Monday Morning with Mike & Max: Recent Episodes
Mike Bledsoe
00:00.00
mikebledsoe
Ah, oh yeah, they were to start with this. Oh yeah, Mike and max here we meet talking about traps and treasures today this is ah this our first topic to discuss on a show. And um, I'm not sure we really named the show yet. So there's ideas we talked about uncommon sense. But then I realized there was about a dozen other podcasts. They're called uncommon sense. Yeah, so yeah, yeah, so.
Dr_ Placebo
Called that I guess that was pretty common idea.
mikebledsoe
Not an uncommon idea. That's that's for sure. So today we're going to talk about.
Dr_ Placebo
We could call the show titty sprinkles I bet no one has that.
mikebledsoe
Ah, now. No one has tity sprinkles I think that would actually work really well. Ah max suggested the traps and treasures today. So can you give us a quick. Synopsis of what you think about traps and treasures.
Dr_ Placebo
Well I can see I'm going to be doing most of the legwork on this podcast so I will explore this idea a little bit further now I'm I'm just messing with you? No, this is perfect.
mikebledsoe
Well, um, well, you're the one that came up with the idea. So I want to know what like what do you mean by? what do you mean by traps and what do you mean by treasures.
Dr_ Placebo
Okay, so if you're a group. Well if you do all the backend stuff I will literally talk all day I have more talk than most people have listened so I can jump right into it. Basically the way I look at it is this was that.
mikebledsoe
And you may have to do most of the leg work. We'll see.
mikebledsoe
I would say that's accurate. Yeah, so that's accurate. He.
Dr_ Placebo
Ah, man. Well anyway, so if you're a gorilla the the traps are like poisonous leaves and the treasures are edible leaves pretty much and as you get to be a more complex. Ape like you and I you and I are very complex apes it becomes a little bit more nuanced than that. So you think about the way that human beings live their lives. We try to go toward pleasure away from pain that's instinctual. But a lot of stuff you don't really know until it's too late that you've actually found yourself in a trap which is why most traps have something very enticing in them like ah the cheese in the mouse trap or like the really shiny coin in ah in a raccoon trap. So. I thought we could look at you know today. It's August second
mikebledsoe
Well I would say also most most most good traps the moment you realize you're in the trap you try to get out but getting out like without thinking about how you got in the first place can. Can make the trap tighter at times like like first first react like great traps that were yeah yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
Yeah, like of trying to get out of spider web or right It's like you can go in but you can't go back out right? Um, and I think this.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, you have to go out a different way than you came in.
Dr_ Placebo
Well I mean some traps you just flat out cannot get out of once you're in. It's like game over pretty much like those ah those humane mouse traps have you ever seen those.
mikebledsoe
Ah, well maybe I don't know what's humane and what's not humane when it comes to trapping mice.
Dr_ Placebo
So well, it's It's ah so I'm thinking like oh I don't want to kill the mouse going to like set it free in the in the forest or something like that and so unlike the the quick death of those inhumane Mouse traps. This one is is tiny plastic cylinder where they can smell food but can't eat it so they're trapped in there for hours and hours and hours until I notice that they've been trapped which actually seems a little less humane to me when you get down to it. Um, but anyway so.
mikebledsoe
Oh yeah, yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
Today. Ah in the twenty twenty s what are the traps and what are the treasures. What are the like sinister things to really be cautious of because you don't want to be cautious about everything that's no way to live um second. Secondguessing every step you take and just looking out for phantoms and danger around every corner. So there is a balance to strike there in recognizing what is actually going to harm you or trap you versus what. It is something that you just don't need to really worry about.
mikebledsoe
Well I would say that if we're just gonna talk. It's easy for me to talk about Americans because well I think most people listen to show will get that. But ah yeah, most most people.
Dr_ Placebo
Um, ah. I Think so too I think so too we have super computers in our pockets. That's that's our common denominator. Basically we're all like in the future Age. So You know if you don't have a.
mikebledsoe
Most people.
mikebledsoe
That's true.
Dr_ Placebo
Ah, computer than this podcast is not really going to be for you. Not that you'd be able to hear it anyway.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, not relevant. Ah so there's a lot of um figure I was gonna say.
Dr_ Placebo
Um, okay, let's think about it like this so human nature has pretty much not changed for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years and we're homo sapiens which means we use our brains a lot. Neocortex a ton. We are planning probably further into the future than any other animal that I can understand I mean I don't I don't know the the planning tendencies of ah of a five hundred year old cohog. But I imagine that we are planning. Way further into the future and at greater complexity than all the other creatures. So I think that's one of the places that people. Yeah, we're we're we're projecting.
mikebledsoe
Say we're daydreaming more at least like real planning the potential. Yeah, that's accurate.
Dr_ Placebo
We're projecting into the future. Yeah I refer to it as the probability. So it's ah it's like a probability tree of what you think will happen next and people unconsciously do this all the time they're like oh. You know they're not necessarily giving a numerical figure like oh if I do squats today. There's a 4% chance that I will hurt myself and a 94% chance that I will be stronger the next day but inherently we know when we go into a set of exercises what we're what we're predicting. What will happen next and the same thing is true when you decide what kind of exercise plan to follow or which coach to listen to or what stock to purchase so we're always I mean the brain is amazing with how many calculations it can make per second I think it's something like. I'll get the number wrong. So you guys can fact, check me. But I think it's like 11000 different calculations per second which is pretty crazy when you think about it. A lot of that is happening beneath the surface of course. But anyway so we take those things into consideration that we are the most. Probably the most paranoid animals there are so you don't want to spend your life looking out for traps but you want to be aware of what can easily trap you so we come back to our nature which is pretty much unlimited curiosity total paranoia and that combination is. What makes some things really hard to stop doing so when a compulsive behavior gives you a result that you don't want and the first thing I think about is the the pyramid of social media and you know that I've had a. Ah, really interesting relationship with social media I've made tons of money by using it and I've also taken long extended breaks like multi-year breaks from it because I know that what's happening is there are a few people at the tip top of the pyramid who use it as. The greatest leverage tool ever. You can send a message out with electrons. You don't need to put it on paper even you just and it's out there and then just like how gambling there's a top tier who makes tons of dough and then. Everyone else at the bottom is just lost in this addiction where they actually lose more than they gain from it and I think that's what's happening right now is we're getting this weird evolution where the the top fraction of a percent is using it as a leverage tool.
