[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
"The study points to a total lack of reason in political decision-making."
"The result is that partisan beliefs are calcified, and the person can
learn very little from new data," Westen said.
Which is why a system of belief based on truth and the correct
interpretation of facts is so important
Part of the problem with our mind is that it soaks up information at a
prodiguous rate and then sets a baseline that it considers as `normal'
based on what we have experienced.
Then whenever we run into something that doesn't fit our own particular
belief system and pushes our thought patterns off the baseline our brain
considers normal our brain reacts by inventing a reality that tries to
move it back to the area it feels normal. Hence politicians...
Sadly people aren't very self aware about their own cognitive processes
and their ability to 'think' and so we have reaction to foreign thoughts
in ways we see documented nightly on the news.
Metacognition is not a solution. Believe it or not, politicians are
generally pretty smart folks. They have a skill set that is just
phenomenal.
What we need to do is *LISTEN* to other people as though we are hearing
things for the first time. We need to develop a sense of wonder about
what we hear. If I may, Become childlike. That is why certain traits
are associated with scientists in the hard sciences. (Unfortunately,
many confuse childlike with childish.)
I may be prejudiced, but I believe that programmers and computer
technical folk have a advantage in this because the field is usually a
strict meritocracy. We just need to apply the same outlook to politics.
Not as easy as it sounds.
-- Alma
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