MadPole
Hunts Aliens
For your delectation,
below part four of my correspondence
with the insane philosopher who is the only
mortal who actually knows the truth.
Typical MadPole
quote:
"We are all only fingers
in god's hand."
eadon:
Do you wish to emulate somebody else or would
you prefer to be you? By the way, at least you
are not me so there is much to be grateful for!
MadPole:
That's it! Mirrors and orbits made a contact
and created clogs! I look at people to see the
images of myself, which I like, but which I
don't see often enough This is not a fascination
or obsession with others. This is an obsession
with myself. In others I see traces of me. And
the more I look the more traces I see. And connections.
And similarities. And familiarities.
The more I look at people (and animals, and
plants) the more I see myself in them. And the
more I see myself in them, the more I see them
in myself. I am becoming an unlimited sphere
(not some stick on another 2 sticks) experiencing
everything at the same time - bl**dy quantum
physics again or what?! Another hymn to ageing
I suppose. Ageing is about becoming more and
more COMPLETE. And one cannot be COMPLETE without
having knowledge about ALL the elements responsible
for ones existence. Every bleeping beep of an
atom. Every structure. Every relation. Every
clog in a machine with infinitive number of
clogs. Every byte, every possibility, every
combination. But this knowledge is available.
And there are methods to gain it. Back to square
one! Time for another orbit!
And the final result: No such luck! I am You
and You are Me! In fact we don't even exist!
We are always only a part of something, something
bigger and inventively complex. Something which
we cannot see or comprehend. My finger does
not have a clue about "me" despite the fact
that it is typing this text. But it knows very
well how to interact with the important other
parts which are "me" as well. I am a finger
in some bigger body. Trying to see or understand
that, which I am only a part of, would be like
my finger trying to see me. Absurd. And, for
an ending with a twist: Perhaps this is why
sticking one's finger up is such a popular gesture.
Perhaps the full meaning of this gesture is:
"Look, we are all only fingers in god's hand.
I am a finger and you are a finger. So for god's
sake - f*** off, will You?!" Yours - waving
my finger with love and affection rather than
testing it against the wind....
MadPole:
[
Suggested joining SETI-at-home]
Guys at work are at it BIG WAY!
[
The SETI - Search for
ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence - at home project
allows you to download a program to your computer
that, when you are not around, processes data
collected from astronomy radio telescopes looking
for signals from intelligent alien life.]
eadon:
I've heard about this [
SETI].
If your machine is the one to detect an alien
then its instant historical fame!
MadPole:
Hey! I joined the search as well! If You want
to join our group it is: "three piece SETI"
eadon:
"3 piece SETI"! hahaha. Is your work
machine or home machine joined in the search?
I was reading a bit about the philosopher John
Stuart Mill. He said that if you don't like
a situation then you can, well, do what
you
said. Change reality. Congratulations. Consider
yourself a utilitarianist (in philosophy speak).
Incidentally, I thought it was work that was
getting me down, but actually it wasn't work,
I don't think. It was something else. Work is
not something I take seriously enough to get
me down. Unfortunately, or fortunately. Hey
- this is weird - again, you said this and here
is proof, bad things can lead to good things.
Bad thing - neighbour covers my car in paint
dust when he is sanding down his garage door.
So the next day I open the garage so I can hose
down the car. Bad thing again - I can't turn
on the tap to plug in the hosepipe. It has seized
up due to neglect. So I poke around the garage
a bit and stumble upon an old, unfinished hand-written
short novel I started back in 91. [This will
be finished published on this site, hopefully
this year] I had been looking for that since
Feb. This is definitely a very good thing. I
didn't even care about washing the car after
that and I still don't.
As you say, bad + bad can equal good. Conversely
though - As you know, I get uneasy when I start
agreeing with you too much :) I must point out
that good + good can equal bad too. I conjecture
that anything + anything can equal bad. Bad
= x * y where y is anything and x is luck
MadPole:
Join our [SETI] group! I am doing it at work
but considering doing a bit at home to catch
up with other guys......
eadon:
I wonder if SETI are using your computers not
to find ET's but simply to sell computing power
to other companies. It might be a big con. I
would laugh if it is. You guys are probably
processing supermarket data warehousing SQL
queries. Heh heh heh. The only alien you will
find will be in a cornflakes packet.
