There are facts

There are opinions and simplifications and emotions and distortions

And there is the unknown

 

Stupidity is human condition

Craziness is human condition too

Stupidity is but a cognitive failure. It’s a problem of seeing. Intellectual myopia

Craziness is but psychological failure. It’s a problem of DISTORTION in what one is seeing.

The effect is the same — UNTRUTH

 

Stupidity is human condition, craziness is human condition

Some of us are born less sharp, some more sharp

What one is able to comprehend — is inscrutable to other

 

And then some of us have developed more psychological afflictions than others

We all like to think that we’re right

We all like to feel that we’re good

We all like to think well of ourselves,

We like that even more than we like to actually be right, actually do good, and actually do well

That’s madness, obviously

It’s not truth. But it’s not even productive!

But we do it anyway,

And some of us more than others

 

To appeal to facts and logic is…non sequitur

OF COURSE we are speaking about facts — what else is there to speak about?

Well appealing to facts and logic only makes sense if indeed some of us are NOT so interested in facts and logical sense

Well, the latter problem seems to be exacerbating

 

Thus to appeal to facts and logic becomes a thing, because indeed it’s not what everyone does,

We watch fantasies to entertain ourselves — and then believe the world is a fantasy

We receive things made by others — and then believe those things were magically manifested

We are have our rights as individuals protected and our right to speak our minds protected — and then see no contradiction when exercising those rights in speaking against those very institutions which protect those rights

It’s fascinating

 

ALAS!

There’s one fucking problem with facts

And there’s one fucking problem with logic

THE WORLD IS NOT ALL MADE OUT OF FACTS

And then — NOT ALL that’s LOGICAL is also TRUE (not if the premises are wrong, non-factual)

 

INDEED:

There are opinions and simplifications and outrage and distortions

And there are facts

AND there is the unknown

And THIS is the main reason why we can’t ACCEPT the facts EVEN when they are laid out before us

Besides all the personal reasons to want to DELUDE ourselves, DECEIVE ourselves, or others,

The main problem is that there are VERY FEW FACTS out there

And a LOT OF UNKNOWNS

 

In reality, FACTS don’t exist

Not outside our minds anyway

In our mind we can create a coherent logical system, and perform operations on it,

Everything is precisely defined, there’s no ambiguity. It’s a MADE UP system after all

The rules are clearly defined, there’s no ambiguity

The input is precisely defined, what’s eligible as input

You subject premises to operations, according to well defined rules — and return conclusions

If the premise is true, and you correctly applied the rules — the conclusion is true as well

 

But that’s NOT the real world

In the real world — we only have PROBABILITIES

Because nothing is a clean, isolated system

Everything affects everything else

It’s too complicated

 

And this is why even using a word “FACT” — when speaking of those worldly, mundane matters — is already MISLEADING

Because those are no facts

There’s nothing CERTAIN about them

And you know as much, history reveals as much: What was certain 100 years ago — doesn’t look so certain now

 

Now, This is absolutely NOT to diminish that which is indeed extremely LIKELY to be true

Some assumptions about the world are absolutely justified to be ASSUMED, REGARDED as NEAR-CERTAIN

While other assumptions are clearly debatable

Some are plain unlikely

And some are totally unfeasible

There is a difference

 

Therefore yes, appealing to facts does appeal to those high-probability, high-accuracy, high-utility assumptions, premises

EVEN THOUGH those are NOT facts

But the label “FACT” is justified there

For all the purposes — it’s a fact

 

The only problem emerges as we liberalise our use of this label, this term

What was “fact” once was a definition in a formal system

What was a “fact” yesterday was abundantly measured, observed phenomenon, or a very accurate prediction, or perhaps a well-established well-tested super-reliable theory

What is a “fact” today is what makes a LOT of sense to you, and you are also able to successfully defend in a debate

What is a “fact” tomorrow is your personal opinion on how to live

And then what is a “fact” one day is what you fucking want to believe, and are emotionally invested in, like every other human

 

So no,

It’s not about “facts and logic”

If you want facts and logic — go do some math

But what interests us in real life and real world are not facts and logic

What interests us is:

-who is an idiot, who can’t possibly comprehend this particular fragment of reality

–who the fuck is a crazy person

-who is a sophist, a fraud, a bad actor

-then who is actually interested in reality

-and finally who is actually doing great things — and in DOING verily TESTING the ACCURACY of his MODEL OF REALITY

 

Those are the questions to ask,

It’s not about “Facts and logic”. What a euphemism

It’s about emotional, hysterical, fanatical monkeys, and how to avoid their brain damage, avoiding whatever mind virus destroyed their critical faculties, perception of reality and coherence of their models

That’s not yet facts and logic. It’s basic sanity

And once you did that — the next best thing is to look at some data, look at some history, look at some ideas, and assess what out of it makes sense… what is the most probable

And those are not yet facts… but it already is logic

Because while you can’t prove anything for certain — you can logically falsify it. If it doesn’t make sense, if it’s contradictory — then at least you know it’s NOT true

And then if you still are interested in facts — then there are very few places where you can deal with facts… and a few more places where you can at least get the next best thing

And the next best thing is actually DOING things yourself, MAKING things yourself, actually BUILDING something yourself

For to build even a small tower one requires very strong foundation

Each of the columns can’t be merely likely to not collapse. They must all be near-impossible to collapse

THIS is how you actually build something impressive

And THIS is how you actually explore something of as close approximation to FACTS AND REALITY as it gets

By actually BRINGING ABOUT REAL THINGS IN REAL WORLD

 

Those are facts and logic

Not what sounds good

Not what sounds right

Not what wins a debate

Not what ought to be

But that which allows you to build GREAT THINGS in REAL WORLD