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A History of Human Folly | RTÉ Radio 1 Extra

Tuesday 21st June 2016 at 6pm – A History of Human Folly

Francis Wheen explores how people have a perennial tendency to blithely and arrogantly march into colossal blunders, despite the existence of an obviously and rational alternative.

In this episode, Francis Wheen looks at the folly of conservatism. Down the ages, the establishment has championed old and false ideas against new and true ones. Galileo got into trouble for saying the earth went round the sun, military planners have persisted with fatally flawed but venerable tactics, and senior doctors have quashed underlings who tried to stop them killing their patients.