WEBVTT - Novelty Junkies 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:14.040 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.360 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglass. Julie, 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:18.639 what do you think when you hear novelty junkie? Like, 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.560 what does that entail? What's the division? Um? I think 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:24.680 about the dude who who came up with like this 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.880 squirrel jumping wingsuit and jumps regularly off cliffs. We'll see. 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:33.120 Now that's that's pretty cool. Like that's somebody that's like 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:35.840 in the novelty and they're out there and doing it right. Yeah, 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:38.479 they're getting done. Like the vision of novelty junkie, it 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:42.080 comes to me is actually, Um, there's a Portlandia sketch 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.960 the other day about where the the wife is going 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:46.760 to some sort of meeting in the evening and so 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.479 she has to get a babysitter for the husband so 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.120 that he doesn't sit around and watch random YouTube videos 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:55.200 all night, drink beer and then fall asleep in his 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.560 clothes with all the lights in the house on. Because 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.840 that's I mean the like things like YouTube, things like Wikipedia, 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:05.000 they allow one to really flex the novelty seeking muscle 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:07.480 in the brain to where it's like, you know, random 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:11.160 duck driving a car watching it, vomiting, competition waking. I 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.040 don't know, we just did a competitive eating related podcasts 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.240 like a vomiting on the brain. But you know it's 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.120 like one of both of these are examples if you 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.760 can just go from one subject in another, from one diverse, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:25.479 tid dead or random weirdness to another without ever really 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.040 absorbing much of anything, sort of like an A D 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:30.880 D state, Right, Yeah, But I guess that is the 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.679 downside of it, right, because then a culture that we 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:37.559 have right now, you know, um, we apparently consume about 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:42.600 one hundred thousand words each day from various media, which, 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.360 according to Winnifred Gallagher and No Journalists says, that is 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:50.720 a walpping three increase measured invites over what we handled 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:54.280 back in nineteen Yeah, because I mean thinking back, like 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:56.200 even thinking back then when I was, when I was 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:58.160 a kid, Like if you wanted to learn new stuff, 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.440 like you're just sort of picking up new information or 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.080 fulfilling that novelty portion of your brain, Like you had 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:04.760 to go to library and you look around, you had 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.400 to look through your dad's, your your mom's books, and 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.600 you know old books and or encyclopedia. Like the encyclopedia 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.160 itself was always a great novelty seeking tool, but the 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:16.079 Internet really opens it up. You're just to keep a 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:20.800 few key strokes away from just an abyss of sometimes useless, 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.840 often useless information. Yeah, And I mean that's the thing 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:27.359 about neophilia or or seeking novelty really is that it 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:30.240 spurs us to try to explore and find new things, 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.080 which is really cool, but it can also feed into 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.639 ours restlessness or distraction. And by the way, did you 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.160 know that the word boring didn't even enter the dictionary 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.840 I think into like the nineteen hundreds, like it. That's 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:44.920 kind of fascinating, you mean, so it's like a twentieth 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.520 century luxury being able to board with anything right, right, 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.119 because you know, otherwise there's there's work to do, there's 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:52.960 stuff to do, like what are you doing? How can 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:56.000 you possibly be bored? Right? But when you start automating things, 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.160 all of a sudden, you've got extra time on your hands, right, 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.200 or once you know you which from being an a 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.880 grarian society to an industrialized society, than you know, you're 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.080 not in the fields for twelve hours a day, um, 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:09.840 And then of course, I think that we're seeing the 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.040 extreme example of this right now in our day and age. Um, 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:14.800 and that's what we're talking about today is just kind 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.440 of getting behind this idea of what is the science 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.919 behind novelty? Why do we seek out new experiences? How 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:26.080 many of us are neophobes, neophiles, neophiliacs, You're crazy maniac 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.400 novelty runner aftersh And that's what we're going to talk 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.400 about and try to explore. So, yeah, let me get 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.200 back to this Winnifred Gallagher character. Besides me or journalist, 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:39.000 she also has written a couple of books, and she 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:43.720 argues that neophilia, this this desire for new experiences has 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:47.640 always been the quintessential human survival skill, whether adapting to 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.520 climate change or um, you know, some sort of new 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.000 geographical area, or coping with the latest digital toy. Yeah, 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.520 it's like you're marching over a hill. Suddenly there's a 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.320 slightly different environment going on. You're like to do this. 