Why our intuitions about how the world works are often wrong

[pultneytooner]

Folk Science: Why our intuitions about how the world works are often wrong Much of physics is counterintuitive, as is the case in many other disciplines, and before the rise of modern science we had only our folk intuitions to guide us. Folk astronomy, for example, told us that the world is flat, celestial bodies revolve around the earth, and the planets are wandering gods who determine our future. Folk biology intuited an élan vital flowing through all living things, which in their functional design were believed to have been created ex nihilo by an intelligent designer. Folk psychology compelled us to search for the homunculus in the brain--a ghost in the machine--a mind somehow disconnected from the brain. Folk economics caused us to disdain excessive wealth, label usury a sin and mistrust the invisible hand of the market. The reason folk science so often gets it wrong is that we evolved in an environment radically different from the one in which we now live. Our senses are geared for perceiving objects of middling size--between, say, ants and mountains--not bacteria, molecules and atoms on one end of the scale and stars and galaxies on the other end. We live a scant three score and 10 years, far too short a time to witness evolution, continental drift or long-term environmental changes. Causal inference in folk science is equally untrustworthy. We correctly surmise designed objects, such as stone tools, to be the product of an intelligent designer and thus naturally assume that all functional objects, such as eyes, must have also been intelligently designed. Lacking a cogent theory of how neural activity gives rise to consciousness, we imagine mental spirits floating within our heads. We lived in small bands of roaming hunter-gatherers that accumulated little wealth and had no experience of free markets and economic growth. Folk science leads us to trust anecdotes as data, such as illnesses being cured by assorted nostrums based solely on single-case examples. Equally powerful are anecdotes involving preternatural beings, compelling us to make causal inferences linking these nonmaterial entities to all manner of material events, illness being the most personal. Because people often re-cover from sickness naturally, whatever was done just before recovery receives the -credit, prayer being the most common. In this latter case, we have a recent scientific analysis of this ancient folk science supposition. The April issue of the American Heart Journal published a comprehensive study directed by Harvard Medical School cardiologist Herbert Benson on the effects of intercessory prayer on the health and recovery of patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery. The 1,802 patients were divided into three groups, two of which were prayed for by members of three religious congregations. Prayers began the night before the surgery and continued daily for two weeks after. Half the prayer recipients were told that they were being prayed for, whereas the other half were told that they might or might not receive prayers. Results showed that prayer itself had no statistically significant effect on recovery. Case closed. Of course, people will continue praying for their ailing loved ones, and by chance some of them will recover, and our folk science brains w ill find meaning in these random patterns. But for us to discriminate true causal inferences from false, real science trumps folk science. Folk Science: Why our intuitions about how the world works are often wrong (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=13&articleID=000A760C-14A5-14C1-94A583414B7F0181)


Good stuff. Biological evolution has done a great job so far, but it hasn't been perfect.

See also:

The Folk Song Army Sings Africa (http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=070805A)

Folk Beliefs Have Consequences (Folk Marxism (http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=012206D))

[Ann]

Pultneytooner, your various links make for interesting reading but what are your views beyond "Biological evolution has done a great job so far, but it hasn't been perfect".

Do you yourself believe in the power of prayer even though it has been disproved scientifically? Should not the strength of feeling from a body of people concentrating in prayer have an effect on the outcome of a illness just as loud, aggressive music can have a physical effect on a drop of water.

(I'm merely being curious here, not confrontational!)

I cannot see a day when there is not the oppressed and the oppressor; it is our human nature for our short time on earth and in the end we are but the product of the period of time between the ice age and the inevitable global warming. "Folk Marxism" exists more and more these days but still has not solved the problem any more than the recurring outbreaks of war.

Methinks the prose of "Desiderata" says it all; "no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should".

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

I believe in evolution.But family evolution,yer folks brought ye up the way they did.Have ye turned out good or bad.

I'd like to think in my own case,they did a good job.I got my Mums sense o' humour and my Dads karaoke voice:lol: :lol:

[pultneytooner]

Pultneytooner, your various links make for interesting reading but what are your views beyond "Biological evolution has done a great job so far, but it hasn't been perfect".

Do you yourself believe in the power of prayer even though it has been disproved scientifically? Should not the strength of feeling from a body of people concentrating in prayer have an effect on the outcome of a illness just as loud, aggressive music can have a physical effect on a drop of water.

(I'm merely being curious here, not confrontational!)

I cannot see a day when there is not the oppressed and the oppressor; it is our human nature for our short time on earth and in the end we are but the product of the period of time between the ice age and the inevitable global warming. "Folk Marxism" exists more and more these days but still has not solved the problem any more than the recurring outbreaks of war.

Methinks the prose of "Desiderata" says it all; "no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should".
I personaly don't believe in the power of prayer but if that gets you through the day then it must have it's uses.
I think the keyword here is 'physical', loud agressive music is tangible, prayer is not, ultrasound can shatter a kidneystone, prayer can't.
If god existed, why would he listen to your prayers to heal a loved one suffering from a major Illness when everyday he allows countless thousands to be slaughtered and countless more to suffer, not a very benevolent god is he?

[Ann]

"Should not the strength of feeling from a body of people concentrating in prayer have an effect on the outcome of a illness........."

Sorry PT; the above was more rhetoric that a statement of my beliefs. I no longer pray to a god I was brought up to believe in because, in all honesty, I cannot believe in him any more and I wholeheartedly agree with your "If god existed, why would he listen to your prayers to heal a loved one suffering from a major Illness when everyday he allows countless thousands to be slaughtered and countless more to suffer, not a very benevolent god is he?"

After all, each religion claims to worship the one and only god or whatever else he/it is called and I think that the sooner we take responsibility for our own actions, the sooner we will live together in harmony...... I wish.

[Ann]

I believe in evolution.But family evolution,yer folks brought ye up the way they did.Have ye turned out good or bad.

I'd like to think in my own case,they did a good job.I got my Mums sense o' humour and my Dads karaoke voice.

I see where you are coming from with your theory about family evolution Cedric; it has an enormous effect on how we treat people and how we lead our lives.

By the way, does your Mum's sense of humour help you deal with your Dad's karaoke voice? ;) Cheers.

[pultneytooner]

"Should not the strength of feeling from a body of people concentrating in prayer have an effect on the outcome of a illness........."

Sorry PT; the above was more rhetoric that a statement of my beliefs. I no longer pray to a god I was brought up to believe in because, in all honesty, I cannot believe in him any more and I wholeheartedly agree with your "If god existed, why would he listen to your prayers to heal a loved one suffering from a major Illness when everyday he allows countless thousands to be slaughtered and countless more to suffer, not a very benevolent god is he?"

After all, each religion claims to worship the one and only god or whatever else he/it is called and I think that the sooner we take responsibility for our own actions, the sooner we will live together in harmony...... I wish.
What made me turn away from christianity, personally, was a revelation of the universe, and how Immense and beautiful and grand it is. For me to see this, and still see Jesus Christ as the only way to happiness was limiting to me. I felt that no living thing can quite say what it is we are in or a part of or doing or why. It is huge! Scary! Yet alive! And beyond knowing! you just are.