Problem #25: Certainty

Problem #25: Certainty

Here’s a somewhat ironic problem for me to solve: certainty. That is, the certainty that you, and specifically you, are right. The certainty that you, uniquely, have access to the sole truth, and that everyone else needs to listen to it. This is ironic, of course, in that I’m in the midst- coming to end end, actually- of a project in which I aim to solve a large chunk of the world’s problems. But here’s the thing: while I think I’m reasonably bright and widely-read- and there are independent measures to back up this assessment- I’m not always right. I can’t be- that’s impossible. The only One who is always is right is G-d, and I’m certainly infinitely far from that.

We see this in politics all the time: one side or another will insist that, not only are they right, and not only is the other side wrong, but the other side is so wrong that they must be being wrong for some deviant, evil purpose. They’re not just wrong, they’re less-than-Ameican, they’re evil; they’re The Other. And, as I’ve noted elsewhere, you don’t negotiate or compromise with evil, you destroy it.

Here’s a little math to humble anyone. If the universe is infinite, it logically follows that the sum total of knowledge in the universe is infinite. We are finite creatures, from which it logically follows that our minds are finite containers of knowledge. And any finite number, no matter how large, divided by infinity is zero. Therefore, even the wisest of us literally knows nothing. It would be genuinely helpful if more of us stopped to consider that on a regular basis. Yes, I’m clever; yes, I have good ideas; yes, my ideas could well help; but I could be wrong. Those may be the four most helpful words in the English language: I could be wrong.