virus: alternate realities
Bill Godby (wgodby@sun.tir.com)
Sat, 04 May 1996 11:26:36 -0400
My previous post may not have been as clear as I meant it to be.
Basically all I was trying to do was elucidate the difference between
logical possibilities that can be arrived at through deductive analysis,
i.e. philosophical propositions and the actual "realities" that we live
with everyday. As a pragmatist I believe the things we know and rely
upon are learned through induction. As was pointed out the limitations
of our perceptions lead to many possibilities, Plato believed that the
physical world we perceive is illusory, theorizing that there must exist
another more perfect reality of unchanging eternal ideas. I believe he
is wrong and that theories postulating other realities are flawed. Our
reality is defined by what we know and can prove about the world not by
what we don't know. As can be seen through history of science our
definition of reality changes. Therefore to posit an "other reality" is
ok for entertainment, religion, and science fiction, but beyond that it
isn't very good for much else until there is some physical evidence to
support it.
--
Bill Godby
wgodby@tir.com