[extropy-chat] effing

[gts]

I find it interesting that we have power over what we consider the "truth"  
about snow, its real or primary qualities, but we have no power whatsoever  
over what we consider "the mere appearances" or qualia of snow, its  
secondary qualities.

I have a theory about hydrogen and oxygen and frozen H20 molecules and how  
they react with electromagnetic radiation, a theory that I have the power  
to change at any time.

I seem powerless however to change the whiteness of snow. If I feel  
certain of anything about snow, it is that snow is white. Everything else  
seems a matter of opinion.

The white quale is a power of snow, not a power of mind.

Our opinions about the world are communicable via words and mathematics,  
but our certain knowledge seems ineffable.

-gts