<p dir="ltr">Like millions of others, Gordon Pennycook&rsquo;s older brother has leapt down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, and Gordon says he&rsquo;s tried to change his brother&rsquo;s mind, without success. Which tracks, if you&rsquo;ve ever debated a conspiracy theorist &mdash; it can feel impossible to pull them back to reality.&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">If anyone was qualified to convince his brother, though, it&rsquo;s Gordon, who&rsquo;s a psychology professor at Cornell University where he studies why people believe things that aren&rsquo;t true. So Gordon wanted to put this question to the test: Is it actually the case that conspiracy theorists rarely change their minds? He and a team of researchers ran an experiment using an AI chatbot to rebut people&rsquo;s theories. And the results were very surprising. In fact, they ended up changing Gordon&rsquo;s mind about conspiracy theories, and the people who believe them.&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">Sign up for our <a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com">newsletter</a> and we&rsquo;ll share the Debunkbot from Gordon&rsquo;s study, where you can test out your own beliefs.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Question Everything </em>is a production of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">Guests:&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Gordon Pennycook, Cornell University, Associate Professor, Dorothy and Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow</p> </li> </ul> <p dir="ltr">Please support the organizations that support this show:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr">Go to <a href="https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION">https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION</a> and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.</li> <li dir="ltr">Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to<a href="https://www.quince.com/our-core-collection?utm_source=veritone&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_campaign=question"> Quince.com/QUESTION</a> for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.</li> <li dir="ltr">Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to <a href="https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_campaign=questioneverything">GroundNews.com/QUESTION </a>to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan.</li> <li dir="ltr">DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to <a href="https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&amp;utm_source=influencer&amp;utm_campaign=Question&amp;coupon=QUESTION">joindeleteme.com/QUESTION</a> and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.</li> </ul>