Why do some religious people have such a poor grasp of statistics and mathematics?

Question

Thought experiment. Suppose you have a coin, and flip it 100 times. After each flip, write down the result.

After 100 flips, calculate the chance of obtaining that *exact* sequence. I trust you'll find that the chance is very low. Yet it still happened.

Not only that, but the same can be said of *any* exact sequence of 100 flips. They are all equally probable.

This is the danger of calculating probabilities in hindsight. You risk of simply glossing over the fact that *any* sequence of such events is equally improbable, but one of them simply *must* occur.


Now, the second part to that argument is 'notability'. If you got a string of 100 tails that would be notable, right? What if your flips end up with the first 100 digits of pi in binary? Is that notable? What if your flips are perfectly alternating? What if the flips end up with the number of years since Kurt Kobain's birthday in binary?

What constitutes notability? Any sequence is notable in some way or the other. Are some more notable than others? If evolution would have had us evolve with say, two pincers instead of feet would that have been more or less notable? What if we evolved with four eyes? Since the eye is (wrongly) given as an example of irreductible complexity (hint: it isn't), then having more of them would have been more notable, and even more unlikely, right?


Now let's assume that sentience is notable, for the sake of argument and that there is no superior way in which sentience could occur. What now? Well, now this brand of notability is insidious. For such characteristic to be notable, it is imperative that it exists in the first place. If you weren't sentient, you could not meta-recognize your own sentience.

Plain Jane · Accepted Answer

It is like Schrödinger's cat theory, don't you think? The act of observing creates reality.

docjp · Answer

The answer to your question... if you are asking, is that what causes a person to lean toward religion is the opposite of that which causes a person to be dependent upon the brain and its thinking [a necessity if one is going to pursue intellectual topics].
There are two basic and fundamentally different types of people in the world, and neither type is aware of this difference.... because this difference is caused by Esoteric elements that are not capable of being perceived by ones brain or physical senses.
Most people are "Thinker" type individuals, and they represent the majority of the population. The other type is the "Enlightened" type individual, and again, neither type appreciates this difference nor what causes it?
The "cause" is due to, and determined by where, on the Ladder of Life [an analogy to help explain this phenomenon] ones Soul is perched? [see sources]
Bottom line is this:  Those seeking understanding via religion have Souls perched upon the higher rungs of the Ladder of Life [LOL], and those seeking understanding via intellectualism are perched on the lower rungs of the LOL.
The answer is also explained by which hemisphere of the brain is most active in a person... which is, again, determined by what the person "needs" to experience?  Seeking to understand the physical and tangible precedes the "need" to understanding the Spiritual.  And this reflects where, on the LOL ones Souls is perched.... but since this is quite Esoteric [ takes place at levels the brain cannot perceive, or think about.]... it remains a mystery to most people.  Especially for those confined to Intellectualism and use of the Left-Hemisphere of the brain.
Peace

Anonymous · Answer

Try another one. In the British National Lottery, the machine spits out exactly the same six balls 20 weeks in succession.

99.9% of the population say that there must be something wrong with the machine.

The other 0.1% (all atheists) say, "Oh no no, that sequence is as likely as any other. There is nothing which needs explaining there."

Which one would you put your money on being right?

Moe · Answer

Lol, why do some NON-religious people have such a poor grasp on stats and math??? Ta, you think it might just be a FAILING educational system? Think about it.

? · Answer

Because some of any group will have trouble gasping statistics and mathematics.

Anonymous · Answer

That would all be very persuasive, if our only objection to evolution were its statistical improbability.

? · Answer

I dare religious people to solve this equation!
x+(-76)= (12+34)/(56+64) 
find x!

Vanessa Mallalieu · Answer

you lost me after binary and i am not religious

Fred · Answer

Because they consider math the work of the devil, so that they do not need to understand it.

Bongo McGurk · Answer

education and knowledge are anathema to believers for they realize faith disappears in their presence

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Why do some religious people have such a poor grasp of statistics and mathematics?

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