Steven Sloman Quotes

There is a danger, increasingly, that we're in a post-fact society where it seems my ignorance is as good as your facts.

If you go and talk to most people, they mean well but they don't have much of a breadth on education, of knowledge of understanding what the real issues are and therefore they listen to pundits on television who tell them what they are supposed to think and they keep repeating that until pretty soon they say, 'Oh, well that must be true.'

Who wants to hear that he is wrong when he can be told that he is right? …. We are losing the ability to change our mind because of our media.

How could so many intelligent people be so grievously wrong for such an extended period of time? How could they ignore so much overwhelming evidence that contradicted their most basic theories? These questions, too, deserve their own discipline: the sociology of error.

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.

Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

Men get opinions as boys learn to spell, by reiteration chiefly.

Men can reason themselves into almost any sort of opinion if they are so inclined.

For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

I've always been intrigued by why people believe one thing over another.

Skimming has led, I believe, to a tendency to go to the sources that seem the simplest, most reduced, most familiar, and least cognitively challenging. I think that leads people to accept truly false news without examining it, without being analytical.

Citizens have long been easily influenced by the opinions of others and sought social proof, but social media have amplified the phenomena to unprecedented heights. As digital devices permeate every aspect of our lives, it has boosted the way in which information can distort truth.

I think there is a danger when it comes to fake news because there is some fake news out there, but there's also a danger when you only hear back to you the beliefs you already have.

A universityeducates the intellect to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it.

Ten geographers who think the world is flat will tend to reinforce each other's errors ... Only a sailor can set them straight.

It is the peculiar and perpetual error of the human understanding to be more moved and excited by affirmatives than by negatives

We like to think we're superior to the people who, centuries ago, burned 'witches' for no better reason than a neighbor's belief that his crop failure or impotence was caused by that woman's action. But reporters are still prone to the same mental errors that caused these killings: seeing patterns where there are none, finding causes where there is only coincidence, ignoring our sources' political agendas and turning scanty evidence into panic.

No matter how smart or well-educated you are, you can be deceived.

The indoctrination is so deep that educated people think they’re being objective.

How can people be so stupid? I marvel at that. See, I think you have to work as being ignorant - and if you're gonna work at being ignorant, why not work at being informed?

When you're surrounded by people who share the same set of assumptions as you, you start to think that's reality.

Anything that gives us new knowledge gives us an opportunity to be more rational.

Collecting facts is important. Knowledge is important. But if you don't have an imagination to use the knowledge, civilization is nowhere.

There's so many lies being told throughout the media and people just run with the lies. They're numb to it. Too many followers, not enough leaders.