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.640 Let's see what's edible, Let's see what's poisonous. Let's see 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.400 what animals I can domesticate, Which ones I I need 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.800 to kill with a rock, Let's do it. I'm all 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:10.880 up for new experiences when other people might peek over 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:12.800 that hill and they're like, I don't know about this 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.240 new environment. I'm just gonna creep back here and need 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:17.440 more of those grasshoppers. Right, you might be a neopho, 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:21.520 and you might have a different genetic disposition to explore 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.520 new things and infect In the article What's New Exuberance 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.000 for novelty has Benefits by John Tierney on The New 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.520 York Times, they actually talked about this migration gene. Yeah, 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.479 so this is the migration gene. This is a DNA 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:36.600 mutation that occurred roughly fifty thousand years ago. It's believed 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.719 as the humans we're leaving Africa, and these mutations are 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.960 actually the most prevalent in the in the most far 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.960 flung population so done, like Indian tribes in South America 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.360 that are descended from neophiliacs across the Bearing Straits. Understandably, 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:52.400 you see the strongest occurrence of these genes and the 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.720 people who traveled the farthest right, right. And the coolest 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.400 thing about this is that the genetic variations affect the 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.279 brains regulation of dopamine. And I feel like we've been 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.880 talking about Yeah, Yeah, The New York Transmitter that gives 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:06.880 us that kind of high that you know that the 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:11.480 ding ding reward. Right. So the variations, these variations have 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.760 been linked to more um, well it should say, faster 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:21.120 reaction times and individuals that possess them attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, right, 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.279 which we've seen a lot, or it seems like that's 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.000 been in the news a lot in the last decade 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.080 or so, and a higher penchant for novelty seeking and 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:33.080 risk taking. So it's like fascinating that so much of 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.960 this ties back to our DNA or our migratory patterns 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:39.760 that you know, you could come into this world and 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:43.680 be a bit hardwired for these experiences, maybe your neophobe 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.160 and you know you're not comfortable with new experiences and 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:48.240 you want to, you know, retract a little bit. You 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.600 can imagine individuals in that situation being more inclined to 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.040 stick around in their existing area and sort of fine 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.960 tune their exploitation of that environment, sort of like, well, 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.360 let's I'm I'm really not into going over that hill 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:02.400 and checking out what's going over there. I'm going to 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.200 figure out how to farm better here, or how to 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.440 better manage the animals I need to catch to survive 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:10.640 that kind of thing exactly. UM. And you know, maybe 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.400 these are the agrarians um of of history. Uh. And 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:16.440 of course it's not as simple as it just sort 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:18.200 of dills down to you having a you know, varying 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:20.159 to in this gene. There are other factors that play 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.800 environmental um. In fact, they were talking about in this 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.719 article uh from the New York Times about novelty perhaps 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.400 even um being the key to happiness, and a lot 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.480 of that again has to do with what sort of 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.200 environmental factors are present, not just what genes you possess, right, 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.480 only know, that's one of the whole reasons for like 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:43.080 most people are a lot of people. I mean, there's 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.520 sort of different versions of people going on vacation. Some 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:47.360 people like to go back to a familiar spot that 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:49.640 they have this investment and that's a place they go 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.599 every year and it's full of memories. Other people they 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:54.160 like something new, They want to they want to be 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.440 blown away by a new environment. Uh, new sides, new sounds. 0:06:57.560 --> 0:06:59.160 I feel like my wife and I are definitely more 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:01.960 in that category. Worry. UM. I mean there are places 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:03.839 we have memories attached to as well, but there's nothing 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.200 like going to like a new city, a new place 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.279 and exploring it, and I mean it really your perception 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.600 of time changes in those environments, like because everything is novel, 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:14.640 everything is new. It's like your kid again because when 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.720 your kid, everything is everything is novel, and uh, you know, 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.480 in time slows down and everything's bright, Well you think 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.000 differently about your role. I mean to me, travel and 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:27.120 and having new experiences forever changes you as a person, right, yeah, right, 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:28.960 And that's what I love about. In fact, I took 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:33.080 the uh, the little quiz that New York Times article 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:36.720 has again, it's called what's new Exuberance for novelty has benefits? 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.600 And it turns out that I am a neophiliac. Huh. 