RE: virus: Parables
David McFadzean (david@lucifer.com)
Thu, 31 Oct 1996 15:53:21 -0700
At 07:04 PM 30/10/96 -0800, Richard Brodie wrote:
>David McF wrote:
>
>>I guess the question I have is when is a less accurate belief more
>>useful than a more accurate one?
>
>Great question! One example I use in my book Getting Past OK is the
>coach's pep talk to his football team. Telling them they have a good
>chance of winning can increase the likelihood of them winning. Studies
>have been done showing that such self-fulfilling prophecies do have a
>noticeable effect.
I thought of another biggie: When at war it is very useful to believe
the enemy is inhuman or at least subhuman. Because if they aren't,
and we are killing multitudes of them in very unpleasant ways, what
does that make us?
--
David McFadzean david@lucifer.com
Memetic Engineer http://www.lucifer.com/~david/
Church of Virus http://www.lucifer.com/virus/