People still believe in spontaneous human combustion. They will refuse to believe that science has explained this phenomenon, and continue to treat it as mysterious.
Look, what happens is simple. Someone dies, or falls unconscious, whether it be heart attack or epileptic siezure or whatever, and fall down. They fall on a stove, fireplace, or other source of heat. Their clothes catch on fire. Body fat burns, wicking up into the flame to keep it burning, and drying out the body. The room fills with smoke and the oxygen decreases. In the low oxygen levels, the fire reduces to a low smoulder, with intense heat but little flame. This continues for several hours, raising the temperature and reducing the oxygen content of the room, until the torso and head, and most of the limbs are consumed. Typically, the feet have little fuel, and were furthest from the source of the flame, and are left behind.
This explanation, verified by scientific tests and analyses, is rejected by many people on the grounds that it is "explaining away" a mysterious phenomenon. Why is this?
The science of memetics has an answer to this question as well. Memes which promote the idea that there are mysterious and unexplained forces in the world tend to prosper. This is because the mental environment in which they live tends to favour them.
People want very strongly to believe in the mysterious. It gives them a sense of awe and wonder, gives them the feeling that there are forces they could tap. It gives a great sense of freedom to believe that the world is not constrained by laws of physics or logic. Also, they resent science for understanding certain parts of the world which they do not. They want to find evidence that science does not, and never COULD, understand the universe. UFO's, Hauntings, Vampires, spontaneous human combustion, cattle mutilations, Faeries, Alien Mind Control, and the Easter Bunny are all possible objects of belief because they reject rationality.
These people are overlooking another possible outlook:
Optimism in their own ability to understand, and in the capability of that understanding to give greater freedom from limitations. This outlook is fundamentally more egalitarian. It doesn't criticize anyone for understanding, or for holding foolish beliefs. It simply observes that refusal to understand or to accept logic inevitably results in failure.
Some people, having identified fuzzy thinking as the underlying problem in our modern culture of pessimism, assume themselves to be free of it. This conclusion is itself proof of its own falsehood: the argument is invalid. This applies to most scientists, who believe in their own infalliability.
Do not make this mistake: rational thought includes maintaining an open mind, not rejecting something as illogical simply because you don't understand it. Simply because something seems impossible, you should not question the evidence of your eyes and ears.
Look, and listen: the first rule of science.