Dr_ Placebo
And the bottom majority is essentially becoming ensnared by it. It's more of a trap because they end up as a net consumer and they don't actually use it for its leverage purposes. They are only leveraged by it so you have this.
mikebledsoe
Got.
Dr_ Placebo
Kind of gambling type of mechanism where you develop myopia or like tunnel vision and you're now relegated to having an attention span that is equal to 1 telephone screen at a time. And that's probably the biggest trap because unlike ah, a drug addiction or um, a food addiction. There's no evidence of what has taken place except for the reduced attention span that is really, there's no visible. Ah, evidence of what's going on so you're becoming psychologically um, trapped psychologically damaged by this story time roulette wheel. Well I mean you won't have.
mikebledsoe
So psychologically conforming. Yeah I mean the what? what? what? I mean repetition repetition of words you hear the same words over and over and over again.
Dr_ Placebo
Go ahead.
mikebledsoe
And become more believable so when you hop on social media and you're seeing the same message over and over and over again. Um I think a lot of times people's ah, logic in the very beginning is this isn't centrally controlled. This is. From my you know I'm getting people think they're getting more diverse information than they actually are um and I mean they talked a lot about that this past year with echo chambers and all that stuff. But um.
Dr_ Placebo
That's exactly what I was thinking is that you build your own echo Chamber based on the responses that you give to what you're being fed. It's funny. They call it the feed right.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, you create your yeah you create the algorithm is the whole point of the algorithm is to keep you engaged longer and so whatever's going to keep you there. So whether you know a lot of times. It's sensational stuff but it's probably not stuff that flies in direct opposition to your. Beliefs all the time. Um, it may be ah you know that you're going to be surrounded with information that's going to you know ride that line and keep that going. So It's interesting to watch technology dictate Consciousness dictate whereas people's. Attention is going. Ah so I This makes me think about the attention Economy. There's a book called that I believe um and vaynerchuk talks about this quite a bit but like the. That's really what all these these tech companies are fighting over is your attention and when when I really realized that I started thinking about where is my attention going from moment to moment I talk about thinking I think about attention as as the resource we could be focused on over time. Because where your attention is over time is really going to dictate your results and so the um so the attention piece is something I find I can actually direct time is this is actually more conceptual than attention. When I I can think about attention and I can I'm having the experience of it time is a measure. It's different. So I like to put my so when we when we talk about this? um, are you familiar with the Triune Brain Theory triune.
Dr_ Placebo
The pardon triune 3 in? yeah ah like lizard mammal neocortex.
mikebledsoe
Brain Theory three part brain. Yeah, so that's exactly that's exactly right? and the the the Reptilian brain is all survival. And mostly physical world survival and then you have the Mammalian brain which is the emotional world that's ah, that's social constructs. That's the the primary question of that part of the brain is am I loved So The the Reptilian brain is am I safe Am I Loved do people. Ah, does my tribe accept me and then Beyond that is is the Neocortex the human brain where reason being rational logic um imagination language this all emerges in that that ah that. Frontal lobe and the people who like you said are the ones that have the most leverage. They're very much so in their human mind they're they're in the human Brain. They're not experiencing physical scarcity. Um the same way that other people are. They may not be ah they either already feel loved or have confidence or really welldeveloped emotionally or they're sociopath or psychopath where that part of their being just isn't online. Um, and there's a lot of research show that there's a lot of people in Power. Who Ah, that's that's the case I'm looking at my audio right now I don't see my audio popping up. Yeah, okay, my squiggles. Yeah, so so.
Dr_ Placebo
I see it over here I see your little bumpy Bumpy Bumpy squiggles
mikebledsoe
When I think about that is like when we especially we look at the last year and a half and we look at the traps that people get and what I what I think one of the one of the frames that I operate from to make sure I don't fall into traps and that I am going towards treasures which as I'm saying it out loud I'm even realizing where. I'm going. Wow I've really gone after treasures but I haven't been that good at that. But I have been ah I've been very good at avoiding common traps and when I see that everybody else is going one direction I immediately ask like all right? Everyone's doing that. It's probably wrong. They're probably being leveraged. Yeah yeah, it's like I look at it and you know, ah, yeah, it's definitely a personality trait and there's a rebellious nature that comes along with it.
Dr_ Placebo
You a contrarian.
mikebledsoe
But ah as I get older I'm seeing the gift and the shadow of it but the gift of it is oh everybody you know is going to go like I I watch cryptocurrency when a certain person. Decides They want to buy cryptocurrency and they start engaging in the marketplace and I'll call them mainstream people when the mainstream person starts getting involved and cryptocurrency is when I pull out So that's one of my signals. Is I'll be talking to people people who've never invested before just average people that when they start going I'm going to get in the game I Go Cool. It's time to get out because this is about to get funky and.
