From: Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko (sasha1@netcom.com)
Date: Mon May 18 1998 - 09:23:58 MDT
We can acknowledge truths that are useful - or rather those
that we think are useful (the difference in who believes what
here is one of ethics, not of approach. If I use a tool, say,
a knife, to slice bread, while a criminal uses it to kill a person,
we are not similar [in our actions or goals], we just use the
same tool. We all use the same time, space and energy as
the bad guys - does it make us the same? No, as long as
we are trying to use them for different ends. Same with
scientific methods).
We can also, in the extension of the utilitarian approach,
acknowledge truths that may prove to be useful at some
point (and what can't?), for us or somebody/something else,
we acknowledge hypotheses that simplify our understanding
of the world (that's what we always actually have in place of
truths), we promote creation of new truths - things that
never existed before, but are useful, expansion of ourselves
to make better use of more things and ideas, growth of our
appreciation of things we have, etc., etc.
So we expand the truths (the complexity of existing world),
ourselves, and the relations between us. (Totalitarian regimes
usually attempt to simplify and restrict all of the above, BTW)
Of course, our work is guided by our interests, this seems
the only way a conscious entity can guide its activities.
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Alexander Chislenko <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html>
<sasha1@netcom.com> <sasha@lucifer.com> <sasha@media.mit.edu>
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