Before embarking on an investigation any researcher worth their salt will state their assumptions. This lays the groundwork for what is to come and allows the reader to contextualize the investigation. In regular science, this is often ignored. It’s a shame we seem to be losing this important piece of the discourse puzzle.
Anyway, when it comes to the Acid Tests, most of my assumptions are ‘what we already know’ kinds of things.
-DNA is the building block of life
-The Big Bang probably happened mostly like we think it did
-The laws of thermodynamics are real-ish
-Humans have been around for maybe 200,000 years; hominids for maybe a million
-Lots of things changed in the lives of Homo sapiens around 12,000 years ago
-The historical record started around 5,000 years ago
-The past 500 years have shown massively disproportional changes to human culture
-All of biology is built upon an abiotic template that includes physics, geology, climate, etc.
So the basis for the DNA Acid Tests it to take what we (think we) know about the world and apply it to more metaphysical questions like
-Who Am I?
-What is My Purpose?
-Are Humans Living Well?
Many will argue that what we (think we) know is beyond questioning or absolute. I disagree. What we (think we) know is simply where we are right now. Remember, before Einstein we believed Newton was correct about how gravity worked.
This episode builds on similar themes from earlier episodes including;
–Episode 78: Assumptions and Core Principles