>Sorry to keep you waiting, I was trying to understand Wittengenstein
>and
>the Zen philosophy. We have agreed that Objective Reality has this
>property of incredible consistency: pi is always 3.14... , OR "always
>gives
>off photons in the same way, and always has the same magnetic field,
>and always exhibits the same time dependent behaviour, no
>matter what the observer is."
Well, YOU may have agreed on that, but I certainly haven't. Pi is a
human concept. It's a distinction-meme, a very useful one. But it
doesn't exist anywhere outside human culture. Likewise, statements of
consistency are components (memes) of our current scientific thought,
NOT Truthful descriptions of Objective Reality. They are all
approximations.
>
>The only other possible
>point of view I can see is that OR is not consistent, that pi is
>sometimes
>3.14... and sometimes it is not (I am not talking about accuracy nor
>precision), that the photons behave in an unpredictable way, etc...
How about this other possible point of view: OR just is. We have created
Pi and defined it as the ratio of a (non-existent) perfect circle's
circumference to its diameter. We are very good, but not perfect, at
predicting photons' behavior....
>
>I believe -- and it all comes down to what each one of us believes --
>that
>the world *is* consistent and predictable.
You don't know my ex-wife!
> That we *can* know it better
>and better.
Absolutely.
> As one person said (the quiz on who it was is still on):
>"Whatever we hold precious, we cannot protect it from our curiosity,
>because being who we are, one of the things we deem precious is the
>truth.
>Our love of truth is surely a central element in the meaning we find in
>our lives."
Wasn't it Hitler who said that? Actually, it sounds like something Dan
Dennett said in Darwin's Dangerous Idea, and one of the few things he
got wrong in the whole masterpiece of a book (available at The Memetics
Bookstore, http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/books.htm).
>
>Danger!!! Danger!!!
>The Level-3 Hypocrisy Virus (L3HV) is threatening YOU and your
>children!
>PROTECT yourself: never talk to an infected person without a condom!
L3HV condoms are available for sale at The Memetics Drugstore,
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/drugs.htm. Just ignore the funny looks
you get from Level-1'ers when you walk around with one pulled over your
head...
Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com +1.206.688.8600
CEO, Brodie Technology Group, Inc., Bellevue, WA, USA
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
Do you know what a "meme" is?
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
>