Grounding decision-making in quantitative data doesn't seem all that important to me in religion, or to a lesser extent in politics. I think it is interesting that the eye movements of liberals and conservatives might be different, but it won't make me vote differently.
However, when I make life-changing recommendations about how children might live their lives (www.constructiveagreement.com), I try to ground my recommendations in the best-available research data. Not only do I study the results of the study, but I also examine the research methods used. Why? The decisions I make are too important for me to rely on just my gut feel. I don't want to be arrogant and think that my personal or instinctive opinion is all that is needed. Chris -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dr. Ernie Prabhakar Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 9:00 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [RC] [ RC ] The Biology of Left vs Right / What attracts people to objectivity ? Sent from my iPhone On Jan 6, 2012, at 6:52, [email protected] wrote: > What attracts people to objectivity ? Not quite the right word, but I know what you mean. > > Suggestions anyone ? Speaking for myself, the simplest answer is "alienation". I didn't belong either in my home culture of India or my host culture of America. The reason I went into Physics (and Christianity) was largely to find some transcendent truth to ground my identity. And perhaps give me a "safe" place to critique and integrate my group identities. Great question, though. How about the rest of you? E -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
