Malcolm Gladwell | Talking to Strangers - What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know

Summary

The speaker humorously addresses the paradox of human communication, highlighting that its effectiveness comes at the cost of potential deception. Using the story from his book 'Talking to Strangers,' he narrates the tale of a CIA operative, the 'mountain climber,' who was masterfully deceived by Cuban intelligence, illustrating our collective struggle to detect lies. He argues that while we are often gullible, this trust is evolutionarily beneficial, allowing society to function and progress, despite occasional betrayals.

Takeaways

• 🤝 The speaker jokes about being a former Washington Post employee at an event sponsored by the New York Times, comparing it to a Tottenham fan supporting Arsenal.
• 💬 A key paradox of human communication is that while it's powerful and meaningful, it comes with a price—sometimes deception or miscommunication.
• 📖 The speaker shares a story from their book *Talking to Strangers*, about a former CIA officer named Brian Mattel and the challenges of espionage.
• 🕵️‍♂️ The 'mountain climber' was a legendary CIA operative, admired by both allies and enemies, and became known for his impeccable tradecraft.
• 😱 Despite his skills, the mountain climber discovered that many of his most trusted sources in Cuba were double agents working for the Cubans.
• 💡 The story highlights the shocking realization that even the most skilled and sophisticated can be deceived repeatedly without detecting it.
• 🤯 The Cuban intelligence service had been recording and documenting the CIA's operations for years, capturing every detail, including high-quality audio.
• 🔍 The narrative breaks down common assumptions about deception—that only naive people are deceived, that it happens once, and that deceivers are evil geniuses.
• 🌱 Humans are evolutionarily programmed to default to truth and trust others, which is essential for forming meaningful relationships and building society.
• 👍 The speaker concludes that being deceived occasionally is a price worth paying for the greater good of being able to trust others and lead meaningful lives.

Q & A

What is the main paradox about human communication discussed in the speech?

The paradox is that everything meaningful and powerful about human communication has a price. Effective communication can lead to trust and collaboration, but it also makes us vulnerable to deception.

Who is the 'mountain climber' in the context of the speech?

The 'mountain climber' is a legendary CIA operative who excelled at espionage, especially during the Cold War, but whose entire network in Cuba was later revealed to have been infiltrated by double agents working for Fidel Castro's regime.

What was Florentino Aspiaza's role in the story?

Florentino Aspiaza was a high-ranking Cuban intelligence officer who defected to the U.S. He revealed to the mountain climber that all of the CIA's Cuban spies were actually double agents working for the Cuban government.

What was the significance of the double agents in the story?

The double agents exposed by Florentino Aspiaza were significant because they had infiltrated the CIA’s entire Cuban network, making the mountain climber's years of intelligence work in Cuba essentially worthless.

What does the speaker use as an example of the price of human trust?

The speaker uses the mountain climber’s trust in his Cuban spies, all of whom turned out to be double agents, as an example of the cost of human trust. Even though trust is generally beneficial, it leaves us vulnerable to deception in certain situations.

What is the connection between Bernie Madoff and the mountain climber’s story?

Both the mountain climber and Bernie Madoff's victims were deceived despite being sophisticated and experienced. This emphasizes that even highly intelligent and knowledgeable people can be tricked when they place trust in the wrong individuals.

Why does the speaker argue that trust is more adaptive than suspicion in human evolution?

The speaker suggests that trust is more adaptive because it enables cooperation, relationships, and societal functioning. People who are paranoid and suspicious do not pass on their genes as effectively because trust is essential for building meaningful connections.

How does the story of Ana Montes illustrate the theme of deception?

Ana Montes was a spy for Cuba who rose to the top of the U.S. intelligence community. Despite being a terrible spy who made careless mistakes, she successfully deceived her colleagues for years, showing that even poor deceivers can exploit trust and go undetected.

What does the speaker mean by 'default to truth' in the context of human behavior?

'Default to truth' refers to the tendency of people to assume that others are being truthful unless there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This concept, proposed by researcher Tim Levine, explains why humans are naturally inclined to trust rather than suspect deception.

