Send us a textApril discusses the importance of questions and the difference between questions designed to gain knowledge and questions used to manipulate. Plus she says the word "bullshit" several times so she has to label this episode "explicit." Oh well. Show Notes:Kids and questions: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/curious-children-questions-parenting-mum-dad-google-answers-inquisitive-argos-toddlers-chad-valley-tots-town-a8089821.htmlhttps://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/importance-kids-asking-questions/ Guy who used his dead mom's ballot to vote for Trump:https://news.yahoo.com/officials-finally-found-case-dead-225210492.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAM0A4VXI1H4LuNUipKSSuf7V_DVFGlNRgL8-pd1LeyPDhkaqX5KS_lr7OOo4ME78IKjwhXfzxYe2A__xUp9j8X-uxHFcMs_LFIs5U19hXhpDcuIXFePv7ivYp5ooE5T8ZLiaV24pO5wsozTmnpB8fSHv3s_qlM_i0ECwTu_vt7ekMore examples of people who AREN'T Democrats using their dead relatives to vote for their favorite politicians:https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/another-gop-voter-caught-casting-ballot-dead-relative-n1276965Still more examples, debunking Fox news pundits who used them as "evidence" that the election was stolen:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/25/trump-team-fox-news-alleged-dead-voters-most-cases-were-either-debunked-or-actually-involved-republicans/Randy Rainbow is awesome: https://www.randyrainbow.com/A description of the way that “just asking questions” actually shifts the burden of proof: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Just_asking_questionsFinally, I return to a discussion of Brandolini’s law: http://ordrespontane.blogspot.com/2014/07/brandolinis-law.htmlFrank Sesno's book: https://www.amazon.com/Ask-More-Questions-Uncover-Solutions/dp/0814436714/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8The five legitimate questions to ask to determine if something is bullshit: https://www.fastcompany.com/3068589/how-to-fine-tune-your-bullshit-detectorLiving Room Conversations stuff:https://209859-635214-1-raikfcquaxqncofqfm.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/NEW-Immigration.pdfhttps://livingroomconversations.org/

Send us a textYes, she's back!!! In this episode, April discusses "algorithm literacy" as a critical part of overall media literacy. It's important to understand that algorithms, while they are a necessary and useful part of the online universe, also play a big role in online polarization and the normalization of  extreme viewpoints.  The more you know about them, the more effectively you can control what you see online. Episode 25 Show Notes:Here's the article discussing the results of the study by Project Information Literacy:https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-01-16-report-colleges-must-teach-algorithm-literacy-to-help-students-navigate-internetPew Research Center's discussion of the need for algorithm literacy:https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/02/08/theme-7-the-need-grows-for-algorithmic-literacy-transparency-and-oversight/The Algorithm and Data Literacy Project, a great source for kids to learn about algorithms (you'll find the YouTube video I mentioned in the podcast here):https://algorithmliteracy.org/A LibGuides page from the University of Singapore's website on the topic of algorithm literacy: https://libguides.nus.edu.sg/digitalliteracy/algorithmPaper by Harvard professors  Cetina Presuel and Martinez Sierra on the problems caused by social media platforms' reluctance to see themselves as news publishers and distributors:http://www.scielo.org.pe/pdf/rcudep/v18n2/2227-1465-rcudep-18-02-261.pdfPBS Nova investigates the spread of radical extremism on social media through algorithms:https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/radical-ideas-social-media-algorithms/Troubling information about the ways that Russian troll farms used Facebook algorithms to spread disinformation before the 2020 election:https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/16/1035851/facebook-troll-farms-report-us-2020-election/Financial Times op-ed advocating for more accountability of social media algorithms:https://www.ft.com/content/39d69f80-5266-4e22-965f-efbc19d2e776Some helpful articles with tips and tricks about how individuals can limit the influence of algorithms:From Mashable: https://mashable.com/article/how-to-avoid-algorithms-facebook-youtube-twitter-instagramFrom LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-reduce-effect-algorithms-your-behavior-worldview-guide-mikko/From BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-38769996

