Alex Edmonds

And so why might that be?

It's because of something known as motivated reasoning.

So the smarter we are, we can come up with arguments to dismiss evidence that we don't like.

And we can also come up with arguments to support evidence that we do like, even if that evidence happens to be flimsy.

As an example, it may well be that there's a study which finds a correlation that we don't like.

So if we are a supporter of gun control, we might not like a paper which finds that gun control is associated with higher crime.

But we might say, well, correlation does not imply causation.

Maybe there's other factors at play here.

Maybe crime would have been even higher had there not been gun control.

But we turn off those same critical thinking faculties when we find something that we do like.

So we do have knowledge, but we apply it only selectively when it suits us.

You absolutely cannot.

And this is the problem of black and white thinking.

So some of these issues may be nuanced.

It might be that gun control works in certain situations, but it doesn't work in others.

But if you were to give that message, you're much less likely to be tweeted in 280 characters and go viral.

So something which has a simple message where we say X is true, period, that is what typically sells.

So it could be something that

Carbs are always bad for your health or waking up at 5 a.m.

always improves your productivity.