I make no claim to being an expert on politics or economics. I do, however, claim to have established a track record of success in critical thinking. To establish this, and in my defense, I offer the following: I hold 9 patents, have published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, have designed electronic circuits (some of which are operating in satellites, and others which are presented in this website), have developed complex digital logic designs based on Boolean algebra and authored many computer applications which can be found in the pages published here. A monograph on "Advanced Logic Design Techniques in Asynchronous Sequential Circuit Synthesis" can be found here. In addition, I have invented several technological products, some of which found their way into the marketplace. Among them are the "Basic Programmer's Toolkit", marketed by Nestar and the "Disc Drive Analyzer" marketed by Verbatim.
As stated in the leading paragraph, none of these qualify me as an expert on politics or economics, but every science, whether physics, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy or (yes) politics and economics depend upon observable premises, rational thought and strict logic --- subjects about which I claim demonstrable expertise.
In some design projects a single error can cost millions of dollars. In political thought things are worse, because a single error in reasoning can cost millions of lives. Recall that the slogan,"Workers, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains," led to the loss of millions of lives within a single generation --- and the 'chains' were imaginary.
The range of topics covered here span over 5 decades of study and application, involving the discovery and correction of numerous errors.
Because faulty reasoning is so common in todays media, and so passionately promoted by many current politicians and journalists, I felt that a summary of political and economic errors was long overdue. Notable are the failure to distinguish facts from opinions, the proliferation of propaganda, the spread of unsupported assertions and the reduction of rational dialog to name-calling. To aggravate the rhetoric is the dangerous rise in censorship and the appaling willingness of so many to engage in it. With social media, everyone has a microphone and camera and each of them feels qualified to step in as the Oracle of Delphi. Very few of them seem to be aware of (or willing to observe) Hitchen's Razor which states that "what can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence". But never forget that when two parties disagree on the facts under discussion, at least one of them is wrong.
Here is a brief essay which identifies the elements of correct
thinking and explains the nature and dangers as well as the ubiquity of fallacies. The essay can be found
here.
If you discover any errors in the paper, please note that: 'If you correct a rational person, he will thank you.
But if you correct a fool, he will hate you."