Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Blogs
-
-
A surfeit of katakana words: how do you say "woke" in Japanese? - The Japanese writing system consists of three major components — kanji (sinographs), hiragana (cursive syllabary), and katakana (block syllabary). I would...2 hours ago
-
“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.” - Jay Bhattacharya is the new director of the National Institutes of Health. He says, As NIH Director, I will build on the agency’s long and illustrious hist...12 hours ago
-
Will AI Save Medicine - Modern medicine is facing many challenges. As the science of medicine advances, it gets harder and harder. We have, in a way, picked all the low hanging ...15 hours ago
-
The Politicians We Deserve - This is an interesting concept, with an interesting history, and I have heard it quoted many times recently – “we get the politicians (or government) we ...2 days ago
-
Thanks for stopping by…. - I grew up in a wilderness area in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in a town proudly proclaiming almost 300 citizens on its road sign. Life there focused on surv...5 years ago
-
Why real news is, indeed, fake. - I've taken three lengthy Uber trips in the past month. All of the drivers got around to asking what I did for a living. When I replied, “I teach journalism...
7 years ago -
Premiul mult Visat - Buna fetelor, m-am bucurat tare mult cand Dana m-a anuntat ca am primit si eu un premiu, mai ales ca mi se pare foarte interesant pentru ca ma ajuta sa va...9 years ago
-
-
Guy in cheesy old Scientology promo looks kinda like Josh Timonen - Fast forward to about 3:00. I never met Josh so I can't say if it's him or not. Would be a few years younger in the promo.
13 years ago -
-
Couldn't all religions be classified as (more or less) dangerous cults? Surely the choice of one or the other is something of a false dichotomy? :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope your wrist is healing well :-)
Cult status is always relative to all the other religious sects competing for members in some community. Large, dominant sects can't be cults.
ReplyDeleteIn our environment of evolutionary adaptiveness, being right wasn't enough. Our ancestors also had to be quick. And so our brains come wired with a few shortcuts or rules of thumb that impose a feeling of the right answer before we've even got the slide rule out. "The majority are correct" is one such shortcut. "The alpha male is correct" is another.
We expect humans to accept the assertions of their enveloping culture without criticism. Few have the time or capacity to examine the basis of what passes for conventional wisdom. But as a corollary anyone who embraces a minority view --particularly if that viewpoint imposes significant cost or risk-- is expected to double and triple check the basis of their belief.
Lucky thing the majority and the alpha male are daft often enough else we'd never have evolved the capacity for science.