Maybe I should actually say it- though it is rather a given about me- to ease misunderstandings. I go through a lot of information, and not all of it appears logical or rational or easy to substantiate.

I do value logic and I do withhold trust until I get independent verification from several sources- of course. I think everyone in Western society is aware of the benefits of that.

However, that doesn’t render the other information useless. It can spark imaginative ideas, adaptable mindsets, and impressive questions of its own- all of which are valid, regardless of the information which first inspired them. It’s like dreaming, or brainstorming, or any creative process: it’s generative. It complements, balances out the reductive weeding out of what not to believe. It pushes our envelope, helps us to expand our point of view. This is one of the reasons fiction is so very powerful.

Sometimes just realizing my response- and other people’s responses- to information (quantifiable or not) can be quite illuminating. Everything has its place, and people can (and should) stop and think about what they’re reading, in many ways (esp beyond “this suits my beliefs” which often leads to an interpretation of it being “right” and therefore “logical”- or the opposite, where it doesn’t suit my beliefs, therefore it’s wrong and therefore absurd).

So, yes, I do cast my neural net into waters that are sometimes different, deep, or troubled. But sometimes I catch great stuff that way. And if it’s not great stuff I can always throw it back.