Anyone using a computer in the 21st century should have at least some cursory respect for logic, but why is logic not a commonly declared ideal like physical health or wisdom?

The Problem With Spock

While the Spock character from “Star Trek” is a generally pro-logic character, he perpetuates one very destructive myth about the nature of logic, that it is opposed to and separate from emotion and feeling.

Emotional Isolation

This is so destructive because it sets in stone a non-existent dichotomy between reason and our entire emotional lives. It makes logic appear as cold and heartless and meaningless. It leaves many people, people who want to have meaningful lives, wanting to escape the mechanistic, predetermined world “constrained” by lifeless, emotionless reason.

This take, of a dichotomy between logic and emotions, is so baseless and counter to the facts of reality that one must wonder how it has survived for so long.

Women in Tech

The negative connotation of “cold logic” impacts women’s acceptance of tech.

The Problem With “Balancing” Logic and Emotion

It might be tempting to accept the idea of balancing these two supposed opposites as a solution to the false dichotomy, such as is explained in this video:

This is a partial solution to a very real problem, but unfortunately it perpetuates the real problem. What’s wrong here is that it still accepts that logic and emotion are opposites, which must then be “balanced”. Why not go all the way and accept that they are not even opposites and that they should, instead, be integrated together into a unified whole, rather than balanced as two opposing forces?