Idea Mining

Most religions direct their followers to go out and recruit new followers. They're instructed to proclaim the groups commonly held conclusions and persuade others to accept them as fact. I have a different mandate, or suggestion. Go forth and receive new input. Analyze it in light of the three commandments and apply logic, reason and creative questioning. Share any interesting new insights or information.

To best accomplish this there are a few guidelines that could be helpful.

Information Mining:

In this type of conversation the goal is not to persuade, but to discover. To start with, determine the points which you believe are considered unshakeable truths by your co-converser. Proceed with the conversation from a mindset that these truths are indeed indisputable. Now try to make it make sense. Listen, ask relevant questions. You don't have to ever proclaim acceptance of any of the core beliefs, just don't challenge them directly. This is a combination of the Socratic method and statistical analysis. The Socratic method serves the purpose of engaging in conversation with someone of a different mind rather than a confrontation. The assumption of the other persons core beliefs is akin to holding certain factors constant for the purpose of examining differences in thought processes between yourself and the other person. Given A and B, how does your brain process the occurance of C? How does the other persons? If they are very different, the belief in A and B can't be the cause because you both have accepted as fact A and B.

For example Both Bob and Bill accept as fact that there is a God and that he is the almighty ruler of the universe. Bob may conclude that he must do his best to carry out God's will. Bill may conclude that he and God aren't going to get along very well. There is something more to the difference between Bob and Bill's thought process than the belief in an almighty God. One becomes subservient in the face of such a belief, the other rebellious, or at least oblivious. What is it about each one's processing system that leads to the two very different reactions?

In general, the idea is to seek out databases different from your own and look for patterns and correlations that may develop when specific ideas or beliefs are held constant for both thinkers.

The reward is new insights, information, knowledge. The currency of information exchange.