Myths, whether in written or visual form, serve a vital role of asking unanswerable questions and providing unquestionable … - Michael Shermer

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Michael Shermer

Myths, whether in written or visual form, serve a vital role of asking unanswerable questions and providing unquestionable answers. Most of us, most of the time, have a low tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. We want to reduce the cognitive dissonance of not knowing by filling the gaps with answers. Traditionally, religious myths have served that role, but today — the age of science — science fiction is our mythology.

Cognitive, Gaps, Knowing, Religious, Tolerance, Vital

Same Author Quotes

Science is not a thing. It's a verb. It's a way of thinking about things. It's a way of looking for natural explanations for all phenomena.

Phenomena, Science, Thinking, Verb, Verbs, Way

In the past 10,000 years, humans have devised roughly 100,000 religions based on roughly 2,500 gods. So the only difference between myself and the believers is that I am skeptical of 2,500 gods whereas they are skeptical of 2,499 gods. We're only one God away from total agreement.

2499, Atheist, Difference, Funny, God, Years

Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons.

Beliefs, Believe, Defending, People, Smart

I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but because I want to know. How can we tell the difference between what we would like to be true and what is actually true? The answer is science.

Answers, Believe, Difference, Differences, Science, True

Religious faith depends on a host of social, psychological and emotional factors that have little or nothing to do with probabilities, evidence and logic.

Emotional, Faith, Logic, Probabilities, Religious