WEBVTT - Greed Redux 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:05.960 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:13.640 Works dot com. Hey, you're welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.040 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.759 And the new episode this week is about happiness and 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.520 the big question can money buy any happiness? This episode, however, 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:25.280 is going to be a little something from the way 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.479 Back Machine, one of one from our seven Deadly Sin 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:32.560 series about greed and the science of creed and well, 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.360 so we decided to replay this episode because there are 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:39.920 obvious connections between between greed and what we take for 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.440 greed and human behavior and that, uh, and the idea 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.559 that money is going to give us happiness and that 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.000 the things that we that we want are going to 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:50.080 make us happy. Yeah, that's right. So we thought this 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:54.160 would compliment the next episode. In the meantime, as you 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.360 listen to this, you are going to hear us talk 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:01.400 a bit about the jerky behavior of luxury car drivers, 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.880 and we wanted to mention that there's a newer study 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:09.680 out two thousand and thirteen that actually pinpoints seat design 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.800 is the possible culprit for behaviors from luxury drivers like 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.839 running stop signs and so on. And so forth. Turns 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:21.399 out that the seats are more expansive. And if you 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:25.880 think back to one of our episodes on expansive postures 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:28.320 and how they can make a person feel more powerful 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.400 like a king on a laid back on a throne. Right, Yes, 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.040 as some luxury cars have that kind of seating, that 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.760 throne like seating, then you can kind of see how 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:42.720 that might actually change someone's behavior in the car. Interesting. So, 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.360 the individual who is in a fancy car is in 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.520 a fancy seat, and that fancy seat allows them to 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.640 to lounge about and feel superior to everyone else else 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.280 around them. That's right, I'm so fancy. I don't need 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:58.080 this stop sign that I think that's the thought bubble. Now. 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.920 You were telling me when you encounter jerky rider, you 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.240 you have a reaction that lignes up with this research. 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.400 If I'm driving on the highway and I generally speed 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.560 anyway and there's someone behind me who's super close, I 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:13.320 tend to reach out and put my my arm reach 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.840 it across the other seat. As if you know, I'm 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.400 on a date and I'm the alpha male, and I've 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:21.400 noticed my behavior in doing this, and I think that 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:25.240 I'm just trying to signal like I'm not intimidated. So 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:27.880 maybe there's something here to that. It brings to mind 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.679 two things. First, there there might I wonder if there's 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.000 an added level of them having poor posture in these 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.520 in these reclined positions, and maybe if they're you know, 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.680 they're all lounged back, they're also less happy and less 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.320 uh you know, less less secure in themselves as they're driving, 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:47.959 whereas somebody that's in a less comfortable seat is maybe 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.600 setting up a little more straight with their with their 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.360 chest puffed out, and maybe they're they're gonna have a 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:57.240 little more a little more confidence and only just less 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.600 lucky to the lash out of those around them. Maybe 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:07.880 unless greedy. Perhaps maybe let's find out the third circle 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.760 of Dante's Inferno is where the glutton of hang out, 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.919 and the fourth circle is where the greedy hang out. 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:17.480 To be more specific, this is the circle of avarice 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:22.120 and prodigality. It's it's interesting Dante is really down on greed. 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:24.440 It's not like one of these sins like lust, which 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.840 he has a lot of sympathy for. Well, because he's human, 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.480 yeah right, yeah, he has like he has a lot 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.600 of sympathy for some of the individuals. Yeah, that's what 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:36.360 I'm getting too. He hasn't he has needs. But when 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.320 he encounters the greedy, he's it's it's a lot harsher. 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:41.840 He divides it up. You have the prodigal and the 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:47.120 more typically miserly greedy. So the prodigal, they're reckless spenders. 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.560 It's coming in and it's it's going out twice as fast. 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:53.600 I think that's something we can all, if not relate 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.560 to personally, we can, we can we definitely witness in 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.680 the world around us. And then you have the the 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.880 truly greedy, the hoarders and the misers, the ones that 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.280 take the money, hold the money, that are just in 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.920 it for the money itself. Okay. And so when Dante 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.800 and his guy Virgil show up an inferno, first of all, 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.640 they're greeted by Plutus, which is the god of riches, 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.200 with a little a little pluto, god of the underworld 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.360 thrown in because you know, the underworld, underground, that's where 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:22.440 gold and silver come from. And he's beast, he always 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.640 full of rage, and he's babbling and he's saying poppy Satan, 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.680 poppy Satan, Nalipi which is kind of just nobody. There's 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:31.200 a lot of discussion about what in the heck that means. Yeah, 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.599 