Why Breakthroughs Look Like Bad Ideas | Adam Mastroianni

About this episode

Science needs weirdos. Are we filtering them out? In this episode of The Unfolding Thought Podcast, Eric talks with experimental psychologist Adam Mastroianni, author of Experimental History, about why discovery is so difficult and why making research more predictable may make breakthroughs less likely. His forthcoming book, The Strangest Idea in the World, asks why humanity took so long to discover things that now seem obvious. Adam challenges the idea that we found the easy answers first and only the hard problems remain. He argues that our minds often hide what we don't understand. We mistake knowing what will happen for knowing why it happens. The illusion of explanatory depth helps…