Intelligence doesn’t protect you from believing wrong things. It makes you better at believing them. Smart people are excellent at finding reasons for what they already want to believe. They can construct elaborate arguments. They can spot flaws in opposing views. They can make almost anything sound reasonable. This is motivated reasoning. Your brain decides what it wants to be true, then your intelligence gets to work building a case....
I know someone who doesn’t believe in climate change because Al Gore flies on private jets. That’s a terrible argument. Gore’s carbon footprint has nothing to do with whether carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere. The science stands regardless of who delivers the message. But here’s what bothers me: bad arguments don’t just fail to convince people. They make good conclusions look suspicious. When you hear a weak argument for something true, it plants doubt about the truth itself....
Smart people aren’t less likely to believe wrong things. They’re just better at explaining why they’re right. I noticed this watching debates about topics I actually know something about. The smartest people in the room often held the most confidently wrong positions. And they had sophisticated reasons for every mistake. Here’s what I think happens: intelligence is a tool. You can use a hammer to build a house or to break windows....