“There’s a cliff right there,” observes Inspector Darwin.
There’s another one about ‘subjective objective’ that is worth look at too.
In my own words: Yes, there are three sheep there. I can see three sheep there. According to the prior information I have about the universe this process of perception involves light, reflection, absorbsion, nerve conduction, processing in specialised area in the visual cortex and suchlike. I don’t have all the information, and my priors are not perfect, nevertheless I can’t change reality by thinking about it. Similarly, other people’s ‘opinions’ and ‘perspectives’, which don’t match up to what I see with my own eyes are sometimes worth respecting for social purposes but they certainly aren’t going to significantly influence the expectation of reality. If your perspective is that there is some other number of sheep then you’re just wrong and you’ll make terrible decisions if you act on your stupid belief and you might die.
Excuse me as I adjust my estimate of my own inclusive genetic fitness downwards somewhat for, as, ciphergoth puts it, focusing my attention back at concepts we’ve moved past. I actually find even thinking of how to explain how stupid the “that’s just your perspective” intuition is. Being more confused by fiction than reality is a habit that is worth fostering. I actually tend to find some kinds of philosophical debates do more harm than good to your thinking process.
Excuse me as I adjust my estimate of my own inclusive genetic fitness downwards somewhat for, as, ciphergoth puts it, focusing my attention back at concepts we’ve moved past. I actually find even thinking of how to explain how stupid the “that’s just your perspective” intuition is.
My immediate response to this is that this is a problem. I think I need to foster flexibility of thought, along with fostering correct thought, and often practice empathizing with the incorrect point of view. If it isn’t clear how to get out, then I’ll practice empathizing with the original view again to make sure I don’t get stuck anywhere really sticky, but this time with less confidence that one view is really more correct than the other. My favorite place to be is perched right between them, and from there I try to formally describe my escape routes from each of them.
The simple truth does seem to sum it up nicely:
There’s another one about ‘subjective objective’ that is worth look at too.
In my own words: Yes, there are three sheep there. I can see three sheep there. According to the prior information I have about the universe this process of perception involves light, reflection, absorbsion, nerve conduction, processing in specialised area in the visual cortex and suchlike. I don’t have all the information, and my priors are not perfect, nevertheless I can’t change reality by thinking about it. Similarly, other people’s ‘opinions’ and ‘perspectives’, which don’t match up to what I see with my own eyes are sometimes worth respecting for social purposes but they certainly aren’t going to significantly influence the expectation of reality. If your perspective is that there is some other number of sheep then you’re just wrong and you’ll make terrible decisions if you act on your stupid belief and you might die.
Excuse me as I adjust my estimate of my own inclusive genetic fitness downwards somewhat for, as, ciphergoth puts it, focusing my attention back at concepts we’ve moved past. I actually find even thinking of how to explain how stupid the “that’s just your perspective” intuition is. Being more confused by fiction than reality is a habit that is worth fostering. I actually tend to find some kinds of philosophical debates do more harm than good to your thinking process.
Thank you. I’m sorry if this is something most people here are past and you’re losing fitness for falling back into explaining it :)
Proving quotes and a take on it helped more thank just a link would. So, once again, thank you.
Also, thanks for for this:
It was needed.
My immediate response to this is that this is a problem. I think I need to foster flexibility of thought, along with fostering correct thought, and often practice empathizing with the incorrect point of view. If it isn’t clear how to get out, then I’ll practice empathizing with the original view again to make sure I don’t get stuck anywhere really sticky, but this time with less confidence that one view is really more correct than the other. My favorite place to be is perched right between them, and from there I try to formally describe my escape routes from each of them.