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Halx · 08-09-2010, 09:21 AM

I recently wrote a blog post regarding skepticism in which I described a magic trick that a magician could perform. The trick, while appearing to all of your senses to be real, would still not amaze you beyond wondering where you were fooled. You would not for a second believe that the magician actually performed any real magic. This is skepticism, and well-placed skepticism at that. After all, no matter how you look at it, the magician was playing a game he created, using his own rules and props and he used your own perceptive weaknesses to accomplish his task.

The question I then pose is this: Why don't we apply the same level of skepticism to other claims of incredible happenstance?

More pointedly, I wonder why people believe things like gods, spirituality, prayer, natural medicine, metaphysics, Republicans, et al. actually do the things they claim, in the way they claim it. From a rational standpoint, it is easier to realize that you're mistaken than to consider that the fundamental rules of physics don't apply to everything. This is EXACTLY why we know a magician only fools our senses and not the laws of nature. So, why can't many of us see the same fudging going on with "supernatural" and "metaphysical" claims that have no support in the way of empirical evidence?

One observation of mine is that "magic" is "right before your eyes" - it is simply too incredible to believe. I mean, we all know a magic trick or two, so we know how it works, but we'll eventually come across a magician who is so good that he even fools other magicians. That still doesn't make what he does actual magic. Meanwhile, many of our beliefs and the incredible claims of new age/old age quackery are not so in-your-face. This subtlety is exactly what your brain needs to operate without anxiety. After all, skepticism is basically anxiety created by the conflict of an observed thing versus a person's known reality. Without anxiety, your brain absorbs ideas like a sponge. Once it is absorbed, we have a tremendous number of mental processes that harbor our ideas to make them valuable to us, like possessions. This is when we are no longer rational and we no longer subject our beliefs to the same skepticism that we apply to other things.

What's your take?

08-09-2010, 09:21 AM	#1 (permalink)
Halx Please touch this. Owner/Admin Location: Manhattan	Do you believe in magic? I recently wrote a blog post regarding skepticism in which I described a magic trick that a magician could perform. The trick, while appearing to all of your senses to be real, would still not amaze you beyond wondering where you were fooled. You would not for a second believe that the magician actually performed any real magic. This is skepticism, and well-placed skepticism at that. After all, no matter how you look at it, the magician was playing a game he created, using his own rules and props and he used your own perceptive weaknesses to accomplish his task. The question I then pose is this: Why don't we apply the same level of skepticism to other claims of incredible happenstance? More pointedly, I wonder why people believe things like gods, spirituality, prayer, natural medicine, metaphysics, Republicans, et al. actually do the things they claim, in the way they claim it. From a rational standpoint, it is easier to realize that you're mistaken than to consider that the fundamental rules of physics don't apply to everything. This is EXACTLY why we know a magician only fools our senses and not the laws of nature. So, why can't many of us see the same fudging going on with "supernatural" and "metaphysical" claims that have no support in the way of empirical evidence? One observation of mine is that "magic" is "right before your eyes" - it is simply too incredible to believe. I mean, we all know a magic trick or two, so we know how it works, but we'll eventually come across a magician who is so good that he even fools other magicians. That still doesn't make what he does actual magic. Meanwhile, many of our beliefs and the incredible claims of new age/old age quackery are not so in-your-face. This subtlety is exactly what your brain needs to operate without anxiety. After all, skepticism is basically anxiety created by the conflict of an observed thing versus a person's known reality. Without anxiety, your brain absorbs ideas like a sponge. Once it is absorbed, we have a tremendous number of mental processes that harbor our ideas to make them valuable to us, like possessions. This is when we are no longer rational and we no longer subject our beliefs to the same skepticism that we apply to other things. What's your take? __________________ You have found this post informative. -The Administrator [Don't Feed The Animals]