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i was recently re-reading 1984 for boredom over easter, found this provoking passage from it:
that book is full of lessons. i think the lesson here is not that the stars are near or far or made fire or 'nuclear explosions' or whatever, but that the stars are whatever people are told that they are. the average person will accept a belief without ever seeing any evidence provided that's what they're 'taught' in 'schools'.
‘What are the stars?’ said O’Brien indifferently. ‘They are bits of fire a few kilometres away. We could reach them if we wanted to. Or we could blot them out. The earth is the centre of the universe. The sun and the stars go round it.’ Winston made another convulsive movement. This time he did not say anything. O’Brien continued as though answering a spoken objection: ‘For certain purposes, of course, that is not true. When we navigate the ocean, or when we predict an eclipse, we often find it convenient to assume that the earth goes round the sun and that the stars are millions upon millions of kilometres away. But what of it? Do you suppose it is beyond us to produce a dual system of astronomy? The stars can be near or distant, according as we need them. Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? Have you forgotten doublethink?’
that book is full of lessons. i think the lesson here is not that the stars are near or far or made fire or 'nuclear explosions' or whatever, but that the stars are whatever people are told that they are. the average person will accept a belief without ever seeing any evidence provided that's what they're 'taught' in 'schools'.
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