The Thinker and the Prover

Thinker 'The Thinker can think about virtually anything.' The earth is: Hollow Suspended on the backs of infinite turtles Floating in space Religion, philosophy, politics: Mortal Immortal Both mortal and immortal Scientific relativist Marxist Nazi Medicine: Hypochondria Placebo cures

Prover

'If the Thinker thinks the sun moves around the earth, the prover will obligingly organize all perceptions to fit that thought; if the Thinker changes its mind and decides the earth moves around the sun, the Prover will reorganize the evidence.

If the thinker thinks 'holy water' from Lourdes will cure its lumbago, the Prover will skillfully orchestrate all signals from the glands, muscles, organs etc. until they have organized themselves into good health again.

Of course it is fairly easy to see that other peoples minds operate this way; it is comparatively much harder to become aware that one's own mind is working that way also.'

Conclusion

'"Truth" or relative truth emerges only after decades of experiments by thousands of groups all over the world. In the long run, we are hopefully approximating closer and closer to "objective Truth" over the centuries.

In the short run, Orr's law always holds.

And if the Thinker thinks passionately enough, the Prover will prove the thought so conclusively that you will never talk a person out of such a belief, even if it is something as remarkable as the notion that there is a gaseous vertebrate of astronomical heft ("GOD") who will spend all eternity torturing people who dont believe in his religion.'


To explore the Thinker and the Prover, try these exercises.