Re: virus: Absolute Truth

Tadeusz Niwinski (niwinski@direct.ca)
Mon, 20 May 1996 21:55:56 -0700


Richard wrote:
>It's comforting to hold beliefs in things like Absolute Truth, God,
>Karma, and so on. But as a practical matter I'd rather program myself
>with more useful memes.

What is so comforting about believing in Absolute Truth?

Is putting Absolute Truth and God and Karma a "bundling technique" you warn
against on pp. 143/144?

What memes do you consider more useful? What are they more useful for?

I said:
>>Many people believe that: because we are not able to find the exact truth,
there >>is no Absolute Truth. I would like to challenge Richard on that.

Richard replied:
>I don't really care whether or not there is an Absolute Truth;
>it's angels on the head of a pin. My position is that a human mind can
>never know the Absolute Truth, so you'd better realize that all your
>memes are half-true at best.

Another bundling technique with angels.

Genes evolve to match the reality of the physical world. Do you care where
the memes evolve towards? What do you think it is -- if not the truth? I
don't see any other direction for the evolution of memes.

>Most definitely. Instead I'd examine my options for the future. How much
>money could I hope to recover versus how much would it cost to launch a
>space expedition to conquer TeTa.

"Analyzing past events, trying to figure out who was right" is the only
source of knowledge, since we are not able to analyse future events. One
can predict, then perform an experiment, analyze it, and draw conclusions
*from the past events*. Many inventors found it enjoyable. It is
conquering the truth about the world, about us, our psychology, our
programming, our memes which many people find enjoyable.

I hope before conquering TeTa you would try to "figure out if you were
right", wouldn't you, Richard? The "I don't care about the Absolute Truth"
meme prompts people to conquer, *because* they can afford it. Not what is
right (since there is no Absolute Truth) but what is practical and enjoyable
counts. On TeTa we call it the "M" meme.

Tad Niwinski from TeTa