Why You Can't Fix Stupid...and How to Fix It.
April 16, 2019
There’s this idea among scientists, educators and thoughtful people that the best way to convince the scientifically illiterate is to educate them, that the best defense against misinformation is more information. This simply is not true. Try to convince a climate denier, a flat earther or an anti vaxxer of the facts and instead of delighting at the opportunity to learn something new they double down on their delusions. This is because we are evolved to be tribal far more than we are evolved to be rational. Hyper sociality takes precedence over reason. Values signaling and group membership are coded into our DNA to an extent that overrides our ability to process logic. At a deeply genetic level group membership is more important than objective reality. To paleolithic humans this was supremely advantageous; in the modern age of instant information it makes bad information recklessly profligate, often in manners that threaten our health and survival. It’s easy to sit back and laugh at flat earthers and 9/11 conspiracy theorists because their delusions are relatively harmless. But climate denial and anti vax pose genuine threats to our health and survival. Despite all evidence to the contrary your Fox News, conspiracy theorist, climate denier, flat earth, religious, anti vax friends and family are not stupid. They are simply responding to a genetic imperative wherein tribal membership is more important to survival than reasoned thinking. For the survival of our species we need to trick ourselves into valuing objective facts the same way primitive peoples tricked themselves into believing symbolism, myth and religion. WE NEED TO DEVELOP A TRIBALISM THAT VALUES FACTS OVER FANTASY. Elevating the scientific method to the level we’ve elevated our hyper social myths and delusions is of primary import. To my mind this is the greatest threat to the survival of our species and the living ecosystems that make up our planet.
コメント