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To: snarks_when_bored
"In the end, it's only about what we choose to believe as long as what we choose to believe doesn't kill us!"

Hmmm. . I'd have to disagree. We all chose what we will believe. If what we believe kills us, we still made the choice to believe it. (Example: The homocide bombers).

51 posted on 11/11/2004 1:10:47 PM PST by MEGoody (Way to go, America! 4 more years!)
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To: MEGoody
I'm referring to rational belief and it's relation to the likelihood of passing on one's genes to subsequent generations. Those who believe too many irrational things (shoving forks into outlets is okay, that sort of thing) are less likely to successfully reproduce.

But you do touch on an interesting question, viz., the degree to which our beliefs are rationally chosen. While you might find it odd, I tend to think that lots and lots of our beliefs are not rationally chosen. That was my point when I referred to the influence of our brain operating systems. Those systems (there are several, as you probably know) provide for a wide variety of beliefs about ourselves and the world. Most of those beliefs are not so much chosen as discovered (they're features of the operating system...and sometimes they're bugs!).

Alfred North Whitehead wrote that "civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them." While I hesitate to augment the thought of such a luminous intellect, I would add that it's important to ensure that the operations are rationally based before consigning them to the care of the unconscious.

52 posted on 11/11/2004 1:34:16 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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