Neuroscientist REVEALS How To Reprogram Your Mind WHILE YOU SLEEP For Success! | Moran Cerf

Introduction

In this section, Tom introduces the show and its goal of introducing people to the people and ideas that will help them execute on their dreams. He then introduces today's guest, Dr. Moran Cerf.

Introducing Impact Theory

• Tom introduces Impact Theory as a show that aims to introduce people to the people and ideas that will help them execute on their dreams.

Introducing Dr. Moran Cerf

• Tom introduces Dr. Moran Cerf as a hacker turned neuroscientist who has explored nontraditional ways of investigating the brain.

• Tom provides an overview of Dr. Cerf's education and accomplishments in academia and business.

• Tom highlights some of Dr. Cerf's work in Hollywood as a consultant and contributor on hit shows such as Mr. Robot, Limitless, Bull, Falling Water, and Ancient Aliens.

From Bank Robber to Neuroscientist

In this section, Tom asks Dr. Cerf about his experience robbing banks and how he transitioned from being a hacker to becoming a neuroscientist.

Robbing Banks

• Tom asks Dr. Cerf about his experience robbing banks.

• Dr. Cerf explains that he robbed a bank four times physically but also stole money virtually dozens of times as part of his job as a pen tester.

Becoming a Neuroscientist

• Tom asks how Dr. Cerf ended up becoming a neuroscientist after having such an exciting job.

• Dr. Cerf explains that Francis Crick was the most influential person who encouraged him to use his skills to study the brain instead of hacking.

Understanding the Brain

In this section, Dr. Cerf discusses his work in neuroscience and how he approaches understanding the brain.

Studying the Brain

• Dr. Cerf explains that he studies the brain by looking at how people behave and understanding how their brains work to make it happen.

• Dr. Cerf discusses his research on decision-making and how he uses electrodes implanted in patients' brains to understand their decision-making processes.

The Future of Neuroscience

• Dr. Cerf talks about the future of neuroscience and how we may be able to use technology to enhance our cognitive abilities.

• Dr. Cerf discusses his work on developing a device that can help people learn while they sleep.

Conclusion

In this section, Tom wraps up the interview with Dr. Cerf and thanks him for sharing his insights.

Wrapping Up

• Tom thanks Dr. Cerf for sharing his insights and wraps up the interview.

Moran Cerf on Free Will

In this section, Moran Cerf talks about his interest in studying free will and how it relates to our identity and decision-making process.

Interest in Free Will

• Moran was interested in studying topics that are often discouraged in academia, such as free will.

• He believes that understanding free will can help us change things and give meaning to our lives.

• Moran believes that we need to re-imagine what we mean by free will and address the moment when we become aware of our choices.

The Illusion of Free Will

• There is a gap between the moment we think we made a choice and the actual moment when the choice was made, which creates an illusion of free will.

• Brain stimulation can even make us choose something different than what we originally wanted, but we still believe it was our own decision.

The Illusion of Free Will

In this section, Morgan discusses how our brains can be manipulated to make us believe that we have free will even when we don't.

Brain Manipulation and Free Will

• Our brains can be manipulated to make us believe that our decisions are entirely our own.

• People often defend their free will when shown evidence that it may not exist.

• Experiments show that people who experience manipulation of their free will still believe they made hundreds of choices when in reality they only made about 14.

• When people feel that their identity is in question, they become more religious and ethical.

The Power of Biases

In this section, Morgan discusses how biases affect our decision-making process and why we still believe in free will despite knowing about them.

Biases and Decision-Making

• Our decisions are affected by many things such as the temperature in the room or the weight of a book.

• There are hundreds of thousands of biases that affect our brain, but even if we know what they are, we still work the same way.

• Despite knowing about biases, we still live life as if it's entirely our decision.

• We have multiple puppeteers in our brain vying for dominance. Ultimately, the person who spoke last is protected and becomes who we think we are.

Profiling Your Brain

In this section, Morgan talks about how profiling your brain can help you make better decisions.

Profiling Your Brain

• We can now profile your brain and show you which side of yourself is making better decisions.

• You might make better decisions when you're hungry, talking to friends, or alone.

• By manifesting different sides of ourselves, we can make better choices.

Understanding Brain Activity

In this section, Morgan and Tom discuss how they measure brain activity to understand how people make choices. They also talk about how the brain controls self-control and how it can be trained to delay quitting.

Measuring Brain Activity

• Participants wear an EEG cap for more than 24 hours while going about their daily lives.

• Researchers analyze the data collected from the EEG cap to see what parts of the brain are activated when participants make certain choices.

• The results help researchers understand which parts of the brain are used more often when making certain decisions.

Self-Control

• The part of the brain responsible for self-control is like a muscle that can be trained.

• When someone is doing something physically challenging, such as running, there is a battle between different parts of the brain. One part wants to quit while another part wants to keep going.

• By analyzing when someone breaks during a physical challenge, researchers can train them to delay quitting by playing a sound at that moment and encouraging them to continue for one more minute.

Emotional States

• People perform better when their emotions are heightened or highlighted.

• Researchers are trying to understand which parts of the brain are affected by emotional states in order to improve performance.

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Understanding Self-Awareness

In this section, Moran Cerf talks about how self-awareness can help us control our actions and make better decisions. He explains that once we know about our biases, they become less effective.

Becoming More Self-Aware

• The more we know about ourselves, the better we can do in controlling our actions and making decisions.

• Scientists need to communicate knowledge of the brain in a tangible way so people can understand their options and biases.

• There are hundreds of biases that humans have, but once we know them, they become less effective.

Making Decisions Based on Self-Awareness

In this section, Moran Cerf shares a personal story about how he had to make a decision based on his self-awareness. He explains that owning up to your mistakes is important for growth.

Owning Up to Mistakes

• Moran was offered an opportunity to be the dream recording guy for Christopher Nolan's movie "Inception," even though it was based on a lie he told while half-asleep.

• Moran had to decide whether or not to take the opportunity despite disagreeing with the idea of recording dreams.

• Moran reflects on his mistake of denying the possibility of recording dreams instead of owning up to it and using it as an opportunity for growth.

The Importance of Thinking Big

In this section, Moran Cerf talks about the importance of thinking big and not limiting oneself by saying something is impossible before being certain.

The Consequences of Saying Something is Impossible

• Moran Cerf admits that his mistake was to say something was impossible before being certain.

• This delayed his progress by three years.

• He emphasizes the importance of investigating possibilities instead of dismissing them outright.

Inspiration from Screenwriting and Movies

• Moran Cerf teaches screenwriting and works with TV because he believes that the best ideas for research come from those who write plays, science fiction, and movies.

• He mentions that he was inspired by movies like The Matrix which affected him as a child.

• He believes that if kids think something is possible, they will pursue it in the future.

Hard Work Trumps Innate Talent

In this section, Tom Bilyeu and Moran Cerf discuss how hard work can transform one's life even if they don't have innate talent.

Hard Work Over Innate Talent

• Tom Bilyeu shares that he wasn't considered smart 20 years ago but now people assume he is because of his hard work.

• He emphasizes that hard work over a long period can completely transform one's life.

• He believes that anyone can achieve success through hard work regardless of their raw materials or innate talent.

Self-Narrative and Thinking Big

In this section, Tom Bilyeu and Moran Cerf discuss how self-narrative affects one's ability to think big and accomplish goals.

Self-Narrative Shapes Behavior

• Tom Bilyeu shares that his self-narrative affected his behavior when he was undereducated and bordering on depression.

• He emphasizes the importance of giving up the victim mentality and realizing that one can do anything they set their mind to.

• Moran Cerf adds that thinking big is a spiritual question because it affects how one spends their time.

Researching the Brain

• Tom Bilyeu began researching the brain to understand what's malleable and what's not.

• He learned about myelin and how it affects learning.

• He believes that understanding the anatomical mechanisms at play in the brain is crucial for changing behavior.

The Importance of Thinking Big

• Tom Bilyeu believes that failure to think big is a personal choice based on fear rather than evidence or science.

• He promises viewers of his show, Impact Theory, that they will accomplish more by watching it because they will learn to think bigger.

