Dr. Jamil Zaki

I've never thought about it in this way, but I love that perspective. And there is almost a philosophical certainty. Maybe it's not a happy philosophical certainty, but we love to, right? that determine what will happen. And the laws of physics are some of our most reliable, right? And really we all use theories to predict the world, right?

I mean, we all have a theory of gravity that lives inside our head. We don't think objects with mass attract one another, but we know if we drop a bowling ball on our foot, we're gonna probably maybe not walk for the next week or at least, right? So we use theories to provide explanatory simplicity to a vast and overwhelmingly complex world.

I mean, we all have a theory of gravity that lives inside our head. We don't think objects with mass attract one another, but we know if we drop a bowling ball on our foot, we're gonna probably maybe not walk for the next week or at least, right? So we use theories to provide explanatory simplicity to a vast and overwhelmingly complex world.

I mean, we all have a theory of gravity that lives inside our head. We don't think objects with mass attract one another, but we know if we drop a bowling ball on our foot, we're gonna probably maybe not walk for the next week or at least, right? So we use theories to provide explanatory simplicity to a vast and overwhelmingly complex world.

And absolutely, I think cynicism has a great function in simplifying. But of course, in simplifying, we lose a lot of the detail. We lose a lot of the wonder that maybe we experienced earlier in life. And, you know, I do want to... You're...

And absolutely, I think cynicism has a great function in simplifying. But of course, in simplifying, we lose a lot of the detail. We lose a lot of the wonder that maybe we experienced earlier in life. And, you know, I do want to... You're...

And absolutely, I think cynicism has a great function in simplifying. But of course, in simplifying, we lose a lot of the detail. We lose a lot of the wonder that maybe we experienced earlier in life. And, you know, I do want to... You're...

beautiful description of kids and their sort of sense of, I suppose, perennial surprise makes me think about another aspect of what we lose to cynicism, which is the ability to witness the beauty of human action and human kindness. My friend Dacher Keltner studies awe, this emotion of experiencing something vast and also experiencing ourselves as small and a part of that vastness.

beautiful description of kids and their sort of sense of, I suppose, perennial surprise makes me think about another aspect of what we lose to cynicism, which is the ability to witness the beauty of human action and human kindness. My friend Dacher Keltner studies awe, this emotion of experiencing something vast and also experiencing ourselves as small and a part of that vastness.

beautiful description of kids and their sort of sense of, I suppose, perennial surprise makes me think about another aspect of what we lose to cynicism, which is the ability to witness the beauty of human action and human kindness. My friend Dacher Keltner studies awe, this emotion of experiencing something vast and also experiencing ourselves as small and a part of that vastness.

And he wrote a great book on awe. And in it, he talks about his research where he cataloged what are the experiences that most commonly produce awe in a large sample, a large representative sample of people. Now, I don't know about you, Andrew, but when I think about awe, my first go-to is Carl Sagan's pale blue dot.

And he wrote a great book on awe. And in it, he talks about his research where he cataloged what are the experiences that most commonly produce awe in a large sample, a large representative sample of people. Now, I don't know about you, Andrew, but when I think about awe, my first go-to is Carl Sagan's pale blue dot.

And he wrote a great book on awe. And in it, he talks about his research where he cataloged what are the experiences that most commonly produce awe in a large sample, a large representative sample of people. Now, I don't know about you, Andrew, but when I think about awe, my first go-to is Carl Sagan's pale blue dot.

This image of a kind of nebula band, you know, sort of cluster, basically, stardust, really. And there's one dot in it with an arrow, and Carl Sagan says, that dot is Earth, and every king and tyrant and mother and father, every... a person who's ever fallen in love and every person who's ever had their heart broken, they're all on that tiny dot there.

This image of a kind of nebula band, you know, sort of cluster, basically, stardust, really. And there's one dot in it with an arrow, and Carl Sagan says, that dot is Earth, and every king and tyrant and mother and father, every... a person who's ever fallen in love and every person who's ever had their heart broken, they're all on that tiny dot there.

This image of a kind of nebula band, you know, sort of cluster, basically, stardust, really. And there's one dot in it with an arrow, and Carl Sagan says, that dot is Earth, and every king and tyrant and mother and father, every... a person who's ever fallen in love and every person who's ever had their heart broken, they're all on that tiny dot there.

I go to that, I show that to my kids all the time. When I think of awe, I think of outer space. I think of groves of redwood trees. I think of drone footage of the Himalayas, right? But Dacre finds that if you ask people what they experience awe in response to, the number one category is what he calls moral beauty, right? everyday acts of kindness, giving, compassion, and connection.

I go to that, I show that to my kids all the time. When I think of awe, I think of outer space. I think of groves of redwood trees. I think of drone footage of the Himalayas, right? But Dacre finds that if you ask people what they experience awe in response to, the number one category is what he calls moral beauty, right? everyday acts of kindness, giving, compassion, and connection.

I go to that, I show that to my kids all the time. When I think of awe, I think of outer space. I think of groves of redwood trees. I think of drone footage of the Himalayas, right? But Dacre finds that if you ask people what they experience awe in response to, the number one category is what he calls moral beauty, right? everyday acts of kindness, giving, compassion, and connection.

This is also related to what Dacher and John Haidt talk about in terms of moral elevation, witnessing positive actions that actually make us feel like we're capable of more. And moral beauty is everywhere. If you are open to it, it is the most common thing that will make you feel the vastness of our species.