{"id":1856,"date":"2015-08-24T20:58:01","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T20:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/?p=1856"},"modified":"2015-08-24T20:58:01","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T20:58:01","slug":"certainty-onions-and-the-speed-of-light-in-a-vacuum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/24\/certainty-onions-and-the-speed-of-light-in-a-vacuum\/","title":{"rendered":"certainty, onions, and the speed of light (in a vacuum)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think I just figured out the root of all problems in western civilization. \u00a0Yea, me!<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier today I witnessed a minor battle on Facebook over politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both sides were utterly certain they were right and the other side was wrong. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And they quickly reached an impasse because neither of them could back down. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not just that they “wouldn’t” back down, I don’t think that either side could. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It got me thinking about how often our certainty causes problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

“This brand of shoes\/soda\/phone is better than that brand”<\/span><\/p>\n

“This music\/ideology\/social status\/height\/language\/eye color is the best”<\/span><\/p>\n

“Beards are great\/gross”<\/span><\/p>\n

“Light\/Dark skin is better than Dark\/Light skin”<\/span><\/p>\n

“This is the best country\/That is the worst country”<\/span><\/p>\n

“This religion is the right one and every other religion is wrong”<\/span><\/p>\n

“This political party is the right one and every other one is wrong”<\/span><\/p>\n

“This person is better than that person”<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m right and you’re wrong”<\/span><\/p>\n

(I could literally go on all day)<\/span><\/p>\n

And then we stop talking and learning and start fighting. Because it isn’t enough that we have an opinion about something, we’re compelled to have everyone around us share the same opinion. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even being aware of this, it’s tough not to do. \u00a0\u00a0Take onions, for example. \u00a0I think my loathing of this dubious “food item” is well documented. \u00a0And I’d like nothing more than to have them outright banned across the multiverse. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t force your onions on me, jerk! \u00a0\u00a0I have a right to not have onions around me! \u00a0\u00a0I don’t want to have to explain onions to my cat – he won’t understand!<\/span><\/p>\n

Except that’s silly, right? \u00a0So, like it or not, onions are a fact of life. \u00a0I have to concede that some otherwise very intelligent people really like onions. \u00a0For the sake of civilization – and being invited to parties – I have to acknowledge the I might be in the wrong. \u00a0I don’t have to like onions, but I have to live with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

And – like coffee – I keep trying them. \u00a0(I like the smell and the idea of coffee, I just don’t like the taste much.) \u00a0Usually inadvertently, but it still counts. \u00a0And maybe someday I’ll change my mind. <\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not certain about that, but it’s a start.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only thing we should really be certain about is that the speed of light \u00a0is 299,792,458 m\/s. \u00a0It’s a universal constant, okay? \u00a0Just let it go. \u00a0And yes, I’m talking about “in a vacuum”. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything else would benefit from some uncertainty, I think.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, why are we so certain about things? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I suspect it’s because we’re so bombarded with information all the time. If we really did keep an open mind about everything, we’d never be able to pick out breakfast cereal. \u00a0We have to categorize things into the “yes” piles and the “no” piles. \u00a0We just don’t have enough brain power to give everything the attention and consideration it deserves. \u00a0And so we end up with coco-puffs every morning because it turns the milk chocolaty – without putting for the effort to consider that maybe that’s not a great reason to pick a cereal. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This also brings to mind an award we had on campus not long ago for the best staff member. \u00a0\u00a0Only one person got nominated – the process of nominations was horribly complicated – and so instead of giving them the award they clearly deserved, the whole thing was canceled. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It wasn’t enough for someone to win – someone else had to lose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which is pretty twisted, actually. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How do we fix this? \u00a0How do we convince people to not be such jerks? \u00a0How do we get people to have open minds – where everyone can have an opinion and not force it on others? \u00a0Where everyone can win?<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t have an answer but I think it’s good food for thought. \u00a0I’m going to keep an open mind about it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think I just figured out the root of all problems in western civilization. \u00a0Yea, me! Earlier today I witnessed a minor battle on Facebook over politics. Naturally. Both sides were utterly certain they were right and the other side was wrong. \u00a0 And they quickly reached an impasse because neither of them could back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1857,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions\/1857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}