Thinking Clearly

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In this age of fake news, alternative facts and information overload, this podcast offers cognitive self-defense strategies and topics that will help you understand and master critical thinking in forming your claims beliefs and opinions.

Bob Froehlich-Retired Chemist, Counselor, Psychology Professor and Julia Minton-Technology Consultant


    • Apr 22, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • monthly NEW EPISODES
    • 57m AVG DURATION
    • 105 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Thinking Clearly

    #105-The Epidemic of Political Lying and the Importance of Fact-checking-with guest Bill Adair

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2025 58:42


    Early in his career our guest, Bill Adair, worked as a journalist, author, and later founded the fact-checking organization Politifact. And in 2013 he accepted a position at Duke University as the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy, where he now teaches journalism in the Sanford School of Public Policy and directs the Duke Reporters' Lab. We discuss the negative effects of lying in politics, different types of lies, why people fall for lies, how fact-checking works, the response of journalists to political lying, and his recent book: Beyond the Big Lie-The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy.  

    #104-The Importance of Trust in Information and Institutions-revisited

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2025 59:15


    Untrue information is called misinformation, and intentionally spread misinformation is known as disinformation. When one uses disinformation to further one's own agenda, especially in the political realm, then the information has been weaponized. And the continued acceleration of weaponized information further erodes our trust in experts, media, and other institutional sources of accurate information, and severely damages the social trust required for a healthy democracy. The “code red” conditions now prevalent in America motivate us to revisit an episode of Thinking Clearly (from May of 2022), which explores the "Nature of Trust", and to include new, updated comments from the present.

    #103-Worldview-The Elephant in the Room of Critical Thinking-updated for 2025

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2025 58:44


    This episode looks back to the previous episode: # 22- Worldview-The Elephant in the Room of Critical Thinking, and updates it from the perspective of 2025.

    #102-Worldviews and How they Guide our Beliefs-with guest Annick de Witt

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2025 59:12


    This episode takes a deep dive into the concept of “worldview”, based on the research and work done by Annick de Witt: researcher, writer, teacher, and founder of the organization Worldview Journeys. Topics discussed include: conceptualizing the idea of worldview; how our worldview might affect our beliefs and behaviors; examples of types of worldviews; methods of uncovering our own worldview and the worldviews of others we communicate with; how an awareness of worldviews can help us examine our own beliefs while also improving our dialogues with others.

    #101-The Virtues of Evidence-Based Policy Making-with guest Robert MacCoun

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 25, 2024 59:06


    Even though they affect all of our lives, most of us know almost nothing about how policies are made, especially policy made by our state and federal governments. So, Julia and Bob learned a lot from this conversation with guest: Robert MacCoun, Law Professor at Stanford University. With a Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degree in Psychology, professor MacCoun has long worked at the nexus between law and psychology and specialized in bringing evidence-based policy making into policy decisions, including controversial areas such as military policy debates about allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the US military and drug policy. His book, "Drug War Heresies" is considered a landmark scholarly analysis of the drug legalization debate.

    #100-Foundations and Future of Critical Thinking-with guest Kevin deLaplante

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2024 59:03


    This discussion with philosopher, former tenured professor at Iowa State University, and now independent critical thinking educator and consultant, Kevin deLaplante, revisits the importance and benefits of critical thinking in today's post-truth world, reviews the basic skills involved with critical thinking and understanding of human cognitive vulnerabilities, while also introducing more recent ideas about human cognition like the Predictive Processing Model and Extended Mind Theory. The resources for learning and practicing critical thinking, found at Kevin's Argument Ninja Dojo membership program, are also discussed.

    #99-How internet influencers, algorithms and crowds are altering our politics, our society and our very relationship to reality-with guest Renée DiResta.mp3

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2024 59:07


    Researcher, author and former Research Manager of the Stanford Internet Observatory, Renée DiResta, discusses how numerous internet-savvy individuals (influencers) are causing a profound shift in power and influence over our politics, beliefs and behavior, as outlined in her recent book: Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality. She also discusses: what can be done to mitigate the negative effects of this influence while harnessing the power of the internet to bring us together to thrive as we reestablish the trust and cooperation needed to meet our future global challenges.

