Comments on: What’s Your Sacred Cow?

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:39:47 +0000

I totally agree with Max that free will is a useful illusion but i think it comforts us to believe in it.

By: Max

Max — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:02:33 +0000

Nobody explicitly mentioned political correctness. I don’t trust politically correct scientific conclusions, because there’s a bias against politically incorrect findings.

By: Dan Rodemsky

Dan Rodemsky — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:33:21 +0000

Atheism. It would take a lot to convince me there is ANY intelligent force in the universe, much less the Christian god.

By: Scott D.

Scott D. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:14:47 +0000

I believe people have free-will. I’ll probably continue to believe I have free will even if it’s shown to be an illusion.
Though if that happens I’d have no choice in the matter.

By: Bart

Bart — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:12:53 +0000

Don’t have a sacred cow, man.

By: The Blind Watchmaker

The Blind Watchmaker — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:42:53 +0000

Some “superstitions” are really just cultural rituals that make people feel part of a group. We do things for “good luck”, knowing deep down that it is ridiculous and we don’t really expect good things to happen just because we did the ritual.

In college, we would touch the school statue while walking to a game “for luck”. I still feel the urge to do this, but I don’t think for a minute that it will really alter an outcome. I guess one could consider this my “sacred cow”.

Sometimes, superstitious gestures are just ways of communicating. When someone tells me about how healthy their grandmother is, I might might knock on some wood. Again, I don’t think for a minute that this gesture will actually keep Granny healthy. I simply communitcated that I hope that she stays healthy.

By: fatherdaddy

fatherdaddy — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:02:25 +0000

I don’t have any superstitions. I don’t have any sacred cows. I guess the one thing I can think of that I have provisionally accepted that would have you calling me a loon is plasma cosmology. I have not been able to find arguments that completely obliterates it, yet, although, I have found an explanation that counters an argument made against the big bang theory by plasma cosmology proponents. I heard Phil Plait say that his site had blown away the arguments for plasma cosmology, but, all I found was one argument that was a straw man. I am still looking, but, I haven’t found an argument to make me accept that electromagnetic forces have no effect on an astronomical scale.

How’s that? That is as close as I can get to an unbsubstantiated “belief”.

By: tmac57

tmac57 — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:05:24 +0000

My cow is a little nervous, but not scared!….Huh…it is? Ohhhh…never mind.

By: insanecarbonbasedlifeform

insanecarbonbasedlifeform — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:51:38 +0000

So, over a hundred comments in, it’s already been said, but I think the correct term is “blind spot”, not sacred cow. If I have something I’m holding to dogmatically, it’s a sacred cow, but at this point, I’m watching out for my blind spots that other people notice. If I don’t allow something to be challenged, then it becomes a sacred cow.

By: Shahar Lubin

Shahar Lubin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 02:26:11 +0000

I’ll go with sports.

I don’t care what the evidence might say, my rally towel is responsible for the phillies winning world series.