The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science

by Will Storr

  *

  There are possible objections to the idea of the Hero-Maker, as well as questions to which I don’t know the answer. The anthropologist Daniel Everett has studied the Pirahã, a hunter-gatherer tribe of around three hundred and fifty people in the Amazon, who seem to have no tradition of storytelling or myth. Their musical language is based on just eight consonants and three vowels. They are said to live as they speak: completely in the present.

  But they do understand story. These distant and primitive people, who have been separated from the wider world for tens of thousands of years, lack a culture of art and who seem to be incapable of learning even basic counting, had no trouble enjoying a showing of Peter Jackson’s 2005 film King Kong. Writing in the New Yorker, John Colapinto reported: ‘The Pirahã shouted with delight, fear, laughter, and surprise – and when Kong himself arrived, smashing through the palm trees, pandemonium ensued. Small children, who had been sitting close to the screen, jumped up and scurried into their mothers’ laps; the adults laughed and yelled at the screen.’

  I worry, too, that the Hero-Maker is overly Western in its perspective. Do hero myths differ radically in various cultures and, if so, do these differences affect how individuals deal with conflict and struggle? A 2012 study, reported in The Economist, asked why levels of ‘wisdom’ in Japanese youngsters seemed to be so in advance of those of their American counterparts. Could the answer lie in the nature of the stories that they have been bathed in since birth?

  In the closing stages of the writing of this book, I have experienced cold moments, in which I charge myself as being just as guilty of faulty reasoning as the most extreme people that I have met. Here I am: the atheist who concluded that religion is a ‘parasite hero narrative’; the journalist suspicious of James Randi who discovered him to be a liar; the novelist who found storytelling to be of vital importance to the advancement of humanity. Here I am: confirmation bias come alive.

  I am also concerned that I have overstated my argument. In my haste to write my own coherent story, I have barely acknowledged the obvious truth that minds do sometimes change. People find faith and they lose it. Mystics become Skeptics. Politicians cross the floor. I wonder why this happens. Is it when the reality of what is actually happening in our lives overpowers the myth that we make of themselves? Are we simply pursuing ever more glorious hero missions?

  *

  If so, our missions can also fracture in a different way: one that has far more threatening consequences. Professor Bentall told me that ‘depressed people have a huge gap between how they see themselves and how they would like to be – their ideal self.’ Professor Lewis Wolpert writes, ‘In the inner world of the depressive self, the self is perceived to be ineffective and inadequate, whereas the outside world is seen as presenting insuperable obstacles.’

  The periods in my life when I have felt hopeless are the ones in which the narrative has collapsed. Goliath has grown too big and I have found it impossible to cast myself as the hero. The sense of non-specific wrongness that has always shrouded me is the product of a partially true, yet unhelpful plot. When I look back upon my early life I see myself at fault and in trouble, with parents, teachers, employers and lovers. My mind has seized upon these episodes to construct my autobiography. My map of salience has worked against me.

  My wrongness is one story, but there are others. I look out at the Australian Central Desert and see a landscape of death while an Aboriginal sees water and shelter and food. The Skeptic tells the story of Randi the hero; the psychic of Randi the devil. We all make these unconscious plot decisions: what is relevant? What is salient? Which are the defining moments?

  Why should I take it to be of such potent importance that my father believes in God? Or that a magazine journalist wants to bomb Tehran? Are these facts such a challenge to my hero illusion that I must alienate myself from friends and family? And why must I define myself chiefly as a man who used to steal and drink and be an unstable boyfriend?

  *

  Everything we know starts as electrical pulses, incoming from the senses. These pulses combine to construct a best-guess but distorted recreation of reality.

  Having learned this fact, and tracked some of its ramifications, I find myself creeping about my beliefs, timidly peeking over their rims, examining them for cracks and presenting them nervously. I have become wary of feeling too much passion, getting carried away and emotional. Does my knowledge of the Hero-Maker mean that I must forbid myself, forever, from angrily fighting for a belief? If everyone was to do this, it would be disastrous. Progress would halt, civilisation would desiccate. I must conclude, then, that as dangerous as the illusion can be, it can also work for the good. And so the proper response is to accept my human nature, close my eyes, open my arms and fall back into it.

