WEBVTT - STBYM: Three Years of Word Salad 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:05.960 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:14.319 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.040 My name is Robert Lamb and my name is Julie Douglas. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.239 But you know these things because if you've been listening 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:22.680 to our podcast for the last three years, then this 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.200 is the way we always start our episode. Sometimes you 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.880 throw in a curious nickname or two for yourself, but 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.040 otherwise the info is pretty much always the same, straight 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:34.720 for it. But today it's a little bit different. You 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:36.760 guys can't see here in the studio, but it is 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.479 just brimming with balloons that have fallen down from the ceiling. 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:43.080 And do you know why, I hope that you noted 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:48.320 the day? No, what is the day? It's our anniversary. Yeah, 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:50.680 it's been three years since we started this, this little 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:55.080 cabusive podcast. Yeah, and at the time we didn't know 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:57.000 how it would go, but it seems to have gone, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.720 you know, pretty well well. And I don't know if 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:02.680 let's there's know this, but um, we did not pick 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.520 the name for this podcast. It was it was given 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.480 to us. So when we first started it kind of 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.760 felt huge and looming, but ultimately we thought that we 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:16.440 could grow into it. Since we're both curious types and uh, 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:19.960 we are very interested in science. Yeah, of course the 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.880 original podcast was Stuff in the Science Lab and that 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.840 evolved into this podcast. And and at the time, our 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.760 our boss Connell said, uh, such about your mind. That's 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.600 that's gonna be the title, and uh and and we're like, 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:33.960 all right, we'll run with it. We trust you. You 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.520 you come up with some great ideas. So let's we'll 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:38.280 see if we can make this work. Because on one hand, 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.440 we weren't sure. Is it kind of cheesy sounding maybe? 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.600 And then also is that a lot to deliver on? 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:47.080 Like we can actually blow my And it's kind of 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:48.800 silly that we were even thinking about it at the time. 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:50.400 I was like, dude, what if it's not a what 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.680 do we do an episode and it doesn't blow people's minds? 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.360 What if it's not really like crazy awesome in your face, 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:59.040 like stoner science that we're throwing at at at you, 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.160 like what happened? When it's just kind of that that's 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.800 kind of neat. But I mean, in some episodes are 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.200 more mind blowing than others. There are some episodes we've 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:11.000 done that I feel, even researching them kind of shake 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:14.680 me to my core and make me just reevaluate either 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.440 myself or the universe though the world I live in, 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:19.520 the culture that I'm a part of, and in there 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.000 are other episodes where they are just a little bit like, oh, 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.400 that's kind of neat. I never thought about that, But 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:26.440 I feel like that's just all building up on the 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:31.160 narrative that we have when we discuss certain themes. Um. So, yeah, 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.600 obviously that's what we're going to talk about a bit today, 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.359 is you know, in our research force to flill your mind? 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.520 How has this influence for our lives because obviously this 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.000 is a very intimate part of our lives, even if 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.960 this is for work. And um, I wanted just to 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:46.799 quickly say that we want to thank everyone who has 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.320 stuck with us from the beginning and those of you 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.160 who have just stumbled upon the podcast. Um, it's largely 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.239 the conversation that we have with you guys that's helped 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:00.480 the direction of the podcast and oftentimes really added new 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.480 layers to it. So and we've really been fortunate with 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:06.880 our listeners because there are a number of podcasts here 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.000 in in the How Stuff Works suite of podcasts. I mean, 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:14.079 you got uh stuff, you should know stuff they don't 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:16.640 want you to know stuff Mom never told you, stuff 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.600 you missed in history class. All all these different brands, 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.600 and we hear about other people's listeners, and there are 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:26.280 great listeners, great fans for all of the podcasts. Though 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.200 I feel like we have less in the way of 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.920 like evil listeners or band listeners or or negative listeners. 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.360 You know. We we get we occasionally catch some flak 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:39.640 for this, that or the other, but but I feel like, uh, 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:41.800 we've got a really good crew. We do. We we 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.800 often get if we get criticism, is it's thoughtful and 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.560 it's couched in a way that's helpful. UM. But we 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.440 also most of the time get feedback that were really 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.040 actually blows my mind, that makes sort of takes the 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.800 conversation that we're having together and takes it to another 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.600 level because you guys have gone away with with some 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.920 of the thoughts of your own on these topics and 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.960 really spun them. So it's been a very nice experience. 