Flame Wars

Microsoft vs. Apple. Windows vs. Linux. Emacs vs. vi.

The Web is filled with flame wars. Or to put it a bit less politically correct, religious wars. However, this isn't new, nor is it limited to the net. When Einstein published his papers on the theory of relativity he spent a great deal of time describing observers and inertial reference systems. This is just a formal way of talking about how everything we observe depends on our location and motion.

Reference systems go back much further than Einstein and Physics. In Psychology Maslow talked about the hierarchy of human needs. Shelter, food, community. We all need these things to survive and thrive. The more complex a society, the more we rely on interactions with other people. These interactions are made easier with reference systems. For instance, commerce is easier if we speak the same language. People, for right or wrong, tend to trust other people who come from the same background as they do.

We form beliefs, based on what we are taught by our community, and based on our own observations. Those observations, however, cannot be made in a vacuum and our upbringing and social reference frames will bias our view of the world. There isn't anything we can do about it.

None the less, we end up bumping into ideas and beliefs that are different from our own. Copernicus tells us the earth revolves around the Sun. Albert Einstein discovers that the speed of light is a limiting factor in our universe. Linus Torvalds tells us that good operating systems don't have to come from major corporations.

The issue comes in when people are faced with new information. We do not, as a rule, accept information that is different from our personal understanding. There really isn't anything wrong with this. In fact natural resistance to new ideas has a valuable purpose. Like it or not, we are faced with lots of new ideas and concepts every day. Our social filtering system keeps us from accepting every idea that comes our way. Otherwise we could be victims of various scam artists and just plain false information.

The scientific community has tended to be the keepers of the gates when it comes to new ideas. The first airplane invented by the Wright Brothers was scoffed at by many contemporary scientists. As sad as that might seem, it meant that the brothers had to do extra diligence to convince the world that this really was a new and safe way to travel. Another example would be the introduction of new drugs to fight disease. To simply allow every new drug to be released in the wild before adequate testing is performed would have tragic consequences.

In recent years we have come to think that people who resist change are backwards. They are closed minded and stupid. This is competely wrong. People resist change as a natural defense against harm to themselves and to their community. If there is one thing we have learned over the past century, it is that sudden change can cause more harm than good. People who aren't ready for change, can react harshly to protect themselves. As harmful as the reactions can sometimes be, we should also see them as a positive aspect of a healthy society.

Flame wars come about because we have trouble discussing, in a more civilized manner, things that mean a great deal to us. Perhaps if we can recognize this human response as being a natural part of our defense mechanisms, we can get past the flames, and figure out how to manage constructive change.