Why Do People Believe Weird Things... Confirmation Bias
- Thread starter Heisenberg
- Start date
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
You have the right idea. Dragons were probably a combination of mistakes of perception and people's creativity. Dinosaur bones were probably a pretty scary thing to find back then. When we are faced with the unknown, our minds often fill in the blanks with danger. Old maps would say "here be dragons" on unexplored territory. Dragons are just one of the mythical creatures that show up in different cultures at different times. Think about unicorns and centuars; it isn't hard to imagine someone seeing a horse by a tree and mistaking a branch for a horn, or seeing a man riding a horse from a distance and mistaking it for one entity.
researchkitty
Well-Known Member
God was invented to explain the unknown. Its the typical "designer" or "randomness" question that spiritual people state the universe was designed by a god, and scientists think the universe was created out of nothing and is pure random (which it is).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
Watch that, then you understand a very, very, very limited amout of the knowledge to understand the universe.
I havent seen post hoc ergo proctor hoc mentioned since it was in a West Wing episode.
I think most people believe in God or go to church because they feel they fit in there, and it sounds right, and all the other church people do it so it must be OK. Kinda like the KKK, the Nazis, and the Tea Party.
Whatever 'god' is, if at all, we would be unwise to think that in our lifetimes we would understand the true answers. If god DOES exist, "he" would have made the world so that the people in it had to believe, not see him. If God doesnt exist, we wouldnt see him anyway................
Churches are a great example of moral beliefs generally OK for society. Past that, bunch of weirdos praying to a man in the sky that doesnt exist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
Watch that, then you understand a very, very, very limited amout of the knowledge to understand the universe.
I havent seen post hoc ergo proctor hoc mentioned since it was in a West Wing episode.
I think most people believe in God or go to church because they feel they fit in there, and it sounds right, and all the other church people do it so it must be OK. Kinda like the KKK, the Nazis, and the Tea Party.
Whatever 'god' is, if at all, we would be unwise to think that in our lifetimes we would understand the true answers. If god DOES exist, "he" would have made the world so that the people in it had to believe, not see him. If God doesnt exist, we wouldnt see him anyway................
Churches are a great example of moral beliefs generally OK for society. Past that, bunch of weirdos praying to a man in the sky that doesnt exist.
tardis
Well-Known Member
I agree. We are prewired to ideas that allowed survival (or rather didn't encourage death before procreation) due to evolution. One could say this came from a prehuman animals memory of dinosaurs, but who knows, whatever this universal perception is in connection to dragons, it must have existed before the races adapted after leaving africa. Remember, our genetic lines all travel back to the very begining of primal soup, so there is a lot of different things happening in all modern living things.
tardis
Well-Known Member
Or someone trying to explain what a rhinosaurus was like after seeing one.
tardis
Well-Known Member
and past people fighting to ensure other people don't have the right to choose what to watch, ingest, or discuss because rules are enforced to protect their "souls"God was invented to explain the unknown. Its the typical "designer" or "randomness" question that spiritual people state the universe was designed by a god, and scientists think the universe was created out of nothing and is pure random (which it is).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
Watch that, then you understand a very, very, very limited amout of the knowledge to understand the universe.
I havent seen post hoc ergo proctor hoc mentioned since it was in a West Wing episode.
I think most people believe in God or go to church because they feel they fit in there, and it sounds right, and all the other church people do it so it must be OK. Kinda like the KKK, the Nazis, and the Tea Party.
Whatever 'god' is, if at all, we would be unwise to think that in our lifetimes we would understand the true answers. If god DOES exist, "he" would have made the world so that the people in it had to believe, not see him. If God doesnt exist, we wouldnt see him anyway................
Churches are a great example of moral beliefs generally OK for society. Past that, bunch of weirdos praying to a man in the sky that doesnt exist.
researchkitty
Well-Known Member
I dont resort to attacks on opinions, but your "opinions" are pretty far from everything that has been observed scientifically.
Reality is what you cant get out of. Everything else is the illusion. Elaborate? This is reality. You know it because we're in it and you dont know anything before that.
A "singularity" isnt where "god" is, a singularity is simply an instance where the laws of the universe break down. It's where E doesnt equal mc2. Since we dont know what happens when you go through the point of no return, the singularity, we cant be resolute on the science inside of the singularity.
