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avevale_intelligencerFive blind men go to visit an elephant. In accordance with tradition, one grabs the tail and says an elephant is like a rope, and so on. It's an old story.
What is seldom told is that there is a sixth blind man in the room, which is quite large, large enough that there is plenty of space all around the elephant. As soon as he enters, he begins making a minute examination by feel, taste and smell of the walls, floor and ceiling (using a small stepladder for the purpose which he has brought with him). When asked about the elephant, he says there is no such thing. He was told there was an elephant, but he did not believe it, and he has found no reason to change his mind. When invited to come and feel it, he says that as there is no such thing, he does not need to. The fact that all the other blind men's descriptions of the elephant are in contradiction, he says, proves that they are in fact making it up in an effort to confuse him. There is, he says, no need for there to be an elephant in the room, and the simplest explanation that fits all the facts available to him is that there is no elephant. He refuses to come away from the walls, he says, because they are the only solid objects in the room and therefore the only things worth interacting with. The occasional breathing and stamping noises, not to mention the odd trumpet when the elephant gets a white stick down its ear, he says are manufactured by the other blind men to justify this fiction of the elephant.
When one or more of the blind men get impatient and try to persuade him to come and feel the elephant, he throws them off violently and shouts that they are trying to deceive him. When they suggest that his wife and children come to feel the elephant, he becomes even angrier and stalks out, shouting that he is going to expose this comnspiracy, this fraud, to the whole world, and make sure nobody ever believes in the elephant again.
Who is right and who is wrong?
Now suppose that the numbers are reversed. Five men are busily feeling the walls and floor, only one has found the elephant, and nobody will believe him or even try to find it for himself. Who is right and who is wrong?
Now suppose the elephant is a hologram, and the one man is sighted. He can see the elephant, but none of the others can perceive it at all. How would he prove its existence to them? If he could not, would that mean he was wrong and they were right?
Now suppose that the hologrammatic elephant is a real-time representation of the elephant-shaped building in which the room is situated. In studying the room, the five blind men are in fact studying the elephant, but they do not know it and would not believe it if they were told. In seeing the elephant, the sighted man is in fact seeing the outside of the room, and all the other rooms besides. Who is getting the more accurate idea of (a) the room, (b) the whole building? Who is wrong and who is right?
Now suppose the sixth man is blind after all, but has been told about the hologram by someone he trusts. He can't see it either, but he became blind late in life and he's quite good at visualising it. He believes it's there; the others don't. Who is wrong and who is right?
And finally, suppose the hologrammatic elephant isn't there; either(a) temporarily, due to a fault in the equipment, or (b) permanently. Does this mean the five blind men who refused to believe in it are more right than they were when it was there? The sixth man's friend who told him about it was told himself by someone he trusted, and so on back. What reason might the sixth man have to doubt his friend?
These games are fun, aren't they?
What is seldom told is that there is a sixth blind man in the room, which is quite large, large enough that there is plenty of space all around the elephant. As soon as he enters, he begins making a minute examination by feel, taste and smell of the walls, floor and ceiling (using a small stepladder for the purpose which he has brought with him). When asked about the elephant, he says there is no such thing. He was told there was an elephant, but he did not believe it, and he has found no reason to change his mind. When invited to come and feel it, he says that as there is no such thing, he does not need to. The fact that all the other blind men's descriptions of the elephant are in contradiction, he says, proves that they are in fact making it up in an effort to confuse him. There is, he says, no need for there to be an elephant in the room, and the simplest explanation that fits all the facts available to him is that there is no elephant. He refuses to come away from the walls, he says, because they are the only solid objects in the room and therefore the only things worth interacting with. The occasional breathing and stamping noises, not to mention the odd trumpet when the elephant gets a white stick down its ear, he says are manufactured by the other blind men to justify this fiction of the elephant.
When one or more of the blind men get impatient and try to persuade him to come and feel the elephant, he throws them off violently and shouts that they are trying to deceive him. When they suggest that his wife and children come to feel the elephant, he becomes even angrier and stalks out, shouting that he is going to expose this comnspiracy, this fraud, to the whole world, and make sure nobody ever believes in the elephant again.
Who is right and who is wrong?
Now suppose that the numbers are reversed. Five men are busily feeling the walls and floor, only one has found the elephant, and nobody will believe him or even try to find it for himself. Who is right and who is wrong?
Now suppose the elephant is a hologram, and the one man is sighted. He can see the elephant, but none of the others can perceive it at all. How would he prove its existence to them? If he could not, would that mean he was wrong and they were right?
Now suppose that the hologrammatic elephant is a real-time representation of the elephant-shaped building in which the room is situated. In studying the room, the five blind men are in fact studying the elephant, but they do not know it and would not believe it if they were told. In seeing the elephant, the sighted man is in fact seeing the outside of the room, and all the other rooms besides. Who is getting the more accurate idea of (a) the room, (b) the whole building? Who is wrong and who is right?
Now suppose the sixth man is blind after all, but has been told about the hologram by someone he trusts. He can't see it either, but he became blind late in life and he's quite good at visualising it. He believes it's there; the others don't. Who is wrong and who is right?
And finally, suppose the hologrammatic elephant isn't there; either(a) temporarily, due to a fault in the equipment, or (b) permanently. Does this mean the five blind men who refused to believe in it are more right than they were when it was there? The sixth man's friend who told him about it was told himself by someone he trusted, and so on back. What reason might the sixth man have to doubt his friend?
These games are fun, aren't they?
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-20 08:30 pm (UTC)I call it "Blind Man's Buffy"... [G,D&RVVF]
no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 12:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 02:15 am (UTC)Meanwhile, there's the story about the blind elephant who goes to find out what six philosophers are like.
His conclusion: "Philosophers are very flat."
no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 03:18 pm (UTC)(And I think I may have messed it up -- it's six blind elephants and one philosopher, and the first blind elephant says "Philosophers are very flat," and the others agree.)
no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 11:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 08:20 pm (UTC)And it is good to have Sarcastic!Philosopher!Zander back.
Please educate us some more, oh great Gautama
no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 08:27 am (UTC)