Comment by Kirk Holden on January 2, 2010 at 6:09pm

Some of the answers to this are in Steven Pinker's "The Blank Slate"

We are not blank slates into which ideas are poured. The genes build the phenotype which is then molded by the culture as you say. Our minds remain forever plastic. Not only are the contents of the minds in our brains fungible -- our brains and the minds that spring from them are plastic.

Memes infect us like a virus. Most ideas reach into our minds like parasites. That's just a theory but a fun read is Susan Blackmore's "Meme Machine".

Comment by Doug Reardon on January 2, 2010 at 7:42pm

I didn't hear about evolution until the 7th grade, I went to catholic school, but as soon as i heard about it I thought, now that makes sense and I immediately believed it was correct, I didn't know all the particulars, but I "knew" that the general concept was correct, i didn't decide it was correct I just knew, or felt it was true, without hesitation.
And I remember a story my philosophy of religion professor told of an old African man who was in his 70's when the Christian missionaries made it to his neck of the woods, and after listening to their spiel said: "I've been waiting all my life to hear this!" So, to what extent is belief a choice?

Comment by Kirk Holden on January 2, 2010 at 8:35pm

Well,

belief 1: a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing.

You cannot "rewind the tape" to see exactly how a state of habit of mind got into your mind. You can probably begin to enumerate your beliefs after the fact to understand whether you trust them now or if you should trust them in the future.

You are doing that by using free will. The two parts of free will are:
1. thinking about thinking
2. talking to other people who are also thinking about thinking.

Belief 2 : something believed; especially : a tenet or body of tenets held by a group.

We all get this from our past associations or groups. Most belief complexes are poorly constructed and in constant need of repair as new evidence becomes available.

belief 3 : conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence.

This is the kind of belief we can use. It's the kind we choose when we are careful.

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