[Haskell-cafe] Re: the problem of design by negation

[Achim Schneider]

Conal Elliott <conal at conal.net> wrote:

> I gather that some people are terribly uncomfortable
> without certainty.  If you take away their certainty, they demand an
> immediate replacement!
>
This is a very important observation, vast areas of human psychology
can be explained in terms of feeling certain or not[1]: It's the most
powerful and most basic influence of behaviour there is. As my
observation goes, people are uniformly drilled to perform, which, due
to its methods, induces a social taboo on failure, which, in turn,
explains why uncertainty can, so often, act unconsciously. 
People can't fix what they can't see, so SNAFU: Passing on the
short straw of not-knowing is the only way to safe face / feel safe.

You have to make sure not to trigger fear of mockery, segregation and
failing class (i.e. getting fired) while handing out F's, that is...
which is why the Socratic method is so darn effective when it comes to
dealing with people.

[1] Freud, Jung, Leary, amongst others, take your pick.

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