The Knowledge Illusion: How Overconfidence Shapes Our Lives (#256)

We’ve landed on the moon and built global networks—yet most of us don’t understand how a toilet works. Cognitive scientist Philip Fernbach explores the paradox of human intelligence: our success depends on shared knowledge, not personal depth. But that creates an illusion—we think we know far more than we do.

How does this illusion quietly shape our politics, beliefs and risks and is it time we all got a little more curious - and less certain?