Why people believe weird things
"This sparkling book romps over the range of science and anti-science." --Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel Revised and Expanded Edition. In this age of supposed scientific enlightenment, many people still believe in mind reading, past-life regression theory, New Age hokum, and alien abduction. A no-holds-barred assault on popular superstitions and prejudices, with more than 80,000 copies in print, Why People Believe Weird Things debunks these nonsensical claims and explores the very human reasons people find otherworldly phenomena, conspiracy theories, and cults so appealing. In an entirely new chapter, "Why Smart People Believe in Weird Things," Michael Shermer takes on science luminaries like physicist Frank Tippler and others, who hide their spiritual beliefs behind the trappings of science. Shermer, science historian and true crusader, also reveals the more dangerous side of such illogical thinking, including Holocaust denial, the recovered-memory movement, the satanic ritual abuse scare, and other modern crazes. Why People Believe Strange Things is an eye-opening resource for the most gullible among us and those who want to protect them.
Stats for nerds
9recommend
21mentions
14people
2009–2025years
52% recommend48% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- http://www.adapower.com/index.php?Command=Class&ClassID=Advo...
Specifically, I think these three paragraphs near the end are critical:
> I'm reading a great book now called Why People Believe Weird Things, by Micheal Shermer, in which the author explains what rational thinking is, and how skepticism is a process. Basically, people believe something because that want to, not because of any scientific arguments you make.
> There are guys out there who dislike Ada, but they do so because they want to, not because of any rational analysis of its merits or flaws. Sometimes even their arguments are factually incorrect, like saying that "Ada was designed by committee," ignoring the fact that Jean vetoed language design arguments that were 12-to-1 against him. It's not unlike creationists who explain the "fact" that evolution violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics. (No, it does not, as any book on freshman physics will tell you.)
> I've explained the reasons Ada why I think is not as popular as C++, and I'd like to hope that it will convince Ada's detractors that Ada isn't so bad after all. But as Robert Dewar pointed out, a person who has made an irrational decision probably isn't going to be swayed by rational arguments!
That is, people aren't really rational. A choice was made to dislike it, it entered into the culture and to this day people dislike it because they think they should dislike it. They don't even spend 5 minutes studying it to see that half of what they've heard (if not more) is flat out wrong. In several Ada discussions on HN people claim its syntax is like COBOL's, for instance. Not just similar in being keyword heavy, but practically the same. Sometimes they even provide Ada "examples" that won't even compile. That's the kind of nonsense that happens when people turn off their brains or refuse to turn on their brains. You see it in many Lisp discussions as well.
- Also:
Why People Believe Weird Things - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_People_Believe_Weird_Things
Bad Science - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Science_%28book%29
- Is Atlas Shrugged really any good to read?
I first heard of Ayn Rand through the chapter on her in the wonderful book Why People Believe Weird Things - this doesn't paint her personality as being particularly pleasant but doesn't touch on her work at all.
- Relevant books
Why People Believe Weird Things (http://www.amazon.co.uk/People-Believe-Weird-Things-ebook/dp...)
The Believing Brain (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Believing-Brain-ebook/dp/B005RZB...)
Irrationality (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Irrationality-ebook/dp/B0046ZRNLE/re...)
etc etc.
- "Why People Believe Weird Things" http://www.amazon.co.uk/People-Believe-Weird-Things-Pseudosc...
- Overconfidence in your ability to judge whether by others are right just by listening to their arguments has lead a lot of very smart people into a lot of very weird, and sadly wrong, beliefs. Particularly since anyone who has a weird belief quickly learns facts that most people don't know, and quickly learns seemingly sound arguments that are mostly (but not entirely!) true.
I suggest picking up a copy of Why People Believe Weird Things. It may be eye-opening for you.
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