Why do I have two blogs?

A number of people have asked why I have two different blogs about Skypeland, this one and "Skypeland Adventures". However, there is method to my madness.

"Skypeland Adventures", my other blog about Skypeland, is much more raw and crude than this one. A lot of it consists of direct quotes by angry people, or mentally disturbed people. Admittedly, the posts there are much more comical than the posts in this blog, but they are more outrageous and offensive as well. Sometimes stimulating conflict and engaging in difficult discussions teaches me something. Hopefully others learn something from these descriptions as well.

For example, the discussions of the Mohammed Cartoons actually has some serious components to it. The investigation of aniconism in Islam and other faiths and how it has evolved with time and differs with location and culture is fascinating.

The discussions of conspiracy theories are also interesting, because they show how people reason and make connections. I suspect these are evidence of apophenia, confirmation bias, clustering illusions, syncronicity misinterpretation, misapplication of Occam's Razor and other logical fallacies. The fervor with which the subscribers defend these conspiracy theories is astounding, and is an impressive sight to behold.

As discouraging as some people find these accounts, they do constitute raw data which we can study and learn from. There are clear patterns to these belief systems, and they are astoundingly widespread. It is quite interesting to ponder why they exist, and what comfort the proponents and inventors of these theories draw from them.

When I survey these data, I am positively impressed by the contributions that the scientific method has made to everyday life, even though many do not appreciate this. These discussions are a window back into the "demon haunted world" that Carl Sagan warned us about, and make it easier to appreciate many past beliefs and practices which now seem hopelessly nonsensical.