17 Shocking Lessons About Human Psychology - Gurwinder Bhogal

Gurwinder Bhogal is a programmer and a writer.
Gurwinder is one of my favourite Twitter follows. He’s written yet another megathread exploring human nature, cognitive biases, mental models, status games, crowd behaviour and social media. It's fantastic, and today we go through some of my favourites.
Expect to learn whether cynical people are actually smarter, why people tend to find uncertain outcomes so intolerable, why people would rather lie than say what they really think, whether people would rather be hated than unknown, why appearing to do good has become more important than actually doing good and much more...
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00:00 Are Cynical People Actually Smarter?
09:08 Trust in the Information Era
19:04 Why People Hate Uncertainty
32:36 The Truth About Censorship
42:18 People Would Rather Be Hated Than Unknown
50:02 Society’s Trend of Toxic Compassion
58:31 Don’t Base Decisions on Emotion
1:03:30 The Dynamic of Lazy Internet Insults
1:10:05 Being Intentional About Content Consumption
1:20:54 Convincing Ourselves of Our Own Beliefs
1:25:46 Why You Shouldn’t Neglect Reading
1:35:22 The Most Ignorant People
1:40:42 Is the News Just Entertainment?
1:51:04 What’s Next for Gurwinder
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Get in touch in the comments below or head to...
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Email: chriswillx.com/contact/

[@ChrisWillx]

Hello you savages. Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - chriswillx.com/books/ Here’s the timestamps: 00:00 Are Cynical People Actually Smarter? 09:08 Trust in the Information Era 19:04 Why People Hate Uncertainty 32:36 The Truth About Censorship 42:18 People Would Rather Be Hated Than Unknown 50:02 Society’s Trend of Toxic Compassion 58:31 Don’t Base Decisions on Emotion 1:03:30 The Dynamic of Lazy Internet Insults 1:10:05 Being Intentional About Content Consumption 1:20:54 Convincing Ourselves of Our Own Beliefs 1:25:46 Why You Shouldn’t Neglect Reading 1:35:22 The Most Ignorant People 1:40:42 Is the News Just Entertainment? 1:51:04 What’s Next for Gurwinder

[@Bilawal07]

❤

[@mzefic]

Can you please do something about the ADs in your videos recently? At least lower the rate at which they appear, or the length of them idk. This is becoming unwatchable, 50+ sec adds every 3-4 minutes is completely insane.

[@weregiraffe284]

Need the awkward moment timestamp lol

[@weregiraffe284]

i did the work 49:55:00

[@mitchellsilcock]

Dude looks like he’s been caught in a podcast while he was walking down the hallway to get a snack 😊

[@stvbrsn]

lol, you’re right. I hadn’t noticed for like 90 minutes… and now (of course) this is all I can see.

[@DerekMoore82]

Chris Williamson is willing to do whatever it takes to get the guest, even if it means surprising them in the hallway.

[@Optimus6128]

Yeah, that starting frame like he is frozen smiling in the camera, hehehe.. I remember that guy though from some of his articles in substack I found from twitter. Thought it was a random dude with some writings, wasn't expect to see him in this podcast. But will be listening, it might be interesting, as I found some of his articles insightful and made me rethink of something personal.

[@hannah.hathaway]

This conversation blew my mind. Thank you Chris! “Managing the anxiety of uncertainty takes a bigger toll than resigning to a worst outcome” ( to paraphrase) This concept provides a huge moment of clarity. Imagination is a powerful force.

[@patricksullivan1827]

Interesting your comment connect existential anxiety with this uncertainty. A philosopher; Emmanuel Kant speaks of sublimation as this infinitely small and large awareness we get when as we peel the layers back.... The uncertainty brings us this sublimation feeling and blows up to existential anxiety.... Some empathy: imagine having dependents. We must make decisions and often we know we need more info... So many decisions require a process we don't have time for especially when we have mouths to feed or even just to go to work to feed ourselves. I think this adds to the case for transparency... Furthermore functional - show don't tell presentations. However complex it's less complex then the existential anxiety we get with all the uncertainty, cognitive dissonance, etc. I'm bias toward open source and not black boxing. So it was my bias that led me to my comment... A case for being on with biases as long as we are open about them :) Back to uncertainty, we might be more accepting of this however we also might shed the need to be right even from experts. Cheers 🥂

[@JonathanLoganPDX]

Trust is a form of information about the information. It's the second order form of information.

