Episode 2
Exploring Critical Thinking: A Deep Dive into 'You Are Not So Smart'
In the episode discussed, the focus is on 'You Are Not So Smart,' a podcast about psychology, reasoning, and decision-making hosted by David McRaney. Timothy details the podcast's background, the host's interviewing style, guest interactions, and sound quality. He appreciates the critical thinking encouraged by the podcast and highlights various insightful clips
Stats
Website https://youarenotsosmart.com/
Host David McRany
Number of Episodes 297
Average length of episodes 60 minutes
First published 22 April 2012
Description You Are Not So Smart is a show about psychology that celebrates science and self-delusion. In each episode, we explore what we've learned so far about reasoning, biases, judgments, and decision-making.
Category Science, Social Sciences, Management Education
Frequency Episodic about twice monthly
email davidmcraney@gmail.com
FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/youarenotsosmart
Podchaser https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/you-are-not-so-smart-52223
Listen Notes https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/you-are-not-so-smart-you-are-not-so-smart-R0bxgrDycUj/
Listen Notes Ranking top 0.1%
GoodPods https://goodpods.com/podcasts/you-are-not-so-smart-50442
GoodPods Ranking #4 in the top 100 Neuroscience all time, #17 in the top 100 Psychology all time, #3 in the top 100 Mind all time, #5 in the top 100 Brain all time, #30 in the top 100 Health all time
Episodes Reviewed
The Invisible Gorilla
https://youarenotsosmart.com/2012/04/24/yanss-podcast-episode-one/
How Google uses behavioral science to make work suck less
The Replication Crisis
https://youarenotsosmart.com/2017/07/19/yanss-100-the-replication-crisis/
149 Expert advice on how health experts can better provide good health advice to combat bad health advice from non-experts https://youarenotsosmart.com/2019/03/11/yanss-149-expert-advice-on-how-health-experts-can-better-provide-good-health-advice-to-combat-bad-health-advice-from-non-experts/
Math Without Numbers https://youarenotsosmart.com/2021/02/22/yanss-199-how-to-explore-the-mystery-and-wonder-of-complex-mathematical-concepts-without-using-numbers/
Info for Find A Podcast About:
email timothy@findapodcastabout.xyz
Twitter @Findapodabout
FaceBook @Findapodcastabout
Thank you again for taking a listen. If you want to Outsmart the Algorithm and have me review a podcast, email me timothy@findapodcastabout.com or go to the website findapodcastabout.xyz where you can listen to the other episodes and leave me a voicemail. I’m here to help you find your next binge-worthy podcast.
Thank you for listening to Find A Podcast About which is a production of TKB Studios. If you are interested in taming your inner critic and creating more than you consume then head on over to my other podcast Create Art Podcast. There I discuss topics for the new artist and review topics for those who are more seasoned. Many times I will have a professional artist on to share their story of how they overcame the odds against the world and themselves. The website is createartpodcast.com. I’ll see you there.
Transcript
You're listening to find a podcast about
Timothy:thank you for hitting play.
Timothy:I'm your host, Timothy Kimo, Brian, and I bring my experience with podcasting since
Timothy:2006 as a listener and a podcaster, I'm here to help you outsmart the algorithm
Timothy:and find your next binge worthy podcast.
Timothy:Here's how the show works.
Timothy:I'll go and comb the millions of podcasts currently available for free.
Timothy:On various platforms.
Timothy:And then I come back to you with what I found.
Timothy:Sure.
Timothy:You can use the search engines for recommendations from many podcast
Timothy:apps, but I feel that getting a recommendation from a real live
Timothy:breathing person is still the best way to find the gems that are out there.
Timothy:The show's broken up into three halves.
Timothy:I'm a huge fan of car talk.
Timothy:So bear with me on this.
Timothy:The first half.
Timothy:Is the stats of the show being reviewed.
Timothy:Now this gives you all the details about where to find the show, how
Timothy:many episodes who's hosting the show.
Timothy:Basically, this is for those who just want stats.
Timothy:The second half, I dig in deeper into the show and letting you know
Timothy:how the hosts interact, talk about their audio quality, and I'll let you
Timothy:know what I think the show is about.
Timothy:Now, the last half of the show is where I talk about why the show is binge worthy.
