in 1994 the CEO of the Tobacco Company RJ Reynolds James W Johnson told the United States Congress that cigarette smoking is no more addictive than coffee tea or Twinkies sure there might be some out there who might have a steady stream of Twinkies entering their stomach but I feel like we can all agree that despite the stomach ache and probably risk for diabetes this sugar happy habit isn't nearly as dangerous as smoking cigarettes for years the tobacco industry assured customers that cigarettes weren't unhealthy or addictive and they made billions doing it but in reality about
480,000 Americans die every year from cigarettes to say nothing of the global death rate 4 years after Johnston made his famously false comparison the four largest tobacco companies reached a settlement with 46 US states to pay $26 billion over 25 years to help cover medical cost of smoking related illnesses they lied and now we all know why they did while the corporate lie about cigarettes feels particularly egregious companies governments and even well-intentioned people lie to us in more subtle ways every single day think back to job interviews you might have had you might have heard
the phrase our employees are our most valuable asset and it probably feels good to hear that you want to work at a place that values you yet layoffs happen all the time sure they're usually veiled as reorgs or some other corporate jargon to tell you that you're just no longer needed it's not personal it's just business and even when you get to keep your job salaries remain stagnant and sometimes they even drop with the ABS and flows of the economy look no further than the wave of strikes around the globe this summer with labor unions
like the United Auto Workers proclaiming no employees clearly aren't a company's most valuable asset these statements by corporations are meant to make employees feel heard and respected there's similar to statements like your responses will be confidential when you're being asked to take a survey about the company's performance or your team it might seem suspect is it really Anonymous probably not because companies aren't legally bound to respect statements of confidentiality they tend to Scuttle laws that force them to keep employee information private management at whatever level is most likely looking at whatever confidential statements you make
on a survey or otherwise or what about meritocracy how many times have you heard that your company or team is a meritocracy where the most talented the smartest the hardest working individuals rise to the top it's nice to believe this because it makes us feel like if we work our butts off and develop our skills then we'll get promoted get raises and advance in the way we always hoped we would but being real whatever industry you're working in those promotions and raises often have to do more with networking and connections than actual hard work sometimes
the best candidates get rewarded but in many cases it's all about who you know relationships you built on the job were the ones you came into the job with so work hard but also get connected these kind of corporate lies are General things companies say to keep workers happy but then there's more specific lies lies that are meant to persuade employees of a certain position companies like to make us think that our jobs are dependent on low corporate taxes and it's true that corporate tax rates around the globe tend to be high but even in
the United States we at 35% it's actually lower than a lot of other countries around the world corporations have developed systems of tax credits and subsidies to avoid paying that amount or even close to it the claim that a low corporate tax rate leads to more jobs for workers is mostly just a farce just like the claim that Union forces jobs overseas and yes unions do lead to increased labor costs but millions of non-union jobs are also sent overseas so the problem doesn't really lie in unionization it lies in the power of globalization computer programmers
were never unionized but most tech firms have moved their operations to India and China the reality is that unions create a shift in power away from Management in some cases unions do create problems corruption among other things but when working properly they limit and hold management accountable for the decisions that impact their employees to demonize unions and tie it to the decline of domestic jobs is a tactic not a tactic to keep jobs on home soil but to stop workers from unionizing in the first place when we commit to a job or to working with
a certain company on a project we're usually informed of the company's core values we get a long list of vague words like loyalty and sustainability but what is any company's true core value money in the best of workplaces other values might follow but money no matter what usually tops them all companies might give to charitable causes but mostly because it improves their branding and helps with tax deduction they'll limit their environmental impact when it improves their cost but probably not just because they love Mother Earth so much the use of core values is an example
of the law of inverse relevancy which tells us that the less someone plans on doing something the more they talk about it we all have the friend who can't stop talking about the exercise plan that they're about to start but the question always remains when the fact that companies lie ultimately isn't really surprising but seeing it in action can be a pretty wild experience just before we see this in action the best way to combat misinformation is to learn how the world works for example by learning how AI works we can understand when companies are
hiding under that term to carry out their Shady business practices learning these Concepts can be difficult but not with brilliant.org the sponsor of today's video I've recently just completed the how large language models work course that breaks down the mechanism behind chat Bots like chat gbt and it is truly fascinating the best thing about brilliant is that each course is taught interactively so you're not just learning the theory but you get a firsthand look about how these features work in the real world each course is also customized to match your skill level and is equipped
with fun features like personal challenges and friendly competitions to keep things fun thanks to their mobile app learning on the go has never been easier just whip out your phone while you're on your commute or waiting in line instead of spending endless hours on social media to try out the how lm's work course and all the other courses completely free for 30 days go to brilliant.org aperture or click the link in the description the first 200 people to visit get 20% off at premium subscription which unlocks every single course brilliant has to offer back to
our story in 2020 the leaders of Amazon Apple Facebook and Google testified in front of an antitrust panel at the US House of Representatives the goal of the panel was to poke holes in big Tech's argument that they're not monopolies the titans of the tech industry told lie after lie that we either just ignore as consumers or decide that we want to believe like the lie that users are in control of their data Google's CEO suar Pai said that the company has simplified its settings for users and this is true they offer many privacy options
