Michael Shermer: The pattern behind self-deception

http://www.ted.com Michael Shermer says the human tendency to believe strange things -- from alien abductions to dowsing rods -- boils down to two of the brain's most basic, hard-wired survival skills. He explains what they are, and how they get us into trouble.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

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[a7xdude87]

@benalchemist74 Anyone who tells someone that they will "burn" for not believing something, automatically removes themselves from rational discussion. You have every right to believe the tenets of your faith, just don't try and preach to someone about the true greatness of God while at the same time threatening them with eternal hell. That's what's truely pathetic.

[PM011]

"Now we know that 9/11 was not orchestrated by the Bush administration,

because: it worked."

Hilarious!

[UnluckyGambler]

i could not bring myself to see any dolphins... WHERE ARE THE DOLPHINS?!!?!?

[stiimuli]

@sinthytechstudios not sure i understood your statement there. Were you saying that global warming and 9/11 (inside job I assume you mean) are things that should or should not be accepted?

I ask because the vast majority of the scientific community only supports one of those.

[a7xdude87]

@Sandcat87 It's only irrational because there's no evidence of hell's existence, unlike irons. It's just a fear stategy. Fear is the strongest emotion, which is why it's the method used when trying to persuade someone to worship a tyrant. It's also man's nature to want those that do wrong to accept the consequences of their actions. They just have a warped sense of what should be considered 'wrong'.

[Sandcat87]

@a7xdude87 not that I want to get involved in a religious debate with you at all, but would you feel the same way if I told you that you'd burn your hand if you touched a hot iron? Qualifying a statement with a negative consequence does not invalidate it from a purely rational point of view.

[sinthytechstudios]

If we take things that we don't want to talk about or investigate like alien abduction with dowsing rods something that is a complete lie then we can discount both. then we can say global warming and 9/11 as things we should believe in without adequate proof. 2168 people enjoy AT&T telling them what to believe.

[sinthytechstudios]

Global warming should also be up there with alien abduction

[BiffWhitebread13]

@stanley03061973 Bring it windbag, he would kick your lying ass.

[caseyuscasey]

So, on 9/11 a 757 descended from thousands of feet at about 450 mph with an amateur simulator-trained pilot at the controls, and leveled the plane out perfectly 15 feet above the ground and struck the Pentagon without scraping the lawn, and then penetrated 3 rings of the Pentagon, leaving only an original 20 foot wide hole and no recognizable plane debris, wing marks, engines, or bodies? ...and the jet engines were disintegrated, yet victims were identified through DNA evidence?

[TheGirlyLolita]

Yeah... 911 conspiracy theorists are nutbags! I mean it's so obvious those hijackers did it, what more proof do you want? And if you don't believe me, you can even ask the hijackers that are still -alive- after the plane they were in, hit the WTC, exploded, and then turned to dust with the building. Those guys must have superpowers! How else could they still be alive after that? Unless... they weren't there in the first place which is... IMPOSSIBLE!