Baba Brinkman - You Can't See Me lyrics

The blind stares of a million pairs of third eyes Lookin' hard but they don't realize That they will never see Reality Who am I? I ain't nothin' but a tour guide Usin' science like an x-ray to see into your mind I'm a voracious reader and a ruthless questioner So if you hate the way I see things, don't shoot the messenger! But I'm not gonna lie, I get a personal thrill Whenever I see science get popularized So no, I'm not objective; good thing science Has a something called a "method" that we can use to cross-reference And acquire knowledge that's really authentic That's how we know the solar system is heliocentric And that's how we know Charles Darwin's theory was right And every living creature is connected through the tree of life Yeah, welcome to the future baby, a time when science Is even illuminating the roots of human behaviour So why do fish swim well and birds fly well? For the same reason human beings lie to themselves You can't see me – which means you can't clock me You can't tell which parts of my signal are costly You can't see me – which means you can't test me Your cheater detection instincts can't detect me You can't see me – I'm the invisible gorilla The blind spot in your vision that your mind has to fill up You can't see me – but if you can't see me Just imagine what else you can't see So just close your eyes when you listen to rap And you'll find a microcosm of the human mental map Everything from costly signals to kin selection 'Cause face it, you can't see your motives with introspection That's simply how the human mind has been designed That's why my mom thinks that I'm the greatest rapper alive That's evolution – it's genetic nepotism And yes, rap is a s**ually-selected exhibition That's why rappers are so obsessed with fornicating Maybe high-status males just prefer short-term mating And if you don't think status is real, just think back To the last time you had a rejection, how did it feel? Whether a job application or a chat with the person next to you Having status is having people say 'yes' to you So how do I get you to say 'yes' to me as a rap guide? Should I get a PhD or swing more to the gangster side? Yeah, you can't see me – so just close your eyes And let my identity be a total surprise So you can't see me – yeah I'm jamming the signal Who cares what I look like? Don't be so judgmental You can't see me – and what if I claimed That I was from the streets, just tryin' to get outta the game? You can't see me – and what if I said That I just freestyle all these lyrics off the top of my head? You can't see me, so you can't quite say that I'm lyin' But your mind is calculating to decide if it's worth replyin' And if you call me a liar, that's 'strong reciprocity' Altruistic punishment, sacrificing to stop a cheat And if you claim to believe, that's an early adoption And you get to earn respect if I turn out to be awesome See, every time we actively choose, status accrues And every choice is a trust that others have a chance to abuse And that's why we inhabit the world of cheater detection And that's why costly signaling is naturally selected 'Cause every organism only perceives what it needs For survival and reproduction, like ultraviolet for bees And sonar for bats, there's so much we can't see But the one thing we have evolved to catch is cheats 'Cause people act like cheats to advance their genes When means the one place I can't turn my gaze is: back at me You can't see me – or maybe you can, hell I might as well be talkin' to my damn self When I say you can't see me – so to the whole human race You can pray and meditate until you're blue in the face But you still can't see me – call me "human nature" Without using evolution as an illuminator You can't see me – it's an act of defiance An alliance between rap and rationalism 'Cause only science can see me