[@WyndoMitraBuwana]

I love this Gurwinder series. Been a fan of his writing. Can't wait for another episode with him!

[@datboi_gee]

I'd just like to push back a bit on the idea presented around the 1 hour mark about acting on emotional impulses. One, "being emotional' was presented in a way that implies merely "being upset" and not considering the inverse of being joyous or loving, which are also incredible motivators for action that the same logic isn't applicable towards. Not a major thing, just a slight issue I personally take with the concept. But the other more important issue is the premise of "who I am when I'm emotional isn't really me." That may be incorrect. The reasoning given behind that train of thought is the whole "If I look back and regret my action taken, then that action is not of *me*," but that implies you are your ideal self. Ourselves and our ideals aren't inherently linked. Hence the work we must resolve to put towards striving towards and upholding our ideals. They often won't bring themselves into existence without continuous efforts. We're both the good and the bad parts of ourselves and I don't think it's wise to attempt to hide from that. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that. You can, and arguably should, be able to recognize when you're letting yourself down and recognize that at least some part of you has given into the temptation of willful ignorance, or disregard, or hedonism, or whatever it may be. Just because you can recognize that isn't your ideal self doesn't mean that it isn't you, on some level, clearly wanting to engage in those activities. That desire still remains. That desire is still true. And accepting it at face value is a helpful step in carving your ideal self out for yourself. The difference is in the introspection and determination to shed light on what's causing this part of you to emerge that seems to be at odds with your ideal. Simply rejecting it as fake and "not the real you" is also rejecting the opportunity to embrace that part of the self, to inspect it, and to ask it why it's so determined to be such a let-down. Knowing that, we're better equipped to strip the impulse from ourselves entirely, not simply suppress it. All in all though, so far at least, this has been lovely. Dunno Gurwinder but hearing his perspective has been quite enjoyable.

[@tzc9309]

I think this is a decent point, you felt a certain way for a reason, so it is more a question of self awareness and emotional discipline, whilst accepting you felt a certain way, why that may be, then bringing it to a rational place (and hopefully principled one lol) rather than pushing some form of denial. I agree I think that is a healthier response. But I also think the notion of emotions being impulsive is a fundamental error in thought. It may be correct to assume that emotions can arise from outside factors, and the fact they can arise is outside of your control. However, to assume you simply lose all self control and rationality, then act on impulse, is not true. The truth of that statement depends on your level/skill in being emotionally disciplined when discerning/choosing your own actions. I will not sit back and deny some pepole are impulsive lol, but they probably operate under the belief such things cannot be controlled, or you should not control them as it is fake, not honest blah blah blah lol, that is it their right to act on negative emotions towards others, or have never really tried to control themself in that capacity much etc etc. Discipline and the exercising of self control/well thought out rational actions needs to be taken on board as an important distinction/counterpoint to the notion emotions are impulsive. Furthermore in addition to your first point too, I think the idea emotions lack any rationality like a lot of people suggest, and all quick forms of actions or impulses are bad per se, is also flawed. If you see a bear running at you, you feel fear/adrenaline, then take action to prevent being killed by the bear, the emotion often drives a response. The emotion you felt, was probably rational for the scenario, and probably good as an impulse. The same way someone may feel uneasy around a manipulative person, but you cant quite figure out what is wrong, there is rational wisdom in that uneasiness. Whether you demonstrate/show these emotions in the open is another matter. But i think such heuristical ideas surrounding emotions which are evidently highly complex is a big problem nor is productive to understanding them well. Quick bite sized things like "emotions are impulsive" are dangerous premises to work from in logical terms I think, if you believe such a thing you may become inclined to being more impulsive lol. Pyschological framing dictating action. But maybe a good starting point when dealing with strangers in terms of survival lol, on the offchance you are dealing with someone impulsive in a dangerous way😂but that is quite specific and nuanced.

