Podcasts about humanism initiative

On this special weekend podcast, John interviews Andy Norman who directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. He studies how ideologies short-circuit minds and corrupt moral understanding. Then he develops tools that help people think together in more fruitful ways. They discuss his new book: "Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think". Then, he speaks with Evgeny Afineevsky who is an Israeli-American film director, producer and cinematographer. In 2018, he received the Cinema for Peace Award for the most valuable documentary of the Year for his movie "Cries from Syria". They discuss the filming of his latest documentary "Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom". See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

 Andy Norman, PhD, is the award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. His work has appeared in Scientific American, Psychology Today, Skeptic, Free Inquiry, and The Humanist. He has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, public radio, The BBC's Naked Scientist, and The Young Turks. His research illuminates the evolutionary origins of human reasoning, the norms that make dialogue fruitful, and the workings of the mind's immune system. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. He likes to help people develop immunity to bad ideas. Andy directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and is the founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative. About the Mental Immunity Project mentalimmunityproject.org About the Science of Cognitive Immunology cognitiveimmunology.net #cognitiveimmunology, #mentalimmunity, #AndyNorman

Andy Norman is the Founder of Mental Immunity Project (mentalimmunityproject.org), is the author of "Mental Immunity," and directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jake-newfield/support

On episode 180, we welcome Andy Norman to discuss the principles of mental immunity, how ideas spread like viruses, why critics of the paradigm believe the fear of widespread misinformation is another overblown moral panic, learning how to play role of devil's advocate effectively and ethically, how gurus and cult leaders attract their audience, whether we should debate fringe theorists, Alen's tendency to empathize with every perspective and how doing so hurts and helps him, if people like RFK Jr are genuine truth-seekers, and how reframing debates as dialogues helps foster collective inquiry and knowledge. Andy Norman teaches philosophy and directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also known for his guest appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience and the Michael Shermer Show. He is the author of "Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind Parasites and the Search for a Better Way to Think," available now. http://andynorman.org/ | Andy Norman | ► Website 1 | https://andynorman.org ► Website 2 | https://mentalimmunityproject.org ► Twitter | https://twitter.com/DrAndyNo ► Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/andynormanauthor ► Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/andynormanauthor ► Mental Immunity Book | https://amzn.to/3Y3M8Y5 Where you can find us: | Seize The Moment Podcast | ► Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/SeizeTheMoment ► Twitter | https://twitter.com/seize_podcast ► Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/seizethemoment ► TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@seizethemomentpodcast  

I grew up with very strong beliefs and I viewed being resolute and concrete in them as a strength. In our culture today we see this played out every moment of every day as the media pits one side against the other and everyone's belief as right or wrong, even to the point of the other side as being flat out evil. Social media isn't a place of consideration, but of unabashed opinionating. In this episode I'm with Andy Norman, a PhD who is the award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. His work has appeared in Scientific American, Psychology Today, Skeptic, Free Inquiry, and The Humanist. He has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, public radio, and The BBC's Naked Scientist. His research is on the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. Bottom line, Andy is striving to help people develop immunity to bad ideas. My focus is really on the harm we do to ourselves and others when we are so rigid in our beliefs we won't consider anyone who differs. Andy showcases how many, if not most of our beliefs, are more tied to our self-image than truth, and how this hurts us and everyone else. It's ok to have strong beliefs, but if you feel strong in them and it's not just to support your personal bias, then wouldn't you be strong enough to allow someone to explain their differing beliefs and actually seek to understand them? Even if you don't change your belief, you are showcasing it by being willing to understand another side. And in doing so, you'll help your own peace of mind and build better relationships. Andy directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and is the founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative. You can find him at andynorman.org. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

My guest today is Dr Andy Norman, who is the award-winning author of ‘Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think'. His research illuminates the evolutionary origins of human reasoning, the norms that make dialogue fruitful, and the workings of the mind's immune system. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. Currently, Andy directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and is the founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative.  Some of the topics we covered include: Andy's entry into philosophy The mind's ‘immune system' Definition of ‘mind parasites' Manipulation gone to scale Simple conspiracy vs complex reality The challenge of debating against conspiratorial thinking The incentives that fuel misinformation How to prevent mind infections Determining whether a belief is ‘reasonable' Evolutionary origins of our capacity to ‘reason' Dangers of confirmation bias Factors that make us vulnerable to ‘mind parasites' The dangers of hitching belief to identity Developing a ‘mind vaccine' The ‘New Socratic Method' During the show, Andy and I discussed a paper he wrote in response to Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber's book ‘The Enigma of Reason'. You can download that paper here. ----- If you like what you hear, please consider liking and reviewing the show wherever you get your pods. You can also support the show on our Patreon and Buy Me A Coffee page on the links below: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thevoicesofwar Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thevoicesofwar

