>
>David Martorana wrote to Mark Bloss about "Perfection"
 MB> Perfection is an infinity.  No one attains it, but it must be
 MB> there or else we cannot come closer to it.
 DM> 
 DM> It is achieved all the time. It only becomes infinite if the
 DM> design goal is unknown which is unreasonable.
 DM> 
 DM> oo ... Dave ???
 You have made some good points, and your argument holds water.  Except,
 my imperfections have limited my initial response to that of mush, my
 point is still clear enough to drive home a clearer response.
 
 Certainly a simple machine which counts to three because it is designed
 to count to three, is said to be perfect.  However, this application of 
 the term "perfect" is completely inappropriate.  The proper term to give 
 such a manufactured device, is "sufficient", or "satisfactory"; because 
 it cannot be perfect.  It can count to three in Base 10, indeed a lot
 of bases.  But, it is limited by its design, and unable to count to three,
 in Base 2, for example.  Any manufactured device, in order to be perfect,
 must not only exceed its design limits, it must exceed all the design
 limits of every single design limit applied to every other machine ever
 designed.  _That_ would be perfect.  It would be God, then, and not a
 designed machine.
 Let me define the perfection of which I'm talking about:
 
 If I measured from wall to wall, 13 feet, 4-5/8ths inches, this would
 not be a "perfect" measurement, this would be a "precise" measurement.
 If I were to build a wall perpendicular to these other two walls, and
 it was precisely perpendicular, it would be a "satisfactorily" built
 wall, not a "perfect" wall.  Even if every bit of the wall was precise,
 and every bit of its interior well made, and every surface exact, it
 would not be perfect - only satisfactory.  Because what is for me 
 "perfect" is a subjectivity.   Someone, like you, might hate the wall,
 and think it not perfect at all!  In fact, you probably think this
 wall is entirely unsatisfactory, it doesn't even have a door.  It is 
 our perceptions which rule the day.
 
 What is "perfection" ?  Certainly not applicable, except in the
 colloquial, to manufactured devices, or measurements.  Perfection is like
 _the_ rule, which makes _meaningful_ 13 feet, 4 -5/8ths inches.  We
 can know only that if the standard is correct, this measurement will
 be the same the world-over - or anywhere else we apply the rule. 
 (We could use the metric system, and come up with the same conclusion.)
 
 But are we using a system of measurement that is perfect?  Not by far,
 since it is also manufactured.  There is only one definition of perfection
 to be applied - when calling it an infinity:  That which knows all things.
 
 Not one of us can know everything:  but all of us _together_ know many 
 things.  A good synonym for Perfection is The Sum of Potential Knowledge.
 Things which none of us know yet: what is the nature of reality, for
 example.  Can we know the nature of reality?  If so, then this is
 potential knowledge: the "as-yet-unknown".  If it becomes known, there
 will unquestionably be something else as-yet-unknown, thus acting
 precisely like an infinity!  We can never know everything, even together!
 There will always be an "as-yet-unknown" about something, just as there
 is always the ability to add 1, to any number.  Using an incongruity, 
 such as "sum of potential knowledge", is convenient - but non-sequitar -
 because the "sum" itself is an infinity.
 
 
 
 
 
... For every problem there is a simple solution, and it's always wrong.
--- GEcho 1.11++TAG 2.7c
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