1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:13,079 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, are you welcome to Stuff to 3 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: Blow your Mind? My name is Robert lamp and I'm 4 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: Julie Douglas, and we are republishing a couple of older 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: episodes this week. Two episodes that work together and therefore 6 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:24,959 Speaker 1: had to be republished together, but two episodes that we 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,319 Speaker 1: definitely wanted to share with everyone again and share with 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: many newer listeners for the first time. Yeah, because mazes 9 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: and labyrinths, these this idea that these physical constructs are 10 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: actually mental constructs. And in addition to this, we wanted 11 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: to mention that pretty soon there's a movie called The 12 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: Maze Runner, which will be released in movie theaters. It is, 13 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: according to Bleeding Cool dot com, yet another post apocalyptic 14 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: world populated by teenagers who are tasked to save the 15 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: world somehow. Yeah, and I was actually just looking at 16 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: it yet it starts the guy from teen Woolf the 17 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: TV show, not not Jason Bateman or Michael not or 18 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 1: not yea, not Michael j Fox, but the new Team Wolf, 19 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: the one that's uh you see on the side of 20 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: buses and stuff that yeah, he's in and it looks 21 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: pretty cool. It's kind of reminds me a bit of 22 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: the older movie Cube, you know, like a like a 23 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: very uh, you know, dystopian and high tech kind of 24 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: a maze environment. Yeah. I like the premise of it. 25 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 1: Um in it. Their memories, these teenagers are memories are 26 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: wiped out and they run through mazes like hamsters, later 27 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: discovering in the various truth behind the question why. Yeah, 28 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: and these are based, by the way, on a series 29 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: of young adult novels by James Dashner. Yeah, so we 30 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: hope that you guys enjoy this. It's a maze. Is 31 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: is about, in a way elaborate confinement. It's about confusion, 32 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: It's about being cut off. It's about not knowing which 33 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: way you're going, and which way is the way out, 34 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: and if there is even a way out, if there 35 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: is a limit to the confusing layout that just flows 36 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: out all around you. Now, one thing that's important to 37 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: mention here, and we're gonna we're gonna mention this not 38 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,639 Speaker 1: only in this episode but the part two of this 39 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: series to follow. But essentially, you have mazes and you 40 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: have labyrinths, and very often these words are used interchangeably. 41 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: One would be tempted to say, it's elegant variation, which 42 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: is when you use uh, like when you're talking about 43 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,800 Speaker 1: a wolf, but you use the word dog to describe it. 44 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:30,239 Speaker 1: You just wanted to mix it up and use a 45 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: different word, but you're actually using a word for a 46 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: different thing. Well, mazes and labyrinth is and isn't quite 47 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: that bad because the overlap between these two terms has 48 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:41,919 Speaker 1: been around for a while and has become pretty much 49 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: the you know, pretty much a mainstay of the English language. 50 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: So uh, you can't get two up in arms over it. 51 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: But for the purposes of this podcast, and and also 52 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: in scientific purposes, you have mazes, which are a place 53 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: of confusion, a place of beatings on the walls, as 54 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: we're hearing now, and then you have labyrinths and labyrinth 55 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: says we'll discuss in the second podcast more in depth, 56 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: are a place of serenity. That's right. It's really a 57 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: yang and yang proposition here, because yes, maze tangle of 58 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: options choices, right, profusion and the labyrinth neatly laid out 59 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: a meandering path, but one that has a purpose in 60 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: a direction to it. So right now we are going 61 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,559 Speaker 1: to tackle mazes, and as we say, we are podcasting 62 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:33,359 Speaker 1: today from a construction zone of our maze like office. Um. 63 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: And we should probably get into more or other examples 64 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: of mazes, because when you think of mazes, or at 65 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: least when I do, I tend to think of the 66 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: elaborate hedge mazes popular in the sixteen through the eighteenth centuries. Yes, 67 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: you have basically you can divide mazes up into two 68 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: or three categories. Well, first, there are two basic categories. 69 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: There are mazes that exist in physical space and mazes 70 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: that exist merely as saturn or as you know, is 71 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: something drawn on a sheet of paper. Uh. For the 72 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:07,080 Speaker 1: most part, we're gonna be talking in this podcast though, 73 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: about actual physical mazes that you traverse physically, and these 74 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: you tend to see landscape mazes and architectural mazes, mazes 75 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: that are made out of you could do dirt, but 76 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:19,599 Speaker 1: most of the time hedges. And then there are architectural 77 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: mazes whereas it is an actual physical thing walls and 78 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: closing you. Everyone will probably think back to the classic 79 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: Jim Hinson David Bowie starring film Labyrinth, which, despite being 80 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 1: called Labyrinth, everything in the movie is amaze. Everything is 81 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: about confusing because Sarah has to get to the castle 82 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: at the center so that she can free Toby from 83 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: the Goblin King, but nobody wants her to actually get there. 84 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: The Goblin King doesn't actually want women showing up and 85 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: stealing has stolen babies from him, so and there's a 86 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: neat little number like a Magic Song by David Bowie 87 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: which he's tossing this baby around and by the way, 88 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: he looks like Parker Posey to me in in a 89 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:08,800 Speaker 1: Tina Turner wig in this sick Yeah, And there's a 90 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,679 Speaker 1: lot of heavy pop synthesizers going on. It's it's pretty 91 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: awesome stuff. It is an awesome movie. But pretty much 92 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: everything you see in there is is a maze from 93 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:21,039 Speaker 1: the early Stone mazes that Sarah is going through where 94 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: it's very much an architectural maze with walls all around her, 95 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: until later she's going through a landscape maze of hedges. 