[Xmca-l] Re: The history of science fiction and imagined worlds

[Larry Purss]

After watching the two TED talks, I would like to focus on the general
*theme* that I experienced.

The question of the reality of the imaginal AND the imaginal basis of the
real.

The place we locate the real and the imaginary has I believe a permeable
border and there is a *midworld* that exists in the liminal space that is
the *border*.

David points out how ethnocentric the perspective. I would say the
assumptions and biasis of what is real and what is imaginal is ethnocentric.

The relation of the perceptual/conceptual to what *IS* [both being and
becoming] is also implicated in this thread.

Peirce and Merleau Ponty both engaged deeply with this question of the
perceptual/conceptual.

A more radical way to orient is to understand that the imaginal IS
reality   and also the real IS imaginary.

Pierce talked about the relativity of *logics* which overlaps with William
James radical empiricism that suggests we exist in a pluralistic multi
VERSE not a uni VERSE.

A final thought is the specific topic of ingroup behaviour and *loyalty*
and Andy's orienting to projects.  To participate in *developing* concepts
is *loyalty* an aspect of *developing* concepts?
For example Descarte's loyalty to the cult of thinkers who saw the world as
mechanical and functioning like a clock. That was a shared concept.
Larry

On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 2:04 AM, Tom Richardson <
tom.richardson3@googlemail.com> wrote:

> Hi Greg
> Thanks for this - entertaining!
>
> But why doesn't Michael S. go right back to all religious belief - surely
> Christians are just such 'geeks', long before Sherlock H. 'believers'?
> Tom
> Middlesbrough UK
>
> On 23 September 2014 15:37, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Apologies for distracting from the "real world" discussions on the other
> > thread, but I came across this Ted talk and thought that others might be
> > interested in the history and role of imagined worlds in politics:
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUtErxgz7Mo
> >
> > But perhaps it is worth tracing otherworlds and "the otherwise" to works
> > such as those of Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, and Rabelais.
> >
> > Seems like imagining other worlds has always been a deeply political act.
> >
> > -greg
> >
> > --
> > Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> > Assistant Professor
> > Department of Anthropology
> > 882 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> > Brigham Young University
> > Provo, UT 84602
> > http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
> >
>