Will Storr

And a culture is kind of forming itself in our brains. We're figuring out our identity. Who do I have to be in order to earn connection and status? And of course, you know, we... adolescence and early twenties is a peak time for, for really thinking about this stuff and identity formation. But we never stop asking those questions. We never stop. We never stop changing who we are.

You know, people talk about audience capture. That's why audience capture is so dangerous. You know, even the smartest people, um, some of the, who we mentioned tonight, um, started off, you know, in my estimation is sort of rational, smart, really interesting, um, uh, people. And they've, they've, they've gone on a journey and the journey has been to

You know, people talk about audience capture. That's why audience capture is so dangerous. You know, even the smartest people, um, some of the, who we mentioned tonight, um, started off, you know, in my estimation is sort of rational, smart, really interesting, um, uh, people. And they've, they've, they've gone on a journey and the journey has been to

You know, people talk about audience capture. That's why audience capture is so dangerous. You know, even the smartest people, um, some of the, who we mentioned tonight, um, started off, you know, in my estimation is sort of rational, smart, really interesting, um, uh, people. And they've, they've, they've gone on a journey and the journey has been to

kind of take their identity to a place that feels like it's much more about telling their audience what they want to hear and telling a story of heroes and villains and we're great and they're terrible. So that to me, these are the most fundamental questions that everybody asks. And we turn ourselves into the answer.

kind of take their identity to a place that feels like it's much more about telling their audience what they want to hear and telling a story of heroes and villains and we're great and they're terrible. So that to me, these are the most fundamental questions that everybody asks. And we turn ourselves into the answer.

kind of take their identity to a place that feels like it's much more about telling their audience what they want to hear and telling a story of heroes and villains and we're great and they're terrible. So that to me, these are the most fundamental questions that everybody asks. And we turn ourselves into the answer.

We turn ourselves into the people we have to be in order to earn connection and status from our groups.

We turn ourselves into the people we have to be in order to earn connection and status from our groups.

We turn ourselves into the people we have to be in order to earn connection and status from our groups.

Well, as an author, you never remember the good reviews. You only remember the bad reviews. It's just a cliche, but it's absolutely true. Yeah, that's absolutely right, I'm sure. And there's also an evolutionary kind of angle to that because criticism is a form of gossip.

Well, as an author, you never remember the good reviews. You only remember the bad reviews. It's just a cliche, but it's absolutely true. Yeah, that's absolutely right, I'm sure. And there's also an evolutionary kind of angle to that because criticism is a form of gossip.

Well, as an author, you never remember the good reviews. You only remember the bad reviews. It's just a cliche, but it's absolutely true. Yeah, that's absolutely right, I'm sure. And there's also an evolutionary kind of angle to that because criticism is a form of gossip.

And back in the days when our brains were evolving in the hunter-gatherer tribe, if you are the subject of negative gossip, it was life-threatening. Literally, you could be kicked out of the tribe. You could be killed.

And back in the days when our brains were evolving in the hunter-gatherer tribe, if you are the subject of negative gossip, it was life-threatening. Literally, you could be kicked out of the tribe. You could be killed.

And back in the days when our brains were evolving in the hunter-gatherer tribe, if you are the subject of negative gossip, it was life-threatening. Literally, you could be kicked out of the tribe. You could be killed.

killed you know and sometimes even eaten so so in the back of our minds we've always got that that you know that that program is programming is still inside us social criticism is is dangerous but potentially life-threatening so you must attend to it very carefully and adapt your behavior so i've no doubt it's a smart take from me think twice absolutely yeah i've no doubt that that criticism capture it is far more important than audience capture yeah

killed you know and sometimes even eaten so so in the back of our minds we've always got that that you know that that program is programming is still inside us social criticism is is dangerous but potentially life-threatening so you must attend to it very carefully and adapt your behavior so i've no doubt it's a smart take from me think twice absolutely yeah i've no doubt that that criticism capture it is far more important than audience capture yeah

killed you know and sometimes even eaten so so in the back of our minds we've always got that that you know that that program is programming is still inside us social criticism is is dangerous but potentially life-threatening so you must attend to it very carefully and adapt your behavior so i've no doubt it's a smart take from me think twice absolutely yeah i've no doubt that that criticism capture it is far more important than audience capture yeah

Oh, yeah. This is one of the stories I really like because it really shows you how people care about identity far more than they care about their own lives. And it's just an argument that you can't understand why humans smoke without understanding our need for status and need to have this kind of higher status identity. You know, I used to smoke. You know, I started smoking in the 90s. And