THE WANDERER

ARGUMENTS

It was dark and raining heavily. This is one of the victories Eric loved to keep mental records of, although his opponents don't really care, he does. The rain is the fulfillment of his interrupted prediction on the school bus.

"It's 7:12, mom should be back by now," Eric asked feeling worried.

"Quit being a baby and set up the table."

"Wait, how were you able to accurately tell the time without checking?" Erica asked, her face radiating a mix of confusion and awe.

"It's not accuracy but precision," Eric replied.

"What's the difference?"

Erica asked, preparing for a lecture that she normally enjoys.

"Accuracy is about actual value, precision is about matching varying measurements. I checked the time earlier at school and kept a mental note. I only had to make an approximation of the time by comparing some daily constants and their interval of occurrence; getting back from school, my bath, mom returning from work, my homework, my meditation session, sundown, and dinner. Mom is the missing constant which narrows my guess to mediation and sundown."

"Meh,"

Erica tried to hide the fact that she was impressed that he managed to guess the time from random stuff he just made up.

"How do clocks tell the time? Please keep it short I don't want a history lesson."

"But you'll miss the details, knowledge of intricacies is important for sufficient understanding," Eric responded feeling elated. He loved these moments even though they don't last.

"I'm not writing a Ph.D. thesis, just summarize the whole stuff."

"reverse piezoelectricity."

"What?"

"That's how clocks tell time."

"I see what you're doing."

"But you asked for a summary."

"You know what I meant, wipe that smug off your face you look creepy."

"Piezoelectricity is electricity generated as a result of mechanical pressure applied to crystals, ceramics, and bones. A clock has a quartz crystal that vibrates at a precise frequency per second when electricity is applied to it. This vibration generates regular pulses that turn gears or make images appear on an LCD screen."

"Coooooool."

"But how do we actually define what a second is?"

"I'm glad you asked Erica."

"Never mind, I have g****e," Erica stopped herself.

"And here I was thinking you forgot you had a brain, I'm pleased to know that I was wrong and I don't like being wrong."

Their mom had to come back home late because of a detour to the grocery store. Mrs. Norton being a single parent did her best in taking care of her kids. Her job as a nurse keeps the home running and the bills paid. Despite being single, she doesn't want to mingle. She's had some flings here and there, something she blames her friends for but nothing serious. She plans to stay on her own until the kids head for college, she wouldn't want any disruption in her peaceful home, at least not now.

"So......how was school today?" their mom asked stabbing a steak.

"Eric pissed off our physics teacher, he apparently said something wrong....Uhm I wouldn't know," Erica answered waving her hand in the air. "Yeah, the usual stuff."

"We talked about this Eric, you can't go around telling people they're wrong all the time, especially when they're older or trying to shape your future."

"I don't want someone who doesn't know the difference between precision and accuracy to shape my future," Eric responded with a straight face.

"Listen, honey," she said putting down her fork.

"I get that you appreciate knowledge and facts but that's not all there is. Humans have feelings, your words can hurt them and they treat you based on how you make them feel."

"I particularly find it disturbing that all human interactions are governed by fleeting emotions. I find them inefficient and inconvenient," Eric retorted, oblivious to his mother's words.

"Listen here you dickhead, the world doesn't revolve around you. So get your head out of your ass and deal with reality. Nobody cares about your stupid facts," Erica was furious.

She sometimes wishes she could swap her brother or give him up for adoption. It's not easy being a big sister to someone this obnoxious. Seven minutes between births turned out to be a big deal. She has to do her job as the big sis now, keeping Eric in line and saving mom the stress. Having someone as annoying as Eric can take its toll. Eric would normally leave you alone if he's not confronted, just like a dangerous predator minding his business until its territory is invaded by outsiders. Erica does her best to keep his brother from overstepping, especially in social situations, having him at the party would ruin her social life. She can't have fun and be a babysitter at the same time.

"They are not my facts, they are facts. I didn't make them up, that's the whole point."

"Oh my God," Erica sighed with repulsion.

"Do you have brain damage or something? Mom, I think your son is due for a check-up. Look for a brain tumor. Something is definitely going on up there."

"That's highly unlikely I'm in a perfect state of health and my brain is just fine."

"Hmmm, like you'd know."

"Enough! both of you," their mom yelled, calming the storm.

Sitting in front of his laptop placed on a desk, Eric thought about what his sister said. Having anything wrong with his brain would be a disaster. That's his best feature. He felt uncomfortable about putting up with emotional humans and letting their errors go unchallenged. Eric hates seeing his mother upset especially because of him. He promised to heed her advice just before clearing the table. Erica was skeptical. Growing up was hard for Eric, at least from his family's perspective. He can't tell when his mates are serious or joking, always a loner -this he doesn't mind- In fact, he enjoys being alone, no noise, and no obligation to observe social conventions.

