All maps/definition/models/languages/etc are arbitrary, finite, self-containing axiomatic systems which are valid on the inside and nonsense when viewed from the outside. They also cannot interact with anything outside of themselves. They’re isolated from reality but still very useful (as they’re created and modified to fit our needs through a process much like biological evolution)
If I ask a question about reality, then my answer will answer the question, it won’t answer reality. The pair (question, answer) exists in themselves and only as themselves. Questions are loaded questions, in that they contains definitions, but definitions don’t rely on anything, they’re assumptions/assertions. Everything is free-floating objects, there’s no root, you can’t “get to the bottom” of anything, anywhere you look, you will end up at arbitrary axioms. There’s also no origin point, everything is relative to something else.
Is French more correct than English? It’s apparent that the question itself is nonsense. But morality and mathematics are also just languages. Axioms that you can combine and play around with according to some rules. You’re not discovering anything, and you’re not creating anything new unless you change the definitions of the system. If “2+2” equals “4″ then you just have the same thing twice.
In any case, we are the creators of these finite structures. But a lot of people seem to waste time searching for the territory while looking at the map. “What does it mean to be a good person?” whatever we want it to mean. We’re not searching for some truth here, we’re creating it. We can’t be wrong or right. At worst, we contradict other agreements that we’ve made about reality, and then we get to decide which agreement we want to change in order to resolve the contradiction.
A lot of people seem to become nihilists when they discover that mental models are human creations rather than things which exist inherently, independently from ourselves. They need things like “objective morality” to feel good. But why would something be “fake” just because it’s created? My computer exists in physical reality, even though humans made it, and “computer” is just a concept. If only the territory is real, then we’re left with energy/matter and the rules of physics, everything which emerges from it, and nothing else. Everything beyond that is agreement, and power-struggles between interpretations. Religions, ideologies and philosophies are examples of this. And, by the way, none of these systems can evaluate themselves from the inside. Different systems can compete, but they can’t know which one is “best”, and “best” is meaningless without a metric anyway. You can combine two systems by taking the overlap, or by combining everything and solving the contradictions, but you can’t even be sure that the resulting system is better. At best you get a higher alignment as a result, but you also reduce everything to the lowest common denominator in the process. What system is best depends on its environment anyway, fish do best in water, and lions do best on land. In families, communism works well, but on larger scales, capitalism seems better.
“Truth” doesn’t seem to matter very much, if it makes sense at all.
There’s volition, and all it entails. It can be instrumentally relevant that something is not “objective” or even “real”, just as it’s prudent to be willing to pay for groceries. If earlier impression promised more clarity than remained after further study, that’s a practical concern, possible to work on.
All maps/definition/models/languages/etc are arbitrary, finite, self-containing axiomatic systems which are valid on the inside and nonsense when viewed from the outside. They also cannot interact with anything outside of themselves. They’re isolated from reality but still very useful (as they’re created and modified to fit our needs through a process much like biological evolution)
If I ask a question about reality, then my answer will answer the question, it won’t answer reality. The pair (question, answer) exists in themselves and only as themselves. Questions are loaded questions, in that they contains definitions, but definitions don’t rely on anything, they’re assumptions/assertions. Everything is free-floating objects, there’s no root, you can’t “get to the bottom” of anything, anywhere you look, you will end up at arbitrary axioms. There’s also no origin point, everything is relative to something else.
Is French more correct than English? It’s apparent that the question itself is nonsense. But morality and mathematics are also just languages. Axioms that you can combine and play around with according to some rules. You’re not discovering anything, and you’re not creating anything new unless you change the definitions of the system. If “2+2” equals “4″ then you just have the same thing twice.
In any case, we are the creators of these finite structures. But a lot of people seem to waste time searching for the territory while looking at the map. “What does it mean to be a good person?” whatever we want it to mean. We’re not searching for some truth here, we’re creating it. We can’t be wrong or right. At worst, we contradict other agreements that we’ve made about reality, and then we get to decide which agreement we want to change in order to resolve the contradiction.
A lot of people seem to become nihilists when they discover that mental models are human creations rather than things which exist inherently, independently from ourselves. They need things like “objective morality” to feel good. But why would something be “fake” just because it’s created? My computer exists in physical reality, even though humans made it, and “computer” is just a concept. If only the territory is real, then we’re left with energy/matter and the rules of physics, everything which emerges from it, and nothing else. Everything beyond that is agreement, and power-struggles between interpretations. Religions, ideologies and philosophies are examples of this. And, by the way, none of these systems can evaluate themselves from the inside. Different systems can compete, but they can’t know which one is “best”, and “best” is meaningless without a metric anyway. You can combine two systems by taking the overlap, or by combining everything and solving the contradictions, but you can’t even be sure that the resulting system is better. At best you get a higher alignment as a result, but you also reduce everything to the lowest common denominator in the process. What system is best depends on its environment anyway, fish do best in water, and lions do best on land. In families, communism works well, but on larger scales, capitalism seems better.
“Truth” doesn’t seem to matter very much, if it makes sense at all.
There’s volition, and all it entails. It can be instrumentally relevant that something is not “objective” or even “real”, just as it’s prudent to be willing to pay for groceries. If earlier impression promised more clarity than remained after further study, that’s a practical concern, possible to work on.