What is the ultimate message the speaker conveys about deception and trust?

The speaker’s ultimate message is that while trust can lead to occasional deception, it is essential for a functioning society. The ability to trust others is what enables meaningful relationships and cooperation, and occasional mistakes in judgment are an acceptable price for the benefits of trust.

Outlines

00:00

😄 A Journalist's Rivalry and Communication Paradox

The speaker humorously acknowledges the rivalry between the Washington Post, where he once worked, and the New York Times, the event’s sponsor. He then introduces the topic of human communication, emphasizing that while it is powerful and meaningful, it comes with consequences. The speaker sets the stage by teasing a story from his book, 'Talking to Strangers,' about deception in communication and hints at the price we pay for effective communication.

05:02

📖 The Story of the CIA's 'Mountain Climber'

The speaker introduces a story from his book about Brian Mattel, a former CIA officer, who shared an incredible story about two men: the 'Mountain Climber' and Florentino Aspillaga. While the Mountain Climber's real identity was a secret, the speaker pursued the story for over a year. Finally, he received a mysterious call from the Mountain Climber himself. This legendary CIA operative was famous for his work in Soviet Russia and his impeccable tradecraft, making him highly respected within the intelligence community.

10:02

🕵️‍♂️ Meeting Florentino Aspillaga, Cuba’s 'Mountain Climber'

The speaker continues with the Mountain Climber's story, describing how he was sent to rebuild the CIA's spy network in Cuba, becoming highly successful. Later, he is summoned to Frankfurt to meet Florentino Aspillaga, a top Cuban intelligence officer who defected. Aspillaga was considered Cuba's version of the Mountain Climber. The meeting between these two legendary figures reveals shocking truths: many of the Mountain Climber's top informants in Cuba were double agents, working for the Cuban government all along.

15:03

😨 The Heartbreaking Truth of Double Agents

Aspillaga delivers devastating news to the Mountain Climber, revealing that many of his trusted sources were double agents. These revelations shake the Mountain Climber, as one by one, his most reliable assets, from Fidel Castro’s staff to high-ranking officials in the Cuban military, are exposed as working for the other side. This sequence of betrayals is a major embarrassment for the CIA. The situation worsens when Castro releases a documentary showcasing years of CIA operatives being unknowingly filmed in Havana, compounding the agency’s humiliation.

20:05

🎙️ The Shocking Audio Surveillance

The speaker shares a key detail about the Cuban espionage operation: they captured perfect audio recordings of the CIA operatives’ conversations, suggesting that Cuba was exceptionally prepared for this operation. The precision and thoroughness of the Cuban counter-intelligence efforts make the Mountain Climber’s story one of the most embarrassing and devastating revelations of the Cold War.

🧐 Rethinking Deception: Beyond Naivety and Genius

The speaker reflects on the strange nature of deception in espionage. Typically, deception is associated with naivety or the brilliance of the deceiver, but in this case, it involved the most skilled spy agency and its top operative. The deception occurred repeatedly over many years, yet the CIA never learned. The speaker points out that successful spies like Ana Montes and Aldrich Ames were far from evil geniuses; instead, they were often hapless individuals who made shocking oversights while betraying their countries.

💰 Deception Beyond Spies: Lessons from Bernie Madoff

The speaker broadens the scope of deception, comparing espionage to other forms of fraud, such as Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Madoff deceived sophisticated investors repeatedly over 25 years, and much like in espionage, the victims failed to catch on. Despite being far from an evil genius, Madoff managed to run the largest Ponzi scheme in history, highlighting the common theme of people’s vulnerability to repeated deception.

📉 Why We Fail to Detect Deception

The speaker explains that most people are poor at detecting lies, often barely performing better than chance. He draws on research by Tim Levine, who argues that humans are evolutionarily predisposed to be trusting rather than skeptical. Trust allows society to function, fostering cooperation, relationships, and civil progress. Although this makes us vulnerable to occasional deception, the benefits of trust outweigh the risks. The speaker emphasizes that being deceived is not a sign of failure but a testament to our adaptive need to trust.

