Why You Believe Weird Things (Michael Shermer)

Why You Believe Weird Things (Michael Shermer)

Author: Knox Robinson Productions March 24, 2026 Duration: 1:22:53
What is truth, and why does finding it actually matter? Amanda sits down with Dr. Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine, longtime Scientific American columnist, and author of Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters, for a conversation that starts with epistemology and ends in a full-throated debate about free will. They talk about why our brains evolved more like lawyers than scientists — to win arguments, not find facts. They get into the hard problem of consciousness, what meditation might reveal that neuroscience can't yet measure, and whether the legal system could ever be redesigned around actual truth-seeking. And then Amanda makes the case for hard determinism and nearly talks Shermer into it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a particular kind of confinement that has nothing to do with physical walls, a feeling Amanda Knox understands in a way few others do. In Hard Knox with Amanda Knox, she moves beyond the headlines of her own story to examine the universal prisons we all inhabit-those of expectation, trauma, fear, and our own minds. This isn't a true-crime podcast; it's a series of conversations about the path out. Through candid talks with writers, artists, philosophers, and everyday people who've faced their own hard truths, the show digs into the raw materials of a resilient life. Listeners will hear explorations of mental fortitude, the messy pursuit of physical well-being, and how culture shapes our understanding of justice and personal freedom. Each episode feels like a deep, meandering walk with a curious friend, tackling how we rebuild after life fractures us. Produced by Knox Robinson Productions, the podcast creates a space where struggle is acknowledged not as a failure, but as a catalyst for becoming more grounded and authentic. For those who subscribe, there's an added layer of direct dialogue with Amanda herself in regular segments where she answers listener questions with remarkable candor. It’s ultimately about finding agency, the kind that can’t be taken away.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Hard Knox with Amanda Knox
Podcast Episodes
Who's Right? - Saying "No" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:11
Who's Right is back by popular demand! Between our usual Hard Knox episodes, Amanda sits down with her husband, Chris to debate something serious or silly and ask you: “Who’s Right?” In this Who’s Right? episode, Amanda…
How Soldiers Make Sense of an Unwinnable War  (Phil Klay) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:01
Phil Klay is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and National Book Award–winning author of Redeployment, Missionaries, and Uncertain Ground, whose work examines the moral and emotional toll of modern war. How do soldiers make se…
Who's Right? - Arranged Marriages [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:57
Who's Right is back by popular demand! Between our usual Hard Knox episodes, Amanda sits down with her husband, Chris to debate something serious or silly and ask you: “Who’s Right?” In this Who’s Right? episode, Amanda…
How We Evolved to Be Good (Nicholas Christakis) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:11
Nicholas Christakis is a Yale sociologist and physician whose research explores how human connection, cooperation, and contagion shape societies. In this episode Amanda and Nicholas explore how our social networks influe…
Old School: The Aha Moment (AJ Jacobs) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:26
Amanda and Chris get lost in the wide world of puzzles with AJ Jacobs, author of the The Puzzler: One Man's quest to solve the most baffling puzzles ever, from crosswords to jigsaws to the meaning of life. And pay close…
Who’s Right? - Accept Death or Defy It [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:51
Who's Right is back by popular demand! Between our usual Hard Knox episodes, Amanda sits down with her husband, Chris to debate something serious or silly and ask you: “Who’s Right?” In this weeks pre-Halloween episode t…
The Satanic Panic – How Pop Culture Got Possessed (Sarah Marshall) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:24
Sarah Marshall is a writer and podcaster, best known as the cohost of You're Wrong About and creator of The Devil You Know, a CBC podcast series exploring the Satanic Panic which explores how a wave of moral hysteria in…
Ask Amanda Anything - Young Love, Oversharing, Presence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:22
In this week's episode Amanda relfects on how to tell your story while protecting a teenager’s privacy, why intentional oversharing can build connection, and how Zen, Nonviolent Communication, and even a near dog scam te…
How Hyperpersuasion Hijacks Free Will (Rebecca Lemov) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:18
Rebecca Lemov is the author of The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyperpersuasion, whose work explores how people are persuaded, manipulated, and sometimes brainwashed. In this conversation, Amanda…
Old School: Excellent Advice for Living (Kevin Kelly) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:12
There's some wisdom you can only find when you're lost, which has led Kevin Kelly, senior Maverick and co-founder Wired magazine, to get lost intentionally through decades of travelling. Along the way, he's collected som…