Nick -

    And here I thought *I* was being "pithy", then you call me out on my lithp?!  ;^)

    The strawman arguments have started coming out, I wonder if anyone will gen up a steelman?

- tinman Steve



On 10/5/24 11:26 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
So in what sense and for what purposes is this pithy aphorism useful?  What exactly is the pith?

If a metaphor, what is truth in the metaphor, the positive analog.   Nobody ever said that all metaphors are /entirely/ wrong.

and yes, I am being pissy.

n




On Sat, Oct 5, 2024 at 11:04 AM steve smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote:

        All /Pithy Aphorisms/ are wrong, some are useful?

    On 10/5/24 9:06 AM, Prof David West wrote:
    my affection for the quote derives from a metaphorical reading,
    not a literal one. Something akin to Steve's differential rates
    of evolution. I also would have eschewed 'god like' in favor of
    'magical' ala Clarke's dictum about any sufficiently advanced
    technology.

    davew


    On Fri, Oct 4, 2024, at 8:46 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
    I think that this way of talking about emotions precludes
    careful thought.   First of all, neurologizing emotions is just
    to hide the pea under the wrong thimble. I don't think
    paleolithologizig helps much more. Glen is correct that,
    whatever an emotion is, its inputs  and outputs are
    ontogenetically and culturally determined.  So, fear, for
    instance, is a relation between something that we take to be
    threatening and something that we hope will be avoidance. Inputs
    and outputs are everything. The rest is  just arousal.

    N

    On Fri, Oct 4, 2024 at 7:01 PM steve smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote:

        Emotions/Limbic systems evolve at genetic rates,
        institutions evolve at
        social/cultural rates (maybe the fastest significant change can
        happen/resolve is in multiple lifetimes?) but technology is
        advancing at
        must faster rates?

        Or is this wrong(headed) also?

        On 10/4/24 3:43 PM, glen wrote:
        > None of that is true, however romantic it might sound.
        Depending on
        > how one defines "emotion", that smells the most true. But the
        > mechanisms of emotion are as coupled to current reality as
        is every
        > part of our bodies. To suggest that, say, the Space Force
        or methods
        > like quantitative easing are medieval is just nonsense.
        Technology is
        > more democratized than it has ever been. Granted, it takes
        (a lot) of
        > work to familiarize oneself with something like how GPS
        works or how
        > to NOT click on that phishing email. But to suggest that it's
        > "godlike" says more about the person than it does about
        the state of
        > technology.
        >
        > On 10/4/24 11:16, Prof David West wrote:
        >> /"The real problem of humanity is the following: we have
        Paleolithic
        >> emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.
        And it is
        >> terrifically dangerous."/ Edward O. Wilson.
        >>
        >
        >

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