1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,760 Speaker 1: My welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, are you 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind? My name is 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And hey, it's still October. 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,279 Speaker 1: That's right. Uh, you know this episode we need to 6 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: go and stay at the front. Uh. This episode is 7 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: sponsored by Lexus. Lexus asked to say make cars. They 8 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: make cars. They asked us to do an episode that 9 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: revolves around automobiles and deals with automobiles, and we said sure. 10 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: But also, since it is October, since it is our 11 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:40,520 Speaker 1: our month Halloween celebration, we have to kick things off 12 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: by discussing something at least a little Halloween. We're gonna 13 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: have to talk about Stephen King's Christine. Right, it got 14 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: your brain winding on those cars without driver movies. Yeah, yeah, 15 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: some of you may best remember Christine from from the book. 16 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: I remember reading the book back and I think junior high. 17 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: And then then of course there's John Carpenter's nineteen eighty 18 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: three film adaptation. This is one of the only classic 19 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: Carpenter era films I have not seen. It's been a well, 20 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: it's been a while since i've seen it, but it's 21 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: a it's a pretty pretty great concept. The film, as 22 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: the book, concerns a murderous red and white n Plymouth 23 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: fury and the vehicle is possessed by a by a 24 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: malicious will and a jealousy with which it protects the 25 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: character Arnie Cunningham. So this is like I've heard it 26 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: described before. It's basically like there's this teen boy, he 27 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: gets this car, the car is sort of possessed and 28 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 1: it becomes like a murderous jealous lover. Yeah, that's kind 29 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: of the shorthand for it. But I also think that 30 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: that King and Carpenter, at least on some level, you know, 31 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: they're they're playing with a few other elements. They're playing 32 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: certainly with nostalgia, because it's a very nostalgic vehicle that 33 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: ends up possessing the kid. You know, there's certainly, I 34 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: mean certainly when I think back on it, I think 35 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: on the fact that it seems to deal a lot 36 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: with like really toxic idea is of masculinity, and you know, 37 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: because just filled with awful men in their cars, in 38 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: their vehicles, but but also this idea that a car 39 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: could change us, or that a car becomes the the 40 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: means by which we we chase change because at the 41 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:20,959 Speaker 1: center of it, there is this character that undergoes the 42 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: transformation through his use of the automobile. And of course 43 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: it's it's Stephen King, it's John Carpenter. So it ends 44 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: up it has the supernatural flare to it. But I 45 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: think at heart one of the reasons that the people 46 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: did the story is like they get this idea of 47 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: the car as being something that can have an effect 48 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,680 Speaker 1: on human behavior and human identity and uh, and can 49 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: be something we chase after for those reasons. Yeah, And 50 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: that goes multiple ways. So there's the one hand where 51 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,079 Speaker 1: we're chasing it, where it's like new car, new me. 52 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,679 Speaker 1: You know, people want to sort of like maybe upgrade 53 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: or change their personal image or change their view of 54 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: themselves by getting a new car. Uh. And then there's 55 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: the way, of course that maybe in a more unconscious 56 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: and subterranean way, just driving changes the way we interact 57 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: with the world. Yeah. Absolutely, And on top of that, 58 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: there's also the personification aspect of it. You know, Christine 59 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,519 Speaker 1: is the car and yet she, however you want to identify, 60 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: we end up personifying it in the show. And this 61 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: is a trend that can that is used elsewhere and storytelling. 62 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: It was used in a nineteen four story named Killdozer 63 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: that was later made into a film I believe you 64 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: have with the love Bug, and then later on you 65 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: had the likes of Mega Weapon from Warrior of the 66 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: Lost World. So there's the Green Goblin tractor trailer rigg 67 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: and King's own nineteen eight six self directed adaptation of 68 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: his ninety short story Trucks the legendary Maximum Overdrive. That 69 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: one's a mess, but but already I think we get 70 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: just by looking at our fiction about vehicles, we get 71 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: this idea that our relationship with him is kind of complicated, 72 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: Like they are these things that we kind of see 73 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: as non human entities and yet uh and and yet 74 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: we personify them, and then we also merge with them, 75 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: and we allow them to to change how we perceive 76 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: ourselves and how we perceive others. Cars are very much 77 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: one of one of the early steps towards cyborgi ism. 78 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: I mean, we totally incorporate the car into the sense 79 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: of self, and I think that there's really interesting evidence 80 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: for that too from psychological research. But like the horse 81 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: drawn carriage is essentially a relationship between human and horse, 82 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 1: with the carriage as uh, you can see it, I 83 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: guess as a facilitator or just this necessary prop But 84 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,600 Speaker 1: then the horseless carriage is all about the human and 85 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: the machine. Yeah. I don't know if I can think 86 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: of another technology that fills both of these roles quite 87 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: the way that the cars do that are both sort 88 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: of a a slightly personified external in to t t like 89 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: the way that you know, people interact with robots as 90 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: if they're living creatures. People sort of interact with cars 91 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: as if they're living creatures, but then also incorporated into 92 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: the self, like the car, and as an extension of 93 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: the brain and the body. Yeah, like I feel like 94 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: to a certain extent, we see some of these things 95 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 1: happening with people who own and operate boats, especially smaller boats, 96 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,280 Speaker 1: because certainly boats can be used as a symbol. They 97 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:28,680 Speaker 1: can you know, et cetera. They can you know, fall 98 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: falls in a number of these categories. But at the 99 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: same time, a boat doesn't. It tends not to enclose 100 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,839 Speaker 1: inclose one the way an automobile is. And of course 101 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: the automobile, especially in the United States, is this thing 102 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: that is uh, it's almost expected of everyone that what 103 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: you should have access to it, where, of course, a 104 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: boat is going to be more of a thing in 105 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: coastal regions or areas with access to two larger bodies 106 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: of water. Maybe if people regularly drove submarines, submersibles, little 107 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: personal submersibles. Yeah, trying to think of other technologies we 108 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: have such an intimate relationship with as we do with 109 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 1: our cars. If you're a car owner and you drive regularly, 110 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: I mean you would have your electronic devices, like your 111 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,320 Speaker 1: computer or your smartphone, but I don't really see those 112 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: being personified really. They become more just sort of a 113 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: medium space like through which you enter that cyber world. 114 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:24,840 Speaker 1: You don't have a name for your phone? No? No, 115 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: oh yes, I call it Satan. But do you have 116 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: a name for your car? Uh? No, I don't wait, 117 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: do you have a name for your phone? No? But 118 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: I call my wife's phone phony. So if if if 119 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:38,839 Speaker 1: the phone, if you can't the phone cannot be found, 120 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:42,119 Speaker 1: well I'll be like, well where's phony, let's find phony. Um, 121 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: But my car does not have a have a name. 122 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: I though the one I had in high school did 123 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: have a name. It was it was what a Christine? 124 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: No knows that it was a green cheavy malbo uh 125 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,840 Speaker 1: and it was its name was the Green Machine. That 126 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: was just what it had always been called before I 127 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: became the owner of it. So is it named after 128 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: a Kias song? Know that I later, when I discovered 129 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,039 Speaker 1: that Kaya song, which is a cool, cool track, I 130 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,480 Speaker 1: I was reminded of my time with the Green Machine 131 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: the vehicle. But no there, I don't think there's any 132 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: direct relationship there. But we'll get back to this idea 133 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: of you know, naming your car and our association with 134 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: cars in terms of personification in a bit. But first 135 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: let's I say, I think we should probably turn our 136 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: minds to just the most obvious relationship, the relationship between 137 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: the car and the human brain. Sure, Now, one line 138 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: of research here shouldn't really be a surprise at all. 139 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: I think it is that research indicates that our state 140 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: of mind affects how we drive. Kind of duh h. 141 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: I mean, that's obvious, and one the most obvious way, 142 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: I think is the thing we've all had drilled into 143 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 1: us by this point, yet some people still do not 144 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: pay attention to, which is that there are multiple states 145 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: of mind you can get into in which you should 146 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: not drive at all, you know, driving drunk, driving fatigued, 147 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: to driving distracted. Uh, don't do these things. They kill people. Okay. 148 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: And even if you think that you're at normal, you know, 149 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: driving ability, like, we're not very good at judging our 150 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: own ability to drive at any given time. Uh. So 151 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: that's the more obvious one. One that's still probably kind 152 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: of obvious, but less obvious maybe is that emotional states 153 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: affect how we drive. I was looking at one study 154 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 1: from the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention fromen by roytal 155 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: at All called Emotional States of Drivers and the impact 156 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: on Speed, acceleration and Traffic Violations a Simulator study, And 157 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:34,959 Speaker 1: basically they measured performance responses in a driving simulation to 158 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: different scenarios that were designed to get you to feel 159 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: certain emotions like anxiety, fear, anger, and contempt. Uh. And 160 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: the results were the following. Anger is bad. You don't 161 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: want to be angry while you drive, they say. Quote. 162 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 1: Results indicate that anger leads to stronger acceleration and higher 163 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 1: speeds even for two kilometers beyond the emotional siting events. 164 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: So something makes you mad, you don't just m passed 165 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: it and then go back to baseline. You zoom passed 166 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,559 Speaker 1: it and you kind of stay in a heightened state 167 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:09,079 Speaker 1: of angry speeding around for a while. The authors found 168 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: that both anxiety and contempt created similar effects to anger, 169 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,400 Speaker 1: but the effects were somewhat weaker. Uh so still stronger acceleration, 170 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: higher speeds. Uh. They found that fright was the only 171 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 1: emotion that actually improved driving performance by some measures. Interesting. Yeah, 172 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: they said that fright quote correlated with stronger breaking momentum 173 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: and lower speeds directly after the critical event. So I 174 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: think the obvious solution is to go in the Christine direction, 175 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: Like you need to get your car haunted, You take 176 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: it to the neighborhood which get it jammed with curses 177 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: and screaming ghosts, and then you'll be a safer driver. Interesting. 