Biggest Obstacle

WIP

Self-Deception / Self-Honesty
Never moral?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Tolstoy syndrome

The behavior of confirmation bias has sometimes been called "Tolstoy syndrome", in reference to Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), who in 1897 wrote:^[9]

“

"I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabrics of their life".

”

A related Tolstoy quote is:

“	"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."[10]

Self Deception - Theorization:

...It has been theorized that an instinct for self-deception can give a person a selective advantage, based on the rationale that if a person can believe their own "lie" (i.e., their presentation that is biased toward their own self-interest), the theory goes, they will consequently be better able to persuade others of its "truth."

This notion is based on the following logic. In humans, awareness of the fact that one is acting deceptively often leads to tell-tale signs of deception. Therefore, if self-deception enables someone to believe their distortions, they will not present such signs of deception and will therefore appear to be telling the truth. ...

Why It's Hard to Admit to Being Wrong
Book - Counselling?

Instinctive defense system:
*preservation of Status Quo + lazyness + cognitive bias(denial)
*Conscience/Ego Protection(but why exactly? because it's unhealthy to feel bad?) +cognitive bias(denial)

What to do? Research. Think.

Long-term-thinking (Pessimism of the intellect: Nonzero Selfish) + "Pleasure of finding things out" = Antidote?

The Logic of Life
Deactivate Emotions or Abuse them ? read reviews
On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation
...suggestions for getting around the brain's flaws and achieving true wisdom
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior

A Mind of its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives
The Age of American Unreason - ColbertNation
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

TED:Michael Shermer: Why people believe strange things - Why People Believe Weird Things

It is of utmost importance to create the right conditions for everybody to be able to accept the change and adapt to new developments. For military/medical industrial complex, for religious people. People should be able to welcome change and not be threatened by it (like the global warming alarmists begin to achieve)...
Hmm... I begin to sound like Henry Kissinger, but I don't mean to create the right conditions by starting wars, deceiving the public and spreading terror and horror, I mean to really make positive changes to help people adapt through financial support, by presenting them new information(correct) and by restructuring the system. You can't expect the president of a military corporation to simply shut down the factories. Even if he can afford that, what will do workers do? Same with the AIDS, cancer, Christianity, oil, meat industries and many other...


Not so relevant
- unconsciousness - one review:
Burton attacks Richard Dawkins for "believing in the myth of the autonomous rational mind," and Daniel Dennett for insisting that the secular and scientific view of the world ought to be accepted by everyone. "Try telling a poet to give up his musings and become a mechanical engineer", says Burton, in an either-or fallacious attempt to convince us that someone cannot be a poet and accept a scientific view of the world. Even the Dalai Lama tries to have a scientific view of things.
There are interesting ideas in the first eleven chapters of this book, it is unfortunate that the author did not expand on them, did not provide more elucidation and data, but chose instead to attack Dawkins, Dennett and science itself.
Questioning Technology
What Orwell Didn't Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics
Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts
Quirkology


To try and change the idols of a population instead of spending time with changing everybody in general?
To use their language while trying to persuade them, like american raw food ?
To create better idols or to idolize better people?