Re: Emotions "vestigial"? was Re: On being Extropian

Michael Butler (mbutler@ocv1.ocv.com)
Mon, 21 Oct 1996 11:12:47 PST


<<
The real question is: where do we get our premises? You are clearly better
off if your premises come from understanding, not emotion. The same goes
for values.
>>

*BZZT*. Thank you for playing.

Here's a trace of my parser at work:

"You" -- pressumably you mean "any thinking being", correct?

"are clearly"-- I take this to mean "would be undeniably"; fair?

"better off" -- hmm, I have a hard time with this one. Leave it as an
unassigned variable for the time being, push it on the stack and move
on...

"if your premises" -- in my reformulation, subjunctive: "were your
premises".. but wait a minute here--what exactly is a premise, and
how do I tell a premise from a preconception from a prejudice from a
Kantian _a priori_? Hmm, stack time again.

"come from understanding, not emotion" -- Whoa, red flag: parser error.
What does this mean?

Premises, aka axioms, aren't officially _from_ anywhere.

The presupposition that there is no such thing as emotional
understanding is totally unsupported. Further, the implicit notion that
"premises" are _anything other than_ axioms, explanations or excuses leaves
me utterly confused as to whether your utterance has any utility _or_
meaning.

In other words, "say WHAT?" :) :)

<<
Poor Bertrand Russell. It is too late for him to disown such a foolish
statement. <g>
>>

But Ira, that means there's still time for you to disown _yours_! :)
:)

MMB, at but not for, etc.