[+/-] You only experience what you value
Scientific American has a nice explanation of a principle of probability called the Law of Large Numbers. Basically, the Law of Large Numbers shows that an event with a low probability of occurrence in a small number of trials has a high probability of occurrence in a large number of trials.
In other words, events with million-to-one odds happen 295 times a day in America. (Similar logic is explained in the book Debunked! ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience.)
The mathematics behind this reasoning, when combined with the tendency toward confirmation bias explain a lot about religious behavior. If humans have a tendency to experience only what they value in the first place, then a poor understanding of mathematics (specifically probabilty and statistics) leads to ascribing meaning to meaningless events. This might explain why the most educated among us are not religious.
In other words, events with million-to-one odds happen 295 times a day in America. (Similar logic is explained in the book Debunked! ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience.)
The mathematics behind this reasoning, when combined with the tendency toward confirmation bias explain a lot about religious behavior. If humans have a tendency to experience only what they value in the first place, then a poor understanding of mathematics (specifically probabilty and statistics) leads to ascribing meaning to meaningless events. This might explain why the most educated among us are not religious.
posted by Nanovirus @ 10:41 permalink
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