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25 Of The Stupidest Things Many Intelligent People Still Believe, According To Peeps Online
Let's start with the most important thing - do you believe that Neil Armstrong actually landed on the Moon in July 1969, walked on its surface, ran, jumped, and even left an American flag there? If not, well, then perhaps you can skip one of the stories in today’s selection...
The thing is that this list is dedicated to various things, assumptions, and "theories" that, despite their obvious absurdity from the point of view of modern science and common sense, have many very smart and intelligent adherents. So, let's get reading, and may the logic be with us!
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#1
For some reason, my wife thinks I'm attractive. I'm pretty sure I've just induced Stockholm syndrome.
RELATED:
#2
Programmer up at work will argue to his death that Dinosaurs don't and never did exist.
Michael Largey 6 months ago
That's not a matter of intelligence. It's a matter of religious indoctrination.
#3
Absolutely brilliant friend firmly believes that the average adult man could beat any given adult whitetail buck in an unarmed fight. "You could just grab it by the antlers and go dead weight, their legs are so skinny that would take it down and then you could just choke it out," he insists.
For some reason, it is believed that all sorts of dubious theories usually attract people who lack the knowledge or education to distinguish truth from fakes. However, as it turns out, this is not always true. Want some proof? Voila!
In this thread on AskReddit, the user u/dexicoma asked netizens a couple of days ago: "What's the stupidest thing the most intelligent person in your life believes?" The question has already collected over 9.3K upvotes with nearly 6K various comments. And we, Bored Panda, are presenting to you a selection of the most interesting and intriguing stories.
#4
Cows have horns because they need them to communicate with the cosmos. My dad, has two masters degrees and could've become a professor.
#5
My wife speaks 3 languages and has 2 master degrees (edit: finance and business administration)
She believes basketball makes you taller and has no idea about survivor bias even when it's explained to her.
#6
One of the smartest people I know engineer, business owner, multi millionaire, critical thinker science lover, endlessly curious, passionate about logic reason - the works, boxes that all up and compartmentalizes it so he can believe in Mormonism.
Of course, this list will include Neil Armstrong and the flat Earth, omnipotent aliens and planetary government, and many other conspiracy theories that have been popular lately. However, there may also be completely stupid everyday prejudices that cannot be explained from a logical point of view.
For example, why you can't wear a hoodie and shorts at home. To be honest, I still don't understand the logic behind this statement (except that it implies that a hoodie is clothing for the cold season, and shorts are for the warm season). But if you're at home - well, if anyone also shares this point of view, please explain it in the comments.
#7
My sister has two college degrees and believes in the hollow Earth theory.
detective miller's hat 6 months ago
Of course it's hollow! If it wasn't hollow and full of air, it would fall down.
#8
The smartest person I know genuinely believes they can function on 3 hours of sleep and just coffee, like they’re some kind of enlightened goblin.
#9
I had a roommate in college who was a straight A student and taking a masters in physics. He thought the moon landing was fake.
Doctor Strange 6 months ago
Duh, the moon landing WAS faked. NASA hired Stanly Kubrick to direct it. Of course, Kubrick, a well known perfectionist, insisted that they shot it on location.
Another classic popular opinion of many people is why you can't have Wi-Fi at home. What can I say - my mom is a former university professor and she still doesn't have a router at home, because she's afraid of "radiation." She lives in an apartment building, so recently, I just turned on Wi-Fi on her smartphone, showing how many access points there are around her apartment.
So if Wi-Fi really was that incredibly dangerous, then over the years of living in this apartment, it would definitely affect her health badly. Yes, she nodded her head, agreed that an extra router wouldn't affect anything... but she still refused to install one in her home...
#10
My uncle is an IT technician and computer expert, but also thinks pineapples grow on palm trees.
#11
I haven't spoken to them in years, but I played Dungeons and Dragons with a guy who was pretty close to graduating as a neurosurgeon.
Listening to them rant about how masculine men only pee while standing was interesting.
#12
My brother of all people believes that people that have A-,B- blood type has either alien blood or blood from the people of Atlantis mixed with their ancestors. If you have a + blood type you’re pure. I thought that he was joking with me when he was talking about that but no it was said in a very mater of fact kind of way. He is super smart but has some out there beliefs.
Well, and the dinosaurs, of course. No, it’s understandable that it is simply difficult for the human mind to fathom a time period of tens of millions of years - and if you haven’t seen paleontologists finding dinosaur bones, this doesn’t mean that they never existed. Or that this is a special conspiracy of scientists to get funding for themselves.
After all, numerous legends about dragons in literally different parts of the world, which were not connected in any way in ancient times, didn’t actually arise out of nowhere. Because crocodiles and alligators, which can partly become prototypes of dragons, didn’t live everywhere.
Here, by the way, there is room for another popular theory - cryptozoology, that dinosaurs didn’t die out and live among us - but this is not what we’re talking about now...
#13
That he can only have boys because only his left testicle functions properly. (I suppose it could be the right, I can't remember which one, I just know he thinks it's because one testicle produces boys and the other girls).
#14
My wife is the smartest person I know, but she is constantly worrying about what I call mom-case scenarios.
For example, she told me not to let our child walk down a street that was bordered by a wrought iron fence. Why? Because he might get impaled on the spear like points on top of the fence.
#15
God, but not like in a "there might be an omnipotent being in some capacity" way, but in a "well if I didn't believe there was a god what is stopping me from going around and doing terrible things to people" way. I just stared at him confused for awhile, couldn't believe he was serious.
Elton Thomas 6 months ago
I firmly believe that being a person of good moral character simply requires a well developed sense of empathy.
