Reason Writers in on the Plot: Matt Welch's Hour-Long Conspiracy Chat With Michael Shermer and Minnesota Public Radio

Yesterday, I participated in a Minnesota Public Radio discussion entitled "Belief Without Facts." The premise:

Facts are often in dispute these days. From the conspiracy over where the President was born to alternative theories about 9/11, there remains polarization over matters in which the evidence seems unequivocal. Why do many people remain unconvinced by facts?

I was on with Skeptics Society Executive Director and friend o' Reason Michael Shermer, author of the just-released-yesterday book The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies--How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths, and Shermer had many interesting things to say about the neuroscience of superstition and suchlike (the big takeaway was that people who feel stressed/threatened/powerless are way more susceptible to the stuff). My contribution was basically an hour-long push against the premise that Things Are Getting Worse.

You can listen to the whole program here:

Here's Reason.tv's most recent interview with the non-believer: