Street Epistemology: Maritza (1) | Student Demands the Truth (Valuation)

[00:00:00]Do you want to go around with as many true beliefs in your mind as possible damn the consequences damn the cost?

[00:00:24]And that like goes completely Hi, would you have time for an interview I Set a timer for four minutes usually though when we hit the four-minute mark the person wants to keep talking a little more What time is no oh, okay Yeah, no I I timer for four minutes and yet when the timer beeps the person is usually so engrossed in the conversation they want to keep going I Appreciate you stopping what's your first name?

[00:01:11]I'm Anthony Maritza, how do we spell it?

[00:01:20]Muddy sir Awesome. Are you okay if I record it?

[00:01:24]I've got another camera up here. I'm gonna put on it. That's okay. Okay, the idea here is Because I'm practicing Street epistemology Is - could you come this way maybe a little bit. I just want to make sure I get you the shot The idea here with Street epistemology, which is what I'm doing is to take a Statement or a view or a belief something that you think is true and Explore it with you by asking questions So maybe you think oh-hoh is real ever hear that okay, or Gender is a social construct Vaccines cause autism Karma gods we take something that you think is true and Explore it together figure it out. Like what exactly we're talking about. Why do you think it's true?

[00:02:19]How did you conclude that it? Those are good reasons for thinking that it's true Does this sound like something interesting to do?

[00:02:32]Sometimes it can be a little nerve-racking because Well oftentimes people don't many times people don't even think about the views that they have they just have them and they're acting out on it and They don't often slow down to think about why they think it doesn't like I don't know if I'll know the reasons to like back up some believe I have Are you saying that you might actually have beliefs that you?

[00:02:57]can't justify Well and ask you if we discovered that you have a belief That motivates you to behave differently and then when we start looking for reasons find out that you don't have them What do you think would be a good course of action?

[00:03:16]What what should a person do with a belief that they don't have reasons for?

[00:03:31]Then you should maybe think of the way you see things okay and actually start Stating as to why you believe that and if it's But I think if it's a belief and it's not really harming anyone Or in any ways affecting anyone negatively, I think Still believe in it okay, I Want to repeat back, but I think I just heard you say For the purpose of you hearing your own words But also to make sure that I didn't misunderstand you and you can set the record straight. I think what you're saying, is that if if people have beliefs That harm them and then they discover that they don't have good reasons for it. It makes sense to not believe it and yet if they are holding a belief that they get a benefit from and They discover that they don't have good reasons for it. They should hold on to it Okay Hmm Is that correct? Yes, okay I'm like, I see things if it doesn't mind you and it doesn't harm others. I don't think there's anything wrong with you happy Like let's see some people believe in God You believe in God But you don't actually have like concrete proof as to why you believe in God like there's no evidence As to if he's real or not or if he affects unity But are you believing in God you have faith and you try to be a good person because of it I think you should hold on to those beliefs but if your beliefs are like Affecting someone negatively like believing that all Muslims are a curse for that if that's what you believe, but there's really no proof of that and there's group but they're not and Why keep believing in something? That's just I mean you and harming others, okay Okay, I think that's all you're saying No, no, I think I've followed you, but I'll repeat it I'm gonna boil down really simple and then this might be off, but I'm wondering I think you're saying It's okay to think something is true When it's it's okay to think something is true, even though it may not be So long as you're getting benefit from it Okay Doesn't harm someone it's not Just someone else what about if it's Okay, so as long as as long as you are whole if you okay It's okay to hold a view that's not true So long as it doesn't harm yourself or others Okay Could there be any downside to Holding a view that's not true Even though you may not be harmed or harming anyone from it In a way yes, because you might Eventually Not see the reality of what's really going on because you're holding on that that believe is so true. Mmm that you miss Um One potential downside to your hypothesis, is that a person could actually Think that something is true when in reality it isn't they could be missing out on the reality of the situation Okay Because I know this feeling like personal experience I tend to believe everyone's good like you tend to believe everyone's good I Fail to see when there be either harmful to others you're just Yeah Okay Yeah, I think really I think you outlined it really well I'm wondering if Well, I guess we'll number one I'm wondering if you want to keep going because we hit four minutes Everyone wrap it up you guys, huh? I Appreciate your stopping and talking about this This couldn't sometimes get real deep Yeah Okay, so This hypothesis that you have It sounds like you recognize that holding this view that believing things That might not be true Even though it's not harming me or other people could prevent me from actually understanding the true nature or the true reality of the situation is That right? Okay What would be the disadvantage of Investigating of you Learning that it's not true, even though you might not be harming anybody or yourself and and getting rid of it Sometimes it could it could affect the way you few things like the faith you have I was like Or like how you live your life at times?

