Steven wrote: >> > Care to elaborate on that HYIP reference ? >> How many have you tried and what were their names. >This is amazing. I cannot decide between (1) this is just bull or (2) a genuine inability to think. >If it is taken seriously then it explains a lot! >Seriously making such an argument indicates the lack of any conceptual means to distinguish reality from fantasy. Such people evidently will just try anything at random to see what immediately happens and they cannot conceive of any other means of validation. They do not seem tobelieve in or know about such things as cause and effect, objective reality, reasoning, or understanding. Apparently they really believe in magic! Precisely what I've been saying. The suckers who fall for HYIPs seem to lack the ability to discern that it's a scam, and when they are burnt lack the reasoning to understand why they were burnt (it was a scam, the people running it are crooks etc.) and see nothing foolish about immediately looking for a similar scheme to give more money to. In some ways it's similar to 'magical thinking' (as a psychologist would put it). I was trying to explain to a friend once, and to be honest he isn't very bright, why it was a bad idea for him to invest several thousand dollars on worm-farm equipment. I explained to him, quite simply, that once he had paid the money and commenced growing the worms, there was little likelihood that the promoters would actually pay the quoted figure to buy back the worms. He seemed to think i was an absolute fool and, flabbergasted, said 'But I've got a legal contract!'. I tried to point out to him that a legal contract wasn't much use when the promoters moved on and he didn't know where they were. He then claimed that he had their phone number.... There is also, of course, a strong element of naivete as well, and an underlying belief (based on faith of course) that: They are honest so everyone else must be honest also; If these people were crooks 'the authorities' wouldn't let them operate (which is very funny considering the supposed OS nature of many schemes); Any money they lose will be made good by someone, somewhere. New Books at Discount Prices --- Send the right message --- + Today freemail + Get your free, private email address at http://www.today.com.au --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]