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MadRabbit -> RE: Self projection, stepping outside of the box. (2/22/2008 10:09:16 PM)
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ORIGINAL: BlackPhx
1. In your post you stated there is an objective reality that is or is not. There is an impression from my education that sometimes subjective reality overwhelms objective reality. There is evidence in history of this sort of mass delusions taking place in societies, where what is plausible is more determined by what the aggragate whole believes rather then a sound logical and well reasoned position. Do we accept this limitation of plausibility in acceptance in order not to be dismissed entirely?
People choosing to ignore facts and logic doesn't make the objective reality any less objective. The laws of mathematic, science, and eptimology don't change just because people choose to ignore them. 2+2=4 even if people want to say it equals 5. This is why we call these subjective realities "delusions" and "fantasies" (or in many cases "religion").
If I cut my arm, I will still bleed to death even if I am not aware or do not recognize the cut.
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2. I also get an impression in my education while science is progressing nicely, a lot of discoveries are either made by accidents or by inspired persistance. In inspired persistance people have a vision of what they want to do and are presented with obstacles that make the project implauisble and keep working at the problem till they figure out a means of making it a reality by approaching the problem from an angle no one ever thought of. Should we discount everything that is implausible and not take the time to explore even remote possibilities?
I am not in anyway whatsoever trying to set the standard for what is plausible and not plausible. That has to be determined by the individual. If you find what I am writing to be wholly unbelievable, then please, beleive it to be wholly unbelievable. If the knowledge you have acquired leads you to conclude that the possibility of growing wings out of your back to fly is impausible, then by all means, dismiss that remote possibility and don't buy Magic Wing Lotion for a website on the Internet.
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3. Objective reality is defined by our knowledge and what is plausible is also limited by our knowledge and that often has us discount ideas. A good example is the naturalist idea the earth was very very old (billions of years). This was discounted very early by Lord Kelvin because he calculated the mass of the sun and did computation of every material that burned and the evidence indicated that the sun could only burn for around 6,000 years. So how do we factor out what we do not know to prevent us from recognizing the plausible from the implausible?
I would chalk that up as simply the limitation of human perspective. Thats the thing about ignorance. You can't factor in what you do not know. It's kind of like people who go on a rant, berating young people for their age and telling them how they will understand when they are older.
Well...that might very well be true. What does that do for me now? How do I drastically change my opinions when I don't have this experience that will bring on this new understanding?
Personally, I would rather be wrong, because I did my own thinking based off what I knew as opposed to being wrong because everyone did my thinking for me or I beleived someone who I really thought to be unbeleivable.
How other people want to risk error is up to them.
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I guess I am looking for how you seperate between gullibility from open mindness especially when the opportunity for the pursuit of happiness (or at least lust) hangs in the balance?
To me, gullible is beleiving an idea just because it's possible. Openmindness is thinking an idea through and concluding for yourself thats its plausible or not plausible.
How everyone else wants to differentiate between the two is up to them.
People do far fetched things that are completely crazy to me and risking heavy stakes in the process all in pursuit of their own summum bonum. I don't get it. I don't understand it. I think it's stupid and will certainly express those viewpoints at the appropriate time. In some cases, I won't condone it.
However, I will be happy if they at least thought for themselves and came to their own decision, regardless of how much head-banging-against-a-wall I do in an attempt to understand how in the hell they got from X to Z.
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