Humans are Rational, aren't they?

Rationality is scarcer than we thought

Examples of Human Irrationality

• The Social Dilemmas

  The concept of Social Dilemmas is discussed extensively elsewhere in this series of essays and a detailed discussion will not be repeated here. However, the Social Dilemmas are a rich source of examples of human irrationality so a few examples will be repeated here. It is important to realize that irrationality in the Social Dilemmas in many cases is actually beneficial to humanity. Or at least, it appears to be.

  • Soldiers going into Battle

    A soldier going into battle in which there is a high probability that he (she?) will be killed is faced with a most serious decision. The tally sheet is not good. On the one side, if he goes, he stands to lose his life, the most serious sacrifice we can make. No amount of money would entice most of us to sacrifice our lives. On the other side, if he stays, he faces humiliation and possibly a jail sentence. An insignificant price to pay compared to the possible loss of life.

    As I explain in some detail in the "Social Dilemmas" section, it is not logically sound to say that the battle may be lost as a result of this particular soldier not participating. It is highly unlikely that the success of the battle will depend on whether this one soldier chooses to fight or not. "But what if everybody did the same?" is an irrelevant and nonsensical question as far that particular individual is concerned.

  • Voting

    The illogic surrounding the act of voting is the inspiration for much of the content of this essay and is an excellent example of an irrational act that somehow seems to be beneficial to humanity. The concept is discussed in detail in the afore mentioned Social Dilemmas. It is most puzzling to hear educated and apparently intelligent people talk of their individual vote as if it were a rational act that would somehow impact the election results!

• Religious and other "Spiritual" Beliefs

  We may not agree on whether a person should have religious beliefs or not but one thing we might be able to agree on is that the belief is not very rational. I personally am only acquainted with the Christian religion so will limit my comments to that religion.

  Generally, the acceptance of the religious belief is based on blind faith. However, we humans are not happy with that so we try to rationalize. Apologists for the Christian religion say that their belief is based on the Christian Bible. Now what do they know about the bible? Not much. No one alive today can vouch to its veracity. History tells us that the Christian "New Testament" Bible was most likely written 90 years or so after the death of someone who may have existed, Jesus. Consider for a moment how accurate a story might be that was handed down for 3 or 4 generations -- verbally -- by a tribe of people who were mostly illiterate. I'm not saying that any of the story is untrue -- I'm just saying the probabilities that it is factual are mighty slim! For those who doubt, let me suggest an experiment. Go over to the Middle East today (they are far more educated today!) and try to establish an interesting story, fact or myth. Come back in 90 years and check out the current version of your story. Would you base your life on its veracity?

  But that is just the beginning. After the story of Jesus was written down, it was translated and transcribed many times by people. I don't know too much about people that lived here a couple of thousand years ago, but today there is substantial evidence that people with such tasks often have their own agenda and tend to "flavor" their transcription. If you don't believe that, just watch the television evening news!

  The most popular advertisements on late night television seems to be for "Psychics". From this fact alone, I must conclude that many people actually believe in the claims of these people. Further, since the government has not stepped in and harassed these people, forcing them to desist -- as they would if some fledgling company simply claimed their product was better than some other company -- the implication is that the government endorses their claims. And just look at the classified ads in any popular magazine, including Psychology Today, and you will see piles of ads for "Psychics", Astrologers, and others with magic capabilities. Are we not civilized? Or are we headed back to the Dark Ages?

  Television routinely reports in the news about people praying for relief from some disaster (the most strange are the stories wherein all in a plane crash are killed but one and they report it as a miracle of God that that person survived!). Do we really believe that stuff? Statistics readily available from reliable sources show that people who pray constantly do not live a bit longer than the rest of us and suffer, on the average, just as many illnesses and accidents. Where is the rational thinking?

  And look at our burial customs. How little we have progressed over the most primitive tribes when it comes to burials! We will spend millions to retrieve the remains of a dead person from some far off land, remains which have reverted back to nothing but chemicals. But why? It was my understanding that when a person dies the soul does not hang around. So why bother with the inanimate and soulless body? More below.

• Acceptance of the Belief Structure of the Environment you were born in

  Most people generally accept the beliefs and social structure that happens to exist where they were born (particularly religious beliefs). Now you would think that a person would evaluate the situation upon reaching the age of 18 or 21 and make up their own mind about every issue. No chance! No, what your generic person does is accept the whole caboodle of ideas, myths and beliefs and will often defend them to their death! "My country is the greatest in the world!" How do you know? Have you evaluated any other country with an equal amount of effort and time? "My religion is the only true religion!" How do you know? Have you evaluated all the other religions fairly and comprehensively? "My girlfriend is the most beautiful and the best chicken plucker there is!" Really? Have you checked out a good sampling? I doubt it.