Send us a textOk, I'm back from running my half-marathon and, as promised, here are the sources I used in this episode:Some great ideas about how to avoid giving up on your resolutions:https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2020/02/11/this-is-the-month-when-new-years-resolutions-fail-heres-how-to-save-them/?sh=d96f742272f0Here's a great article from psychologist Elizabeth Lombardo:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/better-perfect/201901/the-number-one-mistake-people-make-while-making-resolutionsAnother great article about the ways the perfectionist fallacy can hinder our progress:https://medium.com/syndicate-post/the-perfectionist-fallacy-and-how-to-overcome-it-c8cef7fc6c9Blogger and self-professed recovering perfectionist Vix Anderton gives some great advice about resolutions:https://medium.com/the-recovering-perfectionist/a-perfectionists-guide-to-new-year-s-resolutions-8de847986589Harvard Business Review's analysis of studies on perfectionism:https://hbr.org/2018/12/the-pros-and-cons-of-perfectionism-according-to-researchIf you want to start running, here's a great program called Couch to 5K:https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/wfhtn/documents/5k_training_program_running.pdf

Send us a textIn this episode, April can't decide whether to pronounce "deductive" as "DEE-duk-tiv" or "de-DUK-tive," so she just switches back and forth between them to see if anyone notices. Episode 23 Show Notes:Why Sherlock Holmes is more an inductive than a deductive kind of guy:https://medium.com/@daniellekkincaid/the-sherlock-holmes-conundrum-or-the-difference-between-deductive-and-inductive-reasoning-ec1eb2686112http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/5306/1/Holmes.pdf Some good basic information about deductive reasoning:https://www.criticalthinking.com/articles/induction-vs.-deductionhttp://www2.fairmontstate.edu/users/ffidura/cogpsy/cpthnkng.htmlhttps://www.livescience.com/21569-deduction-vs-induction.htmlhttps://examples.yourdictionary.com/deductive-reasoning-examples.htmlJesse Martin’s LinkedIn blogpost about the importance of deductive reasoning:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/science-learning-deductive-reasoning-jesse-martinMy evidence (for the example syllogism) that Japanese has a homogeneous population and everyone there speaks Japanese:https://www.studycountry.com/guide/JP-language.htm#:~:text=Ethnically%2C%20culturally%20and%20linguistically%2C%20Japan,Japanese%20as%20their%20first%20language.My support for the claim (in my other example) that not all people who are in favor of public health options are socialists:https://morningconsult.com/2021/03/24/medicare-for-all-public-option-polling/ Job websites recognize the necessity for good deductive reasoning skills in the workplace:https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/improve-deductive-reasoning-skillshttps://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/deductive-skillshttps://www.glassdoor.com/blog/guide/deductive-reasoning/ The research that shows most of us can do deductive reasoning:https://digest.bps.org.uk/2008/12/11/sudoku-puzzles-show-were-all-capable-of-deductive-reasoning/ What’s going on in your brain when you do puzzles? Read these:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-workout/200904/puzzles-and-the-brainhttps://www.rd.com/article/what-happens-to-your-brain-when-do-a-puzzle/ Some fun/frustrating logic puzzles:https://parade.com/970343/parade/logic-puzzle

