What have you changed your mind about?
The Edge Foundation has published their annual question, with responses coming in from 165 of our great thinkers. As usual, the question is weighty, with the answers thought provoking -- hopefully enough to spur an intelligent dialogue. The question:
In the worst case scenarios, people look for or concoct facts to support their opinions -- outright dismissing or destroying facts that run counter to their opinions. Just look at the state the world finds itself in today: human-made environmental disasters; wars; diseases; and there's little timely response when new evidence is presented. The early warnings are dismissed as the cries of Chicken-Littles by those who have fixed opinions. In the world's preeminent democracy, one government outright dismissed evidence for climate change for nearly eight years, going so far as to bar scientists from documenting and publishing facts contrary to the political opinions of the government. To support the opinions of the government, facts were created to support an unjust war. Elsewhere in the world, the religious establishment continue to support and promote ancient dogma without evidence, resulting in some instances, the death of innocents. Businesses place much stock in the status quo -- fighting change when their very survival depends on assimilating new facts and responding to them.
Changing one's mindset based on new evidence is very important. Holding on to unsupported opinions is dogmatic at best, and highly dangerous for those in positions of authority. Let's hope the Edge Foundation generates some dialogue with their question this year.
When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy. When God changes your mind, that's faith. When facts change your mind, that's science.On the surface, the question doesn't appear to have much depth, and could easily lead to a dismissal of the answers as being the navel gazing of those who consider themselves the intellectual elite. Such a dismissal, however, would be very narrow minded. As a society, we tend to look down on those that change their minds -- pointedly dismissing them as being inconsistent and never being able to stick to an opinion or conclusion. And yes, there are those who deserve such dismissal, since their change of mind is usually precipitated not by new input, but by the swing of group opinion. They change their minds because they don't have one. Being open to new input, never dogmatic of opinions, and allowing oneself to be swayed by facts, is a state that should be valued by society.WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY?Science is based on evidence. What happens when the data change? How have scientific findings or arguments changed your mind?
In the worst case scenarios, people look for or concoct facts to support their opinions -- outright dismissing or destroying facts that run counter to their opinions. Just look at the state the world finds itself in today: human-made environmental disasters; wars; diseases; and there's little timely response when new evidence is presented. The early warnings are dismissed as the cries of Chicken-Littles by those who have fixed opinions. In the world's preeminent democracy, one government outright dismissed evidence for climate change for nearly eight years, going so far as to bar scientists from documenting and publishing facts contrary to the political opinions of the government. To support the opinions of the government, facts were created to support an unjust war. Elsewhere in the world, the religious establishment continue to support and promote ancient dogma without evidence, resulting in some instances, the death of innocents. Businesses place much stock in the status quo -- fighting change when their very survival depends on assimilating new facts and responding to them.
Changing one's mindset based on new evidence is very important. Holding on to unsupported opinions is dogmatic at best, and highly dangerous for those in positions of authority. Let's hope the Edge Foundation generates some dialogue with their question this year.
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