Doubting Thomas

"Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see" - Ben Franklin.  I am a well trained skeptic which Susan often gets irritated about.  Part of this is in the DNA, but a significant portion is from years of observations where the facts can seemingly lead to improper conclusions.  

Even to this day I remember a card game called "I doubt it".  In this game the players try to get rid of their cards by declaring what they are discarding (either a lie or truth).  It is then up to the opponent to believe or doubt their statement.  As the discard pile increases the risk of being wrong (doubting an opponent) also increases (the improper doubter must pick up the entire discard pile). 

Last night, B.J. and I were discussing his field of study (B.J. teaches criminal law process).  I was describing the car accident that I was the single witness to on Saturday morning.  When asked to write down what I saw by the officer, I later reflected on how my mind had jumped to certain conclusions and how fickle memory can be.  Doubt about what I had actually seen entered my mind.   B.J. verified that eye witness testimony is some of the most unreliable evidence in criminal proceedings.

Piero Ferruci in his book "What We May Be", outlines several attributes of a well-functioning mind.  The two of the eleven that most resonated with me were (1)  "Never takes anything for granted"; (2) Can see all sides of a question, not only those it is comfortable with. 

I guess I believe 18% of what I read (2 out of 11).





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