Human beings are pattern-seeking animals who will prefer even a bad theory or a conspiracy theory to no theory at all.
Interpretation
Humans naturally seek explanations or patterns, even preferring flawed ones over uncertainty.
This quote by Christopher Hitchens highlights the inherent nature of humans to look for explanations and patterns in the world around them. When faced with ambiguity or a lack of understanding, people are often inclined to adopt even incorrect theories, including conspiracy theories, in a desperate attempt to make sense of their experiences and the complexities of life.
In practice
In a discussion about social media misinformation, one could say, 'As Christopher Hitchens observed, human beings are pattern-seeking animals who will prefer even a bad theory or a conspiracy theory to no theory at all.'
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
As if they were our own handiwork we place a high value on our characters.
I think I would have been a totally different kind of writer if I'd gone to England. I might have developed a cynicism about my origins, a belittling of them, or an excessive nostalgia for them.
True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.
Indeed, organizing atheists has been compared to herding cats, because they tend to think independently and will not conform to authority.
You are not an observer, you are a participant.
We have our own system, ... and journalists in our system are not put in prison for embarrassing the government by revealing things the government might not wish to have revealed. The important thing is that our system, under which journalists can write without fear or favor, should continue.
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