helps me enter it how it sort

01:46:04.240 of makes me happy to see other people

01:46:06.480 get over their problems okay okay all

01:46:08.920 right good good well that's pretty good

01:46:10.420 you you had lots of answers so

01:46:11.860 sometimes you can run people out of

01:46:13.580 answers with about three questions so

01:46:15.780 all right so

01:46:16.560 small action

01:46:19.600 perception nested in larger action

01:46:22.240 perception nested in larger action

01:46:24.200 perception all the way out to well till

01:46:26.740 you run out of answers fundamentally

01:46:28.120 right

01:46:28.580 so and that's where at the edge where

01:46:31.420 you run out of answers that's where

01:46:32.680 metaphysics takes over

01:46:33.840 because there's you're not in a

01:46:35.860 rational domain anymore you're in a

01:46:37.480 metaphysical domain at that point and

01:46:39.580 so you have implicit assumptions that

01:46:41.380 you don't even know about that are

01:46:42.600 working on on on the fringes and

01:46:44.780 we'll talk about that a little bit

01:46:45.900 okay so so then we could take a

01:46:49.800 category like

01:46:50.500 we'll do a micro analysis the same way

01:46:55.500 so you're at home and you're tickling

01:46:58.400 the baby

01:46:58.840 all right so we'll note first that's not

01:47:01.140 an abstraction right there's an actual

01:47:03.240 baby and you're moving your fingers and

01:47:05.480 so that's not

01:47:06.520 just an abstract conceptualization it's

01:47:09.640 it's also where your consciousness ends

01:47:11.660 you're tickling the baby but you don't

01:47:13.600 know how you're doing it you don't

01:47:14.840 know the musculature you don't know how

01:47:16.860 to manipulate the little organs and

01:47:18.560 everything you can just do it so bang

01:47:20.980 you're out of the perceptual domain at

01:47:23.300 that point it grounds out in voluntary

01:47:25.240 action all right so you're tickling the

01:47:27.440 baby what are you doing when you're

01:47:29.360 tickling the baby well you're making the

01:47:31.280 baby laugh okay that's one way you're

01:47:32.780 playing with the baby okay so fine

01:47:34.480 that's a subset of the activity play with

01:47:37.900 baby and you can play peekaboo with the

01:47:40.080 baby you can tickle the baby you can

01:47:41.540 clean the baby those and all of that

01:47:43.520 can be part of playing and you might

01:47:45.460 say well what are you doing when you're

01:47:46.660 playing with a baby and you'd say well

01:47:48.260 I'm taking care of my family and fine

01:47:50.880 and then you think well what what are

01:47:53.020 you doing when you're taking care of

01:47:54.080 your family and you might say well i'm

01:47:55.460 being a good parent and then you might

01:47:57.660 say well what am I doing when i'm being

01:47:59.160 a good parent you might say well i'm

01:48:00.480 being a good person

01:48:01.340 and then you could say well why should

01:48:03.520 you be a good person but we won't go

01:48:05.060 any farther than that it's sort because

01:48:06.400 you can see that that's sort of the in

01:48:08.180 some sense that's an ultimate level of abstraction okay so you could what do you do someone comes up

01:48:14.740 to you and you're tickling the baby and you say well i'm being a good person they ask what are

01:48:18.360 you doing i'm being a good person it's like it's a bit dis disjointed it isn't what the person

01:48:23.980 would expect as an answer they'd expect something more local but it's still true and so what's

01:48:29.400 interesting is that when you're doing something that's well well i would say worthwhile that's

01:48:39.760 probably the right way of thinking about it you're doing a whole bunch of things simultaneously

01:48:43.360 and you're not really aware of all those things but you are in some sense you know because if the

01:48:48.580 person someone might come along and say well what kind of idiot tickles a baby like that it's like

01:48:54.080 well what have they said well they've kind of nailed you here down on the micro tickle level

01:48:59.400 but they're sort of also taking a pretty good crack at this high level system as well now and that's a

01:49:06.740 problem so let's say well good parent is a subset of being a good person but there's all sorts of

01:49:12.120 other maybe you have to be a good partner maybe you have to be a good daughter maybe you have to be a

01:49:17.320 good niece you know they're your your your ability to function as a good person is composed of a very

01:49:27.180 large number of hierarchically nested subsystems and so when the person goes only an idiot would

01:49:32.820 tickle the baby like that and they go after that you might think well how upset you should should you

01:49:38.100 get and the answer is well how valid do you think their complaint is so let's say maybe only an idiot

01:49:43.780 would tickle a baby like that and you happen to be that idiot and so well maybe you're not a good

01:49:47.960 person and so what does that mean it means that the map that consists of all these nested subsistence

01:49:53.280 has now become unreliable and so how upset are you going to get about that well you know maybe you had

01:49:59.640 a bad day at work and you're kind of hypoglycemic and you had too much to drink the night before and

01:50:03.320 so someone says you know that's not how you tickle a baby you idiot and you cry well why well it's a

01:50:10.580 pretty high level blow and so it's the sort of thing you want to do if you want to do if you

01:50:15.400 want to hurt someone it's not a good way to teach someone because you teach them down at the smallest

01:50:20.280 possible level the micro no no you don't tickle a baby like that you tickle a baby like this and

01:50:25.800 you're doing a good job on everything else but if you're going to tickle a baby this is how you go

01:50:30.060 about it and the person thinks well you know i'm doing a fairly good job but i've got this little

01:50:34.240 thing i have to work on and maybe i can manage it and so that works and that works and you can have

01:50:40.220 some sympathy for the person at the same time because you might say well i used to tickle babies

01:50:44.120 like an idiot too but you know it's it's fixable and most of you is okay and that's a nice thing to

01:50:49.560 do when you're arguing with someone you say look here's a bunch of things you're doing right that

01:50:56.580 are related to this that are important here's a small thing that maybe you could alter slightly and

01:51:01.380 it would make me happy and maybe i'll return the favor at some point and they think oh well

01:51:05.460 uh oh maybe oh maybe i'll do that maybe and then they practice doing it and you can give them a pat

01:51:11.180 on the head and then you're both happy about that that really works with people it really works so

01:51:17.520 okay so what you see is that these high level abstractions let's call them ethical abstractions

01:51:26.480 are related to actions they're related and so you can see that relationship from the good person to

01:51:33.560 doing something like tickle the baby properly and then you can you can conceptualize it this way

01:51:38.820 that you have this massive overarching map which is something like the story of your life

01:51:43.580 this including its extension into the future and then it consists of these subordinate maps which can

01:51:49.940 be broken down all the way down to the level of actions and so then that explains to you to some

01:51:55.640 degree how you can do the impossible job of calibrating your emotional response because roughly

01:52:01.440 speaking your emotional response should be proportionate to the level that's being assaulted

01:52:06.460 by the anomaly right if it's way up here you you wrote your mcat because you want to go to medical

01:52:12.360 school right and so now the envelope comes and you're shaking away and you open and it's like you got

01:52:17.040 25th percentile just like a quarter of the people who take the test well what what does that mean

01:52:23.040 well this is sir all blown to hell that's for sure and so god only knows how many of these things are

01:52:29.920 going to go to maybe your study habits really need to be you know you have to reconstitute yourself

01:52:35.780 all the way down to the level of your habits it can be devastating news now one of the ways to

01:52:41.140 protect yourself against something like that is like don't have one plan right if you're going to

01:52:46.820 stake yourself on something you should throw a couple of alternative scaffolds up beside you

01:52:51.380 so that you have somewhere to go you want to be a doctor okay well you could be a nurse it's like

01:52:57.000 it's not a doctor but it means cutting your throat you're still doing 80 percent of what you wanted

