[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

Which doesn't answer Kuhb's question...

well yes it does. it was all implied in the premises. but i will try to spell it out.

system 1 is the automatic brain, system 2 is the one that performs logical reasoning and mathematics. system 1 is very useful, not always accurate. system 2 requires more effort, has a different way of being dumb.

see, a man dies because of a number of reasons. in his case it was pancreatic cancer (fuck). he was 59, a former addict, who knows what other risk factors.

but because he was a member of the smiths, the mammalian brain does not see a man of 59 or a former addict or his particular risk factors for that death.

instead it sees "a member of the smiths dies"

so in the mammalian brain it's as if "death" (in system 1 often not even an event, but a kind of person, "the grim reaper") was picking out of a member of that specific group. a group that was not even together anymore, so it's not like they were all in a tour bus crash, and faced death as a group. but the irrational mind does not care, and sees a connection anyway.

in that irrational/superstitious automatic interpretation then, the hopeful wish /prayer comes out as, "why couldn't death ("the grim reaper") have chosen nigel farage's obnoxious acolyte, instead of the nice guy?"

and that is a totally irrational and absurd wish of course, based on a false premise and inexistent causality and even implying the possibility of time travel ("correct the past").

but mammalian brains are wired like that, and system 2 only comes later and (maybe) says: "wait wait wait, you idiot, the world doesn't really work like that..."

unless you're a theologian, in which case your system 2 constructs a convoluted "logical" explanation to confirm, instead of deny, your absurd superstitions. (this is a special way in which system 2 can be dumb). and then finds a way to charge you money for it (this is clever i guess).

since i am not a theologian i can see the absurdities of my system 1, but since i am a mammal i cannot simply shut down its fantasies. i have to look at them first, react emotionally, and only later analyze them under the light of reason.

but yeah, tldr: it was a system 1 response. apophenia + wishful thinking at least: "grim reaper, you should have chosen the other one..." is a ridiculous ritual/prayer. and yet...