Basic Philosophy Part I: Life in general

To give potential readers (if there are any) some background, I am starting off with a couple of posts about my general philosophy. Understanding my point of view will enable you to better understand my posts.

I am a scientist, which means I try to be objective and open to new information. I have strong opinions, but these opinions can be modified with new data. I am very tolerant of other opinions and other life styles. I am tolerant of and support the following: equal rights and opportunities for all, including gays, blacks, women, etc. I don’t just say this, I really mean it. I have been a card carrying liberal for many years. I am also tolerant of conservatives, unless they are the types who are trying to take away my rights and control me. I have libertarian leanings. I try to understand the other person’s viewpoint in discussions. I try to avoid labeling people and immediately stereotyping them. That is becoming increasingly difficult in our polarized society.

I believe in the existence of objective truth and facts. But let me clarify this point. As a scientist, there are very few things that are absolutely true. This is the problem that scientists have in arguing with lawyers and some other non-scientists. If you say, “Is there a possibility of”, then I will almost always say yes there is. In a Physics final I once calculated the probability of 10^23 ping pong balls on the surface of the earth all spontaneously rising up a meter in the air. It is low but it is not zero, thus it is possible, but not very likely. So, is it possible that if I jump off a bridge I will go up rather than down? Yes, but a very very low probability so I’m not going to do it.

A similar example is the recent movie “Day After Tomorrow”. The probability of such a severe climate change occurring in a day is vanishingly small. However, there is a significant probability that such a change could occur in the time span of a decade or two. This has occurred before and there is a high enough probability that the US DOD funded a study of the consequences of such a rapid climate change. Students of Chaos Theory are aware that slight changes can have very large effects. For example, if the oceans warmed up to the point that the Gulf Stream stopped flowing this would cause a new ice age in Northern Europe. Will it happen? Not likely, but it is increasingly probable as we continue to warm up the earth.

I am a student of history and I believe in George Santayana’s well known quote: “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it." This applies to general history and also to technology. I have heard it said that one advantage of aging is the gaining of better pattern recognition skills. I don’t mean this as in the case of looking at an image, but at looking at patterns in life and recognizing the similarities and differences with previous experiences. Knowing history facilitates this immensely.