"In fact, a good education or having a well-paid job is by no means a guarantee that a person will not be susceptible to various strange theories," says Valery Bolgan, a historian and editor-in-chief of the Intent news agency from Ukraine, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment.
"In the end, one outstanding mathematician of the end of the last century once became so carried away by history that he came up with a whole system of the so-called 'New Chronology' - and absolutely anti-scientific."
"That is, a person can be a great expert in their own field, but have mediocre knowledge in other fields. So being under the influence of the Internet, social networks, they can gain confidence, bordering on faith, in something completely weird and incomprehensible."
"Although, on the other hand, science sometimes changes its vector of perception. For example, Einstein's theory of relativity was once considered by many really big scientists to be nothing more than a stupid fiction... However, it’s unlikely that any of the 'theories' given here will become generally accepted over time," Valery sums up.
#16
I have an acquaintance that thinks Channing Tatum is her online boyfriend.
Serena Myers 6 months ago
I hope she's not getting begging emails from him and sending him money!
#17
A wonderful kind person I know majored in physics at a big university and firmly believes the earth is 4000 years old. Says it’s a matter of faith and belief.
He’s so nice I’ve never bugged him about it.
UKGrandad 6 months ago (edited)
He's close. According to the calculations of the 17th. Century Archbishop James Ussher (yes, double-s) Creation was on the evening of the 22nd. October, 4004 B.C.. So it'll be it's 4029th. birthday this year. More recent scientific study has confirmed that he was right....give or take a few billion years 😂 EDIT: 6029 years old. Thanks, Tango Wox 👍
#18
My aunt has a doctorate in psychology, studied biology, owns a psychological books publishing company, used to work as a psychologist.
She tells me wind turbines are powered externally just to keep turning, because they don't generate any power themselves.
So, let's now just read this selection of human beliefs and misconceptions again. Without laughter, just with understanding. After all, if a decent human being believes in something strange and doesn’t try to impose their viewpoint on others, then why not? By the way, if you also have similar examples and stories about such people, please feel free to share them in the comments here.
#19
I dunno about most intelligent in my life, but mom was an RN and still works in the health department fields, and got convinced the Covid vaccine would k**l you or make you sicker than just getting Covid.
So...there's that.
Mobey Drunk 6 months ago
How can you go into a field of science and ignore all scientific data?
#20
Flat earth and the ice wall and the stars are fake and it’s all very crazy. Oh, and demons built the pyramids, not the Egyptians. So there’s that.
ETA my coworker just reminded me about the flat earth map. He literally had a fancy classroom-type giant wall map of flat earth over his desk, if I can find the pictures we took when he was on leave, I’ll share them.
#21
Not the smartest, but in the top 5. Believes in government weather control (not cloud seeding, like they make hurricanes) and is anti vaccine.
#22
Not sure if this has already been said, but my ex-step sister in law a GP (now in her 50’s) fully believes that humanity only started 6,000 years ago as fully formed humans and that dinosaurs and carbon dating is wrong, since man was the first animal created when God created the earth……obviously she’s a very religious Christian, but she’s also a well respected GP in a blue state.
#23
I had a professor in the hard sciences that I did research with for years.
One day, we were talking about something being installed in the building for 5G infrastructure, and I think I asked her a question about conspiracy theorists who were afraid of 5G. To my surprise, she told me that they (her, her husband, and 2 kids) didn't have wifi at their house bc the jury was still out about the effect of wifi frequencies on people, and they didn't want to subject their kids to that.
I thought it was a bit silly, but had no choice but to respect what I was hearing bc it was coming from someone I had so much respect for.
Circa 2014.
Michael Largey 6 months ago
Wi-fi has negative effects on kids that have nothing to do with physics.
#24
My mother is highly intelligent and is a screaming evangelical.
My husband is the smartest person I know, with a measured IQ of 187 and a PhD in mathematics. He honestly believes that he is stupid.
Uncle Panda 6 months ago
IQ scales don't meaningfully run that high and the predictability drops off around 132 (2 standard deviations.) Maybe you should take him at his word.
#25
Okay. So when I'm relaxing at home I'm usually wearing a hoodie and shorts. Comfortable. Normal. Right?
My extremely brilliant and rational partner finds this combination so illogical that he can't not comment on it every time. He likes to point at me and say stuff like: "You forgot part of the outfit." Or: "Cold arms, hot knees?" My love. My darling. It's literally normal. I don't know what your problem is.
Uncle Panda 6 months ago (edited)
It's been normalized but it's still questionable, like a wearing a warm woolen scarf at a hot beach.
What do you think ?
Uncle Panda 6 months ago
Honest ignorance should always be supported but determined ignorance deserves to be ignored.
UKGrandad 6 months ago
Honest ignorance should be corrected, not supported.
Load More Replies...
BookFanatic 6 months ago
Went to college with a girl who majored in Elementary Education. Was a daycare teacher and then an elementary school teacher. She wholeheartedly supports Trump, especially his cuts to the Department of Education.
Chris the Bobcat 6 months ago
My mom once told me, with a completely straight face, that chocolate milk came from brown cows.
Uncle Panda 6 months ago
Honest ignorance should always be supported but determined ignorance deserves to be ignored.
UKGrandad 6 months ago
Honest ignorance should be corrected, not supported.
Load More Replies... BookFanatic 6 months ago
Went to college with a girl who majored in Elementary Education. Was a daycare teacher and then an elementary school teacher. She wholeheartedly supports Trump, especially his cuts to the Department of Education.
Chris the Bobcat 6 months ago
My mom once told me, with a completely straight face, that chocolate milk came from brown cows.
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