In 1944, G. B. Shaw opined, Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. This strikes me as the essence of liberalism, this openness to change, versus conservatism, keeping things as they are. I am certainly not always in favor of change, yet as someone drawn to science and engineering, changing my mind based on evidence and observation is part and parcel of my being.

Notice that I used a 15th-century phrase to embrace change.

Changing one’s mind is the opposite of holding a conviction. In science, a conviction is meaningless, or at least a little silly, without proof. Not that it doesn’t happen. String theory, for example, seems to generate true believers, perhaps because its proposed solutions have been singularly unprovable to date. Some have been disproven.

In social circles, conviction seems important. Evidence of some odd behavior or misstep on the part of one’s closest family or friends likely will not shake your conviction that those relationships should be maintained. Given weaker ties or more dastardly deeds, conviction can be shaken, but that is much less common.

Scientific convictions are impersonal, but relationships are based on interactions. Those in your coterie engage you, and demonstrate how they care for you, strengthening mutual ties. What about political beliefs?

At least one anthropologist, T. M. Luhrmann, believes that those are built up in a similar way. Numerous interactions–with friends, with the computer or the television, with co-workers or co-members of various groups–mesh together to build a conviction in our minds, a worldview, that is hard to shake. When the result is demonstrably false, such as the conviction that Jews were an existential threat to the Third Reich, the mind model is called a paracosm.

Paracosms can take benign form, as in a child’s imaginary friend or an extreme practitioner of Tolkien fandom. They can help someone process a loss, for example by conversing with a loved one who died, or to solve a problem by creating a world that contains the solution. They can even become the plot of that breakout novel. They can also lead to tragic actions, such as suicide or school shootings.

The only known way to exit a paracosm–and even the helpful cases are usually temporary–is to develop a relationship with someone who views the world differently. What a strong argument for diversity! I’m going to increase my engagement with a wider variety of people. Probably my own paracosms will be challenged. Possibly positive change will spread, as bright sunshine dispels the mists of Mordor.