The Professor and His Crayons

 

The Professor and his Crayons

 

A Thought Experiment

 

          The setup: A professor at a learning institute. His students, money spent, seeking education and work, will attend the Professor’s class. The institute has hired the Professor and given him authority to teach what he sees as truth. The institute is trustworthy in the eyes of the students and they must pass the class in order to receive the credit they need to graduate. Undisclosed will be the truth of the intent of the Professor in their first lesson. The Professor has two crayons from Crayola. One of the crayons is Purple, labeled by Crayola and identified by society to be purple. The other crayon is Yellow, labeled by Crayola and identified by society to be yellow.

 

            On the first day of class, the Professor introduces himself to the students that have all gathered in the lecture hall and taken their seats. He tells them that there is one important lesson they must learn in order to pass the class and if they do not accept it by the end of the year, then they will fail. All of the students that stay in the class must agree to this before they can continue to attend. Let’s say that they all agree and none of the students will be leaving the class, as per the setup, they need the credit.

 

            The Professor hold up in his right hand a purple crayon. The Professor then holds up in his left hand a yellow crayon. As we have established, the color of these crayons is easy to see as truly being what I have called them up to this point. There is no reason to think that they are anything other than what I have called them.

 

            The Professor lets the class look at the crayons for a short time before speaking and explaining what they must accept about these crayons or an attribute of them. He says “The crayon that I hold in my right hand is Yellow and the one I hold in my left hand is Purple. You must accept this.”

 

Now, I have explained that he is holding the Purple crayon in his right hand, not the Yellow one. I have also said that his left hand holds the Yellow one not the Purple. The Professor has been given the authority to make this call as his truth by the institute. Even though the outside world would disagree with him, within his classroom, he is correct. This is the first problem with authority when it is applied to something as simple as identification and labels or Intelligent Observation.

 

The class immediately struggles with accepting what the professor has just told them. They are aware of the label that Crayola has printed on the crayons. The class is also aware of how the rest of society identifies these colors. Their first thought in response to this is that their professor is wrong.

 

The Professor asks the class “Do you accept this?” but there is no spoken response. The Professor repeats what he said earlier and adds that they must accept it in order to pass the class. Hands are raised and the inquiry begins. The Professor gives no additional information. He accepts that the facts will state otherwise and that society will disagree. At the end of the questions, he states again what he said earlier. The Purple crayon in his right hand is Yellow and the Yellow crayon in his left hand is Purple. Every student must accept this as truth in order to pass the class and that is final. They will have the entire school year to accept it.