A blanket of Promises

It can be difficult pinpointing some of the basic maxims or attitudes of cultures. These are the things that are taken for granted in a culture and that are just assumed to be how reality is. One of the defining characteristics of the Judeo-christian  worldview is the emphasis on promises. Perhaps the covenants between God and his followers in the Bible define that emphasis on the power of words for this culture. Perhaps this has something to do with the belief in an afterlife in these religions: that words and promises are kept eternal and that the words have power to shape the world long after they were first uttered or written down. It is the culture that remembers the words and promises and the words and promises shape the culture.

The promised land – what does that mean? A land where words have perfect fidelity? A world where words merge with the reality of things – where there is no gap between a symbol and what that symbol is pointing to? Is that where the idea of heaven comes from? A belief that a word can be a complete substitute for reality? How many shades of green can there be in all the varieties of light and shade and do all those colours each have a unique name? [Would the nature of God be different under varying philosophies of language and meaning? The same words and names can mean any number of things to different people over time - the link between words and what those words represent is the interesting thing. The problem is an assumption that the link between words and the way they are understood is unitary and one-to-one instead of being one-to-many. ]

Modern financial systems, money and capitalism are based around promises. Financial value is a promise. Most of our culture manipulates an negotiates promises of some kind to move things around and keep things going. Much of the environmental thinking is about finding words and promises that are supposed to keep us safe. At least with science the words have some true connection with reality – even if the systems of measurement are cultural.

The problem is with the boundary conditions.  Green house gas concentrations in the atmosphere is a boundary condition. You have to deal with boundary conditions differently. They are a special case where a number of influences intersect – not just cultural or political influences.

[Post number 500 for Becrux - Yay!]