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Tag Archives: evopsych
How do beliefs work? CJ gets interested
OK, I am getting interested in how beliefs work. Obviously, assuming we are not solipsists, we have two basic things – External Reality and the Person. The “compression” model suggests we create “mental shortcuts” or handy pieces of code based upon on our experience which allow us to deal efficiently with reality. So beliefs are in fact a sort of mental map imposed on the universe, a shorthand for understanding how things work. Continue reading
Posted in Paranormal, Religion, Science
Tagged adaptive advanatge, beliefs, compression hypothesis, compression model, confirmation bias, epistemology, Evolution, evolution and logic, evopsych, heuristics, how beliefs work, nature of belief, Plantinga, shortcut model of mind, theory of mind, true and false beliefs
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The Misuse of Anecdote – a sceptical myth?
On Anecdotes Two words; “Giant Squid”. Until September 30, 2004 all we had for Giant Squid was ‘anecdotal evidence.’ Tall stories from sailors? Sceptics like me regarded Giant Squid in much the same light as the Loch Ness Monster. We … Continue reading
"And sometimes he's so nameless" 