Humour In Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the use of technique to influence and persuade an audience with little logical weight. Many arguments use humour to appeal to an audience. Humour can distract from true data and many times a funnier argument wins over a realistic one. An audience prefers someone who is more entertaining and despite credentials, would be more likely to listen to that person over somebody more qualified.

Rhetoric in the form of humour is not limited to arguments. Advertisers know that people like to be entertained. This results in many advertisements being humorous rather than informative. Do people honestly care which paper towel is more absorbent? No, people care which paper towel brand is funnier. Why else would Bounty get product placement in Zombieland? People don’t need facts to be convinced. Humour is good for convincing an audience of anything.

People use different types of rhetoric to convey a message. Downplaying oneself can be the key in getting laughs and support. An audience prefers somebody who isn’t afraid to laugh at themselves. It can also be used to gain the upper hand on other people. “Dude, don’t listen to anything Charlie Sheen says. He thinks he’s got tiger blood.” This causes people to disregard all of the sane and previously liked things that Charlie Sheen has done and focuses on the recent downfall of him. Sarcasm can be used to effectively make someone look idiotic in comparison and will get a laugh.

Rhetoric humour can also come in the forms of music and images. It’s kind of hard to take somebody seriously when they’ve been auto tuned or photoshopped. When a person sees somebody’s picture manipulated to be silly, they can’t help but associate that silliness with the person. This is the entire point of the ridicule that somebody delivers. The goal of a person in an argument is often to make the other person seem inferior, less intelligent, less entertaining, and simply silly. These things can all be achieved by simply creating a parody of something or photoshopping it.

Humour is used quite often as rhetoric. Many people don’t realize humour is rhetoric because it seems irrelevant or obviously not true. Humour can be used simply to make you like a certain idea or person more. It can also be used to make you associate a concept with something you find silly even though realistically it shouldn’t. When humour is used in an argument or debate it is rhetoric. By acknowledging this, people can see beyond the rhetoric and look at the facts.

Subjectivism- speaking from your experiences?

Subjectivism: is the doctrine that all knowledge is limited to experiences by the self. So someone when they give an opinion can only speak from their own experiences because they don’t know anything else. So if someone were to give an opinion on a certain activity for example rock climbing, and that time they went rock climbing the guide was terrible and unfriendly. When someone asks them if it was a good experience person A would say no. This is because their experience turned out bad because of a certain flaw, but the people after them might have a better experience. People everywhere today can only speak from their own experiences. It’s hard to lie because it’s not like the person knows anything else. If two people are having an argument and each claim the opposite from one another, must one be false? Who judges what is right? Can someone judge what is right? Each person only knows from their own experiences so no one can actually be wrong. Which means no one else can truly be right as well. A simple example of subjectivism would be “Cafeteria food is the best food I have ever tasted”. This is an opinion so therefore it cannot be wrong or right.

Evolution of Predatory Avoidance

Fear is something humans nowadays try to hide and keep there fear out of sight from others because of the public ridicule they may face. However, millions of years ago it was a different story. Fear was an emotional adaptation that would allow many of our early ancestors to avoid danger.

What is Fear? Fear is described as that feeling you get in your gut when you know something bad is about to happen. For our ancestors it was a very clear indication of one thing: danger.This fear drove our ancestors to run away from dangers they faced. A classic example used time and time again is when a human would run away when he thought he saw something in a bush. If there is something in the bush then he was smart to run away and he'll live on to pass on this trait of fear to his offspring (natural selection). However, if there isn't anything behind this bush then he would probably be ridiculed but he would still be alive to pass on this adaptation. Now if another man doesn't have any fear and doesn't recognize the tiger about the bush about to maul him, then he would die and wouldn't pass on this lack of fear to his offspring thus strengthening the gene pool. Darwin would be proud. This is how we have all developed this emotion of fear and although these days there isn't much to fear, it could have been one of the only reasons we're around nowadays.

Sight is the beautiful gift that has allowed us to do many things, including the ability to survive.

Sight has evolved over time to become a very useful and pleasurable sense. However, in the early days our ancestors used it mainly to avoid our first arch nemesis: the snake. See mammals in the beginning were hunted by snakes. Snakes are one of the main reasons our sight and ability to interpret what we see has evolved to it's present form. The human eye had to adapt to be able to see patterns among the forest foliage that would indicate the presence of a snake. This is the reason why we are able today to see one picture in a thousand different ways.