Dr_ Placebo
It's like when you see tons of ads about get rich in real estate with no money down and you're like okay.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, yeah, or right now like everyone's walking around I'm in Austin. Everyone's walking around and you know everyone's trying to buy houses and everyone's trying to do this and that and I go yeah I'm just going to let it cool off I'm not really interested in. And buying right now we're at the peak of a bubble and people go really you think so and and the fact that most people don't think we're in a bubble like really I go okay well I'm making the right decision. You know people who are were normally pretty small.
Dr_ Placebo
It's so hard to pick tops and bottoms. It's so hard to pick tops and bottoms. But to your point though when you see the right.
mikebledsoe
It is very. It is very hard but when it's cheaper to build a home than to buy a home.
Dr_ Placebo
It's like when you see the retail investor start getting into something like they don't know anything about stocks or crypto or whatever they're like yeah I'm going to I'm going to start buying all this stuff and that's usually the clue that you're nearing that peak.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, yeah, So um, what are what are some common traps that you're what I want to about treasures as well. But I think yeah, well in regard to treasures it I really in this day and age we have. And infinite amount of information so we have like a whole new asset Class. So which is digital assets where that it's to be able to even conceive of a digital asset as something that is infinitely abundant.
Dr_ Placebo
Um.
Dr_ Placebo
Um.
mikebledsoe
Like information is it's a very human brain thing to even try to consider and people who are in that Reptilian or Mammalian brain where survival and acceptance is is their primary. Ah. Where their attention is primarily focused when they those people are I think are the most likely to get trapped and not enjoy the treasures um of of abundance because they're so worried about the physical world which is where they're. Tends to be more scarcity.
Dr_ Placebo
Yeah, and the average person has so many ideas that have been implanted into them and that are now embedded into their psyche and they think oh if I do this then I will be loved if I do this I will be loved if I do this then I'm. Bad or something like that and the ratio. Well you know me I like the the busy badge and the certificate of suffering those are 2 of the the worst possible virtues I think but they're some of the most common ones.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, they have reasons for everything.
Dr_ Placebo
People have this idea that's been implanted into them and you know humans are mostly nurture. There's some of the instincts intact but without nurture. We don't even have language so everything language-based is nurtured into us. We're basically we're blanks.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, yeah.
mikebledsoe
Yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
You know you can become a successful businessman or a child soldier with the right nurturing I mean that's what's so crazy so you have these virtues like suffering or busyness and. Those are those are really tough traps to get out of I mean I know people in their eighty s who still have that baggage that if they're not always doing something then they're like lazy and I'm thinking Holy hell, That's all human history has done is try to Enable. Greater leisure and laziness farming tools Tractors computers. All this stuff is to free up our time so we can enjoy more leisure but then you have this weird virtue switch embedded into you that busy is good and suffering is good. Those are. Kind of like foundational traps within your psyche that will make you more likely to do a lot of things that either harm you or are just wasting your wasting your opportunity to feel safe and to feel loved. And to engage in some leisure.
mikebledsoe
Um, I find that I mean we also live in a ah consumerist society where people tend to think about um what they can afford as what can they afford monthly. It's like oh can I afford. A $700 a month car. Note. Yeah yeah, that fits in my budget. So those people end up getting that's 1 reason people have a hard time finding leisure right? they' it's a self-sabotaging not being able to think that far in the future or choosing not to think that far in the future is self-sabotaging. And puts people on this hamster will so when the traps the trap of consumerism is I've I've committed to this this mortgage payment this car note and this and that and I'm actually going through a financial course right now and they brought up an interesting point. Which is if you max out what your the bank will allow you to borrow for a home and if you max out what the bank will allow you to to get for a car. You're already over leveraged. You're you're already maxed out and most people do that plus they have credit cards if student loan debt or whatever you want to call it.
Dr_ Placebo
Or well I would I would humbly suggest that I I yeah I would I would hubly suggest that the overwhelming majority of people prioritize.
mikebledsoe
So other things so that that makes it hard to have leisure too because people are just having to work or at least feel like they need to.
Dr_ Placebo
The exact wrong things and they're trying to keep up with the joneses and you know the desire to impress before you can support is foolish most of the things that actually increase your quality of life like. Sharing a meal with someone you care about sharing a conversation with someone you care about going for a walk exercising playing a game that stuff is basically free. So all of the other stuff is this desperate attempt to be loved through the extension of material goods. And not only will that not actually work and leave you feeling quite hollow. It may attract the wrong types of relationships and take away more from your time. So then you're really stuck on this ride with pretty much no chance of getting out of it. So. When you think about building wealth. There are really only two ways to do it. You can reduce your costs and you can increase your revenue or you can increase your profit and what's funny is when it comes to searching for treasure which we are all. Intrinsically treasure hunters. You don't even need to strike gold that many times as long as you don't act like an idiot with the treasure that you have actually gotten you know if you really if you really dedicate yourself to even like 1 good idea in your life.
mikebledsoe
Ah.
Dr_ Placebo
And you strike gold that that can be enough. But if you are constantly ah feeding the machine because look advertising works I'm just as Sept susceptible as anybody else which is why I have all ads blocked I actually have a special browser. For when I want to see ads just to see what people are doing because I never see an advertisement.
mikebledsoe
Which which which browser do you at what? what? Ah what a browser are you using the block ads.
Dr_ Placebo
Ah I mean Chrome Firefox It doesn't matter like I have it set up So I just use a.
mikebledsoe
Ah, you can you can use it. Okay, there's settings in there.
