In his compelling presentation, Robert Burton posits a revolutionary idea: despite how certainty feels, it is neither a conscious choice nor even a thought process.  Drawing from case studies and recent neuroscience advances, as well as such far-ranging subject material as the physics of baseball, high-stakes poker, and popular discussions of gut feelings and the nature of intuition, Burton challenges us to reexamine the theory that certainty and conviction are products of reason.  Burton’s revolutionary message carries wide-ranging implications on how we view the world.  He is a truly unique speaker.  

A graduate of Yale University and the University of California at San Francisco medical school, where he also completed his neurology residency, he was appointed, at age thirty-three, chief of the Division of Neurology at Mt. Zion-UCSF Hospital, where he subsequently became Associate Chief of the Department of Neurosciences. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book, On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, and the neuroscience and culture column at Salon.com, Mind Reader. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.