In the latest Sunday Star Times there were the results of a survey into conspiracy theories and the paranormal and stuff.
Interesting reading, and they spit the Paranormal block into female and males to see who believed in things more. Only in three items did men believe more than females: Evolution (82.4% vs 77.2%), Big Bang Theory (77.1% vs 66.2%), Life on Other Planets (72.4% vs 59.6%)... Um... Paranormal??? Er, they might have just lumped things together for easier printing, but those things are not paranormal items!!! Evolution was the highest item "believed" in, although there is still around 20% of the populace who don't buy it. It's just the biggest scientific theory ever that underpins everything biological...
Otherwise woman believed more than men. Soul existence came in at 65.3% vs 39.7%. God rated 44.5% vs 34.6% (less than half the populace, ha!). Taniwha exist rated lowest at 12% vs 5.7%.
Another group was conspiracy theory. Rating higest (79% likely) was "Iraq was is about oil not democracy". However, the rest were less than 50% likely. Some I've never heard of: All Blacks were poisoned at World Cup (40%) and Political conspiracy to suppress rights of minorities in NZ (9%) [remember: don't ascribe to conspiracy what can be explained by incompetence].
For Urban Myths, they also say if it's true. Highest belief was 64% in "seasons caused by elliptical orbit" (no - axial tilt). That annoying 10% of brain canard rates 58% (not even slightly true). Lowest rated (10%) was "germs won't affect dropped food if you pick it up in 5 seconds" (myth - busted!).
And there's a whole lot more. Worth taking a look at and considering further.
[END]
Wednesday 3 September 2008
This things I believe
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4 comments:
Uh, tell me more about the 10% of the brain being used being a lie.
And yeah, if they lump Evolution, Big Bang Theory in with Paranormal, they should have included God, Soul existence and Taniwha as well (maybe they did - I didn't read the article).
Very interesting to see belief in God was so low, I think people these days are more likely to subscribe to spirituality rather than an absolute belief in a God.
10% is something promoted by those trying to sell some new-age crap about trying to expand our consciousness. Evolution is the reason why this is bs, as it wouldn't have produced something as wasteful as a huge organ that only is 10% used. The brain is very active, lots of things happening all over the place.
Well, I had heard that 10% figure a long time ago...and was pretty sure it wasn't any new age selling.
Whenever this was discussed at school, it was always in the realm that we could actually learn a lot more(smarts rather than consciousness). E.g. the whole 'you can only think about 7 things at once' sort of thing. With mind training and practice you can think about many more.
As ever, check out Snopes. Or Neuroscience.
This is different to trying to "maximise our potential", improving memory, noticing things, etc... (much like how luck works)
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