WEBVTT - The Seven Deadlies: Grasping Greed 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.880 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.479 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas, and 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.840 we are back. We are continuing our journey through the 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.279 Seven Deadly Sins. Last time we have space on this 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:28.480 we were slogging it through gluttony, and now we are 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:31.400 discussing a little something called greed, which works perfectly because 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:36.839 if you're traveling through Dante's Inferno, always have to do 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:41.640 I'm sorry, uh, and it makes conversations about Dante's Inferno awkward. 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.839 But um, but yeah. The third circle of Dante's Inferno 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:50.000 is where the glutton's hang out, and the fourth circle 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:52.760 is where the greedy hang out. To be more specific, 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:56.560 this is the circle of avarice and prodigality. It's it's 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.400 interesting Dante is really down on greed. It's not like 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.520 one of these sin like lust, which he has a 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:05.800 lot of sympathy for, well, because he's human. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:07.840 he has like, he has a lot of sympathy for 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:11.200 some of the individuals. That's what I'm getting to. He 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.360 hasn't he has needs, But when he encounters the greedy 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:17.320 he's it's it's a lot harsher. He divides it up. 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:21.280 You have the prodigal and the more typically miserly greedy. 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.560 So the prodigal, they're reckless fenders. It's coming in and 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.440 it's it's going out twice as fast. I think that's 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.440 something we can all, if not relate to personally, we can, 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.560 we can we definitely witness in the world around us. 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:38.120 And then you have the the truly greedy, the hoarders 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.160 and the misers, the ones that take the money, hold 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.560 the money, that are just in it for the money itself. Okay. 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.680 And so when Dante and his guide Virgil show up 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.360 and infer, first of all, they greeted by Plutus, which 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.080 is the god of riches, with a little a little Pluto, 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:55.480 god of the underworld thrown in because you know, you know, 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.160 the underworld, underground, that's where gold and silver come from. 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.880 And he's beast, he always full of ray. Ginny's babbling 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.040 and he's saying poppy Satan, poppy Satan Nalipi, which is 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.520 kind of just nobody. There's a lot of discussion about 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.600 what in the heck that means. Yeah, I'm gonna say, 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:13.280 like poppy statan sounds a little poppy statan. Yeah, I 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.280 mean there's a sense like maybe it's something papal, because 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.000 certainly there's a lot of discussion of sinful popes in 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.440 the Inferno and then Satan of course. But but this 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:23.480 is actually one of the few instances where Satan is 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.480 actually mentioned, because when you actually encounter the big demon 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.480 himself the bottom of Inferno, he's referred to as Lucifer. 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.000 So anyway, back to these centers, so you have the 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.920 spin Thrifts and the Misers, and they're all first of all, 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.760 they're all so shabby, but you can't even recognize them, 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.000 Like Dante is all like, I'm probably gonna look around here, 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.320 I'm gonna know some people that I met know from life, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:48.720 and that your Italian accent very mildly. You're Italian is 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:51.160 much better, and the Virgil's like, now you're not gonna 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.679 You're not gonna recognize anybody, because everyone's so twisted here 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.080 from their lives, from their their earthly lives full of 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:00.919 greed and and overspending, that you're just not gonna be 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.400 able to wreck it. Is that part of the punishment. Um, 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:05.520 it's not as much a part of the punishment. It's 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.040 just kind of like the reality of the like the 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:15.480 like spiritually there deformed from this. The punishment itself is 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.080 that they have there. It's kind of a joust between 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:22.520 the spinthrifts and the greedy, except instead of having like 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:24.680 you know, swords or spears or any kind of typical 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.400 jousting equipment, they are rolling large objects against each other 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:30.800 using only like their chests. And if you look at 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:35.200 the illustrations provided by Good Stuff Dora, the large objects 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:37.600 that they're jousting with their giant money bags. So if 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.880 you imagine these like these hideous looking like naked people 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:44.240 and they're all sort of like pushing big money bags, 