Nature & Nurture #61: Dr. Andy Norman - Mental Immunity & Infectious Ideas

Dr. Andy Norman is a philosopher, Director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, Founder of the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative, and author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think.

In this episode we discuss Andy’s book and the concept of mental immunity, the evolved system in our mind used to combat mind-parasites, much like the body’s immune system combats physical pathogens. We cover a variety of topics including mental heuristics, ingroup-outgroup bias, cultural selection of memes, conspiracy thinking, truth seeking, fixed vs. growth mindsets, and the role of science and rationality in public discourse.