178 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: I mean, so certainly there's there's plenty of media and 179 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: they're staying in news coverage, you know, of the dangers 180 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,560 Speaker 1: of driving. But it does make you wonder if like 181 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: there's such if there is a strong connection between fear 182 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: and driving safer, there needs to be stuff like on 183 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:04,679 Speaker 1: the dashboard that inspires fear. Uh uh yeah, So I'm 184 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: kidding about that, obviously, I don't now there might be 185 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:10,960 Speaker 1: measures by which driving afraid it makes you actually worse 186 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,079 Speaker 1: at driving. It was just on the measures that they 187 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 1: looked at in this study, so like when people were scared, 188 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: they lowered their speed, of course, and lower speeds correlate 189 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:21,560 Speaker 1: to fewer accidents and that kind of thing. So good 190 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: on that measure, but not necessarily good to be afraid 191 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: while driving on every measure. We don't know what all 192 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 1: those measures would be, but so well, the specific details 193 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,720 Speaker 1: there might be instructive. We also all know that that 194 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,320 Speaker 1: mind states we bring to the road affect how we 195 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: operate a vehicle. On the other hand, I think it's 196 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,080 Speaker 1: really interesting to think about the psychology of driving in 197 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 1: the opposite direction, not how the mind state we bring 198 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: to the car affects how we drive, but how driving 199 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 1: affects our minds overall. Yeah, one of the big things 200 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: that that that really struck me and looking at all 201 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: this was just how how cognitively demanding driving really is. 202 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: Even though it's something that you know so many especially 203 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:03,679 Speaker 1: if you've been doing it for a while, if you're 204 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: if you're learning to drive, it can it can feel 205 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,840 Speaker 1: rightfully overwhelming, Like I remember that feeling and thinking like 206 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 1: how am I going to do this? And you know 207 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:14,719 Speaker 1: the other the adults in my lives were saying things like, oh, well, 208 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:16,640 Speaker 1: everybody does it. It can't be that hard. You'll get it. 209 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,040 Speaker 1: You know, everybody drives. But but it is a cognitively 210 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 1: demanding task. I was looking at a a paper titled 211 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 1: mind over Machine, and in it, Hubert drive us at 212 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: All described learning to drive a car is something that 213 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,840 Speaker 1: is quote so designed that almost all novices can eventually 214 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,319 Speaker 1: reach the level we call expert, which which I think 215 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:40,719 Speaker 1: is interesting. So we're dealing with something that, again, is 216 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: is a cognitively demanding activity, and yet we have it 217 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,199 Speaker 1: refined in such a way, and maybe the task itself 218 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: lends itself in such a way that most humans who 219 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 1: undertake it can reach a very high level of mastery. Now, 220 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: certainly they're gonna still be plenty of people who are 221 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,320 Speaker 1: better than you at driving. They're probably gonna be people 222 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: that are at worst. But on average, we have this, 223 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: we have this world in which we have wrapped it 224 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: in highways and roads and we give and people have 225 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: these vehicles that are just inherently dangerous by being you know, 226 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: fast moving in pieces of steel and glass and so forth. 227 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: And for the most part, it goes pretty well. Uh yeah, 228 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: it's kind of amazing how much it goes well. I mean, 229 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: this goes against obviously our our normal framing and negativity 230 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,000 Speaker 1: bias and stuff when we think about traffic, which is 231 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:32,839 Speaker 1: you get out on the road and you think, oh, 232 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,560 Speaker 1: everybody out there is just the worst at driving, is 233 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: just awful. But now, I mean, on one hand, that 234 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: can be true. But at the same time, you could 235 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:45,760 Speaker 1: just say it's amazing how well it mostly goes Yeah, yeah, 236 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: I think so, which again can be hard to hard 237 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,319 Speaker 1: to stomach if you're stuck in traffic or if there's 238 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: a particularly crazy, you know, driver weaving in and out 239 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,240 Speaker 1: of traffic. But but but still it's worth stopping to 240 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: to realize. But a lot of this, I think gets 241 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: down to the fact that that we are highly evolved 242 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 1: tool users, and the automobile vehicle is essentially a complex tool. 243 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: When we you say, a hammer, we extend our body 244 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,199 Speaker 1: schema through it. Our brain updates its notion of where 245 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 1: our body ends and the world begins. It incorporates the 246 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: hammer into our conception of the body, and we then 247 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: wield it as an extension of ourselves to you know, 248 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 1: a large extent and a car also affects this, you know, 249 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 1: like we become the car and it changes our perception 250 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:30,800 Speaker 1: then of the world beyond us. Yeah, and this is 251 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: something really interesting to consider. Now I've talked on the 252 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: show before without any specific evidence. I remember just talking 253 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 1: about a general intuition that our perception of space and 254 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 1: relationship to other objects seems different when we're in a 255 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: car versus when we're just walking around on the street. 256 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,520 Speaker 1: We actually found a study this time that talks directly 257 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: about this phenomenon. So this, uh, the study here is 258 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: by Moeller at All. It's called what a Car Does 259 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: to Your Perception Distance of Value suations differ from within 260 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 1: an outside of a car from the Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 261 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: And so the authors start off here by talking about 262 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,960 Speaker 1: how research already exists to show that the use of 263 00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: like handheld tools you use the idea of a hammer, 264 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: maybe an ax or like a like a grabber claw, 265 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:20,440 Speaker 1: you know, those those funneled things to get something down 266 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:24,480 Speaker 1: off top of the refrigerator, that they extend our perception 267 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:27,920 Speaker 1: of near space. They sort of alter our view of 268 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 1: how near and far away things are within there when 269 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: they're within like rough reach of this tool and other 270 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: research suggests that our ideas of near and far are 271 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: frequently altered by our potential to act within a given space. 272 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: So like, whether you're currently using a tool that allows 273 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: you to quickly access some kind of activity or change 274 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: something within a certain space, it changes your view of 275 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: how close or far that space is from you. Now. 276 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 1: On the issue of a vehicle versus two, the vehicle 277 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 1: as a tool, the authors also point out quote one 278 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,560 Speaker 1: marked difference between handheld tools and vehicles is that the 279 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: latter are mainly used for transportation and not to manipulate 280 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 1: the environment. Never Nevertheless, for a long time, authors have 281 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: repeatedly suggested that vehicles might be defined as tools as well. However, 282 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: they do know that there has been less research, however, 283 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: on vehicle tools and human cognition. Yeah, and so what 284 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: this study set out to do was just see how 285 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: sitting in a vehicle or having recently used a vehicle 286 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: changes your perception of space according to these guidelines. So 287 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: basically what they did is they had people sit at 288 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: a starting line, you know, like you stand behind the line, 289 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: judge various distances out in front of you, between like 290 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: four and twenty meters, and they would vary the conditions, 291 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 1: whether you'd be a pedestrian just sitting there in a 292 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: chair on foot, or sitting in a car, or sitting 293 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 1: in a kind of car simulator that was basically not 294 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: a car, but it was like a black wooden frame 295 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: that would block out the same parts of your view 296 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:06,320 Speaker 1: that would normally be obscured if you were sitting in 297 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: a car. Right. So that's a good control condition, right, 298 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: it's sort of it counteracts the idea that your perception 299 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,520 Speaker 1: would be altered just by what the car normally blocks 300 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: you from seeing. Yeah, they end up concluding the cars 301 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: quote modulate the perception of far distances because they modulate 302 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: the driver's perception like a tool typically does, and change 303 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: the perceived action potential. And you know, I can, I can. 304 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: I think you can relate to this in in my 305 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: day to day life. Uh. If I if I've driven 306 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: the car to, say a large shopping complex where you 307 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 1: have a large parking area and then stores around the 308 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: edges of that parking area, and so let's say the 309 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: grocery stores on one side and the bookstores on the 310 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: far other side, and I have to pick something up 311 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: from both the bookstore and the grocery store. I'm a 312 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: drive to the grocery store, uh, to do my main shopping, 313 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: and then I'll go on driving. I'll think in my mind, well, okay, 314 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: I'll get out, I'll do the grocery store a run, 315 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: and then I'll just walk over to the bookstore and 316 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: then back to the back to the car. Right, And 317 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: that makes perfect sense. But then I get out of 318 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: the car. I may I go inside, I walk around, 319 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:11,760 Speaker 1: I do the grocery shopping. I'm bringing the food back 320 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:14,240 Speaker 1: to my vehicle. And then I realized, this is a 321 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: big parking lot. Maybe this this this is actually maybe 322 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 1: a walk I'm not willing to take. I'm going to 323 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,439 Speaker 1: get back in the car and I'm going to drive 324 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,520 Speaker 1: across the parking lot to the bookstore. Uh. And I 325 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: think that that could possibly could make the argument that 326 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: that kind of decision making is based in the fact 327 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: that when I'm in the car, it really doesn't seem 328 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:33,399 Speaker 1: like that big of a distance, but when I'm out 329 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:36,360 Speaker 1: of the car, I can more accurately judge the distance 330 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:38,600 Speaker 1: across the parking lot. Well, this is not covered in 331 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:40,520 Speaker 1: the study we looked at, or in any study that 332 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: I could find, but it also makes me wonder about 333 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:47,960 Speaker 1: not just estimations of distances, but judgments about the trasversibility 334 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: of spaces. Um, so does being in a car make 335 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: you see a particular landscape as more or less traversible 336 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,200 Speaker 1: in general? Not just distance, but like you know, there 337 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: there are certain part king lots that you could drive across, 338 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: but you don't really like want to walk across them 339 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: if they're like you know, big lanes going across the 340 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:08,399 Speaker 1: middle of them where there are a lot of cars 341 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: moving or something, right, I mean it could also affect, uh, 342 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:15,120 Speaker 1: you know, how you perceive, say the walkability of your neighborhood, 343 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:18,719 Speaker 1: or what kind of a walking commute you might have 344 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,880 Speaker 1: to the nearest train or bus station, that sort of thing. Yeah, totally. 