Conspiracy thinking, wokeness, and the future of free thought | Michael Shermer

The founder of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer, discusses whether conspiracy thinking is on the rise and whether it's coded right or left.

0:00- Introduction
7:59- Why Shermer is ‘no longer woke’
11:35- Equal opportunities vs. equal outcomes
15:38- ‘Blank slatism’ is inherent to ‘wokeness’
19:21- Conflicting rights between different interests
25:47- ‘Wokeness poisons science’
29:30- Censorship in science is a leadership problem
33:12- RFK Jr’s appointment to head HHS
40:17- The JFK assassination’s enduring appeal for conspiracists
45:47- New Jersey drones and UFO conspiracies
48:17- ‘Loose Change’ and ‘just asking questions’

"Even paranoids have real enemies," said the poet Delmore Schwartz, who was both clinically paranoid and definitely on to something, according to today's guest: Michael Shermer, the founder of Skeptic magazine, Substack superstar, and author of many best-selling books about rationalism, the evolution of morality, and pseudoscience.

He quotes Schwartz in his latest book, Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational, to drive home the point that big, world-changing secret plots happen all the time, but there are reliable ways for us to decide whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, 9/11 was an inside job, or vaccines cause autism. For the record, Shermer says yes, no, and no on those counts.

Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with Shermer about whether conspiracy thinking is on the rise, whether it's coded left or right, how wokeness poisons science, and whether the reelection of Donald Trump means free thought is ascendant. This interview was recorded at a live event in New York City in January. Sign up for invites to and news about Reason's New York events here.