No April Fools here. Philosopher David Detmer joins the RHR crew to explore the neuroscience, philosophy, and social forces that make telling the truth harder to lasso than it sounds.
What stayed with me in this conversation is the sense that the real problem is not simply lying. It is the human need to feel finished with doubt.
That is what makes the discussion so compelling. A person can be deceptive, of course. But a person can also be deeply sincere and still profoundly wrong, because the mind is not built only to record reality. It is built to complete it, smooth it, narrate it, and make it livable. Once that is seen clearly, truth becomes harder and more interesting than simple honesty. It asks not only whether someone means well, but whether they have learned how to remain in contact with correction.
What gives the piece its force is that it brings neuroscience, philosophy, and media criticism into the same moral frame. The deeper danger may not be falsehood alone, but the ease with which coherence, confidence, and repetition begin to feel like truth before truth has actually been tested.
Hey Joe, Georgia, Mary, Joe, and David! So cool that David could join in at the studio too!
It's both the most powerful and terrifying haha :). Wow, so that guy's left brain came up with an explanation as a guess instead of saying he didn't know/had no idea of it? Whoa.
You're right, the brain is a writer. It's shaped by experiences and I recall that memory can be shaped by what you're going through and a lot of things. It can change. What is reality to us is shaped by our interpretations and what shapes our interpretations includes what we believe, our experiences, etc. And you're correct that we can believe misinformation and continue to believe that misinformation.
Yeah, it's scary how there are so many lies being told, how people are doubling down even in the face of facts. It's very concerning. Mon Mothma, a character in Andor (Star Wars show) summed this up perfectly: "Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest."
I'd love to learn about ways to overcome cognitive biases and other problems.
Yep, some will double down to fit in.
And agreed social media has worsened it.
Good point - being in the middle is not the same as being objective.
It's very worrisome how there's so much news conglomeration and fewer news sources than before. Every person is biased (even journalists) and this leads to less diversity of opinion as David said and more bias. Yep, money has become a huge factor. And it worries me how the richest and most powerful people are buying up media companies and thus are shaping the narratives.
I didn't hear of mainformation, but it was great to learn about it. And, your explanation of disinformation and misinformation as well as malinformation is great too. Yep, showmanship has become a huge part of politics. Being charismatic and playing on people's emotions is what many politicians do. And it makes it easier for people to disregard facts, particularly when there are appeals to emotions. Excellent example, Georgia. I need to watch Chaplin's movies.
I wish I took more critical thinking classes. I want to learn more about logical fallicies. I've learned a lot about cognitive distortions before (while learning about anxiety), but would have loved to have been able to take David's classes. And David makes a great point about how correlation is NOT causation. I remember learning about that in statistics classes. Confirmation bias is easy to fall into. It makes sense to seek counter evidence. I need to do that more.
Yeah, social media leads to echo chambers. It's why I disconnected from it for years. It was way too much and I mostly saw opinions far on one side or the other. I'm back on there now, but even so, I'm not a huge fan of social media and I think there are better ways to learn (and prefer speaking and learning from people in person).
True! There are distortions with maps. And maps tell stories. I remember hearing about how some continents are made to look bigger in maps due to the story that the mapmakers want to tell. And LOL David's shirt sounds cool. The conference he went to sounds wild lol.
MK Ultra reminds me of the show 24. In that show, they used the fictional drug "Hyocine-pentothal" to try to force people to "tell the truth" by putting them in a lot of pain. It was brutal and horrible. 24 was intriguing but absurd and went overboard.
Yeah, I think lie detectors are highly unreliable. For someone with anxiety, it could cause a false positive. For someone who is pretty calm, like my character Christina (a very calm doctor) and my character, Caitlyn (who can be very calm at times), they can pass it by staying calm and keeping their cool.
Yep... I have white coat syndrome. My blood pressure has gone up higher than at home when I am at the doctor's office. Part of it is hereditary, but some of it was also because of anxiety.
And you're right, if someone believes a lie, they can pass the lie detector too.
True. I remember you and/or Lily mentioned that the AIs seek to please. And in doing that, it can hallucinate also.
Yeah, I've heard about the mistake of dismissing someone by criticizing the person and not considering their message or points. I'd love to take more classes or read books about critical thinking and logical fallacies.
I don't remember much about Adler. But I want to read up more about him too.
