The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality

Montell reflects on May 2021 when a former military officer spoke on 60 Minutes saying that UFOs are real. The interview was accompanied by low-quality videos to serve as proof. Montell and her partner, Casey, who have known each other since childhood, enjoy watching space videos, which are nostalgic for them. Montell argues that there are so many extreme modern crises that our “Stone Age amygdalas” cannot effectively process (110). She notes her instant anxiety when she watches videos like the UFO story, suggesting that the recency illusion is to blame.

The recency illusion is a cognitive bias that makes people believe that something is a recent dramatic phenomenon when it has actually been around for a longer amount of time. For about a week, the public was focused on the UFO story, but the news carried on, introducing new eye-catching headlines, and the UFO story faded. Montell wondered why, questioning why novel information can trigger panic but is soon forgotten. She suggests that the recency illusion has evolutionary benefits; before modern amenities, humans were most likely to die of acute diseases or injuries; thus, as Sekoul Krastev argues, “[r]ecency is linked to relevance” (115).