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A comment on Never Write Your Own Database (2017). Parent comment

Re:Never Write Your Own Database (2017) by klibertp on Saturday May 05, 2018 @06:39PM (#17004268)
It would be much better to teach children that the truth doesn't exist, that everything we call "reality" is a lie on some level, and that the best you can do is to stay honest to yourself and your intentions. Probably much harder to teach, but much closer to what they will fight with for the rest of their lives. I think it's the lack of such preparation in childhood which makes people give up, either never trying to figure out what the "truth" even is or relying on an imaginary friend in the sky as a source of one and only truth.

Some simplifications are useful in some contexts, but the world is an unimaginably complex thing and trying to dumb it down can only take you so far.

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Re:Never Write Your Own Database (2017) by ibeckermayer on Sunday May 06, 2018 @02:24AM (#17005477)
"the truth doesn't exist, that everything we call "reality" is a lie on some level"

Wait so does this truth exist, or is it also a lie on some level?

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Re:Never Write Your Own Database (2017) by klibertp on Monday May 07, 2018 @06:29AM (#17011635)
> does this truth

It's not truth at all. Just an observation. It happens to fit with my perceptions. That's it.

You can artificially define truth by tying it to a particular frame of reference, but that's not "the truth", as that frame of reference is not 100% transferable to others anyway. The idea of umwelt, as I understand it, seems to work here. Still, it's just an observation, an impression.

I'm not really saying anything new here. Descartes was saying something similar quite a long time ago. Then again, he could have meant something else entirely and there's no way for me to know which is it. I just assume my understanding is close enough to the intended meaning. I may well be completely wrong on this.

Basically, there's nothing you can be really sure about, including the fact that you can't be really sure about anything. There are only things that appear to work for you and, possibly, others. You can use them. Just don't believe them unquestioningly.

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