Coping With Con Artists

You've been seeing Elizabeth Holmes everywhere, right? Between the new Nathan Fielder documentary, your favourite podcasts revisiting the Theranos' story and the endless internet discourse, it feels like we simply can't stop ourselves from returning to the world's most famous fraudsters. But why are we so fascinated by con artists in the first place, and how come they continue to captivate us long after the lie has been exposed?

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson unpack our enduring obsession with scams, grifters and spectacular acts of deception. From Silicon Valley's culture of 'fake it til you make it' to history's most infamous frauds, they explore the psychology of persuasion, unpack why humans are surprisingly wired to trust, and examine how confidence, charisma and social proof can convince us to believe almost anything.

Watch: You Can See Everything trailer

Watch: The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley documentary

Intuitive evaluation of likelihood judgment producers: Evidence for a confidence heuristic, by Paul C. Price, and Eric R. Stone Journal of Behavioral Decision Making

Watch: The Dropout

Watch: The Wolf of Wall Street

Watch: Inventing Anna

The Woman Who Fooled The World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano

Truth-Default Theory and the Social Science of Lying and Deception by Timothy R. Levine,

Elon Musk’s Statements Could Be ‘Deepfakes’, Tesla Defence Lawyers Tell Court, The Guardian

Watch: Onara O Neill's TED Talk: What We Don't Understand About Trust

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