On the Necessity of Disbelief

When Shaw states that disbelief is better for a society than belief, what he actually
wants to say is that a healthy dose of skepticism is a necessity for development. It is not
obvious to understand why Shaw dislikes belief to this degree unless we know a little bit
about the fallacious ways our brain works. As individuals, we have evolved not to seek
the truth but to survive (Alcock). Seeking the truth requires critical thinking and critical
thinking comes only with a certain degree of education. Our world is a highly
unpredictable and dangerous place to live in. Coincidences, not our efforts, define our
destiny most of the time. However, our brain is structured in a way that it does not want
to face this reality. As a result it creates its own reality, to make us feel safe. However, we
can always learn about the ways our brain works using science. As Shaw also indicates,
we have a chance to challenge the realities we create to be closer to the truth. This is
especially necessary to do at the societal level because of the riskier consequences of
living n a society, where beliefs are considered facts.
As Heflick illustrates, we are tended to believe what we hear. Most of the time,
we do not second-guess the information we receive. As long as there is no force out there
making us challenge our beliefs, we can hold onto our beliefs all along our lives. It
becomes even scarier when we think of this issue at the societal level. This means that we
as societies are tended to believe what we hear from TV or our government and do not
question these information. As a result, in societies where there is no freedom of speech,
people can be exposed to only certain types of ideas without any challenge directed to
them. Ignorance, as a result, can become the rule in societies, where there are no
discussions are allowed. We would not want to live in a society of this type because here

science based development cannot survive. In societies, where different ideas are not
allowed, the quality of life of individuals tend to be lower. This means that we need
discussion, disbelief and challenge for betterment. This is the reason why we cherish
democracies over autocracies.
In his book called Don't Believe Everything You Think:The 6 Basic Mistakes We
Make in Thinking, Kida summarizes the ways our brain make us error. Accordingly, he
shows in his book how we seek to confirm ourselves all the time and overly rely on our
experiences or what we already believe instead of scientific research. He also underlines,
as Alcock does, how our memories are not as solid information providers as we would
want them to be. We actually have faulty memories, which are shaped by events that
happened after that memory. It is also common that we misperceive the environment
around us. Even though we have all these tendencies to err, we rarely accept that this is
the case. This is understandable because we do not want to acknowledge that we live in a
world, which is unpredictable and our abilities to survive in it are highly limited.
Essentially, we are not as right as we would hope to be we are. We are actually generally
wrong. Change can only start once we realize this truth, even though it is scary to do so.
The situation looks a little dark when we become aware of these mistakes our
brains tend to make. It looks even darker to realize how, as a society, we can have wrong
beliefs. This is why Shaw prefers disbelief to belief: disbelief can lead to truth, while
belief is generally hard to change. However, once we recognize the situation as it is, there
is hope for betterment. I think it is necessary to understand that there will always be these
mistakes that our brain makes, to make us feel safe. The ways our brain evolved, which
Alcock calls 'the belief generating machine, ' forces us to make everyday mistakes in the

ways we think. These mistakes can be necessary and harmless. However, when these
beliefs are held in the societal level and they are not challenged, then we need to worry
about their effects in our lives. We cannot alter the ways our brains work, but we can be
aware of them. The same goes for the society. All kinds of beliefs are normal to exist in a
society, however when a belief becomes the only truth, then intellectual development is
probably in danger.
References
Alcock, J. The Belief Engine. Skeptical Inquirer 19(3): 1997. Retrieved from
http://www.csicop.org/si/show/belief_engine/.
Heflick, N. We Struggle With Objectivity: The Bias Blind Spot. Psychology Today:
December 2012. Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-bigquestions/201212/we-struggle-objectivity-the-bias-blind-spot.
Kida, T. Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking
Prometheus Books: 2007 Review by Bob Lane, MA. Retrieved from
http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=3614.