To think psychics are all fakes?

[LambinsideaDuckinsideaTrout]

I don't like that they take peoples money when they are in a vulnerable place, lost loved ones etc. It's immoral. Just my opinion.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Imagine a physicist who was also a Young Earth Creationist, Freudian. They'd have to work with models that showed a 13.5 bn year old universe while simultaneously believing that that was a crock of shite - that it's really only 5,000 years old. Everything they did in their professional life, every paper submitted would be submitted as a lie (in their opinion).

I think that's unsustainable.

Regarding science teachers who are creationists.....well, to be frank, I wouldn't want my child taught by a clueless fool.

but people put aside their personal belief's all the time at work and while they study

how would you know what your children's science teacher really believes unless you have spoken to them about it

The issue is education not intelligence, btw.

The African man & his family living in a tribe are no less intelligent. Their frames of reference are very different - but their fundamental reasoning ability isn't. You can't apply the scientific method to your thinking if you haven't be taught how it works.

Well, if they never mentioned it and simply taught the syllabus, fine. But it we became aware it would be because they'd shared and I would not be impressed.

I think it's reasonable to expect teachers to at least have a conviction that what they are teaching is true.

," some cultures it is part of everyday life for the vast majority of people regardless of their social standing or education"
Really? Where?

I would not want my child being taught anything by someone who believed the world was 5000 years old!

Another question might be why they'd want to. If you believed in a young earth but taught the facts wouldn't you feel awful?

In fact to do that you'd have to be putting your salary above the welfare of the kids wouldn't you. In your mind you would be deceiving them for money.

in the post you have c&p many parts of asia you will see candles/ornaments to fend off evil spirts, to catch good spirts, in the middles east and africa too (evil eye) its in the language, its is just around you

are all the teachers at your school atheists then? (if you have children) i have no idea if they are at ds school

Hang on a minute though, guys. It IS more complicated than that.

While as we've said, some people clearly have a much stronger tendency than others to seek rational support for their beliefs, it doesn't mean we aren't all just as susceptible to irrationality in our daily lives.

Most people vastly overestimate their capacity to be rational decision makers. We likewise underestimate eg our susceptibility to advertising. This is an example of a cognitive bias. I consider myself to be someone who is generally sceptical and likes to seek rational bases for my beliefs. And yet I'm overweight. So my rational brain is clearly not managing to overcome my irrational tendencies to eat more food than my body really needs, and not do enough exercise to burn it all off.

Read this page to be reminded of the cognitive biases and heuristics we all fall victim to on a daily basis. It's one of my very favourite wiki pages

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_biases_in_judgement_and_decision_making

My point is that we shouldn't necessarily over rate rational thought as a way of approaching life, or overestimate our own capacity to exercise rational thought and judgement; that would be unrealistic and incompatible with the way we, as human beings generally function. My main beef with some people on this thread is their willingness to attack rational thought and scientific theories and try and claim that much less well grounded beliefs eg in ghosts are on a scientific par with our knowledge of the Higgs boson.

If we're doing credentials, I'm a philosophy grad and someone who has a professional interest in the way people think and make decisions.

Whoah, x-post with lots of people, I think I started typing around 12pm...

great post though :)

I don't understand creationists at all. Where do they think these super old fossils came from? It blows everything they believe out of the water.

Do they just deny it?
Do they have their own explanation for them?
If so, what are the explanations?

I have to say I saw a few all 24 of them youtube videos from Zack Kopplin's channel and it was very frustrating watching them. Very interesting. will make you want to punch the screen

"in the post you have c&p many parts of asia you will see candles/ornaments to fend off evil spirts, to catch good spirts, in the middles east and africa too (evil eye) its in the language, its is just around you

are all the teachers at your school atheists then? (if you have children) i have no idea if they are at ds school"

Plenty of good luck charms in shops in this country! And I specifically said I wouldn't want my child taught by a young earth creationist. I didn't say anything about theists generally.

Oh, I completely agree Punt. Completely.

I remember reading a book about confirmation bias (for example) & once my consciousness was raised to it, I began to notice how frequently I applied it to just about everything. I do try to be aware of it now in discussions, but I'm not always successful.

I've mentioned this before - but I went through a deeply emotional phase in my life about 5 years ago and started reading horoscopes! I even, for fucks sake paid for a birth chart. You cannot be more sceptical than me - but at that point, emotional need for comfort took over and I was prepared to put aside the rational part of my thinking, "just in case". If the horoscope appeared to say what I wanted to hear, I felt better (ignoring entirely the times when it didn't).

It's also occurred to me (although I don't like to think about it) that if anything happened to my son, who means everything to me, I could imagine myself finding a "psychic"....just in case. Under those circs, I think I might grasp at anything.

So I do get it. But, in my case, a situation has to be quite extreme for me to take my thinking head off. But that I'm capable of doing it is without question.

Incidentally, if anyone is ever in any doubt about what a straw man argument is, Freudian just gave a prefect example

poster 1 "I wouldn't want my children to be taught anything by someone who thought the world was 5000 years old"

Poster 2 " are all the teachers at your children's school atheists, then?"

For those who haven't heard of zack kopplin he is a student in usa who wants creationism out of the science class and campaigns against it.

I don't understand creationists at all. Where do they think these super old fossils came from?

1. The fossils aren't that old. Chemists & geologists are incompetent liars
2. During the world wide flood, simpler creatures sunk while more complex creatures could swim - which is why the geologic column shows simplicity on the bottom, complexity at the top
3. Satan done it to trick us all

(I am not joking either).

puntasticusername, am reading that now. It's interesting.

So far there are some I don't understand - I might if I followed the reference links. I'm sometimes better with examples than definitions.

There are a number that I feel I am immune to. I know it predicts that too, but I think the ones I reject are what makes me an atheist.

There as some I'm aware of being susceptible to and have to consciously resist.

Freudian do you see what you did there?

Hettie- you forgot "god put the fossils there to test our faith"

I think God did it as a wind-up.

I don't doubt you are not joking about those answers hettie, the youtube link above to the meeting of the senate of creationists and the board of education (I think) really is an eyeopener. Courtroom stylee. Laughable really.

I found it laughable. My friend who is a biology teacher was infuriated.

the point i was making is that we are not aware of everyone we come into contact with their true belief's, what does it always matter we have no idea only what they choose to tell us

and no i do not think in our culture is so ingrained, it is certainly there

Hettie- you forgot "god put the fossils there to test our faith"

Oh yeah! God the tricky trickster!

That is a fantastic link, Punt.

Have spotted loads that I'm susceptible to.