Has someone you love ever been enmeshed in online conspiracy theories? Podcast host Zach Mack’s father fell deep into a rabbit hole and wagered Mack $10,000 that 10 of his far-fetched political and apocalyptic beliefs would come true within the year. Mack created a podcast about the experience called “Alternate Realities,” which New York Magazine has already named one of the best of the year. We talk to Mack about what he learned from the bet and what it was like trying to disentangle his father from the conspiracy theories he embraced. And we’ll hear from UCSF clinical psychiatrist Joe Pierre about how to talk with loved ones in the grips of conspiratorial thinking.
Zach Mack on Trying to Rescue His Father from ‘Alternate Realities’
Zach Mack's podcast is called "Alternate Realities." (Zach Mack)
Guests:
Zach Mack, producer, Vox Media; producer and host of the podcast, "Alternate Realities" which ran through NPR’s “Embedded” podcast and was also adapted into an episode of “This American Life”
Dr. Joe Pierre, health sciences clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF; author, “False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True"
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