From: Eric Watt Forste (arkuat@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Oct 29 1996 - 11:40:33 MST
Robin is right: we do know far more than nothing, and one of the
many tasks at hand is to calibrate our sense of our knowledge, to
become self-aware of the degree and extent and reliability (or lack
of same) of our knowledge. At the risk of displaying a mere failure
of imagination, I still suspect that progress will never do away
with the fact that all our actions have more unintended consequences
than intended ones.
Invoking the figure-ground distinction: To make one's image of
the figure more precise, one can profit from studying the ground.
Calibrating our knowledge is inseparable from calibrating our
ignorance.
Nadia is right in that I never claimed we know nothing, and I like
her interpretation of my words.
Eric Watt Forste ++ mailto:arkuat@pobox.com ++ http://www.c2.org/~arkuat/
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