HS #20 2017.3.7
Appreciating the differences between local and
global truths
Recently a colleague sent me a video on the Archimedes
screw. It’s essentially an auger - a screw enclosed in a tube. When the low end
is placed in water, and it is turned about its axis, the water will be lifted
to the top. Efficient and reliable, they are used in grain elevators and snow
blowers and throughout industry to lift water, sludge and sewage. The Dutch
used them to claim land from the sea.
An Archimedes screw is rather counterintuitive. As it is
turned, the water is being raised by the ever-rising turning surface even as
the water (locally) flows downhill. Thus the local movement (down) and the
global movement (up) of the water are in opposite directions.
Key point: Local properties and global properties are not
necessarily the same – in fact they are often at odds with each other.
Examples abound. In
art, M.C. Escher has an intriguing drawing of a rectangular castle with stairways
along the four walls – each proceeding up to the next stairway. But after
ascending each of the four stairways, the climber is back to the original
position. The hiker is locally rising, but globally never advancing.
In geometry, the sphere that we live on seems locally to be
a flat plane. Two roads heading north are laid out parallel to each other. But those familiar with a globe realize that
two parallel roads cannot both be pointing due north, since north-pointing
roads eventually must meet at the North Pole. Indeed, every so often the distance between northbound
parallel roads needs to be lessened with a short east-west jog.
Philosophically, those roads may be an analogy for truth.
Some truths seem to be contradictory (just as parallel longitudinal lines at
the equator will appear to never meet), but may well join together as parts of
a single universal truth just as longitude lines meet at the poles.
Theologically, those familiar with the Old and New
Testaments of the Christian Bible often remark that the God portrayed in the OT
is quite different (more severe and less charitable) than the God-Man revealed
in the NT. However, the OT God is a view over a two-thousand-year time span,
whereas the NT revelation covers only three years. Just as a short segment of a
winding highway road appears straight, so
also what seems to be a different nature of God, may just be a long-term versus
short-term perspective.
One of the most interesting examples of the tension between
local and global points of view is captured in the notion of Tragedy of the
Commons.
Imagine a pasture area that optimally feeds 100 sheep – 10
sheep for each of 10 shepherds. With 100 sheep, all the grass is eaten and the
nutrition is turned into wool. If less
sheep, some grass would go uneaten; if more sheep, the underfed sheep don’t
produce as much wool, so the total wool output is less.
Now suppose one shepherd starts thinking, “Hmm – if I
increase my herd to 20, the total output will decrease, but MY output will
almost double, so I’m better off increasing my herd. The others then follow suit. They have all then acted in their own (local)
best interest, but as a result they all lose.
Any politician who claims, “Your money is best kept in your
own pocket” doesn’t understand Tragedy of the Commons. Our lives are better
because we all contribute a little towards our great county parks. If we all
thought locally (individually) and kept our money to ourselves, we’d all lose
out.
On an international scale, if each nation acts and behaves
exclusively in a “ME FIRST” way, each focusing only on its own welfare, then
like the shepherds, everyone loses as the world warms and trade stalls. Thus a less self-centered approach is not only
better for others, it’s also better for oneself. Virtuous and smart. Win-win. That
is why after the collapse of the USSR, George H W Bush spoke eloquently of the “New World Order.” He realized we could all be
winners if we acted cooperatively.
Indeed, we may all live better when we understand the truth
of John Donne that no man is an island. Our lives are woven together, so,
though counterintuitive like the Archimedes screw, taking others into account
may be the best way to improve one’s own quality of life. Maybe, just maybe,
like the shepherds, we all win or we all lose together.