96 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: Elsewhere people may have encountered mazes in the form of 97 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: corn mazes where someone cuts a maze through the maze 98 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: and nice and you have around Halloween time, that's certainly 99 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,160 Speaker 1: and every year in the news there's always an account 100 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: of a family getting lost in one of those mazes. Oh, 101 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: I haven't I've never seen one of those, and I've 102 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,239 Speaker 1: worked in small papers for quite a while in the past, 103 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: so it's strange that we never had that story. Well, 104 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: and then they're never found again. Are you sure that 105 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: you're just you didn't used to live near a particularly 106 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: bad ads where they really went overboard and making it 107 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: complex and an unescapable No. No, no. And then there's 108 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,719 Speaker 1: like these like sort of evilish children that are dressed 109 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,719 Speaker 1: in amish like clothing. Yes, the children are milling around. Yeah, yeah, 110 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: you've not heard about No, I guess this is this 111 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: is one of your hometown. Yeah, it's pretty common elsewhere 112 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 1: in uh. In fiction, mazes have factored into Harry Potter 113 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 1: and the Goblet of Fire, the big climactic scene, and 114 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: that takes place within a maze. Harry's running around completely disoriented, 115 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: doesn't know where he's going, and trying, you know, trying 116 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: to figure out how to escape the maze or make 117 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: it to the center. I believe it was. What I 118 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: like about that maze too, is that the maze is alive, 119 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: the root system is, you know, trying to tangle them 120 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: and pull them in right. And likewise in Labyrinth, the 121 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: maze that Sarah finds herself in is constantly changing their 122 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: like little goblin dudes running around and like changing her 123 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,039 Speaker 1: markings and presumably changing the actual physical layout of the 124 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,280 Speaker 1: of the may behind her. Another fabulous maze uh in 125 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: film is that in The Shining. Oh yeah, now it's 126 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: different from in the book. There there's just some hedge 127 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: animals that are creepy and move when you're not looking 128 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 1: at them. But in Stanley Kubrick's phenomenal film vision of 129 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: the novel, he incorporates this this maze, this giant hedge maze, 130 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: and there's a model of the hedge maze, and and 131 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: the maze comes to symbolize the house itself because the house, 132 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: the Haunted Overlook Hotel, is also a sort of maze. 133 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: And then, curiously enough, like another maze we're about to discuss, 134 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: there is a deadly person at the deadly entity at 135 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: the center of it. In The Shining, that's Jack Torrence, 136 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: the writer who ends up becoming possessed by the evil 137 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: of the place and then is hunting his family through 138 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: both the maze that is the house and then in 139 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: the actual hedge maze out there in the cold. What 140 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: I really like about that maze too, is that it's 141 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: got those um those feelings of selation, terror and then 142 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: disorientation in that maze. And we'll talk more about that 143 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: in in Our Fear Response, our stress response to um 144 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: as we go through majors. But to me, that captures 145 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: that perfectly. There's also an excellent fictional maze in House 146 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: of Leaves by Mark z Danielski. Basically, the book itself 147 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: is a maze, and there are all these footnotes and 148 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: footnotes upon footnotes, and there's a story within a story 149 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: in a documentary film within a story, and the character himself, 150 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: this guy Navidson, ends up trying to traverse, trying to 151 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: explore this ever changing, featureless, black, otherworldly maze that branches 152 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: out from this haunted house presumably haunted, but you never 153 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: really know exactly what's going on with this place. The 154 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: Name of the Rose by Umberto Echo is pretty great 155 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:54,680 Speaker 1: and that it features a library that is itself a maze. 156 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: And this is based in large part on your hey 157 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: Lewis Borhes the Library of Babble, where Borhe described an 158 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: infinite library maze that contains not only all books, but 159 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: all possible books, so it just spreads out forever and 160 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: so in the name of the rose umberto Echo creates 161 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 1: within this mediaval Abbey, this this maze library of forbidden 162 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: and restricted books. In writing about it, he says that 163 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: this is this library is what it's called a rhizome space, 164 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: which means there's there's virtually no into it. You could 165 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,959 Speaker 1: wander this thing forever without finding an exit unless you 166 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: knew how to escape the maze. But perhaps the most 167 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,679 Speaker 1: famous and and just the most iconic maze from from 168 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: myth and fiction and legend is of course the Maze 169 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: of Minos. Yes, and this is the tale of theseus, correct, 170 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: the hero and the minotaur, who is at the center 171 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: of what they call Again there's confusion between labyrinth and maze, 172 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,680 Speaker 1: but it is at the middle of this and is 173 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: waiting for people to come through and devour them. Yes, 174 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: and kind of wandering the halls and howling and the 175 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:04,719 Speaker 1: maze in this it was commanded to be built by 176 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: King Minos, who has this monstrous son that is the minotaur, 177 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 1: half man and half animal. Yes, yeah, monstrous flesh eating creature. 178 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 1: So he has Daedalus, who of course silt the wings 179 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: for his son Icarus. Just you know, the fantastic engineer 180 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: of Hellenistic lore. He's commanded to build it, and in 181 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: fact builds a maze so complicated that he himself has 182 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: trouble escaping from it at one point. But this becomes 183 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: just the sort of the defining idea of amaze, this complex, 184 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: confusing place that you're trapped in, you're trying to escape, 185 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: and then with the Minotaur, you have this added threat 186 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,679 Speaker 1: that you are not alone in this confusing space, this confusing, 187 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: unreal world. There's also something that is searching for you, 188 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,720 Speaker 1: something that or even if it's not searching for you, 189 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:53,520 Speaker 1: you may run into it. And if you run into it, 190 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 1: it's all over. Yeah, And we will talk a little 191 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,439 Speaker 1: bit more about the Minotaur as represented by our consciousness 192 00:10:58,440 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: and a bit and how our mind is a bit 193 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:02,440 Speaker 1: like a maze. But I did want to mention that 194 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: a a non fictional maze that is probably what you 195 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,319 Speaker 1: could call the mother of mazes UM is known as 196 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: the Hampton Court Maze, and this is outside of London. 