> 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?
Wanting to be defeated/destroyed.
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/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
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/ Kenneth Boyd
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