I've always thought that picture was worth a thousand (or more) words.
When a surveyor weighs his evidence to form an opinion on the location a boundary, even all the available evidence might not paint the hidden and undiscovered facts. An open mind is not only useful in most cases, it is vital. All too often we derive conclusions based only on what we know. What we are not seeing and have yet to discover can always indicate the reality of the situation.
As fantastic as the scientific method is, it is greatly limited by our ability to observe.
gschrock, post: 346031, member: 556 wrote: Impartial evaluation is very often overshadowed by the desire to absolutely right. No one is so absolutely wrong as one who is convinced they are always absolutely right.
Alvin Toffler offered:
ÛÏThe illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. Û
IBM actually hired Toffler back in the seventies to determine what effect the existence of personal computing devices might have on the population. Quite a thinker, indeed.
And I think there are a lot of surveyors that assume their conclusions will be "absolutely correct" and only acknowledge evidence that supports such a conclusion. All contradictory data is then discounted or discredited as coming from substandard origins. I guess absolutely correct determinations have no room for any evidence that doesn't meet an absolutely correct standard.
paden cash, post: 346068, member: 20 wrote: IBM actually hired Toffler back in the seventies to determine what effect the existence of personal computing devices might have on the population. Quite a thinker, indeed.
And I think there are a lot of surveyors that assume their conclusions will be "absolutely correct" and only acknowledge evidence that supports such a conclusion. All contradictory data is then discounted or discredited as coming from substandard origins. I guess absolutely correct determinations have no room for any evidence that doesn't meet an absolutely correct standard.
That is the hard part...letting go of ego and being open to other opinions. Sometimes a co-worker trying to undermine the foundation of my opinion (devil's advocate) either 1) makes me change my opinion or 2) makes me improve my reasoning which better supports my opinion. It's happened both ways for me.
At a previous job I encountered the group think issue too. 5 LSs came to agreement (including me) led by an expert who used to be the boss of our office over there. I started questioning whether we had the correct answer, holy heck, you would think I was proposing to blow up a City, don't do that. Gotta stick with the group. Eventually the whole freight train steamed towards an out-of-court settlement which favored the State. I came to the conclusion that the adjoiner's surveyor was right for the wrong reasons but still right and the whole thing was a travesty. It's a long story involving a 19th century coastal Rancho with confusion dating back into the 19th Century.