Turning the Tables: Physicist’s Guide to Infiltration

“Against logic there is no armor like ignorance.” – Laurence J. Peter 

How do we decide who we trust? When you meet someone for the first time, is there a button in your brain that clicks and says “Boy, this person seems honest.” Or are you one of the negative folks who think something along the lines of “Egad! Don’t talk to me so familiarly you cretin.” Obviously there are people out there who are more worthy then others are, but what helps in deciding this? Was it the geometrical tie? The spick and span suit? Maybe the person in question had fancy paperwork or perhaps that winning smile? People who look like professionals are just believable. It helps to have that air of confidence. Just check this guy out. You’re welcome future con artists!

Lying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiZGv917KlE

Persuasion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEXJYLrdd0M

(I originally wanted to show the one where a comedian dresses up as a reporter, and basically tells everyone silly lies about what’s happening while catching their reactions on camera, but I can’t find it anywhere free! It’s an episode of Mind Games: Powers of Persuasion.)

So, while keeping what you just saw in mind, surely we now have a reason as to why certain people are considered trustworthy. There’s no helping it. Professionals are professionals at what they do because certainly they know more about what’s going on in their field then the average person. In the Science/Humanities debate, there is a certain scientist who took advantage of this human behavior. The culprit is Alan D. Sokal, a physicist, and his very silly paper “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity”. He’s one of the scientists and a sojourner of facts. What he’s posting is surely the truth of his research right? Honestly, I’m quite surprised that he successfully had the paper published in a social science magazine. Even as dense as the material was, there were some claims that were truly absurd. Seriously…how do you “liberate human beings from the tyranny of absolute truth?” (Pg 19)

It’s such a funny article. If you didn’t have prior knowledge, would you have been one of many lemmings to go with the flow? Granted, much of the silliness was written out of anger of intellectual arrogance and sloppiness over seriously important matters. Moral of the story? Check your facts. Keep your mind sharp…things aren’t always as they seem. Especially professionals.

~~~Jenieve Cumberland