Bertrand Russell on anger in an argument

Bertrand Russel makes an excellent observation:

If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you should feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction.

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.

— Bertrand Russell, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish (1943)

Turns: A Life’s Work

Amazing 23-Year-Old Permaculture Food Forest

This is such a cool idea. They live in Riverton in Southland, the southernmost region of New Zealand’s South Island. Riverton is a small town — pop. 1620 in the 2018 census — and is fairly far from the Equator: 46º S. In the US, 46ºN (the same distance from the Equator) goes along the Washington/Oregon border, is very close to the North Dakota/South Dakota border, and goes through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Maine.

Watch the video:

And the sequel to the above video: