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jakelafort posted an update 6 years, 2 months ago

Delusion v Belief

They are functionally similar.

However a delusion is borne of a medical condition inartfully expressed as mental illness. I say that because the cause is physical but the manifestation is both physical and mental.
Beliefs are often the product of indoctrination. Eventually neuroscience will pinpoint the biological pathways of causation of beliefs.
- PopeBeanie replied 6 years, 2 months ago
  I agree that we’ll find neurological causes of delusions and call them “medical conditions”, which will likely help us understand delusions. I like to consider “mental dysfunctions” (which, yes, is another human-constructed term) as being side effects of rapid human evolution. Just for example wrt delusions, perhaps there are creativity-prone neurocircuits, with variable strength across members of the species, which were powerful drivers of creative ideas and behaviors, but which in some cases could also drive
  unrealistic and undesired perceptions and interpretations of reality, e.g. “delusions”.
  
  Indeed, imo, we will be able to measure such thoughts, feelings, and even fantasies in brain scanners, especially with expert (and AI) analyses… and some of those same neurological patterns will be recognized as drivers of positive creativity as well.
  - PopeBeanie replied 6 years, 2 months ago
    (I should have read the article first… alongside neuro-anatomical evolution of creativity was, again imo, neuro-anatomical evolution of social neurocircuitry and behaviors. The rapid evolution of these and other brain-origin proclivities had to have evolved too quickly to be genetically honed to faultlessness. So we mostly see huge benefits from the rapid evolution, with various and varying underlying “imperfections”.)