Seeing Reality As It Is

SEEING REALITY

AS IT IS

How our Beliefs and

Genetic Chaperones

shape our perceptions

Joseph L. Giovannoli, BE, JD

Research Associates, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Includes biographical references and index.

ISBN: 978-1-7333393-0-8 (paper)

ISBN: 978-1-7333393-1-5 EPUB (e-book)

ISBN: 978-1-7333393-2-2 Mobi (e-book)

Copyright 2019 by Joseph L. Giovannoli

Research Associates, LLC, Park Ridge, NJ

Website

SEEINGREALITYASITIS.COM

To Shirley Wescott,

my wife, my partner,

and my raison d’être.

Contents

Notes to the reader

Preface

Chapter 1

If there is only one reality, why can’t we agree on what it is?

Chapter 2

How biases and brain traits influence our perceptions

Biases

Illusory correlation bias

Optimism bias

Illusion of control bias

Egocentric bias

Illusion of superiority bias

Self-serving bias

Confirmatory bias

Semmelweis reflex

Negativity bias

Motivated reasoning

Focusing illusion

Eternal existence bias

Brain traits

Intuitive and reflective memory

Reciprocal thinking regions

Thinking styles

Priming

Apperception

Dysrationalia

Emotional vs. rational thinking

The planning assumption

Conspiracy theories

Groupthink

Chapter 3

How genetic chaperones influence belief formation and cultural evolution

Chapter 4

The origin of belief systems

How did our ancient ancestors perceive their world?

Did dreams and hallucinations shape early myths?

What is belief persistence?

How belief systems organize ignorance

Chapter 5

Belief system evolution

Early Roman beliefs

Rome acquires Ancient Greek beliefs

Rome acquires early Christian beliefs

The Roman Christian Church rejects Greco–Roman beliefs

Greco–Roman beliefs return with the Renaissance

Philosophers who shaped Western religious beliefs

Chapter 6

Vulnerabilities of our belief systems and genetic chaperones

Genetic chaperones and beliefs

Our two-thinking style advantage

Bias blindness

Hacking our genetic chaperones

Competing realities

Epilogue

Appendix A: How is our emotional brain able to reason?

Appendix B: Propaganda and belief manipulation

Appendix C: Self-organizing knowledge

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Permissions acknowledgments

Glossary

Notes to the reader

On the website seeingrealityasitis.com there are essays that provide the context for a number of concepts and processes dealt with in this book. The first is Creation According to Science, which describes our understanding of the early universe from just after the Big Bang to the formation of our sun and Earth. The second essay is Brain Evolution, which examines how our brains evolved from simple arrangements of neurons to become what they are today. It examines how DNA self-organized, how it enabled cells to cooperate, and how small DNA mutations made significant alterations in our appearance and abilities. The essay also describes how natural philosophers before Darwin thought evolution functioned. It also provides a description of the progression from early life on Earth through to sea creatures venturing onto land, ending with humans having brains that enabled our ancestors to create large-scale social evolution.

This book employs new concepts to explain why we see the same reality in different ways. For this reason, bold text is used to focus attention on key ideas that combine to create a context for the reader. Reading the bold text first, therefore, is likely to make a detailed reading more productive. Please note that devoutly religious readers might find some aspects of this book to be disconcerting.

From time to time, as examples of things described in the book occur they will be added to the seeingrealityasitis.com website under Contact.

…there is much here that is deeply fascinating and may prove to be very persuasive…An original, highly intriguing theory on how and why beliefs are formed, inherited, and transmitted.

Kirkus Reviews

Preface

As a generalist with a science education, I began research for this book by reading scientific, historical, and other scholarly publications to identify works that might contribute towards an explanation of the different ways in which scientists and theologians perceive reality. It soon became apparent that the relation of science and religion is just one example of how our brains and cultures shape the way we each perceive reality. I would have much preferred to read a collaborative work by specialist scholars that explained the processes that make it so difficult to agree on what reality is. However, after concluding that such collaboration is unlikely in the near future, I wrote this book to share my thoughts on how existing knowledge might be combined to explain why our views of reality are so varied.

