Certainty: A Dangerous Thing, Certainly

Actual Books

Who Hates Whom:
Well-Armed Fanatics,
Intractable Conflicts,
and Various Things Blowing Up
A Woefully Incomplete Guide™

“Revelatory... Harris's sly wit and infectious curiosity make understanding world chaos fascinating... witty, horrific, and necessary.”

-- Boston Globe

"Brave... irreverent... charges into the thick of the globe's myriad simmering wars... hilariously relaxed."

-- New York Observer

“Fascinating, enlightening, and surprisingly: NOT TOTALLY DEPRESSING.”

-- John Hodgman,
author, The Areas of My Expertise and correspondent for The Daily Show

"A rollicking ride of intellectual discovery and emotional growth... his comic timing never fails"

-- The Wall Street Journal

"A surprisingly touching memoir"

-- Entertainment Weekly

"Effortlessly funny and informative... tender, human, and very wise... A must for anyone who loves Jeopardy!, or has ever seen it, or is breathing."

-- Joss Whedon, creator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

You Tube Clips

CBS Morning Show profile

Who Hates Whom

Prisoner of Trebekistan

Panic

Aftermath

Reading

Helping my friend Howard win $250,000 on Millionaire

Home

Certainty: A Dangerous Thing, Certainly

General Incompetence

Readers of Who Hates Whom might recall the conclusion, which reviewed various conflicts worldwide and found only one thing in common: certainty. Certainty that one god, culture, language, political or economic system, or miscellaneous dogma is right and best allows believers to see everyone else as other, and therefore lesser. And that seems to be a fairly necessary threshold for megaviolence to begin. In short, "you're either with us or against us" is one of the single most dangerous ideas a human can hold, in any culture, anywhere, any time.

I, um, think, anyway. Let's say that.

Unfortunately, certainty is emotionally rewarding. Which is kind of a problem, if we want the species to survive.

Scientific American has an article up on what it calls the certainty bias. Worth a read. Certainly.

Actual Books

You Tube Clips

Recent Favorites

Friends

Travel Links