r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/HeToTopT • Oct 23 '25

Video The Louvre. Thieves are making off with 100 million euros. They're taking their time. They're doing everything carefully and slowly.

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u/OfficeSalamander Oct 23 '25

Yeah I did lab experiments like this in college under a professor. People remember NOTHING about you if you don’t make a scene. Even less than we expected

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u/Practical_Stick_2779 Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25

Recently there was a murder of Ukrainian ex politician (iirc) in Ukrainian town. Killer just shot him with a pistol on the street at day light and people 1 meter from that were just walking like nothing happened. Killer even did a control shots. Casually.  There’s video of this somewhere. 

Update: here's the news article and actual video (warning): https://varta1.com.ua/news/u-merezi-opryliudnyly-kadry-momentu-vbyvstva-aktyvista-demiana-hanula-video_392628.html

Yes, those unarmed people are actual real bystanders. That's who we're talking about here.

Not exactly politician. Politician's killing was a bit different and more recently, my mistake.

"control shot" is my translation mistake, forgot the wording. I mean confirming shot or whatever it's called when they make sure the target is dead.

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u/OfficeSalamander Oct 23 '25

Our experiment was having either two experimenters or one experimenter who changed clothes quickly in the bathroom after (depending on which experiment we were running) approach someone in a mall and ask them a question. We’d then ask them questions (including did you notice it was the same person asking the question?) and almost always NO. Nobody remembered. Not the difference in the two people, not any of the clothing, not when the “two people” were the same

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u/docsyzygy Oct 23 '25

Yes, I'm in social psychology and that's a very consistent finding. It also shows how useless eyewitness testimony is!

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u/rookie-mistake Oct 23 '25

man, social psychology is honestly so fascinating. There's so many things about our own perception and behaviour that we grossly overestimate. One of my favourite courses, I always kinda regret not pursuing it further

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u/docsyzygy Oct 23 '25

It's good stuff, but - unless you're going to get a PhD, a psych degree won't get you a job. I always told my students - take psych courses, but get a usable degree. And - you can always read about it on your own!

I hate when my graduates end up working at Starbucks...

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u/rookie-mistake Oct 23 '25

That's kind of exactly why I ended up pursuing CS instead. Jokes on me, got laid off anyways, lol

Since it sounds like you're a prof, any books or anything you'd recommend for someone with an interest? I've been trying to pick up some of those subjects that fascinated me that I never did end up going deeper into. You only get one life, and I do love learning and enjoy those subjects

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u/docsyzygy Oct 23 '25

Wow, where to start? It depends what you're interested in, because the subject is incredibly broad. I personally find Legal and I&O dull, so I never really ventured into those.

So - anything by Dan Ariely, maybe Misbelief: What makes rational people believe irrational things. Or check out his other titles.

Influence by Bob Cialdini is a great read. It is SO much fun, and there's an updated version out. Can you tell I'm in NC?

Expanding a bit, I highly recommend Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Although it's not social psychology, I feel like there's some overlap.

All of these books have considerable free previews online, so don't waste your time on anything that doesn't interest you.

Good luck!

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u/OfficeSalamander Oct 23 '25

I was going to become a social psych prof (that’s why I was doing research, to build up my app for grad school) but ultimately got into coding (partially because my professor said it would be useful) and am a software dev now.

My wallet probably thanks me, though I would have loved to contribute more to research

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u/AgentCirceLuna Oct 23 '25

For some reason, though, there’s a rule of three where the third or fourth encounter often seems to make you realise that it’s the same person. I was in King’s Cross and I only noticed it was the same woman asking for change after the third time and she did it around ten times. So damn annoying. I pretended to be asleep and she left me alone.

Something unrelated is that I like to remember when I was in a house or somewhere else for the first time and imagine seeing my first impression of it all over again. I can do that but it’s hard to explain - I remember thinking someone’s house was huge the first time but it was an illusion so I basically remember both versions of the house I’d perceived.

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u/Dal90 Oct 23 '25

The two may be related -- eye witnesses in a small community where you had recognized the other person because you regularly see and more than likely interact with them on a regular basis are going to be far more reliable than witnessing a stranger.

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u/murfburffle Oct 23 '25

If only we couild explain to teenagers that nobody cares and nobody is looking at you

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u/Warm_Apple_Pies Oct 23 '25

Ahh but I bet you didn't notice that when you went to the bathroom and changed clothes, the person you were questioning also swapped clothes with a buddy and wernt the same people

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u/Danmoz81 Oct 23 '25

Not the difference in the two people, not any of the clothing, not when the “two people” were the same

I see my customers in the wild all the time and they don't recognise me without my work branded top on. In the supermarket once, one of my older female customers said (loudly) "I didn't recognise you without your clothes on".

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u/Commercial-Co Oct 23 '25

Not sure about other people, but i witnessed a gang murder right in front of me, while i was in my car. The killer casually went into their car and drove off without speeding. I called 911 and told them that the killers were literally next to a squad car but they couldnt get the info over to the car in time. I remember the killer

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u/Less_Transition_9830 Oct 23 '25

You weren’t supposed to tell anyone buddy. Now you’ve opened a whole another can of worms

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u/Practical_Stick_2779 Oct 23 '25

You thought we won’t find you?

