Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

In part 1 of this post, I covered the mathematics and truth table of implication. Implication shows that

If I accept something that I know is FALSE, I can prove anything else that I know is FALSE

For example, if I accept that “1=2”, I can prove that “2=3”. I know that 1 doesn’t equal 2 and that 2 doesn’t equal 3, but no matter, implication lets me believe these things.

This is all illogical and non-sensical, which brings us to the heart of this part of the post – people. People – like me – are often illogical and non-sensical, and implication helps me understand us.

For example, consider statement A:

I can concentrate 12 straight hours to write large amounts of error-free software.

Statement A is FALSE as I cannot do that. Now consider statement B:

I can complete the 100,000 line-of-code software project in three weeks.

Statement B is FALSE as I cannot do that either. Nevertheless, implication allows me to say that statement A truly implies statement B.

Some people may believe that I can complete the big project in three weeks. That doesn’t make sense because both statements A and B are FALSE. That, however, is implication, and the resulting behavior is the nature of many business and project managers.

As another example, in 1981 I was working on a large project. A person (Mr. Smith, I cannot remember his name) from another government agency was loaned to our agency to help with the project. He made a mistake one day – we all do. A senior manager on our agency became quite upset. He boldly stated that, (A) “All people who work in that other agency are idiots (FALSE).” Then he stated, (B) “Since Mr. Smith is from that agency, he is an idiot (FALSE).” By implication, something that is FALSE can truly imply something else that is FALSE. Therefore, our senior manager could imply (B) from (A).

I was astounded that a senior manager could make such statements and draw such a conclusion. That was not logical. I thought that the senior manager was joking or something. My direct supervisor assured me that the senior manager was serious.

“But,” I protested, “a mature adult could not make such statements.”

My supervisor again assured me that the senior manager was serious, he could make such statements, and he would have Mr. Smith removed from the project.

“But,” I continued with my protest, “we have other people from that agency working on our project. They are not idiots. They are not being dismissed. They are still here and contributing to our success.”

My youthful and idealistic objections did not change the situation. Implication ruled.

The above are only two small examples of implication in the real world. Please contribute your examples in the comments.