[MD] subject/object: pragmatism

[Platt Holden]

> [Platt]
> Well, dude, if you'll explain how your Kuhnian paradigm shifts have changed
> Pirsig's metaphysics, Ham's philosophy or even Plato's Ideals (which a
> physicist like Roger Penrose believes in)  I'll be glad to listen.  (I can't
> speak for Ham, of course.) 
> 
> [Krimel]
> I think he saw it but didn't have the tools to apply it. Again a finger
> pointing at he knows not what. 
> 
> "Since a metaphysics is essentially a kind of dialectical definition and
> since Quality is essentially outside definition, this means that a
> 'Metaphysics of Quality' is essentially a contradiction in terms, a logical
> absurdity. It would be almost like a mathematical definition of randomness.
> The more you try to say what randomness is the less random it becomes."

[Platt]
This strikes me as an ordinary paradox having nothing to do with paradigm 
shifts. 
 
> [Platt]
> Offhand it sems to me you have your work cut out in showing how chaos 
> theory or whatever supports your moral allegiance to  feeding the hungry and
> healing the sick, a paradigm that's been around for at least 2,000 years.
> 
> [Krimel]
> So you think we as a people should ignore the sick and hungry?

[Platt]
We as a people should encourage people to be responsible for themselves. 
But what has that got to do with chaos theory?

> [Platt]
> And if as you say we instantly estimate probabilities at the pre-
> intellectual level to get along in the everyday world of life and living,
> why be concerned with some esoteric scientific paradigm regarding QM and
> chaos theory? As you've agreed (I think) there is more to this world than is
> dreamt of in the scientific worldview. 
> 
> [Krimel]
> Because formalizing what we do instinctively improves efficiency. It betters
> our probability estimates.

[Platt]
It does?  Can you cite some examples where QM and/or chaos theory
improves the efficiency of our daily lives? I haven't notice much 
improvement in weather forecasting over the years if that's what you have 
in mind. Maybe there are uses for the theories in scientific labs and  
engineering, but I can't imagine much application by me or the average non-
technical dude.