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.680 And so we just wanted to talk a bit today 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.760 about the different ways that we've digested this stuff. And 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:16.520 by the way, we would love to hear from you 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.119 guys to um, you know, if if there are certain 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.920 things from the podcast that have affected your lives, A 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.800 certain bits of information that have made you sort of 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:29.040 rethink what's going on in your world. Yeah, indeed, I 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.400 should also want we have heard from We're always hearing 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:35.080 from listeners who play us in the background during their 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:40.679 artistic creation. So they're they're painting or they're they're building 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:45.240 something and uh. And that's always just really great to 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.719 hear that we, in some way, and even in just 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:52.000 some small way, maybe contribute to their creative process, be 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:56.200 it art or science. Indeed, all right, you want to 0:04:56.200 --> 0:05:04.279 take the first way in which this podcast has changed life? Well, influenced? Yeah, 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.560 influence because change tends to you know, it makes you 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.480 think like you gave up all your your belongings, you know, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.800 became Buddha or something. No, no, no, so one thing. 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.000 I would think. It's it's not so much that change 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:20.200 something about me, but I feel like it often strengthens 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:24.039 qualities that are already there because for instance, um, when 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.840 it comes to feminism, uh and uh and the subject 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:31.279 of the ladies and and you know who women are, 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.000 why that what their role is in the species? Um, 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.280 I feel like I I have always been sympathetic to 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.240 feminist issues. But in the in the course of the 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.120 podcast we've discussed for this Ladies not Implanet Earth was 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.520 an early episode where we talked about such issues as 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.640 you know, the the idea that that females are the 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.960 species and that males are merely a mutation necessary for 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.680 sexual reproduction. We looked at examples, especially the insect world, 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.360 where males have been face doubt. We've looked at some 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:06.600 of the theories regarding the destructive aspects of the patriarchy 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:11.640 versus matriarchy and culture and uh. We've also discussed witchcraft, 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:16.440 witchcraft persecution, the ways in which male dominated culture have 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.960 persecuted women. So it really forced me when I when 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:24.200 I encounter stereotypes, when when I encounter other attitudes regarding 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.200 regarding sex and gender. Um, I have all of this 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:29.760 science that I bring to my evaluation of it, and 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.680 I'll think, well, okay, well that person is viewing the 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.640 world in this way, and here's why, and uh, and 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.560 and here is maybe what it's more like from a 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:42.039 from from an organism level. That's interesting that you say that, 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:46.360 because um, all of the episodes that you mentioned were 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:48.960 of interest to me in the ways that we paint gender. 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.560 But I think that for me, the bulk of it 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.719 um in terms of gender has been our research into 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:00.479 the subconscious and symbols and how we create world of 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:04.960 symbols that we moved through and um So my suspicion 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.200 has always been that to a large degree we perform 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.880 our gender. Um. I know there, I say a large 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.480 degree of leaving some room there, But for the most part, 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:16.520 I feel like men and women are just equally capable 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:21.120 of moments of atrocities and moments of grace, you know, 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:25.560 both physically and mentally. So I think back to Elizabeth Spelki, 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:30.280 who is the cognitive psychologist who responded to Lawrence Sumner's 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.880 that then Harvard president, who said that there was a 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.760 shortage of women in science or the physical science is 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:43.280 because perhaps they did not have the sort of um rigor, 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.280 the sort of intellectual rigor that allowed them to do well. 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:51.640 And she actually looked at decades of her research into 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:55.840 infants and children, and she took that data and she 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:59.680 found that there was nothing, There was no evidence of 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:04.400 differences between girls and boys on basic number skills, a 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:06.880 bunch of different things that she was looking at, and 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:10.720 so she said her position is that the null hypothesis 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.840 is correct, there's no cognitive difference and nothing to say 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.440 about it. And she actually debated uh, Dr Stephen Pinker 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.240 in a fascinating bit their friends, and so they both 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.880 differed on this, this topic of gender differences in the 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:27.800 physical sciences. And if anybody has, like I don't know, 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.000 two hours to kill anyone. You want to look at 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.280 a transcript of this. It's online, but it's it lays 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.160 out very interesting arguments on this. And I think that 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.080 that Dr Spucky does a great job of attacking this 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:45.800 in the way of saying, let's not overlay gender stereotypes 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.480 and have them stand in for real data. And now 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.920 what about you? What's what's a way in which working 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.720 on this podcast has influence store changed your life? Ah, 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.680 this consciousness stuff, that's really uh, it's kind of like 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.560 the tail wagging the