(August 17, 2014 at 2:34 pm)Rhythm Wrote:(August 14, 2014 at 2:34 pm)whateverist Wrote: I take it on faith that our sense data and cognition have arisen biologically to successfully cope with something real of which we are apart.
The world that we perceive ourselves to be a part of needn't be "real" it just needs to be computationally actionable. "Real" to us. If we -were- "brains in a vat", it wouldn't matter - as our world is simply the operating environment that our equipment affords us regardless. If rational principles work in that environment, it would be rough to try and extend them beyond it (as sho-nuff suggested), and they needn't be thusly extended - though, agreed, we just don't seem to be in a position to know that.
But that's where my leap of faith comes in. Stand aside, I'm a leapin'.
