From: william@natimuk.acci.com.au (William Lo)
Subject: Re: Cultural Influences on Visual Perception
Organization: IBM Australia/ACCI 
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 01:55:05 GMT

In article <23425@optima.cs.arizona.edu> leoso@cs.arizona.edu (Leo WaiChung So) writes:
>
>  Ok. My 0.01 in "Ming Tung" currency. :)

	Mm, you should take a good look at my next-to-worthless 
2 yens worth...

>
>In article <1992Oct5.191805.14326@uxmail.ust.hk> 
>bi_kin@uxmail.ust.hk (HoiFung JACK @>-`) writes:
>>
>>Firstly, let us listen to the voices of three different umpires as they
>>describe how they call "strikes" (the ball was in the strike zone)
>>and "balls" (the ball was outside the strike zone) in their work:

	What the heck...I don't know anything about baseball!  
	Telling a little more about the rules would've helped...

>>	The first umpire says, "I call them as I see them."
>>	The second umpire says, "I call them as they are."
>>	The third umpire says, "They are nothing until I call them."
>>These 3 voices represent 3 different philosophical views on how humans
>>perceive and experience the physical world.  The first is the voice of 
>>empiricism, the notion that thr' direct observation and experience, human
>>beings can accurately know the phyiscal world.  The second is the voice
>>of naive realism or phenomenal absolutism, the assumption that the physical
>>world is exactly as it appears, existing quite independently of what
>>humans think about it.  The third is the voice of constructivism, the idea
>>that physical reality does not exist independently of the human observer,
>>who creates it.
>>
>>Okay, now ask you, which of these 3 voices do u agree with most and why?
>
>  I would agree with the second umpire / view.

	I agree with the second guy for certain.
 
>
>  Our physical world is just "there". i.e. "ball" or "strike" 
>  is already having its underlying truth value as the ball is 
>  flying towards the striker. True if within the strike area 
>  of X times Y. Otherwise false. That's it.  It's truth value 
>  has nothing to do with its observer. So the second umpire
>  is quite a humble observer of our real game (assume he tell
>  us the truth).

	And for the same obvious reason as Leo's. Because of the  
fact that something physically true must always be true(we assume
the state of this and the definition of that truth are constantly
held all the time). So, the fact that the Earth is spherical is
true(as is physically observed to be spherical) and must hold true
unless the world has been "reshaped" or the definition of sphere has
been altered.
  
>
>  The third one is obviously wrong. One creates something doesn't
>  imply he has the right to interpret it. In our case, he is 
>  quite ignorant and snobbish.

	Hmmm...

>
>  The first one, hmm ... I just remember I learned a "Uncertainty
>  Principle" in secondary school which state that you can never
>  make 100% correct measurement (correct me if wrong). So this 

	IMHO, in absolute theory, 100% accuracy CAN be achieved having  
made a few(?) assumptions, but in reality that hardly exists because 
assumptions are not often realistic...
	
>  view is not valid if we believe in this principle.
>
>>If u were a baseball player, which umpire would you most prefer to have
>>referee your game?
>
>  Anyone but the third one. This kind of view make me think of
>  some subborn referee/umpire who insists on their judgement
>  by exercising their so-called "authority".

	I'd prefer the third guy if he shows more favour to our team!
...hahaha...I don't want to be fair...ya know ya know(don't flame)

>
>  Here ends my "brick", any "jade" out there?

	Errr? Jade? Nah! Certainly not mine! Just catch another
brick OK? 

---Cheers,
	Bill
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