transcending (R)eductionism through (r)elativity
last night on FB, my friend Badger had asked me what i thought about the upcoming film Sucker Punch
not having seen or heard anything about Sucker Punch before, at first i had just snarked off a bit... my initial impression was basically, "ooh, shiny eyecandy! what's not to like? ...even if I'm going to laugh the whole way through because it's fueled by ridiculously over-the-top exaggeratedly awesome CGFX %~&"
But the ensuing discussion sparked some deeper issues than i had expected...
Steven Pinker is awesome! i appreciate that he encourages humans to look at their shadow... that's what i LIVE for, too.
so, please don't take my words out of context... i don't have anything against these things you refer to as "good, western & logical" ...but what i am saying is that just 'cause you have a hammer doesn't mean that everything is a nail.
my principal foe is not just Western, nor is it simply logic, and it certainly isn't anything that could be characterized as good (whatever that means? shall we ask Terry Pratchett's version of Death?)
...no, my arch-enemy is (R)eductionism!
perhaps you may have noticed that i tend to avoid using capital lette(R)s, unless i want to create a particular emphasis?
although i still love E.E. Cummings, perhaps Frank Herbert said it best, in the Sign of Profound Accord:
"We are here to remove a primary weapon from the hands of disputant (R)eligions. That weapon--the claim to possession of the one and only (R)evelation." (...my capitalization, to emphasize he point...)
before i go on, for example q.v. all of my entries meta-tagged as "skeptical"
http://aethyrflux.livejournal.com/tag/skepticism
http://aethyrflux.livejournal.com/?skip=10&tag=skepticism
i do appreciate that western science provides reasonable, peer-reviewed methods by which to evolve... although sometimes the crusaders of the citadel (& the moguls of the bazaar) can become tyrannical in their insistence on a particular "(R)eality-tunnel vision" ...and sometimes i think it takes someone like Nietzsche to come along and yank the proverbial rug out from under the feet of the people who have been staring at it so long that they can't see anything else... it reminds me of the old adage about the blind men & the elephant
Popper, as well as Hayek, even referred to "scientism" ...although Dennett points out that this term has become overused & is often taken out of context
however, Hayek was generally referring to how often people forget about the limitations of human knowledge, itself
the logical positivists attempted to take rational thought to its absolute extreme of usefulness & found themselves backed into a corner... although i should mention that i am rather fond of Popper's emphasis on falsifiability, rather than Wittgenstein's insistence upon verifiability... yet, i have to admit that they both have their points, depending on the context, eh? and they're funny, funny guys, too!
you are probably familiar with the old model of left-right brain hemisphere specialization (depending on handedness, one being more concerned with the metaphoric, artistic, spatial and musical... while the other is more concerned with the literal, rational, linear and verbal aspects)
well, as you have probably also noticed, that model is rather flawed... even though there may still be some use to it in other philosophical contexts
and many learned individuals have noted how metaphor stimulates imagination and creativity
although there perhaps may be a darker reason for the link between inspiration & madness among artists ;-)
however, I should also give a nod to one or any other models of the brain
as well multiple models of intelligence
and different models of consciousness, in general... or in specific
and although i often think that it all boils down to speaking in people's language & considering their motivations
honestly, i probably got that idea from GMing RPGs
and there have been many valid criticisms of the efficacy of the models of "learning styles" used in modern education
so many things force us to step outside the linear and reductionist models, even in western thought: Einstein's relativity, & Goedel's incompleteness, for instance?
...which reminds me: according to the scientist, Max Delbruck... the term *complementarity* refers to a situation in which:
"for each description of reality there is another one that is equally justified although it contradicts the first one."
at the same time as i attempt to help push the boundaries of our current paradigms, i am continually frustrated when pseudo-scientific fanatics use genuinely revolutionary scientific thought in a way that is out of the context in which it was originally written in order to justify complete nonsense (such as much of the film & movement behind "What The Bleep Do We Know," which some may remember us satirizing as part of the *What The BLOOP Do We Know* project, during Flipside 2006)
on a related note, have you noticed how many people are making ridiculous amounts of cash, selling holy water over the internet, lately?
check out the film, "Water: The Great Mystery" which I refer to in this post...
