This event will no longer take place physically in the TUD Library. Please watch our event online via this Zoom link.

Bullshit is all around us. Sometimes it is easy to spot, but our brains can be tricked!

In this series of lectures we will need some tools to spot when we are being

manipulated through mental trickery.

Fake News & Fact Checking

While bullshit is an ancient phenomenon, the term fake news is very modern. In the fight against fake news, professional fact checkers like popular news site NU.nl’s Shannon Bakker patrol the internet every day and debunk as much of it as they can. What does it take to be a fact checker? And how does she do it? Shannon will tell us what a typical day is like for her, taking us along step by step in her detective work. Come see the tools, the challenges, and the highs and lows of fact checking the worst and the silliest BS that humans can come up with.

Shannon Bakker is a professional fact checker at the NU.nl news site.

SG Presents: The Spotting Bullshit Series

Bullshit – roughly, the deliberate or accidental spreading of untruths – is all around us. It’s a thing of all ages, but it’s very possible that we are living in THE age of bullshit. Peak bullshit, as it were. Sometimes it is easy to spot, but our brains can be tricked!

In this series of seven interactive lectures, Studium Generale will tackle the issue head on and offer you some tools to spot when we are being manipulated through mental trickery. Join these lectures and inoculate yourself against fake news, logical fallacies and other manipulations, and become a beacon of independent, rational and critical thought!

The Spotting Bullshit lecture series will be held on Tuesdays between September 22 and December 15 2020 during lunchtime (12:40-13:30). Check our website or socials for the links. These activities are free of charge.