[@patricksullivan1827]

Love these comments. Emotions are fast and reactive. They lead the civil man! So they bypass the "civil" rules. I think they express a truth from a culmination of feelings and thinking intuitions. So emotions are triggered by preconceived rationals and express boundaries and perhaps might bring to the fore a certian understanding of reality. Imo feelings flow through reality inside and outside human beings. Point is that feelings often have a connected pattern. So unpacking them in good faith would be dialectical, constructive. Our communication would be much more accommodating and less assimilating if we could allow for the logic of emotions. There is structure and patterns and we could place them in the world in relation to whatever it is we are talking about... Actually likely to bring more truth to the fore albeit maybe more complex

[@tzc9309]

@@patricksullivan1827 Yeah i really like the point inside/outside human beings. You can control them from your inner sphere and but be influenced from the outside in some capacity, if you let that be so lol. Plus there seems be underlying emotional preconceptions prevalent within society surrounding certain things, then you have media/marketing/news etc playing/influencing emotions in regards to certain things, and not only does it shape how people may feel inside, but also their outwards perspective and actions towards many things, having an impact on what occurs in society on the whole. Or creating shared psychological experiences/perspectives. But once again I would advocate, do not simply be lead by emotions, because sometimes they can be unfounded and then you become prone to being emotionally manipulated/losing foresight lol. Recognise them, listen to what they are telling you, but most importantly, pause think and assess before taking action. Even if that pause is short (granted you are not being attacked 😂). There is also a short delay between an event then a reaction, use this delay to pause and think/ maybe control your emotions.

[@danx1216]

exactly this just shows the type bias of the guest and host (see Jung Psychological types_

[@davidbooher5559]

Another great post Chris! Brilliant as usual. 💪👍💯

[@HelloitsPrincess]

Thanks for feeding the curiosity and sharing the newsletters!

[@brosbiblesbeer]

Your show is great, but some of my favorites are when the two of you are together. Cheers.🍻

[@connorholmes896]

😊😊😊😊

[@90sNihilist]

At times, his account of the study sounds more like its findings pointed to intellectual laziness or restraint for emotional reasons rather than a genuine deficit of intellect. There's a significant difference between the two, and conflating them isn't intelligent, nor is it particularly intellectually honest to refrain from acknowledging this distinction (whether in the study itself or an individual citing it). Ironically, to me at least, this arguably leans towards validation of cynicism rather than refutation of it.

[@sincity7890]

is he after conclusion that cynic people are dumber declare him self as cynic ?

[@greymanBB]

Are you being cynical about his message? Why….. ?? 😂😂😂😂 😊

[@ronnie1638]

Great interview with Gurwinder

[@bradtriesstuff]

Another absolutely awesome episode with Gurwinder. Both of you guys are some of my favourite thinkers and I hope to speak to both of you at some point in the future!

[@worldofwisdomx]

Absolutely love it! Looking forward to see a cinematic episode with Gurwinder someday ;)

[@tinyknott]

We're not having a trust crisis. We're having a trustworthyness crisis. Insitutions have shown themselves to be completely unreliable at best, corrupt at worst. And when it comes to intelligence and trust, I think there's a strong correlation between intelligence in an environment and trust in that environment. Meaning that a highly intelligent environment also is high trust, so there needs to be caution to "trust = intelligence". I have seen "intelligent" people get conned by obvious con artists because they were trusting. Comically, many of them were "supposedly cynical" but in reality would just trust everything told to them from up high. To just give a super simple example: Tons of people trusted the experts who said housing was a safe bet in 2006-2008.

[@dosesandmimoses]

Great episode!

[@tautvydassoblinskas683]

Fantastic interview.

[@thewaytosuccess71]

Informative and useful podcast man. Keep going

[@HarryJoiner]

13:35 - why it’s so important to hire outstanding people - 15:42

[@extremeresponsibility4325]

Great discussion about how our minds work behaviorly

[@MiyamotoMusashi9]

Cynical in live conversation is different than in decision making or problem solving Thinking on your feet vs comprehensive Thinking

[@jorgecoelho4051]

Refreshing.

[@cadaankaa]

I learned fairly recently due to my idealism. Even though many individuals (perhaps most) have reasonably decent integrity, institutions directed by more than 2 or 3 people are virtually certain to pursue the incentive structure no matter how stupid, corrupt, or harmful. I don't know how some of these people sleep at night.

[@vasyle2236]

We must treat any organization as kind of AI. And always check- is it humanity-aligned AI or is it alien/inanimate aligned AI 🧐

[@patricksullivan1827]

​@@vasyle2236nice analogy! And so true. AI is basically alphabet and symbol technology. Albeit with a lot of the work done for us! Anyway, I'd add accommodating vs assimilating. Is the organization doing on or the other. Or even is the other person accommodating (listening, allowing for my circuitry) me or assimilating - with a communicative aim without being clear about that aim!