Andy Norman (@drandyno) directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, is the founder of CIRCE, and is the award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. What We Discuss with Andy Norman: Like our bodies, our minds and cultures have immune systems, and they can break down under certain conditions. How the root cause of contemporary divisiveness is a compromise of these mental and cultural immune systems. What it takes for certain ideologies to weaken our mental and cultural immune systems. Why, if you want to effectively persuade others, you must also show your willingness to be persuadable. How you can inoculate your mind (and help others protect themselves) against divisive ideologies to build the mental rigidity to withstand their influence. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/590 Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Guest Andy Norman is the award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. He has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, The BBC's Naked Scientist and The Young Turks. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division and directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and is the founder of CIRCE the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative.    A Viking Dog Production VikingDogEntertainment.com Open Highway, Viking Dog merch and more! Also help raise money for wolf rescue! - TheVikingDogStore.com https://www.patreon.com/theopenhighway  JOIN THE VIKING DOG MAILING LIST

During this episode, Andy Norman presents the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative (CIRCE) and his work on cognitive immunology, which studies the mind's resistance to bad ideas. After describing how the name of his organization was inspired by Circe, the goddess who helped Odysseus avoid the temptations of the siren's song, Andy discusses mental immunity, how epidemics of irrationality occur, and how present cultural conditions exacerbate the spread of bad ideas.  Link to full show notes and resources https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-68 Guest Bio: Andy Norman is the author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. His research illuminates the evolutionary origins of human reasoning, the norms that make dialogue fruitful, and the workings of the mind's immune system. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. He is also Founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative. Andy Norman, PhD, is the award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. His work has appeared in Scientific American, Psychology Today, Skeptic, Free Inquiry, and The Humanist. He has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, public radio, The BBC's Naked Scientist, and The Young Turks. His research illuminates the evolutionary origins of human reasoning, the norms that make dialogue fruitful, and the workings of the mind's immune system. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. He likes to help people develop immunity to bad ideas.  Andy directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and is the founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative.  About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

On episode 104, we welcome back philosopher Andy Norman to discuss how we can protect ourselves from infectious ideas and mind parasites, the Socratic system of rational inquiry and why it's the most effective truth detector, how people become conspiracy thinkers, anti-vaxx sentiment and the importance of challenging it by doubting the doubters, how skepticism becomes extreme and useless when we question everything, the political divide and our different standards for accepting propositions, Andy's appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience and how Joe became a more mature thinker over the years, and how Alex Jones admittedly manipulates his audience. Andy Norman teaches philosophy and directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also known for his guest appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience and the Michael Shermer Show. He is the author of "Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind Parasites and the Search for a Better Way to Think," available now. http://andynorman.org/ Andy Norman | ► Website 1 | https://andynorman.org ► Website 2 | https://cognitiveimmunology.net ► Twitter | https://twitter.com/drandyno ► Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/andynormanauthor ► Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think | https://andynorman.org/mental-immunity Where you can find us: | Seize The Moment Podcast | ► Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/SeizeTheMoment ► Twitter | https://twitter.com/seize_podcast  ► Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/seizethemoment

As our bodies ward off disease, our minds are also poised to fight bad ideas. Andy Norman, director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the ways conspiracy theories can corrupt sound thinking – and how we can strengthen ourselves to fight back against bad ideas. His book is “Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think.”

Andy Norman teaches philosophy and directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of “Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind Parasites and the Search for a Better Way to Think,” available now. Check out his book at https://andynorman.org/***TIMESTAMPS***3:05 - Science behind mental immune systems and the idea of what is a ‘mind parasite' 12:05 - Mind Parasites and its connection with Cults such as the Rajneesh Cult and politics; good vs dangerous ideas19:00 - How to treat a mind parasite and the way to approach the strengthening of mental immunity; do you ever give up?28:45 - QAnon and the crazy-ness behind this group and how they formed and the mind parasite taking place35:00 - Socratic method and the ability to question an idea until it no longer makes sense41:50 - Why Andy made the book about mind parasites and learning about the science behind the mental immune system 51:00 - The concept of following the money and the corruption within institutions and the idea of “indoctrination” taking place~YouTube EPISODES & CLIPS:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyLKzv5fKxGmVQg3cMJJzyQ/videoshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_2mktRli1yyQ1mBNB_7PXg~Song provided by: Ooyy, Come 2gether

