In conversation with Professor of Experimental Brain Research, Shane O'Mara.
Robert Kennedy Junior says a worm has eaten part of his brain. Is this possible? Yes - but his 'brain fog' and other symptoms could have been caused by something else. Partly eaten or not, his possible brain injuries are not likely to have led to a predisposition to conspiracy theories. RFK is a prominent anti-vaxxer, for instance.
Why do so many of us fall for conspiracy theories? Belonging, group hugs and tribalism are part of the answer. We take cognitive short cuts that help us ignore objective reality.
Anti-vaxxers have, in some cases, just forgotten what disease looks like. Shane reminds us of the actual cheer that went around the world when the polio vaccine was first announced.
Lots of protests are around at the moment. Protest is a uniquely human behaviour - why bother when so few protests actually elicit change? Generally, they don't work. It's that group hug thing again. The "collective effervescence" of being part of a crowd.
All this and more in another conversation with the brain expert!
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'After taking the pin out, you are supposed to throw the grenade'. Is the UK really in worse political shape than the US?
"Stop the world, we want to get off": SF takes offence at the 'militarisation of the EU'. A poor month for the Irish consumer. REal wage growth might come to the rescue.
A rare opportunity to do the strategically right thing and reap political dividends: a budget for housing, not tax cuts.
Economic PTSD? EU economy growing again. US economy accelerates? Stock market reaction to Nvidia humbles analysts
Interest rates likely to fall next month - in the EU at least. But does the ECB know what it is doing? Nvidia & the nuttiness of stock markets.
Politics & opinion polls in Ireland, UK & US. Why are Sinn Fein suffering because of immigration? Have they lost vital momentum?
Is immigration just one of those unsolvable problems? Biden's EV tariffs repeat the mistakes of the 1970s
Is the liberal world order really about to collapse? Or should we take cheer from 'The Curse of The Economist"
If Gaza gifts Trump the White House the great Bidenomics experiment is over. A lot of other things will also be over.
Unemployment edges up on both sides of the Atlantic. UK election results show Sunak up as a hopeless politician he really can't do politics.
An ex-UK Cabinet Minister suggests bussing refugees to the Irish border in order to show the "pious" Irish government who is the boss.
If war is coming to Europe, is membership of the EU and neutrality mutually inconsistent?
What will the next generation think of us? Taking the other side of IMF forecast bets.
Irish house prices up again. Time to change the global growth narrative? Markets, the IMF & The Economist all have bought into stronger growth & higher interest rates.
Will Ireland go Dutch? Prolonged coalition negotiations likely if no party gets more than 30% of the GE vote.
It's beginning to look a lot like the 1930s
Higher for longer US interest rates = higher for longer mortgage rates in Ireland and U.K.
Irish reunification: the costs and other issues - many that haven't even been thought about
Getting ready for war in Europe? Competing narrative fallacies about markets.
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