Do we all have strange beliefs?

Image by petr sidorov on Unsplash
Many people think that if you have one really weird (presumed false) belief that society would label “crazy,” then that implies you’re an idiot, or bad, or crazy yourself. Think “QAnon,” “the moon landing was faked,” or “all GMO foods are dangerous.” But I think approximately everyone has at least one of those beliefs; it’s just not that obvious because many of these strange beliefs are idiosyncratic, and people often hide them from each other and sometimes even from themselves (by avoiding ...
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Understand how other people think: a theory of worldviews

Image generated using the AI DALL•E 2
This piece was coauthored with Amber Dawn Ace. A libertarian, a socialist, an environmentalist, and a pro-development YIMBY watch an apartment complex being built. The libertarian is pleased - ‘the hand of the market at work!’ - whereas the socialist worries that the building is a harbinger of gentrification; the YIMBY sees progress, but the environmentalist is concerned about the building’s carbon footprint. They’re all seeing the same thing, but they understand it differently because they ...
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On “superstimuli” and their dangers

Images generated by DALL•E. (This is my attempt to get the DALL•E 2 A.I. to make the cutest thing imaginable. Left: a combined puppy/kitten. Right: a combined tiger cub/wolf pup.)
A “superstimulus” triggers a response that evolution gave us, but to a stronger degree than is likely to occur in nature. They exist because we humans purposely optimize our environments to create these responses. We are surrounded by more superstimuli than most of us realize. Examples of superstimuli: • food: Cheetos / skittles / McDonalds • goal achievement: video games • visual arousal: porn • pair bonding: romance novels • affection: dogs ...
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The many possible causes of large, positive changes in the world

Photo by NASA
I’ve noticed that people start with different assumptions about what usually causes large, positive changes in the world. It is rare for us to directly address these differences in worldview, even though they may contribute to difficulties seeing eye-to-eye on how we can make things better. For instance, I think some people believe that large, positive change usually comes about due to one or more of the following: (1) Progress - technological and scientific advancement causing a ris...
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