From: "Robert Comer" 

> You have to be real careful about what you label as certainties. I think
> the problem is that people don't want to have beliefs that they are
> uncertain about. Its discomforting to think that one is making to many
> decisions about one's life based on beliefs that might not be correct.

Probably true.  I'm a bit different, but then again, I knew I was a bit
different to begin with.   I like being in a state of uncertainty
-- it keeps my mind open to learning things I might not have seen any other
way.

> I think the best way of thinking about some aspects of knowledge is that
> it is more a set of approximations than final truths. So Isaac Newton
> wasn't wrong when he thought up classical mechanics. Its more like he
> came up with a better approximation of the truth. Now, if he thought
> he'd come up with the exact description of the truth he was wrong. But
> if he just found it a useful theory and a better approximation then he
> was right.

Absolutely!  Our current truth is then just an approximation and to expect
otherwise isn't being realistic.

> Are you absolutely certain that it is not possible to be absolutely
> certain of anything?

All I'm absolutely certain of is that I don't know everything there is to
know about any subject.

> Or, to put it another way, who are these people who are going around
> with such certainty proclaiming the nonexistence or the impotence of the
> rational mind?

Me for one. 

>What exactly are they using to come to that conclusion?

Simple -- humanities ability to get beyond absolute certainties in the past
and extrapolating that ability into the future.

I 'spose you would tell me that there is absolutely no way to faster than
the speed of light.  Relativity, being an approximation (which may be an
incorrect approximation) like you suggest above, says that that is indeed
"impossible" in normal space/time.  However, even given that
approximation, there's no "rule" against changing space/time
itself to achieve an apparent speed faster than light. (The key is gravity
-- once we can truly manipulate that, relativity goes by the wayside when
determining how fast we can go.)

> Well, who's going to tell me I'm wrong and be certain about it?

I can say your wrong with just as much certainty as you can muster thinking
you're right. 

- Bob Comer


"Randall Parker"  wrote in message

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