Binary Barnacles: Baiters, Blinkered...Balkanized (?) 

Either/Or: The binary mathematical model (or "dualism" in philosophy), is based on data being represented by either a 1 or 0. Binary code is the most fundamental concept in modern computer science. Computers don't understand words or numbers the ways humans (supposedly) do.  At the 'lowest' levels of your computer, everything is represented by a binary electrical signal that recognizes one of two states: on or off; to make sense of complicated data, your computer encodes it in binary. Ho-hum, you say. The important implications of such models of thinking/computing to our present day circumstances, including the pandemic and protests, are compelling (or should be by the time I'm done with your here).

From math models to stereotyping: One of the major cognitive factors in all diagnostic errors (which can have grave consequences whether we are in the ER or or curbside) is the tendency/temptation to reduce a complex set of factors into the simplest (e.g. binary) equations. This tends to happen more when we are under time pressures, stress, and/or lacking decision making resources (or, if 'forced'--see below). In doing so, we frequently miss, are blinkered from potentially important information. A major traumatic experience cited by critical care health professionals early in the pandemic included the speed and frequency with which they were forced to make life/death decisions--decisions they were trained to make but did not anticipate having to experience in such torrential downpours: "The cases just kept coming; what I was used to dealing with over many months came at us in one shift". 

Binary to Balkanization: "Balkanize" is to divide into smaller, mutually hostile states or groups, typically applied to a postwar situation where the 'spoils of war' are divided. The question I provoke here is the degree to which we as a world, as a country, are doing this to ourselves, each time we divide ourselves into we/they, rich/poor, young/old, black/white, etc., etc. Or, every time we apply an adjective in front of "American", for example; what initially appears benign and something to be celebrated many times ends up being unintentionally strident in nature. 

Forced Choice Baiters: Forced choice rating scales have proved valuable to psychologists in measuring and predicting various areas of performance (the details of which are TMI for this space). But when we are forced into a binary rating we are at risk of dismissing the 'space between', the gray areas, and nuances that are important in prediction as well. A classic example is when an investigative journalist (I trust next time you listen to one you will now detect this) tries to get the respondent to 'choose their poison' (e.g., "Who would you give the vaccine to first, the old or the young?"). When the respondent instead rephrases the question or answers other than forced choice, the interviewer grows to be perplexed, even apoplectic (this will likely occur during the upcoming presidential debates). We all bait each other on occasion, to be honest -- "but they do it more!" (sound like siblings?)

Sum Zero/M.A.D.: An extreme version, but one which many who have studied binary sociological models of binary thinking and behavior appreciate, is the "Sum Zero" model (vigorously discussed during the cold war between the U.S./Soviets Union), in which a gain for one person or group corresponds to a loss for the other. The "Mutually Assured Destruction" principle of deterrence, dynamically related, is the doctrine of military strategy in which an attack from one side is met by a full force attack by the other, assuring annihilation of both sides (insane? yup, which eventually led to cooler minds prevailing, at least for the moment in history). So, how are we these concepts related to our present circumstances, you ask? Think long and hard.

The Way Forward: Critical thinking! Celebrating diversity....within groups! Counter-Intuition! In my professional life, while I was an adjunct associate professor at a local university, we became forced to deliberately and conspicuously incorporate diversity into our academic syllabus (into my course which graduate educational students had been rating high for "stuff we can finally use"). Well, believing in academic freedom, my first reaction was one or great annoyance. But after a protracted pensive process, this actually became an impetus for adding depth, for provoking thought on this subject beyond the obvious ("necessity, the mother of all inventions!"). That is, I provoked thought, discussion, and essays on the diversity within not just the obvious between group discriminating variables (such as when assigning to 1 or 0, almost completing the circle here). Students of all walks of life embraced this. We had great, lively discussions, none of which became strident such as what we are experiencing on all fronts today. In a critical contemporary context, if you listen closely, you will hear how this has great value in understanding why various individuals are at more or less viral risk within certain demographic groups after the initial mainline press articles focused almost exclusively on differences between groups--both of which have great epidemiological value.

       The personal and sociological destruction of such foregoing binary forces is not inevitable, we are not doomed, it's not a fait accompli: it's up to you, it's up to me, it's on US!  

       My math teachers promised me I'd eventually appreciate mathematical thinking and logic, regardless of my chosen career path--Thank You!

(BTW: Barnacle is a marine crustacean that attaches itself permanently to something else. You can buy "Barnacle Buster" by the gallon if you are a boater. For the rest of us, we can extricate ourselves, even when being baited, by applying ample doses of critical thinking). Gotcha!