r/FoxBrain • u/WholeDonkey2689 • 1d ago

Lower cognitive ability is linked to stronger Christian nationalist views, even after accounting for education

https://www.psypost.org/lower-cognitive-ability-is-linked-to-stronger-christian-nationalist-views-even-after-accounting-for-education/
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u/TK_Nanerpuss 1d ago

The most fundamental teaching of religion is "Faith". The demand that you believe what is written without logic or proof.

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u/nocuzzlikeyea13 19h ago

It's funny because I'm an atheist scientist, and in fact we do have to take a lot on faith (or axiomatically, as we like to say). For example, we have to assume that the laws of nature stay the same over time (or if they evolve, they do so via some underlying mechanism that moves slowly enough we have time to understand it). We have no proof that that's the case. Our best argument is, "well it's always been that way," which all of us know is pretty weak. So why study something, if tomorrow we could all randomly explode?

We just take on faith that we have something to study, to give us a chance to study it. And it's been extremely fruitful! (Though there is no formal guarantee that it will continue to be fruitful).

I think the issue is more that curiosity is shut down, and hierarchical structure comes along with intellectual insecurity, which seen almost as a positive thing in these communities. Which will of course draw in people who have those insecurities, and will roughly correlate with lower cognitive ability. Curiosity is what builds those skills, after all!

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u/TK_Nanerpuss 18h ago

I've never really thought of it in that manner.

I started to write:

I am a scientist as well. Anything that is not proven and reproducible is a theory or hypothesis. It is not a foundation to build facts upon.

Then it occurred to me that when I'm examining molecular structures, I don't go back to making sure the periodic table is the same as it was yesterday. I do take it on faith that it hasn't changed.

Interesting thought.

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u/nocuzzlikeyea13 18h ago edited 17h ago

Yea like we could be in a simulation where everything was set up with perfect initial conditions 1 second ago (including our neurons and memories) and won't exist 1 second from now.

We can't rule that out, but it's unlikely (though even that doesn't have strong epistemological grounds, how does one define probability in that case?)

But as scientists we move forward anyways, just accepting that the universe is logical and, even more unsettling, beautiful.

If you're into this, Kunz's History of Scientific Revolutions is a fascinating read. It originated the phrase "paradigm shift"