Brett Lane Robertson wrote:
>There is no immediately apparent problem with the
>word formulas I have presented below! If one
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
>understands the logic inherent in words... one can
>easily "add" them up for oneself and see the results
>of the word equation. Just as it is not "incorrect"
>to state with a certainty that 2+2=4, it is not
It's "true" because it can be reduced to a statement about axioms. The
axioms of mathematics are generally
known and (mostly) agreed upon. Therefore we can say that "2+2=4", since
that reduces to a statement
about mathematical axioms, and that statement is tautologically true.
There are clearly defined, generally
agreed-upon rules for the operations "+" and "=", and the symbols "2"
and "4". If we all agree to these
rules, and to the axioms, then we will certainly agree to what is "true"
and what isn't - inside this limited
model that we created.
"2+2=4" is "true" in the sense that it conforms with what we decided in
advance to be "true". Using another system of axioms and rules, it could
equally well be proven to be "false".
>"incorrect" to state that myth + revelation=
>fantasy; as reason + rationality= theory: or
>religion + science = technology and/ or god-- such
>that god is as "necessary" as technology for
>formulating logical or intelligent decisions within
>a conscious awareness of the moment.
There is a huge difference here. Very little is agreed upon in advance
when it comes to words, especially
words that refer to abstract concepts. Ask a thousand people what "myth"
is and you you will (most likely)
get a thousand different answers. Some will be similar to one another,
some will contradict each other. If
you limit the group af people you ask to a few people with similar
backgrounds, coming from essentially
the same culture, perhaps they eventually can all agree to a single
definition of the one word "myth". But
don't count on it.
What are your operators supposed to mean? "=" could perhaps be said to
be defined for words, in the
sense that two words that refer to exactly the same thing (ALWAYS) could
be equated. I must admit that
I have a hard time finding an example of where this "equation" could be
true, but I admit the possibility.
But "+"? What on earth do you mean by that? As it stands, the "equation"
"myth+revelation=fantasy" can
not be interpreted to mean one specific thing, let alone a meaningful,
falsifiable thing.
It could mean that "the presence of a myth in a mind that undergoes any
kind of revelation will always
result in a fantasy being created".
Or that "it is always true that if a conclusion is drawn from a myth by
a revelation, the conclusion must
be a fantasy".
Or "The presence of myth in a culture that has a new meme introduced
into it by means of a revelation
will result in that both the myth and the new meme will eventually be
considered as fantasy".
Or perhaps "using crowleyan cabalah, the sums of the letters
m,y,t,h,r,e,v,e,l,a,t,i,o,n and that of
f,a,n,t,a,s,y are equal, so the concepts have the same essential
meaning, numerologically".
Admittedly, all those interpretations sound rather much like
gobbledygook. The last one actually makes the
most sense, since at least it can be verified/falsified.
Brett, if you are serious about trying to convey some sort of message,
either stick to previously defined
rules, or explain _your_ rules. And don't use _other_ non-defined terms
to explain the rules.
If you actually _have_ defined what you mean by this earlier, please
excuse a newcomer. I don't have the
spare time to plow through the archives. I'd be quite interested in a
repost of your definitions, if that's not
too much of a bother..
-Andreas Engström
(Great Randomness)
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