Ricardo -> RE: A Word on Superstition (Mar. 5 2015 16:45:24)
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ORIGINAL: guitarbuddha quote:
ORIGINAL: Ricardo No, superstition arises when really bizarre coincidences or events occur that can't be explained logically and makes your hair stand on end. If more than a single individual be involved, the superstion strength is increased exponentially. Predicted repetition will make it worse and worse etc. TV shows like 'Ghost Hunters', 'Most Haunted', 'Psychic Detective','The Ghost Whisperer' are full of 'really bizarre coincidences' and events that 'can't be explained logically and make your hair stand on end'. Each week a new set of characters are introduced and 'the superstitious strength is increased exponentially (and the predictable) repetition will make it worse and worse'. They are most definitely not making these shows for love. Maybe they have in fact supplanted the old school withchdoctors who would say. 'I am closer to this mysterious realm than you because my father and his father before him explored it with our special powers which you will never fully understand'. But much remains the same camera tricks/CGI and fantastical testimonials stand in well for smoke, mirrors and hallucinogens. My nephew asked me if I thought I would ever see an alien, I said no. He looked blankly at me as I explained why (I get a lot of that) and replied that he thought that he would see one. His answer when I asked why ? 'Because I am an optomist'. But he has seen Aliens already......... on TV I went to the toilet and hit my head off the wall. D. Yet "astrobiology" is a legit scientific field of study. Not much different than Ghost hunters etc.... my point is that unless a well experienced skeptic is around in EVERY case to nip a "coincidence" or unexplained experience in the bud, immediatly, then the idea spreads like wildfire, reinforced by the emotions and memory of the occurance. Memory itself is a HUGE problem, tied directly to what I said about conspiracy theory...beautful CREATIONS of the mind. Filling in the blanks etc, often exaggerating points while leaving out others, like a good painter. People that are skeptics don't spend those hours perusing ghost hunter type TV...that commodity is sold to the people that had an experience or memory THEMSELVES or someone close, and find it interesting. There is a reason they keep a guy like Spock on the ship to keep perspective, but he can't be everywhere for everybody all the time. And in the end, try to count the number of times Kirk had to go against Spock's idea in order to succeed. Ricardo
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