There’s the known
the logical, the understandable, the measurable, the objective, the rational, etc.
And there’s the unknown,
the inscrutable, the subjective, the irrational, etc
Our idea of the world is obviously a blend of the two
Concepts which are logical, which are coherent, which are sensible,
Observations which suggest a generalisation with greater or lesser probability,
Hypothesis in particular cases
And the total unknowns which make no sense
Now, this fact in and of itself is not a problem — it’s just reality
The problem starts with our inability to tell apart what we KNOW from what we DON’T KNOW,
But even this is a known problem. I certainly had spoken of it.
Not Know You Don’t Know, Not Know You Know
say “I DON’T KNOW” when you DON’T KNOW
There’s No Confidence, There’s No Humility — Only Action
(granted the ideas are quite haphazardly laid out)
and other’s had spoken more wisely about it
My point in this text is even more specific, fallacious mental habit we develop in assessing the reality.
The consequence of LEARNING things, MAKING THINGS KNOWN, and of THINKING LOGICALLY and making LOGICAL THEORIES — is that we begin to believe that the world is MORE RATIONAL than it actually is.
And the converse consequence of dealing with UNCERTAINTY, with OPPOSING VIEWS and THEORIES, with CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE, with SUBJECTIVITY and INDIVIDUALITY and DIVERSITY — is that we begin to believe that the world is MORE SUBJECTIVE than it actually is
Both are of course distortions
And to make things worse: you can hold BOTH distortions at once. And most likely you do
You likely RATIONALISE and GENERALISE some aspects of reality which are irrational and inscrutable and entirely unclear
And you likely QUESTION some aspects of reality which are NOT open to a debate, and definitely not at the level at which you challenge them, with your “subjective opinion”
What’s the conclusion?
There is no more conclusion then one which is present already in the premise
The world has aspects which are LOGICAL, or MEASURABLE, and KNOWN
And the world has aspects which are NOT measurable, not understandable, not clear, NOT known
And you can’t philosophically, epistemically over-generalise
Any given subject likely has far more KNOWN MEANINGFUL DETAILS to unravel than you initially would like to assume
While in the same time it likely has far more UNKNOWN than you’d suspect AFTER having become familiar with those various details, giving you now the illusion of KNOWING
And of course this leaning, this bias, this cognitive distortion, it becomes a habit
Because DECISION-MAKING is a habit
Decision making is life-living. Obviously it becomes a habit. There’s no time to over-think every single decision every day.
Whether the path is clear or not clear — a CLEAR, CONCRETE DECISION must be made
So of course your BIAS towards either world TOO RATIONAL, or TOO SUBJECTIVE, is a habit
And you must be aware of this habit
Finally, obviously educate yourself of the nature of truth
In the real world the truth can only be probable
It’s as probable as often it repeats in as similar circumstances as possible
Only theories, models have certainties — derived from the logical coherence of one premise with another
And finally — probable is not all equal — because errors are not equal.
There are probabilities you’ll gladly gamble on — and probabilities you would never want to risk
Finally look around yourself,
The idea that everyone is entitled to have an opinion has corroded public discourse
We are drowning in nonsense and lies and noise proliferated by idiots and frauds
We can’t imprison them because we have freedom of speech.
But we can choose not to listen to them. Let them speak to the void. We can all individually choose the quality of the source we choose to listen to — and NOT listen proven frauds and liars and deranged degenerates.
This is one consequence of the idea that “world is so subjective”, and “TRUTH is so subjective”
Likewise look around yourself and see the arrogance of the so called “intellectuals”, the “knowing”,
To their arrogance and their ultracrepidarian delusions we owe this corrosion of authority
The experts failed to stay in their fucking lane
And then expertise and knowledge and education became commoditised — sold as a magic-pill insurance against unemployment
The pill became more and more devoid of any substance,
And the pill-makers, the academia, the intellectuals, the thought-leaders — became as empty of caricatures
Don’t argue with that which is actually known
Don’t argue with the REAL EXPERT who actually has REAL TRACK RECORD of outcomes far better than yours
Don’t argue if you can’t argue both sides — which is the minimum proof of having any idea about the subject in the first place.
But in the same time — don’t blindly trust any single source, nor trust anything with your life
Learn more and think more and do more — ESPECIALLY DO MORE — so that you get humbled
As you get humbled you cure any fallacious notions of HAVING ALL THE ANSWERS