Video summary
Tom Segura opens his discussion with an analysis of the popular "midwit" meme, which he describes as a bell curve representing IQ levels where individuals on the far left (low intelligence) and far right (high intelligence) often arrive at similar conclusions, while those in the middle overcomplicate simple issues. He argues that true simplicity is difficult to achieve because most people are not naturally gifted with high-level intuition but rather try unsuccessfully to emulate it, resulting in confusion or "cultivated stupidity." Segura suggests that for many individuals who lack natural genius, the best approach is to accept being on the left side of the curve—simple and direct—rather than struggling to be complex. He emphasizes that society should tune out the noise from millions of people with average or slightly below-average IQs (around 70-90) rather than trying to elevate them into a philosophical role they are not suited for, noting that these individuals often possess practical skills like physical prowess but lack introspection. The conversation shifts to examples where simplicity and directness yield superior results compared to overthinking or excessive complexity. Segura cites *Atomic Habits* by James Clear, referencing the Chinese weightlifting team's philosophy of doing boring tasks without complaint as a key differentiator between world champions and elite athletes who fail. He contrasts this with Matt Fraser, a five-time CrossFit Games winner who holds an engineering degree; despite his academic brilliance, Fraser had to adopt "cultivated stupidity" by memorizing repetitive training protocols like rowing at 140 BPM for long durations without seeking immediate satisfaction or variety. Segura uses these examples to illustrate that high performance often requires the ability to embrace mundane tasks and avoid overcomplicating strategies, a trait he finds lacking in many modern athletes who are criticized for their post-match interviews because they fail to meet unrealistic expectations of charisma rather than athletic competence. Segura explores how different sports correlate with varying levels of intelligence based on socioeconomic factors and technical requirements. He observes that Formula One drivers tend to be highly sophisticated thinkers, whereas NASCAR might attract more individuals from the "left" side who simply put their heads down and drive fast without needing deep philosophical insight. Similarly, he notes that golf is often associated with well-educated backgrounds due to its high cost of entry, while violent sports like boxing or MMA frequently feature athletes who rely on raw skill and instinct rather than intellectual depth. He points out the case of Nate Diaz, whose ability to annihilate opponents stems from a straightforward mentality rather than deep introspection, contrasting this with endurance runners like Ned Brockman, an Australian athlete who ran across the country in under a week despite physical tolls because he simply enjoyed the thrill and felt good doing it. Throughout the discussion, Segura touches upon his own health journey through Function Health, explaining how they utilize advanced lab testing to monitor over 100 biomarkers including heart health, hormone levels, thyroid function, and cancer screening for fifty types at stage one. He highlights that while such comprehensive blood work usually costs thousands of dollars, it is available for $500 via their service, allowing users to bypass weight lists and receive actionable insights from expert physicians on a simple dashboard. This segment underscores his broader theme: taking control of health requires removing guesswork through data-driven simplicity rather than overcomplicating wellness with unnecessary trends or assumptions. The podcast concludes by directing listeners to the full conversation available online, reinforcing the idea that whether in sports, philosophy, or personal health, success often comes from accepting one's natural place on the bell curve and executing simple tasks effectively without getting lost in complexity.
Read the full video transcript
have you ever seen the midwit meme do
you know what that is oh dude so imagine
a a bell COV it's an IQ Bell covve and
on the left hand side's the sort of
Neanderthal looking meme guy with the
heavy brow and then in the middle at the
top is the sort of raging lib guy and
then on the far side is the sage that's
got his hood up looking like a Jedi and
the joke is that the guy on the left and
the guy on the right always arrive at
the same conclusion and the guy in the
middle tries to over complicate it so we
we've spent me and George my friend have
spent I'm not kidding like
months talking about this he sent me
another meme about it this morning it's
like the most I think it's the most
philosophically important meme
because uh let's say it's getting in
shape yeah lift weights eat
protein lift weights eat protein I must
ensure that my pre-digested way is
consumed within 30 minute window I have
to make sure that my blue blockers are
put on before like it's just the guy in
the middle ruins everything is over
complicating things and what you've got
what you found is a bunch of people that
are on the left and here's the thing
that people don't get about the midwit
meeme this is we've refined this over a
million dinners every guy in the middle
is a guy in the left trying to be the
guy in the right that's for sure you
can't be the guy on the right it's
impossible to be the guy on the right
the only thing you can be is the guy on
the left and some people just don't know
they're the guy on the left some people
are aware precisely correct precisely
correct yes so there's some people who
are naturally gifted with that now
they've got some challenges too that
maybe they're going to get hit by things
that they didn't quite see you know it
rolling the dice and having these sorts
of stories where like the miraculous
recovery because of this guy's is like
uh like inability to realize how
ridiculous his goals are because he's
not trying to be the guy in the right
and ending up being the guy in the
middle he's like I'm going to beat this
thing yeah uh but yeah you can't be the
guy in the right you can only be the guy
in the left so what you're trying to
cultivate it's like cultivated stupidity
is the best you can hope for if you
don't if you're not gifted with it if
you're not gifted with like ah you got
the natural stupidity congratulations
like if you didn't have that it's like
you just need to be okay I'm going to
default to being the simple thing not
trying to be the over complex thing
which ends up being the simple thing
anyway but what you end up doing is just
being stuck in the middle you don't want
to be the loud dumb guy just be dumb and
quiet basically like the nothing worse
than like the IGN the most ignorant
people are always like yelling about it
and you're just like man you just don't
you don't want to have to be like that
do you ever think because another bellur
thing somebody I forgot who brought this
to my attention was the idea that you
know there's a the average IQ is like a
100 MH and then you think of like people
with developmental issues who are you
know let's say technically under 70
right it's like yeah and you kind of go
oh yeah average is it but then you go
like do you realize how many people are
90
80 75 like it's not a couple it's
millions and millions of for that to be
the average that like you're surrounded
by a lot of noise from people that are
barely putting sentences together you
know and you can you if you stop and
have enough conversations you'll figure
it out like there's a lot of nonsense
that you should ignore and they have a
voice too and the best thing you can do
is tune them out like seriously there's
like yeah I mean you might not be on the
far other side of that equation where
you're you're not 140 or something but
if you're even just lucky enough to be
blessed with the average or slightly
around there there's a lot of people you
should not be listening to does a really
interesting stat that guys in high
school who have got IQs of 70 are more
likely to not be virgins than guys in
high school have got IQs of
130 well like stupid people only know
how to [ __ ] that is kind of a thing
right I mean I've been to those
countries and they're underdeveloped and
that's what their whole currency is
there's like I [ __ ] so it's not crazy to
me
to they yeah they have their own
showering system they're there a lot of
sand but dumb people if you ask a lot of
chicks like who is the best [ __ ] of your
life they're going to be like it was a
dumb guy that guy was a machine didn't
over complicate it he yeah he just got
in there and knew what to do and like
that's his if you're
dumb I mean that might be like the thing
you're best at you know cuz it feels
good good it's like it's this dumb
equation you're like touch this it feels
good they that makes sense to them I
feel like they're not they're not
introspective they're not going to have
any well they don't get in their own
head about it right they're not the
they're not the urologist reading his
sheets no just in the moment they're
just in the moment and they just go the
guy on the left is the best [ __ ] in the
world who knew he definitely is it's
definitely not the guy on the far right
no no well yeah I I don't know the
uh the idea of trying to be a little bit
more simplistic another perfect example
of this um in atomic Habits by James
Clear he talks I think it's like the
head of the Chinese weightlifting team
and they're super Advanced they're
getting these kids from like five years
old right it's a religion weightlifting
in China uh
and he asked what is the difference
between the guys who are world champions
and the rest of the elite and he said
the guys that are world champions are
prepared to come in and do the boring
things without complaining and realizing
that it's not supposed to be there it's
like oh okay so if you have this
cultivated stupidity where you can say
look this is going to suck and I
shouldn't rail against the fact that it
sucks um Matt Fraser who won the
CrossFit Games five six times in a row
uh he did an engineering degree and
there's a story in chasing Excellence by
Ben beron where he says I uh he would
wrote memorize his entire engineering
textbook page for page and if you got
one word wrong he'd go back to the start
and do it again so this guy basically
very very smart very very driven but
then he had to have this cultivated
stupidity thing if you're going to go
and do monor structural work on a a
rowing machine or a ski Ugg or a a air
Runner or whatever you need to go and go
this is going to be 90 minutes at 140
BPM it's the zone 2 boring it's the most
boring thing it's not even going to give
me the satisfaction of feeling like I've
worked yeah yeah like I've got to just
but I know I know that it's going to
help my steady state kind of uh you know
conditioning improve go slow to go fast
and so like it's kind of back to the
thing though that like those Elite
athletes are either so smart that they
know to be the guy in the left or they
are the guy in the left left who just
goes show up and do it this feels good
the [ __ ] midw meme is is undefeated
but I mean that's why I have a I I find
it interesting when
sports stars get criticized for boring
or basic postmatch interviews I do too
it it's it what did you expect yeah and
also we didn't he didn't sign up to be a
great interview you know he or she like
they that that's not part of that you're
making that you're putting that on them
that they have to be fantastic and
charismatic because you're using your
own barometer for what you consider to
be successful as a non- elite athlete