The big bang was *not* a singularity. It was the explosion of infinitely hot and infinite mass matter. A black hole has a singularity, however if you're a physics pro like I am, you'd know that quarks can escape black holes because matter in a quark doesnt exist in a single state, it can exist in two places at once.
Save your wikipedia re-pastes for a philosophical discussion, that particular one has no science bearing in it whatsoever.
What does all this "god" and "no god" and black hole and universe and designer vs randomness mean? That's how you know I'm a science pro, because the answer is "I dont know".
Time isnt an illusion, by the way, its just a forward dimension that while you stay where you are, time goes forward. Its called spacetime because its 4 dimensions (X, Y, Z and Time to put it in the simplest of manners). You can travel back in time, you can travel forward in time, we just dont have the capabilities to travel around an infinitely long cosmic string to go forward, or travel near the speed of light without our bodies exploding or using all of the energy of the a few of our (small) suns.
If this thread was about the theory of relativity / special relativity then I'd go on for hours...............
researchkitty
Well-Known Member
Yep.
If "God" truly exists, why are there TWENTY TWO RELIGIONS with over 500,000 "members"? ( http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html )Sure, all 22 of them dont include these "new minor" religions, and all 22 of them surely have beliefs that are co-mingled between them, but some are VERY different than others!
"HEAVEN" forbid that your religion be the "wrong" one......... lol
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
HAHA, I remember that episode of West Wing. Just watched the series last winter. I remember being disapointed that only Toby knew what the president meant. IMO no one should be able to finish high school/college without being aware of post hoc fallacies. Think our current president is familiar? Do you think in reality most of the presidents staff would know what he meant? I sure hope so.
Hypnos
Active Member
Science to me is pretty reliable in its core while at the same time its best described
as a little kid with field glasses that can only see a range of 300 meters (while in last century it was only 200 meters)
I have to admit that i also have silly believs.
Believs to me are more like seeing different posibilities.
So if anyone asks me: Do you belive in god? I´m gonna answer him: yes to 50% and no to 50%, so i believe in the possibility of both.
I also like to read weird stuff because its fun and it has some possibility to it like these ET messages that sound like some good science fiction book.
I´m gonna give u a sample
"Selamat Ja! We return during this holiday season with much to tell you. Around you, your reality is changing! Gaia is busy preparing her surface realms for a great transformation. These preparations are still fairly subtle; however, you are now entering a time when these changes are to become much more conspicuous to you. Areas noted for major earthquakes are to become active and minor tremors are already making themselves felt. Volcanoes, both on land and seabed, are also beginning to 'rev up'. Our Earth scientists have been monitoring this increase in seismic activity on all continents. These developments constitute the next bout of warnings from Mother Earth and dovetail with your own quickening toward full consciousness. The old reality, which for millennia has been your residential 'cocoon', has served its purpose. Many dowsers have noticed that the magnetic lines they use to examine your world are changing in strength or position. These phenomena are related to Gaia's shifting gravity fields.
These magnetic shifts are playing havoc with Earth's electrical fields. In order to ready herself for full consciousness, Gaia is deliberately adapting to the immense amounts of data coming from the Sun, her fellow planets, and the galactic core. It is important to see all this as a living organism in transition. All 3-D realities regularly capture a certain amount of this data stream, and when an entity expands its consciousness the amount of data captured increases extraordinarily. Further, this data needs to be processed differently. To this end your reality is adapting its grid lines to better cope with the heightened influx and is starting to become a monopolar entity. Such change is taking place throughout your solar system, which allows your scientists to observe at close quarters how zero-point energy and matter operate in the galaxy. These observations astound them and demonstrate clearly just how out of phase their scientific paradigm is! It has prompted them to search more diligently for a new operating model, one that can better encompass these recurring phenomena.
