Why are we so bad at this?

'Mad' Mike Hughes dies after crash-landing homemade rocket--Percy

Remaining on topic, why do you think you’re not succeeding in convincing anyone?—Percy

Isn't that true of everyone who has a firm opinion? Including you?So given that you're trying to persuade someone who "has his mind made up", as do you, and given the information provided in Message 1, how best should you go about trying to persuade them? How well does your approach harmonize with those suggestions?--Percy
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Why do you think I suggested that?If you go back and read Message 1 you'll see that it's explaining why it's so difficult for anyone to convince others. By trying to convince people here about evolution you've provided a useful example for discussion in this thread. Clearly you're not convincing anyone, so the obvious questions are how well does your current approach harmonize with the suggestions in Message 1, and given the information it provides, what approach do you think might work better?--Percy

Is this the approach that Message 1 suggests would work?--Percy

From the opening post: Are there people for whom it isn't possible to find that "correct moment", who perhaps have too much invested to ever let their guard down? I think so.--Percy

As Candle3 said in Message 100, he just Googled "Scientists who believe life leached from rocks". Of course he didn't find any scientists who believe anything like that, only results that included those words. And he left out that he also claimed that it is believed that consciousness also leached from rocks.Concerning the journalist's quote, while leaching from rocks is is very common way for chemicals to dissolve or become suspended in water, it's not the only way. Many chemicals of life have been found on rocks in space, for instance the asteroid Bennu, on which there are amino acids and the bases that form nucleotides. In other words, it is not uncommon for the chemicals of life to just be sitting out there.The particular way that the chemical constituents of the first life came to be in the right place at the right time is a minor matter. The elements comprising these chemicals are common throughout the solar system, including Earth, and they readily form organic chemicals. What matters is that the chemicals were present in a conducive environment. What were the chemicals, what was that environment, what was the process? We don't know.While there is a great deal of research and speculation about abiogenesis, very little is actually known about it with any meaningful confidence. And, as you've been trying to point out, no scientist would ever say anything like "life and consciousness leached from a rock." (Candle3 in Message 63)But Candle3 won't accept this information because the requisite trust is not there.--Percy

Really? I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm in the bathroom.The topic is about how to persuade successfully. How well would you say your current approach is working?--Percy

If by "worldview" you mean the opposing views about whether God exists, then yes, I'd agree with you, but I'd add to it and say that neither side is making much headway in persuading the other. Do you think the approach described in Message 1 would work?Where Message 1 describes an online discussion group, one of the things I'd question is whether the number of upvotes really has anything to do with persuasion. It might just mean it pissed off the least number of people, or that it was thought effective by people who already agreed with it.I don't think inoffensiveness leads to persuasion. It might lead to friendship, but not persuasion. I have conservative friends and we'll never agree about politics, but politics isn't why we're friends.As noted in Message 1, burying people in facts, or in your case innuendo, insults, questionable assertions and lies, doesn't work. Scorn only makes it worse.So the question remains: How best to make progress in persuading people of your point of view? Or maybe persuasion isn't your goal. Maybe just denigrating other people and views makes your day.--Percy

Still not the topic, but anyway, flat-earthers and astrologers don't receive grant money, either. Science grants go to people and groups doing science.--Percy

First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..."--Percy

Still not the topic, but no one in science believes this.--Percy

The absurd part of what you said, that the cell created itself.--Percy

No, it doesn't.--Percy

What flat-earthers and astrologers have in common with creationists is that none of them are doing science. Science grants go to people and groups who are doing science.--Percy