> fairly often it’s obvious that participants in these discussions are searching for arguments to validate pre-held beliefs and policy positions.
This is true of discussion of almost any topic by almost anyone ever.
Re:Modeling a Wealth Tax
by BurningFrog on Tuesday August 18, 2020 @11:04AM
(#24199503)
Yeah, this is just how the human brain works.
The big thing to understand is that we lie about these things to ourselves, so we can easier lie about them to others. Unconscious parts of your brain lies to the conscious part!!
I learned this here: https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Brain-Hidden-Motives-Everyda...
I hate to break it to you, but literally all of humanity does that, most of the time: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
This includes me. And you. And everybody else here.
Changing your mind is actually really hard.
> I hate to break it to you, but literally all of humanity does that, most of the time
I'm not sure why you'd assume that you're breaking anything to me.
Stating that "some participants are searching for arguments to validate pre-held beliefs and policy positions" is roughly akin to saying "some participants eat food and breathe air".
Confirmation bias is part of the human condition, and should be expected by default.
Although sometimes self interest is also a factor.