Issue41【0706G－CRUSADE小组】第4次作业

rose_07UID：2276843

TOPIC: ISSUE41 - "Such nonmainstream areas of inquiry as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits play a vital role in society by satisfying human needs that are not addressed by mainstream science."
WORDS: 541          TIME: 1:23:06          DATE: 2007-2-21

outline

1. these non-mainstream fields mainly satisfy human emotional and spiritual needs which those mainstream science fails to deal with. Miss towards the dead,

2. what they affect the social ethics is a two-edged sword. On one side, the areas of inquiry involve some phenomena which can not be explained by the mainstream science. The mysterious Pyramids in Egypt, some famous prophecies

3.On the other side, their influence on human spirit causes tragedies and disasters to the society and on the development of science. Falun Gong Cult and Japanese Aum Doomsday Cult

Do nonmainstream areas of inquiry such as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits satisfy human needs which are not addressed by mainstream science so that they play a vital role in society? The speaker claims so. Though those nonmainstream fields meet human spiritual and emotional needs to some extent, their function towards society needs a case-by-case analysis.

To begin with, when human needs can not be addressed by mainstream science, they turn to those nonmainstream fields, especially in the times when mainstream science was not so well developed. For example, in ancient times, when people believed that all the stars represented god and goddess and that it was them that dominated everything on earth, they may sacrifice their livestocks and sometimes even their lives according to an astrolabe to pray for a harvest in the coming year or just an end to a disaster. No matter how funny their actions looked according to the mainstream science now, at least they felt satisfaction after doing that, which the mainstream science at that time could not achieve.  Now, astrology and fortune-telling are widely used to comfort misfortunate people. When they encounter emotional losses, such as love failures and sadness for the dead, which the mainstream science are not able to deal with, astrology and fortune-telling are their alternative choice to offer an acceptable reason for all what they suffer as to assuage their pain. Meanwhile, in some cases, such as a dream of the dead, people would like to regard it as a warm paranormal phenomenon rather than explain it by cold biological knowledge.  Therefore, when we consider the human feelings, nonmainstreams fields satisfy their needs while mainstream science not.

As for the social influences of those nonmainstream fields, we should not arbitrarily overstate their positive effects and undermine the negative ones. On one side, the mysterious pyramids in Egypt now may only be explained by knowledge of astrology and paranormal power since mainstream science such as physics, chemistry and biology fail to do so. Moreover, there are countless prophecies in history such as revolutions in Europe and the Second World War realized but science is even not able to explain why. Thus, these nonmainstream areas provide us another angle different from the mainstream ones to know the world.

However, their social influences are a two-edged sword with inevitable side effects. The nonmainstream areas may be manipulated by some people to distort the truth and to mislead the masses. The notorious Japanese Aum Doomsday Cult caused the tragedy in Tokyo with the loss of thousands of innocent people. Another example is the Falun Gong Cult in China, whose leader preached that with a firm belief of Falun, men with illnesses did not need to see a doctor and would recover by themselves. Hundreds of kind and ignorant civilians died owing to his preachment, who might be cured in hospitals. Furthermore, an over reliance on the nonmainstream areas might bereave human courage and braveness to difficulties. They may treat the nonmainstream areas as shelters for their failures and frustrations, which might be obstacles for the social progresses.

In sum, what nonmainstream fields inquire mainly meets human spiritual needs. As for whether they have positive or negative social influence, we need a case-by-case analysis.

vanluckerUID：2267009

        Do nonmainstream areas of inquiry such as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits satisfy human needs which are not addressed by mainstream science so that they play a vital role in society? The speaker claims so. Though those nonmainstream fields meet human spiritual and emotional needs to some extent, their function towards society needs a case-by-case analysis.
        To begin with, when human needs can not be addressed by mainstream science, they turn to those nonmainstream fields, especially in the times when mainstream science was not so well developed. For example, in ancient times, when people believed that all the stars represented god and goddess and that it was them that dominated everything on earth（看不明白。。。）, they may sacrifice their livestocks and sometimes even their lives according to an astrolabe to pray for a harvest in the coming year or just an end to a disaster. No matter how funny(ridiculous) their actions looked according to the mainstream science now, at least they felt satisfaction after doing that, which the mainstream science at that time could not achieve.  Now, astrology and fortune-telling are widely used to comfort misfortunate people. When they encounter emotional losses, such as love failures and sadness for the dead, which the mainstream science are not able to deal with, astrology and fortune-telling are their alternative choice to offer an acceptable reason for all what they suffer as to assuage their pain. Meanwhile, in some cases, such as a dream of the dead, people would like to regard it as a warm(?？？) paranormal phenomenon rather than explain it by cold(!！！！原来是对比啊…) biological knowledge.  Therefore, when we consider the human feelings, nonmainstreams fields satisfy their needs while mainstream science not.
        As for the social influences of those nonmainstream fields, we should not arbitrarily overstate their positive effects and undermine(overlook,感觉undermine在这表示减弱消极作用) the negative ones. On one side, the mysterious pyramids in Egypt now may only be explained by knowledge of astrology and paranormal power since mainstream science such as physics, chemistry and biology fail to do so（金字塔哪方面关于占星和超自然没提，是如何建造还是建造目的还是其他什么的？）. Moreover, there are countless prophecies in history such as revolutions in Europe and the Second World War realized but science is even not able to explain why. Thus, these nonmainstream areas provide us another angle different from the mainstream ones to know the world.
        However, their social influences are a two-edged sword with inevitable side effects（negative side?）. The nonmainstream areas may be manipulated by some people to distort the truth and to mislead the masses. The notorious Japanese Aum Doomsday Cult(要提到真理教是因为用XX伪真理误导了教徒，导致XXX) caused the tragedy in Tokyo with the loss of thousands of innocent people. Another example is the Falun Gong Cult in China（美国对李红志同学的评价有争议,不知道举他例子会不会有问题）, whose leader preached that with a firm belief of Falun, men with illnesses did not need to see a doctor and would recover by themselves. Hundreds of kind and（and改yet） ignorant civilians died owing to his preachment, who might be cured in hospitals. Furthermore, an over reliance on the nonmainstream areas might bereave human courage and braveness to difficulties. They may treat the nonmainstream areas as shelters for their failures and frustrations, which might be obstacles for the social progresses.
        In sum, what nonmainstream fields inquire mainly meets human spiritual needs. As for whether they have positive or negative social influence, we need a case-by-case analysis.

我还没写，先看JJ的研究研究，所以有些心得等我写了再来说吧

phantomrUID：2284466

感觉你的观点说不上是case by case, 说成是有让步的反对好像更恰当些