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