rocketman's fantasy:
The reality:
I'm heading down the road at normal speed, all the maps show it getting me to my destination safely. I'm being told over and over again by people that the road is about to end and fall off a cliff and that I better slow down, and they know this because a muddled and contradictory book from 2,000 years ago tells them so. However, the believers of this message all disagree about the details. Some say that the road ending off the cliff is an allegory, to teach a lesson to slow down. Some say the road is about to end any minute for real and that I will die if I don't slow down. Others say that the road will end, but it won't be a cliff but rather will just become bumpy with a bunch of pot holes, better slow down to avoid the rough road ahead. All of them point to the same book to say why they are in fact right and have the correct interpretation of this book. Even more strange still, all the ones that have this belief were born into a household indoctrinated from birth to believe this, and that the particular people who have any particular belief are clustered together by location of birth. They were all also told that they are bad people if they don't believe it. I continue looking out ahead of me, but all I continue to see is smooth flat road ahead. People born into different households in different countries tell me that they have a different book, which they were also curiously indoctrinated to believe in by their parents and society. They tell me not to slow down, but rather to speed up, because a big bulldozer is chasing me on the road and that if I don't listen I'll be killed by the bulldozer. I listen for sounds of the bulldozer and don't hear a thing, and continue on my way at the same speed. If I begin to hear the bulldozer or see the road ending, I will act accordingly, but so far, nothing.
