ephemera

defrydrychowski.wordpress.com -- ephemera


(a microblog: notes, queries, and whatnot)

 "And rays of light you cannot see are flashing through eternity."  (Poe)


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Given the length of time that immense numbers of very smart people have been thinking about how to control other people, it's likely that our personal sense of reality is a bit askew in ways that tend to nudge the mind in a certain direction, although the mind thinks itself its own master.

We return, then to the Cartesian demon.  On the observational side, Rorty once offered the hypothetical of a machine that could know every thought that you have in advance of your having it, and posited that the operators of that machine would still not understand your thoughts.  In the intuitive view, he's wrong.  If you think more closely about the mind, certain truths become apparent, and the possibility of him being right about this seems to arise.

At any rate, the one thing you can do is set a definite marker, in the faith that the Cartesian adversary didn't have a hand in its conception.  

In my case, I know that I need to get back to Europe, likely southern Europe, and within that civilizational context, and away from the corrupt folks on this side of the water who seem to have me in their sights, to read, think, and work, and perhaps make contact with some cultural endeavours.  It's simply the task, and I've resolved to do it, even if it should suddenly seem to be a very bad idea, or impossible.  We have life to do things, and while I have life, I will try to do this thing.  That's simply the fact of it.