    #98-The Nature of Curiosity and it's implications for Critical Thinking-with guest Jacqueline Gottlieb

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2024 59:13


    Professor Jacqueline Gottlieb, Principal Investigator at Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute and former head of the Research Cluster on Curiosity at Columbia University's Center for Science and Society, brings her research experience and deep thinking about the human brain's higher cognitive functions—including decision making, memory, and attention—to discuss that wonderful and invaluable human capability that we call curiosity.  

    #97-How to Navigate the Challenges of Living in a Divided Nation-with guest Tania Israel

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2024 59:15


    Second time Thinking Clearly guest, Tania Israel, Professor of Counseling Psychology at UC Santa Barbara, guides us through how to overcome the toxic effects of consuming politicized news and social media in this current, highly polarized American environment and discusses how to more effectively communicate with people holding opposing views to ours. Professor Israel is the author of the recently published book: Facing the Fracture: How to Navigate the Challenges of Living in a Divided Nation.

    #96-Using practices and tools from science while also learning how to weave together facts and values to rebuild trust and cooperation-with guest Robert MacCoun

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 23, 2024 58:54


    Calling on his experience in evidence-based policy making, teaching a course at UC Berkeley called Sense and Sensibility and Science, and coauthoring the book Third Millennium Thinking-Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense, social scientist and law Professor at Stanford University, Robert MacCoun, discusses: how to avoid failure modes when making decisions; using practices, and tools of science to make better decisions in our every-day-lives; the value of probabilistic thinking; how to weave facts and values together; and how to reboot trust and develop a new collaborative approach to our shared problems and opportunities.

    #95-Critical Thinking and the Nature of Human Consciousness-with guest Anil Seth

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2024 59:20


    Research and current theories about the nature of human consciousness are explored with guest Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. Topics include: how human consciousness can be thought of as controlled hallucination, the relationship of human consciousness to critical thinking, how thinking of the brain as a "prediction machine" affects how we form beliefs, and a number of other topics from Professor Seth's international best selling book: Being You-a New Science of Consciousness.  Dr. Seth has co-authored close to 200 journal publications, and is a regular contributor to the New Scientist, The Guardian, and BBC.

    #94-The Essence of Critical Thinking and Demonstrations of How to Have Civil Dialogues

    Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2024 56:57


    Thinking Clearly hosts Bob and Julia review their definition of critical thinking, discuss how doing a show about critical thinking has changed them, and do several demonstrations of best practices (using the LAP-EFI method) for having productive, civil dialogues with people who have different views than yours.

    #93-Critical Thinking Fundamentals and how to find truth in all the noise-with guest Dr. Seema Yasmin

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2024 59:18


    Dr. Seema Yasmin, professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, discusses: information disorder and its treatment, common techniques used for pushing lies, the use of narrative in communicating, the history and current state of journalism in America, how to best consume the news and mitigate the negative effects of social media, and a wide variety of other topics. Dr. Yasmin has investigated disease outbreaks for the CDC, worked as a CNN medical analyst and authored many books including: What the Fact? - Finding Truth in all the Noise.

    #92-Election 2024 Preparation 4-Teaching Critical Thinking to American Military Future Leaders-with Guest Stephen Gerras

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2024 59:01


    In this fourth in a series of Thinking Clearly episodes—offered in the hope of fostering critical thinking and civil dialogue as we approach our 2024 Presidential Election in America—we are replaying core episodes with those themes. In this edition, you'll hear a previous episode that we recorded with Colonel (retired) Steve Gerras, who teaches critical thinking at the Army War College, sharing his advocacy and passion for critical thinking, and his experiences of teaching it to future military leaders. Professor Gerras has a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Pennsylvania State University and has authored and coauthored many publications including the widely circulated: “Lying to Ourselves: Dishonesty in the Army Profession.”

    #91-How artificial intelligence can help us understand human cognition-with guest Leslie Valiant

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2024 58:50


    The development of artificial intelligence naturally leads us to deeply explore what intelligence, reasoning and knowledge are; the processes required to achieve them; and the implications that has for human thought, belief and decision making—all topics that have been deeply thought about by our guest, Leslie Valiant, Harvard University Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. Professor Valiant is the winner of the 2010 A.M. Turing Award and author of three books, including his recent book: The Importance of Being Educable-a New Theory of Human Uniqueness.

