Cognitive dissonance and panic mode

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Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/3/2008 7:00:38 PM

TheHeretic

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       In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was... And God said "Let there be..." ...And God saw that it was good.

      I think that is the problem right there. It's so simple. We are the special ones in the story. Big questioned answered, get on with your day. And people will cling tight to those simple myths. The linear nature of the text easily embraces an evolutionary view, yet look at how long the irrational debate has gone on over that.

      The Brookings Report came out in the 60's, predicting the collapse of civilization over a meeting with alien life.
This is one of the better links I turned up, there are plenty of others, but be warned, UFO/Conspiracy folk love this thing.

       That life is going to exist all over the place, that we weren't first, or special, or (dear Lord, please) the best and brightest the universe has to offer, isn't going to fit.

        So the questions are;

       Is this why we get Elvis's nose, and "URANUS!!!"?

        How can those of us who embrace the idea of a universe where all that space and energy isn't wasted, make this easier for those who might have some trouble embracing the idea?

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/3/2008 7:03:39 PM

Alumbrado

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Explain Wolfram thoroughly and completely to them in 250 words or less.

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/3/2008 7:12:44 PM

TheHeretic

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Alumbrado

Explain Wolfram thoroughly and completely to them in 250 words or less.

Be my guest to give that a shot, Alum...

Do it at a 5th grade reading level, and I will buy you as many beverages as you can drink for a night.

I'm thinking a magic mushroom extract in the wine... but that would be wrong.

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/3/2008 7:17:20 PM

Musicmystery

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The problem (and I'm not being flippant) is that we are going to die, and we don't like it.

So societies and cultures invent stuff to pretend it's otherwise--or even pretend that it will be great when we do die.

< Message edited by Musicmystery -- 8/3/2008 7:19:51 PM >

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/3/2008 7:20:07 PM

Alumbrado

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quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

quote:

ORIGINAL: Alumbrado

Explain Wolfram thoroughly and completely to them in 250 words or less.

Be my guest to give that a shot, Alum... Do it at a 5th grade reading level, and I will buy you as many beverages as you can drink for a night.

I'm thinking a magic mushroom extract in the wine... but that would be wrong.

Lol! I'm just happy I made it through his A New Kind of Science without my head exploding.

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/3/2008 7:28:11 PM

Leatherist

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

The problem (and I'm not being flippant) is that we are going to die, and we don't like it.

So societies and cultures invent stuff to pretend it's otherwise--or even pretend that it will be great when we do die.

And instead of getting off of our dead asses and leaving some sort of useful legacy to others to be remebered by........Choose the lazy route of going for 'the big castle in the sky" instead-and doing nothing that will get us THERE either.

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/3/2008 8:06:09 PM

TheHeretic

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

The problem (and I'm not being flippant) is that we are going to die, and we don't like it.

One step at a time, Muse. Besides if everyone understood that life is a precious, fleeting gift to be celebrated, the lines would be longer.

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/3/2008 9:03:32 PM

bipolarber

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Reporter: "Mr. Twain, do you believe in a Heaven, or a Hell?"
Mark Twain: "I'd really rather not comment. You see, I have friends in both places."

There is not a scrap of evidence to prove that there is anything past our last heartbeat, but oblivion, and the natural breakdown and consuption of our bodies via putrification, and lower forms of life.

Yet, part of me believes that there is, indeed, something more. I have this bizzare notion that death is a transition, and that what comes after is like waking from a bad dream, and quickly forgetting what had come before. I have no evidence, no experience to support this. It is a belief. I also believe that no religion, created by man, comes close to understanding or describing whatever this next stage may really be like. (It would be like a featus somehow deducing the existence of roses and the starry night sky.)

In either case, oblivion or something more, there's really not much any of us can do to avoid it. Personally, I didn't worry about where I was before I was born... and I put about as much worry into thoughts about where I might go, afterward. To do otherwise seems a waste of time, and energy.

"I don't mind the idea of dying so much, it's just that I don't want to be there when it happens." -Woody Allen

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/3/2008 10:12:33 PM

Vendaval

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You mean to say that the Earth is not flat and not the center of the universe? However could our collective ego be comfortable with such a notion!?

A solid education in the sciences would be a good beginning as a preparation for the idea of life on other planets. But my cynical side says that the best counter to anarchy and panic would be SOMA in the water supply.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic
How can those of us who embrace the idea of a universe where all that space and energy isn't wasted, make this easier for those who might have some trouble embracing the idea?

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/4/2008 6:07:31 AM

Bethnai

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This makes perfect sense on one half cup of coffee. I reserve the right to change my mind after 2 cups.

I think that a lot of people adhere to a religion do so in the same way there are those that are deeply involved in the military. Structure. Less to do with the end result and more to do with the ability to survive on daily basis. I think that there are those that are involved in religion who use it as a discipline and recognize that it is the rituals that elevate a level of consciousness that accept its more than possible. Up to a certain point one can recognize wars and the overtaking of a culture based on deities being married off or demoted. Its a method of control. I don't think that "in the beginning" is the problem.

I think the problem is the perception of the "other". I do agree with this:

That life is going to exist all over the place, that we weren't first, or special, or (dear Lord, please) the best and brightest the universe has to offer, isn't going to fit.

The other is China, Arabs, Persians, Mexicans, Blacks, Gays and any "real or imaginary" threat. I imagine the panic would be the same and that much of it is based on propaganda. It would seem to me that if one isn't willing to accept that life exists here they sure as hell aren't going to accept that it exists elsewhere.

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/4/2008 8:02:36 AM

meatcleaver

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Belief that we hold a special place in the universe seems to me to be one of human conceit. However, evolutionary psychologists believe our brains are apparently hardwired to view animate objects as having intent and there is a by-product of us viewing inanimate objects with intent which is why we project personality on inaminate objects such as we might on our cars or whatever. The other by-product of this hardwiring evolutionary psychologists claim, is a belief in the universe having intent, hence religion. Until there is evidence that there is something else or a better theory turns up, I'll go along with the evolutionary psychologists.

< Message edited by meatcleaver -- 8/4/2008 8:03:12 AM >

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RE: Cognitive dissonance and panic mode - 8/4/2008 6:59:31 PM

BrokenSaint

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Vendaval

You mean to say that the Earth is not flat and not the center of the universe? However could our collective ego be comfortable with such a notion!?

A solid education in the sciences would be a good beginning as a preparation for the idea of life on other planets. But my cynical side says that the best counter to anarchy and panic would be SOMA in the water supply.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic
How can those of us who embrace the idea of a universe where all that space and energy isn't wasted, make this easier for those who might have some trouble embracing the idea?

Your cynical side is probably correct, O brave new world that has such people in it :)

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