Mad Laddicus

Everyone should read about James Randi he was a brilliant skeptic.

There was that guy who could make almost anyone forget almost anything, he won the prize many times. :D

I am at the point where if anyone, ever, for any reason, asks me what my astrological sign is, I stop communicating with them.

They always turn out to be irresponsible, narcissistic idiots every time.

An exception would be if this interaction is taking place completely within the confines of an actually defined fantasy world like a video game or ttrpg.

But real life? People who actually believe there is, or could potentially be anything to astrology?

Dangerous morons.

Ah yes James Randi, a man I have very mixed feelings on. He was a climate skeptic who would claim to have debunked people who never signed up for his challenge. A real scum bag in general. He was also a high School drop out with no training in the sciences.

Admittedly he called himself an "Honest Liar" and was motivated not by money but out of fear that people believed he had magic back when he was a magician.

Still given his character I tend not to take JREF too seriously.

I have an interesting opinion on this. If someone displays "supernatural powers", then those powers are not supernatural--just unknown. Therefore, it is an impossible prize to claim.

So, they're saying that the magic is real, but I can't just go to a crazy old crone's potions shop and purchase a curse on someone because that's not how it works? Well, that's disappointing.

Edit: "no true witch" = hilarious

Honestly though, it does point out how stupid rage-baiting is. This guy genuinely thinks that they must care about his opinion and when they ignore him for being a weird little tit he spends a whole lot of effort to try to say that that’s proof that their thing isn’t real. For one it’s trying to prove a negative, and two it’s just such a weird, self-absorbed thing to do.

Chasing hate from others is such a weird thing to do. I don’t think magic is real but I’d still rather be friends with some random person who thinks it is than be anywhere near this fuckin’ douchebag.

That's not true, the kids will figure out they're cosplaying eventually.

it's a risky thing to do,

the vast majority of cases, you'll be right. but no one will care.

however, in the unlikely event where you suffer a immediate tragedy, like trip and break your nose, stroke, bird shits on you. you might start a new religion

Shouldn't the amount of any un-smited politicians prove any spiritual group that claims to have the ability to harm people wrong? I mean why are witches so mad that they can't hurt a random guy?

Not quite the same. God (hypothetically) has their own plan, so if I pray for god to smite you, and they don't, then I can just say "well, I guess that's not God's plan". Whereas, if you believe in hexes and/or curses as something fundamentally different to a bog standard prayer, then presumably the hexer and/or curser has more agency over the result than that.

is skeptical and doesn't believe in the supernatural
has a fear of developing superstition

Sounds to me like you've been cursed, mate.

Sounds like you have a superstition about superstitions.

tbh I've just accepted that superstitions are part of the human psyche. I don't believe in "chi" in the sense of some energy that can be measured but there's definitely some kind of pattern recognition in the human subconscious that's processing the flow of the environment around them and the people in it that way. And a lot of cultures worldwide have longstanding traditions that guide the way they deal with that both in the sense of soothing that part of the subconscious but also trying to address whatever threat or goal in the environment that that pattern recognition is trying to draw attention to. I really enjoyed "Feng Shui Modern" by Cliff Tan if you want a really great explanation of concrete ways in which principles of that practice tend to help people feel safer in a space. He talks about things like the most common paths people take take through rooms, wanting to have your back against something solid, and not liking having beams and lights hanging directly over your head.

And personally I just try to keep the less concretely beneficial things to fun cultural traditions and other stuff I can connect with people around and avoid things that have been like, objectively disproven by modern science in some way or that would be specifically harmful to some specific circumstance / situation. So like carrying around an evil eye talisman is fine but using an herbal remedy that's been found to be harmful is not. And I find it's also helpful to think of it less in terms of specific effects / outcomes such as hexing, and more in terms of good energy / bad energy or good luck / bad luck. So the evil eye ward isn't protecting me from some specific thing, it's just a general hope that I'll avoid toxicity in my life. And there's a big mindfulness component to these things too; the talisman is also a reminder to yourself to avoid negativity and try to put positivity out into the world around you.

There has to be a fancy name for this phobia.

Pfft. They have had that covered for centuries.

"The Lord works in mysterious ways..."

I like the "headology," or the idea that what people believe is what is real.

“So people see you coming in the hat and the cloak and they know you’re a witch and that’s why your magic works?” said Esk.

“That’s right,” said Granny. “It’s called headology.” She tapped her silver hair, which was drawn into a tight bun that could crack rocks.

“But it’s not real!” Esk protested. “That’s not magic, it’s—it’s—”

“Listen,” said Granny, “If you give someone a bottle of red jollop for their wind it may work, right, but if you want it to work for sure then you let their mind make it work for them. Tell ’em it’s moonbeams bottled in fairy wine or something. Mumble over it a bit. It’s the same with cursing.”

-- Equal Rites, Terry Pratchett

Wicca was invented in 1954. They're all fake witches.

Science is magic if you don't know how it works so you can always re-establish your beliefs

Mark Twain said he didn't believe in ghosts, but they scare the hell out of him.

Sounds like a wonderful work environment

Did you burn the witch?

You know about Chaos? Time to exterminatus the planet to make sure this forbidden knowledge doesn't spread.

It's not important that it only dates back a few decades. At one point, all supernatural belief systems only dated back a few decades, and look how they proliferate.

the "real ones" lol

Bro you didn't make up that word. You heard it on an episode of Always Sunny and forgot. I'd say it but honestly it's so close to a racial slur that I'd rather not risk it.

You have said it before, it was the last thing you said to Brian before he went out that night and... well I can sense there's a lot of unresolved drama there so I'll stop talking now

Anyway don't worry about Brian, in the great hereafter he became really good at Sudoku and is considering reincarnation on a planet in the Crab nebula. Interesting choice considering the people of that world are all female. Humanity won't discover them for about two weeks but first contact will be surprisingly underwhelming

Naw I'm messing with you. This was all stream of conciousness... but maybe I freaked someone out who thought I was serious.

Is it "frint"?

Snork

Not magic, of course. It's science.

The elctrical activity in your brain is measurable by electrodes placed on your skull. What we then get is called an electro-encephalogram, short: EEG. Although they rather measure a summation of activity rather than individual neurons. Still, this allows to draw some conclusions and has been widely used in neuromedicine.
For instance, it can help to diagnose epilepsy, or investigate sleep quality. In contexts of the Emotiv, to put it simply, it rather measures levels of concentration than actual thoughts.

But, with sufficient training you can enable such a system to perform a bit more complex tasks, like opening or closing a mechanical hand, driving a wheelchair in a simple mamner, etc.. Although, from my experience, the applications are very limited and unstable.

Well, at the moment I don't understand how it works, and any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic, but if I follow the link titled "How the Emotiv EPOC Works" then it will remove the mystery, thus making it distinguishable from magic.