Some stories seem unquestionably true.

I am a man. A Norwegian citizen. Of a certain age. A human being. An object in the world.

My culture – and most or all cultures – would say these are true, so I take them as obviously true.

And yet, if I take a closer look at them, what do I find? Are they as obviously true as they first appeared?

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It is better to question assumptions. (It is better to question underlying assumptions – ones own and those of others – than to not do it).

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The appendix is shown to support the immune system, in contrast to the previous view of it having no function at all. And what about junk DNA, do we know it doesn’t have a function?

Western science has had a tendency to assume that if we don’t know its function, it must not have one. It is obviously a silly assumption.

So the question then is, where and how do I do the same? Where do I assume that if I don’t know the function of something, it must not have one?

When I look, I find I do it all the time.

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