Linguist Amanda Montell says our brains are overloaded with a constant stream of information that stokes our innate tendency to believe conspiracy theories and mysticism. Her book is The Age of Magical Overthinking. Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews Lionel Shriver's new novel, Mania. Subscribe to the Fresh Air newsletter for a peek behind-the-scenes at whyy.org/freshair For sponsor-free episodes of Fresh Air — and exclusive weekly bonus episodes, too — subscribe to Fresh Air+ via Apple Podcasts or at https://plus.npr.org/freshair Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
On the Ted radio hour, linguist Ann.
Curzan says she gets a lot of.
Complaints about people using the pronoun they.
To refer to one person.
I sometimes get into arguments with people where they will say to me, but it can't be singular.
And I will say, but it is the history behind words causing a lot of debate.
That's on the Ted radio hour from NPR.
This is FRESH AIR.
I'm Tanya Mosley.
If you want to know about something really anything, all you have to do is take out your phone and do a quick search.
We think almost everything in this world is knowable, but our guest today argues that all of this information at our fingertips has created a society of overanxious overthinkers.
In her new book, the Age of Magical Overthinking, Amanda Montel writes that our brains are overloaded with a gluttonous stream of constant information.
It's up against our innate tendencies as humans to believe conspiracy theories and mysticism, like believing that we can manifest our way out of just about anything.
Amanda Montel is a writer, linguist, and host of the podcast sounds like a cult.
She's also the author of two other nonfiction books, including Cultish and Word Slut, a feminist guide to taking back the english language.
Amanda Montel, welcome to Fresh Air.
Thank you so much for having me.
So, I really love this book, and I can't wait to get into this conversation because you have this quote at the start of the book by the late famed philosopher Frantz Fanon, which says, each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission and fulfill or betray that mission.
And what you're asserting is that for us, faced with all of this information at our disposal at all times, our mission has to do with our minds.
That's right.