2 + 3 = 5 ...true or false?

[MiloshN]

Feeling when you do not know what to do about your life?

[Iloko]

The dream argument addresses the inherent limitations of empiricism. We are able to minimize these limitations by formalizing our reasoning, which can be done by abstracting what we perceive.

With Descartes's Demon it is no longer possible to ensure effective deduction by developing an abstract structure to represent what one perceives. If we can not control our thoughts we can not abstract our perceptions.

However even though we may not be able to abstract from our perceptions, the demon still can. In the proposed situation the demon would have powers of rationality while the possessed would not.

You could think of it in levels. Perception is at the bottom, than comes thought or cognition, and at the top comes the Demon or controlling force. Abstraction brings you up one level, but not two (otherwise the separation between you and the demon becomes hard to define). The Demon's perceptions are your cognitive state as that is his external experience. From those perceptions he can form an abstract structure that is beyond your comprehension.

Thus using abductive reasoning we can determine that the best option for arriving at the correct answer is to follow with the demon's will. If you resist the demon there is a negligible chance to arrive at the correct answer, while if you follow through with the demon the answer is coming from a force capable of higher reasoning and thus is actually capable of arriving to an answer deliberately. With a random selection the probability at any given answer is equal and as the number of possible answers the demon has may be infinite the probability that the demon will choose the correct answer is negliable , while with a deliberate selection on the other hand the distribution will be certain to be unequal (because of deduction on part of the demon eliminating answers which he fits unreasonable.) and thus the amount of possible answers will be finite and thus the chance that the Demon will provide the correct answer will possibly be greater. That is what the abduction is based on.

I think it would be reasonable to say that rationality is only possible if one has the capability to abstract. You have to be able analyze based on a structure that is separate from your direct experiences in order to view your experiences objectively.

The higher level structure is the only thing that can judge lower levels and the lower levels must always be doubted over higher levels.

That is my take on these thought experiments.

Very interesting..I did not really think about it that way lol, but can I get your opinion on these papers(they're looong lol): http://ispcjournal.org/journals/2017-19/Kastrup_19.pdf https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....act_id=2571544 ...Do you know anything about Quantum Mechanics and its remarkable similarity to Berkeley's Idealism concerning the universe as being only a collection of mental ideas with no external world? The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics actually aligns very strongly with philosophical Idealism I believe. But to be totally realistic though, the foundations and founding principles of our entire world culture is intrinsically built upon this very philosophical notion proposed as "Materialism/Naive-Realism" where the majority of our world's denizens apparently go throughout their entire lives believing that an "external world" "out there" really exists independently from our perceptions...and to me this is not really so much of a bad thing; Liberalism and Individuality shapes our very own beliefs of who we are and who we've always believed we as individuals were destined and meant to be in this life/universe, especially spiritually so to speak. All of the little tidbits which make us happy, give us pleasure, and reward us intrinsically, do so because we believe that they are real. It's totally in line with the redpill/bluepill door of destiny as you've often heard in pop culture talk. Pascal's Wager on adhering to a belief in a higher source of power or God so to speak leads us as admittedly finite beings to prayerfully implore for his divine intervention, just as earth's mere mortal plebians devote their entire lives to following a sort of ten-commandments prophecy by way of a direct path revelatory sort of holy book. Conversely in a sort of devilish uprising a noteworthy soul may wholeheartedly dislike this very conceptualization of a God who is all-powerful, who created me as a fallible finite-in-power human creature whom should from all ethical point of views obey every word straight from inspired scriptures....Thus the turnover in line of reasoning and wishful yearning here ultimately ends haughtily as "Then I must be God!"(Solipsism)--after all: "I made all of this that's gazing into his/her's looking-glass bedroom mirror" lol. Catchphrase: If you've always dreamt of being a Mozart piano virtuoso, then by all means let that wish be granted! Catchphrase 2: Conquer yourself rather than the world! YOU will guide your own soul on your unique and singular spiritual journey of mind and matter, with the Cogito as your zealful front-seat driver. Maybe you indeed are a real life "Neo" whose unraveled the mystical secrets of "The Matrix" simulation. Essentially life plays very much like a video game in seemingly every scientific and behavioral Newtonian mechanistic aspect tbh; It's true that some may think like scientists, others like artists, and others like politicians.