I've been finding myself surprised at just how much I've pulled away from rationality in favor of emotion. I find it hard to see an argument against doing so as I just don't see rationality having any sort of value anymore. I've noticed my ability to effectively talk in an evidence based debate has nosedived because, honestly, I just don't care about evidence anymore. Not for certain things anyways. And I have started wondering if there is any point at all in ever trying to care about what's true when you're just gonna die anyways.
I think it's my sheer hatred of reality that's really fostered this change. Something that I think was at odds with my desire to be correct rather than just believing what made me feel better. Reality is a hellscape as far as I'm concerned. I can't even believe that I ever cared about knowing what was "real" and what wasn't. Now I only care about what I want to be real. Which isn't the same as believing in it. I'm fully capable of recognizing that I can't fly or do any of the magic that I want right now. But I no longer look at that as a product of reality but rather a failing on my part. Or at least an indication that I just haven't figured things out yet.
Traditional rationalism, or at least what passes as it these days, holds that I should have given up on my quest for magic years ago because its simply impossible in the first place. But there's no way I could ever do that because I won't accept a reality without magic. I will, in effect, never believe that it's not possible. Which sometimes makes me wonder how I'm any different than a religious fundamentalist. Which then makes me wonder whether I should even care?
The schism with rationalism for me is that it's a fundamentally submissive way of thinking. You are only allowed to believe what's "real" regardless of your feelings about it. With phrases like "Our beliefs do not shape reality but reality should shape our beliefs." My issue with that is that its nothing but a form of "might makes right". Reality should be listened to because it's stronger than you are. It has the ability to force its arbitrary rules on you and you're too weak to resist.
I don't think I've ever really been an academically smart person. Some people would probably disagree with that, even today, but really I don't think the way my mind works would ever be conducive to academia. Through my transformation, which is necessary for my magic training, I've remembered that my mind is far more geared towards instant results rather than statistics.
Personally I don't think science has made the world any better. sure people live longer and all that but who cares since you're just dead anyways. It's not like "curing death" or uploading your mind into a robot or anything is ever going to change that either. Nor would reincarnation or anything similar. It just makes all finite amounts of time pointless. Or at least not things worth caring too much about, since they will end at some point, so might as well act like they're already over.
My reaction to ideas or even proof that goes against how I want reality to go is increasingly "that's stupid" rather than trying to work with it. It's not that I deny the results, its just that I think they're dumb and should be different. And I don't really see anything wrong with that. I mean, why should I care about the "proper" patterns of reality when those patterns aren't what I want them to be? Why should I care about them especially in cases where they are, allegedly, completely counter to what I want and make achieving my goals potentially impossible? What did rationality do for me? Nothing. It actually made things worse.
My mind at this point only sees one valid reality and increasingly does not care about whether I'm in it or not. I honestly can't see any reason to change this mindset, I don't see what rationality could possibly do to improve things for me.
(2019-07-19, 12:33 AM)Mediochre Wrote: [ -> ]I've been finding myself surprised at just how much I've pulled away from rationality in favor of emotion. I find it hard to see an argument against doing so as I just don't see rationality having any sort of value anymore. I've noticed my ability to effectively talk in an evidence based debate has nosedived because, honestly, I just don't care about evidence anymore. Not for certain things anyways. And I have started wondering if there is any point at all in ever trying to care about what's true when you're just gonna die anyways.
I think it's my sheer hatred of reality that's really fostered this change. Something that I think was at odds with my desire to be correct rather than just believing what made me feel better. Reality is a hellscape as far as I'm concerned. I can't even believe that I ever cared about knowing what was "real" and what wasn't. Now I only care about what I want to be real. Which isn't the same as believing in it. I'm fully capable of recognizing that I can't fly or do any of the magic that I want right now. But I no longer look at that as a product of reality but rather a failing on my part. Or at least an indication that I just haven't figured things out yet.