 He finds it strange that people call him weird, he believes he's the normal one and the rest are weird. Making friends was hard, he lacked social skills. His mom thought his condition was hopeless until Terry came along. Terry became friends with Eric after Eric stood up to him. Terry was one of the school bullies before meeting Eric. Eric stood up to him in the most bizarre way; Eric, unfazed by the threat of violence, explained to Terry that he finds his use of force to assert dominance primitive, a tactic used by territorial lower life forms. Eric has entertained the idea of humans not being that smart, most of them at least. 

Humanity is carried by the few innovators and geniuses who carry out the intellectual heavy-duty stuff which the other stupid lot rides on. Terry finds himself listening to this skinny insect tell him about subtle ways to assert dominance and why his brute force is an unnecessary overcompensation. They've been friends ever since. It's a symbiosis; Terry keeps the bullies off his back while Eric helps him with his studies and wins the heart of pathetic humans. Ironically, Eric understands the psychology behind human behavior, he sees most human traits as weaknesses, but wouldn't hesitate to exploit them for convenience. 

Terry's popularity and influence in school are a testament to that. This leaves an open question; is Eric truly oblivious to social cues and people's emotions or he notices and just doesn't care? A deliberate attempt for manipulation? Erica has been the only one to take this thought seriously. She believes her brother is being a dick on purpose.

He logged into his social media account to respond to messages and educate the ignorant masses online. He clicked on the message tab after seeing the notification;

Trex: hey, dude. It's raining outsyd

Eric: of course, that's where it usually rains. Except you've found a way to make rain clouds in your bedroom.

At this moment, Eric had a Deja Vu

Trex: lol.....dude u're funny. Hw on earth are my ur only friend? 

Eric: bold of you to assume you're my only friend

Trex: ur guys in dream town don't count. Anyway, u're still having those dreams?

Eric: yeah. Had one today. What's strange is that the dream always continues from where it Stopped. It's really weird.

Trex: maybe God tryin to tell u somtin. Or ur brain is overheating. U gotta giv that beautiful brain of urs a break though. U don't wanna burn out b4 40 do u?

These dreams are the reasons for Eric's pondering on the nature of his existence. His dreams are all too real. The fact that the dreams always continue just like a movie or another life on break is really uncanny. Are the characters of the dream self-aware? Do they know they're in a dream? Am I a character in a god's dream? Do the characters in the dream contemplate their existence when I'm not dreaming of them? These are the questions he asked himself. Eric thought he was delusional for having such thoughts. Perhaps he should really get his head checked.

Eric: God?? I think I'll take the other option please

Trex: whatever....u comin to d party tomoro ryt? Kate's gonna b there

Eric: you had to remind me. Ugh I guess so. I'm stuck with my sister

Trex: lol.....I think u got it wrong. It's the other way round. Besides, ur mom jst tryin to look out for you. So, lyk I said katy will be there....I know you have the hots for her as she does for you. But ure Mr and Mrs Spock or sometin.....

Eric: just because I enjoy our little chats doesn't mean I have any romantic interest in her whatsoever........I don't get your Spock reference. You don't even watch star trek. Can you please type out your messages in full?!

Trex: I don't hav to watch it, ure always talking about Mr logic and reason, no emotions Blah blah blah.......just ask her out already....at least u know what that means? U do ryt. there's no nee to type out in full, this is not an academic essay. u get me don't u? there's no need.

Eric: later Terry. I got other stuff to do

Trex: Vicki's place tomorrow....lemme help u find love bro.

Trex: you logging in tonight

Eric: nah....no call of duty tonight...gotta study

Trex: dude, u already kne everything...y torture ursef

Eric: learning is not torture....and it's not school work. Other stuffs

Trex: hope u don't end in a mental asylum and become a villain because the world didn't appreciate your genius. I won't be surprised though...

Trex: u knw hw many villians got advanced degrees..... probably all

Eric: wait, are you reading comics now?

Trex: you heard nothing

Eric: later T.

Trex: don't go insane bro

Katy and Eric are rivals. Opposing but complementary forces, the Ying and yang of intellectual discourse. A match made in heaven, obvious to all except them. Katy has been the only one who can poke holes in Eric's argument, she always shatters his notion of intellectual superiority. She made Eric realize that he only seemed smart because he was surrounded by idiots. He has thought about this before. People don't get most of the things he says, they usually consider him a genius but not Katy. Katy is sociable, unlike Eric. 

She doesn't make her contempt for social conventions obvious. She's blunt but considerate of people's feelings, most of the time. Eric became careful of her after she pointed out flaws in his argument against the existence of God. The fact that no one actually saw the flaw for a long time convinced Eric that his peers are really dumb. Eric was once arguing with a friend when he stated that the existence of God should have evidence to support it. He also stated that the stories in the Bible ascribed to God have been debunked by science. So since there's really no evidence for God, then God doesn't really exist or he chooses not to believe in his existence. Eric's not really a militant atheist. He doesn't even care if a god existed or not since it wouldn't be of significance to him. But he loves playing these mind games with his mates. Given his large knowledge of science and the Bible, he's hard to confront so his opponents just refer back to their faith and personal experience. But Katy would have none of that.

