Why do so many people believe in alternative stuff these days?

[DaveC426913]

Not that I'm trying to defend it, just that I have a glimpse into the other side of the argument:

The question could be asked thus: How has science improved us as a people? Does it make us love each other more? Does it make us kill each other less? Does it prevent us from behaving cruelly or destructively towards our ourselves, others, animals, our planet?

People are not finding answers to the meaningful questions in their lives. Thus, valid as science is, for what it does, it has limited application to real life. There are other ways of evaluating life.


(Again, disclaimer: I am only playing Devil's Advocate here.)

 

[Overdose]

So Christian fables are of equal value to a theory that can be scientifically proven seamlessly? What hogwash! It's time that people start viewing the cosmos for what it really is, and not prance around in a robe of pretension like they're bound for some destined, more evolved life for having pried open their spiritual eye.

spiritual eye for the empiricist guy! - my latest idea for a smash tv hit.

Hmm anyway, i think dave is right; people look to the alternative to find meaning, science collects and inteprets data but doesn't really pursue the wider implications of that data.
Prehaps people should look towards philosophy to answer the more subjective and fundamental questions, then again heading down that path they may end up with more questions than answers.

 

[lunarmansion]

The theoretical sciences and Mathematics are not understood by most people-as they require years of mathematical training. With the vast specialization in the sciences as well, the world is getting ever more complex-could be science is hatching its eggs too quickly as Goethe put it. People look for ways to make the world comprehensible on their own level-hence, all the new age and alternative stuff that is gaining in popularity. Every man will seek to understand the world at his own level. Books like the Da Vinci code do not bother me. If some people get excited over such things so?
However, having spent many years in the humanities and now studying science, I have encountered a deal of arrogance among scientists as well, regarding things that lie beyond their field of study and experience. One thing I have observed is that a degree in science does not necessarily equal an enlightened and well rounded individual.

 

[Milo Hobgoblin]

It is, IMO, an expression of a deeply hidden, foolish contempt of nature, humans and the universe. Somehow, they can't care less about actually understanding anything of this, be perennially fascinated by their actual surroundings, and dismiss those who are world-oriented as less "spiritual" than themselves. Their unjustified arrogance is also shown in their fondness for "secret knowledge" that only the few elect are privy to.

Possibly, their contemptuous attitude is an attempt of sorts to ward of feelings of low self-esteem (always induced by the un-ignorable advances of rational thinking they might lack the competence to follow), but their ideas about the world are nonetheless ,on the whole, worthless.

In fact, one may regard their whole leanings as an inversion attempt out of envy:
1. They don't understand rational thinking like math&science
Hence, they mistakenly regard those who do understand it as some sort of sect that has access to some esoteric knowledge.
Thus, the new-agers also wants some special knowledge of their own.

2. It is an un-ignorable fact that rigourous, rational thinking has brought about a wealth of advances for humanity.
Hence, the new-agers also want it to exist some special province in which they are able to advance humanity. This province commonly goes under the nebulous epithet "spirituality".

Probably one of the best posts in internet history.


No matter how much these wackos want this crap to be true. No matter how much they reject the real world.. all their spells, incantations and crystal garbage it just isn't going to work. NEVER, EVER in a trillion years.

 

[BillJx]

People are stupid.QUOTE]

I know this thread is a bit stale, but I got to agree with this. I doubt that people are more given to magical thinking than in times past. It's just easier to see the goofiness of it because there are more varieties for people to choose from.

Maybe there's less excuse for it, because education should give people the opportunity to think. But 1) most education doesn't demand rigorous thinking and 2) most people are just too stupid. That may sound arrogant, but face it. Most people can get through liberal arts programs with fuzzy explanations of fuzzy concepts, but can not handle programs that require rigorous treatment of detailed concepts.

That said, I'm glad I did a Liberal Arts program, because it showed me how wrong the greatest theorists of the past couple of millenia have been. What a lesson in humility! And I'm glad I completed it at the age of 50, too late to fall for the idea that "your ideas are as valid as anyone else's".

No one's "ideas" are valid. Even if we have to live as if they are.