THE ZIG OF THEORY AND THE ZAG OF FACT ~ 7
Theories according to the dictionary are suppositions intended to explain something, so they are not facts. Facts are things that are known to be true. A very simple example of theory and fact: In university I had a philosophy professor who argued that things only exist because we believe they exist, his proof being, pointing out the window to a tall, steel, piece of modern art claiming it existed because we all agreed it did, but should we all agree it did not it would vanish. A wag in the class got up and asked the professor if that applied to everything and everyone. The professor assured us it did. The wag lit his lighter and moved it towards the professor’s hand. The professor jumped away from the flame and the wag. The professor had a theory, the wag a flame, it is a fact fire burns. We live in an age where we are drowning in conspiracy theories to the extent even provable facts are doubted by many, many people. The result is we liv