[FRIAM] Objective Reality Doesn’t Exist. We’ve Known This for a Century. It’s Time to Embrace It and Move On. | by Casper Wilstrup | Machine Consciousness | Medium

[Prof David West]

Nick said,

*"In democracy, we find  some way to blend our experiences into a common view."*

If the "democracy" of which you speak is that of the New England Town Hall, or that of tribal societies of long ago, you are probably reasonably accurate.

However, that sense of "democracy" no longer exists, at least here in the US. Regardless of how one votes, the result is absolutely and completely *assigning   X   the job of determining our common reality*.

davew

On Fri, May 31, 2024, at 9:58 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
> This (see below) got served up to me out of the blue this morning.  The way it's put here, Frank and Bruce might actually agree with it.  Still, it's straight Peirce.  I have no idea who the author is; do any of you?
> 
> Here's crucial passage.
> 
> *Our understanding of reality needs a complete overhaul. Rather than viewing it as a fixed, external stage upon which events play out, we should consider it as a dynamic interplay between observers and their environment [*experiences*]. Reality, in this view, doesn’t reside out there, independent of us. Instead, reality is our interactions with the world  [*one another*], shaped and defined by our observations [*experiences*]. Reality is nothing but [*the telos of*] those interactions between subjects.*
> 
> I had to make those little changes because the author,  like so many aspiring monists, after arguing against observer independence for a hundred words, slips up by implying that the "environment" is anything but something else that we have to agree upon, if we are ever going to get on with life. 
> 
> By the way,  I stipulate that nothing in his argument has ANYTHING to do with quantum mechanics. The argument would be sound even if the idea of a quantum had never been thought.  However, I like the idea of physics as some kind of language of convergent belief.  
> 
> By the way,  In history there seem to have been two ways for people converge on a common experience, charisma and democracy.  In charisma, we pick some idiot (usually a psychopath) and share his or her experience.  In democracy, we find  some way to blend our experiences into a common view.  Sometime in the next few months we will decide which way we want to go.   Do we want to assign Trump the job of determining our common reality, or do we want to continue to work it out amongst ourselves through experiment and argument.  
> 
> Weather gorgeous here in the mosquito infested swamp.  Garden thriving.  A much better year.  
> 
> Watch that dry line in TX.  It's truly amazing.  Can it really be true that I am the only weather fanatic on a list that is devoted to complexity?   How can that be?
> 
> NIck
> 
> 
> 
> https://medium.com/machine-cognition/objective-reality-doesnt-exist-it-is-time-to-accept-it-and-move-on-7524b494d6af
 <https://medium.com/machine-cognition/objective-reality-doesnt-exist-it-is-time-to-accept-it-and-move-on-7524b494d6af>
> Objective Reality Doesn’t Exist: It is Time to Embrace it and Move On <https://medium.com/machine-cognition/objective-reality-doesnt-exist-it-is-time-to-accept-it-and-move-on-7524b494d6af>
> The shift towards a unified, observer-dependent reality forces us to let go — once and for all — of the idea of objective reality
> medium.com
> 
> 
> 
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