The Village Square - Dinner at the Square: Collective Illusions with Todd Rose

Our current divisions—one American from another—are deep and wide. What if we are profoundly and completely wrong about each other? Join us for this in-person event from our 2023-24 “Dinner at the Square” season: Collective Illusions with Dr. Todd Rose – WE ARE WRONG ABOUT EACH OTHER. Jessica Lowe-Minor will be the event moderator.

More info at https://tlh.villagesquare.us/event/collective-illusions/. Register at https://ttvs.tiny.us/todd-rose.

At the core of the deep societal divisions we navigate every day is an assumption that we share little with “those people” with whom we share a country—a belief that leaves us on dangerous ground as a nation. But author and entrepreneur Dr. Todd Rose says we’ve got that all wrong. According to Dr. Rose, not only do we agree more often than we think but we’re making terrible assumptions about what the people on our own side of the aisle think—then acting on those incorrect assumptions in a way that accelerates the divisions. Born of our highly social nature and hardwiring in our DNA, we so desperately want to protect our status and reputation inside our groups so we conform with what we think our group thinks—finding ourselves inside a “collective illusion” that is not only destabilizing society, it’s making us personally miserable.

Dr. Rose offers his compelling and revelatory insights about human forces that are far too easily ignored in his most recent book “Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions.” We think his work is just so important that we’re delighted to bring him to Tallahassee to meet you (and we’ll be hosting book clubs to dive into “Collective Illusions” through the year). We don’t think you’ll ever see the world quite the same way again (trust us, that’ll be a good thing).

Todd Rose is the co-founder and president of Populace, a think tank committed to ensuring that all people have the opportunity to pursue fulfilling lives in a thriving society. Prior to Populace, he was a faculty member at Harvard University where he founded the Laboratory for the Science of Individuality and directed the Mind, Brain, and Education program. Todd is the best selling author of Collective Illusions, Dark Horse, and The End of Average.