The Certainty Illusion: What You Don't Know and Why It Matters

by Timothy Caulfield

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In a world where there is so much conflicting information about how we are supposed to live, what can we really know? Knowing the truth, what's real from what's fake, should be easy. In today's world, that's far from the case. In The Certainty Illusion, Timothy Caulfield lifts the curtain on the forces contributing to our information chaos and unpacks why it's so difficult--sometimes even for experts--to escape the fake. Whether it's science, our own desire to be good and do the right thing, show more or the stories and opinions of others, there's more to sussing out the truth than simply tracking down what feels like an authoritative source. Caulfield argues that these major forces--science, goodness, and opinion--drive beliefs and behaviour, but the ways that they can be corrupted, or worse, used to nefarious ends by bad actors, are endless. While it may feel, at times, as though we are circling the drain of truth, especially as new technologies make it even easier to spread dangerous fictions, Caulfield pulls us out of the vortex and keeps us afloat, helping us recognize and combat the forces that threaten to pull us under. show less

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Timothy Caulfield
14 Works 334 Members
Timothy Caulfield is a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health, and Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta. He contributes frequently to the popular press and is the author of The Cure for Everything: Untangling the Twisted Messages about show more Health. Fitness, and Happiness, and The Science of Celebrity or Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? as well as the host of the popular Netflix show A User's Guide to Cheating Death. show less

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Canonical title
The Certainty Illusion: What You Don't Know and Why It Matters

Classifications

Genres
Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Science & Nature
DDC/MDS
302.23 — Society, government, & culture Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Mass Communication & Media Communication Media (Means of communication)
LCC
HM1206 .C38 — Social sciences Sociology (General) Sociology Social psychology Social influence. Social pressure
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37
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781,054
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(4.00)
Languages
English
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Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
ISBNs
3
ASINs
2