Why Facts Don’t Win Arguments, SETI 101, Self-Control Pitfalls
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 963 Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn why self-control isn’t always good for you; why you can’t win an argument using facts; and what SETI is looking for.
More from Dr. Steven Novella:
- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe http://www.theskepticsguide.org/
- New England Skeptical Society http://www.theness.com/
- NeuroLogica blog http://theness.com/neurologicablog/
- Steven Novella faculty bio https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/steven_novella/
More from Seth Shostak:
- Seth Shostak’s Website http://sethshostak.com/
- Follow @SethShostak on Twitter https://twitter.com/SethShostak
- Big Picture Science: The radio show and podcast of the SETI Institute, with Seth Shostak http://bigpicturescience.org/
To learn more about motivated reasoning and how we think, read "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" by Jonathan Haidt: https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777
The stories in this episode originally aired July 8, 2018 “SETI on How We Search for Aliens (w/ Seth Shostak), Facts Don’t Win Arguments, Self-Control, and The Red Baron” https://omny.fm/shows/curiosity-daily/seti-on-how-we-search-for-aliens-w-seth-shostak-fa
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/why-facts-dont-win-arguments-seti-101-self-control-pitfalls
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com. |
| 0:06.5 | I'm Cody Gough. |
| 0:07.5 | And I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:08.5 | Today you learn about why self-control isn't always good for you. why you can't win an argument using facts, and what the |
| 0:15.8 | search for extraterrestrial intelligence or SETI looks for in its search for aliens, |
| 0:21.1 | with astronomer Seth Shostak. We originally ran these stories on July 8th |
| 0:25.7 | 2018 and they're so good we're playing remastered versions of them to make sure you |
| 0:30.6 | don't miss them. Plus stick around for a brand new recap segment at the end of today's episode to hear our fresh |
| 0:36.9 | takes on all of today's stories. |
| 0:39.2 | Right now, let's satisfy some curiosity. Actually, when is it the hardest for you to use self-control? |
| 0:45.0 | Probably when I'm in a social situation and someone is saying something about |
| 0:50.0 | ghosts or pseudoscience and I want to be nice that's when it's very hard to |
| 0:56.8 | control my self-control. You get upset about ghost believers? I mean there are |
| 1:01.2 | different levels right? if someone's just having fun with |
| 1:05.4 | leaving in ghost I don't care I also have a hard time keeping my mouth shut |
| 1:09.2 | sometimes my mouth gets me in trouble more than anything else which is funny |
| 1:12.3 | because I'm a podcaster |
| 1:13.2 | but a new publication suggests that self-control is more complicated than just being a |
| 1:17.7 | positive or negative trait so maybe it's okay that I don't always use self-control |
| 1:21.8 | yeah in current directions in psychological okay that I don't always use self-control. Yeah. |
| 1:23.0 | In current directions in psychological science, |
| 1:25.4 | a new publication points out that you can have problems |
... |
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