Hey folks, this is a little bonus episode that I originally filmed as a video for my YouTube

channel as part of a series of these mini documentaries I'm trying to do once a month.

And if you're hearing this right now, it means that you're not listening on Spotify,

which means I can't upload the video on whatever podcast platform you are listening on.

So you can either go to the link in the episode description to watch this as a video,

or you can stick around, and I have edited a version of this video that works to listen to as just audio.

Okay, and with that context given, let's play the thing. Would you rather be a human or a gecko? Human, for sure. Why would you rather be a human? The human experience? I mean, would you rather be a lizard? I mean, obviously, I guess, huh? Well, I was thinking about it, right? Because, like, there's a lot of, like, suffering, I think, that comes with, like, just being conscious. Okay. We're the only animals that, like, know we're going to die. You good on this? Oh, yeah, I'm on my car you, man. We're the only animals that know we're going to die. It's an interesting burden that the human race suffers. Yeah, but we get way cooler stuff because of it.

That is true.

I got invited to the opening of a new gecko zoo that these two guys are running out of a basement in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

It also happened to be right next to the Museum of Bones.

This was shortly after I experienced an

existential crisis that sent me spiraling into my own brain thinking about death and consciousness

and the meaning of existence. As I looked at the lizards, I thought about the blissful ignorance

that comes with being a dumb animal with no thoughts.

They live a purely objective life of eating, sleeping, and mating.

We do all that stuff too, but we have this added layer of consciousness that brings with it

both higher highs and lower lows than that of a lizard.

It made me think about whether, if given the choice, would most people prefer to keep the

high highs and low lows of being human, or would they rather experience a more stable

baseline as a lizard?

Would you rather be a lizard or a human? I want to be a lizard. I want rather be a lizard or a human?

I want to be a lizard.

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