[MD] Probability

[Case]

[Platt]
Another example of an absolute truth -- "Absolute truth is impossible 
to determine."

[Case]
No, I have said repeatedly, is it True beyond a reasonable doubt that there
is no Absolute Truth. This is not an Absolute Statement. It is a statement
of probability that allows for the possibility that an Absolute Truth could
come knocking on the door. One more time only slowly here: It is true by the
standards of truth set by courts of law and the scientific community that
nothing is absolutely true. But both allow for the possibility of error or
falsifiability.  

[Platt]
I have given dozens of examples of absolute truths that you yourself 
have asserted, like "Absolute Truth is impossible to determine." 

[Case]
You said at one point that birth and death are absolute truth. It was
explained to you several times that you may believe that you were born but
there are alternative explanations that call the absolute truth of this
statement into question and which you can not refute. You say you were born
and I say, you may just be a brain in a vat programmed to believe certain
things. All of your input is regulated so that the appearance of the world
is indistinguishable from the way the world appears according to the world
view you now operate under. Nothing observable or testable would change in
your perception if you were just a brain in a vat. Saying that this is
fictional is not a refutation of the argument. I say you are wrong I say
that the world is 20 mins old and everything you know is a memory implanted
by clever demons. What proof can you offer that your view is correct?

[Platt]
How do you are know "this is happening" now if, as you have stated, you are
not certain you are conscious?

[Case]
I don't. I explained at length that NOW is at once the moment of absolute
certainty and at the same time in principle inaccessible to us. I said that
we as organisms have evolved a nervous system that records and constructs a
representation of the physical world. This reconstruction allows us to
escape from the sequential nature of time and space. It gives us random
access to the past and allows us to speculate about the future. That is it
makes us conscious.

Consciousness is the estimation of probabilities and operating on the basis
of those estimates.
 

[Platt]
Do you not understand logical self-contradiction?

[Case]
Yes but you do not understand Gödel. And to anticipate your response: I have
explained the significance of this at least three times to you. Perhaps you
should do a bit of homework. 

[Platt]
What do you mean "of substance?"

[Case]
Asked a challenging question.
Made a cogent observation.
Suggested an alternative view point.
Shown the slightest appreciation for the issues at hand...