Also, because snakes can't be seen from far away, the genus homo had to develop a very acute close-range vision, in order to see very tiny details.

Because of these two adaptations humans have been able to avoid their predators with great success.

Stereotypes... good or bad?

Stereotypes are thoughts about a group of people based on little evidence. They apply a general analysis to a group of people that isn't always necessarily true. Some stereotypes that are given to men or women, such as all men like sports or all women love to shop, can be true to an individual; but should not be given to the group as a whole.

Some stereotypes can be very upsetting to some people; ones that relate to race or culture especially. All Middle Eastern people are terrorists or all Americans are obese. These are obvious stereotypes that are not true. People use stereotypes to group certain types of people.

However, some stereotypes can be good such as Asians are good at math or Canadians are friendly. But most people think of stereotypes as a bad thing. The good ones are often missed.

Vagueness and stuff

Unclear use of words lead us to misunderstand what the words are really trying to say. On a daily basis, we don't usually make our words as precise as possible because we know that the people around us can understand so there is no need to make things complicated. But in certain situations such as when your mother tells you "don't spend too much money", you end up spending over that "too much" and your mother gets mad. But you never understood how much was too much because what she said was vague. Vagueness means that something is not being clearly defined or expressed.

"He shot the elephant in his pajamas" Did he shoot the elephant while wearing his pajamas? or did he shoot the elephant that was inside his pajamas... Ambiguity is also a big problem that causes us to understand what the phrase is really trying to say. Misunderstanding a phrase can take us to the wrong idea about something or take us to the complete opposite side of things. Ambiguity is when a word or phrase has at least two specific meanings that make sense in context. Another example would be "I know many Italians". This might confuse us for knowing the language Italian , while you meant to say "I know many Italian people". There is a big difference in the two meanings. And saying that to people, you can be mistaken for being really smart for knowing such a language but what you wanted to say was that you make a lot of friends that are Italian.

Conspiracy Theories - Corruption in the Financial Industry

The Cayman Islands are the fifth largest banking center in the world with 1.5 trillion in banking liabilities.

President Barack Obama of the United States of America declared his intentions to curb the use of financial centers by multinational corporations. In his speech he singled out the Cayman Islands as a tax shelter. The next day, the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association submitted an open letter to the President detailing the Cayman Islands’ role in international finance and its value to the US financial system.

Terrorists and Drug Traffickers still can go through “legitimate” banks in Liechtenstein, the Sudan, the Cayman Islands, or another offshore haven.

In it’s defense, I say that the Financial Sector of the Cayman Islands is not corrupt because this evidence is not at all sufficient. Just because it is a tax haven doesn’t mean there is corruption in the office buildings. I believe that all the work these people do everyday is legitimate.

Just let the tide wash away all these problems….

The Twin Paradox

Science is supposed to be a subject where the decided material is proven and has no flaws or loop-holes, yet there have been cases where physics seems to contradict itself. Einstein's Twin Paradox, for example, is one paradox thats facts go against each other. It's believed that if someone leaves earth on a rocketship at the speed of light, by the time they travel light-years away and come back, their time that has passed is a lot less than the rest of the people on earth. So for example if twin A moves away from earth at the speed of light and returns, twin B would've aged significantly while twin A feels like she's been gone for a shorter period of time. However, physics states that if an object is moving away from another, they're both technically moving away from each other at a constant speed, not just one away from the other, so having twin B older than twin A when in the beginning they were almost the exact same age, should be impossible.

This effect has been verified with the use of atomic clocks.
One way, you could say that twin B on earth is moving away from twin A who is in the rocket ship, and twin A should be the one to have aged while B has not. But wait! The attempt at applying symmetry to the situation fails due to the fact that Twin A turned around in the middle of his journey. Twin B, on the other hand, has remained in the same place and hasn't turned, the whole time. But wait again! While twin A was traveling away, he could consider himself at rest and that twin B is moving away from him. Also on the return trip, twin B could be moving TOWARD twin A. "So, special relativity must be inconsistent; it gives contradictory calculations.".

Hence the confusion you may be feeling if you managed to read all of that, science is confusing and can contradict itself, as you've seen in this paradox example.

