We all believe in crazy things...

[jonathan180iq]

I've long said that everyone believes in a little woo, even us staunch rationalists.

There's a tag line at the bottom of my signature. It makes a statement about people's propensity to have faith in things that many would otherwise find ridiculous. What I'd like to do (if it doesn't erupt into a flame war) is compile a list of beliefs among all of us, atheist and theist alike, of all the things we believe in that are rather absurd, both personally and religiously.

It's easier said than done, but try to leave your sensitivities at home for this one. There's no reason to get offended by bit of fun prodding.

I'll start:

• I believe, based on nothing but mathematical conjecture, that the Universe is literally teeming with life, both simple and complex.
• I believe, more than I'd like to admit, that I've experienced enough dejavu in my life that I can control it when it occurs. (I also believe that I'm delusional...)
• I believe that I once made a toothpick levitate off my arm when I was 7.

 

[Revoltingest]

I believe time here is well spent.

Top that for loopy!

 

[BSM1]

I believe time here is well spent.

Top that for loopy!

Ha! I believe that reading your posts are good for the soul. Check.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I've long said that everyone believes in a little woo, even us staunch rationalists. ...
I'll start:

• I believe, based on nothing but mathematical conjecture, that the Universe is literally teeming with life, both simple and complex.

Do you honestly equate belief in the ubiquity of life with "woo"?

OK, I'll play: I believe that false equivalencies can cause warts.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I believe social media makes people not only less social, but more anti-social.

 

[Quintessence]

What is "woo?" Can't say I use the term.

 

[outlawState]

I believe that the devil runs the State.

 

[Altfish]

I believe The Fall were/are the best live band ever

 

[wizanda]

I believe that false equivalencies can cause warts.

We should be very careful within debate from now on.

One believes that things written on a forum, which are given enough emphasis, where it puts power behind a concept, can then make things become manifest.

Will have to let us know who becomes warty first.

 

[CogentPhilosopher]

I've long said that everyone believes in a little woo, even us staunch rationalists.

There's a tag line at the bottom of my signature. It makes a statement about people's propensity to have faith in things that many would otherwise find ridiculous. What I'd like to do (if it doesn't erupt into a flame war) is compile a list of beliefs among all of us, atheist and theist alike, of all the things we believe in that are rather absurd, both personally and religiously.

It's easier said than done, but try to leave your sensitivities at home for this one. There's no reason to get offended by bit of fun prodding.

I'll start:

• I believe, based on nothing but mathematical conjecture, that the Universe is literally teeming with life, both simple and complex.
• I believe, more than I'd like to admit, that I've experienced enough dejavu in my life that I can control it when it occurs. (I also believe that I'm delusional...)
• I believe that I once made a toothpick levitate off my arm when I was 7.

I believed that humans will eventually become more rational as a whole. But now it's less of a belief and more of a hope.

 

[George-ananda]

• I believe, based on nothing but mathematical conjecture, that the Universe is literally teeming with life, both simple and complex.
• I believe, more than I'd like to admit, that I've experienced enough dejavu in my life that I can control it when it occurs. (I also believe that I'm delusional...)
• I believe that I once made a toothpick levitate off my arm when I was 7.

I wouldn't call any of those beliefs crazy.

I do not believe I hold any crazy beliefs as by definition if I thought they were crazy, they wouldn't be my beliefs.

 

[jonathan180iq]

I do not believe I hold any crazy beliefs as by definition if I thought they were crazy, they wouldn't be my beliefs.

I think we all feel that way - but that doesn't make it true.

Being unable to see ourselves for what we are, when compared to other people for example, is a dangerous mindset.

I know that you believe, from past conversations, that an Indian man can make things materialize in his bare hands. He hands them out to children, like a baseball player handing out autographed baseballs during warm ups. In our everyday interactions, does that ever really happen? Have you ever experienced it? Is it a realistic part of your active life, or just a cool idea you have because of things you've read or like to think about?