    #90-Election 2024 Preparation 3-Hidden Tribes and the Perception Gap-with guest Stephen Hawkins

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2024 59:18


    In this third in a series of Thinking Clearly episodes—offered in the hope of fostering critical thinking and civil dialogue as we approach our 2024 presidential election in America—we are replaying core episodes with those themes. In this edition, you'll hear an episode that we recorded with Stephen Hawkins, director of research at More in Common—a non-profit organization focused on understanding the forces driving us apart and working to bring us together to tackle our shared challenges.

    #89-Election 2024 Preparation 2-Political Depolarization and the Work of Braver Angels-with guest Ciaran O'Connor

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2023 58:51


    As we head into the US 2024 Presidential Election with the knowledge that America is now as polarized as it has been since the civil war and that this amount of polarization drastically impairs our democratic process, we revisit the organization Braver Angels, which was founded "to bring Americans together to bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic." From his experience as head of marketing, digital, and communications strategy for Braver Angels, Ciaran O'Connor, discusses political depolarization, the work of Braver Angels and what people who use the variety of free services offered at: braverangels.org can experience and use to improve their conversations and help heal our democratic republic.

    #88-What's new in teaching critical thinking and advances in the mental immunity approach for combating misinformation with guest Melanie Trecek-King

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2023 58:50


    Second time guest, Professor Melanie Trecek-King, updates us on what's new in teaching critical thinking and new on her website resources at: Thinking Is Power. She also discusses Inoculation Theory as a foundation for recent work being done to combat mis- and disinformation by the Mental Immunity Project

    #87-Election 2024 Preparation—The Importance of Critical Thinking to Democracy, with guest Timothy Redmond

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2023 59:23


    In the spirit of promoting citizenship in our democracy, during this time as the 2024 presidential election begins to ramp up, every once in a while Julia and I will replay one of our previous episodes—an episode that reminds us of how important critical thinking is to our democracy. So, here's the first of those: Thinking Clearly episode #79: How critical thinking can make us better citizens and cure our ailing democracy-with guest Timothy Redmond.

    #86-Disinformation-its creators, amplifiers and believers-and how to fight for truth and protect democracy with guest Lee McIntyre

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2023 59:10


    Disinformation and its danger to our social fabric and democracy are the focus of this discussion with philosopher, educator and author, Lee McIntyre. Lee holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and is currently a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. His latest book: Disinformation-How to fight for Truth and Protect Democracy is hot off the press.  

    #85-Critical thinking in health and medicine and the importance of critical thinking in pandemics and other national and international health crises

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2023 59:15


    Jonathan Howard, MD joins hosts Bob and Julia to discuss the role of critical thinking in health and medicine and how critical thinking is especially important in crisis management such as the COVID pandemic. Dr. Howard is currently an associate professor of neurology and psychiatry at New York University, Langone Health and the Chief of Neurology at Bellevue Hospital. And two of his books, Cognitive Errors and Diagnostic Mistakes and We Want Them Infected: How the failed quest for herd immunity led doctors to embrace the anti-vaccine movement and blinded Americans to the threat of COVID, provide foundation for this conversation.

    # 84-Top pick episode after seven years-Johnathan Rauch and the Constitution of Knowledge

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2023 59:18


    On this the 84th episode of Thinking Clearly, hosts Bob and Julia got the seven year itch to look back and pick one episode that they thought deserved replay in its entirety. Their pick encapsulates one of the main themes of Thinking Clearly and focuses on the importance of having a universal process, accessible by all, for reliably assessing reality and forming beliefs. Bob and Julia call that process “critical thinking” but their guest: journalist, deep thinker, and author, Jonathan Rauch, calls it The Constitution of Knowledge. This episode originally aired mid-pandemic on Oct. 7, 2021.

    #83-Bob and Julia discuss Artificial Intelligence

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2023 58:30


    Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been impacting our lives in a variety of ways including our web searches, social medial experiences and even our telephone conversations with customer service representatives, and that impact will likely be accelerating at an exponential rate. This episode invites listeners to begin preparing for this changing environment as hosts Bob and Julia discuss the foundational knowledge for understanding current AI models, the relationship between AI and critical thinking, and the risks and benefits of this advancing technology. Also included is a demonstration of the large language model ChatGPT.

    #82-Teaching and Learning Critical Thinking and Recognizing Unsubstantiated Claims-with guest Alan Bensley

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2023 59:13


    Alan Bensley, Psychology Professor and author of two textbooks on critical thinking: “Critical Thinking in Psychology: a unified skills approach” and “Critical Thinking in Psychology and Everyday Life”—from Frostburg State University—joins Bob and Julia to discuss: the most effective ways to teach critical thinking and the biggest challenges students face in mastering those skills. Other topics include: measuring effectiveness of classroom critical thinking instruction; how to identify unsubstantiated claims; and a focus on unsubstantiated conspiracy theories and what we know about the people who are prone to believing and promoting them.

