23:59:59

I will be honest this happens to me a lot sometimes I'll backtrack in admit that I'm not sure about the thing I do so confidently said maybe I'll even without my phone into a little research but mostly I. just carry on i think doesn't really matter if it's true And yet? What did it does matter? I'm going to make the case you right now. That it matters in here goes. Recently. A writer I work with sent me a link to this fascinating Wikipedia page, "Dare I say it might be the very best Wikipedia page it's called list of common misconceptions and" It's just an insanely long list of lateral hundreds of things that people commonly believed but are in fact not true is broken up into categories: food, film and television history, biology. And so on, and one of these hundreds of misconceptions goes like this quote. The memory span of a goldfish is much longer than just few seconds and quotes. When I read that line, literally gasped because mean, get even remember when heard this act, but it always seemed so true, so true that everyone knows it to be true, so true that just shows up casually and pop culture. There are like in this scene from Ted lasso New with the Heavies animal on Earth is Goldfish, in A, was no got a ten. second memory be goldfish sam I'd. Heard two seconds terrorists and ten, but whatever same thing you know I owned a lot goldfish as kid, it doesn't seem fair to keep an animal in tiny. Little bowl, but I was always comforted by this fact if a goldfish only has memory of few seconds, then who cares where it lives can't remember where it is. Anyway, but where does ago? That's not true, Twill, I'm in the whole I had his had a that fish might have two second memories.

2:38

Ordering? On ridiculous, you want someone

2:41

who actually knows the memory span of a goldfish

2:43

while you call this guy my name is

2:45

Professor Calum Brown and I'm

2:47

head of the fish lab. Here at Macquarie University

2:50

and my, I guess mostly work on behavioral

2:53

ecology and evolution of fishes but particularly

2:55

cognition, so it's all about how smart

2:57

fisher.

2:58

Cohen says look he gets it

3:00

people have a low expectations of fish

3:03

intelligence when he was kid hear

3:05

the same thing I'm in course even

3:07

when I was a child we had describes

3:09

you know fish have two second memory and.

3:12

look as research i've traveled the world and work

3:14

worked in many countries and spoken to lots

3:16

and lots of different people And.

3:19

Wherever you go, the myth is

3:21

much the same, not only is the miss

3:24

not true, but if you know anything about

3:26

biology, it doesn't even make sense if you're

3:28

an animal. And you can not retain information for

3:30

longer than few seconds and you're going to die

3:32

to forget where the food is or where the predators

3:34

are how to get in. And out of places to

3:36

okay now you're wondering as I did if

3:39

a goldfish memory is longer than two seconds.

3:41

How long is it?

3:43

Oh. I'm has done some work on this very

3:45

subject or give you are a good example

3:48

from some of the research that I did

3:50

using an Australian freshwater fish

3:52

which much the. Same as a goldfish,

3:54

he built net, the length of an aquarium,

3:57

and cut hole in particular section that

3:59

he trapped these. Little. Fish and appear to the tank

4:01

and basically watched as they figured out how to escape

4:03

through the whole, and those

4:06

fish solve that in about

4:08

five trials, which was exciting

4:10

so. Very rapid example of

4:12

learning, and they obviously after remember from child

4:14

trial right now, about fifteen minutes apart.

4:17

What is even more interesting is we

4:19

set those fish aside and tested them

4:21

a year later and they carried on as

4:23

if it was yesterday what then is the

4:25

memory span of goldfish perhaps

4:28

it's just as long as your memory

4:31

so. okay aside from discovering that

4:33

the ted lasso script writing team needs

4:35

fact checker and now feeling very

4:37

bad about of goldfish i kept as a child

4:40

what is the point of this exercise It.

4:42

Is this that is this really well known

4:44

fighting and psychological literature that

4:47

shows as people feel

4:49

like they can easily remember something

4:51

they believe that it's more likely to be true?

