Thinking with Magic

What could be the harm of "magical thinking"? To ensure understanding of the topic, I will briefly give a definition, some context, and then describe what I see as the heart of our current predicament. First, "magical thinking" is simply a natural tendency for humans to ascribe supernatural causes to events. It can be referred to as "superstitious thinking" as well, because it is often found in beliefs about doing something to ward off unwanted consequences, despite having nothing to do with the situation. It is "natural" because it is an ordinary part of childhood development; most of us could likely recall early attempts to make sense of the world with very little accurate information. A few examples: when a child assumes that wearing a particular pair of socks causes rain to fall, a sports player believes a special ritual assures their success, or someone thinks a prayer sufficient to achieve a desired outcome. What separates this from an error is both its persistence and resistance to logic. It becomes a refusal to acknowledge reality—to the point of actively rejecting it by persisting in the belief despite clear contrary evidence. This gives some sense of problems which can arise.

Allowing outdated notions like miasma or 'evil spirits' causing illness, ridiculous ideas like a 'flat earth' or 'ancient aliens', and just wrong beliefs like 'young Earth' or Geocentrism to thrive does more than frustrate scientists. If everyone knew that such ideas had no value or basis in reality, likely there would be no need to comment. Discussing such absurd ideas would be understood as satire, or something equally innocuous, and dismissed after the laughter faded. Many people have personal "theories", odd interests, or frivolous beliefs. Many do no harm such as "hunting Bigfoot", "studying" UFO/UAPs", or "positive thinking"—as long as they are relegated to humorous aside. When a person becomes serious about such a topic, to the point of insisting others are wrong or ignorant, problems arise. Much like addiction, where the problem is not the substance but the person's inability to exert control, the problem is not unexplained phenomena—rather it is the person's lack of boundaries or perspective. It is an inability to accurately evaluate any information that becomes truly problematic, and not just to the person believing the nonsense.

Something like the 'tolerance of intolerance' paradox, whereby intolerance ascends through forbearance, we are seeing ignorance become mainstream. While many have dismissed the "silly"or "harmless" nonsense that some espouse, this lack of critical thinking and "bullshit detection" is increasing illness and leading to deaths. Inability to recognize basic facts about vaccination has prompted a larger percentage of population in the U.S. (and elsewhere) to avoid vaccines so that public health risks are increasing, including a resurgence of dangerous diseases. Further, suspicion of any public health recommendations lead to increased deaths during the CoVID-19 pandemic. The allowance of outlandish ideas can blur the lines between "tolerance" and "enabling" by not acting to stop the harm they create.

Beyond this, there is a larger or more serious problem: the erosion of consensus reality and decision-making. Frivolous or ridiculous ideas become weapons once they are widespread enough to erode public debate or take time away from serious issues. If dealing with nonsense takes up time which could be spent actually solving problems or discussing real concerns, society is harmed. The time lost to dragging the debate away from absurd distractions uses up the patience of audience and participants. This is likely part of the "win" for contrarians, as attention or disruption feeds their agenda/ego. Additionally, delay allows those who benefit from the status quo to continue their activities for as long as progress is hindered.

Finally, where there existed one single group who could communicate easily and agreed on a majority of implicit and important topics, there now exists multiple groups whose identities are in conflict. It is easy to understand that arguing opinion or objective information is much easier than feeling attacked or having one's identity threatened. If one were incorrect about who won the 1983 World Series—even as passionate as sports fans can be—once the information is corroborated, the wrong person can pay the bet and correct their mistaken memory. However, arguing over subjective information and about identity is often an intractable dilemma. Many can easily think of how it feels to be insulted, and how no productive conversation happens afterward. This can be what happens when the discussion includes those nonsensical beliefs: it is not about the content or information involved, but about who the person is. This can be reinforced by an insidious change that takes place when lost people find community in fringe-belief groups: their loneliness and sense of rejection is healed by having comrades who support their unnatural opinions. This salvation is conditional, of course, and loyalty to the group must be repeatedly demonstrated to "belong". This creates a situation where a person's sense of belonging and identity is dependent upon the group. Many will do terrible things rather than lose their community. Contemporary complaints about men falling into toxicity is this same pipeline, as are many religious/spiritual groups; this is an aside, however, and should be dealt with separately. For this discussion, the focus is how identity can be threatened by accurate information and how that makes discourse impossible. So, rather than simply "correcting someone's mistaken information" by challenging the existence of Bigfoot or aliens, one can be 'attacking' another's identity. This is the problem of discussing basic information about the world when it contradicts someone who is out of touch with reality.

In the end, there is no problem with not knowing or having incorrect information. We can learn, we can grow as individuals and change opinions, and we can even correct our worldview. However, this takes a willingness that is challenging for many. The focus on arguing over the information involved is almost a distraction from the deeper issue of inability to evaluate information. However we proceed, it is important to recognize the component of identity and how it has been weaponized to prevent conversation. I hope that this post has illuminated some of the trouble we face, and that it is not too late to correct.