[arahant]

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So, I'm browsing around, and find a creationist site that made an interesting (if unintentionally ironic) argument:

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By the way, not being able to correct false thinking is another blow against evolution. The theory of natural selection should conclude that humans should be able to easily correct false thinking because it is the most beneficial approach, but they can't.

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Now, when I find something weird about any animal, I usually look for the evolutionary answer (yep...that's right guys...I am BIASED). I confess to having a little trouble with this one (in fairness, it's been 2 minutes, and I'm drunk).

Anyone care to expound on the benefits of the persistence of beliefs?

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By the same argument, predators should always succeed in catching their prey, and the prey should always succeed in escaping.

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A couple points:
first, I don't take it as an 'argument' for creation/evolution one way or the other, and there is no argument on that anyway...I don't want to get into another retarded creation fight. It's not like it's a close call or something.

I think some of you guys are just being argumentative, too [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. The predator/prey example just isn't analagous. Prey ARE well-adapted to get away, and predators ARE well-adapted to catch them, and there are obviously competing interests. There may be competing interests here, too, but it's not immediately apparent to me what they are.

I certainly understand the benefits of pattern recognition and agency attribution, but I what I am ASKING is why are those beliefs so resistant to change.

To Vhawk - I don't know exactly what beliefs would be covered (obviously, the site thinks evolution is one [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ), but basically, anything where an individual is holding a belief against substantial evidence. Astrology, creationism, demons, etc...

There seems to be a very strong desire on the part of many people to absolutely refuse to even look at any evidence, and if it is thrown in their face, they ignore it. This applies in all sorts of smaller areas, too. Once I decide Bob is out to get me at work, I tend to hold that idea very firmly. Once I decide that I'm good poker player, I can't let that go until I'm broke. Once I decide I'm ugly or undesirable or stupid I'll start to ignore personal interactions that conflict with my belief.

This tendency to not change one's mind is so obviously there and so strong, that I find it hard to believe it doesn't confer some sort of advantage. It's not a minor point about human psychology, but a HUGE driver of EVERYBODY'S belief systems.