I'm gonna say, like poppy Satan sounds a little poppy 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:37.159 Satan pop Satan. Yeah, I mean there's a sense like 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.240 maybe it's something papal, because certainly there's a lot of 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:43.159 discussion of sinful popes in the Inferno and then Satan 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:45.320 of course. But but this is actually one of the 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.880 few instances where Satan is actually mentioned, because when you 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.480 actually encounter the big demon himself the bottom of Inferno, 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.479 he's referred to as Lucifer. So anyway, back to these centers, 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.880 so you have the spin Thrifts and the Misers, and 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.440 they're all first of all, they're all so abby you 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.000 can't even recognize them, Like Dante is all like, I'm 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.119 probably gonna look around here, I'm gonna know some people 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.760 that I met know from life, and that your Italian 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:13.000 accent very mildly. Your Italian is much better. And the 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.600 Virgils like, now you're not gonna You're not gonna recognize anybody, 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:19.320 because everyone's so twisted here from their lives, from their 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:23.400 their earthly lives full of greed and and overspending that 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:24.800 you're just not gonna be able to reckon? Is that 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.719 part of the punishment? Um, it's not as much a 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:29.480 part of the punishment. It's just kind of like the 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:34.719 reality of the like the like spiritually there deformed from 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.760 this life of the task. The punishment itself is that 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.480 they have there. It's kind of a joust between the 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:46.000 spinthrifts and the greedy, except instead of having like you know, 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.960 swords or spears or any kind of typical jousting equipment, 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.080 they are rolling large objects against each other using only 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:54.800 like their chests. And if you look at the illustrations 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.640 provided by good staff Dora, the large objects that they're 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.240 jousting with their giant money bags. So if you imagine 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:05.800 these these hideous looking like naked people and they're all 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.119 sort of like pushing big money bags, rolling them around 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.200 with their chest into each other and arguing with each 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.240 other and calling each other's other names, and so there 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.080 there there are no demons um staffed here to punish 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.360 these guys. They provide their own punishment to each other. Okay, 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:25.680 so it's like a scene from Eyes Wide Shut Well no, no, well, 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.760 you know what, Okay, maybe more accessible is the illustration 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:33.400 that you sent me, and it showed a lucky cat 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:38.119 a mountain, and the mountain was there was a little 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.400 trail going to the very top with a lucky cat 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:45.719 is perched, and there's mice with big hunks of cheese 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.960 weighing them down as they bring it to the lucky cat. Yes, 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:51.839 I will, I will link to this in the blog 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:53.960 post that goes with this podcast, and cause you're interested 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.360 in saying that. But there there are many artistic interpretations. 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.200 And now if one goes into Dante's purgatory and this 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.560 again is the mountain that connects Earth to the to 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:09.080 the heaven, and well, you're you're you're complicating the matter 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.440 with lucky cat. At this point, there's no lucky cat 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.400 in this thing. It's just a mountain. It connects Earth 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.440 and hell beneath it to the heavens above. And if 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:21.000 you travel up the mountain, each terrace purges you of 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.480 a sin so that you'll be clean enough to enter heaven. 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:27.440 So the fifth terrace is where you would purge yourself 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.120 of all this greed, and you do it by lying 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.080 lying face down on a hard rock floor, weeping and 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.480 praying until the greed has washed away from you. That's 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.400 your punishment. Yeah, it's kind of It's not a punishment, remember, 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.120 it's a it's a cleansing. Okay, seems kind of weak sauce. 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.000 It is. It is kind of weak sauce. I don't know. 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:46.640 Maybe Dante just wasn't bringing his a game when thinking 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.960 about greed. He's really down on it. But it's it's 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.880 it's not like they're like, you know, boiling rivers of 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:57.360 blood and feces. They're just dudes in hell pushing bags 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.360 of money against each other. And and here a lot 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.320 of people pray. So the eyes being soon shut as 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.440 in with v right, and there's some gas ler ones ahead. 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.520 But um, let's look to Buddhism real quick again before 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.920 we get into the real science of all this. In Buddhism, greed, 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.520 along with delusion, slash, ignorance, and hate, is one of 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.320 the three poisons at the heart of all suffering. So 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.239 if you look at the center of the Tibetan wheel 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.040 of life, the wheel of sam Sorrow, which we have 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.920 an excellent interactive illustration of in the How Stuff Works 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.320 article how sky Burial Works, if you look at the 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.640 center of this wheel, you'll find three animals, a pig, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.360 a cock, and a snake, and they are all biting 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:37.800 each other's tails, forming a ring. And each of these 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.240 three animals represents one of the three poisons. The snake 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:43.520 is hate, the pig is delusion or ignorance, you see 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.800 it referred to as is either, and then the cock 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:50.400 represents greed. It's interesting how Buddhism greed is very central 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.920 to everything that is wrong with life here on earth. 