Cure The Symptoms, Cure The Disease.

Do You Know What We Call Opinion In The Absence Of Evidence? We Call It Prejudice.

The Characteristic Human Trait Is Not Awareness But Conformity, And The Characteristic Result Is Religious Warfare. Other Animals Fight For Territory Or Food; But, Uniquely In The Animal Kingdom, Human Beings Fight For Their 'beliefs.' The Reason Is That Beliefs Guide Behavior, Which Has Evolutionary Importance Among Human Beings. But At A Time When Our Behavior May Well Lead Us To Extinction, I See No Reason To Assume We Have Any Awareness At All. We Are Stubborn, Self-destructive Conformists. Any Other View Of Our Species Is Just A Self-congratulatory Delusion.

This Fascination With Computer Models Is Something I Understand Very Well. Richard Feynmann Called It A Disease. I Fear He Is Right.

Finally, I Would Remind You To Notice Where The Claim Of Consensus Is Invoked. Consensus Is Invoked Only In Situations Where The Science Is Not Solid Enough. Nobody Says The Consensus Of Scientists Agrees That E=mc2. Nobody Says The Consensus Is That The Sun Is 93 Million Miles Away. It Would Never Occur To Anyone To Speak That Way.

The Best Doctors Found A Middle Position Where They Were Neither Overwhelmed By Their Feelings Nor Estranged From Them. That Was The Most Difficult Position Of All, And The Precise Balance - Neither Too Detached Nor Too Caring - Was Something Few Learned.