[@vasyle2236]

@@patricksullivan1827 Well, there are many things which I would prefer to assimilate it, rather than accommodate to. For example being child: I'd rather assimilate child at 18 so that at 20-30 there will be an adult, than accommodate to the child so much so that there will be 40+ old children (no income, no children, no relationships, no accomplishments, no self sustainability, full dependency on adults around). Another example is criminals: healthy society sets to change their behavior, to correct their thoughts and beliefs, not to lock them up (or punish in other ways) and leave them be *as they are*. So not all assimilation is bad, not all accommodation is good. But all antihuman-aligned AI/organization is really bad for humanity 😅

[@Zen56103]

I definitely disagree with his characterization of cynicism. He says it's just intellectual laziness. I'm my opinion, the most cynical people are people who have had bad luck in life, sometimes a lot of bad luck. They are believing that their past is an indication of the future. It's not a terrible assumption. For example, people who have suffered abuse as children, got blindsided with divorce, had a bankruptcy, etc. Those things create cynicism. If two people walked into a casino and played a slot machine, one plays for a while and wins. He comes to believe that "if you just keep trying, you'll eventually win. Don't give up." The second guy just continually loses. He comes to believe that the games are rigged and you shouldn't even try. Both are making assumptions about the future based on their experience. Neither are actually correct. One guy just got lucky and another guy got unlucky. And they learned lessons about how the world works. I also think people who grow up poor and are less intelligent are more likely to get bad outcomes in life. That would explain why cynicism is correlated with low intelligence. That's my explanation for what he's seeing, and it's totally different than his interpretation.

[@alelectric2767]

Returning guest. Love this dude 👍

[@MylezNevison]

The irony in all this is that Gurwinder comes across as cynical about the cynical/cynicism.😂 *When you gaze long into the abyss(of cynicism), the abyss also gazes into you...*

[@nackedgrils9302]

I've thought for like 2-3 years that Chris had a friend named Gwinda for whom I couldn't find any episode, I had even listened to another episode with this gentleman in the past and only now did I understand that he's the ''Gwinda'' I've heard so much about.

[@voodaii]

I didn't know that being cynical meant that you can't take risks or try anything... Just because you expect everything to go to shit, doesn't mean you don't ever do anything... I've also never found someone's level of cynicism to be a good metric for determining their intelligence... I suspect that whether or not someone thinks a persons level of cynicism is a reliable metric for determining intelligence, is probably a better metric for determining intelligence...

[@orradating]

So many good things in here. Our favorite is, “Don’t prioritize short term emotional comfort over long term flourishing”

[@essiotll]

Sure. I can see how cynicism can be a safety blanket. I can also see how being too ready to make appeals to authority can be a safety blanket - all the right people are in charge in all the right places, taking care of everything perfectly well and nothing is wrong 😴 The middle path.

[@KanwarAnand]

First ten mins so good, I’m repeating them.

[@Sport_Sante]

Thx you for this podcast 🙏

[@CaseyAtchison]

Hearing this generation's men speak about these topics, intelligently, is a refreshing and outright rekindling of my faith in humanity's future.

[@Andrei.igna23]

I like this style of video

[@jstuckless]

Chris I think you'd have a great podcast if you interviewed Neal Brennan, please make it happen! You could do each other's podcasts, I'd also love to see you on his (Blocks).

[@Liberty-rn4wy]

He is right about emotions, but Pfor. Demasio showed 20 years ago that we can't make decisions without emotions. Patients who had their emotional brain centers severed (by accidents) from their frontal cortex were able to understand various options but could often not choose, thinking that all options were equally good. Emotions gives weight to one over another.

[@danx1216]

McGhilchrist shows the same! someone is made not because they cant reason its because they ONLY have reason. (right brain is the master wher ewe have intuition imagination and emotion as well!

[@laa2871]

Thanks, Chris, you're one of the very few sane podcasters with , interesting guests and i appreciate your work/time/efforts.

[@jschlaud6]

Risk averse, and cynical are not synonymous. This guy uses them interchangeably. I would not describe myself as risk averse, but I am cynical when it comes to people or institutions who preach ideologies and dogma. Especially if it's in their interest for people to follow.

