> The truth is something which exists independently from us. The whole
> evolution is based on it. The more "truth" you know (even if you are just
> a tiny cell) the better your chances for survival.
Oddly enough, I've always thought that the truth was something which only concerned us i.e. humans. No humans =
No truth. Animals have no need for it, in fact while I'm spending a few minutes thinking about the truth, some
nocturnal predator is looking for food which would ensure its survival. Therefore contemplating the truth is a
human luxury because I just had a can of soup.
The truth is something which is only applicable when there is more than one human and they need to exchange
information. Obviously deliberately exchanging false information would lead to a breakdown of whatever systems
they rely on for survival. By that argument it would follow that if there was only one person on earth, he
would have no need for truth because he would have no need to convey or receive information from anyone. Of
course his personal survival won't lead to any future humans.
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And now for a discussion which may be related to the truth : perception of reality. Although much has been
said, here's my take on it :-
What any individual perceives to be reality is limited to (a) his senses and (b) his brain which is tailor-made
(forgive the deterministic language) to interpret data acquired by his senses. What we "see", "hear", "taste",
"feel" and "smell" is a subset of the full spectrum of these types of data. For example we "see" in what we
call the "visible" part of the spectrum. Obviously whatever frequencies we see we call visible. The frequencies
we don't see like infra-red and ultra-violet, we know about by using instruments to convert them to hues we can
see.
Therefore "our" reality is a subset of "true" reality. True reality could never be fully appreciated because of
the infinite number of senses that would be required. The "imagery" that bats get by bouncing radar off cave
walls and dogs get by sniffing hydrants would forever be a mystery to us. Of course a "simple" thing like
colour is lost on them. Maybe the physicists among us could discuss quantum fields as something to be sensed.
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Here are some interesting items which are related to these subjects :-
This one is a poem written by someone on the Virus List, not me, but a friend of mine :
Some meme/zen poetry
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/@@EGnvgQYAUD2ZjNDA/cgi-bin/boards/nph-read/14/137/607
This site is under construction but is worth checking out even now :
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Table of Contents
http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html#a
Especially this :
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Truth, Identity Theory of
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth-identity/truth-identity.html
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BTW Vicki, TT also stands for "Trinidad & Tobago".
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* *
* Hakeeb A. Nandalal "What does God want *
* nanco@trinidad.net with a spaceship?" *
* *
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