🤝 Trust: The Foundation of Human Cooperation

The speaker concludes by relating the story of the Mountain Climber to everyday life. Just as the Mountain Climber trusted his network, we too are required to trust others in various aspects of our lives. While this trust may sometimes lead to mistakes or deception, it is essential for meaningful human interaction and societal progress. The occasional failure to detect deception is a small price to pay for the larger benefits of trust.

Keywords

💡Espionage

Espionage refers to the act of spying or using spies to obtain secret information, typically regarding governments or corporations. In the video, espionage forms the backdrop of the story, focusing on CIA agents like 'the mountain climber' and Cuban double agents, highlighting the risks of deception in intelligence work.

💡Mountain Climber

The 'Mountain Climber' is a legendary CIA operative, described as one of the best in his field, known for his exceptional skills in Soviet Russia and later Cuba. He symbolizes expertise and dedication in intelligence work, but also vulnerability, as the narrative reveals that he was deceived by Cuban double agents, reflecting the theme of human fallibility.

💡Florentino Aspillaga

Florentino Aspillaga was a high-ranking Cuban intelligence officer who defected to the U.S. and exposed the entire Cuban spy network that had infiltrated the CIA. His defection and revelations demonstrate the core theme of deception in the narrative, showing how even the most skilled operatives can be misled.

💡Double Agent

A double agent is someone who pretends to spy for one side while actually spying for another. In the story, numerous Cuban spies, such as 'Juan' and 'Pedro,' worked as double agents, deceiving the CIA by providing false intelligence while secretly working for Cuba. This concept underlines the fragility of trust in espionage.

💡Deception

Deception is a central theme in the video, describing how individuals or organizations intentionally mislead others. The video illustrates this through the Cuban double agents who misled the CIA, and by broader examples like Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. It reflects on human vulnerability to being deceived despite efforts to protect against it.

💡Default to Truth

The concept of 'Default to Truth' refers to a theory that humans are naturally inclined to believe others, assuming truthfulness unless evidence strongly suggests otherwise. This idea, derived from Tim Levine's research, is a key message in the video, explaining why even seasoned intelligence officers like the mountain climber can be deceived.

💡Human Fallibility

Human fallibility, or the tendency to make mistakes, is a recurring theme in the video. The mountain climber’s inability to detect deception within his network of spies, and the general human propensity to trust, highlights how even the most trained individuals are susceptible to errors, especially in situations involving trust and betrayal.

💡Trust

Trust is emphasized as both an essential aspect of human relationships and a vulnerability. In the video, trust allows people to form bonds and collaborate, but it also exposes individuals and organizations to betrayal, as seen in espionage and Ponzi schemes. The speaker argues that trusting others is necessary, despite its occasional cost.

💡Ponzi Scheme

A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that lures investors by paying returns to earlier investors with the capital of newer investors. Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, referenced in the video, serves as a broader example of deception. Despite the glaring issues in Madoff's operation, many sophisticated investors fell victim to his fraud due to misplaced trust.

💡Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology is touched upon when discussing why humans are naturally inclined to trust. The speaker refers to Tim Levine's theory that evolution has selected humans to be trusting because it fosters cooperation and successful relationships. This adaptive behavior has been beneficial, though it leaves people occasionally vulnerable to deception.

Highlights

The speaker humorously acknowledges the rivalry between the New York Times and the Washington Post, likening it to a rivalry between Tottenham and Arsenal fans.

The paradox of human communication: everything meaningful about it has a price, but the speaker argues the price is worth paying.

The speaker's book, *Talking to Strangers*, introduces a story from a former high-ranking CIA officer about two legendary spies: the mountain climber and Florentino Aspillaga.

The mountain climber was a highly regarded CIA operative who was revered by the Russians and even had a course taught about him at their spy school.

The mountain climber rebuilt the CIA’s spy network in Cuba, which was later revealed to be compromised entirely by double agents working for Cuba.

Florentino Aspillaga, the Cuban equivalent of the mountain climber, defected to the U.S. in 1987 and revealed that the entire network of CIA operatives in Cuba had been double agents.

