From: oldernow@dev.null   
      
   On 2025-04-09, D  wrote:   
      
   > Ask him if he believes: "Every rule has an exception."   
   >   
   > If he says no, then there are rules thay have no   
   > exceptions. I.e. there exist inviolable laws. So in   
   > addition to the existence of his mind there are also laws.   
   >   
   > If he says yes, then the rule "Every rule has an exception"   
   > would itself also have an exception, which again implies   
   > there are some rules without exceptions.  Which are   
   > inviolable laws. Therefore laws exist.   
   >   
   > This might seem like a parlor trick, but it is just   
   > showing how the logical inconsistency of the statement   
   > "Every rule has an exception." Forces us to to see that   
   > it is false, and therefore the converse of that statement   
   > is necessarily true.   
   >   
   > The necessary truth of the converse "not every rule   
   > has an exception" implies there are rules that have no   
   > exceptions, so there are laws, there is order, and reality   
   > is law-governed.   
   >   
   > Now, if only we can work out what those laws are.. And   
   > that is what science is about: figuring out the laws that   
   > explain the kinds of experiences we have.   
   >   
   > OR   
   >   
   > Even if this conscious state is an illusion, there still   
   > must be something responsible for that illusory conscious   
   > state.   
   >   
   > OR   
   >   
   > Functionalism might be another path. If the solipsist   
   > accepts functionalism, then even if the other people   
   > they see are only figments of their imagination, then   
   > their imagination must be performing a process at least   
   > as complex as is necessary to generate the appearance of   
   > intelligent conscious behavior, and such processing would   
   > necessarily invoke the consciousness associated with such   
   > a complex process.   
   >   
   > Fun thoughts to play around with. =)   
      
   Yes. Thought. Which isn't an external, physical   
   reality. Save to one who believes it is. But one might   
   say their own joke is on them.   
      
   The more words/symbols you use, the more you demonstrate   
   being involved-in/engaged-with a symbol-mediated/defined   
   "reality", and not some external "real reality".   
      
   --   
   NPC's dutifully ignored.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)