Friday, November 21, 2008

Hey Suzy. I set it up. Am I a freakin genius or what? I figured out the name of the proof I was interested in. It's called the principle of anti-realism. And it claims that if a truth exists, then the truth is knowable. Well, that's pretty neato in and of itself, but then this guy named Fitch beefed it up even more. He created a proof that claimed that if something is knowable, then it is known. So that would imply (together with the anti-realism principle) that if a truth exists, it is known. But a lot of people don't approve of his proof. Unfortunately all of this proofing is done in a language that I don't understand. Its called modal logic, and as far as I can tell, it is definitely not constrained by the type of logic we normally think of. For example, in the logic I am used to, if you start out with an assumption and proceed by logic to arrive at a contradiction, then that proves the assumption false. But some modal logicians think that a contradiction isn't that powerful...that it can't prove something false. It seems like they like to leave the door open to the possibility that logic is wrong. I'm going to go read about it, see if we can't prove god exists after all. I mean if Fitch is right, then the existence of something proves that it is known. In that case either we know everything (in which case we are god), or there is a thing or things that together know everything (in which case the collection is god). At least as far as I am concerned. But that is certainly due to my bias toward knowledge. I am just assuming that an all knowing being is all powerful. But that is obviously not a guarantee. Anyway, exciting stuff.

3 comments:

forkalina said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
forkalina said...

You might have to invite me to join before I can make my own posts.

forkalina said...

Delete Comment From: Something to Get Us Rolling

Blogger forkalina said...

This is rolling, alright.
You sure shot up fast through the ranks of middling genius to freaking genius in a jiff.
So, I just got home from work and I'm excited all over again.
How much shall we constrict the use of this descriptive "excited," I sometimes ask myself. Is it clear that repeated use will not file away the original condition like a relentless pumice stone?
A lot of juice is going on smack dab at post number one, and I like it. The crystallization there at the end, the ultimate knowledge to ultimate power translation, it's one I tend to get pretty hung up on; see: "omnipotent" v. "omniscient". Why couldn't a God-Inferior know, for example, he is both omniscient And not omnipotent? Perhaps modal logic also transcends this type of contradiction. Fitch sounds beefy indeed, and sure understand why his knowable to known transition gets heat. I don't know how to approach it yet, I can't conceptualize what sort of consciousness (universal consciousness? individual? human?) could be a sufficient setting to make it true.


This first video link I am sending isn't directly about American education yet. And I'm sorry it has to be the fellow you probably already hear more than enough about at home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boBzrqF4vmo&feature=related
"Edward Said, 'The Myth of the Clash of Civilizations'"

The reason I attach it is because Said's critique IS civic engagement. And I didn't come across anything like it in my high school curriculum. Does American education even prepare us to know what patriotic rhetoric and cultural ideology are? they seem conflated with democratic responsibility at a thorough and unarticulated level. Questioning loses its relevance. Throw back to last night.
Fine, I also think he is a classy fellow and a good encouragement for how I'd like to conduct shop.

Articles go up tomorrow morning. I think I have three I really want to read.
Thanks for setting us up, Najemian.

November 21, 2008 10:11 PM