Speculative Metaphysics #2503498273

There is space. There is time. There is matter. There are human monkeys. The human monkeys have skulls made of bone. Inside the skulls are brains. The brains give the monkeys consciousness. The brains are made of matter too. The brains think via the re-arrangement of matter and energy. The brains are constructed so they detect patterns. Detecting patterns is the main purpose of the brains, without pattern detection the monkeys cannot function and cannot create more monkeys.

Anything that is not a pattern cannot be seen by the brains - it is Aussersein. Because the brains see patterns they look for patterns related to the patterns they have previously detected (and believe to be true/existant-in-the-world-outside-the-brain). This is the law of fives.

Empirical verification is the only reasonable way to separate patterns that exist in the world from patterns merely imagined to exist. Unfortunately, no one person can engage in the empirical verification necessary to support a functioning in-the-world metaphysics. Therefore, others must be trusted to give testimony/witness to the patterns that the brain has detected. This testimony elevates the patterns to truth.

Who should a monkey trust? Expert monkeys who claim to have spent many years investigating a particular aspect of reality? The writing of long dead monkeys? What the majority of other monkeys believe?

If the monkey believes only what he can verify the monkey will be very busy verifying all the time. And some patterns cannot be falsified. Ever. What should a monkey think about those?

It is hard to be a monkey. So many choices to be made.