Category Archives: Philosophy

We Inhabit Different Realities

Posted on by
19

Quote of the Day

Quantum mechanics presents a view of reality in which we inhabit many worlds at once. As the political scientist Alexander Wendt has put it in Quantum Mind and Social Science, we are “walking wave functions,” which “collapse” at decisive moments, when everyone is forced to accept the same reality, but in a way that reconfigures each person’s view of how the past was and the future will be. Niels Bohr introduced the word “incommensurability,” which Thomas Kuhn popularized, to characterize the kind of “coherence” involved here. For example, Galileo could imagine living in both a geocentric and a heliocentric world, until his telescopic observations convinced him of the latter. At that moment, he started living exclusively in the heliocentric world and proceeded so much in that way that he eventually faced a Papal Inquisition.

Steve Fuller
September 2, 2026
We don’t have different perspective, we inhabit different realities | Steve Fuller » IAI TV

A summary of the article:

We tend to think we live in a shared reality, with differences in how we experience the world attributed to differences in perspective. But according to philosopher and founder of social epistemology, Steve Fuller, this is a radical mistake. Breakthroughs in neuroscience, quantum mechanics, and AI show that we don’t have different perspectives on the same reality. We inhabit different realities altogether.

I’m not complete sold on this but I’m willing to say I find very little to disagree with him on this topic. And using this framework as a model for human behavior could be very useful. I’ll have to think on this some more.

One of the first thoughts that come to mind is how gun owners versus gun grabber’s view firearms.

Gun owners tend to think of them as defensive tools used to protect innocent lives and their property. Government confiscation of firearms is viewed as enabling enslavement and/or genocide.

Gun grabbers tend think of firearms as tools of criminals to commit violent crime. Government confiscation of firearms is viewed as reducing violent crime and even reducing the number of criminals. There is no downside to gun confiscation if the ignorant, stupid, deplorables would just turn their guns in without a fuss.

These two groups live in irreconcilable realities and live their lives immersed in them without significant discomfort or desire to challenge their beliefs.

Random Thought of the Day

Posted on by

If the Golden Rule* were really true, then men sending pictures of their genitals to women would be praised rather than scorned.

* Matthew 7:12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.”

See also what Copilot has to say on the topic with some related alternative rules.

Deep Thoughts

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

Dustin @r0ck3t23
Posted on X July 13, 2026

Reality is tough. Really, really tough. The revealing of reality could be the toughest problem of all time.

I’ve said this many times before and frequently remind people at work: We have to formulate the correct problem statement to solve the problem.

I’m not convinced Musk has formulated the correct problem statement. But I am certain I do not have a better one.

Stay Dangerous, Stay Good

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

The Second Amendment is not about “gun culture.” It is not about hunting, sporting clays, or weekend range days.

It is the final, unbreakable firewall that keeps every other right from becoming a temporary privilege granted, or revoked, by those in power.

The Founders placed it second only to speech because they had just overthrown a government that tried to disarm them. They understood a brutal historical truth: an armed, trained citizenry is the one thing tyrants fear most. Without it, speech becomes punishable, assembly becomes rebellion, and due process becomes whatever the regime decides.

In 2026, some still call the 2A “outdated.” They ignore the clear, repeating pattern of history. When governments disarm their people, tragedy does not follow by accident, it follows by design. The right to keep and bear arms is the one right that ensures We the People remain the ultimate check on power, not the other way around.

Here is some examples of what happens when that line falls:

  • Ottoman Empire / Turkey – Gun registration and disarmament laws by 1911. Armenian Genocide (1915–1917): 1.5 million Armenians (plus hundreds of thousands of Assyrians and Greeks) systematically murdered in just 3 years.
  • Soviet Union – Gun control enacted 1929. Stalin’s regime (1929–1953): ~20 million dissidents, kulaks, and civilians killed through executions, engineered famines, Gulags, and deportations in 24 years.
  • Nazi Germany – Tightened gun laws and mass disarmament of Jews and political opponents (1938). Holocaust and related atrocities (1939–1945): ~13 million Jews and others exterminated in 6 years.
  • Communist China – Strict gun control inherited and enforced after 1949. Mao’s regime (1949–1976): 40–65 million dead from Great Leap Forward famine, Cultural Revolution purges, and mass executions in 27 years.
  • Cambodia (Khmer Rouge) – Full civilian disarmament upon seizing power 1975. Pol Pot’s regime (1975–1979): 1.5–2.8 million Cambodians (roughly 25% of the population) slaughtered or starved in just 4 years.

