Tuesday, July 13, 2010

True or False: Part I - Energy Drinks give you Wings!

Almost anyone will agree with me that beliefs are important. I'll suggest that our beliefs are important because they inform our actions. Therefore it is important to have as many true beliefs and as few false beliefs as possible. This practice will keep you from doing stupid things and possibly ending your existence prematurely.

Even so, just about all rational persons have a couple of ridiculous beliefs that they cling to for emotional reasons. There is no cure for willful ignorance but I'm an optimist.

Were I to hold a stupid belief, for example that drinking energy drinks would cause me to sprout giant bird wings, I hope that someone would disabuse me of that fallacy. People might argue that I have nothing to lose and wings to gain for my belief. This falsely assumes that believing has no cost.

Believing things that are not true has a cost: in this case, incessant sugar buzz, a financial burden, the risk of tooth decay, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and a battery of other health risks. It might also lead to ridiculous arguments about things I couldn't prove like the claim that I simply hadn't consumed enough energy drinks to nourish the growth of my promised wings. People might think I was an idiot. In this case I would actually be an idiot. I don't want to be an idiot or to be perceived as one. This is part of the reason why I happen to care whether or not my beliefs are true even if the false ones promise appealing things.

The truth is that energy drinks are delicious with vodka and that copious consumption will not allow you to grow wings unless you're the sort who believes that you'll get a pair when you die.

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