Dr_ Placebo
Yeah I mean you get it all set up with ah with an app but I never I never see an ad normally I have to specifically set myself up just to be like I Wonder how people are advertising and what's you know?? What's really funny is if you don't see ads. You don't really want stuff.
mikebledsoe
yeah you know yeah I mean I I I'm with you I ditch a Tv back in 2013 and yeah my my accumulation of stuff went down after that for sure i.
Dr_ Placebo
So that's a big trap.
mikebledsoe
Okay, so that's that being one of the traps. So how do we turn that into a treasure I think I think that we can always if we look at the the other side of the coin a trap and a treasure. How do you? How do you do that? but.
Dr_ Placebo
Oh. Are we still talking accumulation of stuff.
mikebledsoe
In this. Yeah, like okay, how do we? How do we get out of this trap of accumulating shit are blocking. Ads is 1 of them.
Dr_ Placebo
that's that's a huge help. Ah I I think accumulation of stuff is a way that people try to feel safe so letting some of that stuff go and I think the treasure is less but better. You know, start start thinking about what items you use on a daily basis. What items you use on a weekly basis and I went through this whole thing where I was trying to only own a thousand items and then I got to the garage with all my tools and I was like. This is over I'm not doing this I just can't do it because I like building stuff in the garage. It's a little workshop but the thing the items that really bring you. The most benefit are probably going to be only a few things. You know a good pair of shoes. A nice pair of pants or a couple nice pairs of pants. But the idea of maximization maximization through reduction. So you have fewer things but better. You know you have one really good pocket knife instead of like 15 crappy ones. And you think about I like to think about stuff like ah like russian dolls. You know those russian dolls the it builds. Upon.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, but boot I think is Babuka Babuka is what they're called like that Anyways, now Babuka's like a grandmother. But.
Dr_ Placebo
Is it I Know that's like a term of endearment my little babushka anyway. So the nesting the nesting dolls. So I think about it in terms of if I only have a backpack what goes in the backpack if I only have.
mikebledsoe
Yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
1 car load of stuff what goes in the car if I only have one house worth of stuff what goes in the house you know and you start to realize what the core essentials really are and going camping can be really. Beneficial for that too realizing how much you actually need for your continued survival and it's you know air water food safety rest play. Love that kind of stuff. It's not that many things. So I think that's the treasure is.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, well 2018
Dr_ Placebo
Less but better.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, 2018 I did the nomadic thing which when you go nomadic the minimalism thing pretty much has to come online unless you're aultan like a royal sultan and you're gonna have people carrying your stuff along and setting up in your suite.
Dr_ Placebo
Um.
mikebledsoe
Wherever you're arriving ah sounds expensive. Ah so ah yeah I got down to 2 bags of course. Yeah, if it's easy if it's easy that sounds like it could be you.
Dr_ Placebo
I I kind of like the idea that they are.
Dr_ Placebo
Setting up a tent.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, like well you you have to have people like just doing everything all the time Anyways, ah got down to two bags I had I had the the amount of stuff I had aside from a few art pieces and a couple plants.
Dr_ Placebo
Yeah.
mikebledsoe
Everything would fit into 2 bags. So I had a backpack and a duffel and I probably had ah between the backpack and the duffel I probably had one hundred and ten liters between the 2 of them. So um, not a lot.
Dr_ Placebo
That's awesome. What you learn from that what you learned from that.
mikebledsoe
So I had that for a year and a half oh I just you know what one of the things that made it easy is I was always traveling so I didn't feel like I needed new clothes I find that when I'm in 1 spot very long and I'm mixing it with people all the time like I wore this already I wore this already I need to put.
Dr_ Placebo
Have.
Dr_ Placebo
Are.
mikebledsoe
So it actually there was like little things in there that made it easier. Yeah yeah, it goes a show but I didn't realize how much value I put on clothes until recently I started running I was I was tightening up my budget I was like wow okay I spent. How much on clothes in the last three months why why am I spending that much on clothes and so ah, when I haven't done that a while and I was like oh I've been in 1 spot and I I don't want to be seen wearing the same things and like you I'm such an.
Dr_ Placebo
Is.
mikebledsoe
Egotistic old motherfucker and it's good to spot that and go Okay, um.
Dr_ Placebo
You.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, ah so but I did that for a year and a half and then I spent another year and a half only having what would fit into a Toyota tacoma a pickup truck. So everything I own would be in there for another year and a half
Dr_ Placebo
Yeah.
mikebledsoe
And so now I moved into a house in February and it's been very easy to only accumulate things that I really love that are really really meaningful. But I don't think that would have been possible had I not gone ultra mentallist and and nomadic for a period of time. I think having that space to reprogram my mind because I was just such an accumulator before before I made some of those moves.
Dr_ Placebo
Yeah I think in turn one of the biggest treasures that people have available to them is the ability to change very quickly and it's also one of the scariest things because our ego is like we're this okay I feel. Feel stable I feel permanence because you know this is the story. We've got and I'm like this but the fact that we can just turn on a dime and flip to something completely different is a crazy superpower that is basically unique to human beings. And so I love change all at once I don't like to I don't like to baby step it I like to just go. You know what? I've been overeating now I'm gonna eat nothing for a week oh I've been drinking 6 ice cream coffees every day. Ah now I'm going to go to 0 and I think every time I do something like that I I feel like that superpower that quantum. Ah, realization of oh my god I really can do anything like all the you know I can be whatever I want to be when I grow up that kind of thing I still haven't grown up but I assume that I can still be what I want to when I grow up. Ah so I think to your point having those.
mikebledsoe
Ah.
