Skeptic Check: Worrier Mentality*

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.6 • 986 Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Poisonous snakes, lightning strikes, a rogue rock from space. There are plenty of scary things to fret about, but are we burning adrenaline on the right ones? Stepping into the bathtub is more dangerous than flying from a statistical point of view, but no one signs up for “fear of showering” classes. Find out why we get tripped up by statistics, worry about the wrong things, and how the “intelligence trap” not only leads smart people to make dumb mistakes, but actually causes them to make more. Guests: Eric Chudler – Research associate professor, department of bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle and co-author of “Worried: Science Investigates Some of Life’s Common Concerns” Lise Johnson – Director of the Basic Science Curriculum, Rocky Vista University, and co-author of “Worried: Science Investigates Some of Life’s Common Concerns” Willie Turner – Vice President of Operations at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA Charles Wheelan – Senior Lecturer and Policy Fellow, Dartmouth College, and author of “Naked Statistics” David Robson – Commissioning Editor for the BBC and author of “The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes” *Originally aired May 27, 2019 Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:50.7	Daily Crunch now wherever you get your podcasts that's Tech Crunch Daily Crunch Now, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:54.3	That's Tech Crunch Daily Crunch,
0:56.6	wherever you get your podcasts. Do I worry? I don't worry as much as I did when I was a kid. I was trying to fit in with the other kids.
1:15.6	But I didn't play sports. I'd go to a way to summer camp and all the other kids were playing baseball all day
1:21.3	and I was back in the bunkhouse wiring up some electronics.
1:24.4	When I was in high school all the really nifty girls were interested in the football players.
1:28.4	I couldn't play football.
1:29.4	I didn't even understand the rules.
1:31.0	Well, I've learned that worrying about all that stuff was kind of misplaced
1:34.0	or where other things I should have worried more about like my academics. And those
	...

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