4:53

That if it's hard to remember something, this

4:55

is David Rap, professor in psychology

4:58

and in the School of Education and Social Policy

5:00

at Northwestern University, and I study

5:03

people's interactions. With an

5:05

processing of inaccurate information, in

5:07

fact, he runs a whole lab dedicated

5:09

to this subject to say doses

5:11

stuff" and is inaccurate stuff, and

5:14

like he says, "We have an" Information problem

5:16

that is baked into our brains, so

5:19

one of the challenges are,

5:21

are we call them for Nama, logical feelings

5:24

are gut feeling about whether

5:26

something is true is informed. By ease

5:29

of retrieval, the ease with which we can

5:31

get something out of memory, but sometimes

5:33

you can get things out of memory for reasons that are

5:35

unrelated to whether they're. True, like,

5:37

for example, of someone or put something

5:39

over and over and over again, asking

5:42

for me to recruit the truth because something was

5:44

repeated doesn't mean it was actually true. Maybe

5:46

that size so important it's worth

5:48

repeating someone or please something

5:50

over and over and over again that's easy

5:53

for me to retrieve but just because something was

5:55

repeated doesn't mean it was actually true so

5:57

i have what he had sex if you repeat

6:00

Then. Truth about repetitive untruth

6:02

says your brain reprogram itself or does

6:04

it just break or someone or please something

6:06

over and over and or okay I promise

6:08

I'm done with that, but. Here's a point: there

6:10

is wide gap between something

6:12

that feels true and something that is true

6:15

and we often don't know the difference misinformation

6:18

is, of course, giant subject. These

6:20

days and I don't want to bore you with a lecture about

6:22

politics, the danger of online echo chambers

6:24

and whatever else, so instead let's explore

6:26

the subject is more. enjoyable way: Here's

6:29

what we're going to do: I have gone through

6:31

the Wikipedia page of list of common

6:33

misconceptions and found a bunch

6:35

that really surprised me and that I think. For surprise,

6:38

you stuff that just completely challenges

6:40

things thought were true because, like David Rap

6:42

says, it just felt true and

6:44

I'd heard it enough times and it was easy. To remember

6:47

the so my team and I. We've done

6:49

the research we have talked to the experts

6:52

and we a sound the actual truth

6:55

I'm. going to run through these things and

6:57

i'm going to blow your mind i'm going to make you feel like

6:59

crap maybe your head of full of more misinformation

7:01

than your thoughts Then at the end we will

7:04

come back to David to get some advice on how to filter

7:06

information center. Coming! Up

7:08

I am about to destroy things you thought

7:10

you knew about history by sued by animals about

7:13

the Roman Vomit tory, I'm, oh, yeah,

7:15

you thought Romans vomited in the vomit. Sorry I'm

7:17

just waiting to find out with the vomit or him actually

7:19

was it's all coming up. After

7:21

the break. If you are an entrepreneur

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We're. Back so we're going to take a journey into

9:28

things we thought we knew that we didn't

9:31

actually know it all, we get off the episode

9:33

by destroying one son animal fact. So

9:35

let's do another will start with

9:37

this snippet from Personal Finance, personality

9:40

and radio show host, these whimsy

9:42

are possibly he is our financial

9:45

planning women.

9:46

The Olympic guess that's an old school word

9:48

thought that these are small rats that run in herds

9:51

and follow each other over cliffs that

9:53

is a good summary of lemming, at least

9:55

as popular culture news, it I'm sure

9:57

you've heard this story many times and.

10:00

Why? Would this tiny animal commit

10:02

mass suicide, I mean, that's not

10:04

exactly a good strategy for long term species

10:07

survival sort, the idea is this

10:09

the lemming is such follower such?

10:11

A mindless followers that it just follows

10:13

the lemming that the head of it and that

10:15

lemming follows the one ahead of it and

10:17

on and on these mindless little creatures follow.

10:20

Each other to their doom instead of thinking for

10:22

themselves, it is a tidy

10:24

metaphor, which is maybe why this story has

10:26

always felt so truth and has been

10:28

so memorable.

10:30

Lemmings do not hurl themselves off

10:32

a cliff, they do not commit any kind of mass suicide,

10:34

they're perfectly fine they're like normal animals,

10:36

so where did this myth come from? The

10:39

headlines, the Arctic sure. The

10:41

on.

10:43

The all the little animal surge. This.

10:46

Is'and and is look until Narrator Cliff, the comes

10:48

away move, Rocky Reach Forward is the comes

10:50

one down this reach until the

10:53

looks tumble comes, this is

10:55

these one of. Looks reach and cliff,

10:57

they look down, they look comes

10:59

surge look rocky is until these

11:01

and one of these and down

11:04

the one the looks surge

11:06

forward as the. Narrator says and they tumble

11:09

down these rocky cliffs until they reach the

11:11

edge of the cliff the,

11:14

look and move away another one comes over

11:16

looks moves away and and. over

11:20

they It

11:24

is a wild seen these animals

11:26

are fooling themselves off like this, just

11:28

been launched off catapult, the land

11:30

in the water, one after the other is about

11:32

tunnel lemmings British dumped off trucks

11:35

and wouldn't you know it? That.

11:37

In more or less, what actually happened in

11:39

Nineteen, eighty three in investigation by the

11:41

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation found that

11:43

Disney flat out faked this whole

11:45

thing first of all the documentary. Was filmed

11:47

in Alberta, Canada, where lemmings do not live,

11:50

so these lemmings were collected elsewhere in Canada,

11:53

trucked in and then basically shoved

11:55

down the cliff and into well what was.

11:57

Actually, river, not the ocean, that documentary

11:59

faked. Part two, but for decades

12:01

thanks to Walt Disney's, this documentary was the

12:04

unquestioned authority on lemmings and

12:06

cultural narrative grew from it one that is

12:08

so sticky it's repeated everywhere

12:10

but don't worry the lemmings are just

12:12

fine. Maybe they're worried about

12:14

us after all, we're the ones who blindly

12:17

follow each other into believing this story.

12:20

What else don't we know about animals

12:22

I've got three more fun

12:24

fact checks for you? Number one.

12:26

Iran. As if you know anything about

12:28

Peron as it's that their fish with scary,

12:31

huge teeth and if a human being is swimming

12:33

in parana filled waters well, the

12:35

fish will swarm. Attack in each

12:37

down to the bone, we know this because

12:40

well, it goes back to President Theodore Roosevelt,

12:42

who went on hunting expedition in the Amazon Rain

12:45

Forest and Nineteen. Thirteen and then wrote book

12:47

about it called through the Brazilian wilderness

12:49

and eighteen forty, and in book he described

12:51

in insane swarming attacked by Peron

12:54

U.S. this then May. Have inspired

12:56

the nineteen Seventy Eight movie that

12:58

has captured the imagination of up around us,

13:00

it was called. The on us. Then.