These are not isolated tragedies. They are the documented pattern: disarm the people first, then the atrocities become possible because resistance becomes impossible.

The Second Amendment was written precisely to prevent this from ever happening here. It is not a suggestion. It is not conditional. It is “shall not be infringed” for a reason that history proves in blood.

That is why we train without apology.

That is why we carry daily.

That is why we fight every single incremental step, because once the guns are gone, the graves fill quickly.

The 2A is not about guns.
It is about ensuring that liberty never becomes optional again.

We can not let that line fall.

Stay dangerous, stay good.

RedBeard @HargusJeremy
Posted on X, April 15, 2026

I wish I could write like that.

Millimeter by millimeter

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

Lead author Dr Jyoti Singh, from UCL Chemistry, said: “Imagine the day that chemists might take simple, small molecules, consisting of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur atoms, and from these LEGO pieces form molecules capable of self-replication. This would be a monumental step towards solving the question of life’s origin.

“Our study brings us closer to that goal by demonstrating how two primordial chemical LEGO pieces (activated amino acids and RNA) could have built peptides**, short chains of amino acids that are essential to life.

“What is particularly groundbreaking is that the activated amino acid used in this study is a thioester, a type of molecule made from Coenzyme A, a chemical found in all living cells. This discovery could potentially link metabolism, the genetic code and protein building.”

While the paper focuses solely on the chemistry, the research team said that the reactions they demonstrated could plausibly have taken place in pools or lakes of water on the early Earth (but not likely in the oceans as the concentrations of the chemicals would likely be too diluted).

University College London
August 28, 2025
Scientists recreate life’s first step: Linking amino acids to RNA | ScienceDaily

Millimeter by millimeter, the onion is being peeled back on some of the most difficult puzzles this world has to offer us.

Who is Ayn Rand?

Posted on by

Via email from The Atlas Society:

I read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged about my Freshman year of high school. With that one book, second only to Robert Heinlein, she made a very deep, life-long impression on me.

It was between my Junior and Senior years of high school I read my first Heinlein book, Stranger in a Strange Land. During college I read most of Heinlein’s books and many of his short stories. I still remember the vehicle I was driving and where on 116th NE in Bellevue I was when I heard on the radio that Robert Heinlein had died.

It was later when I was in my late 20’s through mid 30’s that I read more of Rand. I didn’t know her other works existed until they were pointed out to me by Susan K. I am still grateful for Susan’s guidance with Rand and George H. Smith’s Atheism: The Case Against God.

Over the years I have read all Rand’s books and some of her essays and scholarly papers. Her works still resonate with me. My one big quibble with her is what she apparently believed is the perfect sexual relationship between women and men is repugnant to me. I see it as something closer to rape than a respectful relationship between equals.

I hope her works continue to be an inspiration and philosophical guideposts for people everywhere.

You Often Have to be Standing in Left Field

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

There’s always something to be learned, different approaches and solutions to consider, sometimes an idea can come completely out of left field. But you often have to be standing in left field to see it. You can’t see shit from the dugout.

PG
December 29, 2024
Via email.

Apply whenever, wherever, and however it is appropriate.

People Have their Own Falsehoods

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

Democrats didn’t like what voters told them on election night, and they don’t seem to like hearing what they have to say to each other in the fallout. 

If they want to avoid defeat and become a reasonable party again, they will have to learn how to listen to each other, and their voters, again. 

Max Thornberry
November 24, 2024
Democrats turn on each other in battle for soul of the party

I get it that reality is tough. But reality eventually wins.

This gets back to something I have been saying for years. There is a process by which one can determine truth from falsity. Many people not only don’t use a process, but they also can’t comprehend that such a process exists.

For some people truth is what they believe. Many people have beliefs which not only lack evidence but are in despite of evidence. They may not say this explicitly, but they use phrases that mean that. My “favorites” are variations of “people have their own truths.”

