The Brain Is an Argument

The Brain Is an Argument talks about the dangers of rationality and how it can lead to hubris. Our brain tends to be rather close minded. Instead of using our rational brains to consider information opposing our beliefs, we use them to rationalize our beliefs even further. For example, when voters with strong party allegiances were shown clearly contradicting statements made by both George Bush and John Kerry (an example for George Bush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz-6A59qzAU), their brains blatantly ignored the evidence. When asked about the statements, Republican voters said that Kerry’s statements were extremely confusing while Bush’s were okay. Democratic voters responded similarly, lashing out at Bush and supporting Kerry. This is due to our brain’s habit of only taking note of facts that support what we believe. The rest is simply ignored. Our rationality works against us in these cases. Instead of following our feelings, our brains pick out what we want to follow. This cerebral quirk sometimes makes certainty dangerous. We must be able to accept dissonant facts and consider them in an unbiased way.

Lehrer goes on to talk about how our brains work to weave confusing information into plausible stories for us to understand, even when our brains are hopelessly lost. He introduces an experiment on split-brain patients, where two separate, unrelated images are shown to each of the brain’s visual fields. After the patient sees the images, he or she is asked to pick out a picture from a list of provided pictures. The patients ended up picking two pictures corresponding to each of the pictures shown. However, when asked to explain, the patient connects the two images in an absurd way, even when the two images were never meant to be connected.

Reading this chapter made me realize why some of us are so stubborn. We refuse to accept ideas that contradict our beliefs. Those that are open-minded possess the ability to overcome this. A prime example is Abraham Lincoln, who filled his cabinet with diverse and rival politicians. Lincoln was able to assess the different viewpoints, pick out what would be the ideal course of action, and act on it. With this versatile ability, Lincoln was able to become what some would call the most able president of the United States.

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