[@savant969]

This is the basis of Stoicism isn't it? To not act in the heat of the moment but to wait for the emotion to pass then to act? (don't base decisions on emotions)

[@denverkachaka4129]

Yessir he's back 🎉

[@AmericahasbecomeSouthPark]

I’m paraphrasing the actual quote, but “Trust is gained in droplets and lost in bucketfuls.”

[@xiaomoogle]

Hey Chris, I worked for charities for over a decade. Including the biggest one in the UK. They do not AB test or tackle it in a rational way at all. You’d think they would right? But actually it’s highly political, with people pushing their own agenda and seeking glory, as opposed to split testing, getting behavioural economics experts in and user testing. There will be people in the charity who do this (I was one) but those people will get sat on and shut down. The reason for this is when you’re presenting to a team and telling them why their campaign didn’t succeed and what they can do to make it succeed, you’re hurting egos. In the end I got out the charity sector and into the private sector where I could do my job properly and optimise content to help companies succeed.

[@MartinsTalbergs]

1:01:20 sir if you read this, can you share a tip on how to pass the emotion faster? Ok, just waiting will work, but we may improve this. When emotion comes, you may say to choose to be you,

[@MartinsTalbergs]

Replying to organize. The next minute the insight on emotion being a faster and more robust processing of data, in cases where regular intellect cannot handle too much unknowns at once,.. whilst a person is always alive and bound to being alive, thus forced to interacting with data streams

[@AlexeiKapterev]

Which study on systemic racism is he referring to at 12:20? Can't find anything.

[@bobbiecoldiron9883]

Toxic compassion... reminds me of schools

[@DeadManVlog]

Great. Really great content. Crucial.

[@stanleyrizzo]

great episode gents

[@trevormassoth2802]

"There's a hole in your roof. Why don't you fix it?" "Well, right now it's raining too hard, and when the Sun is shining, why it don't leak!"

[@Namelbmert]

One of my selves must have enjoyed this.

[@AtHost98]

That first one is very true for me. I was super cynical. Pretty much it was pessimism disguising itself as "being realistic". I had a very "Can't fail or look dumb if i don't try or participate". I still struggle with it now that I'm actually trying towards something. You're never cool for not trying and you're not a failure when you fail. A lot of the cynicism also came from my dad who is very much the, "don't trust anyone, and everything has gone to shit" kind of guy. And yes I was an edgy atheist at the time.

[@mongolmcphee7791]

Material like this is really interesting. I’d rather listen to an expert than a celebrity. If It’s going to be a celebrity I’d rather it was a comedian than anyone else.

[@sihlehadebe4127]

Can someone please gift Chris a pair of AirPods? 😅 Great conversation!

[@Stierenkloot]

Wired headphones can’t have any technical issues so it’s a safer bet

[@richardjaffe9972]

Risk aversion;Not willing to take chances and then able to say I never failed is some kinda of ego trip is less likely and probably more of a negative pessimistic cynical view thinking they don’t care to try cause they know they won’t be successful and it’s too hard too much ch work or are really afraid or feel inadequate and it’s not worth it anyway. 😅

[@jeffswingdancer8302]

The beginner's bubble is a name for the cognitive bias described as the Dunning-Kruger effect.

[@Rayofgy]

Absolutely love the Gurwinder interviews!

[@jenlouSG1]

The money was a result of your caring for grandma, not the other way round. People who watch you will know that and the others do not matter. Stay strong!

[@spiritmindlife]

German listeners going... I hear "verboten"?! 😂 love it!

[@mrbust999]

Which is why i do not like to dismiss conspiracy theories based on wether or not it feels outrageous.

[@patricksullivan1827]

@36min, Haha, reminds of my sister one time we were camping. She yells out : " no one look, im changing!" Haha of course everyone then looks🎉

[@WillbWriting]

Thank you Chris. Your content has helped improve the quality of my life.

[@JonathanLoganPDX]

He says obviously when things aren't exactly obvious

[@markdownton3185]

Its being a critical thinker that can lead to cynicism. Some simple people are unthinking, shallow and happy. Lucky for them I suppose.

[@peteweishaupt]

Great discussion. I love this behavioral science stuff. “ Hobo chic” lmao. Luxury beliefs indeed

[@brose1401]

SOooo, the research he is citing is on point and accurate but in the same breath, he talks about a number of research studies that are proven to be bogus…so-call me skeptical-but let’s always use discretion when reviewing all information and I do mean everything at this point! Researchers are bought and sold in A LOT of cases where health whether mind or body is involved…

[@MatthewQuigley]

As it is possible to determine IQ on a objective basis, how do you quantify cynicism?

