I agree that the logical flow is good, but the feeling I got when reading Mike's posting was very heavy. It lacked the feeling of optimism that I liked so much from his earlier postings.
My short response is that the admission of human imperfection is not in necessarily connected with hopelessness or a gloomy outlook. We can always improve. We can strive for improve-ability; and in so doing, we have a chance of seeing improvements. In my life I have seen the breakdown of apartheid, segregation in the US, a growth in prosperity and the standard of living in the US, etc. I am optimistic about the future even if I don't believe that we will ever achieve perfection. Chris From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dr. Ernie Prabhakar Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 3:14 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Truth and humility Re: [RC] On humility Hi Mike, Wow, excellent work! I think I agree 100% with your explanation. I might quibble slightly with your choice of terminology, but that depends on whom wer'e targeting this towards. I plan to post this on RC.org under an appropriate title, such as "A Radical Centrist Vision of Truth and Progress." Sound good? -- Ernie P. On Jan 11, 2012, at 2:05 PM, Mike Gonzalez wrote: So this is where we are... I think: 1a) There are objective facts that exist independent of human experience 1b) These objective facts, when taken collectively, contain all of existence 1c) A fact is a piece of incontrovertible truth which exists at a specific point in time, or over a length of time 2) Under no circumstances can humans be perfect (or optimized) 3) As a result, humans can't have perfect knowledge of facts Result: No claim by humans of objective truth can be correct. Humans can only have working rules. 1) Humans can't have perfect knowledge of facts 2a) Humans can improve their situation by applying solutions based on correct understanding of facts 2b) The human situation is the current state of either a single person, a group, or collective humanity 3) As a result, humans can improve their situation, but their application of solutions is imperfect Result: There is a distinction between "correct knowledge", which can help humanity improve its situation, and "perfect knowledge", which is an impossibility involving total understanding. 1) Humans can improve their situation, but their application of solutions is imperfect 2a) Humans can improve their situation through careful study and application of innovation 2b) Innovation is anything created or concocted by humans that exists outside of nature 3) As a result, careful study and application of innovations can improve humanity's situation, though imperfectly Result: Broad (ideological, say) rules don't suffice in improving the human situation. 1) Careful study and application of innovations can improve humanity's situation, though imperfectly 2) Even though facts don't change, our understanding of facts can change 3) As a result, our imperfection in applying innovations is a reflection of a lack of understanding Result: When we change our position, it's not an admission that we don't think facts are absolute- it's that we were wrong. Overall, we've: a) retained eternal objectivity, and removed objective truth from the controlling hands of humans b) removed human perfectibility from consideration (destroying communism), yet protected things like transhumanism and futurism as incremental enhancement c) defended the ability of humanity to continue solving problems d) wholesale destroyed broad "moral imperative" ideologies (socialism, modern progressivism, evangelicalism), in favor of incrementalism -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
