****Warning, what follows is phiolosophical rambling of the most blatant form !! Proceed at your own risk!!** ---------There be dragons beyond this point----------- Been ruminating a bit lately, on the matter of "reality" . Now , more than ever, it seems as though perception has become accepted, more and more, as "reality". I think this is a dangerous, and possibly fatal trend. To me, this seems on the face of it as fallacious, would seem as though it would fall somewhere under the Bandwagon fallacy. I could have googled this , but going on my recollection, Bandwagon fallacy is the falllacy that because everyone (the majority) agrees that something is true, it must be true..or something along that line? Then it would seem to me that something being "real" because it is percieved to be "real" would be similar to this, if not necesarily the same. Unfortunately, it often doesn't matter whether something is actually "reality" or only percieved as such. This basic fallacy is representative of a systemic problem in my opinion that might actually result ultimately in the end of civilization as we know it. What is he smoking? you say...(almost anything I can get my hands on..speaking cannabis wise..) , Even that , the rush to judge a statement based not on it's validity as stated, but rather on the percieved judgement of the "bona-fideness" of the speaker. Obviously fallacious in an ad-hominem sort of way... yet commonly practiced in society now, and taken almost for granted. But, back to my statement... because that's what's truly pertinent, what's being said...not who's saying it. What I am worried about, what makes me worry for my grandbabie's futures, and ultimately for our survival as a species, is that decisions are not generally being made based on fact anymore. This society that is maturing, and will be guiding and shepherding our future generations towards either growing, and multiplying as a species, or towards doom and destruction at the ultimate other end of the civilization spectrum. This society is made up of individual parts, us the people who live in this continuum that we call the world. The people who I see every day making decisions, taking actions which often seem illogical, illconcieved, or downright dangerous to their continued exixtence as individuals, and collectively would seem to theaten the existence of the human species as a whole. Now, I must make a concession here, as a man of 52 years of age I am experiencing a major generational gap. I often just don't get young people, and I think they often, just don't get me. This is obviously a matter of perception on my part, and theirs. A lot of it is factually based though in that we don't have a lot of shared historical, or environmental context. So, that makes communication and understanding difficult at best. I think this is a major factor across the board in society. Simply because, so much interaction is remote, or via text based forms of communication. This communication, since it lacks visual, verbal and other cues which were always present in in-person interaction is very suceptible to misinterpretation of meaning, and it is sometimes like a snowball rolling downhill, it only gathers momentum and the misunderstanding becomes greater as it goes. This is just one way that our future existence is threatened. One example, of how decisions made based on convenience rather than security, or percieved value rather than value which can be tested and proven or disproven logically can result in shaving just a bit of our total chance of survival as a species. I am worried that we, as a whole, are shaving a piece here, shrinking things a bit there, none of these things seem in themselves to mean much. But, if viewed in totality the reduction of our chances of survival as a whole is much greater I am afraid. This is all just supposition on my part. I am just "calling it as I see it". I believe that if it were properly researched and tested, peer reviewed, that my theory would hold up to logical scrutiny. Sorry if all this sounds like wah-wah-wah ...like the teacher on the Peanuts cartoons, incomprehensible..and incoherent. That is the downside I guess of reading so much at a young age... I sometimes use a lot af jargon, perhaps unnecesarily... or maybe that is just another symptom of a lack of higher thought in today's society... but now my argument has become circular in itself. I have become what I .... the word escapes me. It is a quote from the Untouchables, after : SPOILER ALERT: Kevin Costner's character has thrown his main protagonist off the roof... OK, I digress completely...and so I'll just bid you all adieu! Happy Halloween ! I hope you all percieve yourselves to have an awesome evening...and many more !
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