Aired: June 2, 2021 A special Sustain What episode with two scientists, a journalist and a songwriter offering ways to navigate turbulence, polarization and disinformation with the fewest regrets. Join Andy Revkin of Columbia's Climate School with Carnegie Mellon philosopher Andy Norman; solution-focused journalist Amanda Ripley; Columbia University psychologist and conflict dissector Peter Coleman, and songwriter and storyteller Reggie Harris. Send feedback and ideas for future shows: http://j.mp/sustainwhatfeedback Here's more on our guests: - Peter T. Coleman, a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University, will discuss lessons from his new book, “The Way Out - How to Overcome Toxic Polarization.” Coleman holds a joint appointment at Teachers College and the Earth Institute and directs two research centers. He is also the author of “Making Conflict Work: Harnessing the Power of Disagreement” (2014) and “The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts” (2011), among other books. He says “The Way Out” is “about why we are stuck in our current cultural riptide and what we can do to find our way out. It will explain how patterns of intractable polarization can and do change, and offer a set of principles and practices for navigating and healing the more difficult divides in your home, workplace and community.” Learn more: https://thewayoutofpolarization.com/ - Reggie Harris is a longtime folk singer and songwriter, storyteller and educator who has worked and sung for racial understanding, human rights and justice for decades. He'll speak about his experiences at the interface of love and hate, Black and White and maybe sing a song or two. He describes his new album, “On Solid Ground,” as a “call for personal and national grounding in the explosion of racial and civil unrest and the growing worldwide death spiral that was 2020.” Explore Harris's music, writing and activities: https://reggieharrismusic.com/ - Andy Norman teaches philosophy and directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. He says his focus is studying how ideologies short-circuit minds and corrupt moral understanding and developing tools that help people reason together in more fruitful ways. Norman will describe insights offered in his new book, “Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think." Learn more: https://andynorman.org/ - Amanda Ripley is a solutions-focused journalist and bestselling author who has become a champion of a new style of journalism sifting less for sound bites and more for pathways to insight amid complexity. Her new book is “High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out.” Here's Ripley's summary of this concept: “When we are baffled by the insanity of the ‘other side'—in our politics, at work, or at home—it's because we aren't seeing how the conflict itself has taken over. That's what ‘high conflict' does. People do escape high conflict. Individuals—even entire communities—can short-circuit the feedback loops of outrage and blame, if they want to. This is a mind-opening new way to think about conflict that will transform how we move through the world.” Explore: https://amandaripley.com/high-conflict Sustain What, produced and hosted by Andy Revkin, is a series of conversations seeking progress where complexity and consequence collide.

As our bodies ward off disease, our minds are also poised to fight bad ideas. Andy Norman, director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the ways conspiracy theories can corrupt sound thinking – and how we can strengthen ourselves to fight back against bad ideas. His book is “Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think.”

Michael Berry doles out compliments and criticism of the Olympic games; Berry plays an interview he did with legendary MLB pitcher Nolan Ryan about his infamous scuffle with Robin Ventura; Andy Norman, director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, joins the show to discuss his book “Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think.”

In this episode, we feature Andy Norman, a public philosopher, director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, founder of the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative, and award-winning author of “Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think.”It's no secret that social media is amplifying toxic ideas from all sides of the political spectrum. We've seen harmful orthodoxy take hold before in human history, but never quite at the scale and speed the digital age has made possible. We're once again at a critical inflection point where the values of objective, rational thinking are under attack by tribalism, illogic, and dogma.  Andy champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. Tune in to learn how you can sharpen your thinking, disagree with others more productively, and help safeguard our future from societal dysfunction. ====================0:00 Intro 2:34 How Andy became interested in philosophy5:06 Is it too late to open people's minds?8:09 How do we distinguish between good and bad ideas?10:43 It's not all relative  11:51 Looking at the cons as well as the pros of an argument13:51 What is Mental Immunity?  16:20 The mind's antibodies are questions 19:04 How to effectively challenge a claim 22:23 Why you shouldn't want to win an argument 25:33 Andy's groundbreaking work on the purpose of reasons28:39 Are we living through the Dark Ages 2.0?32:52 We should all feel safe questioning our beliefs34:46 What are the pitfalls of critical thinking?35:59 Can philosophy be taught in elementary school? 38:48 It's easier to criticize a hypothesis than create your own40:00 Learning isn't just additive, it's subtractive43:53 What is identity protective cognition?48:02 How can we redesign social media?53:14 Should the digital age change the way we think about free speech?57:25 Is woke culture unhealthy for our minds?1:00:39 How do we avoid creating a thought police?1:03:46 Wrap-up 1:04:52 “One Final Question”====================Buy the book! Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to ThinkAndy Norman====================LinkTree to support us (thank you!)Let's get in touch! Join the discussion in the episode comments on our YouTube channel or social media pages...InstagramTwitter