345 00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:24,679 Speaker 1: Now a couple of other things from the discussion section 346 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: of this paper. So one thing they say is that specifically, 347 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: like how much did drivers underestimate distances when compared to pedestrians? 348 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: They say, quote, drivers underestimated even the shortest distance, which 349 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,000 Speaker 1: I think would have been four meters, by approximately forty 350 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:45,119 Speaker 1: per cent, And this underestimation did not increase anymore for 351 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:47,880 Speaker 1: increasing distances. So that's kind of interesting. It's like they're 352 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: rough underestimation percentage stayed about the same as the distances 353 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: got farther, right. Um, And we want to say again, 354 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,480 Speaker 1: this was not due to drivers having part of their 355 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:01,119 Speaker 1: vision blocked by the body of the car, which is 356 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:05,399 Speaker 1: a thing, because they compared it to pedestrians just sitting 357 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: there with like a black frame blocking the same parts 358 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: of their vision and there was still a difference. It 359 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 1: was the idea that I'm in a car. It was 360 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: what seemed to be acting on people to make this 361 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: misjudgment of distance. But another variation they looked at was 362 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: didn't movement before the experiment alter anything? Uh. They found 363 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: that if you walk for ten minutes before you make 364 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: the judgment of distance, this did not influence distance estimation, 365 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:34,840 Speaker 1: so walking around doesn't change anything. But if you drive 366 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: the car for ten minutes, this led to even larger 367 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:43,119 Speaker 1: underestimations of distances. Uh. So they conclude in the end 368 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: quote the moment you sit in your car, your distance 369 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: perception of the environment seems to adapt to your new 370 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: action potential, again underlining how strongly related action and perception 371 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:58,439 Speaker 1: representations in the cognitive system are. And this makes me 372 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: just want to see more re search along these lines 373 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:04,199 Speaker 1: about the ways our perception of not just space, but 374 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,920 Speaker 1: also again like objects in the landscape and stuff are 375 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:12,360 Speaker 1: altered by being inside a car. Like here's an example, 376 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: how much different would you estimate the mass of an 377 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,400 Speaker 1: object in front of you if you're in a car 378 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: versus not in a car. I wonder if being in 379 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 1: a car makes other things around you look smaller and 380 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: less significant and less weighty. Perhaps I don't know, but 381 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:31,919 Speaker 1: I mean I ask that because I mean I wonder if, 382 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: like being in a car also sort of upgrades your 383 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: body schema to think more like I am not a 384 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,040 Speaker 1: small primate, I am a rhinoceros. Yeah, I mean there is. 385 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,159 Speaker 1: I feel like there is this sense of of power 386 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,240 Speaker 1: that comes into play when you're in the vehicle. I mean, 387 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:49,440 Speaker 1: the vehicle is a is a powerful object that can 388 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: travel a greater speeds than than a human can travel otherwise, 389 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,920 Speaker 1: And you're also cut off from your environment to a 390 00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,119 Speaker 1: certain extent. I mean, yeah, there's really nothing between you 391 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:02,959 Speaker 1: and the rounding world besides you know, some steel and 392 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,800 Speaker 1: some glass, and you know, uh, you know, locking mechanism. 393 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 1: But but still, it's easy to be in a vehicle 394 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:14,680 Speaker 1: and feel very much detached from say, the neighborhood you're 395 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: driving through, or the or or you know, the the 396 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: events on the side of the road that you're driving past. Um. 397 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,640 Speaker 1: I think it does contribute to the sense of detachment. Yeah. 398 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,120 Speaker 1: I sometimes feel this way. Now. On one hand, I 399 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: do enjoy driving through like beautiful landscapes that I you know, Uh, 400 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 1: it's the thing I like. I like, you know, driving 401 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,359 Speaker 1: in the mountains or something. But also there is a 402 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,120 Speaker 1: kind of sense where looking through the windshield of a 403 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,159 Speaker 1: car moving through an environment is almost kind of like 404 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:50,160 Speaker 1: an upgraded form of watching a movie of the environment. 405 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:51,879 Speaker 1: And I notice, you know, when I get to a 406 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 1: really beautiful place, if there's an ability, I do want 407 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,440 Speaker 1: to stop the car and get out just to look, 408 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 1: even just to look at something that I could see 409 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: you through the windows of the car. Why do I 410 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:04,160 Speaker 1: want to get out of the car? I want to 411 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:10,440 Speaker 1: manipulate my experience somehow by removing myself from the movie screen. Uh. 412 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: Does that make sense? Yeah? Absolutely? Uh. I think we 413 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 1: can also all relate to the things that we don't 414 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: see when we drive. UM. The main example that comes 415 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:21,320 Speaker 1: to mind of this is if there's a if I 416 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 1: typically drive a certain way and then uh, and then 417 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: I return on that same route, but I'm in the 418 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,520 Speaker 1: passenger seat instead, and then I'll see something like, oh, 419 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,400 Speaker 1: I've driven I've driven by this house so many times. 420 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:34,640 Speaker 1: I never see that house, I guess because I'm more 421 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: concerned with you know, the turn, I'm about to make it, etcetera. 422 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: But but that can that can be rather illuminating as well, 423 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: to realize, oh that I've I've just never really seen 424 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: this one particular landmark. Uh, in my driving, like my 425 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: my perception is not as you know, as all encompassing 426 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,400 Speaker 1: as I might think. I'm not. I'm not seeing out 427 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:57,680 Speaker 1: of all of these windshields at once. That's a really 428 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: good point. Some of the movie screen in effect, I guess, 429 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: would be not just from being in the car, but 430 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 1: specifically from being the driver of the car. All right, 431 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:07,720 Speaker 1: on that note, we're going to take a quick break, 432 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,679 Speaker 1: but when we come back, we will personify our cars 433 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:15,919 Speaker 1: a little bit. All right, we're back. All right. So 434 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,399 Speaker 1: you had a car when what you were in high school, 435 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:22,160 Speaker 1: you said high school, named the Green Machine. Was it 436 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,439 Speaker 1: in any way inspired by the Green Goblin from Maximum Overdrive? No, 437 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,640 Speaker 1: I imagine I'd seen Maximum Overdrive by that point. But no, 438 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:34,160 Speaker 1: it didn't really have anything to do with that. But yes, 439 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 1: we will come back to the green goblin here in 440 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,639 Speaker 1: a minute. When we when we look at our cars, 441 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:43,120 Speaker 1: though we we sometimes do personify them. I mean I don't, 442 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:45,639 Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think I do this a lot consciously. 443 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,679 Speaker 1: Like I don't name cars. Some people do. But when 444 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: you look at a car, you still may anthropomorphize it 445 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,520 Speaker 1: to some extent, even if it's not like an overt 446 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: thing in your mind. I would say there are two 447 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 1: main reasons for this. One is that it moves, and 448 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:03,160 Speaker 1: any technology you that moves is especially prone to being anthropomorphized. 449 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:06,240 Speaker 1: The other is that it has headlights, and headlights are 450 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:09,440 Speaker 1: oriented like eyes, and then it has a grill which 451 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: looks like a mouth. Yea, so it I'm not just 452 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,400 Speaker 1: joking about that. I think the headlights make a big difference. Yeah, yeah, 453 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: I think so. I mean we tend to anthropomorphize things anyway. 454 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: You know. It's it's difficult to not think of something 455 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,440 Speaker 1: as a certain type of entity. If we draw a 456 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: smiley face on it, right, just a really abstract face, 457 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:34,680 Speaker 1: and the car in its typical design has this abstract 458 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:37,679 Speaker 1: face built into it, and uh, and and there have 459 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: been studies that look at this, Uh I was looking 460 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: at is this car looking at you? How anthropomorphism predicts 461 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: fusiform face area activation when seeing cars by Coon, Brick, Mueller, 462 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 1: and uh gallinat and this is from plos one. And 463 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,400 Speaker 1: they observe the tendency and subjects to activate their fusiform 464 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,879 Speaker 1: face area the f f A while looking at car fronts. 465 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,119 Speaker 1: And the f A is a part of the brain 466 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: that is commonly activated, of course when you are recognizing 467 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 1: other human faces, right, and so they stay quote. The 468 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:13,639 Speaker 1: results point to an important role of f A in 469 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 1: the phenomenon of ascribing human attributes to non living objects. Interestingly, 470 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: brain regions that have been associated with thinking about beliefs 471 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,879 Speaker 1: and mental states of others, the t p A, t PJ, 472 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 1: the mPFC UM do not seem to be related to 473 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: anthropomorphism of car fronts. So I would assume to activate 474 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: these other regions we need something more overt, perhaps like 475 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:39,879 Speaker 1: we need that green goblin face from the front of 476 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: the semi truck and maximum overdive overdrive UM. But I 477 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 1: wonder to what extend these factors. This, this factors into 478 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 1: some of our tendencies to assume the worst of other cars, 479 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: because if we're anthropomorphizing the vehicle, but we're not doing 480 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: so to the extent that we're we're thinking about the 481 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: car's beliefs or it's mind state, you know, we're kind 482 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,920 Speaker 1: of seeing it as this mindless animal, and so it 483 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: would make sense then that we assume the worst of it, 484 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,440 Speaker 1: like what is this car beast doing cutting me off? 485 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,120 Speaker 1: What is this other car beast doing with its bright sign? 486 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: You know, because because we were not thinking about the 487 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: you know, the the the actual emotional state of the 488 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: Volkswagen buck Well, this leads me to another question that 489 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 1: I don't think. I didn't find any research about this, 490 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: but it makes me think, are people more likely to 491 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:36,119 Speaker 1: think about drivers in the daytime and other cars in 492 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,840 Speaker 1: the nighttime because in the daytime you can actually like 493 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:42,280 Speaker 1: see the outline of the driver inside the vehicle. Yeah, 494 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: I was wondering about that as well. I have to 495 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: think back on my most recent encounter with a driver 496 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,720 Speaker 1: that irritated me, which was of course this morning, just 497 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,120 Speaker 1: just in dealing with the parking tech, and the car 498 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: was driving in a way that I disapproved off it 499 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: was not not obeying the mater stand it's no. I mean, 500 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,480 Speaker 1: I'm very much a rule follower. I believe you should. 