I wanted to just talk about
the human minds capacity to know
and to think...
and to believe.
You know I've looked at how much trouble people have with mathematics, typically
Because any one subject that the most people say : "I was never good at ... "
concerning a topic, it's gonna be math.
So I say to myself : If our brain were wired for logical thinking
then math would be the most easiest subject,
everything else would be harder.
So I am kinda forced to conclude, that
our brain is not wired for logic.
It's a very good point,
and it's more than just that, I think they're also a kind of...
unwarranted pride in being bad at mathematics.
You will never hear anybody saying how proud they are of being ignorant of Shakespeare.
But, plenty of people would say they're proud of being ignorant of both mathematics and...
Or if they don't use the word "proud" they'll say "I was never good at math, hahahaha".
They'll chuckle about it, because it's a joke;
That's right, there's a thing in one of the British newspapers
Where a science writer, I think it's a journalist,
Was lamenting the fact that many people in Britain
Think it takes one month for the earth to orbit the sun
And the editors they inserted "doesn't it? ed"
(laughter)
Saying you know "I'm the editor of a national newspaper
but nevertheless, It's ok to make a joke about being ignorant of this very elementary point of astronomy"
Which he would never ever do
about being, you know, confusing (names of writers I didn't get)
Right, and would never be proud of such a thing.
So you must admit, or confess, that we as a human organism,
must have a great challenge before us to think rationally, logically, scientifically.
Yes, and you made a very interesting point that maybe we are not wired to be good at logic.
Well you generalized from mathematics to logic.
Yes I did, but, for this conversation I think we could... claim that
Certainly many people are extremely illogical...
By the way you can think of how just fine they are in life.
They live long lives...
But I think it's an interesting point that our wild ancestors needing to survive
in the presence of lions and drought and famine...
You'd think logic would be pretty important for survival?
(laughter)
If not, mathematics...at least.
Well, it could be, maybe, early people said: "oh, there's a creature there with big teeth. Let me investigate if further!"
(laughter)
Yes, you would think that being scientific is a bad thing.
Curiosity doesn't always work.
I had a cousin who was a little boy, who put his finger in the mains and got a shock.
So he did it again, just to make sure.
(laughter)
He's a real scientist.
(laughter)
That's not really good for survival.
Right, right, so perhaps the gut reaction to run or to be scared or to chant...I guess what I'm getting at is:
There's so much of human civilization that derives not from logical thinking but from what we might simply call illogical thinking.
Illogical thinking and, I mean, art, you know, I've got Van Gogh on the wall and no one is going to quiz him
and say: "how logical were you when you painted the Starry Night?"
And so, what does it mean to object then,
to people who feel this way?
Because I detach myself more from that battle.
than you do, you are on the front lines and I'm way on the back lines watching you do this.
And I'm saying: sometimes people just want to feel.
Rather than think.
Yes, but I keep pushing back to the origins of this and
When you have to survive in a hostile environment
it may be that
you do need a certain amount of illogical uhh,
Gut
Yes, it may be that you need to fear things which logic tells you
Well, maybe its a matter of the odds that something is actually dangerous.
Well the cost to you that is,
The cost to you
If you see some rustling in the trees it could be a leopard about to jump on you.
But it's much more likely to be the wind and the logical, rational explanation is:
Probably it's the wind.
But, when you're survival depends upon the remote possibility,
Rather lower probability that it might be a leopard.
The prudent thing is to be