Re: "Perception is reality"

["Thomas E. Potter" <pottert@erols.com>]

I repeat, this time with explanation.



I would think that anyone who truly believed that perception is reality

would, on principle, refrain from arguing the matter.



One can believe that perception is reality, but to argue that perception

is reality is to deny the proposition.



To argue that perception is reality implies that you believe you can

change the

mind of someone whose perception (i.e., reality) differs from yours.

But the

meaning of "perception is reality" is that such argument is bound to be

fruitless, and is, therefore, pointless.



To argue the matter, particularly persistently and repeatedly, as Bill

Lipton does,  is to demonstrate that you in fact do not accept the

proposition at all and are only using it to shut up those whose

perceptions you dislike.  Most targets of Bill's argument sense this,

even if they do not sense that Bill's argument is self-contradictory.



I do not mean to endorse perceptions that regulators and bio effects

researchers are incompetent, dishonest, mentally defective, or some

combination.  I believe those perceptions are faulty representations of

reality.  (I actually believe that Jerry Cohen's outrageous assertion

was intended to expose the absurd conclusion to which Bill Lipton's

argument leads.)



I do believe that one's perceptions are often held dearly with

substantial emotional investment, and that respect for that investment

and the humanity of the person so invested warrants care in critical

appraisal.  But I do not see the kind of manipulative intellectual

coddling recommended by Bill as an appropriate manifestation of such

care.



Finally, isn't "curies forever" a contradiction in terms?



Tom Potter



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