In this new series, Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson hosts unscripted, one-on-one discussions over the course of 60 minutes with philosophers, scientists, campaigners, entertainers, and historians.

In conversation with Andy Norman

Andy Norman, Ph.D., directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and is the founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative. His book, Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think, published by HarperCollins in 2021, lays out the conceptual foundations of cognitive immunology – 'the emerging science of mental immune health'.

An award-winning author and public philosopher, Andy's writing has also appeared in national publications such as Scientific American, the Humanist, and Psychology Today, where he is a regular contributor. Andy studies how ideologies short-circuit minds and corrupt moral understanding and develops tools that help people reason together productively. His research includes the evolutionary origins of human reasoning and the norms that make dialogue fruitful. He is currently testing a 'mind vaccine'—a way to inoculate minds against infectious ideas.