Agreed. Memories can definitely change. Our emotions and biases can shape them if I remember correctly. Russell's willingness to acknowledge his error is awesome. We can all learn from him and take a page from him. This reminds me of a recent experience. I remember thinking Vander was a good leader in the show Arcane, but someone in a comment response pushed back. I thought more about what they said and realized they were right. Vander tried to keep the peace, but he upheld an unjust status quo. And while Silco's (villain) ideas and actions were awful too, I can see why Vander was also quite flawed and not a great leader himself.
Great question, Mary! Yeah people do say their remarks are taken out of context, but that's not true either (just a way to try to excuse what they said).
The justice system has also made a lot of mistakes too. A lot of people have been wrongfully convicted. If I remember correctly, in criminal cases, the standard is supposed to be prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. But biases come into play too. And, what is seen as reasonable doubt by one could be seen differently by a different person...And then even when the truth is discovered or known, it doesn't necessarily lead to accountability (see Operation Paperclip for one example).
Yep...irrelevant responses to questions. it's ridiculous.
I need to read Challenging Postmodernism and the book that Mary suggested (Killer Underwear Invasion). Love the title lol.
Both books sound great!!
Excellent point about SEOs...sadly, I see blogs and other non-scientific/rigorous sources pop up often when searching medical and health topics.
I need to challenge my own ideas more often too. I need to sit with doubt more often too. It's helped me and I want to sit in doubt/uncertainty more. The brain seeks certainty. I think being able to sit with uncertainty, doubt, and the possibility that one can be wrong can help a lot.
I'll check out the show notes for David's article and Zinnophobia. Definitely a great idea to be skeptical.
Excellent discussion! One of the best episodes. Take care!
Joe, in case you're interested, I just thought of some sites related to my comment:
https://24.fandom.com/wiki/Hyocine-pentothal - Hyocine Pentothal. This is from the 24 wiki page (yeah, wikis are usually not ones to rely on, but I think that the fan wikis are fine for TV show summaries. It also mentions the (real-life) drugs that inspired this fictional drug.
Sorry for writing so many comments. But, I hope these resources help :). I'm sure the Hyocine Pentothal is handwavium lol but I wanted to share since you are interested in the science of sci-fi :).
Your brain is constantly filling in the gaps, has your left-brain interpreter ever had you believing something you later realized wasn’t true? What changed your mind?
A long time ago, I used to think that there were simple solutions to everything and saw a lot of things in black and white. I was religiously conservative too. But what changed my mind was learning about the issues (not just through my university studies, but also through podcasts, the news, speaking with those who know much more about the topics than me, and more). I also met people of different faith traditions as well as agnostics and atheists and listened with an open mind (and the more I learned from them, the more I opened my mind). I went through a lot in my past too and, as painful as that was, it also helped me develop a lot of empathy. Empathy helped me open my mind further and to truly listen to others' perspectives and what they've been through and to critically evaluate what I felt before. I've been blessed to be able to speak with different people from across the U.S. and world. And I'm still learning and growing. I also have much to learn and much growing to do. It's a lifelong process and I think it's important to keep growing and learning.
--
Comedians, philosophers, and picture books, oh my! You heard from the RHR crew, but where do you get your most honest dose of truth? Who or what do you trust to cut through the noise (besides RHR, ;)?
I try to get facts from a mixture of things. If I see a claim on social media, I try to see if news sources (like the BBC, The Guardian, USA Today, LA Times, local papers, etc.) can provide verification for such claims. I also listen to a lot of podcasts to learn from NPR's podcasts (their history podcast (Throughline); their science podcast (Short Wave); their national security podcast (Sources and Methods); and their global news podcast (State of the World) to history podcasts (like Battle Guide's "Not So Quiet On The Western Front", "Reichs & Republics"; and "WW2 Both Sides of the Wire"). I also try to listen to science podcasts (like RHR :), Short Wave, and The Supermassive podcasts). Of course, misinformation spreads through podcasts too, so I generally try to choose from long-running and established news sources (like NPR and I was listening to the Washington Post's daily news podcast for a while, and I like the NYT and WSJ's deep dive podcasts, but I haven't had time in a while). For science, I try to seek out more established sources also, like you (Joe), Scientific American (their "Science Quickly" podcast is great), and the Royal Astronomical Society ("Supermassive Podcast). For individual sources, like Dr. Becky Smethurst (Supermassive podcast and her YouTube channel), I look up/google their backgrounds to make sure they are actual scientists (though I also try to see if there are any controversies with their work) and not some crank and I like to look up books that they write too (and that can lead me down rabbit holes). I like checking out books from the library for more knowledge and I'll take a look at reviews of books to see how legit they are and also will see how well sourced it is (if there aren't footnotes or sources of any kind, that's a huge red flag for me when it comes to nonfiction). I also like to explore books mentioned during podcasts - especially if they're written by podcast guests. Plus, I ask librarian friends about books that they're reading and that gives me more rabbit holes to explore lol.
