We discussed two podcasts in David Eagleman’s  Inner Cosmos series: No 140 with Sam Harris and No 138 with Kaisen Asiedu [https://omny.fm/shows/inner-cosmos-with-david-eagleman and scroll through] about how we come to form and maybe change our beliefs.  This is much more complex than just rationally assessing statements and arguments.  That should be the case for scientific matters, where the method is to seek out continuously any evidence that a proposition might be false, but even here we recognise Thomas Kuhn’s argument that theories are defended against doubts until the position becomes untenable.  Our earliest beliefs come from our parents - we know fire is hot, that we shouldn’t talk to strangers and act as God, Allah or liberal principles (delete as applicable) guide us.  We continue to expect to learn from people we know and trust, and are suspicious of conflicting assertions.  We can be ignorant of an idea because we haven’t come across it, didn’t understand it, or we can reject its validity - and we are prone to do this if it comes from outside the community we inhabit.  We do need to keep in mind any privilege that allows us to doubt more: it is not so easy to blow the whistle on an organisation you work for if you need to keep your job.