Brains & Towels

When you take a shower and then dry off is the towel clean or dirty? I think it’s dirty. I just had a near ‘knock down and drag out’ argument with a friend of mine.

The answer to some questions is specific to what your brain believes. The purpose of a shower is to remove dirt (defined as some substance that ordinarily does not belong on your skin) along with dead skin cells. If you start with a towel that has already been used, your brain may say the towel is dirty. If you start with an unused towel and it removes dirt and dead skin, your brain may say the towel is dirty. If your brain believes that dead skin is not dirty because it belonged to you—and there was no actual and obvious dirt to remove—it may say the towel is clean. This is a great example of the reason arguing is typically so dysfunctional. There isn’t really any sure-fire way to settle the answer because it involves the belief system in two different brains.