(August 9, 2013 at 11:13 am)Captain Colostomy Wrote: I never could understand the allure these types of statements have.
I think that we strive for efficiency, and we mistake simplicity for efficiency. Pithy sayings appear to reduce the complexities of life into manageable philosophies that make life seem less stressful. Or they simply serve as a way to condescend to others, such as when we read those simple "lessons" and wonder why everyone else doesn't follow them and make the world a better place.
I think that they provide a short boost of optimism. Most people read them, feel good about them, and then go back to their complicated and stressful lives. It's like that fancy book of such sayings, titled Pee Breaks for the Soul.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