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.280 rolling them around with their chest into each other and 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:48.840 arguing with each other and calling each other's other names, 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:52.880 and so there there there are no demons um staffed 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:56.400 here to punish these guys. They provide their own punishment 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.080 to each other. Okay, so it's like a scene from 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:03.440 eyes Watch. Shut well, I'll no, no, well, you know what, Okay, 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.720 maybe more accessible is the illustration that you sent me, 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:12.000 and it showed a lucky cat to a mountain, and 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:16.240 the mountain was there was a little trail going to 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.760 the very top with a lucky cat is perched and 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.880 there's mice with big hunks of cheese weighing them down 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:27.240 as they bring it to the lucky cat. Yes, I will, 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:29.000 I will link to this in the blog post that 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.240 goes with this podcast and gets you're interested in saying that. 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.760 But there there are many artistic interpretations. Now, if one 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.040 goes into Dante's purgatory and this again is the mountain 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:44.400 that connects Earth to the heaven, and well, you're you're 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.760 you're complicating with lucky cat at this point. There's no 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:49.680 lucky cat in this thing. Okay. It's just a mountain 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.599 the connects Earth and hell beneath it to the heavens above. 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.359 And if you travel up the mountain, each terrace purges 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.600 you of a sin so that you'll be clean enough 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.600 to enter heaven. So the fifth race is where you 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.280 would purge yourself of all this greed, and you do 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.119 it by lying lying face down on a hard rock floor, 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.960 weeping and praying until the greed has washed away from you. 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.240 That's your punishment. Yeah, it's kind of. It's not a punishment. Remember, 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.920 it's a it's a cleansing, Okay, kind of weak sauce. 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:20.839 It is it is kind of weaks us. I don't know, 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.200 maybe maybe Dante just wasn't bringing his a game when 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.440 thinking about greed. He's really down on it. But it's 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.599 it's it's not like they're like, you know, boiling rivers 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.800 of blood and feces. They're just dudes in help pushing 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:36.080 bags of money against each other. And and hear a 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.160 lot of people praying the eyes being soon shut as 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:43.279 in v right, and there's some gas fler ones ahead. 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:46.400 But um, let's look to Buddhism real quick again before 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.760 we get into the real science of all this. In Buddhism, greed, 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.320 along with delusion, slash, ignorance, and hate, is one of 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.159 the three poisons at the heart of all suffering. So 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.080 if you look at the center of the Debettan wheel 0:05:58.080 --> 0:05:59.960 of life, the wheel of sam sorrow, which we haven't 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:04.080 excellent interactive illustration of in the how Stuff Works article 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:06.160 how sky burial works. If if you look at the 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.440 center of this wheel, you'll find three animals, a pig, 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.159 a cock, and a snake, and they are all biting 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:14.640 each other's tails, forming a ring. And each of these 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.080 three animals represents one of the three poisons. The snake 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.360 is hate, the pig is delusion or ignorance. You see 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.640 it referred to as is either, and then the cock 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:27.239 represents greed. It's interesting how Buddhism greed is very central 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.720 to everything that is wrong with life here on earth. 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:32.520 And just as a side note, some people are really 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.080 into like crazy burgers. I think it would be it 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.960 would be fascinating if someone were too concoct a burger 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.279 that contains three meats snake mate, pig meat, and rooster meat. 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:45.640 And then you could have it be the the three 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.080 poison burger or the the burger that is the root 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.359 of all suffering. Well, isn't there already that you're ducan. 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.719 It's kind of like that, you're duncan, except um, it's 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:57.920 responsible for all of man's woes. Okay, so it's and 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:00.640 it's probably a pretty heavy launch two and just throwing 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.600 that out there if anyone wants to create such a 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:06.080 blasphemy or if if you know, next Thanksgiving when that 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:08.159 rolls around, you can't take your tur duck in, which 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.920 is a turkey, chicken and duck I'll roll together, right, 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.160 and you can offer it up as a way to 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:17.280 consume the sins of the past year, because I think 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:20.440 that would go over really well at Thanksgiving table. You know, 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:22.760 people don't think about that. So that's kind of the 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.800 there's the religious introduction, and both of these examples are 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.680 very down on the idea of greed. But it is 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.080 this poisonous thing. It is this this awful thing that 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:36.120 that distorts the soul and renders this unrecognizable in the afterlife, 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:38.480 that is responsible for all of this pain around us. 