I'm trying to get caught up in Point Of Inquiry episodes. This is my favorite podcast; it really makes you think.
In the last episode, Bruce Hood talks about "supersense" or an innate instinct that humans have to believe in the supernatural, even despite their better judgement. Take for instance the space program. Here you will find probably the highest concentration of people who operate on pure rationality, yet you will find that it is laden with superstition, particularly of course with high-risk activities (launches and landings). Or recall all the silly superstitions of Barack Obama and John McCain that were reported during the campaign. These are smart people and deep down they know that these things have zero direct effect on the outcome. But Hood believes they are not without value; they get the believer to have more confidence than they otherwise would, and that confidence often has real positive results. And this is at the most secular end of the spectrum, obviously it applies to religious belief as well.
Or take the trees planted from seeds carried by the astronauts (there's one outside the place where I work). Now of course they've received more radiation than normal seeds but they certainly aren't imbued with some special space essence. But it's nice to know that there is that connection, maybe it makes us feel that our campus is a bit more special.
I don't think Hood is trying to argue against rationality in any way, but merely to show how this trait is common (why we have it would be a task for evolutionary psychology) and how we use it. He certainly isn't saying that such ju-ju has objective existence, just that understanding how such beliefs arise is important. And if we can do that, maybe we can minimize our need for such things (IMHO ... imagine Star Trek where Picard needs to eat a bag of peanuts before going into Warp, or the crew needs to pray before using the Transporter ... not that ST is any guide to our future other than in a hope for a secular, superstition-less wiser society).
