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Hasn't this been a stimulating discussion!

The shoaling-fish-model is a powerful and alarming metaphor for human
decision-making in what we may have mistakenly termed The Age of Reason. 

I also believe it is relevant to the original topic, and particularly to the
revelation that huge numbers of people support or oppose evolution with no
real understanding of what they are supporting or opposing.

Charles Carlson has certainly convinced me that we are all influenced by our
inner fish to some extent. Yet we are not fish: we are primates and in
primates shoals have evolved into tribes. Each of us is strongly influenced
by our inner tribesman. (Sorry, I just couldn't write tribesperson.) Or are
scientists immune to football fanaticism?

It seems that we have 'multiple intelligences'. I propose that each modern
human also has 'multiple tribes', including ethnicity, religion, politics
and often of course a football team...

Religion especially is about cultural identity, not actually just about what
people believe or what people understand. Much of an individual's personal
identity is invested in the religion they profess (here it is important to
include atheism, incidentally). 

Seen in this light, all the really divisive issues in religion, politics,
football etc. are those which have become us-versus-them 'tribal markings'. 

Can you see where I'm going with this? Anti-evolutionism has become
established as a tribal marking for anyone whose sense of personal identity
is heavily invested in 'belonging' to a particular religion. Similarly,
pro-evolutionism is an equally recognised tribal marking for anyone calling
themselves an atheist.

I think it is terribly important to recognise this irrational component of
human thinking. It shows why information about evolution does not reliably
change people's beliefs. It may also show why children are easier to win
over than adults. To my mind, it certainly fits with people opposing or
supporting evolution without understanding it.

I have had a fair bit of success in presenting evolution to church groups. I
now realise that my success has been based on attacking an audience's
prejudices about their tribal markings and the tribal marking of their
perceived enemies. I demonstrate to them that anti-evolutionism is not an
essential part of being a Christian (speaking to an audience of Christians).
I also demonstrate that not all individuals marked as pro-evolutionists are
anti-Christian or eat babies. I can report that this approach is Highly
effective. I spoke about it at last year's ECSITE Conference in Dortmund:
"Darwin's Bulldogs & Darwin's Church mice".

Promoting public engagement with science
through a contagious delight in phenomena
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[log in to unmask] * http://www.interactives.co.uk
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Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
Awaken curiosity and they feed their own minds for a lifetime.
*
Ian Russell (Twitter: ianrusselluk)

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