Traditional rationalism, or at least what passes as it these days, holds that I should have given up on my quest for magic years ago because its simply impossible in the first place. But there's no way I could ever do that because I won't accept a reality without magic. I will, in effect, never believe that it's not possible. Which sometimes makes me wonder how I'm any different than a religious fundamentalist. Which then makes me wonder whether I should even care?
The schism with rationalism for me is that it's a fundamentally submissive way of thinking. You are only allowed to believe what's "real" regardless of your feelings about it. With phrases like "Our beliefs do not shape reality but reality should shape our beliefs." My issue with that is that its nothing but a form of "might makes right". Reality should be listened to because it's stronger than you are. It has the ability to force its arbitrary rules on you and you're too weak to resist.
I don't think I've ever really been an academically smart person. Some people would probably disagree with that, even today, but really I don't think the way my mind works would ever be conducive to academia. Through my transformation, which is necessary for my magic training, I've remembered that my mind is far more geared towards instant results rather than statistics.
Personally I don't think science has made the world any better. sure people live longer and all that but who cares since you're just dead anyways. It's not like "curing death" or uploading your mind into a robot or anything is ever going to change that either. Nor would reincarnation or anything similar. It just makes all finite amounts of time pointless. Or at least not things worth caring too much about, since they will end at some point, so might as well act like they're already over.
My reaction to ideas or even proof that goes against how I want reality to go is increasingly "that's stupid" rather than trying to work with it. It's not that I deny the results, its just that I think they're dumb and should be different. And I don't really see anything wrong with that. I mean, why should I care about the "proper" patterns of reality when those patterns aren't what I want them to be? Why should I care about them especially in cases where they are, allegedly, completely counter to what I want and make achieving my goals potentially impossible? What did rationality do for me? Nothing. It actually made things worse.
My mind at this point only sees one valid reality and increasingly does not care about whether I'm in it or not. I honestly can't see any reason to change this mindset, I don't see what rationality could possibly do to improve things for me.
You echo the sentiments of many people. People see the world not as it Is, but as they wish it to be.
I think of rationality as following logic, which I'd distinguish from the materialist/physicalist faith that says magic is impossible?
(2019-07-19, 12:35 PM)Sciborg_S_Patel Wrote: [ -> ]I think of rationality as following logic, which I'd distinguish from the materialist/physicalist faith that says magic is impossible?
I know what magic is though for precision sake define what you mean so no one inserts their own definition.
(2019-07-19, 01:11 PM)Steve001 Wrote: [ -> ]I know what magic is though for precision sake define what you mean so no one inserts their own definition.
The magic OP has been talking about across multiple posts.
(2019-07-19, 01:13 PM)Sciborg_S_Patel Wrote: [ -> ]The magic OP has been talking about across multiple posts.
Of the Harry Potter school I see. Or bending reality according to ones will.
(2019-07-19, 12:09 PM)Steve001 Wrote: [ -> ]You echo the sentiments of many people. People see the world not as it Is, but as they wish it to be.
No, I see what's there, I just think it's retarded. The same way I could see a screen door on a submarine and think its retarded. I don't go the extra step into the naturalism fallacy and say that because reality is this way that it's therefore the way I should want it to be. It's not, it's stupid across the board and should be changed.
(2019-07-19, 01:23 PM)Steve001 Wrote: [ -> ]Of the Harry Potter school I see. Or bending reality according to ones will.
That is certainly the goal.
(2019-07-19, 12:35 PM)Sciborg_S_Patel Wrote: [ -> ]I think of rationality as following logic, which I'd distinguish from the materialist/physicalist faith that says magic is impossible?
I suppose that's more what this is about. But these days I find that I will only accept one answer for certain questions of "is it real". Heat death for example, is really stupid, and that's the only basis I need to reject its inevitability. I believe in principle that there's some way to make it not happen. The same for magic, Even if somehow I got irrefutable proof that it couldn't be done, I wouldn't change my stance on it. I'd just go "that's really dumb" and keep pushing for it anyways until I made it real. The list goes on, faster than light travel and teleportation, energy-mass conversion, and so forth. Regardless of what any data shows I will only accept the possibility of them being real since it's better than them not being real. Since my reactions are going to be one sided anyways, what's the point even asking the question in the first place? That's why I'm starting to wonder about the value of rationality at its core. But granted I guess I'm still using it for all these conclusions so I still value it somewhat, or at least in some limited way in some circumstances.
