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Has Superstition Evolved To Help Mankind Survive?
Pickens writes "The tendency to falsely link cause to effect — a superstition — is occasionally beneficial, says Kevin Foster, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University. For example, a prehistoric human might associate rustling grass with the approach of a predator and hide. Most of the time, the wind will have caused the sound, but 'if a group of lions is coming there's a huge benefit to not being around.' Foster worked with mathematical language and a simple definition for superstition to determine exactly when such potentially false connections pay off and found as long as the cost of believing a superstition is less than the cost of missing a real association, superstitious beliefs will be favored. In modern times, superstitions turn up as a belief in alternative and homeopathic remedies. 'The chances are that most of them don't do anything, but some of them do,' Foster says. Wolfgang Forstmeier argues that by linking cause and effect — often falsely — science is simply a dogmatic form of superstition. 'You have to find the trade off between being superstitious and being ignorant,' Forstmeier says. By ignoring building evidence that contradicts their long-held ideas, 'quite a lot of scientists tend to be ignorant quite often.'"
See, then your kid is dumb and should have fallen out of the car, eliminating him from the gene pool. Evolution at work.
I believe in things. I have faith. I have religion. Science is my religion. I have faith in science. I believe in science. I understand. And I do not believe that most people automatically group religion with superstition, and I actually believe them to be very different things. I was just saying that the same idea behind what made superstitions once valuable is also what made religion once valuable. I will admit it may be a little flamebait-ish of me to mention Republicans, but the fact is that Republicans tend to be much more religious and place much more value on their religious beliefs than Democrats do. They also tend to be much more conservative and cling to older, more traditional beliefs, which are usually in the process of becoming obsolete, and replaced, if they haven't already been, while Democrats seem more open minded to trying out new ideas and are more focused towards making the future a much different and more evolved place than it is today. You're correct that right now humans are in a bit of an inbetween stage, but I'm actually in the process of changing that. I've figured out what I call an "Understanding of Existence" that builds on the theory of evolution, and then based on that I have figured out the Meaning of Life, and then based on both of those I have developed a perfect theory of moral philosophy. I am writing my book right now and will be distributing it next summer. Keep an eye out for it. The cover will have this picture on it: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b62/kabronyrecords/Nebulabrot.jpg
Non-alternative "conventional" medical treatment is any remedy that is so potentially toxic or otherwise dangerous that it must be prescribed or performed by an MD. To me, it sounds like superstition or just plain ignorance when someone automatically assumes that the most dangerous course of treatment is the best.