Led Down the Garden Path by Our Analogies

Paraphrasing an Einstein quote,, I said to a fellow worker the other day that “You can get from A to B with Logic but you can go anywhere with Imagination”. Her reaction was interesting.  I could see she recognized the quote and gave it passing kudos. However, I also recognized a halting almost begrudging acceptance of this idea. It made me think that she may have been exposed to it in school as the counter argument to a more forcefully endorsed reality.

In school we’re always being taught to compare and contrast differences as though this binary premise was the default. This is probably reflecting the modern computer dominated culture we`ve been raised in. Could it be that the binary nature of today`s computers, it`s bits and bytes as represented by 1`s and 0`s, dominates all our lives by leaking into our very ways of thinking about the world. It wouldn’t surprise me. There must be some reason the modern world is becoming so polarized. Politically, for example, there seems to be little middle ground any more.  

The analogies we use to explain things colour our world. It's as if the tail is wagging the dog.

One of the best analogies I`ve heard to explain speciation on an evolutionary scale involved the idea of a field filled with valleys and peaks whereby the peaks represent new species emerging between the valleys. This is a great way to break with the linear bipolar two-dimensional way that most of us think about nature. The analogies we use certainly limit our understanding of our surroundings. Even Plato`s idea of `knowledge as represented by a dark cave with a light source, casting shadows on the wall, has an inherent binary nature to it. We either see the knowledge or we don`t. We`re either in the light or we`re in the dark.

Binary and linear ways of thinking is most often promoted in our classrooms. It is the easiest way to get from A to B. Thinking outside the box is an anomaly and it's admired by it exceptionalism. The default linear and binary way of thinking no doubt has caused us to diminish our fellow creatures on the planet. Either other animals are sentient like us or not. We very narrowly define intelligence, for example, putting ourselves on a pinnacle and then dismissing anything below us on this scale. How else could we eat animals….

It`s time to teach non-linear, non-binary thinking as a default in our classrooms. But maybe we`ll have to wait until quantum computing becomes established.

Living with The Lie: Cognitive Dissonance

As I get older, nearing a milestone of 64, I realize how much I like to get good sleep. What makes me lose sleep? Living with a lie. That is the dragon that needs slaying. We have a name for living with a lie - cognitive dissonance. By naming something we put it to bed. How ironical.

What is cognitive dissonance. It’s saying or believing one thing and doing or thinking something else.

We have individual dragons we need slaying and we have social constructs based on lies that need slaying. Machiavellian politics is alive and well creating nightmares around the world. Men cheat and it’s like pissing in their own pools. They try to kid themselves that it doesn’t matter. They know it’s wrong and dishonest but they live the nightmare thinking such macho behaviour is acceptable. Thinking lies are acceptable to a healthy individual leads to unrest. For some individuals and organizations not so much.

Consider some of our most cherished institutions or people. Mother Teresa is nominated by a Pope to be a saint. But her autobiography tells how she despaired in doubting her faith, living with the Church’s biggest sin - despair, yet she promoted her faith anyway. Einstein stated that ”religion is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions”. He got that right. The Roman Catholic priests abuse children and the church covers it up. People of religious faith are themselves stunted children. People of the southern American States have the highest religious subscribers yet are the most unlawful with the highest crime rates. Hypocrisy is the name for recognizing cognitive dissonance and living with it.

We all have dragons to slay. I used to practise praying at meals while believing in evolution. Once I stopped praying at meals I felt honest with myself and slept better.

It seems that normal healthy individuals have a true north and can keep on the straight and narrow, albeit with periodic compass re-calibrations. An organization on the other hand like a church, government or corporation, although given the rights of an individual, appears unable to reconcile lies and inconsistencies and may even create them. The organization I work for for example, the CFIA, refused to acknowledge the inconsistency of claiming to be a scientific evidence-based organization while regulating ritualistic slaughter. They rationalized it to me by claiming such slaughter was based on political science. Apparently organizations don’t require a good sleep.

The reconciliation between the laws in macro or Newtonian physics and strangeness of sub atomic quantum mechanics will probably with time be resolved. This too may be quite ironic as it seems that time heals all. In time we all get a good sleep.

Religion and Mental Illness

Religion is a form of social mental illness - a type of social neurosis.  It would be listed in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) if they removed the ban on social norms. When capitalism is put on the diagnostic "couch" we can easily see the psychosis involved. Religion too should be shown up for its harmful and delusional behaviour.

When you are over twenty-five and your brain has fully developed and you still believe in something for which there is no evidence, there are three possible reasons. One, you are a fool, two, you have a mental capacity considerably below normal or three, you have a mental illness, that is you have stopped thinking for yourself because you have been indoctrinated. We teach children to believe in something without evidence, by having faith in what elders tell them, so that we can teach them that everything being told them is not true. It's part of teaching critical thinking skills. It's a sad state of affairs when adults still think like children and have unquestioning faith. Faith is not a virtue.  It should be considered a tool to develop critical thinking skills for children.  When adults persist in faith-based thinking then we all suffer in society.