(2019-07-19, 12:33 AM)Mediochre Wrote: [ -> ]I've been finding myself surprised at just how much I've pulled away from rationality in favor of emotion. I find it hard to see an argument against doing so as I just don't see rationality having any sort of value anymore. I've noticed my ability to effectively talk in an evidence based debate has nosedived because, honestly, I just don't care about evidence anymore. Not for certain things anyways. And I have started wondering if there is any point at all in ever trying to care about what's true when you're just gonna die anyways.
I think it's my sheer hatred of reality that's really fostered this change. Something that I think was at odds with my desire to be correct rather than just believing what made me feel better. Reality is a hellscape as far as I'm concerned. I can't even believe that I ever cared about knowing what was "real" and what wasn't. Now I only care about what I want to be real. Which isn't the same as believing in it. I'm fully capable of recognizing that I can't fly or do any of the magic that I want right now. But I no longer look at that as a product of reality but rather a failing on my part. Or at least an indication that I just haven't figured things out yet.
Traditional rationalism, or at least what passes as it these days, holds that I should have given up on my quest for magic years ago because its simply impossible in the first place. But there's no way I could ever do that because I won't accept a reality without magic. I will, in effect, never believe that it's not possible. Which sometimes makes me wonder how I'm any different than a religious fundamentalist. Which then makes me wonder whether I should even care?
The schism with rationalism for me is that it's a fundamentally submissive way of thinking. You are only allowed to believe what's "real" regardless of your feelings about it. With phrases like "Our beliefs do not shape reality but reality should shape our beliefs." My issue with that is that its nothing but a form of "might makes right". Reality should be listened to because it's stronger than you are. It has the ability to force its arbitrary rules on you and you're too weak to resist.
I don't think I've ever really been an academically smart person. Some people would probably disagree with that, even today, but really I don't think the way my mind works would ever be conducive to academia. Through my transformation, which is necessary for my magic training, I've remembered that my mind is far more geared towards instant results rather than statistics.
Personally I don't think science has made the world any better. sure people live longer and all that but who cares since you're just dead anyways. It's not like "curing death" or uploading your mind into a robot or anything is ever going to change that either. Nor would reincarnation or anything similar. It just makes all finite amounts of time pointless. Or at least not things worth caring too much about, since they will end at some point, so might as well act like they're already over.
My reaction to ideas or even proof that goes against how I want reality to go is increasingly "that's stupid" rather than trying to work with it. It's not that I deny the results, its just that I think they're dumb and should be different. And I don't really see anything wrong with that. I mean, why should I care about the "proper" patterns of reality when those patterns aren't what I want them to be? Why should I care about them especially in cases where they are, allegedly, completely counter to what I want and make achieving my goals potentially impossible? What did rationality do for me? Nothing. It actually made things worse.
My mind at this point only sees one valid reality and increasingly does not care about whether I'm in it or not. I honestly can't see any reason to change this mindset, I don't see what rationality could possibly do to improve things for me.
Rationality definitely has value. Think of people who perform/operate skilled tasks around the world.
Surgeons, Airline Pilots, Divers, Deck Officers on commercial vessels, Engineers of all kinds, Astronauts etc etc
All of these things absolutely require the use of rationality to learn what to do and then perform the task or function. However, you could argue that as a rough approximation of the situation regarding phenomena outwith this resolution of reality, like encounters with Bigfoot, or Aliens or any other paranormal event, then rationality/logic tends to break down, as per the Trickster etc etc. Not always though and there appears to also be an interface area, where our rational consensus reality worldview and the reality of the unknown can merge.