Half-glass people
- Religion and science is an enemy and they don’t go together
- Science is a bliss to human kind
- Religion is the main cause of all problems in the world
- All politicians are corrupt
- All Muslims are terrorists
- India is country of religion, beggars and cattle on streets
- All scientists are atheist and if they believe in God they are not ‘real’ scientists.
- All rituals are absurd
- Worshiping God is unscientific
- Science is always correct
The list can go on and on
The common and dangerous features of above list are generalization and misconceptions. The statements are half-truth like half empty or half full glass. We conclude from these statements based on our own understanding, concepts and interests and in hurry we, many times miss the entire truth.
When we use words like ‘all’ and ‘every’ we must understand that we are referring to certain level and group of attributes at that level, you are not referring to entire object or subject. For example, if you say “All metals” or “All solids” you are referring to certain properties which make them metals and solids, you are not referring to specific element or entity. Metals have certain properties which make them a metal but it does not mean that all metals are same, when you change your level and go in details; all metals have different molecular structure, however in communication it makes easy to say ‘all metals’, we must not forget that it is just for a sake of a communication, it is not a rule.
While using such generic statements and conclusion we might be talking about ‘majority’ and it could be also correct but you cannot make rule out of majority especially rules about the life. You need to mention and consider the exceptions. You should not formulate a theory or concepts from majority and if you do, you must mention the assumptions and exceptions.
There are many people with superstitions and blind faith and we call them religious people but do you know there are other kinds of people who have blind faith in science and have superstitions with science? They believe science is always correct, the concept of science remains same everywhere, all concepts of science can prove by an experiments with great accuracy, Science can cure all disease etc. Again, on majority these could be true but this cannot be a rule, there are many examples in science which contradicts to this. Scientists never had problem in accepting such limitations and assumptions but it is a problem of ‘half-glass’ people.
The other interesting feature of ‘half-glass’ person is to find out analogy among the anything which suits to their own theory and beliefs. It is common in religious people to attribute everything to God or divinity, if they see a beautiful rainbow, they believe it is only God who can do this and relate to divinity. Anything which cannot be explained or understood is divinity and if you fail in exam you must have done some sin. If he is against science and technology, will try to relate every incident to this and will try to prove his belief, however by doing so they may times create a good joke.
The majority of ‘half-glass’ people (Yes with exceptions and assumptions) are not experts in the field they criticize about, for all those who criticize science are not ‘true’ professionals from science because if you are a real expert you would know about all limitations, assumptions and background about each concept.
The seasoned will never say anything as the last truth. They will say this is what I know or this is what we know so far. You would normally use terms like ‘Perhaps’, ‘As far as I know’, ‘In my understanding’. These terms makes it clear to audience that there are other possibilities.