No-one knows what they're doing!

(My take on this (language NSFW))

When I was a kid, I read a Peanuts strip where Marcie asks Charlie "Why the long face?" He looks at the huge pile of books in front of him and replies "The more I learn, the more I know what I don't know."

I have (among other things) a degree in Mathematics. Math is one of the few subjects where everything you learn very obviously builds upon everything you've learned before. In fact, many professors take pains to connect the dots between seemingly disparate subjects like topology, linear algebra, and multi-variable calculus (to name a few). And, that's one of those amazing beauties of math as a subject of study.

The flipside of this feature is that as you learn each new fact, you are aware of how much of an inverted pyramid mathematical knowledge is. You learn fact A and that opens the door to facts B, C, and D. But you haven't learned those facts yet! You just know you don't know them. And, once you know that facts B, C, and D are out there, you become vaguely aware of the facts that build on those.

In other words, the more you know, the more you realize you could know.

When I was high school, I would never memorize facts - I never saw the point. All I cared about was knowing that a fact was available and where it can be found. (Yes, I love the library. Why do you ask?) While I sucked at biology (why memorize phyla when Google knows them?!), I know exactly where to find information and, more importantly, what information is out there to find.

Maybe that's the best way to learn.

Fear and Middle Eastern politics

I don't care about the religious factions in the Middle East. I have no ties to Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Their faiths matter to them (which matters to me), but I have no preference between them.

That said, the first place to look is at Israel. No, it's not because I hate Jews or because I secretly sympathize with the Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians, or Iranians¹. The reason to look first at Israel is because Israel seems to be in the mix everytime there's a problem. When my eldest son was having issues in school a few years ago, it wasn't because he was doing anything overtly bad. It just happened that everytime something was going on, he seemed to be nearby. So, suspicion naturally fell on him. By moving away from the center of action, he stopped getting into trouble.

So, why is Israel always nearby when trouble arises in the Middle East? There are at least two sides to this.

Israeli supporters would say something like: Israel is just defending its right to exist, so must strike hard in response to any provocation. Otherwise its enemies will see it as weak.

Arab supporters would say something like: Zionists are attempting to destroy Islam and ensure the domination of the Jewish people. The Arab people must wipe this abomination from the face of the earth.

Not much in common, is there? Well, there is. Both viewpoints are driven by fear. The Israelis are afraid of being destroyed, so they lash out in what they feel is a desperate attempt to preven their demise. And, given the rhetoric, it's not a unreasonable position.

The Arabs, on the other hand, are afraid of losing more land, power, and lives to Israeli incursions. Ignoring for a second whether or not those incursions were provoked, it should be relatively obvious that the reactions taken by the Israelis are very harsh given the provocations. Two soldiers are kidnapped and 15,000 soldiers invade a sovreign nation without a declaration of war, drop 500lb bombs on civilian targets and end up killling around 1000 people in an incursion that lasts over 30 days. That seems to be the standard ratio between provocation and response.

Is it any wonder that compromise is extremely hard to come by?

Footnotes:

1. Did I miss anyone in that list? That there is a list should be a telling point.