197 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: It is really an iconic maze. UM. It is at 198 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: the Hampton Court Palace and it's thought that it was 199 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: designed around six nine, originally planted using horn beam and 200 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 1: later we planted using you, and it covers a third 201 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: of an acre. It's trapezoid in shape and it is 202 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,560 Speaker 1: the UK's oldest surviving hedge maze. In fact, I'm sure 203 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: listeners some of our resisis and UK have actually experienced 204 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: this firsthand. At the time. It was constructed to amuse 205 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,440 Speaker 1: the ladies and lords of the court, which I think 206 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 1: is so I love this idea. It's so fascinating to 207 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 1: me that people have so much time on their hands 208 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: that it wasn't enough to have a palace and have 209 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 1: all the extravagance of a palace and servants. Then you 210 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: had to create a maze out on your lawn on 211 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: in order to amuse the people within the palace, something 212 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: that would actually um excite fear in your visitors to 213 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: the maze, right, yeah, you were. You lined it yesterday 214 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 1: when we were talking about it to h to like 215 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: a horror movie in a in an age when you 216 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: didn't have horror movie. Uh uh. And and certainly you 217 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 1: can also liken it to a roller coaster. It is 218 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: an artificial construction designed to create these feelings of fear 219 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: and anxiety in the individuals who are traversing it. So 220 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: it's interesting to me that the upper class just you know, 221 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: on a social note, that you would be so free 222 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: from concerns or troubles that you would have to create 223 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:46,600 Speaker 1: this this uh, three D representation of fear to put 224 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: yourself through that experience. Um. And of course we do 225 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: that today with with haunted houses. But what is cool 226 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:55,800 Speaker 1: about Hampton Court Maze is that this is the maze 227 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:58,960 Speaker 1: that really helped to inform science. And what I mean 228 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 1: by that is there was a graduate student named Willard Small. 229 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: He was the first to use a rodent maze to 230 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 1: study learning, and he did this in nineteen o one, 231 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: and he created a platform about six ft long by 232 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: eight feet wide, covered it with sawdust and then divided 233 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,960 Speaker 1: it into galleries with walls of wire netting, and he 234 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: modeled it on a diagram of the Hedge maze at 235 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:23,800 Speaker 1: Hampton Court. So this was such a famous maze in 236 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: the minds of everybody, particularly during this ron of the century, 237 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: that it really helped um this particular student to create 238 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: this thing that really took off in science at least 239 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: for a good sixty years. Yeah, because even after they 240 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,880 Speaker 1: stopped using the replica of the Hampton Court Maze, which 241 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:44,439 Speaker 1: which from above looks. It's it's weirdly shaped, like it's 242 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: kind of like a hacked off pyramid, kind of like 243 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:51,679 Speaker 1: a a weird battle axe looking design. It's it's strange looking, 244 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: kind of like a robot woman's hips. It's interesting to 245 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:59,559 Speaker 1: say battle ax because uh, labra is I means yeah, 246 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: acts in and um in Greek, and so that's when 247 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 1: you look at the root of labyrinth, it is acts. 248 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,080 Speaker 1: But anyway, but even after they stopped using the Hampton Maze, 249 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 1: they use a simplified version of it called the Elevated 250 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: Plus Maze, which basically look like a plus sign. In 251 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:18,440 Speaker 1: other words, it's two hallways that they cross over each other. Uh. 252 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: And it's like the simplest may as possible because it 253 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: sends the mouse or whatever that's inside it. It's they 254 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 1: come to a point where they have three choices. They 255 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 1: can go left, they can go right, they can go 256 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: forward or well, presumably they could go backwards as well. 257 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: So it's a it's a simplified version of the of 258 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:37,680 Speaker 1: the maze, the maze and brief you know, but what 259 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: are they trying to to study with all of this? Right? 260 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: It comes back to how a maze makes us feel 261 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: when I've touched on this a little bit already. It's 262 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 1: when you're inside of a maze, you feel, first of all, 263 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: you feel confined. You're definitely in a strange place. You 264 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 1: you don't know which way to go. Should I go 265 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: this way, shouldn't go that way? If I go if 266 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:01,480 Speaker 1: I go this way, am I going to run into 267 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: a dead end? Everyone hates running into a dead end? 268 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: That just said, I mean you think of actual real 269 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: world versions of this, like if you've ever been in 270 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: a um, well, say the haunted like a haunted house. 271 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: Now haunted house is not a complete maze because nobody 272 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: wants to build a professional haunted attraction where people go 273 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: in and have trouble getting out, because, if we discussed 274 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: in our Science of Haunted Houses episode, you've got to 275 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: move a certain amount of people through that haunted house 276 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: to make money. You need people going in, you need 277 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 1: people going out at a decent click. But at another 278 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,440 Speaker 1: world haunted house in Atlanta, they frequently do have this 279 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: section that's kind of a mirror maze where you do 280 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: at least momentarily become disoriented and not know and you 281 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: don't know which way to go, and so that raises 282 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: your anxiety. You you feel stressful because you're like, well, 283 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: I thought, this is what how do I get out 284 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: of here? Which way am I supposed to be going? 