Now administering third-eyed drops.

Welcome back, Michael P here. And I am quite aware that over the course of these nearly 300 episodes,

I have assembled a cast of regular conceptual characters. There are topics that I talk about

over and over again, at least obliquely, and information has to be one of those topics.

I find it endlessly fascinating for way too many reasons to get into within the confines

of this introduction, but I have to bring it up again in the context of how

vulnerable the human mind is to information, particularly information that appeals to our biases

and our fears, and all of that nasty low-hanging fruit. Though I guess we're also

inversely vulnerable to information that benefits us. Like when's the last time you rebelled

against a compliment? When's the last time you questioned something positive that happened to you?

That's something that I don't know if I've ever even considered because it sounds so outlandishly

impossible to imagine having something good happen to you. And then being like, well, wait a second,

should I really take advantage of this boon? I really don't want this free bag of diamonds

or whatever it is. Very relatable example. I know. I am getting kind of off topic anyway.

Though not really, it is going to make a lot of asynchronous sense. So getting to the point,

if we don't take our information diet seriously, if we're not mindful of it, our perception of reality

is going to be at least somewhat hijacked. And once that happens, it's very difficult

to reel back in because you treat that information as if it's yours, as if it's something you have

to protect. And here's what I mean by that. Most people would point to individuals who get swallowed

up by conspiracy theories as prime examples of this. And indeed they are. It's not easy to

reel those people back in. But then again, try getting a Republican to see something from a

Democrat's perspective or vice versa. That's not easy to reel in either. So I think we're all

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