In this episode of the Being Well Podcast, Forrest and Dr. Rick explore how well-intentioned self-help advice can drift away from science under the incentives of the attention economy, where overclaiming, alarmist framing, and “this one simple trick” outperforms nuance. They talk about how authority gets manufactured, how the algorithm encourages overclaiming, and how “theories of everything” lead to misinformation. Dr. Rick and Forrest discuss whether seemingly harmless pseudoscientific practices can create a slippery slope, lowering the importance of material evidence and acting as an on-ramp to more consequential misinformation.
Key Topics
- 0:00 Introduction
- 2:00 The attention economy
- 9:00 The problems with clickbait
- 18:30: The risks of sprawling expertise
- 25:15: Modality capture: when all you have is a hammer
- 27:15: ADHD and trauma
- 39:24: If science changes, what can we trust?
- 42:30: How “fringe” can become mainstream
- 50:10: How do you decide who to trust?
- 1:06:00: The slippery slope of “woo”
- 1:11:35: What’s a better alternative?
- 1:21:11: Recap
Forrest is now writing on Substack, check out his work there.
