Yakoob on 23/2/2015 at 06:58
Quote Posted by faetal
I always wondered why leaders didn't just settle their differences with e.g. chess or paintball. As I got older, it occurred to me that this would be problematic as it would give small nations a chance against the big ones and no one could dominate.
Lol, I STILL think leaders should stop wasting innocent lives and just duke it out in some RTS or two. But then Korea would've conquered the world by now :p
Quote Posted by Thor
what it everyone is secretly conspired and teamed up against me? Like every person I know is just out to somehow hurt or humiliate me or just simply mess with me. Something I trusted with to one person actually wasn't a secret and everyone I know knows it, but nobody tells it to me and they're all just playing along their roles, messing with me for unclear motives. I never gave much into this idea and it didn't stand the critique of logic and reason very well, but sometimes it was a feeling I had for at least brief moments when I was younger.
Sounds like you barely dodged the schizophrenic bullet there. But it reminds me of this super rare psychological condition I read about recently where the person is utterly convinced they are dead. They often neglect their body (for instance by not eating) since what's the point, the body is already dead. And no rationalization can convince them as they think everyone has been replaced by puppets or is just a figment of their post-death imagination. Even those who "recover" never really stopped believing it, but just learned how to cope and carry on (while still feeling it's pointless).
It kinda made me wonder how it must feel to be in those shoes, when you are so convinced of such a strange/profound falsity. I have my set of false beliefs but at least I can recognize them as such under enough scrutiny.
demagogue on 23/2/2015 at 08:10
I was more likely to believe conspiracy theories about aliens already on earth as a kid. I don't doubt life exists on other planets, but don't see people really hiding the fact if there were real proof, given how incessantly people still try to make the case with fake proof.
faetal on 23/2/2015 at 09:49
Me too Dema - I used to spend hours reading books like "Mysteries of the Unexplained" about ghosts, UFOs, spontaneous human combustion, strange coincidences etc...
I feel like my perception of reality was certainly a lot cooler before I developed scepticism.
dj_ivocha on 23/2/2015 at 20:33
I used to bury chicken bones in our garden, hoping fried chicken legs would sprout. :idea:
Yakoob on 24/2/2015 at 02:01
Faetal and dema, me three. Those were fun to think about. Man, the world was so much more magical and interesting growing up haha
faetal on 24/2/2015 at 17:31
I used to love a good conspiracy theory too. It's why I find it fun to debunk them now, because I can completely identify with that "of course there's no proof, IT'S BEEN COVERED UP" thing (which ultimately means that everything can be true).
Tony_Tarantula on 24/2/2015 at 19:11
Or more often the "conspiracies" are right out in the open but not reported on...and they're usually about short term financial gain (e.g. LIBOR and FOREX manipulations).
faetal on 24/2/2015 at 21:18
Well yeah, but for those I purposefully avoid the word conspiracy, because the word automatically sends people's mind directly to people talking about reptiles disguised as our rulers etc...
catbarf on 24/2/2015 at 23:04
Quote Posted by Yakoob
I think my most interesting pseudo-philosophical idea was: what if we are all the same person, just reincarnated over and over as different people? If I die, I might be reborn as an 13th century viking. Then, as a space-age Mars inhabitant. On the next one, I could be henke. On and on until I've played every humans role. But on the whole it's all just one person that ever exists but never realizes because their memory gets reset each time. Makes Karma all that more interesting.
(
http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html) Andy Weir - The Egg
Tony_Tarantula on 24/2/2015 at 23:55
Quote Posted by faetal
Well yeah, but for those I purposefully avoid the word conspiracy, because the word automatically sends people's mind directly to people talking about reptiles disguised as our rulers etc...
It's an undeserved reputation. Wouldn't the word "conspiracy" apply in spades to the start of the Iraq war?
