Blind Following The Blind

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I meant to make this post for quite some time now. For those who follow me, you might have noticed that at the end of each post I place an illustration of a blind man following another blind man. I believe that image alone expresses the human condition better than any other concept I have stumbled upon.

From the very moment we pop out in this world, the human experience is destined to fall within specific crevices. Whether those deal with culture, religion, politics or sports is of little importance. We are bound to those around us and there is little leeway for one to radically escape from their given narrative.

What we know and what we understand is based on concepts and beliefs that others have introduced long before we came to be. Layer upon layer, our world is constructed much like an onion, leaving us crawling for meaning on the surface. Little do we know (or care) about the original reasons something came to be. We are narrowly caught up in our own past, present and future.

This mode of existence manifests itself due to our limited lifespan. The human culture is vastly long and complicated. No single person has the time, energy or resources to investigate the entirety of existence. As a form of "hacking", evolution armed us with belief. Belief, which almost works like an instinct, makes all the analyzing of reality obsolete. After all, some others have done the work before us. The only thing we can do is either vaguely reference them of blindly believe to their version of the truth. Our DNA works much the same. Most of it is junk from previous species with only a fraction remaining "activated"

For those that form beliefs based on evidence keeping up with the facts is even harder. The world is highly entropic. What we hold dear and true today might not be the case the day after. This is the main reason most people just give up once they have formed a given belief. Our minds cannot compute the tragedy of the second law of thermodynamics and rather compromise as if time freezes solid.

The belief in our preceding stories eventually creates intricacies that become almost impossible to decipher due to the aforementioned onion styled architecture. Entire fields of science and world religions exist today due to faulty investigations and hasty beliefs others have slowly amassed over time

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Even if something comes along to disprove a theory is very hard to get implemented. The history around the field and the careers and reputation involved make it impossible to just dismiss an entire field. This is why alchemy for example endured for so long. This is why homeopathy is still considered valid today. Same rule applies with almost anything — whether it is the notion of democracy in politics, the deity problem in religion or the flawed web interface that freezes on high traffic. We do get the "updates" and "quick fixes" for our concept but instead of rejecting all previous knowledge and rebuilding something new, we chose to stick it on the top of the already flawed layer hoping that everything underneath will somehow inherit the same "true" values.

This is also the core reason why stories are such an integral part of the human experience. Whether the subject is political, religious or scientific becomes irrelevant. Whether the story is true or not it is also irrelevant. It seems that we fall under the same spell every-time someone is explaining something through the simple narrative of simple emotions, symbols and heroism. In that respect we are still stuck in the past, following the same meme even if most of the constituents are flawed. A dimmed fire serves the same purpose as a modern living-room in front of the TV. This is also the main reason how and why we are able to digest so much crap in front of the screen and still be able to function in our daily lives.

One of my favorite quotes that describes the tragedy of the human condition comes from David Mitchel's Cloud Atlas:

To be is to be perceived, and so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other. The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, that go on and are pushing themselves throughout all time. "Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” — The Revelation of Sonmi 451, Cloud Atlas.

As you may also have noticed, most of my posts feel contrarian and seem to reject constantly the status-quo. The main reason for this is that I acknowledge my own ignorance and limitations. If I cannot examine something directly or lack sufficient evidence, I simply reject it. In fact, I dismiss almost everything and only accept something only after I have thoroughly analyzed it. It might sound tedious but it is much more efficient than you think. There is so much crap around us that once you go through the process, life becomes much simpler and clearer.

One tactic I often follow is what I call "The Null Hypothesis Assumption". In statistics, the term "null hypothesis" expresses the default position that there is no relationship between any given phenomena. Rejecting or disproving the null hypothesis assumes that there is relationship between two phenomena. This is a central task in the modern practice of science (and epistemology) — which is more or less the field of statistics that gives precise criteria for rejecting a null hypothesis.

The problem is that most people live their lives backwards to this epistemic notion. In other words, they always assume something is true and that given relationships between two (or more) phenomena exist. It then becomes almost impossible to convince them otherwise. Originally assuming the null hypothesis bulletproofs one from potential intellectual flaws.

Our brains are not build around logic and reason but rather emotions and beliefs. Logic and reason consume way too much energy so most people regress to their own auto-pilot. Even science itself is not immune to this since many fields today like astrobiology, cosmology, psychology, sociology (to name a few) are based largely on beliefs rather than deductions that stem from null hypothesis processing.

I believe the most humble thing one can do is come to the realization that we are all blind following the blind who followed the blind... The most effective tactic that has worked for me so far is assuming the null hypothesis in regards to everything. I simply reject most beliefs and assume ignorance for most things.

Always assume you are ignorant and that your own senses are limited due to a flawed design. This realization alone unravels an array of perspectives that very few have been able to touch upon. Remember, you are ultimately and inevitably blind that is destined to follow the blind.