14 Mental Models To Understand Human Nature - Gurwinder Bhogal - #486

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello, friends, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Gurwinder Bhogal. He's a programmer and a writer. Gurwinder is one of my favourite Twitter followers. He's written another monstrous thread exploring human nature, cognitive biases, mental models, status games, crowd behaviour and social media. It's one of the best things that I've read this year. So I decided to bring him on to get him to break down all of my favourite concepts. Expect to learn why stupidity is more dangerous than evil, why most content has to appeal to midwits, why political debates are essentially mass-scaled ventriloquism, how lower stakes lead to more vicious arguments, why the word retard is a strange choice as an unspeakable slur, why being a mess is more likable than being perfect and much more. This guy is so good. If you don't follow him or subscribe to his sub stack, I highly recommend that you do. I always learn so much stuff. And these episodes where we just break down a big list of interesting things are some of my favorites. I really, really hope that you enjoy this one. Bit of an update from Modern Wisdom HQ. Andrew Huberman is finally confirmed on the show. I'm going to be recording with him out here in Austin at the end of the month. And it's going to be with the full production crew that we had for Jordan Peterson. So the whole thing is going to be filmed in 6K on Netflix cinema cameras with gorgeous sound and lighting and production and all of that stuff. This is going to be pretty special. I imagine we'll be publishing probably the start of July. So this is something very big. And next week, I've got an even bigger announcement about another new guest coming. So stay tuned for that. In other news, this episode is brought to you by State App. If you are not doing some daily breathwork, this is a fantastic place to begin. You've probably heard about the benefits of doing daily breathwork for your CO2 tolerance, for your heart rate variability, for activating the parasympathetic nervous system. And the State App is literally the way that I've done my breathwork for probably two and a half years now. It is just super simple. That's the main reason that I like using it. There's four different pathways, one for being alert, one for being present, one for being calm and one for going to sleep. They program progressive overload into the app. So as you become better at doing your breathwork, it will continue to challenge you and make the workouts more and more difficult. Breathwork is scientifically proven to help manage anxiety and stress. And if you're looking to add something into your morning or evening routine, it takes five minutes, six minutes, and it does make a really big difference to the way that you feel. Also, you can get an unlimited two week free trial if you go to bit.ly slash state wisdom. That's B-I-T dot L-Y slash S-T-A-T-E, wisdom. Two weeks, completely free. And then it's $2.99 or £2.50 per month if you want to stick about after that. I highly recommend that you go and give this a try. In other, other news, this episode is brought to you by Wondrium. Wondrium is an amazing educational platform with audio and video content on just about any topic that you care to care about. I just watched a program from the great courses on Wondrium called Introduction to Psychology, and I learned that adults over the age of 25 think primarily with the prefrontal cortex, or as teens think with the amygdala, which is why teens sometimes make rash decisions. If you are the sort of person that loves learning things, if you enjoy courses, documentaries, and just finding out about yourself and the world around you, this is a fantastic place to go. It's focused on helping you to become a better version of yourself. You can explore audio and video courses on hundreds of topics taught by university professors, documentaries to help you learn more about the world around you, and video tutorials that teach you new hobbies like photography, cooking, crafting, and all about health and wellness. Plus, all of Wondrium's content is world class and credible, presented by experts who all know their stuff. You can get a free trial for two weeks, unlimited access on mobile and on desktop. You can see everything that Wondrium has to offer with absolutely no obligation. And if you want to stick about after that, there is 20% off the annual plan. Go to wondrium.com/modernwisdom. That's wondrium.com/modernwisdom.
Sign up today. Check out all of the stuff. Unlimited access for two weeks. And in final news, this episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. If you are not eating enough fruit and vegetables in your diet, this is the best way to just fill in those nutritional gaps and make sure that you are covered all of those bases. It's a multi-vitamin, multi-mineral, pre and probiotic, green superfood and more that all works together to make sure that your body is moving forward correctly. The fact that your digestion is going to be sorted, you're going to know that all of those micros are sorted out for you and looked after every single day, no matter whether your diet has been fantastic or you've been traveling and you haven't been able to get in what you usually would. If you want to make an upgrade to your nutrition, this is a fantastic place to begin. Athletic Greens has been updated 53 times over the last decade as new research comes in. They invest in the most absorbable and natural source of each ingredient and go above and beyond in third party testing to ensure that their customers only receive the highest quality and best daily nutritional habit on the planet. It's lifestyle friendly whether you eat keto, paleo, vegan, dairy free or gluten free and it contains less than one gram of sugar without compromising on taste. Also you can get a year's free supply of vitamin D so you're not gonna have to buy vitamin D for the rest of the year. Five free travel packs, free pots, shakers and more. If you go to athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom. Also there's a 60 day money back guarantee so you can buy it and try it for 59 days and if you don't like it, they'll give you your money back. athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom to upgrade your nutrition. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Gurwinder Bhogal.