285 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: You know? And I find in those environments too, not 286 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,400 Speaker 1: only another world, but also in like real world environments 287 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: like a museum, there's also that that anxiety where you 288 00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: reach like a weird kind of a part of the 289 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: museum where you wonder if this is off limits, like 290 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: maybe they didn't they didn't make it clear enough, And 291 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: I'm wandering into restricted territory or likewise, any new city 292 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: that you're in, you're wandering around and you're wondering, am 293 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: I wandering into a restricted space? Is someone gonna yell 294 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: at me for being here? And I can start getting 295 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: anxious about that because I hated, you know, when I'm 296 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: in trouble somebody's yelling at me? And then second, am 297 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: I wandering into a contested space, which, especially in big cities, 298 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,240 Speaker 1: you're like, am I wandering into a no man's land 299 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: of post apocalyptic violences and face stabbings? You know? I 300 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 1: I don't know, And that raises your instincts and your 301 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 1: anxiety and you're just on edge of the whole time. 302 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 1: Well because in in uh, in my world, I think 303 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: of it as just a microcosm of the minotaur in 304 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,600 Speaker 1: your head already, right, So within our own minds, we 305 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: can think of them as mazes. In particular, we can 306 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: think about the default mode network. UM. This is three 307 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: areas of the brain, the medial pre frontal cortex, the 308 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: medial parietal cortex, and the meteoral temporal lobes. We've talked 309 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,399 Speaker 1: about these before being the default mode network. And this 310 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: is the area of your brain that deals with the 311 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: eye of ourselves, the chattering um sort of subconscious level 312 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:18,479 Speaker 1: where we sit there and we turn over things that 313 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:22,680 Speaker 1: concern ourselves and our ego. And this is really where 314 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: you start to see that the mind is like amaze 315 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:30,439 Speaker 1: in this sense because you're going through these thought loops 316 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: that you've probably gone through a million times in your 317 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:35,919 Speaker 1: life about certain subjects. They tend to come up in 318 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: this area of the brain, right, these concerns that you 319 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: have usually about yourself, And it's kind of like a 320 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: hyperactive chat room for your brain, and it acts like 321 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:48,880 Speaker 1: an echo chamber in this sense. And we've talked about 322 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: this before that when you have hyperactivity in this part 323 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,719 Speaker 1: of the brain. It can lead to clinical depression. Right. 324 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 1: So that's why I say that this default mode net 325 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 1: work is really something that's maze that we deal with 326 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: every day. Yeah, we sort of we backtrack and we 327 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,640 Speaker 1: wander the confusing corridors of the past. We try and 328 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:11,680 Speaker 1: skip ahead a little bit and figure out where we're 329 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,399 Speaker 1: going in the future, and for many of us the 330 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,560 Speaker 1: whole time there well, for all of us, there are 331 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: certain minotaurs out there in that maze as well. I mean, 332 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,920 Speaker 1: of course the big one is death. Uh. That beast 333 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 1: is out there somewhere. Maybe he is around the corner, 334 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: maybe he is on the other side of the maze 335 00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:31,439 Speaker 1: entirely with many many walls between you and it, but 336 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: you know it's there and you always hear it's howling. 337 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 1: I love that you brought that up, because when I 338 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,160 Speaker 1: was thinking about mazes, and I was thinking about how 339 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: a maze is really a concrete manifestation of our abstract 340 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:47,720 Speaker 1: mind me, I began to think about Sarah Winchester. We 341 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:51,400 Speaker 1: have an article that concerns her is the Mystery House. Yeah, yeah, 342 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: she is the Winchester Rifle heiress who at the turn 343 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,000 Speaker 1: of the century believed herself to be haunted by the 344 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:00,359 Speaker 1: victims of the rifles that her husband's company for used, 345 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: and now she had something traumatic events that happened in 346 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,160 Speaker 1: her life. She lost her child and her husband, and 347 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 1: after that, for thirty eight years, her house was constantly 348 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:15,400 Speaker 1: under construction and she was changing the configuration of her 349 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:17,919 Speaker 1: house really to create a maze. And the reason that 350 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,160 Speaker 1: she did that is she wanted to confuse the spirits, 351 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,639 Speaker 1: the ghosts of the people that she thought were killed 352 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: by those rifles. So if you've ever visited the house, 353 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: this is in San Jose, California, you may have firsthand 354 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 1: seen that there are false stairways to know where. There 355 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:40,120 Speaker 1: are something like forty seven chimneys in the house. Um. 356 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:42,439 Speaker 1: Some of them are built all the way up, some 357 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:47,440 Speaker 1: of them are not. Some of them actually aren't working chimneys, fireplaces, um. 358 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,400 Speaker 1: And at some point I believe there are five hundred 359 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:55,440 Speaker 1: rooms constructed that she would have them demolished and then rebuilt. 360 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: So here you go, I mean, here's talking about the 361 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: hyperactivity of this part of the brain that is concerned 362 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: with um, you know, fear and uh, the self. This 363 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,240 Speaker 1: is someone who you can really see her own brain 364 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: being manifested in the design of our house. Well, and 365 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:16,399 Speaker 1: it's in a way, it's uh, it's kind of just 366 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: another take on the old idea that if you you 367 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:21,680 Speaker 1: have a criminal that needs to be executed, you hang 368 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: them at a crossroads so that they'll have difficulty finding 369 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: their way back to their hometown where they can haunt 370 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: everybody and be a menace. So, but in what is 371 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: a crossroads but a plus maze, like we discussed earlier, 372 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:35,520 Speaker 1: you placed the mouse at the center, the rat at 373 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: the center of the plus mays the brat has no 374 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: which no idea which way to go. So presumably the 375 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:45,000 Speaker 1: ghost of an executed murder is there at the crossroads, 376 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: has no idea what to go. Maybe