"In the two-thou­sands, the magi­cian-come­di­ans Penn and Teller host­ed a tele­vi­sion series called Bull­shit! In it, they took on a vari­ety of cul­tur­al phe­nom­e­na they regard­ed as wor­thy of the tit­u­lar epi­thet, from ESP to Area 51, exor­cism to cre­ation­ism, feng shui to haute cui­sine. Their sar­don­ic argu­ments were enriched by clips of assort­ed inter­vie­wees -speak­ing in defense of the top­ic of the day."
"That episode came right to mind while watch­ing the new Ver­i­ta­si­um video above, which deals with the phe­nom­e­non of over­con­fi­dence. Like the oft-cit­ed 93 per­cent of Amer­i­cans who believe them­selves bet­ter dri­vers than the medi­an, we all fall vic­tim to that afflic­tion at one time or anoth­er, to one degree or anoth­er; the more inter­esting mat­ter under inves­ti­ga­tion is why that should be so."
Penn and Teller hosted a television series called Bullshit!, confronting cultural claims from ESP to haute cuisine with sardonic arguments and interview clips. Penn noted that guests often agree to appear despite predictable embarrassment because each person confidently believes their own ideas are correct. A Veritasium video examines the related phenomenon of overconfidence, noting the oft-cited finding that 93 percent of Americans claim to be better-than-median drivers. T. S. Eliot called this desire 'the endless struggle to think well of themselves.' Researchers Baruch Fischhoff and Don A. Moore (author of Perfectly Confident: How to Calibrate Your Decisions Wisely) identify additional contributing factors.
Read at Open Culture
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