science, brain chemistry, tribes, facts
Since I do listen to science, I have to then believe the facts that say that I'm probably not rational enough to really listen to science. Again and again, the heap of data shows that we are tribal beings, for whom belonging is a prime value. So. For one example that's now a bit past but has come up again recently, I indeed consulted the experts and looked at the various information about covid, and believe that masking and vaxing were and are the right thing to do. But I can't escape the fact that a large and unseen portion of my real reason for doing so is that I belong to a tribe that rewards that belief. Really, the only thing I can do is try not to align myself too strongly with any tribe —– and, right now, on the ground, to align myself as strongly as I can to the points of view of all the people around me, so that I can at least see that "the right thing to do" is a thing distinct from "a government compulsion to do it," and so on. So I...
