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Super Predators

hailslaanesh

New Blood
H
Joined
Jan 6, 2006
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One thing I was curious about, were everyone’s thoughts on spirits and UFOs, seeing as Randi does not write about them much. I was planning to ask everyone how so many people could be wrong in the belief that they have witnessed incredible things such as ghosts and aliens. After thinking about it for some time, I came up with a theory myself:

Science suggests that humans have been at the top end of the food chain for tens of thousands of years. For millions of years before this, our ancestors have survived due to fear. Primitive people used fear to evaluate the safety of all their actions in day-to-day life and it was fear that drove them to run when chased by large predators. Fear was the survival instinct that got us where we are today and it is ingrained into our makeup.

Today we find our selves at the top of the food chain and in most populated areas we have no predator to fear. Yet our minds have been programmed over millions of years to be afraid and it is difficult for us to reprogram them. As children we are convinced that there are monsters under the bed and around every dark corner. As we mature we come to terms that we really are safe from the bogey man. Yet, given the slightest reason, when faced with something momentarily unexplainable, our minds are overcome with fear.

Tricks of light, things that go bump in the night and even bad dreams cause witnesses to create in their minds what I refer to as ‘super predators’. I call them super predators because the beings may be invisible or have superior technology and people are unable to prove their existence little own overcome the beings. Although the motives of these super predators may not be predatory, the fear they instil in our minds is equivalent to our fears of predators. Believing in such super predators justifies the emotion of fear that is part of us. Believers are hard to convince otherwise because human’s minds have evolved to accept that we are always going to be preyed upon.

Does this sound plausible to you?
 
Good question for a social anthropologist. It is an interesting line of thought, I will give you that.
 
Thanks. But I suppose my theory doesn't explain a lot of the other crap people believe in though.

I also believe people like to think they know something that the majority of people don't, whether it be their religion or the existence of otherworldy beings. I guess am the same because I take pride in my belief that we live in a reality governed by the laws of physics and not metaphysics. Sadly, sometimes it feels like we are the minority.
 
I'm no expert, but if I were to take a guess, I'd say that the reason you stated in your second post is a much bigger factor than the one in the OP -- though it is an interesting hypothesis.
 
I don’t think it’s about fear of predators, we certainly retain the fear of Spiders & snakes in the form of phobias, but aren’t these really just instincts to protect us from Dangerous and poisonous species?

I think the belief in the supernatural is a mixture of history and Laziness i.e. a few hundred years of Religion & Woo being rammed down our throats through both peer pressure and manipulation purposes, and the belief in it because for most people it’s easier to believe than it is to critically work things out for themselves.
For instance they see something strange they can’t recognise, it’s easier for them to attribute it to a ghost than it is to work out what it really could be, plus it makes an interesting conversation piece for them.

The fear probably comes from the media, Horror books, scary movie’s etc and the traditional telling ghost stories around the fire.


Children are scared because they cannot fend for themselves, they need a protector, mum/dad, this also must be an instinct as with animals, if danger threatens, hide or run back to your parents.

Do we retain this into adult life with things we do not understand?
If you see something mysterious you cannot identify, hide or run back to safety, because it might be dangerous.
If a child didn’t know about monsters and ghosts would it still be scared, probably yes but only because of the “get to safety” instinct.

Thus being scared is probably a protection instinct to enable us to be wary of and get away from danger.


It would be interesting to see how many of us sceptics are frightened of the dark?
When I believed in ghosties and ghoulies I was certainly scared but now I have no fear, then again I live in the UK, not really much chance of a Bear or Puma stalking me whilst staggering home from the inn.

You've opened a can of Worms Slaanesh
 
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My problem with accepting that the majority of people are just lazy and do not investigate things for themselves, is that soooo many of them refuse to accept reality even when presented evidence that their fears are not logical. Whether it be people who believe in ghosts, aliens or religion they seem to embrace the fear.

