I hardly have time to do or read anything anymore, so I haven’t read the associated study behind this article from Discover magazine, only the article itself. Past experience has taught me to cautious of conclusions based only on that. The interesting implication herein is that having more gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex grants more tolerance of uncertainty, making one more likely to consider extenuating circumstances rather than permitting only simple dichotomies. Having more grey matter in the amygdala instead implies more fear and loathing and a greater likelihood of being a paranoid disgusted fundamentalist. So whether you’re a reasonable liberal or a conservative bigot isn’t determined by the size of your brain, but rather how bent out of shape it is.
As an amusing coincidence, associated articles indicate that college students question the conflict between religion and science, while Rush Limbaugh talks out of his ass in on how to use any weak excuse to justify your Dunning-Kruger level of overconfidence.
Dr. Andy Tompsons, ‘Why we believe in Gods’ book is a great study of our evolutionary brain and why mankind has had a predisposition for ‘making shit up in our heads’. 😉
Rush Limbaugh, likewise makes shit up in his head but its more easier for him because it was full of shit before he started. Alas, natural selection is such a slow process we won’t have the pleasure of witnessing the likes of Limbaugh et all vanishing from the gene pool rapidly as as we would like.
Just finished reading “Why We Believe in God(s)” a few weeks ago! Highly recommend it.
I’m always wary of claims about physiological differences between the brains of different political/religious groups, since it can easily lead to tribalist back-patting mixed with the idea that it’s futile to convince the inferior-brained of the enlightenment of their position, thus we shouldn’t bother speaking up.
But then again, I’ve seen a lot of fundies and wingnuts saying the most insane things and I mentally exclaim, “what’s wrong with these people?!” and after that, some of these asserted differences just seem to make so much sense it’s disturbing.
I’m still going to assume some portion are reachable, since giving up isn’t an option.
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