Kathryn Schulz: Being Wrong

Her pacing around the stage, her dwelling for five minutes on "my book," and the way she swallows words ruined this presentation.

Brilliant!!! I was just told that I am one of the enlightened ones because I realized way back as far as 1968 that I didn't know crap (even though I did and do have opinions) and I guess she's saying that I am doubly enlightened because I knew, from the start, that "most" people I talked with didn't know crap either... or another way to see it is what they thought they knew I could see was crap... realizing that all of us are deluded and understanding that opens up new avenues for political and social dialog should make all of us excited... however, how many people have been incarcerated in mental institutions by "normal" people for being deluded (in their opinions) or insane only because they didn't follow the "standard" view of things... This concept goes to the heart of what is reality... what would you think or do if you found your neighbor had built some kind of tower in his back yard and said he was communicating with alien being? And at the same time you found he was dissecting cadavers in his basement and making medical drawings of all the body parts... while inventing strange and destructive new methods for people to be able to wage war and kill more people... all the while inviting young girls over to take photos of them, both clothed and semi-nude?... would you report him to the police? FBI? Home Land Security?... I sure would!!! Guess you would have to imprison one of the worlds greatest minds... Leonardo De Vinci... Yup... he invented or improved the telescope and said he could see things no one else could... said the sun was not the center of the universe... invented awesome war machines from canon to tanks... and cut up dead people in his non-refrigerated basement, which must have had a wonderful aroma... and, no, he did not invent the camera so he had to paint those young girls (is there really a difference?) We applaud individualism ONLY when it is seen to benefit a "collective" good... if we don't understand what an individual is doing or trying to accomplish then we see them as a threat... it's all about "who's" reality is correct at the time of discovery... as in De Vinci's day it was the Pope that was correct... When we face the fact that we are all wrong and need to rely on everyone to survive our future issues, only then, we might avoid self annihilation... and, no... there are no cadavers in my basement and I don't talk with aliens... however, I do own a camera...