Eric CharlesNick,As far as I can see, the difference between (scientific and naive daily) induction and faith is that induction is a statement of how we operate whereas faith is an imported belief.You don't need to have faith in induction to operate as if it were the case. That's simply how we evolved to be in the world. I don't use explicit induction to conclude that one second from now the world will be pretty much as it is now -- at least at the macro level, which is what I tend to care most about. The principle of induction simply explicates that way of behaving.In contrast, faith is an imported belief system that one appeals to explicitly for answers.-- Russ Abbott
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_____________________________________________On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 11:23 AM, Nicholas Thompson <nickthompson@...> wrote:Hi doug, and Bruce
I realize that the following was hundreds of words deep in a verbose email message, and so it is understandable that you did not respond, but I am curious about your response.
I think we either have to be prepared to say why our faith [in induction]
is better than their [faith in God], or be prepared to be beaten all the way back
into the Dark Ages. Hence my interest in the problem of induction.
Also, I was curious about your comment that you were not all that keen on induction. Can you describe how, if not by induction, you come to believe things.
Nick
From: friam-bounces@... [mailto:friam-bounces@...] On Behalf Of Douglas Roberts
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 10:37 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] So, *Are* We Alone?
Yes, well; I'm not entirely sure it works that way, at least not for me. It's either interesting, or it's not. Examining how other folks derive their fascinations just doesn't, you know, get my hormones flowing.
--Doug
On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 8:12 PM, Nicholas Thompson <nickthompson@...> wrote:
Where we seem to disagree is on one of my most fundatmental ideas: if somebody finds something interesting, there must be an underlying question or issue to which the phenomenon has gotten attached in their mind that I WOULD find interesting if I knew it.
I was asking you to expand my experience.
Or not.
Nick
From: friam-bounces@... [mailto:friam-bounces@...] On Behalf Of Douglas Roberts
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 5:09 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] So, *Are* We Alone?
<Lilke>
On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 5:06 PM, Bruce Sherwood <bruce.sherwood@...> wrote:
Uh, does there have to be a reason? I'm interested just because I am
-- a portion of trying to understand as much about the Universe we
inhabit as is possible.
To put it another way: Why are you interested in the details of the
definition or use of induction? I found that discussion massively
uninteresting and irrelevant to the actual practice of science. There
are many variants of philistinism, and of engagement.
Bruce
On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 2:55 PM, Nicholas Thompson
<nickthompson@...> wrote:
> I go back to the original question I asked Owen. Why are these fantasies
> INTERESTING?. Now, quickly, I have to admit, they don’t capture my
> imagination that well. But I also have to admit that I firmly believe that
> NOBODY is interested in anything for nothing. IE, wherever there is an
> interest in something, there is a cognitive quandary, a seam in our thinking
> that needs to be respected. So I assume that there IS a reason these
> fantasies are interesting [to others] and that that REASON is interesting.
> The reason is always more pragmantic and immediate than our fighting off
> being absorbed into a black hole. Speaking of which: Weren’t the
> Kardashians some race on some planet on StarTrek. What color where THEIR
> noses? And how did the writers of StarTrek know they were coming
>
>
>
> Nick============================================================
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505-455-7333 - Office
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============================================================
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