We consider Galileo Galilei the father of modern science. He’s made major contributions in the fields of physics, astronomy, cosmology, mathematics and philosophy. Galileo invented a better telescope. It let him observe the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the phases of Venus, sunspots and the moon’s surface.
Galileo is probably best known for his advocacy of a heliocentric universe (sun-centered universe where the planets revolve around the sun), instead of a geocentric universe (everything revolves around Earth) which was the accepted viewpoint. This viewpoint brought Galileo on the radar of the Catholic Church and into a long running dispute with the Church.
In 1616, the Catholic Church placed Nicholas Copernicus book “De Revolutionibus,” on its list of books that are banned. The book was banned because it made a scientific argument for a heliocentric universe. Galileo supported Copernicus’ viewpoint, but once this move was made by the church, Pope Paul V summoned him and told he could no longer support Copernicus publicly. Yes, the Catholic Church had that type of power back then.
In 1632, Galileo published the “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.” The book presented arguments for both sides of the heliocentrism debate. In the book, the advocate for geocentrism was named “Simplicius,” AKA a simpleton. This disguise of a balanced argument didn’t fool anyone, and once again, Galileo was summoned before the Roman Inquisition (the Catholic church) in 1633.
At the trial, Galileo denied he advocated for heliocentrism, but then later said if he did so, he only did it unintentionally. In the final interrogation, they threatened Galileo with torture if he didn’t tell the truth, but he maintained his denial about heliocentrism. They forced him to express sorrow for his words and curse his errors.
The Church found Galileo “vehemently suspect of heresy.” The basis of this charge was that the idea of the Sun being the center of the universe, and not the earth, is contrary to the Holy Scriptures. His book was banned by the Church, and publication of his works, including future ones, were forbidden. Last, they sentenced him to house arrest for the rest of his life. Galileo was nearly 70 when this verdict was given. He lived 9 more years and died at age 77 in 1642.
In 1718, The Church’s ban on reprinting Galileo’s work (Excluding Dialogue), was lifted. In 1758, the church’s general prohibition against heliocentrism books was removed (uncensored versions of Dialogue and De Revolutionibus remained banned). All traces of official opposition to heliocentrism by the church disappeared in 1835, when Dialogue and De Revolutionibus were allowed.
Finally, on October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II acknowledged the Church erred in condemning Galileo for asserting that the Earth revolved around the Sun. The Pope stated, “the theologians who condemned Galileo did not recognize the formal distinction between the Bible and its interpretation.”
359 years later, the Catholic Church finally admitted it was wrong about Galileo scientifically backed viewpoints. Confirmation bias is the tendency to process information by only looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs. When new information comes in that conflicts with ones existing beliefs, we explain or rationalize it away as incorrect, instead of really analyzing it on its merits. Confirmation bias really comes into play when it’s a belief we have strong emotional ties, too.
Thinking with confirmation bias can lead to serious misjudgements, as we see with the Catholic Church. Warren Buffett stated, “What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.” In today’s world, we are constantly faced with new information on an hourly, daily, weekly basis. Under these circumstances, it takes a lot less energy and thought to fall back on old ideas. To think about and throughly process new information requires energy and time, a lot of us don’t want to give or have. The result is we fall back on old beliefs even if they are not true.
The Catholic Church faced new information about how the universe works. Instead of studying this information with an open mind to see if it’s true, they quickly banned the information and placed a man under house arrest for simply agreeing with the new information. It took the church centuries to come around to seeing the new information was right. How many of us do similar things when faced with new information that conflicts with our beliefs?
Many of us put more faith into our old thoughts and beliefs, rather than science or numerical figures that contradict them. Two people can look at the same set of information and come up with two different conclusions. Why? Confirmation bias. This story is an extreme example, but it shows what can happen when we let confirmation bias cloud our judgement. To be a wise person, you must listen to or view new information with open eyes and minds. Having wrong beliefs about something is not a bad thing, it makes us human. The best method is to acknowledge the mistakes in your past thinking and embrace the new information. It doesn’t make us any less of a person to acknowledge we were mistaken about something. What is true trumps what we think is true every time, no matter what our ego tells us.
