First Blog

What is Reality? G Donald Allen Introduction . To illustrate specifically an impossible problem, let’s solve one – or try to. “What is reality? [1] ” First, don’t worry if you disagree, as we’ll try to solve the problem in several ways. Books have been written on just this subject.  As well, the solutions offered include most of the standard theories of reality such as realism [2] , phenomenalism [3] , perception [4] , idealism [5] , pragmatism [6] , and constructivism [7] , often in combination – much to the horror of philosophers, I’m sure. Our intent is not to solve this problem, but to establish it probably cannot be solved. See Appendix A for common definitions and Appendix B for types of impossible problems. What is Reality? Solving the Reality Problem . We’ll limit ourselves to six explanations or solutions, though the simulation explanation reduces to another. As well, explanation #5 indicates we can’t do it no matter what. The descriptions are rather brief, and not anywh

Pictured below is some random person maybe like you or me.   His mind is whirling about considering problems and decisions yet to make. He is reflecting on years past and years to come. He is wondering about whether to take action on reports just in. He may even be wondering on his children’s health and how they are doing in their classes. He may have a slight muscle pull in his right thigh, but you’ll never know. It’s humid today and his arthritis is troublesome – the price of rail-splitting years ago. He didn’t sleep well last night but must perform today, and he struggles on. He has meetings in the afternoon with a dozen of people he doesn’t like, and later must write letters of condolence to families. He yearns for the peace of mind that may never come and is ever worried about those depending on him. All the while he hopes for good news from Grant. He does have issues similar to you and me, with only their magnitude and consequence in the balance. He is gone and you are here. Al

Common sense is a type of intelligence, not given to the classroom or books.   Common sense is not taught like a subject. It is a generalized set of rules mostly self-learned. It has a feature set that is broad and sweeping. We classify a few of them as abilities – just as our regular senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.   It is also related to good sense and practical sense, less general terms. Ability to generalize. Example. You’ve learned not to put your hand on the stove. You generalize to other sources of heat. Ability to assess capabilities. You gradually restrict your activities and goals to those achievable. Ability to survive. You sidestep dangers that present directly and indirectly. Ability to discern. You can distinguish between options based on what is overall best for you and perhaps family. You easily chose not to do dumb things. Ability to avoid unnecessary risks. This is not to say risks are not undertaken, but senseless or stupid risks are avoi

What many thugs in ANTIFA have learned is that violence has a taste. And they like the taste, the taste of brute power.  A historical event, this taste has been enjoyed by many groups for millennia. You don’t need much motivation after your initiation to inflict pain and fear. That taste is so satisfying. In reality, ANTIFA probably is comprised of a mixture of true believers with violence prone parasites. It makes an interesting combination of those believing in radical change explaining to violent thugs that what you do is OK.  Both sides go home most satisfied.  

“It’s what they want,”  is the message we receive from both Dems and Reps,  and from the left of the Dems and from the right of the Reps.  The Freedom Caucus (Rep), for example, demands the people want fiscal austerity, balancing the budget, and therefore a reduction of all spending, no matter what. Period.  The Dems, mostly in locked-step, believe in ultimate humanitarian goals by providing everyone with all they need.  Just increase spending, they tell us.  The Reps want to rein in spending, develop more free enterprise, and “hopefully” grow an economy that will support a benefit-thirsty population.  The anarchists simply don’t know what they want beyond their love of disruption.  Throwing crap into the fan and hoping it will land in the right place, is the extent of their thinking.  And this assessment is far too kind. All claim that what they propose is what the public wants!  Not so.  All these groups somehow have equated what they want to what everyone wants.  My gosh, s

Plato’s Cave – an allegory for all time The allegory of Plato’s cave has a remarkable permanence in the philosophies of knowledge and of life.   In it we see a collection of prisoners who can only see the shadows of reality as projected by a fire between the truth and the shadows.   They cannot turn around seeing the object so projected.   This is what they know; this is what they see; this is what they believe.   A given prisoner is rescued from the cave and brought into the light of truth.   The prisoner is then returned to the cave to help and instruct the others on what the shadows really depict.   He is rejected by all other prisoners preferring the shadows and consequent conjectures.   This encapsulates the Plato’s allegory, though not in complete detail.   Our intent here is to reveal or theorize on how we lift shadows to our current versions of truth.    On the physical face of things, what the shadows represent include ·          A reduction of spatial dimension

There are two infamous publications in the world of scholarly activities, "The Journal of Irreproducible Results" and "How to Lie with Statistics."   One is a spoof on science truth published regularly (http://www.jir.com/); the second is an actual book.   The journal is interesting and funny.   But the book is well known to all practitioners, and the best of them know how to use statistics as needed to make a point, a claim, or a theory.    In a recent NY Times article by George Johnson (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/science/new-truths-that-only-one-can-see.html) the veracity of many publications are taken to the veracity task.   It is claimed that up to 80% of all publications are in error or just plain false. To quote from the article "It has been jarring to learn in recent years that a reproducible result may actually be the rarest of birds. Replication, the ability of another lab to reproduce a finding, is the gold standard of science, reassur