Mile Zero
no matter where you go, there you are
Feb 10, 2006
Why People Believe Weird Things
The publisher of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer, wrote what is considered a fairly definite book with that title about delusions like Holocaust denial, UFO abductions, and creationism, among others. My biggest problem with the book is that it never answered the title question in any real detail--it was primarily composed of Skeptic magazine columns, adapted for print. That was great for someone like me who doesn't necessarily want to subscribe to Skeptic, but I wanted more. Shermer has offered a slightly better hypothesis here in his Scientific American feature. Anne's Anti-Quackery and Science Blog breaks Shermer's conclusions down into plainer language:
So for those lacking a fundamental comprehension of how science works, pseudoscience becomes hard to resist, no matter how smart you are.
Students should be taught how to think, not what to think.
Very true! I'm reminded of a post at Skeptico, one of my favorite blogs, that touched on the bizarre theories of Masura Emoto. Mr. Emoto (I refuse to actually call him "Dr.") is a profoundly disturbed Japanese man who believes that water contains a form of spiritual consciousness and can react to the world around it. Emoto tests these theories by putting water in jars and playing heavy metal at some, classical at others. The classical water formed soothing crystals, while the heavy metal water formed jagged "angry" crystals. Emoto also taped words to the jars, and found that "love" and "thank you" produced more attractive displays than (and I quote) "You make me sick. I will kill you."
I hope that you've reacted to that paragraph with a grin and a rueful shake of your head--oh, what a wacko! You'd have to be crazy to believe something like that! Or do you? This isn't the first time that I've heard of Mr. Emoto (wait, he thinks water has feelings and he's named "Emoto?" Oh, sweet irony). Although he didn't know the name, a former editor of mine talked about "a Japanese scientist" who had discovered these amazing properties of H2O while we were discussing religion and cults. I'm not going to claim that this editor friend of mine (we'll call him Ed) was a grounded thinker*, but he was clearly a sharp guy. Despite that intelligence, while hitting me with lines about spiritual worlds beyond, mystical Eastern medicine, and (of course) psychic water, Ed let slip the real stunner.
"Science is just another belief," he said. "It can't prove these things. You have to experience them for yourself."
That really was the crux of the argument, just as Shermer indicates. Although I tried to make it clear to Ed that science isn't the facts, it's the process by which we found those acts, he just couldn't understand. To him, science was simply another set of perceptual laws, and laws were up for debate. He couldn't apply the critical reasoning of science to his own beliefs, because (like many people) he didn't realize that's what science was.
But is that all? I agree with Anne that we need to teach the method, not the facts, in order to create better critical thinkers. Shermer is also correct that intelligent people often use confirmation bias to uphold their stupid beliefs intelligently, rather than to challenge them. Yet honestly, at some level, shouldn't a person confronted with Scientology, or Emoto's water crystals, or any other number of weird philosophies be able to step back and say "hang on, does this make any sense?" I hate to use the phrase, but shouldn't common sense step in?
In his book, Shermer notes by way of explanation the tremendous human ability to find patterns. I think that's a step closer, but all of these different theories are just sidestepping around the basic fault--for some reason, people want to believe weird things. I think that's why I could never convince my editor of the virtues of the scientific method--his worldview was a story that somehow fulfilled him on a level rational thought couldn't reach. Maybe it's a messiah complex, or maybe it's a deep human desire for narrative. I don't really know why people have this need for a self-delusion, and worse, I don't know any way to deal with it. But we do need to learn to deal with it, because living in a democracy and a free society it is crucially important that our populace become well-reasoned and informed.
Any ideas?
13:49 x Thomas x /science/skepticism x link x 1 comment