Conspiracies

The world has many conspiracies. Conspiracies are different stories told than what happened, or what appeared to happen. They go against what people say, or documentaries on what could have happened. The dictionary explains conspiracies to be an unlawful act that is usually secretly planned. Examples of Conspiracies could be the 9/11 conspiracy, the Illuminati series, the CIA conspiracies, and the 2012 conspiracy. Conspiracies can be defined as a claim, and the claim can depend on the credibility of the source, or where it came from. The source could have used forms of rhetoric to influence the viewers, and the credibility of the source can (and usually is) very biased.

Conspiracies are stories from another person's point of view. The person is discussing a claim. The purpose of conspiracies is to try to persuade the viewers to change their mind. So the first thing you have to look at is how likely the claim is. Some conspiracies seem ridiculous, like the ones involving the CIA and stealing people's brains.

http://www.conspiracybomb.com/ciabrain.htm

Some other conspiracies seem like they can be true, but it can depend on the credibility of the source of the claim. The source can be biased towards their point in the story. there can be a difference in the parties: whether it is an interested party or a disinterested party. If it is interested, it is less credible because they may benefit from the conspiracy. An example of this can be the 9/11 conspiracy of the terrorist attack being an inside job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-jzNfxKSio&feature=related

The people trying to come up with this conspiracy could have been against the United States and their government. With people trying to prove a point and get their perspective of the events that happened, it is hard to find a credibile source.

A disinterested party would be more credibile, because they would be making a claim that is more for their own interest, not gaining anything for our beliefs. an example of this would be the illuminati conspiracy, talking of a secret organization.

http://www.trueconspiracies.com/

Another thing to consider about conspiracies is about assessing the content of the claim. While looking at a conspiracy, using your own observations of a story or your judgement is better than believing everything you hear or see. Your background information on a conspiracy is also using your previous knowledge. People doubt the credibility of sources for conspiracies, because they do not know where the persuaders obtained their information.

The last thing to observe in conspiracies is the use of rhetoric. The people trying to get their message of a conspiracy use rhetoric to change the words, add pictures or computer animate the way films are portrayed. An example of the use of rhetoric is the 9/11 George. Busch interviews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm73wOuPL60&feature=related

They do not tell you all information of what Busch was saying or what he was told. We do not know if he was told about the second plane or the first plane. The use of rhetoric can manipulate the mind of making people believe in what they see, with false or mistreated calculations.

Conspiracies will be in the world for as long as their is mankind. People will always try to influence you on believing in what they believe. The important factors to look at are the claim itself, the credibility of the claim's source, and their use of rhetoric.

Why do things make sense?

The universe is made of trillions of trillions of trillions of different particlesand elements, and basic laws of physics that limit our day-to-day activities. But have you ever wondered about why these laws exist? Why is the universe set up in such a way that everything fits together so perfectly, and complexly, and why is it decided that they do so in this manner, rather than some other physics. I have been inspired by philosoraptor to try and find this answer, via google.

If you think about the universe, from the very beginning to NOW, you can see that everything that is, and ever has been, has been made my atoms and molecules and energy randomly hitting into eachother and reacting and dissolving and making new things and getting rid of other things, until eventually we were made.

When I googled “The Multiverse” in google, I went onto a Wiki page

“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse” Where it presents a theory calle

d “Tegmark’s classification” “The levels according to Tegmark's classification are arranged such that subsequent levels can be understood to encompass and expand upon previous levels” So it says, that a universe above another universe, can be better than the one below it. As you can see we are the best universe. The specifics on each of the universes can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse along with lots of other theories.

Another popular theory is the theory that a god made everything “And god said, “Let there be light”. I do not very much agree that some super (or all) powerful being made the entire universe, or that that control us and our destiny is set for us, because whoever this “God” would be, wouldn’t think very good, or very far ahead. I think that there is just too many things that go wrong for someone to have planned it, like the mass killing of all creatures on the planet every day, and him creating racism, and sexism, and racism.

There is a lot of this spiritual stuff going around, and I put a link to a very interesting video by Tim Minchin (“Only a ginger” guy) on my facebook wall a few days ago, but the only person who commented, or probably even watched it was my mom. There is a link somewhere to the video, please click on it. STORM - Swears- less than P&T

I think, that if you really take time to think about your existence, that you ARE just a meaningless bit of carbon, nothing you ever do will ever matter and the universe will do whatever it wants to do. We keep asking the universe for answers, but its not going to give us any, because we don’t matter, and he’s busy, with other things, like all existence.

