The Morgan Housel Podcast A Few Things I'm Pretty Sure About
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Jan 16, 2026 Big ideas can be simple yet profound, offering context to life. Pain can skew patience and behavior, a personal lesson from back injuries. Empathy reveals hidden reasons behind rudeness, while unintended harm often goes unnoticed by its source. The harsh reality that half of people are below average is exacerbated by social media. Housing issues drive major societal challenges, and the mixed effects of tech innovation linger in our lives. Lastly, nostalgia often masks past worries, hinting at a cyclical nature of political toxicity.
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Chronic Pain Shapes Behavior
- Morgan Housel broke his back skiing as a teenager and still suffers occasional, severe pain.
- When in pain he becomes short-tempered, which taught him to assume other people's rude behavior may come from unseen suffering.
Unseen Harm Often Drives Bad Outcomes
- Most harm done to others is unintentional because people rationalize or fail to see their actions' impacts.
- Roy Baumeister's idea: evil often enters the world unrecognized by those who let it in.
Median Reality vs Social Media Fantasy
- By definition, half the population must be below the median on any trait, which clashes with social media's curated highlights.
- Expecting a top-5% life guarantees widespread disappointment when people treat top outcomes as normal.