MadPole:
Hey! We are in sync again! I had similar ideas
myself.....And obviously more! I would be definitely
much happier if this SETI was dealing with something
more down to earth... I find the IT Search side
of things a bit ......well....crazy..... I am
only doing it to support distributed computing
idea...
MadPole:
Everything exist within context of its existence
- science tries to disregard this context.......be
"objective". There is no such thing. Objective
view point is the one which allows all things
co-exist and be whatever they are under whatever
circumstances.....objective view point simply
allows for ALL possibilities....objective outlook
is the vision of everything being different
and therefore the same....... Potato is a vegetable.
Just like any other vegetable. But what is so
special about the potato ? It is different than
any other vegetable. Just like any other vegetable
in fact !
eadon:
I think objective just means
without judgement.
And the advantage of objective is that you avoid
human subjectivity which is flawed, look at
all the Jehovah's Witnesses and other religious
types out there. Objectivity
does take
into account context. Reductionists reduce things
to simpler rules to explain them. Holistic approach
says that the whole can only be understood via
the interaction of the parts. Reductionist approach
is common, like Einstein's relativity, thermodynamics,
fractals etc. Holistic is becoming more wide
spread, eg, cellular automata, cell biology
and neural networks.
Potato philosophy: I think a potato is different
from a carrot! You can't make good chips out
of carrots :)
MadPole:
Stuff the science for today at least... Potato
philosophy - oh yes! It translates to "It's
all the same and different at the same time!"
Potato is a vegetable. Carrot is a vegetable.
Therefore they are both vegetables. Potato is
different that carrot. Carrot is different than
potato. There is NO OTHER vegetable such as
potato. Or carrot. Potato and Carrot are absolutely
unique and individual despite the fact that
they are both the same - the are both vegetables.
There is no other vegetable such as potato.
There is no other vegetable such as carrot.
There is no other vegetable such as parsnip.
Therefore they are all the same again - and
what unites them is the fact that they are all
different from each other!
eadon:
Interestingly, some autistic people and small
children do not classify objects like you have
with vegetables. In fact if they see two slightly
different chairs they will perceive the two
chairs as completely different objects, not
the same. The one chair will seem as different
to the other as it would to a lightbulb. They
just see things without categorising them. To
them a carrot would be as different from another
carrot as a spud. You use root vegetables as
examples, carrot spud, parsnip. Is a spud the
same as a tomato even though the latter is a
fruit? A spud is food, but is it the same as
a wedding cake? A spud is matter. So is Sarah
Michelle Geller, but I would know which one
I would prefer to meet. I might find both delicious.
But they are not the same! According to your
philosophy everything must be united because
everything is different from each other. Is
it that what you are really saying is that everything
belongs to the SET of things that are different
from each other? So they are united in this
way. Or maybe you are saying that all vegetables
are in the set of vegetables that are different
from each other. Is the potato the same as a
vegetable I have just made up, the sqaag? Because
I have a mental image of what a sqaag looks
like, even though I have made it up, does it
exist?
You got me thinking. Interesting paradox: If
you say that the fact that things are different
makes them the same, Then if
A=2 B=2 C=2 D=2
Then A, B, C and D are all different, because
they are not members of the set of things that
are different. If
A=2 B=2 C=17 D = 76
then A, B, C, D are all the same because now
they belong to a set of things that are
not
all the same.
MadPole:
Yes, quite so! And to bring the balance back:
it is all just words....it doesn't mean anything....purely
virtual statements which don't mean anything
but still have a realistic and measurable effects......
eadon:
All words but can be more. It did mean something
when Russell created the Set of Sets paradox.
That can be put into words but it signifies
something much deeper about truth. And Godel
took things further still with his incompleteness
theorem that changed how we see reality forever.
From words can spring deep truths and paradoxes.
1999
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Judas | Subject: | 2001-03-02 22:51:22 |
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MadPole | Subject: | 2004-04-15 09:10:08 |
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