[00:09:26]for example I keep bringing up God because that's honestly what everyone's been talking about. That's really worried Someone people can prove the most account like let's say with the whole How was the earth created?

[00:09:46]Scientifically people some believe the Big Bang is really God made it. So if you prove - If you work so hard to prove that God isn't real you just stick someone's faith away So they might not view their whole world with the same and might act differently So it might affect how a person is. Okay identity of a person Is their particular God that you believe in A higher power idea stick to some sort of higher powers, okay If there was somebody who Who?

[00:10:24]thought that there were no gods and That view wasn't harming anyone or themselves I think we probably agree. They have a right to take that stance. But what I'm wondering is If they were mistaken Would you have any interest in helping them discover that?

[00:10:57]Personally no Because that's their belief and in no way Shape no way shape or form are they? I mean my beliefs No, I don't want to change someone's view make them believe something But they don't want to believe like I don't want to enforce my views on someone else Yeah, because then I would be affecting them because I would be taking their beliefs away. I Guess what? I think this is coming down to is that It's it's coming down to you I think your valuation of truth Like how important is it for you to have beliefs in your mind that are really true Despite the value that you may or may not be getting from them Despite the harm that they may or may not be causing you or other people Do you want to go around with as many true beliefs in your mind as possible damn the consequences damn the cost I do because I would rather I Would like prefer to have the truth mm okay, whether that would Huh?

[00:12:17]And that light goes completely against So if we had a dial to move the towards I highly value truth or I highly value Belief for the purpose of belief Or even the comfort we can maybe even call it and you can you can dial this one way or the other Would it point more towards wanting to believe through things or wanting to believe things that may not be true? But They're not hurting anybody. They're not hurting myself I prefer sin you prefer Seng in the reality of things the truth Mm Okay How did this interview change things is it's making me think it's like You get to have beliefs, but at the same time I want to know the truth We got a lot of kids passing in the background here so I'm gonna raise my voice just so it gets picked up It sounds like what you're saying is from participating this conversation or perhaps other factors when it comes down to it you'd prefer to believe things that are true even though It might be challenging to acknowledge that I'm holding a view that is not hurting anybody in my view and it's not hurting me and yet if it isn't true, I Don't want it in my in my mind I want to get rid of untrue beliefs and I want to hold on to true beliefs and Acquire true beliefs as much as possible Is that what you said, I don't want to put words in your mouth I Think if you know that you Already know Can a fake belief give us comfort and lead us to think that we're not hurting anyone or ourselves And you deny the chance of having it affect your life maybe for the butter Mm-hmm Yeah last question and then you can ask me anything you want Could you be holding lots of beliefs that You think are true That are not true That you get value from and you think are not hurting you or other people Do I am do you think that you have the views like that? Yes, okay Okay, honestly, I think I probably have some better like that as well that Yeah, I think that there I might think that they're true They are not true I'm like, what's the harm?

[00:15:42]But I think I would be in the same boat as you If I discover that it wasn't true, I want to I'd want to get rid of it Maybe lower my confidence in that in that position Because I want to know the truth Yeah, that was fun Street epistemology Epistemology is the study of knowledge Street epistemology is where you're having a dialogue with a person asking them questions to see how they came to Think that things are true Now we didn't really talk about a specific claim this was more of like a meta discussion about whether you want to believe true things or not and Damn, the consequences like yes, it might be painful to come to the realization. That that's not true. Even though it's not hurting anybody It's not hurting me I get value from it, but you know what?

[00:16:39]Yeah, my desire for believing true things outweighs the comfort and the pleasure I might get from holding something that may not be justifiable So we kind of went on a different tangent Which was really cool honestly because if people don't value truth, it's kind of hard to move on to Exploring a claim that you really think is true because If you're like, hey As long as I think it's true Even if it's not as long as it's not hurting me or other people I get value from it I'm gonna hold on to it. Well, then it's almost not worth the time to engage in a claim until we can Really it's just you're worried it's not really You don't have any proof for it, there's nothing really concrete that is like holding it down Something that is true and can be proven. Hmm seen it Mm-hmm, and we didn't even get into the reasons that you have for thinking that there's a higher power for example We just were talking about how important is it for you to bleach your things and it sounds like it's pretty damn important sees Darn the costs I don't want to be in a discussion or a debate with someone. Mm-hmm that I have. No proof Information yeah, my belief like I don't want to say oh, I believe this but that's just Well, let me leave either with this question and then we'll wrap it up and we can ask more questions if you want, whatever I Forgot was it good going with that?

