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Author
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Topic: Universal Morality?
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Arch Stanton
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2356
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posted 06 November 2002 03:23 PM
Back on the farm, as I was reading through Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, I came across the line, "There is only one morality...just as there is only one geometry." That sounded pretty good, so I absorbed the concept and tried to live by it.A few years later, while playing hockey with a bunch of graduate students in physics, a chance conversation completely undermined this idea. As one might expect, locker-room banter does not often change one's Weltanschaunng, but then again, hockey isn't a metaphor for life for no good reason. A first-year physics student was asking his T.A. about a math question. I wasn't paying much notice until this shocking bit of dialogue: Kid - "I couldn't get the right answer even though I followed the proper principles of geometry." Sage Grad Student - "Try another geometry." *Hari Krishna hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna
Hare hare....*
From: Borrioboola-Gha | Registered: Mar 2002
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Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214
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posted 06 November 2002 09:12 PM
I once came very close to imagining a triangle whose angles added up to 183 degrees. That's a different geometry.I think what the guy was saying was that if you couldn't arrive at the right answer, then one of his assumptions was wrong. "Try a different geometry" meant, "try the right geometry." Is there a universal morality? Try doing something completely altruistic. Even acts of charity etc, can be traced back to self interest, so maybe, in the end, self interest is the universal morality? That's not as Anne Randish as it at first appears. Yes, the right and conservatives might champion that idea, but they have a rather myopic view of thier self interest. So myopic that their dogma actually works against self interest.
Today it's in my self interest not to eat you. After all, I don't want to be eaten. But, put us with no food in the Arctic for a month or so, and I'm betting with a little sage, you'd be mighty tasty, Arch.
From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001
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abnormal
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1245
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posted 06 November 2002 09:25 PM
quote:
So, what's the other geometry like?
Probably not as different as you think. quote:
a triangle whose angles added up to 183 degrees. That's a different geometry.
You want a triangle where the angles don't total 180 degrees? Draw it on the surface of a sphere.
From: far, far away | Registered: Aug 2001
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DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490
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posted 06 November 2002 09:39 PM
And the cool thing is that they all fold back into 4-d spacetime when the numbers pop out at the end.  quote:
I once came very close to imagining a triangle whose angles added up to 183 degrees. That's a different geometry.I think what the guy was saying was that if you couldn't arrive at the right answer, then one of his assumptions was wrong. "Try a different geometry" meant, "try the right geometry."
Nyee-hee-hee-hee. Those nefarious TAs and physicists! Actually, if you want some fun, look up Riemannian space-time. I believe it is positively curved.
From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001
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Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214
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posted 06 November 2002 09:41 PM
I perfer the Adams theory that says space/time is not just curved, it's absolutely bent.I don't like bringing in convenient things like extra dimensions to solve problems. However, in the past when the math pointed to the seemingly absurd, later experimentation proved it to be correct. So, I'm less inclined to dismiss the idea. Those dimensions are all folded/rolled up so much that we're not missing anything by not living in them anyway. Before, I was wondering what was on T.V. in those extra dimensions, and feeling a lot of anxiety about not being able to see what else might be on. [ November 06, 2002: Message edited by: Tommy_Paine ]
From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001
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