>OK. Is there some truth to the matter of whether an idea is
>> wrong-headed or not? Easy answer: depends on the
>context. In many contexts, including that of maximal
>rationality, there certainly is truth to that matter. In others,
>there is not, because you need some way of judging,
>which you don't always have. For instance, where an
>issue is entirely a matter of taste, "wrong-headed"
>means nothing. In the general, context-free case, there
>is no way of judging, and so "wrong-headed" is
>meaningless there too.
>
>Any argument with that? :-)
No, I should have asked, "*can* there be some truth to the
matter..." and it appears that we agree that yes there can,
at least in some cases.
>I say that's also context-dependent. For most or all
>practical purposes, it is obvious (I think) that we do
>all believe in "out there". But in more strict terms,
>I've never seen "out there" sufficiently well defined
>for the question to be decided. Perhaps those who
>insist in *absolute* terms that there is an "out
>there", could focus on defining it. That might be a
>step in the right direction, anyway.
That's a fair criticism. Can we all agree on this
much: "patterns exist"? (Actually I'm not at all
sure how Richard would answer that question.)
-- David McFadzean david@lucifer.com Memetic Engineer http://www.lucifer.com/~david/ Church of Virus http://www.lucifer.com/virus/