By the way. Forget those 3 minutes and 30 seconds for a moment. There’s a postage stamp size 16 second version  about the only thing that makes science special – its  obligation:

16-second course in how to use a crowbar 

If the new theory-candidate explains more phenomena with its form of logic than the old – science is obligated to disregard all objections and award the new the status of being the prevailing, applicable theory.

Wonderful news! For those of you who realize the full significance of this obligation, you can skip the rest.

For others who have a tendency to defend a dead truth with arguments that died with it:

3-minutes-and-30-seconds-course in  how to use  a crowbar

It’s a known phenomena that experts fill up such quantities of expertise about a tiny field of interest that the center of gravity in their brain becomes skewed. They gradually loose their balance, and without being aware of it, begin to move more and more sideways. Toward the edge of the cliff. Suddenly, they’re overpowered by the conviction they are the stewards of the Truth with a capital T and close their minds. They don’t know they fell off the cliff and died.

20 seconds have passed

History tells us this: Every scientific breakthrough to new understanding was triggered by ideas labelled pure madness by ghosts like those described above.

RebelsFAQ presents a crowbar that can be used to open closed minds. It’s based on the unromantic fact that Truth, when all is said and done, consists of an idea, a handfull of characteristic assertions.

When a handfull of assertions has built up a better reputation than other handfulls, science calls them a theory. 

Successful mind-openers the likes of Planck, Copernicus,  and Einstein know how to use the crowbar.

They start by noticing the cracks –  paradoxes or inexplicable phenomena. Their interest in such oddities stems from science’s definition of a sound theory: The theory-candidate that can explain more of reality’s phenomena using its characteristic logic is the more sound theory.

Copernicus, for example, began to tally unexplainable phenomena. When he began to loose count, he found it necessary to admit the logic and form of reason the established planet-theory had planted in his brain was a cadaver. This logic/reason consisted of a handfull of assumptions:  The earth is the center of the universe, all heavenly bodies travel in orbits around the earth, God’s formula for orbits is a perfect circle. This theory had a spotless reputation. And yet – these same three central assertions made it impossible to explain a number of phenomena in the sky.

Copernicus was faced with a dilemma. He could have the established form of reason. He could have a more scientifically solid theory. He could not have both.

He chose to abandon reason and go for a more solid theory. He used the crowbar.

The moment he chose to do so, Nicolaus Copernicus was 50 kilometers ahead of the world’s professional astronomers in his ability to practice science.  

The characteristic trait of established science is that specialists refuse to use this crowbar. Anyone who agrees to use it will have overtaken the entire gallery of established science 1) by being open-minded and aware of inexplicable phenomena, and 2) by practicing Unlimited Tolerance for Madness, they will have a head start in their ability to solve the task which the experts can never retake.

Copernicus launched the idiotic assumption that the sun is the center instead of the earth! Obviously blind and crazy, he followed this up with the earth and all the other planets orbited around the sun!  Enough! He relapsed into the folds of established reason. He held on to the assumption about circular orbits, even though doing so resulted in his theory being useless. Later, Kepler showed up and was crazy enough to replace the circles with ellipses. A thorough verification showed the new heliocentric theory was a great deal better at explaining the phenomena than the old geocentric.

The rest was a voyage on a sea of mad consequences.

The only thing that sets science apart as a method for discovering solid understanding is the obligation to abide by the results of the verification. The previously mad new planet theory became sane by awarding it the status of the new and approved form of  logic and reason. 

With this little anecdote fresh in your mind, from now on, when you stumble across assertions crazy enough to make your hair stand on end and the cuckoo bird crow, it won’t bother you. For example, if you read at RebelsFAQ that matter doesn’t exist, that it’s natural to experience joy in out-of-this-world magnitudes, that modern-day work for wages is the most underpaid thing you can do, or anything else everyone knows is crazy. You’ll simply wait for the verification results. And based on it, you’ll be ready to either toss the madness out the window as madness, or give it the status of being the new logic/reason.

We’re at about 3 min and 10 sec.

Thank heavens for there being no speed traps on the way here. After 2 minutes you would’ve overtaken most average students with 5 years at a state approved institute of higher learning. One minute later you’re miles ahead.

The bonus

Imagine what would happen if people used the same crowbar on all kinds of  official information. In every corner of the globe, old ideas about life, the management of our resources, economic-, foreign- and domestic policies would be cancelled, rethought, refurbished. 

New ideas would create a new song – a whole songbook would arise. The rain forests would be saved, the internet returned to its original intention. The world would writhe in delight. Inescapably, we would roll ever closer to the greater form of Joy we’ve seen in Experiment 1 and 2.