Some random thoughts after reading the country of the blind...

In every society there are certain axioms that cannot be challenged. In the Country of the Blind it's an axiom that the sense of sight does not exist; outside the Country of the Blind it's an axiom that people can see.

We can see the existence of axioms in many other societies, for instance, before Galileo's time it's an axiom that the world is flat; in ancient China it's an axiom that loyalty to the emperor equals loyalty to the country; among Christians it's an axiom that God exists.

While most people who read the story might laugh at the stupidity of the natives in the Country of the Blind, I think the people outside the Country of the Blind are equally laughable, for they have a equally strong belief that is opposite to those in the Country of the Blind, namely, that they can see.

Where the Truth lies depends not on the axiom, but on the belief of the majority. This is what I think the story is really about. A wise person should therefore question all axioms and never be too sure about anything. (This is what statistics is all about...)

The Country of the Blind teaches another lesson, namely, that it is unwise to question an axiom openly. The belief of the mass has an immense inertia. It takes more than the efforts of an individual to change. Nevertheless, we are all living in the Country of the Blind. The one-eyed man is not king. The one-eyed man who keeps his mouth shut is.

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