Terry, I agree that Peirce's "mind fusion" is a good metaphor. It reminds me of Spock's "mind meld" in Star Trek. But the Trekkies don't explain how the Vulcan neural system (in conjunction with the human neural system) could establish that meld. TR> Im delighted to find this remark in Peirce! For my $0.02, thinking of Peirces fusion as harmoniously resonant semiosis (very large SNR) e.g., as in all waveforms from music to radiation and gravity, and in the cognitive commens of sentient and sapient community, wed be fine if dissonant discord over our differences werent, to put it mildly these days, so dissonant and discordant. But what does it mean? If two people don't have sufficient "collateral experience" to understand one another, they don't do a Vulcan mind meld. What they do is to find some way to get the experience. If it's musical, they practice performing, listening to, and dancing to music. If it's something physical, like playing Cricket, they may have to watch a game with somebody explaining each move. If it's a color, they have to look at colored things or pictures of them. If it's some scientific theory, they have to read a book , take a course, or do some experiments. In each case, people can gain the collateral experience by doing something. Just repeating or quoting Peirce's words is insufficient to explain what he meant. It's necessary to explain "mind fusion" in terms of some method for getting the experience. John
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ► PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to [email protected] . ► To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message NOT to PEIRCE-L but to [email protected] with no subject, and with the sole line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm . ► PEIRCE-L is owned by The PEIRCE GROUP; moderated by Gary Richmond; and co-managed by him and Ben Udell.
