by Joey Lawsin
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| The Guesswork Predicament |
Circumstantial Standards, also known as the Belief System Paradox, is an argument conceptualized by Joey Lawsin that asserts ideas are all nothing but circumstantial, assumptions, or guesswork. The language system, social system, mathematical system, the money system, calendar system, religion system, and all other systems created by mankind can be modified, replaced, or interchanged through the Power of the Standard. The Standard is the Rules of the Land which are generally agreed upon through the power of the Majority. However, the Standard usually changes and is sometimes even forgotten over time when new things are discovered. The old standard dies and the new one thrives. The come-and-go of ideas just shows that they are circumstantial. They are assumptions. They are guesswork. They are circumstantially relative. They are all just in our heads.
Examples of Circumstantial Relativity are:
1) The Guesswork Predicament: Have you ever asked yourself why there are 26 letters in the alphabet instead of 10 or 50? Why do we use 10 numbers instead of 2 or 100? Moreover, if we reduce the alphabet to 13 letters and remove all its vowels; reduce the counting system to 8, 4, or 2, or expand it to 16 numbers, do you think the world will be different today? Do you think the value of the gravitational constant will be different as well? Do you think the sum of all the angles in a triangle will still be 180? What if a standard ruler, which has 16 line marks equally spaced, is modified by removing a line or more, will our way of measuring be still the same? What if vowels are removed and only 10 letters are in the alphabet, do you think people can still communicate with each other? If every culture in the world speaks different languages, then the fruit apple can be named in 101 different ways. The number systems of the Inca, Mayan, Egyptian, Greek, and Babylonian were individually different from one another. The mere fact that the ancient world invented different numerical systems provides proof that ideas show uncertainties, suppositions, and assumptions. The mere fact that various names can be used to name an object provides proof that names can be replaced. The mere fact that ideas are circumstantial, therefore, they are all Guesswork!
2) The Birthday Riddle: What if you were born in California and today is your Birthday, how many times are you actually celebrating your birthday in a year? You might not have realized this, but if you are in Australia in spirit today, your birthday actually has already passed by last night. And if you are in Alaska today, your birthday has not come yet. More amazingly, if you are now physically present in Australia today, do you think your birthday is just coming or it has passed already? And another mind-boggling question: how old will you be now today? What will be your age if you live in Australia or Alaska today? What about if you are on Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn today? In addition, there are many kinds of calendars, which one do you use as a basis for your birth date? The mere fact that your birthday is circumstantial, therefore, is all but guesswork.
3) The Identity Crisis: Webster defines an apple as a round fruit with white flesh and red, yellow, or green skin. However, why did webster(people) use the word apple as a name for this fruit? Why didn't webster use another label like banana or orange or any other words like joey or zero to describe the fruit? If webster defines the word orange instead as a round fruit with white flesh and red, yellow, or green skin, can we call now an apple ... orange? if webster uses the same definition as a banana, can we call now an apple a banana? If webster interchanges all the definitions of every fruit and every word in the dictionary, do you think the world of vocabulary will change? The examples just show that all things humans do are all based on assumptions. These assumptions are accepted to be true technically by definition, by preference, by association, and by the majority.
The idea of an apple is an abstract concept. However, when the idea is associated with a physical apple, the idea becomes real. Does this mean ideas only become real if and only if they are physically associated with a solid object? Does this mean the presence of a material apple validates concrete proof that the apple is real? Furthermore, why is the word apple used instead of the word orange or the letter A or the number 2 as the name for fruit? Why is the Yen used as the mode of payment in China rather than the Peso? Why is it the alphabet starts with the letter A and not with the letter K or the letter B? Why are odd and even numbers in our counting system? Why not just even numbers and forget the odds? Why do we use money? Why is it your name is your name and not my name? The phrase "I Love You" is spoken differently by various races around the world. Among the 6000 translations, which one is the correct one? if you were born in Korea, do you think you will be a catholic, Christian, Jew, or Muslim? The answers you have to these questions depend on your race, your culture, your education, your belief, and your personality. Thus, again, your ideas are circumstantial. They are guesswork!
