Rory Sutherland

God of a million, half a million years of evolved experience in deciding who to like and trust.

Because for most of our evolutionary, you know, existence, that was one of the five most important questions to get right.

You know, do I trust this person?

You know, will they attack me?

Are they an ally?

Are they a foe?

If I pay them money, will they deliver?

And so consequently, I think what we do in our brains is we use our human judgment to

as a proxy.

Now, a story to back up that, you probably remember this, okay?

It's in my book, Alchemy, which is, imagine you're turning up to buy a secondhand car and you turn up at the house, nondescript house, and the car's parked outside the house.

And you have a looky-loo at the car and you judge the, you know, whether the pedals are worn and the condition of the body work, and you have a look around the car.

And you decide you're interested in paying, let's say, $5,000 for this car.

So you go and ring on the doorbell of the vendor.

And the door is answered in one situation by, for example, a female vicar.

Okay?

Could be Catholic.

Well, they can't be Catholic.

But, you know, Episcopalian, doesn't really matter.

Okay?