Re: CHAT Cartesian parataxis (was: ANNOUNCE: First longer sentence in S7)

I can't see that philosophical or religious
speculation brings us any progress into knowledge or
living conditions. We might say that scientific
speculation does. I'm thinking of people like
Archimedes, Newton or Einstein. But this I think can
only be a special kind of knowledge, the one our brain
can conceive. Our brain is not fit for certain tasks,
just as our eyes are not fit to perceive infra-red, or
X-rays, or other wavelengths. We can make tools to
improve perception, but what tool could be make to be
more clever ? How could we conceive something that
would conceive things that we cannot conceive
ourselves ? Looks hard. Maybe one day, after all, but
I think I'll be dead by then (and so maybe I'll know
first ! haha !)

And, if I may say, if we had followed only the
philosophical and religious speculators in the past,
we WOULD still sit in the dark ages (some yet are, as
it seems). Nothing terrible about it: today glorious
days will perhaps be the dark ages for our grandsons.
This is perhaps not the end of evolution yet.

--- Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:
>
> It is possible, however unlikely, that speculation
> could lead to an hypothesis which is testable.
> Testing that hypothesis might lead to more concrete
> knowledge of the subject.  In other words, if it
> were
> someday to become possible to prove or disprove the
> existence of God/afterlife/reincarnation/(insert
> favorite belief here) Such proof/disproof will be
> the
> consequence of a line of reasoning and
> experimentation
> that began with speculation.
>
> All knowledge begins with speculation.  Those who
> speculate have at least some small chance of
> eventually proving or disproving something useful.
> Those who do not speculate have no chance of ever
> proving or disproving anything.
>
> That makes philosophical speculation the most
> important thing a person can possibly do with their
> life.  Without the speculators of the past we would
> still be in the dark ages.
>
> --gary

=====
Philippe Caquant

"High thoughts must have high language." (Aristophanes, Frogs)

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