The pace of life in the 21st Century has created “infostorms” that overwhelm our senses. Is believing in some of the sensationalist things we see actually quite a rational response?

It’s commonplace to say that we’re all deluged by more information than we can possibly handle. Less commonplace is the acknowledgement that human judgements also rely upon secondary information that doesn’t come from any external source – and that offers one of the most powerful tools we possess for dealing with the deluge itself. This source is social information. Or, in other words: what we think other people are thinking.

From BBC News: Why We Believe in Fake News by Tom Chatfield, September 8 2019

From PBS News: The Very Real Consequences of Fake News Stories and Why Your Brains Can't Ignore Them by Nsikan Akpan, Dec. 5, 2016

Music

"Memories" by The Midnight

"Honking Means I Love You" by Tyler Lyle

Episode Text Transcript