Timothy:Where to start your journey with the show being reviewed.
Timothy:And I'll be reaching out to hosts to see if they'd like to discuss their show
Timothy:and talk about their podcast journey.
Timothy:So let's get going.
Timothy:All right.
Timothy:So in this episode, I'm going to be discussing the, you
Timothy:are not so smart podcast.
Timothy:No, I'm not calling you stupid.
Timothy:Okay.
Timothy:And neither is this podcast, but once you start your binging journey
Timothy:with this podcast, you're going to discover what you think, you
Timothy:know, may not be based in reality.
Timothy:Now, I discovered this podcast early in my podcast journey and have been
Timothy:a faithful follower of it for years.
Timothy:When I saw the name of this podcast at first, I took it as a challenge
Timothy:and I was a little put off.
Timothy:Now I have a master's degree in theater pedagogy and I think of myself as a
Timothy:relatively well informed person, but once I heard the first episode, I felt
Timothy:this would be cool if school was set up this way, you know, and I would be
Timothy:much more intelligent than I am today.
Timothy:When I listened to the podcast, it reminds me of one time in
Timothy:school when a professor asked his students what they wanted to learn.
Timothy:And I replied, I want to know what I don't know.
Timothy:And I don't know what I don't know.
Timothy:Now that's quite a conundrum to be in for sure.
Timothy:And that professor probably didn't ask that question ever again,
Timothy:but how do you solve for that?
Timothy:You know, when you don't know what you don't know.
Timothy:Well, this podcast helps me answer that question with each and every episode.
Timothy:It also reminds me of, of a philosophy class that I took in college.
Timothy:At the start of my academic journey, the professor I had in that class really got
Timothy:us thinking critically about thinking and allowed our group's final project
Timothy:to prove that our rooms thermostat had consciousness and free will.
Timothy:I think the academic world would benefit from taking a listen to this podcast and
Timothy:instill a mindset of critical thinking versus just accepting what one person
Timothy:is teaching, no matter the subject.
Timothy:So let's go ahead and get to the stats.
Timothy:The host is David McRaney and at the time of this recording it has 291 episodes.
Timothy:Some of them are rebroadcast so that affects the numbers a bit.
Timothy:The average length is about 60 minutes and the first episode
Timothy:dropped on April 22nd of 2012.
Timothy:It's been going on for quite some time.
Timothy:The description is as followed.
Timothy:You are not so smart is a show about psychology that celebrates
Timothy:science and self delusion.
Timothy:In each episode, we explore what we've learned so far about.
Timothy:reasoning, biases, judgment, and decision making.
Timothy:The genre of this podcast is science, social science, management,
Timothy:and education, and the frequency lately has been twice a month.
Timothy:Now, there is a Facebook and Twitter or X community tied to the podcast.
Timothy:Listen Notes rates this podcast in the top 0.
Timothy:1 percent of podcasts listened to on their site.
Timothy:And Good Pods rates this podcast as number four in top 100.
Timothy:Neuroscience all time number 17 in the top 100 psychology of all time number
Timothy:three in the top 100 Mind all time, number five in the top 100 brain all time,
Timothy:number 30 in the top 100 health all time.
Timothy:Now keep in mind this reporting comes from these sites and from people listening to
Timothy:this podcast from those respective sites.
Timothy:Reviews of the podcast from Apple Podcasts show many five star ratings.
Timothy:However, there are one and two star ratings from people who really have issues
Timothy:with the show's politics and approach.
Timothy:For me, I gave the show a five star rating in Good Pods.
Timothy:So, when you're on GoodPods, check that out.
Timothy:Are
Timothy:you happy with your podcast app?
Timothy:I know, that's a hard question to answer.
Timothy:Let me ask you this.
Timothy:Does your app allow you to rate the podcast you are listening to?
Timothy:Hey, great if it does.
Timothy:But does it allow you to rate every episode that you listen to?
Timothy:Most of them don't.
Timothy:Does your app allow you to join a community of other listeners and share
Timothy:and comment on your favorite podcasts?
Timothy:Now, if you're a podcaster, does the app that your listeners are using
Timothy:give you a tip jar where they can support your show directly instead
Timothy:of paying fees to somebody else?
Timothy:Well, GoodPods allows you as a listener and as a podcaster to rate and
Timothy:review all the episodes of a podcast, as well as joining a community of
Timothy:other podcast enthusiasts to discuss that thing we all love, podcasts.
Timothy:Give it a shot.
Timothy:You may not go back to your old app and you might find a community
Timothy:that is engaged and excited about the same things that you are.
Timothy:Grab it on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
Timothy:I'm going to start off this section a bit differently than I have in past episodes.
Timothy:Yes, of course, I'm going to start off with sound quality, but I do need to
Timothy:let you know that there is a difference in the quality of the host and the
Timothy:guest, and it's almost night and day.
Timothy:Now, keep in mind that this podcast started in 2012 when we didn't have
Timothy:many good options for remote recording.
Timothy:Many of the guests sound as if they were on a phone calling into the interview.
Timothy:So, In later episodes, the sound quality of the guests gets better as now we have
Timothy:better choices for remote interviews.
Timothy:Now, as a podcaster, it's a bit distracting for me to hear the
Timothy:difference the first few minutes, but then I get swept away with the
Timothy:quality of the questions and how Mr.
Timothy:McGraney.
Timothy:Leaves enough space for the guests to fully answer the questions
Timothy:and provide some needed insight.
Timothy:Now this affects my listening to the podcast.
Timothy:It may not affect your listening to it, but I come into this
Timothy:podcast with podcasters ears.
Timothy:So for you, again, may not be an issue, but you do need to know going
Timothy:into this podcast that there is a sound issue and going back to all
Timothy:those previous interviews and fixing the issue would be a monumental task.
Timothy:And that task would only be beneficial to a very few people.
Timothy:small subset of listeners.
Timothy:So really I don't think he should go back and fix it as it really doesn't affect the
Timothy:meat of the interview for most listeners.
Timothy:Now another issue that I have is it takes a bit to get used to
Timothy:how he introduces his episodes.
Timothy:Sometimes it's right there for you and at other times it takes you a while to
Timothy:understand what you're going to get.
Timothy:I recommend patience when dealing with this as a listener because
Timothy:the episodes do pay off in the end.
Timothy:There's nothing for a new listener to get a hint of what they're getting into.
Timothy:So that's a bit of a knock that I think could be better.
Timothy:However, when he does get to what the show is about, David makes it worth your while.
Timothy:In this clip from the first episode, it comes in at a little over four minutes.
Timothy:But it's well
David:worth the wait.
David:In this episode, we were exploring attention and we're going to talk to
David:an expert on that topic, Daniel Simons, a professor and psychologist in the
David:department of psychology and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and
David:Technology at the University of Illinois.
David:His research explores the limits of your mind and also why
David:you're unaware of those limits.
David:He also teaches classes in visual cognition and
David:introductory psychology there.
David:And of course he is the coauthor with Christopher Shabrie
David:of the invisible gorilla.
David:Which is a really great book about other ways that we miss what's going
David:on around us and make false assumptions about the world, similar to how we do
David:in the invisible gorilla experiment.
Timothy:Now that's a really good introduction to the episode.
Timothy:But like I said, it happens at a little over four minutes.
Timothy:Now conversely, in the 199th episode, he introduces the topic from the
David:very start.
David:This is one of those episodes that's just a conversation without any goals in mind.
David:And it really doesn't.
David:We just kind of go everywhere.
David:It goes off the rails quite a bit.
David:But that's because the conversation is with a mathematician and
David:I rarely get a chance to talk to someone in that discipline.
David:The mathematician is Milo Beckman, who wrote a book titled Math Without Numbers.
David:This is a fun, weird, quirky new book with lots of pictures in it
David:that really does explain everything from extra dimensions to multiple
David:infinities to advanced topologies.
David:And other very high minded mathematical concepts without using any numbers at all.
David:It's just about the ideas and the implication of those ideas.
David:And that seemed like something I would love to talk about.
David:Now, if
Timothy:this was your first episode, You may have tuned out right away,
Timothy:but you would miss out on a great topic of mathematics because he
Timothy:kind of lets you know ahead of time that it's going to go in a bunch
Timothy:of different and weird directions.
Timothy:And you may be thinking, eh, do I really want to listen to that?
Timothy:But trust me, when he gets to the topic, the payoff is well worth
Timothy:the time it takes to get there.
