WEBVTT

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Do you think it's possible to control someone's attention?

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Even more than that,

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what about predicting human behavior?

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I think those are interesting ideas, if you could.

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I mean, for me, that would be the perfect superpower,

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actually kind of an evil way of approaching it.

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But for myself, in the past, I've spent the last 20 years

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studying human behavior from a rather unorthodox way:

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picking pockets.

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When we think of misdirection,

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we think of something as looking off to the side,

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when actually it's often the things that are right in front of us

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that are the hardest things to see,

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the things that you look at every day that you're blinded to.

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For example, how many of you still have your cell phones

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on you right now?

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Great. Double-check.

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Make sure you still have them on you.

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I was doing some shopping beforehand.

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Now you've looked at them probably a few times today,

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but I'm going to ask you a question about them.

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Without looking at your cell phone directly yet,

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can you remember the icon in the bottom right corner?

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Bring them out, check, and see how accurate you were.

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How'd you do? Show of hands. Did we get it?

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Now that you're done looking at those, close them down,

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because every phone has something in common.

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No matter how you organize the icons,

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you still have a clock on the front.

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So, without looking on your phone, what time was it?

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You just looked at your clock, right?

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It's an interesting idea. Now, I'll ask you take that a step further with a game of trust.

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Close your eyes.

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I realize I'm asking you to do that while you just heard

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there's a pickpocket in the room, but close your eyes.

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Now, you've been watching me for about 30 seconds.

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With your eyes closed, what am I wearing?

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Make your best guess.

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What color is my shirt? What color is my tie?

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Now open your eyes.

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By a show of hands, were you right?

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It's interesting, is it. Some of us are a little bit

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more perceptive than others. It seems that way.

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But I have a different theory about that, that model of attention.

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They have fancy models of attention, Posner's trinity model of attention.

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For me, I like to think of it very simple, like a surveillance system.

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It's kind of like you have all these fancy sensors,

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and inside your brain is a little security guard.

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For me, I like to call him Frank.

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So Frank is sitting at a desk.

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He's got all sort of cool information in front of him,

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high-tech equipment, he's got cameras,

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he's got a little phone that he can pick up, listen to the ears,

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all these senses, all these perceptions.

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But attention is what steers your perceptions.

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It's what controls your reality. It's the gateway to the mind.

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If you don't attend to something, you can't be aware of it.

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But ironically, you can attend to something without being aware of it.

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That's why there's the cocktail effect:

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when you're in a party, you're having conversations with someone,

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and yet you can recognize your name

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and you didn't even realize you were listening to that.

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Now, for my job, I have to play with techniques to exploit this,

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to play with your attention as a limited resource.

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So if I could control how you spend your attention,

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if I could maybe steal your attention through a distraction.

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Now instead of doing it like misdirection

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and throwing off to the side,

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instead, what I choose to focus on is Frank,

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to be able to play with the Frank inside your head,

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your little security guard,

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and get you, instead of focusing on your external senses,

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just to go internal for a second.

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So if I ask you to access a memory, like, what is that,

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what just happened, do you have a wallet,

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do you have an American Express in your wallet?

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And when I do that, your Frank turns around.

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He accesses the file. He has to rewind the tape.

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And what's interesting is, he can't rewind the tape

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as the same time that he's trying to process new data.

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Now, I mean, this sounds like a good theory,

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but I could talk for a long time and tell you lots of things,

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and they may be true, a portion of them,

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but I think it's better if I tried to show that to you hear live.

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So if I come down, I'm going to do a little bit of shopping.

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Just hold still where you are.

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Hello, how are you. It's lovely to see you.

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You did a wonderful job onstage.

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You have a lovely watch. That doesn't come off very well.

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Do you have your ring as well?

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Good. Just taking inventory. You're like a buffeet.

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It's hard to tell where to start, there's so many great things.

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Hi, how are you. Good to see you.

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Hi, sir, could you stand up for me, please? Just right where you are.

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Oh, you're married, you follow directions well.

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That's nice to meet you, sir.

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You don't have a lot inside your pockets. Anything down by the pocket over here?

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Hopefully so. Have a seat. There you go. You're doing well.

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Hi, sir, how are you?

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Good to see you, sir. You have a ring, a watch.

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Do you have a wallet on you?

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Well, we'll find one for you.

