I find this paper to be a good resource to think about this subject: https://motherjones.com/files/emotional_dog_and_rational_tail.pdf

Weakly related epiphany: Hannibal Lector is the original prototype of an intelligence-in-a-box wanting to be let out, in "The Silence of the Lambs"

‎"We apply fight-or-flight reflexes not only to predators, but to data itself." --Chris Mooney

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW6yeMj3ORE

This reminds me of "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." -- Aristotle

To me, this uses "educated" in the sense it ought to be meant.

Learned helplessness, perhaps? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/first-person-plural/7055/

‎"Fine phrases are the last resource of those who have run out of arguments." -- Peter Singer

http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/12/our-secret-attitude-changes.php

"If anyone is going to ask for a real-world example of someone who does not know how a light switch works, I can't provide one off the top of my head, but I'd suggest looking at this, which is even more dreadful."

--- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV9gRFv5Kgc