It's Monday, August 27th, 2018, and you're listening to Inquiring Minds.

I'm Kishorehari.

Indre's off this week.

Each week, we bring you a new, in-depth exploration of the space where science, politics, and society collide.

We endeavor to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it all matters.

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Did you know the moon landing was a hoax or how those trails of water vapor from planes in the sky contain chemicals that control our minds? Or how the government adds fluoride to the water

to influence our politics? Yes, these conspiracy theories are ridiculous, but chances

are that people in your lives believe at least one of the ideas that's not grounded in evidence.

Maybe not as ridiculous as the moon landing, but maybe ones that are much more grounded in distrust

of the government or even the FDA.

And even though I consider myself a hyper-rational person, I still have my superstitions,

like wearing the same hat for my hockey team during their home games because it'll help them

win. It hasn't really worked in recent times. My rational mind still rules the day, but deep

down, I have to admit that

I sometimes want to believe in these crazy theories. This week's guest aims to explain why that's so.

He posits that most of us fall into two categories, ones that are driven more by their emotions and

their gut, and ones that are driven much more by Reitson. And it's the people

who make more decisions based on their emotions that are more easily swayed by the conspiracy

...