On Sun, Aug 14, 2022 at 3:02 PM Joel Dietz <[email protected]> wrote: >> And if it "*is basically unprovable by definition*" so you can't prove >> or disprove it then it's silly and is an idea so bad it's not even wrong. >> >
> *> Then by your definition your idea that 'there is not a teapot in orbit > around the planet Uranus' is 'an idea so bad it's not even wrong'* > Yes, such a theory would be not necessarily wrong but certainly silly. It would be as silly as your theory that "*it is *impossible* to prove that there is not another as of yet invisible or unmeasurable mechanism within the construct that can alter or override the standard system of inputs and outputs* [of the brain]." And by the way, even if that theory turned out to be true it wouldn't alter the fact that you either did what you did for a reason and thus are a cuckoo clock or you did what you did for no reason and thus are a roulette wheel. And "free will", whatever the hell it's supposed to mean, would still not be entering the picture. > *> The rest of us live in a world of reasonable assumptions* > And you think a teapot in orbit around the planet Uranus is a reasonable assumption? You think it wise to take time to consider it when we could've used that time to think about something else, something a bit less silly? > > *including the OED* > The lexicographers who wrote the OEC are experts in words but they probably have less philosophical insight into the fundamental nature of reality than you do. > *which is mostly reliable in how to built semantic webs of meaning* > A dictionary can't even do that with nothing but definitions, you need real world examples to obtain meaning. Somebody points to the squiggle "tree" and then to a tall thing with green stuff at the top in the real world and a child gets the connection. Without examples from the real world the OED would just be a web of squiggles and not a web of meaning. > *and not at all concerning the ultimate truth of anything. * > But wasn't that what we were talking about? John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis <https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis> 25v -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv0_SqrqRiRKXSWNOE-Hj0VMA4vqGFhxW-5HqjU8oHRqTQ%40mail.gmail.com.