Dr_ Placebo
Rapid changes can be ah everlasting until you decide to switch things around the next time so it can be good to just jump into the cold water out of your comfort zone because you'll experience a lot of stuff that you. May never be able to experience any other way.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, and you're you're way more plastic you're you're more adapt to change than you think you are um I'm more adapt to change than I like to think I am right like like I think the average totally.
Dr_ Placebo
It well because our ego is trying to block that change all the time. That's all it does. We just want to. We just want to have a foundational story that says.
mikebledsoe
Totally yeah, the ego doesn't want things to change.
Dr_ Placebo
I Am like this I am this type of a person I have this many widgets in my garage. These are my friends. This is the food I like this is the restaurant I like and we just want to try to conquertize and solidify. That story so that we feel more stable in this construct of time because I remember reading in this book the ego exists in time not in space and I thought that was a really good one. So It's just trying to clarify.
mikebledsoe
Can you explain that more.
Dr_ Placebo
No I mean sure I'll try. Ah so the ego is our our story. The ego is our story of ourselves and it exists within the timeline of our lives but it's not something that is.
mikebledsoe
What does that mean to you.
Dr_ Placebo
Spatially relevant. You know I have this body and I'm having these sensations but the ego is totally irrelevant in the now unless you decide that it is relevant So. It's basically just your perception of self. Through time and memories that you bring forward with you but it's not something that takes up any space.
mikebledsoe
Right? If you're being present. You have you're being if you're being present in the moment Ego is gonna be can't be there is that what you're saying.
Dr_ Placebo
It's kind of like that untethered soul idea where you're not really living in your own story. You're just being fully present like you said that that be here now idea where you get those temporarity temporary. Ah.
mikebledsoe
E.
Dr_ Placebo
Breaches out of this sea of consciousness into this being part of this greater experience.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, well I like to think about ego I mean it's your narrative. It's your which is your identity right? like I like to use the word ego and identity interchangeably and.
Dr_ Placebo
Um, Identity is probably a better word to use I would agree.
mikebledsoe
You know the one of the things I think yeah I like to use the word identity because I think it's easier for people to agree on what that even means whereas when someone says ego people have all these preconceived notions that are that are different like.
Dr_ Placebo
Um, and it makes you feel defensive I mean because it's like I'm I'm not an egotistical guy.
mikebledsoe
Like ah Eckert toll. Yeah, ah yeah, Eckert Tolle like his version of ego. Yeah yeah, okay, ah so ah, yeah, Eckert Tolle versus Sigmund Freud are going to describe ego differently.
Dr_ Placebo
Right.
mikebledsoe
And ah I think most people people grow up with the idea of the sigmundfreud ego. Maybe a little bit. Um, but then if they read 1 eckert toli book and now they really know what ego is ah but identity is identity is really um. I find to be really useful and you said something earlier that that triggered this for me which is when we're little kids and our parents look at us or a teacher looks at us and says you can be whatever you want when you grow up. What do you want to be. And what does that child say they'll be like oh firefighter astronaut president construction worker like they they use a noun to describe. Ah what it is that they're becoming right? because it's there's this. Concept of there's a finish line that you're going to be complete when you reach this thing and so even from that really young age the idea of identity as a noun and the way it's built into the language is um as a noun makes it so static.
Dr_ Placebo
Processes.
mikebledsoe
And I find that when we we tend to again attached to the identity right? and because that I the attachment. Yeah, the attachment creates security is it's It's a false security.
Dr_ Placebo
We like that stability. and we're the ultimate specialists. well and we're the ultimate specialists so if you want to do well usually that's the way to do it. It's to be ah, a specialist surgeon. It's to be a firefighter It's just the same way that ants. Split off into their worker ants and there are soldier ants. So it's like trying to choose which of these hundreds or thousands of specialties a human being wants to be a human being right.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, yeah, yeah, being the um but I think there's a problem with this whole thing around like this is who I am and and thing and wanting to steak. You know, really stake it a flag in the ground instead of you know seeing identity as a verb seeing as a process and really to me there was I went through this practice of shifting from 1 identity to another one and then getting to where. Really realizing and saying I can hold multiple identities at once I mean one would be like ah I'm a Ceo of a company but I'm also a son to my mother right? like like I can hold both of these at the same time and then one and 1 instance I'm acting like what's that.
Dr_ Placebo
Well like when you ask somebody when you meet somebody when you meet some when you meet somebody. What do you ask? You're like oh what do you do and they say what they do and that's that's what we ask? What do you do not like we we don't usually say.
mikebledsoe
Ah, yeah, totally I hate that question.
Dr_ Placebo
We don't usually say something like oh well I like cycling and hiking and I play par cheesy on the weekends or you know, whatever it is. It's always what's your profession because that's also a signal that we use to determine if oh this person's this person's a good person.
mikebledsoe
Yeah I.
Dr_ Placebo
You know this person is a doctor. Oh you're a lifeguard. How mysterious you know things like a lot. There's a lot. There's a lot tied into that career so in a certain sense. Our value to the tribe.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, yeah.
mikebledsoe
Ah b. Yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
Is based on our career.
mikebledsoe
Well, that's that emotional. It's that emotional brain that the Mammalian brain that ah the primary question that it concerns itself with is am I loved and I think when you're a child. Start going I can be whatever I want I'm going to choose something that people love so that I'll be accepted and all this and that and I don't remember why we got down this track. But I think maybe one of the traps is having a static identity and and having a hard time changing it. We were talking about change.
