Why People Believe Weird Things
About the book
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 Weird Things is an eye-opening resource for the most gullible among us and those who want to protect them.
“Humans are pattern-seeking story-telling animals, and we are quite adept at telling stories about patterns, whether they exist or not.”
―
Michael Shermer
“There are many sources of spirituality; religion may be the most common, but it is by no means the only. Anything that generates a sense of awe may be a source of spirituality. Science does this in spades.”
―
Michael Shermer
“Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons.”
―
Michael Shermer
"This
page is quoted
from chapter three of Michael Shermer's book Why People Believe Weird
Things. The chapter, titled How Thinking Goes Wrong, contains a list of
"Twenty-five Fallacies That Lead Us to Believe Weird Things". These 25
Fallacies cover nearly every aspect of how non-skeptics, non-critical
thinkers, pseudoscientists, and yes, even scientists, fail in their
thinking processes and end up accepting conclusions based on incorrect
assertions and false logic. Also presented are Hume's Maxim and
Spinoza's Dictum, both important tools used in critical thinking."
From Why People Believe Weird Things
Heresy Does Not Equal Correctness
(Nor does perceived "persecution" Gerry, Dave, Bob, Ron and all you minor players who believe weird, self centered and deviant theology)
"They laughed at Copernicus. They laughed at the Wright brothers. Yes,
well, they laughed at the Marx brothers. Being laughed at does not mean
you are right. Wilhelm Reich compared himself to Peer Gynt, the
unconventional genius out of step with society, and misunderstood and
ridiculed as a heretic until proven right: "Whatever you have done to
me or will do to me in the future, whether you glorify me as a genius
or put me in a mental institution, whether you adore me as your savior
or hang me as a spy, sooner or later necessity will force you to
comprehend that I have discovered the laws of living" (in Gardner 1952,
p.259). Reprinted in the January/February 1996 issue of the Journal of
Historical Review, the organ of Holocaust denial, is a famous quote
from the nineteenth-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer,
which is quoted often by those on the margins: "All truth passes
through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently
opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident." But "all truth" does
not pass through these stages. Lots of true ideas are accepted without
ridicule or opposition, violent or otherwise. Einstein's theory of
relativity was largely ignored until 1919, when experimental evidence
proved him right. He was not ridiculed, and no one violently opposed
his ideas. The Schopenhauer quote is just a rationalization, a fancy
way for those who are ridiculed or violently opposed to say, "See, I
must be right". Not so.
History is replete with tales of the
lone scientist
working in spite of his peers and flying in the face of the doctrines
of his or her own field of study. Most of them turned out to be wrong
and we do not remember their names. For every Galileo shown the
instruments of torture for advocating a scientific truth, there are a
thousand (or ten thousand) unknowns whose "truths" never pass muster
with other scientists. The scientific community cannot be expected to
test every fantastic claim that comes along, especially when so many
are logically inconsistent. If you want to do science, you have to
learn to play the game of science. This involves getting to know the
scientists in your field, exchanging data and ideas with colleagues
informally, and formally presenting your results in conference papers,
peer-reviewed journals, books, and the like."
Michael Shermer
Burden of Proof
Who has to prove what to whom? The person making the extraordinary
claim has the burden of proving to the experts and to the community at
large that his or her belief has more validity than the one almost
everyone else accepts. You have to lobby for your opinion to be heard.
Then you have to marshal experts on your side so you can convince the
majority to support your claim over the one they have always supported.
Finally, when you are in the majority, the burden of proof switches to
the outsider who wants to challenge you with his or her unusual claim.
Evolutionists had the burden of proof for half a century after Darwin,
but now the burden of proof is on creationists. It is up to
creationists to show why the theory of evolution is wrong and why
creationism is right, and it is not up to the evolutionists to defend
evolution. The burden of proof is on the Holocaust deniers to prove the
Holocaust did not happen, not on Holocaust historians to prove that it
did. The rationale for this is that mountains of evidence prove that
both evolution and the Holocaust are facts. In other words, it is not
enough to have the evidence. You must convince others of the validity
of your evidence. And when you are an outsider this is the price you
pay, regardless of whether you are right or wrong.
Michael Shermer
Bold Statements Do Not Make Claims True
"And yes Brethren...I am an Apostle"
Something is probably pseudoscientific if enormous claims are made for
its power and veracity but supportive evidence is scarce as hen's
teeth. L. Ron Hubbard, for example, opens his Dianetics: The Modern
Science of Mental Health, with this statement: "The creation of
Dianetics is a milestone for man comparable to his discovery of fire
and superior to all his invention of the wheel and arch" (in Gardner
1952, p.263). Sexual energy guru Wilhelm Reich called his theory of
Orgonomy "a revolution in biology and psychology comparable to the
Copernican Revolution" (in Garnder 1952, p.259). I have a think file of
papers and letters from obscure authors filled with such outlandish
claims (I call it the "Theories of Everything" file). Scientists
sometimes make this mistake, too, as we saw at 1:00 P.M., on March 23,
1989, when Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann held a press conference
to announce to the world that they had made cold nuclear fusion work.
Gary Taube's excellent book about the cold fusion debacle,
appropriately named Bad Science (1993), thoroughly examines the
implications of this incident. Maybe fifty years of physics will be
proved wrong by one experiment, but don't throw out your furnace until
that experiment has been replicated. The moral is that the more
extraordinary the claim, the more extraordinarily well-tested the
evidence must be.
Michael Shermer
Unexplained Is Not Inexplicable
Many people are overconfident enough to think that if they cannot
explain something, it must be inexplicable and therefore a true mystery
of the paranormal. An amateur archeologist declares that because he
cannot figure out how the pyramids were built, they must have been
constructed by space aliens. Even those who are more reasonable at
least think that if the experts cannot explain something, it must be
inexplicable. Feats such as the bending of spoons, firewalking, or
mental telepathy are often thought to be of a paranormal or mystical
natures because most people cannot explain them. When they are
explained, most people respond, "Yes, of course" or "That's obvious
once you see it." Firewalking is a case in point. People speculate
endlessly about supernatural powers over pain and heat, or mysterious
brain chemicals that block pain and prevent burning. The simple
explanation is that the capacity of light and fluffy coals to contain
heat is very low, and the conductivity of heat from the light and
fluffy coals to your feet is very poor. As long as you don't stand
around on the coals, you will not get burned. (Think of a cake in a
450° oven. The air, the cake, and the pan are all at
450°F, but
only the metal pan will burn your hand. Air has a very low heat
capacity and also low conductivity, so you can put your hand in the
oven long enough to touch the cake and pan. The heat capacity of the
cake is a lot higher than air, but since it has low conductivity you
can briefly touch it without getting burned. The metal pan has a heat
capacity similar to the cake, but high conductivity too. If you touch
it, you will get burned.) This is why magicians do not tell their
secrets. Most of their tricks are, in principle, relatively simple
(although many are extremely difficult to execute) and knowing the
secret takes the magic out of the trick.
There are many genuine unsolved
mysteries in the
universe and it is okay to say, "We do not yet know but someday perhaps
we will." The problem is that most of us find it more comforting to
have certainty, even if it is premature, than to live with unsolved or
unexplained mysteries.
Michael Shermer
