The Importance of Disagreement and Resolution

As some readers may already know, I work in telecommunications engineering.  Many of the meetings I attend are what I would call "working" engineering meetings, where we discuss technical details.  Often, there is disagreement on at least one particular issue.  When disagreements become apparent a discussion normally ensues where everybody in the room takes a much closer look at the issues and events surrounding the point of disagreement.  Sometimes a point needs to be clarified, as when a customer on the call wants to take a deep dive into the meaning of particular data or into the methodology under which the data were acquired.    

The rules that we all understand surrounding engineering and scientific best-practice then take over in large part.  A statement of fact is made, the status of that fact as a fact may be called into question, which leads to discussion and hopefully resolution about what exactly constitutes fact and what constitutes conjecture or assumption – if assumptions are in-play, then the foundations behind those assumptions are examined as well.  This goes on, hopefully in the direction of resolution of the original dispute or misunderstanding, until all or most parties are satisfied.  There are a number of niceties about this way of doing things:

·         Everybody in the meeting has, at least in principle, equal standing to question assumptions or factual bases.

·         Consensus plays the major role in disputes about factual matters.  Of course, authority can step in and trump or short-circuit the development of a consensus but this rarely happens in a real engineering meeting.

·         Every single detail is up for discussion or is otherwise open to dispute.

·         If a question is raised about a particular element, that question is resolved.  Questions that have an impact on the outcome or the data are emphatically not allowed to remain unresolved, no matter how much effort it takes to resolve them.  Sometimes the meeting is adjourned or postponed so that deeper investigation can take place or so that more data can be obtained.

During one such meeting I attended recently, I was struck by the exacting thoroughness of this approach, and how it tends to minimize error and maximize understanding among all of the group’s members.   Why is it that we don't use this same rigorous approach in other disciplines or facets of our lives?  

Dilbert notwithstanding, think about how much of our progress has been made as a result of this type of engineering collaboration.  Phones, cars, vaccines, planes, trains, antibiotics, bridges, buildings, medical diagnostic equipment, the power grid - none of these would exist without intelligent people finding ways to bridge their disagreements in a logical, reasonable, orderly fashion.  When people work together in a way that considers the validity of everyone's position as judged by the same metrics (where those metrics are also the result of similar process), ideas tend to converge into things both durable and  practical.

We all tend to approach any given problem or issue with a pre-formed opinion, and therefore our disparities of opinion are a barrier that must often be overcome; it is important to note, however, that differences in opinion can also be an invaluable source for expanding one's own knowledge-base.  How can we separate the trash from the treasure?

If there is one human truism, it is that we all have opinions.  Opinions are our representations of the way in which we understand the world to be.  In general, an opinion is a synthesis of facts, assumptions, and deductions that one holds to be valid.  An opinion may be any combination of these - one opinion may relate purely to a factual matter, another might consist of a deductionary chain based on a particular set of assumptions.  Since opinions can be thought of as constructed using these discrete elements, each of which is necessary for the opinion to be true, we can methodically evaluate any opinion's validity by examining the validity of the constituent elements themselves.  

Now, we can immediately see that some opinions may consist of elements that are purely subjective in nature and can thus be validated only by the subject herself - statements like "Rocky-Road is the best tasting ice cream" or "I see an image of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in those clouds" express opinions that are either dependent on things unable to be apprehended by anyone other than the one making such statements, or that express matters of subjective taste.  Granted, we could in principle evaluate whether the speaker is intentionally making a false statement (using some kind of perfect lie-detector test or real-time brain-scans looking for evidence of willful deception) but this would only occur in extraordinary and bizarre conditions far removed even from atypical social interaction.  Such things might become commonplace in the future, but that doesn't prevent us from attempting to define some kind of reasonable boundary here and now between the purely subjective and the veridical - we can always adjust the boundaries later on.

 I fully acknowledge that this boundary will itself probably be the subject of immediate disagreement, but if we can merely agree that such a boundary indeed exists, regardless of where it lies, then we are already well along the way to resolving most or our disagreements.  The very act of acknowledging and resolving the dispute over the boundary dividing the subjective and the verifiable will teach us quite a lot about each other.  We now know, at the very least, how to look for those elements informing our opinions that result in the differences between those opinions whose resolution is important to us.

Consider the opinions people hold on virtually any hot-button issue: abortion, gay marriage, gun rights in the U.S. and then think about the elements underlying those various opinions.  Those opposed to the legalization of gay marriage are often heard saying that homosexuals are exercising a distinct choice in their lifestyle and are choosing an immoral path.  They also claim that such relationships are detrimental to society and are unnatural.  All of these statements contain elements that are factual as well as those that stand upon assumptions and deductions.  These statements, and others that would be made were we ever to get a complete accounting of the basis for such opinion, give substance to the opinion itself and also provide the framework around which individuals can structure a productive discussion - the only discussion that has any chance of resolving the dispute to everyone's satisfaction. Granted, an opposing opinion's elements must also be laid bare and opened up for discussion as well - it may turn out that both sides have misconceptions or other errors in the framework of their opinions, and that a true resolution involves the construction of a whole new framework that may or may not use elements of either.

We must learn to employ constructive ways of handling our disagreements in all areas of our lives and society.  It is not just the engine of human progress that depends on this:  paradoxically, the better we get at using these means in technical or scientific fields the greater the chances that a non-technical disagreement will result in humanity's obliteration.