The Power of Narrative

In this section, the speaker discusses how we can control our narrative and change our experiences by telling a different story. Memories are malleable and change every time we use them. Therapy works because it allows us to tell our stories differently, leading to a different version of reality.

Memories are Malleable

• Memories change every time you use them.

• Every time you recall a memory, you open a different version of it.

• We can actually change the past by changing our experience of things.

Controlling Our Narrative

• We control the narrative that we have.

• The narrative that we tell ourselves about ourselves is the most important thing we have.

• If we tell ourselves a story of struggle, inadequacy, or failure, that becomes our identity.

Changing Our Identity

• Changing our identity starts with changing the narrative we tell ourselves.

• Reimagining ourselves as learners rather than smart changes everything.

• Owning mistakes and seeing better solutions polishes self-image in an anti-fragile way.

How to Get More Motivation?

In this section, the speaker discusses motivation and how it's difficult for him to help people who lack motivation. He suggests thinking about motivation as a label for events in our brain.

Understanding Motivation

• Motivation is a label for events in our brain.

• It's difficult to help people who lack motivation.

Surround Yourself with People You Want to Be Like

In this section, Moran Cerf explains how surrounding yourself with people you want to be like can change your brain and help you become the person you want to be.

The Neuroscience Behind It

• Brains interact with each other through language in a way that synchronizes the brains.

• When two people interact, their brains literally start pulsing in the same way.

• Communication is how information flows between brains and changes them.

How to Change Your Brain

• If you cannot find people to surround yourself with, watch videos or read books about them.

• Bring the world you want to be in to yourself through movies, stories, TV shows, etc.

• Communicate with yourself and solidify the things you want to be more like while suppressing those you don't.

Changing Behavior Overnight

• You can learn, change and transfer overnight during sleep stages and cycles.

• During dreaming stages our brain simulates future options and shows us a movie of things.

Slow-Wave Sleep and Memory Consolidation

In this section, Moran Cerf discusses the importance of slow-wave sleep in memory consolidation. He explains how the brain chooses which memories to keep and which ones to discard during this stage of sleep.

Slow-Wave Sleep and Memory Consolidation

• During slow-wave sleep, the brain takes all the experiences from the day before and weighs them, choosing which ones to keep and which ones to discard.

• The brain compresses unimportant moments into one memory while keeping important moments as individual memories.

• By using smells or sounds played at the right moment during slow-wave sleep, researchers can make a person focus on specific memories and strengthen them at the expense of others.

• Experiments have shown that it is possible to change a person's behavior by targeting their brain during slow-wave sleep. For example, smokers who were exposed to nicotine followed by a smell of rotten eggs while sleeping woke up with changed behavior and no longer wanted to smoke.

Changing Perspectives: Galileo's Telescope Analogy

In this section, Moran Cerf draws an analogy between Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons through his telescope and our changing understanding of memory consolidation through research.

Galileo's Telescope Analogy

• Moran Cerf compares our changing understanding of memory consolidation through research to Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons through his telescope.

• Just as Galileo had to realign our understanding of the solar system by putting the sun in the center instead of Earth, we are beginning to understand that targeting specific memories during slow-wave sleep can change behavior.

Understanding Self-Deception

In this section, Moran Cerf and Tom Bilyeu discuss self-deception and how it affects our understanding of reality. They explore the idea that our brains deceive us to optimize our perception of the world.

The Positive Side of Self-Deception

• Our brain's self-deception is a mechanism to optimize our perception of the world.

• This allows us to have a different view of the universe that we get to create ourselves.

• It allows us to live life in a comfortable way.

Leveraging Self-Deception for Personal Growth

• We can use self-deception as a tool for exploring more things in our brain and learning how things happen.

• We can leverage self-deception in a self-aware way to push ourselves forward.

• Being aware is the best way to understand what we want.

Repetition and Brain Rewiring

• It takes very few repetitions for your brain to rewire and solidify new information (around 8 times).

• There are times of day where it's even easier (up to 3 times).

Clocks in Our Brain

• Our brain has many clocks, which may explain why certain times of day are better for learning.

