Why People Are Irrational about Politics

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
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kmich
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Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Why People Are Irrational about Politics

Post by kmich »

noddy wrote:
People often discount evidence that contradicts their firmly held beliefs. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms that govern this behavior. We used neuroimaging to investigate the neural systems involved in maintaining belief in the face of counterevidence, presenting 40 liberals with arguments that contradicted their strongly held political and non-political views.
this seems self evident to me because facts are meaningless without priorities.

the simplest example is creatures breaking out of the zoo - nothing rational about losing guaranteed feeding, shelter and healthcare , yet any facts presented about these topics are irrelevant.

the critter had other priorities.
True. But priorities are also facts. They are simply a particular subset of facts determined by observed behavior. Facts are meaningless or prone to error in interpretation unless the total context of related facts is taken into account. In the example you provided, the ample food, shelter, and healthcare for the animal at the zoo is one fact, and that the animal has not adapted to captivity and therefore is an escape risk is another.

If the zoo keeper paid attention only to the fact that the animal was well provided for and failed to take into account the other fact or “priority” and did not cage the animal, he or she would be committing a foolish error. It was a known fact that wild animals in captivity will attempt to escape. Is it helpful to infer that escape behaviors reflect the animal's "priorities?" Interesting, but adding an unnecessarily layer of analysis and an additional categorical subset that would likely not be helpful, particularly for this zookeeper. The primary importance is the consideration of facts in relation and context and not in isolation.

Human priorities are different, not so much that they are private and subjective and therefore hard to discern, but because they are frequently conflicted and muddled and consequently difficult to determine with any clarity. I mentioned this in an earlier post as a possible mechanism for the persistence of irrationality in modern politics. The only way one can reasonably determine human priorities, when that is at all possible, is by careful observation of actions and not by being distracted or mislead by words and promises.

Over the past half century, social, political, international, and cultural changes have proceeded with extreme speed that took off like a rocket since the advent of the wide use of the internet in the 1990’s. The only historical parallel I can see is the period of 1890 to 1914 when such an accelerated pace of change occurred. The pace of developments between 1890 and 1914 resulted in a series of events that people were not able to understand much less able to control. The lack of comprehension was masked over by a confidence and faith in the progress of civilization, until, of course, the speeding train of change derailed and cracked up in 1914.

Contemporaries lose comprehension during periods of rapid change as new variables and processes briskly proliferate. Not all facts or variables are taken into account and "facts" lose value and meaning outside of an increasing complex informational context. The 1914 example would be Germany's adaptation of a modified Schlieffen Plan in its thrust into Belgium and France. A reckless gamble that did not take account of numerous variables, but was masked over by the faith in the German war machine and the assumed superiority of German "Kultur." Our 2003 "Operation Iraqi Freedom" became profoundly problematic for similar reasons.

Contemporary ignorance is masked by a confidence that is even more fragmentary; faith in mindless groupthink, faith in a party or faction, faith in a nation or religion, faith in the righteousness of various attitudes and grievances, faith in aspiring demagogues and tyrants. Beneath the assertive mask lie the corrosive substances of rapacity, fear, cynicism and a pervasive moral nihilism that is eating away at the foundation.

A major civilization crackup as in 1914 is likely coming, but I do not know when it will be or what form it will take.
noddy
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Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:09 pm

Re: Why People Are Irrational about Politics

Post by noddy »

for my entire life ive been hearing that the reason western europeans and their colonies live so good is not through any hard working culture or technology but the simple fact they dominated in colonialism and then won the world wars which left them in control of world trade.

with this logic, the facts behind a global civilization crackup are plain to see and rational.

this is also the standard response to resource and population balance issues - every species does it during the breeding season and the young and the old pay the price.

only nuclear weapons have held this instinct in check in recent decades, lets hope that continues to be true.
ultracrepidarian
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