by David D. Horowitz.
Earth, at the center of the cosmos, is flat. The universe is approximately 6,000 years old. Phlogiston causes combustion. Women do not deserve the right to vote. Slavery is natural. Canals crisscross Mars. Cats and goats are demonic and evil. The emperor of Rome is a god. Earthquakes and hurricanes reflect God’s anger.
Such views, commonly espoused for decades or centuries or millennia, now have fewer adherents. What caused their popular decline? Direct sensory experience; testing; plagues, famines, and suffering linked to dubious dogmas; and alternative explanations that more accurately described and predicted natural phenomena.
And who allowed alternative explanations to circulate and spread? Some people in positions of power who could profit from them, and a few of these who actually believed in the free exchange of ideas. And what caused them to feel this way? At root: curiosity. And what triggered curiosity? Recognition that the world is complex and that we benefit by exchanging ideas and considering diverse perspectives.
Yes, the world is complex. How many people recognize and accept this? Many perhaps, yet too few. Millions—nay, billions—still seek a perfect dogma, a messiah, an easy one-stop-shopping answer to all of life’s problems. Challenge this, and you might be branded evil. If we all believed in XYZ, we could cooperate to solve our problems. But you ABC believers dilute our perfect unity, so you must be opposed and even destroyed! We must put you all out to sea, never to return to pollute our uniform utopia!
Well, I dare suggest people are out to sea already. Some look for clues, but many are clueless about their cluelessness and merely seek reassurance, resisting challenge. To awaken respect for complexity and show how this should rouse enthusiasm, not fear—that is a challenge. And at heart, that challenge is to help people learn. It’s never easy, but it’s never been more important.