We know that Ideas can be represented by physical objects. If an idea can't be represented with a material object, then the idea falls as a Belief. An apple is real because we have a physical fruit that represents an apple. But this representation in the form of a name or label is just merely a representation. A physical apple can be named orange or labeled as a dog, a tree, or any word for this matter. As long as the word is defined properly and accepted unanimously by society, then the word becomes real. It becomes the truth. The illustration just shows that everything we believe can be altered depending on how we define things, how we associate things with objects, and how we accept the standards officially preferred by the majority. Even if we can prove something is real logically, physically, sensually, and technologically, reality still depends on assumptions by definition, preference, association, and acceptance by the majority. But again, reality by assumptions is nothing but guesswork!
So, how do we say something is really real or true? How do we solve this quandary if all ideas are guesswork? To answer this question, we need another derivative that will mediate between acceptability and unacceptability, real or unreal, true or untrue. The Codexation factor comes in handy.
Just like consciousness, a state of abstractness that can tell if something exists or not, Codexation is a state of the physicalities that transconverts or transcodifies the material world into abstract concepts or vice versa. In simple terms, it is a process that transforms abstract ideas into physical realities or vis-à-vis using the help of the outside material world.
Without the material world, everything would not exist. Without consciousness, nothing could exist. Abstract ideas and physical objects are the two main ingredients that identify if something is real or true. Reality can be proven by using the five basic strategic conscious reasoning elements dubbed as SCORE which stands for Sensory, Codexation, Quality, Reason, and Equipment. Logic or reason entails mathematical accuracy and the right judgment. Quality entails descriptions, attributes, or characteristics. Sensory requires personal experiences detected by the senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, or hearing. The equipment provides measurements and detections. Codexation transforms the realization of abstraction to physicality or vis-à-vis. Without all these five SCORE elements bundled in one, one's existence is unlikely to be true. To illustrate the reality test, let us examine if an apple really exists.
By Reason: one apple and one orange are equal to 1 apple and 1 orange.
By Quality: an apple can be described by color, size, or by its qualities.
By Senses: an apple can be eaten, touched, sniffed, seen, and heard by our biological sensors (mouth, skin, nose, eyes, and ears respectively).
By Equipment: an apple's mass can be determined by a weighing scale or its volume and density by a cylinder.
By Codexation: the idea of an apple can be transcodified or codexated with a concrete inherent object and the material apple can be transconverted with a natural abstract idea.
From the above inference, we see that the apple is real because it can be proven by examining it logically, physically, sensory, technologically, and by codexation. The fruit is real. It exists. However, its name is nothing but a circumstantial code, a tag, or a label. It is all but an assumption; guesswork.
4) The Science Quandary:
There are two kinds of evidence: One is the physical solid concrete "artifacts" that don't change. The other is the scientific results which are usually based on data analysis, formula manipulation, and quasi-experiments. The evidence provided by the latter changes every now and then depending on the variables, parameters, and environment. For example, I can determine the height of a building by simply dropping a coin. I can do this by borrowing the formula, data, and experiments provided by science and coming up with one measurement. However, if I and the building are on the moon, in Jupiter, or inside a black hole, I will have then four different varying measurements. Thus the four scientific results are but circumstantial evidence. The question now is, among the four measurements, which one is the correct measurement, the true answer, or the acceptable evidence? You be the judge!
5) The Belief System:
Information can be self-acquired by natural objects both living and non-living things. It can be self-acquired by how one interacts with one's surroundings. Like in the cellular level, the information acquired by an egg cell is totally different from the information acquired by a sperm cell since the egg cell lives in an environment totally different from the environment of the sperm cell. Each one carries different information. When the two unite, the information they carry is combined together and forms a totally new individual with new information.
Your religion is the same as with the cells. It comes into existence depending on the environment where you live or the country where you were born. If you are born in India, most probably your religious belief would be Hinduism. If you are from China, it would be Buddhism. If you are from Indonesia, it would be Muslim. If you are from Rome, it would be Catholicism. And if you are from another part of the world, it could be Christianism, Protestantism, and even Agnosticism. Whatever it is, your religion is relatively circumstantial.
"Geometry is Nature's Intention; Physics is Humans' Interpretation". ~ Joey Lawsin
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| The Human Dilemma |
Disclaimer: The articles on this site are intended for a balanced education. Since it is constantly edited, updated, and improved, therefore I recommend that you check back regularly for these new items. If you want to use anything here for the purpose of scholarly discussion, please inform the author by email or cite the author's name or source as follows: A Journal of a Creative Mind, Joey Lawsin, 1988, USA.
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