Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id FAA22237 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 18 Apr 2002 05:00:03 +0100 From: Ned Wolpert <wolpert5@cox.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk In-reply-to: <F547B8B4-5279-11D6-9556-003065B9A95A@harvard.edu> (wade_smith@harvard.edu) Subject: Re: Thoughts and Perceptions References: <F547B8B4-5279-11D6-9556-003065B9A95A@harvard.edu> Message-Id: <20020418035356.FNGC27493.fed1mtao01.cox.net@wolpert.coxphx.az.home.com> Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 23:53:56 -0400 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
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> Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 23:11:21 -0400
> From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
>
> I derive my own usage (which does not in any vital way differ from the
> Merriam Webster that I posted) from the following quote from Washburn-
>
> "Every fact is backed up by the entire universe."
>
> You cannot replace 'fact' with 'concept' or 'representation' or
> 'description' and get a meaningful sentence.
Ok... help me here. Is it a fact that the Earth is round? Is it a
fact that when I toss something in the air, due to gravity, the item
falls to the Earth in a vector directly influenced by the center of
the Earth itself? Being that the item falls directly towards the
center of the Earth, being stopped at the floor, but torwards the
center of the Earth and not towards, say an edge away from the center
of the Earth. Do these two facts become backed up by the entire
universe, or my representation of this universe from where I speak of?
Is it not the case that the Earth is also 'falling' directly towards
the object that I had tossed as Einstein had stated was an equal model
due to relativity of the observer? Is it not the case that the earth
is 'mostly round' but not specifically a sphere? Which fact is
correct? And being that the Earth is 'mostly round' then the object
that may be falling towards the Earth is in fact falling not towards
the exact center, but slightly off-center? (At what point does my
lack of detail about the fact render the 'fact' impotent?)
For me, personally as opposed to generally, facts are quite relative.
It is a fact for me that astrology is bunk. It is a fact to one of my
co-workers that astrology governs what we do. It is a fact for both
of us that we are impacted by gravity in the same way, though our
descriptions of this fact is influenced by our understanding of
astrology. Using your words, the fact doesn't change. But our
perception does. Pay mind that I'm particularly interested in what we
(humans) call 'facts' because it shows what memes impacted us. Forget
not that science is infiltrated by memes as much as other subjects;
that our perception that science has a 'self-cleaning' feature to
remove 'bogus' ideas is subject to time and energy, just like
everything else.
> And that's a fact. (5 : a piece of information presented as having
> objective reality)
Rapture! This is, in fact, the 'fact' I was looking for. "A piece of
information presented as having objective reality"! We are blinded by
the facts of the universe by our presentation of this objective reality
contained within the universe.
- --
Virtually,
Ned Wolpert <wolpert5@cox.net> 4e75
1024D/5DEA314E: 7FFB 99C3 BF90 6135 12F4 07B8 0B23 2E5C 5DEA 314E
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