Winnipeg Free Press quotes David Smith about WCBC-TV documentary 'Conspiracy Rising,' which also interviews Smith
Livingstone Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy, was quoted in the March 8, 2012 Winnipeg Free Press about the CBC-TV documentary 'Conspiracy Rising,' which aired that night in Canada. Smith is also interviewed in the documentary.
Set against the global socio-political landscape, 'Conspiracy Rising' uses science and psychology to investigate the causes of conspiracy theories, why we are wired to believe them, and how as a society it is imperative that we separate the fantasies from the real threats.
The Winnipeg Free Press story also ran a photo of Smith looking out at Ground Zero in New York City. "It looks like being certain - even of something which is very terrible and very frightening -- may be psychologically preferable - at least, to many people - to being in doubt (and) being uncertain," says Smith in the news story. "Because if you're uncertain, you're suspended (and) you don't know what stance to take."
Smith is the author of The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War, Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others, and Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind. Smith recently discussed his book Less than Human on NPR's Talk of the Nation and on WCSH6 TV's 207 news magazine.