We all do it. Not because we’re superstitious, not because we’re duped by fake news, but because our brains don’t distinguish memories in the way we think they do:
our brain doesn’t often make beliefs and tested reality feel like different things. It’s almost as if ‘true’ and ‘belief’ only became separate categories in our recent past.
More here. One thing I liked about Tim Robbins’ Awaken The Giant Within is that he showed how to use this feature of the brain for improvement. By playing back different memories, but altering the memory as we remember it, we can neutralize harmful thoughts in certain scenarios.
Overall, it’s just weird knowing that we can be programmed. Another book that talks about how to do this is Atomic Habits. That book illustrates the short programs that make up the day, and what is required to code them.
Knowing that it’s certainly possible to program our brains leads to some interesting conclusions – like what is history, really? It’s really only the information that we ourselves have read.
Basement Whatever 