I think the problem is,
it's just too easy to believe stuff.
Humans are really susceptible
to believing stuff.
Do you know this?
Humans will believe just about anything
if we hear it three times.
If you hear something three times,
you'll believe it.
Do you believe me or do I need
to tell you one more time?
(audience laughing)
This is how it works,
this is how it works.
You'll hear something crazy,
the first time you might not believe it.
Maybe you heard this,
maybe this swept through Provo, Utah
did you hear this?
Do you know the average person
swallows right spiders
in their sleep every year?
You heard that and your brain
said, that couldn't be right.
A couple days later,
you heard someone else.
Did you know that the average person
swallows eight spiders
in their sleep every year?
And your brain says,
you know, I think I've heard that before.
Then a couple days later,
you're with someone, they said,
"Did you know the average
person swallows eight spiders?"
Yeah, in their sleep every year.
I know, I'm not an idiot.
(audience laughing)
All right, I hear stuff,
I remember it, and I believe it.
I'm like you, I'm self-educated, all right?
And eight's just average,
that's average, okay?
That's the average.
It depends on where you live.
Depending on how many,
I've noticed this.
Once you believe this
kinda BS that you hear,
you will add your own
flavors and spices.
(audience laughing)
Eight's the average,
if you live way up north,
it's too cold, not as
many spiders to swallow.
Plus more beards per capita,
so the spiders can't get over the beards
while you're sleeping.
That drops the average.
You live by the equator, way too big.
The spiders are too big to swallow.
No one swallows a
tarantula in their sleep.
(audience laughing)
That drives the average down.
What drives the average up
is the temperate climate,
like through North America there,
where there's trillions
of bite size spiders
living there in the spider belt.
(audience laughing)
or arachnid alley,
depending on which term
you hear three times,
(audience laughing)
'cause we're just susceptible.
We can all, you can end
up with this dumb opinion.
Have you ever had one?
If you haven't, then you
definitely have some.
That's how it works.
And man, it's easy to form
a dumb opinion and keep it.
The smart opinions are tough, right?
You gotta learn stuff and think
critical, and there's logic.
Stupid opinions are way easier.
You form 'em, easier to defend too.
Like a smart opinion,
you gotta cite evidence.
No, stupid opinion, this is how
you defend a stupid opinion.
Are you ready for this?
This is how you defend,
this is how you do it.
Well, that's not, that's what I heard.
(audience laughing)
You can just cite hearing it
as evidence that it's true.
If it's a dumb enough opinion,
well, I've heard it
like three times, okay?
Everybody's saying it.
Any idiot knows, yeah,
we consulted the idiots.
We thought, well, let's see
what the idiots are saying.
'Cause they're really easy to defend.
They're also easy to attack.
This is how you attack
a stupid opinion, right?
This is how you do it.
Well, that's not what I heard.
(audience laughing)
You would just cite not hearing it
as evidence that it's not true.
You expect me to believe
there's something true
I haven't heard at least three times?
(audience laughing)
Like, this is the first
time I'm hearing this,
and none of the idiots,
look, I'm an idiot.
And then you get defensive, we do that.
People get defensive, huh?
They're like, "Well,
you calling me a liar?"
No, maybe I'm just saying,
maybe you heard something that's
not true, like three times,
and then believe it.
I'm not calling, I'm
not calling you a liar.
I'm calling you stupid.
(audience laughing)
You say I'm stupid?
You're saying I'm stupid?
Well, that's what I heard.
(audience laughing)
(audience applauding)
Several times, with your wife,
all the idiots.
If you hear it three times,
you'd believe it.
Here's what's weird, confirmation bias.
You heard of that?
I have, several times.
(audience laughing)
Confirmation bias is the part of us
that if we hear something
that matches what we already believe,
then we'll believe it the
first time we hear it.
So now you're believing stuff
the first time you hear it,
if it matches up to stuff
you heard three times.
(audience laughing)
See what I mean?
This is how it works.
Like do you know the average person
swallows about 18 insects
in their sleep every year?
I believe it.
(audience laughing)
We're already swallowing
like, eight spiders.
(audience laughing)
It's probably why they go in there,
they're chasing the bugs.
That's what's going on.
It's a wonder anybody starves, frankly.