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What is your process for belief formation? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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This question can inspire levels of fury beyond my understanding, which is why I couldn’t have casually posed it on Reddit. This seems like a more good faith kind of crowd so I’ll ask it here.

This is a question I’ve put a lot of thought into for myself since 2020. I’m interested in my ideas being criticized and perhaps to criticize the ideas of others (Note: Not criticizing people or their character. Only ideas). I’m going to post my own answer in the comments.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Somewhat related is the concept of ontological shock. Most recently saw a post on Reddit about it, linked below. I can relate to the idea of my brain building a running narrative of how the world works, and fitting information into that framework on the fly. When I come across things that don't fit into that framework it's easy to dismiss the information and run towards people that share that worldview. Ontological shock happens when you reexamine the core of your worldview based on irrefutable new information, and realize that your existing framework of predicting and understanding things in the world no longer works. Facsinating stuff, and it truly shows that we can absolutely be living in completely different realities than our neighbours.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/145kwhw/ontological_shock_is_real_and_you_should_treat_it/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I had quite the ontological shock when I was exposed to methods of investigation and information which was systematically collected and reviewed by people who I became familiar at University. My formerly conservative beliefs were shattered under the weight of the scrutiny which I was now able to apply to them, which caused extreme discomfort because many of the premises which I had planned my life around were not only false, but easily disprovable with the slightest examination. Since then I've tried not to be stubborn about the beliefs I hold and will criticize new information instead of dismissing it (although some information can be criticized so quickly it can be dismissed rapidly).

There hasn't been hard evidence presented for the new claims of extraterrestrials on Earth to my knowledge, nor have the claims been disproven (these specific claims can be disproven). I choose to withhold judgement on the phenomenon until a sufficient amount of evidence is provided (in my opinion, I suppose) or the claims are disproven, but I'm not going to dismiss the possibility that the claims are true off-hand.