The Red Car Theory | Rabbi Shlomo Farhi

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Vayimaen’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Yesterday I went out to eat with my daughter. We went outside on Lexington Avenue in New York City. I stuck out my two fingers, a cab pulled over, and we were on our way. And my daughter asked me a really good question. If you're flagging this guy down in the hustle and bustle of a Manhattan street, how in the world does he see your hand or your fingers, indicating that you want to be picked up? There's so much going on. There's traffic, there's people, there's people on scooters, there's bikes. How does he notice you? And I actually had the answer, because I had just read an interesting theory about this exact concept, and it's called, The Red Car Theory. Let me explain how it works. If I ask you, How many red cars did you see this morning, on your way to work, Yeshiva, school, whatever? You might say: I don't know. Two, three... Not sure, right? But if I tell you, On your way home, pay attention. For every red car that you see, I'll pay you $1,000. When you get home that night, you are absolutely sure how many red cars you saw.

Jump to a moment

1. 0:07Yesterday I went out to eat with my daughter. We went outside on Lexington Avenue in…
2. 0:38And I actually had the answer, because I had just read an interesting theory about this…
3. 1:10There were four red cars and one was maroon, maybe I'll give you an extra thousand…
4. 1:40So he pays close attention and he makes sure to see, because seeing is important to…
5. 2:10that we become amazing at not seeing things. The same way the guy who couldn't tell…
6. 2:42and suddenly you’ll realize you have amazing control over what you cannot see.…

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