501 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,720 Speaker 1: You should when you're navigating, say a car parking complex, 502 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: you should. You should not just drive willy nilly across 503 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:14,040 Speaker 1: the parking places. You should follow the course. And this 504 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 1: this individual was not well. I mean, even if you're 505 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:18,719 Speaker 1: a rebel, you should be a rule follower in traffic 506 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 1: situations because that prevents injuries, right, But have been in 507 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,119 Speaker 1: these cases, I often feel this um, this need to 508 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 1: see the individual, you know. And I mean, on one hand, 509 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: I guess I could excuse that and say, well, maybe 510 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:32,199 Speaker 1: I'm trying to do the appropriate thing and make a 511 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 1: human contact with this person that has irritated me. But 512 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: then also I'm kind of like, I just want to 513 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: judge them more. I want to see what kind of 514 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,159 Speaker 1: person drives like this. And in this case, and in 515 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: the daylight, the individual also had sunglasses on, so I 516 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: wasn't able to really see. I wasn't able to make 517 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 1: eye contact with them and see their eyes. So there 518 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 1: was still this something, you know, a layer between me 519 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 1: and them. And and certainly I d I mean a 520 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 1: sunny day, you drive with sunglasses, that's what I do. 521 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:58,520 Speaker 1: So of course, so I think we'd have to factor 522 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: that in. But certainly at night you're going to have 523 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,439 Speaker 1: plenty of vehicles where you you certainly are not seeing 524 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,080 Speaker 1: any sense of the human inside them. And therefore, if 525 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:12,080 Speaker 1: you are inclined to view the vehicle is this metal beast. Uh, 526 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: You're you're gonna have more license to do so. Oh. 527 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 1: The second part of me wondering if people see cars 528 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: more as cars in the nighttime is because the headlights 529 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:24,199 Speaker 1: are lit up, the eyes are glowing. Yeah. Now, I 530 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: want to come back at this point to just driving 531 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,880 Speaker 1: and the functionality of our brains. So, yes, it's intuitive 532 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: enough that most of us become quote unquote experts and 533 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,440 Speaker 1: uh and yes, way too many of us multitask when 534 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: we drive, and usually do so without anything terrible happening. Uh, 535 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,240 Speaker 1: you know, but we and oftentimes we're engaging in downright 536 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: dangerous activities. You know, people are still texting while driving, 537 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: or even if you're not doing things that that are 538 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:54,800 Speaker 1: you know, that are so explicitly uh you know, advised 539 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 1: against or or even you know they're even laws against, 540 00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: you'll still see people doing other kind of wacky things 541 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 1: while driving, like reading a book while driving a car, 542 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 1: or you know, putting on their makeup, or or eating 543 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: eating food that is inadvisable to eat while while driving, 544 00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:13,000 Speaker 1: because it's one thing in my mind to have like 545 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: a sandwich, but if you actually have to use uh, 546 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:17,920 Speaker 1: you know, fork and knife, then that's probably a meal 547 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: you should stop the car for. I think it's probably 548 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: just better not to eat while you're drivingly, yeah, probably so. 549 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: And you know, also, on the other hand, even without 550 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:28,880 Speaker 1: thinking of this, well, a lot of us will drive, 551 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,520 Speaker 1: maybe most of us will drive while some sort of 552 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 1: audio is playing. You're gonna listen to music, or you're 553 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 1: gonna listen to the news, or or you're gonna listen 554 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 1: to a podcast. You may be listening to us right 555 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 1: now as you drive. Uh. And even if you're just 556 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: listening to like, non lyrical music, you are probably putting 557 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: yourself into a state where you can you can daydream 558 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,800 Speaker 1: or you know, or certainly think about the day before 559 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: the day after. But we shouldn't assume that any of 560 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: this means that driving a vehicle is cognitively simple, that 561 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:01,800 Speaker 1: we have just you know, x sess cognitive space for 562 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: all of our sandwich eating and makeup putting on activities, 563 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: not only is driving a cognitively demanding task, it's one 564 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,239 Speaker 1: of the more cognitively complex tasks that we engage in 565 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:16,760 Speaker 1: on a regular basis. Uh. This according to ah chow 566 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:21,040 Speaker 1: at All in Trajectories of Cognitive Decline by Driving Mobility 567 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study, and this is 568 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 1: this was published in Geriatric Psychiatry in and they pointed 569 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 1: out that there's there's not only correlation between cognitive decline 570 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,760 Speaker 1: and driving cessation in old age, which of course can 571 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,480 Speaker 1: further limit social and physical fitness in an individual, but 572 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: that quote, it may also be the case that driving 573 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: a cessation itself is a risk factor for accelerated cognitive 574 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:53,360 Speaker 1: decline over time. This suggests the relationship between driving cessation 575 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 1: and cognitive functioning maybe bi directional. Yeah, that's interesting. So 576 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:00,960 Speaker 1: one direction of course is pretty clear there, right It 577 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:05,320 Speaker 1: Driving cessation certainly correlates with declines in cognitive functioning, and 578 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,480 Speaker 1: the clear reason is that over time you're less able 579 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: to drive, so you stop doing it. But the the 580 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 1: authors think here it's also possible that driving cessation itself 581 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: contributes to decline in cognitive functioning. But either way, the 582 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: authors believe that older adults without independent driving mobility could 583 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: be viewed as a group who would benefit from quote 584 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: targeted interventions that promote social, psychological and cognitive engagement, which 585 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,720 Speaker 1: I think just means like giving them mentally stimulating things 586 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,800 Speaker 1: to do, which could help the brains stay healthy longer. Now, 587 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: on the other hand, I found at least one study 588 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 1: that suggested perhaps long commutes could be a risk factor 589 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,959 Speaker 1: for declines in cognitive performance in older adults. Uh. This 590 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:52,040 Speaker 1: was in the American Journal of Epidemiology by bach Rania 591 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:56,840 Speaker 1: at All from seventeen and it's called Associations between Sedentary 592 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,560 Speaker 1: Behaviors in Cognitive function, cross Sectional and Perspective Findings from 593 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,480 Speaker 1: the UK Biobank. So this study looked at an assessment 594 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: of data from adults who had data stored in the 595 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: UK Biobank. That's like a big research tool that's got 596 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: a bunch of data already ready to go in it. 597 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:16,880 Speaker 1: And it tracked performance on cognitive tests for UK adults 598 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 1: across a mean period of five point three years, and 599 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: then they cross referenced any changes in mental performance over 600 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: that time with lifestyle behaviors such as watching TV, driving, 601 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 1: and non occupational use of a computer. So using a 602 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 1: computer but not for your job, and they found within 603 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:39,120 Speaker 1: their sample that increases in time spent driving and watching 604 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 1: TV we're both associated with decreases in cognitive performance over time, 605 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: but computer use was not. In fact, computer use time 606 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: was positively associated with cognitive performance, and this has been 607 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,120 Speaker 1: written up in some press outlets. I think it's generally 608 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:59,120 Speaker 1: interpreted as evidence that sedentary activities in general, including watching 609 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: TV and drive riving, can lead to declines in cognition 610 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,520 Speaker 1: in time over time and older adults. But at the 611 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:09,680 Speaker 1: same time, I think this is specifically about the sedentary activities. 612 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 1: It's one where I saw some like press headlines I 613 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 1: think going over the top and interpreting it with lines 614 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: like driving makes you stupid or the shocking threat to 615 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,720 Speaker 1: your mental health that you do every day. Uh. I 616 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,200 Speaker 1: don't go overboard with interpreting this is just it's just 617 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,080 Speaker 1: one study not replicated yet as far as I'm aware, 618 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: and it's not uniquely about driving. It's apparently multiple kinds 619 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: of seated, low movement activities. Yeah, it's easy to forget 620 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:40,280 Speaker 1: that that driving is a sedentary activity because it can 621 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:43,640 Speaker 1: sure feel exhausting. If you've you've done a long drive, 622 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: you know, at the end of a of a lengthy 623 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: drive you may feel you know, physically tired, uh, emotionally 624 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,120 Speaker 1: mentally drained uh and it and yet at the same 625 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,680 Speaker 1: time you have to realize that you barely moved for 626 00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: that you know, four hours or more of drive time. Yeah. 627 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:02,680 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, it is weird how exhausting it can be 628 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: like that. But it does also make me wonder if 629 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 1: these results are correct. It makes me wonder what's going 630 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,799 Speaker 1: on with the computer and like and also how does 631 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 1: this square with other research? Because well, one thing before 632 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 1: I get to that is do the cognitive effects of 633 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:21,839 Speaker 1: driving differ depending on what kind of driving you do 634 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,840 Speaker 1: and how much of it you do? That that's one question, 635 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:29,279 Speaker 1: because I would certainly imagine that that, say, driving on 636 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:33,280 Speaker 1: an open road or navigating tricky terrain is probably cognitively different, 637 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 1: different than just like sitting in traffic on a you know, 638 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,360 Speaker 1: long congested commute. Well perhaps, but then again, like a 639 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: congested commute, there's still a lot of things you're paying 640 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: attention to, I guess. So yeah, well, anyway, so I 641 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: want to get to the other things. So back on 642 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 1: the other hand, going against what we were just saying, 643 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: I found another study that saw some noticeable differences in 644 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:59,400 Speaker 1: brain morphology between drivers and non drivers, suggesting the possibility 645 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: that driving sort of exercises specific parts of the brain, 646 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,440 Speaker 1: leading to growth in brain tissue. For example, there's plenty 647 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 1: of evidence that music training, like learning to play a 648 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 1: new musical instrument, changes the structure of the auditory and 649 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:15,880 Speaker 1: motor cortices. It leads to, you know, more gray matter. 650 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: Was that funny? No, No, I'm just I'm realizing that 651 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:22,440 Speaker 1: you're you're about to talk to us about the knowledge. 652 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: Oh I love the knowledge. Well we'll get there in 653 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:27,880 Speaker 1: a second. But yeah, So the music thing that this is, 654 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:31,360 Speaker 1: uh an example of structural plasticity in the human brain. 655 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:36,520 Speaker 1: Does that extend to driving? Does driving perhaps also stimulate 656 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: the growth of more volume of gray matter in certain 657 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,040 Speaker 1: parts of the brain. Apparently at least at some level, 658 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:44,439 Speaker 1: at least according to the study we're about to look at. 659 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: So this was published in seventeen in Nature Scientific Reports 660 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,960 Speaker 1: by Sakai at all and a quick note that this study, 661 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 1: like a lot of studies about driving, was funded by Toyota, Central, 662 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,279 Speaker 1: R and D Laboratories. Of course, there's you know, the 663 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,360 Speaker 1: standard disclaimer that funders had no role in study. Design 664 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:04,080 Speaker 1: outcomes their decision to publish, but you should always be 665 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,960 Speaker 1: aware of potential conflicts of interest. So the study began 666 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:12,080 Speaker 1: by the authors noting previous findings on the relationship between 667 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:16,400 Speaker 1: driving tasks and brain structure, including a two thousand study 668 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: by McGuire at all that found that London taxi drivers 669 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:24,799 Speaker 1: had more gray matter volume in the posterior hippocampus when 670 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:28,120 Speaker 1: compared to non taxi drivers, and the amount of gray 671 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,600 Speaker 1: matter volume was correlated positively with how long they had 672 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 1: been working as a taxi driver in London, and when 673 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:38,439 Speaker 1: they combined this with follow up research, this was interpreted 674 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,799 Speaker 1: as a sort of neuroplastic adaptation to the daily necessity 675 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:47,239 Speaker 1: of constant, detailed spatial representations in the brain. So it 676 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:50,520 Speaker 1: seems like it wasn't just that London London taxi drivers 677 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,279 Speaker 1: chose their job because they're naturally good at mentally representing 678 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:57,399 Speaker 1: spaces like mental maps of city streets, but that they 679 00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:00,799 Speaker 1: got better at mentally representing spaces cause they had to 680 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:03,520 Speaker 1: do it so much. And here's obviously where you'd get 681 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,480 Speaker 1: into the idea of the knowledge, uh did now you 682 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,960 Speaker 1: were recently in London, did you get to ride in 683 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,640 Speaker 1: a cab and get to to think about this. Yeah, 684 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:17,000 Speaker 1: I think I was seeing some some smartphone navigation. I 685 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,680 Speaker 1: was there recently. Is that maybe totally changing there? Yeah? 686 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:21,640 Speaker 1: I was. I'm wondering to what extent that would change 687 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,680 Speaker 1: things because I I went to London years must have 688 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:27,879 Speaker 1: been a decade or more, maybe like thirteen years ago 689 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,320 Speaker 1: I went. I went there and horse at the time, 690 00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,439 Speaker 1: you didn't really see that kind of navigation taking place. 