Paralleling the many unusual events taking place in your solar system, the galactic core is also going through similar changes. She is changing her base frequency, triggering a series of great energy waves, which flow from the core to her outer spirals, and transforming how the galaxy holds her together. New galactic grid lines are forming, which indicates that a new type of gravity wave is being born. This energy is giving life to new graviton particles that slightly interfere with our basic propulsion setups. Hence, we have had to adjust our ships' energy-gathering devises and have changed the distribution of our vast fleet throughout your solar system. We have also altered the density of the motherships in the inner ring around your planet, necessitating the creation of a special Möbius strip-like corridor to permit the swift entrance of our ships into the Earth's atmosphere when the moment for first contact arrives. We need to adjust this travel corridor each day, which demonstrates just how rapidly your solar system is changing.
These considerable changes match the progress each of you is making toward the point where first contact is definitely required. This is why the first steps preparing you for this goal needs to be completed. We have notified our Earth allies of this and have emphasized that the present reality no longer reflects who you are becoming. The dark cabal, too, knows what is happening and is busy wondering how the status quo can be prolonged. There exists in your reality a failsafe point beyond which a different timeline can be imposed. This point has recently been passed, which means that there is now only one scenario permitted, and that is first contact and all that that entails. We have brought in a few good workers who are determined to propel things toward first contact at a much swifter pace. These Beings are accelerating their abilities to the max and intend to get the initial steps done very quickly. Meanwhile, your governmental and economic systems are poised for a complete collapse.
The key to what is happening is to understand the effect of overwhelming international debt on a nearly broken economic system. This is the goal that the dark cabalists were setting up in the first few years of the 21st century. Unfortunately for them, the system imploded before they could extract the quantity of money from the system that they had promised to the members of its many working boards. As a result, illegal actions by the US Federal Reserve and the legislatures of several nations permitted the extraction of most of the remaining monies from late 2008 to mid-2009. Our Earth allies alerted many governments about the truth of what was happening but were unable to prevent a series of European and Asian nations from approaching collapse in 2009-2010. They were able to recover some of these funds, and these can be used as proof of the illegal activities, giving us additional ammunition for bringing down the dark cabal.
The various nations of your world have secretly come together to oppose the hegemony of the dark cabal and to end its millennia-long stranglehold on the globe. Predictably, the dominant agent of this cabal, the US corporate state, used its army of covert intelligence operatives to put pressure on anyone involved in that activity, which created a very sticky milieu for the Earth allies and their new friends to operate in. Meanwhile, several major global trusts were reaching the point of pay-out and a number of parallel scenarios were also underway, the intent of which was to reach the point for our direct intervention around the end of the Gregorian year of 2010 and early 2011. These scenarios are beginning to interlink, and we have come to agreements with the major white-Light, secret societies of your globe on what is to be done next
. Your world needs to be deeply purged of what has come to be the commonplace and widely accepted prime beliefs of your reality. These erroneous mindsets are fostered by the fiction that you are alone and unique in the universe. Once your true history and the truth of your origins on other worlds are revealed, all these notions will go up in smoke. Those in your society who are willing and able to do so need to take on this huge crisis of perception and get the people of Gaia back on track. Then you can be introduced to us. Our mission is to complete what the many white-Light societies plan to do. Our counselors have waited for almost two decades to set you free and graciously introduce you to the amazing, sovereign Being that each of you has hidden within you.
The first item on the agenda of this first contact mission is to move you toward a more ethical form of governance combined with an economy based on abundance. The aim is to begin to fully honor you as sovereign Beings, and this implies a complete reappraisal of how you treat one another. Each of you is a precious creation of the Creator, endowed with equal and unalienable rights and delivered into this world with certain life-long goals. You are then equipped with unique talents that can be used to help others, as well as yourself, to reach those life goals. Galactic societies take these talents to their full potential. Normally, societies have reached this point before being eligible for first contact. You are to go beyond this point, all the way to full consciousness. You have a glorious future ahead, as a key member of the Galactic Federation of Light!
Today, we continued our discussion with you about first contact. Your reality is now collapsing and a new one is manifesting in its place. Then we can safely arrive and move you quite quickly into full consciousness. Wonders you cannot even imagine can then be opened to you! Know, dear Ones, in your Heart of Hearts that the countless Supply and never-ending Prosperity of Heaven are indeed Yours! So Be It! Selamat Gajun! Selamat Ja! (Sirian for Be One! and Be in Joy!)"
as a little kid with field glasses that can only see a range of 300 meters (while in last century it was only 200 meters)
I have to admit that i also have silly believs.
