Michael Shermer - Why Do People Believe in Fake Conspiracy Theories? | STM Podcast #149

On episode 149, we welcome Michael Shermer to discuss why people believe in conspiracy theories; focusing on the evolutionary perspective: better to be safe than sorry, the proxy: that they’re symbols to, or natural inferences from, more fundamental beliefs, the tribal: they further unite us with our communities; how they’re maintained through cognitive biases; Leon’s past conspiratorial mindset and his beliefs about global conspiracies; real conspiracies and why they’re more likely to be caused by few people and have a narrow goal/effect; 2Pac’s murder and why we struggle with accepting that celebrities can be killed randomly; the real conspiracy that fostered World War I; how to effectively talk to conspiracy theorists; the difficulty of debunking theories that explain every major political event with one fundamental cause; and why and how wars and international conflicts are reduced over time.

Michael Shermer is a science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things and The Believing Brain, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, The Moral Arc, and Giving the Devil His Due: Reflections of a Scientific Humanist. He’s the host of the largely popular podcast, The Michael Shermer Show, and his newest book, out on October 25, 2022 is called Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational. 

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