Ep29 - How Confirmation Bias and COVID Divided the World

Mentally Unscripted

How Confirmation Bias and COVID Divided the World
Paul and Scott explain how confirmation bias and our need to be correct have divided the world over COVID.

Resources
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

DarkHorse Podcast (Brett Weinstein & Heather Heying has done many COVID related podcasts)

Tom Woods COVID Charts Quiz

Excess Deaths (from CDC)

Ivermectin & Aducanumab: Do They Work?

Interview with George Silverman

Confirmation Bias

Inertia (note: the equal and opposite reaction is Newton's third law of motion)

Incentives Matter

Probabilistic Thinking

Appeal to Authority

Sunk Cost Fallacy

False Dichotomy

Illusion of Control

Inversion

Top Takeaways
1. Confirmation bias is our tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information that confirms our preexisting beliefs.

2. Confirmation bias helps us avoid cognitive dissonance and gives us the comfort of thinking our beliefs are correct.

3. Not understanding our belief systems about COVID and the confirmation bias that's powering those systems is a reason why COVID has become such a divisive issue.

4. Understand that we all have biases, and we don't need to take absolute positions. Be open to the idea that you could be wrong.

Timestamps
[9:28] Today's Topic is Confirmation Bias and COVID.

[13:37] What is confirmation bias

[15:05] How confirmation bias works

[17:59] The Benefits of confirmation bias

[22:03] The communication aspect of confirmation bias

[25:14] The strength of your beliefs matter

[27:33] Belief systems in place in early 2020 at the start of COVID

[33:07] Problem of limited and too much information

[38:24] Is the government creating perverse incentives?

[41:05] Science vs. Non-Science

[47:09] Is it easier to ignore evidence and listen to authority?

[56:58] Tactics for dealing with confirmation bias.

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Scott
Paul

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