Stargazing Guy

– Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

The first 12 of Sagan’s twenty most common and perilous pitfalls — many of which are rooted in our chronic discomfort with ambiguity — are available here – one and two (blog 1 of 11), three and four (blog 2 of 11), five and six (blog 3 of 11), seven and eight (blog 4 of 11), nine and ten (blog 5 of 11) and eleven and twelve (blog 6 of 11).

The thirteenth and fourteenth of these pitfalls is covered below, with Sagan’s examples.

13. meaningless question (e.g., What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? But if there is such a thing as an irresistible force there can be no immovable objects, and vice versa;

14. excluded middle, or false dichotomy — considering only the two extremes in a continuum of intermediate possibilities (e.g., “Sure, take his side; my husband’s perfect; I’m always wrong.” Or: “Either you love your country or you hate it.” Or: “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”).

Here are some other examples:

13. meaningless question:

1. What’s north of the North Pole?

Explanation: The North Pole is the most northern point of the space in which we measure direction using the north, south, east, and west coordinates. “North” of the North Pole is meaningless.

OR

2. What happened before time?

Explanation: “Before” is a term related to a place in time. Without time, this concept is meaningless.

OR

3. How many angels can you fit on a head of a pin?

Explanation: Angels are said to be ghost-like in that they don’t take up space. “Fit” is a word that refers to space. The question is meaningless.

Fun Fact: The answers to our three meaningless questions are 1) Northness, 2) space and energy had sex, and 3) the answer depends on if Heaven has Krispy Kreme doughnut shops or not

14. excluded middle, or false dichotomy – “We can either give money to humanitarian efforts or spend it on space exploration.”

AND

“You’re either with us, or against us.”

OR

“Either scientists can explain the strange objects in the sky over Gulf Breeze, Florida, or these objects are piloted from outer space.”

PS: I love coffee. BuyMeACoffee, leave a message with a date and time and we can share it, remotely, at the same time, and think about the Cosmos.

In the meantime, take care of yourself and if you can, someone else, too, because as Adam Smith said, “we naturally desire not only to be loved but to be lovely”.

Remember, hope lives here.

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