History is a bit tougher. Anyone can create a YouTube channel or a podcast and start talking history. I like to look up the backgrounds of the hosts of channels and podcasts (to make sure they're either legit historians or, even if they're not historians as their day job, at least someone who has a background in the area - and it's a huge plus if they will put the list of sources in the episode notes) and I also like to Google what people have said about them on sites like Reddit (Reddit, like many social media companies, can be a mess to look at but there are some good discussions on there too), Apple Podcast reviews, etc. The sources that they cite also help me see if they're legit (i.e. citing books instead of Wikipedia).
News is tough. Paywalls have made it tough at times to verify news (and I had to unsubscribe because of how expensive some newspapers are, like the Washington Post). But I still try to go with established news sources, like PBS Newshour, NPR, and The Guardian. Given how some U.S. news sources have bent the knee in recent years (i.e. CBS and Jeff Bezos, who also owns WaPo) and cuts to newsrooms in the U.S. as well as news conglomerations in the U.S. (and also because I have long been interested in foreign relations and international news), I also try to look at established international news sources, like France 24, The Guardian, BBC, and Deutsche Welle.
**EDIT** I also like John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight". It's funny but also covers topics in a good amount of depth (though I should take more time to look up the claims that are made in it). I like "The Weekly Show" with Jon Stewart. A lot of good conversations on there with some great guests too.
My main barriers are mental overload and time. I've had to unsubscribe from a lot of podcasts and cut down a lot from news reading due to increased stressful, cognitive overload, and exhaustion. I used to spend hours of my day reading the news and that really burnt me out. I try to listen to a lot of podcasts still, but haven't found a good balance yet.
--
If Wonder Woman’s lasso actually existed, would you want to use it? And more importantly, would you be willing to be lassoed yourself?
I don't think I would. For one thing, it's most likely that people would not consent to be lassoed and I do not want to force someone to be lassoed. Also, I think that it would just trigger more anxiety. I have anxiety, and I think that if I were to lasso someone and find out that they're lying, it would make me trust people even less. And that would just boost my anxiety and try to seek reassurance. And excessive reassurance seeking can just worsen anxiety. So no, I wouldn't.
I'm an honest person, but I don't want to be lassoed. It's because I'm also an anxious person and it would just fill me with more anxiety. I try to find gentle ways to tell the truth. I'm not a blunt person. Lassoing myself might make me someone I'm not.
Yikes. I wrote a lot. Sorry. The topics covered here resonated with me! And I'm still not done listening to the podcast episode either lol. Oops. Love the podcast as always!
Alex, thank you for sharing your story. When I imagined this podcast, moving from the newsletter only to audio, I envisioned doing episodes like this and interacting, challenging (being challenged), and connecting with people, spark their curiosity, and joy in science and the wonders of the world we live in.
Reading your comment made me happy inside, and I’m glad that we’ve connected. I’ll respond more on The Mini (😊), but wanted to let you know that you are heard and appreciated .
Hi Joe :). It's wonderful how you sought to have episodes like this and connect, inspire curiosity and joy, and challenging and being challenged. I'd say that you've achieved your goals :). I'm certainly more inspired to keep learning. I also want to think more critically and have more critical thinking.
One thing I want to work on is also to be more critical (without being cynical) of established news sources. I know that they're pretty accurate, but I think it's helpful to practice being critical (though it can be a slippery slope to go from critical to being close-minded). So, I'm seeking some kind of balance (along with balance so that I don't overwhelm myself reading the news too).
Awww :) I'm glad to hear that my comment made you feel happy :) I'm very glad we've connected too :).
Thank you in advance for responding more via the Mini :) (I'm sure you and the rest of the team have a lot of material to cover, so I appreciate it) :). You, Nick, Georgia, and Mary are kind and awesome :) Thank you SO MUCH for your kind message :) And thank you to you, Georgia, Nick, and Mary for y'all's support too :). I appreciate the RHR team! Take care.
What stayed with me in this conversation is the sense that the real problem is not simply lying. It is the human need to feel finished with doubt.
