i like sticks (was Re: Loopers-Delight-d Digest V00 #73)

[johnmcc@aldiscon.ie]

[Dan:]
> rationality and irrationality are mutually exclusive.

No arguments here .. it's all good solid thinking. It reminded me of
something which I'll put forward for perusal (and abusal) .. taken from
Paul Davies' "About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution" - in an effort
to learn more about how humans perceive the sensation of touch, an
experiment was performed where a patient's arm was touched with a needle,
and the length of time until the brain received this information was
recorded. Then the doctors noted the area of the brain stimulated by this
action, and then tried stimulating the brain directly, to see how much
faster this was. It was slower. It became obvious that how the brain
perceives time was not nearly as clear-cut as they thought.

Now this doesn't negate Dan's example of the bent-stick light coming to
your eyes - it's a good example: the stick isn't bent. But it should be
pointed out that the light, in itself, doesn't "mean" anything. Meaning is
imposed onto the percept data by our brains, using knowledge we've built up
about the world. So the point is: the stick appears bent in water, yet we
know (or 'know') it's straight - a seemingly irrational and inexplicable
situation .. but we learn about optics and the properties of water, and all
is revealed .. so what is seemingly irrational today, may be simply be a
pointer to knowledge that is yet to be uncovered.

Also. there is a tendency to take the situation as transmitted by the light
as "the truth", but perhaps this is only because we're equipped with
sensory organs that detect light. What if we had eyes that saw something
else entirely? What if (assuming Cahill and Klinger are right for a sec')
we could see "gebits" instead of the structures that build up around them?
Would the stick be straight or bent then? Would it be anything like a stick
at all? Of course I'm ignoring what all your other senses tell you ..
"devil's advocate" anyone?

Anyway, as I say Dan this isn't any kind of argument with your e-mail, just
me off on a tangent again ;-) And of course straight sticks are just as
good as bendy sticks as long as they're sticky ....

Time for coffee,
John