Wednesday, January 17, 2007

on being wrong--

in all my years in dlsu and in computer science, both as a student and as a teacher, perhaps there has been no element or idea more popular than a little bit. it is the fundamental unit of discrete information. and it represents the outcome of one choice. 1 or 0. either the presence or the absence of voltage on an electrical component. on or off. and consequently in life, true or false. right or wrong.

everyday all throughout our life, we are faced with choices ranging from the insignificant, the seemingly insignificant and the truly significant. and with every choice, there has to be an outcome. a presence or an absence that directs the flow of our lives much as transistors, resistors and logical gates direct the flow of electricity on a circuit based on either the presence or absence.

the computer ultimately is only able to recognize and represent data only in binary form- the fundamental bit. humans however, are able to create crevices of indecision, an area between the true and the false that becomes an entity not entirely true or false, but mostly true or mostly false subject to necessity and abuse. whether it has become the bane of our existence or not is subject to much philosophical debate with which i reserve my opinion. for after all, my opinion can be interpreted by anybody as subjectively mostly true or mostly false despite the fact that it is called an OPINION in the very first place.

being wrong is mostly wrong but true and false is but a half of the story of life. if you're always afraid of being wrong, then you're passing up the chances of being right as well. and sometimes, being wrong for a few minutes, days, months or years helps you recognize what is right in the future: a lot of wrongs for one great right that truly, TRULY matters. a fair trade.