Logic and the brain

Buzzfeed asked 12 scientists “[What is the one fact humanity needs to know](http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomchivers/how-come-no-one-mentioned-evolution-by-natural-selection)” if civilization was destroyed. Lots of good answers, but my favorite was from [psychologist Dean Burnett](http://medicine.cf.ac.uk/person/dr-dean-burnett/):

> People aren’t logical or rational by default, and it’s vitally important to remember this when trying to impart knowledge and guidance. Having some useful knowledge like atomic theory or the nature of gravity isn’t going to be much use if enough people don’t want to believe it.

I had an MRI done recently (purely for entertainment, through [Klarismo](https://klarismo.com/)), and it’s humbling to see that for all its capabilities and seemingly logical behavior, the brain is mostly wrinkled fat and water with electricity pumping through it. It’s a miracle that we can make sense of anything at all.

Burnett’s quote is a good reminder that if we want to make real advancements in society, improved technology ([which has its own agenda](http://bob.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=4557)) is not enough–we’ll need to deal with our [monkey minds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_monkey) first.