    #81-Actively Open-minded Thinking-with guest Emlen Metz

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2023 58:54


    Psychologist Emlen Metz discusses her research on Actively Open-minded Thinking and her current work at the Lawrence Hall of Science at U.C. Berkeley developing curricula on scientific-critical-thinking for high school and undergraduate classrooms and her work on a project called Public Editor, described as: “a massive effort to clean up the news.”

    #80- Virtues, Benefits and Joy of Critical Thinking and Science Appreciation-with Guy Harrison

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2023 59:22


    Journalist, author and public speaker Guy Harrison— a longtime advocate for skepticism, critical thinking and science appreciation—discusses the virtues, benefits and joy of critical thinking and how understanding core ideas in science can add value to all of our lives. Guy has authored eight books, including: Think Before You Like: Social Media's Effect on the Brain and the Tools You Need to Navigate Your Newsfeed and At Least Know This: Essential Science to Enhance Your Life.

    #79-How critical thinking can make us better citizens and cure our ailing democracy-with guest Timothy Redmond

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2023 59:07


    Thinking Clearly guest, political scientist, author and educator Timothy Redmond, discusses the toxic effects of extreme political tribalism on our democratic institutions and offers hope and solutions—as detailed in his recent book: Political Tribalism in America: How Hyper-Partisanship Dumbs Down Democracy and How to Fix It.

    #78-Celebrating Skilled Intuition-a second look at Naturalistic Decision Making with guest Gary Klein

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 5, 2023 59:07


    Psychologist, author and entrepreneur, Gary Klein, joins us a second time to take a closer look at experts, skilled intuition and many of the other topics associated with Naturalistic Decision Making—a process of understanding how people make decisions and perform cognitively complex functions in demanding, real-world situations.

    #77-The journey from the world of magicians and psychics to becoming a skeptical activist who promotes science and critical thinking-with guest Mark Edward

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2022 59:05


    Mark Edward tells the story of his journey from the world of magicians and psychics to becoming a skeptical activist who promotes science and critical thinking. As a skilled practitioner of mentalism, Mark has authored a number of books on magic, mentalism, and séance production, including his revealing book: Psychic Blues. And, on this episode of Thinking Clearly, Mark will do a demonstration, with Julia, of how a mentalist-psychic reading is done.

    #76-How mathematics can improve our lives and make us better critical thinkers-with guest John Allen Paulos

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2022 59:04


    The conjunction fallacy, base rate neglect and the Monty Hall Problem are some of the topics discussed as guest John Allen Paulos from Temple University offers up a host of essential critical thinking tools relating to understanding probability and other statistical concepts. Professor Paulos authored the widely acclaimed book, Innumeracy-Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences and will give listeners a preview of his new book: Who's Counting?: Uniting Numbers and Narratives with Stories from Pop Culture, Puzzles, Politics, and More.

    #75-How to Get Real by Mastering and Using Critical Thinking-with guest Jon Guy

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2022 58:59


    Under very unusual conditions, Jon Guy made a transition from one who never thought much about skepticism, the nature of science and critical thinking to learning and mastering those topics and writing the excellent and comprehensive book: Think Straight—An Owner's Manual for the Mind—described on the Rowman & Littlefield web page as: “a tour de force through the science and philosophy of the human mind.” In this episode, a variety of important tools for improving our thinking are discussed as Jon emphasizes that improving the quality of our thinking, improves the accuracy of our representation of reality, which leads to better decisions and a higher quality of life.

    #74-Teaching and Learning Critical Thinking—back to the basics—with Melanie Trecek-King

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 2, 2022 58:31


    Our guest, Melanie Trecek-King, Associate Professor of Biology at Massasoit Community College, became dissatisfied with students mindlessly memorizing facts about biology, so she designed a general-education science course that puts less emphasis on facts and more on science and information literacy and critical thinking. Her commitment to these topics also prompted her to create the wonderful teaching and resource-filled website, which can be found on-line at: Thinking Is Power.

