Validation
Who's the judge?
Statements can be true or false - but how do we tell the difference? This is where validation comes in. I think that this statement is true because . . .(insert validation statement here).
Generally validation applies when we are trying to convince others of the truth of a statement.
We rarely validate our own thoughts - though, in a way,that's what mindfulness does.
When we connect our computers to the internet there is a validation process involved. Long again you could hear it happening -it was meaningful to the computer but sounded like a screech with a doing doing at the end.
What was happening - I think - is that my computer would send a message to another computer and the other computer would acknowledge that the channel was open andI could start sending data. The ack signal was a validation of the statement : this channel is open.
That doesn't show up now but you can still see it if you use a sniffer to watch your internet traffic.
Validation is embedded in the idea of 'trust but verify'.
When I cash a cheque they give me the money but I need to show them ID. They trust me because they can find me if the cheque isn't valid.
Long ago one of the main validations of identity was just that you went into the bank often and everyone knew your face. Once I got a valid cheque but I was in a strange city. I went to 3 banks before I found one that would cash it. They'd look at the cheque and say we don't cash these before I could even show my papers. It was an unemployment insurance cheque.
About that time I walked into a camera store in Victoria looking for a job. I was long haired. The manager quizzed me about cameras and film and developing and hired me on the spot.
That's a validation!!!:-)
In democratic societies elections are seen as the way of validating the people who make the rules that we all must live by.
There are a few movements that think they are 'sovereign citizens' or 'sovereign sheriffs' who claim to be the real lawmakers. They have a problem. They have no way to validate the claim.
I guess they have the right to state the claim but they can;t enforce it and they are a bit like King Canute commanding the sea since he was king
But I get it too that we live in intellectual silos that are very influential in terms of validation.
Some people say that they believe that a soul is created at conception - they use that assertion to validate forcing birth on women who don't want it
But they don't validate their assumptions. If God does not exist - they assume that god exists without validation - how can god be used to justify forced birth? I've checked.
I think that most of us use science as a validator. Science tries to pull aside Kant's curtain where he said we can only perceive the world via our senses and that perception needs to be interpreted to be meaningful.
Science agrees and then creates stories so probable that when you encounter them (with proper training) then you say - of course - that's the way it must be
What do you think?
I present regular philosophy discussions in a virtual reality called Second Life.
I set a topic and people come as avatars and sit around a virtual table to discuss it.
Each week I write a short essay to set the topic.
I show a selection of them here.