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.200 You know. I started taking the same quiz, but then 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:45.960 someone something this YouTube video this go for right the 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.040 three wheeler, and it was amazing. All right, well let's 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.920 talk about that. Let's talk about this this idea that 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.400 neophiliacs or people who are neophiles, you know a little 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:59.400 bit to a lesser degree but still seeking out new experiences, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.760 are their brains are bifurcated with all this different data 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:04.840 and harness it in a way that you can actually 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:07.560 make something of this yeah, it's estimated that you you 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.320 really need a trio of traits to really to to 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:14.880 to be the guy in the squirrel suit of skydiving, 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.240 as opposed to the guy who's falling asleep watching a 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:22.000 bunch of different YouTube videos. The individuals in this perdious study, 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.240 they scored high in noveli seeking as well as in 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:30.040 persistence and trelp and self transcendence. So persistence, of course 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.480 is the is sticking to it. Some some people are 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:34.800 may be disinclined to take up new hobbies because you 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.319 try it and you suck at it. Like that's pretty 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.079 much how a lot of things go. It's rare that 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.480 we find some new skill or some new you know, 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:44.839 artistic endeavor that we the first time we try it, 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.480 we got it. I mean a it's not very rewarding 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:49.439 if there's no room for growth, right. Part of the 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:51.800 reward is seeing your improvement. But you gotta have some 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:53.439 persistence to stick with it. You gotta be willing to 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.480 suck at something for a certain amount of time before 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:57.960 you are good at it and before it's maybe ultimately 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:01.280 more rewarding. Persistent like in our there are two opening examples. 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.440 The guy with the squirrel suit. That dude had a vision, 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.280 but he had to have a certain amount of persistence 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:08.319 to see it through. Like he couldn't just play like 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:09.880 what am I doing this weekend? I'm making a squirrel 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:11.839 suit and I'm gonna jump off of a mountain and 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.480 I'm gonna do that successfully my first try. Yeah, it's 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.320 not that's not gonna happen. Whereas the the individual watching 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.319 the YouTube videos, he might say, watch a video of 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.400 Australian rules football and be like, WHOA, that's weird. I 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.760 didn't know there was Australian rules football and that's the 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.040 end of it. Where he had more persistence, he might 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.000 be like, well, I'm gonna really look into this. I'm 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.840 gonna maybe, you know, get into watching Australian roles football. 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.080 Maybe I'm going to start a league. You know. There 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:39.200 would be this this higher level of engagement with the topic. Yeah, 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.160 and there would be this other thing called self transcendence, 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:49.480 and we'll talk about that right after this break. All right, 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:54.160 we're back. We're ready to self transcend letting right now. Okay, 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.079 that's not the same thing as it. Yeah, okay, so 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:01.920 self transcendence. We know about this in terms of let's 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:04.520 say that the flow state. This is something that um, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.440 you're doing that you're really invested in, but you're also 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:09.760 getting a lot of reward out of you. That's again 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:13.199 what helps with the pursual and the persistence is that 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:16.319 you're achieving this state of flow, this self transcendence. Yeah, 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.600 like it's it's it's not like I'm going to work 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:20.600 on painting these miniatures and I'm gonna get really good 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:22.400 at it. I'm gonna get really good. You know, you're 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:24.559 not thinking like that, you get you're losing yourself in 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.480 the process of doing it. Like the again, the guy 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.160 making the squirrel suit, he is into the process of 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.080 doing it to the point where he's not thinking about 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.120 this is a results oriented adventure, right right, So, I 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:38.840 mean it's the short term payoff with a long term right. 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.319 And I was even thinking about this novelty and genius 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:44.480 because we've talked about this before. In fact, when we 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.520 were covering I believe it was the podcast on Einstein's brain. Right, Well, 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:50.760 thanks the brain of a genius. It's not just a 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:55.560 purely anatomical exercise because you're gonna have a genius level brain, 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.520 but it's only being used to watch YouTube videos. Right. 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.840 But the and we talked about this to this this uh, 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:04.560 this idea that the brain is not a static thing. 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.760 There's something called neural plasticity, which means that your brain 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.640 can change throughout your lifetime. And one of the key 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.280 ingredients in changing your brain for the better at least 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.959 is having new experiences. And when we talked about genius 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:20.920 in the podcast about Einstein, we talked about how some 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:25.000 people actually are more genetically predisposed to be open to 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.280 new experiences, and that certainly helps. But anytime you have 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:30.600 a new experience, um, you know, even like if you're 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:32.720 right handed and you brush your teeth with your left hand, 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.360 or you juggle and you're not a juggler, you're creating 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.839 new white cells, these glial cells, and you want to 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:41.880 do you want to throw in a juggling shown you. 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.040 I'm just thinking about, like like should we all do that? 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.319 Should we all go home this evening or you know, 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.520 the next scheduled brushing in our day, we should use 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:53.120 an opposite hand just to yeah, because this is the 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:57.720 glial cells, these white cells which are created from new experiences. 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.240 These are the things that help strengthen our helps think faster, 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:06.679 connect more ideas, new ideas, UM, and again neuroplasticity. We 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.520 can continue to change our brain as we age. Um. 