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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

True belief and science

True believers always can't learn science if it doesn't support the belief. This is part of belief. One breaks belief only slowly by introducing cognitive dissonance, the slow realization that what is believed does not fit reality. Unfortunately the human mind is good at rationalization, and even when we can't think up a rationalization there are churches and other organizations ready to provide them.

I think a rational person will seek out beliefs and rip them out of their minds. They are put there through indoctrination, not learning, and do not belong and cause immense harm in the end. The most we should allow ourselves is opinion -- sometimes strongly held, usually not -- with an ongoing willingness to change our minds and not to rationalize.

Most of the beliefs we have came to us as children before our rational facilities were mature (with some they never mature) and we hold onto them because of instincts we all have to hold onto what we were taught as children. Sometimes beliefs come other ways, as through propaganda (the use of emotion to convince -- not just hate and disgust but also love and awe and beauty). The only valid reason for accepting something as true is that the preponderance of the valid evidence supports it and any evidence that doesn't is invalid in some way.

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