Human beings are not nearly as coolly rational as we like to think we are. Having set up comfortable planets of belief, we become resistant to altering them, and develop cognitive biases that prevent us from seeing the world with perfect clarity. We aspire to be perfect Bayesian abductors, impartially reasoning to the best explanation - but most often we take new data and squeeze it to fit with our preconceptions. Sean Carroll
About This Quote

Humans are not as coolly rational as we like to think we are. We often believe we can be perfectly rational and objective in our thinking, and yet we often find ourselves to be highly subjective and biased. The cold, hard truth is that human psychology is not nearly as cold and hard as we like to think it is. We tend to put a lot of weight on our beliefs and opinions, but those beliefs and opinions are often based on little more than guesswork and wishful thinking.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. One love, one heart, one destiny. - Bob Marley

  2. We have to allow ourselves to be loved by the people who really love us, the people who really matter. Too much of the time, we are blinded by our own pursuits of people to love us, people that don't even matter, while all that... - C. Joybell C.

  3. If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. - Mother Teresa

  4. Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people. - Roy T. Bennett

  5. Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. - Dalai Lama Xiv

More Quotes By Sean Carroll
  1. The world keeps happening, in accordance with its rules; it's up to us to make sense of it and give it value.

  2. Where misunderstanding dwells, misuse will not be far behind. No theory in the history of science has been more misused and abused by cranks and charlatans–and misunderstood by people struggling in good faith with difficult ideas–than quantum mechanics.

  3. Human beings are not nearly as coolly rational as we like to think we are. Having set up comfortable planets of belief, we become resistant to altering them, and develop cognitive biases that prevent us from seeing the world with perfect clarity. We aspire to...

  4. Historically, nature has been very good at surprising us.

  5. Science and religion both make claims about the fundamental workings of the universe. Although these claims are not a priori incompatible (we could imagine being brought to religious belief through scientific investigation), I will argue that in practice they diverge. If we believe that the...

Related Topics