691 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:36,719 Speaker 1: And I distinctly remember writing in a taxi cab and 692 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:39,440 Speaker 1: kind of like staring at the taxi driver's skull and 693 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:42,040 Speaker 1: wondering if this was the knowledge, you know, if I 694 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:44,360 Speaker 1: was looking at like the swelling of the knowledge in 695 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,120 Speaker 1: the brain. Well, we didn't actually explain it briefly, Robert, 696 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 1: what the knowledge? What's the deal with the knowledge? But 697 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:53,200 Speaker 1: the knowledge is that in order to navigate the streets 698 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:55,640 Speaker 1: of London as a as a cab driver, you have 699 00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:59,120 Speaker 1: to you have to load it with all that information 700 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:01,960 Speaker 1: about all the streets you're going to travel like. You 701 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,040 Speaker 1: can't just you can't be busting out a map. You 702 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,360 Speaker 1: can't depend on or at least you couldn't used to 703 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 1: depend on ways or Google maps to to like the 704 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,040 Speaker 1: way for you, you had to have it inside. It 705 00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:15,960 Speaker 1: reminded me a lot of jeez, what what Mark Twain 706 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:21,000 Speaker 1: story was it where he's talking about navigating the Mississippi 707 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: and just how well, uh train one needed to be 708 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:28,040 Speaker 1: in every detail of the of the river. Oh, I 709 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:33,200 Speaker 1: don't know. Um, I'm sure listeners will remind me. But 710 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:35,520 Speaker 1: but it's that level of of of detail like you 711 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:37,880 Speaker 1: you would have to have. And so the idea is 712 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:41,480 Speaker 1: that that you know, assimilating all of that those details 713 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:43,759 Speaker 1: had a marked effect on the brain. Well yeah, I 714 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:47,000 Speaker 1: mean it appears that it does, and specifically, exercising it 715 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:50,640 Speaker 1: over time, like facing your brain with these cognitive challenges 716 00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:54,320 Speaker 1: day after day appears to stimulate the growth of extra 717 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:56,960 Speaker 1: volume of of tissue in certain parts of the brain 718 00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:01,560 Speaker 1: that are the brain depends on for these tasks specifically. 719 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:06,480 Speaker 1: The authors also point to research showing the professional auto 720 00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:10,280 Speaker 1: racing drivers show greater gray matter volume in several brain 721 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,520 Speaker 1: regions when compared to non experienced drivers. And I don't 722 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:18,440 Speaker 1: know specifically what types of tasks the gray matter in 723 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,879 Speaker 1: this research is related to, but if I had to guess, 724 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:26,200 Speaker 1: I would say it's probably stuff like quick reflexes, peripheral vision, perception, 725 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:28,799 Speaker 1: management of speed and that kind of stuff. And does 726 00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:30,759 Speaker 1: that match up with your viewing of the Fast and 727 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:33,480 Speaker 1: Furious movies. I tell you, my viewing of the Fast 728 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:37,040 Speaker 1: and Furious movies has made my brain so powerful I 729 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:42,000 Speaker 1: cannot comprehend. I have surpassed the limits of human imagination 730 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:45,440 Speaker 1: and creativity. And now most of my brain exists in 731 00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:49,799 Speaker 1: another dimension full of cars and chains and sparks, and 732 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:53,319 Speaker 1: it's beautiful. But anyway, so back to the study at hand. 733 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,440 Speaker 1: That that was just all the stuff. They begin you know, 734 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:58,680 Speaker 1: by saying here, here's the research history this study. Uh, 735 00:39:58,719 --> 00:40:01,960 Speaker 1: in particular look to non a driving specialists like the 736 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:05,400 Speaker 1: cyborg navigators of London or the speed demon Uh, you know, 737 00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,879 Speaker 1: racing drivers, but just regular old drivers. So are there 738 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:12,920 Speaker 1: any brain changes here between regular drivers and non drivers? 739 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:16,240 Speaker 1: The authors believe they found evidence of it. They collected 740 00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:19,359 Speaker 1: brain images from seventy three healthy young adults, thirty six 741 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:22,920 Speaker 1: drivers and thirty seven non drivers, and they found, quote, 742 00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:27,080 Speaker 1: compared with non drivers, drivers showed significantly greater gray matter 743 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:31,120 Speaker 1: volume in the left cerebellar hemisphere, which has been associated 744 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:35,279 Speaker 1: with cognitive rather than motor functioning. That's interesting, So cognitive 745 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:39,799 Speaker 1: management of of information rather than just like controlling the body. Uh. 746 00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:42,240 Speaker 1: And they say, in contrast, they found no brain areas 747 00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:46,000 Speaker 1: with significantly greater gray matter volume in non drivers when 748 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,239 Speaker 1: compared with drivers, So no no evidence that being a 749 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:53,560 Speaker 1: non driver also gives you any particular relevant boost uh. 750 00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:57,479 Speaker 1: And the authors think that the regions showing specific growth 751 00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:01,600 Speaker 1: for drivers versus non drivers maybe critical for driving a car, 752 00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:06,879 Speaker 1: but not frequently used during other daily activities. So there's that. 753 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 1: But then also I think we should remember not to 754 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:13,839 Speaker 1: trust too much in the idea of like brain stimulation 755 00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:17,320 Speaker 1: and plasticity as this kind of blanket panacea for the brain, 756 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:20,640 Speaker 1: or or or total warding off of all cognitive decline, 757 00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,640 Speaker 1: because while there is good evidence for adult neu and 758 00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:29,480 Speaker 1: plasticity and some activities can increase specific cognitive competencies, I 759 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,160 Speaker 1: think there's also a lot of dispute still going on 760 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:34,839 Speaker 1: about many of the claims in this area. And one 761 00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:37,120 Speaker 1: example I would give is the idea of so called 762 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:41,640 Speaker 1: brain training games, which you know, they've been offered sort 763 00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:46,080 Speaker 1: of as general prescriptions to improve cognitive performance and mental health, 764 00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:51,520 Speaker 1: and the evidence that they can do that is highly disputed. Um, Like, 765 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: there were a group of studies and reviews since sixteen 766 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:57,680 Speaker 1: that have strongly questioned the claims of brain training game 767 00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:03,000 Speaker 1: companies uh which promised general cognitive benefits from their games. 768 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:05,400 Speaker 1: One example was a study by Simon's at All in 769 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:09,279 Speaker 1: sixteen in Psychological Science in the Public Interest. It was 770 00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:12,839 Speaker 1: just do brain training programs work? So they look at 771 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:14,879 Speaker 1: a bunch of different studies on the subject, and they 772 00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:18,560 Speaker 1: examine the strength of them individually, and they say, overall, quote, 773 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:21,959 Speaker 1: based on this examination, we find extensive evidence that brain 774 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:27,400 Speaker 1: training interventions improve performance on the trained tasks, less evidence 775 00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:31,759 Speaker 1: that such interventions improve performance on closely related tasks, and 776 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:36,160 Speaker 1: little evidence that training enhances performance on distantly related tasks 777 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:40,320 Speaker 1: or that training improves everyday cognitive performance. So it seems 778 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:42,440 Speaker 1: like the stuff that we have really good evidence for 779 00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:46,120 Speaker 1: is that you get better at doing specifically whatever you're 780 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:48,600 Speaker 1: doing in the game. So if the if the game 781 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:51,480 Speaker 1: is about say moving you know, color blocks around, you're 782 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,480 Speaker 1: gonna get better at moving color blocks around, and we 783 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:58,560 Speaker 1: should be cautious about taking that skill and then you know, 784 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:02,080 Speaker 1: overlaying it with or you know, are more important skills 785 00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:05,520 Speaker 1: in life. Right, Sure, but this does make me think, 786 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:08,799 Speaker 1: I mean that maybe you can. Again, this is not 787 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:12,160 Speaker 1: fully known, but my guess at this point is that 788 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:16,279 Speaker 1: if you want to prolonged cognitive performance over life, it 789 00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:18,279 Speaker 1: seems like maybe a good thing to do would be, 790 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,200 Speaker 1: of course, first focus on the forms of fitness that 791 00:43:21,239 --> 00:43:24,040 Speaker 1: contribute to brain health overall, which is like getting good sleep, 792 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:26,960 Speaker 1: good diet and exercise and all that. But beyond that, 793 00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:30,560 Speaker 1: maybe to construct a kind of total ecology of mentally 794 00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:35,800 Speaker 1: challenging and stimulating experiences, like a challenging and stimulating world, 795 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:39,359 Speaker 1: rather than just a single type of task repeated. Does 796 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,640 Speaker 1: that make sense? Yeah, absolutely, I mean it. You know, 797 00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:46,560 Speaker 1: we all want you know that the sort of simple trick, right, 798 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:50,560 Speaker 1: the simple life hack. You know you you you want 799 00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,440 Speaker 1: that the one pill that will that will help your 800 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:56,920 Speaker 1: life and improve your your living, or you want that 801 00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:00,680 Speaker 1: one exercise you can do that that one basically that 802 00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:03,680 Speaker 1: one switch that you can pull that will change things. 803 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:06,359 Speaker 1: And yeah, the reality is often well, I know, it's 804 00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:10,360 Speaker 1: multiple switches, multiple things that you should you should do, 805 00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:14,120 Speaker 1: and maybe multiple things you should also curb or cut out. Yeah. Now, 806 00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:16,319 Speaker 1: on the other hand, I want to say that I 807 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:21,080 Speaker 1: don't think it has been completely disproven that doing certain 808 00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:24,080 Speaker 1: types of tasks like maybe certain puzzles or games or 809 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:27,960 Speaker 1: maybe driving or anything like that could contribute to areas 810 00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:30,759 Speaker 1: that are not specifically the task involved. I think it's 811 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:34,120 Speaker 1: just not proven yet. So you know, you could hold 812 00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:37,399 Speaker 1: out that maybe there are sort of like distant relationship 813 00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:39,840 Speaker 1: improvements that you could see within the brain. I just 814 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:43,400 Speaker 1: think the evidence isn't there. Now. Another area of our 815 00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:46,879 Speaker 1: of our experience with the automobile, our life with the automobile, 816 00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,680 Speaker 1: that I wanted to talk about is the idea of 817 00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:52,839 Speaker 1: car as symbol. Oh yeah, and I think a lot 818 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:56,879 Speaker 1: of this should be pretty obvious. You know, automobile marketers, uh, 819 00:44:56,920 --> 00:44:59,120 Speaker 1: you know, push this a lot, and it's kind of 820 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:01,880 Speaker 1: the real I think, the real meat that King and 821 00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:05,239 Speaker 1: Carpenter were chewing on in Christine. The car becomes a 822 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:09,120 Speaker 1: symbol for a time, for a culture, for the individual, 823 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:12,040 Speaker 1: even if you're not a car person. And you know, 824 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:14,799 Speaker 1: I'm not really a huge car person, but but I 825 00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:18,080 Speaker 1: even I admit, like if I'm watching a period piece 826 00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:21,640 Speaker 1: motion picture, the television show, like the cars have to 827 00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:24,760 Speaker 1: be right, and when you see that the cars are right, uh, 828 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:27,600 Speaker 1: you know, it really puts you in that time frame. 