Money

### Cold Open

"Jason Silva: Quick question. When I say money, what do you think of? If you're like most people, it's some version of this(dollar bill). Look familiar? But what makes it money? After all, it's really just paper, cotton fibers and ink. What makes this any more valuable than this?(Dollar bill but with Jason Silva's face). Looks good to me. Think about it. Thanks to credit cards, Internet shopping, and markets like this one here at Nasdaq in Times Square, one day soon, bills like this might be out of a job. But no matter what form it takes, money is here to stay. So your brain had better learn to make sense of it."

### Questions

But you probably think you always know a good deal when you see one, right?

## Games

### Game #1: Know The Money

Which dollar bill is real?

Result: You may pick the right one, or not.

But why couldn't we pick the right one despite money playing such an important role in our lives?

### Game #2: Cake Taste

There are two cakes. One is $15, while the other $55. Which cake will volunteers like more?

Result: They think the $15 cake is kind of dry and normal. As for the expensive cake, they think it's much better than the $15, with better frosting, moist, etc.

But the thing is, they're the exact same cake, even when made.

Why did they think one cake was better?

Why: Seeing the higher price tag simply made them think it was better, and they didn't give it a second thought. Their perception is just different. After spilling the beans, people could not believe the answer, and instead went with their brains. Brains are always trying to make comparisons, thus leading to the more expensive cake being perceived better and causes you to enjoy it more.

### Game #3: Wallet Around

Jason drops his wallet in the middle of the street. Will people pick it up?

Result: Yes they will.

But how can we make it less noticeable? Will a circle of red paint protect the wallet?

#### Brain Booster:

If you laid all the blood vessels in your brain end to end, they would:

A. Circle the planet four times

B. Circle the planet once

C. Reach from Boston to Washington, DC

Correct answer: C. Our brain's blood vessels are 400 miles long.

Result: People avoid the wallet, not even seeing it.

Why: When there was no circle, the wallet felt like an accident. However, when a red circle was put around it, something about it led to fear and mistrust in their temporal lobe to avoid the wallet.

### Game #4: Friend Duplicates

Your friend keeps calling you because he finds a better deal on the same items.

Result: You probably went and saved money on the watch, but on the phone, you stayed and payed.

Why: The prefrontal cortex uses relative pricing by analyzing risk and making calculations. Since the two watches are cheaper and you save the same amount of money on each, your brain sees something differently.

### Game #5: Bid on Lose-Lose

Will people bid on a $20 bill? The second-place bidder must play the amount they bid for.

Result: At the beginning, it's a free for all. But as the value of the bid starts to increase, it becomes a lose-lose situation, since one person overpays for the bill, and the other pays for no refund. At some point, it will end. It becomes who's going to lose the least.

So: At the beginning, a profit could be made. But as the value starts to near $20 or goes over, the two remaining bidders would want to win so they could pay less. The reason they paid was because competition led them to want to get the least loss.