Andy Norman (https://andynorman.org/ & https://twitter.com/DrAndyNo), PhD is the author of "Mental Immunity". His work has appeared in Scientific American, Psychology Today, Skeptic, Free Inquiry & The Humanist. He has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, public radio, The BBC & The Young Turks. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to bad ideas, disinformation, propaganda, hate & division. Andy directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University & is the founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what's real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on the Sentientism YouTube. We discuss: 0:00 Welcome - Has philosophy neglected the most important questions? 2:02 Andy's Intro - "Mental Immunity" - Philosophy & critical thinking - Boosting the mind's immune system. Helping minds filter out bad ideas - Cognitive Immunology - the science of mental immune health - Combatting epidemics of nonsense 3:30 What's Real? - Raised w/out religious affiliation. Quaker meetings - "Most Quakers are pretty chill with a naturalistic view of the world" - "Supernatural believing is unaccountable believing" - "Nature can hold us accountable" - If our beliefs aren't held accountable they drift away from reality & from the beliefs of each other - Non-reality belief is spreading & causing social dislocation - Do rights exist or are they just a useful construct? - Being shy/sad at school & being told "just smile" as "spiritual" advice. "People just started smiling back" - The ancient roots of naturalism in philosophy - Supernaturalism, the dark ages & Enlightenment - "The germ theory of disease probably would have been discovered centuries earlier were it not for religious orthodoxy" - Hobbes, Locke & Mill - "Human welfare improved dramatically in the wake of the Enlightenment" - Pre-enlightenment roots of naturalism & sentiocentrism. Al Ma'arri. - Arab cultures preserved naturalism during the dark ages - Naturalism before humans & in other animals? - Naturalism is adaptive to the degree that it enables survival/reproduction - How correlated are the accuracy & usefulness of a belief? - The power of social norms, tribalism & belonging re: bad beliefs - Performative preference falsification & prevalence of latent/suppressed atheism even w/in religious communities - Dennett: Many believe it's good to believe in god rather than actually believing in god - "Reality-based worldviews are destined to win out in the long run... because they better serve humanity... caring about other tribes as well" ... and much more. See Sentientism.info and YouTube for full show notes. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/​​​​​​​​​​​​​. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall https://sentientism.info/wall/ here: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist​. ​Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. Main one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism​. Thanks for the post-production, Graham.

Andy Norman is a philosopher and award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. He studies how to help people develop immunity to bad ideas and believes that this is the key to growing wiser together. Andy directs the Humanism Initiative at CMU. He's done research on the evolutionary origins of human reasoning and the norms that make dialogue fruitful. He's published in Scientific American, Skeptic, Free Inquiry, and The Humanist. Buy the book Mental Immunity here: https://geni.us/64iWZzx Links from the discussion in the episode: https://cognitiveimmunology.net (the science of mental immunity and efforts to apply its findings (CIRCE)) Practical steps to mental immune health: https://cognitiveimmunology.net/applied-ci The New Socratic Method (1-page guide) https://bit.ly/3xjIKKp Connect with Andy here: Website: https://andynorman.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andynormanauthor/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andynormanauthor Subscribe for more content like this! ---------- https://instagram.com/unleash.love https://www.facebook.com/unleashlovepodcast https://www.quora.com/profile/Unleash-Love https://www.linkedin.com/company/unleash-love Read our blog articles, contact us and more at https://unleash.love. You can also join our Clubhouse rooms by visiting https://bit.ly/3sWNEeh. If you're interested in being a part of our #DiaryOfAWoman interview series and tell your story, please book a session with Clément here: http://bit.ly/diaryofawoman Lastly if you're looking for help with your mental health or relationship and you'd like to talk with Clément, you can book a consultation here: http://bit.ly/unleashtherapy --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/unleashlove/message

June 16, 2021--Host Joy LaClaire speaks with Director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, Andy Norman, to discuss his latest book, MENTAL IMMUNITY: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think.

