From: Alex F. Bokov (alexboko@umich.edu)
Date: Mon Jun 18 2001 - 17:02:38 MDT
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Philosophy for its own sake is as useless as art, money, power,
science, or anything else for its own sake. There is only one
exception, by which the utility of all other things is measured, and
that is survival. Of course if we could be objective about it, we
would see that survival is useless as well. Luckily, those of use who
are alive and kicking are *not* objective to that extreme-- we are
hard-wired to value survival and it takes potent sophistry/brainwashing
indeed to override this drive even temporarily.
Cryo, nano, AI, politics, economics, anti-aging, etc. have a blatantly
obvious relevance to our survival as individuals and as a species. If
you have an addition to the list of things you'd like us to give a
hoot about, all you need to do is clarify how it relates to our
survival.
It's meaningless to expound the merits of philosophy. Nobody disagrees
with you. Just like we don't disagree that calculus, internal
combustion, and symphonies are in some vague way important. However,
these topics are worth discussing on this forum only when somebody
comes up with an application/implication that's clever, elegant, or
useful. There are philosophical undercurrents to many discussions that
appear to be technical on the surface-- if "pure" philosophers can't
be bothered to educate themselves enough about the technical issues to
understand their implications, then it's their own loss.
Philosophy doesn't create new paradigms-- it discovers paradigms in
other disciplines and develops them. Isolate yourself in an ivory tower,
and you will starve.
--Just do it,
AFB
PS: Does Godwin's Law still apply if the very first post of a thread
is the one that contains the argumentum ad Nazium?
- --
BATF BATF DOD
Why are the above words in my signature? Check out:
http://www.echelon.wiretapped.net
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