13:07

But. In actuality brought us, aren't

13:09

that bad, yes, they have big teeth

13:11

because they eat a lot of other fish, but they

13:13

also eat plants and, like most says, they

13:15

don't want. To tangle with human sure

13:18

they will bite you is threatened or if you encroach

13:20

upon their spawning area, but even then they typically

13:22

only by once in the get the. He'll away and they don't

13:24

swarm, you know what Teddy Roosevelt actually

13:27

saw in nineteen thirteen, he saw some

13:29

local fishermen block off part of the river

13:31

starve the peron as. For days

13:33

and then they pushed cow into the river at

13:36

that point, the fish were so hungry and crazed

13:38

that yes they did swarm the cow

13:40

and turned it into. A skeleton, but that is not

13:42

what will actually happen if you get into normal

13:45

waters with normal promise, okay

13:47

animals act number two if you caught

13:50

an earthworm and half it? Does not become

13:52

to worms, yes, there are

13:54

some worms that will regenerate in all their

13:56

parts, but not Earthworms, earthworms have

13:58

ahead and area with vital organ. And

14:00

a tail, if you cut through vital organs, are few

14:02

separate the head from the organs, you just kill the thing.

14:05

Don't do that. And number three, this one's

14:07

going to help you sleep better tonight. No

14:09

people do not actually swallow

14:12

an average of seven spiders in their sleep

14:14

every year, you know, the average number. Zero.

14:17

Because first of all, people don't generally sleep

14:19

with their mouths wide open, and if they do

14:21

their snoring and spiders don't like vibration,

14:24

also the spiders found in most American homes. Don't

14:26

want to be anywhere near your bed because he'd rather

14:28

be in the web where all the bugs

14:30

are and hopefully your bed is not full of bucks

14:33

day so. That covers animals I

14:35

feel, and like, maybe everything you know is wrong.

14:38

This. Get ready for what's next because it's time to

14:40

move onto the People category quick,

14:43

tell be the first thing you think of when say the name

14:45

Napoleon may be think. French

14:48

good, that's true, maybe you think French

14:50

revolution also works, it

14:52

may be a think short. Which?

14:54

Is for good reason for so people and said

14:56

it's in the folio that complex, similar the first

14:59

time I met him, we shook hands and

15:01

he was he fears is best.

15:03

, Scarborough insulting Jon

15:05

Stewart site back when those guys were public

15:07

refuting, you know the phrase "napoleonic

15:10

complex someone who's short and tries

15:12

to overcompensate with bluster because that's

15:14

what. Short short Napoleon did. but

15:17

here's the thing

15:18

We say he says, "Short Frenchmen

15:20

with a big hat that his hand in his

15:22

past and that he became overly

15:24

ambitious because it is high" And

15:27

most of that isn't. True, and this is

15:29

someone who would know. So I'm Margaret

15:32

Rodenberg and I'm the author

15:34

of Finding Napoleon.

15:35

Which is a novel featuring Napoleon, but

15:37

she's also the secretary of the Napoleonic

15:40

Historical Society, and in

15:42

the interests of full disclosure, I'm fine.

15:44

What one, so we better get sat

15:46

out in the public, be fish as to

15:49

why I even care about that.

15:51

And I just for the record, am five

15:54

seven so okay here is the

15:56

evidence that Napoleon the short

15:58

is recorded height was. Viper to he

16:01

was tiny, compared to other people around him,

16:03

and his nickname was a little corporal. Funny

16:06

enough, all those things or

16:08

actually true. It for

16:10

surprising reasons that will get you in bit

16:13

they don't actually mean that he was short

16:15

so. let's start with the most important fact How

16:18

tall was Napoleon or?

16:19

Then he was five foot six, which was average

16:22

height for a Frenchman of his time. The

16:24

wine, not all.

16:26

So. Short, totally normal, the average

16:28

American man today is a little taller at

16:30

five foot nine and American founding father James

16:32

Madison, who was president when Napoleon was in

16:34

power, was only. Five force, but

16:37

of course we joke around talking about matter Sunni

16:39

and complexes, so why did Napoleon

16:41

become known as short there are

16:43

lot of reasons for this British

16:46

propaganda? During his lifetime for treat

16:48

him as short, especially next to be big and

16:50

hulking John Bowl, which is national

16:52

character kind of like America's Uncle Sam and

16:54

yes like I. Said the French called the

16:56

polian "the little corporal true", but

16:59

here's the thing it was French endearment

17:01

Napoleon was once colonel who was doing

17:04

corporal's job so little.

17:06

Corporal, it was compliment and also,

17:08

you know, how people always say Napoleon was five foot

17:10

two will set is because.

17:12

His autopsy was performed by

17:15

people with in his entourage by a doctor

17:17

who had been sent thefts, and he

17:19

wrote in there that Napoleon was

17:21

five foot two. In

17:23

fact, that was five foot two.

17:26

In French instead. The French

17:28

feet, which were larger.

17:31

Than the English and math.

17:33

They're. Mad because there was no universal

17:35

system of measurement back then and

17:37

from his death onward history really

17:39

piled on a few decades after Napoleon

17:41

died, he showed up as character. And war and peace

17:43

and Leo Tolstoy writes about him as the small

17:46

die with little white hands because

17:48

Tolstoy's was once soldier and no

17:50

fan of the French then in. The early

17:52

twentieth century and associate of sigmund Freud's

17:55

named Alfred Adler writes about

17:57

inferiority complexes and associates

17:59

that.

18:00

The people who have various physical attributes

18:02

that somehow all this gets tied together and we

18:04

get the napoleonic complex, which makes

18:06

you wonder, did a polian himself

18:08

have what we would now call the

18:10

napoleonic complex? Margaret.