he locks down 377 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 1: and doesn't go anywhere. Maybe he heads up in the 378 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,040 Speaker 1: wrong direction. And and this is so cool because again 379 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:56,480 Speaker 1: this is this idea of disorientation. We're gonna take a 380 00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: quick break, but when we get back, we're going to 381 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:13,120 Speaker 1: talk about anxiety disorientation in mazes. All right, we're back, 382 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:15,200 Speaker 1: and I do want to mention that is we're getting 383 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 1: into the way mazes affect our mind in our body. 384 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 1: Text that we found particularly helpful in this was the 385 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:25,119 Speaker 1: science of healing places by Esther M. Steinberg. Just a 386 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:27,760 Speaker 1: fabulous book from beginning to end, and it deals with 387 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:31,879 Speaker 1: how spaces affect us, how the layout of a space 388 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 1: or the particulars of an environment can have a beneficial 389 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 1: effect on us or a detrimental effect on us. And 390 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,640 Speaker 1: in a large sense, the purest distillation of this idea 391 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: is the idea of maze and labyrinth. And in this 392 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,160 Speaker 1: podcast were of course talking about the maze. Uh And 393 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:51,359 Speaker 1: as you mentioned earlier, it's just this, the mazes is amazing, 394 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:56,880 Speaker 1: and that it is this kind of perfect physical manifestation 395 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: of an idea, are even more than an idea, just 396 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 1: like a state of mind, a state of the world. 397 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: Like in a way, the mazes this perfect manifestation of 398 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,840 Speaker 1: the of the human experience in its confusing sense. You know, 399 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: like I said, I it makes me think of the 400 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,199 Speaker 1: obelisk from the Monolith rather from two thousand and one 401 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:17,520 Speaker 1: of Space Odyssey. You know, it's just that you can 402 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:20,440 Speaker 1: basically just thinking about it, you can sort of catch 403 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,399 Speaker 1: the hum Yeah. You know, we are talking about mazes 404 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,640 Speaker 1: in a very literal sense today, but if you took 405 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:29,919 Speaker 1: a bird's eye view of yourself right now, in this 406 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: time and space you would see that you are in 407 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,480 Speaker 1: a maze somewhere. Right, even if you're just walking down 408 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: the city block, you are within a maze. Um. But 409 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:42,240 Speaker 1: what is so interesting about mazes is this idea that 410 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 1: in as you say that the purest sense is taking 411 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: all of those different senses of the way that we 412 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 1: perceive the world in creating this this construct that really 413 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,639 Speaker 1: amplifies all those feelings. And so when we talk about 414 00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: new experiences and uh, we talk about how we've received things, 415 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,920 Speaker 1: there's some anxiety that comes along with that. Yeah, Now, 416 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 1: stress and anxiety. So stress is not a new idea. 417 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,359 Speaker 1: People have been stressed out for ages. For instance, the 418 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 1: ancient Romans used a word string array, which means to squeeze, tight, 419 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,159 Speaker 1: to graze, to touch, or danger. But it wasn't until 420 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: around the ninety six a Nature article by scientists Hans 421 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,639 Speaker 1: Zeely published this article where you talked about stress in 422 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,719 Speaker 1: the terms of a body's non specific response to an 423 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: external demand. In in in ninety four, physiologist Walter B. Cannon 424 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:35,439 Speaker 1: for the first time show that animals produce adrenaline in 425 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,879 Speaker 1: response to stress. And this is the first proof that 426 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:42,679 Speaker 1: environments trigger bodily responses like this and so in the 427 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: decades that follow we learn even more about how the 428 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: brain responds to stress. For instance, that hormones and chemicals 429 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,040 Speaker 1: in the brain are released to deal with stress. Namely, 430 00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: we have a stress hormone called c r H that's 431 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 1: corticotra pent releasing hormone UH, and this forces the pteritary 432 00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: gland to pump out more a c t H and 433 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: this travels through the blood to the adrenal glance and 434 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:05,600 Speaker 1: this makes them pump out cortisol courts. Of course, being 435 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: the stress hormone and all of this is really important. 436 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,639 Speaker 1: You want to be able to tap into this stress response, right, 437 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: this fear response, because that's really what helps us to 438 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: tune into the details in a novel place or situation 439 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,800 Speaker 1: in order to detect the way out to survive in 440 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 1: some way. That's when we see the whites of our 441 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: eyes getting even larger because we're trying to really pay 442 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:31,439 Speaker 1: attention to our environments. The problem, of course, comes when 443 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 1: we're overloaded with the stress response, and when we're in 444 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,440 Speaker 1: this state of fear for longer than we need to be. 445 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: And we'll talk about this in a bit too. UH, 446 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,920 Speaker 1: when the situation doesn't necessarily call for the stress response 447 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,200 Speaker 1: that is elicited right right, because again when the when 448 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: the stress hormones kick in, the nerve cells fired to 449 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:57,120 Speaker 1: release an adrenaline light nerve chemical called nora pinafine. And 450 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,640 Speaker 1: this is this is when the brain's fear center, the amigla, 451 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: becomes active. And again adrenaline is important, and we'll discuss 452 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 1: that a little more as we go here. But this 453 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 1: is how you want to feel inside of a maze, 454 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: because the maze triggers anxiety and stress because of essentially 455 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 1: four things. According to S. C. Em Steinberg. First of all, 456 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 1: you're in an architectural maze or even a hedge maze, 457 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:23,959 Speaker 1: what can you see? What? What are you seeing around you? 458 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: With your site? This key sense of it really just 459 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: whatever's on either side, right. So of course with blinders, yeah, 460 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:32,920 Speaker 1: it's like blinder here, blinder there. You can see a 461 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: little ways in front of you, turn around, you can 462 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:36,360 Speaker 1: see a little ways behind you. But for the most part, 463 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,720 Speaker 1: your sense of the world via site is really limited. 