I find that people resisting new ideas. They resist understanding new ideas.

This happens both online and in real life, among diverse kinds of people. They all (in my experience) have the very same reaction to new ideas.

People oscillate between two reactions

  • This idea is absurd. It breaks with established principles, therefore is is nonsense.
  • This idea is identical to another old idea that I am familiar with.

People oscillate rapidly between these two (opposite) reactions. The more you explain, they do not progress towards understanding. Once you show that one reaction is wrong, that in fact the new idea [is different from the old / complies with basic principles but in a new way] they realise the one reaction is untenable, and just switch back to the other one. They never manage to form the new synapses required to broaden their understanding of the world, in order to comprehend the new idea.

People (most people) are incapable (beyond a certain age) of grasping new ideas at all. So they must draw one of those two conclusions to avoid feeling stupid. But the surprising thing is that everyone seems to do it exactly the same way. And that they can have a response so irrational, oscillating between opposite beliefs many times per minute, without realising it.

What does work is authority. If the news or the government says something radical, people will rapidly absorb it. Or in social groups where I am highly respected, people make the effort to understand and eventually are convinced.

My question is, how can I really teach people anything? Is there some rhetorical method that helps people get past this?

    • roastpotatothiefOPM
      11·
      1 year ago

      People might not be receptive to them because they are not good ideas.

      I have thought of that, of course. But that is not the subject here. This post is about the problem of explaining the ideas, before even being able to discuss their value. The goal is to test the ideas through debate, to improve them.

      This comment is a good example. You are misunderstanding my point, probably because it is an unfamiliar idea. You instead re-imagine it as something you already understand. This is a normal thing that everybody does. It really demonstrates the problem.