Issue41 【0710G-小猪快跑小组】第2次作业 by xexxex

jojogaotianUID: 2189450

题目：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."
字数：525          用时：00:52:08          日期：2007-7-19 下午 09:18:00

According to this statement, the speaker implies that nonmainstream areas of inquiry is vital in satisfying people's needs, and therefore important to society.  I concede that astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal do meet some demands of public, by providing psychological solace, certainty and safety. However, the harms these nonmainstream areas of inquiry inflict on participants far outweigh the benefits they bring to us.

Admittedly, in some respects, nonmainstream areas of inquiry do serve to satisfy human needs. There are mainly two reasons:  to acquire a feeling of solace or certainty and to explain something that cannot be addressed by current science. There is no denying the fact that psychological implication have a dramatic impact on one person's behavior, and even decide their later living attitude. The reason why so many people are turning help to fortune-telling is that people are inherently curious to forestall the things that may happen in future. They are born to try to embrace fortunate things and avoid unfortunate ones. Through fortune-telling-- that of a so-called supernatural power--they believe they can change their own destiny, thereby maximizing their welfare in life. Thus, there is no need to question why individuals in contemporary world engage in these nonmainstream areas to obtain a psychological satisfaction.

Also another reason lies in explanation to certain phenomenon that cannot be addressed by current science and technology. While in the past, people, more often than not, tended to hold rituals and ceremonies to entreat gods, hope for good conditions of bountiful harvests or hunts. The main reason why they did so is because they lacked adequate scientific knowledge about nature. They might regard lightning and thunders as anger and penalty the gods gave to human, and thus hold some religious rituals to please the gods, which is similar to people nowadays. For instance, until now no one can actually tell some supernatural phenomenon, while some one might explain them as results of creatures from other planets. In fact, whether there are creatures in other planets is still a question. Then clearly, nonmainstream areas of inquiry are a way for people to explain something that cannot be solve by today humans' knowledge.

Yet, without the true ways to evaluate the credibility of nonmainstream areas of inquiry, participants are vulnerable to self-conceit, mania, false hopes and so forth. By too much focus on these unpractical fortune-telling, individuals may be distracted from more fundamental and more crucial affairs in daily lives.  More importantly, they may involve themselves into false fantasy and impractical hopes, thereby neglecting their works, lives, friends and families. In short, the nonmainstream pursuits cannot help solve any real-world problems or provide people any useful suggestions, but rather distract people from more important matters in life.

To sum up,  I concede the psychological content the nonmainstream areas of inquiry bring to people, which to some extent provide a favorable psychological implication in everyday lives. However, these benefits can never outweigh the deleterious effects. Thus, on the one hand, we may value it as a way to give solace and certainty, but on the other hand, too much emphasis on nonmainstream areas can only undermine people's lives.