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Oct. 23rd, 2005 01:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drunkoffthestarsI've seen this crop up in a couple of different contexts today, and it's got me thinking.
As a person who has a degree in biology, who has been trained as a scientist, I do not "believe" in an absolute truth. (and the belief thing is another one of my pet quirks, but whatever) As far as the logic behind science goes, there is no such thing as absolute truth. There are theories which are well-supported in evidence and logic, and there are theories which are poorly supported, either in evidence, logic, or both. And what is bothering me is that so few people seem to understand this concept upon which so much of my life (and to no small extent, our culture) has been built. But then again, I shouldn't be too surprised. The only reason I understand any logic whatsoever is because I had a good Evolution prof who very painstakingly explained why the theory of Evolution was science and the Theory of Creationism was religion. And really, my knowledge of logic is really only as it applies to how you do science. But that's another story.
The real story has to do with some of the outcroppings of the latest RPS IS TEH EVOL thing that's going around.
1) This argument pretty much clears it up, but the whole "fiction as lies" thing really weirded me out there. Fiction isn't a lie. But no, it isn't the God Almighty Burning Truth, either. It's fantasy, and that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish, and I feel like that entry pretty much countered the fiction as lies stuff. To sum up: "A lie is meant to be taken as Truth. Fiction is meant to be taken as possibility, but not Truth, and not a lie either". Or something to that effect.
2) The other thing that has been bothering me (and I think![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lovelypoet talked about it briefly) is the concept of RPS as being about real people, as opposed to being about personas. Because I really don't see the figure that gives interviews, tells me his favorite color, and dances and sings for a living as being a "real" person. It is a persona based on a person carefully designed to sell me as many products as possible. In the case of an actor, movie tickets and dvds. In the case of a musician, CD's, MP3's, concert tickets, and tshirts. And in the case of a fictional character on a television show, the persona is designed to sell me whatever products are pimped during commercial breaks, the DVD's of the show, the soundtrack, if there is one, and any merchandise related to the show. So, no, I don't feel any qualms about using any of those personas that are used to sell me things for my own amusement, pleasure, and general life enrichment.
And I have a thing about how the "fake" and "real" people are mostly equivalent in my head, but I think I'm much too tired to try and type that out now. It has a lot to do with divorced realities, but then I was thinking about it and came up with an analogy that involved custody-sharing, and I knew it was time to go to bed. Plus, it still doesn't make much sense in my head. And I think it might make me sound more than a little demented, in the end. So. Yes.
good night.
As a person who has a degree in biology, who has been trained as a scientist, I do not "believe" in an absolute truth. (and the belief thing is another one of my pet quirks, but whatever) As far as the logic behind science goes, there is no such thing as absolute truth. There are theories which are well-supported in evidence and logic, and there are theories which are poorly supported, either in evidence, logic, or both. And what is bothering me is that so few people seem to understand this concept upon which so much of my life (and to no small extent, our culture) has been built. But then again, I shouldn't be too surprised. The only reason I understand any logic whatsoever is because I had a good Evolution prof who very painstakingly explained why the theory of Evolution was science and the Theory of Creationism was religion. And really, my knowledge of logic is really only as it applies to how you do science. But that's another story.
The real story has to do with some of the outcroppings of the latest RPS IS TEH EVOL thing that's going around.
1) This argument pretty much clears it up, but the whole "fiction as lies" thing really weirded me out there. Fiction isn't a lie. But no, it isn't the God Almighty Burning Truth, either. It's fantasy, and that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish, and I feel like that entry pretty much countered the fiction as lies stuff. To sum up: "A lie is meant to be taken as Truth. Fiction is meant to be taken as possibility, but not Truth, and not a lie either". Or something to that effect.
2) The other thing that has been bothering me (and I think
lovelypoet talked about it briefly) is the concept of RPS as being about real people, as opposed to being about personas. Because I really don't see the figure that gives interviews, tells me his favorite color, and dances and sings for a living as being a "real" person. It is a persona based on a person carefully designed to sell me as many products as possible. In the case of an actor, movie tickets and dvds. In the case of a musician, CD's, MP3's, concert tickets, and tshirts. And in the case of a fictional character on a television show, the persona is designed to sell me whatever products are pimped during commercial breaks, the DVD's of the show, the soundtrack, if there is one, and any merchandise related to the show. So, no, I don't feel any qualms about using any of those personas that are used to sell me things for my own amusement, pleasure, and general life enrichment. And I have a thing about how the "fake" and "real" people are mostly equivalent in my head, but I think I'm much too tired to try and type that out now. It has a lot to do with divorced realities, but then I was thinking about it and came up with an analogy that involved custody-sharing, and I knew it was time to go to bed. Plus, it still doesn't make much sense in my head. And I think it might make me sound more than a little demented, in the end. So. Yes.
good night.