  I will try to remember, though, that as right as I can sometimes feel, there is always the chance that I am wrong. And that happiness lies in humility: in forgiving others, and in forgiving myself.

  We are creatures of illusion. We are made out of stories. From the heretics to the Skeptics, we are all lost in our own neural tjukurpas, our own secret worlds. We are just ordinary heroes fighting phantom Goliaths, doing our best in the service of truth when the only thing that we really know are the pulses.

  Acknowledgements

  I owe the largest debt of thanks to the great many people who have allowed me to interview them – especially to Professor Jonathan Haidt, whose account of confabulation in his amazing book The Happiness Hypothesis helped to inspire what was to become this one, and to Professor David Eagleman, whose Incognito was equally vital to my understanding of some of the principles that form the core of The Unpersuadables.

  I also owe thanks to the wonderful editors who commissioned the original work that comprises much of this book. In chapter order, they are: Judith Whelan, Christine Middap, Ceri David, Ross Jones, Charlotte Northedge and Merope Mills, Alex Bilmes and Ruaridh Nicoll.

  Thanks also to Ann Eve for the studies, Greg Taylor, Ed Yong, Andy Lewis, George Monbior for loaning me his column title for the title of this book; for the extremely patient assistance and to my panel of brilliant brains for checking the manuscript: Dr Louise Arseneault, Dr Helen Fisher, Professor Sophie Scott, Professor Chris Frith, Professor Daryl Bem and Professor Chris French.

  Finally, thanks to Charlie Campbell at Ed Victor Ltd. and to Paul Baggaley, my fantastic and patient editor Kris Doyle, Sandra Taylor for working miracles and all at Picador in the UK and Dan Crissman and all at Overlook in the US.

  A note on my method

  As a journalist, my knowledge is broad but shallow. It is the responsibility of the journalist to identify appropriate experts and to acknowledge significant disagreements in what those experts report, where significant disagreements exist. The majority of the science in this book involves the idea of the brain’s modelling of the world, and the many psychological illusions that have been revealed by experimental psychologists. These ideas are well documented in a range of excellent books and periodicals – both academic and popular – which were my principal source for research. I supplemented this research with interviews with experts, generally on the professor level. Most of the concepts in this strand are relatively uncontroversial and broadly accepted.

  In the areas where I explore more controversial science, I checked original studies where necessary and sought expert counsel where those studies threatened to be too complex for a lay journalist to appropriately understand. In the few incidents where interviewees made controversial claims about specific studies, I confirmed these claims either in the original papers, or with the authors of those papers.

  Finally, when the first draft of The Unpersuadables was completed, I recruited a team of academics with appropriate specialisms to read through the text. They offered notes and advice where I had erred.

  This is an imperfect system, as it relies on many secondary sources. Moreover, I do not declare myself to be free of the biases that afflict any w
riter, and I’m certainly not immune to making mistakes. If any errors are noted, or if new findings supersede claims made in the text, I would be very grateful to receive notification via my website, willstorr.com, so that any future editions of The Unpersuadables can be corrected and updated.

  Naturally, this book contains only a fraction of a fraction of the relevant science. Other academics will, surely, disagree with those whom I quote in these pages. If any of it piques your interest, I urge you to dig deeper, where you will no doubt find science that is newer and in conflict with some of the work here.

  Some names have been changed, all interviews are edited, the chronology of some episodes may have been altered in the interests of narrative coherence, ellipses are not used within hybrid quotes, which are used in the interests of concision. Several of these chapters have appeared previously, in different forms, in periodicals.

  Notes and references

  1: ‘It’s like treason’

  page

  5 offices in the US, Canada, New Zealand and the UK: http://www.creationresearch.net/team/contact.html.

  5 from august scientific bodies such as the Royal Society: Annabel Crabb, ‘Darwin’s evolutionary theory is a tottering nonsense, built on too many suppositions’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 May 2006.

  5 the British Centre for Science Education: http://www.bcseweb.org.uk/index.php/Main/JohnMackay.

  5 In 2006 the National Union of Teachers demanded new legislation: Jamie Doward, ‘Creationist to tour UK universities’, Observer, 9 April 2006.

  5 which the National Secular Society described as: Sarah Cassidy, ‘Creationist descends on Britain to take debate on evolution into the classroom’, Independent, 21 April 2006.

