Dr. Ellen Langer

I don't really care. You're going to introduce me to five of your—what do I care? If I'm going to need their names, chances are I will meet them again, right? So afterwards, if you say to me, remember Jim, and I say to you, which one was Jim? It wasn't that I forgot, right? To forget means I had to have learned it in the first place.

And so if you don't learn it in the first place because you don't care, because your values change as you get older, then it's not a matter of forgetting when you don't know it in the second place. And I think that if we turn it around, because now I'm doing this because I know you expect it of me, and we say, what if you remembered everything? Everything. That would be terrible.

And so if you don't learn it in the first place because you don't care, because your values change as you get older, then it's not a matter of forgetting when you don't know it in the second place. And I think that if we turn it around, because now I'm doing this because I know you expect it of me, and we say, what if you remembered everything? Everything. That would be terrible.

And so if you don't learn it in the first place because you don't care, because your values change as you get older, then it's not a matter of forgetting when you don't know it in the second place. And I think that if we turn it around, because now I'm doing this because I know you expect it of me, and we say, what if you remembered everything? Everything. That would be terrible.

How would you get through? You wouldn't get to experience anything new. So forgetting, you know, serves a purpose. And I used to think, I never tested this, and now we came up with this years ago, and I think it's probably wrong, but it's kind of fun, that people, as they get older, they become hard of hearing.

How would you get through? You wouldn't get to experience anything new. So forgetting, you know, serves a purpose. And I used to think, I never tested this, and now we came up with this years ago, and I think it's probably wrong, but it's kind of fun, that people, as they get older, they become hard of hearing.

How would you get through? You wouldn't get to experience anything new. So forgetting, you know, serves a purpose. And I used to think, I never tested this, and now we came up with this years ago, and I think it's probably wrong, but it's kind of fun, that people, as they get older, they become hard of hearing.

But it also happens that the older you get, the more you realize nobody is really saying anything. And so being hard of hearing protects you from a lot of that noise. Yeah, my grandfather used to turn off his hearing.

But it also happens that the older you get, the more you realize nobody is really saying anything. And so being hard of hearing protects you from a lot of that noise. Yeah, my grandfather used to turn off his hearing.

But it also happens that the older you get, the more you realize nobody is really saying anything. And so being hard of hearing protects you from a lot of that noise. Yeah, my grandfather used to turn off his hearing.

Or should I have the book further away?

Or should I have the book further away?

Or should I have the book further away?

Well, do you know our vision study? This is kind of fun. So I'm in the doctor's office, and like everybody else, I'm given the Snellen eye chart.

Well, do you know our vision study? This is kind of fun. So I'm in the doctor's office, and like everybody else, I'm given the Snellen eye chart.

Well, do you know our vision study? This is kind of fun. So I'm in the doctor's office, and like everybody else, I'm given the Snellen eye chart.

But I'm different from most people. And I resent that the letters are getting smaller and smaller because it's creating an expectation that soon I won't be able to see. So I ask, what would happen if the letters got larger and larger? Which would be to change the expectation that soon I will be able to see. So when we do that, people are able to see what they weren't able to see before.

But I'm different from most people. And I resent that the letters are getting smaller and smaller because it's creating an expectation that soon I won't be able to see. So I ask, what would happen if the letters got larger and larger? Which would be to change the expectation that soon I will be able to see. So when we do that, people are able to see what they weren't able to see before.

But I'm different from most people. And I resent that the letters are getting smaller and smaller because it's creating an expectation that soon I won't be able to see. So I ask, what would happen if the letters got larger and larger? Which would be to change the expectation that soon I will be able to see. So when we do that, people are able to see what they weren't able to see before.

Now, most of us have trouble around two-thirds of the way down the chart. So what we did was start the chart a third of the way down. So the letters are smaller than on top. So now two-thirds of the way down, that starting point, the letters are really small. And what happens is, again, people can see what they couldn't see before. Awesome. Yeah.