Timothy:It's like a great joke.
Timothy:It may take a long time to get to that joke, but once the punchline
Timothy:hits, which is the topic, you know, of the podcast, you're going to
Timothy:have a great experience with it.
Timothy:So we know that the guest audio is not always the best and doesn't match
Timothy:the quality of David's, but how he introduces his guest and doesn't
Timothy:do a double intro is masterful.
Timothy:In this next clip, he's introducing the guest and giving a detailed
Timothy:background of the guest so you know why they are on the show and how their
Timothy:thoughts relate to the topic at hand.
David:Our guest in this episode is Lazlo Bock, the Senior Vice President
David:of People Operations for Google Incorporated, basically the head of
David:their massive, never been done before HR department that goes about trying to
David:figure out the best way to get people, to keep people, to make people better,
David:to get people to be happy and effective and just create this strange world.
David:Thanks And often wonderful place known as Google, which is known as being
David:among most people and most categories and most places that rank this kind
David:of thing is the best company to work for in most of the countries in which
David:they have offices and they have 50, 000 employees in 70 offices worldwide.
David:So this HR department is massive and huge and interesting and cool.
David:It's written a new book called work rules, which is all about how they've
David:gone about Making the decisions they've made, how they arrived at
David:them, all the research they did and what you can do like what they did.
David:Laszlo has testified before Congress on immigration reform.
David:He's worked for General Electric and McKinsey and company, and he's just done
David:a lot of really interesting, cool stuff.
David:And now that he's at Google, he's trying to apply the science of psychology
David:and neuroscience and sociology and all the behavioral and social things
David:that we've learned over the years.
David:In a big work environment to see what does and does not stick, what
David:should, it should not be done.
David:And you're going to hear all about that in this interview.
David:Let's pick his.
Timothy:When hearing this intro, you know why the guest is appearing on the
Timothy:show and what value they're going to be providing for the topic of this episode.
Timothy:It helps you decide if this episode is for you or not.
Timothy:And that is something I feel most podcasters should do for their listeners.
Timothy:Save them the time and they will appreciate you and come back.
Timothy:Not every episode is for every listener and that's okay, but give us listeners
Timothy:a chance to make up our own minds.
Timothy:David does that just not in the usual places that you would normally think.
Timothy:Now, let's stay with the guests, not their sound quality, but let's, you know,
Timothy:talk about the guests and how David asks really open ended questions that allows
Timothy:the guests to expand and share their knowledge of the topic of the episode.
Timothy:Now, in this next clip, the question does not sound open ended at first, but the
Timothy:explanation the guest gives shows that it was a great question to ask and lets
Timothy:the guest provide value to the episode.
Timothy:To the overall episode and the show itself was
David:math discovered or invented.
David:It's a great question.
David:I mean, my answer to that is I say discovered, but I think you have to break
David:it down because math is a huge, huge overarching branching category of things.
David:And I think like, first of all, when we're talking about math, people are generally
David:talking about very different things.
David:I sort of wish we had more precise language for it.
David:Cause I think most people, they think of math and they're thinking of like
David:specific sort of tools and techniques.
David:So maybe like, you know, long division was invented, right?
David:Or, you know, the specific ways of like writing down numerals
David:and cross multiplying and stuff.
David:That stuff was invented.
David:But I think the underlying concepts of like this concept of number, this
David:concept of quantity, these ideas of dimensions and, and infinity and shapes
David:and structures and stuff, that stuff I think is pretty much discovered.
David:And the best evidence I have for that is that many different independent
David:cultures have sort of discovered more or less the same math and everyone kind
David:of has a different language for it.
Timothy:Now, initially, this sounds like an either or question.
Timothy:However, as you can hear, it's not a simple answer because it depends on
Timothy:several factors, and the answer to the question of math being invented
Timothy:or discovered is actually both the guest is given space in this instance
Timothy:to fully answer the question and not just give a quick sound bite.
Timothy:All right, let's talk about how the show makes me feel.
Timothy:So the title, as we've discussed initially, challenged me.
Timothy:But after listening to numerous episodes, I feel educated after each
Timothy:episode and challenged to do the research myself on the topics presented
Timothy:and really rethink my positions.
