While researching this show, our team had access to more information than we could ever comprehend. We spent countless hours and cups of coffee reviewing research articles, listening to podcasts, and reading popular books. We asked ChatGPT for ideas on what else to check out and talked to experts to show us what we were missing. We even pulled in a TikTok or two. And we still only scratched the surface.

We were guided by decades of combined research experience and the help of collaborators and advisors. Even then, it was (and is) often daunting to figure out where to look, what question to ask, and how to confirm which claims are credible.

Today, we're all flooded with information and misinformation, with the lines between the two often blurred by the power of media, marketing, and our own biases. We’ve entered a state of information abundance without signs of slowing down. When everything is at our fingertips with mixed signals about what is true and what is fabricated, how do we know what to trust? When credibility is clouded by social influence, how do we know who to trust? And when new knowledge can be released the same day that it was discovered, leaving little time for replication or debate, how do we know when to trust?

Our brains evolved a set of shortcuts we call “heuristics” to navigate a very different set of circumstances than the ones we have now. We became very good at finding patterns, making predictions from limited data, and trusting those we were closest to. While those skills can be powerful, today they can also lead to leaps of logic, stereotypes, and false beliefs.

The more we understand the forces that shape information both around us and within us, the more likely we are to find the shortcuts worth taking.