The carl sagan : contact

The movie is good but the book is better

Downloading both immediately

Thank you very much

Fiend Without a Face 1958

Vintage claymation

I’ll do my own pandering thank you. With a collection of clear virtue signals, a rigorous purity filter and a crew of fanatical moderators.

It could be inherently flawed. We look at a picture or a symbol and pretend it’s real. That’s insane. I mean, I know that’s kinda how it works, but still. Insane.

Or maybe it’s imprecise to call it a flaw. Maybe call it a trap, to be careful of. But nobody’s careful. (So that’s maybe an “out of control” situation)

(I know I’m not. I mean case in point. I’m watching this movie “don’t look up” right now and I’m getting all teary-eyed and stuff. It’s a fucking movie. An illusion of flickering images and bullshit. I know with great certainty that it’s just a fantasy but I’m still having this reaction. So that’s insane)

Is it inherently bad? Out of control? Something else?

We could order understanding by quality.

First there is perception. That’s the closest. Then there is thought about that. Then there is the secondhand form of that, gotten from a friend. Then gotten from a mere associate. Then a stranger. Thirdhand and fourthhand. And so on.

Close to far. That close kind you don’t even have to think or talk about it.

Perceptions like rightness, beauty, gut make a good guide. Art and invention are proof of that. Call it a good source of truth.

Not too good for building objective consensuses tho.

Hypothetically, one could step away from the whole internet/media/information system. Stick with firsthand experience and the testimony of trusted friends.

To what degree would that include “science”?

What would that look like. Amish?

“informed”

Lol

But I kid. Your logic fails to escape the box I propose, I think. I think that only direct observation achieves good reliability. That and maybe conversation with personal friends.

Beyond that, big nope. It’s the epistemological equivalent of drinking out of lead cups except the damage is quicker.

Everybody say it all together now…

I’m an intelligent, autonomous, free-thinking individual!

Carpenter coder here. I like saving my code powers for my own beloved projects.

My thoughts as well.

It makes me wonder about my own fears. How many of them were put there by propaganda?

Instead of demanding that the peers get vaccinated they could just stay away from the peers.

It was a wrong turn anyway, so I edited it. Sorry. I hoped to catch it before you replied.

But my point was the arrogance and disrespect. I find it shocking. The actual form of the insult was secondary.

Agreed

Factual information comes from the authority of the hour. The authority of the hour is determined by vast mindless forces.

it’s a basic prerequisite for participation in contemporary society.

A fancy way of saying “mandatory”

He’s nothing but a low-down, double-dealing, backstabbing, larcenous perverted worm! Hanging’s too good for him. Burning’s too good for him! He should be torn into little bitsy pieces and buried alive!

deleted by creator

I appreciate your concern. But to your first point.

Intelligence is biased towards intelligent expression and interpretation. That limits it, in expression and perspective. Seeing through intelligence-colored glasses. Expressing though an intelligence-preferring filter.

But we are larger than our intelligence. And this larger form has its own expressions.

Though we, as individuals and a culture, are in the habit of ignoring this larger self. It exists. Like the invisible part of an iceberg underwater.