13 December 2012 - absolute truth 3

The nature of truth (if there is such a thing), at least in the sense of truth about the state of the world (if there is such a thing), is in the end a question of physics (if there is such a thing). Relativity and relativism are related. People have wondered how it is possible to understand without starting from understanding, to build without a foundation, but that’s silly. We always add the intellectual foundation last and there is always a starting point; every Bayesian has a prior; even life started by itself from scratch. If you are patient you can grasp the whole world by the tiny handle you begin with in your little warm pond.