doctorambient(Edited for clarity) When you listen to the average person justifying their beliefs it is terrifying.
#reason #reasoning #thinking #cognitivefallacies #thinkingfail #logicalfallacy #inconsistency #inconsistencies
Sean Patrick@doctorambient 99% of my thoughts just emerge into consciousness fully formed, I'm not sure if that's any more or less comforting.
@seanpatrickphd I think I know what you mean. I guess what I was really talking about was arguments, but I wasn't clear.
When you are explaining your ideas to other people, I assume you can justify them, after the fact, in a logically coherent way? (Given your bio, I would assume so.)
I had just watched a focus group being asked to explain their thinking, and it was really weird how many straightforward logical contradictions they had *all the time*.
One example was a person who gave a short, clear, excellent explanation of how one *should* seek new evidence and *learn* from it. And then, in the next follow-up question, basically said something like "no, even if I did all that research, *and got new contradictory evidence*, I wouldn't change my mind."
SMH
@doctorambient I can come up with justifications, but if I'm honest, a lot of it is post-hoc. I guess I would describe my thought explanation process as following a subconscious trace. It's rare that I sit down and actually say to myself, "If X then Y, so then Z..."
It doesn't surprise me that people are generally illogical. The old parts of the brain have been around longer and don't want to give up control ;)
@seanpatrickphd If I'm being completely honest with myself, I'm not surprised by the primarily illogical nature of humans either. I guess it was just brought into particularly sharp focus this morning.
That and the fact that I think our society is falling apart because of it.
@doctorambient For what it's worth, I think humans have always been this way and society has never been particularly closely glued together. Societies are just as crazy in aggregate...for example, it wasn't too long ago people would get sterilized because they had a bumpy head. Rational governance is not the human forte.
Despite all that, I have faith that things will work out...which is, of course, the most illogical thought process of all...
@seanpatrickphd I'm glad there are people in the world who have your outlook.
I can't share it myself, I feel like I'm watching everything fall apart and burn down, and I just can't generate hope anymore. But I've always been a depressed sort.
Thank you for your faith in a positive future.