Believs to me are more like seeing different posibilities.
So if anyone asks me: Do you belive in god? I´m gonna answer him: yes to 50% and no to 50%, so i believe in the possibility of both.
I also like to read weird stuff because its fun and it has some possibility to it like these ET messages that sound like some good science fiction book.
I´m gonna give u a sample
"Selamat Ja! We return during this holiday season with much to tell you. Around you, your reality is changing! Gaia is busy preparing her surface realms for a great transformation. These preparations are still fairly subtle; however, you are now entering a time when these changes are to become much more conspicuous to you. Areas noted for major earthquakes are to become active and minor tremors are already making themselves felt. Volcanoes, both on land and seabed, are also beginning to 'rev up'. Our Earth scientists have been monitoring this increase in seismic activity on all continents. These developments constitute the next bout of warnings from Mother Earth and dovetail with your own quickening toward full consciousness. The old reality, which for millennia has been your residential 'cocoon', has served its purpose. Many dowsers have noticed that the magnetic lines they use to examine your world are changing in strength or position. These phenomena are related to Gaia's shifting gravity fields.
These magnetic shifts are playing havoc with Earth's electrical fields. In order to ready herself for full consciousness, Gaia is deliberately adapting to the immense amounts of data coming from the Sun, her fellow planets, and the galactic core. It is important to see all this as a living organism in transition. All 3-D realities regularly capture a certain amount of this data stream, and when an entity expands its consciousness the amount of data captured increases extraordinarily. Further, this data needs to be processed differently. To this end your reality is adapting its grid lines to better cope with the heightened influx and is starting to become a monopolar entity. Such change is taking place throughout your solar system, which allows your scientists to observe at close quarters how zero-point energy and matter operate in the galaxy. These observations astound them and demonstrate clearly just how out of phase their scientific paradigm is! It has prompted them to search more diligently for a new operating model, one that can better encompass these recurring phenomena.
Paralleling the many unusual events taking place in your solar system, the galactic core is also going through similar changes. She is changing her base frequency, triggering a series of great energy waves, which flow from the core to her outer spirals, and transforming how the galaxy holds her together. New galactic grid lines are forming, which indicates that a new type of gravity wave is being born. This energy is giving life to new graviton particles that slightly interfere with our basic propulsion setups. Hence, we have had to adjust our ships' energy-gathering devises and have changed the distribution of our vast fleet throughout your solar system. We have also altered the density of the motherships in the inner ring around your planet, necessitating the creation of a special Möbius strip-like corridor to permit the swift entrance of our ships into the Earth's atmosphere when the moment for first contact arrives. We need to adjust this travel corridor each day, which demonstrates just how rapidly your solar system is changing.
These considerable changes match the progress each of you is making toward the point where first contact is definitely required. This is why the first steps preparing you for this goal needs to be completed. We have notified our Earth allies of this and have emphasized that the present reality no longer reflects who you are becoming. The dark cabal, too, knows what is happening and is busy wondering how the status quo can be prolonged. There exists in your reality a failsafe point beyond which a different timeline can be imposed. This point has recently been passed, which means that there is now only one scenario permitted, and that is first contact and all that that entails. We have brought in a few good workers who are determined to propel things toward first contact at a much swifter pace. These Beings are accelerating their abilities to the max and intend to get the initial steps done very quickly. Meanwhile, your governmental and economic systems are poised for a complete collapse.
The key to what is happening is to understand the effect of overwhelming international debt on a nearly broken economic system. This is the goal that the dark cabalists were setting up in the first few years of the 21st century. Unfortunately for them, the system imploded before they could extract the quantity of money from the system that they had promised to the members of its many working boards. As a result, illegal actions by the US Federal Reserve and the legislatures of several nations permitted the extraction of most of the remaining monies from late 2008 to mid-2009. Our Earth allies alerted many governments about the truth of what was happening but were unable to prevent a series of European and Asian nations from approaching collapse in 2009-2010. They were able to recover some of these funds, and these can be used as proof of the illegal activities, giving us additional ammunition for bringing down the dark cabal.
