nnope said:
Despite your explanation I still fail to see how, for example, belief in magic (people who will claim with certainity that they have seen magic take place) would provide an evolutionary advantage.
This is the point where religion and other belief sets kick into the discussion. And always causes problems in discussions. Like the poster above, who is knowledgeable in many areas, took a 'guess'. You will see where off the wall content on PF is removed. We do this because there are lots of places where you can expound any point of view. PF is one a few places on the internet where we try to stay in a domain that is distinctly different. Documented science.
We established I think:
Our mind is built to accept things we cannot actually see, or that we construct from very partial information. A consequence of that is a belief in processes we cannot see directly. Magic is one. Shamanism is another, so is the placebo effect.
So:
If you cannot see the entire "magical" process, you fill in the blanks. Wrongly. It is a false positive. You get feedback from the people around you who falsely see magic, and from the magician who lies to you. To make a buck. Do not confuse this with the 'willing suspension of disbelief' we need to invoke to enjoy yet another Star Wars movie. I can go to a magic show and have fun, too. Or whack monsters and bad guys in a computer game in a pretend world.
More detailed examples:
The magical illusion you see, although it defies physical logic, has as the simplest explanation we can concoct without being told what really goes on, a special process we do not understand. We fill in the blanks. And if the magician says the process is called magic, we buy it. Like earthquakes are the anger of a demi-god who lives underground. Or Poseidon creates tidal waves. When everyone you know believes the same something, it is often completely real for you. When someone tries to dissuade you of that something, it often fails. Like political debates about things like climate. Because the dissuader cannot penetrate the already created mindset. Especially if the explanation involves any academic subject which most people do not understand that well.
It follows that if everyone at a magic show is duped by a magician the group belief effect kicks in for you, too. Especially if you do not know alternate real world explanations.
Neil de Grasse Tyson has developed a way of presenting science without having to introduce concepts first. He uses everyday experiences, like haircuts and football. This is a consequence of the same issue. You cannot explain Physics to folks who do not understand science using science terms of reference. Because affiliations do not accept parts of scientific explanations or explanations like that are completely foreign to that person and his group. The explanation is doomed from the get-go.
I had to learn this one on my own, teaching Human Biology to ESL students at a Nursing college for native Navajo speakers. Learned enough cultural parameters to come up with what listeners would deem as everyday stuff. Worked really well. It boils down to the tribal allegiance and affiliation with social groups per E O Wilson. Pick your tribe, and you automatically preclude some explanations and also get a free preset worldview all worked out for you. In some cases not a lot of thinking required. Alternatively, thinking may get you in bad trouble.
You really should get a copy of 'The Social Conquest of Earth' from the library or Kindle or such like.
It does not answer everything but it is very explanatory for a lot of things we live around every day.
