> On Tue, 15 Oct 1996 05:13:59 +0000 "Hakeeb A. Nandalal"
> <nanco@trinidad.net> writes:
> >Why then when people are
> >presented with a knowledge of history, geography and even
> >anthropology,
> >the majority still harbour religious memes with only a minority making
> >
> >the connection and hence rejecting them?
>
> I would answer that most people are not presented with sufficient
> knowledge of history, geography, or science. Religious models are easier
> to comprehend, more comfortable, and more widely endorsed in the
> experience of most people than are scientific models.
>
> Take care. -KMO
It is of course, possible that most people are detecting (subconsciously)
basic flaws in what they are taught. The most graphic example is
(reported in a 1996 American Mathematical Monthly article) that the
explicit application of current economic theories usually performs worse
than conventional, unscientific but methodological analysis. I don't
think other fields are as afflicted, but I have seen students in
low-level math courses look at the math and wonder what kind of sorcery
I'm doing to make it come out so quickly, even faster than they can punch
it in. [They panic if I evaluate a 5th-degree polynomial for 2 faster
than they can punch it in, CORRECTLY. Better not try that stunt too many
times....]
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/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
/
/ Kenneth Boyd
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