Podcast Summary
Transforming homes into sources of income and connection: Our homes can generate income and foster connections through sharing them with others via platforms like Airbnb. Emotions and genes play a role in shaping our beliefs, even when they're wrong, and smart people aren't immune.
Our homes can be more than just personal spaces; they can also be sources of income and opportunities to connect with others. As the hosts shared, they transformed their home into an Airbnb not only to earn extra money but also to share their world with travelers. They took inspiration from their experiences as guests and aimed to make their guests feel welcomed and cherished. Our genes may influence our beliefs, but the deeper part is how we feel about being a part of a group. Our emotions and genes meld together to form our moral tribes, whether they are political, religious, or cultural. Michael Shermer, the guest on the show, delved into the science behind belief formation and persistence, even when they are wrong. He also discussed how smart people can be susceptible to faulty beliefs. The episode provides insights into the complexities of human beliefs and the role of emotions and genetics in shaping them.
Advocating for Science Education and Critical Thinking with Michael Shermer: Michael Shermer, a skeptic and science educator, promotes evidence-based thinking and debunks unexplained phenomena through various media platforms.
Michael Shermer, the publisher of Skeptic Magazine and director of the Skeptic Society, is a strong advocate for science education and critical thinking. He uses various media platforms, including TV appearances and writing for Scientific American, to spread the message that many unexplained phenomena have rational explanations. Shermer distinguishes between skepticism and cynicism, emphasizing that skepticism is an evidence-based approach to claims, not a dismissive attitude. He became interested in science during his college years, but it wasn't until later that he fully embraced skepticism, which he views as a scientific way of thinking. The democratization of media has given skeptics and pro-science individuals more channels to promote their ideas and challenge unfounded beliefs.
The sixties spiritualist movement fueled the popularity of the paranormal: The sixties spiritualist movement led to an increase in paranormal beliefs and pseudosciences, but the modern skeptical movement emerged to challenge these claims using scientific methods.
The paranormal gained significant popularity during the sixties spiritualist movement, as people turned away from mainstream religion and explored alternative beliefs. This period saw a rise in pseudosciences and the paranormal, with researchers investigating phenomena like Kirlian photography, auras, chi power, acupuncture, and acupressure. However, the modern skeptical movement emerged when scientists began to question the validity of this research. One famous case was Uri Geller, a spoon-bending Israeli psychic who claimed to have psychic powers. His fame and media presence made his claims seem credible to many, but skeptics like James Randi and Ray Hyman exposed his tricks as magic. This marked the beginning of the modern skeptical movement, which aimed to debunk paranormal claims using scientific methods. Despite the movement's progress, belief in the paranormal persists, and new areas of focus, like alternative medicine, continue to fuel controversy.
Confirmation Bias: Our Brains Favor Evidence that Supports Our Beliefs: Confirmation bias can lead us to ignore evidence against our beliefs and remember only the evidence that supports them. The scientific process helps mitigate this bias by requiring researchers to be objective and report results accurately.
Our brains are wired to favor information that confirms our beliefs, a phenomenon known as confirmation bias. This can lead us to ignore evidence that contradicts our beliefs and remember only the evidence that supports them. This is not unique to individuals who believe in the supernatural, but is a common cognitive bias that affects everyone, including scientists. The scientific process, however, is designed to mitigate the effects of confirmation bias by requiring researchers to be blinded to the conditions of their experiments and to report their results objectively. In the case of psychics or oil finders, controlled experiments have shown that their abilities do not exceed what can be explained by chance. Despite this, people often remember the hits and forget the misses, leading them to continue believing in these abilities. As skeptics and scientists, it is important for us to be aware of our own biases and to consider all evidence, both the hits and the misses, in order to arrive at accurate conclusions.
Exploring the art of cold reading: Cold reading relies on the audience's own thoughts and forgetfulness, with the performer providing suggestions and steering the conversation, making it seem like psychic insights.
During a cold reading, a performer starts with broad, positive comments to engage the audience and then refines the reading by focusing on common areas of concern such as love, health, money, and career. The performer uses open-ended questions and observable details to gather information, which the audience forgets they shared, making the reader seem psychic. The real magic lies in the audience's own mind, as they believe they are revealing personal information without realizing it. The performer's role is to provide suggestions and steer the conversation, while the audience assumes they are receiving accurate insights. This technique, as described in Ian Roland's "The Full Fact Books of Cold Reading," involves hundreds of potential statements that can resonate with various individuals. The power of cold reading lies in the audience's willingness to believe and engage in the experience.
Desire for certainty leads to confirmation bias: People tend to seek out information that confirms their beliefs and avoid information that challenges them, even intelligent and educated individuals are not immune to this bias, leading to politicization of issues and closed-mindedness.
Our brains have a strong desire for certainty and confirmation of our beliefs, leading us to filter information based on our existing beliefs and biases. This can be seen in political and religious beliefs, where people often seek out sources that confirm their beliefs and avoid those that challenge them. Even intelligent and educated individuals are not immune to this bias. The politicization of issues like global warming is a result of this confirmation bias, with people's beliefs driving their interpretation of the science rather than the other way around. Smart people may be better at rationalizing their beliefs, but this does not make them less likely to believe in nonsensical things. It's important to be aware of this bias and make an effort to seek out diverse perspectives and challenge our own beliefs in order to maintain an open and objective mindset.
Beliefs as experiments in governance and safety: Exploring beliefs as experiments helps us determine which systems work best for our societies, by looking at data and measurable differences between different beliefs
Our beliefs, whether they are about scientific theories or political ideologies, can be seen as experiments in governance and safety. From evolution and gravity to democracy and gun control, we have been running these experiments for centuries to determine which systems work best for our societies. Beliefs form through subconscious patterns we identify in sensory data, seeking causality for survival and flourishing reasons. Some beliefs, like gravity, are universally accepted, while others, like gun control, remain contentious. However, by looking at data and measurable differences between different systems, we can make informed decisions about which beliefs serve us best. Ultimately, our beliefs shape our worldview and our actions, and it's essential to approach them with an open mind and a willingness to adapt as new information emerges.
Confirmation Bias: Shaping Our Beliefs Unconsciously: Confirmation bias causes us to filter out contradictory info & pay more attention to confirming info, shaping our beliefs. Awareness & diverse perspectives can help break the cycle.
Our beliefs are shaped by the information we process unconsciously and the patterns we recognize, often reinforcing our existing beliefs through a phenomenon called confirmation bias. This bias causes us to filter out information that contradicts our beliefs and pay more attention to information that confirms them, creating a cycle that can be difficult to break. This process is influenced by various factors such as family background, education, and environmental influences. It's important to be aware of this bias and make an effort to expose ourselves to diverse perspectives, as college campuses provide an opportunity for open debate and the exchange of ideas. However, efforts to suppress "bad ideas" or "hate speech" on college campuses can be problematic as it can limit the free exchange of ideas and hinder our ability to understand different perspectives. Ultimately, recognizing and understanding confirmation bias can help us make more informed decisions and broaden our understanding of the world.
Understanding our biases and the importance of questioning beliefs: Recognize the limitations of our beliefs, question and challenge them, and continually strive to expand our knowledge and understanding.
Our brains are wired to believe and seek confirmation for our beliefs, which can lead to biases such as confirmation bias and cherry picking. The antidote to this is science and critical thinking. However, even science, with its rigorous methods, can have limitations as it may overlook alternative explanations or variables. This is why it's important to question and challenge our beliefs, whether they stem from scientific research or personal superstitions. Our brains are naturally inclined to make connections and assume patterns, even if they're not always accurate. Superstitions, for instance, are not necessarily flaws in the brain but rather the brain's attempt to make sense of the world by connecting seemingly unrelated events. It's essential to recognize the limitations of our beliefs and continually strive to expand our knowledge and understanding.
Our brains make quick judgments and assumptions: Our brains are wired to make snap decisions, but this can sometimes lead to false positives and missed opportunities
Our brains have evolved to make quick judgments and assumptions, even if they're not always accurate. This is due to the fact that dangerous predators don't wait around for organisms to collect more data, so a snap decision is necessary for survival. This propensity to assume connections between things, even when they don't exist, is called a type 1 error or a false positive. While harmless in many cases, it can be costly if we fail to recognize a real danger. Our emotions, which evolved to direct behavior, play a significant role in these quick decisions. While emotions can sometimes lead us astray, they also help us make decisions efficiently and effectively, allowing us to function in the complex social world we inhabit.
Genes and Moral Tribes: Our genes influence our emotional responses and alignment with moral and ideological groups, contributing to our sense of belonging and shaping our political, religious, and cultural affiliations
Our genetic makeup and emotional responses contribute to our alignment with certain moral and ideological groups, often referred to as moral tribes. These groups provide us with a sense of belonging, meaning, and purpose. Our genes influence our personality temperament, leading us to prefer certain worldviews that resonate with us emotionally. This emotional connection is strengthened by the release of dopamine when we encounter information that confirms our beliefs. The result is a powerful bond that shapes our political, religious, and cultural affiliations. It's important to remember that this isn't genetic determinism, but rather an explanation of how our biology interacts with our environment and influences our beliefs and behaviors. Understanding this connection can help us appreciate the complexities of human behavior and the diversity of perspectives that exist in our world.
The limitations of past scientific research and the importance of staying open to new perspectives: Acknowledging the limitations of past research and being aware of biases can help us stay open to new scientific discoveries and perspectives
The progress of scientific research and understanding of human behavior is not a linear process, and what seems significant today may be overshadowed by new discoveries in the future. The speaker acknowledges the limitations of previous research, such as operant conditioning and cognitive neuroscience, and the challenge of identifying current research that may appear strange or misguided from a future perspective. He also emphasizes the influence of biases on our beliefs and the difficulty of recognizing them in ourselves. When it comes to changing people's minds about scientific issues, the speaker suggests that appealing to their tribal or psychological beliefs may be more effective than presenting facts alone. He references the famous study by Leon Festinger on a UFO cult, where members doubled down on their beliefs despite evidence to the contrary. Overall, the speaker underscores the importance of being aware of our biases and open to new perspectives in the ever-evolving landscape of scientific discovery.
Effective communication in addressing controversial topics: Start with a non-threatening approach, provide resources, and focus on actions to overcome doubts and fears.
Effective communication is crucial when addressing controversial topics, especially those that challenge people's deeply held beliefs. Michael Shermer, a skeptic and science writer, emphasized the importance of starting with a non-threatening approach and providing resources for those interested in learning more. The Skeptics movement, represented by skeptic.com, offers a wealth of information on various topics, including global warming and evolution. Kobe Bryant, a legendary basketball player, also shared insights on the mental process of focusing on actions rather than letting doubts and fears get in the way of success. The Jordan Harbinger Show offers a conversation with Kobe Bryant on this topic, as well as other valuable insights from various experts. Overall, the episode underscores the importance of understanding the science behind belief and effective communication in addressing complex issues.
Building strong relationships takes effort and preparation: Proactively build relationships using systems, tiny habits, and software. Connect with great people before they're needed and apply what you learn to live what you listen.
Building strong relationships requires proactive effort and preparation. Jordan Harbinger encourages listeners to connect with great people and manage relationships using systems, tiny habits, and software through his free 6-minute networking course at jordanharbinger.com/course. He emphasizes the importance of building relationships before they're needed. The guests on the show often contribute to the course, creating a community of smart individuals. Harbinger also encourages listeners to share the show with those interested in the science of belief and to apply what they learn to live what they listen. In a lighter moment, he also shared a tip to use Clorox products for a powerful clean and to appreciate the unique offerings in life, like a delicious Mcrispy chicken sandwich. Overall, the message is to be proactive, build relationships, and enjoy the journey.