Conspiracy Theories
The Infinite Monkey Cage
BBC
4.7 • 9.4K Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2020
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined on stage by comedian Shazia Mirza, science writer and cancer researcher Dr David Robert Grimes and psychologist Prof Karen Douglas to look at the weird world of conspiracy theories. From Flat Earth believers to people who refuse to accept that humans have ever been to the moon, why is fiction often so much easier to believe than fact - and does it matter? They discuss the psychology and profile of people who are more likely to believe in conspiracies and the devastating effect some, like the anti-vaccine movement, have had on public health. They ask whether being irrational is our default setting and how to convince the most hard-core believers with the power of evidence and critical thinking. Although they would say that wouldnt' they?
Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.8 | Welcome to The Infinite Monkey Cage. |
| 0:06.3 | And to be fair, it's time to come clean, |
| 0:08.3 | because for the last 10 years now, |
| 0:10.2 | we have actually been a vehicle for a shady group |
| 0:13.0 | of evidence-based scientists and thinkers |
| 0:15.7 | who, without people really noticing, |
| 0:17.8 | have laid the foundations of our civilization, |
| 0:20.0 | increased life expectancy beyond our ancestors' |
| 0:22.0 | wildest dreams, and also paved the ways to the stars. |
| 0:25.0 | So, sorry. |
| 0:26.1 | LAUGHTER |
| 0:28.8 | What's wrong with that? |
| 0:30.5 | That's exactly the kind of thing that I respect |
| 0:32.3 | to come from a so-called scientist. |
| 0:34.8 | And I call you a so-called scientist, |
| 0:37.4 | because you are a scientist. |
| 0:39.2 | So, anyway, look, it doesn't matter. |
| 0:40.5 | But, I think, on the sad things is that in our hurry, |
| 0:44.0 | as human beings, not to die in agony, covered in postures, |
| 0:47.6 | sometimes we've forgotten some of the other truths, |
| 0:51.4 | by which I mean lies. |
... |
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