To: Roger
From: Jonathan
ROGER
> You know the strangest thing? I've been thinking about Donny too. He used
to
> write about philosophy as the pursuit of questions, and it reminded me of
our
> exchanges on this issue. In fact, I originally referenced Donny in my
first
> draft of yesterday's post, but then deleted it. When you then mentioned
him
> too, without any knowledge that I was thinking of him, I was amazed.
There are others in this group who would cite Sheldrake, or Jung's
"synchronicity".
I prefer to think that we both became conscious of some meaningful
connection between what we are now discussing and what Donny had to say.
ROGER
> Anyways, below is my revamped and reordered summary of this topic on the
> nature of patterns and randomness and their correlation to reality and
> models. I believe I have incorporated all your suggestions, and I have
> removed the 'o' word completely.
>
> "Randomness and pattern can each be considered properties of a model of
> reality. The difference between the random and non-random viewpoint is one
of
> quality. A logically consistent model of reality that simplifies, and that
> identifies patterns correlating with the features being modeled, is of
higher
> quality than an unpatterned, random model."
>
> Do you agree with this version?
>
Yes! Notice how you can say "greater meaning" instead of "higher quality".
This starts to get at the "information" angle that Roger so rightly brought
up before.
IMHO, Meaning fits even BETTER than Pirsig's chosen word, Quality:
"A logically consistent model of reality that simplifies, and that
identifies patterns correlating with the features being modeled, is *of
greater
meaning* than an unpatterned, random model."
I've been pushing the Quality=Meaning agenda one of my first posts in 1998,
in which I rephrased Rigel's question, "Does Lila have quality?".
"Does Lila have meaning?". The answer is obvious - she *means*
something to both Phaedrus and Rigel.
Jonathan
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