[@tzc9309]

I question how objective IQ is though. It accounts for problem solving in relation to puzzles/patterns etc. It does not account for everything related to intelligence, yet is called an intelligence quotient and many take this to be the pinnacle of determining intelligence. I would argue you simply cannot quanitfy things with some many differing underlying factors and variables due to a huge amount of data necessary. Some things related to the human experience also, especially within the emotional realm, which may be related to cynicism, would be near impossible to do so too. Some forms of quantification makes something one dimesional when it needs to considered in multiple dimensions. These kind of things I tend to have general issues with, like the myers briggs perosnailty type things etc. There are too many things not taken into consideration, impossible to replicate accurately or convey with data sets, and has highly complex nuance to ever accurately quanitfy such things in my opinion. Maybe AI can do a better job in the future, as it stands I would argue you cannot qunatify such things.

[@knowahnosenothing4862]

@@tzc9309It's probably still the best thing we have. Vision, perception, memory, recall, computation, discernment and motor function sometimes if one of these things is missing in the chain no matter how genius an individual could be they can easily look dumb. It amazes me when intelligent people make silly mistakes or emotional mistakes. What I'm trying to say is it's arresting when highly intellectual people have gaping cognitive blind spots maybe even if it's just ego or can't read a room. (nothing implied) Cynicism and problem prediction axis are probably closely linked. A vision skill or how many invisible problems deep in a chain can a person see. Thinking about how a plumber could have a cynical approach to a job predicting all worst case scenarios of a job where he has to predict what's under the ground or behind a wall or under a foundation in order to order the correct materials to complete a job without knowing for sure until he has broken ground, opened a wall or cut through concrete, to also reduce travel time and prevent multiple trips to a job or prevent making multiple holes to locate the problem in the first place. Preemptive cynicism is probably pragmatic and so maybe a conscientious marker? Preppers! haha.

[@wiggerlywoo]

I seem to remember Chris suggesting Covid skeptics were low IQ conspiracy theorists in an earlier Gurwinder chat. Ironic that he falls for the same fallacies that he discusses here.

[@ericdraven3654]

Gurwinder is writing a book???? He is going to start a KZbin Channel??? Whaaattt? Take all my money❤

[@jeroencommandeur]

@38:20 If you like "verboten", try "verboden", which is the same thing in Dutch. 😆

[@zachvinka6764]

How would you personify, in a spiritual or religious context, the experience of psilocin and muscimol?

[@Stierenkloot]

Psychedelics enhance delusions. That’s that.

[@zachvinka6764]

@@Stierenkloot believing one knows anything is yet the greatest of them.

[@suneasmussen2650]

Beginner's bubble sounds suspiciously identical to Dunning Kruger. Now, I love myself a good neologism as much as the next dude, but perhaps we can, In our eagerness to produce them, fall victim to the intellectuals treadmill a little bit ;)

[@Liberty-rn4wy]

Counter-signaling or vice-signaling is also called costly signaling. The guy who does risky things to show, hey I can take risks, I have such powerful genes that I have it to burn. Young men typically do this to attract women and it is hard-wired.

[@bryankilvinski]

Another great episode. Hope he gets released from that halfway house soon ;)

[@ducksauce2696]

I love the episodes with Gurwinder, he is a treasure. Thanks allot Chris.

[@RebornHammer]

With algorithms you can stop information from going viral. Algorithms can also be used to aid something to go viral. I don't agree that anything can go viral. Although if Tucker Carlson talks about anything it tends to go viral. And I've noticed that there are things he is not talking about. Very important things regarding COVID

[@David.Isaac.147]

Cynicism is NOT the same thing as being risk-averse. If anything, cynicism is an advantage in risk-taking because you can better anticipate other people's moves whether good or bad. I get the vibe that this guy doesn't think beyond what he reads in "the literature"

[@fab.silva1119]

Spot on David!

[@brianhood6355]

How do I get foreheads muscles like Chris? Impressive.

[@jaybeck6482]

I am smart for I know that I know nothing. I think we are looking into this all too much. Cynicism is more nurtured rather than nature. That way either ends of the scale can be cynical.

