00:00:00.000 Mistakes of ubiquitous, error is always with us. The whole purpose of creating new knowledge
00:00:09.880 is to correct errors. We cannot have certainty about anything, ever. But at the same time,
00:00:15.960 this does not mean that all claims to truth run equal footing. Relativism, the idea that
00:00:21.160 all claims to truth are equal, so everyone's opinion as equal value, is false. Science,
00:00:26.640 mathematics, philosophy and morality uncover objective truth about reality. It's just
00:00:31.920 that objective truth does not mean what most people think it means. If something is
00:00:37.000 objectively true, this does not mean it is certainly true. Let's pause for a moment.
00:00:43.800 If I'm certain, what does that mean? What just means I feel some way? I feel certain.
00:00:50.120 Certainty is an emotion. It's a feeling you get, or at least a feeling that some people
00:00:54.560 seem to want to have. But it's a feeling, the feeling that you are definitely without
00:00:59.200 a doubt correct. And that is no guarantee that you are. You should have doubts, doubt
00:01:04.240 is good. Someone without doubt is dogmatic. Endogmatism only ever leads to evil. Do you
00:01:10.520 remember a time when you were certain that through any two points, only a single line
00:01:14.640 could be drawn? Perhaps you still are, depending on how much math you remember. So try
00:01:19.280 now. Draw two random points anywhere on a piece of paper. And then, try and draw a straight
00:01:26.240 line through those points. It appears only one is possible. Have you tried? Well think
00:01:33.440 a bit. Even though it's said only one line could be drawn through these two points, and
00:01:38.800 indeed Euclid, who laid down the foundations of our mathematical understanding of geometry,
00:01:43.880 provided a rock-solid mathematical proof. And this is what you are taught in the high
00:01:48.360 school geometry class. A unique straight line through two points. So there's proof, but
00:01:54.960 are you certain of so simple or truth? Most people are certain at least for some time
00:01:59.640 that only one such straight line can be drawn. But now, if we take our two points and
00:02:06.480 we bend our piece of paper, suddenly through those two points, more straight lines can
00:02:13.080 be drawn. Your prior certainty is undermined by a simple change of perspective. But maybe
00:02:20.520 you've got objections now. You still refuse to accept this. That's cheating, you might
00:02:24.440 say. Or the line is bent. Those weren't in the rules. But the point here is you might
00:02:29.720 have a doubt now. And should you doubt it? Did you misunderstand the instruction as I first
00:02:34.320 posed it to draw a straight line through those two points? Could I have phrased it in such
00:02:39.640 a way as to not be misunderstood by you? Well, Carl Popper once said, it is impossible
00:02:45.320 to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood. And so it is with all knowledge.
00:02:50.800 We always have doubts. We can always misunderstand. And we can never be certain.
