A Certain Point of View




You can see the collapse of the spectrum in action on any really contentious political issue, especially issues that require major changes in public policy or issues that threaten deeply-held ideologies. Climate change is real, and happening, and caused by people—for all intents and purposes. With 99% certainty. Of course there is a margin of error, because science wisely does not and cannot collapse the spectrum. A pundit on cable TV will happily collapse their own uncertainty into absolute terms, even if their evidence warrants no certainty at all. A scientist, to the great frustration of the media, will highlight the uncertainty in even the most solid evidence.

And of course politicians manufacture certainty in service of rhetoric; they happily leap from conflicting position to conflicting position with no allegiance to evidence or truth. Somehow, their forceful declarations are taken as proof of their rightness.

When President Obama says he will close Guantanamo Bay Prison, the media report this as if he will, and the evidence of his repeated failure is but a footnote. But if he says he will try to close it depending on a variety of factors, who will listen?

Donald Trump presents ideas with even less tether to the real world—perhaps no tether at all—and his supporters laud his ability to tell it like it isn’t, but how they wish it were.

Yet, I don’t think the fault lies with them. Politicians are mirrors, and whether they reflect our own cognitive dissonance or our unwillingness to commit to our ideals, they are still reflecting. They aren’t likely to change. So I think the onus is on us to judge their evidence and their nuance rather than their certainty. What use is it to criticize someone for changing their position? They will only refuse to change later even when the evidence demands it. What use is it for us to value a leader based on their certainty when that certainty isn’t called for? They will only lead us to disaster because they were too set in their own ideology to question.

Our idolatry of certainty is well-sown, and the rewards we reap in our leaders are well-earned. So I take the opposite position: I don’t think we should measure our scientists by whether they are sure, and I don’t think we should measure our politicians by how little they change their minds, and I don’t think we should measure one another’s ideas by how absolutely they are framed.

Instead, to me, the best idea is the one that is presented with some uncertainty. If someone is uncertain, that tells me that they are looking at the real world and acknowledging their limited and subjective perspective. It tells me that they care about how much their ideas match the evidence around them, and that they know there are things they don’t yet understand. It tells me that they can adapt when the world, as it always does, changes out from under them.

To me, uncertainty is almost sure to be a better match with the truth. Thus certainty, not uncertainty, is the sign of weakness of mind. Certainty is a brittle, imposing creature that, by its very nature, rejects testing. Certainty, rather than proving our authority, proves our ignorance.

Image Credit: Thomas Hoffmann


One comment on “A Certain Point of View

  1. venice967 says:

    Interesting subject. I’ve heard it said that the only certainty in this life is uncertainty. Woody Allen said the only truth is death and taxes, well maybe Benjamin Franklin said that first. But I live in an uncertain world standing on the strength of certainty that is not of this world. My certainty is that The Lord is my saviour and I can trust Him to lead me in His Light and Truth. Now that doesn’t mean I take every religious leader’s statements as certain truth. No way. There are many, many things I don’t understand and many, many things that have layers of truths not yet plumbed. It seems to me that Americans in particular are addicted to ‘ideas’. Maybe that is why certain politicians are liked. They spout ideas. Why, with all due respect to Obama, he got a Nobel Prize for something he hasn’t done yet. Since when is this prize given for ideas instead of action? Certainties should be based on evidence. Evidence of consistent behaviour and results! Absolutism is not supposed to be based on pie in the sky ideas but by solid and consistent proof and history. Not the rewritten history of the winners but the history of truth. There are certain things we know to be true just by observing life. Pet ideas are threatened by the truth. It causes upheavals and distress. But that is where good, solid change can be made for the better. We shouldn’t be afraid of the truth. Jesus said it would set us free. I believe that! And I have proof!


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