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Mini: The Weirdest Thing We Believe · Why We Do What We Do

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Why we do what we do. Welcome
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to Why we do what we do?
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  Speaker 2: Mini.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host Abraham and I'm your host Shane. We
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  Speaker 1: are a psychology podcast. We talk about the things that
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  Speaker 1: humans and non human animals do. And this is a
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  Speaker 1: short format type of discussion where we just do a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: quick get in there and have a conversation, then get
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  Speaker 1: out of there, and these come out on Mondays. Our
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  Speaker 1: full length discussions come out on Wednesdays. The short form,
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  Speaker 1: we just take on a topic that we think we
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: can handle fairly quickly, and then you have some information
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  Speaker 1: you can use. I guess, and this one's a little
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  Speaker 1: bit off the beaten path, maybe the most off the
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  Speaker 1: beaten path we've ever gone, because we have no notes.
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  Speaker 1: I just wanted to engage Shane in a conversation that
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  Speaker 1: I thought would be fun for other people to hear
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  Speaker 1: and think about and maybe even have you, if you
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  Speaker 1: would like, have an opportunity to weigh in with your
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  Speaker 1: own thoughts about this thing that we're going to talk about.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: But before I get into that, thank you all for
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  Speaker 1: joining us. Glad that you're here.
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  Speaker 2: If you're here for the.
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  Speaker 1: First time, then you're in for a treat because this
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  Speaker 1: is just very different from how we normally do our discussions.
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  Speaker 1: Although maybe if you aren't seeing the fact that we
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  Speaker 1: do have notes that we refer to the fact that
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  Speaker 1: you just would won't be in a different at all.
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  Speaker 1: But if you're a returning person and welcome back, I
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  Speaker 1: hope that you continue to find joy and the things
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  Speaker 1: that we are creating for you. And either way, if
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: you would like to support us, you can leave us
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: a rating and a review like subscribe, tell a friend,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: join us on Patreon, and I will talk more about
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: those things at the end of this discussion. But it's
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  Speaker 1: a mini So are we ready to dive into this
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  Speaker 1: or do you have anything you'd like to add in
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  Speaker 1: preamble before we get going?
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  Speaker 2: No, I think I'm ready to get into it.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, great, So Shane does not know what we're doing,
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  Speaker 1: and that's okay. Now that do you listener? So this
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  Speaker 1: discussion is a question kind of I would like to
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  Speaker 1: start by you and then I'll weigh and myself. So
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  Speaker 1: I would like to and take whatever time you need.
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  Speaker 1: We'll cut all the silent stuff if there's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of it. But I want to ask you, Shane, what
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  Speaker 1: do you think is the weirdest thing that you believe,
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  Speaker 1: and you can think about this however you want, Like
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  Speaker 1: whatever is the first thing that pops into your head,
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  Speaker 1: you can use that. I've asked people this question and
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  Speaker 1: sometimes they go with like a conspiracy theory they believe
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  Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, but it's sort of like the thing
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  Speaker 1: about which you know you have the least like evidence
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  Speaker 1: for it, but you kind of just believe it anyway.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe you just want to believe it but you don't
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  Speaker 1: actually believe it, or maybe it's something you really do believe,
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  Speaker 1: but you also know that you're kind of just like
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  Speaker 1: you're kind of alone on an island.
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  Speaker 3: On this belief Okay, yeah, yeah, I don't know that
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  Speaker 3: I'm alone in these beliefs.
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  Speaker 2: I think there's two that stand out to me.
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  Speaker 3: One's a little bit more like day to day personal,
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  Speaker 3: and then the other one's like kind of bigger.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I like it.
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  Speaker 3: But the one I think I believe, I think, you know,
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  Speaker 3: on a on a like a daily level, I believe
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  Speaker 3: in like superstitious like totems like I believe that like
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  Speaker 3: like I can't help but be like this is my
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  Speaker 3: good luck charm essentially. Okay, and I think about that
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  Speaker 3: or like good luck rituals, like I think that those
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  Speaker 3: are like real things.
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  Speaker 1: It's a baseball player in you.
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  Speaker 3: It's the baseball player, I mean one hundred percent, and
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  Speaker 3: I know that it's like and I know that that's
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  Speaker 3: not the case, Like that's not at all what happens.
