Logic; Not Really That Important

Logic: Wikipedia cites its earliest definition as around 900 years old by Averroes and to simply be, "the tool for distinguishing between the true and the false".

Other definitions include "the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning" (Penguin Encyclopaedia); "the science that investigates the principles governing correct or reliable inference." (dictionary.com); and "the science of the laws of discursive thought (James McCosh)"

My favourite has to be Richard Whatley's as it consciously addresses the fact that knowledge is not only the regimented science of truth, but also the beautiful art of explaining it; "the Science, as well as the Art, of reasoning."

Most definitions, though, will agree that logical conclusions are pretty important in our understanding of the world and are a coherent system to analyse our surroundings.

Unfortunately, it seems that some people don't think this to be a good enough system for them, and that their assumptions should be viewed with equal time and respect as the researched views of organisations and experts.

I had, what turned into, a shouting match with a girl who claimed to have heard and seen ghosts in her house – I will admit my usual impartiality and cool-headedness took lunch break without informing me that day.

https://www.facebook.com/ExtraordinaryGhostHunters

The girl said at one point "well if you're going to say that, you might as well discount The Bible then". Not the greatest argumentative tactic to employ against an atheist, but I'll give her that one and move on.

What I can't so easily forgive is her approach to logical thinking. Remembering that almost a millennium ago logic was defined as a tool to distinguish between the true and the false, try to grasp the reasoning behind the following sentence;

"There are some things in the world that can't be explained with logic."

When I heard this, I knew it was a lost battle. There is no way you can have any kind of sensible conversation – let along screamed argument – when the other person disregards logic in their understanding of the world.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is an isolated incident. There are these people everywhere, blindly accepting what they like to think of as true and somehow feeling a sense of righteousness in their ignorance.

The education system is clearly failing if people are leaving school at 16 without any kind of reasoned, unbiased approach to what they read in The Daily Mail, watch on Great British Ghosts or hear in the pub from Tony the local mentalist.

On the topic of Great British Ghosts; what the hell is Michaela Strachan doing presenting this show? She used to do The Really Wild Show – a factual, educational show – and now she's ponsing about with a load of ghost hunters pretending that there's something 'spooky' in an old castle.

On Great British Ghosts website there is a page called Top 10 Ghostly Facts. Well straight away I'm smelling a rat. And the first 'fact' doesn't do much to alleviate this...

"A half-naked, half-frozen chicken haunts the area of Pond Square in London's Highgate!" 

First off, no it doesn't. And secondly, their justification for this is "many have claimed to hear the screeching of a chicken". Well it must be true if the so-called 'many' have claimed it.

They even have to put an exclamation mark to show us how unlikely it is, but assert that it still is definitely a fact.

Also, on a completely separate tangent – a recent work placement boss I had called an exclamation mark an explanation mark. I'd love that if everything that was being explained was rounded off with a '!'. It would just make everything more exciting.

School text books would be incredible, they'd sound like they were those collections of odd facts you sometimes get emailed:

"Your intestine is 20ft long!"
"Adult lungs have a surface area of around 70 square metres!"
"Junior Sumo wrestlers have to wipe the arses of senior Sumo wrestlers!"
"William Shakespeare was died in 1616! He is thought of as one of the greatest British writers!"
"Igneous rocks are formed are formed through the cooling of lava!"
"If a train is travelling at a constant speed of 60 mph, it will take it 7 minutes to travel a distance of 7 miles!"

Facebook: A Necessary Evil

As the news that Facebook's IPO  (whatever that may be) is already oversubscribed (whatever that might mean) pops onto my Reuters newsfeed, I feel a second Facebook post coming into life. But one rather different from the last, complimentary one, heralding the social network as brilliant and having the potential to communicate far beyond what we usually use it for. Today sees a return to cynicism, I'm sure you're be pleased to hear.

I've been very lucky. My course has given up on exams now, and we're left with the odd assignment paired with an unhealthy amount of down time. I see my friends ploughing through a thick sludge of revision, exams and continuing assignments as this academic year draws to damp close. I certainly cannot envy their position, but I find myself imagining the impossible task it would be for me to now have such a pile of work on.

My left hand now needs no neural signals to type F-A-C-E, whilst my right press the down arrow and enter within a split second. I often find myself with several homepages of the same dull website which now has the sweet delight of numerous updates as I am too quick to thwart a stockpiling by my automatic addiction to regular visits.

In genuinely wish I could sever this tie, relinquish its chokehold on me but – as many friends who have tried – I know that it has become such a necessary evil in our lives. Nothing can be planned without it. Even phones, what I considered to be more reliable than Facebook , have started failing me as responses will only come accompanied by the sweet bloop I have begun hearing even when away from my laptop.

My internet homepage has various feeds, delivering to me the latest news, science stories, TED speeches, weather, the odd interesting photo, amongst others. And yet before I check all of these things I have preselected to be the first thing I see when logging onto the internet, my fingers quickly type out the Facebook URL and once again another day has been wasted.

University is almost two thirds over now, and I really hope I can reclaim my time and spend it a little more productively over my final year. I sincerely doubt that, though...

The problem is that we're all on it. Even my mum pops up every now and again. Even she uses it to remember birthdays. Mums are supposed to have some kind of inbuilt system to deal with that kind of nonsense. Why is Facebook getting involved?

That's the problem, though. It's becoming such a necessary evil in our lives, somehow it's gone one step further than Bebo (who incidently implemented timelines just before they sunk out of favour) and Myspace ever managed, and we all now depend on it for getting by.

There's also the fear of losing everything. Delete Facebook and delete all your photos, old conversations and memory prompters. Facebook would lose so many users if it allowed us to download our accounts. It won't stop me wishing they'll do it at some point, though...

I suppose this post is more about the wasted opportunity of the internet. Not only does Facebook have the potential to communicate for us so well, but the internet – once you drag yourself away from that website that ashamedly sits at the top of your most visited list – has so much more interesting stuff.

Here are a few of my favourites. Enlightened yourself.

 

 

 

 Also look at this brilliant picture I did

I can tell that you're jealous.