Despite freedom of expression, beliefs are not just a personal matter. When our realities differ too much, we cannot build a common future, writes cultural journalist Pauliina Grym.
A Flemish monk who lived in the 14th century wrote an incredible story about a distant land:
\”A pumpkin-like fruit grows there. When it is ripe, it is cut in half and inside is a small animal of flesh, bone and blood, somewhat like a small, hairless sheep. It is a great miracle.”
These \”vegetable sheep\ i.e. mixed embryos of a plant and a sheep, were believed to exist until the 18th century. A thorough research trip was needed to prove that the myth of the vegetarian sheep was nonsense.
Although no one claims that a sheep grows out of the earth like a plant does, a surprising number of people still believe that the earth is flat and not a sphere. The flat earth theory has its roots before the beginning of our era, and it has been proven wrong many times.
Evidence of the earth’s roundness has no meaning for flatearthers, presenting it only makes them close their ranks.
– Nowadays, beliefs can perhaps also be challenged – you don’t believe in this system and its operation, or you think that the elite is corrupt and that it works against ‘us ordinary’ citizens.
Listen to Esa Väliverronen and Matti Vuenno’s discussion about beliefs in Kulttuuriykkösen:
Or is opposing scientifically proven things a question of some kind of rebellion? That’s what Tiina Raevaara, who was the vice-president of Skepsis, thought in an interview with Yle in 2017.
– People like to put themselves, as it were, at odds and dispute such fundamental issues as the shape of the earth and evolution or things of this type.
Linné, the developer of the systematic classification of species, was an expert of his time. No wonder he was trusted. To Linné’s credit, over time he omitted the Kraken from the work when updating it.
Experts may still be wrong, but current science builds on previous research. It is highly unlikely that scientists will start believing in the Kraken again. They might find new, monstrous species in the depths of the seas, when even better research equipment can be sent to the dark depths.
In the past, we have trusted institutions where trained and well-educated experts in their field work. Now this is changing. Different experience experts have entered the arena, who have done \”their own research\” on the internet or refute scientific information, for example about nutrition or diseases, based on their own personal experiences.
Educated and broadly cultured, Harris told the Lex Fridman Podcast that he himself is horrified by the idea that he should be able to have an opinion on absolutely everything.
According to Harris, everyone’s opinions and beliefs are not equal. This idea is really embarrassing because we are striving for equality and democracy, but it makes sense.
Matti Vuento, who has published several works on viruses, states in his latest nonfiction book that \”reality exists regardless of the human mind, but our understanding of reality depends on the beliefs that each of us has.\”
In recent years, even fake news affecting voting behavior has been featured, but the reality can be confusing in other ways.
– The greatest enemy of the truth is not always a well-thought-out lie, but an entrenched, fascinating myth, said John F. Kennedy in a 1962 speech at Yale University, where he discussed the internal disputes tearing the United States apart.
Common goals do not arise without a common vision, and the truth must be defined. Although we have freedom of faith and beliefs, we are responsible for our thoughts and beliefs to each other because we are all part of a community. When the common reality disappears, we are in trouble as herd animals.