Dr_ Placebo
Right? and.
mikebledsoe
And how ah what keeps us from being able to access that change is a commitment to an identity that is really just from what I've noticed identity have you ever watched westworld. No so like.
Dr_ Placebo
Ah, only bits and pieces of the first season many years ago it's been a long time.
mikebledsoe
That movie is it talks a lot about consciousness because you know there's a lot to do with robots who appear to be human and there's this whole discussion around. You know that the robots actually think that they're Human. Um. And don't note they're robots and there's this self-directing awareness that's happening at maybe we're not sure who who it is That's energizing and creating the will of The. Ah, robots when they start making decisions that they weren't programmed to do um and ah one of the things that they talked about in that movie and I think a variation of this is good to think about which is ah ah. Beliefs create I Want to say was it beliefs create the identity and shit I'm trying to remember what created the beliefs or maybe identity creates. It's like the beliefs create the identity and the identity. Is this or that and there's there's certain situations that create that anyways.
Dr_ Placebo
Well, who implanted those who implants those beliefs I think is what we're talking about and the way we can relate it back to childhood and upbringing is it's very unlikely that a that a child will have enough self-confidence and self-awareness. To do what they intrinsically enjoy versus what gets them a positive love response. So pretty much pretty much. We just do what will get us love even ah, one of my favorite comedians George Carlin talks about how as a kid he would he would be funny.
mikebledsoe
Totally.
Dr_ Placebo
And all of the adults would give him attention and admiration and you know those were the only a's that he was interested In. He just wanted their attention and their admiration and I think that's what we mostly do and I I did the same thing in my life because. I mean I didn't even have any clue who I was or why I was doing the things that I was doing. There was so much momentum built around I'll just do whatever people like which was cracking jokes and being athletic. Those those were 2 really good Things. So if I could crack jokes and be a good athlete people would automatically have to like me and I just kept going down that thing and as a strength and conditioning coach and gym owner author all that stuff. I was in this loop where I would I would share a little bit of my training and people would be like Wow look how strong he is and I'd be like oh they like it when I'm Strong. So I guess I'll just get a little stronger and so everything was built around this feedback Loop. So.
mikebledsoe
Yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
I Get some love I Get a little stronger I get some more love I Get a little stronger and my guess is that anybody listening to this would be able to recognize where that happened in their own life in terms of doing what is ah. Going to get them positive attention versus doing what is intrinsically enjoyable and this might be the greatest trap of all because it runs parallel to what we discussed earlier about buying a bunch of items to give yourself the appearance that you are you know. Doing better than the joneses and it still is still for that same reason and so please give me love you know we want to be safe and as soon as we're Safe. We're like we want love and if we can't get love will like fine give me power and if we can't get that we'll be like fine give me attention. Because the worst thing to be is stuck in this vacuum of a black hole with no feedback whatsoever and that explains the internet trolls or any kind of trolls like haters and stuff like that. They just want some attention. But if you don't if you don't give them attention then they eventually just go away.
mikebledsoe
Um, I've got a troll I've got a troll I've given I've got a troll I've had a troll for like a year and a half maybe longer who gets no feedback.
Dr_ Placebo
Pretty interesting. We get stuck doing things that seem good.
Dr_ Placebo
Amazing.
mikebledsoe
But responds to every single one of my emails. Um and ah attacking me yeah dude still on my email list and then ah attacking me he ah he set up a fake Instagram account.
Dr_ Placebo
That's amazing. He's still on your email list.
Dr_ Placebo
Yes, wow.
mikebledsoe
And started commenting and leaving and I ended up just blocking him and then it it happened a couple times and then I think he got hip to the idea that I wasn't gonna just let dumb shit happen on my Instagram comments and then um so it is interesting. Most people most trolls will go away.
Dr_ Placebo
Her.
mikebledsoe
Leave alone this guy holy shit man. He also he also tracks all my friends on Instagram so he'll like write an email back and like whoever I was hanging out with last week he'll make a comment about them. It's ah so really interesting. He's obsessed.
Dr_ Placebo
That guy is really hurting Clearly oh he's hurting I mean we we think about the the trap side of things you know you never know what's going on in somebody else's life. That's why it's so it's important to be.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure.
Dr_ Placebo
Aware of what's going on and see things for what they are, but it's really important not to to judge people and say oh, That's that's like ah an evil bad person because you never know like maybe he was abused or maybe he wasn't maybe he was treated fine and needed to be abused a little bit more you know some. Some people are jerks because they never they never saw any retribution where ah like just a few ass Kickings would have totally diverted the course of that person's life. It's kind of like in the animal Kingdom You have the the cubs.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, um, what do you.
Dr_ Placebo
Or the young ones who who just try to like push the boundaries of the old male and then there's there's usually nothing nothing nothing but then they go over the line and the old male like swats them or bites them or something like that and and then it's over.. It's done. It's this self-correcting. Type of Nurture. So I Wonder about that sometimes especially with regard to communication over the internet I call it drone strike discourse because there's so much distance between you and the target that you would do unspeakable things that you would never do. 1 on one like the difference between strangling a guy and you know sending a drone strike to kill the same guy I I haven't done either myself but I would imagine it would be easier to drone strike somebody than Strangle somebody that seems personal strangling.
mikebledsoe
Well I you know I ah. I mean I've thought about this this was something like you know I was in the navy so this ended up being a conversation. Is you? You're sitting down with your buddies and you go all right? Well okay, you're gonna like if ah if a kid. Comes after me, you're gonna fucking you're gonna shoot him right? I say he's eight years old and he's armed with an a k and I want to know that you're not going a pussy out on me so getting these conversations about. Ah.
