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Comment by yummyfajitas | Hacker News Reader

Superstitions beliefs in the US are more prevalent than you think. The uneducated believe in aliens, creationism and angels. The educated believe in alternative medicine, but fear that electromagnetic RADIATIONOMFG causes cancer and that vaccines cause autism. Instead of Swami Krishna using parlor tricks, we have Jenny McCarthy and Oprah pushing pop books that have scientific words in the title.

The only difference between Indian and US superstitions is that US superstitions use scientific words rather than mystical words. "Evil spirits caused the tsunami" is no less superstition than "global warming caused the tsunami".

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but fear that electromagnetic RADIATIONOMFG causes cancer

That is certainly sound science - certain wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation cause cancers. Why do you think people are advised to avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight (ultraviolet spectrum), or are given lead protection when receiving X-rays (x-ray spectrum)?

Your post is an excellent example on how superstition and ignorance spreads; when someone spouts nonsense and falsities with an air of incredulity. Please, if you do not know what you are talking about, do not speak on it.

"Evil spirits caused the tsunami" is no less superstition than "global warming caused the tsunami".

Well.

When you think about it, global warming couldn't cause a tsunami, whereas evil spirits could potentially cause a tsunami (if they existed). They aren't equivalent statements.

So the first one is potentially true, but incredible, and the second is simply incorrect.

If your proposal is that evil spirits and global warming are equivalent beliefs, I don't think so. Global warming is actually testable (either the globe is warming or it isn't); you can't test for evil spirits. Global warming might be incorrect, and it might be supported by unfounded evidence, but it isn't superstitious.

My proposal is not that global warming is a superstition. My proposal is that many westerners apply mystical thinking, but use scientific words.

For some westerners, global warming, chemicals and emf are mysterious and poorly understood forces which cause all sorts of bad things. This is the essence of superstition and mysticism.

Very well, I think I agree with you then.

My only problem is that the majority of beliefs that we rely on in a daily fashion become superstition, even though they could hypothetically not be.

Suppose I only superficially know how my car works, for example. Would a belief in my car be treated as a superstitious belief? (Lets say I believe it will get me to work). If not, where do we draw the line between 'magical' thinking and actual knowledge?

A lot of people believe in alternative medicine with a more scientific method that you think: They try it and it works for them, is not superstition.

I have news for you: electromagnetic radiation causes cancer and is able to kill you and kill you fast. That it does is not questionable, the question is how much energy is needed to interfere with the human body. Again no superstition, just being cautious with the live of those you love.

Nobody knows what causes autism, so hypothesis could be done.

A lot of people believe in alternative medicine with a more scientific method that you think: They try it and it works for them, is not superstition.

No, it's the placebo effect. If alternative medicine works better than placebo, it becomes medicine.

Large amounts of any of the fundamental forces can kill you. Gravity can kill you. The strong nuclear force can definitely kill you. Even the weak nuclear force can kill you through beta radiation. Of course those forces are also necessary for life to exist.

You're also not discriminating between ionizing (cancer-causing) and non-ionizing radiation. The only ionizing radiation most people get is in the form of UV rays from the sun. Non-ionizing radiation (light, IR, microwaves, radio) is at power levels too low to harm us.

Nobody knows what causes autism, so hypothesis could be done.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say in the second half of that sentence, but it's incorrect to say "nobody knows what causes autism." The word autism probably refers to multiple conditions that we haven't differentiated yet. All of them involve changes in brain chemistry or brain structure. Some of these changes are caused by genes. Some are caused by environment. That is a much smaller region of hypothesis-space than "we don't know."

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