  6 Professor Richard Dawkins … once told the Guardian newspaper: John Crace, ‘Six Day Wonder’, Guardian, 2 May 2006.

  12 only for Mackay to be kicked out: Michael McKenna, ‘Biblical Battle of Creation Groups’, Australian, 4 June 2007.

  2: ‘I don’t know what’s going on with these people …’

  page

  27 UFO sightings by … airline pilots, military personnel and police officers: Peter Jennings, ‘The UFO Phenomenon’, ABC News, 24 February 2005.

  27 over a hundred thousand billion potentially life-bearing planets: ‘Billions Of Life-Bearing Planets Could Exist’, Sky News, 10 May 2012.

  27 Dr Michio Kaku … argues: Peter Jennings, ‘The UFO Phenomenon’, ABC News, 24 February 2005.

  28 Mack initially assumed all abductees to be delusional: PBS interview, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aliens/johnmack.html.

  28 Working closely with more than two hundred individuals: Angela Hind, ‘Alien Thinking’, BBC News, 8 June 2005.

  28 Mack quickly discounted the common ‘sleep paralysis’ theory: ‘Abduction, Alienation and Reason’, BBC Radio 4, 8 June 2005.

  28 ‘These people, as far as I could tell, were of sound mind’: ‘Abduction, Alienation and Reason’, BBC Radio 4, 8 June 2005.

  29 he felt marginalised by the university: ‘The Aliens are always with us [Obituary]’, Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times, 3 October 2004. Additional quotes re: Mack vs Harvard: ‘Abduction, Alienation and Reason’, BBC Radio 4, 8 June 2005.

  3: ‘The secret of the long life of the tortoise’

  page

  31 the ‘VIPs’ … the lowly ‘General Members’: http://www.pypt.org/35-membership.html.

  32 four cabinet ministers were sent to meet him: ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’, Newsweek, 12 June 2011.

  32 one billion followers: Bhupesh Bhandari, ‘Meet Baba Ramdev, the swami who owns a Scottish Island’, MSN News, 4 June 2011.

  32 two hundred and fifty million viewers: http://www.swamiramdevyoga.org/about-us/swami-ramdevji.html.

  32 he had a reception with MPs at the House of Commons: ‘British House of Commons honours Yoga Guru Ramdev’, One India News, 18 July 2007.

  32 tea with the Queen: ‘Swami Ramdev wins UK award’, Times of India, 14 July 2006.

  32 addressed a United Nations conference: ‘Baba Ramdev to address UN meet in NY’, Mumbai Mirror, 13 October 2009.

  33 ‘complete medication’: Interview with author.

  33 ‘like a miracle’: Interview with author.

  36 manufactures over a hundred and sixty herbal treatments: ‘Yogi cleared of animal parts row’, BBC News, 8 March 2006.

  36 senior politician accused him of using human bones: ‘Guru accused of “human bone” drug’, BBC News, 4 January 2006.

  36 the testicles of an otter: T. K. Rajalakshmi, ‘In the name of Ayurveda’, Frontline, vol. 23, issue 02 (28 January–10 February 2006).

  36 twenty were arrested: ‘20 supporters of Baba Ramdev arrested’, Times of India, 6 January 2006.

  36 a sinister conspiracy of multinational pharmaceutical companies: ‘Yogi cleared of animal parts row’, BBC News, 8 March 2006.

  36 claims that pranayama can cure AIDS: ‘Yoga can cure AIDS: Ramdev’, Times of India, 20 December 2006.

  36 a statement Ramdev denied ever making: ‘I made no claims of curing AIDS: Ramdev’, Express India, 22 December 2006.

  36 threatened with legal action by medical NGOs and … the Indian government: Seema Kamdar, ‘Baba Ramdev’s website claims AIDS is curable’, DNA India, 26 December 2006.

  37 have each paid more than £6,000: http://www.pypt.org/35-membership.html.

  38 Coca-Cola will turn their skin dark: Shivam Vij, ‘The Stain that Just Won’t Wash’, Tehelka, 10 February 2007.

  39 a kind of greatest hits package of Ramdev’s claims: Acharya Balkrishna, Yog: In Synergy with Medical Science, Divya Prakashan, 2007.

