Hi everyone. I came across something I wanted to share...
-- We saw a film in class about parasites (e.g. toxoplasmosis) which does influence mammalian brains. Makes us more risk prone, and probably has other unwanted side effects.
After the lecture I came across an interesting phenomenon I termed "Alii quoque". One girl (she's especially very "natural" and believes what the general media consensus is, rather anti-GMO too) then spoke to a few others rationalizing "In former times all people lived on farms and all had these parasites, and they also became something (German slang for "they also made through life").
Now that was very interesting. Because my thought obviously, maybe therefore they lived 20 years shorter, or didn't reach their full mental potential? (I just wouldn't wanna have a brain parasite, no matter if it wouldn't hurt)
So, is this probably more rationalizing than being content with the status quo. But on the other hand, society sees status quo as perfect too. No need to achieve more.
If it is the same phenomenon "others have been smoking too for years, longer than me. So it can't be that bad for me", "Everyone says GMOs are bad, so science is a conspiracy", "Everyone prescribes Thalidomide so it can't be so risky" etc etc. Aubrey de Gray can say that loud too, "Ageing and death have always been there. People always die, so it's natural. It's a good thing"
Maybe it is also related to herd instinct, when there is fire in the building, everyone presses against the door (which can only be turned inside).
I have this impression that I'm probably part of the minority who don't rationalize (or try not to). It feels like 99% of the people do. What's your experience with "Alii quoque"? Do other countries have other ratios of "ratio guys":"rationalizers"? Or are humans born superstituous rationalizers? Is this neccessary for most people to cope with reality?
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