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  Speaker 3: Like I don't, like, you know, tap the plate three
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  Speaker 3: times and I no, I know I'm going to get
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  Speaker 3: a hit.
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  Speaker 2: There's nothing reliable there.
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  Speaker 3: And I know I know what happens in the real world,
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  Speaker 3: but I still believe it and I still practice those things,
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  Speaker 3: you know, which I think is fun.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 3: And the other one, I think that's the bigger one,
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  Speaker 3: is that I don't believe that aliens or supernatural or
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  Speaker 3: paranormal experiences are because of creatures that exist on our
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  Speaker 3: planet of existence. I think that they're from a parallel dimension.
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  Speaker 3: Like I think that it's unrealistic to think that they're
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  Speaker 3: coming from other planets or or that ghost surreal. I
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  Speaker 3: think that there's something that's happening that's like more likely
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  Speaker 3: a parallel dimension, which and I would back that up
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  Speaker 3: by saying that like they're there's maybe some quantum physics
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  Speaker 3: that could possibly explain some parts of that, But you know,
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  Speaker 3: I'm just like, that's just as a fun belief that
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  Speaker 3: has no bearing on my world except for.
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  Speaker 2: Like, Eh, you saw a ghost. Are you sure it
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  Speaker 2: wasn't somebody from.
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  Speaker 3: The Earth next door? You know, So that's probably That's
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  Speaker 3: probably where I would come from.
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  Speaker 1: So for the big one, I would call the big
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  Speaker 1: one the latter one that you shared. To be clear,
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  Speaker 1: you're you're sort of saying that people have had like
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  Speaker 1: real experiences, but the explanation for their experience is a
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  Speaker 1: parallel dimension or like universe or something.
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  Speaker 3: To me, that's the most this is gonna sound crazy,
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  Speaker 3: this is that's the most parsimonious explanation.
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  Speaker 2: I think.
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  Speaker 3: I think I think it's the most parsimonious explanation besides cryptids.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we talked about cryptids, but like, I think
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  Speaker 3: paranormal exposure, like like people who experience ghosts or like
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  Speaker 3: aliens or like have been abducted. I think part of
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  Speaker 3: that conversation is, like, does it make more sense that
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  Speaker 3: an alien came from another part of the galaxy like
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  Speaker 3: and has that level of advanced technology, or maybe it
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  Speaker 3: just so happens.
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  Speaker 2: The veil between realities is thinner here.
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  Speaker 1: Do you feel like that's more parsimonious than like people
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  Speaker 1: like just sometimes they have psychological issues and experiences that
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  Speaker 1: are subjective and unique to them, and just it looked
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  Speaker 1: very strange and unique, but wasn't actually anything.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I do.
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  Speaker 3: I think I think it's more let me say it
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  Speaker 3: like this, I think it's more encompassing.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: I think that when you have aliens and unidentified flying objects,
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  Speaker 3: and then you have skin walkers, and then you have
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  Speaker 3: like abductions, and you have weird cryptis that nobody can explain,
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  Speaker 3: and you have all ghosts and all those things, I
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  Speaker 3: think all of that is better explained through parallel dimensions.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: But also I don't hold I don't hold that so heavily,
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  Speaker 3: like I don't hold it, just to be clear, I
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  Speaker 3: don't hold that to a degree where I'm like, if
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  Speaker 3: you if you catch me at a bar, I'm going
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  Speaker 3: to be like, did you know that there's parile dimensions?
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  Speaker 3: I'm like, this is fun. I'm like, I go, this
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  Speaker 3: is fun, and I go I want another explanation, but
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  Speaker 3: this is a fun thing for me to kind of
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  Speaker 3: like this makes the most sense to me in this
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  Speaker 3: in this context, you.
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  Speaker 1: Know, Honestly, part of the fun I've had with this
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  Speaker 1: conversation is like people who I know are very smart,
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  Speaker 1: accomplished people who will say wild things to me that
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  Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, I would have never ever landed there.
