Belief is a powerful thing

Recently, I stumbled across an article with this little pie chart:



This is from a poll of Texans and you can read the writeup here. To me, these charts are a wonderful explanation of why discussions about science and faith can become quite heated. Usually, these arguments begin because the people are not focused on who has the "correct" answer. Instead, they are arguing over whose beliefs are "correct".

So let's examine this thing we call "belief" and where it comes from.

As humans, we absorb knowledge, beliefs and ideals from all kinds of information sources, but certain influences carry more weight than others. So how do we decide whether or not to believe new information when it is presented?

I have a one-word answer to that question: Trust.

Advertisers will tell you that repetition forms beliefs, and while that may be true to a degree, our core beliefs are born from trust. If you trust a source, you will be more likely to accept it and incorporate it into your beliefs. If you question the source, you will be more likely to look to other sources for confirmation. Essentially, whether or not you believe your parents, your religious leaders, your professors, Wikipedia, CNN, NBC, FOX, Obama, Bush, OJ Simpson, Bono from U2, or even yourself is all based on who you trust. It makes little difference if the source is "correct".

This is why humans find it so difficult to change their core beliefs. Changing your core beliefs requires you to acknowledge that previously trusted sources may have been incorrect. Then, you must do something that seems extremely unnatural... you must remove any previous feelings of trust and examine the information on your own, free of outside influences. Not easy to do.

To prove my point, let's do a little exercise:

If you know me, then you know that I'm a graduate student studying earthquakes. So if I was to write a blog telling you that large earthquakes are becoming more and more frequent, you would probably believe me and not question the source, right?

This is because (1) you trust me and (2) a theory about increasing earthquake activity would be supported by what you heard about earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, right?

Well, the truth is that earthquakes are not becoming more and more frequent. If you trust the USGS, you can read this FAQ, which explains why earthquake activity is not increasing and what causes this common misconception.

If you don't trust the USGS, I just spent 10 minutes downloading data and plotting it in Excel:



Regardless of who you believe, I hope I've made the point that belief does not necessarily equal truth.

This blog was kind of a preface, and I hope it will prepare you to be challenged in future posts. As I move forward, I hope you will be able to look beyond your beliefs and seek the truth. But don't believe something is true just because you read it on the Internet. Believe it because you have examined it on your own and accepted its truth free of outside influence.