Robert Burton on Being Certain

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2019

⏱️ 80 minutes

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Summary

Neurologist and author Robert Burton talks about his book, On Being Certain, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Burton explores our need for certainty and the challenge of being skeptical about what our brain tells us must be true. Where does what Burton calls "the feeling of knowing" come from? Why can memory lead us astray? Burton claims that our reaction to events emerges from competition among different parts of the brain operating below our level of awareness. The conversation includes a discussion of the experience of transcendence and the different ways humans come to that experience.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:12.6	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:17.6	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:20.5	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:24.8	back to 2006.
0:27.0	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:29.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:31.0	10th April 9, 2019, and my guest is neurologist and author Robert Burton.
0:38.3	He was chief of the Division of Neurology at UCSF Mountsion Hospital and was associate
0:43.4	chief of the Department of Neurosciences at UCSF Mountsion Hospital.
0:47.4	In addition, his clinical experience in neurology is written three novels, and nonfiction
0:52.5	works on the brain.
0:53.5	Today, we're going to talk about his book from 2008 on being certain, believing you are
0:58.9	right even when you're not.
1:01.0	And I want to thank Twitter friend Ed Renine Horne for the recommendation.
1:04.5	Robert, welcome to econtalk.
1:06.3	Thanks very much.
1:07.3	Look forward to it.
1:08.6	I love your book.
1:10.9	It hit on many, many themes that we talk here at econtalk about.
1:15.8	How do we know what we know?
	...

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