There is a psychological phenomena known as normalcy. We tend to think that what happened yesterday will continue into the future. People generally don't realize that religion is a social construct. It was developed in a time of ignorance about the natural world. People generally don't realize that this institution, like capitalism, can be de-constructed and re-designed. Nothing stays the same.  Why should we be limited by anachronistic institutions. In a healthy society social norms should be questioned. Slavery and apartheid would still be with us if this weren't the case.  Religion is still with us today because of indoctrination and a taboo about questioning social norms. So how can we call ourselves, as a society, enlightened? There is always room for continuous improvement. But it starts with recognizing there is a problem.

One of my proudest accomplishments and contributions is to have raised three children in a way that encouraged critical thinking.  This wasn't easy in a system that perpetuates religious madness. Although we expound secularism in Canada we still endorse religions in all their nefarious forms. Our politics and educational system is filled with religious undercurrents, a vestige of our ignorant past. Our present government, for example, has established an agency to encourage religious tolerance. It has a freedom of religion mandate.  Bet where is the freedom from religion mandate?

Why doesn't our school system make the Origin of Species mandatory reading. Because it's a dangerous idea to the establishment. Before November 24, 1859 when this idea was first published by Darwin you might be excused for believing in religion. At that time it appeared rational, without any other explanation as to how we got here.  Indeed, most people then believed whole heartedly in a creationist god. After 1859 if you were aware of the idea and evidence of evolution you would probably be irrational to believe in a religious explanation. Because now a viable alternative explanation to religion existed. An explanation based on evidence ususally trumps wishful or magical thinking. Why isn't a more rational idea of our world not widely taught.

At one time our school system served, by commission, to indoctrinate children with religion. This was the case even in our public school system, a supposed secular school. I remember in grade 7 being given free copies of the New Testament. Our school system today, by omission, serves as indoctrinating students by simply not teaching everyone about a basic truth in nature, namely evolution.

Don Quixote is not a satire of politics but rather a satire on religion.

Religious people suffer from a form of mental illness somewhat like Jesus Freaks on the streets handing out their mental thoughts.

Health Canada just release the abortion pill, days before an election call. Coincidence, I don't think so. Why has France allowed it for 25 years and Canada just now allows it? The tide is turning or has turned. Politicians will now do anything for re-election.

Churches still are exempt from taxes. Why? You might think that they could at least put solar panels on their roofs.

Religion is the New Race.

Religion is the new race. In the past we more identified by what country or part of the world our parents came from. Now the majority of us are more likely to identify ourselves by which form of magical thinking we engage in or were indoctrinated in by our parents. Instead of valuing the secular culture from which many of our western governmental principles and modern day achievements are derived from we are subservient to religion or our child-like way of thinking.

Religion appeals to our reptilian brains or ancient way of thinking. By not recognizing that all religions are forms of magical thinking based on unverifiable beliefs we are doomed to give this way of thinking credibility and thus the ability to wreak havoc in the world.

Faith is not a virtue, it is the opposite. Faith is thinking with your “gut” instead of your brain. Until a critical tipping point of people understand this the world will continue to be a very regressive and dangerous place to live in. When we continue to elect and respect leaders who claim that they are religious we will get the immature world of “The Lord of the Flies”.

Why aren’t we laughing at religious ideas when expressed by adults instead of esteeming those who espouse such nonsense? When someone who is over 25 years old with a fully developed brain and self-identifies as a Muslim, Christian or Jew for example, we should realize that these people are telling us something very profound about themselves. They are telling us that they are retarded. They are demonstrating that although they look like adults they are really mentally still children. I worked with a devout Catholic who said she would not allow her children to read Harry Potter because it promoted magic. The irony was almost too much to bear. Children raising children - a reflection of the world today. Let's all grow up already.

"Science, as physicist Steven Weinberg has emphasized, does not make it impossible to believe in God, but rather makes it possible to not believe in God. Without science, everything is a miracle. With science, there remains the possibility that nothing is. Religious belief in this case becomes less and less necessary, and also less and less relevant" …. from Lawrence Krauss’s “A Universe from Nothing” .

"It is a fundamental tenet of science that we can never prove something to be true; we can only prove it to be false. This is a very important idea, one that is the basis of all scientific progress. Once we find an example in which a theory that may have worked correctly for millennia no longer agrees with observation, we then know that it must be supplemented - with either new data or a new theory. There is no arguing." - from Lawrence Krauss's "Fear of Physics.

Polytheism vs Monotheism

After reading this great Guardian article by Suzanne Moore about trust it occurred to me how the virtues of trust and loyalty are compromised in multi-cultural societies.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/14/charlie-hebdo-add-faithophobia-to-my-crimes

In terms of loyalty one should remember that all religions in their development had to be disloyal to the one they believed in previously. So the virtue of loyalty has been sacrificed.

Living in a multi-cultural society with differing monotheistic faiths must certainly puts the virtue of trust in harm's way as well.