01:53:02.440 to do so you want to and you want to think about this during your whole life man if you're going to

01:53:06.720 take a high risk you want to scaffold yourself in other areas so that if it fails you don't the bottom

01:53:13.060 doesn't drop out and you die and it's also very much worth thinking about with regards to setting up

01:53:18.380 your life in general it's like if you concentrate solely on your career you can get a long way in

01:53:26.920 your career and i would say that that's a strategy that a minority of men preferentially do that that's

01:53:33.880 all they do they work like 70 80 hours a week they go flat out on their career they're staking everything

01:53:39.700 on the small probability of exceptional status in a narrow domain but it's it's hard on them they don't

01:53:46.420 have a life it's very difficult for them to have a family they don't know how to take any leisure

01:53:50.620 activity like they get very one-dimensional now it may be that that unidimensionality is the price

01:53:55.600 you have to pay to be exceptional at one thing right because if you're going to be something like a genius

01:54:00.740 level mathematician and you want to do that for or a scientist say it's like you're in your lab

01:54:06.640 you're in your lab all the time you're working 70 hours a week or 80 hours a week you're smart

01:54:11.180 you're dedicated you're unidimensional and that's how you get to beat all the other people who are

01:54:16.280 doing that it's the only way but the problem is you don't get a life now if you love being a scientist

01:54:22.340 and you have that kind of focus of mind well first of all you're a rare person and second you're going

01:54:28.900 to pay for it but fine more power to you but but it's a it's a risky business to do that you sacrifice

01:54:38.260 a lot for it you know and i would say most often if you're speaking about having a healthy life

01:54:44.760 that isn't what you do you spread yourself out more so you know you have a family you have some

01:54:50.180 things that you do outside of work that are meaningful to you and useful you you have a network

01:54:54.980 of friends um that that those three things alone are four things alone are plenty to keep you well

01:55:01.980 oriented and then if one of those things collapses you know everything doesn't go now the price you

01:55:09.040 pay for that is the more you strive to optimize that balance the less likely you are to be fantastically

01:55:15.420 successful at any single one of them but you might have a very you know if you consider your life as

01:55:21.120 a whole that might be a winning strategy one of the things carl jung said i really like this

01:55:26.940 he thought that men went after perfection and when women went after wholeness so they're different

01:55:34.780 they're different value they're different there's something different at the top of the value hierarchy

01:55:40.680 so perfection would be stake it all on one thing and look for radical success not all not that all men

01:55:47.340 do that because they don't but we're talking about extremes at least with regards to the men that do

01:55:52.880 that the wholeness idea is more like well i want i want it's like i want one thing in my life to be 150

01:55:59.780 percent or i want five things in my life to be 80 percent well there's a lot more richness in a life

01:56:09.640 where you have five things operating at 80 percent but you're not operating in any of at any of them at

01:56:14.300 150 so and i really believe this because i've watched men and women go through their careers

01:56:19.960 now for a long period of time and one of the things that there's lots of things that produce this

01:56:25.800 but one of the things that i've noticed is that mostly women in their 30s bail out of

01:56:31.620 unidimensional careers they won't do them they won't they won't put in the 80 hours a week that

01:56:37.680 they would have to put in in order to dominate that particular area and it isn't the reason that they

01:56:43.660 won't do it is because they decide it's not worth it and no wonder because why would that be worth

01:56:49.500 it you have to ask yourself that it's like well you want to be an outstanding scientist it's like

01:56:54.420 okay really really that's what you want because that means that's what you do because you're

01:57:01.440 competing with other people you know they're smart they're hard-working and if you want to be at the

01:57:05.760 top you have to be smarter and work harder than any of them and working hard means working long

01:57:10.660 hours i mean it also means working diligently but in in the final analysis it's all also an

01:57:16.580 additive issue if i'm smart and hard-working and i can crank out for 70 hours a week and you do it

01:57:22.340 for 30 it's like in two years i'm so far ahead of you you will never ever catch up so anyways and i

01:57:30.760 think partly maybe part of the reason too that women are oriented that way more than men i think

01:57:34.660 there's two reasons is one is socioeconomic status does not make women more attractive on the

01:57:39.300 mating market but it does make men more attractive and the second is women's time frame is compressed

01:57:44.100 right because guys can always say well i'll have kids later and they can say that till they're like

01:57:48.700 80 whereas women it's like no way man you got to get it you got to get it together by the time you're

01:57:53.540 let's say 40 but really probably by 35 but definitely by 40 because otherwise it ain't happening

01:57:59.060 and that's bloody dreadful like the most unhappy people you ever see no

01:58:04.980 no one of the common routes to extreme unhappiness is to want children and not have them i wouldn't

01:58:12.820 recommend that you know you see couples who are in their 30s one couple in three over the age of 30

01:58:18.140 has fertility problems that's defined as inability to conceive after one year of trying one in three

01:58:24.180 that's worth thinking about because people are very very unhappy if they want to have kids and then

01:58:29.220 they can't man you're in the medical mill for 10 years if that's if that's what happens to you so

01:58:34.300 okay so anyways back to this

01:58:36.340 i think what i'll do what time is it is it because i'd have to open up a whole new can of worms so to

01:58:47.320 speak to do the next part so i think actually what i'm going to do is just recap what we did and then

01:58:52.140 stop or maybe we can have some questions or maybe we can call it an early day okay so what what is the

01:58:58.340 fundamental issue here what did we discuss today all right so you're in a frame and we've laid out

01:59:06.280 its characteristics it has a goal in it it has a current position in it it has rules for operating

01:59:11.020 within it it governs your perceptions which is really critical thing to understand and well

01:59:17.600 governing your perceptions it's it tells you what's useful to you and what gets in your way but most

01:59:21.880 importantly it tells you what you don't have to pay attention to it so as long as your damn frame

01:59:25.460 is functional you can ignore most of the world and that means your stress level is way lower than

01:59:30.440 it would normally be okay so perception motivation all of that's integrated into those frames and then

01:59:36.800 the emotional element comes out in that with when you're within a frame things that move you forward

01:59:42.420 and validate the frame are positive and things that get in your way and invalidate the frame are

01:59:46.720 negative and then the next issue is well if your frame is invalidated exactly what does that mean

01:59:53.300 and you can't answer that without thinking about the hierarchy of frames because if you're lucky it

01:59:57.640 just means your frame needs a minor alteration that would be equivalent to piagetian assimilation in

02:00:04.160 some sense right you can stay in the frame you just make a small adjustment i think the piagetian

02:00:10.380 distinction between assimilation and accommodation is technically inaccurate because it's a continuum

02:00:16.500 right i mean if i if i want to grab your pen i have a little frame that will enable me to do that

02:00:24.340 you say well i'm staying within the frame to move that out of the way but actually i'm not what i'm

02:00:29.000 doing is doing a very i'm doing a small micro revolution in the frame moving that to pick that up

02:00:35.360 and so it's i think accommodation there's no hard distinction between assimilation and accommodation

02:00:43.480 it's a continuum so you'd say well if if the top end of your map gets blown out that requires

02:00:48.720 accommodation and if it's just a little micro change at the bottom that's assimilation but there's no

02:00:54.020 there's no real difference between this except for scale and there's kind of a continual scale not an

02:00:59.560 absolute dichotomy so okay so anyways back to the back to the emotion something happens and it isn't

02:01:08.480 what you wanted what does that mean well it could mean anything what you do is you start trying to

02:01:15.160 micro adjust the frame at the highest level of resolution but then you might find that you can't

02:01:20.560 do that so you have to jump up to the next one you have to jump up to the next one you have to jump up