It would be more accurate to say, “people have their own falsehoods.” There is some ultimate truth “out there.” But frequently it is tough, really tough, to get at it. Some people have beliefs much closer to truth/reality, but ultimately it boils down to people believe different falsehoods.

Just because everyone is “wrong” it does not mean everyone is equally wrong. I think this truth escapes the majority of the Democrat Party leaders. They can correctly find flaws in the in their political opponents’ beliefs. This does not mean the Democrat Party belief system is correct or even better.

Political Philosophy Questions

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

Are individuals a means to social ends or an end in themselves?

Is society supposed to serve individuals or do individuals serve society?

Do conscience and reason function at the individual or the collective level?

These are the questions of our time.

Alice Smith (@TheAliceSmith)
Posted on X, August 13, 2022

I think the answers are obvious, but these are political philosophical questions I will let you answer on your own.

Is this a Good Idea?

Posted on by

I am very interested in the results of these experiments. I don’t think there is a result which changes my overall behavior. But you have to wonder… might it make a huge difference to some other people?

Physicists Are Conducting Five Experiments To Determine Whether We Are Really Living In A Simulation

A team of physicists from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a Canadian university is carrying out five quantum physics experiments to determine whether we are living in a computer-simulated virtual reality.

Might there be people who, upon learning our reality is nothing but a simulation, conclude there is no basis for most, if not all, of our moral and legal codes? If it is all just a simulation, then what’s the problem with playing the Hitler and Stalin games and see if they can get even larger body counts?

Words of Wisdom

Posted on by

From my 40 year old collection of quotes:

Once upon a time, there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter.  However, soon after the weather turned cold, the sparrow changed his mind and reluctantly started to fly south.  After a short time, ice began to form his on his wings and he fell to earth in a barnyard almost frozen.  A cow passed by and crapped on this little bird and the sparrow thought it was the end, but the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings.  Warm and happy the little sparrow began to sing.  Just then, a large Tom cat came by and hearing the chirping investigated the sounds.  As Old Tom cleared away the manure, he found the chirping bird and promptly ate him.

There are three morals to this story:

1)  Everyone who shits on you is not necessarily your enemy.
2)  Everyone who gets you out of shit is not necessarily your friend.
3)  If you are warm and happy in a pile of shit, keep your mouth shut.

There is another moral told indirectly by this story: Chesteron’s Fence.

There is No Free Will So Behave Accordingly

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

The world is really screwed up and made much, much more unfair by the fact that we reward people and punish people for things they have no control over. We’ve got no free will. Stop attributing stuff to us that isn’t there.

Robert Sapolsky
Stanford University neurobiologist
October 17, 2023
Stanford scientist, after decades of study, concludes: We don’t have free will

I’m unconvinced this is true, but I understand how such a conclusion can be defended. Perhaps I should read his book. But what is most interesting to me, as pointed out in the article, is that people who come to believe this claim end make changes in their lives which are detrimental to themselves and others:

Even if the range of potential outcomes is limited, there’s simply too much variability at play to think of our behavior as predetermined.

What’s more, he said, it’s harmful to do so.

“Those who push the idea that we are nothing but deterministic biochemical puppets are responsible for enhancing psychological suffering and hopelessness in this world,” Tse said.

…

A widely cited 2008 study found that people who read passages dismissing the idea of free will were more likely to cheat on a subsequent test. Other studies have found that people who feel less control over their actions care less about making mistakes in their work, and that disbelief in free will leads to more aggression and less helpfulness.

All this makes me wonder… Is belief in free will is an evolutionary survival of the fittest response?

And further more, even if you were to know there is no such thing as free will, you (paradox alert!) should choose to behave as if you have free will.

Gifted People

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

Most people live in an inner reality that is only very tenuously related to actual reality. To be capable of achieving that level of self-delusion must be nice. We’re all capable of it to a degree… but some people are very gifted.

Sebastian @SebastianSNBQ
Xeeted on August 2, 2023

Today I was to a coworker on almost this same topic. Smart people can be very convincing about their delusions.

Do you want to break through the delusion or at least determine for yourself if they are delusional or perhaps more closely in touch with reality than you?

Ask this question of both them and yourself, “What is the process by which you determine truth from falsity?” Then compare the two processes as applied to your current situation.

