A matter of Interpretation

In a reply to my post at ndtv about overtly biased viewpoint of upper middle class grownups of supposedly threat to their young female members outside home in a uncontrolled environment say a public bus or a movie theater etc. I had used several facts to reinforce my hupothesis about this paranoia and commented on how it curbs to the development of an all round personality of such off-springs. And this woman,who claimed outside world to be disgusting for them all together retorted with unsupported,judgemental and personal views.

Later when i very calmly gave reply to her email and thereby soliciting facts to prove it; it came out that he had a history of several 'not so good' experiences regarding the subject. That is tragic but she now superimposes the same situation with similar variables in case of her young daughter that too 15 years since then. She had newspaper and channel newitems to quote which i replied as sporadiac and downplayed their effect to this situation. Later i had to give her certain links to the same subject to make her understand the gravity of the situation.

It was disturbing to me to see anyone so facilely blur the distinction between the observations and interpretations and then even go so far as to make numerous deductions without the slightest shred of evidence. When I was very young and did not “see” what seemed obvious to adults, I often thought I was stupid and unsuited for science. Now I sometimes wonder if that is why I make progress. I see the ability to invent interconnections as no advantage whatsoever where the discovery of truth is the objective.

There are those who believe that science consists entirely of disproving alternative hypotheses, as if when you eliminate the alternative views, the one you have left is right. The problem is that there is no way to think of all the possible hypotheses that nature can devise. More than that, you have to prove which is the most reasonable. But any one hypothesis can, with a limited data set, be reasonable. There is at least a touch of truth in the idea that any variable affects another. If you look long and determinedly enough you will find that almost any variable element you choose to examine apparently affects the behavior you are studying. You have to be able to skim over what is not important or relevant to your problem, and to concentrate long enough on the prime movers to unearth sufficient facts that, presuming they are recognized, add up to something.