Conspiracy theories thrive in a climate of fear and uncertainty. Unfortunately, humans tend to look to them to make sense of complex, unexpected events or to reinforce strongly held worldviews. How can this be explained? Here is a classic on the subject:
Legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein offers thoughtful, worthy essays on conspiracies, animal rights, government and climate.
Cass R. Sunstein Simon & Schuster
Americans have always been skeptical of intellectuals and experts. Today, says Tom Nichols, a professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College, that attitude has mutated into outright hostility. In general, Americans have never been so willing to reject the knowledge of those who actually know something. This embrace of self-righteous ignorance bodes ill for the nation’s future. American society must re-establish constructive rules of engagement between laypeople and experts to keep democracy from devolving into mob rule or “elitist technocracy.”
The reluctance to give up false truths may have been an evolutionary advantage for early humans.
Julie Beck The Atlantic
How can you protect yourself from hyped misinformation? This is more than an abstract problem, as the internet drives the radicalization and conspiracies that can fuel real-life chaos and violence. Thankfully, there are ways to counter the post-truth:
Fake news has become pervasive worldwide. How can society better recognize and reject this false information?
David M. J. Lazer, Matthew A. Baum, Yochai Benkler, Adam J. Berinsky, Kelly M. Greenhill, Filippo Menczer, Miriam J. Metzger, Brendan Nyhan, Gordon Pennycook, David Rothschild, Michael Schudson, Steven A. Sloman, Cass R. Sunstein, Emily A, Thorson, Duncan J. Watts and Jonathan L. Zittrain Science
Stanford Graduate School professor Leah Weiss explains how to build a resilient spirit and inspire your team members to do the same.
Too Much Water, and Not Enough
It’s a paradox of climate change that rising global temperatures mean rising seas but also retreating freshwater resources. What technologies can help?
The One Skill That Affects Them All
On self-awareness.
“It Helps People Communicate, It Helps Reduce Conflict, and It Helps to Drive Innovation.”
Simon Brown, Author of The Curious Advantage and Chief Learning Officer at Novartis, explains the superpower that lies dormant in all employees, but is organizationally discovered only in a few: Curiosity.
