Our best hope?

This post will use a news item about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as the jump-off point for a discussion about the future of the human race as it relates to our propensity to unquestioningly believe what we are told.

"When my eyes fell upon the rare copy of this dangerous book, I decided immediately to place it next to the Torah. Although it is not a monotheistic holy book, it has become one of the sacred [tenets] of the Jews, next to their first constitution, their religious law, [and] their way of life. In other words, it is not merely an ideological or theoretical book. Perhaps this book of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' is more important to the Zionist Jews of the world than the Torah, because they conduct Zionist life according to it… It is only natural to place the book in the framework of an exhibit of Torah [scrolls]." - Dr. Yousef Ziedan, museum director of the new Alexandria Library, on why the anti-Semitic forgery is now prominently displayed next to the Torah in the manuscript museum. UNESCO funds helped build it.
[Reported by Andrew Sullivan]

My first temptation is to say, See, this Ziedan guy is another example of smart people mindlessly believing idiotic things...

But, how do I know the PEZ is a forgery? Because I've heard so from people I respect and read it in the writings of people I respect. But I've never personally examined any in-depth evidence on the subject either way.

In other words, I'm relying on hearsay. Just as most people are who believe the PEZ is for real.

Just as fundamentalist Christians do when they believe in the literal truth of things reported in the Bible such as the "virgin birth". Just as most Muslims do when they believe the literal truth of the idea that "The large rock from which Mohammed rose to heaven is believed by Muslims to have been the site where Abraham offered up his son to God as a sacrifice". Just as fundamentalist Jews believe the literal truth of the Abraham/Isaac story.

I dare say very few fundamentalists have personally examined, and tested without bias, compellingly direct evidence in favor of their beliefs. They believe them because people they respect do, and because they are part of overall meme-complexes that offer some kind of gratification to the believer.

But why are we so able to believe things without being presented with substantive evidence in their favor? Because if everyone took the time to figure out every aspect of life and morality from first principles and direct evidence, much of the human race would starve to death within a month. No one would have any time to get anything done, such as growing and transporting food. It just wouldn't be practical.

So it has evolved that we live by a combination of thinking things through for ourselves, and also simply believing what we are told.

Some people are more to one end of the scale, and some people are more to the other end of the scale. There is a division of labor in that sense: some people are thought-leaders who spend their time trying to think things out, and others are leaders in getting the useful things done that we need to have done.

Historically, this division of labor has been a relatively workable system for the survival of the species. We've been able to eat because instead of each of us individually spending all our time with each of us solving the basic questions of life from direct evidence and first principles, most of us can spend most of our time doing useful things like growing and transporting food.

This system has those nasty side effects such as religious and patriotic wars. These are usually based on people believing what their local leaders tell them about the evilness or inferiority of the followers of the other belief systems and/or citizens of other countries and/or those who simply look different. But those wars haven't been able to wipe out the species; after all, historically, somebody had to win the wars, and then life would go on as usual for the victors. (Except of course for their enjoyment of the spoils of victory, such as slaves.) The species would continue. (And, it's worth noting, the victors would propagate their genes more efficiently than the losers.)

Unfortunately, with the advent of nuclear, biological, and (in the not-too-distant future) nanotechnology-based weapons, the idea that the human race can continue after a major war is now obsolete. This is a huge difference. It is a black-and-white, night-and-day difference in our fundamental reality.

In other words, a system that has evolved over tens or thousands of years to be a relatively efficient way of keeping the human race going is now not only obsolete, but extremely dangerous to the human race -- there is no way to overstate its danger.

This "system" may be more than a system. It may be in our genes. That is, we may have a genetic tendency to believe what we're told to believe (some people having more of that genetic tendency than others). Why? Because genes evolve that enhance our survival. This tendency has (as argued above) historically enhanced our survival, and it has become a very deep attribute of our nature. So, it may be genetic (though, of course, it may not; it may be purely mimetic evolution).

If it's genetic, and even if it's "merely" mimetic, it will be extremely hard to overcome this fundamental aspect of the human race before it's too late. Up until the 20th century, this aspect of our nature was consistent with, and arguably even enhanced, the human race's ability to survive. But now, it is in direct contradiction to that ability. That is a radical change in the situation, and an extremely dangerous one.

In fact, it seems unlikely that the tendency to mindlessly believe what we're told is going to be conquered anytime soon. If it's in our genes, it would be well-nigh impossible to conquer without large-scale, direct manipulation of our genetic structure. In that case, it really ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

Therefore, it is arguable that the only solution is to co-opt our tendency to mindlessly believe by replacing the war- and hate-promoting belief systems that currently dominate the world's mindshare with benign ones. That can only happen if benign belief systems are created that are more emotionally compelling, and therefore have a higher tendency to spread from mind to mind, than the existing, destructive ones.

That may be the major challenge facing the human race today -- and our best hope of survival -- even if virtually no one knows it.