David McRaney

Why civil resistance works, and why the number of people needed to reach a protest movement's goals is much lower than you might assume: New episode with Erica Chenoweth - @chenoweth.bsky.social - youarenotsosmart.com/2025/05/14/y...

Reminder: The smarter a person is and the more education they earn, the better they will become at rationalizing and justifying their incorrect beliefs if so motivated.. Critical thinking is a skill, like playing guitar. It must be learned and practiced (and the person must want to do both).

According to actual, real studies into this sort of thing, the number of people needed to ensure a protest movement succeeds is much lower than you might assume: youarenotsosmart.com/2025/05/14/y... Apple Podcats: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6og4...

Always relevant: youarenotsosmart.com/2024/01/20/y...

My first morning as the writer-in-residence at Ernest Hemingway's house. Info about this place: comlib.org/hemingway/he...

Had to use a VPN to get on BlueSky to let you know that I drank chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast out of a Mason jar for lunch before writing about the role of hermeneutics in the pursuit of intellectual humility when avoiding the fallacy of reification concerning abstractions like "genius" 👋

I think this is super rad and want you to know about it: I am headed to Chicago right now to attend a conference of scientists who study disagreement at the Center for Enlightened Disagreement at Northwestern. Article about the launch of this place: www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/news/blog/20...

Reminder: The smarter a person is and the more education they earn, the better they will become at rationalizing and justifying their incorrect beliefs if so motivated.. Critical thinking is a skill, like playing guitar. It must be learned and practiced (and the person must want to do both).

Seems a good time to re-share this episode of YANSS about why civil resistance is incredibly powerful and how that works (scientifically), but also what it takes to make it work after the soldiers and police arrive. Guest: @chenoweth.bsky.social - Links: youarenotsosmart.com/2025/05/14/y...

Why civil resistance works, and why the number of people needed to reach a protest movement's goals is much lower than you might assume: New episode with Erica Chenoweth - @chenoweth.bsky.social - youarenotsosmart.com/2025/05/14/y...

Why the people who are most likely to suggest that you “do your own research” are also the least likely to do their own research: youarenotsosmart.com/2023/08/19/y...

Hey everyone wondering if you can ever get through to people stuck in cult-like thinking and change their minds (spoiler - you can). How Minds Change is, right now, a Kindle Daily Deal on Amazon. You can grab the ebook for $1.99 Limited time, ends at midnight, here's a link: a.co/d/gMmjgU0