Believing in something without evidence is problematic but to be pragmatic about it it would seem that to believe in many Gods like the Romans and Greeks did would be preferable for a society that claims to believe in just one God and tolerates the rest.

Consider for example whether polytheism or monotheism is better. Doing so it reminds me just how silly all religions really are but it makes for a good thought experiment. Believing in many Gods is as useless as believing in only one God. That's given. However, believing in one God in today's multi-cultural society is probably much worst than believing in many Gods. This is because of what cognitive dissonance brings to the equation.

When we think that faith is a virtue and believe in one God it creates a situation where one may tolerate another's religious faith but one won't trust that believer. There is a cognitive dissonance created where trust in the other person is lacking because the other person doesn't have the same faith as you do, as much as one might claim there is trust. People confuse tolerance for trust. In a diverse society with multi-monotheist faiths trust must be at a deficit. Consider Islamic adherence in Europe and North America. They're in a minority in a society that claims they tolerate them.  Indeed they may tolerate them but they won't trust them. They must constantly feel threatened.

 Faith is not a virtue but that's not obvious to most. Believing in nonsense must sacrifice the virtues of trust and loyalty. No wonder our society today is under threat.  If we must have religion bring back polytheism.

The Hidden hand

There is continual reference to a "hidden hand" at work by economists to explain the apparent inexplicable concept of how pricing works. Adam Smith’s originally used the concept of the "hidden hand" to explain of the marketplace.

It has developed into an almost religious jargon for economist. But when you consider it in basic terms it implies that there is a unknown self-regulating power, a God-like force that is controlling the economic system. As an atheist I find this inference repugnant.

Most people do not adopt an Occam's Razor stance to explain things. They are awed by the unknown, and instead of adopting a wait and see or an experimental method to determine cause and effect, it is easier to attribute fanciful imaginings rather than apply real evidence-based explanations.

A cruise control on a car, like any self-regulating system, is run by a simple algorithm or set of instructions of comparing a set point and an actual desired parameter and then sending feedback to an actuator to resolve the difference. Not knowing how this works one might easily say a hidden hand is at work to account for this self-regulation. But a mystery interpretation usually doesn't develop for this because one appreciates that this self-adjusting mechanism was designed by an engineer. 

So why, for evolution, is the algorithm of “survival of the fittest" too difficult for many to appreciate. Why do magical non-evidence explanations persist to explain nature or our own origins. I suppose for some if you're not actually around to see the development of such an algorithm then a "hidden hand" simplification works. A God is created. It's understandable how magical concepts might arise in the past. It's just not easily understood how they persist in a modern world where we can actual see how hidden hands work. Obviously for many, especially those in power, transparency is threat. The Wizard of Oz didn't appreciate his curtain being removed.

What’s with the Jews?

Any Jews reading this will likely think, or rationalize it, as an anti-Jewish rant and that the author is racist against Jews. Not so. I raised my children to be critical thinkers and always question people’s behaviour not the person themselves. Try to understand why people do what they do and judge them. Yes judge. If what you see doesn’t make sense, you might like to avoid them.

To the point, why are Jews making terrorists on their border. Why are they making a whole new generation of Palestinian children from Gaza into potential and future terrorists? Is it perhaps a Stockholm affect whereby they somehow admire the oppressive tactics of their nemesis, the Nazis. I just don’t get it. Are they collectively that dumb? Witness their over-the-top reaction to the Palestinians in Gaza. Showing little restraint by killing so many civilians, especially children here makes no sense. There is no justification for killing children, who most of us are taught to protect. I was under the impression that Jews were an intelligent group of people, perhaps more so than most. Many have excelled individually in their contributions to society. But collectively, they seem to be not all there. Give them a State and look what happens!

It’s hard for me to understand how putting this religious state into an arab area after the 2nd world war was a good idea. Israel does not separate the state from the church like most civilized and developed countries do today. Most Arab countries here do not either, Turkey being the exception. So, what’s with that?  Is this why, as a country, they’re so messed up.  They appear to be acting somewhat like the southern States, that will not teach evolution but rather Intelligent Design. Also, why are their more Jews in the United States than in Israel, if this homeland is such a great idea?  What was the world thinking?  Guilt?  Is that why the US is still feeding militarily this failed state.

My first experience with a jewish person was when I was boarding in a house in my first year at university in Waterloo, Ontario. He was studying engineering at the University and I was in science. As Waterloo has many Germans the house we boarded at was owned by an old German lady. This student and his landlord just could not get along. The mutual hatred was palpable. Coming from Northern Ontario it was the first time I’d been exposed to this irrational racist behaviour. 

He and I did engage in many lively debates. One centred on his English Mini that he drove. I made the mistake of telling him I thought that the Volkswagen was probably a better made car and I was surprised, that as an engineering student, he could not see that.  Of course his reasoning, or lack of it, was totally emotional against anything German. He was still fighting the battle of his parents. "Never Forget", was so ingrained in his upbringing, I could see it was useless to engage further with him.

For many, emotion and conditioning, override any sense of reasoning.  So it seems has occurred in the middle east.