Back to AtD. the ideal timelessness of common sense

[Prashant Kumar]

I like to think of  the "can't get there from here" problem as a strain of
the bootstrap problem.

In a history lecture:
"The only sure way to get an A in this class is to have lived in the 19th
century"*
*

Though I think the problem re political systems is that people overextend
them. Anarchism is only stable in a small society (there are probably
constraints on other things too), same thing with communism-with-a-vanguard
too. There are very interesting ways of mathematising sociology (think
"social networks"), though I'm not familiar enough with the literature to
know if a model exists for a given political system.

On 10 July 2012 23:16, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net> wrote:

>  On 7/9/2012 9:16 PM, Prashant Kumar wrote:
>
> In JME McTaggart's essay on time (-lessness; "The Unreality of Time") he
> defines an A series (past, present, future) which is quite interesting
> insofar as it reminds one of the presocratics (Heraclitus et al.), but he
> then goes on to argue that such a view is contradictory and time is
> therefore an ideal (in the sense of the idealists). Of course, like so much
> pre-twentieth century metaphysics, this is irreconcilable with modern
> physics (without thinking about it too much, I'm fairly sure all you need
> to kill the A series is relativity of simultaneity, which is only special
> relativity), but interesting nonetheless.
>
>
> It's good news that modern physics seems to supersede the ancient
> paradoxes. But where is that Hadron Collider that can point the way toward
> some SOCIAL solution to the "can't get there from here" problem?
>
> Anarchism, the perfect democracy, leaderless and unplanned, can only be
> gotten to by central planning, enforced by an autocracy.  (same goes for
> socialism)
>
> Is Yashmeen sensing THIS paradox?
>
> I better go back and reread the passage.
>
> P
>
>
>
>
> Prashant
>
> On 10 July 2012 02:21, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>>  On 7/9/2012 9:48 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:
>>
>>> Nice little metaphysical joke on p. 933 at the Anarchist spa.
>>>   "How do you plan things?" Yashmeen was curious to know, "assign duties?
>>> Coordinate your efforts, that sort of thing?"
>>> "By knowing what has to be done. Which is usually obvious common sense."
>>> "Sounds like John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart all over again," she
>>> muttered.
>>>   Check out McTAggart if interested in wikipedia. But for one glossing
>>> purpose
>>> I offer two details about him. A British "idealist" who is famous for
>>> complexly
>>> arguing that Time does not exist (although eternity does).
>>>   I'll laugh at this AtD joke using the common sensical understanding of
>>> "idealism"--
>>> anarchism as an ideal.....and that "common sense"-- knowing what to do
>>> in a self-organizing
>>> community---is in some human sense timeless.....is with our
>>> origins........
>>>   is part of the meaning of Yashmeen's witticism and part of TRP's
>>> vision, I suggest
>>>     P.S. a theoretical anarchist was once asked who would pick up the
>>> garbage in his ideal world.
>>>   "Anyone and they would be called garbagemen", he answered.
>>>
>>>   We know what has to be done, but what has to be done is in the
>> future, never the now.
>>
>> Yashmeen has a sharp ear for contradiction.
>>
>> Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today.
>>
>> P
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
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