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From Brain Food: FACTS DON’T FORM BELIEFS

Daniel Kahneman (1934 to 2024) won the Nobel Prize for proving we’re not as rational as we think.  

“I believe in climate change,” Kahneman said. “I believe in the people who tell me there is climate change. The people who don’t believe in climate change, they believe in other people.”

This is how we form all beliefs. We don’t examine evidence and reach conclusions. We trust people we like, then adopt their views.

“The reasons are not the causes of our beliefs,” he explained. They’re the stories we tell ourselves afterward.

Want to change someone’s mind? Facts won’t do it. They need to trust you first.

If they admire you, they’ll find reasons to agree. If they dislike you, the best evidence won’t matter.

Smart people believe opposite things because they trust different people.”