BENFORD’S LAW (2)
In my previous post (Benford’s Law – 1), I footnoted the following:
“Confusingly, there is another Benford’s Law, propounded in 1980 by US physicist Gregory Benford. It states: “Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available”. (Gregory) Benford’s “Law” is an interesting and humorous aphorism rather than a scientific Law and is much less known than that of Simon Newcomb and Frank Benford.”
Gregory Benson’s Law. Click for larger image
The “Law” comes from the words of a character in Gregory Benford’s 1980 Sci-Fi novel “Timescape”. According to the Wiki synopsis, Timescape is a dystopian novel set in a future 1998 where the world is threatened by human-caused ecological disaster. It is saved by a hero scientist (a physicist, of course) who invents a time machine and travels back to the 1980s in order to persuade humanity from their evil ways, but in the process gets involved in various time related paradoxes. The novel was popular and won many awards. Sounds like a fun read, in the genre of the Spielberg movies: Back to the future.
We can all nod and smile at this aphorism, thinking perhaps of passionate youth confronting their elders with their new-found insights. The elders just smile calmly with the close-lipped smile of reason and wisdom. Greta Thunberg springs to mind.
The “smile” of youthful passion and ignorance – Greta Thunberg addresses the United Nations
The smile of reason and knowledge (and, just a touch of hubris?) – 18th cent. French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau.
But of course, passion is a psychological trait that does not necessarily accompany youth or age, ignorance or knowledge. Youthful passion can sometimes reflect real insight denied the more orthodox thinking of their elders, and there is no reason why someone with deep knowledge should not be passionate in arguing for their subject. Aphorisms can only go so far.