Rory Sutherland

I think Jay Leno and Jay Leno's garage makes him one of the world's great philanthropists because he goes and spends a fortune on extremely rare cars and then shares his passion with an audience of millions.

If you are a car enthusiast,

You know, it's an extraordinary case, by the way, of translating money into something which is both a selfish pleasure and a generous pleasure.

It's complicated.

But when you read these books and you realize that status is effectively a kind of thing within us which we can't turn off.

Hmm.

The currencies will change.

The status currencies change with fashion and time and everything else.

You know, there was a time where having a digital watch was the, you know, the highest status thing in my school.

If you were the first kid with an LED digital watch, people were in awe of you.

So these things change.

But nonetheless, it's probably innate.

Would it be nice if we had the power to completely disregard the opinions of others?

Well, yes and no.

I mean, I think such a society might be better in some respects.

I also think it would be kind of atrocious because people would kind of go shopping naked.

You know, is shame necessary?

It's a book by Jennifer Jackwood, actually.

You know, I mean, as a social species...

Patently, at some level, we're massively calibrated to care about the repute of others.