Why do people believe dangerous, anti-scientific nonsense, such as the claim that vaccines cause autism, or that climate change isn’t real? But at the risk of making myself as popular as Gwyneth Paltrow at a meeting of the General Medical Council, I’d like to suggest another: common sense. After all, the idea that it might be advisable to stab children with disease-ridden needles is plainly absurd. But as the psychologist Andrew Shtulman explains in his fascinating recent book Scienceblind, you needn’t be stupid to entertain them. It just feels like it makes sense, you know?

Source: The Guardian July 28, 2017 13:52 UTC