Do Not Assume Fairies

Getting Rid of the Remnants of Teleology in Your Brain

Beginning this article, I risk appearing obvious. Indeed, I risk seeming obvious even after you have finished reading it. “What is he talking about? Shouldn’t a phenomenon be explained through its causes rather than through the influence of hypothetical intelligent entities altering its probabilities according to some target criterion? Wow, what a revelation!” And yet, I still take this risk — because I believe that even if you think you don’t believe in something like this, even if you engage in…