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.560 But then there's another way of looking at it, right, well, 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.880 you write a more materialistic view. Are you talking about 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.280 Gordon Gecko? Yes, read from us from the book of 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.160 of Get all right, Gordon Gecko, the character in Wall Street. 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:57.080 We're talking to high eighties here, and I don't know 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.440 if I can do a Michael Douglas voice. The point is, 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:03.880 ladies and gentlemen, greed is good, Greed works, Greed is right. 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.720 Greed clarifies, cut through and captures the essence of the 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:12.640 evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms, greed for life, money, love, 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:16.360 knowledge has marked the upward surge in mankind and greed. 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:21.160 Mark my words. We'll see not only telled our paper, 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:29.120 but the other malfunctioning corporation called the U s A. Wow. Yeah, okay, 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.600 greed also fights stains, that's right, that's right. I've got 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:34.480 a greed stick at home. Um. But yeah, I mean, 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.679 this is an idea that isn't too far away from 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:42.079 reality and certain eras of our existence. Certainly in the 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.720 nineteen eighties, you know, accumulation of wealth is something that 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.240 a lot of people are concentrating on, and there is 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:52.000 this idea that greed is this sort of evolutionary birthright 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:56.520 that we can't evolve without continuing to amass more and 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.320 more and sort of step over each other in order 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:00.400 to get to it. Yeah, I mean you can go 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:02.760 with the I mean, the classic argument that stuff like 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.439 India and greed, these are the motivating forces of ambition, 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.439 and we need ambition in life. Like on some level, 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:15.600 greed maybe is good because I need things to live, right, 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.000 I need a little money, and a little more is 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:22.400 maybe even a little better, So I should want those things, right, Yeah, 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.640 but it's the excess part, right, Okay. So there's this 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.160 guy named Andrew Low, and he's the Harris and Harris 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.120 Group professor M I. T. And the director of its 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.280 laboratory for financial engineering, and in a two thousand and 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:38.360 nine interview with Freakonomics, he commented on the unprecedented era 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:41.480 of wealth just recently that we have right um, and 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:45.520 he said that quote extended periods of prosperity act as 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.679 an anesthetic and the human brain. Okay, So that's here's 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:52.640 one reason why greed isn't so grand. Right. Essentially, he's 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:55.000 saying that all of us who were trading in on 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.840 the real estate based financial bubble, we're in a quote 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.600 drug induced cooper that causes us to take risks that 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:07.720 we know we should avoid. He's saying basically that monetary 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.000 gain and we've we've seen this before, certainly in the 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:14.120 laboratory is uh. It stimulates the same reward securitary as 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:18.400 cocaine and in both cases, again we've talked about this, 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:20.760 you know, over and over in terms of this, and 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:25.520 since dopamine is released into the nucleus incumbents um and 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.160 then the opposite of this, this is really interesting. Financial 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:32.800 loss activates the same fight or flight circuitry as physical attacks, 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.880 releasing adrenaline and a cortisol in the bloodstream. So I mean, 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.680 here you have different sides of the coin, but certainly 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.120 you've got dopamine and you've got adrenaline on the other side, 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.400 and all of this is tied to finance. Okay, so 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.679 it's kind of like the again he's in the drug example, 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.319 a young man takes cocaine and then writes a really 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.959 horrible song or it gets a really or is really 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.360 into an idea that is just dreadful. Likewise, a young 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:00.440 man who has a financial success us for a short 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.640 amount of time, during that success, everything is so great 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.400 