My take here is pragmatist. Or, I like to think so. Galileo appears to be credited with empiricism. If, and only if, scientific method leads to macrocosmic truth, then we have gotten somewhere. But there are, of course, unknowns even insofar as an inquiry settles a question, temporally. Things change and knowledge with that. And we cannot get to infinity: it is not a *there*, which we can approach from *here*. And so, in this sense, truth is fluid. Even as reality is contingent, based on interests, preferences and motives...contextual, in THAT sense. Therefore, both truth and reality are squishy. Even the ancients knew this much. And, they did not have AI. Did not have to think about it. Woe is us.
A last note: I remember a vague exposure to the notion of infinity in a high school physics class: The teacher took a strip of paper, gave it a twist and taped it together. This was the mobius strip, a physical representation of the symbol for infinity [~], which is not in my tablet, so far as I can discern. Of course, such a physical representation is illustrative only: no beginning and no end is a tall order for a piece of paper and tape. Just a bit of nostalgia.
One More Thing: Everything is connected. Like the human skeleton or a fishbone chart. If at first this seems metaphysical or mysterious, do not worry. Think more deeply. Follow the dots...it will assert itself in around seventy-five years...fewer, if you think deeply and are lucky.
[ Inspiration for this came from a now-retired D.O., my doctor for twenty-five>years. I miss his wit and wisdom. And his impeccable care. But no, I am not Panpsychist. My sense of life and consciousness is more refined than that.]
My take here is pragmatist. Or, I like to think so. Galileo appears to be credited with empiricism. If, and only if, scientific method leads to macrocosmic truth, then we have gotten somewhere. But there are, of course, unknowns even insofar as an inquiry settles a question, temporally. Things change and knowledge with that. And we cannot get to infinity: it is not a *there*, which we can approach from *here*. And so, in this sense, truth is fluid. Even as reality is contingent, based on interests, preferences and motives...contextual, in THAT sense. Therefore, both truth and reality are squishy. Even the ancients knew this much. And, they did not have AI. Did not have to think about it. Woe is us.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteA last note:
ReplyDeleteI remember a vague exposure to the notion of infinity in a high school physics class:
The teacher took a strip of paper, gave it a twist and taped it together. This was the mobius strip, a physical representation of the symbol for infinity [~], which is not in my tablet, so far as I can discern. Of course, such a physical representation is illustrative only: no beginning and no end is a tall order for a piece of paper and tape. Just a bit of nostalgia.
One More Thing:
ReplyDeleteEverything is connected. Like the human skeleton or a fishbone chart. If at first this seems metaphysical or mysterious, do not worry. Think more deeply. Follow the dots...it will assert itself in around seventy-five years...fewer, if you think deeply and are lucky.
[ Inspiration for this came from a now-retired D.O., my doctor for twenty-five>years.
I miss his wit and wisdom. And his impeccable care. But no, I am not Panpsychist. My sense of life and consciousness is more refined than that.]