Timothy:Now, sometimes they're confirmed.
Timothy:Sometimes I learn new things that I didn't get in decades of schooling.
Timothy:I know I can be a little bit of a nerd when I research something, even obsessive,
Timothy:and I'm familiar with medical journals and have even read on a few topics that
Timothy:interest me for research topics in school.
Timothy:However, I've never heard of publication bias until I heard
David:this clip.
David:Publication bias is usually the result of scientists doing research
David:but not finding anything significant.
David:Because there's nothing to show, they don't try to publish
David:that research in a journal.
David:So the journals are only showing things that worked out.
David:All the stuff that didn't work out gets put into the file drawer.
David:Thus, it is called the file drawer effect.
David:The problem is, you end up with this imbalance.
David:One idea, one model, might be made up of all these studies that show effects,
David:when there are lots and lots of studies that didn't show anything significant.
Timothy:Now knowing this is an actual thing, it totally makes sense that
Timothy:researchers would only report on when their study proved their hypothesis.
Timothy:Or hypothesis.
Timothy:And never in my many years of schooling, did I hear about this topic.
Timothy:It's earth shattering that this happens and is allowed to happen under the guise
Timothy:of scientific discovery and research.
Timothy:Now, does that shake my confidence in the scientific community?
Timothy:Not really, but it does make me pause when I hear something
Timothy:coming from a medical journal.
Timothy:The goal is not to trash science or research.
Timothy:It's to get you to think critically about what's being presented to you.
Timothy:For me, when a podcast can make me rethink what I feel is true,
Timothy:that podcast is bingeable.
Timothy:If you've liked what you heard so far, then I'd like to ask
Timothy:you to go ahead and reach out.
Timothy:You can email me directly Timothy at find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z, or
Timothy:leave me a voicemail at the website.
Timothy:Find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z.
Timothy:I want to help you find your next binge worthy podcast.
Timothy:And if you want me to find you a podcast in any category that
Timothy:you're interested in, let me know.
Timothy:Now, if you're a podcaster and feel that your podcast would be served by appearing
Timothy:on this show, I want to talk to you to use the same methods of reaching out.
Timothy:I'm on Twitter at find a podcast, Instagram and Facebook at find
Timothy:a podcast about podcasting.
Timothy:Another thing I'd like to ask you is if you found value in this
Timothy:podcast, pass it along to a friend.
Timothy:Lastly, doing this podcast is a labor of love, but love ain't cheap.
Timothy:So consider to my buy me a coffee fund right there on the
Timothy:website or go to buymeacoffee.
Timothy:com slash find a podcast about each episode takes about five to seven
Timothy:hours of research and about two to three hours of production time.
Timothy:That's 10 hours for each episode.
Timothy:And let me tell you, that's a lot of coffee.
Timothy:Like I said earlier, the best recommendations come from a real person.
Timothy:So help me to help you outsmart the algorithm.
Timothy:All right.
Timothy:Here's where I turn you from a listener of find a podcast about to a
Timothy:binger of you are not so smart again.
Timothy:Don't let the title scare you off.
Timothy:David is not saying that you're stupid and he's trying to be better than you.
Timothy:He is just presenting ideas and topics that you thought you knew
Timothy:the answers to and helping you think critically about those topics.
Timothy:He comes to these topics with an open mind and a critical eye and
Timothy:provides a lot of himself and his experiences in each episode.
Timothy:Take a listen to this clip on how Google is attempting to make
Timothy:work suck less for its employees.
David:I don't know about you, but I grew up in a culture that
David:saw work as a necessary sin.
David:Most of my family, they worked part time.
David:blue collar jobs and therefore they had no problem with work life balance.
David:You got off work and you did not think about it until the next morning.
David:And on Sundays you dreaded the idea of Monday.
David:You drew the very, the very concept of what Monday meant in the work ahead
David:of you and the week ahead of you.
David:And I spent time in that world myself.
David:My first jobs were all construction jobs because my dad was an electrical engineer.
David:And so I worked on his crews and we dug ditches and pulled cable.
David:And we basically, we died in the sun every day.
Timothy:Now, David is bringing his background as a laborer to show
Timothy:that he is not somebody in a white academic tower spewing forth book
Timothy:knowledge with no real life knowledge.