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Come on up this way, Joe.

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Give Joe a round of applause.

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Come on up Joe. Let's play a game.

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(Applause)

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Pardon me.

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I don't think I need this clicker anymore. You can have that.

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Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

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Come on up to the stage, Joe. Let's play a little game.

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Now do you have anything in your front pockets?

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Money. All right, let's try that.

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Can you stand right over this way for me?

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Turn around and, let's see,

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if I give you something that belongs to me,

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this is just something, I have a poker chip.

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Hold out your hand for me. Watch it kind of closely.

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Now this is a task for you to focus on.

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Now you have your money in your front pocket here?

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Good. I'm not going to actually put my hand your pocket.

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I'm not ready for that kind of commitment.

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One time a guy had a hole in his pocket,

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and that was rather traumatizing for me.

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I was looking for his wallet and he gave me his phone number.

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It was a big miscommunication.

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So let's do this simply. Squeeze your hand.

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Squeeze it tight. Do you feel the poker chip in your hand?

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Would you be surprised if I could take it out of your hand.

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Say yes. Good.

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Open your hand. Thank you very much.

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I'll cheat if you give me a chance.

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Make it harder for me. Just use your hand.

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Grab my wrist, but squeeze, squeeze firm.

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Did you see it go?

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Joe: No.
Apollo Robbins: No, it's not here. Open your hand.

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See, while we're focused on the hand,

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it's sitting on your shoulder right now.

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Go ahead and take it off.

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Now, let's try that again.

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Hold your hand out flat. Open it up all the way.

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Put your hand up a little bit higher, but watch it closer, Joe.

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See, if I did it slowly, it'd be back on your shoulder.

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(Laughter)

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Joe, we're going to keep doing this til you catch it.

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You're going to get it eventually. I have faith in you.

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Squeeze firm. You're human, you're not slow.

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It's back on your shoulder.

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You were focused on your hand. That's why you were distracted.

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While you were watching this, I couldn't quite get your watch off. It was difficult.

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Yet you had something inside your front pocket.

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Do you remember what it was?

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Joe: Money.

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AR: Check your pocket. See if it's still there. Is it still there?

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Oh, that's where it was. Go ahead and put it away.

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We're just shopping. This trick's more about the timing, really.

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I'm going to push it inside your hand.

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Put your other hand on top for me, would you?

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It's amazingly obvious now, isn't it.

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It looks a lot like the watch I was wearing, doesn't it?

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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Joe: That's pretty good. That's pretty good.
AR: Oh, thanks.

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But it's only a start. Let's try it again, a little bit differently.

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Hold your hands together. Put your other hand on top.

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Now if you're watching this little token,

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this obviously has become a little target. It's like a red herring.

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If we watch this kind of close, it looks like it goes away.

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It's not back on your shoulder.

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It falls out of the air, lands right back in the hand.

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Did you see it go?

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Yeah, it's funny. We've got a little guy. He's union. He works up there all day.

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If I did it slowly, if it goes straightaway,

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it lands down in your pocket. I believe is it in this pocket, sir?

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No, don't reach in your pocket. That's a different show.

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So... that's range strange. They have shots for that.

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Can I show them what that is? It's rather bizarre. Is this yours, sir?

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I have no idea how that works. We'll just send that over there.

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That's great. I need help with this one.

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Step over this way for me.

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Now don't run away. You had something down by your pants pocket.

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I was checking mine. I couldn't find everything,

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but I noticed you had something here.

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Can I feel the outside of your pocket for a moment?

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Down here I noticed this. Is this something of yours, sir?

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Is this? I have no idea. That's shrimp.

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Joe: Yeah. I'm saving it for later.

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AR: You've entertained all of these people in a wonderful way,

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better than you know.

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So we'd love to give you this lovely watch as a gift.

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Hopefully it matches his taste.

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But also, we have a couple of other things,

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a little bit of a cash, and then we have a few other things.

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These all belong to you,

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along with a big round of applause from all your friends.

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Joe, thank you very much.

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(Applause)

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So, same question I asked you before,

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but this time you don't have to close your eyes.

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What am I wearing?

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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Attention is a powerful thing.

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Like I said, it shapes your reality.

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So, I guess I'd like to pose that question to you.

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If you could control somebody's attention,

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what would you do with it?

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Thank you.

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(Applause)