We all believe in different things. When someone presents an idea that conflicts with our beliefs, we dismiss it. Why? What causes us to disregard those ideas, and continue to believe in our way of seeing things, even where the idea presented to us seems more logically correct than our belief. This question is especially important when we construct AI systems that will believe in one thing or another, some of which may turn it against humans and humanity. The biological truth is that thoughts occur over split seconds, morphing from one concern to another, as each neural circuit is activated, and then deactivated. Some of these thoughts occur over and over again, where hyperactive neurons and neural circuits have just the right conditions to become centre stage on the conscious stream, like an unwelcome visitor. Some thoughts cause us to ignore other types of thought, due to the fact that certain parts of the brain, such as the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, will not allow us to, or at least our neural circuits, to explore the idea being presented. We will need to understand such influence, if we are to understand how machines can also come to thinking in such a way.

Brains hold the data of the environment that they have been subject to, in such a way belief is purely subjective, whether political, spiritual or a ‘fact’ of reality. Depending upon your upbringing, your beliefs are more than likely due to that environment. If you were brought up within a different environment, your beliefs would differ from those you hold to be true now. Where others have convinced you to regard their opinions about reality to be true, you have been programmed by their words. When you are told that something is factual, but unprovable, then you should consider the motives of those people.