[FRIAM] What's so bad about Scientism?

[Nick Thompson]

Marcus, 

 

The doubts you cite are REAL because we will see you act upon them.  We will see you test the floor for something furry.  Lorenzo allows you to deny him your bed during a thunderstorm!  You are a stern master.   

 

N

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Marcus Daniels [mailto:marcus at snoutfarm.com] 
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2018 9:01 PM
To: Nick Thompson <nickthompson at earthlink.net>; 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] What's so bad about Scientism?

 

<So when you say, “I doubt everything” that MEANS to me that you do nothing.>

 

It just means that memory and perception are provisional or even probabilistic.     

 

So, when you put your feet out to the floor in the middle of the night, do you doubt that the floor is there?

 

I do doubt that it is safe for me to put my feet down, because I know the floor can be obscured by my big dog Lorenzo who likes to sleep there, but not all of the time.   If there was a huge thunderstorm and hours of rain before I went to sleep if I might not be hugely surprised to find water on the floor.   If I recently cleaned the room, I might move the bed a few centimeters and that would be enough to invalidate my motor memory and I might bang my head on the bedpost.  (I’ve done this.)

 

< Here’s an example.  Because of my recent bout of vertigo, I have moments of doubting that the world around is stable.  Under those conditions, I cannot walk.  REAL doubt (sensu pragmatico) is a nasty business. >

 

I sometimes have very low blood pressure if I wake-up at an unusual time.   I may find on the way to get a glass of water I’m in the process of passing out.   The first time that happened it was a surprise, but now I start getting my head down realizing that there are just seconds of consciousness left if I do not.   At no point do I think the lighting in the room is changing because I am experiencing tunnel vision or that I’m on a roller-coaster because I feel my stomach drop.   

 

If the relationship between signals and their consequences become low-quality, one can adapt to be more model-based.  Not because the models are true, but just because the alternative is worse.  If you are saying that in the situation that perceptions and thoughts are both doubted, then then it is not skepticism, it is madness. 

 

Marcus

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20180707/11379190/attachment.html>