Timothy:It's because he puts so much of himself in each episode that I listen.
Timothy:I feel like.
Timothy:He is me with my blue collar background.
Timothy:He is somebody I feel I can trust because we have similar experiences in life.
Timothy:And isn't that why we listened to many of the podcasts that we listened to?
Timothy:Another thing that I like is he anticipates the response he gets.
Timothy:For some of his more controversial topics, listen to this disclaimer
Timothy:that he had about combating health advice from non experts.
David:Now, to be clear, neither I nor Paul Offit think that anti
David:vaxxers are stupid or that their emotions aren't understandable.
David:Many people in that community are suffering and they want
David:answers to why their children have been diagnosed with autism.
David:Others are just concerned about their family members and loved ones or
David:their parents who want the best for their new families, but in the media
David:on television, especially Paul Offit vaccine expert has been telling people
David:for years what science and medicine has to say about vaccines and how to
David:navigate the complexities of vaccination.
David:While non expert celebrities have been given equal time to counter
David:argue the things he says, and in his estimation, That causes harm.
Timothy:I feel he approaches these people with an open heart and the
Timothy:idea that they mean well, but they are causing issues that literally have life
Timothy:and death circumstances in some cases.
Timothy:Now, this episode that this clip was taken from occurred right before the pandemic of
Timothy:2020, and we saw a lot of backlash against the medical community about vaccines.
Timothy:I don't know if David has a crystal ball, but this episode was definitely timely.
Timothy:Now, the last clip I want to share with you is a stroke of genius that we should
Timothy:all put into our playbooks as podcasters.
Timothy:Listen to this clip and learn how he solicits listener interaction.
David:Okay.
David:It's time for cookers.
David:Each episode of the, you are not so smart podcast will end with me, David McCraney.
David:reading you some psychology slash self delusion news.
David:And while I do that, I will eat a cookie, which is baked from a recipe that is
David:sent in from a reader slash listener.
David:And if I pick your recipe and I make the cookie and I eat it, I
David:will also send you a signed copy of the, you are not so smart book.
Timothy:I mean, I want to send them a cookie recipe right now and have them eat
Timothy:it while reading a study on psychology.
Timothy:The idea is genius and tasty.
Timothy:Just think about it for a minute.
Timothy:You send in a recipe and have him try it out while he's on his show.
Timothy:Everybody likes to be recognized and called out.
Timothy:And David sounds like he's having a great time doing this.
Timothy:I really enjoy listening to people who are enjoy what they're doing.
Timothy:If for no other reason, listen to the end of each of these episodes
Timothy:and you're going to have well over.
Timothy:So where do you start your journey with You Are Not So Smart?
Timothy:You could go to GoodPods and look up the most popular episodes.
Timothy:Most of those recommendations start after episode 200, and I focused on
Timothy:episodes before 200, and really enjoyed the 5 episodes that I took clips from.
Timothy:So, that might be a good place to start as well.
Timothy:Go through the episode titles, and if there's something that you want
Timothy:to learn more about, Use that method.
Timothy:He's great with episode titles, so you know what you're getting into.
Timothy:Let me know what some of your favorite episodes are, and you can thank me by
Timothy:leaving me a voicemail at my website, find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z,
Timothy:or you can send me an email, Timothy at find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z.
Timothy:So that's the episode.
Timothy:I want to thank you again for taking a listen.
Timothy:And if you want to outsmart the algorithm and have me review a podcast, Email
Timothy:me Timothy at find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z, or go to the website.
Timothy:Find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z, where you can listen to all the other
Timothy:episodes and leave me a voicemail.
Timothy:I'm here to help you find your next binge worthy podcast.
Timothy:And just let you know, I run another podcast called create art podcast, where
Timothy:I help my listeners tame their inner critic and create more than they consume.
Timothy:You can find it at createartpodcast.
Timothy:com.
Timothy:If you have that inner twitch of becoming a creator or artist and don't know where
Timothy:Head on over to Korean art podcast.
Timothy:Let me help you create something for somebody you love yourself.
Timothy:Thank you for listening.
Timothy:Find a podcast about, which is a production of TKB studios, where we
Timothy:lead through the noise and provide our customers with the best podcast experience
Timothy:from idea to publishing TKB studios, the quiet podcasting professionals.