02:01:24.600 to the next one and each time you do that the psychophysiological cost increases so

02:01:30.320 okay so so we talked about the cost end of the spectrum and then we also talked about the

02:01:42.200 engagement end of the spectrum and so the idea would be well if you're if you're very much engaged

02:01:48.860 say in let's go to that again if you find it very engaging to play with your baby

02:01:58.600 then you might be doing it in a way that's indicating that you're taking good care of your

02:02:03.900 family that you're being a good parent and that you're being a good person all simultaneously

02:02:08.080 and there's rich meaning in that and you're the systems that orient you with regards to meaning are

02:02:13.120 saying look you're doing this micro action in a way that benefits the maintenance and maybe even

02:02:18.300 the expansion of all the frames that exist above it and that's that's that's exactly what you want

02:02:23.480 you want to be doing that all the time if you can and so that implies that you want to delineate out

02:02:28.340 a pretty well developed value system so that you're not acting at odds with yourself and you also want

02:02:35.700 to have that integrated within the broader society so that society isn't existing towards you as

02:02:41.820 a continual obstacle in making your life miserable so okay

02:02:46.960 good questions

02:02:49.600 any of that not make sense or do you have any objections to it

02:02:58.280 it's funny we it's funny i mentioned the word matter you know because things are made out of matter or

02:03:08.900 maybe they're made out of what matters but the word object is the same thing you could say that the

02:03:13.580 world is made out of objects or you could say that the world is made out of what objects and both of

02:03:19.220 those both of those weirdly enough are equally true in some sets question

02:03:23.860 um no it's the serotonin system in all likelihood so serotonin seems so the question was um positive

02:03:44.780 emotions mediated by dopamine um when you're advancing towards something say or when you have a cue that

02:03:50.320 something good is about to happen what is the system that mediates positive emotion at the

02:03:55.340 satiation level and if i can add the negative aspect one yeah as well what is the circuit for that

02:04:02.040 yep okay okay well let's start with the satiation issue that seems mostly regulated by serotonin

02:04:09.540 the opiate issue is there are other forms of specific reward that don't seem to be merely

02:04:16.360 motivated or merely underpinned by dopamine and the opiate system would be one of those there's an

02:04:22.140 oxytocin system as well so there are other biochemical systems that are involved in more specific forms of

02:04:29.940 reward but the thing that's common among

02:04:33.200 instances that make it appear that you're moving forward is the dopaminergic element

02:04:39.960 roughly speaking and then one of the things that happens if you're higher in serotonin because you're

02:04:47.060 more dominant is that you're more satiated all the time that's why people who are low in the dominance

02:04:52.000 hierarchy with decreased levels of serotonin are more impulsive and also more emotionally

02:04:58.540 dysregulated they're more impulsive because hey you take your positive thing when you can get it

02:05:03.500 and so they're they're more dissatisfied they're more looking for anything that will produce a positive

02:05:09.620 outcome and then they're also more likely to experience diffuse negative emotion partly because

02:05:18.080 their serotonin systems are lower indicating their tenuous status in the dominance hierarchy

02:05:23.880 meaning that everything they do that's uncertain is far more dangerous

02:05:28.580 so this is also why it's very difficult often when you're trying to treat someone who's depressed because you could say

02:05:36.000 there's not much difference between being depressed

02:05:37.900 and existing in the biochemical state that being at the bottom of the dominance hierarchy would produce

02:05:43.980 in fact they're the same thing

02:05:46.280 well then the question is are you depressed or are you just at the bottom of a dominance hierarchy

02:05:52.220 because those are not like the the symptomatology is

02:05:56.000 very very similar but the cause and the cure are not the same

02:06:02.000 you know because you might be at the bottom of a dominance hierarchy because you're just

02:06:05.820 everything about your life is ruined

02:06:07.780 so and of course you're suffering are you depressed

02:06:12.060 no not exactly you just have nowhere to go

02:06:16.620 so

02:06:18.300 other questions yes

02:06:22.400 I was wondering why people pursue motivations that don't produce this resonance of meaning in this hierarchy

02:06:30.560 okay so the question is why don't why do people pursue rewards that don't produce this resonance

02:06:37.680 they don't have a value hierarchy

02:06:40.180 so pleasure island

02:06:41.740 it's a good example

02:06:43.540 those kids that were brought there were lost

02:06:46.100 so they didn't they didn't have anywhere to go

02:06:48.960 they didn't have an identity

02:06:50.980 so they default to local pleasure

02:06:54.280 and that's better than none

02:06:57.140 although the problem with local pleasure

02:06:59.040 well as the narrative made clear is that

02:07:01.260 you better look out if you're impulsive

02:07:03.500 because it's going to kick back on you hard

02:07:05.440 and the reason is

02:07:06.160 you're only considering the immediate time frame

02:07:08.980 and the problem is is that things propagate across all the time frames

02:07:13.640 and so just because something works really well this second

02:07:16.620 cocaine for example

02:07:18.480 doesn't mean that it's a tenable solution to the class of all problems

02:07:23.060 so usually often people pursue local pleasure because that's the best they can imagine

02:07:31.120 it's the best they've been taught

02:07:32.620 they don't see another alternative

02:07:34.200 so it could be ignorance

02:07:35.720 it can be they don't want to adopt the responsibility

02:07:37.960 because part of the problem with

02:07:39.940 working at every level of the hierarchy simultaneously

02:07:43.320 is that it's

02:07:44.240 it's

02:07:45.220 well it's like dancing to a very complex waltz

02:07:49.040 let's say

02:07:49.580 you have to be

02:07:50.900 paying attention to a very large number of things simultaneously

02:07:54.160 and doing things right

02:07:55.500 it requires responsibility

02:07:56.740 and so

02:07:58.180 you know that's

02:07:59.520 it's a pain

02:08:02.180 it's a weight

02:08:03.500 part of the reason people drink alcohol

02:08:05.500 is to get rid of their responsibility

02:08:07.260 I mean

02:08:07.940 that's

02:08:08.700 you know

02:08:09.380 you hear people drink because they have problems

02:08:11.720 it's like yeah yeah

02:08:12.600 no

02:08:13.120 some people drink because they're anxious

02:08:15.720 and alcoholics drink

02:08:17.460 because they're in withdrawal

02:08:19.200 but young people drink because they're sick and tired of being responsible

02:08:23.160 because it's annoying

02:08:24.360 it's like

02:08:25.160 so I'll drink enough

02:08:26.060 I won't care about the medium to long term consequences

02:08:28.540 because alcohol

02:08:29.420 that's exactly what alcohol does

02:08:30.980 it doesn't make you ignorant of the medium to long term consequences

