We are kinda half-robots

I explain how our brain builds beliefs automatically, and how we can change them.

We are kinda half-robots

Ok so I'm a nerd πŸ€“ and I love to see humans as biological machines πŸ€–:

incredible hardware and software, but somehow outdated (specialized to survive in a hunter-gatherer environment πŸ’)!

I also believe a couple million years ago, our ancestors were behaving in a purely automatic way, without any kind of awareness.

Yes, our ancestors were pure robots πŸ€–.

But then something happened, they got a brain software update: consciousness. πŸ€“

New Add-on unlocked: Consciousness

Basically, consciousness is the ability to be aware of our existence, define goals, and modify our actions.

I believe consciousness is an add-on, built on top of our brain, which is a pretty automatic system.

So yes, I believe we are half-robot πŸ€–, half-spiritual being 🧘.

Now let's put our consciousness aside for a moment.

Let's pay attention to the rest, the robot part πŸ€–.

Old System: Automatic Beliefs system

Our incredible body is super complex, it's composed of a lot of sub-systems:

  • breathing system 🫁
  • food system 🍊
  • reproductive system…
  • fight-or-flight system πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ
  • social fitting system πŸ‘ͺ

One specific system I like to think we have is the "automatic beliefs" system πŸ’­.

It's a system that creates rules on how the world works:

  • "πŸ”₯ touching fire is dangerous"
  • "πŸ„ This mushroom can make you sick"
  • "☁️ Dark clouds mean rain may be coming"
  • "🧁 sugar is very good"

Having those rules improves our actions and thus augments our survival.

We are human and we are pretty smart, we can even understand more complex concepts:

  • "πŸ‘±β€β™€οΈ Rachel is a nice person but loves to talk about drama"
  • "Google is a great search engine"
  • "1 + 1 = 2"
  • "Money is the root of all evil"

We even create some rules on how WE think we work:

  • "πŸ§‘β€πŸ”¬ I'm terrible at math"
  • "🎨 I'm a creative person"
  • "πŸ‘₯ I'm not attractive"

Are we thinking or not?

Our brain is a prediction machine, it recognizes patterns and then matches them with our previous beliefs:

  • I see fire πŸ”₯ β†’ I will have the belief "πŸ”₯ touching fire is dangerous" β†’ I will stay away from fire
  • I see people with a lot of money β†’ I will have the belief "πŸ€‘ People with a lot of money can't be trusted", and I will be suspicious.

These beliefs coming up are not you thinking consciously, they are just pure automatic thoughts πŸ€–.

You recognized a pattern automatically and hop your brain matched it with the beliefs.

How do we learn new beliefs?

Now how do we create those beliefs? We create them via our experiences, more specifically via the emotions they give us.

  • I touch fire πŸ”₯ β†’ It hurt me πŸ€• β†’ it created an emotion of fear 😨 β†’ I internalized the belief "πŸ”₯ touching fire is dangerous".
  • I used Google β†’ it helped me solve my problem β†’ I got an emotion of relief 😌 β†’ I internalized the belief "Google is a good search engine"
  • I failed my math exam πŸ§‘β€πŸ”¬ β†’ I feel bad about myself πŸ˜“ β†’ I internalized "πŸ§‘β€πŸ”¬ I'm terrible at math"

The more powerful the emotions you got during the experience, the more powerfully this belief will be internalized.

Are we stuck with our beliefs?

But we are not stuck with them forever, fortunately, we can change them.

In order to change them, a good way is to have experiences that contradict previous beliefs.

  • you believe "πŸ‘₯ I'm not attractive" β†’ ask some people out and see their response β†’ if the response is positive β†’ you'll replace the old belief by "πŸ‘₯ I'm attractive!"
  • you believe "πŸ§‘β€πŸ”¬ I'm terrible at math" β†’ you work on levelling up your math until you are great at it β†’ you'll replace the old belief by "πŸ§‘β€πŸ”¬ I'm good at math!"
  • you believe "πŸ”₯ touching fire is dangerous" β†’ you touch fire πŸ”₯ β†’ don't do that it will burn you 100% πŸ˜‚