these debates remind me of...

[willie24]

when i was a young child i had the following thought:

say there is a question which has a definite answer. the answer must be either yes or no, and there is argument about which is answer is correct.

a young child or simple-minded person might answer "yes," using overly simple, incomplete, or unreasonable logic.

a slightly older/smarter person might answer "no", using slightly better logic.

another person, even smarter, might again answer "yes" using even better logic.

another, even smarter, "no", with even better logic
etc. etc.

each is unaware of his own ignorance - each is confident he is correct - each has an approximately equal chance of actually being correct.

this was kind of an epiphany for me at the time, and to this day amuses me. the hopelessness of having logic and ignorance at the same time! being human!