Why the Rational Believe the Irrational (Michael Shermer)

The Michael Shermer Show # 303

Michael Shermer discusses his new book Conspiracy, out October 25, 2022. In Conspiracy Shermer:

• reviews and integrates evolutionary, psychological, social, cultural, political, and economic conditions that fuel conspiracy theories
• presents his own original three-tiered theoretical model of Proxy Conspiracism, Tribal Conspiracism, and Constructive Conspiracism
• classifies and systematizes conspiracy theories in order to tease apart their different causes (incl. JFK’s assassination, the 9/11 Truth movement, Pizzagate, QAnon, the Big Lie, Project MKULTRA, Operation Paperclip, and the perennial conspiracy theories surrounding UFOs)
• offers his Conspiracy Detection Kit on how to tell if a conspiracy theory is true, false, or undecidable
• and suggests how to talk to a conspiracy theorist.

You can order your copy on Amazon and Audible now.

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[mattm]

Ill be getting it. Problem is the people who need to read this book the most wont. They now think Micheal is in on 'it'. The danger and appeal of conspiracy theories is that they validate the believers world view regarding who's good, who's bad, who's the villian and who's the victim (always themsleves).

[BeammeupSpotty]

Nice!!!! Thanks for putting it together!!!

[nikolaosdimitriadis]

Congrats!! Added to my reading list! All the best

[jeffersonianideal]

One of the most sensibly straightforward observations about believing in controversial machinations was made by Libertarian Alliance founder Chris Tame. Mr. Tame said, "I am not interested in conspiracy theories. I am interested in the *facts* of conspiracies."

[nedbarry]

Finally, Michael Shermer has a new book.😃

[merlepatterson]

One could could also have misguided or ideological reasons for dismissing conspiracy theories which have a foundation in reasonability as well? Could be for political alignment rationales? Could be for religious (anti-religious) reasoning? There are many subjective variables which go into both creating and dismissing conspiracy theories.

[jeffersonianideal]

The antidote to groundless conspiracy beliefs is the Socratic method.

[jeffersonianideal]

9:09
Bonus chapter: How to Make Conspiracists Comfortable at Parties.

[Deep-Time-Capsules]

Sounds great. Will have to check it out. I especially like the last chapter idea, as I often struggle knowing what to say to those that believe in conspiracy theories. I've had many a conversations with people regarding their beliefs. A few more new tools for my Conspiracy Conversation Toolbox (CCT), may be helpful. Thanks.

[jankidwell]

Very timely topic. I'm recommending it to my Book Club in Pasadena. Also, my Library.

[NeilRieck]

Here is my two cents worth: (1) Humans have not changed much over the last 70, 000 years when fears about threats from the tribe over the hill were only seconded to fears from threats within our tribe. We certainly didn't think that our campfire might contribute to any existential threat. (2) But now we cave people use smart phones, smart televisions, computers and the (anti?) social media layer of the internet to propagate our fears to others. We collectively think we're so damned smart for developing this technology while ignoring the fact that it was developed by a very tiny number of us.

[prschuster]

There is a general distrust of authority, which is understandable regarding political leaders and profit hungry corporations. The problem occurs when legitimate authorities, like the scientific community, are blindly accused of grift. Climate change denial, anti-vaxxers, creationism and claims of a stolen election are especially irritating to me. My rule of thumb is to be smart about what authorities are credible, and how to tell whether politics, religion or economics skew the reliability of these authorities. With creationists, it's religion; with anti-vaxxers it's the irrational assumption that all immunologists in the CDC are under the thumb of Big Pharma; with climate change it's the false belief that climate science is controlled by a liberal agenda (as if the petroleum industry is without culpability). Then there is the obvious political affiliation of the stolen election conspiracy.

[whiskersmcmeow]

Don’t do the dmt plz. Your brain will change

[stephenmcgrail]

Before I buy this book I'd like to know how much your theory/ideas about why rational human beings might believe such things may have evolved since your first book? If your ideas are largely the same then why buy the new book...

[freddylubin]

"Where did you read "You're in on it."

[enisten]

Because they're not rational! LOL

[greenblue]

On the plus side of being a conspiracy theorist is no myocarditis .

[neilcates]

I was a little disappointed because I thought you were going to interview the author of this book.

[bryandraughn]

I wish it was culturally prioritized that individuals would learn about how to evaluate information. It seems like people are convinced that they are born with these skills and that no more effective methods have ever been constructed. If the individual doesn't bother to learn these skills they will continue to believe whatever is thrown at them. It's frustrating to say the least.

[bon]

I'm trying to understand why some credible people believed in the Ivermectin research. I don't know enough about methodology or the history of the authors.