18:13

Says probably not in

18:15

here we reach the final true, but misunderstood

18:17

fact about Napoleon's like I said

18:19

earlier he was always portrayed

18:22

as shorter than the guys around him, which

18:24

was. True, you know why because he

18:26

had an elite guard who was selected in

18:29

part because they were all six feet tall or up.

18:31

Here is a short man food, yes,

18:34

he cared about

18:36

his high and his appearance.

18:39

He would not surround himself,

18:41

oh, that something with people who

18:43

were foot taller than he was. So

18:45

there you are. Napoleon. That

18:48

actually so short. That'a normal. normal

18:50

And you want a few other people whose central fact

18:53

about them you probably have wrong I've

18:55

got for number one? Buddha.

18:57

Wasn't fat when westerners

18:59

think of Buddha, they probably think of chubby guy and

19:02

statues that you find in Chinese restaurants, but that's

19:04

not Buddha, us, that's tenth century

19:06

Chinese. Monk named Booed I, who

19:08

is often called the laughing Buddha, but whose definitely

19:11

not the same person as said Arthur go

19:13

to Mars, the founder of Buddhism who was born

19:15

somewhere. Around five hundred BBC is always portrayed

19:18

as thin. There were two. Marie

19:20

Antoinette.

19:21

The not say the one thing you

19:23

think Marie Antoinette said, so

19:25

let's set the stage, it is the lead up to

19:28

the French revolution. My

19:36

commute think.

19:38

That's from the two thousand and six Kyrstin

19:40

Dunst movie, which was called Marie Antoinette,

19:43

and in the movie right after that moment they

19:45

cut to Murray in a room with her girlfriends

19:47

where she says.

19:48

Such nonsense, I would never say that

19:51

and indeed to.

19:52

He'd never said that the phrase

19:54

"let them eat cake" has been attributed to multiple

19:56

royal women over the years before Marie

19:58

Antoinette, it was the whole. Then. Roman empress

20:00

Maria Theresa, but during the start of the French

20:03

revolution, Marie Antoinette was especially hated

20:05

because she was female and for, and, pamphlets

20:07

started attacking her as crazy drunk.

20:09

"Over indulgence, cruel, unfaithful to the

20:11

king and eventually that", she said.

20:14

The molded you get to live. The me to kick.

20:17

No. Actually, the original French

20:19

phrase was commanded another:

20:21

"Yes, let them eat Brioche

20:23

So, who actually said this

20:25

line, possibly nobody's

20:28

versions of the story have been found in other

20:30

cultures" For centuries dating as far back

20:32

as seventh century China and it's always basically

20:35

the same, a leader here is that they're people

20:37

don't have some basic food staple, and they say.

20:40

What other to see something else and finally

20:42

one more person you might misunderstand

20:45

isaac Newton did not come

20:47

up with the theory of gravity after an apple

20:49

fell on his head? I mean, we probably

20:51

could have assumed that it's a tale that so tidy

20:53

it sounds like Isaac Newton made it up himself,

20:55

but if Act Isaac Newton's never

20:58

claimed to be. Hit on the head with an apple

21:00

instead, he only said that he saw

21:03

an apple for from tree and then it got

21:05

him wondering about why things fall apart

21:08

so. Where does story come from? well

21:10

newton died and seventeen twenty seven

21:12

and nothing much was made of his apple story

21:14

until nearly seventy years later

21:17

in seventeen ninety one When?

21:19

A different Isaac decided to spice things

21:21

up his name was Isaac Israeli,

21:24

he was a British historian and his son

21:26

Benjamin go on to become prime minister and

21:28

this isaacs most. Famous book was called

21:31

Curiosities of Literature, it's

21:33

basically collection of fun facts including

21:35

this about Isaac Newton quote as,

21:38

he was reading under it Apple Tree, one

21:40

of the. Fruit cell and struck him smart

21:42

blow up ahead when he observed the smallness

21:45

of the apple, he was surprised that the fourth the stroke

21:47

and quote and from that apparently.

21:50

A myth was born. now

21:52

let's move on Your define question you,

21:54

know the phrase The old.

21:57

Then when you're in a small town, that's trying to

21:59

be quick. It it has place called ye

22:01

old store or when you're

22:03

playing this old Disney video game.

22:06

Oh, he'll no welcome to

22:08

yield magic shot, my friend

22:10

who are in this bit from the Simpsons nine

22:13

years.

22:13

That would only do the please of those who speak

22:15

a old English well.

22:17

The ever wonder what the word he

22:20

actually is. The just the

22:22

way people said Z's a thousand

22:24

years ago the answer is no

22:27

it's actually very old, very

22:29

complicated sort of typo

22:31

will. get into that Was how

22:34

we can better filter for real information?

22:36

The debris. The oppose

22:39

that get it, get it.

22:41

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22:43

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t. This. Episode is supported

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by Command Line Heroes

23:45

and original podcast from Red Hat

23:47

Command Line Heroes, "Tilt the Epic True Tales

23:50

of Developers", programmers, hackers,

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down, search for Command Line

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heroes wherever you listen to podcasts

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and will also include link in the show notes.

24:47

All were back, so just

24:49

a moment ago I asked you to consider the word

24:52

ye. Turns out the word

24:54

ye.

24:55

You'd. Actually exists in the ancient world,

24:57

but just not in the way that we see it used

24:59

to day for this one I called up Andrew

25:02

Raven, a regular just here on. Built

25:04

for tomorrow, he's professor of English at the University

25:06

of Louisville, who specializes in the law in

25:08

literature of early medieval England, it's

25:11

the nominative plural of

25:13

use ye gods. That such great example

25:15

of the year you Gods is

25:18

G would be what you would be all

25:20

of you is that the word, well actually,

25:22

that big waves translator. Y'all

25:25

for those of us from the south.

