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I agree that people do change their minds, but it is not neccessarily a direct result of facts. Things like emotion, social pressure, and moral arguments are f

by 7952 8y ago

I agree that people do change their minds, but it is not neccessarily a direct result of facts. Things like emotion, social pressure, and moral arguments are far more persuasive. People just get angry when their facts arn't enough to pursuade someone. But sometimes you need to engage people at a more personal level than just science and statistics.

bilbo0s 8y ago
>But sometimes you need to engage people at a more personal level than just science and statistics... Now I don't know if I would write this off as simple "emotion". Obviously, "emotion" is probably part of it, but so is "social pressure", etc as you point out. I'd probably summarize that collection of factors as "Ideology". Convincing people to change their minds is likely one reason that ideology is actually useful to humans, even though oftentimes it bears little resemblance to the underlying reality we live in. It allows us to understand and interpret the world in ways that are comfortable and intuitive. Being "comfortable" matters.
- emodendroket 8y ago
  Traditionally ideology is more often cast as a reason people cannot understand the implications of facts staring them in the face.
  - bilbo0s 8y ago
    It's both. It's the reason people ignore facts. And the reason people change their minds. Just to sharpen the point, think of it this way, ideology can make you "change your mind" and start believing things that have absolutely no basis in fact.
    - 7952 8y ago
      A good example of this is the history of medecine. Perfectly intelligent and educated people believed some really wild things about how infection occurred. It took a long time to convince people that hygiene was neccessary, and that hospitals should prevent contamination between patients. Nowadays we all believe in bacteria and viruses without question, but most of us have never seen either with our own eyes. But over the years our basic ideology has changed.
      - bilbo0s 8y ago
        Medicine is still, in fact, full of people who believe things that, 100 years from now, will be likely elicit belly laughs. It's all about the ideology. If the tenets of the ideology tell you you're right, then you're right. (Or as right as you need to be if most people are willing to adhere to that ideology.)

by 7952 8y ago

bilbo0s 8y ago

>But sometimes you need to engage people at a more personal level than just science and statistics... Now I don't know if I would write this off as simple "emotion". Obviously, "emotion" is probably part of it, but so is "social pressure", etc as you point out. I'd probably summarize that collection of factors as "Ideology". Convincing people to change their minds is likely one reason that ideology is actually useful to humans, even though oftentimes it bears little resemblance to the underlying reality we live in. It allows us to understand and interpret the world in ways that are comfortable and intuitive. Being "comfortable" matters.

emodendroket 8y ago
Traditionally ideology is more often cast as a reason people cannot understand the implications of facts staring them in the face.
- bilbo0s 8y ago
  It's both. It's the reason people ignore facts. And the reason people change their minds. Just to sharpen the point, think of it this way, ideology can make you "change your mind" and start believing things that have absolutely no basis in fact.
  - 7952 8y ago
    A good example of this is the history of medecine. Perfectly intelligent and educated people believed some really wild things about how infection occurred. It took a long time to convince people that hygiene was neccessary, and that hospitals should prevent contamination between patients. Nowadays we all believe in bacteria and viruses without question, but most of us have never seen either with our own eyes. But over the years our basic ideology has changed.
    - bilbo0s 8y ago
      Medicine is still, in fact, full of people who believe things that, 100 years from now, will be likely elicit belly laughs. It's all about the ideology. If the tenets of the ideology tell you you're right, then you're right. (Or as right as you need to be if most people are willing to adhere to that ideology.)