dog problem of death in the 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.360 afterlife for me, and I did not think that that 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.720 was something that would happen, that that that this um 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.600 preoccupation with consciousness would bring up these questions not so 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.680 much actually, you know, about what happens after we die, 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:18.200 because for me that's fairly simple and straightforward. The lights 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:20.760 kind of go off in the brain and that's it 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.440 for me. It brought it more um in terms of 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:30.240 what happened before. So this question of consciousness, I feel 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.000 like it is very much related to the beginnings of 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.319 the universe. So how do I don't know how to 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:40.640 explain this um. It's troubling to me because that, to me, 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:44.600 that's the great void of knowledge. So if we know 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.199 that we're inherently tied to the universe through chemicals, the 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:52.600 chemical imprint, so like hydrogen, helium, and carbon and oxygen, 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.800 those are the most common elements in the universe, and 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:58.480 we know that hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen are the top 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:00.840 three ingredients for life on Earth. And then we look 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:05.080 at our bodies, ourselves, and we know that hydrogen, carbon, 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:08.760 and oxygen account of the atoms and the human body, 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:12.360 and you know, it begins to make this case of well, 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.560 of course, you know this is this is something that's 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:21.320 tied into something that we can't understand at this point. 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.600 And we can't also understand consciousness. We can't point to 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.080 the area in our brain that says this is me, 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.280 this is what makes me me and makes me understand 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.080 my place in the world, just like we can't point 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.320 to the beginnings of life in the universe and say 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:39.439 that's where it began. And see what you're underlying here 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.040 is something that's always been part of our our mission statement, 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.640 you know, to to take listeners and ourselves to that 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:50.120 aha point, to the edge of human understanding. And when 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.240 you reach that point and then you're just staring off 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.560 into the void, you're staring staring down into where knowledge 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.480 drops off into the abyss. And that's that means an 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.760 amazing and at times fright main place to be. It is, 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.760 and I'm actually pretty astounded that as humans that we 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:09.160 have come this far to understand our our chemical fingerprints 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.679 in our bodies and in the universe and tied them 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:15.120 all together. But that still leaves this gaping whole and 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:20.400 logic and uh and understanding as well. So again it's 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:25.920 not for me necessarily a really just toned um conversation 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.360 with myself about what it all means. It just is 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:33.760 this question of consciousness that has wrung out some of 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.560 these more troublesome aspects of how it all began. So 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.400 do you feel like you have more existential dread now 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:44.360 than before? Yes? Yes, and no, yes and no. And 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:49.120 I actually wrote down this this little bit from theoretical 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.600 physicist Lawrence Kraus and his Cosmic Connections lecture, because it's 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:56.199 always given me a measure of comfort. And he said, 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:58.680 and every breath you take their an average of at 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:01.439 least ten oxygen ms from the dying breath of Caesar 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.280 when he said aboute every time you breathe, you're breathing 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.079 in atoms of everyone who has ever lived. So when 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.160 the universe feels immense and like there's no beginning and 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:13.800 no end, I think about that quote and I think 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.960 about how we just essentially in the day, I have 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.319 this sort of snow globe existence that we just kind 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.360 of shake up around while the little elements uh on 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.480 the earth that are that are surrounding us. I think, 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:30.400 for my own part with the existential dread, I feel 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.400 like maybe I might have the same level of existential dread, 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:35.920 but I understand it a little more and then, and 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.160 maybe in the same way that you know when you're 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.199 practicing meditation and mindfulness, it's about it's realizing when you're 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.160 angry or when you're letting your when you're sad, realizing 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.080 what your emotional state is and that being conscious of 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:52.679 it is the first step in managing it. So maybe 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.960 maybe I am maybe I have a little less existential 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.640 dread in in the fact that I am more conscious 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.320 of how it's working line feeling that way. Well, it's 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:03.199 when you bring that up, because I had also thought 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.320 that one of the byproducts of working on this podcast 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.440 is that there's a meta awareness of my thoughts because 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.000 we talk about this all the time that you know 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.760 that if you can identify your thoughts and identify what 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.280 is motivating them, then you can oftentimes really get to 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:23.040 the root of a problem, or you can you can 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.360 correct your responses. So we've even talked about if you're angry, 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.120 you know, count to five, because it takes a little 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.640 