2018-11-10: Axioms

topic

  • How to attack different axioms?
  • The Battle against Medusa
  • The Tao as an axiom to Being
  • Requirement of shared axioms between parties to sort out conflicts.
  • Axioms not always articulated or understood as being axioms.

podcast

Notes from the meeting:

  • Being on the brink of order and chaos, that is Peterson’s conception of ‘meaning’ is widely applicable, whereas, perhaps a way to compare those instances against each other is by analyzing the greatest amount of risk associated if one were to fail at that endeavor, in both short and longterm. Where there is with more risk there’s more responsibility, and thus, more meaning.
  • The foundational axioms one might have might not even be able to be articulated through words. A relationships one has with others could be an unspoken axiom that is agreed upon that allows for cooperations. Perhaps even personality types (such as the big 5) also contain and rely upon axioms for perceiving the world.
  • A snake as metaphor is both a personification (we attribute) and a manifestation of chaos. Chaos being (as loosely put by Nasim Taleb) Delayed risks hidden within fat tails.
  • The distinctions between metaphorical truth and scientific truth, (and useful fiction.)
  • Australians have no way of differentiating the pronunciations of both ‘flaw’ and ‘floor’.
  • Order, potential, and chaos. Order is stable. You can reasonable expect outcomes and get those outcomes. A well-ordered society is one where great amounts of trust can occur among strangers. Chaos would be the opposite. Potential is the mother of both. For even in chaotic environments you can reasonably expect certain outcomes, and thus, you master that environment, and live well-ordered. Well-ordered societies also are in danger of results within the domains that are being ignored, or are being misunderstood or lied about, and thus, unexpected and frightening results can occur.
  • Medusa (or perhaps Hydra) being an analogy of the axioms held by others. You might try to refute a surface argument, or a series of arguments, but in order to defeat the opponent, you must dispatch with the foundational axiom that supports those arguments coming forth from the surface. And as for Medusa, being capable of utilizing the power behind her attacks against herself, to see if she can withstand it.
  • There must be some sort of myth or fairy tale about a character reaching for a precious thing thing that then disappears and the character fall down into a pit. As an illustration of grasping for a false axiom, or false god, that is unattainable and only leads to destruction and despair. Several related stories come to mind, such as Steinback’s The Pearl, or the Tower of Babel, or maybe Augustus Gloop from Willy Wonka.
  • The actual shaman’s role within their tribe. Usually the crazier person within the tribe, likely because they are more open and neurotic, thus are more prone to suffer from whatever problem would be on the fringes of normative experience. Thus, as laid out in Maps of Meaning, the Shaman would need to undergo a transformation of self, and let go of the axioms and prior maps of meanings he inherited from his tribe and past experience. To do so is to take a leap of faith, for one does not know that there is a better map for him to discover or create, and he might fall down into his pit of nihilism.
  • The need for the modern shamans of today to ‘catalogue’ and ‘exorcise’ the demons our culture suffers from. They that manifest themselves within the fringes of society, in the dark. That we fear greatly.
  • Why are people worried about their axioms being threatened by others? Because if you’re tearing down someone’s house, they’re going be aggressive -unless- they can trust that you, the one with something better will have something that you could share. Because if you needlessly destroy the axioms our society is founded upon, we’ll be straight out of luck in the instance of a storm.
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