The education system, the media environment, the social setting fail to instill in people scientific inquiry but, instead promote superstitions and archaic beliefs and attitudes. The Octopus is named as psychic Octopus. There is no evidence to support or even suggest that an Octopus has intelligence to predict something.  The danger now is the football player may stop seriously practicing sport and concentrate on worshipping Octopus.  The madness will not end here many more Pauls’ will join the game. Not just the Football it will infect even other popular sports like Tennis, cricket,etc. The vested interests will always be the ready to capitalize on such popular unscientific superstitious beliefs. The politicians, the stock market, etc., would soon adopt this phenomenon .The speculative force in the Stock market  would further this phenomenon.  Octopus join the bulls and bears.

The superstitious beliefs are propagated through the most modern medium of internet. The social networking sites like the Twitter, Face book are now used to mobilize millions of followers for or against the Octopus Paul. Even the leaders of most advanced nations like Spain, Germany join the debate. The leading global television channels are busy cashing on the mad phenomenon gripping the Football lovers in different parts of the world. Perhaps new form of match fixing is unveiled. However this sort of match fixing by octopus is different from the dubious phenomenon of match fixing seen in cricket. Why this phenomenon.  Superstition is more  popular than Science. This is precisely what is happening in the Octopus Paul phenomenon . The great astronomer Jayanth Narlekar once narrated an interesting experience. He was working at Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astro physics.The centre has written to the Telephones  department to include its entry in the Telephone directory. The Telephone department  included it in its directory . But , it has mentioned it as Inter University Centre for Astrology and Astrophysics. This is because Astrology is more popular  than Astronomy, explains Narlekar.  This is precisely the reason the Octopus Paul  phenomenon is attracting more people than  any spectacular scientific event .

The power  of internet can be harnessed for a right or wrong purpose. In this case  millions of netigens use the power of internet to propagate this Octopus Paul phenomenon.  The media is also adding to the frenzy. Such events occurred even in India. The modern technology like the telecommunications was extensively used to popularize the superstitious belief that Lord Ganesha drank milk. Interestingly, Lord Ganesha never even tried to drink milk afterwards. The idols of Lord Ganesha did not drink milk in areas not having tele connectivity. The phenomenon was more or less confined to metropolitan cities and big urban conglomerates. Similarly even the Octopus Paul phenomenon is very popular among those who have net connectivity.

The media finds in this sensational news. The television channels which eagerly look for something that can attract captive audience find in this very attractive news. As it is associated with Football World cup mania the superstition spreads like wildfire.

The involvement of prominent  people in the debate made it more popular. The Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced that the Spanish government is thinking of sending body guards to protect the Octopus Paul from those who attribute their failure to the Paul prediction.  The Spanish environment minister Elena Espinosa said that the Octopus should be declared as an endangered species. Obviously, the warring football nations like Argentina, Spain, and Germany now caught in the Octopus. All this gave added dimension to the whole controversy. The ordinary people normally have a tendency to believe and follow leaders and heroes.

The education system, the media environment, the social setting fail to instill in people scientific inquiry but, instead promote superstitions and archaic beliefs and attitudes. The Octopus is named as psychic Octopus. There is no evidence to support or even suggest that an Octopus has intelligence to predict something.  The danger now is the football player may stop seriously practicing sport and concentrate on worshipping Octopus.  The madness will not end here many more Pauls’ will join the game. Not just the Football it will infect even other popular sports like Tennis, cricket,etc. The vested interests will always be the ready to capitalize on such popular unscientific superstitious beliefs. The politicians, the stock market, etc., would soon adopt this phenomenon .The speculative force in the Stock market  would further this phenomenon.  Octopus join the bulls and bears.

If an Octopus can predict the outcome of a game, we can use it to predict an electoral outcome. Why should nations waste precious resources on conducting elections? We can replace Electronic Voting Machines, ballot papers with Octopus. The polling booths can make way for Oceanarium. The educational institutions can abandon entrance tests and employ an octopus or  a parrot or a monkey which are blessed with mystic power to intelligently forecast or predict or select.

FOR MORE ARTCLES OF THE AUTHOR