02:08:35.340 but it makes you not care about them

02:08:37.420 and partly it's because it dampens anxiety

02:08:39.600 so it dampens anxiety

02:08:41.200 it leaves your positive emotion circuits intact

02:08:43.080 so then you can go out there and do stupid fun things

02:08:46.140 and that's like

02:08:46.740 that's a party really

02:08:47.740 let's go do stupid fun things

02:08:49.280 that's a party

02:08:50.140 but

02:08:51.240 the medium to long term consequences are

02:08:54.680 it's risky

02:08:57.280 it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it

02:08:59.660 but it's risky

02:09:00.320 so

02:09:01.240 yeah

02:09:01.880 they don't know better

02:09:02.940 that's the answer

02:09:04.620 I would say

02:09:05.280 so

02:09:06.680 yes

02:09:07.820 I can't

02:09:08.460 well you're talking about responsibility

02:09:10.580 it seems like that

02:09:12.760 bounds a person to a certain frame

02:09:15.900 and

02:09:17.600 that's why conservatives and liberals don't get along

02:09:20.020 because conservatives do bind themselves to a particular frame

02:09:24.500 they're conscientious in low and openness

02:09:27.200 and the liberals say

02:09:29.340 doesn't that just bind you to a particular frame

02:09:31.480 and it's like

02:09:32.480 yeah

02:09:32.800 that's

02:09:33.480 it does

02:09:33.980 and that's a problem

02:09:34.820 so

02:09:35.380 yes

02:09:35.840 but in terms of

02:09:38.020 being aware of the

02:09:39.220 multiple levels

02:09:40.360 it takes

02:09:42.000 within a frame

02:09:42.960 it takes

02:09:43.820 a certain amount

02:09:45.740 of tolerance

02:09:46.780 of the unbearable present

02:09:47.960 for that to

02:09:49.760 reach the edge of that frame

02:09:51.460 to force a person to see a different frame

02:09:54.300 is that something that

02:09:55.460 does that mean something

02:09:56.060 yes

02:09:56.440 and that's

02:09:57.060 that's actually where I stopped today

02:09:58.700 because that's

02:10:00.520 that's exactly right

02:10:01.540 so you're

02:10:02.180 it's good

02:10:02.800 because both the questions you asked

02:10:04.220 indicated that you're sort of at the next step

02:10:06.240 in the

02:10:06.520 in the logic process

02:10:07.660 because you asked about the relationship

02:10:09.280 between these frames

02:10:10.200 with

02:10:10.380 with

02:10:10.760 you know

02:10:11.280 in relationship to one another

02:10:12.480 and that is the next issue

02:10:13.880 it's like

02:10:14.340 there's something about responsibility

02:10:16.020 and individuality

02:10:17.380 that I'm curious about

02:10:18.540 like

02:10:18.880 responsibility implies

02:10:20.180 a connection to other people

02:10:22.040 okay well

02:10:22.540 one of the things

02:10:23.200 one of the things

02:10:23.840 we are going to talk about

02:10:25.020 in the class

02:10:25.620 is

02:10:25.840 is

02:10:26.200 how you address the problem

02:10:27.720 that you just described

02:10:28.740 which is that

02:10:29.400 this is the Peter Pan story

02:10:31.780 roughly speaking

02:10:32.660 is Peter Pan is this magical boy

02:10:34.760 Pan means

02:10:36.620 Pan is the god of everything

02:10:38.160 roughly speaking

02:10:39.000 right

02:10:39.300 and so

02:10:39.660 it's not

02:10:40.220 an accident that he has the name Pan

02:10:42.520 and he's the boy that won't grow up

02:10:44.680 and he's magical

02:10:45.840 well

02:10:46.260 that's because children are magical

02:10:47.640 they can be anything

02:10:48.560 they're nothing but potential

02:10:50.300 and

02:10:51.600 Peter Pan

02:10:52.720 doesn't want to give that up

02:10:54.120 why

02:10:54.700 well

02:10:55.420 he's got some adults around him

02:10:57.040 but

02:10:57.260 the main adult is Captain Hook

02:10:59.060 well

02:10:59.960 who the hell wants to grow up

02:11:01.000 to be Captain Hook

02:11:01.880 first of all

02:11:02.640 you've got a hook

02:11:03.440 second

02:11:04.840 you're a tyrant

02:11:05.740 and third

02:11:07.000 you're chased by the

02:11:08.200 dragon of chaos

02:11:09.420 with a clock in its stomach

02:11:10.780 right

02:11:11.480 the crocodile

02:11:12.060 it's already got a piece of you

02:11:13.380 well

02:11:14.700 that's what happens

02:11:15.260 when you get older

02:11:15.920 time

02:11:16.500 has already got a piece of you

02:11:18.160 and eventually

02:11:18.960 it's got a taste for you

02:11:20.260 and eventually

02:11:20.760 it's going to eat you

02:11:21.920 and so

02:11:22.880 Hook is so

02:11:23.740 traumatized by that

02:11:24.880 that he can't help

02:11:25.560 but be a tyrant

02:11:27.260 and then Peter Pan

02:11:28.460 looks at

02:11:28.980 traumatized Hook

02:11:30.580 and says

02:11:30.980 well no

02:11:31.380 I'm not sacrificing

02:11:32.360 my childhood for that

02:11:33.420 so that's fine

02:11:34.540 except he ends up

02:11:35.320 king of the lost boys

02:11:36.380 in Neverland

02:11:38.420 well Neverland doesn't exist

02:11:39.660 and who the hell

02:11:40.220 wants to be king

02:11:40.880 of the lost boys

02:11:41.720 and he also sacrifices

02:11:43.780 the possibility

02:11:44.560 to have a real relationship

02:11:45.840 with a woman

02:11:46.460 because that's Wendy

02:11:47.380 right

02:11:48.120 and she's kind of

02:11:48.980 conservative

02:11:49.620 middle class

02:11:50.580 London dwelling

02:11:52.220 girl

02:11:53.020 she wants to grow up

02:11:54.120 and have kids

02:11:54.620 and have a life

02:11:55.220 she accepts her mortality

02:11:56.420 she accepts her

02:11:57.360 maturity

02:11:58.260 Peter Pan has to

02:12:00.420 content himself

02:12:01.020 with Tinkerbell

02:12:01.720 she doesn't even exist

02:12:03.740 she's like

02:12:04.520 she's like

02:12:05.780 the fairy of porn

02:12:07.340 she doesn't exist

02:12:09.640 she's the substitute

02:12:11.420 for the real thing

02:12:12.460 and so

02:12:13.680 but the dichotomy

02:12:14.960 that you're talking

02:12:15.620 about

02:12:15.780 it's very tricky

02:12:16.400 because

02:12:16.780 there's a sacrificial

02:12:18.740 element in maturation

02:12:20.020 right

02:12:21.020 you have to sacrifice

02:12:22.040 the pluripotentiality

02:12:24.220 of childhood

02:12:25.840 for the actuality

02:12:27.740 of a frame

02:12:28.560 and the question is

02:12:30.540 well why would you do that

02:12:31.600 well one reason is

02:12:32.560 it happens to you

02:12:33.500 whether you do it or not

02:12:34.360 you can either

02:12:35.180 choose your damn

02:12:36.200 limitation

02:12:36.780 or you can let it

02:12:39.300 take you unaware

02:12:40.240 when you're 30

02:12:41.220 or even worse

02:12:42.600 when you're 40

02:12:43.360 and then

02:12:44.200 that is not

02:12:45.780 a happy day

02:12:46.800 you see

02:12:47.780 I see people like this

02:12:48.840 and I think it's more

02:12:49.500 and more common

02:12:50.000 in our culture

02:12:50.600 because people can put

02:12:51.560 off maturity

02:12:52.300 without suffering

02:12:54.040 an immediate penalty

02:12:54.960 but all that happens

02:12:56.260 is the penalty

02:12:57.060 accrues

02:12:58.000 and then when it

02:12:58.840 finally hits

02:12:59.460 it just wallops you

02:13:00.380 because when you're 25

02:13:01.820 you can be an idiot

02:13:02.840 it's no problem

02:13:04.040 even when you're

