In his latest book, Francis Collins – former NIH director, leader of the Human Genome Project, and evangelical author of books like "The Language of God" – aims to extend the work of the Braver Angels organization and "unwarp" a country distorted by "divisiveness and politics" (p. 8).
While his discussions range across his own research experience, social media, the Covid-19 pandemic, global warming, and election fraud, as this is a library blog, I intend to focus on the assessment of information and why we believe what we believe.
Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust in the Internet Age
Collins positions truth, science, faith and trust as the key building-blocks of wisdom. And while he does not explicitly state this; these qualities benefit internet-age humans because they increase the friction of information intake.
Truth requires examining evidence. Science requires forming and testing hypotheses. Faith requires meditation to better discern the good. And perhaps most controversially (as many have lost trust in almost every institution), trust requires research and – unless we want to live a paranoid, isolated life – an informed, but unquantifiable, leap.
The road to wisdom is long.
Clearly, one cannot practice this level of critical engagement without drastically reducing the flow of information. Five minutes of reels could prompt five hours of research. But this is good: better to be well-versed in a little than deluded about a lot.
No one has the time research everything, of course, which raises the question of what we need to know, what we feel we know, and what we actually know, which takes us to the next point.
Anger and Algorithms
Inspired by Jonathan Haidt's Atlantic article, "Why the Last Ten Years Have Been Uniquely Stupid," Collins discusses the shift towards toxicity in social media: for example, when Facebook added the "like" button, this generated extensive insight about the fastest-spreading content (with anger emerging as the most viral emotion) – and allowed tailoring around this engagement.
Practically speaking, this means, unless a user actively shapes their experience, they will very likely be served endless amounts of rage.
Anger tightly couples with certainty, and certainty feels good. But this creates a gap in our thinking where other people's anger implicitly conveys a certainty that might be unearned – or may even mask duplicity.
Considering that platforms want to maximize profit and political agents want to weaponize our attention, this should cast serious doubts about much of what we learn on social media. At the very least, this calls for higher standards for ourselves and our information diet.
What We Believe and Why
When discussing truth, Collins invokes the philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine's "web theory" of beliefs, which helps an individual map their ideas and values based on certainty: with the most evidence-based and conclusive in the middle and the most speculative on the edges.
While the diagram itself could be substituted, the model forces people to assess why they believe something. Can we state the evidence behind our beliefs, and have we learned to extrapolate reasonable conclusions from the evidence? If we haven't, why do we believe it?
Moreover, Quine's "web" increases self-awareness of our hierarchy of beliefs. Somewhat paradoxically, our most thought-out beliefs will likely also be our most defended, as these central strands support the rest of the web. But sometimes defense becomes obstinacy and blindness. A scientist who's staked their career on a theory, for example, might be hostile towards other theories. Self-knowledge of our values is invaluable as we approach good faith dialogue. Webs – and worldviews – can be re-spun.
And as we assess our own beliefs, this better equips us to assess online (and offline) content. What are their sources? Motivations for espousing their beliefs? Do they bear the hallmarks of competence and expertise? Can they stand up to scrutiny?
Identity, Aligned Values, and the Book
Part of "unwarping" America involves discussions "across the aisle:" the purpose of the Braver Angels dialogues in general. In an increasingly complex world, tribalism simplifies the complexity, but at a cost. We should have higher standards for evidence than appeals to tribal identity.
That being said, Christians will most likely find Collins credible, which he's aware of. He cites a study where 2000 Christian participants were instructed about the Covid-19 vaccine by health experts, Collins included; some participants were also shown footage of Collins discussing his Christian faith. These showed markedly higher rates of vaccine participation (p. 189).
This appeal to tribal identity – as a Christian who affirms the evidence of global warming, for example – is a secondary good (although it could certainly help heal divisions). Ultimately, though, Collins wishes to transcend this appeal to identity and to train others to do likewise. Whether or not he succeeds, his work is a good prompting to assess our information intake and why we hold our beliefs, as well as inspiration to find good faith discussions, learn to listen, and embody the spirit of a healthy democracy.
References:
Collins, F. S. (2024). The road to wisdom : on truth, science, faith, and trust. Little, Brown and Company.