  Note: I read about many of the studies listed in this section, and in the chapters that follow, in books by those with appropriate expertise. Where academic studies are listed, it is for the convenience of interested parties. For details of my method please see 316.

  41 ‘The Powerful Placebo’: Henry K. Beecher, ‘The Powerful Placebo’, Journal of the American Medical Association, 24 December 1955.

  41 although Beecher’s interpretation of the data … highly careless: For an excellent analysis of just how poor Beecher’s interpretation of the data in his study was, see Dylan Evans, Placebo, HarperCollins, 2004, pp. 4–6.

  42 Valium … only actually works when the patient knows: ‘Why the placebo effect is rewriting the medical rulebook’, New Scientist, 20 August 2008.

  42 Experts such as psychiatrist Patrick Lemoine: Laura Spinney, ‘Purveyors of mystery’, New Scientist, 16 December 2006.

  42 75 per cent of the effect of … Prozac might be down to placebo: Irving Kirsch and Guy Sapirstein, ‘Listening to Prozac but hearing placebo: A meta-analysis of antidepressant medication’, Prevention & Treatment, June 1998.

  42 Professor David Wootton … has written: Bad Medicine, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 68.

  42 Professor Fabrizio Benedetti, has gone so far as to state: Steve Silberman, ‘Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why’, Wired, 17 September 2009.

  42 An individual’s placebo response … expectation of what will happen: Steve Silberman, ‘Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why’, Wired, 17 September 2009.

  42 brand-name headache pills: A. Branthwaite and P. Cooper, ‘Analgesic effects of branding in treatment of headaches’, British Medical Journal, 16 May 1981.

  42 why zero per cent ‘alcohol’ can make you feel drunk: Donald J. O’Boyle, Alice S. Binns and John J. Summer, ‘On the efficacy of alcohol placebos in inducing feelings of intoxication’, Psychopharmacology 15, nos. 1–2 (1994).

  42 why completely fake drugs can benefit the symptoms: This list is a compilation of all the sources noted in this section, as well as Dylan Evans, Placebo, HarperCollins, 2004; and Ben Goldacre, Bad Science, 4th Estate, 2008.

  42 athletes go faster: Thomas Trojian and Christopher Beedie, ‘Placebo Effect and Athletes’, Current Sports Medicine Reports, July–August 2008.


  42 for longer: C. J. Beedie, D. A. Coleman and A. J. Foad, ‘Positive and negative placebo effects resulting from the deceptive administration of an ergogenic aid’, International Journal of Sport, Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism, 17 June 2007.

  42 with less pain: F. Benedetti, A. Pollo and L. Colloca, ‘Opioid-mediated placebo responses boost pain endurance and physical performance – is it doping in sport competitions?’, Journal of Neuroscience, 31 October 2007.

  42 convince asthma sufferers they’re better: Michael E. Wechsler, M.D. et al., ‘Active Albuterol or Placebo, Sham Acupuncture, or No Intervention in Asthma’, New England Journal of Medicine, 14 July 2011.

  42 four sugar pills: D. E. Moerman, ‘Cultural variations in the placebo effect: ulcers, anxiety & blood pressure’, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 2000.

  42 sham injections work better: A. J. de Craen, J. G. Tijssen, J. de Gans and J. Kleijnen, ‘Placebo effect in the acute treatment of migraine: subcutaneous placebos are better than oral placebos’, Journal of Neurology, March 2000.

  42 capsules work better: M. Z. Hussain, ‘Effect of shape of medication in treatment of anxiety states’, British Journal of Psychiatry 120 (1972).

  42 big pills work better: L. W. Buckalew and S. Ross, ‘Relationship of perceptual characteristics to efficacy of placebos’, Psychol Rep., December 1981.

  42 complicated but useless electrical equipment: A. G. Johnson, ‘Surgery as Placebo’, Lancet, 22 October 1994.

  42 electrodes in the brain: Michele Lanotte, Leonardo Lopiano, Elena Torre, Bruno Bergamasco, Luana Colloca, Fabrizio Benedetti, ‘Expectation enhances autonomic responses to stimulation of the human subthalamic limbic region’, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, November 2005.

  42 smelly brown paint: G. H. Montgomery and I. Kirsch, ‘Mechanisms of Placebo Pain Reduction: An Empirical Investigation’, Psychological Science, May 1996.