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  Speaker 1: But it's like it's fun to hear someone have like
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  Speaker 1: that kind of conviction and like thoughts around it and
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  Speaker 1: then actually like go through and sort of justify it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I really don't begrudge people having these beliefs, even if
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  Speaker 1: I don't share them, And I think that people will
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  Speaker 1: also disagree with the things that I believe. Yeah, and
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  Speaker 1: so's it's just been a fun exercise, all right. So
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  Speaker 1: then I'm gonna turn the question on myself and I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna ask what I think the weirdest thing I believe
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  Speaker 1: in this? And part of the reason I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: ask other people is because I feel like I've reflected
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  Speaker 1: on this myself and been like, this feels like again,
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  Speaker 1: I'm maybe a little bit alone in this, which is
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: that I don't like ads, but I actually know that
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  Speaker 1: I'm not allow on that's that's everybody who's ever lived,
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  Speaker 1: We're back. I know that that's not a weird. That's
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  Speaker 1: not a weird thing that I believe. That is how everybody.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody feels you're weird. If you like ads, that would
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  Speaker 1: be the weirdest thing. Actually, yeah, that would have been a.
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  Speaker 2: Much mob straight way.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, oh well, I didn't want to be dishonest.
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  Speaker 1: I guess Okay. The weirdest thing that I believe. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to go also in the route that you went
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  Speaker 1: is I'm going to go with like the low steaks
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  Speaker 1: sort of one and then go to the one that
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  Speaker 1: I actually was thinking of when I was sort of
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  Speaker 1: doing the reflection one. So the low stakes one is
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  Speaker 1: that I believe, or at least it makes sense to
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  Speaker 1: me that a lot of the people who have sort
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  Speaker 1: of who were critics of Donald Trump and flipped to
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  Speaker 1: being like unapologetic sycophants. I think they're being squeezed or
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  Speaker 1: leaned on somehow, like they've got they're either being threatened
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  Speaker 1: or they're being promised something or both of those things
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  Speaker 1: where they get like some kind of financial windfall or
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  Speaker 1: some protections, or they're like or they're being blackmailed like crazy,
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  Speaker 1: or again both of those things are true at the
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  Speaker 1: same time. Like JD Vance, I feel like who used
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: to be a critic of Donald Trump. I'm like, like
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump is like got his kid in like a
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  Speaker 1: prison of the gun pointed at their head or something
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  Speaker 1: like this. Like this guy went from being like I
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: would have disagreed with him on basically everything, but he
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  Speaker 1: actually seemed like he maybe had thoughts in his brain
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  Speaker 1: to now he seems like he is just a tumor
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  Speaker 1: growing off of the butt of Donald Trump, just saying
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  Speaker 1: whatever Donald Trump's butt is thinking, yeah, which is a
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  Speaker 1: lot more than his brain is usually thinking, but it
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: is is his butt piece. Yeah, And so he just
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  Speaker 1: he just is an unapologetic sickophant of Donald Trump now
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  Speaker 1: And that was a very jarring sort of switch for him.
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  Speaker 1: And so I'm like, they've got something on this guy.
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  Speaker 1: And I feel like there's like a handful of people
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  Speaker 1: who sort of are in a similar position. And I
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  Speaker 1: think that's actually not the most parsionoious explanation for what's
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: going on. Most likely it's that people are just like
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  Speaker 1: I just need to get on board or else like
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to get attacked, and so they're just like
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: they're just getting on board because they feel like it's expeditious.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: But the thing I think is I'm like they've got
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: some pressure that's been put on them in some capacity. Sure, Sure,
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  Speaker 1: that's the small thing, all right. The big thing I
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  Speaker 1: believe because anybody who has thoughts in their brain doesn't
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  Speaker 1: support Donald Trump, You like, you have to be so
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  Speaker 1: unbelievably stupid, like just a pile of rocks looks like
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: a genius next to you if you are still supporting
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  Speaker 1: this person after this amount of right anyway, The thing
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  Speaker 1: that I actually think of, which almost feels like it's
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: going to contradict the first thing I said that is
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  Speaker 1: the weirdest thing I believe is I think that human
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  Speaker 1: beings are generally good. I think that they generally are
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  Speaker 1: trying to do the right thing and are trying to
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  Speaker 1: be good people pretty much all of the time. Yea,
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  Speaker 1: And people are gonna hear that, and they're gonna say, yeah, button,
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  Speaker 1: then give me five examples why I'm wrong. And I
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: think what you you didn't hear me say four times
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  Speaker 1: already is generally good.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Generally does not mean always, It means most of the time.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: But there are people out there who I think they
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: want to cause harm because they enjoy causing harm. But
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  Speaker 1: I think that most of the time, the vast, vast,
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  Speaker 1: vast majority of people, like ninety nine point nine percent
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  Speaker 1: of people are generally trying to do the right thing
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  Speaker 1: and do good and be good people most of the time.
