Author Sam Harris discusses the human origins of religious thought.
These MISBELIEFS constantly underlie bad arguments in public debate.
-Complicated explanations are suspect
-The world is simple, and there must be a simple explanation for everything.
-Certainty is strength, doubt is weakness
-Admitting alternatives is undermining one's own belief.
-Changing one's mind means one has wasted the time spent holding the prior opinion.
-Your opinion matters as much as anyone else's
-When a person has studied a topic, he has no more real knowledge than you do, just a hidden agenda.
-The herd should be followed
-The contemplative lemming gets trampled
-Popular beliefs must be true.
-No bad idea can survive.
-There are evil people and institutions, and surely one of them is more responsible than you are.
-You are not the problem
-An ugly image means a bad mirror.
-You're special
-Bad people get punished.
-You, however, will be forgiven.
Credit: http://www.bigthink.com
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