Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things | After Skool
Summary
This episode explores why intelligent individuals are often more susceptible to ideological bias than less intelligent ones, a phenomenon termed identity-protective cognition. The host argues that intelligence is orthogonal to rationality, meaning smart people use their reasoning skills to justify pre-existing beliefs driven by social status and tribal belonging rather than objective truth. Examples like "wokeism" and historical racism illustrate how cultural elites use motivated reasoning to spread delusions. The video concludes that overcoming this bias requires cultivating curiosity and …
Topics discussed
Sponsorships: LinkedIn, Uber Eats, and Visible
The intelligence-bias paradox and Dan Kahan's research
The Orthogonality Thesis: Intelligence vs. Rationality
Identity Protective Cognition and self-deception
Master Debaters: Elite institutions and motivated reasoning
Wokeism as an identitarian ideology
Sponsorships: LinkedIn, Uber Eats, and Visible
Academic fields: Fat Studies and Gender Studies
Idea laundering and the social signaling of wokeism
Historical rationalization: Slavery and White Fragility
Why learning logic often fails to reduce bias
The role of curiosity and character in truth-seeking
Sponsorships: LinkedIn, Uber Eats, and Visible
Entering the curiosity zone to combat bias
Humility, ego, and the willingness to change your mind
Conclusion: Rationality is about character, not just IQ
Outro and Sponsorships: Verizon, McDonald's, Bloomberg, DraftKings
Promo: FX's The Bear final season
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