The story serves as an example of how the most sophisticated intelligence agencies, like the CIA, can be deceived on a large scale.

Deception is not limited to the naive or vulnerable. Even the most skilled professionals, like the mountain climber, can be deceived by those they least expect.

The mountain climber’s career was shattered when Florentino revealed that every spy he managed in Cuba had been working for the Cuban government.

The broader point: deception happens not because the deceivers are geniuses but often because the deceived are operating in good faith and trust.

Humans are bad at detecting deception because we are evolutionarily wired to trust others—a behavior that is necessary for social cooperation and survival.

A concept called 'default to truth' means that most people assume others are telling the truth unless there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Being trusting is more adaptive and beneficial for society than being paranoid and suspicious, as it allows for cooperation and progress.

The price of being a trusting species is that once in a while, we will be deceived, but this cost is far outweighed by the benefits of trust.

The speaker concludes that being deceived, like the mountain climber was, is not a sign of failure but rather a sign of how society benefits from trusting relationships.

Transcripts

thank you it's a pleasure to be here

although I noted with some alarm that

this event is sponsored by the New York

Times because I worked four years for

the Washington Post the archrival of the

New York Times so this is a bit like

asking a Tottenham fan to show up for an

event supporting Arsenal so I'm

everything I say is under protest just

so you know I wanted to talk a little

bit about it

a paradox about human communication

which i think is extremely important and

relatively under-recognized

and that is that everything that is good

and meaningful and powerful about a

human communication has a price as it

turns out I think the price is worth

paying but I think sometimes we overlook

the consequences of the fact that there

is this particular consequence to

effective communication and the best way

to illustrate this paradox is to tell

you a story from my new book which is

called talking to strangers which I

encourage you all to buy in triplicate

and and to listen to the audiobook by

the way which is a very special kind of

audiobook but in the book I tell a story

that came from a man named Brian Mattel

Donatella is a former high-ranking CIA

officer he ran the Latin American desk

for the CIA for many years and he wrote

a memoir and I have a particular

affection for the memoirs of mid-level

retired government bureaucrats because I

find them paradoxically to be source of

many great ideas and he in the middle of

his book he tells this incredible story

about two men a man called the mountain

climber and a man called Florentino a

spiaggia and it was so striking that I

called up Brian Attell and went to see

him lives in Miami has all these guys do

and I said you in your book you write

this incredible story about these

Florentine OSBI on the mountain climber

tell me more there must be more to this

who who is the mountain climber

is why I can't tell you and I said well

can you at least tell me what his real

name is this is no I can't can you tell

me where he is he says no no I saw

secret I would have to you know so this

is like waving red meat in front of a

dog so I immediately set to work to try

and find the mountain climber and for a

year and a half I put my you know every

conceivable corner I put my name out

that I was looking for the mountain

climber and then one day and this by the

way I'm gonna warn you I'm about to

engage in a egregious act of

name-dropping

so just forgive me in advance but on

your phone when you get a normal phone

call you see the number of the person

calling you and then sometimes it says

unknown ID or you know someone has

managed to evade this process what you

may not know is there's a level above

that when someone calls from the deep

state there's it's not even unknown ID

it's just a kind of string of nonsense

words like blue and then if you get that

blue you know anyway I'm on the phone

I'm looking at my phone one day rings

and it says blood I think this is so

exciting so I answer it and it's this is

the active egregious name-dropping and I

hear Malcolm Gladwell I go yes Barack

Obama now that's a story for another

time you'll have to have me come back

you want to know what that baby weight

point is a week later I look at my phone

and it's bula again I think Barack is

calling me back so I answer it and this

time it's Malcolm Gladwell yes it's the

mountain climber I hear you've been

looking for me so who is the mountain

climber mountain were was the most

legendary CIA operative of his

generation he was started out in Soviet

Russia and he was the gold standard he

spoke Russian like a Russian he was this

incredible as tradecraft was impeccable

he was the Russians were so in all of

him they taught a course at their spies

training school on how to be like the

