Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

6 anni fa · 1 min. di lettura · ~10 ·

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A Few Thoughts on Truth and Our Ability to Access It

A Few Thoughts on Truth and Our Ability to Access It

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Recently Flavio Suza posted a very nice article about truth, so I'd like to give my 2 cents on the topic too.


Truth is probably the most misunderstood thing these days. With the plague of fake news that's been diluting the facts with "alternative facts" (or just untrue things in general), it's hard to really know what's true and what's not.


Interestingly, when it comes to statements, Logicians (scientists who delve in the field of Logic, usually in an academic setting) never talk about truth. "A statement is either valid or invalid," a professor of UCL once told me, during a meeting I had with him a few years back. However, as attractive this insight may be to the mind, it doesn't offer much value in our everyday lives.


We need certainties in our lives in order to function well and exhibit confidence in whatever we do. Things that may make sense to us intellectually are oftentimes not enough to help us navigate the storms of life when a loved one is diagnosed with a fatal disease, for example, or when we end up unemployed due to a financial crisis. Ideas are great, but usually not enough and getting attached to them through an ivory tower kind of lifestyle isn't going to help anyone, at least not in the long run.


One thing I've learned through all my travels and experiences is that true knowledge, knowledge that actually changes things and is helpful in times of distress, is not acquired through books. Knowledge that channels truth and is able to help us grow and adapt, this kind of knowledge that's actually worth pursuing, stems from conscious experience. This is often referred to in Gnostic literature, as well as the Buddhist tradition (particularly the teachings about mindfulness). After all, the one thing that we can be truly certain about and that no amount of fake news can affect is our own conscious experience of the world. Others may not share it, but that's the one thing that no matter what, will always remain true to us, and potentially to others eventually.

#Flavio Suza #Thoughts #Truth #Logic #Logicians
Commenti

Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

6 anni fa #11

#18
Yep, the French saying is relevant here too! The way I see it, the truth we can be certain about is always based on our direct observations. As our perception widens and deepens, we can observe more and do so more accurately. This way, our truth is applicable to a larger number of people, approaching what is called objective truth. However, due to our inherent limitations as a species, we may never grasp the full objective truth. As another saying goes, "what is true for the mortals, is but a half-truth for the gods."

Ian Weinberg

6 anni fa #10

The facts about facts or the truth about truth, is all relative. Near the bottom of the pile of truth is what you personally believe. But right at the bottom of the pile is dogma: the belief in a belief that other believers prescribed to you – like religious fanatics or fanatical evolutionists or experts! Somewhere in the middle are those that subscribe to logical evaluation and/or rational investigation. So what’s at the top of the pile ....? At the top of the pile are those that view themselves, others and the environment from many points of view and in multiple contexts. Here we come the closest to the truth about truth ... provided we accept that it’s changing all the time. But the more it changes, the more it stays the same!

Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

6 anni fa #9

#13
No. But perhaps we can learn that trait too. There is no reason why it has to be congruent with inanimate creatures only...

Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

6 anni fa #8

#11
In hierarchical clustering, an unsupervised learning methodology, we start with a lot of clusters (or tribes, if you will). Then gradually there is a merging of these clusters until at the end there is but a single cluster. If data can do this, perhaps we can do it too :-)

Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

6 anni fa #7

#8
Give it a few centuries. Then humanity will come to its senses...

Lyon Brave

6 anni fa #6

...We need certainties in our lives in order to function well and exhibit confidence in whatever we do... a truth

Ali Anani

6 anni fa #5

very engaging post Zacharias \ud83d\udc1d Voulgaris covered my thoughts in his subtle comment. If I may add one thought is quoting "Truth is Beauty and Beauty is Truth". There are many things in life that are one directional and the reverse isn't true necessarily. For example, there shall be no rain if the sky isn't cloudy. The reverse isn't necessary true as it the sky may be cloudy, but may not rain. Here we have beauty and truth valid in both directions. if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, would still beauty always mean truth? Sometimes I feel those who are deprived of internal beauty shall see nothing beautiful and therefore truth is absent from their realization.

Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

6 anni fa #4

BTW, I just remembered a very nice quote from S. Coleridge: "Truth is Beauty and Beauty is Truth. That's all you know and all you need to know." I find it quite beautiful (and truthful)...

Harvey Lloyd

6 anni fa #3

A discussion of truth. Food for thought and maybe a thought or two.

Harvey Lloyd

6 anni fa #2

In my travels and enterprises i have seen that truth is personal, but there seems to be an undeniable need for shared truth. Individual truth may be solid but can be shaken when it cant be shared. This is the rub within humanity. With age comes wisdom at some level. A life of drifting truth where the latest fads tend to alter your reality within truth, or the other end where your truth must be solid and never changing regardless of the gaining of wisdom. From my perspective truth has two levels of existence. The value level. The extrinsic level where the values are executed. The value level should be slow to change and should be defined internally. These values should be true over time, they should not waver nor should they be considered purely self satisfying. The extrinsic truth is where these values are related to our social interactions. These can change quite rapidly and represent our value system regardless of implementation. This truth can become very competitive which will test your system of values. Its only when we lift competition and focus our values on purpose can we extrinsically be successful. Purpose has many truths depending on what the team is trying to achieve. But these truths can not go against the value system regardless of purpose. Extrinsic truth comes in all flavors, it is when these truths become our values that humanity will suffer. I can share an extrinsic truth through purpose up too the point values are challenged. We need to alter the truth in purpose or its no deal. We may disagree on the extrinsic truth, but we must share the value of humans are the main purpose. If the extrinsic truth alters this concept then no deal or truth will become fake.

Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

6 anni fa #1

Here is the link to Flavio's article btw: https://www.bebee.com/producer/@flavio-souza-t-ky-to/the-truth-nothing-more

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