Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era

Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era

by Daniel J. Levitin
Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era

Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era

by Daniel J. Levitin

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Overview

Previously Published as A Field Guide to Lies

We’re surrounded by fringe theories, fake news, and pseudo-facts. These lies are getting repeated. New York Times bestselling author Daniel Levitin shows how to disarm these socially devastating inventions and get the American mind back on track. Here are the fundamental lessons in critical thinking that we need to know and share now.


Investigating numerical misinformation, Daniel Levitin shows how mishandled statistics and graphs can give a grossly distorted perspective and lead us to terrible decisions. Wordy arguments on the other hand can easily be persuasive as they drift away from the facts in an appealing yet misguided way. The steps we can take to better evaluate news, advertisements, and reports are clearly detailed. Ultimately, Levitin turns to what underlies our ability to determine if something is true or false: the scientific method. He grapples with the limits of what we can and cannot know. Case studies are offered to demonstrate the applications of logical thinking to quite varied settings, spanning courtroom testimony, medical decision making, magic, modern physics, and conspiracy theories.

This urgently needed book enables us to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection. As Levitin attests: Truth matters. A post-truth era is an era of willful irrationality, reversing all the great advances humankind has made. Euphemisms like “fringe theories,” “extreme views,” “alt truth,” and even “fake news” can literally be dangerous. Let's call lies what they are and catch those making them in the act.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781101983829
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 03/07/2017
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 5.29(w) x 7.92(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, is a neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist, and bestselling author. He is Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva Schools at KGI in San Francisco, and Professor Emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at McGill University. He is the author of This Is Your Brain on Music, The World in Six Songs, The Organized Mind, and A Field Guide to Lies. He divides his time between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Thinking, Critically xiii

Part 1 Evaluating Numbers

Plausibility 3

Fun with Averages 11

Axis Shenanigans 26

Hijinks with How Numbers Are Reported 43

How Numbers Are Collected 75

Probabilities 97

Part 2 Evaluating Words

How Do We Know? 123

Identifying Expertise 129

Overlooked, Undervalued Alternative Explanations 152

Counterknowledge 168

Part 3 Evaluating the World

How Science Works 181

Logical Fallacies 198

Knowing What You Don't Know 211

Bayesian Thinking in Science and in Court 216

Four Case Studies 222

Conclusion: Discovering Your Own 251

Appendix: Application of Bayes's Rule 255

Glossary 257

Notes 263

Acknowledgments 285

Index 287

About the Author 295

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