Michael Harris
New
Here's an example of a problem with this approach:
A friend of mine who has a predisposition towards his own version of "magical thinking" but is otherwise a perfectly reasonable person listened to this episode and was very inspired by it. He took it as confirmation that the doubt or lack of faith that had crept into his view of his "connection to the universe" and his idiosyncratic perception of "his reality" since hitting his 40's represented a wrong turn... and now it was time to get back to believing whatever made sense to him personally and ignoring anything or anyone that represents a challenge to his view.
He said that hearing about how Göbekli Tepe changes what we thought we knew about the history of civilization was particular confirmation of his belief that none of these intellectually oriented people actually know anything - and therefore his own perception and personal interpretation of the world is just as valid as anything science or anybody else claims to be true. This includes things like his conviction that the "universe" directs messages to him and that he intuitively deciphers meaning in seemingly random innocuous events.
He said that from now on nothing I or anybody else might offer as an outside critique of this approach to life or his conclusions would matter to him.
Now I don't particularly think that Gordon White is advocating the kind of interpretation my friend has chosen - although I have to say I didn't really get a clear sense of exactly what White was in fact advocating from the interview. However, there seems to be the potential in his message to reinforce a regressive narcissism in the sort of people who need little encouragement to ditch objectivity and critical thinking for self-generated, gratifying personal mythologies.
For all the validity of Gordon White's premise, I feel it really needs to be accompanied by an upfront and unambiguous reminder that humans will privilege beliefs that appeal to them over objective truth. And it is necessary to disable that cognitive default mechanism if any new approach to history, "magic" or reality is to be considered credible.
A friend of mine who has a predisposition towards his own version of "magical thinking" but is otherwise a perfectly reasonable person listened to this episode and was very inspired by it. He took it as confirmation that the doubt or lack of faith that had crept into his view of his "connection to the universe" and his idiosyncratic perception of "his reality" since hitting his 40's represented a wrong turn... and now it was time to get back to believing whatever made sense to him personally and ignoring anything or anyone that represents a challenge to his view.
He said that hearing about how Göbekli Tepe changes what we thought we knew about the history of civilization was particular confirmation of his belief that none of these intellectually oriented people actually know anything - and therefore his own perception and personal interpretation of the world is just as valid as anything science or anybody else claims to be true. This includes things like his conviction that the "universe" directs messages to him and that he intuitively deciphers meaning in seemingly random innocuous events.
He said that from now on nothing I or anybody else might offer as an outside critique of this approach to life or his conclusions would matter to him.
Now I don't particularly think that Gordon White is advocating the kind of interpretation my friend has chosen - although I have to say I didn't really get a clear sense of exactly what White was in fact advocating from the interview. However, there seems to be the potential in his message to reinforce a regressive narcissism in the sort of people who need little encouragement to ditch objectivity and critical thinking for self-generated, gratifying personal mythologies.
For all the validity of Gordon White's premise, I feel it really needs to be accompanied by an upfront and unambiguous reminder that humans will privilege beliefs that appeal to them over objective truth. And it is necessary to disable that cognitive default mechanism if any new approach to history, "magic" or reality is to be considered credible.
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