Send us a textIn this episode April discusses the hasty generalization fallacy, the weak analogy fallacy, and the mistaken appeal to authority. Can you tell she really likes to talk about fallacies? Episode 22 Show Notes:A brief description of deductive and inductive reasoning, in case you wondered:https://www.livescience.com/21569-deduction-vs-induction.htmlSome good examples of hasty generalization fallacies:https://www.bettercognitions.com/articles/hasty-generalization-fallacy-examples/I don't know about the "Captain Bligh" reference, but this Time article does explain what happened to Captain Holly Graf:http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1969602,00.htmlThis "Cranky Uncle" is actually a research fellow in climate science at the Climate Change Communication Research Hub at Monash University in Australia. I got a couple of good examples of bad arguments from this page.https://crankyuncle.com/critical-thinking-about-covid-false-analogies-about-cupcakes-and-obesity/A good source for an explanation of bad arguments:https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/searchThe Vicks 44 commercial with a very hot fake doctor:https://youtu.be/ts0XG6qDIcoThe article with a pretty good analogical argument for universal healthcare in the US:https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2019/universal-health-coverage-eight-countries?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8eOLBhC1ARIsAOzx5cG8JkvppAGHwJ6fvyGgP8W3i9Il6DTEbsvoAh5EHgWlxVr91h9Yk7QaAg7yEALw_wcBA good explanation of when you should rely on experts:https://fallacyinlogic.com/appeal-to-authority-fallacy/Pew Research data about how many scientists agree on evolution:https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/02/11/darwin-day/A careful reading of this will help you understand the division over how many scientists think global warming is a thing:https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/isnt-there-lot-disagreement-among-climate-scientists-about-global-warming AMA's data showing the vast majority of physicians are vaccinated against Covid:https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-survey-shows-over-96-doctors-fully-vaccinated-against-covid-19The Forbes article discussing the controversy surrounding the actual percentage of climate scientist who agree that climate change is largely caused by humans:https://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/2016/12/14/fact-checking-the-97-consensus-on-anthropogenic-climate-change/?sh=3b6d352a1157

Send us a textIn this episode, April discusses the false dilemma fallacy, in which a person attempts to persuade to you to choose between a limited number of options when there are actually more options available. Episode 21 Show Notes:Here's a great definition and discussion of the false dilemma fallacy:https://examples.yourdictionary.com/false-dilemma-fallacy-examples.htmlAnother good explanation of this fallacy:https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/black-or-whiteI admit to taking an example or two from this very good article about this fallacy:https://www.developgoodhabits.com/either-or-fallacy/This article talks about Dan Price, who lowered his own salary in order to raise the salaries of his employee (thus refuting the idea that prices must be raised to pay for wage increases):https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/369908A very detailed discussion of the ways that politicians have used the false dilemma fallacy to frame the Covid-19 debate:https://www.boisestate.edu/bluereview/covid-19-donald-trump-and-the-false-dilemma-fallacy/An interesting opinion piece about the dangers of the false dilemma fallacy from the Deseret News (it's a Mormon-based newspaper, so don't be surprised by the religious references) by Sharlee Glenn, a Mormon writer who founded the nonprofit Mormon Women For Ethical Government:https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2020/5/15/21258954/covid-19-pandemic-false-dichotomy-paradox-politics-equilibriumThese two journal articles show the rates of Covid in areas without mask mandates: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249891https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2781283

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Send us a textIn this episode, April discusses the importance of experts in society and why it's so hard for some people to trust them. And, as promised, she put lots of articles in the show notes below, because she wants you to trust her. Episode 20 Show NotesFor science information that's both educational and entertaining, subscribe to Phil Plait's astronomy blog:https://www.syfy.com/tags/bad-astronomyDaniel Newman's article about expertise is focused more towards marketing, but still applies:https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2014/04/22/experts-may-have-influence-but-what-makes-an-expert/?sh=6a6f846212c8Here's the NPR article about Idaho lawmakers calling their public health officials elitists:https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/politics-government/2020-08-10/idaho-lawmaker-listening-to-experts-is-an-elitist-approach-to-coronavirus-restrictionsA great article from the Christian Science Monitor about our worsening anti-intellectualism and distrust of experts:https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2018/0827/Who-made-you-an-expert-Is-America-s-distrust-of-elites-becoming-more-toxicJacques Peretti's excellent discussion of how "elite" became a bad word:https://qz.com/1237582/how-elite-became-a-bad-word/Some articles discussing the factors that play a role in whether/how much individuals trust science:https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/do-you-trust-science-these-five-factors-play-big-rolehttps://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/12/key-findings-about-americans-confidence-in-science-and-their-views-on-scientists-role-in-society/Gleb Tsipursky's article about distrust in science:https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/dis-trust-in-science/Fascinating paper about anti-intellectualism in America:https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/zQnndNgGgDkpWwavHMnA/fullArticles about the Dunning Kruger effect and covid conspiracy theories: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/29966822https://www.sciencedirect.com/sdfe/pdf/download/eid/1-s2.0-S0277953618303964/first-page-pdfA really good paper (that I didn't have time to discuss) outlining some ways that public health experts might get more people to trust them:https://kiej.georgetown.edu/trust-experts-and-covid-19-special-issue/Maria Baghramian's blog post about expertise:https://jerichochambers.com/trust-in-experts-why-and-why-not/Tom Nichols on expertise and why it's important

