Colorful illustrations of several thought experiments. These are mostly presented for fun, with their meanings sketched rather than argued over tooth-and-knife (as is more customary among philosophers).
Regarding his experience machine: the experience I want is those projects and life goals. So, have at me, machine.
He conflated experience with pleasure, relatedly, he missed the fact that experience is one way of having that pleasure.
Re MoMA: it would depend on how the information got into Otto's notebook. If, recognizing early onset, Otto wrote the MoMA information himself, it is of course his own memory, his own belief. If someone else (Inga?) wrote the information, then Otto's belief is that the notebook's information is accurate. It's the difference between knowing, say, the speed of light because we ran the relevant experiments and recorded them and reading about the outcomes of experiments in an encyclopedia.
Re the Russian nobleman: as a retired Army Lt Col and ex-Congressman from Florida once said, there's no expiration date on oaths. Another outcome of this experiment is the care necessary in exacting and in giving oaths.
It's a strange sort of thing for a philosopher to have said, really. Presumably most philosophers agree that philosophy is itself a kind of high level end for human existence, the sort of thing that we pursue as part of a flourishing life. One can philosophize about experiences whether they are 'real' or simulated; we often do excellent philosophy when thinking about movies or operas or dramatic stories. The thought experiment itself is a kind of simulation. The more the simulation approaches reality, the more it would seem to qualify as worthy to philosophize about; and doing good philosophy, for most philosophers, entails having a genuinely flourishing experience as a human being.
On the other hand, there is definitely more flourishing inherent in winning an actual race than a video game race -- no matter how good the video game.
Regarding his experience machine: the experience I want is those projects and life goals. So, have at me, machine.
ReplyDeleteHe conflated experience with pleasure, relatedly, he missed the fact that experience is one way of having that pleasure.
Re MoMA: it would depend on how the information got into Otto's notebook. If, recognizing early onset, Otto wrote the MoMA information himself, it is of course his own memory, his own belief. If someone else (Inga?) wrote the information, then Otto's belief is that the notebook's information is accurate. It's the difference between knowing, say, the speed of light because we ran the relevant experiments and recorded them and reading about the outcomes of experiments in an encyclopedia.
Re the Russian nobleman: as a retired Army Lt Col and ex-Congressman from Florida once said, there's no expiration date on oaths. Another outcome of this experiment is the care necessary in exacting and in giving oaths.
Eric Hines
It's a strange sort of thing for a philosopher to have said, really. Presumably most philosophers agree that philosophy is itself a kind of high level end for human existence, the sort of thing that we pursue as part of a flourishing life. One can philosophize about experiences whether they are 'real' or simulated; we often do excellent philosophy when thinking about movies or operas or dramatic stories. The thought experiment itself is a kind of simulation. The more the simulation approaches reality, the more it would seem to qualify as worthy to philosophize about; and doing good philosophy, for most philosophers, entails having a genuinely flourishing experience as a human being.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, there is definitely more flourishing inherent in winning an actual race than a video game race -- no matter how good the video game.