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AR 22:28 - Debating the limits of "knowledge" and "truth"
In this issue:
KNOWLEDGE - when complexity overwhelms, "more and better facts can hardly solve the problem"
+ a "brilliant, well-written exploration of our universe's biggest mysteries"
TRUTH - when free speech and intellectual diversity are opposed by a popular new theory of oppression
Apologia Report 22:28 (1,348)
July 19, 2017
KNOWLEDGE
The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone, by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach [1] -- this review by the controversial Yuval Harari <www.goo.gl/m6BF1I> and <www.goo.gl/zlIc2V> begins by summarizing that cognitive scientists Sloman and Fernbach "hammer another nail into the coffin of the rational individual. ... Democracy is founded on the idea that the voter knows best, free market capitalism believes the customer is always right, and modern education tries to teach students to think for themselves.
"Over the last few decades, the ideal of the rational individual has been attacked from all sides." The authors find that "the very idea of individual thinking is a myth. Humans rarely think for themselves. Rather, we think in groups. ...
"As Sloman and Fernbach demonstrate in some of the most interesting and unsettling parts of the book, individual humans know embarrassingly little about the world, and as history progressed, they came to know less and less. ... This is the knowledge illusion. We think we know a lot, even though individually we know very little, because we treat knowledge in the minds of others as if it were our own.
"This is not necessarily bad, though. Our reliance on groupthink has made us masters of the world...." Still, Harari notes that "the knowledge illusion has its downside. The world is becoming ever more complex, and people fail to realize just how ignorant they are of what's going on. Consequently some who know next to nothing about meteorology or biology nevertheless conduct fierce debates about climate change and genetically modified crops.... People rarely appreciate their ignorance, because they lock themselves inside an echo chamber of like-minded friends and self-confirming newsfeeds, where their beliefs are constantly reinforced and seldom challenged. ...
"Most of our views are shaped by communal groupthink rather than individual rationality, and we cling to these views because of group loyalty. Bombarding people with facts and exposing their individual ignorance is likely to backfire. Most people don't like too many facts, and they certainly don't like to feel stupid. ...
"In one of the climactic moments of Monty Python's [film] The Life of Brian, a huge crowd of starry-eyed followers mistakes Brian for the Messiah. Caught in a corner, Brian tells his disciples: 'You don't need to follow me, you don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves! You're all individuals!' The enthusiastic crowd then chants in unison: 'Yes! We're all individuals!' Monty Python was parodying the counterculture orthodoxy of the 1960s, but the point may be true of the belief in rational individualism in other ages too.
"In the coming decades, the world will probably become far more complex than it is today. Individual humans will consequently know even less about the technological gadgets, the economic currents and the political dynamics that shape the world. ... If Sloman and Fernbach are correct, providing future voters and customers with more and better facts would hardly solve the problem. So what's the alternative? Sloman and Fernbach don't have a solution." In fact, Harari concludes: "In all likelihood, nobody knows." New York Times Book Review, Apr 23 '17, p15. <www.goo.gl/Lr6fka>
The Great Unknown: Seven Journeys to the Frontiers of Science, by Marcus Du Sautoy, Oxford University's Professor for the Public Understanding of Science [2] -- the publisher introduces the questions: "Can we locate consciousness in the brain? What is dark energy made of? Can we speak of time before the Big Bang? Is it possible to predict the future? ... Du Sautoy reminds us that major breakthroughs were often ridiculed at the time of their discovery and invites us to consider big questions - about who we are and the nature of God - that even the most creative scientists have yet to answer definitively."
Publishers Weekly (Feb 20 '17) summarizes that "This brilliant, well-written exploration of our universe's biggest mysteries will captivate the curious and leave them pondering 'natural phenomena that will never be tamed and known.'"
Booklist (Mar 15 '17) observes that Du Sautoy "seeks to 'venture out into the wilds of the unknown' and ponder the scientific questions that might never get closure - otherwise known as 'known unknowns.'"
Kirkus (Mar 1 '17) adds: "Are there limits to human knowledge? Philosophers and religious thinkers have long answered 'yes' and then provided examples that turned out to be wrong. A renowned mathematician argues that 'yes' might very well be correct. Du Sautoy ... sets himself a difficult task: 'to know whether there are things that, by their very nature, we will never know.' He asks, 'despite the marauding pace of scientific advances, are there things that will remain beyond the reach of even the greatest scientists, mysteries that will remain forever part of the great unknown?' Readers will thoroughly enjoy his successful effort...."
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TRUTH
You've heard of "reverse logic." Let's hear it for backward logic: "Students Claim Objective 'Truth' Is a 'White Supremacist' Myth" by Tom Ciccotta -- "Students at the Claremont McKenna Colleges argued that objective truth is a social construct devised by 'white supremacists' to 'attempt to silence oppressed peoples' in a letter to the Pomona College president.
"The letter came in response to Pomona College President David Oxtoby's affirmation of commitment to free speech and intellectual diversity <www.goo.gl/3RoMwW> following the chaos that ensued during a lecture featuring Manhattan Institute scholar <www.goo.gl/qApqXK> Heather MacDonald. Student protesters derailed her lecture on the rise of anti-police attitudes <www.goo.gl/8q7vMq> by banging on windows and shouting.... Campus security ultimately forced MacDonald to livestream her lecture from a near-empty room across campus. ...
"Immediately dismissing the possibility that listening to MacDonald's lecture could widen their perspective, the students went on to explain how objective truth is a concept devised by 'white supremacists' in an 'attempt to silence oppressed peoples.' ...
"The students go on to claim that Heather MacDonald is 'ignorant of interlocking systems of domination that produce the lethal conditions under which oppressed peoples are forced to live,' which is an explicit reference to the concept of intersectionality, an increasingly popular theory of oppression which conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan recently <www.goo.gl/msAoXt> called a 'religion.'" Breitbart News, Apr 17 '17 <www.goo.gl/mYHNuR>
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone, by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach (Riverhead, 2017, hardcover, 304 pages) <www.goo.gl/z831j4>
2 - The Great Unknown: Seven Journeys to the Frontiers of Science, by Marcus Du Sautoy (Viking, 2017, hardcover, 464 pages) <www.goo.gl/46ARdb>
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