May You Never Thirst!"
but in these times of economic collapse, ecological catastrophe, & rogue paramilitary micronations...
btw, have you read the coming insurrection?
we also have fascinating developments like terror management theory
anyway, during these journeys through the proverbially collective underworld, i have also been swept away with fantasy at times, in a desperate attempt to find some solace... take my fascination with the Zeitgeist Movement, for example... i still find many of Jacque Fresco's ideas rather compelling (resource-based economics and emergent symbiosis, for example)... but Peter Joseph really needs to be more skeptical of his own ideology and reign in his dogma
here is my attempt to figure out how/why people (yes, even myself) are so gullible about these sorts of things:
LOVE: suspension of disbelief... within reason?
according to the MBTI, i am usually more oriented towards "perceiving" rather than "judging" ...unless i've recently been through a bad break-up... in which case, i tend to pull my boundaries back and become less trusting & more conservative (a survival instinct, perhaps? q.v. terror management theory, again) ...in any case, i also write about this "perceiving" trait rather often, too... although i would generally refer to it as...
:::(r)elativistic thinking?:::
...or perhaps...
:::egalita(r)ianism?:::
"...a pageant of triumph as each star, free from confusion, sweepeth free in his right orbit..."
"The Great Correction"
ancestral tribute
transforming vandalism into volunteerism
tyranny may be able to slow our progress, but the will of the people cannot be stopped
nature is not mute, but reductionism has made us deaf
lately, a number of people have asked me, "what exactly is a living system?"
recurrent ragamoffyn ramblin'
humans are so illogical
atavistic patterns
eureka!
Matriarchal Societies & The Divine Feminine
Subsistence Among the Orang Asli
areopagus
Click to viewnot having seen or heard anything about Sucker Punch before, at first i had just snarked off a bit... my initial impression was basically, "ooh, shiny eyecandy! what's not to like? ...even if I'm going to laugh the whole way through because it's fueled by ridiculously over-the-top exaggeratedly awesome CGFX %~&"
But the ensuing discussion sparked some deeper issues than i had expected...
Steven Pinker is awesome! i appreciate that he encourages humans to look at their shadow... that's what i LIVE for, too.
so, please don't take my words out of context... i don't have anything against these things you refer to as "good, western & logical" ...but what i am saying is that just 'cause you have a hammer doesn't mean that everything is a nail.
my principal foe is not just Western, nor is it simply logic, and it certainly isn't anything that could be characterized as good (whatever that means? shall we ask Terry Pratchett's version of Death?)
...no, my arch-enemy is (R)eductionism!
perhaps you may have noticed that i tend to avoid using capital lette(R)s, unless i want to create a particular emphasis?
although i still love E.E. Cummings, perhaps Frank Herbert said it best, in the Sign of Profound Accord:
"We are here to remove a primary weapon from the hands of disputant (R)eligions. That weapon--the claim to possession of the one and only (R)evelation." (...my capitalization, to emphasize he point...)
before i go on, for example q.v. all of my entries meta-tagged as "skeptical"
http://aethyrflux.livejournal.com/tag/skepticism
http://aethyrflux.livejournal.com/?skip=10&tag=skepticism
i do appreciate that western science provides reasonable, peer-reviewed methods by which to evolve... although sometimes the crusaders of the citadel (& the moguls of the bazaar) can become tyrannical in their insistence on a particular "(R)eality-tunnel vision" ...and sometimes i think it takes someone like Nietzsche to come along and yank the proverbial rug out from under the feet of the people who have been staring at it so long that they can't see anything else... it reminds me of the old adage about the blind men & the elephant
Popper, as well as Hayek, even referred to "scientism" ...although Dennett points out that this term has become overused & is often taken out of context
however, Hayek was generally referring to how often people forget about the limitations of human knowledge, itself
the logical positivists attempted to take rational thought to its absolute extreme of usefulness & found themselves backed into a corner... although i should mention that i am rather fond of Popper's emphasis on falsifiability, rather than Wittgenstein's insistence upon verifiability... yet, i have to admit that they both have their points, depending on the context, eh? and they're funny, funny guys, too!
