Americans have become increasingly divided, with polarization rising 30% between 2003 and 2023. Harvard economist Roland Fryer challenges conventional wisdom about how ambiguous information affects our differences.

Traditional economic theory suggested that sharing identical information would bring opposing views closer together. Through clever experiments on attitudes toward the death penalty, Fryer demonstrates the opposite often occurs—when presented with ambiguous information, people interpret it to reinforce existing beliefs, driving them further apart.

Fryer illustrates this concept with a personal anecdote about different interpretations of the same driving incident with his wife. His research reveals how easily similar people can be pushed apart by ambiguous information, especially in today's media environment. Despite growing polarization, Fryer offers hope—by recognizing our common humanity and genuinely understanding others' perspectives we may discover we're less divided than we think.