[ExI] Human extinction

[Damien Broderick]

At 12:35 AM 8/18/2008 -0700, Anna Taylor wrote:

> >I read somewhere that cults go through this kind of process, and 
> you get >this refining process happen, where, when the objective 
> world intrudes, >those on the fence can lose faith and leave, but 
> the truly devoted become >even more devoted, more closed to the 
> outside world, plus overall the >consensus moves away from reality 
> by the simple fact of losing the least >committed people.
>
>Are you talking about cults or societies?

He's talking about what Leon Festinger named "cognitive dissonance" 
and the ways people find to minimize its discomfort:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/dissonance.htm

It's most easily observed in cults where spectacular prophecies go 
wrong, but also operates in large societies.

Damien Broderick