Three Strikes Against Humanity

This evening I finished watching a debate on evolution vs. intelligent design.  The lively debate featured many of the heavy hitters in the discussion; I thoroughly enjoyed it.  For those interested in that particular discussion, you can find the first of eight parts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT3NZTGCtrI&feature=related.

As I often do when watching debates, I imagine I'm arguing against each speaker.  In this particular debate, I was thankful I wasn't arguing against any of the speakers.  All of them seemed highly intelligent and incredibly educated on the topic.  I thought how I'd just have to sit and listen to each one and rather helplessly ask questions from time to time.  In the end, it can only come down to what evidence I find most compelling.  When I've made a decision on a given side of the argument, the opposition may pepper me with questions I can't answer, but I'd be left with only, "Well, I found this idea and/or fact more compelling."  There's little anyone can do to impact a person's sense of what they find compelling when they're making a decision to give or withhold assent to a proposition.  And to that end, it's a bit discouraging because it seems to me we have three strikes against us.

1. We have a laundry list of cognitive biases, ingrained heuristics, and social and emotional barriers that impede us from fairly and logically weighing and analyzing data.

2. Even if we can get the data input straight, our logical abilities have much to be desired.  We're not nearly as logically skilled as we like to think we are.

3. Even when we get the conclusion wrong, we find a way to make the observations and/or results fit our conclusions.

To me, this slows me down to making quick conclusions, makes me want to be sure to include the involvement of other people in an evaluation, and creates a more understanding, tolerant response when someone else simply disagrees with me.  When someone is not convinced after the data is presented, I'm not sure there's much left to be done save to strive to treat everyone involved with respect.  The occasion will surely arise - as it often does for me - when I represent the side who's been shown the evidence and is not convinced.