Commercials' Credibility

Commercials are an important part of the media. Without them Channels would not get the funding needed to broadcast your weekly Soap Opera, the News or Sports. Movies and TV shows would not get promoted, political parties could not campaign, merchant dice would not get sold as well and search engines would get less funding. The question is how much can we trust them?

Most Commercials have a claim that they are trying to argue. Whether it is to make you go watch that new movie, buy that ring, vote for that party or invest in a company. The problem is how to figure out which argument to trust. One way is to think what are the interested parties involved, and are they interested in helping you? For example what are the interested parties involved in a Cold Remedy Commercial? Well there is the Drug Company that designed the medication and there is the advertising Company that is trying to sell you the medication. Of these two only one should be trusted and that is the Drug Company which actually did the research and designed it for your benefit, vs. the Advertising Company which would put Megan Fox on the bottle just to make the sale for their own gain.

Another way is to find out what their argument is, and is it valid? For example let us say that this Cold Remedy's argument was that it ‘Contains acetaminophen so it works, is all Canadian, and is supported by Justin Bieber’. The only part of this that is an arguments is that is it ‘Contains acetaminophen so it works’ which is a fair argument considering that acetaminophen helps with colds and muscles ache. The rest is just rhetoric it does not matter that it is all Canadian or that Justin Bieber supports it. Any ways if he did support it than maybe that would make him an interested party, and if so is probably only concerned about his own benefit.

Commercials are everywhere in the media from the TV, to the Radio and even on the Internet. They are an unavoidable part of media and can be miss leading. So it is important to asses them before you put your trust into them.

Bob Marley Death Conspiracies

There are many conspiracy theories throughout the world. Bob Marley even has a few regarding his death. Not just one, a few.

Bob Marleys death is questioned by many conspiracy believing human beings. Two of the conspiracies I will be talking about include the CIA as the murderer. Both ideas state the CIA as hired assassins.

The first conspiracy describes Bob Marley as being poked by a copper wire placed carefully in his boot given to him by a CIA agent. This copper wire transferred a cancer causing agent into his toe. This spread the cancer throughout his body killing him. This conspiracy is ridiculous considering:

a) the CIA's job is to protect America

b) Bob Marley's job description was not to threaten American's well-being

c) It's highly unlikely

The second conspiracy states Bob Marley as being assassinated by the CIA using anthrax. Again the CIA are to blame but there is more evidence denying the assassination.

a) The CIA has more important cases to deal with than murdering Bob Marley

b) Anthrax would have been detected in the hospital for cause of death

c) The CIA has no right or duty in murdering innocent human beings.

Both conspiracies can be proved to be false. Conspiracies are just strong beliefs of a variety of people, not necessarily are they always wrong, but some can be quite far fetched.

Bob Marley did die from malignant melanoma that infected his toe. There is some question to how the cancer started however, so these conspiracies do have reason. Many resources regarding Marley's death don't even mention how the cancer started they only say how he injured his toe playing soccer and the doctors found the cancer. So really the cause of cancer is unknown and anyone could easily start a conspiracy theory on how it happened and get people to believe and follow it.

The Illuminati

Illuminati Symbol

    Sometimes we tell ourselves stories to amuse and stimulate the mind. We twist words of well crafted news stories into small hints toward newborn conspiracy theories. And sometimes, very rarely, a conspiracy theory takes off, but one is to always wonder- is it truth or just fiction?

    You've probably heard of the Illuminati- a shady group of popular names that control all media and government. Originally, it was actually a group, but now people question whether or not it still exists. So is it true? Or just a conspiracy? Some argue that the Illuminati are out to get us all, and some argue that it is just a bunch of... silly nonsensical garbage.