829 00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:30,840 Speaker 1: And and so so the you know, they become a 830 00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:33,640 Speaker 1: symbol for a particular time in particular culture, and then 831 00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: very often a particular individual. And then likewise, any car 832 00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:40,239 Speaker 1: as you see is going is often marketing to you 833 00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:45,920 Speaker 1: based along these lines like drive this car, be this person, 834 00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:49,080 Speaker 1: be this type of person. It's like the next jacket, 835 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:52,840 Speaker 1: right that the order of like identity, definition and coolness. 836 00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:56,560 Speaker 1: It goes like jacket and then it goes car. I 837 00:45:56,640 --> 00:45:58,680 Speaker 1: was I was reading something about all this, uh is 838 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:03,560 Speaker 1: titled I Prime Are on Automobile Semiotics by Hefner at 839 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:05,640 Speaker 1: All and it was from the U. C. Davis Institute 840 00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:09,120 Speaker 1: of Transportation Studies in two thousand six, and they point 841 00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:12,440 Speaker 1: out that for starters, cars and trucks are often status symbols. 842 00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:15,120 Speaker 1: It's you know, it's obvious with luxury vehicles, but it 843 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:18,680 Speaker 1: also applies to various other categories. Uh. You know, basically 844 00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:21,640 Speaker 1: it comes down what does this vehicle say about who 845 00:46:21,719 --> 00:46:25,520 Speaker 1: you are and where you fit in society? Um? And 846 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:27,040 Speaker 1: you know it's worth thinking about with you know, with 847 00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:29,640 Speaker 1: your own vehicle. You know, whether you're driving uh you know, 848 00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:33,759 Speaker 1: electric vehicle, hybrid vehicle, Uh, you know an enormous uh 849 00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:37,640 Speaker 1: you know sports utility vehicle. Uh you should at least, 850 00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:41,960 Speaker 1: you know, entertain the question, and then as symbols they 851 00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:44,840 Speaker 1: can often there they can be used in the process 852 00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:48,520 Speaker 1: of self expression of individual identity as well as the 853 00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:52,960 Speaker 1: self creation of individual identity. However, the authors do know that, 854 00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:55,080 Speaker 1: you know, individuals are still going to you know, place 855 00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:58,919 Speaker 1: differing emphasis on the symbolic power of the vehicle. Quote. Thus, 856 00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:01,640 Speaker 1: the individual who claim aims his automobileia is just a 857 00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:05,759 Speaker 1: way to get around maybe telling the truth. I mean, 858 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:08,480 Speaker 1: I think I'm in that camp. Yeah, not to disparage 859 00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:10,400 Speaker 1: people who love their cars. I mean, I know a 860 00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:12,000 Speaker 1: lot of people who get a lot of pleasure out 861 00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:15,359 Speaker 1: of their car experiences. Right, But then at the same time, 862 00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:18,879 Speaker 1: like being the staying saying that you're not the type 863 00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:20,880 Speaker 1: of person who cares about their car is still a 864 00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:24,920 Speaker 1: statement about yourself and your identity and your values. So 865 00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:28,279 Speaker 1: you know, it's in a way it's impossible to uh 866 00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:32,600 Speaker 1: to completely disengage from the semiotic of power of the car. 867 00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:35,840 Speaker 1: And then also I assume that you know that's ultimately 868 00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:38,400 Speaker 1: where bumper stickers come into play, where you're like the cars, 869 00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:40,640 Speaker 1: the car has nothing to do with my self expression. 870 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:42,799 Speaker 1: I may say that, but then I still have like 871 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:45,279 Speaker 1: a bumper stickers in my car that are are there 872 00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:48,880 Speaker 1: in part to, uh, to communicate this to other people. 873 00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:52,160 Speaker 1: But but again it's it's difficult to to really disengage 874 00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:54,240 Speaker 1: from this entirely. And that's that's something that the authors 875 00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:56,880 Speaker 1: stay too. They write, However, none of us can opt 876 00:47:56,920 --> 00:48:00,640 Speaker 1: out of symbolic communication. We are surrounded by some systems, 877 00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:04,160 Speaker 1: and the goods we purchase are part of these systems. Therefore, 878 00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:07,000 Speaker 1: our vehicles say something about us, whether or not we 879 00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:11,359 Speaker 1: intend for them to serve as signifiers. Sure, yeah, yeah, 880 00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:13,960 Speaker 1: I mean I think I don't know, I don't want 881 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:15,880 Speaker 1: that to be the case for me, but I guess 882 00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:18,319 Speaker 1: this is probably true. Yeah, and you know, it's easy, 883 00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:21,440 Speaker 1: I think, for us to also turn to the more um, 884 00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:23,919 Speaker 1: you know, obvious examples of this. You know, we think 885 00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:26,920 Speaker 1: about an individual driving a luxury vehicle, or we think 886 00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:30,760 Speaker 1: about uh, you know, an individual driving a particularly outrageous vehicle, 887 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,000 Speaker 1: like some of them. When you see somebody driving an 888 00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:35,640 Speaker 1: art car around town, something that looks like it should 889 00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:38,360 Speaker 1: be a burning man, the red bull car, Well we're 890 00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:40,880 Speaker 1: on corporate vehicle. But I was thinking things like a 891 00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:42,759 Speaker 1: car with a bunch of Barbie dolls stuck to it, 892 00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:45,480 Speaker 1: or coins attached to it, or some sort of country 893 00:48:45,520 --> 00:48:48,040 Speaker 1: Western vehicle. You know, I can get down with that. Oh, 894 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:50,960 Speaker 1: there's a good car. There's a good car that we 895 00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:53,839 Speaker 1: sometimes drive past on the way back from work that's 896 00:48:53,840 --> 00:48:56,080 Speaker 1: got like a big wizard on the back of it. 897 00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:58,799 Speaker 1: And I've seen that one as well, a van with 898 00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:02,920 Speaker 1: like a epic wizard holding a big world ball in 899 00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:05,279 Speaker 1: his hand. Oh man, I'm a big, big fan of 900 00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:08,359 Speaker 1: van murals. They're rare, a rare site these days. But 901 00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:11,239 Speaker 1: that was an idea. You know, this is certainly a 902 00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:14,680 Speaker 1: situation where for a while vans were big and you 903 00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:17,839 Speaker 1: often had that big panel, featureless panel on the side 904 00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:20,040 Speaker 1: of the van, and that is a great place for 905 00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:22,040 Speaker 1: self expression. That was that was where you put your 906 00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:27,240 Speaker 1: wizard in your your your very barbarian scenes science science 907 00:49:27,239 --> 00:49:32,160 Speaker 1: fiction scenario going down. This is radigas the van. Yeah, alright, 908 00:49:32,160 --> 00:49:33,759 Speaker 1: on that note, we're going to take one more break. 909 00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:35,920 Speaker 1: But when we come back, we're going to continue our 910 00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:38,880 Speaker 1: look at at our cars and we're gonna get into 911 00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:41,520 Speaker 1: the relationship that our cars have with our bodies and 912 00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:48,279 Speaker 1: with our behavior. Alright, we're back now. You know something 913 00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:50,480 Speaker 1: we have we always have to consider when we think 914 00:49:50,520 --> 00:49:54,440 Speaker 1: about the fusion between humans and our tools, are you know, 915 00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:58,680 Speaker 1: just to what do how is that communication taking place? Um? 916 00:49:58,719 --> 00:50:00,759 Speaker 1: You know, we want to use a machine, but we 917 00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:03,040 Speaker 1: don't want to have to become more machine like to 918 00:50:03,239 --> 00:50:06,600 Speaker 1: use it. We want the machine to become more accommodating 919 00:50:06,600 --> 00:50:09,600 Speaker 1: to us. Uh. And part of that is intuitive design, 920 00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:12,919 Speaker 1: but also ergonomics is a big part of it as well. 921 00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:17,360 Speaker 1: So if you've ever climbed inside an older automobile, like 922 00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:20,520 Speaker 1: I'm thinking something from the you know, the sixties or 923 00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:24,200 Speaker 1: the perhaps early seventies, uh, you can probably attest to 924 00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:26,400 Speaker 1: the fact that they were they were often less cockpit 925 00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:29,040 Speaker 1: like in their environment, and it was more like a 926 00:50:29,080 --> 00:50:31,719 Speaker 1: small couch crammed inside of a vehicle body. You know. 927 00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:34,880 Speaker 1: The first car I ever drove was like, it was 928 00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:38,320 Speaker 1: a big old Cadillac that bench seats, Yeah, big bench seats, 929 00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:42,160 Speaker 1: and then a dash that seemed like a mile wide right. Um. 930 00:50:43,560 --> 00:50:46,600 Speaker 1: And today you're far more more likely to find highly 931 00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:51,439 Speaker 1: customizable seats, easily adjustable mirrors, and a fair amount even 932 00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:55,160 Speaker 1: I mean increasing amount of effort put into minimizing the 933 00:50:55,239 --> 00:50:58,480 Speaker 1: stretching and reaching needed to drive the vehicle. And adjust 934 00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:01,640 Speaker 1: the you know, the heating and a air or the radio, 935 00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:03,800 Speaker 1: the you know, the music or what you know, whatever 936 00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:06,440 Speaker 1: else you're going to be tinkering with. Uh, you know 937 00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:09,799 Speaker 1: so many different like hands free options as well. And 938 00:51:09,840 --> 00:51:12,680 Speaker 1: all of this is about making the machine more accommodating 939 00:51:12,920 --> 00:51:15,839 Speaker 1: to the human form, into the human body and human 940 00:51:15,880 --> 00:51:19,640 Speaker 1: limitations without asking us to become more machine. Like yeah, well, 941 00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:22,879 Speaker 1: I think it's aiding in that hybridization. It's you want 942 00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:25,399 Speaker 1: to be a car centaur head, you know that this 943 00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:27,960 Speaker 1: is the way, like it sort of opens up the 944 00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:30,240 Speaker 1: stump on the horse body for you to climb into. 945 00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:33,080 Speaker 1: If that metaphor makes anything, Yeah, no, I think so. 946 00:51:33,719 --> 00:51:36,200 Speaker 1: You know, this is to say that the repetitive driving 947 00:51:36,239 --> 00:51:38,359 Speaker 1: injuries are still not a thing. You know, still see 948 00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:42,239 Speaker 1: back pain, next iffness, side ache, and eye strain. All 949 00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:45,120 Speaker 1: of these are an issue. And you also see a 950 00:51:45,200 --> 00:51:48,680 Speaker 1: strain associated with different you know, technological add ons that 951 00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:50,200 Speaker 1: end up coming. Like the main one that comes to 952 00:51:50,239 --> 00:51:53,440 Speaker 1: my mind is when you have a laptop computer in 953 00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:56,440 Speaker 1: a vehicle. You'll see this often with like service vehicles, 954 00:51:56,440 --> 00:51:59,279 Speaker 1: so you'll see this with police officers. Yeah, and like 955 00:51:59,360 --> 00:52:02,960 Speaker 1: that adds a new level of repeated movement inside of 956 00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:04,480 Speaker 1: the car that the car may you know, it was 957 00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:07,919 Speaker 1: probably not designed to accommodate, so that can can open 958 00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:10,720 Speaker 1: the door for potentially, you know, other strains, other bodily 959 00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:14,080 Speaker 1: strains that can take place. But but car companies today 960 00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:16,839 Speaker 1: they even use tools like virtual reality to plan out 961 00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:20,600 Speaker 1: and ergonomic design well before they create a prototype to 962 00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:24,120 Speaker 1: actually start sticking people inside of Yeah, that makes sense 963 00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:25,680 Speaker 1: to me. And so at this point, I want to 964 00:52:25,719 --> 00:52:28,680 Speaker 1: come back though, to us something we've touched on already 965 00:52:28,719 --> 00:52:30,040 Speaker 1: a little bit. I want to come back to the 966 00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:34,120 Speaker 1: human car hybrid and how the car may change how 967 00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:37,240 Speaker 1: we actually behave Because they talked about how it changes 968 00:52:37,239 --> 00:52:40,879 Speaker 1: our perception, it changes um changes how we think about 969 00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:43,480 Speaker 1: other cars, the drivers. But then how does that actually 970 00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:47,680 Speaker 1: factor into behavior itself? And I think we can all 971 00:52:47,719 --> 00:52:49,840 Speaker 1: think of examples in our lives where we think and 972 00:52:49,920 --> 00:52:53,200 Speaker 1: feel differently while driving. You were talking earlier about how 973 00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:56,080 Speaker 1: much you enjoy driving, you know, let's say out in 974 00:52:56,120 --> 00:52:59,480 Speaker 1: the countryside mountains. Yeah, and we I think that can 975 00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:02,240 Speaker 1: feel very liberating, even if you're not like a someone 976 00:53:02,280 --> 00:53:04,920 Speaker 1: who would typically say, oh I love driving. You make 977 00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:07,280 Speaker 1: think to a time where you were, you know, cranking 978 00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:11,640 Speaker 1: a favorite tune. Uh you know, you know white winding 979 00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:14,319 Speaker 1: through the mountains or whatever, and you you you can 980 00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:16,759 Speaker 1: look back. I didn't realize, Well, that was very enjoyable. 