• Trusting Politicians and the Government

  As discussed extensively in my Political essays, it is absolutely idiotic to have a general trust in politicians and the government! Yet, people continue to trust and support politicians with every new election. Somehow, people have the incredible ability to totally ignore the specific politician's past record, the record of politicians in general, and the reality that people are generally motivated by self-interest -- particularly politicians! We blindly believe that government is somehow dedicated to serving our needs when all history indicates that it is absolutely not true. We blindly believe that the Constitution and the "rule of law" will somehow protect us when there is ample historical evidence that the government will suspend the Constitution and other laws any time it feels that its interests are in serious jeopardy. Some examples in case you are not up on your history:

  • The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II

    Was the Constitution violated? I think so.

  • The "Forfeiture" laws created to combat the "War on Drugs"

    Are they Constitutional? Does the government have the right to seize your property without due process? I think not. Yet, it is being done everyday and has now become a major source of income to the various governments in the USA -- to say nothing about affording another means of harassing the citizenry.

  • The government shenanigans related to the "War Between the States" (The Civil War)

    There were many disturbing and illegal activities perpetrated by the Federal government before, during, and after the Civil War for which space does not permit a complete elaboration here. I will only mention a couple -- the interested reader can consult the excellent book, Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men, by Jeffrey R. Hummel for more disturbing examples. People with opposing views were imprisoned without trial, just as the Soviet Union has done in modern times. Property was seized illegally and without compensation. The independent states, Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland were roughed up considerably by Union military. The ratification of the Fourteenth amendment to the Constitution was carried out in a most disturbing and unscrupulous way (a noble addition, but does the end justify the means?). And finally, what if we had treated the defeated Japanese and Germans after World War II the way the Southerners were treated after the Civil War, what kind of mess would we have in the world today?

  • Other violations of our Constitution too numerous to mention

• Our approach to Death and Funerals

  Why such an elaborate ritual involved with death and burials? Do we really believe that the cemetary contains anything but dirt and other organic and inorganic matter? Souls? Surely not. Why do we spend millions retrieving bodies of servicemen from foreign lands? Of course we do it because it is an affair of the heart -- not the mind. But it doesn't pass the "rational" test.

• Love, Sex and Marriage

  The quantity of myths and irrational acts in this category are far too many to cover completely here. You might want to see my essay on this subject here where some are discussed. But I will mention a few of the more obvious puzzlements.

  The Sexual Appetite of the Human Female

  Women don't care much for sex, right? At least they don't like it as much as men do -- right? Nearly all cases of sexual harassment are blamed on the man. Rightly so, if women don't care for sex as they were portrayed in the old days.

  But wait a minute, I read somewhere that that portrayal was incorrect, that it was just an effort of men to keep women down. From what I have read -- and from some personal experience :-) -- the modern woman likes sex as much or more than men do. I am confused.

  In fact, my own life has not been completely sheltered and as a result I have personally met quite a few women who can be quite aggressive for sex! Some can even get a bit mean about it, if you know what I mean. So what is going on here? Why do comedians routinely joke about the sexual aggressiveness of women and the sluggishness of TV-Sports watching men? Would it be funny if there was not some truth in it?

  So, maybe women do like sex. Maybe some women like it a lot! Who knows, maybe they like it more on average than men do. Then why does the news media assume -- without question -- when there is a sexual impropriety that it is always the man's fault? Why is it argued that women who dress sexually are really looking for sex?

  Teenagers Should Simply Say NO

  Do the older people, who advocate that the proper thing that teenagers should do to control sexual activity is abstinence, remember their teenage days? I certainly do. And I can tell you that under the strong possibility of death, there were situations in which I could have not restrained myself! Sadly, that is no longer a problem. :-( It is mindless to suggest such a solution to our teenage sex problem.

  Love

  Why do we refer to our previous love affairs as "at the time I thought I was in love" but for the current love affair, there is no doubt that it is real? Could it be they were both real? Or unreal? Could it be that we are trying to elevate the human character to a higher plane than is justified? Maybe.

  Marriage

  What does it take to put you in the married state? The church wedding? Don't we have to get a license from the state? Are we married after we have the wedding or after we get the license? I thought marriages were made in heaven. If so, what has the state got to do with it? Why bother getting a license?

  In fact, why bother with the church? Many of us skipped the church ceremony and still feel we are married. So it must not be the state or the church ceremony that determines when we are married. Maybe all we have to do is simply look each other in the eyes and say the vows. Sure would save a lot of hassle and money.

  Oh no, you say, the marriage would not last without the church and/or state ceremonies to cement it. Gosh, is that the reason we stay married? I was hoping we had better reasons to stay married. Would you go though the ceremonies just so you could bring pressure to bear on the person to make him stay with you? Surely not.

  Charity

  "Charity begins at home", the old saw goes. And so it should. The average person would never be able to take care of the impoverished in their own home town before they ran out of funds. Then why do they chose to send their money far away to some organization that will keep up to 90% of it for "administration" costs? Why do we look upon our on poor neighbors with contempt and send money to people we know nothing about? There must be a reason, for we are rational -- aren't we?

Are we Better Off being Irrational?

[More later . . .]