02:13:05.560 out in a job search

02:13:06.660 it's like

02:13:06.920 well you don't have

02:13:07.420 any experience

02:13:07.980 and you're kind of clueless

02:13:08.820 it's yeah yeah

02:13:09.420 you're young

02:13:09.940 you know

02:13:10.200 it's no problem

02:13:10.860 we can

02:13:11.160 that's what young people

02:13:12.280 are like

02:13:12.580 but they're full

02:13:13.000 of potential

02:13:13.560 okay well now

02:13:14.580 you're the same

02:13:15.120 person at 30

02:13:16.020 it's like people

02:13:17.700 aren't so thrilled

02:13:18.300 about you at that

02:13:19.020 point

02:13:19.340 it's like

02:13:19.880 what the hell

02:13:20.240 have you been

02:13:20.560 doing for the

02:13:21.020 last 10 years

02:13:21.760 well I'm just as

02:13:23.000 clueless as I was

02:13:23.760 when I was 22

02:13:24.540 yeah but you're

02:13:25.600 not 22

02:13:26.420 you're an old

02:13:28.020 infant

02:13:28.460 right and that's

02:13:30.340 an ugly thing

02:13:31.120 an old infant

02:13:31.840 so

02:13:33.340 the reason

02:13:34.840 part of the reason

02:13:35.540 you choose

02:13:36.280 your damn

02:13:36.740 sacrifice

02:13:37.460 because

02:13:38.680 the sacrifice

02:13:39.920 is inevitable

02:13:40.680 but at least

02:13:42.040 you get to

02:13:42.460 choose it

02:13:42.820 and then there's

02:13:43.280 something that's

02:13:44.180 that's even more

02:13:44.840 complex than that

02:13:45.840 in some sense

02:13:46.480 is that

02:13:46.860 the problem

02:13:48.620 with being a child

02:13:49.340 is that all you

02:13:50.240 are is potential

02:13:51.280 and it's really

02:13:52.020 low resolution

02:13:52.840 you could be

02:13:53.540 anything

02:13:53.900 but you're not

02:13:54.520 anything

02:13:54.940 so then you go

02:13:56.480 and you adopt

02:13:57.400 an apprenticeship

02:13:58.080 roughly speaking

02:13:59.860 and then you become

02:14:01.200 at least you become

02:14:02.360 something

02:14:03.020 and when you're

02:14:04.220 something that makes

02:14:04.960 the world open up

02:14:05.700 to you again

02:14:06.260 you know like

02:14:07.300 if you're a really

02:14:08.120 good plumber

02:14:09.000 then you end up

02:14:10.700 being far more

02:14:11.360 than a plumber

02:14:11.940 right you end up

02:14:12.580 being a good

02:14:12.980 employer

02:14:13.460 not not that

02:14:14.300 plumbers

02:14:14.660 I'm not putting

02:14:15.260 plumbers down

02:14:15.820 it's like more

02:14:16.740 power to plumbers

02:14:17.660 they've saved more

02:14:18.680 lives than doctors

02:14:19.620 so hygiene

02:14:22.120 right so

02:14:22.720 you know if you're

02:14:24.160 a really good

02:14:24.560 plumber well then

02:14:25.300 you have some

02:14:25.780 employees you run

02:14:26.480 a business you

02:14:27.160 you you make

02:14:27.940 you you train

02:14:28.700 some other people

02:14:29.340 you enlarge their

02:14:30.440 lives you're kind

02:14:31.180 of a pillar of the

02:14:31.880 community you you

02:14:32.880 have your family

02:14:33.640 it's you can

02:14:34.800 once you pass

02:14:36.060 through that

02:14:36.480 narrow training

02:14:38.400 period which

02:14:39.380 narrows you and

02:14:40.300 constricts you and

02:14:41.260 develops you at the

02:14:41.980 same time then you

02:14:42.700 can come out the

02:14:43.280 other end with a

02:14:44.280 bunch of new

02:14:44.820 possibility at hell

02:14:46.020 at hand and

02:14:47.520 Jung talked about

02:14:48.260 that he thought

02:14:48.980 that the proper

02:14:49.940 part of the proper

02:14:52.360 path of development

02:14:53.380 in the last half

02:14:54.200 of life was to

02:14:55.020 rediscover the

02:14:56.700 child that you

02:14:58.040 left behind as

02:14:59.200 you were

02:14:59.540 apprenticing and

02:15:01.660 so then you get

02:15:02.180 to be something

02:15:03.000 and regain that

02:15:04.600 potential at the

02:15:05.520 same time

02:15:06.080 very very smart

02:15:07.220 well he was

02:15:07.800 very very smart

02:15:08.540 so that's very

02:15:10.100 wise very wise

02:15:12.440 thing to know

02:15:13.040 so yep

02:15:16.060 sacrifice

02:15:17.840 we'll talk more

02:15:20.040 about that too

02:15:20.760 you get to pick

02:15:22.040 your damn

02:15:22.420 sacrifice

02:15:23.040 that's all

02:15:24.280 you don't get to

02:15:24.900 not make one

02:15:25.540 you're sacrificial

02:15:27.640 whether you want

02:15:28.200 to be or not

02:15:28.840 that's a good

02:15:30.140 thing to know

02:15:30.640 as well

02:15:31.040 so even though

02:15:32.260 it's rather you

02:15:33.300 know it's a rough

02:15:33.840 thing to figure

02:15:34.380 out but

02:15:35.380 other questions

02:15:37.060 I have one if

02:15:47.020 no one else

02:15:47.300 okay

02:15:47.660 that thing you

02:15:48.480 just said about

02:15:48.940 noticing it more

02:15:49.660 and more and

02:15:50.040 people late

02:15:50.400 into their 20s

02:15:51.000 yeah

02:15:51.220 what do you

02:15:53.100 think about that

02:15:53.720 where do you

02:15:54.020 think that comes

02:15:54.420 from in terms

02:15:54.880 of the culture

02:15:56.700 we live in

02:15:57.180 I think universities

02:15:58.620 facilitate it

02:15:59.580 because you can

02:16:01.980 go to university

02:16:02.640 to not be

02:16:03.380 something

02:16:03.800 instead of going

02:16:05.620 to university

02:16:06.040 to be something

02:16:06.740 and that's

02:16:07.700 it's pleasure island

02:16:08.860 and the price

02:16:11.760 you pay for it

02:16:12.340 especially in the

02:16:12.900 US is debt

02:16:13.660 and you're enticed

02:16:15.580 into it because

02:16:16.220 the administrators

02:16:16.840 can pick your

02:16:17.520 pocket

02:16:17.840 so they rob

02:16:19.880 your future self

02:16:21.040 while allowing

02:16:22.080 you to pretend

02:16:23.260 that you have

02:16:23.900 an identity

02:16:24.480 right

02:16:25.640 very nasty

02:16:27.020 and you can't

02:16:28.520 declare bankruptcy

02:16:29.180 with your student

02:16:29.860 loans in the US

02:16:30.600 it's indentured

02:16:31.280 servitude

02:16:31.780 and it is

02:16:33.560 precisely pleasure

02:16:34.760 island

02:16:35.060 it's exactly

02:16:35.700 that

02:16:36.040 and so tuition

02:16:37.460 fees have shot

02:16:38.400 way out of

02:16:38.940 control

02:16:39.300 and part of

02:16:40.540 the reason

02:16:40.820 that universities

02:16:41.400 don't make more

02:16:42.000 demands on their

02:16:42.620 students

02:16:43.040 and let them

02:16:44.080 get away with

02:16:44.580 all the things

02:16:45.420 they let them

02:16:46.200 get away with

02:16:46.700 is because

02:16:47.060 they're basically

02:16:47.660 why the hell

02:16:48.560 would you chase

02:16:49.040 them out

02:16:49.440 they're a hundred

02:16:51.480 thousand dollars

02:16:52.240 or more

02:16:53.520 so they can

02:16:55.180 do whatever

02:16:55.460 they want

02:16:55.900 as long as

02:16:56.420 you get to

02:16:57.560 sell them

02:16:57.860 to the salt

02:16:58.360 mines

02:16:58.760 right

02:17:00.220 so and you

02:17:02.840 know it's not

02:17:03.260 the only reason

02:17:03.960 because the other

02:17:04.760 thing that's

02:17:05.160 happened is that

02:17:05.760 the rate of

02:17:06.280 technological

02:17:06.760 transformation

