Longtime readers of this blog will be familiar with my more closely held beliefs; beliefs in objective truth, falsificationism, freedom, and justice, overtly expressed in every inch of my writing. These beliefs have colored my tenure here at the Injun, from my reviews straight through to the adventures which Mazo and I have reported. I believed in these things because they were told to me by people I respected and admired. I am now at a crossroads. It started with a routine argument on a forum, as much of my education has. In this case the RE5 thread on SelectButton. Nothing I know will ever be the same; actually, I am not even sure knowledge is possible now.
I brought up Popper, and Tarski; they countered with Wittgenstein and Godel. Their arguments were passionate and well reasoned. I… oh god, what have I been doing with my life? There was a time when everything made sense to me. Now I realize that time was a lie. It was impossible, in fact. How could I have been so mistaken? In my arrogance, I read books thinking they contained knowledge, but what claim does any one man have to knowledge? And supposing he knows, what good are his words when their meaning can only ever be debated over endlessly by his readers and critics? I was the grandest sort of fool. I am remembering now my Xenophanes. I thought I knew what his words meant then, but now I am not sure. I present them to you for your own judgement, but perhaps they stand instead as a judgement of me.
The Ethiops say that their gods are flat-nosed and black
While the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair.
Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw
And could sculpture like men, then the horses would draw their gods
Like horses, and cattle like cattle, and each would then shape
Bodies of gods in the likeness, each kind, of its own.
The gods did not reveal, from the beginning,
But as for certain truth, no man has known it,
nor will he know it; neither of the gods,
Nor yet of all the things of which I speak.
And even if by chance he were to utter
The final truth, he would himself not know it;
For all is but a woven web of guesses.
Loyal readers, this is the end of business as usual for me. A new beginning, of sorts, getting over my old foolishness. It was easy enough to see with my Mother 3 article. I went in with preconceived notions of objectivity, and in the end, when all was said and done, only the last paragraph held any meaning. From now on I will give and see meaning wherever it suits me, and I will be better for it. The world will be better for it. I am done with arrogance.
Infinity Injun no Chousenjou 