Leo's Blog: Infinite Insights — Page 87

Sometimes people get the idea that certain symbols like a cat's "Meow", aren't arbitrary because they mirror "the real thing". Well, think again! In Japan, cats don't say "Meow", they say "Nyan"! Which just goes to show how much we take cultural conventions for granted.

And if you still aren't convinced, ask yourself what the hell kind of dog says, "Bow Wow"?!

Over the Xmas break while I was visiting my brother, he showed me some videos about the potential of Bitcoin. My brother is nerdy and really into investing and cutting-edge technology, so this was his cup of tea. And while I found the technology and investing aspects very interesting and exciting, what I loved most about these videos was the deep truths this speaker here reveals about the nature of power, corruption, hierarchies, government, democracy, society, psychology, closemindedness, and humanity. These are some of my favorite topics to think about in a big picture way, and this speaker blew me away with the clarity of his thinking.

So enjoy these two videos about Bitcoin, but don't take your eye off the ball! I'm not showing these to you because I want you to invest in Bitcoin. This is not a get-rich-quick-scheme. I'm showing these to you for the much deeper wisdom and lessons about human nature which they reveal. This will be important for the future, when I release episodes about the nature of power, corruption, evil, and society. Those are still topics which we've barely touched upon as we move forward towards assembling the big picture.

"When a finger points at the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger."

-- Chinese proverb

Carlin was under-appreciated as a philosopher.

Bonus video:

The mind's job is to prevent you from exploring too many diverse perspectives in life, because if you do, eventually the notion of "a reality" will completely collapse. Which is why almost everyone you encounter — including many good teachers — actively discourage you from exploring lots of perspectives.

I see so many people who haven't contemplated epistemology much talking about "proof", science, and math — trying to raise objections from these domains. But the problem with that is they implicitly assume that the domain of things which can be communicated is identical with the domain of things which can be experienced or the domain of being/truth. This is a giant mistake commonly made by rationalists, materialists, and scientists. They just assume that if it cannot be "proven" or communicated, it must not exist. Nothing could be further from the case. The notion of "proof" and communicability is far, far weaker than the notion of reality. Many, many orders of magnitude weaker. The most profound and interesting aspects of reality are utterly beyond symbolization. Which of course means I cannot speak of them with you in the videos. And is the reason why you must investigate everything personally, for yourself.

Here's a rough idea of how the domains overlap. Note that science and math are limited to the red circle.