That is what makes the discussion so compelling. A person can be deceptive, of course. But a person can also be deeply sincere and still profoundly wrong, because the mind is not built only to record reality. It is built to complete it, smooth it, narrate it, and make it livable. Once that is seen clearly, truth becomes harder and more interesting than simple honesty. It asks not only whether someone means well, but whether they have learned how to remain in contact with correction.
What gives the piece its force is that it brings neuroscience, philosophy, and media criticism into the same moral frame. The deeper danger may not be falsehood alone, but the ease with which coherence, confidence, and repetition begin to feel like truth before truth has actually been tested.
Hey Joe, Georgia, Mary, Joe, and David! So cool that David could join in at the studio too!
It's both the most powerful and terrifying haha :). Wow, so that guy's left brain came up with an explanation as a guess instead of saying he didn't know/had no idea of it? Whoa.
You're right, the brain is a writer. It's shaped by experiences and I recall that memory can be shaped by what you're going through and a lot of things. It can change. What is reality to us is shaped by our interpretations and what shapes our interpretations includes what we believe, our experiences, etc. And you're correct that we can believe misinformation and continue to believe that misinformation.
Yeah, it's scary how there are so many lies being told, how people are doubling down even in the face of facts. It's very concerning. Mon Mothma, a character in Andor (Star Wars show) summed this up perfectly: "Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest."
I'd love to learn about ways to overcome cognitive biases and other problems.
Yep, some will double down to fit in.
And agreed social media has worsened it.
Good point - being in the middle is not the same as being objective.
It's very worrisome how there's so much news conglomeration and fewer news sources than before. Every person is biased (even journalists) and this leads to less diversity of opinion as David said and more bias. Yep, money has become a huge factor. And it worries me how the richest and most powerful people are buying up media companies and thus are shaping the narratives.
I didn't hear of mainformation, but it was great to learn about it. And, your explanation of disinformation and misinformation as well as malinformation is great too. Yep, showmanship has become a huge part of politics. Being charismatic and playing on people's emotions is what many politicians do. And it makes it easier for people to disregard facts, particularly when there are appeals to emotions. Excellent example, Georgia. I need to watch Chaplin's movies.
I wish I took more critical thinking classes. I want to learn more about logical fallicies. I've learned a lot about cognitive distortions before (while learning about anxiety), but would have loved to have been able to take David's classes. And David makes a great point about how correlation is NOT causation. I remember learning about that in statistics classes. Confirmation bias is easy to fall into. It makes sense to seek counter evidence. I need to do that more.
Yeah, social media leads to echo chambers. It's why I disconnected from it for years. It was way too much and I mostly saw opinions far on one side or the other. I'm back on there now, but even so, I'm not a huge fan of social media and I think there are better ways to learn (and prefer speaking and learning from people in person).
True! There are distortions with maps. And maps tell stories. I remember hearing about how some continents are made to look bigger in maps due to the story that the mapmakers want to tell. And LOL David's shirt sounds cool. The conference he went to sounds wild lol.
MK Ultra reminds me of the show 24. In that show, they used the fictional drug "Hyocine-pentothal" to try to force people to "tell the truth" by putting them in a lot of pain. It was brutal and horrible. 24 was intriguing but absurd and went overboard.
Yeah, I think lie detectors are highly unreliable. For someone with anxiety, it could cause a false positive. For someone who is pretty calm, like my character Christina (a very calm doctor) and my character, Caitlyn (who can be very calm at times), they can pass it by staying calm and keeping their cool.
Yep... I have white coat syndrome. My blood pressure has gone up higher than at home when I am at the doctor's office. Part of it is hereditary, but some of it was also because of anxiety.
And you're right, if someone believes a lie, they can pass the lie detector too.
True. I remember you and/or Lily mentioned that the AIs seek to please. And in doing that, it can hallucinate also.
Yeah, I've heard about the mistake of dismissing someone by criticizing the person and not considering their message or points. I'd love to take more classes or read books about critical thinking and logical fallacies.
I don't remember much about Adler. But I want to read up more about him too.
Agreed. Memories can definitely change. Our emotions and biases can shape them if I remember correctly. Russell's willingness to acknowledge his error is awesome. We can all learn from him and take a page from him. This reminds me of a recent experience. I remember thinking Vander was a good leader in the show Arcane, but someone in a comment response pushed back. I thought more about what they said and realized they were right. Vander tried to keep the peace, but he upheld an unjust status quo. And while Silco's (villain) ideas and actions were awful too, I can see why Vander was also quite flawed and not a great leader himself.
