I’ve never really understood debates. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the concept behind them. You know, the theory that people can actually be persuaded by logic. But I’ve never really seen that work. Which brings me to one of my life theses.
Life Thesis #52: People, despite all other appearances, aren’t logical.
Sure, we pretend we are. We talk about cause and effect, deduction, induction, and all sorts of other –uctions, but nobody really acts on any of that. We act on emotion, gut feelings, personal preference, or simple randomness. Not only that, but the end decision can be wildly affected by something as innocuous as the digestive health of the person in question.
I recently had to convince someone that they were wrong. This happens on occasion at work, and it never ends well. I tried to convince him using logic. We’re both engineers, so you think that logic would be a natural tool to use. I was wrong. Even though I had a whole slew of logical reasons why he was wrong with a bunch of references (engineers also argue in references) backing up my slew of reasons, I couldn’t convince him of a darn thing. Why? Because I said he was wrong, and he felt like being peevish. Because his wife insulted his hair cut earlier in the day so he was in a bad mood. Because his hemorrhoids were flaring up again. Pick a reason, but it all boils down to Life Thesis #52.
I bring this up because there are probably other people like me out there, people who think that because someone says they’re logical it actually means that they are. If you’re one of those people who think that logic will work despite the emotional state of the listener, please take a moment to read my Life Lesson #451 and don’t make my mistake.
Life Lesson #451: No matter how valid your argument is, people won’t listen to you if you start the argument by insulting their mom, their hair cut, their attire, and their bodily odor.
Life Thesis #52: People, despite all other appearances, aren’t logical.
Sure, we pretend we are. We talk about cause and effect, deduction, induction, and all sorts of other –uctions, but nobody really acts on any of that. We act on emotion, gut feelings, personal preference, or simple randomness. Not only that, but the end decision can be wildly affected by something as innocuous as the digestive health of the person in question.
I recently had to convince someone that they were wrong. This happens on occasion at work, and it never ends well. I tried to convince him using logic. We’re both engineers, so you think that logic would be a natural tool to use. I was wrong. Even though I had a whole slew of logical reasons why he was wrong with a bunch of references (engineers also argue in references) backing up my slew of reasons, I couldn’t convince him of a darn thing. Why? Because I said he was wrong, and he felt like being peevish. Because his wife insulted his hair cut earlier in the day so he was in a bad mood. Because his hemorrhoids were flaring up again. Pick a reason, but it all boils down to Life Thesis #52.
I bring this up because there are probably other people like me out there, people who think that because someone says they’re logical it actually means that they are. If you’re one of those people who think that logic will work despite the emotional state of the listener, please take a moment to read my Life Lesson #451 and don’t make my mistake.
Life Lesson #451: No matter how valid your argument is, people won’t listen to you if you start the argument by insulting their mom, their hair cut, their attire, and their bodily odor.
Comments
Normal people are like this too, just not as bad as engineers.
Life Thesis #52 is right on the money.
I blame Star Trek and Mr. Spock for all of this emphasis on logic. What does he know? He's just a TV character.
As an engineer, I have to reluctantly agree than engineers can be fairly peevish. Not all of us, mind you, but enough that I won't spend time trying to think up a rebuttal.