Nir Eyal

You're not gonna put death on the shelves.

What parent is gonna buy death in a can for their children?

Well, it turns out that they use what's called the experience loop.

And this is what I've defined as how our perceptions can change, sorry, our expectations and belief can change how we actually perceive a product.

That when we have a certain belief about something,

we anticipate how we will feel then we actually feel it and then we confirm what we felt and that solidifies that belief in the future and it becomes a loop and so we see this not only in a product like liquid death which doesn't even try and hide the fact that it's canning plain old tap water it's

It's not trying to be anything but canned tap water.

But we see this when golfers are given a putter that they are told was used by a very famous golfer, they actually putt better.

We know that there are all types of these placebo effects time and time again that are proven to be quite effective when it comes to these perceptions.

Again, the placebos don't cure cancer, they don't heal a broken arm, but they absolutely will change the pain and perception of suffering associated with those maladies.

That's a fantastic point.

In fact, another study that blew my mind was a study conducted at Yale where they found that people who had positive views about aging versus negative views on aging lived on average seven and a half years longer.

Seven and a half years longer is a tremendous effect.

That is longer than the effect of diet.

It's longer than the effect of exercise.

It's greater than the effect of quitting smoking on your lifespan.

And for all the attention we talk about vitamins and minerals and don't eat right and exercise and don't smoke, who talks to you about your beliefs?

We almost never hear that.

Well, let's dig a little deeper.

What's going on here?