I think of this the way I think of the law. Our formal laws aim for social order and justice with the least cost to individuals and society.
In physics terms, it’s reducing entropy or finding order in disorder or free energy to do work. A wrong accusation in the right place or time could take a life of its own and ruin someone else’s life or career with little to no cost to the accuser. So the burden of proof would always be on the person or group of persons making the accusation and society is right to be wary until there is sufficient proof to turn the tide. It’s what we do in science, consilience, to turn a hypothesis or a theory into an undisputed fact.
Justice is patient. Facts are patience. In the meantime, I feel sorry for the misled.
It takes a while for the truth to catch up with lies. The collateral damage is the price we pay for our occasional wilful ignorance.
I think of this the way I think of the law. Our formal laws aim for social order and justice with the least cost to individuals and society.
In physics terms, it’s reducing entropy or finding order in disorder or free energy to do work. A wrong accusation in the right place or time could take a life of its own and ruin someone else’s life or career with little to no cost to the accuser. So the burden of proof would always be on the person or group of persons making the accusation and society is right to be wary until there is sufficient proof to turn the tide. It’s what we do in science, consilience, to turn a hypothesis or a theory into an undisputed fact.
Justice is patient. Facts are patience. In the meantime, I feel sorry for the misled.
It takes a while for the truth to catch up with lies. The collateral damage is the price we pay for our occasional wilful ignorance.