The Importance of Intellectual Humility

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The post truth era has sort of always been there in a way. A lot of what we believed 100 years ago as a people, we now look at us completely insane. You know, when my grandparents were born, there were colored water fountains. In addition to all of this, the internet is in its infancy. And no civilization and society has ever had information like this.

There was a time when Peter McIndoe might see you on the street and ask: have you ever seen a baby pigeon? If you said no, he’d probably grin and say, of course you haven’t, because birds are actually spy drones created by the US government – and they emerge “fully adult” from “the factory.” Peter McIndoe peddled a crazy idea – that all birds are drones created and monitored by the U.S. government. As ridiculous (and hilarious) as this sounds, Peter’s conspiracy theory that “Birds Aren’t Real” gained a huge following. In this episode, Peter discusses why he’s used the framework of a conspiracy theory to explore the "us-versus-them" mentality that is so pervasive in us humans. He also shares what he witnessed as he took his performance across the globe, and why he finds it more important than ever that we talk to each other with empathy even in the most absurd situations. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts