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Choices

Agent Smith April 28, 2022 at 19:56 6925 views 47 comments
Two Options

1. Everybody is right.

2. Everybody is wrong.

Which would you select and why?

Comments (47)

ArmChairPhilosopher April 28, 2022 at 20:14 #687705
Quoting Agent Smith
1. Everybody is right

2. Everybody is wrong.

Which would you select and why?


#2 because in most cases there are multiple ways to be wrong and only one way to be right.

E.g.: 2 + 2 =

a) 2
b) 22
c) 5
d) 11

If all answers are right, you have a contradiction but not so if all are wrong.
Agent Smith April 28, 2022 at 20:24 #687709
SpaceDweller April 28, 2022 at 20:43 #687715
Quoting ArmChairPhilosopher
#2 because in most cases there are multiple ways to be wrong and only one way to be right.


you're genius :smile:
Tom Storm April 28, 2022 at 21:05 #687724
Quoting Agent Smith
1. Everybody is right

2. Everybody is wrong.

Which would you select and why?


Everybody is wrong. Because all we ever know is tentative and defeasible and evanescent.
180 Proof April 28, 2022 at 22:15 #687773
Reply to Agent Smith False dichotomy – 3. Everybody is uncertain (re: the future). 4 Everybody is ignorant (re: the past). Etcetera..
Banno April 28, 2022 at 22:49 #687806
2. Everybody else is wrong.

Hanover April 29, 2022 at 00:44 #687836
Quoting Agent Smith
Which would you select and why?


Quoting Tom Storm
Everybody is wrong.


If you're right that everyone is wrong, then not everyone is wrong because you were just right.
Hanover April 29, 2022 at 00:45 #687837
The other problem is that two wrongs make a right. I think that's the rule.
Tom Storm April 29, 2022 at 01:05 #687845
Quoting Hanover
If you're right that everyone is wrong, then not everyone is wrong because you were just right.


That's my plan!
L'éléphant April 29, 2022 at 01:17 #687851
Quoting Hanover
If you're right that everyone is wrong, then not everyone is wrong because you were just right.

Genius!
L'éléphant April 29, 2022 at 01:18 #687852
Quoting 180 Proof
False dichotomy

Yup.
Agent Smith April 29, 2022 at 03:36 #687880
Reply to ArmChairPhilosopher Reply to SpaceDweller Reply to Hanover Reply to Banno Reply to Tom Storm Reply to L'éléphant

Thanks go out to all the above posters.

I'm doing this on the fly and so I don't really have a clear-cut, well-defined, position on the matter, but what's interesting is 1. Everybody is right is a bona fide philosophical stance [re relativism (Sophists) & anekantavada (Jains)]. True that relativism has a bad rep, relatively speaking, but the point is it pops up now and then in serious philosophy i.e. there are takers for such a viewpoint.

This isn't the case for 2. Everybody is wrong. There are no known philosophies with this outlook or if there is one I haven't heard of it.

I maybe drifting into the subjective-objective distinction here.

Quoting 180 Proof
False dichotomy – 3. Everybody is uncertain (re: the future). 4 Everybody is ignorant (re: the past). Etcetera..


:fire:
javi2541997 April 29, 2022 at 04:17 #687893
Reply to Agent Smith

Everybody is wrong but they are not aware of it.
jgill April 29, 2022 at 04:18 #687895
Quoting Agent Smith
I don't really have a clear-cut, well-defined, position on the matter


For which you should be profoundly thankful. :roll:
Hillary April 29, 2022 at 04:27 #687900
I think everybody is right, which is kinda hard to swallow for philosophers being descendants of Plato et al.
Agent Smith April 29, 2022 at 04:36 #687903
Quoting javi2541997
Everybody is wrong but they are not aware of it.


This, in my book, means truths are objective; the real truth is hidden from view and everyone has, well, the wrong idea about the world (us inclusive).

The other option where everyone's right implies, inter alia, truths are subjective. There is no, as @Wayfarer would've said, orthodoxy or samyak-d?u??i / samm?-di??hi, no right view. "Sophism" written all over it.

