scudmissile

Squashed: Science and individualism

squashed:

Testing a theory scientifically requires gathering as many data points as possible. While any one point may be an outlier or an error, a robust collection of data has enormous predictive power. We base theories on data, not on anecdotes.

This is why I’m very skeptical if any political theory centered around individualism or individual rights. Both of those are fine things—but they aren’t sufficient to shape decent policies. If we want accurate data about society, we need a robust data set. This mean looking at everybody’s experiences, even when they differ from ours. Intelligent policies require a full set of data.

If you want to place individual liberties at the center if you political philosophy, great. But you need a full set of data. You need to know what’s going on with everybody. “Work harder and take somebody else’s job” is a fine individual solution. But it doesn’t address society’s problems.