Reish Lakish says that our assessment based on the facts of the case is stronger, whereas Rabbi Yochanan says that our original disposition, what today we would call the status quo, is stronger.
Is Nature or Nurture Stronger?
This debate between Reish Lakish and his brother-in-law Rabbi Yochanan have ramifications throughout the entire Talmud. But what was true then is also true for our present day. Any modern nature vs. nurture debate can be traced back to this timeless account from the Talmud.
Nurture: Reish Lakish so trusts his psychological appraisals and assessments of human nature, that he says that it is stronger than the constancy of physical nature and cancels it.
Nature: But Rabbi Yochanan places more weight on the physical continuity in nature. Thus he holds that politically the status quo is very strong, so if you are planning to change things all at once, you won’t succeed. Instead, at most you can cast a doubt on the status quo, and then slowly things will begin to change from there.
Debate over Reality
This debate isn’t just an example of an intellectual sparring match, but has ramifications throughout reality. For instance, which is stronger: the psychological nature of reality or physical reality? In physics, this is what we can call the debate between:
● The Nature of Classical Physics: Where objects have objective existence. And, ● The Nurture of Quantum Mechanics: Where their existence seems to be predicated upon psychological states (the questions that we ask about the universe).
While both Nate and Ezra are concerned with changing the status quo, their missions are very different from one another.
Nature: If you ask Nate what his main work ambition is (and many have) it is to encourage journalists to write more objectively by means of data and other empirical evidence. For Nate, each topic is viewed as an objective object to study; the world of classical physics and Rabbi Yochanan.
Nurture: But if you ask Ezra (and many have) it is to create a more understanding news media. He wants people to tune back into the stories that matter with an open mind. Ezra’s main ambition is to change the status quo, but not in gradual, incremental steps. Like the instant, far-flung leaps possible in quantum mechanics, Ezra would like to see each new moment filled with fresh assessments about those things that matter — Reish Lakish’s approach.
What is New about the News?
There is a dispute between Reish Lakish and Rabbi Yochanan about who is considered greater, the first sages or the last sages? Rabbi Yochanan says that the earlier the sages, the greater they are. This certainly sounds plausible (this is what many of us were brought up with). But, Reish Lakish holds the opposite, that the later the sage, the greater he is. This is exactly the mindset of the “depth of the end”, to rule like the final, the most recent sages, the mindset of binah. If you have a mindset of chochmah though, you rule that the first sages (“the depth of the beginning”, as chochmah is called in the Book of Formation) are greater.
Now let’s flash forward again to our world of journalism.
The “depth of the beginning” relates to Nate Silver’s Data Journalism approach, since the analysis of any new story is predicated on a prior set of facts and figures. What about Ezra? Each of the stories on his Vox Media site are published as a stack of cards. The focus is on what card will come next, the “depth of the end”, not necessarily what the first card was predicated upon.