where curious minds meet
Scientific America explores why so many of us readily subscribe to conspiracy theories and draw conclusions from questionable patterns. It turns out we prefer type I over type II errors.
When our ancestors still hunted in the woods, it’s better to assume that rattle came from a poisonous snake and run, than to take your chances and get bitten. As a result, natural selection favoured those that assumed all patterns were real.
In other words, evolution hearted paranoia.
[via Freakonomics]
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d8724c13-4452-441e-bfe2-b9dd7a2bef3d)
Laura Davis: The thing that I love about European vacations is that they can be so much longer than U.S. ones. They get soooo much... The right to vacation 
Bad Credit Auto Loans: Well, the fact's are that there are going to be people on the top and the bottom,... Inequality is Shrinking, Does Anyone Care? 
DoctorJ: I agree completely that Ayn Rand was a typical Russian reactionary, with neither a proper... Ayn Rand belongs to Russian history, not American? 
Dana: A somewhat unexpected Cup this year, no? Which one are you cheering for? French World Cup meltdown Dana: There’s of course a balance that needs to be found. I do think that the US’ welfare safety net is perhaps a bit... Insidious benevolence
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You know, it's an interesting argument, but too many 'conspiracy' theories have been proven to be true.
All one has to do is look at the history of the conspiracy of the Plunge Protection Team (which is a recent one) to realize, that there is obviously a different reality than the one the media feeds the people.
- The PPT was established under the Reagan admin to manipulate the stock market at the orders of the president. This was denied for years, but suspected my many market participants. Then, Bernanke let the cat out of the bag recently, and discussed the PPT in a Fed testimony; public record. So, were all those people who believed it existed crazy and fooled by their 'stupid and ignorant' predispositions as hunter gatherer apes, or are there truly greedy people in the world ? perish the thought……
J
…… and don't get me stared on statistical modeling and the Guassian assumptions …..
You know, it's an interesting argument, but too many 'conspiracy' theories have been proven to be true.
All one has to do is look at the history of the conspiracy of the Plunge Protection Team (which is a recent one) to realize, that there is obviously a different reality than the one the media feeds the people.
- The PPT was established under the Reagan admin to manipulate the stock market at the orders of the president. This was denied for years, but suspected my many market participants. Then, Bernanke let the cat out of the bag recently, and discussed the PPT in a Fed testimony; public record. So, were all those people who believed it existed crazy and fooled by their 'stupid and ignorant' predispositions as hunter gatherer apes, or are there truly greedy people in the world ? perish the thought……
J
…… and don't get me stared on statistical modeling and the Guassian assumptions …..