You use an example like the moon-landing where there’s no value in believing in it
There’s some value in believing in it. If you don’t believe in it and it comes up, people might look at you funny.
One interesting difference between what we may as well call “epistemicists” and “ultra-instrumentalists” is that ultra-instrumentalists generally weight social capital as more important, and individual intellectual ability as less important, than epistemicists do. See here: most of the reputed benefits of belief in Mormonism-the-religion are facets of access to Mormonism-the-social-network.
Another interesting feature of ultra-instrumentalists is that their political beliefs are often outside their local Overton windows. Presumably they have some idea of how much social capital these beliefs have cost them.
There’s some value in believing in it. If you don’t believe in it and it comes up, people might look at you funny.
One interesting difference between what we may as well call “epistemicists” and “ultra-instrumentalists” is that ultra-instrumentalists generally weight social capital as more important, and individual intellectual ability as less important, than epistemicists do. See here: most of the reputed benefits of belief in Mormonism-the-religion are facets of access to Mormonism-the-social-network.
Another interesting feature of ultra-instrumentalists is that their political beliefs are often outside their local Overton windows. Presumably they have some idea of how much social capital these beliefs have cost them.