tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764506766343254616.post8589283317734053985..comments2024-03-26T14:20:38.103-04:00Comments on The Thought Criminal: 4 The Limited Scope of Storytelling And The Dangers of Depending On ItUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764506766343254616.post-20257696503484152182014-09-01T13:16:17.404-04:002014-09-01T13:16:17.404-04:00"The final reason for optimism...."
As ..."The final reason for optimism...."<br /><br />As interesting as the scientific critique is the set of values assumed. "Optimism" is the attitude that we will eventually prove freedom an illusion. That sounds to me a whole lot more like pessimism. rick allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07612435616018593956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764506766343254616.post-298936178180862562014-09-01T10:03:17.619-04:002014-09-01T10:03:17.619-04:00Narrative, by the way, is quite complex. I spend a...Narrative, by the way, is quite complex. I spend a semester teaching the basic elements of it, of which there are many.<br /><br />To say our "minds" like to tell "stories" is to say a great deal (unexamined) and nothing at all (because the details are not examined).Rmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811456254443706479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764506766343254616.post-9048925929429602652014-09-01T10:02:02.415-04:002014-09-01T10:02:02.415-04:00The "turtles" anecdote, BTW, i got from ...The "turtles" anecdote, BTW, i got from Sagan's "Cosmos." Still remember it. He used it (he thought) to devastating effect in proving science trumps superstition and all other "non-scientific" thought.<br /><br />Of course, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.....Rmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811456254443706479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764506766343254616.post-82742732500937056432014-09-01T09:16:26.706-04:002014-09-01T09:16:26.706-04:00"We compare the past and the present and appl..."We compare the past and the present and apply the decisions that were made previously, variously right or wrong. Then we look forward, creating - not just recalling this time - multiple competing scenarios. These are weighted against one another by the suppressing or intensifying effect imposed by aroused emotional centers. A choice is made in the unconscious centers of the brain, recent studies tell us, several seconds before the decision arrives in the conscious part." <br /><br />Who is this "we"? Some homunculus in our brains? And what makes this "unconscious" (Freudian alert!) choice? Our genes?<br /><br />I still say it's turtles all the way down.Rmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811456254443706479noreply@blogger.com