981 00:53:16,800 --> 00:53:19,399 Speaker 1: I felt I felt alive, I felt free. I felt 982 00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:23,239 Speaker 1: like some sort of a seventies rock song incarnate right right, 983 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:25,799 Speaker 1: or it makes you think about the scenes in the 984 00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:29,480 Speaker 1: movies where characters were always teenagers are driving down the 985 00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:30,960 Speaker 1: road and all the windows are down and they're just 986 00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:34,279 Speaker 1: going whoo. Have you ever driven down the road and 987 00:53:34,320 --> 00:53:37,359 Speaker 1: just everybody gone woo? It doesn't happen in real life, 988 00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:39,080 Speaker 1: even if you're having a good time. Yeah, I don't 989 00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:42,799 Speaker 1: think I've gone woo and are necessarily but but I 990 00:53:42,840 --> 00:53:45,799 Speaker 1: certainly hear the music side of it. Um and in 991 00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:48,319 Speaker 1: some studies have shown that certain songs can make us 992 00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:51,799 Speaker 1: drive faster. I can definitely. I can definitely remember times 993 00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:53,719 Speaker 1: where I was driving too fast and it was it 994 00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:57,719 Speaker 1: was it was all leads up one's fall specifically immigrant song, 995 00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:01,479 Speaker 1: immigrant song, not a good not a good slow driving song. 996 00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:05,000 Speaker 1: Another area that I think too, when I think of 997 00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:08,200 Speaker 1: of behavior while driving, is this that weird sense of 998 00:54:08,239 --> 00:54:12,320 Speaker 1: heard mentality that can take hold on highways. UM, where 999 00:54:12,320 --> 00:54:14,840 Speaker 1: we you know, we we gauge the appropriate speed, what 1000 00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:17,440 Speaker 1: is the what is the pack doing? And then we 1001 00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:20,160 Speaker 1: also have to deal with the stalking predator like highway 1002 00:54:20,200 --> 00:54:23,920 Speaker 1: patrol cars that are out there as well. I always 1003 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:26,480 Speaker 1: every time I drive, I think about that. How I'm 1004 00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:28,920 Speaker 1: I feel like I am putting myself in the mindset 1005 00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:31,239 Speaker 1: of a fish, and I'm and I have to think 1006 00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:35,520 Speaker 1: about the sharks that are out there. Uh and uh 1007 00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:37,239 Speaker 1: and and so I think about that, like every time 1008 00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:39,600 Speaker 1: I let a really fast driver, you know, go go 1009 00:54:39,680 --> 00:54:41,600 Speaker 1: buy me, you know, out of the way, let them go, 1010 00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:44,480 Speaker 1: let them attract the sharks. You stay with the school. Yeah, 1011 00:54:44,560 --> 00:54:46,560 Speaker 1: I'm gonna stay back here with the school. Uh. And 1012 00:54:46,560 --> 00:54:49,040 Speaker 1: I'm going to follow the school rules. Well, I'm sure 1013 00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:53,759 Speaker 1: that traffic patterns showed the same kinds of uh emergent 1014 00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:57,520 Speaker 1: behaviors from the group individual motions that you would see 1015 00:54:57,600 --> 00:55:00,280 Speaker 1: in the flocking of birds or the movement of tools 1016 00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:03,280 Speaker 1: of fish. Despite however much it might seem to the contrary, 1017 00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:06,600 Speaker 1: I think there is often kind of an emergent intelligence 1018 00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:08,680 Speaker 1: that comes out of a group of cars, like say, 1019 00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:12,000 Speaker 1: trying to get around and obstruction in the road or something. Yeah. 1020 00:55:12,040 --> 00:55:14,600 Speaker 1: And then also in in nature, we see of course, 1021 00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:19,200 Speaker 1: the the way that that a species will communicate to 1022 00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:22,440 Speaker 1: other members of their species that there are predators in 1023 00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:26,040 Speaker 1: their vicinity. And then also we see uh, inter species 1024 00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:30,440 Speaker 1: communication about this as well. Um. And what do we 1025 00:55:30,480 --> 00:55:33,160 Speaker 1: see out on on on our highways. Used to if 1026 00:55:33,160 --> 00:55:35,640 Speaker 1: there was there was a you know, a traffic stop 1027 00:55:35,719 --> 00:55:38,200 Speaker 1: up ahead or a speed trap, is someone mind, you know, 1028 00:55:38,239 --> 00:55:40,759 Speaker 1: flash their lights at you. Now we have more bus 1029 00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:44,439 Speaker 1: technological means of doing this through programs like ways. Oh yeah, 1030 00:55:44,680 --> 00:55:47,040 Speaker 1: where you see you see a police of vehicle, you 1031 00:55:47,040 --> 00:55:49,600 Speaker 1: you tag them. And I certainly don't mean to disparage 1032 00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:52,600 Speaker 1: police officers or you know, highway patrolmen or anything like that. 1033 00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:56,960 Speaker 1: It's like cutting down on speeding is actually a public good. Yes, absolutely, um, 1034 00:55:57,000 --> 00:55:59,759 Speaker 1: but but I mean that when we when I view them, 1035 00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:01,600 Speaker 1: I can't help. And part of this is seeing the 1036 00:56:01,640 --> 00:56:04,280 Speaker 1: car and not thinking about the person, you know, uh, 1037 00:56:04,480 --> 00:56:06,279 Speaker 1: or in fact, seeing the uniform and not thinking about 1038 00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:08,640 Speaker 1: the person. You just see them as a potential threat 1039 00:56:08,680 --> 00:56:11,000 Speaker 1: on some level, like this is a person that could 1040 00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:12,920 Speaker 1: that I could get I could get in trouble, they 1041 00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:15,000 Speaker 1: could give me a speeding ticket. And if you're driving 1042 00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:18,440 Speaker 1: on a highway. You probably are technically speeding, if you're 1043 00:56:18,480 --> 00:56:21,880 Speaker 1: keeping if you're if you're again keeping up with the pack, right, Yeah, 1044 00:56:21,920 --> 00:56:23,840 Speaker 1: I mean that is often the case on our freeways. 1045 00:56:23,840 --> 00:56:25,840 Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean when people are trying to get somewhere, 1046 00:56:25,880 --> 00:56:28,239 Speaker 1: they're not usually thinking about the public good. They're just 1047 00:56:28,280 --> 00:56:30,640 Speaker 1: thinking about you know, they're kind of in self mode 1048 00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:32,719 Speaker 1: and they're like, I gotta get there, right. But then 1049 00:56:32,719 --> 00:56:35,560 Speaker 1: there's another area of behavior that that obviously comes up, 1050 00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:39,520 Speaker 1: and that's road rage. I've I've read a little bit 1051 00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:42,400 Speaker 1: of about this before, and I was looking over the 1052 00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:46,000 Speaker 1: information again. There was a two thousand tin paper that 1053 00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:51,319 Speaker 1: I'd rather like titled road Rage, What's Driving It? By 1054 00:56:51,400 --> 00:56:55,840 Speaker 1: Randy and Lori Sandsum, And they have a nice compact 1055 00:56:56,000 --> 00:56:59,120 Speaker 1: definition of road rage, because the definition of road rage 1056 00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:02,600 Speaker 1: becomes important when you're teasing it apart. They say road 1057 00:57:02,680 --> 00:57:05,680 Speaker 1: rage may be described as a constellation of thoughts, emotions, 1058 00:57:05,680 --> 00:57:09,200 Speaker 1: and behaviors that occur in response to a perceived unjustified 1059 00:57:09,239 --> 00:57:12,759 Speaker 1: provocation while driving. Road Rage may also be defined as 1060 00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:17,000 Speaker 1: those driving behaviors that endanger or potentially endanger others that 1061 00:57:17,160 --> 00:57:21,240 Speaker 1: uh and are accompanied by intentional acts of aggression. Towards others, 1062 00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:24,280 Speaker 1: negative emotions while driving, and risk taking. So again, I 1063 00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:25,840 Speaker 1: think it's important to think of it again as a 1064 00:57:25,880 --> 00:57:29,680 Speaker 1: constellation of thoughts and emotions because road rage, as it 1065 00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:32,800 Speaker 1: is often or certainly for a while, the way it 1066 00:57:32,840 --> 00:57:35,600 Speaker 1: was utilized in the in the media, well, it was 1067 00:57:35,600 --> 00:57:38,480 Speaker 1: alway and almost had this supernatural context. It was almost 1068 00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:42,240 Speaker 1: like lookanthropy, you know, someone was overcome by road rage, 1069 00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:44,640 Speaker 1: like the machine leached into your body and turned you 1070 00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:48,360 Speaker 1: into a monster, as if there is one single cause 1071 00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:52,600 Speaker 1: or even one single uh you know, uh symptom of 1072 00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:54,840 Speaker 1: of of this thing we're talking about. Well, I feel 1073 00:57:54,880 --> 00:57:57,080 Speaker 1: like it was also used in sort of like shifting 1074 00:57:57,160 --> 00:58:01,760 Speaker 1: contexts where it originally immerged. Didn't It originally emerge with 1075 00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:05,440 Speaker 1: reference to like really violent acts like shootings in in 1076 00:58:05,640 --> 00:58:08,360 Speaker 1: l A due to traffic, where people got really angry 1077 00:58:08,360 --> 00:58:11,600 Speaker 1: into violent outbursts. But then it would also just be 1078 00:58:11,720 --> 00:58:14,120 Speaker 1: used to refer to people like getting mad and giving 1079 00:58:14,160 --> 00:58:17,080 Speaker 1: rude gestures and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. The phrase itself was 1080 00:58:17,120 --> 00:58:20,160 Speaker 1: coined in the late nineteen eighties by newscasters at KTLA 1081 00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:23,480 Speaker 1: and Los Angeles following a series of freeway shootings. Um, 1082 00:58:23,600 --> 00:58:26,520 Speaker 1: but it was it wasn't ntil that it was really 1083 00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:30,720 Speaker 1: picked up by and by various headlines stealing scare stories, 1084 00:58:31,480 --> 00:58:34,000 Speaker 1: but one if the Again, it is often used to 1085 00:58:34,080 --> 00:58:36,400 Speaker 1: encompa as a number of behaviors, but the most classic 1086 00:58:36,520 --> 00:58:41,400 Speaker 1: is people becoming angry due to being cut off in traffic. Uh. 1087 00:58:41,640 --> 00:58:43,960 Speaker 1: You hear about this all the time. They take this 1088 00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:47,600 Speaker 1: as a as a direct affront to their their identity, 1089 00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:50,680 Speaker 1: to their person, to their goals. And then but with 1090 00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:52,920 Speaker 1: what is essentially happening in the brain. Well, first, the 1091 00:58:53,240 --> 00:58:57,320 Speaker 1: stress hormone cortisol rushes through your blood stream and ups 1092 00:58:57,320 --> 00:59:00,240 Speaker 1: your blood pressure. Next, adrenaline kicks into kicks into heighten 1093 00:59:00,280 --> 00:59:02,640 Speaker 1: your aggression. And that's the thing too. You know, essentially 1094 00:59:02,680 --> 00:59:06,320 Speaker 1: you go into a fight or flight scenario, but you 1095 00:59:06,320 --> 00:59:09,320 Speaker 1: you can't really fly away, you can't really run away 1096 00:59:09,360 --> 00:59:13,160 Speaker 1: due to the flow of traffic. So it's gonna argue 1097 00:59:13,160 --> 00:59:15,560 Speaker 1: that you tend to go towards more the fight mindset, 1098 00:59:16,240 --> 00:59:19,600 Speaker 1: thus the aggression. Um. And then also um, you know, 1099 00:59:19,640 --> 00:59:24,000 Speaker 1: your your serotonin is dropping, dopamines increasing, so your emotional 1100 00:59:24,040 --> 00:59:27,840 Speaker 1: intelligence is decreasing, and your body is is posed for 1101 00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:30,480 Speaker 1: some sort of altercation to take place. Okay, but of 1102 00:59:30,520 --> 00:59:32,400 Speaker 1: course your body is also in a car and your 1103 00:59:32,400 --> 00:59:34,680 Speaker 1: aggressors behind it. The progressor's body is in a car. 1104 00:59:35,160 --> 00:59:38,240 Speaker 1: And uh and this also, you know, contributes to this 1105 00:59:38,320 --> 00:59:41,560 Speaker 1: weird scenario that you're in. So, according to the the authors, 1106 00:59:41,600 --> 00:59:44,720 Speaker 1: if you just ask around, up to one third of 1107 00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:48,000 Speaker 1: the population has perpetrated something that they think of as 1108 00:59:48,080 --> 00:59:51,200 Speaker 1: road rage or could be defined as road rage. Now, again, 1109 00:59:51,240 --> 00:59:54,480 Speaker 1: to dissociate from the original context, this wouldn't necessarily mean 1110 00:59:54,480 --> 00:59:58,920 Speaker 1: any kind of violence, right. Uh. Meanwhile, only two percent 1111 00:59:59,120 --> 01:00:02,600 Speaker 1: or less events it's actually result in serious vehicle damage 1112 01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:05,240 Speaker 1: or personal harm. And then also when it comes down 1113 01:00:05,240 --> 01:00:09,240 Speaker 1: to who are the actual primary perpetrators of road rage, 1114 01:00:09,560 --> 01:00:13,040 Speaker 1: it tends to be young males. That's not super surprising. 1115 01:00:13,200 --> 01:00:15,120 Speaker 1: And and they point out that there you know, obviously 1116 01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:18,280 Speaker 1: they're psychological factors that come into play here and contribute 1117 01:00:18,320 --> 01:00:21,560 Speaker 1: to a general tendency to displace anger and blame others. 1118 01:00:21,760 --> 01:00:24,600 Speaker 1: And this is pre existing. This is not caused by uh, 1119 01:00:24,640 --> 01:00:28,080 Speaker 1: you know, automobile induced cognition, though I think you can 1120 01:00:28,120 --> 01:00:31,240 Speaker 1: make a lot of cases for if you have underlying 1121 01:00:31,240 --> 01:00:35,240 Speaker 1: psychological factors or certainly if there's a bona fide psychiatric disorder, 1122 01:00:36,120 --> 01:00:39,120 Speaker 1: especially a drug or alcohol addiction, anxiety, depression, and anti 1123 01:00:39,120 --> 01:00:42,680 Speaker 1: social personality disorders. All of these things could content potentially 1124 01:00:42,920 --> 01:00:48,720 Speaker 1: be aggravated by uh automobile cognition. But then also, you know, 1125 01:00:48,760 --> 01:00:51,920 Speaker 1: there are plenty of people that have argued against just 1126 01:00:51,960 --> 01:00:54,400 Speaker 1: the idea of road rage in general, saying that this 1127 01:00:54,480 --> 01:00:57,480 Speaker 1: is essentially, you know, an out of control headline situation. Yeah, 1128 01:00:57,480 --> 01:00:59,560 Speaker 1: that's what I was wondering. I mean, is road rage 1129 01:00:59,640 --> 01:01:04,760 Speaker 1: actually a unique driving related phenomenon or is it just 1130 01:01:05,320 --> 01:01:09,200 Speaker 1: instances of people getting angry and acting mean as would 1131 01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:13,080 Speaker 1: happen in any other context, but here it happens in cars. Yeah. 1132 01:01:13,200 --> 01:01:16,600 Speaker 1: For instance, there was article and The Atlantic titled road 1133 01:01:16,680 --> 01:01:21,120 Speaker 1: Rate versus Reality by Michael Flamento, and and he argued 1134 01:01:21,160 --> 01:01:23,360 Speaker 1: against studies and polls that were supporting the notion of 1135 01:01:23,440 --> 01:01:26,000 Speaker 1: road rage. He argued that road rage was, you know, 1136 01:01:26,040 --> 01:01:29,240 Speaker 1: it's an excessively broad term that applied to a variety 1137 01:01:29,280 --> 01:01:33,240 Speaker 1: of violent situations while also allowing us to ignore behaviors 1138 01:01:33,240 --> 01:01:36,320 Speaker 1: that actually caused accidents, such as drivers running red lights 1139 01:01:37,240 --> 01:01:39,200 Speaker 1: and the you know, ultimately, it's just a more sensational 1140 01:01:39,280 --> 01:01:43,440 Speaker 1: thing to for your headline, for your explanation of events, 1141 01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:46,240 Speaker 1: and also for sort of judging other people too. As 1142 01:01:46,240 --> 01:01:49,120 Speaker 1: you're out driving, right, it's easier to just say, oh, 1143 01:01:49,160 --> 01:01:52,200 Speaker 1: that person is just road raging back there, uh, and 1144 01:01:52,200 --> 01:01:56,080 Speaker 1: then you can just sort of dismiss any further deeper 1145 01:01:56,240 --> 01:02:00,040 Speaker 1: consideration of, you know, what their day is like. But 1146 01:02:00,040 --> 01:02:01,760 Speaker 1: but when you you look at some of these studies 1147 01:02:01,880 --> 01:02:06,560 Speaker 1: and these uh, these different surveys about road rage behavior, 1148 01:02:06,800 --> 01:02:09,560 Speaker 1: it is really interesting. I was looking at a two 1149 01:02:09,560 --> 01:02:13,760 Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen study by Triple A Foundation for Traffic Safety, UH, 1150 01:02:13,800 --> 01:02:17,280 Speaker 1: and they found that eighty percent of drivers expressed uh 1151 01:02:17,360 --> 01:02:20,200 Speaker 1: sufficient anger, aggression or road rage behind the wheel at 1152 01:02:20,280 --> 01:02:22,960 Speaker 1: least in the past year. And so, yeah, some of 1153 01:02:22,960 --> 01:02:27,680 Speaker 1: these stats are crazy. So for for example, uh, purposefully tailgating, 1154 01:02:27,880 --> 01:02:30,280 Speaker 1: so that would that they would be driving way too 1155 01:02:30,360 --> 01:02:33,440 Speaker 1: close to the car in front of you, perhaps trying 1156 01:02:33,480 --> 01:02:36,320 Speaker 1: to signal to them that they should move into another 1157 01:02:36,400 --> 01:02:39,040 Speaker 1: lane and let you go past. Yeah, I mean I 1158 01:02:39,120 --> 01:02:41,160 Speaker 1: hate that one. When you're maybe you're on the two 1159 01:02:41,240 --> 01:02:43,840 Speaker 1: lane highway, one lane