25:26

Hi the English speakers of the mid

25:29

fifth century also had the word

25:31

V which today we were of course spell

25:33

P h e's but back then

25:35

instead of using P h to make

25:38

they. had a specific letter to

25:40

make that sound it was called thorn

25:44

Which looks a little bit

25:46

like modern day key. The

25:48

problem with that, though, is

25:50

that there are two other letters that look

25:52

almost exactly the same. The

25:54

other one being p obviously

25:57

and. then an old english letter

26:00

When which makes the w south

26:02

because? just to make clear here as

26:05

languages evolved soda the letters that they

26:07

use so they were all sorts of letters from old

26:09

and middle english that do not survive today

26:11

or gets back then there were three letters

26:14

and they looked really similar but they made totally

26:16

different sounds and that wasn't actually a problem

26:18

because the letters didn't confuse the highly

26:21

educated monks who read and wrote manuscripts

26:23

and most everyone else could not read or write

26:25

but then jump forward several

26:27

hundred years with the invention of the

26:29

printing press and the

26:32

bread wool development of more

26:34

widespread literacy the similarities

26:37

of those particular letter forms becomes

26:39

hindrance imagine you

26:41

work in printing press and your job

26:44

is to carve little letters on to tiny

26:46

blocks that i'll be used to print words

26:49

these three already similar letters

26:51

which are now shrunk down and carved by hand

26:53

start to look in possibly similar

26:56

people are getting really confused and course there

26:58

are more people reading now and as result

27:00

of the alphabet starts to changed to accommodate

27:03

all this between around fourteen fifty and

27:05

fifteen city they basically to stop using

27:07

the letter that makes the w sound and

27:09

then they create a brand new look

27:12

for the thorns which is that letter

27:14

that makes the th sound and

27:16

here's what the new thorn looks like okay

27:18

imagine lower case gee

27:21

if you save the top of its head off got

27:23

that can you picture it lowercase t to

27:26

little circle on top and then little loopy guy underneath

27:28

that take the top half of the circle and as

27:30

a lot but off area now is

27:32

solved problem because it does not look like pee

27:35

anymore which was the original confusion but

27:37

of course

27:38

Get confused with the Y because

27:41

they did have the letter, why back then so,

27:43

okay, let's picture this here, I know the

27:46

lot letters is kind confusing the word

27:48

we're talking about is the today.

27:50

He h e. Back then.

27:53

The build for and he.

27:55

That now the thorn looks

27:57

like a lowercase why. So

28:00

even though you're looking at something that says.

28:02

Then.

28:04

Your immediate response: the first when you're going

28:06

to think when you see that sign is going to be.

28:10

Which? Wasn't actually that confusing to

28:12

people the middle ages, this was just everyday

28:14

for them, they got it, they understood sort of the way

28:16

that you know we don't like have problems.

28:18

Every single day differentiating between

28:20

a capital I in a lowercase L

28:22

even though they're functionally exactly the same when

28:24

you type them, but as time went on and particularly

28:27

as more. Modern people look back at old writing

28:29

these very similar letters started to blend

28:32

together and soon enough people are

28:34

open it up a yield store, as even though nobody

28:36

from the. Time in which yields store is most

28:38

harken back to would have ever actually said ye

28:41

olde store. This.

28:43

Got me wondering, does our modern

28:45

English clear up some of this confusion ever

28:48

of we don't have fewer letters that are

28:50

visually distinct, which means it's lot harder

28:52

to. Mistake letters today, it

28:54

or said, actually quite the other way

28:56

around because older versions of English

28:59

had more specific letters phonetically

29:02

was much less confusing, one of the

29:04

big differences between. Middle English, modern

29:06

English, they didn't have silent letters,

29:08

know silent geez or case, for

29:10

example, the way we have now, but today

29:13

because we have fewer letters they have to pull.

29:15

Double duty, which for anyone learning

29:17

the language is, it's own sort of confusion

29:19

spike in this is so hard, well

29:21

mung many other reasons, okay, I've got even

29:24

more ye olde. misconceptions from history

29:26

for you here's fun once Vikings did

29:28

not actually were warrants, I mean,

29:30

if you're gonna go in seed from a boat hordes

29:33

in your head or not. Practical, so weird

29:35

that idea come from well in

29:37

the eighteen hundreds archaeologists

29:39

did discover foreign to helmets in Scandinavia,

29:42

but they did it from the bronze age and were used

29:44

only. By cements, those helmets, however,

29:46

probably inspired the costume designers

29:49

for Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle operas,

29:51

which included characters from Earth mythology

29:53

and that they approve of the cultural events

29:55

of Vikings. With force. and

29:58

speaking of misunderstandings

30:00

It. "Works of Art, you know, the story about

30:02

Orson Welles is war the world's

30:04

quick recap, though I'm sure you're familiar with the basics

30:06

of it and nineteen thirty eight", he directed. And

30:08

narrated a radio drama about invading

30:11

alien army, which started like this,

30:13

ladies and gentlemen, "I have grave announcement to make

30:15

the whole thing, then played like news report"

30:18

Incredible as it may seem, both the observations

30:20

of science and the evidence of our eyes lead

30:22

to the inescapable assumption that those strains

30:24

being so landed in the Jersey farmlands to.

30:26

Live.

