Scientifically Investigating Human Belief

Makes sense because I would have no issue doing any of those things.

For what it is worth #6 is the only one I hesitated on, even though I have burned paperbacks that were falling apart in my trash barrel before. It still felt wrong, irrational I know. I guess burning books reminds me of intolerance and censorship, and somewhat revolts me, even though all I was doing was burning trash? Funny how our mind works.Edited by fearandloathing, : No reason given.

Hi AZPaul3, Oh, go easy on him Paul. He is from another planet after all... He isn't familiar with our Earthling ways.Mutate and Survive

OK. I'll play. No problem. Depends on floor plan, construction , price , location, the usual. Whenever I play the lottery (once a decade or so) I always go Quick Pick (computer generated). I'm to lazy to fill in all the little slots on the form. Don't know that it makes a difference. In fact, it doesn't, really. Sure, let's bet. Sure. No qualms. I've actually done something similar but wasn't paid for it. No problem. Squeemishly, but yes. You do realize that a thousand pounds in dollars (assuming $1 bills) is $453,514? I'll do just about anything you want, Straggler! I'm an atheist, remember? I eat babies.Throwing darts at a picture of one in exchang for $453,514 is a no brainer. Bring it on! You got the money, I got the time. Been there, done that. Was not paid. I look forward to doing business with you.So are these going to be personal or certified checks?

No, I wasn't directing any comments to him. I was just ... uhh ... using a random phrase I thunked up to illustrate the use of the feature?Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Well based on my own answers I may not be nearly as rational as I would like to think. Here are my own answers to my own questions: No. I know it's irrational and I cannot quite explain it - But no. It's too sick in some way I can't really explain. I don't play the lottery (it is a pursuit for the probabilistically illiterate as far as I am concerned) but on the odd occasion that I have taken part I let the random number thing take it's course. The first seems more natural but I don't have any preference ultimately. Rationality takes precedence. Let's see... Yes I would. But I sorta get why some people wouldn't.... For a 1000 pounds I would overcome my innate squeemishness but it wouldn't be as much of a rational no brainer as I would like to think. Actually imagining it makes me flinch. Genuinely no problem. Am sure I have done far worse....... No issue with this at all. Even a pic of my own toddler wouldn't deter me in the slightest. Again - No issue at all. I would def do it for a 1000 pounds but something inside would rankle for some reason. Weird.....?

I hate to burst your bubble but 1000 is (at current exchange rates) about $1,600. EvC standard issue hypothetical cheques (note spelling) are paid for hypothetical answers to hypothetical questions. You'd live in the house of a serial killer without a second thought but be squeemish about drinking water from a never-used urinal.....?Isn't the human brain a strange thing?

But you said a thousand pounds in dollars. At .002205 lbs per bill that's 453,514 bills. I don't mind taking One's. Is it? (well, yes it is) But in this case there is some logic to it if not a whole lot.The house is a house is a house. It doesn't affect me because the house is not the killer. What may have happened there is out of time, invisible to me and is of no affect. Nothing immediate, nothing personal.The urinal drink, however, even clean, even knowing it is no different than a sink faucet, is going into my mouth. That is both immediate and personal. And disgusting.But, for you, Straggler (and for $453,514) I think I could stomach it once.

I see. How annoyingly clever. But given that I am paying in EvC standard issue hypo cheques for hypo answers to hypo quetions you can pretty much name your price...... But but but............Oh fuckit I can't rationalie my position it is irrational. That is kinda the point.But did you know that in American law when selling a property it has to be stated if it is haunted or otherwise "stigmatized" in some way (e.g. once owned by a serial killer) because this has serious repercusions for market value? It seems not all are as rational as you about such things. In fact most very much are not.Who lives in the place where Jeffery Dahmer lived? It's now a car park. The house of the killer I asked about (Fred West) was demolished and every last brick crushed into dust before being spread across unmarked landfill sites.Why do you think that is? Why won't people adopt the attitude you have expressed and live in these places?Are most of us innately irrational about the hidden symbolism (even contagion) of such things.......?Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

That I can understand. If they missed a corpse under the floorboards that would be disturbing. And having the cops come out every couple months to dig a hole in the yard would have been too much.Is the same true in the West case? Did they dispose of their victims on premises? Have I made an error in my purchasing decision?I'm thinking that, in these kinds of cases, we humans often attach our disgust for a person's crimes to anything and everything about them. Their cars, their homes, their easy chair, their kids, their in-laws, etc. The memory of the crime is linked to the name and the name is linked to these other items.Is that irrational or overly sensitive? We hear the name Dahmer and we cringe. The irrational part is when we impart blame for the crime onto and then shun these other items, especially the kids, grandkids, in-laws, brothers ... houses.Why we would do this I do not know. A throw back to the "evil spirit" days? We don't want to get contaminated? It would have been advantageous for a cave man to avoid and shun the evil plants, evil caves, evil animals where death and disease occurred and by extension anything that was made of, associated with or came from the evil things. I could see where this could expand to other things considered evil.But if the house is clean and the bad guys did their dirty work elsewhere, well, then, this means you can take advantage of the irrational and pick up a maybe nice place for a steal!Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.Edited by AZPaul3, : clarityEdited by AZPaul3, : more clarity

Whilst that is probably a bit over simplistic I would suggest it is along the right lines. Our intuitive mode of thinking leads us to make such connections and whilst we can rationally override them the intuitive notions remain present.Do you have a wedding ring? Would you swap that ring for one that was physically identical?If not - Why not?

I cannot form an emotional attachment to a specific set of atoms that form a symbolic item. The symbolic item is the seat of my attachment. If someone swapped my ring for an identical one without my knowledge it would make no difference. If it were truly identical then there would be no way to discern any difference. The emotion remains. So, to me, if I purposely swapped out an identical ring, emotionally, nothing has changed.Straggler, I'm not so sure I am the right one to answer these types of questions. I don't think we will gain any insights into the OP questions by my answers since I am not the typical emotional creature that could represent the human norm.I'm abnormal. Not good evidence.

I would contend that this is the most important question.In CBT there is a technique called cognitive restructuring where the patient frames their belief as a statement of fact.They then evaluate the evidence they can provide to both support and refute their statement of fact.Basically, this attempts to evade the confirmation bias and any selective abstraction that is occuring.That John Jones implies that beliefs cannot be examined scientifically (i.e. rationally) indicates cognitive avoidance on his part i.e. 'I don't want to think about that'.

I agree. You have a heart of stone and a spirit of neurons. One last try.....What if they later told you what they had done? Would the ring you now have mean any less to you? Does even he with the heart of stone place exhibit signs of imbuing physical things with some form of non-material meaning that exists only in the human mind?

I don't have a wedding ring, but I do have several objects that wouldn't be the same to me if they were replaced with identical copies. I have my grandfathers pocket-watch he carried all his life after grandmother gave it to him, through ww1 til the day he passed, I have my fathers sidearm from Korea, and my mothers porcelain Beatrice Potter collection. None of these things would mean as much to me without the personal physical connection each of these items had to a loved one. A copy would probably invoke the same memories, but knowing that this item was physically theirs seems important to me.Pretty irrational I know.AbEUpon further thought as to why these object mean something to me...1... Each one has significance to the original owner beyond that of an every day item....tooth brush for example.2... Memories I have of the significance of an object... when I look at certain Beatrice P stuff I gave to mom I remember her reaction, or the reaction she had to other BP stuff she got from my sis.3... How I became to be the current owner of these things.Edited by fearandloathing, : No reason given.