rattus rattus’ blog

For one more application and a beautiful variation on the liar’s paradox see motzes’ posting “on the unknowables” and (about the same quote) Richard Zach’s “Logic Joke“,
because only an idiot would believe this.

When I met Erwin Chargaff in his flat in New York, I felt like entering a new world, yet familiar. In his book “Kritik der Zukunft” he suggests that, for the time being, we declare our resignation from humankind.

Besides the fact that he says he did, I am to follow.
So here I am, outside.

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us
somebody may be looking.

— H. L. Mencken

You can take it as a big open question or as a triviality.

— Francisco J. Varela

Gonna Move (by Paul Pena)

When I was a little boy I felt so alone
Quiet country house that I had to call home
Living with a couple of folks, rich millionaires
Sat on their money, Lord, it seemed they didn’t care

Finally we moved to our own place
Where I could walk around with a smile on my face
And I knew in order to be a man
I had to pull up my roots and move on in this land

I’m gonna move away from here
You can find me if you wanna go there
I’m gonna move away from here
You can find me if you wanna go there

Came to a school in the big city
Looked around at the lights and I thought they were pretty
They told me and teached me to live by their rules
So I wouldn’t be nobody’s fool

I found out, not too long
Their rules wouldn’t let me sing my song
I know in order to be a man
I had to pull up roots once again and move on in this land

I’m gonna move away from here
You can find me if you wanna go there
I’m gonna move away from here
You can find me if you wanna go there

Then I joined the college ranks
There they said they’d teach me how to think
They gave me books to read and papers to write
They didn’t know about this boy’s coming fight

But I found out that after a while
Reading those books was making me lose my smile
And I knew in order to not conceal
I had to play music and express what I feel

I’m gonna move away from here
You can find me if you wanna go there
I’m gonna move…

Gonna move away from here …
Jump on the train, come on …
Come on and ride, you will see …
We gonna get there in a little while …
Come on with me …

Roll on, roll on, roll on …

If it ain’t fast enough
we’re gonna jump on a plane
…

(Song and lyrics are by Paul Pena; this transcription of lyrics was done by Andreas Schamanek.)

Why don’t the newscasters cry
when they read about people who die

Why don’t human ecologists cry when they give their talks, when they take part in conferences and discussions, or when they present their posters?

At least they could be decent enough
to put just a tear in their eyes

Why don’t we cry?

Well mama said
It’s just make believe
You can’t believe everything you see
So baby close your eyes to the lullabies
On the news tonight

Quotes from Jack Johnson‘s song The News.

This sentence does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.
— Robert Boeninger

A wonderful example of a not so obvious self-contradictory sentence. It is discussed in Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern by Douglas R. Hofstadter. Some more examples of paradoxical statements, a great illustration of troublesome self-reference, and why it simply is all about this and that may be found in the h2g2‘s entry on “self-reference“.

There is a wonderful quote by Heinz von Foerster that I first learned about at a workshop in April 1991 in Vienna where he presented it in his opening talk:

The problem is not truth,
the problem is trust.

This is a very riddle. One can read it in many ways, and every time I look at it it’s likely to tell me another story. I am most thankful to Heinz von Foerster that he suggested 2 things for reading this riddle: Look up the words in an etymological dictionary, and … silence. He just looked into my eyes and smiled.

May I invite you to see for yourselves. Here is the quote with links to the Online Etymology Dictionary:

The problem is not truth,
the problem is trust.

In an opening address for a conference in 1990, see “ethics and second-order cybernetics“, Heinz von Foerster tells a story about the origin of the quote.