I figured out part of the answer to the question at the end of my last post but then, started a business, closed it, got two other jobs and am now on the tail end of a personal health crisis. On the plus side I get to keep my hip . . . for now at least. Thus after a long hiatus the Mad Philosopher has returned.
So why Maps you might ask yourself. If you recall the question we are dealing with is how can we tell the difference between our ideas about reality and actual reality. Maps are part of the answer. Consider that your ideas about reality are a map of reality. Now in our age we are accustomed to highly accurate maps provided by satelite imagery, LIDAR, Arial Photography and professional Surveys. In the past this was not the case getting accurate maps was difficult if not impossible partly because of the trading advantage gained by those who had them. (They generally didn’t want to share.) Disinformation was another problem. Ancient writings are full of references to lands that the authors had never travelled too and weren’t actually sure existed. Often the descriptions and names ended up garbled as they were passed on from teller to teller before finally being recorded. Just like our modern children’s game Telephone. Apparently I could write about maps indefinitely but I think you get the picture.
Ancient mariners and traders were secretive about the information they had about how the world was really laid out because it granted them economic advantages. There are many reasons to suspect that the same thing continues today. I am here talking about Capital R “Reality” as opposed to our concepts about it. We should always be cautious of misinformation from those who are better informed than we are. ince we all have access to google earth these days the misinformation we are concerned with here is not about geography ( we are just going to ignore the flat earth society here. ) The misinformation that we are talking about has to do with how to actually succeed in the current system. There is no reason to believe that what we are told by the powerful and wealthy about how to gain success is valid. It is very reasonable at least in my opinion to suspect that any information given by the powerful and rich is calculated to get us to act in a way that is beneficial to them rather than to us.
I will end this post with the following thoughts. Where should we go to find accurate maps about reality. Perhaps we should all start learning how to make our own maps. Even the maps possessed by our progenitors are no longer accurate due to the dynamic nature of reality. I have often been told how 40 years ago it was possible to by a house for a years wages and a new car with several weeks wages. both of these data points have changed drastically in the interim. We need to learn how to maintain current accurate information on the nature of reality. This requires us to network with as many honest people around the world as possible, especially those who have different experiences and views , to share information with thus enabling us to develop a picture of reality that is as complete and accurate as possible given the obvious difficulties.
