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I'll settle for acknowledging my delusions, not sure they're avoidable, they just get replaced by better delusions with more explanatory power.

Does anyone agree?
I was kind of surprised I wrote this because I never considered it quite this way before.

Novelty 8 Mar 8
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Your comment on the explanatory power of delusions made me think of the accepted axioms (postulates) of Quantum Mechanics (QM). In a way, these could be considered "Axiomatic Delusions", albeit with tremendous explanatory power, since we have accepted in these absence of other knowledge, although they've been reinforced over and over again in a plethora of experiments. A fun read on this concept: [the-sociable-solipsist.storychief.io]

As for the axioms (postulates) of QM: [ocw.mit.edu]

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Gotta go along with Groucho

Cogito ergo suum? or was it Zeppo?

@Philip21 Don't know. I'm an expert on Groucho. I'm told he's dead.

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If an idea, or a set of ideas, has more explanatory power than another idea or ideas, I would not call it delusional. I would call it a better understanding (presumably of the world about you) or a more useful model of reality (whatever that is).

Yes, I am a pedant when it comes to English usage, and being a pedant has both its advantages and its disadvantages. I am also blessed and cursed by having an analytical habit of mind, which is why I make a distinction between delusions and (better) understanding.

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I struggle to overcome my delusions. As soon as I rid myself of one, another one pops up. There's a narrow line between delusions and aspirations, so I limit my aspirations too.

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You're delusions are all your own, mine are entirely different,except where they intersect at an agreed point called shared reality..just sayin.

Although we may agree on something called reality, that too may be a delusion.

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I suppose it depends on what your delusions are. Are they delusions or hope, and where does one end and the other begin.

@Novelty I guess I just don't see myself as being delusional about anything, maybe when I was in my 20s, but not since then. Maybe a couple of things I hope for are a little delusional, but sense I recognize this, it really isn't delusional.

@Novelty I know. I am not very clear as to your point.

@Sticks48 I think it's about growing.. Replace one delusional thought, aka belief, with another one that makes more sense until the next one makes more sense..

@Cutiebeauty does that mean they are delusions though, or just assumptions that we adopt in order to continue until evidence allows us to replace that assumption with a more accurate one? Like a game of sudoku where you assume a number in order to continue and if it's incorrect you come back and change it. The definition of a delusion is that you maintain that belief in the face of evidence to the contrary and you are not doing that.

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Our perceptions are based on our understanding of the environment around us. Your beautiful looks can be both a blessing and a curse, cheer up you are young and full of promise. Just a little gift for you, be well

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There's an oft-repeated quote from Albert Einstein that nearly everyone misinterprets, but I think it applies to what you've expressed:

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

This quote is generally taken out of context, but in context he's saying something similar to what you are — or something that dovetails with your idea, at least. In particular, he's using "religion" in a very specific sense: he says that there's a leap of faith that we must acknowledge that the world is indeed comprehensible and that we have the capacity to understand it through the scientific method.

What if the world is not fully comprehensible, though? What if we lack the capacity to understand? One thing that bothers me is that our observable universe might not hold the secrets to fully explain how it works, that we would need access to information contained outside of the spacetime in which we are able to exist to truly get the answers we desire.

I think about the meaningless, but justifiable question of what happened before the Big Bang. As far as we know, the conditions at the apex of the Big Bang were very similar to the conditions within a black hole, and that all of the forces and the dimensions of time and space as we know them came into existence during expansion. We can measure things as they exist within those physical parameters, but it may be that the deeper scientific secrets are forever shrouded from us because we need to have a complete understanding of something that exists outside of our universal laws and properties, of other possible universes, of a super-universe.

In essence, I am concerned that there will come a point when we've figured out as much of our universe as we can, but it will still barely scratch the surface and won't lend itself to unlocking the mysteries that we aren't even aware exist. So, in a sense I agree with you about delusion, though I wouldn't call it that exactly. I think we are perceiving accurately, with the help of instrumentation that supercedes the limits of our biological senses in myriad ways, but it may very well be that we are so limited in the scope of data, observation, experimentation, and so forth, that our understanding of the world will never achieve what our scientific leap of faith hopes for.

@Novelty I realized that you were talking more of personal delusions, rather than of the very broad idea of scientific discovery, but I thought that provided a clear, expansive example of how we might have limits on our perceptions. When it comes to individual delusions, misconceptions, etc., it is harder to extrapolate because so much is subjective in how we see the world — from cultural biases to how each person's brain works in processing information. But you're right, of course, that we all have unique perspectives and that plays into delusions. I'd say, though, that not every difference of opinion is rooted in delusion. Aesthetics are largely a matter of personal taste, and one person may identify with realism while another appreciates abstract art. Or, politically, striking a balance between authoritarianism and libertarianism: we need some laws but we also want our freedoms, but where exactly do we draw those lines and what for of government is best in this regard? Socially, there are many different ways of dealing with people, and where one person may see someone who's blunt as simply rude and unconcerned with other people's feelings, another person may see them as a straight shooter who doesn't hide their intentions. There are genuine delusions, like within religion, but I don't want to pick on the devout — this site covers religious delusion daily. Instead, I'll point to something a philosophy professor told me, about how for many, many years a friend of his would have a substantial injury every year. Someone remarked when he'd fallen from a ladder and broke a bone, "Well, you got this year's injury out of the way." He had no idea what they meant, though, as he hadn't realized there was a pattern of injury or that his injuries may have resulted from some psychological mechanism where he felt the need to harm himself, manifesting in ostensible accidents. But once we start delving into psychological issues, delusion is rich but so is the complexity of the human mind and much of that is still inscrutable. Psychology interests me a lot, but I don't have a strong enough understanding of it to talk confidently about delusional thinking.

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Everyone has them to one extent or the other

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You're not delusional, you're just quirky... That's a good quality.. Learn to embrace your quirkiness 😊😜

@Novelty you might be perky too but I've not seen... Nevermind... 😍😍

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Everyone's got their biases. Better to be aware of them than to pretend they don't exist.

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