    #73-Back to the Nuts and Bolts of Critical Thinking-with guest James Zimring

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 2, 2022 59:41


    Dr. James Zimring, professor, medical researcher and author of the books What Science Is And How It Works and Partial Truths-How Fractions Distort Our Thinking, describes how the form of a simple fraction can be used as a conceptual framework to understand errors that we commonly make in our thinking. Many aspects of critical thinking are discussed, including: heuristics and biases, the advantages and disadvantages of our human tendency to perceive patterns, the primacy effect, the power of disconfirmation and what we can do to minimize errors in our thinking.

    #72-Trust and the Semantic Pointer Theory of Cognition-with Paul Thagard

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2022 59:22


    Dr. Paul Thagard is our guest on this final episode of a three-part series on The Nature of Trust. Paul is a philosopher, cognitive scientist, author and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy from the University of Waterloo. As described in his 3-book Treatise on Mind and Society, he discusses the relatively new approach in cognitive science, called the Semantic Pointer Theory of Cognition and explains how trust can be viewed through that lens. The discussion also includes some of his perspectives on misinformation that will be found in his forthcoming book: Misinformation: How information works, breaks, and mends.

    #71-The Nature of Trust in this age of Polarization-with guest Kevin Vallier

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2022 58:56


    This second edition in a three-part series on The Nature of Trust features guest Dr. Kevin Vallier, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University and author of the books: Must Politics Be War? and Trust in a Polarized Age. Topics discussed include the importance of social and political trust in our liberal democracy, the relationship between trust and political polarization, possible causes of falling trust levels, how our declining trust levels might be strengthened, the role of cultural change in trust and polarization, whether there are fatal flaws in our democratic system, and the relationship of trust to critical thinking.

    #70-The Nature of Trust

    Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2022 59:03


    In this episode of Thinking Clearly, Bob and Julia introduce the issue of trust. They examine what it is, give a sampling of some of the extensive research on trust, present results from survey information on trust and discuss how trust relates to critical thinking. In this episode, you'll also hear a clip from recent recordings Bob made, with a sampling of people talking about what they trust and what they don't trust.

    #69-Strategies for Constructive Conversations-with guest Tania Israel

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2022 58:22


    Thinking Clearly guest, Dr. Tania Israel, Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara—author of the book: Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide—discusses the importance of (and how to learn) crucial communication and relationship building skills, including reflective listening and well-crafted questions, to more effectively connect with those whose beliefs are different from ours.

    #68-Hidden Tribes and the Perception Gap-with guest Stephen Hawkins

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2022 58:19


    Guest Stephen Hawkins is the director of research at More in Common—a non-profit organization focused on understanding the forces driving us apart and working to bring us together to tackle our shared challenges. The discussion focuses on research findings revealing a number of hidden political “tribes” in America, the lack of accuracy with which opposing partisan groups perceive each other, and ideas for what needs to happen to bring Americans together to tackle our shared challenges.

    #67-Street Epistemology-with guest Anthony Magnabosco

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 4, 2022 59:04


    Street Epistemology is a conversational tool that helps people reflect on the quality of their reasons and the reliability of the methods they have used to form their deeply-held beliefs and to clarify the degree of confidence they have in those beliefs. Anthony Magnabosco, co founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Street Epistemology International, join Bob and Julia to discuss the benefits that come with learning and practicing the technique.

    #66-Political Depolarization and the Work of Braver Angels-with guest Ciaran O'Connor

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2022 57:32


    With the view that America is now as polarized as it has been since the civil war, and that this amount of polarization drastically impairs our democratic process, the organization Braver Angels was founded "to bring Americans together to bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic." From his experience as head of marketing, digital, and communications strategy for Braver Angels, Ciaran O'Connor discusses political depolarization, the work of Braver Angels, and what people who use the variety of programs offered by Braver Angels can experience and learn.

    #65-Considering Risks and Benefits of our Actions and Beliefs-with guest David Ropeik

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2021 59:01


    When making a judgment about what to do or believe—when there are risks involved—it becomes important to look at the consequences of our choices, and this involves accurately assessing both the risks and benefits of those choices. With the help of guest David Ropeik, who coined the term "perception gap" and has authored two books on the subject, Bob and Julia examine risk-benefit as a critical thinking tool.