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:55.680 And just as a side note, some people are really 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.280 into like crazy burgers. I think it would be it 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.120 would be fascinating if someone were too concoct a burger 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:05.440 that contains three meats snake meat, pig meat, and rooster meat. 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.840 And then you could have it be the the three 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.240 poison burger or the the burger that is the root 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:13.520 of all suffering. Well, isn't there already the true ducan? 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:16.880 It's kind of like that your're duncan, except um, it's 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.280 responsible for all of man's woes. Okay, so it's more 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.079 of a some and it'd probably be a pretty heavy 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.280 launch too. Yeah, And just throwing that out there, if 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:27.280 anyone wants to create such a blasphemy or if if 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.080 you know, next Thanksgiving when that rolls are in. You 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.120 can't take your tree duc in, which is a turkey, chicken, 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.319 and duck all roll together, right, and you can offer 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.319 it up as a way to consume the sins of 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:40.880 the past year. Yeah, because I think that would go 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:44.760 over really well at Thanksgiving table. You know, people don't 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:46.400 think about that. So that's kind of the there's the 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.839 religious introduction, and both of these examples are very down 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.880 on the idea of greed. But it is this poisonous thing. 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:56.120 It is this this awful thing that that distorts the 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:59.520 soul and renders us unrecognizable in the afterlife, that is 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.400 responsible for all of this pain around us. But then 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.040 there's another way of looking at it, right, Well, yeah, 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.120 you write a more materialistic view. Are you talking about 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.480 Gordon Gecko? Yes, read from us from the book of 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.320 of Gecko. Alright, Gordon Gecko, the character in Wall Street. 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:20.240 We're talking to high eighties here, and I don't know 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.640 if I can do a Michael Douglas voice. The point is, 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:27.040 ladies and gentlemen, greed is good, Greed works, Greed is right. 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.880 Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:35.839 evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms, greed for life, money, love, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:39.520 knowledge has marked the upward surge in mankind and greed. 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.959 Mark my words. We'll say you've not only telled our 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:48.719 paper that the other malfunctioning corporation called the U s 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:55.079 a W. Yeah, well, okay also fights stains. That's right, 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.120 that's right. I've got a greed stick at home. Um. 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.720 But yeah, I mean, this is an idea that isn't 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:04.439 too far away from reality and certain eras of our existence. 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:08.400 Certainly in nineteen eighties, you know, accumulation of wealth is 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.000 something that a lot of people are concentrating on, and 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:13.800 there is this idea that greed is this sort of 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:19.360 evolutionary birthright that we can't evolve without continuing to amass 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:21.120 more and more and sort of step over each other 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.040 in order to get to it. Yeah, I mean, and 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.160 you can go with the I mean, the classic argument 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:28.920 that stuff like Indian greed, these are the motivating forces 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.960 of ambition, and we need ambition in life. Like on 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:37.760 some level, greed maybe is good because I need things 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.520 to live, right, I need a little money and a 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.440 little more is maybe even a little better, So I 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:48.400 should want those things, right, yeah, but it's the excess part, right, Yeah. Okay. 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:50.440 So there's this guy named Andrew Low, and he's the 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.720 Harris and Harris Group professor m I T and the 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:56.800 director of its Laboratory for Financial Engineering. And in a 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.200 two thousand and nine interview with Freakonomics, he commented on 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:04.480 the unprecedented air of wealth just recently that we have, right, um, 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.480 and he said that quote extended periods of prosperity act 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.839 as an anesthetic and human brain. Okay, so that's here's 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.800 one reason why greed isn't so grand. Right. Essentially, he's 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.160 saying that all of us who were trading in on 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:22.040 the real estate based financial bubble, we're in a quote 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.760 drug induced stupor that causes us to take risks that 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:30.920 we know we should avoid. He's saying basically that monetary 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.160 gain and we've we've seen this before, certainly in the 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:38.000 laboratory is uh. It stimulates the same reward securitary as cocaine. 