In Reply to: Arthur C. Clarke explained this phenomena. posted by Bill Fitzmaurice on March 18, 2015 at 11:12:40:
Bill
Thanks for providing the laugh of the week after a bout with the flu! Awhile ago I read a book titled The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking by Matthew Hutson. From the title it sounds like a self help guide to lay some voodoo on your difficult boss, but it's really about the fact that magical thinking is the default mode for our animal brains, and it lurks just below the surface of our highly developed logical and scientific brains. A favorite anecdote involves the physicist Niels Bohr, who was a contemporary of Einstein on quantum physics, and was one of the few people who could go toe-to-toe with Einstein in a debate about quantum theory. Another scientist was once visiting Bohr, and while being shown around the property, he noticed a horseshoe which had been hung above the door of a shed, a typical country custom for good luck. He wryly pointed out to Bohr that this was un-scientific, and Bohr replied "I understand that it works even if you don't believe in it".
Reproduced music is an illusion, and sometimes it's hard to say just where Clarke's bar begins and ends.
Paul
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Follow Ups
- RE: Arthur C. Clarke explained this phenomena. - Paul Eizik 08:04:57 03/19/15 (20)
- Einstein couldn't... - b.l.zeebub 11:42:20 03/19/15 (17)
- RE: Einstein couldn't... - Paul Eizik 20:08:44 03/19/15 (16)
- RE: Einstein couldn't... - b.l.zeebub 04:51:15 03/20/15 (15)
- RE: Twas ever thus.... - Paul Eizik 08:40:14 03/20/15 (14)
- RE: Twas ever thus.... - Bill Fitzmaurice 09:01:55 03/20/15 (13)
- RE: It's not quite as bad as you think.... - Paul Eizik 17:54:35 03/21/15 (12)
- indeed the placebo effect markedly works... - Cleantimestream 07:06:19 03/26/15 (8)
- RE: indeed the placebo effect markedly works... - Paul Eizik 15:56:40 03/26/15 (7)
- ignored by some of the same theorists as they believe they're immune to it" ... - Cleantimestream 12:36:37 03/30/15 (0)
- RE: indeed the placebo effect markedly works... - Hornlover 08:15:39 03/27/15 (0)
- RE: indeed the placebo effect markedly works... - Inmate51 17:13:22 03/26/15 (4)
- RE: indeed the placebo effect markedly works... - Paul Eizik 09:54:57 03/27/15 (1)
- RE: indeed the placebo effect markedly works... - Hornlover 08:13:30 03/30/15 (0)
- RE: indeed the placebo effect markedly works... - Bill Fitzmaurice 05:26:43 03/27/15 (1)
- RE: indeed the placebo effect markedly works... - Hornlover 08:00:59 03/27/15 (0)
- RE: Well said! - b.l.zeebub 04:38:05 03/22/15 (2)
- RE: Well said! - Hornlover 08:08:14 03/24/15 (1)
- RE: True Audio Confessions - Paul Eizik 19:17:23 03/24/15 (0)
- RE: Arthur C. Clarke explained this phenomena. - Bill Fitzmaurice 08:58:10 03/19/15 (1)
- RE: Arthur C. Clarke explained this phenomena. - Paul Eizik 19:43:44 03/19/15 (0)