On the fence?

This section of the site is for anybody who is on the fence with certain issues, and who believes in rational thought, logically deducting the truth, and adopting the truth as your belief.

You believe in rational thought right?

Because if you don't care about what is actually the truth, you won't care about anything here.

What is truth?

But 'what is truth?' anyway? Why should you (or anyone else) care about it? A common trend is to say that there is no truth and everything is just subjective.

I strongly disagree. I am happy to tell you why.

I believe truth to be the single most valuable thing in the universe. More valuable than gold or oil or platinum or whatever. Allow me to explain.

Let's say somebody wants to start a meat business, and rabbits catch their eye as a viable source. While planning this out, they see a street performer pull a rabbit out of their hat, and think that hiring magicians would be an excellent way to source their product.

This will not work. Why? Because it is not based in truth. It does not function. Let's look at another.

Let's say somebody wants to build a bridge. This person was taught that 1+2=4. After materials are acquired and cut, it was then found that there was not nearly enough material to complete the bridge, and the materials acquired were not a sufficiently heavy grade to be used as a bridge anyway.

Truth is Function

In both of these cases, we run into a wall. In both cases, it becomes abundantly clear that only the truth functions.

This is what makes truth so valuable. Truth gets results. Near-truths can get an approximation in specific circumstances, but the whole truth is always superior. I am a scientist of sorts, professionally. Clients pay people like me hundreds of thousands of dollars to perform research to find the truth, because they know that if they want function, they need the truth.

One might even conclude that truth IS function. The proof is in the pudding, as it were.

This is a decent litmus test for whether something is true, 'Does this function?' (Beware anybody who tries to tell you that truth is subjective, they are probably a snakeoil salesman). But like all litmus tests, one must follow a proper method or you get false results.

To find the truth, follow the rules

Rule 1

In the rabbit example, it appears that all you need is a hat, and you can have unlimited rabbits. After all, you saw it with your own eyes, this dude made a rabbit! It has the appearance of function, but when you get down into the nitty gritty of what actually happened you realize the laws of physics still apply, it was just smoke and mirrors, and the rabbit was obtained previously from a non-hat source, then merely concealed within a compartment in the hat.

So that makes our first rule about finding the truth: 1. Non-truths can appear to be functional/truth.

Rule 2

Second, let's go back to pudding. Making pudding involves certain ingredients, careful heating, and specific methods. If you change the ingredients, heating, and methods then you end up with something... not pudding. If you vary the instructions only slightly it might still be some kind of pudding, but it's not the pudding on the recipe. If your version turns out bad you cannot say it's a bad recipe. This applies to many scientific experiments. If you change the method, you change the result, you are testing a different truth. Many cases require following methods so exact that any variation at all, whether you notice it or not, could show something is false when in reality it is true.

That gives us our second rule about finding the truth: 2. If you don't follow the 'recipe', you don't get the right outcome.

Rule 3

Now let's look at somebody learning math. Let's say somebody just finished learning addition, and then you try to teach them quantum physics. I think just about anyone in this situation would think this 'advanced math' was pointless wizardry, and clearly the product of a deranged mind. I have even heard people with many years of math experience express that they thought quantum physics was just somebody making stuff up. Quantum physics may seem crazy to anybody who hasn't learned it, but we can see the functional application of it in everyday things (such as the very device you are reading this on). Somebody may not understand quantum physics, but it works in application. So we can be reasonably certain it is at least close to the truth. The truth usually has some prerequisite knowledge before it'll make sense.

Let's call this the third rule: 3. You (we) might not know enough to understand the truth.

Rule 4

I remember back in high school when I first learned about the concept of 'entropy'. Entropy bugged me. Still does, honestly. It bugged me that with every transfer of energy there was some energy permanently rendered non-recoverable, and as a result the universe will eventually expend all its energy and waste away (this is thermodynamics, and we see its application and proof in many machines, appliances, and electronics). This makes me unhappy, but that doesn't make the laws of entropy any less true. If I were to engineer something while choosing to ignore entropy just because I don't like it, my invention would not work very well (if it worked at all).

Emotions are not truth. Emotions are indicators. Indicators are a readout from sensors. Sensors can be highly specialized and may not perform accurately in certain situations. Sensors can experience interference, be stressed or overloaded, or can break, requiring maintenance. And it's not just the sensors, the indicators themselves can break or short. Our emotions may be biologic, but they are still subject to the same flaws as other indicators. While an emotion can be an indicator of truth, it can also show a false positive or negative. The truth can make people very unhappy, but the alternative does not function.

We will call this rule 4: 4. Truth trumps emotion.

Rule 5

Sometime we may find ourselves in one camp when it comes to truth. This is understandable, because we find things that function for our circumstances, and truth is function. Maybe it's a role model, or a culture, or a religion, or the scientific method. But don't get stuck in one and never branch out to other sources for truth, because nobody has a monopoly on truth. Even if you belong to a creed that has all truth, perhaps you would learn the truth more effectively by seeing it in other contexts or perspectives. Be open-minded.

Don't get trapped in a rut of "It's religion, so that principle is not truth" or "it's science, so it contradicts God, who is truth". You can find truth in both places, and perhaps the only reason they seem at odds is because you misunderstand one side or the other, or even both sides. I happen to believe very stongly in both science and religion, and I do not see them even slightly at odds with the other. To the contrary, I have found that by studying one, I understand the other better. Truth is truth, no matter where you find it.

This will be rule 5: 5. There is no single source of truth.

Applying the rules

There may be some more rules, but I think this is a good starting point. So how do we deal with these rules?

1. Non-truths can appear to be functional/truth.

2. If you don't follow the 'recipe', you don't get the right outcome.

3. You (we) may not know enough to understand the truth.

4. Truth trumps emotion.

5. There is no single source of truth.

It can be very hard to know when we have at last obtained the truth on any one topic. It can take much patience, refinement of knowledge, and even introspection to weed out the lies, correct our methods, and learn the prerequisites.

If YOU are a true seeker of truth, you will need to do just that. Finding truth can take a lifetime, and doing it right may take you back to paths you thought you disproved long ago.

So, as you read my thoughts (or anybody's), try to process it a bit before writing it off as crazy talk. You'll thank yourself later.

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