he decides, I'm going to buy a sailboat right right, 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.480 I'm gonna I'm gonna blow my money on this, I'm 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.400 gonna spend it on this. I'm gonna do this because 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:16.160 things are great. This couldn't possibly wear off. And of 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.880 course both individuals quickly find that, uh, the sensation does 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.560 wear off, right, I mean, basically, this is deadening that 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:26.000 part of your brain. That means not literally deadening, but 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.480 certainly the part of your brain that is thinking about 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.240 the long term is now offline. And you know, your 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:33.400 short term brain is like, hey, do whatever, Like let's 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:36.679 go buy a boat. It sounds like a great idea. Um, 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.960 So it would make sense that in terms of economics, 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.880 there's something happening in the brain that really feeds into greed. Okay, 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.960 so this question comes up, a greed everybody is greedy 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.240 to to some extent or another. Right, Um, but who 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.400 could be the greediest jerks out there? Is there is 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:58.160 there naturally answer to that question? Who could be? Or 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.320 who who might be? Might be? Might be? Like who 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.080 out there in the world is the greediest chart? Yeah, 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.520 well one would. I mean, if you're going with the stereotype, 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.440 you're looking at people like your Gordon Geckos, like your 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:13.560 Scrooge McDucks. You know, the individuals that have so much 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:15.880 it's an addiction, you know, like the money and the 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:20.280 money onto itself was an addiction. Okay, So bingo wealth corrupting? Right, 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:23.280 And you're right, this is, you know, somewhat of a cliche. 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.719 But there are some scientists who decided to put this 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.640 to the test. Or rather, psychologist Paul piff of the 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.800 University of California at Berkeley. He conducted seven different studies 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:38.199 that the seven different scenarios really testing out socio economic 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:43.079 levels and ethics, wondering if indeed wealth corrupts. And I'm 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:44.680 just going to highlight a couple of them, because I 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:46.880 think that they're interesting, but I should point out and 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:51.440 that all seven scenarios, the overwhelming evidence is that people 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:57.760 with higher socio economic levels tend to have uh dodgy ethics, 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.640 or that that was the conclusion that was wrong from this. 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:05.560 Um there was a study in which U. Pif and 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:08.160 his team monitored traffic at a four waist stop in 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.920 San Francisco, and they noted all the makes and the 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.080 models of automobiles because that's a really good indicator of 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:18.120 your socio economic level usually right, um, so guests who 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.000 more often than not cut the other drivers off the 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:25.400 fancy cars. Fancy cars, I mean overwhelmingly. Okay, So then 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.439 there's another study that they did, and this was they 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:31.880 had test takers asked to imagine themselves being very rich 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:35.360 or very poor, and then given an opportunity to take 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:38.240 candy from a jar that would next be delivered to 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:42.600 children in another lab like really like taking candy from 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:44.920 from a baby. Right. See, all I can think of 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.199 is the Simpsons episode where well, of course that Mr 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.360 Burns is another, I mean, if not classic examples of 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.960 the stereotypically rich, miserly awful person who has been totally 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:57.920 corrupted by wealth. But there's an episode, of course where 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.880 he he actually steals to steal candy from a baby. Well, 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.760 right there you go. He in this study certainly would 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.880 have borne out the results. But so again here here 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.040 you see the people who are imagining themselves is very 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:16.320 rich somehow distancing themselves from their action and saying and 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.200 taking actually more candy than the other people who imagine 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:23.080 themselves is very poor. Uh. And again seven of these 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.880 different scenarios. Uh. And you'd have to have many more 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:30.640 studies in order to have more conclusive data on this, 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.280 I think. But I think at least it gives us 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:38.160 an idea of the direction of of what happens when 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:42.520 you are exposed to extreme wealth and the sort of 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.440 distancing that you experience. You know, I'm not sure that 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.040 the lab full of babies or children actually need that 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.840 candy though, well I have to say I thought that too, 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.080 because I thought, well, I might be like, hey, you 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.200 know what those twisty roles, that kid doesn't need it, 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.680 nobody knows to go to the dentist, And what kind 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.280 of can is it? Because there's there's candy, and there's candy, 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.040 Like if it's if it's like, um, you know, doing 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:09.120 all this bank suckers or candy corn, then by all 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.800 means why their children have it. But if it's upscale 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:15.480 candy that's clearly designed for a more sophisticated adult palate, 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:19.160 then then I'm not sure taking it is really the best. 