   The possible "evidence" to support the Illuminati is little, but still exists. Varying between celebrity deaths and secret plans to control the government, there is a possibility that the Illuminati are real. There have been many suggestions that there exist various famous members like Rhianna, Jay-Z, Beyonce, George Bush, Lady Gaga, Obama, and this by all means is no evidence, minus the fact there exist many symbols in their music or presentations. For example, the song "Rude Boy" by Rhianna is "masonic evidence of the Illuminati", with devil worshiping whispers warped into the song. Also, hundreds of leaders and celebrities have been photographed mimicking the Illuminati symbol (see photo 2), a triangle shape, meant to represent the devil. It has also been mythed that famous rappers Notorious B.I.G and TuPac tried to revolt against the Illuminati, but resulted in their deaths, all covered up by the Illuminati-run media. Michael Jackson had a similar fate when he threatened to expose the Illuminati on his new world tour, or when JFK "disobeyed" them, also resulting in a tragic end. Anyone who either disagrees or attempts to expose the Illuminati "mysteriously" disapear.

Jay-Z representin the devil

   However, there is also a lot of ideas and evidence that oppose the idea that the Illuminati exist. Despite contrary belief, there did actually exist an elitist group called the Illuminati, however they disbanded in 1785. Now the idea lives on that celebrities and powerful leaders still form the Illuminati, despite little evidence to support the idea. As for the so-called symbols in today's music and culture, it could just be all a coincidence.

Whether the Illuminati is just an elaborate hoax in order to waste our time, or an organizations secretly rooted in everything we do, it is still one of many conspiracy theories that dwell in the minds of the curious and bored. It is up to you to decide whether the Illuminati are present in today's society, or nothing but a conspiracy.

Why You Should Sleep Instead of Reading This

Waking up early seems pointless and unproductive. People are sloppy in the mornings. Most drearily drag themselves out of their blanket protected havens, envious of those who pompously prance in the AM hours. Many people are physically capable of waking up early it's just do not see the point in putting themselves through that self-inflicted discomfort. Obviously this can be counteracted by sleeping longer which I will also briefly discuss. However waking up early provides so many hidden benefits lots of people ignore.

About 1/3 of the average person’s life is spent sleeping. The importance of this sleep cannot be stressed enough as its effects ripple through our daily lives in a variety of aspects. Memory storage is greatly affected by the amount of sleep one gets per night. According to Harvard, sleep acts like a disk defragmenter to the brain. During sleep the brain will process information gained throughout the day and ‘file’ them appropriately. This subsequent ability to quickly retrieve and remember information would be very useful in a workplace environment as well as for children in school. Sleep also affects your quality of life. Obesity is directly linked to the amount of sleep people get. In a 16 years study of 60 000 woman, those who slept under 5 hours a night were 30% more likely to gain 30 pounds in the 16 years than those who slept 7 hours a night. This increase chance of weight gain results in an extra 50% (for all people not just woman) of diabetes. Of course sleep did not burn calories that prevent obesity, but those who slept less would be more likely to be too tired to exercise and probably would replace their lack of energy from sleeping with food leading to weight gain. If this is not making you sleepy, perhaps the threat of your life will. Stanford boasts that people who sleep “six or fewer hours a night had about a 70 percent higher risk of dying than did people of similar age who slept seven or eight hours a night.”. This shows that sleep doesn’t only affect your memory retention, recall, and weight but also the length of your life. As many will already know because of personal experiences, people seem to become ill-tempered when sleep deprived.

Although it is obviously advantageous to get the appropriate amount of sleep per night, the reasons for changing sleeping patterns to wake up earlier with the prerequisite sleeping hours are hidden. In the initial hours of the day, everything is quieter. Because of the more equal temperatures of the ocean and the land (for coastal places) wind causes less disturbances. During the day the land will quickly heat up and cause the air above it to also heat up while the ocean will remain a more constant temperature. Because the hot air will rise, the colder air over the ocean will move in to replace it. This air current is what we call wind. During the morning the ocean and the land will be more likely to be similar temperatures. The lack of wind will lessen the stressful hissing that would encompass one’s house if they were to wake up later. Later is also when the crying children wake up. Nothing is worse than waking up to a child screaming about why his or her breakfast is too cold. This yelling and blaring environment is not optimal for waking up. Early in the morning everyone else is asleep. This obvious fact seems to escape many people. Because everyone is asleep there are no cars on the road. Not only would this mean the noise pollution of them is not tainting the air, but also that you could beat the traffic to work and actually be on time for work/school for once and evade having to search for relevant excuses about why you were not there ten minutes ago. And with nobody woken up yet you can proceed with your morning with minimal distractions. Finally you can retrieve your newspaper without being intercepted by that stereotypical chatty neighbour that wants to invite you to that brutal dinner party you’re trying to avoid. Other errands can be completed thoroughly because of the time you have made for yourself by waking up early. Toast and cereal is too plain for people that are astute enough to spring out of bed so soon. No, breakfast for the early risers consists of golden French toast that gives a unique aroma that lingers for the rest of the morning. Cheap, discoloured oatmeal can be replaced stunning strawberries and smooth whip cream swathed atop a heavenly Belgian waffle that mimics the success you will have today because you woke up early this morning.

