Playlist 57: The Flat Earthers, Seeing White, and some great music episodes

View this email in your browser

Podcasts and other things from the internet that will make you think.

PLAYLIST

The 'flat-earther, aka REALLY??' playlist
A decade ago it was mostly a joke. Now it's all too real. Yes, there are more and more people who actually and truly believe the Earth is flat. There's no better way to learn about how conspiracy theories work than with one that we can all agree is insane. Maybe this is something we can all be on the same side of around the Thanksgiving table?

1) First, check out the FAQ from The Flat Earth Society to see amazing examples of motivated reasoning.

2) Then, there's this video that summarizes their beliefs.

3) But, I mean nobody REALLY believes all this, right? Well, they now have a conference.

4) Now for some actual explanations on how people come to believe this, check out The Curiosity Podcast and their interview with Steven Novella from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe. They talk at length about why people believe conspiracy theories and about flat-earthers specifically.

5) And finally, Vsauce: Is the Earth Actually Flat?

Makes perfect sense

PODCASTS AND OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS

6) I haven't had the chance to do much listening the last few weeks, but there is one series I'm working my way through that I absolutely recommend. Seeing White is a 14 part podcast documentary (I’m four episodes in) from Scene on Radio about the history of slavery and institutional racism in the U.S.. It’s incredibly well done and I guarantee it will teach you things you didn't learn in school.

7) As a nice supplement to the playlist above, The Daily on Tuesday Nov 14 did its second story (starting 9:10) on how YouTube is feeding into conspiracy theories that spring up around breaking news. Hear how tragedies are fodder for these tin foil hat types, and how their playbook is getting them some massive audiences.

8) An article I wrote for The Bello Collective: Some Great Music Episodes from Non-Music Podcasts.

+ The Bello Collective got a nice shout out in The New Yorker, in an article about the Third Coast Podcast Festival.

9) From The WSJ, a pretty fascinating read about a guy who challenged himself to learn and master a new skill each month for 12 months straight. The final task: to beat Magnus Carlsen at chess, the highest ranked player of all time.

+ Speaking of learning, this is the best time of year to score deals on sites like Udemy. I’ve bought some of their courses over the years and Udemy is a pretty solid platform. Take a look around, pretty much everything is $10.

10) From r/space on Reddit: What is your favorite space fact that you tell people to blow their minds?

Happy Thanksgiving from No-Face!

That's all for this week!

Connect with me @erikthejones on twitter and if you've learned anything interesting, please forward this link to any curious natured friends or family so they can subscribe. Many thanks!

Erik