Skeptic Check: Rational Lampoon (rebroadcast)

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.6 • 986 Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Two heads may be better than one. But what about three or more? A new study shows that chimpanzees excel at complex tasks when they work in groups, and their accumulated knowledge can even be passed from one generation to the next. But group-think also can be maladaptive. When humans rely on knowledge that they assume other people possess, they can become less than rational. Find out why one cognitive scientist says that individual thinking is a myth. Most of your decisions are made in groups, and most derive from emotion, not rationality. Also, why we know far less than we think we do. For example, most people will say they understand how an everyday object like a zipper works, but draw a blank when asked to explain it. Plus, why we have a biological drive to categorize people as “us” or “them,” and how we can override it. Guests: Laurance Doyle - Scientist at the SETI Institute Steven Sloman - Professor of cognitive linguistics and psychological sciences at Brown University and editor-in-chief of the journal, Cognition Robert Sapolsky - Professor of neuroscience at Stanford University and author of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst Originally aired July 3, 2017 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast.
0:05.0	The world is constantly changing and transforming.
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0:14.5	latest news and technology and culture. Their award-winning journalism will
0:18.8	help you make sense of what's happening in the world. Listen to What's New with Wired wherever you get your podcasts.
0:25.7	That's What's New With Wired,
0:27.3	wherever you get your podcasts.
0:31.3	Tech moves fast, so keep pace with the Daily Crunch Podcast from Tech Crunch. With new
0:38.2	episodes every day, this podcast will give you a quick overview on everything you need and should know about startups,
0:45.8	new tech, regulations, and more.
0:48.6	Listen to Tech Crunch Daily Crunch now, wherever you get your podcasts. That's Tech Crunch Daily Crunch now, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:53.2	That's Tech Crunch Daily Crunch,
0:55.5	wherever you get your podcasts. When you're and a buddy work together to solve problem, you'll probably conclude that two heads indeed are better than one.
1:17.0	I mean, who could come up on their own with the brilliance of using an iron to grill a cheese sandwich because after all it does save on dishes.
1:25.4	But are three or more heads even better?
1:29.2	Well the wisdom of crowds has adaptive value but relying on the knowledge you think others possess can also lead
1:35.8	to problems. And that's how I learned the hard way that umbrellas make very poor parachutes.
1:41.3	I'm Seth Shostak. I'm Molly Bentley. Welcome to Big Picture Science
1:44.9	produced at the SETI Institute where researchers investigate the nature and
1:48.2	origin of life. I'm Big Picture Science. We step back to get the wide-angle view
1:51.8	on science and technology and devote one episode a month to critical thinking.
	...

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