Mental Immunity In this interview I talk with Andy Norman about his book Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. Hailed as “a feast for thought,” Mental Immunity melds cutting-edge work in science and philosophy into an “astonishingly enlightening and productive” solution to the signature problem of our age. A practical guide to spotting and removing bad ideas, a stirring call to transcend our petty tribalisms, and a serious bid to bring humanity to its senses. Please enjoy! Guest Bio. Andy Norman directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. He studies how ideologies short-circuit minds and corrupt moral understanding. Then he develops tools that help people reason together in more fruitful ways. He's done research on the evolutionary origins of human reasoning and the norms that make dialogue fruitful. He works to clarify the foundations of responsible thinking about what matters, and likes to engage audiences on topics related to science and human values. In his new book Mental Immunity, Andy lays out the conceptual foundations of cognitive immunology—the emerging science of mental immune health. He's currently testing a “mind vaccine”—a way to inoculate minds against the worst forms of ideological contagion.

(5/21/21) Astonishingly irrational ideas are spreading. Covid denial persists in the face of overwhelming evidence. Anti-vaxxers compromise public health. Conspiracy thinking hijacks minds and incites mob violence. Toxic partisanship is cleaving nations and climate denial has pushed our planet to the brink. Meanwhile, American Nazis march openly in the streets, and Flat Earth theory is back. What the heck is going on? Why is this all happening and why now? More importantly, what can we do about it? In his new book Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think, director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University Andy Norman reveals these diverse phenomena all share a root cause. Join us for a look at why we live in a time when the so-called “right to your opinion” is thought to trump our responsibilities and what we can do to overcome this phenomenon in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

The world is awash in misinformation and conspiracy theories. Foremost among them is the “big lie” that President Trump won the 2020 election (he lost by 7 million votes), that Covid-19 is a hoax (it has killed nearly 600,000 people in the U.S. and over 3 million worldwide), that the Covid vaccine implants a microchip created by Bill Gates (it doesn't), and that Antifa stormed the US Capitol on January 6 (the FBI says it was white supremacists and far right groups, not Antifa). All of these falsehoods remain in circulation despite being repeatedly debunked. Can you boost your resistance to misinformation? How do you talk to people who believe conspiracy theories? Author Andy Norman, who directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, says it possible to inoculate ourselves against bad ideas. His new book is Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think.   “It's clear that a large part of the American population have mental immune systems that have been compromised,” says Norman.

Andy Norman teaches philosophy and directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of "Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind Parasites and the Search for a Better Way to Think," available now. http://andynorman.org/

Andy Norman, director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, studies how ideologies short-circuit minds and corrupt moral understanding. Then he develops tools that help people reason together in more fruitful ways. In this recording he discusses his book "Mental Immunity", in which he lays out the conceptual foundations of cognitive immunology—the emerging science of mental immune health. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/free2think/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/free2think/support

New Socratic Method Socrates used direct questioning to make ancient Athenians reflect critically on their views, which often made people look foolish. The New Socratic Method is a kinder, gentler version that can actually change people’s minds without resentment. Clarifying questions can reveal why ideas are bad without antagonism. The New Socratic Method can be used to strengthen mental immunity and root out bad ideas. Reason’s Fulcrum Reason’s Fulcrum is a key part of the mind’s mental immunity. It states that if two people have differing points of view, the one with the best reasons supporting their argument will “win” and the loser must reflect and change their mind. When Reason’s Fulcrum is used, good reasons can change people’s minds. When it isn’t working, people lose the sense that speech and actions have accountability, and it becomes very difficult to change minds. Substantive Collaborative Dialogue One of the best ways to strengthen mental immunity in yourself and others is to have the difficult conversations you might otherwise shy away from. Asking hard and often philosophical questions like “What is a bad idea?” or engaging with family and friends who hold bad ideas can actually boost your mental immunity. Collaborative reasoning and exchanging honest dialogue is the best way to spread good ideas and build mental immunity. FIND OUT MORE: Andy Norman, Ph.D., directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. A public philosopher and award-winning author, he is developing the conceptual foundations of cognitive immunology—the emerging science of mental immunity. He thinks this science explains how demagogues short-circuit minds and how ideologies corrupt moral understanding. In his book Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think, he identifies several mental immune disorders and develops the kind of mind-vaccine that could inoculate future generations against the worst outbreaks of viral nonsense. You can follow him on Twitter @DrAndyNo.