virus: C of V: Another Religion
David Rosdeitcher (76473.3041@compuserve.com)
29 Jan 97 14:43:11 EST
Objectivist philosopher, Ayn Rand, made an important discovery: the 3
philosophical axioms. Axioms are basic concepts that are implicit in any
statement about reality. Rand's 3 axioms are: 1) Existence-an external reality
exists. 2) Consciousness-there is an awareness of existence.
3)Identity-Things
are what they are-A is A. These are axioms because and attempt to deny them
would be self-refuting. For instance, if one were to say "We are not
aware of
reality", then one would be making a statement about reality while, at the
same
time, claiming that a statement about reality cannot be made.
What is implied by the 2nd axiom, consciousness, is the ability to
understand and integrate reality. This validity of consciousness, in turn,
implies that there is volition or free will, because if there was no free
will,
our thoughts would simply be a result of random neuronal patterns that
would not
necessarily need to correspond with reality. The thoughts of someone on an
acid
trip or a lunatic in an insane asylum would be no closer to, or farther from,
understanding reality than anyone else's thoughts. Furthermore, if you had no
free will, and you were just like a robot or computer that gets programmed by
genes and memes, there would be no point in attempting to improve your
situation, since we're all going to do whatever we're programmed to do.
It seems to me that the Church of Virus is promoting a mystical notion by
denying free will and claiming that the 'meme' is a higher power that controls
individuals and societies. While the 'meme' is a useful concept to understand
and influence the spread of ideas within oneself and throughout society, the
Church of Virus is using 'memes' to create a new religion in which one false
higher authority is replaced with another. I am suggesting that there is
something in the brain that is not understood yet which can accout for free
will. What do you think?
-David Rosdeitcher