464 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,240 Speaker 1: And the next one is one that I never really 465 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: thought about all that much. But you have no clear 466 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: sound to guide you either, because if you're if you're 467 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: in a hedge maze, there's gonna be a certain amount 468 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:53,080 Speaker 1: of sound buffering, and then if you're in an actual 469 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: architectural maze, you can have sound buffering plus the potential 470 00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:59,439 Speaker 1: for echoes as well, like, for instance, the sound of 471 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 1: that minotaur is how echoing through the tunnels. So already 472 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: our site, our ability to see the world is a 473 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:09,880 Speaker 1: significantly altered in. Our ability to to navigate the world 474 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: via sound is significantly altered. Right. And I don't know 475 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: if the listeners can detect this, but there was just 476 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 1: a bunch of hammering going on, and I was just 477 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:20,000 Speaker 1: thinking that we're inside of our little maze right now 478 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:22,600 Speaker 1: inside the podcast. I have no idea what direction that's 479 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: kind I don't either. I can feel it, actually can 480 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: feel it on my feet, but I know it that's 481 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:27,359 Speaker 1: not under me. I know it's not probably on the 482 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: other side of the wall. But again, here's this idea 483 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 1: that you can't get your normal sound clues correct. Um, 484 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:37,080 Speaker 1: you have limited vision, you have a new alien environment. Yeah. Again, 485 00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,159 Speaker 1: this is like a maze, like a straight up maze, 486 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: like out of the shining. This is an unreal environment 487 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: and it's like and it's purest sense, it's it maybe 488 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: an analog for confusion in the mind and puzzles of 489 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:51,919 Speaker 1: the mind. It maybe an analog for potentially confusing environments 490 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 1: in the natural world, and certainly in the unnatural world 491 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:57,080 Speaker 1: of cities. But this is its purest sense. It is 492 00:26:57,119 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: alien in every sense of the word. And the worst 493 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,639 Speaker 1: part of it is you now have choices, and you 494 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:05,719 Speaker 1: have uncertainty along with that novelty. And think about your 495 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 1: poor hippocampus. This is the part of your brain that 496 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:13,359 Speaker 1: is trying to navigate right spatially and is using usually 497 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: using memory to do this. So it's a little bit 498 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: like if you were dropped into a new city and 499 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 1: you had to find your bearings. What happens, You feel 500 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:23,960 Speaker 1: stressed out, You feel a little bit more aware, because 501 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:25,600 Speaker 1: this is part of your brain that's saying I don't 502 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:27,399 Speaker 1: have a blueprint for this, and I don't know what 503 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: is the right choice. Yeah, like for us, like I 504 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:32,159 Speaker 1: know when I go to New York City, I certainly 505 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: don't go there enough where I know my way around. 506 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,720 Speaker 1: So when I emerged from a subway out into the street, 507 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: I'll have no idea which way is north, which way 508 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: of south? What does that street sign say out there? 509 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: Which is that one say back there, did I take 510 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,400 Speaker 1: the wrong course? And I completely out of bounds here 511 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 1: um in regards to where I'm trying to get to 512 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: and and certainly even taking something like Atlanta's Marta every day, 513 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: which is basically a plush plus mark. It's north, north 514 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,640 Speaker 1: and southeast and west, but but still espec fully at 515 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: the at the very center of that the center of confusion, 516 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,600 Speaker 1: which is a place called the five um, you do 517 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 1: see outsiders and tourists and people who normally don't take 518 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,719 Speaker 1: the train wandering around confused, and you can see they 519 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,760 Speaker 1: feel the anxiety and the stress of coming off them 520 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: because they're like, where am I? Which way am I going? 521 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 1: And what are all these minotaurs doing here? I was 522 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 1: gonna say, it's so sad when you see them gobbled 523 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 1: up in the corners of the station by the minotaurs. 524 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,200 Speaker 1: But this reminds me again of the rats, and back 525 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: to the Hampton Court maze, because again this is the 526 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,399 Speaker 1: maze that inspired the elevated plus line maze. And the 527 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: reason why rats were studied in this configuration is because 528 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: it's really easy to study anxiety in this, as you 529 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 1: have pointed out, Because you want to make an animal 530 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:47,560 Speaker 1: feel anxiety, it's just bamed. Put them in that space 531 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: and the environment makes them feel it. And the reason 532 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:54,160 Speaker 1: why rats had such a run with these mazes, so 533 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: to speak, is because you know, pharmacological studies began with 534 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: us to see if they to use certain substances to 535 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,640 Speaker 1: reduce that anxiety, and so they had rats run these 536 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: mazes again and again. In fact, rats became the gold 537 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: standard of animals to use in psychology experiments. So again, 538 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,680 Speaker 1: what Esther Serberg is saying that when you have all 539 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 1: of these different elements, you have a novelty, you have 540 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:21,320 Speaker 1: a restriction in sight and sound, and you have in 541 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:25,080 Speaker 1: the case of the elevated plus sign elevation to throw 542 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: into that. Uh, the rat will actually freeze at these 543 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: points that offer what she says, the most frightening combination 544 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: of choices available. Yeah, and we're like freezing. We're talking 545 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 1: increased defication, elevations of cortisol, the stress hormone in the blood. 546 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 1: And it isn't vital to point out that it's important 547 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: to have that stress hormone. Um, it helps us solve 548 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: the maze if if balanced, It focuses our attention, it 549 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: gives us energy, It raises our awareness of the surroundings 550 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,920 Speaker 1: so that we notice the small details and they lead 551 00:29:57,080 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: to our escape. Do you think of any story where 552 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,480 Speaker 1: an individual is in h maze, what do they have 553 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 1: to do? They have to their their own guard. They 554 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 1: might have to face a minotaur for crying out loud, 555 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: But then they also have to be super observant because 556 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:10,920 Speaker 1: especially if the maze is kind of featureless, right, Uh, 557 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,240 Speaker 1: maybe they're marking stuff on the walls with chalk, or 558 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 1: they're using string, whatever, but they you have to You 559 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: can't just calmly walk through. This is a confusing, challenging environment. Again, 560 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 1: it's the representation of all the confusion and risks in 561 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 1: the real world and you're feeling at all legitimately in 562 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: the maze. Yeah. And she talks about this dose effect 563 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 1: and this beneficial stress response as opposed to something that 564 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: becomes detrimental and uh. In the book, she talks about 565 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,480 Speaker 1: Gary Aston Jones. He's a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, 566 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,440 Speaker 1: and what he did is he embedded electrodes into the 567 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:50,040 Speaker 1: brains of monkeys, specifically a place called the locusts Serulius. 