Imagine the Other Side

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

Many ppl can’t imagine what it’s like to be the opposing side; you subconsciously imagine the other people must ‘feel’ evil or not ‘really’ believe what they claim, and since you yourself *don’t* feel evil and *do* feel genuine belief, this is quiet proof that you must be right.

Aella (@Aella_Girl)
Tweeted on May 31, 2023

Did Hitler, Stalin, and their followers think they were evil? If not, then how do you know that you are not evil? Perhaps opposition to one and/or both of national socialism and world socialism is evil. Perhaps support of one and/or both is evil. How do you know?

How do you determine truth from falsity?

Philosophy. Who Needs it?

All interesting stuff.

Thinking Critically is Obsolete

Posted on by

Quote of the Day

We no longer know how to think critically. Subjectivity and nihilism rule supreme: the deranged, post-modernist woke cargo cult claims that there no longer is truth, just our truths. Ideas are at best positional goods, fashion statements and markers of social hierarchy, and at worst tools of oppression.

Allister Heath
May 31, 2023
The idiot West is sleeping as the end of the world draws near

Rational thought is a relatively recent innovation in humans and is nothing but a thin dressing over a mixed fruit salad of emotions. And as I have pointed out even that thin dressing could be said to be lacking in many, perhaps most, people today:

As I have said before:

We do not share a common basis for communication or for determining reality. We share the same planet but they are in a different world. So of course they get angry with us. In their minds we are aliens in a turf war with them.

Quote of the day—DonKilmer @donkilmer

Posted on by

Civilization itself rests on an understanding of when, why, and how violence is essential to preserving the peace.

DonKilmer @donkilmer
Tweeted on December 25, 2022
[See also, why the gun is civilization.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Noah @noah_anyname

Posted on by

There’s no law saying you’re entitled to your own beliefs.

Noah @noah_anyname
Tweeted on December 18, 2022
[Via a tweet by In Chains @InChainsInJail.

From reading his blog he doesn’t appear be that stupid, but this guy is mind bogglingly ignorant on philosophy and law. I wonder what color the sky is in his universe.—Joe]

Ethical question never discussed in Sunday School

Posted on by

Is it ethical for researchers to fertilize a human egg with Neanderthal sperm?

Uhh… that is something I never heard discussed in Sunday School.

Quote of the day—Alice Smith @TheAliceSmith

Posted on by

Liberty without responsibility is decadence.

Responsibility without liberty is slavery.

Lack of liberty and responsibility is childishness.

Alice Smith @TheAliceSmith
Tweeted on June 26, 2022
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Reality is tough

Posted on by

You hear the phrase “two movies, one screen”, right? People perceive what they expect/want to perceive. This makes it really tough to be in touch with reality. You may think, “Not for me!” I’m not so sure. Watch and listen to this:

These sort of things demonstrate the difficulty of distinguishing between truth and falsity. It takes a great deal of effort to change minds, even when the facts are overwhelming, because people’s brains get hardwired into thinking about something in a particular way.

My mom learned to do subtraction in a different way that what was taught in my elementary school. She could not help me learn how to subtract like Mrs. Cole was teaching it. She asked Dad to help me. After I learned to subtract I asked Mom to show me her way. It was incomprehensible to me. Dad could not understand it either. She got the right answers, but she could not understand our method either.

I came up with a different way of viewing exterior ballistics problems. Someone who was taught the traditional way is completely confused by my method. I understand how they do it but my way is simpler and has broader application. I can teach either way to newbies just fine. But teaching it to someone who has done it conventionally will result in their total confusion.

It’s obvious to some people that banning guns will save lives. The facts don’t matter because elimination of “gun deaths” mean fewer people are dying, right? Their brains have become hardwired down a particular path. Once they start down that path it is a slippery slope to the same conclusion regardless of the factual obstacles presented.

Spooky action at a distance is a very difficult concept. It just “can’t be true”. But it is.

Socialism/communism must be the most tested and failed political system ever. Yet people believe the false reality.

Reality is really, really tough. For everyone. I’m sure there are countless examples all around us that no one has yet properly deciphered and we all believe one or more flavors of falsehood about it. It may even take a generation or two after the truth is discovered before people are comfortable thinking in terms of the “new reality” and people laugh at “the things people used to believe”.