Great question, Mary! Yeah people do say their remarks are taken out of context, but that's not true either (just a way to try to excuse what they said).
The justice system has also made a lot of mistakes too. A lot of people have been wrongfully convicted. If I remember correctly, in criminal cases, the standard is supposed to be prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. But biases come into play too. And, what is seen as reasonable doubt by one could be seen differently by a different person...And then even when the truth is discovered or known, it doesn't necessarily lead to accountability (see Operation Paperclip for one example).
Yep...irrelevant responses to questions. it's ridiculous.
I need to read Challenging Postmodernism and the book that Mary suggested (Killer Underwear Invasion). Love the title lol.
Both books sound great!!
Excellent point about SEOs...sadly, I see blogs and other non-scientific/rigorous sources pop up often when searching medical and health topics.
I need to challenge my own ideas more often too. I need to sit with doubt more often too. It's helped me and I want to sit in doubt/uncertainty more. The brain seeks certainty. I think being able to sit with uncertainty, doubt, and the possibility that one can be wrong can help a lot.
I'll check out the show notes for David's article and Zinnophobia. Definitely a great idea to be skeptical.
Excellent discussion! One of the best episodes. Take care!
Joe, in case you're interested, I just thought of some sites related to my comment:
https://24.fandom.com/wiki/Hyocine-pentothal - Hyocine Pentothal. This is from the 24 wiki page (yeah, wikis are usually not ones to rely on, but I think that the fan wikis are fine for TV show summaries. It also mentions the (real-life) drugs that inspired this fictional drug.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYnE2Mxayco - The Mon Mothma speech.
Sorry for writing so many comments. But, I hope these resources help :). I'm sure the Hyocine Pentothal is handwavium lol but I wanted to share since you are interested in the science of sci-fi :).
Thanks for the links.
My pleasure, Joe :).
I'll start with answering the questions :):
Your brain is constantly filling in the gaps, has your left-brain interpreter ever had you believing something you later realized wasn’t true? What changed your mind?
A long time ago, I used to think that there were simple solutions to everything and saw a lot of things in black and white. I was religiously conservative too. But what changed my mind was learning about the issues (not just through my university studies, but also through podcasts, the news, speaking with those who know much more about the topics than me, and more). I also met people of different faith traditions as well as agnostics and atheists and listened with an open mind (and the more I learned from them, the more I opened my mind). I went through a lot in my past too and, as painful as that was, it also helped me develop a lot of empathy. Empathy helped me open my mind further and to truly listen to others' perspectives and what they've been through and to critically evaluate what I felt before. I've been blessed to be able to speak with different people from across the U.S. and world. And I'm still learning and growing. I also have much to learn and much growing to do. It's a lifelong process and I think it's important to keep growing and learning.
--
Comedians, philosophers, and picture books, oh my! You heard from the RHR crew, but where do you get your most honest dose of truth? Who or what do you trust to cut through the noise (besides RHR, ;)?
I try to get facts from a mixture of things. If I see a claim on social media, I try to see if news sources (like the BBC, The Guardian, USA Today, LA Times, local papers, etc.) can provide verification for such claims. I also listen to a lot of podcasts to learn from NPR's podcasts (their history podcast (Throughline); their science podcast (Short Wave); their national security podcast (Sources and Methods); and their global news podcast (State of the World) to history podcasts (like Battle Guide's "Not So Quiet On The Western Front", "Reichs & Republics"; and "WW2 Both Sides of the Wire"). I also try to listen to science podcasts (like RHR :), Short Wave, and The Supermassive podcasts). Of course, misinformation spreads through podcasts too, so I generally try to choose from long-running and established news sources (like NPR and I was listening to the Washington Post's daily news podcast for a while, and I like the NYT and WSJ's deep dive podcasts, but I haven't had time in a while). For science, I try to seek out more established sources also, like you (Joe), Scientific American (their "Science Quickly" podcast is great), and the Royal Astronomical Society ("Supermassive Podcast). For individual sources, like Dr. Becky Smethurst (Supermassive podcast and her YouTube channel), I look up/google their backgrounds to make sure they are actual scientists (though I also try to see if there are any controversies with their work) and not some crank and I like to look up books that they write too (and that can lead me down rabbit holes). I like checking out books from the library for more knowledge and I'll take a look at reviews of books to see how legit they are and also will see how well sourced it is (if there aren't footnotes or sources of any kind, that's a huge red flag for me when it comes to nonfiction). I also like to explore books mentioned during podcasts - especially if they're written by podcast guests. Plus, I ask librarian friends about books that they're reading and that gives me more rabbit holes to explore lol.
