Right Thinkers dumber then Left Thinkers

[Crasherfromwayback]

No, you don't. At least not very often.

Outside of mathematics there is nothing that is 100% certain, everything else, as you correctly point out, is degrees of certainty, or shades of grey. If you only ever believed what was 100% certain, you would believe nothing. You fill your bike from the petrol bowser, but are you 100% certain that you are putting petrol in your bike? And is it a 100% certain fact that your bike runs on petrol? You have a memory of it running on petrol, but how do you know that you aren't in the process of going mad, and what you think are memories are in fact psychotic episodes, and that your bike actually runs on chocolate milk, which is why gas stations sell it.

But on balance, you have strong memories of your bike running on petrol, all your friend's bikes run on petrol, the manual says it runs on petrol and even the gas station attendant says it runs on petrol; and that's why you fill it with petrol and ignore me when I tell you chocolate milk is the correct fuel. If you depended on 100% certainty, you would never ride again because it is only 99.9999999999% certain your bike runs on petrol, not 100%.

And how do you know you are far faster on a motorcycle than I am? Have you ridden with me? How do you know that I'm not faster - I may well be.

Thoughts are like seeds. If you plant too many your mind will become an overgrown shambles.

The last bit? Just a hunch.

[misterO]

I smell a Cartesian circle jerk brewing...

[The Lone Rider]

Righties - goldwings and lefties - harleys

Pretty sure it's the other way around!

[Red39]

I wish I was intelligent enough to contribute something of value to this thread. Sigh. Guess this means I must be a "right thinker" eh!

[mashman]

I wish I was intelligent enough to contribute something of value to this thread. Sigh. Guess this means I must be a "right thinker" eh!

at least you thought about it first

[Red39]

at least you thought about it first

Ha ha. Yes I think therefore I am.

[flyingcrocodile46]

Who would have thought eh

It would be a much more credible study if they had included statistics on religious belief as well. The best indication of intellectual shortcoming that I have seen is the belief in such nonsense.

[mashman]

It would be a much more credible study if they had included statistics on religious belief as well. The best indication of intellectual shortcoming that I have seen is the belief in such nonsense.

Why would religion be brought into it if they were only measuring right and left thinking? May as well throw in the coffee and tea stats instead of religion as there's only 3 answers... unless you start to break it into the flat white crowd, those who like it black and the double half-caf venti low-fat mochaccino crowd... Looking at conservative beliefs and viewpoints I've often wondered about the intelligence of the demographic as they always seemed more myopic and narrow of focus... and the study did find a correlation.

[Indiana_Jones]

Who would have thought eh

-Indy

[shrub]

Why would religion be brought into it if they were only measuring right and left thinking? May as well throw in the coffee and tea stats instead of religion as there's only 3 answers... unless you start to break it into the flat white crowd, those who like it black and the double half-caf venti low-fat mochaccino crowd... Looking at conservative beliefs and viewpoints I've often wondered about the intelligence of the demographic as they always seemed more myopic and narrow of focus... and the study did find a correlation.

Personally I think anyone who drinks decaf coffee is in the thrall of the devil, and milk belongs in good coffee in the same way ginger ale belongs in malt whisky.

However religion and political orientation do have a relationship. A few years ago I did a paper on political behaviour, and there is a strong correlation between right wing politics and conservative religion (the fundamentalist born again type). The relationships is strongest in the US but still evident in NZ politics, and the support of Don Brash and National by the Brethren is an example. There are many reasons, and essentially because left wing/liberal ideology is less conservative it is less supportive of the traditional social norms that are a legacy of the influence the church had on how we live. A classic example is homosexuality, which I am told that God hates more than anything in the universe, so the fact that the left are more supportive means the conservative church opposes them. Another interesting issue is the green movement. Central to fundamentalist Christianity is the idea that at some stage soon Jesus is coming back to stage judgement day and the end of the world as we know it, so worrying about how the planet will be in 200 years is futile because we'll all be in heaven or hell. In Genesis God tells Adam that he has dominion over animals and the environment, and that has resulted in our doctrine of environmental exploitation - God made everything for us to use, so why put the environment ahead of human interests? And God made man in his own image, not the dolphin or the kauri tree, so that makes us better and more important which gives our needs precedence.

As a result conservative christians are more likely to support right wing political parties which means more right wing people are religious than the left, however that does not mean supporting the right makes you religious. If that makes sense, which it probably doesn't because I drank whisky with a friend last night so my brain is not running on all cylinders.

[shrub]

Thoughts are like seeds. If you plant too many your mind will become an overgrown shambles.

The last bit? Just a hunch.

It depends on whether you nurture and grow them in a controlled fashion. I plant a lot of thoughts in my mind, but I also know how to thin the ones that are flawed and grow and develop the others to become knowledge I can use. I have found that it's near impossible to effectively challenge the validity of a ideas without knowledge, and I'd rather be able to do that so what I believe is most likely to be sound. The alternative is to simply accept what I like and reject what I don't like regardless of what the truth is.

