>>>> One of the more terrifying books ever written, if nothing else for the fact it opens one to the possibility we may all have such disorders on a species-wide level. What if there are things none of us allow ourselves to perceive?
>>> After learning it, it would still be the same exact world as was before we learned about it.
>> That would require "learning it" to have zero persistence in any form would it not? How might one know such a thing?
> Not sure what you're asking. What is "that" which would require "'learning it' to have zero persistence in any form'"?
"That" = "it would still be the same exact world (as was before we learned about it)".
World-State: 1
World-Event: at least one human becomes open to the possibility that we may all have such disorders on a species-wide level, that there may be things none of us allow ourselves to perceive. (And once an idea exists in one person's mind, they may act upon it at some point in the future.)
World-State: 2
Are the two states identical? I would think not.
> What I meant is, even if we all learn that everybody in the world has "such disorders" and that "there are things none of us allow ourselves to perceive", what would the objective change be to make this "teriffying"?
To me, it can be "terrifying" to see risk that others cannot or, or refuse to try to see.
Scientists and "scientific thinkers" often express fear of the quantity of "deniers" that don't agree with their risk assessments, and get even more terrified when the "deniers" refuse to listen to reason.
Similarly, people like me feel similarly when it is the scientists who behave the same.
> "There are things that you don't know, and that you as a species can't even perceive" is at best amusing.
This is a consequence of the epistemic norms (lazy, colloquial, bad, etc) of the culture you grew up in: under strict epistemology (philosophical epistemology vs scientific epistemology), risk exists regardless of your personal opinion on it.
Of course, this "is" "pedantic", so no expectation for you to take it seriously...though if my memory serves you are usually the one going against the grain here on HN, so perhaps there's a chance. :)