Katy noticed that his victory rests on the limited knowledge of his opponents. Katy responded to Eric by stating that anything that is knowable or can be potentially experienced in the physical or abstracts necessarily exists. So, God exists. Aware of the direction she's heading, Eric retorted by stating the existence of God to be of concept and not of an object, meaning, God might exist as a concept, an abstract entity but not an object. God can exist but he's not real, the same as Shrek. Katy noticing that he's covered up his tracks went for another angle by showing that God is a supernatural being separate from nature so all the stuff ascribed to him in the holy books are just men's perception or thoughts of him, they could be wrong but the fallacy in the holy books doesn't invalidate the existence of God, it only shows that their description is inaccurate.

She went on by citing the lack of sufficient scientific knowledge in the area of abiogenesis, big bang cosmology, and quantum gravity. Eric wasn't pleased, trying to still hold on, he responded by showing that the god of the gaps argument doesn't work, that lack of sufficient knowledge doesn't mean any knowledge ever. He was disappointed she used such a lazy argument. Given her knowledge, she should understand that things that were thought impossible are now possible because of scientific progress. But Katy had other plans.

 Katy gave the final blow by telling Eric that his use of lack of evidence was flawed. Saying that God doesn't exist because the evidence was lacking is a positive claim which is a belief in itself. Clinging to the absence of evidence is absurd, for lack of evidence isn't evidence of absence. A claim isn't true because it is yet to be proven false and a claim isn't false because it is yet to be proven true. She pointed out to Eric that he made the informal fallacy of argument from Ignorance. And that was the final blow. The rest of his mates could see the expression on Eric's face, his head was about to explode with rage. 

Katy wiped the floor with his ass. Seeing that he's been defeated, Eric finally stated that the notion of God is a metaphysical claim, and like all metaphysical claims, it is pure speculation and hence unfalsifiable. He continued by saying that we can never truly prove or disprove the existence of God because there's no empirical basis for validity. Since it's neither true nor false, it's all about usefulness. Katy smiling told him to start with that next time.

Eric had that moment burnt into the neural circuitry of his brain. An event he would never forget. Katy has always kept Eric on his toes. This has helped him beef up his logic muscles always ready for confrontation. He always tries to present his propositions with logical vigor and impenetrable walls of reason. That's the hold Katy has over him.

Leaving the message tab, Eric saw a post in his timeline that greatly disturbed him;

The double slit experiment in quantum mechanics has shown us that observing an object will change its quantum state. Since quantum mechanics has to do with the fundamental nature of reality, it means that we can change our situation with our thoughts. When your mind, it matters, when you don't mind it doesn't matter. Negative thoughts create negative circumstances and positive thoughts create positive circumstances. Your thoughts create your reality.

Eric was so angered by this that he responded the best way he could in the comment section;

That's a lot of bullshit. For the sake of the idiots who believe your crap, it's my duty to call you out. First of all, 'observation' as used in quantum mechanics means measurement. It has nothing to do with a conscious agent or a human being, we can't even observe the quantum world directly. The measurement is done by using sophisticated tools and techniques. We can't measure a quantum system without our instrument interacting with it, this is what alters the state. So, your thoughts can change your reality as much as it causes a wave function to collapse on an asteroid orbiting a star in the Andromeda galaxy.

That was sarcasm by the way...

The guy who posted showed his displeasure in his response;

Dude, get off my thread. Nobody asked for your opinion. What do you know about the Universe and its mysteries? I bet you believe that NASA is telling us the truth about the Universe. This is why you can't be a light worker, you're trapped in the dogma of science.

Eric responded;

The only opinion here is you are full of shit. Given that you take the comment to be an opinion confirms you are full of shit. Would love to make that a fact but that's not how facts work. You'd know that if you're not busy being full of shit. The rest of your comment isn't worth responding to, you know....being a piece of shit and all...

Eric was kicked out of the group for violating group policies. "What a sensitive bunch". He decided to make a post on his timeline tagging the poster;

Perhaps there's no redemption for the willfully ignorant, the science denialist, the delusional, and those who cling to falsehoods as knowledge. Their head is so far up their asses, they can only see the walls of their anus...which is shit. Perception leads to conception, from conception to actions, from actions to behavior, from behavior to habit, from habit to character, and from character to personality. Since shit is all they can perceive, following the reasoning I just laid out...... They're essentially shit. From shit to shit ad infinitum.....this is the path of the willfully ignorant.

Giant pieces of shit.

The comment section was a blast. He wielded the sword of knowledge bravely for four hours educating the ignoramuses. He went to bed feeling satisfied.