:: Random Thoughts From a Diseased Mind ::

:: Monday, November 11, 2002 ::

Although these images and concepts in my mind are clearly derived from sensory input relating to the external world, there is no guarantee at this point that my perceptions are accurate. My skin can be made to feel heat even when the room is cool, by applying certain chemicals onto it. My eyes may mistakenly interpret a seven-sided polygon, which is uncommon, for a more common octagon, and so on. Or perhaps, I have never seen an octagon at all; possibly all that I perceive through my eyes is inaccurately interpreted in my mind. However, it seems to me that each time I look at a given object, its appearance is consistent. The octagon always has the same eight sides and the chemicals when applied to my skin always make it feel warm even when the room is cool. Therefore it is not important whether I perceive accurately the objects of the external world. What truly is important is that I perceive consistently. If every time I encounter an apple I am to see something that looks to me like an orange, and every time I handle and feel and apple I feel the shape and texture of an orange, and every time I smell an apple, it smells to me like an orange, I will know an apple in this way and my description of this apple to others will convey the sense and concept of and apple to others. As I conjure the image of an apple in my mind I may consider its skin, and see the image of an orange with its pebbly orange-colored flesh yet the description of this apple given my experience with apples may still be that it is smooth and red.

Conclusion #4: It is not important that I perceive the external world accurately. It is important that I perceive the external world consistently.
:: Jim 6:55 PM [+] ::
...

On further examination of the contents of my thoughts, I find that despite my own innate creativity, there is nothing of which I can conceive that has no foundation in other previously defined concepts or objects. For example, I can imagine a circle or a sphere. However when I try to imagine a four dimensional sphere where w^2 +x^2 + y^2 + z^2=1, I lack a description in my mind. I cannot create the image. I can imagine that it looks like a sphere but in four dimensions, but beyond that I have no capacity to create such a novel image in my mind.

Likewise, as Descartes pointed out in his Meditations, even when painters or other artists create fantastic and horrible monsters, they are for the most part chimera made of otherwise identifiable animal body parts. Beyond arms, legs, tails, and heads, there are no novel appendages to create. And whether the creature’s skin is made of scales, fur, or aluminum, there is no skin that is comprised of an undescribed substance. If the beast’s surface is covered in Gerfog, a substance that I have invented in my mind which resembles green fog, it is still not a novel idea; it borrows from the color green and the concept of fog, both of which already exist in my mind.

Therefore I submit that my mind is not capable of true creation, but only able to build upon ideas and notions formed through interaction with the senses. Had I no senses what so ever I would have no concepts of the physical, no metaphysics, mathematics, or sense of consciousness what so ever. It must follow then that the source of my internal concepts and ideas is the external world.

Conclusion #3: The external world must exist.
:: Jim 12:42 PM [+] ::
...

Beyond establishing my own existence, I can know very little more for certain. Perhaps I should establish that I am alive. Perhaps I should establish that there is a world beyond my own self. But, how can I know with certainty any of these things? Where does certainty come from? Descartes said it comes from a benevolent God who desires not to deceive. I never accepted this argument, as God must also be part of the external world and therefore must be a perception of the senses. On the other hand there exists God, the “concept” which exists in my mind, indifferent to the outside world or any perceptions. If I know God exists internally, without sensory perceptions, than I would have another fact. However, the concept of Groh, a six-legged, eight-headed flying lizard also exists in my mind. Does Groh exist also? Yes, Groh does exist internally as do any number of other fantastic conceptions. For example, I need to move a large boulder a few inches. I ponder the problem, and suddenly there exists the solution in my mind. I will wedge a board under the rock and use another smaller rock as a fulcrum to move the rock. Although I have not used the solution yet, it does exist in storage in my mind, just as one might imagine a computer program exists on a magnetic disk. Again, one might argue that I still may not be a living being, however my ideas still exist just as the data of a computer exists. Therefore ideas and conceptions do exist internally in my mind.

Conclusion #2: Ideas and conceptions in my mind have a real existence.
:: Jim 8:37 AM [+] ::
...

On existence. Just as Rene Descartes began his quest for a sound foundation for knowledge and philosophy, so must I find a starting point. One certain fact to begin my quest. He started with proving his own existence, which I think is certainly a good place to begin. For certainly, if the author does not exist in the physical world what so ever, than this essay is a moot endeavor. It would logically follow that either the essay itself would not exist, having been created by someone or something which does not exist, or the alternative hypothesis which puts forth that the even if the essay does exist, it does not matter; at least not to the author, in which case I will cease writing it.

Cogito Ergo Sum. “I think, therefore I am.” This is the three word summary of the Second Meditation. So long as I think or say “I exist”, I exist, he said. I suppose that is fairly immune from dispute. If I am conscious, or sentient (here meaning “Having sense perception; conscious”), I must exist. For if I do not exist it really makes no difference what this perception really means. Something is having a perception of existence right now, and believes it is writing down these words. Perhaps a machine could be programmed to have this discussion and perhaps even the same perceptions. Perhaps I am a machine. Even so I, the machine, must exist. I do not have a test at this point to prove that I am actually a living sentient creature, but whether man or machine, I do exist in as much as I am writing this essay. Descartes was right about that. By the way, Descartes no longer “exists” in as much as I can perceive him.

Conclusion #1: I do exist.
:: Jim 8:36 AM [+] ::
...