# What seemingly rational or normal beliefs of today will be discredited in 100 years? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 20, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411 "2003-05-20T22:40:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/101 "2003-05-22T18:37:52Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Who has suffered the most from this “epidemic?” Why are there not a reasonable amount of cases in the US or other “western” countries? (Go to the WHO web site for a list.) You are aware that this is a disease we are talking about? You make it sound insidious that disease outbreaks tend to happen in a given geographical area. Is every disease a plot for world domination? Diseases are not reasonal or rational. They develop and they spread. What would be a reasonable number of cases in the west? Should we make sure everyone gets a taste of SARS so as to remove the taint of favoritism. As to the peanut butter post above there is a difference. When someone makes a joke they are not posting conspiracy theories. There is nothing in those posts worth proving or disproving. If you make a fantastical statement you need arguments to back it up. Whining about being picked on is unbecoming. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/102 "2003-05-22T18:47:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. B \* > **4. You are familiar with Lee Harvey Oswald? It is generally accepted by many that he is/was a patsy?** This may come as a tremendous surprise to you, Mr. B, but it’s the considered opinion of a lot of pretty well-informed people that Lee Harvey Oswald did in fact murder John F. Kennedy by himself. The competing conspiracy theories are mostly bunk. > [@](#): > > Who has suffered the most from this “epidemic?” Why are there not a reasonable amount of cases in the US or other “western” countries? Unless I am much worse at geography than I thought I was, Toronto is in a Western country. I think you will find that conspiracy theories do not do well on the SDMB unless you provide **objective evidence** in support of them. Do you have actual, specific evidence that SARS is a biological weapon? Just observing that it started in China isn’t specific evidence - I mean, nobody thinks Legionnaire’s Disease was an attack on Philadelphia. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/103 "2003-05-22T18:49:05Z")
**B** Interesting stuff about the HIV/AIDS/AZT. I remain sceptical however. Apparently the early tests with AZT were contaminated, they don’t hold up to the sientific process of testing a drug. BUT if you look at the reason for that, an appalling death toll amongst the placebo takers, it does seem to indicate that the AZT treatment was working. As for the real cause of AIDS being drug use, I withhold judgement. Interesting though. As for SARS, you should be a bit more clear about what you’re implecating. Are you saying that there is no SARS and that it is somekind of plot against China or the Far East? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/104 "2003-05-22T19:37:08Z")
RickJay: I’m sorry you support the Warren Commission’s view of the murder. In particular, there’s a picture I think you’d find quite interesting, grainy as it seems. It’s from the December, 1963 edition of POST magazine that shows a figure who looks an awful lot like Oswald, standing in the doorway as the president is clutching his throat. Believe what you want – we’ll know the truth soon enough. \>\>\>Toronto is in a Western country\<\<\< Ahhhh. Good. Now who benefits from Canada’s SARS? With borders as permeable as ours, how come we haven’t had the outbreak? Is it Socialist medicine that’s to blame? Or is it politics? SARS is documented to be especially virulent against people of Sino descent or origin. Just like West Nile and Castro, SARS is nothing more than a “shot across the geopolitical bow” of an emerging economic superpower. Toronto, with its high Asian concentration, is just excellent strategic collateral damage. If we take the WMDs away from everyone else, we’ll be the only ones who have them. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/105 "2003-05-22T20:00:09Z")
\>\>\>I mean, nobody thinks Legionnaire’s Disease was an attack on Philadelphia.\<\<\< Sorry, in my haste I missed this one… Good point, but this first case of Sick Building Syndrome affected a broad range of ethnicity, almost universally. What is different about SARS is its “targeting” of Asians in particular. And it’s not even reasonably virulent! BTW: bacterium in the HVAC does not an epidemic make. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/106 "2003-05-22T21:01:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. B \* > \*\*7. HIV/AIDS. > No connection. In 100 years it will be widely known that AIDS is a “human cleanser” and HIV is a vector for sale of redundant immunosuppressors AZT and others. See “Inventing the AIDS Virus,” Peter H. Duesberg, for more information. > > You heard it here first. \*\* Ummm… So, how’s the roof holding up? Must take a lot of maintenance to keep in shape with all those wagons going back and forth over it… But at least you’ve got riverfront property, eh? “Human cleanser”. You make you laugh. > [@](#): > > SARS is nothing more than a “shot across the geopolitical bow” of an emerging economic superpower. Remember kids, on the Intarweb, no one can see your mummified alien fetuses. -Rav ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/107 "2003-05-22T21:29:00Z")
Dear Raven, So you think you’re a Billy Goat. Clip clop clip clop across to the other side, adults are speaking, dear… ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/108 "2003-05-22T21:57:38Z")
That a magical being created us, and that he is eminently concerned with the details of our day-to-day lives. Oh, sorry - you said “seemingly rational” beliefs. O.K., that randomly calling thousands of people at home while they are eating dinner, and trying to browbeat them into buying your product, is an effective marketing strategy. Hmmm…that’s not seemingly rational, either. O.K., that you can eat all the fatty meat and cheese you want and still lose weight, as long as you avoid white bread… O.K., I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Alien2022](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@Alien2022](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alien2022)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/109 "2003-05-22T22:29:19Z")
