Why is it that the more fantastic or far-fetched things are, the more likely we are to accept it?

Question

Take adventure and fantasy films, for example: We have no problem accepting a superhero who can fly, breath fire, perform magic, or scale walls like a spider. Nor do we have a problem accepting an arch-enemy who can direct magnetic force fields, or a monster who can freeze people merely by looking into their eyes. But we balk at any hint of sound to be heard during a battle between starships in space or at an unrealistic wound rendered by a light saber, even though the whole idea of a light saber itself is preposterous.

When the three women Van Helsing has been pursuing turn into vampires and begin to fly, it doesn't phase us in the least. But we balk at the idea of Van Helsing's use of a mechanical device that propels arrows to extreme distances, scoffing at the lack of realism because the distances seem impossibly long.

Why do we have no problem accepting the supernatural in any form, yet we find simpler violations of physical laws entirely preposterous?

Answer 1

I think it's a pattern men have exhibited since the beginning of time. When we do not understand something, we attribute it to "magical powers" or "supernatural beings" whose "mysterious ways" we cannot hope to explain. The fact that believing in the existence of magical beings is more irrational than the pheonomena we don't understand itself doesn't seem to matter. Our brains just seem wired to jump to the "magic" conclusion any time an understanding of the physical processes behing something eludes us.

Why else would ancient man have attributed thunder and lightening to an angry god, or much-needed rain to an appreciative goddess? And why else would people continue to have problems understanding and accepting the process of evolution but have no problem swallowing the idea of an omnipotent, omniscient god even though they have no good explanation for where such an entity could possibly have come from itself?!

Answer 2

everyone is an expert at simple thing, they don't question things they can't understand..............

Answer 3

because we are simple and lazy

Answer 4

you know, you have a point...I don't know..