[00:18:26]What were you just talking about I'm sorry fill me in again there's things something really profound Yes, yes, yes, yes, so here's my question If You discovered that you're holding a belief. That's core to who you are and you think that you're getting benefit from it and you don't think it's hurting other people and You are actually motivated to behave differently vote for a certain candidate or what you want to rate teacher your kids or whatever If you are holding a belief that isn't based on any reason Is it worth holding the belief?

[00:19:05]Is it worth thinking that it's true? Is it worth holding a high degree of confidence that it's actually real?

[00:19:17]Dignified That's actually really high So that the same time you're giving up the person you are and finding true It changes who you are What would a person who values truth say They would want to know And I would honestly know the truth. I I think I would give up me if I could get the truth Even if it affects the person I am because it might mean that there's You can learn from it and maybe you can do something like that exactly it's better than the truth of living alone Awesome Thanks for speaking Thanks I Would like to offer you one of these three pieces If you're interested the idea here is to incentivize you to come back for the other two So we have time in between there's no obligation No, ideally like weeks can pass before we meet again, I'd like you to process what we just talked about That's great Would you like one of these?

[00:20:51]Okay take on the road When you so you're interested in like bounce and decide this discussion off of someone else I think hope for the more people you talk about it You know the the more probably make you think about it and then if we do run into each other again we can talk about the things that you were talking about with other people and it if they were to know maybe they convinced you that it is it is good to live a Life where you're believing things that are not true and you don't care whether they're true Yeah, I think we've established that you value truth Despite the cost what I think would be really useful is if we we shift to a big one Let's shift to a big claim that is core to who you are That you might think is true. And then maybe you have reasons for thinking that it's true, or maybe you don't like oh-hoh or karma, or a higher power You don't want to risk discovering that something may be true like I don't really want it like what if both who is really true and if it really happens like I don't really want to risk that I rather just You'd rather not know that it was true Okay If oho was true this ability of like if I comment you about your backpack If I don't touch it, that's all right And you have inner prayer If you discover that this concept of oho is true Wait, I'm confused you you value truth, but you wouldn't want to know whether it was true or false Why it's either fake I don't like But if someone came at me like hey, do you know a truth about it, yes I'm not sure. I follow you. It seems like you're saying to your contradictory things If somebody says do you want to know the truth of all oh ho you would say, yes Because I believe it might be true but if someone's gonna prove me that I'm wrong I would want okay Because then I would be doing I would be touching people for no reason You could stop doing that action because it's likely not true. You could be spending time doing other things Yeah, yeah, yeah But Ruth always I'm gonna end with that I would always want to know the truth. Okay? Yeah. Yeah That's a good place to end it so let's meet again at some point you can hit me up an email if you'd like To have any questions for me Would you want communis for just the tech cuz I want to get you in the shot could you ask that again?

[00:24:55]I One knows many true things as possible And if I have false things in my head, I want to figure those out so I can stop believing them Even though I mean it may be sad to let go of a cherished view or if I have to completely rethink But the meaning and purpose that I get from life because I can no longer believe in that because I don't have a good reason for it and You know, it doesn't comport with my philosophy of wanting to believe true things. So I'm gonna have to set that one aside I might come back to it if there's a good reason for it so it could be it could be a little challenging to to be shifting the things around in my in my map my mind map to Make sure that it's reflecting reality The reorganization process can be painful But I think it's worth Does that answer your question, yeah Mm-hmm Yes, it's like moving furniture around you know, sometimes there's a big-ass pool table in the middle of the room And I know I'm gonna string my back moving it, but if it doesn't belong in there It shouldn't go there and needs to get out Maritza thank you very much. I do hope to see you again. Let's pick it up. Okay. Bye Damn I was like nearly speechless there at one point She came around on recognizing the importance of believing true things Right there You know it could very well have been with me rolling out the different types of topics and Because because maybe it was a sensitive topic or she felt a loyalty to the topic that she balked at first about you know again we went on this whole kind of path of well Hey if it's not hurting in me or myself And I'm getting value from it and it's okay to believe it and then when we took a step back and started talking in broader terms about the valuation that we're putting on truth that seemed to put it more into focus for her and then You know kind of an in a broad way we circled back to There might be beliefs that we're holding that are not true and do we what do we want to do with those?

[00:27:23]What would a person who values truth do in this situation?

[00:27:30]Great talk