“The absence (lack) of evidence is not the evidence of absence (lack).”
This maxim is more commonly known as the ”Axiom of Archaeological Interpretation” and it merely implies that even though we have not yet found the lost city of Atlantis, it, therefore, does not imply that this city does not exist. In the same manner, when it comes to our relations with others, should we ascribe a lack of any cognitive or emotional capacity to someone just because such an individual (or group) fail to display such a cognitive or emotional capacity? Let me explain.
Many people may seem to be happy, we then easily interpret them to be happy, but underneath that happy facade, they may (and normally do) conceal much pain. Even if you fail to perceive sorrow or joy or any other attribute in a fellow human being, it does not necessarily imply that none of those attributes is present in that specific human being. During the process of living our lives, we tend to saturate it with the drawing of one conclusion upon the other, and in the process, we can make a lot of faulty deductions. It is because of this that we should never assume something which has not manifested itself clearly, nor should we ever shrug off that which you do not have proof of, for the lack of evidence is NOT the evidence of lack.
People (and for the sake of this argument, everything else on this planet) are more than the product of your interpretation of them/it. It will be a good thing if we can stop living lives based on assumptions – rather keep digging until you find tangible evidence before you make unfounded presumptions.
Mermaids and Atlantis – I was told – does not exist.
But I don’t live in a world of only white or black,
this story has a twist:
The lack of evidence is not the evidence of lack.
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