For me, it isn't a big house of cards where pulling one out will make the whole thing collapse. It' more like a tangled, knotted ball of string, Cut a few strings, and it's probably still a big mess, but still won't come apart.
On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 2:15 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > Gary, > > > > I assume you have your doubts about the “cherry tree” incident, even tho > it was told to you on the authority of your 4th grade school marm. How > we make these distinctions is fascinating. How “we” take vitamins, even > though our doctors assure us that the only consequence is that we have > “expensive pee”. Quine, it think it is, following Peirce, in a way, argues > that every belief is in enmeshed in a vast trodden-down midden of beliefs. > Given this, it’s a miracle that we ever change our minds about anything, > without dynamiting the whole midden. > > > > N > > > > Nicholas Thompson > > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > > Clark University > > [email protected] > > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > > > *From:* Friam <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Gary Schiltz > *Sent:* Wednesday, June 17, 2020 1:07 PM > *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group < > [email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] alternative response > > > > I can't speak for anyone else, but I suspect so. As an example of > partially supported beliefs, I have no direct way of knowing that George > Washington was the first president of the United States, or that he even > existed. I choose to believe this, because I've heard and read about him, > and I find it hard to believe that a conspiracy to instill a false > assertion could have been pulled off. I could research further, which > *might* reveal enough contradictions to invalidate my belief, but I choose > not to. I take a similar approach to, for example, climate change. > > > > On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 2:00 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > > Gary, > > > > Is this what others meant earlier by “truncation”? > > > > N > > > > Nicholas Thompson > > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > > Clark University > > [email protected] > > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > > > *From:* Friam <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Gary Schiltz > *Sent:* Wednesday, June 17, 2020 12:10 PM > *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group < > [email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] alternative response > > > > If I am honest, which I at least usually try to be, most beliefs that I > have are only supported by the amount of effort I'm willing to put into the > endeavor of supporting them. I can rationalize this by saying that nobody's > brain, not even Einstein's, has (or had) the capacity to calculate and keep > track of all the assumptions necessary to support our beliefs. I do believe > this is true, even though it is more the result of my simply getting tired > of or bored with trying to do so. Maybe this has a lot to do with why > people have "faith", they just get tired of trying to figure it all out, > and it is so much easier to accept what a large group of your peers tells > you. I think true wisdom starts when one realizes those limitations. > > > > On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 12:44 PM Jon Zingale <[email protected]> wrote: > > Nick, > > Spoiler alert, there is no *how best to think*. You say random, Gary says > determined. Until you investigate the consequences of each you can't even > know whether or not you are actually developing the same model ( like with > the Church-Turing thesis). At the end of the day, deciding whether or not > the universe is determined, indeterminate, random, etc.. is decidedly > uninteresting. I try to hold 50 conflicting ontological commitments before > breakfast. Alas, it appears that we have no interest in working with the > commitments others make. In an effort to contribute to the banality I > propose 2401 or perhaps whatever number you would construct the fifth time > you follow Cantor's diagonal argument! > > > > -- > Sent from: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >
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