yeah this person is just [ __ ] hitting
forehands and backhands that's what
they're supposed to be good at lift
weights hit ball that's it and like they
they did it well so like that whatever
comes after that is like you know you're
projecting onto them oh I can't believe
that they said this or they had an
attitude why or that they didn't give
like an eloquent answer like this
supposed to supposed to be a philosopher
it's like it's a [ __ ] Neanderthal
half the time for every for every Tom
Brady or Aaron Rogers there's like 200
guys on the left like someone that I've
thought really deeply about this I
understand exactly what it means to me
etc etc tell you one sport that actually
feels like that's not the case where
everybody is the guy on the right
Formula One I don't see many people many
of the drivers in Formula 1 Dean is
anybody in Formula One is Dean here
anyone in Formula 1 the guy on the left
is there any like Neanderthal super
simple like drive car fast go sideways
people
Danny Ricardo maybe but he's more like
the party guy on the left he's like the
guy on the left put in a party hat uh
but you know what I mean you like you
like Danny is though he's a pretty
nuanced thinker like he has this he has
this Persona of like because he is like
fun that but then you sit with him and
you talk and you realize yeah these
these guys are all oh [ __ ] you went to
that that's where you met Zach at that
party right when you at some F1 party
was that not something to do with Danny
Ricardo last was it last year or the
year before yeah yeah yeah I'd met Danny
uh at in Australia at his place I went
to and then when he had his party that's
right Zach was at that thing here yeah
and everyone accused him of being Pedro
Pascal from wish that's right on
Instagram I mean he looks a lot like
[ __ ] Pedro P he still does it's not a
bad thing man he's got a good thing
going on um I thought the new hair was
for a new part I was like what are you
what are you in yep um no but you're
right those guys are they're pretty
bright they're pretty bright guys um
maybe there's some correlation between
high performance driving and you can't
be a boxer rocks to I just there's
certain things that are so technical
yeah uh I would imagine for instance
golf uh I don't know golf but I would
imagine that it's probably pretty
difficult to be a golfer and also be the
guy on the left because a high level one
yeah yeah because and most of the well I
guess there's other factors most of the
time when you see these most PGA people
had a certain upbringing they're usually
well educated you know that sport is
usually associated with a certain
socioeconomic level I mean it obviously
there's people who have started
elsewhere but for the most part you find
it in well-to-do you know environments
and people who have a certain level of
education but you're right there's
there's not a lot of I don't know like
Back N [ __ ] I've thought this I've
thought this through carefully yeah yeah
well that's the difference if you were
to go I'm going to again I'm going to
NASCAR at Kota in a couple of weeks time
so please don't take this the wrong way
I don't imagine that the NASCAR drivers
have quite the same mentality that the
Formula 1 drivers to I imagine you could
get some more guys on the left in NASCAR
despite the fact that it's probably a
very similar sort of
sport yes that's 100% true for sure yeah
I mean there's yeah the Formula One guys
for the most part are more sophisticated
yeah but
also yeah I mean there's definitely some
really bright people who've done the
NASCAR and then there's some people who
would just go like [ __ ] foot down to
foot down just hold on baby yeah yeah
yeah that's definitely true and then
like I think you find more guys on the
left if you're talking about violent
Sports too right so like for I mean no
one's going to Nate Diaz for like his
sort of deep philosophical insights
about stuff but holy [ __ ] yeah he's
gonna annihilate you and there's that
you know I've heard these stories about
his and his brothers un like they do
triathlons and sort of this endurance
racing thing their ability to put the
head down I don't like that's one that I
you know you always you're drawn to do
things that you naturally have some
skill at right or it feels good to do
and then we you naturally you reject
things where you're like I this doesn't
I don't I'm not good at this and I don't
like this like with sport right like you
just always are like doing the things
you have some skill at you're like I
don't like this other thing these
[ __ ] ultramarathon people like part
of it I realize is that like it's just
not in me and I don't even understand
this mental aspect I've talked to a few
I'm like I I don't understand how you're
doing this 150
mile horrible idea like how but like
that just speaks to like it's again I
feel like you want to be the guy on the
left for that you don't want to have as
much awareness there's certain Sports
where it's it's a real competitive
Advantage there's this kid called Ned
Brockman out of Australia so I when I
did my tour over there I had him on the
show he ran a thousand kilometers or a
thousand miles around a track uh and it
took him just over a week and
he like his shins were just torn apart
and he's got shaved on top like the
classic Aussie like real Aussie mullet
not one not one of these trendy wanky
Austin things you know where there's
like a bit of hair up top to make it
balanced it's like like theovon theovon
basically and he he did that he ran
across Australia he tried to break the
record for running across Australia and
you speak to him in particular I he like
I was trying to find the Goggins
ancestral trauma void yeah inside of him
I'm like oh you're just you're just
doing this because you like the thrill
of it like you're just doing this
because Run f feel good Once Upon a Time
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