Revised and Expanded Edition. In this age of supposed scientific enlightenment, many people still believe in mind reading, past-life regression theory, New Age hokum, and alien abduction. A no-holds-barred assault on popular superstitions and prejudices, with more than 80, copies in print, Why People Believe Weird Things debunks these nonsensical claims. Across all cultures and spanning centuries, superstitions rooted in cultural legends and myths have formed and influenced daily life.
In this. This book relates the current, insidious plight facing the human race as a direct result of a grand deception that has been imposed upon it for tens of thousands of years if not longer. This has been perpetrated by the systematic, ongoing falsification of history in much the same way.
With the emergence of "cultural studies" and the blurring of once-clear academic boundaries, scholars are turning to Subjects far outside their traditional disciplines and areas of expertise.
In Higher Superstition scientists Paul Gross and Norman Levitt raise serious questions about the growing criticism of science by humanists and social scientists. Get The Iron Web Books now! Successful photographer Jo Ellen Hathaway realizes she must return to the Southern resort run by her estranged family and, with the help of one man, sets out to discover who is stalking her and who killed her mother.
However all the credit is lost when the solutions that he presents for education and law enforcement are based on voluntary service and voluntary payment. An example of the expected results are voluntary policemen that could have a paid career if there were citizens willing to voluntarily pay for the service that would act only on their own conscience and morals. I wonder if Rose ever considered a scenario where a group of religious fundamentalists would voluntarily become policemen.
May 26, Frank Mueller rated it liked it. The book has some excellent ideas about the expression of polities where one's belief system can form a mode of confirmation bias that creates a shared illusion forming questioning certain beliefs about authority as taboo. This is a creative and positive aspect of the book. The writing also conflates leadership with authority at times and does not differentiate between the two modes of behavior.
This create a duplicitous presentation from the author where they attempt to lead the reader while at The book has some excellent ideas about the expression of polities where one's belief system can form a mode of confirmation bias that creates a shared illusion forming questioning certain beliefs about authority as taboo.
This create a duplicitous presentation from the author where they attempt to lead the reader while at the same attempting to avert being seen as authoritative. Apr 03, Christopher Krenisky rated it it was amazing. The Most Dangerous Superstition is one of the most important books ever written. Those who suffer from cognitive dissonance criticize Larken because he speaks plainly, in simple lan The Most Dangerous Superstition is one of the most important books ever written.
Those who suffer from cognitive dissonance criticize Larken because he speaks plainly, in simple language and uses simple analogies and real-world examples that even a child can understand. It is impossible to deny this technique is effective in breaking down the mythos surrounding the belief in authority.
When you familiarize yourself with the inherent truth of Natural Law you can ultimately only draw one conclusion, that the dogmatic belief in authority is both immoral and illogical. Under Natural Law there can be no masters or slaves. We own and are responsible for ourselves. Once you see past the illusion of this religious cult, like all other dogmatic religious cults, the matrix beings to crumble.
You begin to see that the problems facing this world have been caused by these false beliefs and we are all responsible for the state of this planet as we continue to allow these false beliefs to spread like a plague.
If we are honest with ourselves and want to see positive change in the world, we need to first change ourselves.
Start that positive change today by buying a copy of The Most Dangerous Superstition and once you are done, give a copy to everyone you know and share what you have learned. Aug 01, Michelle rated it it was amazing. This book could literally change your life. More than that, is it a superstition the most dangerous superstition which has allowed governments to form and undertake all manner of atrocities.
Consider for a moment that all people were actually equal, literally. No person, be it a police officer or other government authority, had the right to kidnap you detain , rob you tax or otherwise forcibly coercive you into anything yo This book could literally change your life.
No person, be it a police officer or other government authority, had the right to kidnap you detain , rob you tax or otherwise forcibly coercive you into anything you felt was morally wrong. In fact, Rose presents many examples where just because an authority the government decrees something laws is illegal that it is therefore wrong or immoral, e. It sounds simple, right?
But it is a real shift in thinking when you apply it to our everyday life. This book is not perfect. It is at times repetitive and the free on-line copy I read was riddled with typos, but that is not the point. Feb 06, William Kiely rated it liked it.
Insightful, but poorly argued. Much better is anarcho-capitalist Prof. Michael Huemer's book The Problem of Political Authority , which argues for the same thesis that governments lack political authority,but in a much more rigorous and persuasive way. Huemer's book is my favorite book defending libertarian anarchism. May 21, Navaid Syed rated it it was amazing. One of the best books you may ever read. May 15, Robert Jere rated it really liked it.
