Do politics make us so irritational we cannot even do math?

This isn’t just about politics, but everything else in life. Idols, belief, value… Bias and close-mindedness is a dangerous thing. Learning to question yourself and be receptive to new information is a good way to growth and resolve conflicts.

The video glosses over some important distinctions in trying to defend its “findings”.

They mentioned different “interpretations” of the same data, but fail to note the “interpretation” is subjective, not objective.

They also fail to account for causality, an important factor in evaluating data.

Also, evaluating skin cream .effectiveness is a binary situation, while gun uses and crime rates are multi layered.

The talk has its own bias that it does not address.

Thanks to @JLeslie for posting this video.

I disagree with @zenvelo in this instance because the questions were a mathematics test not a test of interpretation, causality or multi-layered effectiveness.

I hate politics. So my answer is probably… and I told you so.

But still I think that the way you’ve asked this question is interesting, and the video you reference points to even deeper issues than partisan divides.

For over 10 years there have efforts to use neuroscience to understand the different mental processes going on. While findings vary to some degree, there’s a growing consensus that what we see as social dysfunction may reflect distinct differences in the “mechanics” of our brains. And the study in your video isn’t the only one to follow this approach and draw some surprising conclusions:

https://theconversation.com/the-partisan-brain-cognitive-study-suggests-people-on-the-left-and-right-are-more-similar-than-they-think-123578

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conservative-and-liberal-brains-might-have-some-real-differences/

Behind this research are still more questions. Are our poisonous politics the effect, or the cause of the neuroprocesses at work? Can better communication and improved critical thinking really stop or reverse what appear to be physical pathologies?

Who knows?