Wizard's rules

sulong

Active member
Messages
249
Likes
16
Wizard's First Rule

"People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true."


Can anybody be immune to this?
I don't think so, unless of course if we can eliminate all our "wants" and "fears."
 
who is this wizard?
how many other rules are there?
what are they?

ps: people are not necessarily stupid. they just view the world such that they want to gain an advantage over others.
 
trendie said:
who is this wizard?
how many other rules are there?
what are they?

ps: people are not necessarily stupid. they just view the world such that they want to gain an advantage over others.

Not a who.
The rules are for any would be wizard.
I'm not sure how many rules there are in total, but I've got 4 of them I'm looking at, at this point.

There's that "want" word.

If that advantage leads to their down fall or death, would it not then be "stupid"?
 
Seems like a bit of a contradiction in terms really, either you believe what you want or you believe what you fear, you would be slightly odd if the two were the same
 
sulong said:
Wizard's First Rule

"People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true."


Can anybody be immune to this?
I don't think so, unless of course if we can eliminate all our "wants" and "fears."

*Some* people are stupid. Your statement implies that *all* people are stupid / gulllible. Most of the people I run into don't seem too stupid...

JO
 
sulong said:
If that advantage leads to their down fall or death, would it not then be "stupid"?

Kyoto Protocols, environment etc.

What do people want - economic wealth (money, 4x4s, ipods) or a clean sustainable environment (but you cant have both)?

Yep, youre right - people are stupid.
 
How often does a person believe the" truth" regardless of what they "want" or "fear"?

The truth is rarely a strong enough motivator to enact action when going up against the power of "want's" and "fear's".
 
sulong said:
How often does a person believe the" truth" regardless of what they "want" or "fear"?

The truth is rarely a strong enough motivator to enact action when going up against the power of "want's" and "fear's".

That all rather depends on the person, and how cleverly the truth is disguised.
 
roguetrader said:
That all rather depends on the person, and how cleverly the truth is disguised.

I think you'er on to something here.
Even the most powerful of (market?) wizards can be fooled from time to time.
But most people will not admit to themselves that they were fooled by the truth, and will continue to be ruled by those other two.
 
Joules MM1 said:
I am learning and this occassion I think I'll pass on the lesson of "people are stupid".

The lesson lies in the second part of the statement.
"They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true."
 
sulong said:
But most people will not admit to themselves that they were fooled by the truth,.

No-one is fooled by the truth, the truth does not fool, the truth is and that is all there is to it. Perhaps one may not choose to see the truth, but then you are fooled by yourself. Or perhaps the truth is diguised, but then you are fooled by those who disguised it. If life were as simple as believing what one wanted, then we would all believe in God, the blissfull hereafter and the promise of eternal happiness, thus embracing death. But I do not see too many people lining up to check out.
 
wanting the world to be as we are rather than as it is ...is a neurosis, something that I think we all have to some degree.....but I dont know about stupid?

Jay
 
An example of how the truth can fool us.

I cross the same street at the same place, at the same time of day, every day for the last 40 years.
The truth is, this is a safe practice.

On the 1st day of the 41st year, a truck comes out of nowhere and runs over and hurts / kills me.

Was I not fooled by the truth?

Not until that last day did it become an unsafe practice.
 
sulong said:
The lesson lies in the second part of the statement.
"They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true."

I am obviously one of the stupid people !!
Give an example of something that a person "will believe anything they fear to be true" - I am stumped for an example to mull over.

EDIT: I am not only stupid, but too quick on the submit button !!
 
No. The truth is that that was a relatively safe practice, not without some element of risk, which you discovered in your 41st year. You were fooled if by anything, complacency. So in your 41st year you were confronted by the truth. Crossing the road is not without its risks.
 
trendie said:
Give an example of something that a person "will believe anything they fear to be true" - I am stumped for an example to mull over.

!

WMD?
 
sulong said:

ahh, I understand., Thanks, sulong.

similar to: fear of being attacked by strangers, (especially women), when statistics show people are more likely to be attacked by people they know.
 
Given the mind numbing complexity of psychological processes this wizard's rule sounds more like a religious assertion, platitude, piece of pub philosophy, etc. than an accurate statement. It contains a bean of truth, but then so do the phrases "a woman's place is in the home" and "Arabs shoplift".
 
blackcab said:
Given the mind numbing complexity of psychological processes this wizard's rule sounds more like a religious assertion, platitude, piece of pub philosophy, etc. than an accurate statement. It contains a bean of truth, but then so do the phrases "a woman's place is in the home" and "Arabs shoplift".

Which part of the original statement is not true?
 
sulong said:
"People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true."

sulong said:
Which part of the original statement is not true?

The word "anything". I would like an afterlife to be true but I don't believe it exists (I actively disbelieve it, more to the point, but not because I "want" the alternative - no afterlife - to be true). That disproves the statement.

If you replaced "will" with "can" or "sometimes" then it would be more accurate but I'd still argue with "anything". Replace that with "almost anything" or "many things" and I'd agree with you, but it would be a pretty uncontroversial statement. Replace "stupid" with "people" or "human" and it would be fine!

As it is it's too sweeping a statement. It's like saying the prases I quoted. It's the kind of statement you hear in a pub when a bar-room philosopher has a few pints and lets his intellectual hair down. No offence by the way but can you be more specific?
 
Top