The most dangerous superstition, according to this book, is the belief in "authority". By "authority", the author means the idea that some people have the right to rule and correspondingly, other people have a duty to obey. The author distinguishes his use of the word authority with other ways in which it is used in the English language.
For example, an employer does not have authority in this sense. The only institutions that qualify according to the author are governments and religious deities. So why is this idea "dangerous"? The reason is that obedience to authority and personal morality are opposed to each other.
The belief in authority means that right and wrong are not determined the situation but by who is the agent. For example, stealing is wrong to most people. However, when the government does steal taxes, inflation e. The author claims that most if not all of the greatest atrocities in human history would not have been possible without the belief in authority. Hitler, Mao and stalin could not have murdered millions if not for the "law enforcers" who imagined them to have the right to rule.
The author says that the world would be a much better place without government for these reasons. This is a polemic work, it is written in a loose way. It is very repetitive. I think this could be condensed into an essay without losing anything. Overall, this is thought provoking. I would recommend it for anyone interested in ethics or political theory. Well-done rundown of the dangers of the superstitious belief in "authority" and how we can set ourselves free from the perpetual tyranny of the state.
Definitely recommend. Get ready for prior assumptions to be challenged. Dec 15, Jaden rated it it was amazing.
Over the course of my life, I've come to intuitively recognize how broken governments around the world are. But I've never quite been able to put my finger on the cause, much less a solution. After reading this book, both the cause and solution are glaringly obvious to me.
We have been so repeatedly told mistruths about the need for authority, that I surprisingly found the repetition in this book to have been helpful in untangling the layer after layer of accumulated mistruths. That I was rather startled while being guided to contemplate a world without governments, to see it would not only be possible but even more effective!
He approaches the topic from so many different angles and gives so many examples that I left the book with much more clarity and a sense of hope for the future of our world. There IS a solution for moving beyond the violence and oppression inherent in the authoritarian systems that are currently in place!
Thank you for illuminating that solution Larken! Brilliantly done. I can fully grasp that the concept that "government" is a purely human construct that has created a psychological prison while exacting very real, physical violence and oppression in parsing out "authority" to a ruling class of humans revered as having some superhuman abilities.
Nor is it at all difficult to understand the history of violence and oppression from all forms of "government" - even the "good" ones. However, it is difficult for me to make the next leap to what Mr.
Rose refers to as " I can fully grasp that the concept that "government" is a purely human construct that has created a psychological prison while exacting very real, physical violence and oppression in parsing out "authority" to a ruling class of humans revered as having some superhuman abilities. Rose refers to as "anarchy" and I think the vast majority of us must struggle with this, having been raised to obey, fear, respect authority in all forms.
Just as the legitimacy of "authority" and "government" is a mass hallucinated entity, the notion that we would all awaken one day to reject it is also an hallucination. Even if I, myself, decide that I no longer recognize any government, law, law enforcement, geographical border, I am still bound to a society that does.
Overall, this book is a wonderful first foray into prodding one into thinking about what "could be" versus what is. It also makes an enlightening case of how Libertarians and Constitutionalists are still statists, albeit smaller ones with lower case "s". Would recommend to anyone who is able to think freely enough to wrestle with idea that authority and government is absurd in actuality and anathematic to basic human freedom.
Mar 01, Tomas rated it liked it. It seems that author of this book and I are living in a different worlds. I have never experienced that kind of oppression or abuse from "authority" that he talks about. I never felt that my taxes are going to waste or many other things that author talks about. Maybe things are different in America, but down here in liberal Europe things are not so grim therefore many of his points are moot. Apr 23, Au rated it it was amazing. I was already very sympathetic to the ideas presented in this book prior to reading it.
However Rose presents his ideas in such a clear manner that it further clarified my own ideas, and strengthened my perspective on anarchism. By the end it did get a little repetitive, but as a whole this is an excellent book which anyone should read to free themselves from the myth of the that is "government". If you're not new to the ideas of libertarianism and anarchy, it will be kind of boring, but even then it provides a fresh perspective of how authority and government are essentially just myths that everyone is falling for and if everyone would realize it, those institutions would cease to exist.
A good read for newbies. Sep 17, Dio Mavroyannis rated it liked it. I always wondered what a non-academic view of the libertarian world view would look like. One of the Best Works of Andy Greenberg. Please note that the characters, names or techniques listed in Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlins Most Dangerous Hackers is a work of fiction and is meant for entertainment purposes only, except for biography and other cases.
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