568 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,720 Speaker 1: And this is the region that governs vigilance, focused attention, 569 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: and the adrenaline component of the stress response. And what 570 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: happened is that when the monkeys were relaxed, there was 571 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: just a little bit of nerve cell firing in this 572 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 1: part of the brain, But when they were focusing on 573 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:09,840 Speaker 1: something like pressing a lever to obtain a pellet of food, 574 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: there was a lot of nerve cell firing in the 575 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 1: locust surrelius. So this is a good thing, right. You 576 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: see the monkey performing at optimal levels under stress to 577 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: a certain degree, but when the researchers stressed them a 578 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 1: lot all of the nerve cells began firing in this 579 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 1: Sisternberg is what led to the monkey failing at the 580 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:35,959 Speaker 1: task that the researchers were putting them to. So again, 581 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,920 Speaker 1: it is this overloaded of circuitry in the stress response 582 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: that makes us freeze at times. Yeah, Steinberg compares it 583 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 1: to a U shaped curve. Think of it this way. 584 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:48,719 Speaker 1: You have a speech to give, kind of like our 585 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 1: keynote that we gave in miny Hapolists. So if you 586 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,040 Speaker 1: want to go in there with a certain amount of 587 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: of of energy, right, you're about to give a keynote. 588 00:31:57,840 --> 00:31:59,600 Speaker 1: You don't want to be like I just woke up. 589 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 1: You know, you gotta Yeah, you want to have a 590 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 1: certain amount of energy. So this you shaped curve, it's 591 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: like a little hill. Okay, So as our anxiety rises 592 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,200 Speaker 1: up towards the middle of this hill, at the very 593 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 1: top of that hill, that is like prime keynote territory. 594 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: You're you're the maximum amount of energy and anxiety and 595 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: stress that will allow you to get in there and 596 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: just kill you know, to just get in there and 597 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,719 Speaker 1: deliver on all the front you're alert and focus, right. 598 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 1: But then is that if that anxiety builds past that point, 599 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 1: then it begins to dip down. Uh, and at the 600 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 1: bottom of that hill is freezing up, pooping yourself and 601 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,720 Speaker 1: falling off the stage like utter a complete so much 602 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,560 Speaker 1: stress over it that you cannot even function at a 603 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 1: basic human level. And then everywhere between the peak of 604 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 1: that hill and the bottom there you know, all the 605 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:51,000 Speaker 1: other things that can happen where all that speech didn't 606 00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 1: really go too well. My nerves were a little fraid, 607 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: you know. So you shaped curve, and so the ideally 608 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,240 Speaker 1: if you're in the maze, you want to uh be 609 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,400 Speaker 1: somewhere near the top of that curve, at the top 610 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: of that hill, because that is the mindset that you 611 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 1: need to solve the maze, and it's the mindset that 612 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,720 Speaker 1: your body is going for, Like, that's where you're that's 613 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: why you're having these responses because the body is like, 614 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,680 Speaker 1: this is confusing. Let's get in maze solving mode. Well, 615 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:20,760 Speaker 1: and here's the deal. If if just some practical advice here, 616 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,240 Speaker 1: if anybody is going to give a keynote address and 617 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:25,280 Speaker 1: they feel like they are about to go down the 618 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: hill into self defecation, take that moment to actually stand 619 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:34,880 Speaker 1: in a powerful pose. We talked about this before, um 620 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,720 Speaker 1: because this pose, if if you stand in it for 621 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: two minutes or more, we'll actually decrease your cortisol stress 622 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:45,560 Speaker 1: levels and increase your testosterone. Increase of the testosterone is 623 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,360 Speaker 1: important because that helps your confidence. The lowering of the 624 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,760 Speaker 1: cortisol stress means that you will not poop your pants. 625 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: So just a little f y either. So what other 626 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: methods are at our disposal for escaping a maze? Solving 627 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 1: a maze? How are we going to get out of 628 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,160 Speaker 1: dis maze and somehow make it back to our our 629 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,719 Speaker 1: chairs and our desks and presumably our families and homes. Okay, well, um, 630 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,840 Speaker 1: here is what many people say is the best way 631 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,560 Speaker 1: to solve a maze, and it's called the right hand trick, 632 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:12,919 Speaker 1: but sometimes called the left hand trick because doesn't really 633 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,839 Speaker 1: matter which hand. You just keep a hand on one 634 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,600 Speaker 1: wall and it doesn't matter which one, just pick left 635 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:20,960 Speaker 1: or right when you enter, and then you follow the 636 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:25,120 Speaker 1: path and keep that hand as you are following that 637 00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,880 Speaker 1: path this way, if you get to a dead end, 638 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,640 Speaker 1: you can negotiate it by just following the three walls 639 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 1: and then moving back the way that you came out, 640 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 1: and eventually you will find the exit. This is the idea, 641 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,560 Speaker 1: all right. Now, this usually works with most mazes, but 642 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 1: if the maze has a central blank area occupied by 643 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: second maze, then your toast, it's not gonna work. Well, certainly, 644 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:52,719 Speaker 1: you can follow theseus's advice and have some yarn with 645 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 1: you or some string and throw that behind you and 646 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,239 Speaker 1: just hope that nothing is going to follow in your 647 00:34:57,239 --> 00:35:00,360 Speaker 1: wake to disrupt the path you're setting for your self. 648 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,040 Speaker 1: In the Name of the Rose, the character of Brother 649 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,480 Speaker 1: William of Baskerville says to find the way out of 650 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,760 Speaker 1: a labyrinth, that there is only one means at every 651 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,880 Speaker 1: new junction, never seen before. The path we have taken 652 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,920 Speaker 1: will be marked with three signs. If because of previous 653 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: signs on some of the paths of the junction, you 654 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,759 Speaker 1: see that the junction has already been visited, you will 655 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:20,880 Speaker 1: make only one mark on the path you have taken. 