The Bigger Picture

It's sort of funny how sometimes we look at something and automatically assume we know everything about it. As an example take the very simple equation of 2+2. Now if I were to ask you what 2+2 is equal to, I am going to assume that more than 80% of the world would turn to me and say 4. My example is coming from a quote, that I am stealing from the BBC Website [found here], by John Hurt in which he said "There's no way of disproving that two plus two equals four, and therefore, take that to the ultimate, much more complicated areas, and you're dealing with something which is truthful."

Now wait one second John, we have a problem here. Again there are quite a few assumptions being made here. The first assumption is that we are even talking about maths. If I were to say tu and tu make a tutu so that it can be worn, now wouldn't that also partially logically make sense? And if you say it outloud it makes more sense. In this case it doesn't equal four, but instead an article of clothing. Just for arguments sake we will assume he was in fact talking about maths and that all those in the conversation knew that. Then I quickly notice another major assumption he is making, that we are talking base 10. If we are talking base 2, such as would be used in computer science, then two plus two is equal to 100. (Or in written out form: 10 + 10 = 100). So again I am playing around with the usage of the words.

Now let us assume instead of saying the words, he actually wrote out that 2+2=4. In this case I can no longer use the previous two arguments, but I can STILL find that he is assuming even more things. He is assuming that we are still talking in base 10! Just for kicks pretend we are in base 3. Again I can write out quickly that 2+2=11, not 4. And if we take away the whole concept of bases, then I can still show another assumption! Assume you are in the field of integers modulo 4. Then we get the equation that 2+2=0.

It is not John's fault that he assumed all of this because we all make assumptions every single day of our lives. Assumptions are what help us get through the day without having to explain every single tiny aspect of our lives. But sometimes assumptions can be very bad. An assumption turns bad when you are arguing with someone and to you it seems like they understand you but are refusing to listen. I have seen this so many times it pains me. I think as humans when we start to argue we need to take a step back from the situation and be able to look at the argument from the other person's perspective. Would we be doing the same thing? Why are we even arguing over this topic? I think you will find that if you try and think about what the other person is thinking, you will find out that you were making a lot of assumptions about them understanding what you are trying to say.

Realise that everyone thinks differently and that we will never be able to understand the way another person thinks. We must try and understand in order to communicate better. I took a clip off of youtube.com that I personally liked that shows another example of this in the sense of a small young boy. Notice how his life was 'ruined' just because he thought in a different way and no one around him took the time to ask, 'how is he thinking?'