10.4 Psychology of Truth

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

-Arthur Schopenhauer

As the basis for psychological warfare, understanding the meaning of truth and how to use it is important. In an absolute sense, everything that is known is an abstraction of reality. In fact, the statement "everything you know is wrong" is true in an absolute sense, but it is not very productive. Thinking more constructively, one can describe an understanding of reality as a set of patterns and models. These patterns and models are an illusion (or, more accurately, a self-inflicted delusion). For example, one can say: "History never repeats itself," which is true in an absolute sense because the world is always changing, always progressing in time. Or that is what society has been led to believe.

Software architecture knowledge consists of models. In the hard sciences, it is common knowledge that nature knows nothing about physics. Newton's models for classical mechanics are wrong, when taken out of context. So are Einstein's theories of relativity. However, within their intended contexts, these theories are accurate descriptions of how things happen in the universe. Research in design patterns and AntiPatterns explains why these models work in practice. Within the proper context and forces, the appropriate model for the solution usually works and produces predictable outcomes.

Despite its weaknesses, classical mechanics is the theoretical model behind numerous human achievements, including rocket science, machinery, buildings, and bridges. In the proper context, Einstein's theories accurately describe nuclear energy and near-light-speed digital communications in distributed systems.