Michael Shermer says the human tendency to believe strange things — from alien abductions to dowsing rods — boils down to two of the brain’s most basic, hard-wired survival skills. He explains what they are, and how they get us into trouble.
It is always interesting to see examples on how our minds work and how easy it is to link this behavior to our development and evolution in a logic way.
I believe that there is much truth to the saying: “The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know”
By getting educated you realize both how much knowledge there is in the world and how complex the world is. You realize that if you get a new idea or a theory, it is extremely likely that somebody have got the same idea before you and already tested it. If you never heard of the idea or theory before, it is extremely likely that it was false. Therefore you get in some way also skeptical when other people have ideas. I think therefore that it is not a coincident that skepticism increases with level of education.
Consider the question, “Why, given the fact that human beings have so much potential, so much intelligence… our cultures are so amazingly diverse and creative and our technology so advanced… Why are we committing species suicide by destroying the habitability of our planet?
Shermer’s lucid and highly relevant talk, using the powerful tool of scientific method as a means of examining the characteristics of our own mind and brain, give us a verifiable and objective answer to this question.
That answer is that human awareness is flawed and has become dysfunctional in the modern era. Sherner clearly delineates the nature of those flaws. Once we are aware of this, we can take action to ameliorate the destructive impact of those flaws in our awareness. This is liberation and freedom from ancient bondages and a small chance for our species to pull out of our nosedive before we drill a big hole.
Usabiliity Corner is developed and maintained by 
