How To Talk To Your Anti-vax Uncle | Dr. Steven Novella
The Checkup with Doctor Mike
DM Operations Inc.
4.8 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 161 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
I'll teach you how to become the media's go-to expert in your field. Enroll in The Professional's Media Academy now: https://www.professionalsmediaacademy.com/
Buy Dr. Steven Novella's books The Skeptics Guide To The Universe and The Skeptics Guide To The Future here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/dr-steven-novella/
Listen to Dr. Novella's podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/4RVc0stLre1yB5Ac3hiAPl
00:00 Intro
01:27 What Is A Skeptic?
14:00 RFK Jr. & Vaccines
28:16 AI Skepticism
37:36 Cherrypicking Experts
46:29 Debating Flat-Earthers
54:20 My Worst Podcast Guest
57:49 Jubilee's Surrounded
1:09:30 Using Anti-vaxxers Tricks
1:20:50 Responding With Anger
1:24:13 Institutional Failures
1:31:06 Social Media / Insurance
1:37:40 Science Based Medicine
1:45:50 Acupuncture & KT Tape
2:07:00 Alternative/Homeopathic Medicine
2:23:30 Funding Research / Fraud
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Executive Producer: Doctor Mike
Production Director and Editor: Dan Owens
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So with anti-vaxxers, it's not a knowledge deficit problem. |
| 0:07.3 | The problem is that they're full of active misinformation and a very compelling narrative. |
| 0:14.1 | They're trying to kill us with the vaccine. |
| 0:15.8 | This system is not for us. It's not built for people like me. |
| 0:19.1 | You can't just give them correct information. |
| 0:20.8 | You have to provide for them an alternate narrative |
| 0:24.0 | for understanding the world. We've all felt that the awkward tension around the dinner table |
| 0:29.0 | when your weird uncle starts spouting off about a conspiracy theory, they dug out of the |
| 0:34.3 | dark internet rabbit hole where they find themselves. How do you see eye to eye |
| 0:38.6 | or have an open conversation with a person whose worldview seems to be the polar opposite of yours? |
| 0:44.6 | Dr. Stephen Novella has the answer. He's a retired clinical neurologist from Yale who specializes |
| 0:50.4 | in skepticism. Seriously, he's the brain behind the podcast, book series, and the brand, |
| 0:56.0 | The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, where he analyzes conspiracy theories, misinformed trends, |
| 1:01.0 | and the fascinating reasons people believe in them. Given that it feels like we're drowning in misinformation, |
| 1:06.0 | I wanted to ask Dr. Novella, how can we keep our heads above water? So, we discussed anti-vaccine |
| 1:12.7 | activists, flat earthers, acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, alternative cancer treatments, |
| 1:18.4 | and other controversies that have skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade. So without |
| 1:23.9 | further ado, please join me in welcoming Dr. Stephen Novella to the Checkup Podcast. |
| 1:28.2 | We need more skeptics in this world. Agree or disagree? |
| 1:31.2 | I completely agree with that. That's like my primary mission is to make more skeptics in this world. |
| 1:35.9 | That's interesting. So in creating more skeptics, what benefit does society get? |
| 1:42.1 | So first I have to define skepticism a little bit because the term has been co-opted and |
... |
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