30:28

Then. Vanguard of an invading army from the planet

30:30

Mars as the story goes, this triggered

30:32

mass chaos, absolute terror

30:34

because radio was a new technology and people were just

30:37

channel surfing it. Came across this thing in the middle

30:39

and that assumed it was real report of an invading

30:41

army from Mars and the past but.

30:44

here's the real story it seems that about two

30:46

thousand people wrote in letters complaining

30:49

about the show but very few of them seem to actually

30:51

think it was real which makes sense

30:53

because in nineteen thirty eight almost eighty percent of us

30:55

homes had radios this was new

30:57

people were already very familiar with radio plays

31:00

but when newspapers heard about the complaints

31:02

they spawn it into story of full

31:04

blown panic because of course newspapers

31:07

were threatened by radio and look for any

31:09

opportunity to malign the new technology

31:11

and the story I.

31:14

Have two more for you second to last

31:16

once you know the expression rule of thumb

31:18

people have told me, as maybe they've told you that this

31:20

originated as rule about. Domestic violence,

31:23

the rule, was man could beat his wife

31:25

with stick in wider than his thumb. A

31:28

good news, this was not an actual rule

31:31

anywhere. That is someone

31:34

did actually wanna make it a rule the.

31:36

phrase rule of thumb is first

31:38

soon to appear in writing and sixteen eighty

31:40

five in sentence about how christians

31:42

quote built by guess and by

31:44

rule of thumb and quote by which you just

31:46

met roughly nothing scandalous

31:48

there but then century later and

31:50

seventeen eighty two unpleasant

31:53

british judge deemed sir francis bowler

31:55

wrote that man could beat his wife with stick

31:57

know wider than his dog doesn't seem to have

31:59

cell Any sort of legal precedent in England

32:01

but it didn't trigger lot of public mockery including

32:04

cartoons calling this guy's judge

32:06

some the to be clear it was also

32:08

basically totally fine for meant be the wiser

32:10

that so. you know like set

32:13

some good some bad Then. Now finally

32:15

one more thing you thought you knew, but didn't here's

32:17

the story, as we generally know it, the

32:20

ancient Romans were so gluttonous they

32:22

would literally stuff themselves for food.

32:24

And the gove vomit it up so that they could

32:26

sit down and eat another meal, and this

32:28

was so common that there was even specific

32:31

designated room for all

32:33

the. vomiting and it was called the

32:35

varma tory on. Then your that thing.

32:38

Yeah. So we love the idea

32:40

of Romans as excessive

32:43

and decadence, so they have

32:45

extravagant of meals,

32:47

we're that's sitting around, waited

32:50

on by slaves and days,

32:52

these women attending to them. This

32:54

is Caitlin, my name's Haven Davenport,

32:57

I'm associate professor classic Sat

33:00

the Australian National University, his

33:02

area of expertise is Roman history

33:04

and culture, and he says look most

33:06

people in. Rome lived on subsistence

33:08

diet there was no gluttony going on,

33:11

though the Aristocracy, of course, did

33:13

get to enjoy themselves all the same,

33:15

the idea that they was special.

33:17

Room with I went to throw

33:20

up and, the contents of this

33:22

that makes survey could eat even more

33:24

he is a complete me The were

33:26

to come from.

33:27

Well let's start with where the word Vomit

33:29

Torreon came from because it is

33:31

an actual word so the word

33:34

Vomit tortilla Meet Self First

33:36

appears in the fifth century Id

33:39

in. a work cold the saxon alia

33:41

written by mate verb and senator

33:44

cools mcrobie us it's basically

33:46

book fun fact that you can use at dinner party

33:48

kind of like this podcast episode you're listening

33:50

to and he talks about how poets

33:54

use the birds warmer

33:57

I throw up which means yes.

34:00

If you have too much of a fear of missing out, you

34:02

can totally whoa, whoa photo

34:04

or warm it so, which is

34:07

I keep on throwing out? And

34:09

he talks about how.

