[MD] Probability

[Case]

[Gene]
Ham, I think what Case might be getting at, it's certainly what I am at, and
what is causing such difficulty in this conversation is that you are all
about the cause, but Case seems to be all about the process. The Why and the
How if you will. I'm assuming this because at this point it seems like case
and I have many similar ideas, and I myself am much more interested in the
hows of Reality than the why.

[Case]
This is a fair assessment. I think Ham thinks How things happen is caused by
Why they Happen. But I think Why things happen emerges from How they Happen.


[Gene]
I freely and readily admit that your why is absolutely impeccable as such
things go, and I think it matches up very closely with my own ideas of why.
However I have found the Why to be a lot like geometry. I can use such an
example.

Euclidean geometry, as you might know, is based on 11 axioms, that are nor
provable, but simply Have to be true for geometry to work. Somehwat like the
assumptions we start with when coming up with a philosophy. However it was
shown in the 19th century(I believe) that you can reverse a couple of the
axioms and still retain a functioning geometry. Thus, non-euclidean
geometries were born. There are several gemoetries now, each different, each
useful, each correct. That's who I feel about the Cause of all things.

[Case]
And let me add that the REALLY important Greeks were not Socrates, Plato or
even Aristotle. The really big guns were Euclid, Pythagoras and Archimedes.

[Gene]
In conversations with friends about our views of Reality I've found that we
often have almost identical ideas except for a couple of assumptions, and
yet our Realities both work fine. Your cause is very very good, but does it
matter? Does the idea of Essense do anything for me? Is it of use? Man is
the measure of ideas, and ideas that are not useful are like kitch, nice to
look at and play around with, but no real function.

It seems like examining the How of reality, how it works, how it came to be
and how it changes is of much more use. It allows to function in Reality
better, it allows us to understand more.

What does essentialism Do for me?

[Case]
Well synchronicity wants to provide you with some serendipity. Go do the
exercises in The Game of Life thread and tell us what that does for you.