Why we believe what we believe, and why that makes us gullible

[tacit]

Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?

What is the purpose of the human brain? What function does it serve? Be careful; this is a trick question

Comments

[mladypain]

I so want to print this out and give it to a co-worker (she who has asked me several times if it isn't possible that UK Lottery email might just be true ::headdesk::)

[james_the_evil1]

yup. Linking this to my journal.

Post Hoc ergo Propter Hoc

[phantom_man]

It happened after, therefore, it happened because....

This is not a non-sequiter, an invalid argument.
The problem is that it has a strong survival value.
If I eat those little green round thingies from that tree
and two hours later my stomach hurts, maybe I shouldn't eat those little green round thingies!

Nice essay.

[zotmeister]

This is quite possibly the cleverest essay I've yet seen you write, Franklin, and that's saying quite a lot indeed. I'd never considered this perspective before, and it's capable of explaining SO VERY much about the way society works. I feel this runs truly and frighteningly deep. - ZM

[veryaquarius]

I really enjoyed your essay. Thanks for sharing it. The part about scientific theories brought up somethig I had been thinking about recently ...

"When a scientist has an idea, he does not believe it, and he does not seek to prove it. Instead, he approaches it skeptically, and he seeks to disprove it."

Something I had never realized before is that we are taught "Scientific Facts" in school. Things we are supposed to believe are true because scientists have proven them. But, there are no "Scientific Facts" (eventhough we have heard of things referred to in that manner) ... They have mearly proven NOT that they are CORRECT in their theroies, but that they are most likely the LEAST WRONG. Made me think about science in a whole new way. I had always thought of it as more concrete, but it isn't at all. The realization that science is far less rigid than I thought greatly appeals to me lately.