i agree… going into the office is going to be a thing of the past, robots are going to be dominant. Everything will be delivered to us… Who knows, we may not even leave our homes in the future… Virtual reality, may take us places… I hope to God, (ah the irony) that religion will be greatly diminished if not exterminated. ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/110 "2003-05-22T22:50:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alien2022 \* > \*\*i agree… going into the office is going to be a thing of the past, robots are going to be dominant. Everything will be delivered to us… Who knows, we may not even leave our homes in the future… Virtual reality, may take us places… \*\* Well, possibly in the US, but not as an overall. There will _always_ have to be someone out there pushing the buttons and loading the machinery. I’m a machinist, for example- I make my living building custom parts for people out of steel and aluminum. My machinery is actually very small compared to heavy industry- my mill is a full ton, my heavy lathe is actually rather small at a mere 800 pounds. Another machinist I know has slightly larger machines- his big lathe is 20 feet long and probably weighs eight tons and takes 440volt 3-phase power. Telecommuting at these kinds of jobs is wholly impossible. I _have_ to be standing there cranking the handles. Besides, if “everybody” telecommuted, who would drive the delivery trucks? Who would deliver the mail and the packages? Who would man the counter at the Starbucks’ when you got tired of sitting at your PC for the sixth hour that day? Yes, some larger corporations will probably move certain personell to a more widespread telecommute system, though they’ll probably have to also modify the pay scale to a results-based and not just raw time based system. But somebody will always have to actually go to the office and maintain the servers, or sweep the floors, or fix the ventilation system, or patch the leaky roof. One can’t build a house by telecommuting. ---
**Author:** ![Alien2022](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@Alien2022](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alien2022)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/111 "2003-05-22T23:16:06Z")
human controlled robots can build houses, can they not? Full automation may be possible within the next 100 years… Robotics is going to be huge in the next 100 years for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Lilairen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lilairen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilairen)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/112 "2003-05-23T04:27:30Z")
**Doc Nickel** wrote, on the subject of religion going away. . . > [@](#): > > Why a “given”? Easy- we no longer believe in Thor, Odin, Zeus or Mephistopholes, in Isis or Bast or the Golden Calf. I’m sure that’ll be a big surprise to the Asatruar, the Hellenicists, the Kemetics, and the Goethe-reading fundamentalist Christians. Not to mention the Wiccans. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/113 "2003-05-23T04:36:53Z")
What if we were to find out Christianity was just a Roman plot of subjugation? And regarding building a house by telecommuting: just imagine carpenter robots all under the control of a computer, overseen by a human project manager. Just think about the free time a REAL carpenter might have as a consequence. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/114 "2003-05-23T05:08:19Z")
Personally, I’m predicting an end to the cult of irony… -Rav ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/115 "2003-05-23T05:14:06Z")
If only there were two people in a sitting, outside of a Lit III class, who actually know the meaning of “irony.” C’mon, say your line. Please? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/116 "2003-05-23T06:21:11Z")
I see why it’s called Nettles. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/117 "2003-05-23T06:40:33Z")
Oh don’t be like that. I rather like The\_Raven. Reminds me of an anole I owned in college. Didn’t do much, just hissed a bit. ---
**Author:** ![flonks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@flonks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flonks)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/118 "2003-05-23T07:23:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. B \* > \*\*Hmmmmmmm. There’s a latin saying for this situation, but I dare not post it. \*\* Mr. B, can you give some more information on this? Nothing would surprise me at this point in world history, but if you don’t want us to think that you quoted some conspiracy theory you found on the internet you should post some more facts or figures … ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/119 "2003-05-23T10:49:09Z")
You see, one thing which is changing already, is the idea that there is a consensus reality. Thanks to the internet, a whole sheaf of alternate universes in which events occur for entirely different reasons coexist with our own. All these worlds look outwardy similar, but in the imagined network of conspiracies that drive them, (aliens! new world order! lizards! the zionists!) they are all mutually exclusive. It may be that this will be the change that we regret the most, that any paranoid delusion can be amplified by the networking of the internet. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411/120 "2003-05-23T11:27:15Z")
As I sit here munching on a meat-filled sandwich, I wonder whether the killing and eating of animals might in the 22nd century seem like the keeping of slaves in the 18th. And, **Mr B** , I fell for Oliver Stone’s “JFK” hook, line and sinker before I discovered [mcadams](http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-seemingly-rational-or-normal-beliefs-of-today-will-be-discredited-in-100-years/176411.md?page=7)