Oh Snap
ETA 15h01: Fixed the main link.
Lovely little takedown of flawed pschology up on Salon: PZ Myers, a blogger I read, deconstructing another bad article out of Jesse Bering (Scientific American's "Bering In Mind", and also Discover, I think). He's ripped into a few of Bering's articles before.
Bering's Situation:Take, for example, a situation I found myself in outside a rail station in an Irish seaside town years ago. My luggage in hand, the cold gray sky windy and threatening rain, I was confronted with two taxis at the curb waiting for passengers. One of the cars had a crucifix dangling from the rearview mirror and a dog-eared copy of the Bible on prominent display on the console.
The other taxi showed no trace of any religious icons. Now, all else being equal, which of these two taxis would you choose, considering also that you’re trying to avoid being overcharged, a practice for which this part of the country is notorious - and that being an American during the W administration, I might add, elevates you one step above our 43rd president in respectability? Both drivers are in all probability devout Catholics - this is Ireland, after all. Still, there’s no way to know for certain.
Unless you’re trying to make a point about how “atheists are good people too” or you happen to despise the Catholic Church, it’s really a no-brainer: Go with God.
There are some lovely daliances into taxi etiquette, a little thinking about what all these little bits of information mean in aggregate, and a final dig at shallow psychology. Enjoy!
Lovely little takedown of flawed pschology up on Salon: PZ Myers, a blogger I read, deconstructing another bad article out of Jesse Bering (Scientific American's "Bering In Mind", and also Discover, I think). He's ripped into a few of Bering's articles before.
Bering's Situation:Take, for example, a situation I found myself in outside a rail station in an Irish seaside town years ago. My luggage in hand, the cold gray sky windy and threatening rain, I was confronted with two taxis at the curb waiting for passengers. One of the cars had a crucifix dangling from the rearview mirror and a dog-eared copy of the Bible on prominent display on the console.
The other taxi showed no trace of any religious icons. Now, all else being equal, which of these two taxis would you choose, considering also that you’re trying to avoid being overcharged, a practice for which this part of the country is notorious - and that being an American during the W administration, I might add, elevates you one step above our 43rd president in respectability? Both drivers are in all probability devout Catholics - this is Ireland, after all. Still, there’s no way to know for certain.
Unless you’re trying to make a point about how “atheists are good people too” or you happen to despise the Catholic Church, it’s really a no-brainer: Go with God.
There are some lovely daliances into taxi etiquette, a little thinking about what all these little bits of information mean in aggregate, and a final dig at shallow psychology. Enjoy!