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Dialog Of The Deaf
Why facts don’t change what we believe
Our brains contain around 100 billion neurons, each of which can have up to 10,000 connections. We learn by means of some neurons establishing connections to other neurons and thus creating circuits which are then “weighted” by means of dampening or intensifying input from other neurons. In a very crude sense, our brains are massive logic circuits.
What this means is that when we learn something, we do so in a very concrete and physical way. A reasonable analogy is with laying down railroad tracks. Once the track has been laid, it’s there for life. There’s no easy way to tear it up and put it down somewhere else instead.
Furthermore, our tenuous sense of self is strongly connected to our beliefs. Thus when we are confronted with evidence showing our beliefs are incorrect we feel personally threatened. This is not a comfortable sensation and in general we want to avoid feeling this way. The easiest way to avoid feelings of cognitive dissonance is to close our eyes to whatever it is that’s being presented to us, and to assume that our beliefs are correct simply because they are now part of us.
This is why we cling to our beliefs even when there is overwhelming evidence demonstrating that our beliefs are erroneous. We’ve laid the track. Those neurons are hardwired into the…
