On 03-13-98 Richard Meic wrote to Day Brown... 
 RM>  RM>> You seem to really like that holodeck idea. ;) 
 RM>  DB> It solves a lotta problems.   
 RM>       
 RM> Sure, in an "I don't want to face reality as it really is", kinda way. 
 RM> ;)  I think it is a cop-out, but that is only my opinion.  Sorry if it 
 RM> sounded too slammy. 
Not at all.  accepting reality for what it *appears* to be has led 
to existentialism, the negation of purpose, and a similar cop-out. 
 
If one accepts the religious notion that it is all god's plan, it 
requires no further thought, just faith.  OTOH: if it is not part 
of God's plan, then what? 
 
The holodeck has a lotta flexibility in what facts are presented 
to you depending on who you are, and what part of the deck you are 
on; thus we see the blindman-elephant syndrome, where each of us 
*assumes* the facts we have are a complete set available to all. A 
more realistic approach suggests a set of less obvious facts which 
have universal application, but which manifest themselves in many 
very obvious, but also different, ways.  Somewhat analagous to the 
Newtonian & quantum view of physics.  In most cases, the former is 
the most useful in daily life, but it is the latter that comes to 
grips with underlying anomalies like radio-activity. 
 
I have read the Bible; I have also, unlike the Christian, read the 
Koran, the Bagavad-Gita, Lao Tzu, Confucious, the Upshanishads, a 
fair amount of the stoic, platonic, neo-platonic writers, and most 
recently, gotten into pagan mythologies.  It has taken decades; it 
has left me with a broader vision of what mankind seems to have 
thought than any single writer or school except Joseph Campbell, a 
thinker/writer who did the same thing. 
 
The advantage I have over Joe, is the metaphors that arise out of 
computer virtual reality programming and science fiction, much of 
which arose after his death.  To my advantage also is the ongoing 
work in archeology and paleo-ecology since his time that explains 
much more detail of ancient life... as for instance the discovery 
of the use of psychedelic fungi among the Aryan shamen & Greeks. 
 
I am way to curious to be nhilist. 
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