Brain's Deception: UFOs, Conspiracies, God

In this newly released TED talk, the speaker talks about how our belief mechanism works and how our brains can easily deceive us. Discussing the outlandish things in which we (per the speaker) falsely create a belief, the following are listed:

UFOs
Invisible Agents (God, Aliens, Demons, etc)
Conspiracies (Bilderberg, etc)
Rituals for Luck (a la those of baseball players)

The talk tells how we are wired to believe in something as a safety mechanism rather than accepting the fact that we ultimately do not know, or that it is patently false altogether. It's actually got some funny stuff mixed in too, so it's easy to sit through it in my opinion.

Michael Shermer: The pattern behind self-deception

I don't agree with all of the items on this list of "false beliefs," but it certainly does get me thinking about why I believe in certain things.

TED talks really explore and lead the listeners on a thoughtful adventure, in just about every one of them.

One thing that comes to mind:

If we are hard-wired to believe in something safer, then evolution has given it to us for a reason, namely survival.

Believing in something beyond this life, or in a benevolent God, has socially and culturally led to the people of today, after all, along with a variety of other biologically advantageous "tribal" bonds and group efforts, including specialization, and subsequently the development of arts, culture, and sciences.


Abstract thought is key in the development of many finer mental skills, including spatial (engineering, sculpture, architecture) arts (music, literature, drama, design), and invention.

Hmm, I can see it. Evolutionists must be confused by this.

Nature wires us to believe in things we cannot observe in it...interesting theory.

reply to post by glitchinmymatrix
I would agree to a point, if it was not so, people like Hitler would never come to power, but it would seem to align with the ignorance of the masses, all are not fools and there are ultimate Truthes.
Even looking at what would be cosidered normal, nothing, becomes magical when truly viewed by a intelligent mind.

reply to post by glitchinmymatrix


Dear glitchinmymatrix

Judging by the last video clip, the very last thing this world needs is another Jeremy Beadle.

I haven't listened to the talk but I think it's a little unfair to say all beliefs are just a safety mechanism protecting us from the fact that we simply don't know the truth. For instance, many beliefs are what many people see as explanations for the evidence.

Science is a very long way from explaining where we are and why we are here so appealing to a god is just common sense for some people, it's the explanation that fits the picture the most, what makes the most logical sense. Same for ghosts, for people who have seen them they are very real.

As for rituals, there's nothing to say that they don't work. Not in a magical or mystical sense but they do have a psychological effect, even if it is all placebo.

The OP says they the mind deceives us and I would agree but believing in god is not a deception of the mind. I know quite a few scientists who believe in some kind of a god, who are also very lucid, logical and intelligent people.

We cannot say categorically that these things do not exist. I'm sure if you told someone 150 years ago about the weirdness in the quantum world they would think you are crazier and more deceived than the most over the top fundamentalist religious follower.

I find it incredibly arrogant for any field of science to make these claims about things they have not and will not take seriously and study to any degree. There are some quantum physicists that believe there is proof for a god inside their field of science. That is not deception, that is believing something because of the evidence they see before them. Whether it is true or not is another argument but my point is that many of these beliefs are not always blind faiths.