Apple triggers 'religious' reaction in fans' brains, report says

[iTards]

(CNN) -- Next time Grandma asks why you're going to the mall on Sunday morning instead of church, tell her you're going to Apple Chapel.

For Apple fans, the brand triggers a reaction in the brain that's not unlike that of religious devotees, according to a BBC documentary series that cites neurological research.

The neuroscientists ran a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test on an Apple fanatic and discovered that images of the technology company's gadgets lit up the same parts of the brain as images of a deity do for religious people, the report says.

The first episode of the documentary shows Apple employees "whipped up into some sort of crazy, evangelical frenzy" at the recent opening of an Apple store in London.

Observers and Apple critics have long accused fans of the tech company of taking their infatuation to an extreme.

People have gone to great lengths to prove their love of Apple with tattoos, bumper stickers and home shrines to outmoded Mac computers. Apple's cult-like following was highlighted in a 2009 documentary called "Macheads."

A blog, aptly titled Cult of Mac, wrote on Thursday about Oakland, California, resident Gary Allen's cross-country pilgrimage to Apple's first store in Virginia to celebrate the retail chain's 10th anniversary this week.

In speeches, Pope Benedict XVI has said technology consumption poses a threat to religion and the Roman Catholic church. The holy leader told a Palm Sunday crowd last month that technology cannot replace God.

However, apparently it may inspire god-like devotion.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/05/19/apple.religion/index.html?hpt=C1

loonies? I think so..

 

[maflynn]

You're new here aren't you. Those "fanatics" are here as well.

 

[*LTD*]

"iTards" as your MR handle, on a Mac fan site?

I already see how this will end, but have fun during your stay.

Oh yeah, and those "fanatics", are actually right.

 

[roadbloc]

There goes one of them. I'm sure the rest will join for some more personal attacks on the OP.

 

[eawmp1]

1) New poster
2) Rather insulting user name
3) At least 2 prior threads about this:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1154626/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1154626/

Don't expect sympathy.

 

[*LTD*]

Your first post:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/12602647/

 

[maflynn]

1) New poster
2) Rather insulting user name
3) At least 2 prior threads about this:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1154626/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1154626/

Don't expect sympathy.

I don't know which is worse, a new member with an instulting name posting trollish information or the blind fanatics.

I'd have to say the trolls as they come here only to stir things up. At least with LTD you know where he stands

 

[roadbloc]

I don't know which is worse, a new member with an instulting name posting trollish information or the blind fanatics.

I'd have to say the trolls as they come here only to stir things up. At least with LTD you know where he stands

+1. This forum used to have a wide range of people with a wide range of opinions. Increasingly it's being filled with fanboys and haters posting fabricated "facts", both are in refusal to accept that product X may just be better/more popular than their beloved product Y.

 

[eawmp1]

I don't know which is worse, a new member with an instulting name posting trollish information or the blind fanatics.

I'd have to say the trolls as they come here only to stir things up. At least with LTD you know where he stands

I prefer to take the middle of the road approach. I'll call out BS on both sides. I wish the silent moderate majority would speak up more often. (Are we still talking fanboys versus trolls here?)

 

[maflynn]

I prefer to take the middle of the road approach. I'll call out BS on both sides. I wish the silent moderate majority would speak up more often. (Are we still talking fanboys versus trolls here?)

Yes and fanboy's blind following of a billion dollar corporation is tiring especially when they throw out logic and reality to justify various decisions/products of apple. Still fanboy posts are a lot less caustic and generally are less inflammatory then trolls.

 

[toddybody]

Still fanboy posts are a lot less caustic and generally are less inflammatory then trolls.

Respectfully, I have to disagree. I feel the population density of MR fanboys far outweigh the occasional troll. The real problem IMHO, is that the trolls are rightfully schooled, while many of the fanboys get a free ride (or even high five'd).

I have to chime with Roadbloc's sentiments of "both are in refusal to accept that product X may just be better/more popular than their beloved product Y."