Nothing, Infinity and You

I noticed in the last post, Obama’s Bush – A Facebook Conversation, that humans (at least people in *this* society) have an innate need to believe in something. People have to put meaning into everything even if the meaning is pure conjecture. It is not enough to stop at the “observable” and take it for what it is. We must ask why it is or even worse, create our own explanation for it. We should be more like the “Fair Witnesses” in the book Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein:

Anne was seated on the springboard; she turned her head. Jubal called out, “That new house on the far hill top can you see what color they’ve painted it?” 

Anne looked in the direction in which Jubal was pointing and answered, “It’s white on this side.” She did not inquire why Jubal had asked, nor make any comment. 

Jubal went on to Jill in normal tones, “You see? Anne is so thoroughly indoctrinated that it doesn’t even occur to her to infer that the other side is probably white, too. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t force her to commit herself as to the far side unless she herself went around to the other side and looked and even then she wouldn’t assume that it stayed whatever color it might be after she left because they might repaint it as soon as she turned her back,” 

“Anne is a Fair Witness?” 

I think emotions have such a profound influence in this society that it dominates our thinking. It’s the “I need to look out for ‘number one'” mentality. It is no wonder why there is so much anger, paranoia, disrespect and fear in this country (Oops! Wouldn’t that be my observation?) Let hope that we don’t go the way of the Vulcans and force logic to solve our undisciplined emotions.