Some parts of the brain are walled off and for good reason. You can't have a version of terminal for the brain. It's too important. Otherwise, you know you'd end up ruining your brain. And so there are all these things that are walling off against other people but also against ourselves to prevent ourselves from fooling around with the way our minds work. The more important they are to us the less editable they are. This is why this problem is so hard because these are so important,. We can't take the risk of letting other people in and screwing around with these important beliefs and knowledge structures that we have.
Psychologist and writer Adam Mastroianni says our minds are like the keep of a castle protecting our deepest held values and beliefs from even the most skilled attacks. The only problem with this design for self-preservation is that it also can keep out wisdom that might be both useful and true. Mastroianni's summary of the problem is "you can't reach the brain through the ears." Listen as Mastroianni talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the implication of this view of mind for teaching, learning, and our daily interactions with the people around us.