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.360 Does it help if we have more experiences before the 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:14.600 age of twenty Yeah, yeah, because the bulk of your 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.679 brain is going to be established by age twenty UM. 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.360 So it's great for kids to have as many new 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.760 experiences and new skills as possible. But that doesn't mean 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.000 that we're stuck with the same clump of three pounds, 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.280 you know. For the restaurants, it's it's certainly what you have. 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:30.719 Like going to museums is important when you're when you're 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:35.319 growing up, traveling to whatever extent is manageable, it just 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:37.880 helps change you. Like I think I look back on 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:41.400 like you said, I feel like any travel, any worthwhile 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:43.959 trip changes who you are. You don't just go to 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:47.080 somewhere like like a Thailand or a Coasta, Rica or whatever. 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:48.600 You don't you don't just go to and come back. 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.559 You you go to and you come back with a 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:53.440 little of it in you, you know. Yeah. Yeah, because 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.959 and I'm not just talking about lower intestinal infections. Yeah, 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:58.760 I would just say or the Thaigh red Bull that 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.719 you speak so fondly of, Yeah, that was good. But 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:04.400 and like, I look back on trips that I took 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:05.920 before the age of twenty and I feel like they 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.920 definitely had an influence on decisions I made later. And however, 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.199 the world following Yeah, and again, in a very basic level, 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.439 there's those white uh you know, breen cells being created, 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:18.000 and it's just lovely to think that all these things 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.400 are happening behind the scenes and all you have to 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.920 do is brush your teeth with a non dominant hand 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.680 and when you master that, moved to your feet. Brushing 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:28.959 with your feet. Yeah, sure, why not? So it kind 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.199 of both new affiliate downstad it boils down like a 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:33.480 lot of things in human nature, you kind of want 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.480 a moderation of it, like too much neophilia. You end 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.040 up just being this YouTube junkie who maybe doesn't even 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.079 leave the house because he's not willing to actually or 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.440 she is not willing to actually invest in this novelty seeking. 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.480 They're not they're not actually getting any kind of transcendent 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:50.520 experience out of it. And then you have the other 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:54.360 individual who is not leaving the room because they don't 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.640 want the new experiences, right, They're they're afraid of encountering 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.240 them to log Yeah, neophiliax UM. In the past have 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.960 been tagged as as um as being a bit flighty 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:10.520 or impulsive or irritable um. And then neophobes again not 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.360 wanting to leave the house um, which is the extreme, extreme, 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:16.079 extreme example. But again, all of this is changeable, and 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:18.480 it depends on the experiences that you have throughout life. 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.720 A good example is Eleanor Roosevelt. I mean, she was 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.560 certainly a neophobe in her early life, but through her 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:29.200 experiences sort of switched over to neophilia UM. So it's 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:31.560 not again, it's just like the brain. It's it's not 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.960 a static thing, um, just like your personality is not 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.720 static and very much informed by your brain. And I 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.600 was even thinking about the podcast that we did about 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.080 how to Change your Brain the Hard Way John Gage, 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:47.280 who had um, you know, steel rod go through his 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.560 head and was his personality was completely changed. And of 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.320 course we don't need to all put steel rods in 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:57.119 our head to significantly change our world views or personality. 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.760 That it is interesting to think about all the little 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.200 different ways in life that we can change the way 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.800 we think. All right, So UM, on that note, let's 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:10.160 see what the neophiles out there and the listening audience 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:14.040 had to say, let's call over the robot. All right, 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.000 here's here's a little email from a listener by the 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:18.600 name of Don Don Wrightson and says, Robert and Julie, 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:20.680 thank you for the great podcast. My inner geek is 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:25.160 very happy. I just listened to your monogamy shamogamy podcast, 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.400 and I have to say I can never resist a 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:31.520 George Michael reference. However, as the queen of pop culture references, 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.360 I must insist that it was the I Want Your 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.760 Sex video that featured George Michael scrawling the world monogamy 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.800 on his lover's back and red lipstick. Of course, thanks 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.200 for being a part of what is now a fun commute. 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.120 Don So yeah, I think we who were thinking it 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:49.960 was is it freedom but not un totally makes sense 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:51.960 that it was I Want Your Sex. We have to 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:55.080 give George Michael a little apology there for tonal consistencycause 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:57.040 it turns out I Want Your Sex. Well no, I 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.520 don't know, maybe there's still a weirdness there, but at 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:01.600 any rate, it makes a little more sense with I 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:03.600 don't know. We we clearly need to go back on 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:08.120 our George Michael catalog and revisit. All right, there's another one. 