656 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,840 Speaker 1: If all the apertures have already been marked, then you 657 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 1: must retrace your steps. And he continues a little bit 658 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:28,800 Speaker 1: on this line and then add so that the younger 659 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,600 Speaker 1: monk that he's he's taking with him on this journey, says, 660 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:33,440 Speaker 1: how do you know that? Are you an expert on labyrinth? 661 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:35,360 Speaker 1: And he says, no, I'm citing an ancient text I 662 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,080 Speaker 1: once read and and so asked. And by observing this rule, 663 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: you get out. And he says, almost never as far 664 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:42,200 Speaker 1: as I know. But we will still try it all 665 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:46,640 Speaker 1: the same. So, so you're gonna have to be patient 666 00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: with the maze, I guess, And you're gonna have to 667 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 1: You're gonna have to remain calm, but alert, be very 668 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,800 Speaker 1: aware of your surroundings, and uh, and don't be afraid 669 00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:01,000 Speaker 1: to make some marks and notations. Um, and whether thoughts 670 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,120 Speaker 1: of comfort here? One is that we have learned this before, 671 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,680 Speaker 1: We've talked about this, Uh, that a rat's brain during 672 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:10,120 Speaker 1: sleep sometimes mimics what happens during the day. So rats 673 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 1: and a maze, you can actually see the specific patterns 674 00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,440 Speaker 1: of neurons fired in the rats brains while running a 675 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 1: lab maze that appeared that day what um and then 676 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 1: during ram sleep for those rats. So in other words, 677 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 1: rats can dream about the maze that they've been in 678 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,359 Speaker 1: and they can try to figure out a better way 679 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: to approach it next time, so they can learn to 680 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:34,879 Speaker 1: navigate a maze given maze, they can actually, Yeah, they 681 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:36,399 Speaker 1: can be trained to do this some part of humans. 682 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:38,239 Speaker 1: Do any even who lives in a city, has learned 683 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 1: to navigate amaze. Yeah, and part of this training, of course, 684 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 1: has to do with rem sleep and going over this 685 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,319 Speaker 1: material again and again. So just that that to me 686 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,360 Speaker 1: is very comforting when I think about getting out of 687 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,080 Speaker 1: a maze. And if you are an amazing and you're 688 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:52,799 Speaker 1: feeling lots of inks, maybe you're in a city, a 689 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:55,640 Speaker 1: new city, or a true maze itself, or you're drawing 690 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,880 Speaker 1: amaze or trying to get out of one that's on 691 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,520 Speaker 1: a piece of paper. Uh, here's what you should do. 692 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:05,640 Speaker 1: You should start to think about the bunny healthy music 693 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:09,560 Speaker 1: because this apparently is very helpful. I think it decreases anxiety. 694 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,279 Speaker 1: And I say this because I watched the clip of 695 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:13,760 Speaker 1: the Shining that was scored to the Benny Healthy music 696 00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: and it was far less frightening. And if you want 697 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:18,120 Speaker 1: to see that, check out the blog post that accompanies 698 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,480 Speaker 1: this this podcast episode. All right, well, I think I 699 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,160 Speaker 1: hear the minotaur calling, so we probably need to wrap 700 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:26,239 Speaker 1: this up. I do want to close out with a 701 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:29,240 Speaker 1: poem by your hey, Lewis Borees, who again was obsessed 702 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:32,239 Speaker 1: with mazes and labyrinths and mirrors and all matter of 703 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:36,040 Speaker 1: mentally complex arrangements. And this is his poem called the 704 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:39,640 Speaker 1: Labyrinth Budget. It really sums up the feeling of being 705 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: an a maze. Zeus himself could not undo the web 706 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:46,279 Speaker 1: of stone closing around me. I've forgotten the men I 707 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:49,680 Speaker 1: was before. I follow the hated path of monotonous walls. 708 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:53,280 Speaker 1: That is my destiny, severe galleries which curve in secret 709 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: circles to the end of the years, parapets cracked by 710 00:37:56,640 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 1: the day's usury. In the pale dust, I have discerned 711 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,480 Speaker 1: earned signs that frightened me. In the concave evenings, the 712 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:06,320 Speaker 1: air has carried a roar toward me, or the echo 713 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:09,400 Speaker 1: of a desolate How I know there is another in 714 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,120 Speaker 1: the shadows whose fate it is to wear out the 715 00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,680 Speaker 1: long solitudes, which weave and unweave this hades, and to 716 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:18,880 Speaker 1: long for my blood and devour my death. Each of 717 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 1: us seeks the other. If only this were the final 718 00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:27,800 Speaker 1: day of waiting. So that you have it, we have 719 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,600 Speaker 1: escaped from the maze, and in our next episode we 720 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:35,280 Speaker 1: will explore the labyrinth. That's right. They to the yang, 721 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,480 Speaker 1: and it is a very different beast here, so do 722 00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:41,840 Speaker 1: check it out. In the meantime, you can always check 723 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:45,399 Speaker 1: us out in several different places. Yes, Stuff to Blow 724 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:47,600 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. That is the mothership, that is 725 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,520 Speaker 1: where all the podcast episodes live, way back to the 726 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:53,600 Speaker 1: very beginning. You'll find our blog post. You'll find our videos. 727 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:56,080 Speaker 1: You'll find links out to our various social media accounts 728 00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:02,359 Speaker 1: including Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Google Plus, uh Soundclouds. Also mind 729 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:04,879 Speaker 1: Stuff Show on YouTube. That's their YouTube account. Go check 730 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:06,879 Speaker 1: out our videos there, follow us to support the show 731 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,600 Speaker 1: and Julie. If people want to email us, how might 732 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,160 Speaker 1: they go about that? Oh, well, they can send it 733 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,920 Speaker 1: through the maze of fiber optics, and they can do 734 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:18,839 Speaker 1: it by sending an email to blow the mind at 735 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:24,480 Speaker 1: Discovery dot com for more on this and thousands of 736 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:32,840 Speaker 1: other topics. Is it How Stuff Works dot com