mountain climber that's how big he was

at one point the mountain climber is

like eating lunch in Moscow and these

two KGB agents slide in that crossed the

table from him take out a briefcase open

it up it's full of cash and they just

say all this is yours if you just come

and work for us mountain climber of

course was of the generation of

government official who was

incorruptible and he says no does so

well they promote him to be CIA station

chief in Havana which doesn't sound like

a promotion but it is because Havana is

the backdoor to all of America's enemies

it's a crucial posting and he gets down

he realizes the CIA's operations in Cuba

are in a disarray and so he

systematically rebuilds the the the us's

network of spies in Cuba until he has

this very large incredibly high

functioning network and Langley the his

bosses back and Langley are absolutely

thrilled with his work and finally he's

promoted to a very top job in the CIA

and one day he gets a call from someone

way up high CIA who says mountain

climber

you need to get on a plane right away

and fly to Frankfurt and go to the CIA

the briefing center there there's

someone you need to meet so he flies to

Frankfurt and he walks into the

debriefing Center and who was there but

a man named

Florentino sp Agha now who was

Florentino SP Agha Florentina la

spiaggia is the Cuban version of the

mountain climber he's this kind of

dashing brilliant espionage agent who

rose to the top of the Cuban

intelligence service and gets promoted

to the point where he's running the

entire Cuban intelligence operation in

Eastern Europe out of Bratislava but at

a certain point

Florentino becomes disillusioned with

Fidel Castro and decides that he wants

to defect and this is 1987 Cold War's

still up so he says to his girlfriend

Marta also Cuban but Marta is it

low-ranking Cuban people at that point

in Eastern Europe had their passports

taken away so he has this government

issue Mazda and he drills holes in the

Tron

puts Marte in the trunk very strong

relationship between two of them and

drives to the border with Austria talks

us way across the border shows up at the

US Embassy says my name is Florentine

OSB Agha I am a high ranking member of

the Cuban intelligence service I have a

story to tell they are thrilled and they

say well we're gonna take you to the

debriefing Center in Frankfort where and

he says fine but I'll tell you

everything I know on one condition I

will only tell it to the mountain

climber right because he had known about

the legend of the mountain climber from

his time in Havana so that's why the two

men meet and they you know they do the

Cuban thing and they kiss on many cheeks

and they have a big hug and I sit down

and the mountain climber asks the

question you're always supposed to ask

when your debriefing a defector which is

established tell me something that

establishes your bona fides so the

mountain

Florentino says okay when you were CIA

station chief in Havana you had a spy

named Juan who was very high up in the

personal staff of Fidel Castro and one

used to take photographs of Castro's

documents and send them to you and mount

glamour is alarmed that that Florentino

noses says yes that's true I had a guy

named Juan he was one of my best sources

and Florentino says to the mountain

climber

Juan was working for us he was a double

agent the whole time and mount camera

cannot believe this is his best guy and

Florentine says wait I'm not done you

would have got in Pedro who is really

high up in the Cuban Air Force and who

gave you chapter and verse on Cuba's

military capabilities and once again the

mountain cameras a little bit taking the

bags is he yeah hired a guy named Pedro

and Florentino says Pedro work for us

double agent whole time and now the

mountain climber is having heart

palpitations his entire career is like

you know disappearing before his eyes

and Florentino says wait I'm not done

you and a guy he was really high up in

the Cuban intelligence Directorate and

he told you everything you knew about

Cuba's relationship with the Soviet

Union and mountain-climber says I did

and Florentino says working for us the

entire time double agent and now the

mountain cameras on the floor it's like

having a stroke this is like his this is

the man who built one of the most

brilliant careers of his generation in

the CIA and it is now evaporating into

dust and Florentino says wait I'm not

done and then he lists he keeps going

and going and going until he has named

the entire network that the mountain

climber ran when he was in Cuba and

identified every single one of those

spies as double agents working for Cuba

it's the most one of the most

devastating and embarrassing revelations

of the Cold War the mountain climber

picks himself up finally off the floor

takes Florentino back to Langley tells

the same story to the CIA brass and they

are of course completely humiliated and

then it gets worse because Castro learns

that Florentino has defected and

released his on Cuban television a ten

part documentary which is basically just