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:23.560 I agree. I agree. Um, But there there's this evolutionary 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.080 psychologist and he's a consumer researcher in his name is 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:30.080 Vladisias of the University of Minnesota, and he says this 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.359 work is important because it suggests that people often act unethically, 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.160 not because they are desperate and in the dumps, but 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:40.320 because they feel entitled and they want to get ahead. Okay, well, 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:42.960 that's exactly what I just did. I laid out my 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:46.680 entitlement for the fancy candy, that the that this candy 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.720 would be lost on these children, and therefore I'm a 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:51.480 I'm doing them a favor because they don't need it, 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.640 and be I am the intended audience for this candy. 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:58.920 So I've already I've already rationalized stealing candy from a baby. 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:03.480 It's a it's a great day of my life. You 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.440 know what, all your gold rings with your diamonds are 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:07.280 kind of shining pretty rightly. Can you kind of just 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:12.320 take a couple off their Mr money bags? Um? Okay, 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.680 So what is the opposite of greed, Well, not necessarily opposite, 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:21.720 but a reaction that you might have to greed, revulsion, 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.600 a sense of injustice. Right, Because we were discussing this 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:28.320 the other day, like, like, there's something particularly foul about greed, 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.720 especially when we I mean well pretty much only when 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:32.360 we glimpse it in others, because when we glimpse it 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.280 in ourselves, we tend to, like everything else, we tend 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.680 to find more enlightened ways of understanding it or lying 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:40.640 to ourselves about it, you know. But when you see 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:42.640 greed in another person, it's like, I mean, it all 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.000 blows done. The money right, and money on on a 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.120 on a very crucial level, it's not real, Like even 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.480 when you're dealing with like gold coins, it's just it's all. 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.960 It's a ultimately kind of arbitrary. I mean, yes, there's 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:56.680 there's a great deal of numbers and mathematics backing it up, 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.040 but it's all and none of it is real, you know. 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.920 And then when when we when we when we raise 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:07.760 that this abstract thing, this unreal thing above everything else 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.120 that is real in life. When we place this in 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:13.600 this this made up money above the heads of very 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.280 real people, it's terrifying and awful and absurd. Right well, 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.959 when the fantasy of this right becomes grotesque and you 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.359 can't really see the reality around you, right, I mean, 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.199 it clouds your vision of your ability to actually accurately 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.840 since what's going on around you. That's when I when 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.760 I think, you know, you make decisions that perhaps and 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.800 other people creates a sense of disgust, because all of 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.080 a sudden you become this person who is a caricature 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:45.920 yourself to a certain degree. There's something called the ultimatum game, 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:50.680 and it's interesting the premises. Okay, I have ten dollars 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:55.320 that I can share with you, Robert Land, anyway I choose. Okay, 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.840 if you accept my offer, then we both keep my 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.879 proposed share. If you reject my offer, neither of us 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:09.280 sees any of the money. Oh wait, now what's the offer? Okay? Um, okay, 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:11.080 I have ten dollars. I will give you a quarter 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:16.240 a quarter of the money, or just say, then, what 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.280 do I have to do? Do you mean you just 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:20.719 can you can take or you can leave it? Well 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.280 in that case, I would take it because cents is 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.520 better than no money, Right, you are so rational, But 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:30.800 most people would actually reject it. Huh yeah, because you 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:34.400 would think, like the rational thing to do is to say, like, um, 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.080 you know, sure, now we're both richer for this, right, 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.560 But there's a sense of injustice going on, like someone 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.879 might think, that's not really why are you keeping and 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.480 I'm getting but I didn't do anything to earn it. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.200 You just you have ten dollars. You're giving me twenty 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:51.760 five cents and I'm and if you give me that cents, 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.160 I'm halfway to getting something out of the office snack machine. 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:55.840 All I have to do is find one more quarter 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:58.439 and I'm going to be rolling in granola bar. Okay, Well, 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:03.159 if you were a normal, flawed person, you would say, no, 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.200 I'm going to penalize you for your stinginess. Now I'm 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:08.960 not gonna like neither of us are going to get anything. Right. 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.080 That's weird. Yeah, even it's understandable, like I can totally 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.040 I can totally get it. Yeah, like I have. And 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.280 it is in a way if you think about it, Um, 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.480 it's sort of a power structure, right, because if that 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.320 person has the money and they're offering it to you. 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:24.560 How do you get your power back if you have nothing, 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.480 if you don't have really, uh any choice in the matter. Right, 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:30.800 So I guess I could I could conceivably make the argument, well, 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.480 why don't you you know you're keeping nine, why don't 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:36.199 you just give me one quarter more? And then I 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:39.280 can go ahead and get that granola bar instead. I'm tempted. 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.120 I'm with half. I'm here with half a granola bar, 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.320 basically that I can't eat well, I mean, yeah, I 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.560 don't know what you're gonna get for honestly, yeah. Yeah. 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:50.439 You start to think about that, and what happens in 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:55.080 your brain, Uh, the anterior insula starts to get activated. 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.360 And this is the area associated with negative emotions. And 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:00.720 this has been seen by Jonathan Cohen and he's a 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:05.119 Princeton neuro scientist. The interesting thing is that when you 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:08.320 up the amount of money, like for instance, if if 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.320 I said I have twenty three dollars and I'm going 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:14.400 to give you eight dollars, then you start to see 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:18.320 people go okay, well that's that's a little bit fairer. 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:22.560 And the part of the brain, the the anterior insult, 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:25.960 actually starts to die down a little bit in terms 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.800 of activity. As a way to tamp down this is say, okay, 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:30.840 let's start to be rational about this because now stakes 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:32.320 are getting a little bit higher. There's a little bit 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.520 more money here, and it really I think it's very 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.800 telling on how we uh make some important decisions. So 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:40.440 this is definitely the part of the brain is lighting 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:43.560 up when you've just had dinner with some friends at 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:45.520 a restaurant and you have to figure out how the 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:48.520 bill works, or or even when like far before the 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.720 bill comes, say when the guacamole comes out, or the 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:54.159 pizza's placed on the table and food has to be 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:56.320 divvied up, I can see that kicking in, you know, 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:58.199 because you're wondering about how things are going to be 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.119 distributed and first out and then how are they going 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:03.080 to be paid for? Like even if you're not like 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:05.480 a stingy kind of person who's counting the slices of 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.240 pizza as they leave the table, like, your brain can't 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.200 help but sort of think in those terms, right. Well, 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:12.199 And they've seen this in babies, they've seen this in 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.840 primates too, that there's a sense of injustice. Study after 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:19.760 study that people are mentally taking notes on what is 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:21.960 being parsed out at that time. Well, because I mean, 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:23.359 we have to live in a community. We have to 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:26.000 live in some sort of a group. Be at a 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:29.520 primitive group that is just you know, crawling through the 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:33.600 grasses and prehistoric times, or a community of people who 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:35.360 are trying to figure out how in the heck they're 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.040 gonna do the tip with a group on discount at 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.360 a restaurant. Right, Yeah, that's just the recipe for disaster 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.360