Robert J. Cordingley wrote circa 10/14/2010 07:21 AM: > What's curious is that he believes we get a better feel for reality and > human nature by reading novels ( = made up stuff). I definitely > wouldn't want to draw conclusions too strongly about life, the intellect > or the mind that is based on the fictional behavior of fictional characters.
I absolutely agree. In fact, what irritates me about humans is how trapped we are by our own conceited view of the world. While I enjoy navel-gazing as much as the next person, what I really enjoy is that feeling of "snapping out of it" ... when for whatever reason I break out of some mode of thought and into another. "Mode of thought" isn't the best way to put it, though ... perhaps "pattern of being" is better, but that's so vague and mystical. The best example I can come up with now is that feeling of competence I get when I sweat over something for a long period, finally rest, then come back to it and progress comes in leaps and bounds. That happens when I take a long ride on the motorcycle, say a 12 hour ride on Saturday, then when I hop on it Sunday to to go the grocery store, I _feel_ like I'm operating it at a whole new level of competence. But I've repeated that feeling enough for it to be predictable, now. The first time it happens in some particular context is the most enjoyable. These things seem way beyond the fictional exploits of fictional characters. But stories about enlightenment (e.g. Smullyan's "The Tao is Silent") come close. There are enough hooks to [emp|symp]athize with the author so that these feelings can be shared. The fundamentals of math have never brought these feelings to me; but it seems that I can relate to how their study might have brought them to Smullyan. I feel that if I _had_ (or were capable of having [grin]) worked as hard on the FOM as Smullyan has, then I would have those same feelings. And, I think this is probably what Epstein means. -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://agent-based-modeling.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