Quoting jgill
For which you should be profoundly thankful. :roll:


:smile:
Wayfarer April 29, 2022 at 05:36 #687913
Reply to Agent Smith Wouldn’t say that. The first step on the eightfold path is indeed ‘samma ditth’ generally translated as ‘right view’ (although a big part of that is ‘not clinging to views’.)

This wikipedia article is not a bad starting point.
Agent Smith April 29, 2022 at 06:09 #687924
Quoting Wayfarer
Wouldn’t say that. The first step on the eightfold path is indeed ‘samma ditth’ generally translated as ‘right view’ (although a big part of that is ‘not clinging to views’.)

This wikipedia article is not a bad starting point.


Sorry about the misrepresentation of your position. It wasn't deliberate.

So, Buddhism endorses objectivity of truths. That doesn't sound right unless some kinda linguistic callisthencs is involved e.g. by claiming no view is the right view (the view from nowhere).
Wayfarer April 29, 2022 at 07:47 #687964
Reply to Agent Smith You don’t generally encounter the term ‘objectivity’ in that context but I suppose you could say that is a property of samvrtisatya, conventional truth. But the domain of paramarthasatya is that of transcendental truth see this article https://www.britannica.com/topic/paramartha-satya
Agent Smith April 29, 2022 at 07:50 #687967
Reply to Wayfarer You refer to the so-called two truths doctrine. Maya (illusion) joins the fray. Magic!
Hillary April 29, 2022 at 08:21 #687978
The concept of an objective, absolute truth is a strong one, ruling at the base if science and modern thought. "But there has to be such human-detached reality". Sure. But it depends on who you ask what that "fundamentally unknowable" reality looks like. For one it's particles and spacetime, for another that's a mere contingency, and judged by partisans following another party line, it's just spirits existing. Now who's right? All of them! What's the point in arguing? The wrong is just an invention to strengthen one's own ideas.
L'éléphant April 30, 2022 at 03:01 #688463
Reply to Agent Smith How are you doing?
Agent Smith April 30, 2022 at 04:52 #688487
Quoting L'éléphant
How are you doing?


Well, I just recovered from Covid (my 3 jabs helped) and now I have a mild bakcache. I hope the question wasn't rhetorical.
Agent Smith April 30, 2022 at 05:16 #688490
According to the Copenhagen interpretation of QM, the so-called wave function collapses when an observer makes a measurement. I'm told that consciousness is the key player in the whole process.
javi2541997 April 30, 2022 at 06:05 #688507
Reply to Agent Smith

I'm told that consciousness is the key player in the whole process.


Definitely, it is! :up:
L'éléphant April 30, 2022 at 06:12 #688509
Quoting Agent Smith
Well, I just recovered from Covid (my 3 jabs helped) and now I have a mild bakcache. I hope the question wasn't rhetorical.

Covid?

Of course that was not a rhetorical question. If I'd do that, I'd insult your intelligence first, followed by a jab.

How the fuck did you get covid by posting everyday on the philosophy forum? We can't breathe or sneeze at each other here, dude.
ArmChairPhilosopher April 30, 2022 at 06:28 #688516
Reply to Agent Smith Whoever said that was misinformed. It is the measurement that collapses the wave function, no consciousness necessary. And the measurement is any interaction with any kind of measurement device. That's why it is so difficult to build quantum computers. You have to maintain the superposition until you want to measure.
Agent Smith April 30, 2022 at 06:36 #688521
Reply to ArmChairPhilosopher Yeah, but isn't conscious perception an inseparable part of measurement.

Question: Suppose you set up a quantum experiment. You rig it up to perform a measurement at time t[sub]1[/sub]. However you check the measurement only a later time (say two days after) at time t[sub]2[/sub].

When does the wave function collapse? At time t[sub]1[/sub] or time t[sub]2[/sub]?
ArmChairPhilosopher April 30, 2022 at 06:46 #688522
Quoting Agent Smith
When does the wave function collapse? At time t1 or time t2?


