Belief: Part 1

We hear all the time about belief, beliefs, believers and so on. But what does it mean when we say we believe in something? I can tell you all the things I believe in but what does that tell you anything about me? Are beliefs just that or do they mean something? My beliefs are of value to you only if they affect what I do. The same is true for everyone. When we deal with one another we need some sense of how the other person will react to assorted situations. Beliefs which mean something will help determine future behaviour and if stated publicly will help others to respond. Beliefs which do not affect future actions and behaviours are in essence meaningless. A person can bang on forever about what they believe but if it has no effect on their actions it is of no value. How would we recognise a real meaningful belief?
Try this: I believe that the principles of aerodynamics are true and useful. How do you know? I am willing to sit in an aircraft at the end of the runway and go hurtling down to certain death if my belief is false! That is a genuine belief.
Try it out. What do you think you believe? Would you willingly put yourself in a position of possible real harm if it turned out that your belief was false?
Most practical beliefs will pass the test. Most beliefs that involve supernatural elements will fail. People regularly tell us they believe in this and that supernatural phenomenon but these beliefs are for all practical purposes useless. They do not help us understand and thus predict how that person will act in a given situation.

Experts

We need them. We want things that work. We buy cars, phones, computers cookers and all manner of devices which work. They do so not by accident but because they are made by people who know what is what. Experts. We would not have it any other way.
So why do we get so upset about expertise in other areas of our lives? In social matters experts get a bad press and every journalist or politician seems to know better the answer to every problem we encounter. They don't of course and so we muddle on doing things badly and making painfully slow progress. It can be different. We can find people who do know what is what and we can employ such people to design and construct mechanisms for dealing with the myriad of problems we face. Yes they will be experts just like the people who designed and built our devices and no, we must not disregard and denounce them for that very expertise. There are better ways of doing things and we can take much of what we need out of the political arena and make it work easily and uncontroversially. Let us all listen to our own voice, encourage others, seek out experts in all sorts of issues, set them the task and heed their advice. We will be rewarded. It is currently broke and we do need to fix it!