As for your superiority as a motorcyclist, you have no idea how fast I am, and while many people are faster than me, you may be surprised. But even if I am faster than you, does that make me a better motorcyclist than you? What if I have ridden more accident free kilometres in my life? In my books that's much more of a measure than the speed I can lap Ruapuna or the time it takes me to get to Akaroa on a Sunday afternoon. And what if I ride more than you and in more conditions? Or am more likely to work on my own bikes? Or own cooler bikes? Or more bikes?

[Crasherfromwayback]

Or am more likely to work on my own bikes? Or own cooler bikes? Or more bikes?

Seeing as in a previous life I was a mechanic by trade (before I started selling them for a living), I think you can safely assume I actually work on mine too. Cooler bikes? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and all that. More bikes? I'd be surprised. 25 years in the industry means I've owned more than most people I know.

[mashman]

Personally I think anyone who drinks decaf coffee is in the thrall of the devil, and milk belongs in good coffee in the same way ginger ale belongs in malt whisky.

However religion and political orientation do have a relationship. A few years ago I did a paper on political behaviour, and there is a strong correlation between right wing politics and conservative religion (the fundamentalist born again type). The relationships is strongest in the US but still evident in NZ politics, and the support of Don Brash and National by the Brethren is an example. There are many reasons, and essentially because left wing/liberal ideology is less conservative it is less supportive of the traditional social norms that are a legacy of the influence the church had on how we live. A classic example is homosexuality, which I am told that God hates more than anything in the universe, so the fact that the left are more supportive means the conservative church opposes them. Another interesting issue is the green movement. Central to fundamentalist Christianity is the idea that at some stage soon Jesus is coming back to stage judgement day and the end of the world as we know it, so worrying about how the planet will be in 200 years is futile because we'll all be in heaven or hell. In Genesis God tells Adam that he has dominion over animals and the environment, and that has resulted in our doctrine of environmental exploitation - God made everything for us to use, so why put the environment ahead of human interests? And God made man in his own image, not the dolphin or the kauri tree, so that makes us better and more important which gives our needs precedence.

As a result conservative christians are more likely to support right wing political parties which means more right wing people are religious than the left, however that does not mean supporting the right makes you religious. If that makes sense, which it probably doesn't because I drank whisky with a friend last night so my brain is not running on all cylinders.

I don't drink tea or coffee (nor whisky), never have so really can't comment on the virtues of the blend...

I'm sure they do have a relationship, but that's not what was being studied. In response to that I posted a link where Christians who vote National are more likely to cheat (go figure ). Rainmans RSA link in the Surplus thread explains how suceptable people are to changing their minds based on the information they're being fed, not uninteresting, but nothing I didn't suspect.

I though god hated abortion more, oh and muslims? bloody hell she changes her mind a lot. Heh, funny that we're all made in her image, she must be one messed up puppy given the states of mind that human beings display. That proves beyond a doubt that god is female. Although I woulda thought she would have considered the environment a bit more, maybe that's why "man" took over .

Hangover or no, that makes perfect sense... although it would make it easier if people would stop "converting" to the fad of the moment , or at least not be so easily pursuaded that they should. Drinking on a school night eh, tsk, I remember why I gave that up... well had the decision removed from me by moving country.

[Oscar]

true, but at least there are scientists highlighting that those who are overconfident are thick and vote national because they know no better, or at least can't reason any further (especially if they were against asset sales and still vote national)... if that's the alternative I'd rather stay insecure.

It's obvious to anyone with half a brain (and I doubt you qualify in that respect), that extreme right wing views appeal to the uneducated and insular.
People have a natural inclination to react against the unknown and the outsider when threatened - mans basic instinct is to protect and conserve his family and society.

However uneducated doesn't necessarily mean stupid, it just means uninformed and insular, and to attribute these reactions to a particular political system or party is ludicrous.

You can tell really stupid people - those are the ones who read, believe and repeat as fact any old crap they read on the interweb.

[mashman]

It's obvious to anyone with half a brain (and I doubt you qualify in that respect), that extreme right wing views appeal to the uneducated and insular.
People have a natural inclination to react against the unknown and the outsider when threatened - mans basic instinct is to protect and conserve his family and society.

However uneducated doesn't necessarily mean stupid, it just means uninformed and insular, and to attribute these reactions to a particular political system or party is ludicrous.

You can tell really stupid people - those are the ones who read, believe and repeat as fact any old crap they read on the interweb.

Of course I don't qualify... I have a full brain. National party = Traditionally right wing? So

extreme right wing views appeal to the uneducated and insular.

So we agree in regards to the outcome of the "study"