The Irrational Ape: Why We Fall for Disinformation, Conspiracy Theory and Propaganda

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Scientific journals are much less likely to deem negative results worth publishing, which places researchers under immense pressure to find links between phenomena at the risk of these links being spurious....It is far more useful to know that a drug doesn't work, for example, than to be presented with incorrect assertions that it does." We may not have to save the planet from nuclear annihilation, of course, but our ability to think critically has never been more important. In a world where fake news, mistrust of experts, prejudice and ignorance all too often hold sway, we can all too easily be misled over issues such as vaccinations, climate change or conspiracy theories. We live in an era where access to all the knowledge in the world is at our fingertips, yet that also means misinformation and falsehoods can spread further and faster than ever before.

This is a standout example of what David Robert Grimes describes as flawed logic, and how it puts us at real risk. The author has set himself the not inconsiderable task of unravelling the many tangled ways in which we deceive ourselves and one another. One possible solution? Learning to think like scientists. I have read plenty of books on the subject of critical thinking, usually very good, and this is one of the best. The author takes a comprehensive look at the subject, dividing the book into six sections that look at different aspects of how we can and should reason correctly about the world, starting with logic but then moving onto other subjects such as statistics and the scientific method. The sections are not labelled in that way though. To make his work readable, the first section is headed "Without Reason" and the statistics section, of course, is "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics". Denialism--think climate change or vaccines--is a stubborn refusal to accept what evidence shows beyond reasonable doubt.This is an important book that everyone should read in this age of constant fake news, bias reporting, and groupthink. We need clear-headed unbiased and critical thinkers, but there aren’t enough of those around. Incidents that created the two unlikely Russian heroes who Grimes referred to in the prologue (Petrov and Arkhipov) may never happen again (or at least we hope not), but other situations that may have dire consequences may occur. When such situations arise, we need critical thinkers, not the new breed of crowd-followers and people who hear only what they want to hear, aided by people who speak knowing what their listeners want to hear. Quantum mechanics is not a phenomena ‘smaller even than atoms’. It can manifest on scales much larger than a single atom. Some people believe that the pharmaceutical industry covers up cures for cancer; 7 percent of Americans believe the moon landings were faked, others believe climate change is a hoax perpetuated by scientists. Meanwhile, Flat Earthers hold global meetings.

Thanks to the credulous and frankly deplorable conduct of many press outlets, Wakefield’s dubious message spread far and wide,” Grimes states. Three wholly avoidable measles deaths in Dublin and others permanently scarred were some of the victims of this anti-science scaremongering. Last year, there were more than 82,000 cases of measles in Europe.

Table of Contents

This is a book about being critical of all arguments - particularly from people you largely agree with. Because, as he points out when talking about confirmation bias, we are all very good at being critical of the arguments of those we disagree with, but often accept poor reasoning from those we agree with. Studies show that trust around the world is in crisis, although distrust levels vary in different countries. While trust in science as a profession remains high, some particular areas of science are not doing well in this regard. I elaborate on the above in the remainder of this review should you have sufficient interest to read further. We may not have to save the planet from nuclear annihilation, of course, but our ability to think critically has never been more important . In a world where fake news , mistrust of experts , prejudice and ignorance all too often hold sway, we can all too easily be misled. We live in an era where access to all the knowledge in the world is at our fingertips, yet that also means misinformation and falsehoods can spread further and faster than ever before.

In short, this book is in part an unoriginal repetition of widely known events and part polemic against public ignorance on what constitutes evidence and knowledge. However, the book’s flaws extend far beyond this. Humans are great believers in superstition. How is that so? That is another area discussed in the book. Humans have a strong urge to connect two unrelated phenomena, and if they are close enough, the tendency to believe one is the cause of the other, is especially strong. Another very fascinating chapter is, ‘The Memory Remains’. Do we know how often we fool ourselves? How do we do that? Memory is the culprit. Our memories deteriorate and alter over time and it can reach points in which we not only recall things that never happened, or had happened to someone else. We need to examine our memories critically, and demand proof as exacting as we demand of the testimony of others. This book also offers us a reminder of the human cost when sinister narratives take hold in a nation's psyche and when you isolate and dehumanize certain groups, the next step of elimination is not far off. He has some valuable insights into the mobbing and shaming brigade on social media, and how the act of wielding a pitchfork does not make one heroic. One might glibly think that critical thinking is not particularly important. You would be wrong! By means of numerous well-referenced examples throughout history, Dr Grimes shows how critical thinking can literally help prevent injustice, save lives and avoid future disaster.

I especially enjoyed Section II that contains a pretty comprehensive summary of logical and rhetorical fallacies: fallacy of the single cause, false dilemmas, post hoc ergo propter hoc ("after this, therefore because of this"), etc.