Facts Might Change, But We Often Don’t

What is true is constantly changing.  When I was in high school, my science text book stated unequivocally that the entire universe consisted of 16 galaxies.  Period.  Now, a half century later, we do not know how many galaxies there are.  Because there are so many.  NASA estimates there are hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars.  There are so many we don’t even have the capability to count them all.

Facts change.  In an interesting book about this, “The Half-Life of Facts,” Samual Arbesman observes that while the facts change, we often don’t.  Arbesman writes, “(e)ven if we are confronted with facts that should cause us to update our understanding of the way the world works, we often neglect to do so.  We persist in only adding facts to our personal store of knowledge that jibe with what we already know, rather than assimilate new facts irrespective of how they fit into our worldview.”

In other words, we tend to believe what we already believe.  And too often we double down on what we believe, on what we know to be true, even when it isn’t.

The Gay and Lesbian Independent School Teachers Network (now known as the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network—GLSEN) was founded in 1990 by Kevin Jennings.  The organization’s stated mission is to eliminate discrimination, harassment and bullying of LGBT students in grades K-12, and it is carried out by forming Gay Straight Alliances in our schools.  A seemingly noble mission.  Reportedly there are now 3,600 such alliances operating throughout the U.S.  (more...)

Facts Might Change, But We Often Don’t

Further reflection:

Post by Truth Alliance Foundation.