[@00TheD]

Cynics bad got it!

[@tiagoquirino2214]

Heuristic

[@SearchingSerenity]

Most things are not too complicated, friend. Most of the things can be explained using simplest of tools, but then, everyone is free to make themselves sound smart.

[@larscooleman8221]

Im starting with this one, maybe its better to go true all the episodes before.

[@LenaL146]

Wow, how cool is this!! And explains so much!!!

[@JamesJNothingIsTooSensitive]

It really doesn't. This is a prime example of "bad science". He is conflating so many different things together as to be ludicrous.

[@TheRexTera]

Hot take: I think most of us are consuming so much information because it’s a Personality Prosthetic

[@Lord_Nikon33]

I'm a little confused. Is it cynical to stop trusting someone or something after being lied to? Also being accountable for mistakes or getting something wrong is not the same as lying. One is done with intent, and the other is from ignorance or lack of understanding. Am I wrong or misunderstanding something?

[@myself2noone]

Severely misunderstanding. Cynicism is about distrusting people in general. Not a person in particular.

[@muzammilomarzoy6616]

Day 1 32:36

[@JJOK1818-okthen]

Why he not on thumbnail picture?

[@RaffiDiranBassclef]

Maybe i'm reading too much into this but your not knowing the German word 'Verboten' is a telling sign of how far we've come from the last world war. I'm way further from Europe that you during my upbringing but all the movies, shows etc I watched growing up (and i'm in my mid 40s) about WW2 etc there was learning of words like verboten, achtung, stalag etc. What's that old saying? Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it. These days, it's more akin to 'Those who never learned their history...' Reading Toby Ord's book The Precipice now & this moment was like an alarm bell 😆

[@Walkerxy]

What if you actively deconstruct your cynicism to try and logically see if it is correct or false.? Was any of that looked at? What love to know.

[@rockthevote398]

Oh gawd, they start out by calling me dumb....lol

[@wisdomandy9361]

This is interesting. I find myself with ideals and opinions from slightly left all the way to far right. But the odd thing I don't think many realize is most people who think they're conservative are actually center right. For example if you think casual sex is okay, you're certainly not traditional and probably have a bit of feminism indoctrination. Just something to think about.

[@firecontrol22]

Seagulls law, a broken watch is right twice a day, in conjunction 😅 its a joke, not being cynical . Just cheeky. 😉

[@elakarczewska9042]

I suggest digging deeper into the the germ ''theory''....you might be surprised...

[@LauradeVasconcelos]

10:18 not accurate, we probably had more information at the Alexandria library!

[@hugh_manatee]

Idk…seems like less effort to blindly agree with and accept things instead of researching and figuring them out for yourself. Cynicism is a necessary aspect of discovering truth

[@dranreb1118]

As an honest criticism, I don't think the clickbait-y titles are doing you any favors. The people who are likely to listen to long podcasts aren't teenagers. Just put in a brief preview of what the topics are being discussed and who's discussing them. There's a reason Buzzfeed went out of business. Clickbait would probably be good for clips.

[@alanatorre7764]

I don't find them clickbaity

[@Stringwar]

Im happy being cynical and also be categorised as thick.

[@v9b23j]

People tend to think and behave in an us vs them way as opposed to examining the facts and coming to a conclusion. As Gurwinder said, it takes too much cognitive energy to do the latter. This is why performance reviews and feedback are often biased and not objective based on facts.

[@mrmrodonnell]

Interviee just had conversationalist snd not to do with psychology. Psychology is an actual field

[@confusedalien4002]

If you use cyicism to shut down an idea or conversation without explaing your cybmnicism then i would believe that its low intelligence but if you use cynicism to dig deeper and find the truth behind something and ask questions then i would think it would take better intelligence.

[@writingpictures8141]

Projecting cynicism on other people makes people be under the spell of a cynic makes me fear of failing when my opinion is always to be performing no matter what then i often think of my cynical family discouraging my every move and it trapped me inside with unconsious introjections of family members i never want to let them down and ive assess my behaviour then been judged to often by crippled cynical oversecured people. Because we wanna be alive more to reach maximum potential

[@nealasher]

Hmm, interesting stuff but the problem with all these aphorisms and 'rules of thumb' is that they can supplant actual thinking and judgement.

[@MenAreSpeaking]

This explains the "voting doesn't matter anyway" people very well