Episode Details

Daniel wrote in with a puzzle: he's Jewish, he believes in God, he's not especially observant — and he still can't bring himself to say the word "death" out loud. He knows Judaism doesn't forbid it. He knows it's just a bad-omen reflex. So why does it bite so hard, and why do so many atheists nod along? This episode digs into what superstition actually is, how it differs from religion, and what the research says about whether the two rise and fall together. The answer is counterintuitive: the correlation is weak, and in plenty of samples it's negative. Along the way: lucky socks in professional sports, the measurable price discount on Japanese apartments numbered four, kids who won't drink from a clean glass a dead cockroach touched, and why the reflex to avoid dark subjects may be older than the self. Episode #087067 — open it directly at myweirdprompts.com/087067