ham sandwich
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 4:03 pm
Joe walks up with a cardboard box and sez 'I got a ham sandwich in this box'.
It costs me nuthin' to accept his claim, even if he never opens the box.
I know, as fact, bread, ham, lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, cheese, exist. I, myself, have used those items to build ham sandwiches. That a ham sandwich may be in Joe's box doesn't violate the way the world (seems) to work.
Later in the day, Joe walks up with a cardboard box and sez 'I got a walkin', talkin', dancin', livin' ham sandwich in the box'.
That, folks, is a claim of entirely different kind.
Walkin', talkin', dancin', livin' ham sandwiches, insofar as I know, do not exist. Such a thing would be a clear violation of how the world (seems) to work. So, before I can accept Joe's claim, I'm gonna have to see the contents of that box. Moreover, I want to inspect the miracle sandwich for micro-robotics, for micro-processors, for itty-bitty speakers. That is: before I can even begin to accept the reality of the miracle sandwich, I need to verify, for myself, that it indeed 'is' a miracle sandwich.
Anecdotes about the miracle sandwich are not sufficent. Volumes of logical discourse about the miracle sandwich are not sufficent. The argued 'neccessity' of the miracle sandwich is not sufficent.
My hands, my eyes, my brain, applied to the miracle sandwich, alone is sufficent. Yes, demanding the tangible, the measurable, 'fact', real stuff, is the sphere of the unimaginative, the uncurious, the shallow, the dimbulb and yet -- as methodology -- it seems the best way to conduct an investigation.
It truly pains me that I'm incapable of sharing in the joys of belief based on belief alone. I can only hope that if God...er...a miracle sandwich...exists, then it will take pity on my limited self and allow me entry to the Great Deli In The Sky when my time comes.
It costs me nuthin' to accept his claim, even if he never opens the box.
I know, as fact, bread, ham, lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, cheese, exist. I, myself, have used those items to build ham sandwiches. That a ham sandwich may be in Joe's box doesn't violate the way the world (seems) to work.
Later in the day, Joe walks up with a cardboard box and sez 'I got a walkin', talkin', dancin', livin' ham sandwich in the box'.
That, folks, is a claim of entirely different kind.
Walkin', talkin', dancin', livin' ham sandwiches, insofar as I know, do not exist. Such a thing would be a clear violation of how the world (seems) to work. So, before I can accept Joe's claim, I'm gonna have to see the contents of that box. Moreover, I want to inspect the miracle sandwich for micro-robotics, for micro-processors, for itty-bitty speakers. That is: before I can even begin to accept the reality of the miracle sandwich, I need to verify, for myself, that it indeed 'is' a miracle sandwich.
Anecdotes about the miracle sandwich are not sufficent. Volumes of logical discourse about the miracle sandwich are not sufficent. The argued 'neccessity' of the miracle sandwich is not sufficent.
My hands, my eyes, my brain, applied to the miracle sandwich, alone is sufficent. Yes, demanding the tangible, the measurable, 'fact', real stuff, is the sphere of the unimaginative, the uncurious, the shallow, the dimbulb and yet -- as methodology -- it seems the best way to conduct an investigation.
It truly pains me that I'm incapable of sharing in the joys of belief based on belief alone. I can only hope that if God...er...a miracle sandwich...exists, then it will take pity on my limited self and allow me entry to the Great Deli In The Sky when my time comes.
