# Why Do People Believe True Things? - Dan Williams Synced: [[2024_08_12]] 3:19 AM Last Highlighted: [[2024_08_10]] ![rw-book-cover](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1200,h_600,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff58c2dbf-cb26-4b30-99aa-62d526a95a93_1614x1614.png) Summary: Ignorance and misperceptions are not puzzling. The challenge is to explain why some people see reality accurately. ## Highlights [[2024_08_10]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j4xxhphagymtbdzfrwfpzckn) > to organise all that socially acquired information, you relied on simplifying categories, schema, and explanatory models that reduce reality's complexity to a tractable, low-resolution mental model. [[2024_08_10]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j4xxkapb27c0eybg1b0951pp) > For these reasons, *[the truth is not the default](https://iai.tv/articles/misinformation-is-the-symptom-not-the-disease-daniel-walliams-auid-2690#:~:text=Against%20this%20picture%2C%20philosopher%20Daniel,that%20we're%20hoping%20for.)* when people form beliefs about the world beyond their immediate material and social environment. [[2024_08_10]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j4xxm8fzhr1g0czbphjncpze) > Of course, in some sense, this should be obvious. Just as poverty is humanity’s default state throughout history, *so are ignorance and misperceptions*. At least relative to a modern scientific worldview, almost everything people have ever believed about the world they are not in close perceptual contact with has been completely wrong.