a Cuban television crew following the

CIA's operatives around Havana and

filming without their knowledge

everything they did over the course of

many years including and the thing the

detail as someone who's now heavily into

audio the detail that always gets me is

the audio was perfect which meant that

they had to have known in advance where

the spies were and brought in some

world-class sound crew to rig up some

elaborate system to capture every bit of

conversation perfectly it is as I said

one of the most devastating revelations

of the Cold War now think about this

story for a moment on the one hand it's

an espionage story about deception in

espionage and that happens all the time

so you might think well so what but it's

weird in a number of key respects the

first respect is generally when we think

about who gets deceived we think that

the person being deceived is to see

because in some way they are vulnerable

or naive right it's a little old lady in

the middle of nowhere who gets the call

from the you know someone claiming to be

a nigerian prince

who's found 10 million pounds of a

suitcase that has her name on it right

and you think oh really right and she

gets taken in that's our normal

narrative about deception in this case

these people are not naive or

marginalized right this is the most

sophisticated spy agency in the world

not only that it is the best operative

at the most sophisticated spy agency in

the world that's strange

second thing we second part of our

normal narrative about deception is that

exception is something that happens once

right you deal with you take your car to

the Auto Body Shop and the guy there

cheats you and so you never take it back

to that same you learn well in this case

it's not a didn't happen once and they

learn it happens 48 times over the

course of many many years and they never

learn right third thing is we have a

notion that somehow this person doing

the deceiving is capable of that act

because they are some kind of evil

genius so they're the Bond villain right

they're the people with some

extraordinary Machiavellian talent that

allows them to pull the wool over other

people's eyes in this case though the

all those Cuba really have 48 evil

geniuses is Cuba large enough to have 48

I mean it seems implausible that they

were able to locate 48 Bond villains

within the country of Cuba capable of

hoodwinking the CIA in fact when you

read I'm happen to be a huge aficionado

of spy stories real-life spy stories if

you read stories of people who have

successfully committed treachery against

their country for years and years

they're always hapless they're never

evil geniuses there I tell the story in

my book as well about a woman named Ana

Montes who also was spying for the

Cubans who rises to the very top of the

American intelligence establishment ana

Montes was a terrible spy when they

caught her she had her codes that she

used to communicate with her handlers in

her purse

and when they searched her apartment

they found the radio she used to

communicate with Havana in a shoebox in

her closet who hides the radio in a

shoebox in the closet right this is

crazy the maybe the most damaging spy

the 20th century was Aldrich Ames of

course who was the CIA

counterintelligence officer who who was

in the entire time he was managing the

CIA's counterintelligence effort against

the Soviets was working for the Soviets

and he handed over everything over the

course of nine years to the Soviets and

the total value if you could put a value

of the secrets that he gave the Soviets

is very clearly in the billions I mean

it was he compromised the entire

intelligence apparatus directed the

Soviet Union so how much did Aldrich

Ames ask for giving away billions of

dollars in secrets to the Soviets

well the Soviets paid him about two

hundred thousand dollars a year Judas

what an idiot this guy was he is

literally in a position to give the

Soviets everything no one has ever had

more leverage over another country than

Aldrich Ames had over the Soviet they

would have given him anything and he

says well a couple hundred thousand

throw in some football tickets and I'll

be happy I mean my point is these are

not geniuses right that's the third and

most kind of crucial puzzle of this so

now you might say well maybe there's

something about the world of

intelligence that isn't you know it's

different from the real world well

that's not true I pick a domain where a

major deception occurred and you will

see the same three lessons in operation

remember Bernie Madoff the men around

the largest Ponzi scheme in history who

did Bernie Madoff cheat not little old

ladies the most sophisticated investors

in the world did he do it once and then

everyone got wise to him no he did it

over and over again for 25 years and she

never got caught he turned himself in

remember he didn't get caught

three was Bernie Madoff an evil genius

no birdy Bernie's accountant was an 85

year old guy working out of a strip mall

in Rockland County in New York for those

of you who don't know New York Rockland

