That stuff about making a better world, I’m joking, but not really
I guess. I really do believe that if we got together and debated our beliefs
logically and were open to accepting whatever beliefs were the most logical, the
world would be a better place. We would see more clearly and be better able to
steer the ship of state, or in the case of a one-worlder such as myself, the
planet, so we would steer it better, and in general everybody would be
happier.
I would have to say that there is roughly zero chances of this
happening, but the closer we get to this ideal the better off we will
be.
Mostly I take my context from science where you can say something
like the mass of an electron is 9.1 x 10^-31 kilograms. And if somebody doesn’t
believe that you can go right back to those English gentlemen scientists through
the guys of today with their weird wonderful gadgets and present all the papers
and if one were smart enough one could go through them all and examine every
assumption and conclusion and if one could find some mistake, then we would have
to re-weigh the electron, but if one couldn’t one would have to accept it.
Of course the world of people is a lot more complicated than the
world of subatomic particles, but I still think if we applied the same rules to
them we could make some progress, we could throw out some theories that are
false on their faces and we would be better off never having to debate them
again. So I guess I do have an agenda.
The thing about this agenda is you really have to get your facts
straight because these are the building blocks that you build your theory from.
This is why I get upset with these anecdotal stories from dubious or nonexistent
sources, they muddy the clear water of reason. When you are mobilizing your
atom smasher to find the top quark you can’t stop your process every time some
guy walks in and says some guy told him that he read somewhere that the mass of
an electron is really 9.2 x 10^-31, and discuss it with him. Maybe sometimes
there are two opinions and the truth is somewhere near the middle, but mostly
the truth lies squarely on one side. If an outlandish theory has a reasonable
source I am inclined to listen to it, but if it is just something I heard from
my beer drinking buddy, much as I like my beer drinking buddy, I am inclined to
dismiss it out of hand, after all there is a better world to be
built.
Here’s another thing about the minimum wage. Both sides talk about
it in terms of whether or not it will help the economy. But what about the fact
that the kid of the guy who gets an extra buck or two an hour, will get an extra
cookie with her milk? Doesn’t that count for something?
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