going each way, and you know, 1160 01:02:43,960 --> 01:02:46,160 Speaker 1: and somebody is just right up on you. I think 1161 01:02:46,240 --> 01:02:48,919 Speaker 1: they want you to go faster, right, and it's it's 1162 01:02:48,920 --> 01:02:51,080 Speaker 1: a dangerous situation. Cars are not supposed to be that 1163 01:02:51,120 --> 01:02:53,880 Speaker 1: close to each other because that can end and it 1164 01:02:53,920 --> 01:02:58,720 Speaker 1: can cause the cars to crash together. Um And and 1165 01:02:58,800 --> 01:03:02,800 Speaker 1: yet yes, you often see it, especially in that scenario 1166 01:03:02,800 --> 01:03:04,919 Speaker 1: where somebody wants the car to get over into another 1167 01:03:05,000 --> 01:03:08,560 Speaker 1: lane and let them pass um almost using it as 1168 01:03:08,600 --> 01:03:12,320 Speaker 1: a kind of like aggressive communication system. It makes one 1169 01:03:12,320 --> 01:03:15,080 Speaker 1: wonder if there was like a better there's a specific 1170 01:03:15,200 --> 01:03:17,280 Speaker 1: light one could use for that, and maybe that would 1171 01:03:17,280 --> 01:03:22,080 Speaker 1: be a safer scenario. But in terms of statistics, so 1172 01:03:22,120 --> 01:03:26,200 Speaker 1: the idea would be a hundred four million drivers are 1173 01:03:26,240 --> 01:03:29,880 Speaker 1: doing this, or there's another one that's perhaps more relatable, 1174 01:03:30,120 --> 01:03:34,120 Speaker 1: yelling at other driverscent or ninety five million drivers. Now 1175 01:03:34,160 --> 01:03:36,400 Speaker 1: does that include yelling so that they can hear you 1176 01:03:36,440 --> 01:03:39,120 Speaker 1: are just yelling within your own vehicle. I think it's 1177 01:03:39,120 --> 01:03:42,080 Speaker 1: about yelling within your own vehicle, because that's another aspect 1178 01:03:42,080 --> 01:03:44,440 Speaker 1: of all of this, and often kind of a critique 1179 01:03:44,440 --> 01:03:47,920 Speaker 1: of road rage is that we feel enclosed, We feel 1180 01:03:48,480 --> 01:03:52,840 Speaker 1: at least semi masked. There is a you know, certainly 1181 01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:54,960 Speaker 1: other people can see us, but they can't hear us. 1182 01:03:55,360 --> 01:03:58,080 Speaker 1: So I can say anything I want and you don't know. 1183 01:03:58,160 --> 01:04:00,680 Speaker 1: Maybe I'm just I'm just singing. Maybe I maybe I'm 1184 01:04:00,960 --> 01:04:03,480 Speaker 1: a conference call. I'm not calling you a bunch of 1185 01:04:03,480 --> 01:04:07,400 Speaker 1: dirty names. Hanking to show annoyance or anger, obviously, that's 1186 01:04:07,400 --> 01:04:10,200 Speaker 1: a big one. At times, it feels like that we 1187 01:04:10,280 --> 01:04:12,360 Speaker 1: have a culture have decided that it's what the horn 1188 01:04:12,480 --> 01:04:15,720 Speaker 1: is for, uh, and not for alerting other people to 1189 01:04:15,800 --> 01:04:20,080 Speaker 1: our our our our presence. On the other hand, I 1190 01:04:20,080 --> 01:04:22,680 Speaker 1: feel like, so I don't hank to show people anger, 1191 01:04:22,760 --> 01:04:25,840 Speaker 1: but sometimes I forget the horn is there, and there 1192 01:04:25,840 --> 01:04:27,920 Speaker 1: are cases where I'm like, wow, I should have honked 1193 01:04:28,040 --> 01:04:31,120 Speaker 1: to like get somebody's attention, but I just like forgot 1194 01:04:31,160 --> 01:04:34,520 Speaker 1: that my car could do that. I also feel like 1195 01:04:34,560 --> 01:04:36,920 Speaker 1: sometimes there's a cultural difference because if you travel to 1196 01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:40,280 Speaker 1: other parts of the world and and you encounter cultures 1197 01:04:40,320 --> 01:04:43,160 Speaker 1: where hawking is say something you do every time you 1198 01:04:43,200 --> 01:04:45,439 Speaker 1: go around a corner, I know, like a one way road, 1199 01:04:45,480 --> 01:04:48,280 Speaker 1: because it's essential to communicate to other cars that you 1200 01:04:48,360 --> 01:04:52,240 Speaker 1: were there, or hanking is more of a way of 1201 01:04:52,240 --> 01:04:56,040 Speaker 1: communicating of of saying hi to people. You know. I 1202 01:04:56,040 --> 01:04:58,880 Speaker 1: guess you still have that that here, but I don't know. 1203 01:04:58,920 --> 01:05:02,000 Speaker 1: I feel like I bad if I hank at somebody 1204 01:05:02,160 --> 01:05:04,880 Speaker 1: like who is just walking on the sidewalk. It feels 1205 01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:07,680 Speaker 1: a little bit intrusive. Oh you mean to say hi, 1206 01:05:08,200 --> 01:05:09,960 Speaker 1: not like they need to get off the sidewalk so 1207 01:05:10,040 --> 01:05:12,640 Speaker 1: you can drive on right right exactly. But some of 1208 01:05:12,680 --> 01:05:16,440 Speaker 1: these other activities they were looking at, like making angry 1209 01:05:16,520 --> 01:05:20,880 Speaker 1: gestures or sixty seven million drivers trying to block another 1210 01:05:20,960 --> 01:05:26,280 Speaker 1: vehicle from changing lanes or nine million drivers. Don't do that, folks, Yeah, 1211 01:05:26,560 --> 01:05:29,120 Speaker 1: Like I say that that fish wants to be eaten 1212 01:05:29,160 --> 01:05:32,040 Speaker 1: by a shark. Let that fish go forward, Let that 1213 01:05:32,080 --> 01:05:34,000 Speaker 1: fish find the shark. That's the way I always look 1214 01:05:34,000 --> 01:05:38,040 Speaker 1: at it. Uh, cutting off another vehicle on purpose, twelve 1215 01:05:38,840 --> 01:05:41,720 Speaker 1: four million drivers getting out of the vehicle to confront 1216 01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:45,640 Speaker 1: another driver that one's thankfully down at four percent seven 1217 01:05:45,640 --> 01:05:48,400 Speaker 1: point six million drivers. How often does that lead to 1218 01:05:48,480 --> 01:05:52,160 Speaker 1: something good? Yeah? Never, at the very least it's going 1219 01:05:52,200 --> 01:05:55,400 Speaker 1: to leave, I would assume to embarrassment when you realize 1220 01:05:55,440 --> 01:05:57,640 Speaker 1: I just got out of my car to yell at somebody, 1221 01:05:57,760 --> 01:05:59,520 Speaker 1: and now I should get back in because I look 1222 01:06:00,080 --> 01:06:03,320 Speaker 1: at at best like an idiot and at worst like 1223 01:06:03,400 --> 01:06:06,880 Speaker 1: a like a violent aggressor who you know, who should 1224 01:06:06,960 --> 01:06:09,840 Speaker 1: the authority should be called on? And then finally bumping 1225 01:06:09,920 --> 01:06:13,400 Speaker 1: or ramming another vehicle on purpose three five point seven 1226 01:06:13,400 --> 01:06:16,160 Speaker 1: million drivers. So wait, then, where do you come down. 1227 01:06:16,400 --> 01:06:19,400 Speaker 1: Do you think is road rage just like one particular 1228 01:06:19,520 --> 01:06:22,800 Speaker 1: context of normal types of interpersonal rage or is it 1229 01:06:22,880 --> 01:06:26,400 Speaker 1: a specific and unique thing. I I tend to follow 1230 01:06:26,400 --> 01:06:29,360 Speaker 1: the idea here that I mean, we're dealing You can't 1231 01:06:29,360 --> 01:06:31,680 Speaker 1: say that we come and become a completely different person 1232 01:06:31,720 --> 01:06:35,400 Speaker 1: when we drive. But I feel like the data shows 1233 01:06:35,480 --> 01:06:38,920 Speaker 1: that driving changes the way we interact with the world 1234 01:06:39,200 --> 01:06:41,400 Speaker 1: and how it changes the way we think about ourselves, 1235 01:06:41,840 --> 01:06:44,560 Speaker 1: and that is going to lend its way to an 1236 01:06:44,560 --> 01:06:47,760 Speaker 1: altered sort of behavior. So you might not be the 1237 01:06:47,800 --> 01:06:50,200 Speaker 1: type of person who would ever shoot the middle finger 1238 01:06:50,560 --> 01:06:53,360 Speaker 1: to another person, say, you know, in a grocery store, 1239 01:06:53,920 --> 01:06:56,440 Speaker 1: but on the way to the grocery store, perhaps you would. 1240 01:06:56,920 --> 01:06:59,640 Speaker 1: You might not never. You might never yell something ugly 1241 01:06:59,680 --> 01:07:02,040 Speaker 1: at some on the street, but in the car it 1242 01:07:02,160 --> 01:07:05,440 Speaker 1: makes sense because perhaps they can't hear you. Well, this 1243 01:07:05,520 --> 01:07:08,960 Speaker 1: is another way that again, it changes our perception of space. 1244 01:07:09,040 --> 01:07:11,240 Speaker 1: I mean, I was thinking about would I ever yell 1245 01:07:11,320 --> 01:07:14,320 Speaker 1: at a person, would ever like, roll down a window 1246 01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:17,240 Speaker 1: in the car and yell at somebody? Know? But what 1247 01:07:17,440 --> 01:07:21,320 Speaker 1: I like yell within my own car about something that 1248 01:07:21,440 --> 01:07:24,320 Speaker 1: somebody else did. Yeah, I've done that, and it makes 1249 01:07:24,400 --> 01:07:27,120 Speaker 1: me think, like well, yelling with within my own car 1250 01:07:27,200 --> 01:07:30,960 Speaker 1: is almost like having a thought inside my head, you know. 1251 01:07:31,160 --> 01:07:35,920 Speaker 1: So it's like the car's interior space, the enclosure aspect 1252 01:07:35,960 --> 01:07:38,160 Speaker 1: of that has almost come to be like like what 1253 01:07:38,280 --> 01:07:42,400 Speaker 1: happens in there doesn't happen to the outside world unless you, 1254 01:07:42,400 --> 01:07:45,200 Speaker 1: you know, really attempt to show it to the outside world, Like, 1255 01:07:45,280 --> 01:07:47,680 Speaker 1: you know, it's a private space. You tend to suit 1256 01:07:47,800 --> 01:07:50,800 Speaker 1: to assume people are not looking in your car actively 1257 01:07:50,920 --> 01:07:54,080 Speaker 1: at you. Uh so, yeah, I almost feel like, well, 1258 01:07:54,120 --> 01:07:56,040 Speaker 1: I can just like yell like, oh why did you do? 1259 01:07:56,160 --> 01:07:58,000 Speaker 1: You know? I I can yell at somebody who did 1260 01:07:58,000 --> 01:08:00,400 Speaker 1: something stupid on the road in my car. They're not 1261 01:08:00,440 --> 01:08:02,240 Speaker 1: going to hear it, and it's almost like it didn't 1262 01:08:02,280 --> 01:08:05,919 Speaker 1: even happen out loud. Yeah. So, road rage, I think 1263 01:08:05,960 --> 01:08:08,080 Speaker 1: is one of the more studied and written about and 1264 01:08:08,120 --> 01:08:11,000 Speaker 1: comment and commentated on, you know, aspects of the scenario. 1265 01:08:11,280 --> 01:08:13,080 Speaker 1: But there are there are other activities that I think 1266 01:08:13,080 --> 01:08:16,880 Speaker 1: are also illuminating, Like, for instance, if you're already asking 1267 01:08:16,920 --> 01:08:19,360 Speaker 1: yourself like do I yell in my car? And is 1268 01:08:19,360 --> 01:08:22,240 Speaker 1: it okay? And would I yell about outside my car? 1269 01:08:22,400 --> 01:08:26,479 Speaker 1: Another example that is often brought up is picking one's nose. Okay, 1270 01:08:26,560 --> 01:08:28,880 Speaker 1: So you might not be the type of person to 1271 01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:31,920 Speaker 1: to do a lot of like nose related self, you know, 1272 01:08:32,040 --> 01:08:35,080 Speaker 1: hygiene and personal care while you were, say, standing in 1273 01:08:35,160 --> 01:08:37,880 Speaker 1: line at the grocery store or wherever. But when you're 1274 01:08:37,920 --> 01:08:40,360 Speaker 1: in the car, you might very well do so. And 1275 01:08:40,680 --> 01:08:42,519 Speaker 1: we probably you see people do this all the time. 1276 01:08:42,760 --> 01:08:44,000 Speaker 1: And I think a lot of that has to do 1277 01:08:44,040 --> 01:08:46,160 Speaker 1: with this this idea that when you're in the car, 1278 01:08:46,280 --> 01:08:49,080 Speaker 1: you were masked. You were you know, secluded from everyone else, 1279 01:08:49,240 --> 01:08:51,280 Speaker 1: but of course you were not. Not really people see 1280 01:08:51,320 --> 01:08:53,320 Speaker 1: you picking your nose, or they can they can see 1281 01:08:53,320 --> 01:08:56,120 Speaker 1: you doing, you know, whatever it is you're doing. Another 1282 01:08:56,520 --> 01:08:59,160 Speaker 1: activity that comes to mind is staring at people. Like 1283 01:08:59,200 --> 01:09:01,280 Speaker 1: there's a certain amount of like, you know, we all 1284 01:09:01,280 --> 01:09:05,200 Speaker 1: have to observe people and sights in our vicinity, but 1285 01:09:05,320 --> 01:09:07,599 Speaker 1: when we're driving a car, I wonder if we're more 1286 01:09:07,640 --> 01:09:12,080 Speaker 1: inclined to stare at particularly pedestrians, you know, we're we're 1287 01:09:12,120 --> 01:09:15,559 Speaker 1: more inclined to to to gaze at them longer than 1288 01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:18,080 Speaker 1: would be socially acceptable if we were out on the 1289 01:09:18,080 --> 01:09:21,439 Speaker 1: sidewalk with them. Right again, because you feel maybe like 1290 01:09:21,520 --> 01:09:24,120 Speaker 1: you are invisible, you're behind a barrier, you're in a 1291 01:09:24,160 --> 01:09:26,640 Speaker 1: deer blind almost It's like, you know, you can see them, 1292 01:09:26,680 --> 01:09:29,439 Speaker 1: but they can't see you. Yeah, so you know that 1293 01:09:29,600 --> 01:09:32,200 Speaker 1: those are just a couple of I think of ideas 1294 01:09:32,400 --> 01:09:36,200 Speaker 1: where we might see cognition within the car, uh it 1295 01:09:36,320 --> 01:09:38,800 Speaker 1: being a slightly different thing than cognition on the sidewalk 1296 01:09:39,479 --> 01:09:42,600 Speaker 1: by that, and perhaps there are some other examples that 1297 01:09:42,680 --> 01:09:45,559 Speaker 1: come to mind out there among our listeners. I know, 1298 01:09:45,640 --> 01:09:48,160 Speaker 1: we have a lot of listeners who drive cars. A 1299 01:09:48,240 --> 01:09:50,120 Speaker 1: lot of them may be driving a car right now. 1300 01:09:50,720 --> 01:09:52,360 Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I would also love to hear 1301 01:09:52,360 --> 01:09:54,640 Speaker 1: about her from people in different cultures. You know, what 1302 01:09:54,840 --> 01:09:58,519 Speaker 1: is what is it like, uh, you know, driving say 1303 01:09:58,560 --> 01:10:01,479 Speaker 1: in the United States versus dry having in uh oh, 1304 01:10:01,520 --> 01:10:04,439 Speaker 1: I don't know, you know India or or even the UK, 1305 01:10:04,960 --> 01:10:06,759 Speaker 1: or you know, in any any part of the world. 1306 01:10:07,680 --> 01:10:10,800 Speaker 1: I'm interested about the difference not only driving culture, but 1307 01:10:10,880 --> 01:10:13,479 Speaker 1: sort of what our cognition might be like in those 1308 01:10:13,600 --> 01:10:17,240 Speaker 1: different environments. Well. Having recently driven on the roads in 1309 01:10:17,280 --> 01:10:19,519 Speaker 1: the UK, where of course the lanes are reversed, you know, 1310 01:10:19,720 --> 01:10:21,879 Speaker 1: driving on the left side of the road, I remember 1311 01:10:21,960 --> 01:10:25,960 Speaker 1: wondering if there's any kind of brain hemisphere. I am 1312 01:10:26,000 --> 01:10:30,479 Speaker 1: a hand dominance weirdness going on. That's like reversed when 1313 01:10:30,520 --> 01:10:33,160 Speaker 1: you're driving on different sides of the road. Interesting. I 1314 01:10:33,200 --> 01:10:35,920 Speaker 1: did adapt to driving on the left, but it also 1315 01:10:36,439 --> 01:10:39,439 Speaker 1: it felt different in a way that didn't That wasn't 1316 01:10:39,479 --> 01:10:42,680 Speaker 1: just unfamiliarity. It felt different in a way that it 1317 01:10:42,760 --> 01:10:46,080 Speaker 1: was like it was inherently different. I don't know if 1318 01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:47,880 Speaker 1: that makes any sense. No, no, no, I think I 1319 01:10:47,960 --> 01:10:50,960 Speaker 1: give what you you're talking about. I've I've never driven 1320 01:10:51,400 --> 01:10:54,840 Speaker 1: on reversed lanes like that before. Um, I've just ridden 1321 01:10:54,840 --> 01:10:57,640 Speaker 1: in them. But even that could be I almost I 1322 01:10:57,640 --> 01:11:00,360 Speaker 1: think I almost died at one point in Jamaica. Uh 1323 01:11:00,400 --> 01:11:02,080 Speaker 1: be not because I was driving a car, but I 1324 01:11:02,080 --> 01:11:04,200 Speaker 1: got out of a car and kind of had this 1325 01:11:04,240 --> 01:11:07,439 Speaker 1: sort of background notion of which way traffic travels, and 1326 01:11:07,479 --> 01:11:09,679 Speaker 1: so I like just sort of stepped out into into 1327 01:11:09,720 --> 01:11:12,080 Speaker 1: the road, and unfilly, nobody was there to run me over. 1328 01:11:13,120 --> 01:11:16,200 Speaker 1: But you know, little things like that, you know certainly 1329 01:11:16,240 --> 01:11:18,920 Speaker 1: can play, you know, be a big factor when the 1330 01:11:19,000 --> 01:11:22,040 Speaker 1: lanes are reversed. So anyway, we'd love to hear from 1331 01:11:22,040 --> 01:11:25,280 Speaker 1: anyone out there who has thoughts about about their relationship 1332 01:11:25,320 --> 01:11:27,120 Speaker 1: with their cars, how the car and how the car 1333 01:11:27,280 --> 01:11:30,240 Speaker 1: changes the way you think or behave, or even its 1334 01:11:30,240 --> 01:11:33,120 Speaker 1: effects on your physical body. Uh. In the meantime, if 1335 01:11:33,160 --> 01:11:34,720 Speaker 1: you want to check out other episodes of Stuff to 1336 01:11:34,720 --> 01:11:36,200 Speaker 1: Blow your Mind, head on over to stuff to Blow 1337 01:11:36,200 --> 01:11:38,000 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. That's where you will find them. 1338 01:11:38,320 --> 01:11:40,360 Speaker 1: And as always, the best way to support our show 1339 01:11:40,520 --> 01:11:43,080 Speaker 1: is to make sure you have subscribed and to rate 1340 01:11:43,080 --> 01:11:45,040 Speaker 1: and review wherever you have the power to do so. 1341 01:11:45,400 --> 01:11:47,640 Speaker 1: And if you're into this whole question of, you know, 1342 01:11:47,680 --> 01:11:50,960 Speaker 1: how does technology change how we behave and how we 1343 01:11:51,000 --> 01:11:54,560 Speaker 1: think about ourselves, you should definitely check out our other podcast, Invention, 1344 01:11:55,080 --> 01:11:58,360 Speaker 1: because Invention is a journey through human techno history. Like 1345 01:11:58,600 --> 01:12:01,240 Speaker 1: each episode is in it inevitably going to get into 1346 01:12:01,320 --> 01:12:04,720 Speaker 1: questions of how did this invention? How did this technology 1347 01:12:04,800 --> 01:12:08,559 Speaker 1: change the way we interact with reality and with ourselves? Totally. 1348 01:12:08,600 --> 01:12:10,840 Speaker 1: If you're not subscribed to Invention yet, get on over 1349 01:12:10,840 --> 01:12:15,000 Speaker 1: there subscribe to Invention huge thanks as always to our 1350 01:12:15,040 --> 01:12:18,600 Speaker 1: excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If you would like 1351 01:12:18,640 --> 01:12:20,559 Speaker 1: to get in touch with us with feedback on this 1352 01:12:20,600 --> 01:12:23,240 Speaker 1: episode or any other, to suggest a topic for the future, 1353 01:12:23,360 --> 01:12:26,480 Speaker 1: just to say hi, you can email us at contact 1354 01:12:26,600 --> 01:12:36,120 Speaker 1: at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to 1355 01:12:36,120 --> 01:12:38,080 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeart Radios How 1356 01:12:38,120 --> 01:12:40,519 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio is 1357 01:12:40,560 --> 01:12:43,160 Speaker 1: at the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 1358 01:12:43,200 --> 01:13:00,920 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. The Stars by