Some think of humans as the "scientific species." But also as failures, because, well, humans mostly do just fail when it comes to thinking and acting scientifically.

It's a little odd, isn't it, that we'd be so bad at doing the thing we were built for?
So, maybe we weren't built for it after all. Because whatever we're really built for, we should probably be pretty good at it.

Actually, when you think about it, it doesn't really make sense that we would be scientifically-oriented. Science has only really been around for a few hundred years. If you could look at humans from 10,000 years ago, they wouldn't be trying to be scientists and then failing at it.
They just wouldn't be trying to be scientific at all. They had never even heard of the idea.

And it would really be kind of weird to look at a species that has never heard of science, and isn't trying to do it, and call them a "scientific species," wouldn't it.

So, what are we built for? What are we succeeding at?

I think it's more like magic and tribalism.

Tribalism has been talked a lot about, so what about magic?

What I mean by magic is *mental tools*. Ideas in your head that help you handle problems, even if they're not factual.

Factual ideas. That's the "scientific species" idea, right? They say that we're trying to have factual ideas in our heads, but most of us are pretty bad at it.
But what exactly is it that we have in our heads instead of facts? For we clearly have ideas in our heads, just not factual ones.
If we're not choosing our ideas so we can have factual accuracy, what are we choosing them for?

For magic. For their tool-like nature. For their ability to empower us to navigate the treacherous terrain in our life.

And that should sound a little familiar, because, after all, what is it that people cling to instead of to factual ideas? What kind of ideas do people protect from science and refuse to give up?
It's the ideas that help them get through the day, and it's the ideas that help them get through their fiery trials, and it's the ideas that help them get through life itself!

Useful ideas.

So, there it is. Humans are a species really good at finding ideas that work for them, "magic." In other words, humans aren't failed scientists, they're successful magicians. They di...

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