We don't know as much as we think we do.

How much time do we spend talking politics and cultural issues with people who disagree with us? That can be a difficult experience, because those people on the other side just don't seem to get it.

Obviously, we're right about these issues, and all our friends agree with us, so those other people must be wrong. What's their problem?

Maybe they just don't have the facts.

But even when we generously try to explain the facts to them, they still don't get it. Maybe they just don't care.

Or maybe they're just not that smart.

But wait -- some of those on the other side do seem to be pretty smart.

So maybe the only explanation is -- they're evil!!

Wait -- maybe we need to rethink this.

On Thursday, June 11, we're going to hear from one psychologist and cognitive scientist after another telling us that we -- yes, we -- don't know as much about political issues -- or anything else -- as we think we do, and as a result we can find ourselves passionately advocating for beliefs even when we don't know very much about what we're advocating for. They'll tell us that we'd be better off to dial it back, look for alternative approaches, and complexify things. And maybe be a little more humble.

As two of our authors (Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach) write: "Proponents of political positions often cast policies . . . in values-based terms in order to hide their ignorance, prevent moderation of opinion, and block compromise."

And: "We’ve seen that careful analysis of the consequences of those policies matters a lot less than you might think and that the community one is embedded in matters a lot more."

And: "Apparently, strong moral reactions don’t require reasons. Strong political opinions don’t, either. Sometimes whether or not we understand the consequences of a policy is irrelevant. Such attitudes are not based on causal analysis. We don’t care whether the policy will produce good or bad outcomes. What matters are the values enshrined by the policy."

Please join us as we try to figure out how to be smarter -- and have some fun at the same time!

To get ready for our meetup, it would be great if you could watch these three entertaining and educational TED Talks -- about 15 minutes each:

Kathryn Schulz, On Being Wrong
https://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_on_being_wrong?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
Phil Fernbach, The Illusion of Understanding
https://youtu.be/2SlbsnaSNNM?si=tDwZUCjhY4jnADwL

Philip Fernbach, Why do we believe things that aren't true?
https://youtu.be/jobYTQTgeUE?si=5re--c3_GOn_-DV0

Hope to see you June 11 as we dig into these issues.

Bill