People do not understand the irrefutable importance of sleeping for the required hours a night. Lack of sleep has serious health side effects. Your abilities to recall memories as well as learn are diminished if you do not get enough sleep. Consequences such as obesity and diabetes can be attributed to absence of sleep. Emotional problems and even death can result from that extra movie you watched last night. And although sleep is important it is beneficial to go to bed early to wake up early. This way you avoid regular troubles and have a stress-free morning. In the mornings too many people instinctively smash the snooze button on aggravating alarms around the globe. Don’t be one of those people.

Don’t agree with me? Leave a comment.

Is water in plastic 'special'? Why do we pay so much for bottled water?

Ever since plastic was invented during the world wars, companies have been trying to make a buck off selling water in bottles. This $4/L ‘special’ water is rumoured to taste better than your everyday tap water. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for something that they can get from multiple sources for free; at home, at the park, at the mall, at school, etc.

‘Special’ water coming from the remote Yaqara Valley of Viti Levu comes at a hefty price. The consumer market says that this water tastes better. Clearer and said to have a sharper taste. The fact of the matter is that the average person can’t tell the difference between NYC tap water out of your everyday green garden hose, and some special water with an Amazonian spider at the bottom that supposedly makes the water better. I personally don’t want to drink spider. Both Coke and Pepsi have caught on and realized the market and launched the Dasani and Aquafina branded water. The average profit margin for a bottle of water is 50-100%. As Penn and Teller showed, the facilities for both these companies are in American suburbs and cities bottling the local tap water and sending it everywhere. Even locally a company tried to start up (didn’t last very long) bottling the tap water that is supposedly in the top 10 in North America with the Drinka brand. Not a bad way to create a lot of quick income. This bottled tap water is shipped out to 7-Elevens all over the continent, and people actually buy it. Sure, they may argue it’s ‘more convenient’ but reusable water bottles do exist for a reason. Literally tons of recyclable plastic is thrown in landfills each year. The US alone uses 1500 plastic bottles a second. Per second! All of this unnecessary waste is polluting our earth, when a Nalgene bottle with just as good tap water will save the planet and you money. The average 1L Nalgene bottle costs around $10. If you buy only 5 1L bottles of generic corner store water, the bottle has paid for itself and you have an infinite number of uses after the first 5 bottles of Dasani.

Water is a valuable resource that is thankfully plentiful in North America. Even though you can get perfectly good water out of your hose, society feels a need to buy ‘special’ water that really isn’t that special. The bottled water comes out of the same pipes as your home sink. Why pay so much more?

The Mediocrity Principle

The Mediocrity Principle was put forth by P.Z.Myers as a concept that would help improve one's cognitive toolkit. The Mediocrity Principle is a simple idea stating that the universe does not have malice and benevolence, that the state of the way things are is not out of intent. That there is universal laws that apply to everything. This comes down to that we do not have a special fate or destiny in life; that we are not here for any special reason, that we are not the way we are for any special reason, that it is simply the rule of inheritance. The nature of biology meant that when your parents had a baby, it was to be human and the combination of traits that make you male or female, and your characteristics were the result of a chance random genetic selection during meiosis due to the sperm that fertilized the egg. That your daily life events and the path you take life is out of the choices, decisions and actions you made- not the plan of the universe, not your fate or destiny. This doesn't apply just to us, but of everything in the universe. The Mediocrity Principle also states that our planet isn't privilege in anyway, nor is our species for if humans were to become extinct, a different specie would thrive in our place.

Grasping this is important to be able to begin to understand the general principles that apply to the universe as a whole, then look for the exceptions that led to the details of how everything came to be and how it all works.

Believing that everything is the way it is out of fate and intention means that you have come to a conclusion without reasoning and that universal laws of it's existence can no longer be applied.

Understanding the Mediocrity Principle allows us to observe and realize the universal laws of how everything works leading us to gain greater knowledge.