Dr_ Placebo
Got to.
mikebledsoe
The necessity to kill somebody at some point and I got I got really deep into it I Also read this book called on killing which is like basically do you? Yeah I read that man I read that when I was in the Navy It was ah it was interesting and.
Dr_ Placebo
Which. I have that book too. Yeah.
mikebledsoe
Pretty much the book points out that most average functioning human beings. Don't want to kill anybody ah like like no one actually wants to kill people. Um, but there's ways of convincing people to kill somebody for the greater. Good.
Dr_ Placebo
The greater good.
mikebledsoe
Um, and the yeah, the us military has done a great job of that. Um, but what I found in those conversations is like the idea of like I started thing like playing out in my mind. How I you know different situations I might kill somebody and. The idea of stabbing someone or or slicing their their their throat versus shooting them with a gun even that in itself feels it's like oh wow if you if you stab somebody death. that's personal, yeah that's personal a gun. Even if it's ten feet away less personal right? I might not even get any blood on me. Yeah, and so the idea of now now we go from you know, stabbing somebody all the way to drone strike you know, um, you got an operator sitting in Oklahoma.
Dr_ Placebo
Um, way less way less.
Dr_ Placebo
Um.
mikebledsoe
Basically playing a video game and and and killing somebody in you know, whatever country I'm not going to name any countries I don't want to trigger anybody ah but the it is. It's an interesting. It's an interesting thing. Um.
Dr_ Placebo
But yeah.
mikebledsoe
I Think in that case. Yeah I mean that's a whole other cane of worms I don't know if we want to get into that on the show.
Dr_ Placebo
Well, it's 2 different method. It's it's 2 different methods of communication. It's verbal communication and it's physical communication and that's really the only way we can resolve our differences and what's funny though in both cases. The goal. The gamble is to prevent death isn't that funny because even though you're going you know in the military to go kill another guy The only reason you're doing that is because you think that that is going to result in less death isn't that interesting.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, you making the world a better place or yeah I mean.
Dr_ Placebo
You think you are preserving life through killing. So So that's what that's what we're eat ah and not not just better but less Death. You know we got to kill those guys before they kill us because they're going to you know, kill us worse or something like that. It's such.. It's such funny bargains right.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, well people Also I mean going back to the identity piece. You have the cultural identities and and yeah there is this belief that one group is better than another group people even inside my own company if we look at other companies.
Dr_ Placebo
Yes.
mikebledsoe
Offer a a similar product or service that everyone on my team be like yeah they're probably pretty good but you know they're not doing as good as we are and you know we should get their clients if you know there's an opportunity to do that you know because we'll we'll actually serve them better.
Dr_ Placebo
M.
Dr_ Placebo
Um, right.
mikebledsoe
You know and and you know I think that happens they definitely patriotism is such Ah, ah, it's an interesting illusion for people to get really tied into. Um.
Dr_ Placebo
Well you you have to have some sort of fealty to your group and it's just when the groups get really big when the groups get really big. It's so difficult to have a unifying idea and that's why religion is still around is other.
mikebledsoe
Well well I'm I'm not opposed to that.
Dr_ Placebo
Otherwise you know nations and religions are the only way so far for huge groups of people I think it's called the Reynolds number or something like that to get past like 200 people in a group because otherwise the structure of that group just completely falls apart so you need this unifying idea like god dunbar that's not Reynolds number I don't know why I said Reynolds number. Yeah.
mikebledsoe
Well dumb bar's numbers one fifty dubar and it's yeah dumb bar won 50 yeah yeah, like a church, the average church. Once say it's a hundred and fifty the this structure starts to break down.
Dr_ Placebo
Well, but if they have but if you believe in the same God as the church. Well and if you believe in the same tree spirit or God as the name the village next door then you guys have that common ground where you go. Oh yeah.
mikebledsoe
Unless I have a ah more advanced hierarchy.
mikebledsoe
Yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
We're on the same same team. You know, same same colored ah hats or same colored arm bands. Whatever.
mikebledsoe
Totally I ah.
Dr_ Placebo
You know that's for that's probably the biggest trap. Ah just to kind of tie it back into what we're talking about when people start wearing the same outfits. You probably want to start watching out for those guys.
mikebledsoe
It's time to bounce time to bounce. Yeah I Ah um I mean I get I get a little curious about the the mask wearing in that case is like so like are you are you in or you out like. Ah, you are you a masker or an anti-masker and there's ah yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
This divide and Conquer tactics per usual I mean the the problem is the the psyches of people have been abused for so long that it's kind of like the boy who cried wolf you know so now.
mikebledsoe
Yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
Whether there's ah, a real threat or imagined you have already alienated such a huge percent of the like I don't I don't watch the news. Um everything I understand about being a rational Thinker leads me to believe that the news is nothing but lies and Propaganda. So it's.. It's hard because now I don't know what is definitely true. But I heard someone say if if you don't watch the news. They say that you're uninformed. But if you do watch the news then you're Misinformed. So What the hell am I going to Choose. And I guess that's for each individual to decide which rather be uninformed or misinformed I'd rather be uninformed because there's enough that you can do to enrich your life. That's actually within your control that.
mikebledsoe
Yeah I think this goes back to the quality conversation where we were we We weren't calling it quality but we were talking about having less things having fewer things but the things that we do have being more meaningful.
Dr_ Placebo
Requires your focus and attention.
mikebledsoe
And I think the same thing applies to information in a world of of ah abundant information. It's like I think that a lot of people they they listen to Authority or what they perceive to be authority in lieu of ah decision making their own decisions and collecting the evidence and.