As a teenager, I tried to delve into ouija boards and contact with the other side. I realised I did it because I loved the fear of the unknown. It gave me such an adrenalin rush to think that there was a whole unexplored world out there ready to make contact. A world where I had no idea whether their intentions were harmful to me. I absolutely loved being afraid. Another part of me just wanted our reality to be more unpredictable than the scientists tell us. So maybe Quinn is right and that we just like to think we know better than everyone else.

But I woke up. I started to listen to the little voice in my head telling me that it was just a friend pushing the glass across the board. Over the years I learnt that the world is an interesting enough place for people not to need to make up stuff. Feeling liberated myself, I am very interested in "converting" believers into non-believers. But even when presented with the common-sense and logic that converted me (and then some), people cannot be swayed. The one thing I have noticed about the believers around me is that they are in part afraid of whatever they believe in and it seems like they would prefer to keep the fear rather than accept the truth.

I guess I have my work cut out for me trying to become a better educator. These people must have a little voice in their head telling them not to be silly and over dramatic, but getting them to listen to it is the challenge. At least it feels good not to be afraid of the dark anymore :)
 
Interesting theory hailslaanesh. That would certainly explain the gusto for movies like Alien and Jaws. The fear of brutal death as always been a part ouf our psyche, and people have always been fascinated with hostile supernatural beings, ever since Behemoth and Leviathan from the book of Job.

And the appearance of space aliens in our mythology and the reports of UFOs conveniently coincides with humanitie's progress in Astronomy and space exploration in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th. Notice there's no reports of UFOs (spaceships) before then, wich would mean it is a product of our collective imagination.
 
Pardalis said:
Notice there's no reports of UFOs (spaceships) before then, wich would mean it is a product of our collective imagination.
Click to expand...

Not entirely true. There just wasn't a frame of reference to call them 'spaceships' or something similar. So we get references to flaming chariots or whatever.

If I remember rightly, Sagan talks a bit about this in the book The Demon Haunted World, where he compares folklore myths about 'changelings' taking the place of human babies, with the 'alien cross-breeding' mythos of the UFO crowd. The conclusion being that some fears and halluncinations seem to be hardwired into the brain, but that we frame them based on our current mind set.

A bible-thumper isn't going to see Mohammed, and a Jew isn't going to see the Madonna, etc...
 
Maybe but many people report not being afraid of spirts and actually view it as a comfort. So it could be true in some cases but I don't think all.
 
I like it. I think it is a great train of thought. Just bear in mind that humans are complex and our beliefs and behaviors are likely the result of many variables. Someone else mentioned laziness. There certainly is that component to many beliefs. One of our evolutionary traits that has served us well is the ability and/or need to find meaning in the world around us. I think our ancestors did the best that they could with what they had. The problem is that meaning can be difficult to find so we tend to fill in the blanks with exciting possibilities or cautionary tales for morality purposes. There is buried treasure on desert islands, gold at the end of the rainbow and sea monsters in uncharted waters. Overtime we have filled in many of the blanks of our understanding but prosaic answers don't always satisfy. There is something in our character that likes mystery and mythology and some mysteries and mythologies are sexier than others. It's exciting to think that we are being regularly visited by aliens or that there is an as yet undiscovered hairy man stalking the north woods and there also seems to be a need to compel conformity to societal norms by using urban legends and mythology.

My only point is that their are a number of answers to Why People Believe in Weird Things and we probably don't understand them all. But those reasons are certainly worth exploring.

Read Shermer's book, he offers 5 basic reasons that are worth considering.
 
Thanks, I definately would like to understand what makes people believe the things they do. Just out of the faces I see around me on a regular basis there is a bible-bashing co-worker, my conspiracy theorist brother (too much weed) and my wife who is afraid of the dark when I am not around (out of fear of the unknown). Their lives are hindered, to differing degrees, by the fears of their beliefs. I guess I want to understand them more so I can help. It is not nice to think that in this day and age, people are still hung up on superstitions.

JM85, I agree that it is not all cases. What I find puzzling are people like another of my co-workers. The other day on a discussion about beliefs, she said that she was visited by her father after his death. She could smell his aftershave which was apparently distinct. But rather than be comforted that he was around she told him go away. She was afraid, even though if it really had been her father then there was nothing to fear.

It is hard to figure people out.
 
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