Mental Models

The world is complex. To make sense of the world we construct ideas of how things work; termed “mental models.” Mental models are your map for the world.

Some of these ideas are pre-wired from birth, some are formed independently, and some are taught. Our ability to form new and better mental models is essential for learning to occur. We cannot increase understanding (know-why) without the ability to unlearn inaccurate mental models and modify or substitute them with more accurate mental models.

Our mental models tend to be flexible when we are young but they harden as we get older. To some extent this makes sense. There is more to learn when we are younger so we more liberal in our ability to change. Liberalism is broadly defined as the ability to accept new ideas or change. As we get older we are more reluctant to change our mental models. This makes sense. If a mental model serves you well into old age, it is rational to assume that it must be accurate, or at least sufficiently accurate so why change it? We become more conservative to change. Conservatism is broadly defined as a resistance to acceptance of new ideas or change.

Everyone has liberal and conservative impulses and these are not necessarily tied to age. I am using these terms here in there original, non-political context, please do not “auto-correct” and apply a political filter to these terms.

The world is far too complex for any one person to understand everything, so we rely on authority figures and institutions to guide us. We look to individuals with experience in a given activity or field of knowledge to provide expertise where we lack it. We create institutions in narrow fields of study to further human understanding of complex systems. And we rightfully place trust in experts and institutions for that reason. It should be noted that concepts of authority/respect are memes we are hard wired from birth to accept and comply with. Memes are “ideas with authority.” These memes, along with four additional memes including - harm/care, fairness/reciprocity, in-group/loyalty, and purity/sanctity - are part of our notions of morality and can be seen in all cultures and among all social animals.

The importance of accurate mental models of the world cannot be understated.

If your models are inaccurate, you will be lost. Worse, you can cause great harm and suffering to yourself and others. Given the importance of mental models - yours, mine, everyones - let’s take a moment to explore some common false mental models and understand their effects.

False mental model A: There is someone in authority who understands everything and has all the power to change things.

Forgetting the notion of an all powerful God for a moment, let’s focus on human authority figures or institutions. Many people, maybe most (I don’t have exact figures on this), want to believe that their is an authority figure that sees everything, understands everything, and can control everything. Whether this is “the government,” “POTUS,” a religious figure, a guru, a CEO, a billionaire, or the generic “they/them” which is applied to any conspiracy theory you can think of.

The truth is nobody is in charge. There is no person or institution with a view of everything, with perfect understanding and wisdom, who can control all levers of power and effect any degree of change they want. The understandable emotional desire to attribute all of the worlds disfunction onto one entity is understandable but misguided and ultimately harmful.

Understanding and acceptance of the notion that no one authority figure or institution can effect change on their own is important to emotionally and intellectually accept. Understanding this makes the need for accurate personal and group mental models salient. Positive change in the world really does start with you. It does not stop there, but starting with yourself is the first step towards progress.

We need to work on making introspection a frequent personal and group activity. We need to live by the motto, “The more willing I am are to be wrong, the more right I will be.” Our desire for accurate mental models of the world has to be greater than our desire to preserve our ego, or the desire to hold onto tradition. Ego is useful on a personal level and tradition is useful on a group level but neither are inherently good, and both require continual review to ensure they are kept in check.

Technology has advance to where individuals can exert a decent amount of power in the world. This power can be used for good or bad. Your willful ignorance, or your groups willful ignorance not only negatively effects you, but it negatively affects the world. In order for things to improve, everyone has to pull in the right direction, or at the very least in a better direction. You do not have the right to be stupid (willfully ignorant) when your stupidity negatively effects others. Society and others can only do so much to educate you. It is your responsibility to educate yourself, so get better every day. The same rules apply to groups of people.

False mental model B: Religion is a net good.

Many people, maybe most (I don’t have exact figures on this) think that religion is a net good and that it is impossible for people to act ethically without religion. This is false.

Ethical knowledge (know-how) is innate, “I feel, therefore I know ethics” is an axiom of ethics. It represents the baseline proof of ethical knowledge. If you can feel physical or emotional inputs, you have the baseline know-how of ethics.

Ethical understanding (know-why) requires introspection, education, or both. The golden rule, phrased as a question provides the baseline for deriving ethical truth. Simply ask the question, “How would I like it if that was done to me?” If you ask this basic question within the spheres of harm/care and fairness/reciprocity, you are bound to derive the correct ethical response.

Not only is religion not a net good, it is an inherent evil. I will list two significant reasons why I know religion is an inherent evil. This list is by no means an exhaustive one.

Reason #1: Faith, by definition, forces one to warp reality to believe things that are not real. Faith steals your sense of reality. Instead of being encouraged to question things and understand why things are the way they are, religion instills false mental models of the world and threatens those who would question their faith with eternal hell if they dare to question religious dogma. This is extremely dangerous. Beyond the psychological abuse (reason #2), there are high personal and societal costs associated with people training themselves to reject reality.

When a powerful group within society refuses to face facts, it puts society as a whole at risk. The high costs for maintaining faith are born on those forced to subsidize them. Having to play along and pretend people of faith have equally valid claims on reality in general is not only unfair, but harmful to social trust and human progress. The “faith subsidy” paid by society has real world effects, and the net effects are largely negative.

Reason #2: Religion is psychological child abuse. This abuse effects people for the rest of their lives. The first four of the Ten Commandments have to do with insubordination to Gods authority; they have nothing to do with ethical behavior. The number one sin in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism is non-belief, i.e. being an atheist. The mere thought of not believing is a one way ticket to hell. This notion is so powerful, it stops the faithful from every giving it thought!

The concept of hell is introduced to children very early, almost as soon as they can talk. For many, the concept of hell is reinforced daily. Some readers may be familiar with the nighttime prayer, “…if I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take.” The implication of course being you don’t want to go to the bad place.

What sins are kids encouraged to confess for? Everything their parents, the church, or school tells them is bad. Many kids are brought up to be in constant fear for themselves and all of their loved ones. They are taught anything can send to you eternal hell, including normal sexual desires once they hit adolescence. If you want to get a feel for just how psychologically damaging religion is, go onto any “ex-evangelical,” “ex-christian,” “ex-mulsim” social media group and read the stories of the childhood psychological abuse that many adults struggle to deal with the rest of their lives. Or look at almost any religiously inspired torture, war, etc. Religion is a net evil on a personal and societal level. The philosophical arguments are easy to make and see if you are willing to see them, and history is littered with examples to reinforce these claims.

It is high time for people to let go of their faith in an all powerful invisible cloud man. The fate of the world is literally in the balance. Our world is in peril due to our continual engagement with bad mental models and religion is the most powerful force for stealing peoples sense of reality. Think of how much better the world would be if we conditioned children to think independently, to be willing to accept new and better mental models of the world, to be introspective and derive ethical truth. This is not only doable, but necessary for the survival of the human race.