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.640 And in both cases, again we've talked about this, you know, 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.440 over and over in terms of this, and since dopamine 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:49.000 is released into the nucleus incumbents um and then the 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.480 opposite of this, this is really interesting. Financial loss activates 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:57.040 the same fight or flight circuitry as physical attacks, releasing 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:01.040 adrenaline in the cortisol in the bloodstream. So I mean, 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:03.840 here you have different sides of the coin, but certainly 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.280 you've got dopamine and you've got madrinaline on the other side, 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.600 and all of this is tied to finance. Okay, so 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.880 it's kind of like the Again, he's in the drug example, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.480 a young man takes cocaine and then writes a really 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.120 horrible song or it gets a really or is really 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.520 into an idea that is just dreadful. Likewise, a young 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:23.880 man who has a financial success for a short amount 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:27.560 of time. During that success, everything is so great he decides, 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.240 I'm going to buy a sailboat, right right, I mean anything, 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.679 I'm gonna I'm gonna blow my money on this, I'm 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:35.559 gonna spend it on this. I'm gonna do this because 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.320 things are great. This couldn't possibly wear off. And of 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.080 course both individuals quickly find that, uh, the sensation does 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.720 wear off, right, I mean, basically, this is deadening that 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.160 part of your brain that meaning not literally deadening, but 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.640 certainly the part of your brain that is thinking about 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:54.400 the long term is now offline, and you know your 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:56.600 short term brain is like, hey, do whatever, Like let's 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.719 go buy a boat. It sounds like a great idea. Um, 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.240 So it would make sense that in terms of economics, 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:08.040 there's something happening in the brain that really feeds into greed. Okay, 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:12.400 so this question comes up, greed. Everybody is greedy to 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:15.680 to some extent or another. Right, Um, but who could 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.800 be the greediest jerks out there? Is there is there 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:21.760 natural answer to that question? Who could be? Or who 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.240 who might be? Who might be? Who might be? Like 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:27.240 who out there in the world is the greediest jerk? Yeah, 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:28.840 well one would. I mean, if you go on with 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.240 the stereotype, you're looking at people like your Gordon geckos, 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.880 like your Scrooge McDuck's a lot, you know, the individuals 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.440 that have so much. It's an addiction, you know, like 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.160 the money and the money unto itself, is an addiction. Okay, 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.800 So bingo wealth corrupting? Right, And you're right, this is 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.120 you know, somewhat of a cliche. But there are some 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:50.560 scientists who decided to put this to the test or 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:54.600 whether psychologists Paul piff of the University of California at Berkeley. 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.800 He conducted seven different studies that the seven different scenarios 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:04.040 really testing out socio economic levels and ethics, wondering if 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.280 indeed wealth corrupts. And I'm just gonna highlight a couple 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.160 of them because I think that they're interesting, but I 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:13.360 should point out and that all seven scenarios, the overwhelming 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:17.920 evidence is that people with higher socio economic levels tend 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:22.000 to have uh dodgy ethics, or that that was the 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:26.200 conclusion that was drawn from this um There was a 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:30.280 study in which uh PIF and his team monitored traffic 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:32.800 at a four waist stop in San Francisco, and they 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.080 noted all the makes and the models of automobiles because 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.720 that's a really good indicator of your socio economic level 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:42.320 usually right, Um, so guests who more often than not 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.680 cut the other drivers off the fancy cars fancy cars, 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:49.880 I mean overwhelmingly. Okay. So then there's another study that 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:53.160 they did, and this was they had test takers asked 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.880 to imagine themselves being very rich or very poor and 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.520 then given an opportunity to take candy from a jar 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.640 that would next be delivered to children in another lab. 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:07.600 Like really like taking candy from from a baby. Right, see, 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.400 all I can think it is a Simpsons episode where 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.520 though of course that Mr Burns is another I mean, 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:17.120 if not a few examples of the stereotypically rich, misurely 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.120 awful person who's been totally corrupted by wealth. But there's 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.960 an episode, of course where he he actually steals or 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.480 attempts to steal candy from a baby. Well, right, there 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:29.400 you go. He in this study certainly would have borne 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:32.440 out the results. But so again here here you see 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:35.720 the people who are imagining themselves is very rich somehow 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:40.160 distancing themselves from their action and saying and taking asually 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:43.000 more candy than the other people who imagine themselves is 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:48.520 very poor. H And again seven of these different scenarios. Uh. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.280 And you'd have to have many more studies in order 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.240 to have more conclusive data on this, I think. But 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.360 I think at least it gives us an idea of 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:03.280 the direction of what happens when you are exposed to 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:07.280 extreme wealth and the sort of distancing that you experience. 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:10.359 You know, I'm not sure that the lab full of 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.439 babies or children actually need that candy, though, I mean, well, 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:15.480 I have to say I thought that too, because I 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.400 thought well I might be. Okay, you know what those 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.000 two roles, that kid doesn't need it, nobody has to 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:23.600 go to the dentist. And what kind of candy is it? 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.520 Because there's there's candy, and there's candy. Like if it's 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:30.720 if it's like um, you know, the office bank suckers 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.199 or candy corn, then by all means like other children 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.680 have it. But if it's upscale candy that's clearly designed 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:40.360 for a more sophisticated adult palette, then then I'm not 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:44.160 sure taking it is really the best. I agree, I agree, Um. 