02:17:07.360 is so fast

02:17:08.340 now and the

02:17:08.820 rate of turnover

02:17:09.360 of things

02:17:09.960 is that it's

02:17:10.480 it is genuinely

02:17:11.880 harder for people

02:17:12.980 who are say

02:17:13.700 18 to 20

02:17:14.660 when I was a

02:17:15.680 kid roughly

02:17:16.460 speaking the

02:17:17.080 kind of rough

02:17:17.600 patch for

02:17:18.280 for life was

02:17:19.720 probably 14 to

02:17:20.940 17 something

02:17:21.960 like that

02:17:22.460 now it's

02:17:23.400 I think it's

02:17:24.000 18 to 25

02:17:25.000 something like

02:17:26.140 that and I

02:17:26.640 think the reason

02:17:27.280 for that is

02:17:27.800 is that all

02:17:29.140 the jobs that

02:17:29.900 the bloody

02:17:30.300 hippies complained

02:17:31.140 about being

02:17:31.720 doomed to in

02:17:32.700 the 1960s have

02:17:33.740 now disappeared

02:17:34.440 their problem

02:17:35.200 was oh my god

02:17:36.200 I'm going to

02:17:36.620 go have to

02:17:37.160 work for a

02:17:37.640 corporation and

02:17:38.820 get a salary

02:17:39.460 for the rest

02:17:40.020 of my life

02:17:40.600 you know and

02:17:41.280 then I'll just

02:17:41.740 end up in it

02:17:42.600 with a pension

02:17:43.200 and that'll be

02:17:43.980 my whole life

02:17:44.740 it's like well

02:17:45.620 it seems like a

02:17:46.660 lot better deal

02:17:47.300 than an endless

02:17:49.480 round of part-time

02:17:50.600 Starbucks jobs

02:17:51.740 so you know

02:17:54.120 some of it is

02:17:54.740 that

02:17:55.100 it's it's

02:17:56.660 just it's it's

02:17:57.760 there's a space

02:17:58.860 now in our

02:17:59.440 culture that

02:18:00.340 that is lacking

02:18:02.520 for people to

02:18:03.540 make that

02:18:04.000 transformation from

02:18:05.340 from adolescence

02:18:06.560 into adulthood

02:18:07.220 and so it's just

02:18:08.280 it's it's the cost

02:18:10.080 of that is

02:18:10.520 forestalled

02:18:11.280 it's not a good

02:18:12.260 thing

02:18:12.640 it's not a good

02:18:14.840 thing

02:18:15.340 well there's a

02:18:31.360 couple of

02:18:31.680 problems with the

02:18:32.280 degrees is that

02:18:33.000 everyone has one

02:18:33.920 that's the first

02:18:34.740 one

02:18:35.060 which is so

02:18:36.640 because scarcity

02:18:37.340 matters obviously

02:18:38.480 the second thing

02:18:41.160 is is that the

02:18:41.840 match between the

02:18:42.760 degree and the

02:18:43.260 workplace has

02:18:43.960 become less and

02:18:44.920 less self-evident

02:18:45.800 you know what

02:18:46.860 should happen when

02:18:47.720 you go to

02:18:48.040 university is you

02:18:48.820 should learn how

02:18:49.500 to think and

02:18:50.280 formulate arguments

02:18:51.440 you should learn to

02:18:52.360 think speak and

02:18:53.420 write that's what

02:18:54.380 the humanities are

02:18:55.120 for they're to

02:18:56.100 make you dangerous

02:18:57.440 right because if

02:18:58.660 you can think and

02:18:59.760 speak and write

02:19:00.660 you're deadly in a

02:19:02.100 complex job you're

02:19:03.340 exactly what's

02:19:04.000 necessary but if

02:19:05.180 you don't have that

02:19:05.920 it's like what the

02:19:06.360 hell good is the

02:19:06.880 degree so I mean

02:19:08.880 degree in English

02:19:09.680 literature doesn't

02:19:10.440 prepare you for a

02:19:11.440 job it could make

02:19:12.920 you think write

02:19:14.280 and speak which

02:19:15.480 prepares you for

02:19:16.220 any complex job and

02:19:17.480 that's what's

02:19:17.860 supposed to happen

02:19:18.500 but increasingly I

02:19:20.680 think that doesn't

02:19:22.280 happen and the

02:19:24.320 employers are waking

02:19:25.260 up to this very

02:19:26.140 rapidly so and

02:19:27.980 they're I mean

02:19:28.600 they've already

02:19:29.020 known that most

02:19:29.720 for most complex

02:19:30.540 positions they have

02:19:31.280 to train their

02:19:31.860 people now they're

02:19:33.540 thinking well why

02:19:34.180 do I have to bother

02:19:34.900 with the degree if

02:19:35.740 I'm going to train

02:19:36.320 them if it isn't

02:19:36.980 bringing anything of

02:19:37.780 value you see this

02:19:38.800 in even in fields like

02:19:39.840 law when I went to

02:19:40.840 do a debate at

02:19:41.440 Queen's University

02:19:42.240 three weeks ago I

02:19:43.140 think they couldn't

02:19:43.880 get anybody to

02:19:44.500 debate me you know

02:19:46.300 they the guy had to

02:19:47.120 play play devil's

02:19:47.940 advocate we were

02:19:48.700 talking about Bill

02:19:49.340 C-16 I thought

02:19:50.380 Jesus that's so

02:19:51.140 pathetic I'm talking

02:19:52.280 about legal matters

02:19:53.220 and I meant the

02:19:54.060 one greatest in one

02:19:54.900 of the greatest

02:19:55.280 universities in the

02:19:56.480 West you know I

02:19:57.580 mean it's in the

02:19:58.120 top 200 let's say

02:19:59.760 I couldn't get

02:20:01.460 someone to argue

02:20:02.560 with the stupid

02:20:03.300 psychology professor

02:20:04.340 about law had to

02:20:06.040 get a devil's

02:20:06.980 advocate and so one

02:20:08.080 of the things that

02:20:08.580 was really disheartening

02:20:09.580 talking to the

02:20:10.260 students was they

02:20:12.140 told me four or

02:20:12.980 five of them

02:20:13.300 they're not learning

02:20:13.780 a damn thing in

02:20:14.560 law it's all social

02:20:15.420 justice nonsense it's

02:20:17.560 like well good that'll

02:20:19.500 do in the profession

02:20:20.220 it's being done in

02:20:21.020 anyways because lawyers

02:20:22.220 being replaced by

02:20:23.020 automation and so a

02:20:24.800 lot of what they do is

02:20:25.660 dig up information it's

02:20:27.020 like well you can do

02:20:27.900 that on your own and

02:20:28.900 forms are proliferating

02:20:30.640 like mad so the law

02:20:32.260 school should be

02:20:32.880 teaching you to be a

02:20:33.780 monster you better be

02:20:37.180 but you come out you're

02:20:39.760 concerned with social

02:20:40.840 welfare oh god it's

02:20:42.900 like well there's just

02:20:44.040 nothing to that it's

02:20:45.600 like you come out and

02:20:46.980 say you're you want to

02:20:47.860 be nice to people well

02:20:49.100 that's nice good you go

02:20:50.660 right ahead it's like I'll

02:20:51.580 go find someone who can

02:20:52.480 do something and you can

02:20:53.460 go be nice to people and

02:20:54.580 see how effective that

02:20:56.560 is so it's a lot of

02:20:59.420 things that are

02:20:59.980 conspiring in the same

02:21:00.960 direction people don't

02:21:02.560 have to get married to

02:21:03.540 have sex so we have no

02:21:06.760 idea what that's going

02:21:07.660 to do although we know

02:21:08.580 one thing it's done is

02:21:09.880 the only people who get

02:21:10.560 married now are rich

02:21:11.440 right which is another

02:21:13.680 thing that's really

02:21:14.280 comical because the

02:21:15.560 feminist idea in the

02:21:16.720 60s was that marriage

02:21:17.860 was an oppressive

02:21:18.600 patriarchal institution

02:21:20.580 it's like okay fine

02:21:21.700 then why do only rich

02:21:22.960 women get married now

02:21:24.380 because that is the

02:21:26.300 case and so for

02:21:27.700 poorer women the