The various nations of your world have secretly come together to oppose the hegemony of the dark cabal and to end its millennia-long stranglehold on the globe. Predictably, the dominant agent of this cabal, the US corporate state, used its army of covert intelligence operatives to put pressure on anyone involved in that activity, which created a very sticky milieu for the Earth allies and their new friends to operate in. Meanwhile, several major global trusts were reaching the point of pay-out and a number of parallel scenarios were also underway, the intent of which was to reach the point for our direct intervention around the end of the Gregorian year of 2010 and early 2011. These scenarios are beginning to interlink, and we have come to agreements with the major white-Light, secret societies of your globe on what is to be done next
. Your world needs to be deeply purged of what has come to be the commonplace and widely accepted prime beliefs of your reality. These erroneous mindsets are fostered by the fiction that you are alone and unique in the universe. Once your true history and the truth of your origins on other worlds are revealed, all these notions will go up in smoke. Those in your society who are willing and able to do so need to take on this huge crisis of perception and get the people of Gaia back on track. Then you can be introduced to us. Our mission is to complete what the many white-Light societies plan to do. Our counselors have waited for almost two decades to set you free and graciously introduce you to the amazing, sovereign Being that each of you has hidden within you.
The first item on the agenda of this first contact mission is to move you toward a more ethical form of governance combined with an economy based on abundance. The aim is to begin to fully honor you as sovereign Beings, and this implies a complete reappraisal of how you treat one another. Each of you is a precious creation of the Creator, endowed with equal and unalienable rights and delivered into this world with certain life-long goals. You are then equipped with unique talents that can be used to help others, as well as yourself, to reach those life goals. Galactic societies take these talents to their full potential. Normally, societies have reached this point before being eligible for first contact. You are to go beyond this point, all the way to full consciousness. You have a glorious future ahead, as a key member of the Galactic Federation of Light!
Today, we continued our discussion with you about first contact. Your reality is now collapsing and a new one is manifesting in its place. Then we can safely arrive and move you quite quickly into full consciousness. Wonders you cannot even imagine can then be opened to you! Know, dear Ones, in your Heart of Hearts that the countless Supply and never-ending Prosperity of Heaven are indeed Yours! So Be It! Selamat Gajun! Selamat Ja! (Sirian for Be One! and Be in Joy!)"
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
Hrmm too much nonsense to read entirely. I got through half of it. I love it when scientists are baffled or astounded. Sometimes they are shocked and occasionally puzzled.
I understand being interested in the weird. I still listen to ghost and paranormal podcasts. I have every episode of ghost hunters, paranormal state, monster quest, ect. I find it entertaining even if there's nothing to it. Monster Quest liked to sensationalize, but for the most part kept a scientific approach. Ghost hunters is borderline insulting, it's just boringly stupid. Paranormal state is great for a laugh.
This statement was pulled from someone ass pertaining to the subject, but changing it's mind is something science does almost daily and is part of the routine. The idea is being stated here as if it's a discredit.
I understand being interested in the weird. I still listen to ghost and paranormal podcasts. I have every episode of ghost hunters, paranormal state, monster quest, ect. I find it entertaining even if there's nothing to it. Monster Quest liked to sensationalize, but for the most part kept a scientific approach. Ghost hunters is borderline insulting, it's just boringly stupid. Paranormal state is great for a laugh.
Hypnos
Active Member
Right maybe its nonsense, interesting would be what science thinks about the solar system right now (is there a change? if yes how do they describe it?)
But lets stick to the facts because its not only believ in all these ET stuff, there are many things going on that are actually experienceable and have been experienced by some individuals.
1. A lot of Ex militaries have come forward the past years talking mostly about their experiences with UFO sightings and sometimes about ETs
2. There are a lot of UFO Videos on the net. Some maybe clearly fake while others look decent.
Examples:
http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/63129/New_Zealand_Releases_UFO_X_Files_Videos__amp__Papers/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq0g0IFSl3o&feature=related
3. Many people have seen UFOs for themselves.
4. Crop circles and reports of "light balls" hovering over them.
Thats why i say theres some possibility to it that is founded.
But lets stick to the facts because its not only believ in all these ET stuff, there are many things going on that are actually experienceable and have been experienced by some individuals.