Dr_ Placebo
Ah, yes.
mikebledsoe
And all that there's a book. Um, you read I'm sure you've read ah influence by Robert Caldini yeah yeah and you know what he talks about in that book is ah when when somebody when they get to the point where they believe that they cannot.
Dr_ Placebo
Final dani. Yeah.
mikebledsoe
Ah, ah, decipher the information for themselves they immediately look for the authority they look for a uniform or a lab coat like if it's a medical thing. They're looking for the doctor they're looking for school teachers police officers ah politicians these are ah. Preachers. You know anyone who is in who are in these authority positions in your mind you start going? Oh well I'll just do what they say and I think that's um, one of the one of the things that people have done and and being misinformed is. People will watch the news. They'll watch the media but the quality of that information is so poor like you were saying you're misinformed the information is so poor and so what what I've done in the last year and a half which I realized is.
mikebledsoe
I've been very sad because I noticed that there's very few of us who are going to do this which is I go gather a bunch of information and I I believe because I believe that I can I can. Accumulate enough of the right information and make sense of it that I can make a ah ah good decision for myself. So I've been very very like like there is no and I think this takes ah a good deal of personal work for an individual to get There is.
Dr_ Placebo
Um, f.
mikebledsoe
I'm not sure I could be in that position if I actually thought there was an authority outside of myself. Um Beyond the the laws of nature right? The only to me the ah, the only Authority is the laws of nature. Everything else is a fucking illusion and the ah. The idea that people are ah unwilling to or or they don't believe that they can actually decipher the information they can't create the context they need to make a choice and.
Dr_ Placebo
And in a lot of cases. They can't because the language is deliberately complex I mean people often ask me what what would I do if I were King for a day and would require any rules to be in clear and simple language.
mikebledsoe
Well, that's where they're.
Dr_ Placebo
That ah, a fifth grader could understand I mean that's part of the reason that it's so easy to manipulate people. But I think to tie it back together. It's it's about what you give your attention to I have this funny little thing that I had written on my wall for a long time and it's.
mikebledsoe
Now.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, there's um.
Dr_ Placebo
The power of any god is proportional to its believers and what's funny is the the mathematical symbol for proportional is the same as the little Jesus fish and so I I consider god I I isn't that funky.
mikebledsoe
Ah, ah. Yeah, yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
So I consider god whatever you believe in without proof ah anything you believe in without proof is is basically ah a god like like figure. It's dependent on faith. So the power of any god is based on the believers so you can think of money as a modern god you can think of the government. As a modern god you know you believe that they do everything um in the best possible edge right? A god I mean it's funny. You know where people are so adamant. There's no god there's only one god or the hindus are like there's 6000 or so gods or 12000 gods.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, a God not vegan.
Dr_ Placebo
I Mean Ultimately, what we're talking about with traps and treasures is you have to protect your attention above all else because within that is where you will be trapped. It's like ah you know the oldest trick in the book is like look over there. Yoink. So You have to be really cautious of what you give your attention to because you essentially make that your God and it takes away the time for you to to go treasure hunting.
mikebledsoe
Yeah.
mikebledsoe
Yeah I like the thing about it as what do you worship wherever your attention wherever you spend The most attention is what you worship the most and we all worship something. Yeah yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
Yeah, and you give power to it. Yeah, you give power to it.
mikebledsoe
I think we should wrap it up right? there we're we're at the hour and I've enjoyed this conversation. Let's let's do this again next week and um, whether we talk about this or not I'm going to mention it as a hook so that people will make sure they tune in for the next.
Dr_ Placebo
I like it.
mikebledsoe
1 but I'd like to dig into ah values values beliefs and behavior next week I think that'd be a lot of fun. Yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
Love Love it. We can talk about the difference between morals and ethics too.
mikebledsoe
Oh yeah, perfect oh morals and ethics Geez all right? That's going in the book. Um, we're we're organized over here been doing this for a while we can make make this work.
Dr_ Placebo
I.
mikebledsoe
I say that and then I showed up to the show today. Not remembering the the show that the traps and treasures you had to remind me. That's how organized I am.
Dr_ Placebo
Yeah I think this is a good good partnership I think I'm very excited to make this a regular thing and I think anybody who listens is in for a pretty wild ride.
mikebledsoe
Yeah, this is the first conversation and the reason we did this is because every time we get on the phone. It's just a constant back and forth of of ah what I find to be. Intellectually stimulating. So I imagine that other people would find that to be true as well. So um.
Dr_ Placebo
And I feel like we picked a good topic to start with because like you know, suicide and cannibalism are a little too heavy for episode one I think.
mikebledsoe
Ah, yeah, we'll we'll get to that eventually probably in the first 10 first 10 Ah all right? How do we want to? How do we want to finish these off. Yeah and we want to wrap these? Um, ah yeah.
Dr_ Placebo
Think that'll be episode 3
Dr_ Placebo
Bank down but don't ba but don't bo ba but jump but don't look good. Don't ban bunk but jump but don't Bu Bun Bang think thinkk about the bunk bam think up but bringlink to but but yeah sometimes I maxank dot com at maxank.
mikebledsoe
We go max where where can they find you are you posting on Instagram again.
Dr_ Placebo
Um, easy to find.
mikebledsoe
And you're so fortunate you got your name I couldn't get my name the domain from mine. Unfortunately some some old author dude um, yeah, you can find me on Instagram Mike Underscore blood so and yeah, we'll just leave it at that find me there.
Dr_ Placebo
Yeah.
mikebledsoe
All all other things come from and are posted in there most of the time. Thanks y'all.