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How to separate superstition from fact
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
There's a lot of superstition in the world and most people know it. Of course, one person's superstition is another's absolute truth. But we all can look at someone and think "How the heck can they believe that rubbish?", even if we believe plenty of rubbish of our own.
So how do you separate superstition from fact? What causes us to believe things that are just plain crazy?
It's very difficult. Because, of course, human knowledge is far from perfect. As individuals, we have a hard time even understanding any one particular subject quite well, let alone all human knowledge.
And even if you could somehow magically know everything ever discovered, you'd still be a long way short of complete enlightenment. The more you know about something, generally, the more you realise just how much we people don't know.
So we use superstition to fill in the gaps.
If you can't figure out why so many bad things happen to you, noticing that Tuesdays are particularly difficult may help. If you're afraid of the future, maybe a horoscope holds the key. If you can't explain what happens to people after they die, some kind of religion may be your thing.
Our brains are hard wired to look for cause and effect in the world. If one thing seems to happen before another, we can't help ourselves but link them together. Often this works - touch a hot stove and your hand will hurt, leading to the conclusion that hot stoves aren't to be touched. But sometimes, it doesn't - just because you danced before it rained, doesn't mean the dance caused the rain.
Superstitions are generally formed where somebody has noticed what appears to be cause-and-effect, but isn't. Rain dances are a perfect example as are many other types of spiritual ceremony. But even more "scientific" seemingly disciplines can fall prey. Think of all the crazy theories you've heard on when to buy stocks, for example. Many of them are more superstition than fact.
One of the main benefits of science is that it dispels superstition. By carefully measuring and experimenting, scientists can get a good idea if a two events are related as cause-and-effect, or if they're just coincidences.
Superstition is a dangerous activity to engage in. It wastes time and resources unnecessarily and leads to bad decision making. Indeed, it's usually better to admit "I don't know" than to base choices on flawed beliefs.
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