I find that there are two basic ways I can deal with new information. Accept or deny.
If that new information appears to open new doors or further my progress, I accept it with open arms and mind.
If, on the other hand, that new information challenges the old and established set of facts in my head, then I sometimes feel threatened.
Why?
A threat is typically a reaction to something that will harm me: the growl of a dog, the screech of brakes when I am in a crosswalk. But new information?
How does new information threaten me?
Some new information is easily filtered out into the rejection pile: the miracle weight loss scheme, the sure fire ticket to winning the lottery, an audiophile chair that will make everything sound better, the flat Earth society. This kind of info is so far removed from my sense of reality as to never feel threatening. It's just wrong.
But, then there are new ideas that challenge my worldview and feel a little threatening: Using DSP in the upper frequency ranges, open baffle bass, more feedback vs. less, using GPTchat instead of Google.
What is it about information that can make it feel uncomfortable or threatening?
Perhaps it's as simple as a lack of enough experience to develop trust. Without experientially developed trust there might be hidden dangers.
If I had to guess it all stems back to our childhood. Crawling was pretty damned safe. Standing on two feet was often a threat to my poor noggin.
