| THE BELIEVING BRAIN: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies--- How we construct beliefs and reinforce them as truths Michael Shermer, PhD 2011 Times Books Henry Holt and Company New York Review by Milt Masur Sometimes a book can not only be educational and informational but transformational as well. This is such a book. Michael Shermer, who holds a PhD in the history of science, has written a densely documented, inter- disciplinary history and exploration of belief systems in many areas of life. He starts by describing several people trying to deal with their delusional or their religious beliefs, as an introduction to how our brains perceive and process data. This grappling with belief, is often poignant, and includes his own remarkable journey from a born again Evangelist to a scientist who created and edits Skeptic Magazine, has authored many books dealing with psychology and science and contributes regularly to Scientific American. Shermer thinks that our unconscious beliefs mold all the data we perceive and our concepts of reality are belief-dependent rather than objective. The book unfolds into multiple sections, each cutting a broad swath through different fields of inquiry. To begin with, Shermer criticizes some aspects of the usual scientific narrative as being too neat and tidy- perhaps teleological would describe such presentations well. Instead, he prefers a kind of integrative narrative, in which a blending of data, theory and story is told informally, and centers on the scientific process itself. That is the style he uses in the book---to advantage, in my opinion. His description of the biology of belief centers on the human propensity to associate patterns in our conscious and unconscious perceptions and to control things through discerning this “patternicity.” We also tend to attribute meaning to these patterns, which he calls “agenticity.” “We are natural-born supernaturalists, driven by our tendency to find meaningful patterns and impart to them intentional agency.” Shermer describes so-called paranormal experiences as illusions created by changes in neurochemical brain activity. He describes neurologic brain function in considerable detail, relating it to imaging and recording measurements during behavioral experiments. He clearly thinks that the Cartesian dualistic splitting of mind and body does not exist in reality, and what we call the mind consists of brain activity. In this section, he also hypothesizes that creativity is the ability to discriminate meaningful patterns in stimuli and that madness is the indiscriminate selection of meaningless patterns in stimuli. In another section, Shermer turns to religious beliefs, finding genetically determined physiologic differences in how we perceive and interpret patternicity and agenticity. These account for some of the built-in genetic and physiologic differences in attitude between believers and non-believers. There is also a very interesting section devoted to Albert Einstein’s religious beliefs, which contrary to some impressions, clearly were agnostic. Shermer also examines conspiracy beliefs and the factors that separate real conspiracies from conspiracy mongering. Again and again, he illustrates his main point- the beliefs come first and fitting the data into the belief pattern comes second. When tackling political beliefs, he describes five genetically determined moral patterns, which all people share to some extent. These evolved moral emotions helped us to survive and reproduce. Shermer indicates that most moral decisions are grounded in automatic feelings rather than deliberate rational calculations. We intuitively leap to a conclusion and then rationalize the decision. 1. Harm/care, related to attachment and empathy and underlying kindness, gentleness and nurturance. 2. Fairness/reciprocity, related to reciprocal altruism and a sense of right and wrong, and underlying justice, rights and autonomy. 3. In-group/loyalty, related to tribe and coalitions, and underlying patriotism and self-sacrifice. 4. Authority/respect, related to hierarchical social interactions, and underlying deference to leaders, authority and traditions. 5. Purity/sanctity, related to disgust and contamination, and underlying less carnal and more noble attitudes. While all people seem to have some element of these moral emotions, liberals and conservatives diverge some in their adherence. Liberals are more concerned with the harm/care and fairness/reciprocity elements and conservatives with the in-group/loyalty, authority/respect and purity/sanctity elements. Thus, to some extent, selection of liberal and conservative viewpoints is hard-wired. Shermer describes how the development of democracy defeated the monarchial tyranny of the magistrate, but how democracy itself can lead to a tyranny of the majority, the tendency to which, in the USA, is obviated by the Bill of Rights. What constitutes infringement on other people’s rights is sometimes an issue. However, the essentials of democratic freedom are usually agreed to be: the rule of law, property rights, economic stability through a secure banking and monetary system, freedom of movement in a reliable infrastructure, freedom of speech, press and association, mass education, protected civil liberties, a robust military and police force for self-defense, a viable legislative and judicial system to establish fair and just laws and enforce them. These agreed upon social constructs tend to bridge the liberal and the conservative points of view. Shermer cites one author (Timothy Ferris, The Science of Liberty) who conceives of science, liberalism and conservatism as really being methods for testing hypotheses rather than being ideologies. Successful scientific method leads to knowledge, and successful liberal and conservative viewpoints, when politically (and religiously) applied, produce acceptable social order. Although western democracies generally agree on desirable goals such as greater equality, liberty, freedom, wealth and prosperity, some societies, such as Islamic theocracies, believe that furtherance of these qualities leads to decadence and undesirable behavior. Shermer contrasts western societal viewpoints and those of Islamic extremism, which considers democracy and freedom to be a kind of malignancy and “…demands the whole universe (and) does not hesitate to utilize the means of war to implement its goal.” Arguably however, most Islamists are not such extremists and when polled, show great interest in acquiring liberal democratic political systems. Hopefully, interaction with western viewpoints would eventually provide the Islamic world with the opportunity to be increasingly heard within and outside its borders. Such interaction would also generate greater prosperity for the masses of down-trodden and oppressed Moslems who have low living standards and no public forum to seek redress. Turning to a more general idea, Shermer indicates that human beings have a built in need to ensure that they are always right. We have a huge slew of cognitive biases which condition our perceptions so as to confirm our beliefs, even at the expense of reality. The trick is instead, to recognize degrees of probability rather than to invoke certainty. Towards that end, an essential mechanism is applying scientific thinking to detect bias. Thus, understanding how our beliefs are formed produces less rigidity and more skepticism. The book describes in some detail the origins of science and its development from the Enlightenment to the scientific applications of today. It is fascinating to see the dissolution of rigid, ancient concepts perpetuated by Scholastic copyists. Beliefs held over a 1500 year period gave way to new exploratory data about the earth’s geography. It is equally fascinating to see the concepts of astronomy change as new technologies and new data are acquired, breaking away from the rigidities and limitations of religious and observer bias. Shermer tackles the cosmologies of belief as well, reviewing concepts about time, space, matter, energy, the mystery of creation of the universe and the possibility of multiple universes. This book is not an easy read. Shermer is relentless in his dogged determination to apply scientific principles to overcome the distortions of our built in belief-dependent realism. He does so by providing considerable detail that bears on each subject and its interpretation. That requires diligent attention from the reader, but is worth it because the book is so thoughtful, and often, entertaining as well. Shermer wants to get us closer to the truth and to appreciate the obstacles built into human nature. He has done an excellent job dealing with both. I highly recommend the book, and in order to help the reader analyze its assertions, I have linked a summary which is very substantial, but much shorter than the book itself. It is well worth fleshing out Shermer’s ideas at least with the summary, if not the book itself; however, take it in small doses. THE BELIEVING BRAIN (summary) Michael Shermer. |
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