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“In some cases, those who express extreme views start believing the things they share even if their initial goal was only to increase their standing within a group. And then there are cases where the theories being shared are so outlandish or unlikely that we have to wonder: Do they really believe these things? If we were to sit the person down for a polygraph test and quiz them about whether they truly think the earth is flat, the grieving parents who lost their children to gun violence are just actors, or Hillary Clinton is a pedophile, what would we find? Would they (or the lie detector machine) reveal that perhaps their beliefs are not quite so literal? If so, why are they spreading such lies? Understanding the mechanics of social groups—especially those connected by shared beliefs, such as religious groups, sects, and cults—can help shed light on this question. As Jonathan Haidt suggested, the deliberate sharing of a lie can act as a shibboleth—a kind of linguistic password that identifies people within a group. “Many who study religion have noted that it’s the very impossibility of a claim that makes it a good signal of one’s commitment to the faith,” he wrote. “You don’t need faith to believe obvious things. Proclaiming that the election was stolen surely does play an identity-advertising role in today’s America.”
― Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things
― Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things
“Even more concerning is that massively harmful global environmental changes have managed to elude detection for decades, even when they should have been obvious all along. Two classic examples are ocean acidification (Figure 43) and plastic pollution. You probably know that dissolving carbon dioxide in water makes it more acidic. Yet this simple chemistry was not widely considered a problem for oceans until 2003 when global ecologist Ken Caldeira did the maths that recognized the scale of the threat. Already, the growth of some corals is slowing. If CO2 emissions continue unabated, Earth’s coral reefs and many species of shellfish will disappear by the end of this century, based on comparisons with prior intervals of Earth history with more acidic oceans. Worse still, warmer oceans might do the job first. Yet even in Planet Under Pressure, the most comprehensive summary of Earth system science ever, published in 2004, there was no mention of ocean acidification.”
― Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction
― Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction
“Virtually all of the discussions on the consequences of global change for human well-being focus on the material and physical aspects of such change – provision of food and water, security of infrastructure, impacts on the economy, and so on. Virtually no analyses consider the psychological impacts or consequences of global change on individual humans and on their societies. Many in the scientific community may consider these aspects to be irrational and inconsequential. Yet, in the final analysis, it will be the human perceptions of global change and the risks associated with it that will determine societal responses. At the heart of these perceptions is the fundamental place of humanity in the natural world.”
― Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet Under Pressure: Executive Summary
― Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet Under Pressure: Executive Summary
“In the words of Darwin himself,
On the Origin of Species
is "one long argument" designed to convince readers that evolutionary changes had occurred on a massive scale and that natural selection was a formidable agent of those changes. Most biologists were quickly convinced, especially with respect to the argument that modern species are modified descendants of extinct ancestral species.
Moreover, the tests of evolutionary theory did not end in 1859. Instantly recognized as one of the most important scientific ideas of all time, the theory has been subjected to at least as much scrutiny as any other major idea in science or the humanities. Had anyone been capable of overthrowing the theory of evolution by natural selection, he or she would have become as famous as Darwin. Although Darwin's theory has not been dismantled, a considerable number of persons have refined the theory in important ways, especially by taking advantage of our improved knowledge of heredity and what this means for evolutionary processes, a subject that was essentially a mystery in the mid-nineteenth century.”
― The Triumph of Sociobiology
Moreover, the tests of evolutionary theory did not end in 1859. Instantly recognized as one of the most important scientific ideas of all time, the theory has been subjected to at least as much scrutiny as any other major idea in science or the humanities. Had anyone been capable of overthrowing the theory of evolution by natural selection, he or she would have become as famous as Darwin. Although Darwin's theory has not been dismantled, a considerable number of persons have refined the theory in important ways, especially by taking advantage of our improved knowledge of heredity and what this means for evolutionary processes, a subject that was essentially a mystery in the mid-nineteenth century.”
― The Triumph of Sociobiology
“These days, it seems as though we’ve all gotten used to having people like that in our lives—friends, family members, or colleagues with whom we carefully restrict our conversations. Perhaps they’re just casual acquaintances on social media, but they may also be people we know intimately. I’d be willing to bet that almost everyone reading this knows someone who has undergone a dramatic shift in their deep beliefs about health, the media, the government, the pharmaceutical industry, and more over the last few years. They may not suddenly believe that the earth is flat (though a surprising number of people do). But they may well deny the existence of Covid-19 or think it’s a bioweapon. They may refuse to admit the legitimacy of the 2020 US presidential election or think that Antifa staged the storming of the Capitol. They may insist on telling the real story behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy, climate change, the events of 9/11, or the death of Princess Diana. Some may confidently declare that all vaccines are evil. Others think that antivaxxers are actually lizard people who came up with an ingenious plot to destroy humanity. (Okay, the last one was made up by the folks behind the ScienceSaves campaign to promote vaccines. But you get my point.)
It sometimes seems that the growing tide of misinformation and false beliefs has left no community or family unscathed. And jokes about lizard people aside, it’s no longer something we laugh about. When you hear the words conspiracy theory, what comes to mind probably isn’t tinfoil hats or little green men; it’s much more serious and more personal. Anytime I mention this topic, I see pained expressions. People shake their heads and tell me about their friend, their cousin, their parents, their in-laws, their kids. The ones they’re afraid to invite to parties or family events. The ones they can’t talk to at all. They just can’t wrap their minds around how that person ended up believing those things.”
― Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things
It sometimes seems that the growing tide of misinformation and false beliefs has left no community or family unscathed. And jokes about lizard people aside, it’s no longer something we laugh about. When you hear the words conspiracy theory, what comes to mind probably isn’t tinfoil hats or little green men; it’s much more serious and more personal. Anytime I mention this topic, I see pained expressions. People shake their heads and tell me about their friend, their cousin, their parents, their in-laws, their kids. The ones they’re afraid to invite to parties or family events. The ones they can’t talk to at all. They just can’t wrap their minds around how that person ended up believing those things.”
― Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things
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Daniel’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Daniel’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
6,525 books
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1,548 books
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9,100 books
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824 friends
349 books
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899 books
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7,283 books
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9,821 books
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605 books
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