RE: Understanding Cognition: The Dissonance Of Flat Earth
Remember that this isn't only about flat earth. Probably you and me and even @cryptogee also run into cognitive dissonances from time to time, and choose the wrong strategy.
On a very practical level, I know that sometimes I've managed to get lost by seeing and dismissing strong hints that I'm going in the wrong direction or that I'm in another place than I thought I would be.
Last time I clearly remember that happening, this easter. I even had the GPS with me, and there were signposts also.
We had one incident where the skiing track on the most direct path was completely bad, so we started ignoring the signs. Then the GPS was jumping a bit forth and back, so I decided it was inaccurate and not to be trusted ... but surely, I should have questioned my belief of our position and the route forward rather than ignoring the GPS and signposts for a longer while.
At least, we had a nice trip, even if we were completely exhausted when we arrived.
Once I did a challenge here, where I had to answer 12 questions so people could get to know me better. One of the questions was, "What would be the most surprising scientific discovery imaginable?" And I said that I would be very surprised to find out that the Earth is flat. Sure enough that one tiny part about the Earth being flat turned into a discussion with people who believe differently. So when I saw this, my first thought was here they come!!! Lol
I agree that cognitive dissonance does happen to everyone. In some areas for me, I figure that if I have already looked at all angles of a subject, and have established my belief, there's no longer the need to entertain other perspectives. Maybe because I don't want to feel bad, like @cryptogee said, or burdened with having to prove myself, or maybe just because I'm lazy. 😜
Reading your story, I can imagine how many barriers there must've been before realizing what was really happening and changing your perspective, especially when the information comes from supposedly trusted sources. When I look at my location on my phone, GPS has me a couple blocks away from where I really live, so there's that too... Anyway, glad you enjoyed your trip @tobixen! 🙂