The Need to Explain
Laurence Tratt: The Need to Explain



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One of my in-built quirks – present, I’m told, from a very young age
– is spotting patterns. Whenever I see X, I also see Y; there are 3 As
for every B; if this happens, then that is more likely to happen afterwards;
and so on. It’s not something I do particularly consciously, and few of my
observations even reach the lofty heights of banal. Fortunately, it’s not all
wasted effort, and a small number of these observations end up making my life a
little better. My train home always leaves from platforms 1 or 8. If I arrive
at the station as my train is due to leave, my best bet is not to check the
departure boards but to run past platform
8 to see if my train is there and, if it isn’t, run straight to platform 1.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve learnt to keep more of the observations I’ve made
to myself. This isn’t because my observations very
often offend, but because some people view them as creating a void
which must be filled, as soon as possible, by an explanation.
The problem with spontaneous explanations on topics beyond our purview is that they are
often obviously wrong. One of my other quirks is that I find it difficult not to rebut obviously wrong
explanations. This can then cause an endless loop of further explanations
and rebuttals, which is rarely useful or enjoyable.
To my surprise, I’ve realised that further attempts at spontaneous
explanation become less convincing more often than they become more convincing. One obvious lesson
to draw from this is that it is easier to disprove incorrect explanations for a
phenomenon than it is to generate a correct explanation. As a researcher, I
have learnt that lesson the hard way more than once!
But, over time, I’ve come to be fascinated by the meta-observation: many of us seem
to feel a need to find explanations for everything. I certainly felt that need
when I was younger, due to a combination of insecurity and egotism. But, at some point,
I realised that while I really want to find out the explanations for
a small handful of observations, I’m generally comfortable with not having an explanation.
Why does my train leave from platforms 1 or 8? I probably could find out the
explanation for this if I really wanted to, but it doesn’t seem like a good use
of my time. In many cases – for example, pretty much anything involving
physics – I’m probably not capable of uncovering a compelling explanation
even if I devote the remainder of my days to the investigation!
Of course, I sometimes can’t help myself idly speculating as to possible
explanations for an observation. Perhaps this suggests that we have a deep need
to feel that we live in a world governed by well-defined laws? Perhaps our
willingness to spontaneously think of explanations is the enabler of progress?
Honestly, I don’t have a clue. The
observation alone has been enough to change my behaviour, and make my life a
little easier.




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2023-07-18 08:50

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