Posts
Comments
The key word here is "inward-oriented;" that is, based on internal logic, instead of on new evidence. When previous theories are destroyed by the mismatch with reality, the facts that supported the previous theory are either revealed as untrue, or merged into a newer and more correct theory, that incorporates new evidence and different links between the facts to come to a different, and presumably superior, conclusion.
On second though, that was a bad section to quote, although Boyd never really gave any better ones in his essay. I tried to note the way out without throwing on too much of Boyd's pointless terminology in the last sentence ("Fortunately, there is away out.") I clearly failed; my bad.
"...any inward-oriented and continued effort to improve the match-up of concept with observed reality will only increase the degree of mismatch...Put another way, we can expect unexplained and disturbing ambiguities, uncertainties, anomalies, or apparent inconsistencies to emerge more and more often. Furthermore, unless some kind of relief is available, we can expect confusion to increase until disorder approaches chaos— death.
Fortunately, there is a way out."
~ John Boyd, Destruction and Creation
Most interest in politics is IMO similar to interest in sports or movies. It's fun, and it offers an opportunity to show off a bit, gives something to talk and socialize about, helps people form communities and define their interests. But beyond these kinds of social goals, there is no true value.
I'm not totally sure what you mean by this. With that said, it does matter very much how the government distributes its resources. While the government is admittedly inefficient, that doesn't mean that it can't be improved. Since politics determines how those resources are distributed, wouldn't becoming involved in politics be a valid and important way to gain your favored causes-i.e. existential risk mitigation- support? Declaring one method of gaining support to be automatically invalid, no matter the circumstances, won't help you.