Conversation Extra Credit

 Jack: Me
 [Jack]: Why do truth, facts, and reality matter?

 [Anderson]: I am not really sure it does matter. Have you met the average American?
 They just don't really care about what you have to say, they already know better than you. "Do your own thing, find your own reality, it’s all relative." (~FL 15). Personally, there is plenty of objective truth, just too many are willfully and culturally ignorant of it.

 [Descartes]: What is the difference between that and being asleep? Prove to me we are not all in a dream right now? I will agree it is very hard to be sure of anything outside of your own head. There is some holy solace to be found, though: "As soon as you start to doubt your own existence, the act of doubting proves that you exist as a thinking thing." (LH 66). Have a little faith in your senses, you were designed this way for a reason. My god would not deceive me in my essential existence.

 [Kaag]: Of course I know I think, you think I can dream up someone as ugly as you? I'm pretty sure I have come "to terms with the existential fragility that most of us, most of the time, try to ignore." (AP 33) Reality matters because it is what we have.

 [James]: It is all relative, in a sense. "Truth is what works." (LH 166) - The cat is sitting on the mat when it is, and isn't when it isn't. One of the tricks is to just use common sense, being sensible, a lot of things just don't matter and are opinions - objective truths are more rare than you think. So honestly, truth, facts, and reality don't always matter.

 [Jack]: That is a good point. An out of the blue personal example is Ranch is disgusting. That's my reality, but is that yours? Arguably that's an opinion, and could we not just call that an "individual truth"? Truth can even literally be statistical. We missed a lot of the in-person instruction that would  really have help us understand the quantum mechanical parts of my in-depth physical chemistry class, but I do know that at small enough scales we are forced to interpret reality through a statistical lense, often with the chance of any single given observation being different.

 [James]: But, "the really vital question for us all, what is this world going to be? What is life eventually going to make of itself?" To me, reality is the sensible choice. It's sensible that everyone wants to be happy. We're all working "to satisfy our desire to be recognized and admired by other people" (LH 169).

 [Jack]: I do not know, but it's going to be my personal problem. To an extent, you have to make the world how you want it to be. Do good to see good. If you paint your bedroom yellow, would you be surprised to wake up and see yellow? Life doesn't really make anything of itself. We make something out of life. The gift and curse of highly intelligent consciousness, I suppose.

 [Singer]: Getting a bit ahead of yourself to imply your consciousness is highly intelligent. As long as you are consistent throughout life, you will make it out fine. Do good and be good. Just remember, "you almost certainly could have a genuine influence on other people’s lives. And you should." (LH241)
 
 [Descartes]: Rude, Singer. Why should you try to influence other people's lives? Life is an investigation. It's up to you to really dig in and figure out what's going on. Ask god for help if you need it, you'll find your way to him eventually.

 [Jack]: Rene, why do you keep kicking my leg? Stop!!

 [Descartes]: Just making sure you're awake. Besides, it is just your bodies pain. Your mind is fine.

 [Kaag]: I do not think I would ask god the same questions as you, Rene. Absolutely, it is an adventure within. Americans will not change as much as you may hope, though. "The task of classical American philosophy was to declare its intellectual independence while remaining firmly rooted in the distant past." (AP 29)

 [Andersen]: You're telling me. "By my reckoning, the more or less solidly reality-based are a minority, maybe a third of us but almost certainly fewer than half. Only a third of us, for instance, believe with some certainty that CO2 emissions from cars and factories are the main cause of Earth’s warming. Only a third are sure the tale of creation in Genesis isn’t a literal, factual account. Only a third strongly disbelieve in telepathy and ghosts." (~FL 30) Just pick something you want your life to be, and live it. Be Miley Cyrus if you want, we are in Tennessee. Who am I to interrupt your opinion with my facts? Can you tell I'm sick of this?

 [Jack]: I'm getting a sneaking suspicion you are, yeah.


Note: My Fantasyland pages are rough estimates, the digital version I was looking at doesn't match up with print