Planet of the Automatons

Mordechai Housman commenting to mentalblog.com: The mechanical patterns of conversation:

I think that many people have a fundamental barrier against stretching their minds to fit new ideas. Subconsciously, the barriers spring up whenever they hear what they consider "uncharted territory," and they react by staying within the circles of the familar. They feel more comfortable running along the well-worn groove.

I suspect that with some people it's simply laziness. After all, as Thomas Edison used to say, "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking."

With other people, it may be just that they believe they already understand how the entire world works, and therefore everything they encounter must fit into their weltenschauung, or else it can't possibly be true or real. This might be born of hubris, perhaps.

However, what you're describing sounds like people are turning into automatons, which makes the problem deeper still. And a bit scary.

I have noticed, for example, how difficult it is to get someone to learn something new and different, or to change what he or she has understood about something. I struggle with it myself. But I am at least willing to undergo that struggle, whether or not I succeed! Many others won't even consider the effort, so they refuse to recognize the need or even the possibility.

This is where prejudices often come from. Or at least the refusal to rise above them. And I don't mean just racial prejudices. I'm talking about the tendency to consider everything different to be crazy or just plain wrong. People are not broadminded, and they won't leave the borders around which their minds have erected invulnerable fences.