Discussing subjects such as the relation of science and religion can involve knowledge in fields such as genetics, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, history, genetic algorithms, biological evolution, and belief-system formation. I recall Carl Sagan discussing the problem of dealing with subjects in which he was not an authority. Given his academic position, he had his science-fiction manuscripts vetted by colleagues in other scientific disciplines. Without an array of vetting resources, writing about multidisciplinary subjects is a bit like walking a tightrope without a net. Perhaps artificial intelligence will resolve the vetting issue in the near future.

This book, written for the general reader from the perspective of a science writer, combines research from various scientific disciplines to clarify how our brains and cultures shape the lenses through which we each perceive reality in our own way. Extensive appendices at the end of this book and on the website seeingrealityasitis.com are provided to give a broader context for the concepts presented in the book. While references to scholarly works are noted at the end, my views are preceded by phrases such as in my view, it seems, it appears that, and the like.

Joseph L. Giovannoli

Chapter 1

If there is only one reality, why can’t we agree on what it is?

In our own way, each one of us believes we see reality as it is. We can’t all be right --- or can we? This book will explore the complexity and many faces of your perceptions. You will discover the true nature of your own beliefs and the biases we all have. If you have never delved into this subject, you might just walk away with a new and powerful understanding of how to relate to our world. Imagine experiencing the world with your eyes wide open to the many influences that created your own personal reality. Imagine further being able to recognize instantly when someone is trying to influence your beliefs or lift the veil of those who might use your personal biases and beliefs to their own benefit.

Most people drift through life shaking their heads at those whose views they disagree with while they embrace their own views as true reality. When you have completed this book you will realize there is no one way to see reality. You will have started down your own personal path to understanding yourself and the beliefs of those around you. For some, it will be the first time in their lives that they encounter seeing reality as it is.

Your book creates in me an entirely different perspective on how I go about my life, what I expect from others, and what I expect from myself.

Thomas Tonon, PhD, Princeton

Our history appears to be a series of ongoing disagreements over what is real or true. Today, we disagree about climate change, biological evolution, culture wars, the damaging effects of junk science, fake news, and which sect is the true religion. Everyone involved in these disagreements thinks that their perception of reality is accurate, but with just one reality, they can’t all be right. Seeing ourselves as rational beings that make rational, objective decisions assumes that our brains provide us with true perceptions of reality. Actually, Nature provided us with brains to help us to survive, not necessarily to provide accurate perceptions of reality. Before we acquired the ability to reason, we relied on Nature to keep us alive with brain adaptations that chaperoned us through life. Those adaptations enhanced the likelihood of our ancestors’ survival by guiding their thinking, their responses to stimuli, and most importantly, how they perceived reality.

The environments in which our ancient ancestors lived threatened their existence in countless ways. Ancestors with genetic adaptations that enabled them to prevail in life-threatening encounters with predators, competitors, and the forces of Nature were able to survive. From generation to generation, successful genetic adaptations were passed to the descendants of survivors while the family lines of those without such adaptations went extinct.

While the challenges you face today are very different from those of your ancient ancestors, you deal with them using the same mental biases and traits your Stone Age ancestors used to relate to their world. The brain you inherited alters your perceptions of reality in a way that chaperones your behaviors. Inasmuch as your adaptations operate non-consciously, you are not likely to realize when those adaptations are influencing your responses, thoughts, and perceptions. If you engage in exchanges regarding cultural values or fake news, your Stone Age adaptations will silently influence how you perceive and respond during those exchanges. In ways such as these, your Stone Age survival adaptations influence how you perceive reality.

Dr. Donald Hoffman, a cognitive scientist, recently used what are called genetic algorithms to determine whether organisms that see reality as it is were more likely to survive than organisms that ignored reality in favor of their fitness to survive. The genetic algorithms he used produced useful results because biological evolution is a mathematically precise science, and genetic algorithms are the mathematical equivalent of the biological code found in our DNA. That code is a form of genetic knowledge that shapes our bodies and influences our behaviors by accumulating small beneficial changes from generation to generation.