Reminded me of one of my favorite movie dialogues—from Sunshine. Context was actually physics, but the complexity of the situation and the time frame but the characters in the same situation as you with the Cabinet ministers.
Capa: It’s the problem right there. Between the boosters and the gravity of the sun the velocity of the payload will get so great that space and time will become smeared together and everything will distort. Everything will be unquantifiable.
Kaneda: You have to come down on one side or the other. I need a decision.
Capa: It’s not a decision, it’s a guess. It’s like flipping a coin and asking me to decide whether it will be heads or tails.
Kaneda: And?
Capa: Heads… We harvested all Earth’s resources to make this payload. This is humanity’s last chance… our last, best chance… Searle’s argument is sound. Two last chances are better than one.
Yes, that’s a good example. There are times when a decision has to be made, and saying you don’t know isn’t very useful. Even if you have very little to go on, you still have to decide one way or the other.
Reminded me of one of my favorite movie dialogues—from Sunshine. Context was actually physics, but the complexity of the situation and the time frame but the characters in the same situation as you with the Cabinet ministers.
Capa: It’s the problem right there. Between the boosters and the gravity of the sun the velocity of the payload will get so great that space and time will become smeared together and everything will distort. Everything will be unquantifiable.
Kaneda: You have to come down on one side or the other. I need a decision.
Capa: It’s not a decision, it’s a guess. It’s like flipping a coin and asking me to decide whether it will be heads or tails.
Kaneda: And?
Capa: Heads… We harvested all Earth’s resources to make this payload. This is humanity’s last chance… our last, best chance… Searle’s argument is sound. Two last chances are better than one.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/quotes?qt0386955
Yes, that’s a good example. There are times when a decision has to be made, and saying you don’t know isn’t very useful. Even if you have very little to go on, you still have to decide one way or the other.