RE: virus: Implied Reality

Gifford, Nate F (giffon@SDCPOS3B.DAYTONOH.ncr.com)
Wed, 24 Sep 1997 09:21:04 -0400


Brett wrote:
>>This is supposed to appeal to objectivists? Take out the word "implied"
>>(hand waving) and you have statements like "Reality is subjective...[ is
not
>>consistent] over time". That does not fit with my definition of
reality.
>>
>>
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Reed wrote:
>I guess not. :-)
>I think you're polarizing my position.
>The reason I pulled the idea of "Implied Reality" from it's home in
>literary criticism is that it was a useful tool for resolving similar
>knots in that context.
>In my mind the words "subjective" and "inconsistent" are not
>interchangable. They are orthogonal. In implying that subjective
>realities must, by defintion be inconsistent (and thus that the
>only consistent reality is "objective" or simply adjectiveless)
>you are drawing an isomorphism that I do not accept.

Nate G writes:
The annoying thing about the objectivist arguements is their rejection of
the notion of subjective reality. This rejection leaves the front door
wide open for phenomona like Hoffer's True Believer. I don't understand
why we are debating the nature of reality .... For the group members who
accept the memetic paradigm the nature of reality may be important to find
the bounds of memetic influence. Loki recently wrote a note asking how
much genetics influenced the choices made within a culture ... only he used
a mathematical notation, but I think thats what the point was. That seemed
like fruitful thread for discussion. I recently rented the movie Larry
Flynt vs. The People. My wife thought the movie was heavy handed in that
it didn't show how really disgusting and offensive Larry was. My point
would be that the constitution exists as a subjective framework for
constructing subjective reality. All you have to do is look at the history
of constitutional law to see that <cultural> REALITY IS SUBJECTIVE OVER
TIME. Two examples: Black men were equal to 3/5 of a white man when
determining representation in the House. This certainly offended the
abolitionists ... but I suspect that abolitionists were held in the same
contempt as tree huggers and vegans are today. Women were not guaranteed
the right to vote until 1920.