bit for your prefrontal cortex to get in line with 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.840 your magdala to make sure that you don't do some 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.640 sort of crazy thing or say something crazy. So there's this, 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:42.800 there's a sort of wisdom to being able to slow 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:46.320 down your thought process and um and figure out what's 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.640 going on now you said crazy. Uh. That is another 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.800 thing that has has really hit me over the course 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:57.520 of these three years is enforcing a pronounced appreciation with 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.120 the thin line between sanity and insanity, way normal and 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.679 paranormal in the human experience. And when we've looked at 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.920 that in terms of the human brain, all the different 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:09.960 elements that make consciousness what it is, that make memory 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.880 what it is, and how fallible all of that is, 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.960 How how fallible memory is, How the slightest changes in 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.760 the in the brains of structure or chemistry alter the 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.320 way that we perceive the world, how we interact with it. 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.000 How so many of the things that we see as 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.480 paranormal experiences be at an alien abduction and encounter with 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:33.120 elves in the woods, uh, and angelic visitation, the voice 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.600 of God, in anything from from the from the grand 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.480 list of of of the strange and and the powerful 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.640 and the holy, they can they can almost universally, all 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.600 be explained by looking at the way our mind works, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.280 that the way our our perception and interaction with the 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.480 real world works. And uh and and and it's not 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:56.280 something that I feel diminishes the magic of reality at all, 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:58.760 you know. It's not something like, oh, there aren't really angels, 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:01.640 isn't that doesn't that suck? No? No, it's more that 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:06.880 it's it's more exhilarating to think that that our existence, 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:08.800 in our in our experience of the world is such 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:12.440 a behind line. It's such a narrow thing, and you know, 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.880 it's like a tight rope walk. I was thinking about 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:16.320 this last night. I thought I was drifting off to 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.040 sleep because I was seeing images, and I thought, really, 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.680 this is my brain hallucinating because it doesn't have any 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:26.040 stimuli right now. You know, it's it's dead quiet, and 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:28.960 it's dark, and it has nothing to chew on. So 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.080 it's going to start the dream cycle and start hallucinating 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.560 for me. Uh, you know, to recreate maybe the events 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.440 of my day or just to float off into different 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.600 areas of exploration. So it really is fascinating. You're right 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:47.560 there that line between what is mental order and mental disorder. Yeah, 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.360 I mean, because it at the end of the day, 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:53.000 you're you're encountering the the idea that the brain is 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.560 the most complex structure that we know of. It's this 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:02.560 intense creation machine, creating, spending off ideas, uh, spenning off 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.240 the whole imagined worlds and uh and we we are 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:07.920 yet and we are at the center of it all right. 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.080 So comfort So you fall on the line of comforting 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.520 or discomforting, I would say, I would say comforting, Yeah, 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:15.680 at least for me, because I'm still able to enjoy 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.000 all those other things too. You know, I still can 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.400 really get into the idea of, you know, of Dante's Inferno, 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.000 or you know, or some horror movie with demons in 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.280 it or something, because it doesn't it doesn't disappoint me 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:31.000 to to know that those are creations of the mind, 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:33.320 and it just shows out baculous the mind is, and 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.400 it just comes back out in on itself like that. Cool. 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:38.200 All right, we're gonna take a quick break and when 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.000 we get back, we are going to discuss the deep 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:52.880 dirt secrets of our lives. All right, we're back. So, 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.440 so what else in three years of stuff about your mind? 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.280 What else has this changed about you? How has how 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:02.040 has Obviously the Julie Douglas that exists now is different 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:06.919 from the Julie Dougles that existed then. Core elements still there, 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.919 You're right. I've got some new cells, new cells, and 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.919 in a different brain structure. Actually, I do have a 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.280 very I think I have a very different brain structure. 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.760 And I say this because, um, we have mentioned before 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:25.840 I quit drinking alcohol. Um, I don't know a year 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:30.119 and change your sixteen months ago or something. And the 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:34.560 reason is because I began to have foreign of an 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:39.719 awareness of addictive behavior. And so if you have an 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.680 addiction or a dependency on something like I do with alcohol, 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.440 it's really hard to sit back and do research on 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:50.760 how the brain responds to substances when they're pushed up 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.760 against the anxieties of life and then not see the 0:17:54.760 --> 0:18:00.840 patterns of your own behavior in this light. And you know, 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.600 I think the thing that was most striking to me 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.399 is that when we were doing research on you know, 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.520 whether it was alcohol or drugs, or just talking about 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:14.480 the reward system and dopamine for instance, UM, I began 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:18.399 to see that these habits that we create for ourselves 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:22.080 are really just sort of well trod circuitry in our brain, 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:24.919 this thing that we keep doing over and over again. 