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:48.280 But there there's this evolutionary psychologist and he's a consumer 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:52.160 researcher in his name is Vladists of the University of Minnesota, 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.760 and he says this work is important because it suggests 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:58.080 that people often act unethically, not because they are desperate 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.800 and in the dumps, but because they feel entitled and 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:04.399 they want to get ahead. Okay, so that exactly what 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.000 I just did. I laid out my entitlement for the 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:10.560 fancy candy, that the that this candy would be lost 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.320 on these children, and therefore I'm i a am doing 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:14.920 them a favor because they don't need it, and be 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.920 I am the intended audience for this candy. So I've 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.280 already I've already rationalized stealing candy from a baby. It's 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:26.919 a it's a great day in my life. You know what, 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:28.840 all your gold rings with your diamonds were kind of 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:30.840 shining pretty rightly. Can you kind of just take a 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:35.800 couple off their Mr Money bags? Um? Okay? So what 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:40.199 is the opposite of greed, Well, not necessarily opposite, but 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:45.199 a reaction that you might have to greed, revulsion, a 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:47.960 sense of injustice. Right, Because we were discussing this the 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:51.520 other day, like, like, there's something particularly foul about greed, 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:53.920 especially when we I mean well pretty much only when 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:55.560 we glimpsed it in others, because when we glimpse it 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.440 in ourselves, we tend to, like everything else, we tend 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.439 to find more enlightened ways of of understanding it or 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.520 lying to ourselves about it. You know. But when you 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.679 see greed in another person, it's like, I mean it 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.040 all bows send the money right and money on on 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.320 a on a very crucial level, it's not real. Like 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:14.159 even when you're dealing with like gold coins, it's just 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:16.760 it's all it's all ultimately kind of arbitrary. I mean, yes, 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.520 there's there's a great deal of numbers and mathematics backing 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:21.560 it up, but it's all and none of it is real, 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:25.600 you know. And then when when we when we when 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:29.439 we raise that this abstract thing, this unreal thing, above 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.520 everything else that is real in life, when we place 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.399 this in this this made up money, above the heads 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.440 of very real people, it's terrifying and awful and absurd. 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.800 Right well, when the fantasy of this, right, it becomes 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:47.160 grotesque and you can't really see the reality around you, right, 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:49.320 I mean, it clouds your vision of your ability to 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:53.200 actually accurately since what's going on around you. That's when 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.040 I when I think, you know, you make decisions that 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:01.919 perhaps and other people creates this of disgust, because all 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.679 of a sudden you become this person who is a 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:08.080 caricature yourself to a certain degree. There's something called the 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:13.080 ultimatum game, and it's interesting the premises. Okay, I have 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:15.760 ten dollars that I can share with you, Robert Land, 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.680 anyway I choose. Okay, if you accept my offer, then 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:25.399 we both keep my proposed shares. If you reject my offer, 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:29.000 neither of us sees any of the money. Wait now, 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:33.399 what's the offer? Okay, um, okay, have ten dollars, I 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.960 will give you a quarter a quarter of the money 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:40.920 or just what do I have to do? Do you 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:42.720 mean you just can you can take or you can 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:45.320 leave it. Well, in that case, I would take it 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:49.480 because is better than no money. Right, you are so rational, 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:53.920 But most people would actually reject it. Huh yeah, because 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:55.960 you would think like the rational thing to do is 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.240 to say, like, um, you know, sure, now we're both 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.440 richer for this, right, But there's a sense of injustice 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.520 going on, like someone might think, that's not really why 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.879 are you keeping and I'm getting but I didn't do 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:11.040 anything to earn it. You just you have ten dollars, 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:13.800 you're giving me twenty cents and I'm and and if 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:16.160 you give me that cents, I'm halfway to getting something 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:17.720 out of the office snack machine. All I have to 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.040 do is find one more quarter and I'm gonna be 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.040 rolling in granola bar. Okay, Well, if you were a normal, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:27.800 flawed person, you would say, no, I'm going to penalize 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:30.520 you for your stinginess. No, I'm not gonna like neither 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.960 of us are going to get anything, right. That's weird. Yeah, 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:36.399 So even Ian, it's understandable, like I can totally I 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:38.359 can totally get it. Yeah, like I have. And it 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:40.440 is in a way, if you think about it, um, 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.679 it's sort of a power structure, right, because if that 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:45.480 person has the money and they're offering it to you, 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:47.720 how do you get your power back if you have nothing, 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:51.680