At t1 and that has been shown. Measurements in decoherence experiments like the delayed quantum eraser are done by computers (the effects are much too fast for human perception). The idea of conscious observation being necessary has been refuted in physics a long time ago but it still lives on in quantum woo. And if it were true, it would end up in solipsism.
Agent Smith April 30, 2022 at 06:54 #688525
Quoting ArmChairPhilosopher
At t1 and that has been shown. Measurements in decoherence experiments like the delayed quantum eraser are done by computers (the effects are much too fast for human perception). The idea of conscious observation being necessary has been refuted in physics a long time ago but it still lives on in quantum woo. And if it were true, it would end up in solipsism


You can never know can you, whether the wave function collapse took place at t[sub]1[/sub] or t[sub]2[/sub].
Agent Smith April 30, 2022 at 07:04 #688528
Reply to L'éléphant I'll take what you said about me as a compliment! Muchas gracias.
ArmChairPhilosopher April 30, 2022 at 07:31 #688540
Reply to Agent Smith

I don't understand quantum mechanics enough to explain it. Have a look at Prof. O'Dowd's video:

Agent Smith April 30, 2022 at 07:46 #688549
L'éléphant April 30, 2022 at 16:15 #688729
Quoting Agent Smith
I'll take what you said about me as a compliment!

What has covid done to you these days?
Agent Smith April 30, 2022 at 16:19 #688732
Quoting L'éléphant
What has covid done to you these days?


I dunno! I'd need to undergo a battery of tests to find out, something I don't have time for. I should've taken a picture pre-Covid and then one post-Covid. I would've got a rough idea about what Covid does to people.
ArmChairPhilosopher April 30, 2022 at 16:20 #688733
Quoting Agent Smith
Merci beaucoup!


De nada.
L'éléphant April 30, 2022 at 16:37 #688752
Quoting Agent Smith
I should've taken a picture pre-Covid and then one post-Covid. I would've got a rough idea about what Covid does to people.

Okay that, too. But I meant to your mind or attitude.
Agent Smith May 01, 2022 at 07:32 #689158
Quoting L'éléphant
Okay that, too. But I meant to your mind or attitude


Unlike computers which can generate self-reports, humans can't or if they attempt to, it all comes out wrong.
Agent Smith May 01, 2022 at 07:33 #689159
@Banno

Quoting Agent Smith
1. Everybody is right.


Every statement is true. Ex falso quodlibet. A trivial logic.
Banno May 01, 2022 at 07:39 #689160
Reply to Agent Smith Quoting Banno
2. Everybody else is wrong.

Hillary May 01, 2022 at 09:34 #689193
Quoting ArmChairPhilosopher
It is the measurement that collapses the wave function, no consciousness necessary


In the standard interpretation it is the conscious observer who collapses the wavefunction. Only hidden variables offer objective collapse.
ArmChairPhilosopher May 01, 2022 at 10:17 #689204
Reply to Hillary Have you watched the video I posted?
Hillary May 01, 2022 at 10:50 #689213
Reply to ArmChairPhilosopher

Not yet. I only see it now! But all things involving QM are interesting. As a physicist I've aways questioned the standard offer in the two fat Cohen-Tannoudji books, interesting their offered story is, and the same can be said about Ryder's QFT book. Griffiths' introduction to elementary particles is vividly written, with fun and anecdote and a lot of prose besides the math, but it still sticks to the standard. I still wonder why David Bohm's take on QM is put aside. In my opinion it's the only viable approach to QM. So, in honor of Bohm (and his holographic universe), a video for you! I watch yours if you watch mine! :smile:

ArmChairPhilosopher May 01, 2022 at 11:37 #689236
Quoting Hillary
I still wonder why David Bohm's take on QM is put aside. In my opinion it's the only viable approach to QM.


That's the problem. Especially in QM the second option of the OP is valid. Everybody is wrong. Models only ever describe part of reality, the better models describe more of reality or are more precise but we should never confuse the map for the territory.
Agent Smith May 01, 2022 at 12:10 #689254
Quoting Banno
Agent Smith
2. Everybody else is wrong.
— Banno


:up:

A frisson of excitement passed through me when I realized how similar relativism/anekantavada is to a trivial system of logic that allows contradictions without making the necessary adjustments to prevent the ex falso quodlibet logic bomb from detonating.
L'éléphant May 01, 2022 at 17:12 #689356
Quoting Agent Smith
Unlike computers which can generate self-reports, humans can't or if they attempt to, it all comes out wrong.

Most likely.
Agent Smith May 01, 2022 at 23:13 #689477
Quoting L'éléphant
Most likely.


:ok: