Sheesh, it's like the BBC built a virtual and put their behind it! What kind of jerk does that?!

...

, while he's sure that any complaining about this BBC piece is just another sign of how deep into the religion one is, here's the Macalope's thing about this.

The BBC had the researchers give an MRI to one (1) Apple enthusiast. Now, the Macalope is not a scientist by trade, but he has taken some science classes, watched several episodes of , and once saw in a restaurant, and he's pretty sure that that's not a very large sample size. Apparently, they've studied other people's reactions to brands, though, and the horny one has no real reason to doubt that it's true that Apple (or Google or Starbucks or Amazon but not Dell because that would be ridiculous) would fire up the same brain centers as religion in its fans. That, however, does not give you license to Photoshop a halo and robes on Steve Jobs. Just because the same center of the brain is active doesn't mean Apple fans worship Apple.

Which brings us to the Macalope's second complaint, which he's sure will only cement his crazy Apple cultism status (as if it needed any cementing). The researchers were not asked what other things might also stimulate the same brain centers. Sports? Politics? Entertainment stars? Your mom? The point being that it's possible those centers of the brain are triggered by a superset of social imagery, of which religion and consumerism are just two examples.