but simple isn't really a word to describe them just because an airplane has a lot of controls doesn't mean that anyone can fly it the reality is that most of us have little to no understanding of what companies do with our data they want us to think that they're having access to our data creates a better experience for us and sure it's nice when Instagram feeds you an ad for those sneakers you been searching for but the data collection isn't about getting you new shoes it's about giving companies power to make money specifically by selling
those ads advertising helps big Tech grow and we can all agree that they have grown one of the claims made in this hearing was that these massive companies aren't even that big amazon claimed it holds less than 1% of the global retail market and less than 4% of retail in the United States but that's counting all retail even gas stations I don't know about you but I don't really consider that shopping similarly Facebook claimed that it competes with all products that connect people not just any social media companies and apple insisted that it doesn't have
a dominant share in any Market or product category but if you have an iPhone you know you have to go through Apple to buy apps or services on the device of course it's not like the government who was listening to these claims doesn't do its fair share of lying to us as well the US government has repeatedly lied to citizens to justify war in 1998 the Clinton Administration bombed what it told the public was a chemical weapons Factory in Sudan that turned out to be a pharmaceutical Factory then famously the Bush Administration cooked up a
web of false information to convince us all that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction the basis for the Iraq War the most famous incident of the American government lying to perpetuate war came during Vietnam in 1971 the Pentagon papers were leaked and published they showed that the government had syst systematically lied to cover up the fact that the United States was losing ground in Vietnam in the 1960s while the war was still going on us officials insisted that the Viet Kong were dying in record numbers and that there was a light at the end of
the tunnel they called for more Force even though as the Pentagon papers told us they knew the reality of what was happening that the US was losing the war there is of course a certain amount of government secrecy that's pretty much necessary for National Security false assurances aren't just for the public they're meant to mislead adversaries and to cover up mistakes and failures that might make a country seem weak or incapable so your government might be lying to protect you but at what point are we supposed to believe what they say are we meant to
think that every lie is in service of our own protection let's face it a lot of the time it's about ego governments are filled with people and people have too much pride to admit that they're wrong one notable exception was in 1962 when French president Charles deal withdrew his forces from the Algerian War understanding that France had lost the fight but it's not just overseas that our governments have proven untrustworthy the empty promises of political campaigns can easily convince voters to show support but they're rarely delivered on politicians make promises they can't fulfill all the
time during his campaign in 1988 George HW Bush made the promise that he would never ever under any circumstances raise taxes and then in 1990 he admitted that fixing the economy would require tax increases he made the promise of no new taxes but failed to deliver was he lying probably but that's because to make that kind of sweeping assertation is almost impossible to follow through on but these are the kind of things that help candidates win the other thing that can help candidates win is an environment of division politicians use our perceived division to stroke
anger fear and passion right now we're seeing a global wave of distinct rhetoric from America to Argentina to Italy but are we really that divided the government and the media keep telling us that we are but there might be a widening gap between our reality and what we're told members of the government might adopt extreme positions but often average voters don't especially now younger Generations are resistant to supporting a political party so is the future actually going to be as divided as many one us to think it's easy to point fingers at the government or
a large corporation for lying to us but it gets harder when we talk about Lies coming from people whose entire Brands depend on helping others but that certainly doesn't mean that lies aren't rampant throughout the self-help industry they oversell personal empowerment hyping up hope and creating a false sense of self-confidence among so many of us you've probably heard the phrase toxic positivity it's when we tell ourselves or listen to encouraging statements that are meant to minimize or eliminate painful emotions this leads to pressure to be unrealistically optimistic without considering the reality of a situation and
the truth is that sadness disappointment and anger can all be pretty helpful emotions to experience positive thinking isn't necessarily bad but if we believe that walking around thinking everything is great all the time is going to help us grow we're probably kidding ourselves to some extent self-help Guru Tony Robins says that there's no such thing as failure only results this concept of there's no such thing as failure hits us on podcasts and books and social media posts pushing us to ignore when we come up short but why is failure framed as such a bad thing
why do we have to rename or ignore it altogether can't failure just be failure and can't it be okay to be disappointed when you experience it a lot of self-help guides try to sell us on Financial Freedom as our ultimate goal as if working is such a horrible thing of course Financial stress isn't pleasant but why is being free of any sort of pressure to work such a desirable thing the world has convinced us that we need to be living on passive income and enjoying every second of every day by the time we're 30 success
Financial or otherwise takes time and the journey while difficult doesn't have to be miserable don't let some online expert convince you that it will be often these goals or ways of viewing the world are set by gurus and experts are an attempt to make us feel that who we are in what we have isn't enough these days were bred on a sense of inadequacy always striving for something different if we don't feel we're good enough we'll buy products that promise to make us better healthier prettier and happier it all comes back to money but the
lies from the world are frankly nothing compared to The Lies We Tell ourselves I have to be perfect maybe I'll never be happy and if I could just fix that one thing my life would be amazing and if I could get married find a better job by a new car or floss every day but no one single thing is the solution to happiness if I ignore that bad feeling it'll go away I don't have a choice how I spend my time and if I had more time I would exercise socialize or learn to crochet the
truth is either we want to do something or we don't it might sound fun to become a piano player but after spending 3 hours learning beginner chords you might think otherwise I can change other people no no you can't we can if we're lucky help them change themselves however we shouldn't sign up for that either there's no point lying to ourselves here people are just who they are including us you and me so no matter what your employer or your president is promising you or what that famous podcast host or financial expert is trying to
convince you of you know who you are and you know what you need and you can trust yourself to root out the lies especially the ones very deep inside [Music] every
