Hidden Forces

In Episode 195 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Andy Norman, an award-winning author, public philosopher, and prominent advocate for the field of “cognitive immunology,” which studies the mind’s resistance to bad ideas. In this conversation you will learn how mental immunity works, how epidemics of irrationality occur, and how present cultural conditions exacerbate the spread of bad ideas by compromising our mental faculties, exploiting loopholes in the evidentiary chain of reasoning that most of us rely on in order to assess, accept, or reject claims and assertions. Whether we’re talking about the spread of baseless online conspiracies, increased political polarization, or the bewildering popularity of cancel culture, rethinking and reforming our approach to inquiry and dialectic is urgently needed. In the Overtime, Andy and Demetri discuss ontological truth and explore the limitations of science and reason in helping ascertain reality. It includes discussions about spirituality, religion, the i