William Essex
  • About Us
  • About Me
  • Dear Diary
  • Books (and other stories)
  • This takes you to Medium Dot Com

The REM state of reason

11/8/2017

0 Comments

 
Whether or not a hypothesis can be falsified is not the point. It's a point, but not the point. The human mind comes up with gods as well as monsters, moralities as well as their opposites. It can't prosper if it is limited to the middle ground between the two. Pace Carl Sagan (The Demon-Haunted World, Random House, 1995), I'm happy with the dragon in my garage, and when I think about it, I'm not concerned with proving it true or false.
     Deferring also to Karl Popper (various, but let's go with The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Routledge, 1959), susceptibility to falsification does not imply an obligation to falsify; quite the opposite, IMH(sic)O. The human mind, the creative imagination, does not perform most effectively under test conditions. It is there to be encouraged, guided, educated in the possibilities of the world, the universe, and if you like, the Creation. Not stopped. Not met with contradiction. In our understanding of everything around us, I suspect, we are as children. 
     The dragon in Carl Sagan's garage may (or may not) have died with him, but the dragon in my garage is still keeping me busy. We don't make progress by identifying what can't be done. We don't innovate by placing sensible limits on our creativity.

Picture
Long before the road was built, the owner of Gyllyngdune House and its Gardens in Falmouth, the Reverend Coope, built this as a place to meditate. See also the picture below. In the distance is Pendennis Castle.

Mind you, if we're looking for revealing inconsistencies in human behaviour, the opposition of organised science to the wilder shores of imagined truth pales into insignificance next to the opposition of organised religion to spirituality. In the West, whole studio discussions about religion and its purpose can go by without mention of the Deity. What are we suppressing when we organise ourselves - sorry, organise each other?

Picture
Known as the 'Chapel', apparently, although not in any formal way adopted for that purpose. Bottom right.

Not that this means anything necessarily, and I'm only mentioning it because it just came into my head, but I've noticed that ghosts are going viral. By which I don't mean that they're everywhere (although ... cue creepy music), but that these days, formerly supernatural afflictions have become viruses. Today's vampire, or zombie, is as likely to be infected by a virus as to have been bitten by something (that's great; keep playing!) from beyond the grave. Am I watching the wrong box sets?   
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Dear Diary: The Archive

    April 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    April 2024
    July 2023
    March 2023
    May 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011



No animals were harmed in the making of this website. Other websites are available online (and off). All the content here is copyright William Essex, this year, last year, the year before that and, you guessed it, the year before that, although I don't have the time right now to hunt out that little symbol. This website uses organic ingredients and respects your privacy. Come back some time.

Promoted by T&F CLP on behalf of William Essex at PO Box 16, Jubilee Wharf, Commercial Road, Penryn TR10 8GF.​