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Lewis Grotelueschen's avatar

You use the word "gullible" in your comment, which I agree with. But I would prefer a phrase Charlie has used: willfully gullible. I don't think the problem is merely being to dim to recognize a conman. There is something in the phenomenon that smells of wanting to be fooled.

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R Mercer's avatar

This is essentially correct. You will often see me use terms like willful stupidity or willful ignorance in the same context.

The vast majority of these people are NOT fooled--in the sense that they have somehow been persuaded or convinced by external means to a belief. They believe because they WISH to believe. It fits in with their desires and their understanding of the world and their place in it.

Narrative. We are creatures of narrative, not of rationality or logic. This is why you can persuade people more effectively with an anecdote than with reams of actual hard data. They understand the story. They FEEL the story. They can put themselves in the story.

People want to believe that the Universe makes sense. That there is purpose and intentionality. That good and evil are not subjective or contextual (and that they are things separate and above human existence).

It makes them feel better. Feel secure. Know their place in the scheme of things. Reality has purpose and is controllable.

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Jan 21, 2022
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R Mercer's avatar

This is kind of beside the point, but have you noticed that many mysteries aren't actually solvable on the basis of the information provided? I always enjoyed reading Sherlock Holmes stories, but never really considered them mysteries... because you never got the necessary info to actually solve the crime until Holmes did his thing at the end.

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Don Gates's avatar

Confirmation bias wouldn't be nearly the problem it is if confirming our biases weren't so satisfying. I agree they are willful, since there is plenty of good information out there, as well as bad, but too many of us aren't interested in the quality of information; we're interested in the information that tells us how right we are. And cultures that value faith above reason are ripe for exploitation by snake oil salesmen.

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