{"id":1877,"date":"2018-07-26T06:17:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T06:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=1877"},"modified":"2018-08-26T09:08:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-26T09:08:38","slug":"the-problem-of-the-skeptic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/sociocultural-issues\/the-problem-of-the-skeptic","title":{"rendered":"The Problem of the Skeptic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Typically human to run into such kind of problem\u2026 Well, we\u2019ll have to deal with it. Hm, by throwing it out of the window?<\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s say you are a skeptic.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That means you are a person wishing to you use rationality to \u2018think for yourself\u2019, as Kant admonished us all to do in order to \u2018emerge from a self-inflicted immaturity\u2019 (his<\/u><\/em><\/strong> words, see: \u2018Enlightenment, Kant, AURELIS, Growth<\/a>\u2019]).<\/p>\n

Yes, we should!<\/p>\n

So, all right, you are skeptic and then even more skeptic and near to 100% skeptic\u2026<\/p>\n

Very, very skeptic indeed. And that\u2019s very, very good!<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then there is a problem. Sooner or later, you get skeptic about your skepticism itself. Let\u2019s put it this way: you get skeptic (A) about your skepticism (B) itself.<\/p>\n

(A) turns on (B), making (B) actually impossible when nearing to 100% skeptical (A).<\/p>\n

This is the Problem of the Skeptic.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One \u2018solution\u2019 is to stop being skeptical right before you make \u2018being skeptical\u2019 itself impossible. You stop being skeptical because \u201cotherwise you run into the impossibility to do anything good at all.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

That seems to me like throwing the problem out of the window. Isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say you are a magician.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And you \u2018heal\u2019 people, through for instance sticking iron things into them, or letting them drink some colored, plain water. Or even \u2013 who cares \u2013 some un<\/u>colored, plain water \ud83d\ude0a. Whatever.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very skeptical towards magicians. Most of them very much value money and\/or status. Besides, they leave a huge trail of human misery, frequently within themselves and even more within others.<\/p>\n

You see: placebo [see: \u2018Placebo Is Not Good for You<\/a>\u2019].<\/p>\n

Still, the aura is about \u2018doing good\u2019 and magicians \u2013 the ones that think one bit further than their wand \u2013 counter skepticism because \u201cotherwise you run into the impossibility to do anything good at all.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Recognizable?<\/p>\n

Back to the skeptical future.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s the only decent one. At present, unfortunately, we\u2019re not there yet.<\/p>\n

Skeptical (A) turns on skeptical (B). It seems like biting one\u2019s tail and ending the trip. It seems like sawing through the branch of the tree on which one is sitting oneself, trying to enjoy the view meanwhile.<\/p>\n

Hm. And then there is of course skeptical (C) that turns on skeptical (A) and prevents it from sawing. Hey, what\u2019s happening?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a dead end. It\u2019s a groove, one that gets deeper and deeper. No window.<\/p>\n

Can we get out of this groove?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My years in AI have taught me that if there is an insoluble problem, one should try to broaden the problem domain<\/em>. Is that applicable here?<\/p>\n

I guess so. What we want to achieve, is a better world. Rationality (including skepticism) is of utmost importance in this. We now have a landscape and a groove in that landscape. Trying to stop things getting into this groove, is like building a dam. Soon you have a flooding and a loss of many beautiful sites in the landscape. No good.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s better to accept the groove.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This way, we can get to being 100% skeptical. No window needed.<\/p>\n

One can never<\/em> be too skeptical!<\/p>\n

Just accept the groove. It\u2019s there, together with many beautiful and interesting things. There is no need to keep sitting in the groove. There\u2019s lots of other things we can do. For instance, we can use our 100% skepticism to stop all magicians and their woe\u2026<\/p>\n

and build a better world.<\/p>\n

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Typically human to run into such kind of problem\u2026 Well, we\u2019ll have to deal with it. Hm, by throwing it out of the window? Let\u2019s say you are a skeptic. That means you are a person wishing to you use rationality to \u2018think for yourself\u2019, as Kant admonished us all to do in order to Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n

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