    #64-Bob and Julia discuss perspectives to help understand dysfunction in the ability of people with opposing views to have productive dialogues

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2021 58:31


    Starting with a discussion of taking an evolutionary perspective and then briefly describing: Human Evolutionary History, Predictive Processing, The Dual Processing Model, Cultural Co-evolution, Group Polarization, Identity Protective Cognition, and the impact of Cultural Change on Polarization, the hosts conclude with thoughts about the COVID pandemic as a challenge to our ability to find common ground and work cooperatively toward common goals.

    #63- How Reality-Based Communities and the Constitution of Knowledge Can Help Turn Disagreement into Truth-with guest Jonathan Rauch

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2021 59:05


    As many of us search for ways to escape from this post-truth world and set foot on solid ground where we can trust each other to make legitimate arguments about our differing beliefs and strive together to find shared truths, Jonathan Rauch, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, offers a possible path forward. Jonathan is an experienced journalist, deep thinker and author of eight books and numerous articles on a wide variety of topics. His most recent book is: The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth.

    #62-How to Talk to a Science Denier-with guest Lee McIntyre

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2021 58:41


    As part of background research for his new book How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason, philosopher, educator, and author Lee McIntyre attended the 2018 Flat Earth International Conference in Denver Co. In this episode, Professor McIntyre discusses that experience, describes the nature of science denialism, and suggests what to do when we encounter it.

    science talk denver colorado flat earthers deniers lee mcintyre climate deniers science denier science denier conversations others who defy reason flat earth international conference
    #61-Teaching Critical Thinking to American Military Future Leaders-with Guest Stephen Gerras

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2021 58:48


    Colonel (retired) Steve Gerras teaches critical thinking at the Army War College. On this edition of Thinking Clearly, he shares his advocacy and passion for the subject, and his experiences of teaching it to future military leaders. Professor Gerras has a Masters Degree and PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Pennsylvania State University and has authored and coauthored many publications including the widely circulated: “Lying to Ourselves: Dishonesty in the Army Profession.”

    #60-The Attention Economy-with Guest Michael H. Goldhaber

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2021 56:13


    The term “attention economy” has become a buzzword in our current zeitgeist. But 30 to 40 years ago Michael Goldhaber, who has a PhD in physics coupled with a passionate 1960's brewed concern about social and political justice, began thinking and writing  about human attention as a scarce resource and made predictions about how the newly emerging internet would interact with our attention and eventually transition us to an attention economy. His early predictions were then rediscovered and described in a New York Times article published in Feb., 2021. Topics discussed in this episode include: the attention economy, how it contributes to misinformation and what we can all do can do to reduce the pollution in our information environments.

    #59-Deep Questions about Critical Thinking

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2021 55:54


    Hosts, Bob Froehlich and Julia Minton, review the Thinking Clearly definition (and longer description) of critical thinking and discuss the importance that genuine curiosity has to the critical thinking process. They then discuss a number of "deep questions" that have grown out of their background research from doing Thinking Clearly for almost five years. 

    #58-Exploring the New Science of Cognitive Immunology-with Guest Andy Norman

    Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2021 56:53


    With their guest Andy Norman, Bob and Julia discuss the idea of applying biomedical concepts such as infection, immunity, and inoculation to what happens when humans are exposed to invasive false, misleading and harmful ideas and beliefs. Andy Norman is the author of the recent book: Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think and the founder of CIRCE, The Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative.

    #57-Political Depolarization-How to Navigate Political Discussions with Friends and Family-with guest Bill Doherty

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2021 51:47


    Dr. Bill Doherty, professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, joins hosts Bob and Julia to discuss how to best manage those difficult political discussions with family and friends who have viewpoints sharply different from ours. Also discussed is the work of Braver Angels, an organization co-founded by Bill Doherty with a mission to: “bring Americans together to bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic.”

    #56-The Relationship of Group Identity to Critical Thinking-with Guest Amber Gaffney

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2021 57:18


    How do the groups that we belong to affect our feelings, beliefs and behavior? Can we really think critically about issues without being strongly influenced by the norms established by those groups? These and others questions are discussed with Professor Amber Gaffney from Humboldt State University.

    #55-How to Identify BS and When and How to Challenge It-with Guest Jevin West

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2021 57:31


    Jevin West, Associate Professor at the University of Washington and coauthor of the recent book: Calling Bullshit – the Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World, joins Bob and Julia to discuss the nature of BS, how it has changed with the emergence of the internet and social media, and when and how to challenge it. Other topics include: how to reestablish trust in information and the danger of “predatory publishing.”

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