[extropy-chat] Re: John Wright Finds God

[Jef Allbright]

john-c-wright at sff.net wrote:

> 
> My fellow not-quite-yet-transhumans,  
>
> Forgive my lack of Net etiquette if I bring up a topic discussed in October,
>but  the topic is one of particular interest to me, and, in all humility, I
>think I  am in a position to have inside knowledge about it. Please forgive as
>well the  length of this note, but I wanted to share my musings on several
>comments in the  thread.  
>
>  
>

Mr. Wright, I read and enjoyed your Golden Age series, especially in the 
ways it illuminated some of humanity's intrinsic values ranging from the 
individual to the collective, and over a similarly wide range of time. 
It is my experience that a great deal can be learned by examining a 
system while "zooming" in or out to view less or more of the associated 
context, and I think that this observation may apply as well to the 
issue of differing beliefs. Rather than viewing one deeply held belief 
as right and another as wrong, it seems to me more effective to see each 
as part of a coherent whole, on which we all would agree, given the same 
context, but on which can never be fully objective.

This leads me toward discussion of the profound influence of 
subjectivity or intersubjectivity on our understanding of consciousness, 
free-will, and ethics, but this may or may not be related to the topic 
at hand.

<snip>

>
> Jeff Albright writes: 
>  
>
>>An overwhelming desire to find ultimate meaning can tip one over the edge.  
>>    
>>
>
> Nothing in Greg West's interview with me presents evidence that I was possessed
> with an "overwhelming desire to find ultimate meaning" at the time of my 
>conversion. Just between you and me, I was perfectly content with my status as a
> "bright", i.e. a hard-core rationalist atheist. 
> 
> We must assume here that Mr. Albright is speaking in general terms about 
>religions conversions, not of me in particular.  
>
>  
>
Yes, not knowing anything of your specific situation, I was referring in 
a general sense to our evolved drive to find meaning in all of our 
experience.

>>Once tipped, they will appear as rational as before, except for a tendency 
>>    
>>
>toward selective observation of information which confirms the new belief set. 
>
> Please forgive me, but this sentence contains a whiff of paranoia about it: why
>say the converted “appear” rational rather than “are” rational? 
>
>  
>
Hmmm, I see how this may have been taken as indication of a bit of 
paranoia, and I do admit that my observations of the world at large lead 
me to think we are at high risk due to our irrational behavior, but I 
find it personally effective to set my sights on the positive, given 
half a chance. In this case I was speaking of selection bias, but in the 
strong intentional sense rather than the more subtle sense with which we 
are familiar in general scientific endeavor.

<snip>

> I did not “decide” anything. My reaction to a blinding  revelation was
>something more spontaneous than rationally choosing which  falsifiable theory
>best fit the observed and empirical facts. It was more like  falling in love.
>  
> You must forgive me for being close-mouthed about the details when speaking to
> strangers. It is my own inadequacy that stills my pen. An event beyond human 
>understanding cannot be described in human words to those who have no referent 
>experiences, no frame, in which to understand it. If you wonder how I, as a 
>human, could have witnessed an event beyond human understanding, I can only hint
> that we humans are not what we think we are. The truth of the matter is far
>more  glorious than we suspect.  
>
>  
>
<snip>

>  
> I ask this in all seriousness. What does one do when overwhelming evidence
>suddenly breaks in on you that your entire system of the world, so carefully 
>constructed by materialist rational philosophy over many years of painstaking 
>thought, is utterly wrong and discredited? Pretend it did not happen?  
>
>
>  
>
Mr. Wright, I think you will find among those who attend this discussion 
group there are a variety of responses to claims of the extraordinary. 
Many of us are well aware that such claims are often accompanied by 
ignorance of what is already known of the natural world and rational 
methods of thought, and we therefore tend to give little of our time to 
their serious consideration. On the other hand, a report of an anomalous 
observation, presented with obvious intelligence and knowledge of the 
world, is almost sure to be seriously considered and discussed in this 
forum with the result tending toward greater understanding for all of 
the participants.

- Jef
http://www.jefallbright.net