Truth And Probabilities Poem by gershon hepner

Life isn’t about truth, it’s all about
mere probabilities, which means
you cannot cure your allergies to doubt
with proofs like antihistamines.

Inspired by James P. Evans’s reply to Claudia Dreifus when interviewed in the Science Times on July 1,2008 (“Biologist Teaches the Nation’s Judges About Genetics”) :
Q. DO SCIENTISTS AND JUDGES HAVE MUCH IN COMMON?
A. Well, a scientist almost never says anything absolutely. Everything is a theory, to be disproved or adjusted later on. Judges worry a lot about the certainty of conclusions, too. Judges are used to thinking of truth as an elusive concept. A lot of judges, when you bring up “the truth, ” they roll their eyes. They say, “I don’t know what to say about truth. I do know about probabilities.”


7/2/08