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Here is a scam you probably already heared of:
So, why does this work?
It is easy to assume that people who fall for this are stupid. That is a grave mistake to think. Doing so will make you not appreciate the brilliance of the social engineering that goes into the design of this M.O. That also makes you at risk of being a victim of a similar procedure. It is used by ads, companies, marketing, stock market, or even someone or something you never suspect.
This works because it häçks into the blind spots of the human mind. It uses your intuitive senses and emotions to override logical thinking. In the end, you convince yourself that you have used your intelligence. But in reality, it is really appealing to your flawed gămbler's instinct and the flawed math that goes along with it. The flaw is, the bigger the promised reward is, our mind computes this as "higher odds" of getting the reward.
You would notice the great similarity of the example scam above on how it operated in the victims mind, and how flawed it is. Particularly on the fact that Heaven is given a value of infinite good and hell has a value of infinite bad. And it also minimizes the real consequences that are easily seen. This flawed argument is so old, yet it still works on people to believe in a claims of a God. What makes potent is that, it is so intuitive. So intuitive in fact that people come up with the same explanation without even having heard of "Pascal's Wager".
And, sadly, people do not recognize that they are victims when they fall for it. And in their mind, the choice to believe is easier because the alternative opens up the possibility that they were fooled into believing (as if only stupid people can get fooled), their loved ones were fooled into it, and the difficult acceptance that all their efforts and sacrifices were for nothing. In essence it is better for these people to believe that it was all true than to admit that they got scammed.
It is a truly unsettling fact that we can have doubts "Are We In Control of our Thoughts?" and the answer is, we don't. Not as much as we like, not as much as we should. Smart People can have Bad ideas . Much more if your like me who was not born a genius.
You recieve a message that you have won 5,000,000. You inquire how to claim it. The friendly sender gives you a few simple steps. BUT, along the process, there was a problem. And to fix the problem, you should somehow send 300 to this person. You complied. But then, the person said there was another problem, but this time you have to send 1,000.
And since you already sent 300 - to you this a hard decision. All clues point to it being a scam.. BUT if you do accept that it is a scam is also accept the person to take your initial 300, without anything in return, So you suppress this thought. Besides what is 1,000 compared to the potential 5,000,000 if it is true, right? From there, it is only a matter of far your FAITH will take you through this deception.
So, why does this work?
It is easy to assume that people who fall for this are stupid. That is a grave mistake to think. Doing so will make you not appreciate the brilliance of the social engineering that goes into the design of this M.O. That also makes you at risk of being a victim of a similar procedure. It is used by ads, companies, marketing, stock market, or even someone or something you never suspect.
This works because it häçks into the blind spots of the human mind. It uses your intuitive senses and emotions to override logical thinking. In the end, you convince yourself that you have used your intelligence. But in reality, it is really appealing to your flawed gămbler's instinct and the flawed math that goes along with it. The flaw is, the bigger the promised reward is, our mind computes this as "higher odds" of getting the reward.
Pascal's Wager
Have you heard of the Pascal's Wager? If not here is a link which explains it. Feel free to search from other sources. And if you did. In a nutshell, believing in God is an better choice because if you believe that God is real, and it's true,then you go to heaven, and if you believe, and God is not real there is "nothing" to lose.You would notice the great similarity of the example scam above on how it operated in the victims mind, and how flawed it is. Particularly on the fact that Heaven is given a value of infinite good and hell has a value of infinite bad. And it also minimizes the real consequences that are easily seen. This flawed argument is so old, yet it still works on people to believe in a claims of a God. What makes potent is that, it is so intuitive. So intuitive in fact that people come up with the same explanation without even having heard of "Pascal's Wager".
And, sadly, people do not recognize that they are victims when they fall for it. And in their mind, the choice to believe is easier because the alternative opens up the possibility that they were fooled into believing (as if only stupid people can get fooled), their loved ones were fooled into it, and the difficult acceptance that all their efforts and sacrifices were for nothing. In essence it is better for these people to believe that it was all true than to admit that they got scammed.
It is a truly unsettling fact that we can have doubts "Are We In Control of our Thoughts?" and the answer is, we don't. Not as much as we like, not as much as we should. Smart People can have Bad ideas . Much more if your like me who was not born a genius.
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