Send us a textIn this episode, April explains what skepticism is (and what it is NOT). She also discusses its importance in the scientific method, and shows how it can help you "trust the science." She also confesses that she is one of those annoying people who looks up stuff on Google to prove their spouses wrong.Episode 19 Show Notes:Richard Popkin's Britannica article on skepticism:https://www.britannica.com/topic/skepticismA great discussion explaining why scientists must also be skeptics:http://www.ces.fau.edu/nasa/introduction/scientific-inquiry/why-must-scientists-be-skeptics.phpAn excellent discussion of skepticism by Skeptoid podcast host Brian Dunning (and btw if you're not already listening to Skeptoid, you should!):https://skeptoid.com/skeptic.phpA short history of skepticism from the Stanford University website:https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-ancient/How do researchers conduct literature reviews to find out what is known (and unknown) about a topic? Here, read this:https://impact.griffith.edu.au/known_and_unknown/Here's the blog of one of those really good science writer/journalists explaining skepticism and science:https://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-skeptic/These are the science websites I mentioned in the episode:https://www.scientificamerican.com/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/https://www.aaas.org/The top scientists on Twitter:https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/09/top-50-science-stars-twitterA couple of good articles I didn't reference in the podcast but are definitely relevant to the topic:https://orbitermag.com/how-to-be-a-true-skeptic/https://fishthinkers.wordpress.com/2017/03/29/5-free-ways-around-the-great-paywall-of-academia/

Send us a textOver the next three episodes (she only meant to do two episodes on the topic but it turned out she needed three!), April explains the connection between trust and critical thinking. In Part I, she discusses the importance of interpersonal trust, why it's so necessary, what can go wrong when we trust, and ways to avoid putting our trust in the wrong people. And she uses both "who do you trust (because it just seems right)" and "whom do you trust (because it's probably grammatically correct)" in the episode. Hey, she's not an English teacher, okay? Episode 18 Show NotesDr. Paul Thagard's definition of trust:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hot-thought/201810/what-is-trustAn explanation of semantic pointers:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332837961_The_Semantic_Pointer_Theory_of_Emotion_Integrating_Physiology_Appraisal_and_ConstructionI'm going to guess that about 80% of the posts here are legit (so take what you read with a grain of salt). Anyway, if even half of them are true, it's still a tragedy:https://www.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/Just a few of Bernie Madoff's more famous victims:https://www.biography.com/news/bernie-madoff-famous-victimsResearch that shows we trust people who think like we do, and distrust those who don't:https://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/the-mere-liking-effect-why-you-trust-people-who-are-like-youWe also think the people who look like us are more trustworthy:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131107094406.htm#:~:text=When%20a%20person%20is%20deemed,according%20to%20a%20new%20study.&text=FULL%20STORY-,When%20a%20person%20is%20deemed%20trustworthy%2C%20we%20perceive%20that%20person's,study%20published%20in%20Psychological%20ScienceMarsh and Brigg's research on trust and forgiveness:https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-84800-356-9_2Author, consultant, and business founder Charles Green gives some advice about determining whom to trust:https://www.forbes.com/sites/trustedadvisor/2012/01/03/how-can-you-know-whom-to-trust/?sh=1decb7ca141e Psychologist Melanie Greenburg also has some good advice about trusting people:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201411/5-ways-decide-who-you-can-trust