34:10

Oh it's don't, always use

34:12

that in the same of throwing up foods

34:15

but metaphorically so

34:18

that people can spill out

34:20

of a room will be vomited out

34:23

of room of busy room. all

34:25

that ways for example

34:27

could be formatted off upon

34:29

beats

34:30

So. "Basically we've got ourselves and entry level

34:32

exercise on metaphor, but with a heavy emphasis

34:34

on Vomit still street, the boy the sit

34:36

century book explains that poets my described

34:39

the. Entrance and exit of an amphitheatre as vomit

34:41

tory up because the passage

34:44

the self four months out the audience

34:46

it was same way that, like from modern sports

34:49

arena. Peter once the game's over

34:51

every from spills out onto the streets,

34:53

to, of course, today, depending on how many drunk

34:56

Boston Celtics fans there are people might literally

34:58

wilma with the. metaphorical vomit or him, and

35:00

if they're Cleveland fans, they might woman's

35:03

home, which is I keep on

35:05

throwing up, so how did the myth

35:07

of the actual Vomit Hill defamatory

35:09

him? appear well, it seems to be

35:11

a complicated mix of things

35:13

you're just few the twelve Caesar's, which

35:16

is set of biographies of Roman emperors

35:18

written in the year one. Twenty one does

35:20

describe emperor Claudius intentionally

35:23

throwing up after meals, but it's not clear

35:25

if that ever actually happened, then

35:27

in the Sixties through eighteenth century doctors

35:30

started to use the. Word: Some tory him to describe

35:32

powder or liquid the people can drink

35:34

to cleanse their stomachs and bowels

35:37

medically for medical purposes, enough

35:39

for gluttony and in the eighteen hundreds. When

35:41

bunch of wealthy explorers started digging around

35:43

room and excavating these ancient homes with

35:45

lots of rooms like. to assign

35:48

special names to each of the rooms

35:50

are different way that happened this is where this happened

35:53

or so they could show their alba aristocratic

35:55

frames and people became fascinated

35:57

with what they believed to be the excesses of roman

36:00

Life and somehow all these different elements

36:02

and probably more snap together, we got the

36:04

story of the VAV material which

36:06

never really happened, so okay? What

36:08

did we just accomplish here what

36:10

to do? that through a lot at you

36:13

for the point of Well. "We got to

36:15

see over and over and over again

36:17

how things that feel true or not

36:19

always actually true and

36:21

of course like I said of the beginning of the show" This problem

36:23

extends far beyond silly facts about

36:25

lemmings and VA materials and into the things

36:27

that shape our understanding of our world

36:30

or that drives the decisions that we make and.

36:32

That's where things get really tricky because

36:35

psychology research shows people are really hard

36:37

time on our a motivated to

36:39

disk and from what they think is true, so

36:41

it takes a. Lots of effort, lot of practice

36:44

and, willingness to be wrong and that's hard

36:47

so you have to see got the information again

36:49

voice you're hearing is david rap professor

36:51

in psychology in the school of education

36:53

and social policy and northwestern university

36:55

who studies people's interaction with and processing

36:58

of inaccurate information along

37:00

with how they deal with that information what the consequences

37:02

of being exposed to the information might be and

37:05

how we overcome and establish more evaluative

37:07

mindsets than our lab has been doing

37:09

this probably for almost twenty years at this

37:11

point as david said of the sort of the show this is

37:14

very human problem we are psychologically

37:16

more trusting of information that feels

37:18

true or that is easy to recall

37:20

which is why if we hear something repeated often

37:23

enough we begin to trust it's so it's

37:25

now finally turned to ask what

37:27

are we supposed to do so that

37:29

were really filtering for truth is

37:31

there some magic formula some we have snapping

37:34

people out of it Well. There is

37:36

an answer.

37:37

Really. Magic Formula One thing we really want

37:39

to encourage people to do is and when you have an opportunity

37:42

to seek out information,

37:44

seek out whether other sources

37:46

make the same claims. To provide

37:49

evidence for the kinds of ideas that are being

37:51

offered sometimes it's called

37:53

lateral reading, which is all read something

37:56

in a particular place, let me

37:58

see if another place.

38:00

Then. Same thing and give the same every

38:02

big isn't even more ebb and flow, I can be more

38:04

confident about whether an idea

38:06

is to other the challenge to what

38:08

you. Just suggested there is

38:11

people who are in communities

38:13

that are oriented around misinformation,

38:16

for example, anti VAX years will

38:18

always talk about the research,

38:21

well, did the research did. My

38:23

own research go out and do the research,

38:25

and so they are going to some sort

38:28

of sources in order to

38:30

validate are confirmed the things that

38:32

they're hearing but of. Course.

38:35

It's. Actually, the steering them away

38:37

from correct information, right, and that's

38:39

actually w problematic, cause

38:41

people feel like they're doing the research

38:43

they feel like they're engaging with the information

38:45

so that. Again is gonna make them feel like

38:48

they've done the hard work, so this must be true,

38:50

one critical element in those cases,

38:53

interrogating what the evidence

38:56

is provided by the sources. That you're

38:58

seeking out, so when members of a community

39:00

look for information that confirms

39:02

their ideas, what pieces of

39:04

evidence or they leveraging to see those

39:06

ideas are true or not? And

39:09

if those communities are doing

39:11

the right service to their communities,

39:14

they should also be sitting out just confirming

39:16

evidence and looking to see what's the

39:18

evidence, how is it obtained?

39:20

What good mood for I'm exiting understanding

39:23

often used communities refuse to

39:25

see gutted confirming evidence or out of

39:27

hand will reject the evidence as possible,

39:29

so it's not just looking. To other sources,

39:32

but when no sources make claim. Where

39:34

did those sources to ride the information that

39:36

they're being provided, let me to say here?

39:39

Then. Evade is asking a lot and

39:41

he knows he's asking lot he's basically

39:43

prescribing kind of nonstop research

39:45

project where you look not just that one

39:48

source, but then at. Other sources compare

39:50

them against each other, dig into the original

39:52

sourcing that your information sources relied upon

39:54

and then make decision about what to believe and

39:56

this is just not. Something the average person

39:58

has the time to do. Is. Motivated to do

40:00

or maybe even can do, and furthermore

40:03

we don't all want to start questioning literally

40:05

everything that we see or hear because that is

40:07

conspiratorial death spiral to.

40:10

Okay, let's ask it and otherwise, what can

40:12

we do not to counter every

40:14

incorrect fact we ever come across been such

40:16

as to set ourselves up for what I'll call Otto?

40:19

", reasonable informational

40:21

success will look even here

40:23

David doesn't have magic bullets

40:25

what he told me is the you probably already

40:27

know buddy, of course he says it with the. Authority

40:30

to confirm it, it really does work, he got

40:32

to get outside your bubble, you connect with

40:34

people who see things differently", he said, "Businesses

40:36

are often saved by bringing in" Outside

40:38

consultants, not because these people are geniuses,

40:40

but just because they have different point of view and force

40:42

people in the company to confront the problems

40:45

they've overlooked, but mostly. Here's

40:47

the thing that he said that really stuck with me, the

40:49

thing that isn't prescription so much as it

40:51

is mindset and one we can all really

40:53

just start. Using now think

40:55

we deftly want to have skeptical eye towards

40:57

information but we also want to have the notion

41:00

that when information provided to us, that

41:03

represents some form. Of data and

41:05

we can evaluate it, so if

41:07

we are hearing something that

41:09

feels like it's too good to be true that we

41:11

probably will want to evaluate it if we. Hear something

41:13

that we're not sure whether it's true or not

41:15

we want, as I waited in other words,

41:18

if it feels true, take that as a sign

41:20

that it could use. A closer look, I

41:22

like this because it's just nice way to process

41:25

data someone tells you that a goldfish

41:27

has memory of two seconds and you could think,

41:29

yeah, that. Sounds true, but why

41:31

does it sound true, well, let's look

41:33

at the data it sounds true because

41:36

ah, goldfish is very

41:38

small and because you don't know damn

41:40

thing? About fish biology, it's maybe that's

41:42

good reason to look it up or ignore it,

41:44

but certainly don't repeat it and now apply

41:46

the same filter to you know what

41:49

you. Hear on cable. news here's

41:51

my take away We're all worried

41:53

about misinformation today and we should

41:55

be because misinformation at it's best

41:57

makes sound foolish and at it's worst.

42:00

Then. Bull's war and other tragedies, but

42:02

as we search for solutions to misinformation,

42:04

we naturally target the sources of

42:06

misinformation the individuals that create

42:09

is where the network that amplify it where. The

42:11

platforms are people read and share it, and

42:13

yes, let's have discussion about that, let's

42:15

identify real solutions for that. They.

42:17

Want to make sure we don't let ourselves off the hook

42:20

either because information is only

42:22

bad if we believe it to be true

42:24

and if we start making decisions they saw? Fit

42:26

we will get nowhere if we just keep trying to

42:28

outsource the problems to just say, oh,

42:31

everything would be better if we could just stop that

42:33

thing over there, that's. Not enough,

42:36

we have role to play in this to all

42:38

of us, anyone with brain that functions

42:40

like normal brain because our brain can be tricked

42:43

into believing. Things are true, but our

42:45

brain can also recognized the tricks

42:47

can adapt to the tricks, can apply rigor

42:49

to what we know and what we do not know

42:51

and we can. And should always strive

42:53

to get better at that because we will get

42:55

know we're together if we don't start

42:58

with ourselves, that's what feels true

43:00

to the at least, but if. You don't believe

43:02

anything I've said.

43:04

Well. Then look it up yourself. And

43:07

that's our episode but a we've talked

43:09

lot about goldfish memory on this episode

43:11

and it's maybe gotten you wondering should

43:14

you keep goldfish it bowl now

43:16

that we know it has long memory the.

43:19

short answer to that is know please don't put them

43:21

it bowl but the long answer is totally fascinating

43:23

i'll tell you about it in minute but first

43:25

if you love build for tomorrow the podcast

43:27

you will totally love build for tomorrow the

43:30

book it is and action plan for how to

43:32

embrace change adapt fast and future proof

43:34

your career and life combines lessons from

43:36

this podcast with what i have learned from these smartest

43:38

stanch printers have to day it comes out september

43:40

but you can preorder your copy right now and

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let you know if you do so that can thank you personally

43:45

you can find it wherever you get books or by going to

43:47

jason piper dot com slash book

43:50

that is again jason piper jason

43:52

when if you the our dot

43:54

com slash book and if you want get even

43:56

more advice encouragement on how to adapt fast

43:58

send for my newsletter And. An also anthology

44:01

in anthology, in an, also,

44:04

anthology as an

44:07

anthology an also an, an

44:09

as an

44:12

as anthology as

44:14

also an in. Anthology and

44:17

as also as as,

44:19

also as, anthology also as,

44:22

an also anthology,

44:24

as, as as, as also

44:26

an also as and.

44:29

As as as, as

44:31

and as anthology as and

44:34

in anthology, anthology as anthology

44:37

and also an in as in and as in

44:39

as as. also and as in anthology

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also anthology in as in

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an in an as anthology

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as also and anthology an

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anthology also. also as anthology

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an as in and also

44:55

as an also anthology

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as also as an

45:00

as also as

45:03

also as also anthology also as

45:05

an as also an

45:08

in as an in as also

45:10

as in an and as also and also

45:13

One of these experiments towards

45:16

Ah To says. The recognize

45:18

human faces. Then it

45:20

turns out that I can differentiate between

45:23

twenty thirty forty different human faces.

45:26

There. Any you differentiate between twenty

45:29

thirty or forty different fish faces

45:31

probably not that, of course, was getting

45:34

our fish expert column brown and

45:36

get this when those sis learned

45:38

a human. Face head on, they could still

45:40

recognize the face when it was turned ninety

45:43

degrees and where the point is these

45:45

little guys are smart and putting them in bowl with.

45:47

Nothing to do is torture, earthly boring, which

45:49

is why it's actually been banned by many countries,

45:51

studies have found that when fish or in captivity

45:53

they suffer from stress and anxiety. But

45:56

what is interesting is that if you enrich

45:58

the environment of says.

46:00

That's Bible repertoire guys are massively

46:03

and huge test them on learning and memory tasks

46:06

the capacity for learning and memory also

46:09

increases if they're living in interesting

46:11

complex environments and. it turns

46:13

out that if you look at their brains a

46:16

are also changing so fish brains

46:18

are actually