History is a bit tougher. Anyone can create a YouTube channel or a podcast and start talking history. I like to look up the backgrounds of the hosts of channels and podcasts (to make sure they're either legit historians or, even if they're not historians as their day job, at least someone who has a background in the area - and it's a huge plus if they will put the list of sources in the episode notes) and I also like to Google what people have said about them on sites like Reddit (Reddit, like many social media companies, can be a mess to look at but there are some good discussions on there too), Apple Podcast reviews, etc. The sources that they cite also help me see if they're legit (i.e. citing books instead of Wikipedia).
News is tough. Paywalls have made it tough at times to verify news (and I had to unsubscribe because of how expensive some newspapers are, like the Washington Post). But I still try to go with established news sources, like PBS Newshour, NPR, and The Guardian. Given how some U.S. news sources have bent the knee in recent years (i.e. CBS and Jeff Bezos, who also owns WaPo) and cuts to newsrooms in the U.S. as well as news conglomerations in the U.S. (and also because I have long been interested in foreign relations and international news), I also try to look at established international news sources, like France 24, The Guardian, BBC, and Deutsche Welle.
**EDIT** I also like John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight". It's funny but also covers topics in a good amount of depth (though I should take more time to look up the claims that are made in it). I like "The Weekly Show" with Jon Stewart. A lot of good conversations on there with some great guests too.
My main barriers are mental overload and time. I've had to unsubscribe from a lot of podcasts and cut down a lot from news reading due to increased stressful, cognitive overload, and exhaustion. I used to spend hours of my day reading the news and that really burnt me out. I try to listen to a lot of podcasts still, but haven't found a good balance yet.
--
If Wonder Woman’s lasso actually existed, would you want to use it? And more importantly, would you be willing to be lassoed yourself?
I don't think I would. For one thing, it's most likely that people would not consent to be lassoed and I do not want to force someone to be lassoed. Also, I think that it would just trigger more anxiety. I have anxiety, and I think that if I were to lasso someone and find out that they're lying, it would make me trust people even less. And that would just boost my anxiety and try to seek reassurance. And excessive reassurance seeking can just worsen anxiety. So no, I wouldn't.
I'm an honest person, but I don't want to be lassoed. It's because I'm also an anxious person and it would just fill me with more anxiety. I try to find gentle ways to tell the truth. I'm not a blunt person. Lassoing myself might make me someone I'm not.
Yikes. I wrote a lot. Sorry. The topics covered here resonated with me! And I'm still not done listening to the podcast episode either lol. Oops. Love the podcast as always!
Alex, thank you for sharing your story. When I imagined this podcast, moving from the newsletter only to audio, I envisioned doing episodes like this and interacting, challenging (being challenged), and connecting with people, spark their curiosity, and joy in science and the wonders of the world we live in.
Reading your comment made me happy inside, and I’m glad that we’ve connected. I’ll respond more on The Mini (😊), but wanted to let you know that you are heard and appreciated .
As always, thanks for the support. 👏🏽
Hi Joe :). It's wonderful how you sought to have episodes like this and connect, inspire curiosity and joy, and challenging and being challenged. I'd say that you've achieved your goals :). I'm certainly more inspired to keep learning. I also want to think more critically and have more critical thinking.
One thing I want to work on is also to be more critical (without being cynical) of established news sources. I know that they're pretty accurate, but I think it's helpful to practice being critical (though it can be a slippery slope to go from critical to being close-minded). So, I'm seeking some kind of balance (along with balance so that I don't overwhelm myself reading the news too).
Awww :) I'm glad to hear that my comment made you feel happy :) I'm very glad we've connected too :).
Thank you in advance for responding more via the Mini :) (I'm sure you and the rest of the team have a lot of material to cover, so I appreciate it) :). You, Nick, Georgia, and Mary are kind and awesome :) Thank you SO MUCH for your kind message :) And thank you to you, Georgia, Nick, and Mary for y'all's support too :). I appreciate the RHR team! Take care.
Thanks for the kind words 😊
You're welcome! :) You and the rest of the RHR team are awesome!