Re: Brin: Arguing Doesn't Work: Fact Vs Belief
Nick Arnett <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.culture.sf.killerbs |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 11:21 AM, Michael Harney <dolphin-LOIcXuj58f4UY/[email protected] > wrote: > Dawkins addresses this a bit in his book _The God Delusion_. > Evolutionarily, it makes sense. Children cannot afford to disbelieve > things that are told to them by elders. Doing so means consuming poisonous > things or getting too close to lions or other dangerous predators. That seems tautological to me, since it is only true if what you're being told is true. Believing false information of that nature would be selected against, so one could imagine that humans could have evolved a strong sense of when to believe those in authority. Besides, some of us had parents who taught us to be skeptical of authority. I'm fairly sure DB's kids have been taught that! "Be skeptical of authority, kid." "Why?" "Because I'm your father and I said so." Nick