02:21:29.040 dissolution of marriage

02:21:29.900 has been an absolute

02:21:31.100 catastrophe they are so

02:21:33.020 screwed because they

02:21:34.700 have kids so they're

02:21:36.560 working they've got

02:21:37.680 their 90-hour work

02:21:38.780 week man that's for

02:21:39.740 sure they're much

02:21:40.780 less attractive to

02:21:41.660 potential mates so they

02:21:43.220 get low quality men

02:21:44.460 often parasitical and

02:21:46.000 predatory so they often

02:21:49.060 have like jobs in retail

02:21:50.880 for example which are

02:21:51.880 just dreadful you don't

02:21:52.820 even know what your

02:21:53.300 schedule is going to be

02:21:54.180 you get paid hardly

02:21:55.480 anything you know it's

02:21:57.000 really but if you know

02:21:59.560 most of the women who

02:22:00.460 who are outspoken

02:22:03.420 feminists are on the

02:22:05.740 successful end of the

02:22:07.480 socioeconomic distribution

02:22:08.920 they're university

02:22:09.900 students or people like

02:22:10.960 that they don't even

02:22:11.720 know any poor women so

02:22:14.440 they have no idea what

02:22:15.540 their lives are like and

02:22:16.440 you would never know

02:22:17.340 because they're at home

02:22:18.060 working you know they're

02:22:19.880 either at their horrible

02:22:20.680 job or they're at home

02:22:21.680 slaving away with their

02:22:22.640 kids so it's not like

02:22:23.820 they're out there telling

02:22:24.680 you what's wrong with

02:22:25.460 them so

02:22:26.800 the best way the best

02:22:49.540 way to teach people

02:22:50.320 critical thinking is to

02:22:51.360 teach them to write and i

02:22:53.700 made this little thing that

02:22:54.800 i put online it's i don't

02:22:56.680 know if maybe it is it

02:22:57.840 in the psych 434 website

02:22:59.260 did i post that rubric

02:23:01.140 for essay writing

02:23:01.940 is it not on 434 is

02:23:07.620 that not working oh

02:23:10.860 oh okay well there's an

02:23:16.220 essay oh that's too bad

02:23:17.820 it's not on the psych 434

02:23:19.360 website even because i

02:23:21.520 updated it anyways i have

02:23:23.420 this guide to writing

02:23:24.340 that's that if it isn't

02:23:25.740 on the 434 website it is

02:23:27.400 definitely on the 430

02:23:28.760 website and it steps

02:23:31.700 people through the process

02:23:32.700 of writing because what's

02:23:34.340 happened now it's very

02:23:35.240 hard to teach people to

02:23:36.100 write because it's

02:23:36.620 unbelievably time intensive

02:23:37.920 and like writing marking a

02:23:40.640 good essay that's really

02:23:41.820 easy check a you did

02:23:44.200 everything right right

02:23:45.200 marking a bad essay oh my

02:23:47.160 god the words are wrong

02:23:48.600 the phrases are wrong the

02:23:49.540 sentences are wrong they're

02:23:50.400 not ordered right in the

02:23:51.300 paragraphs the paragraphs

02:23:52.460 aren't coherent and the

02:23:53.460 whole thing makes no sense

02:23:54.700 so trying to tell the

02:23:57.020 person what they did

02:23:57.860 wrong it's like well you

02:23:58.940 did everything wrong

02:23:59.760 everything about this

02:24:00.720 essay is wrong well that's

02:24:03.280 not helpful either you have

02:24:04.380 to find the few little

02:24:06.980 things they did half right

02:24:08.220 and you have to teach them

02:24:09.700 what they did wrong it's

02:24:10.920 really expensive and so

02:24:13.140 what i did with this rubric

02:24:14.300 was try to address that from

02:24:16.760 the production side instead

02:24:18.100 of the grading side but the

02:24:19.560 best thing you can do is

02:24:20.560 teach people to write

02:24:21.420 because there's no

02:24:22.460 difference between that

02:24:23.340 and thinking and one of

02:24:24.720 the things that just blows

02:24:25.660 me away about universities

02:24:26.840 is that no one ever tells

02:24:29.600 students why they should

02:24:30.680 write something it's like

02:24:32.240 well you have to do this

02:24:33.100 assignment well why are you

02:24:34.940 writing well you need the

02:24:36.040 grade it's like no you need

02:24:38.420 to learn to think because

02:24:40.920 thinking makes you act

02:24:42.060 effectively in the world

02:24:43.240 thinking makes you win the

02:24:44.580 battles you undertake and

02:24:45.700 those could be battles for

02:24:46.620 good things if you can think

02:24:48.140 and speak and write you are

02:24:49.840 absolutely deadly nothing

02:24:53.020 can get in your way so

02:24:54.940 that's why you learn to

02:24:55.640 write it's like well i can't

02:24:58.700 believe that people aren't

02:24:59.560 just told that it's it's it's

02:25:01.760 like it's the most powerful

02:25:04.800 weapon you can possibly

02:25:06.160 provide someone with and i

02:25:07.960 mean i know lots of people

02:25:09.160 who've been staggeringly

02:25:10.360 successful and watched them

02:25:11.680 throughout my life i mean

02:25:12.660 those people you don't want

02:25:14.100 to have an argument with

02:25:15.060 them they'll just slash you

02:25:16.540 into pieces and not in a

02:25:18.600 malevolent way it's like if

02:25:20.140 you're going to make your

02:25:21.120 point and they're going to

02:25:21.840 make their point you better

02:25:23.140 have your points organized

02:25:24.800 because otherwise you are

02:25:26.100 going to look like and be an

02:25:28.820 absolute idiot you are not

02:25:30.940 going to get anywhere and if

02:25:33.000 you can formulate your

02:25:33.960 arguments coherently and make

02:25:35.740 a presentation if you can

02:25:36.860 speak to people if you can

02:25:38.380 lay out a proposal god people

02:25:40.660 give you money they give you

02:25:42.040 opportunities you have

02:25:43.600 influence that's what you're

02:25:46.360 at university for and so

02:25:47.660 that's what you do is you

02:25:48.560 that's you're in you're in

02:25:49.760 english right you're in

02:25:51.380 yeah new languages anyways

02:25:52.600 it's like yeah teach people

02:25:54.880 to be articulate because

02:25:57.380 that's the most dangerous

02:25:58.660 thing you can possibly be so

02:26:01.360 and that's motivating if

02:26:02.500 people know that it's like

02:26:03.580 well why are you learning to

02:26:05.100 write because you're here's

02:26:06.440 your sword here's your m16

02:26:08.240 right here's your bulletproof

02:26:09.860 vest like you learn how to

02:26:12.100 use them but it's just it's

02:26:19.940 an endless mystery to me why

02:26:21.920 that isn't made self-evident

02:26:24.680 so that's the sort of thing

02:26:28.480 that can drive you mad trying

02:26:29.800 to sort out it's like people

02:26:32.060 are there's a there's a

02:26:33.200 conspiracy to bring people into

02:26:34.720 the education system to make

02:26:36.240 them weaker so i guess that

02:26:40.640 keeps the competition down

02:26:41.980 maybe that's one way of

02:26:44.500 thinking about it if your

02:26:46.480 students are stupid they're

02:26:47.640 not going to challenge you

02:26:48.960 so other questions

02:26:52.660 disagreements i mean it's a

02:26:58.220 pretty harsh indictment of the

02:26:59.720 university system

02:27:00.860 when you're talking about

02:27:02.820 marriage um you kind of made

