Changes in belief - A simple debate

[refoops]

I am having a small debate with a friend on the internet who is currently studying neuroscience. I stated "You cannot possibly know what you will believe a year from now" in which she disagreed.

I firmly think that you can have an idea of what you might believe, but you cannot fundamentally know anything for certain.

I have no background or knowledge of neuroscience beyond the basics. I'll let my friend now post her ideas.

[samantha]

I am having a small debate with a friend on the internet who is currently studying neuroscience. I stated "You cannot possibly know what you will believe a year from now" in which she disagreed.

I firmly think that you can have an idea of what you might believe, but you cannot fundamentally know anything for certain.

I have no background or knowledge of neuroscience beyond the basics. I'll let my friend now post her ideas.

And, I am his friend!

To clarify:
I do not disagree that a human's beliefs in-particular will not change 1 year from today. It was shown in cognitive neuroscientific studies dating back to the 1940s that the brain is not static, but plastic and changes. Of course, this complicated issues for neuroscientists, solely because if you recorded data, the region actually was found to have changed!

Furthermore, it's been shown over the course of the past 10 years that neurplasticity actually decreases with age. More recently, it's been narrowed, specifically from the ages of 18-24(not 100%) to slow down in deep-rooted hierarchical structures attached to emotions in response to a tragic event, or experience with a particular subject (such as computers, math, or art). This is the reason that many adults say that they feel as if they are "their 20 year old self in a 40 year old woman's body".

I can know, to a degree, the things that I will believe even 10 years down the line. Things that stem from my most emotional and real experiences. These things range from religious belief, opinions of people that I like or dislike, or the type of mate that I would one day like to have. The things that are subject to change are the subjects that you're rarley exposed to(say classification A), yet might correlate with other experience (say classification B). When A collides with B, and A is more in-line with your other beliefs, A will win and B will be re-used for more useful recall.

I hope this explains where I'm coming from...
 

[Nathaniel Ryckman]

From my understanding of science in general, I would agree with both of you.

The whole point of science is to pool our snapshots of reality in order to get closer to getting the real image of what reality is. We make models to help summarize and predict certain aspects of reality. Will we ever have a perfect model or understanding of reality? Probably not due to the nature of the brain and the universe(s). I would hypothesize that the most concise representation of reality is reality itself, not a mathematical model simulating a close representation of what it is.

On the other side, even though we may never have a perfect understanding of reality or perfect predicting powers, the models that we develop through the scientific induction have proven time and again to be useful tools in terms of predictive and engineering powers. If we can make predictions about people's chances to get diseases such as heart disease or lung cancer based on their current lifestyle/condition, then why is it such a stretch to believe that we can make  some predictions about the brain? The brain is just another organ like all of your other organs in your body.

I think some people are just reluctant to admit that science can apply to the brain since they feel that viewing consciousness as a biological process would somehow take away from freewill and individuality. Whether we can predict your choices or not, they will still be your choices and you will still experience life through your unique viewpoint.

[enriquefred]

It is quite true and you really cannot believe this...

[brainlips]

Would this mean that as your synaptic plasticity is 'diminished' at, say, the age of 40, that you can no longer change your belief systems?

[jrwg]

  :(The whole point of science is to pool our snapshots of reality in order to get closer to getting the real image of what reality is.