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  Speaker 1: And what that looks like to them looks like evil
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: to someone else. Sure, like the people who are religious
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: zealous who go around killing people in the name of
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  Speaker 1: their religion, to them, they think they're doing good. Now,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I don't think that what they're doing is good, but
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I think that to them, they think that they're doing
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the right thing. And I think that for most people,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: they feel like they're trying to do the right thing
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  Speaker 1: right most of the time, and that they're they're generally
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: doing good. And that's a thing where again, people try
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  Speaker 1: and every day I think the news gives me evidence
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: of why I'm wrong about that, and they really test
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: me and my belief about this thing. They're testing your faith,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: they're testing my faith, yes, a lot. But that is
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: to me, the weirdest thing that I think that I
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: still believe is that people are generally good, and they're
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: generally trying to do good, and they're generally trying to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: help each other do the right thing.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what, I think though, like that belief.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: I think that if because I believe that too, and
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  Speaker 3: I think that there is like I think that it's
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: sad to think that that would be a weird thing
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: like that most people wouldn't also believe that, you know
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: what I mean. Like, I think if most people believe
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: that everybody was trying to do good, I think everybody
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: would be much kinder to each other in the world
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  Speaker 3: at large and like, you know, in their day to
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: day interactions. So it's just it's kind of unfortunate that
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: that's not a more common belief, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I do think that there are a lot of
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: people who navigate the world with the assumption that generally
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: people are trying to do harm and would cut your
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: throat as soon as look at you to get ahead
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: in whatever situation. I'm like, I just don't think that
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: that's how people operate. I just don't think it is.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I think that there are people that operate that way,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: for sure, but I think that is that is the exception,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: not the norm, Right. I think the vast majority of
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: people are going to are going to do the right
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: thing and try and try and help each other out. Yeah,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: So that's the where I's thing. I believe some of
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: the people I have asked this though, have given me
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: really great answers that I would love to share. But
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: this is a mini and we're kind of already at
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the time we'd like to spend on a mini, so
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I'd like to just pull our audience. If you have
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: something you would like to share about what you think
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: is the weirdest thing you believe, we would certainly love
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: to hear that. And if you want us to share
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: this as part of like a listener mail, we're happy
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: to do that too, assuming it's not something that's like
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: so outlandish that it could like actually cause some harm
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: in some people. But if you would like to tell us,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: feel free to reach out to us. You can email
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: us directly at info at wwdwwdpodcast dot com. Again, that's
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: info at wwdwwdpodcast dot com, or you can reach us
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: on the social media platforms. And we would love to
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: hear from you about this silly tripic that I decided
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: to take on today.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good times.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: It's such a great thought experiment, Like it's such a
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: great question to make you really think about, like, what
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: is it that I do believe, you know.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, some people believe in crystals. Some people believe
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: in ghosts. Some people believe in the phases of the
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: moon having some kind of impact on our personality. There's
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: all kinds of things that weird people believe and they
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: kind of know deep down, they're like, this isn't true,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: but I believe it anyway, Like I want to believe
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: that this is the case, even if I don't really
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: have any evidence for it.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so that's.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: It's just meant to be fun, that's all.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
• 13:08
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  Speaker 2: Yes, we do. We love them.
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  Speaker 1: We love the Death, We Love the Death Special thanks
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  Speaker 1: to shout out to my whole team, without whom I
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  Speaker 1: cannot make this podcast. But I think that is all
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: you have to say about this. Is there anything that
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I miss you'd like to add before we say? Oh, goodbyes?
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Uh No, I think we're good perfect.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you all for listening. This is Abraham and this
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: is Shane. Why we Do what we Do? Mini is out.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Bye.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: You've been listening to Why We Do What We Do.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: You can learn more about this and other episodes by
• 14:01
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• 14:05
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• 14:08
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