theories and facts

Thursday, February 26, 2009

theories and facts

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts. --Doyle (Sherlock Holmes, A Scandal in Bohemia)

1 comment:

WoFat said...: One can make it al the way to the White House without knowing that.; February 26, 2009 at 2:25 PM

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Welcome to the Machine!

This blog has many elements and depending on your interests, may pique your imagination...or not. I urge you to be unreasonable. Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. The unreasonable persist in trying to adapt the world to themselves, therefore all progress depends on unreasonable people. The more unreasonable you are, the more likely you are to enjoy this blog. All men dream, but not equally.

If you're a socialist or a Marxist, you'll find that I poke fun at your absurd notions of "good government" on a regular basis. So you might not wish to follow this blog because you'll be offended.

John Locke said, "One unerring mark of the love of truth is not entertaining any proposition with greater assurance than the proofs it is built upon will warrant." I like what Locke said. We can't theorize without adequate information because when we do we inevitably twist facts to suit theories rather than theories to suit facts. In this blog and in my life, I try to maintain this perspective.

Either you believe in our essential spark of shared divinity, or you succumb to our human insecurity. Either way your conscience lets you slice it, the main thing is to earnestly do what is right at the time.

This is My Journey.

Thursday, February 26, 2009