HOW YOU SUFFER FROM COGNITIVE DISSONANCE. Imagine that a human being is a computer. The various input and output devices, the video card, sound card, modem, etc., correlate to the senses, allowing us to interact with the outside world. The hard drive is the brain, where data is stored. Imagine culture as the operating system (Windows, Linux, etc.), installed on the hard drive. Each bit of information in the brain is a separate file, the operating system being what determines how files are to be combined and accessed, how each bit of data is to be interpreted. An actual computer can only operate within the parameters set by the operating system and it is only possible for this system to work with the data that is given to it. Therefore, the programer, the one in charge of the availabledata and the operating system, has ultimate control of what the computer knows and what the computer “thinks.” The computer is programmed with a programming language,a set of rules which define how it interprets the data. The rules are built into the operating system, different operating systems use different rules. Given a set of facts, using its programmed rules this machine can reach conclusions. The programmer, knowing how his operating system’s programming language is designed,and knowing what data is available to the computer, knows what conclusion will be reached on any given topic. For instance, if the computer is programmed with the rule that 1 2 = 5, the computer will always calculate five as the sum of one plus two. True or false is irrelevant because the computer does not have the ability to operate outside of its program, it only knows what has been programmed into it.If culture is the operating system, determining how each human interprets each bit of data, and the computer-human cannot operate outsideof the operating system, then culture, and those with the ability to manipulate it, are ultimately in charge of what most people think and the conclusions they will reach on any given subject. If the culture is programmed with rules the programmer knows to be false, then the conclusion that will be reached by any computer-human programmed with that operating system will be false, but will be understood as truth to the computer-human. Any person reaching a different conclusion will be thought of as being incorrect, as having faulty logic, regardless of what the truth is.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:47:41 +0000
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