Uncertainly Principled

Ours is world of polarization and extremes. Throw a stick into a crowded room, and you'll find a young-earth creationist, a 9/11-truther, an anti-vaxxer, and someone who believes the first moon landing was a hoax.

(For the record, I subscribe to none of those ideologies).

As an adult, one has to think carefully about the evidence presented to us; accepting something as "fact" on the basis of the authority of the author, or the reliability of the source, is a comforting, but fallacious policy. Even the experts are often wrong. One must question, not only the source of information, but also their bias, agenda, and the ever-present possibility that they may be wrong.

Now try teaching that to a child. I've mentioned before that my son has a strong desire for the world to be black and white. "Good" guys fight "bad" guys, and while the good side might not always win, they are always good. That very oversimplification is at the root of a significant amount of the ideological extremes that exist in our modern discourse (Not that extreme polarization is new, mind you. The volume is simply louder in modern contexts).

Yet it's necessary, in some respects, to teach my son in "absolutes". He lacks the reasoning skills to determine, for example, when he may be in danger. If I see an environmental danger that he does not, he must be conditioned to obey my instructions immediately, or his physical safety may be compromised. There is no time for a philosophical debate on why he must obey me when a car is barreling towards him.

But life-threatening danger is such a rare potential occurrence, that I cannot use it to condition him. I have to train him to obey in the mundane, so that he will instinctively obey in the extreme.

Which is the exact opposite of the message I want to send him.

In order to survive, adapt, and thrive in the adult world, he must develop a finely honed sense of skepticism. But in order for him to have the best chance to survive to that stage of life, he must also develop a healthy sense of obedience; until he has enough experience to suss out dangers (both immediate, and potential) on his own, he must rely on the adults around him.

Moreover, there a numerous dangers that are subtle and non-physical; the danger of trusting the wrong person, the danger of losing the respect of someone you care about, the danger of alienating those around you. I won't be able to spare him those, except in the most limited of ways...

The older I get, it's painfully obvious that the more I learn, the less clear things become. There are so many ideas and arguments, most of which have some kernel of verifiable fact within them. If I can't fully trust myself to know the truth about, well, anything, how on earth can I possibly teach my son?

I suppose I just have to do my best. And highly encourage him to learn math, the language of the universe. It's pretty hard to insert any uncertainty into a² + b² = c².