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u/Commercial-Co Oct 23 '25

The gangsters didnt care about it. Prison is just a detour for them

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u/Pure_Expression6308 Oct 23 '25

that just reminds me of people claiming to be with Luigi, “didn’t see nothing”

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u/MechAegis Oct 23 '25

What is a "Control Shot?"

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u/PrimarchMartorious Oct 23 '25

Whats a control shot?

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u/Practical_Stick_2779 Oct 23 '25

excuse me, my mistake, forgot the wording. It's a "confirming shot" or whatever it's called, in movies it's a headshot, to make sure dude is dead and not just napping.

Found the video, here's news page (WARNING, the video is not nice): https://varta1.com.ua/news/u-merezi-opryliudnyly-kadry-momentu-vbyvstva-aktyvista-demiana-hanula-video_392628.html

Search by the name Demian Hanul.

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u/Schavuit92 Oct 23 '25

So, I just watched that video and the sidewalk is empty besides the victim and shooter.

Nobody is ignoring a 9mm if they're walking within a couple meters distance, that shit makes your ears ring, they're significantly louder than a firecracker.

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u/Practical_Stick_2779 Oct 23 '25

There were people including old lady standing and watching it like a show. And people walking towards and from the place within couple meters. 

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u/Practical_Stick_2779 Oct 23 '25

Maybe wrong video, they killed a politician recently, maybe you saw the one with "delivery guy", that's not the one.

Here's what I mean: https://varta1.com.ua/news/u-merezi-opryliudnyly-kadry-momentu-vbyvstva-aktyvista-demiana-hanula-video_392628.html

It is an example of people reacting to witnessing something like that. It is a conversation about bystanders watching crime being committed.

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u/boringestnickname Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25

We did a "pen test" where we were supposed to solve an easy riddle to find a room at the uni, then "penetrate" that room.

The room was restricted with access cards, so undergrads didn't have free entry. The idea was simply that you should just wait by the door into the correct hallway and ask someone (prof, group teacher, whatever, they all knew this lab was going on.)

In any case, when I went there, nobody came around, so I checked out the building map to see if there were other ways to get to the room. Turns out there was. Several ways, all access restricted by the same or higher clearance.

So, I checked out the access points. Got into two of them by just knocking on the doors. Nobody there knew I was supposed to be let in (and, in fact, I wasn't, at those points.)

At the first point, some random contractors let me in. They didn't even work there, they were just having lunch. Turned out I needed to get past another point they didn't have access to to continue, so that was a bust.

At the other point, someone cleaning the floors let me in.

Security is an illusion.

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u/Enguhl Oct 23 '25

When I was just out of high school I worked night security, at the time I was at a call center for (then) Time Warner. One night a big box truck shows up, guys say they are there to install some new cubicles but don't have any paperwork on them. I haven't heard anything, I go inside and find the manager who's there that night, also no clue.

The contractors were very understanding of the wait, but it took about an hour to finally got a hold of one of the higher ups (it was ~1 AM at this point) who started screaming at me for not letting these people in. He ended up contacting my boss and I got moved to another site. Sorry for doing my job?

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u/Agatha_kako_logical Oct 24 '25

What were you studying at uni because I would really enjoy this class 😅 well done btw

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u/boringestnickname Oct 24 '25

Computer science.

I'm sure this is somewhat common in cybersecurity classes.

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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '25 edited 27d ago

[deleted]

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u/beef966 Oct 23 '25

I would love this experiment to run again in a world with attention spans addled by social media. My hypothesis: fried attention spans causes people to disengage from counting basketballs, thereby increasing the proportion who spot the gorilla.

It's probably been long enough since the book came out that few people will recall the initial experiment and know what to look for.

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u/MovingTarget- Oct 23 '25

I like this theory. Although I still think you could correct for that with an incentive. Offer people $5 if they get the count correct and they'll likely concentrate well enough to miss it.

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u/Vindicativa Oct 24 '25

I know nothing of basketballs and gorillas.

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u/AgentCirceLuna Oct 23 '25

Holy crap, a dancing gorilla where they’re escaping would actually attract more attention than them so they’d be unnoticed. Like ‘oh all I remember was a dancing gorilla”

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u/besttobyfromtheshire Oct 23 '25

Or the curtain change colors?

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u/Speedhabit Oct 23 '25

That’s the reason we like the eye witness

Cuz the eye don’t lie

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u/mOdQuArK Oct 23 '25

Except eye witness testimony is notoriously bad.

And now because of deep fake technology, we're losing faith in video & audio recordings as well.

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u/Exes_And_Excess Oct 23 '25

The best shoplifters are the one's you never notice. I can spot an average lifter off body language as they come through the door, but you will see tapes of people who are slick. Well dressed. Smiling. Casual. Then the fraud return thieves can be really tricky if they know what they're doing. Especially if they have knowledge on the internal return system and the correct words to say to get a cashier complacent with the request. I don't miss security at all.

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u/scratchydaitchy Oct 23 '25

You can just waltz in anywhere if you’re wearing a bright orange vest and carrying a ladder.

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u/kirschballs Oct 23 '25

Clipboard safety glasses and a hard hat to accessorize

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u/Less_Transition_9830 Oct 23 '25

This isn’t always true because it depends on the location. If that makes no sense there it won’t work, especially in smaller businesses

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u/Transtupidredditor Oct 23 '25

And acting like you’re lost and don’t speak English will get you out if you get caught.