1. A lot of Ex militaries have come forward the past years talking mostly about their experiences with UFO sightings and sometimes about ETs
2. There are a lot of UFO Videos on the net. Some maybe clearly fake while others look decent.
Examples:
http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/63129/New_Zealand_Releases_UFO_X_Files_Videos__amp__Papers/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq0g0IFSl3o&feature=related
3. Many people have seen UFOs for themselves.
4. Crop circles and reports of "light balls" hovering over them.
Thats why i say theres some possibility to it that is founded.
researchkitty
Well-Known Member
Most UFO's are just Venus. There's that for what science thinks about the solar system or UFO's.
Aliens would have to follow the same laws of physics as any humans here on earth. Certainly we assume more technologically advanced, but still e=mc2
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
Well, each of these are separate topics deserving their own thread. Anecdotal evidence is the lowest and least trustworthy form. That is because people make mistakes like the ones I am trying to outline. They see, remember and interpret things wrong, and then tend to embellish. I don't know the exact number, but almost all UFO investigations reveal an explainable source, with just a very very small percent remaining unknown. In these cases the most likely explanation is mistakes or hoax. As a result we can only use anecdotal information to start an investigation and not to draw any conclusions at all. So that takes care of 1 and 3.
As for crop circles, those are occasionally explained by animals that, for whatever reason, decided to walk in a circle for hours and beat down the crop. Sometimes fungus is found to have grown in a ring and killed the crop. But those types of circles are crude. Anytime a crop circle is even the least bit complicated, it's been done by a human. Always. We know this because...the humans have come forward and admitted it. Hoaxers have been caught, ect. In addition it has been demonstrated that all of the designs could be made by normal means within the same time frames. When we are presented with such a mundane explanation, it makes it unnecessary to go looking for a paranormal one. The balls of light simply are not there, an embellishment by story tellers. The videos showing the balls of light were first proven fakes, and then admitted to be fake.
If your interested there is a much more lengthy explanation of crop circles here. One of the things the article points out is.
You may also enjoy this article, which is about true mysteries and strange things in California. One that I liked is,
Lastly, if you ever want to research astronomical claims to see if they are true, or at least recognized, try the site Bad Astronomy.
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
Sorry, forgot to watch the videos before.
The first vid seems laughable. That could be anything... I mean, really...
Second one has some interesting footage. But at first it shows a vapor trail... I see those every day. Next is a colorful blob. Then we see some birds flying in formation... However the last bit is really interesting! Awe inspiring even if you take it at face value. Upon doing some research I see that the those last two segments of footage were taken by the same guy, Arturo Robles Gil. Turns out Mr. Arturo Robles Gil has been thoroughly debunked and caught red handed faking photographs by the UFO community itself. There is no shortage of documents showing his fraud via google.
Don't get me wrong, I do believe UFO sightings are worthy of investigation.
The first vid seems laughable. That could be anything... I mean, really...
Second one has some interesting footage. But at first it shows a vapor trail... I see those every day. Next is a colorful blob. Then we see some birds flying in formation... However the last bit is really interesting! Awe inspiring even if you take it at face value. Upon doing some research I see that the those last two segments of footage were taken by the same guy, Arturo Robles Gil. Turns out Mr. Arturo Robles Gil has been thoroughly debunked and caught red handed faking photographs by the UFO community itself. There is no shortage of documents showing his fraud via google.
Don't get me wrong, I do believe UFO sightings are worthy of investigation.
researchkitty
Well-Known Member
Just like the big comet shaped like an X was an alien spacecraft going the equivilant of a snails speed in outer space.
tardis
Well-Known Member
Old Alien Races, like old humans, drive slow....Just like the big comet shaped like an X was an alien spacecraft going the equivilant of a snails speed in outer space.
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
Sounds just like the Doctor, David T. era.
mindphuk
Well-Known Member
it's hard to get up to speed when the handbrake is engaged (that's why the tardis makes that sound)
guy incognito
Well-Known Member
uh what? I think we have read different physics books. I don't think anything escapes the black hole either. Particle-Anti-particle pairs form outside the event horizon, and occasionally one particle "escapes" the black hole while the other crosses the event horizon dooming it to the singularity. This is hawking radiation and eventually leads to the evaporation of the black hole in accordance with the equation e=mc^2.
I don't think your description of everything else is accurate either.