I have, as I think we all do, a set of internalized preferences about the world and we allow those to manifest in our worldview, regardless of their ability to be factually supported. This is true of all people, everywhere - so don't take that example personally.

There's rudimentary circumstantial evidence for life off of planet Earth. My faith in that evidence to be sound and prevalent throughout the Universe, to this point, is a bit of a reach. It may turn out that I'm right, which would be awesome for my ego (and for Science) but right now it's nothing.

Some people believe in tree spirits. Others in gossipy ultra-humans who interact too often in the affairs of their underlings. Some people believe in Loch Ness Monsters, or Human-like ape people who live in the florida swamps, or crop circles that are created by undetectable flying craft from other worlds. Some people believe in a teleporting fisherman from the middle east who could argue with demons and makes spit-mud that cured blindness. Some people believe that Dinosaurs and people lived happily together in an animatronic bliss. Others believe in magic carpets, flying horses, and invisible sky people who need prayers and incense to keep their angry whims at bay. Some people believe that hallucinogens open portals in the mind to other dimensions... others in communication with the dead, levitation of yogis, planetary alignment causing wealth to spontaneously occur... etc, etc, etc...

We all believe in all kinds of crazy things. I'd like to see if we are able to recognize our own "woo" for what it is.

 

[Willamena]

I believe that Donald Trump is the President of the United States.



...Oh, wait.

 

[jonathan180iq]

Do you honestly equate belief in the ubiquity of life with "woo"?

No.
But I suffer from the same delusion as everyone else where I think that what I believe is sound.
Whether or not you agree that life's reach is vast, or even logical, is not what this conversation is about.

I was trying to find something that was both relateable and self depreciating, since people don't like having fingers pointed at them.

Worldviews and religions are filled with dogmas that only make a lick of sense within that worldview. I'm just trying to collect a good deal of those in one place - and hopefully learn some things.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

But I suffer from the same delusion as everyone else where I think that what I believe is sound.

Really?

So the Climate-Change Deniers and the Climatologists both think that what they believe is sound. In your opinion, is this an example of two groups "suffer[ing] from the same illusion"?

 

[George-ananda]

I know that you believe, from past conversations, that an Indian man can make things materialize in his bare hands. He hands them out to children, like a baseball player handing out autographed baseballs during warm ups.

I believe the above after hard objective research. I have studied this phenomena to the extreme with a skeptical mind before becoming convinced the phenomena does exist beyond reasonable doubt. Also I have read the work of western parapsychologists on their investigation into this figure. I also hunted for skeptical opinions exhaustively and considered them. I also consider the subjective nature of those providing positive and negative claims. I formed my best objective belief.

In our everyday interactions, does that ever really happen?

Certainly not. I believe it to be an ability possessed by only an extremely rare individual. I do also believe non-physical entities can materialize objects.

Have you ever experienced it?

I have never experienced a materialization personally.

Is it a realistic part of your active life, or just a cool idea you have because of things you've read or like to think about?

No, it does not affect my everyday life. I am careful not to accept a phenomena just because I think it would be cool actually. I want to be honest and objective as that is my nature as a logical type.

 

[jonathan180iq]

So the Climate-Change Deniers and the Climatologists both think that what they believe is sound. In your opinion, is this an example of two groups "suffer[ing] from the same illusion"?

In my opinion, of course not. But that's not the point of this thread either...

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

So the Climate-Change Deniers and the Climatologists both think that what they believe is sound. In your opinion, is this an example of two groups "suffer[ing] from the same illusion"?

In my opinion, of course not. But that's not the point of this thread either...

According to you, the point of the thread is that ...

I've long said that everyone believes in a little woo, even us staunch rationalists.

That seems to me to be a rather remarkable claim rendered defensible only by insisting upon an indefensible definition of 'woo.' So how do you justify your claim?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I do not believe I hold any crazy beliefs as by definition if I thought they were crazy, they wouldn't be my beliefs.

The universal view of crazy people.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I believe that Donald Trump is the President of the United States.

Yes, but do you know it?