Truth... value or absolute?

I have been tossing this idea back and forth for a bit with some VERY brilliant people. Is truth subject to the whim of "truth-seekers?" Or, is it something to be discovered? Further... is science the venue to look to for guidance on how truth ought to be applied? Is there some other system of understanding which leads people to better outcomes?
Lately these questions wake my gentle slumbers. They do so, through metaphor, insinuation, and parallax within the context of my dreams. Am I questioning the very nature of truth itself in the billowing ethereal realm of REM sleep? Perhaps...

Yet, as I doubt and question my in-tact brain (read consciousness) it seems to stubbornly adhere to the tenets of reason and science. Am I so entrenched in my own "system" of thought that paradoxes are ignored/dismissed? Zeno's paradox's come to mind suddenly. Zeno looked at the wall and thought, "should I take steps towards that wall eventually I will be half way there. Should I, then, take more steps I will be another half way there. By this reasoning I should, forever, be half way there. Yet, I reach the wall. Touch it and recognize this fact." Two opposing possibilities. Yet, in practice, only one some to fruition. Should I dismiss reason in order to accept the data of my senses? The answer is simple. Of course I should!

I have a few brilliant associates who argue that there are things, outside my system of access, which must be accepted (through reason) which cast doubt of reason. That seems somewhat paradoxical to me. Most point to mathematical analysis (particularly Godel) as the justification for such conclusion. However, does Godel's analysis extend anywhere beyond mathematics (a man-made absolute set of constants which have application only when used non-theoretically)?

The argument from Entropy comes to mind. Some say that evolutionary theory is impossible because a closed system, like the Earths, would lead to the greatest degree of chaos (not order). They are wrong on two fronts. First, the earth is not a "closed" system. It has an outside source of energy (we call it the sun). Second, the theory of entropy is only about the distribution of energy across a certain limited space. It implies nothing about "organization" as we understand it from a biological (genetic) perspective. The fallacy of equivocation. Are my brilliant (I never use this term lightly) colleagues engaging in the same fallacy? Is Godel's theory of incompleteness" a mathematical theory; which has no implications outside a system of absolutes called "numbers?" I think so.

Chief among criticisms is that science may be dogmatic. But is science (qua science) dogmatic? Or, (as an alternative theory) are Scientists (humans under the control of non-scientific variables) as human subject to social pressure and other variables? Science, as I see it, is only a method of effective knowing. It doesn't matter who engages in it. Scientists, however, are subject to more than the data as a controlling source of their behavior. Yes, I wrote that... "behavior." What needs analysis? The research or the behavior of scientists? Sound like a false choice? It may be. BOTH deserve scrutiny! But, to draw a parallel... can the behavior of the scientist be, in any reasonable way, compared to the religionists? I don't think so. I can demonstrate a thousand times how scientific outcomes have IMPROVED mankind's life (socially, environmentally, etc.) yet I can not point to ONE way that religion has done anything but contradict decency, compassion, and kindness. If it is s choice between scientific dogmatism (useful but not error-less), Post-modernist dogmatism(what exactly is its benefit?), and religious dogmatism (wishful nonsense based upon ignorance and hatred of "other") I will take scientific dogmatism every time.

I refuse to reject the evidence of my senses (no matter how wrong they, may initially, be). That is naturalism (as I define it) and what makes me a "bright."

My head hurts again. Damned Anarchists. Damned post-modernists. I want to fit you in there too SE (but you are smarter than all of us... you refuse to accept a label).

Your input would be greatly appreciated.
HH =)

Running in someone else's running shoes...

Putting on another pair of running shoes

It's not easy being a parent, consultant, spouse, or human (for that matter). I am often shortsighted and myopic in looking at circumstances as they occur. Sometimes I raise my voice when I ought not... sometimes I use condescension as a tool of manipulation... and, sometimes it just seems impossible to tolerate those who can't accept my correct opinions with the same rationalizations that I use. Go figure.

For example, just in the last 24 hours my spouse and I had a bit of a rough patch. One person said one thing... one person contradicted the other, and so on. IT escalated to a place of quiet discontent. VERY quiet discontent (if you know what I mean).

However, in the big scheme of things we both knew we would work it out. Why? We are just that kind of couple. We committed to this relationship, and we meant it. So, now we are lightly dancing around each other until one of us has the audacity to break the ice with a joke or sledgehammer (whichever is most convenient at the time). Sometimes the quiet is nice.

I wish (s)he understood me more. I wish (s)he got it. ;)

half of two is one-
happy---runner

Bush era is on life-support.

I must admit I take great pleasure in announcing that Mitt Romney is outta there! I don't really care that he was LDS. He was the Bush-establishment candidate. I hate the current political goons. Bush took the worst of liberalism (self righteousness), and melded it with the worst of conservatism (greed, selfishness, and anti-intellectualism). Neo-conservatism has run my country into the ditch.

John McCain is no prize. Ask me 4 years ago if I could have supported him, and I would have replied with an emphatic "YES!" As soon as he bent over and let Bush roister him into support for re-election his appeal was GONE. See Below:




Fuck the Bush"ites" and every moron that voted for them! -- there I ranted. I feel better now... FUCK 'EM! --- Guess I wasn't quite through my catharsis yet? ;)

Things are looking up I think. 'Cept my stocks... damned recession!

HH =)