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:12.120 This one is from Sean in Ottawa, Canada. Hi, long 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:16.240 time listener, first time writer, persistent procrastinator. I did have 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.200 one comment on your Gay Animals podcast. You repeated the 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.640 danger of anthropomorphizing animals, which I feel does us a 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:27.720 greater disservice in the end, which is failing to biomorphize humans. Uh. 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.720 The very fact that research into animal sexuality can help 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.240 shed light on human sexuality points to the fact that 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.960 try as we might to think ourselves separate from the 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:40.720 rest of nature, we most certainly are not. There maybe 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:44.320 qualities and motivations that guide human behavior that simply don't 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.600 exist or correlate outside of our culture, but not when 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.240 it comes to the birds and the bees. We are 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.160 all animals in the end. Some are more complex, some 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:57.320 more social, some more adaptable. Anthromomorphize away and in doing 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:01.560 so keep biomorphizing us. Huh. I thought that was really interesting. 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.600 We I apologize. I don't remember the person who put 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.440 on our Facebook page a comment about the same episode, 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.680 but he was sort of talking the taking the opposite 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.720 tact would which would be that we are not We 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:17.480 can't create ourselves with animals because then we're you know, 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:22.120 condoning incest or rape or other things. UM, so I don't. 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.719 This is all really interesting conversation that came from this. Um, 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.200 both sides of the perspective. I always like to get 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:30.920 different when we get emails about different sides of it, 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.920 because it makes me feel like everybody is really for 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.159 coming in on the conversation and considering all parts of it. 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:42.040 Stimulating the brain tanks for sure. UM. We also heard 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.640 from a listener by the name of h Ta Ta 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:47.560 right soon and says, do you Robert and Julie, I 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.119 sent this email last week, only to listen to one 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.000 of the more recent podcasts this morning and discovering that 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.520 your email has changed. And again we should mention this 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:57.840 at the end of the podcast too, but we are 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.760 now blow the mind at Discovery dot com right Um, anyway, 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:04.320 should continues. I just finished listening to the Santa Claus 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:06.280 Machine and wanted to let you know about something in 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:10.000 graphic novel Land that is very on topic with the 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:14.520 Universal Creator Machine in trans Metropolitan by Warren Ellis, there 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:17.159 are makers which create whatever you want you need in 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.640 your home, mostly food, but some of them have been 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:24.240 modded to create weapons, humorous part of the plot involves 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:27.840 the makers getting hooked on drugs. Because they can synthesize anything, 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:31.159 why not making toxicans for themselves. That has since been 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:35.240 stopped by some modifications by the producers of the maker. Additionally, 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.080 since everyone has them, there is a sort of hierarchy 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:40.879 of inputs. The official maker food. The source of the 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:44.159 output is base block, something that is super dense and 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.080 has to be replaced every so often. However, the poor 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.760 who cannot afford these these blocks collect garbage from the 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.720 streets and feed the makers. Anything goes. If you have 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:56.600 a chance check trans Metropolitanality. It's pretty excellent about a 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:01.520 rogue journalist in a very technological future. Indeed, I've I 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:03.200 haven't read the entire series, but I did read the 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.359 first not In addition, like the first volume of trans Metropolitan, 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:09.920 it's pretty gonzo. Character Spider Jerusalem is kind of this 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.440 like futuristic uh Like, he starts off kind of like 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:16.480 this bearded Alan Moore character who's held up in this cabin, 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:18.320 but then he ends up returning to the city to 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:20.720 do his gonzo journalism. And of course he's kind of 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:25.600 a futuristic Huntress Thompson character and all sorts of lackiness 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.200 occurs after that. I really need to pick him up again, 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:30.040 because I did enjoy the first one. I just never 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.560 got around a reading and against the others everything, I'm 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.320 here and I'm liking well cool. Um. So yeah, those 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:38.200 are some emails from listeners. We we have a whole 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:40.439 folder of them here, and we never used to. There 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.159 was a time when when we could individually like answer 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:47.560 every email that was sent to us, and then that 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:49.760 that hasn't only been the case recently, and and we 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:51.720 we do receive a lot of really cool emails that 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:53.879 I wish we had time to read, but we kind 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:55.960 of have to pick and choose at the last minute, 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.680 sometimes based on lenk. But that being said, please do 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.800 communicate with us, because even if you don't respond, we 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.520 do read them all well, and it also informs you know, 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.000 the direction of the podcast and what we want to 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.000 cover and all that good stuff. Yea, because we'll say 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.440 things like, oh man, that that podcast on such such 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:15.320