Reddit Reddit reviews The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths

We found 6 Reddit comments about The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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Behavioral Sciences
Cognitive Psychology
The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths
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6 Reddit comments about The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths:

u/jitterbugwaltz · 6 pointsr/exmormon

https://youtu.be/ycUvC9s4VYA This video is in the CES letter and poses some GREAT questions and points. I say "all" generally here, but I daresay ALL people who participate in ANY religion have had their own "witness" that what THEY believe is true.

Are they all/we all wrong? Absolutely not. But only because we are all different (societies, families, countries, cultures), and so what's "true" and "right" for each of us, individually, *must* change based on the individual.

PLUS the beautiful way you put it: spirits (or human consciousness if that's what you're into) respond to "moral beauty." (My dad is a music teacher and taught a Music & Psychophysiology class. Roughly put, is actually NO physical link between the ear and the spine, leaving no physical explanation for why you feel chills down your spine when you hear beautiful music. #MoralBeauty)

PLUS brains are built to justify their beliefs. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GHN26W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 (I'm only a couple chapters into this so can't fully endorse, but it's very interesting to me so far, despite the fact that I still hold spiritual beliefs (most would consider my spiritual beliefs to be a "woo-woo" or "new-age" variety)).

u/SemanticallyPedantic · 2 pointsr/NoStupidQuestions

That's uh... a pretty broad topic. I thought this book was a pretty interesting take on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Believing-Brain-Conspiracies-How-Construct-Reinforce-ebook/dp/B004GHN26W

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u/atomicmarc · 2 pointsr/atheism

Shermer would never suggest that there are "absolutely, positively" no aliens. But that's a different position than claiming there might be extra terrestrial intelligence in the universe (after all, humans are proof that it's possible). I think what he's talking about is how easily some people accept the tales of UFO visitations and abductions, usually without proof. He wrote about this in depth in his book The Believing Brain, which I highly recommend. In the book, he claims that the brain is a "belief engine" and explains why.

u/BeringStraitNephite · 2 pointsr/exmormon

Humans do confirmation bias really well, and educated ones do it even better. Read:
The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GHN26W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_RUjPybEGBFJ8D

u/UnsinkableRubberDuck · 1 pointr/funny

> I could try to argue all this but I really don't have the knowledge for it

Admirable of you to admit, rather than getting angry and stomping off. I encourage you to look into it yourself, but I can't really recommend any sources to go to. What I can do is recommend you maybe have a look at The Believing Brain, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, and, if you're feeling up to it, God is Not Great.

u/NoWarForGod · 0 pointsr/atheism

Listen to this man, he is exactly right. Have you ever read this? Constructs this exact argument very well.