Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

27 Feb 2007, 7:06 a.m.

MC Masala on Blinders

Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2007 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.

Freaking prejudice! Freaking lack of metacognition! Aaargh!

If our assumptions blind us to what's really going on, how can we make sure we're acting ethically? One example: in sex, in psychology experiments, in drug use, we comfort ourselves with disclaimers about consenting adults.

It is impossible for a virgin to know what sex is like, and the same applies to new drugs or mindbending experiments.

How can you give informed consent to an experience you've never had before?

We are ignorant, not just of facts, but of the models, lenses and architectures we should use to evaluate the facts that we do have. All we can do is be glad when we're disoriented, because right after that comes a measure of enlightenment.

Comments

Rachel
28 Feb 2007, 23:26 p.m.

It IS possible to get a job in the humanities with a humanities degree, too.

At least I hope.

Or maybe history is a social science....

Kristen
02 Mar 2007, 10:19 a.m.

Interesting article. Aaron's family has about 2 dozen Betamax home videos. They really are better quality than VCR tapes. It is a wonder why they lost favor.