you are probably familiar with the old model of left-right brain hemisphere specialization (depending on handedness, one being more concerned with the metaphoric, artistic, spatial and musical... while the other is more concerned with the literal, rational, linear and verbal aspects)
well, as you have probably also noticed, that model is rather flawed... even though there may still be some use to it in other philosophical contexts
and many learned individuals have noted how metaphor stimulates imagination and creativity
although there perhaps may be a darker reason for the link between inspiration & madness among artists ;-)
however, I should also give a nod to one or any other models of the brain
as well multiple models of intelligence
and different models of consciousness, in general... or in specific
and although i often think that it all boils down to speaking in people's language & considering their motivations
honestly, i probably got that idea from GMing RPGs
and there have been many valid criticisms of the efficacy of the models of "learning styles" used in modern education
so many things force us to step outside the linear and reductionist models, even in western thought: Einstein's relativity, & Goedel's incompleteness, for instance?
...which reminds me: according to the scientist, Max Delbruck... the term *complementarity* refers to a situation in which:
"for each description of reality there is another one that is equally justified although it contradicts the first one."
at the same time as i attempt to help push the boundaries of our current paradigms, i am continually frustrated when pseudo-scientific fanatics use genuinely revolutionary scientific thought in a way that is out of the context in which it was originally written in order to justify complete nonsense (such as much of the film & movement behind "What The Bleep Do We Know," which some may remember us satirizing as part of the *What The BLOOP Do We Know* project, during Flipside 2006)
on a related note, have you noticed how many people are making ridiculous amounts of cash, selling holy water over the internet, lately?
check out the film, "Water: The Great Mystery" which I refer to in this post...
May You Never Thirst!"
but in these times of economic collapse, ecological catastrophe, & rogue paramilitary micronations...
btw, have you read the coming insurrection?
we also have fascinating developments like terror management theory
anyway, during these journeys through the proverbially collective underworld, i have also been swept away with fantasy at times, in a desperate attempt to find some solace... take my fascination with the Zeitgeist Movement, for example... i still find many of Jacque Fresco's ideas rather compelling (resource-based economics and emergent symbiosis, for example)... but Peter Joseph really needs to be more skeptical of his own ideology and reign in his dogma
here is my attempt to figure out how/why people (yes, even myself) are so gullible about these sorts of things:
LOVE: suspension of disbelief... within reason?
according to the MBTI, i am usually more oriented towards "perceiving" rather than "judging" ...unless i've recently been through a bad break-up... in which case, i tend to pull my boundaries back and become less trusting & more conservative (a survival instinct, perhaps? q.v. terror management theory, again) ...in any case, i also write about this "perceiving" trait rather often, too... although i would generally refer to it as...
:::(r)elativistic thinking?:::
...or perhaps...
:::egalita(r)ianism?:::
"...a pageant of triumph as each star, free from confusion, sweepeth free in his right orbit..."
"The Great Correction"
ancestral tribute
transforming vandalism into volunteerism
tyranny may be able to slow our progress, but the will of the people cannot be stopped
nature is not mute, but reductionism has made us deaf
lately, a number of people have asked me, "what exactly is a living system?"
recurrent ragamoffyn ramblin'
humans are so illogical
atavistic patterns
eureka!
Matriarchal Societies & The Divine Feminine
Subsistence Among the Orang Asli
areopagus