The Future of Humanity

In this section, Moran Cerf discusses how humanity has conquered famine, plague and war. He also talks about the current state of affairs where overeating and diabetes are bigger threats than malnourishment.

Conquering Famine, Plague and War

• Humanity has conquered famine, plague and war.

• If someone is hungry right now, it’s because politically we want them to be hungry.

• There shouldn’t be any hunger in the world but there is because of reasons that’s beyond us.

Overeating and Diabetes as Bigger Threats

• Overeating is a lot more likely to cause death than under-eating.

• Diabetes is a lot bigger threat to us than malnourishment.

Extending Life vs Quality of Life

In this section, Moran Cerf talks about how humanity has extended life to its limit but now realizes that the one thing they don't know how to deal with is not the extension of life but the quality of life.

Extending Life Limit

• We have privileges. We are focusing on happiness and what would make us happy.

• A lot of us are going to get to age 150 but we might spend the last 50 years not being there.

Quality of Life

• Our bodies are going to be there but our brain is going to be basically not able to do the thinking.

• A bunch of neuroscientists are trying to fix that by placing components in our brains using chips almost like a bridge so things come from the in and get processed through and go out.

Fixing Brain Decay with Chips

In this section, Moran Cerf talks about how neuroscientists are trying to fix brain decay by placing components in our brains using chips.

Placing Components in Brain

• The way to fix brain decay is not by actually fixing the brain using drugs but by placing components of it.

• Positive brain almost like a bridge so things come from the in and get processed through and go out.

Fixing Alzheimer's with Chips

• When your Alzheimer emerges, we’re going to put electrodes in your brain and learn how the in-looks and the outlooks.

• We're going to take out the part of the brain that’s biological that failed. We’re going to put a chip instead.

Ethics of Neuroscientific Advancements

In this section, Moran Cerf talks about ethics surrounding neuroscientific advancements.

Neuroscientists vs Policymakers

• Policymakers are slow. It takes them a while to create policies.

• Businessmen and marketing departments are really fast at applying new advancements.

MBA Students' Role

• My job is to remind MBA students how bad they felt when they saw unfair pricing tactics.

• In 20 years, MBA students will be making decisions on whether or not to use these advancements ethically.

The Moral Obligation of Companies

In this section, Tom and Moran discuss the moral obligation of companies to make products that are worthy of being used.

Companies Have a Moral Obligation

• Companies have a moral obligation to make products that deliver value.

• If a company believes that their product is good for the person they are selling it to, then using tools and techniques to get people to buy it makes sense.

• Policymakers need to sell policies like getting STD tests or other things that are good for society as a whole.

Making Choices

In this section, Moran talks about exploring all options and making choices.

Exploring All Options

• Scientists need to explore all options, including those that will be good or bad for you.

• People need to understand how to make better choices for themselves.

Impact on the World

In this section, Tom asks Moran about the impact he wants to have on the world.

Impact on the World

• Moran wants everyone in the world to know enough so they can make decisions by themselves.

• He wants to find ways through movies, conversations, products, and students so everyone has an option.

Finding Moran Online

In this section, Tom asks where viewers can find Moran online.

Finding Moran Online

• You can find Moran at his website morancerf.com.

• You can also find him by searching for ideas and looking for his name.

Impact Theory

In this section, Tom talks about his show Impact Theory.

Impact Theory

• Tom's show is called Impact Theory.

• The show is a weekly series that adds value to people's lives.

• Viewers should subscribe to the show and follow Tom on social media @tombilyeu.

Conclusion

In this section, Tom concludes the episode.

Conclusion

• Tom thanks Moran for coming on the show and hopes to have him back for round two.

• He encourages viewers to watch Moran's talks and see how he can traverse academia and business so beautifully.

• Viewers should follow Tom on social media @tombilyeu and follow Impact Theory @impacttheory. They should also subscribe to the show on iTunes and Stitcher.

Agent Rating Prompt

The agent asks the customer to rate their experience and warns that if they rate 3 or below, the agent will not work on their future orders.

Agent Rating Prompt

• The agent asks the customer to rate their experience.

• If the rating is 3 or below, the agent will not work on future orders.

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