The Cylinder

Have you ever considered that you may not be taking into consideration all sides of the problem?

I contend that many or most arguments result from people taking one of our multidimensional problems and flattening it down to the few dimensions they understand, or think they understand. A three dimensional analogy would be to slice a cylinder in two different directions. This can create a perfect circle for one person and a clearly defined rectangle for the other. Unable to concede any doubt about their position, these two people will argue for years about a problem neither is willing to see fully.

Intellectual honesty, a willingness to evaluate all the evidence in a manner that eliminates as much bias as possible, and an ability to see that most all of us are just trying to do what we think is right (see: assuming positive intent) are three things we need more of if we are to ever realistically address some of these difficult issues.

After all, how many of the truly difficult problems we face today contain only 3 dimensions?