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Ken Ham claims to have saved a life - He proudly claims that he saved a life. His account: A few minutes later, as the service was starting, Pastor Davis collapsed in cardiac arrest. Two nurses...4 hours ago
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Everyone Else is Lying to You: My Book is Done! - The pandemic’s biggest disinformation superspreaders are now in charge. How did this happen? The post Everyone Else is Lying to You: My Book is Done! firs...2 days ago
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Creatures of Habit - We are all familiar with the notion of “being on autopilot” – the tendency to initiate and even execute behaviors out of pure habit rather than conscious...6 days ago
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Multiplication of unlawful disjunctions - Charles B. writes: Apparently, birds are not considered wild animals by law. Reference here, where apparently feeding them in parks in permitted except if ...2 months ago
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HWJPI? (Or: How Would Jesus Pitch It?) - "AND SO IT WAS written, as the ancients foretold, that the evolution of religion and self-help towards some common ground would continue, rendering unto Go...
2 months 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...6 years ago
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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
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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 -
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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.