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Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thoughts on The Unsustainable Autonomy of Reason
My thoughts on
The Problems of Transhumanism: The Unsustainable Autonomy of Reason
Man, what a great article, I think I'll have to read it a few times really and spend some time mulling it over and perhaps following-up on a few references, but that being said, here's my initial reaction (and I'd suggest of course that if you haven't already, you read the article first and come up with your own interpretations before looking at mine...)
....
Overall, I _think_ I agree... Not sure if because it's just so damn well written, but honestly I don't think I've really thought about it this way before... I guess I've been like the residents of the floating glass house, confident to look at the architecture and stick my chest out spouting my trust in reason and the scientific method without admitting the fact that yes, it's not REALLY on any solid foundation. I recently read LOGICOMIX, a brilliant graphic novel about Bertrand Russell and his project - Principia Mathematica and then Godel's destruction of it - I was aware of the general history of it via reading Hofstadter, but again, it seems like the naturalists dirty little secret... :)
At the end of the day it seems like it's beyond or (or has been beyond us thus far) to be able to build a system of logic which requires no unproveable assumptions, I mean it's all a strange loop... Sure, without a doubt, once you make those one or two very REASONABLE assumptions, I doubt many would argue that post enlightenment philosophy and science have generated a body of knowledge and a worldview that act as a much more accurate and intellectually satisfying MAP for the TERRAIN called REALITY vs. those worldviews that are grounded in dogma and superstition, but at the end of the day, we have to accept that we still do have these assumptions, and to be honest, really this is the choice that one needs to make...
- Am I willing to accept those assumptions that ground the naturalistic world view
or
- Do I prefer to make the assumption that faith is a good thing and that one or the many ancient religious texts is written by the creator of the universe...
Once you've made that choice there are NO arguments that really matter...
Cheers, thanks for listening, hope you're having a good Sunday :) ¶ 4:33 PM
The Problems of Transhumanism: The Unsustainable Autonomy of Reason
Man, what a great article, I think I'll have to read it a few times really and spend some time mulling it over and perhaps following-up on a few references, but that being said, here's my initial reaction (and I'd suggest of course that if you haven't already, you read the article first and come up with your own interpretations before looking at mine...)
....
Overall, I _think_ I agree... Not sure if because it's just so damn well written, but honestly I don't think I've really thought about it this way before... I guess I've been like the residents of the floating glass house, confident to look at the architecture and stick my chest out spouting my trust in reason and the scientific method without admitting the fact that yes, it's not REALLY on any solid foundation. I recently read LOGICOMIX, a brilliant graphic novel about Bertrand Russell and his project - Principia Mathematica and then Godel's destruction of it - I was aware of the general history of it via reading Hofstadter, but again, it seems like the naturalists dirty little secret... :)
At the end of the day it seems like it's beyond or (or has been beyond us thus far) to be able to build a system of logic which requires no unproveable assumptions, I mean it's all a strange loop... Sure, without a doubt, once you make those one or two very REASONABLE assumptions, I doubt many would argue that post enlightenment philosophy and science have generated a body of knowledge and a worldview that act as a much more accurate and intellectually satisfying MAP for the TERRAIN called REALITY vs. those worldviews that are grounded in dogma and superstition, but at the end of the day, we have to accept that we still do have these assumptions, and to be honest, really this is the choice that one needs to make...
- Am I willing to accept those assumptions that ground the naturalistic world view
or
- Do I prefer to make the assumption that faith is a good thing and that one or the many ancient religious texts is written by the creator of the universe...
Once you've made that choice there are NO arguments that really matter...
Cheers, thanks for listening, hope you're having a good Sunday :) ¶ 4:33 PM
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