To take yet another example, again of a very different kind, when many years ago I started to study the causation of famines, I was struck by the frequency with which it tends to be assumed in public discussions that they must invariably relate to a fall in food supply or food availability. And yet many major famines have occurred without any fall at all in food supply. Similarly, it turns out that famines are extremely easy to prevent, but a dictatorial government may not have any political incentive to do the prevention. And yet in popular discussion, or in newspaper reports, the focus is still on food supply. For example, nearly every news report on North Korean famine seems to begin with references to floods or other natural calamities, even though many countries have had much worse calamities without experiencing anything like a famine.
Nature is blamed for many evils that are created by authoritarian systems.
We need academic studies to break from popular perceptions, and that indeed is one of the major roles of the universities. The examples I have talked about are of course or particular types, related more to my own interests and involvements, but the basic point is, I believe, quite general. Not all the conjectures and theories that emanate out of the academia work well, but we do need a constant flow of questioning to prevent getting stuck in frozen beliefs. I must not go on longer. Indeed, it is not absurd to claim that being able to doubt is one of the things that make us human beings, rather than unquestioning animals.