The Danish physicist Niels Bohr was once visited by a friend who noticed a horseshoe nailed to Niels' door.The friend asked "you don't believe in that claptrap do you?", to which Niels replied "No...But I heard it works even if you don't believe in it!" Similarly,if you ask parents at Christmastime if they believe in Father Christmas,they will say "of course not,we buy the presents,we just pretend for the kids." If you ask their kids if they believe in Father Christmas they ail tell you no,we don't believe in him,we just pretend so as to not upset our parents. Do you find that you end up believing in things you don't believe in?
For the sake of a quiet life? Not to 'rock the apple-cart'? I wouldn't go to my 3 year old nephew and tell him santa wasn't real. There isn't many - if any - times where I have to maintain the status quo. I guess I wasn't brutally honest with the way I felt about people, but life is short and time is precious - so I try to be now.
Not exactly Odon.I mean more on the level of the divorce between the real and the unreal.Between the imagined and the unimaginable.Also those technologies where the divide between "magic" and reasonable understanding breaks down. And then on a more mundane level...Politicians,governments,the financial system,the internet,postmodern consumer society etc.
Well the financial system for example.It seems to be based on a fiat currency that is backed up by money that isn't really there...Or money that is created from nowhere...It requires faith by its participants in order for it to keep on working,even as it is always teetering on the brink of collapse.It requires belief in something that is essentially unbelievable.
I take cognitive dissonance as a very real thing btw,probably one of the underlying fundamentals of my existence.
Fairlight I'd put that e.g in the category of: 'It's been around for centuries, and will probably be around for centuries more' I don't think I have to believe or disbelieve with regards to 'if money is real'. I'm paid. I buy things. It isn't an existential question I spend a great deal of time over. Imo, It's a matter of opinion rather than believing something that is unbelievable.
Yes but money isn't just money,depending on how you see it.It is also reified into something above and beyond itself as a simple mechanism of exchange.It has come to represent the combined material and intellectual meaning of the value of life itself.Also money isn't stable as a simple method of exchange.If inflation rises (as it is) and your pay-packet decreases (as it is) you have something that is far more ideologically charged.Also it is naive to assume that the financial system is something that is fixed and immutable as a system.It is constantly evolving and inventing its own new rules - usually ones designed to make the poor poorer and the rich richer,either by design or effect.
See, I don't believe it is a one way street... I don't believe everything is weighted against the poor and levered towards the rich. But, it is a matter of opinion. Inflation can fall too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6ZJcMBz4I0"]BBC News UK inflation rate falls to 2 4% in April - YouTube The levers/mechanisms involved I have very little if any control over. If YOU don't believe money is real etc - then don't use it. I accept the ebb and flow of the cost of living etc etc etc ... maybe I'll never be 'on top' *shrugs shoulders* oh, well.
I appreciate your pragmatism Odon.I suppose I believe in money when I have it and don't believe in it it when I don't.
Well I had to pay a large electricity and council tax bill recently...So am feeling a little light in the pocket yes...
money is just an necessity in the world we live in.it something you use and share.the problem is when money becomes a god ta people thats when it begins ta represent all thats evil.the rich becoming richer.the poor becoming poorer.money is also the main cause of all wars started.capitalism in itself is basically toxic to the humane race.
