David Pinsof is an evolutionary social scientist and a co-creator of the game Cards Against Humanity. He holds a PhD in Psychology from UCLA, where he studied the [evolutionary origins of political bullshit](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1nk0c3dc), and has written a handful of academic papers, [one of which](http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/comm/haselton/unify_uploads/files/Psychological%20Science-2016-Pinsof-0956797615621719.pdf) has been cited 152 times and another of which was [quoted in the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/opinion/abortion-restrictions-politics.html). David is the author of the ‘Everything Is Bullshit’ Substack, which aims to poke holes in the stories we tell ourselves. He joins the show to discuss why happiness & morality are bullshit, the difference between bullshit & lying, why we conceal the status monkey, and more! Important Links: - David’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/davidpinsof?s=21&t=Eu-ZAobv8pxE_gXJ3cRfhg - David’s Substack; Everything is Bullshit -https://everythingisbullshit.substack.com - Cards Against Humanity - https://everythingisbullshit.substack.com - The Execution Hypothesis; by Richard Wrangham - https://www2.units.it/etica/2021_2/WRANGHAM.pdf - Discordianism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism - Our podcast with George Mack - https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/george-mack-marketing-mental-models-and-technology-ep214/ - Our podcast with Will Storr - https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/will-storrthe-status-game-ep122/ Show Notes: 00:00 Intro 01:18 Main Podcast 01:55 What is bullshit? 05:09 The difference between bullshitting and lying 09:44 Why moralizing is bullshit 16:33 Concealing the status monkey 20:50 The origins of Cards Against Humanity 29:13 How are status games changing? 34:05 Why happiness is bullshit 47:28 Happiness as a status symbol 50:44 How can we escape bullshit? 57:43 Why we’re driven by negative emotions 01:02:22 How to become more positive 01:10:36 The role of humor in calling out bullshit Books Mentioned: - On Bullshit; by Harry G. Frankfurt - Propaganda; by Edward Bernays - Influence: Science and Practice; by Robert Cialdini - The Moral Animal: Why We Are The Way We Are; by Robert Wright - The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It; by Will Storr - The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History; by Howard Bloom - Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment - Happy; by Derren Brown - Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu - Gödel, Escher, Bach; by Douglas Hofstadter