Approximation
You can be fooled...no, seriously. To be fair, anyone can be fooled, tricked, misdirected, bamboozled or whatever term you would prefer. Face it, it's not really all that hard to do if someone is determined. Of course, I include myself in this unfortunate group. It has happened to me just as much as anyone else even though I make a concerted effort to not be taken in by constructs of those that wish to take advantage of my mental shortcomings.
We are vulnerable for a lot of reasons, some we can control and some we can't. Some of the things we can't control are the limitations of our senses. There are a lot of examples of how our senses can be fooled. My favorite demonstration involves spinning a disk with a black and white design on it fast enough that your brain decides the design has color in it (if you haven't tried it, it's as simple as it sounds). Our senses are limited because our brain is designed to compensate for the crappy data they provide...like the digital zoom built into a camera, it works, but can only do so much. Television and motion pictures take advantage of the limitations of our vision, so it's not all bad.
Approximation, that's how our senses and mental processes tend to work. In my opinion, that's why we have the need to categorize everything...it gives our brain an easy way to recall information, however flawed the generalizations may be.
In addition to the horrible information our brain receives, the brain's approximations are easily affected by mood, assumptions based on previous experience, sleep, magnetic fields, what we ingest and a whole host of other factors. That's why we build instruments to measure things more precisely. Nothing is perfect though, even the instruments of measurement we create are made using assumptions...sounds hopeless, doesn't it? About all we can do is constantly test our conclusions based on established "knowns" that were created using more assumptions.
In short, don't believe anyone or anything without verification. Test your conclusions constantly and be open to the possibility that your tests or "knowns" are flawed. Accept theories you create until your constant testing proves them wrong...and eventually, it will. Chaos can be a little scary, but, life is chaos...or the system is so large it appears to be. Don't let fear cause you to stop questioning and testing or someone will use that fear against you.
Well, that made the voices stop...cool.
We are vulnerable for a lot of reasons, some we can control and some we can't. Some of the things we can't control are the limitations of our senses. There are a lot of examples of how our senses can be fooled. My favorite demonstration involves spinning a disk with a black and white design on it fast enough that your brain decides the design has color in it (if you haven't tried it, it's as simple as it sounds). Our senses are limited because our brain is designed to compensate for the crappy data they provide...like the digital zoom built into a camera, it works, but can only do so much. Television and motion pictures take advantage of the limitations of our vision, so it's not all bad.
Approximation, that's how our senses and mental processes tend to work. In my opinion, that's why we have the need to categorize everything...it gives our brain an easy way to recall information, however flawed the generalizations may be.
In addition to the horrible information our brain receives, the brain's approximations are easily affected by mood, assumptions based on previous experience, sleep, magnetic fields, what we ingest and a whole host of other factors. That's why we build instruments to measure things more precisely. Nothing is perfect though, even the instruments of measurement we create are made using assumptions...sounds hopeless, doesn't it? About all we can do is constantly test our conclusions based on established "knowns" that were created using more assumptions.
In short, don't believe anyone or anything without verification. Test your conclusions constantly and be open to the possibility that your tests or "knowns" are flawed. Accept theories you create until your constant testing proves them wrong...and eventually, it will. Chaos can be a little scary, but, life is chaos...or the system is so large it appears to be. Don't let fear cause you to stop questioning and testing or someone will use that fear against you.
Well, that made the voices stop...cool.
posted by itsjustme at 4:46 AM
3 Comments:
Often times, verification is easier said than done.
Yes, it is. In those cases you have to assess the source of the information...which is also easier said than done sometimes.
Yeah ... just ask Dan Rather
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