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.200 And for a long time I have wanted to stop 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:32.199 drinking and and I didn't really I wasn't able to 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:34.920 understand it in a way that I could. But when 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.000 I got frustrated enough that I had created essentially a 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.760 chemical feedback loop, UM, I began to understand that this 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.480 was something that I might be able to reverse. And 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:50.520 this was another chilling thing to me, is that learning 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.640 how memory was affected by alcohol, because if you talk 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:58.280 about the hippocampus, which is involved in memory making, and 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.400 you look at self that are bay and alcohol, what 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.800 you will see is that they lose the ability to 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:09.080 connect and communicate with other brain cells and they either 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.240 aren't going to make any connection and you're not going 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:14.240 to have that memory, or your brain actually has to 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:19.879 create a sort of plan B for memory. And so 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:22.040 what I thought to myself is, not only have I 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.840 got these chemical feedback loops I don't want um and 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:30.080 I've sort of fallen victim to that, but I have, 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.359 you know, I have memory stores that maybe are working 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:37.399 or not working in the way that they should be. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:39.639 And that really was something that was troubling to me. 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.359 So I will say that through the research and just 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.320 the constant sort of flow of information about how the 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.920 brain works, I was able to address that. Okay, So 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:53.120 in a sense, did did the research provide you sort 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:56.480 of the scientific backup to force the change? Is that 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.159 what you're saying, Yeah, I mean the awareness when you 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.880 think about how bit that you have you don't normally 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:04.800 research or habit to the degree that you are understanding 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:09.000 the inner mechanisms of how that habit is playing itself 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.119 out because in a way, sometimes our habits have they 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:13.600 almost have a mind of their own, They almost have 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:18.120 a defense mechanism in place to protect themselves from you. Well, 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:21.359 that's a story that we tell whenever we're engaging in 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:24.320 the habit. So I'm not gonna go I don't want 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:27.040 to go into you know, addiction too much. But you know, 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:30.520 I will say that this is a truthful account of 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:33.480 of having worked on the podcast over the last three 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:37.600 years and doing research on the brain and on memory 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.880 and on um, you know, various substances, and then coming 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:44.720 to the conclusion that you know, there's there was something 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:48.760 you know, awry in my own personal space that I 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:55.280 needed to address. Cool you what's your deep dark serian? Well, um, yeah, 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:57.160 I don't know if I have anything is as powerful 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:00.000 as that. Now, I will say that, Um, I'm pretty 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.159 Are you sure that working on stuff to bow your 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:07.040 mind your mind did force me to give up eating cephalopods, which, grant, 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:08.760 I mean, I'm not putting that out there like I've 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:11.639 what I've done is super noble because I'm still probably 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:14.960 a huge hypocrite because even though I do not actively 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:17.960 seek out pork, I still I don't think I've yet 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:20.960 to oppose it on moral grounds to say I'm not 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:23.840 gonna eat that, because pigs are smart and wonderful and 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:27.960 I respect them as intelligent beings, whereas with cephalopods of 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:30.520 kind of chosen my battle there and said, you know, 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:35.040 in the past, I've really enjoyed eating pretty much any cephalopod, 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:40.280 especially the squid and also the octopi. But now that 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:43.160 I know more about their brains, you know about how 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:46.280 fabulous they are as organisms in general, but also how 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.520 how intelligent and octopus can be, and how arguably it's 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:55.560 it's conscious, how arguably it's it's in the same neural 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:57.520 zone is my cat. And I don't want to eat 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:02.120 my cat. I can't bring myself to eat the octopus either. Yeah, 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:03.720 And a lot of this came up when we were 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:06.199 talking about the book Um, some we eat, some we 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:09.520 love and saying we kill, and is that right? Some 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:13.080 eat love and kill? I think so. The follow up 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:16.640 to Eat Praying, Love and and it was talking about 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:19.240 our weird relationship with animals and the way that we 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.000 regard them, and that really was, you know, I think 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:24.919 something that brought up this sort of idea of personhood. 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:27.520 And then we did the of course, the episode on personhood, 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:31.440 and we talked about these higher cognitive functions and some animals, 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:35.400 you know, could they were they conscious? Did they have 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:39.920 uh complex social relationships? Yes? And yes, and so it 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:42.919