Nir Eyal

Thanks for having me.

Thanks, Chris.

Great to be back.

Okay, so beliefs turns out to be the lens with which we see the world.

And I had no idea how profound this research that's been coming out over the past several years has on our day-to-day lives, how beliefs shape what we see, literally shape what we see.

I can show the same exact image to two different people and they will see completely different things.

It's called the Khafre illusion.

You can look at this piece of paper and

I can show you to one person based on where they grew up and their priors, their beliefs, and they'll see circles.

I can show it to somebody else based on where they grew up, they'll see rectangles.

It's incredible.

Beliefs not only shape what you see, not just figuratively, but they actually shape reality that you see.

They shape what you feel, your internal state, and most importantly, they affect what you do.

And so everything comes upstream from these beliefs.

And so you better get these beliefs right if they're going to run your life.

You know, that is a great point because there is a lot of bullshit out there.

And so part of what I wanted to do with this research that I've done over the past six years for Beyond Belief was to really separate what works and what doesn't.

And a lot of it, frankly, I'll give that crowd some credit.

A lot of it works, but not for the reasons they say it does.

that like, you know, I hate to burst anybody's bubble, but no, nothing is vibrating and quantum whatevering and like the universe really doesn't give a shit.