02:27:05.400 a point that if you stay

02:27:09.300 um which is of course a really

02:27:12.540 good point you you have more

02:27:14.980 probabilities to get to a

02:27:16.200 solution right yeah but that is

02:27:19.920 also like if it's also assumed

02:27:23.000 that you will always get to a

02:27:24.400 solution

02:27:24.740 yes true

02:27:26.080 yes and some and yes yes

02:27:30.780 no no but a solution that will

02:27:32.200 keep the marriage

02:27:33.240 true well you know there used

02:27:35.380 to be before the divorce laws

02:27:36.860 were really liberalized there

02:27:38.040 were there you could sue for

02:27:39.600 irreconcilable differences and

02:27:42.040 and sometimes people do find

02:27:43.440 themselves in that situation it's

02:27:44.840 like one person wants children and

02:27:46.260 the other person doesn't

02:27:47.200 it's like that's a tough one it's a

02:27:50.640 tough one to negotiate so i'm i'm

02:27:53.900 certainly not saying that just

02:27:56.420 because you lock yourself into a

02:27:58.840 like two cats in a barrel that that

02:28:01.800 will make you solve your problems

02:28:03.740 because problems are hard to solve

02:28:05.180 and sometimes you can't solve them

02:28:06.640 i was just pointing out what the

02:28:08.700 cost of of leaving the back door

02:28:10.880 what the cost of leaving the back

02:28:12.440 door open is and it's a big cost and

02:28:15.300 you know one of the things i see too

02:28:16.900 is that people's identities fragment

02:28:18.520 increasingly across time you know

02:28:21.180 one of the things that you have as

02:28:22.900 as you age is something like the

02:28:26.080 continuity of your life you know you

02:28:29.200 you have someone that you're with

02:28:30.620 you've tied your story together with

02:28:32.220 theirs you have children maybe they

02:28:34.580 have children it's like there's this

02:28:36.180 continual payoff so to speak in

02:28:39.960 quality that you obtain from staying

02:28:43.180 within that frame and you can jump out

02:28:47.540 of that and i suppose to some degree

02:28:49.020 that that provides freedom but it isn't

02:28:50.740 obvious to me that it does that for

02:28:52.240 people

02:28:52.600 no but but but it's also the case that

02:29:04.260 sequential relationships are unlikely to

02:29:06.280 be that

02:29:06.780 so look i i'm not i'm not make i'm

02:29:11.900 definitely not making a utopian case for

02:29:14.160 marriage so i would like to hear the

02:29:18.040 case for divorce from you because it

02:29:20.660 is really interesting right it's a

02:29:22.300 strong point but at the same time i

02:29:24.660 think there are relationships that are

02:29:27.340 really low quality yeah and if we if

02:29:31.460 that's the case then insisting on them

02:29:35.080 cannot be good yeah well that's that's

02:29:39.120 definitely the alternative argument and

02:29:40.940 of course there are strong things to be

02:29:43.320 said on both sides but

02:29:45.400 see there's some there's some additional

02:29:54.160 problems with divorce that people don't

02:29:55.840 really grasp when they're young like the

02:29:59.740 idea that you can be divorced once you

02:30:01.320 have children that's kind of a stupid

02:30:03.120 idea because you can't you can you can

02:30:06.640 you can find a limited substitute for

02:30:11.420 your initial freedom but if you if you

02:30:14.700 have kids and you try to get divorced the

02:30:16.460 probability that that's going to

02:30:17.720 demolish your life is very very high

02:30:19.760 first of all it's incredibly expensive

02:30:22.360 so one or both of you is going to come

02:30:24.820 out of that poor and your market value has

02:30:30.440 declined let's say you're the woman who

02:30:32.620 takes the kids your market value has

02:30:35.160 declined radically you're going to be

02:30:37.140 poorer the man he's just a screwed

02:30:40.520 because he is now an indentured servant

02:30:43.100 and there's no escape from it so it's

02:30:46.700 and it's not so bad if you can negotiate a

02:30:49.360 peaceful separation and some people can

02:30:51.220 but lots of times if you have a terrible

02:30:53.140 relationship it's not like negotiating a

02:30:55.380 peaceful separation is all that easy but

02:30:57.720 if you're at each other's throats good luck

02:31:00.340 to you I think it's roughly equivalent to

02:31:02.840 having non-fatal cancer it is not pleasant

02:31:06.420 it's a 10-year process 15-year process

02:31:09.200 will cost you 250,000 dollars and it'll

02:31:11.860 tear a big chunk out of your life and

02:31:14.120 also it will really disrupt your

02:31:15.860 relationship with your kids and you know

02:31:18.720 you bring kids into a step-parent family

02:31:20.920 they do not do as well step-parents are

02:31:23.540 not as good parents as biological parents

02:31:25.920 and the data on that is clear now

02:31:27.580 obviously there are exceptions because

02:31:29.420 there are terrible biological parents and

02:31:31.660 there are wonderful step-parents but if

02:31:33.800 you look in aggregate it's not that easy

02:31:36.460 to care for children you need everything

02:31:39.580 you can binding you to them and if there's

02:31:43.300 someone else's children mostly they get in

02:31:46.900 the way of the person that you love right

02:31:50.200 well if I'm let's say you have a child I'll

02:31:54.520 be right out let's say you have a child and

02:31:56.720 I want to go out with you every second you

02:31:59.840 spend with that child is the second you

02:32:01.260 don't spend with me and and there's going

02:32:03.980 to be a price for that I'm not going to be

02:32:05.600 happy about that and and if I have a child

02:32:07.800 you're going to feel exactly the same way

02:32:09.500 you might say well no I love children it's

02:32:11.340 like yeah yeah sure sure you do I doubt it

02:32:15.640 you might love your child and and you know

02:32:19.040 it's pretty specific the way that people

02:32:20.640 love children so and the rate of abuse

02:32:24.160 for kids in step-parent families is way

02:32:26.620 higher than it is in biological families

02:32:28.320 there's not even any comparison so anyways

02:32:32.660 if you found this conversation meaningful

02:32:42.040 you might consider picking up dad's books

02:32:44.400 maps of meaning the architecture of belief

02:32:46.460 or 12 rules for life an antidote to chaos

02:32:49.640 if you want one that's simpler to read I

02:32:52.280 would recommend 12 rules for life maps of

02:32:54.780 meaning is dance both of these works delve

02:32:57.620 much deeper into the topics covered in the

02:32:59.440 Jordan B Peterson podcast see jordanbpeterson.com

02:33:02.720 for audio ebook and text links or pick up the

02:33:05.200 books at your favorite bookseller remember

02:33:07.220 to check out jordanbpeterson.com slash

02:33:09.460 personality for information on his

02:33:11.100 personality course I hope you enjoyed this

02:33:13.260 podcast if you did please let a friend know

02:33:15.700 or leave a review talk to you next week

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134. Maps of Meaning 06： Story and Metastory (Part 2)

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