County is a is a is a rural area up to

the west and you can go from New York

City in many directions and run into

sophisticated intelligence people

Rockland County is not that direction

Bernie didn't even did it wasn't even

trying to to like project the image of

the successful hedge fund yet everybody

falls for him right I could go on and on

and on and on in fact all of you are bad

at detecting deception I could do an

experiment right now where I had a

hundred people come up on stage and say

something those are they're true or a

lie true and say which is it right to

ask all of you to judge who is lying or

not and when we if we were to tally up

your answers and we would find that you

probably get between 52 and 54 percent

of them correct

you'd be slightly better than chance and

the only who is even better than chance

is that a certain percentage of people

are such terrible liars we all get them

right but other than that you're just

flipping a coin right now why is that

what should we make of the fact that

we're really bad at this you would think

wouldn't you that evolution would have

prepared us to be better at detecting

deception evolution is supposed to favor

those who are good at things that are

adaptive right that advance the species

and nothing could be more adaptive

clearly surely than being able to tell

whether someone is lying or not well it

turns out that that's probably not true

so the guy named Tim Levine whose work I

draw upon in my book and Levine argue is

pretty persuasively that the opposite is

true that evolution has not selected us

to be good at detecting lies it has

actually selected us to do to be

gullible to be trusting engines to be

the kind of person who has what he calls

default to truth who just assumes that

anyone they're speaking to is being

truthful unless the

gets absolutely overwhelming and the

reason for that LeMond argues is that

it's actually better as a species if

we're trusting than if we are suspicious

I mean think about it you're someone who

has a choice of passing on your genes

with two people one of them is paranoid

and suspicious and one of them is loving

and trusting and open who do you choose

you don't say I'm very attracted to

Susie because Susie has that lovely

quality of paranoia and suspicion I can

think of no one I would rather live my

life with and have children with then

this paragon of darkness and paranoia no

you go with the person who's open and

trusting now multiply that times a

million years and you come to understand

that people who are paranoid and

trusting don't pass on their genes why

because they're miserable people to

spend time with but more than that the

line argues it's because it makes better

sense as a species if we're paranoid and

if we're if we're not paranoid and

trusting are not paranoid but rather

trusting because think about it

virtually everything that we do a value

in the world requires that we do have

that kind of implicit faith in the

honesty of others right you can't have a

successful relationship you can't

cooperate with others you can't build

civil society you can't start a company

you can't do anything unless you're

willing to face place your faith in

others and that has tended to work over

the course of human history because most

of us are honest most of us are not like

Bernie Madoff pulling the wool over

people's our lives but with that

fundamentally adaptive trust comes a

price which is once in a generation

someone's gonna come along and is gonna

fool us right and we're going to be

helpless in the face of that deception

but Levine's point is that's a pretty

good bargain so think about the mountain

climber the mountain climber is someone

who gets fooled in a way that almost no

one has ever been fooled by Fidel Castro

does that mean the mountain climber was

a bad spy no the mountain climber went

to Havana and he did what he was

supposed to do

is he found a group of people and he

believed in them and he empowered them

and he encouraged them and he built a

vast network that generated an enormous

amount of information for his bosses

back in Langley it so turns out that in

that instance he was fooled a hundred

percent of the time by the Cubans but

999 times out of a thousand that's not

the way the world works

in 99 times out of a thousand that's the

right strategy for getting what we want

from society and for participating

meaningfully with other other people now

I don't imagine that most of you will

ever be in a situation where you're

dealing with spies or with Ponzi

schemers but I think the same principle

holds true for all of us as we go about

our lives we are called in numerous

different situations to believe in

others that is the absolute best

strategy if we want to lead a meaningful

life and if we want to change the world

but it comes with a price it means that

we will inevitably make a mistake right

when it comes to people sometimes but

when we make a mistake like that it is

not a sign of what we are doing wrong as

human beings it's a sign of what we're

doing right thank you