Skip to main content

Skepticism

Before it was named science, this branch of rational debates on natural phenomena was a part of philosophical discourses. However, the biggest differentiator was the approach. Scientific truths were to remain objective and under scrutiny forever when one phenomenon that contradicts a hypothesis is enough to bury it. This explains that scepticism is the central facet of scientific thinking.

Today, the nature and physics of systems have gone too complex for the truth to be objectively identified. We gamble on the empirical formulation of reality and quantify its error. Also, specialisation has made science disciplines wander so far off that a singular authority is hard to conceive. This has ushered into an era where unscientific theories conspire to challenge established truths. This problem is pressing since it seeks to undermine centuries of human intelligence.




Today, when information is abundant, the means of verification are limited and sources of authority in multitude, what could be the prescription for 21st-century citizens. The answer is scepticism. A person who believes in everything he is told is as dangerous as someone who refuses to believe anything. This is more challenging than it may seem because education worldwide has been aimed at making information available rather than teaching how to confirm it. For example, the internet is today tiled with conspiracies and propaganda, which are corroborated by multiple netizens. It is easy to commit the grave mistake of taking corroboration as substantiation. 

Of course, one extreme end of scepticism is paranoia. People need to have trust in certain truths to be able to function efficiently. Therefore, a critical way of regulating scepticism is to keep an open eye for new information. Social media today has intrusive algorithms to take advantage of human conditioning, so one needs to be actively aware to prevent the information trap. The comfort of technology would require us to be more mentally involved with scientific thinking.

Popular posts from this blog

Election afterthoughts

The unfolding of the Indian election might have come as a surprise to many, for one is the BJP who steamrolled the campaign seasons with slogans of "400 par". While it remains 240 seats popular in a house of 520 members, a few stories should not go unnoticed. First, the BJP's popularity and the win for a third term is no ordinary feat. Only a few leaders of the past have managed such an elusive feat. This, indeed, is the trust that the brand Modi has built over the years. In politics, we often get acclimatized to the situations, in certain aspects too critical of it. When the young generation looked at Indira Gandhi's cabinet, they vowed never to again let such a solid mandate to a single party that its chief could declare an emergency, and no structures would be able to prevent that. This, however, ended up in fragmented colours in the Lok Sabha, the era of coalitions and surprise prime ministers. Needless to say, the horse-trading of MPs and the mindless corruption ...
dive in...

Consulting Constulting

Consultants are the most rampant, yet the most sushed topic in corporate. There are enough consulting firms today, to make one wonder if we need so many of them. And if the conundrum of needing to hire consultants was not big enough, here comes the issue of what they actually do. Over the last few years, many in the media have reported consulting firms to have held too much power for far too long to have become corrupted. Firms have relied on shady practices to keep their business afloat and, on many occasions, have walked out without much consequences. However, I find the above conclusion misrepresenting, if not incorrect.  The need for consultants doesn't arise from corporate's need to implement change or resolve issues. Corporations today are locked in an environment of constant change, be it in business models, products or even markets. The law forbids two companies from coming together and promising on a "happy ever-after". The consequence of this is action and r...
dive in...

The Gems on Coursera

I found myself in a rare situation this April. Had things stuck to their schedule, I would have completed my graduation curriculum and would have been ticking off any college goer's dream check-list, which did include a few travel and adventure. But, the situation as of 2020 has a different story to tell. With no end to this quarantine insight, the check-list became an impossibility.  So I took the Coursera COVID offer for colleges and started my odyssey to various areas of studies, my mechanical engineering syllabi had prevented me from. So without much ado, here are the "Gems" on the courses platform, each one must give a shot at.  Model Thinking This course gives an unusual approach to what we have accepted as complex socio-political phenomena. With simple logical and mathematical principle, Prof. Scott E. Page recreates results which have puzzled global leaders. He argues that this approach to reality is a must for all in this 21st century, and I could not agree mo...
dive in...