Wednesday 27 March 2013

Metal detecting

Do the means by which I look for something change the thing I’m looking for? If I use an expensive metal detector, does that make the metal in the ground more valuable? Of course, once I find something the status of that thing changes from not found to found. But, that change is in relation to my point of view: it is a change for me. Only when I find it can I have knowledge of the object; it is impossible to know the object before finding it. An act of finding and knowing is prior to knowledge. Therefore, it is not possible to verify whether using an expensive or inexpensive metal detector changes the object.

However, the means of the search does change the act of searching itself. Using a good metal detector makes it more efficient while denying there is anything to find or using a broken detector makes the search difficult.

Reacting to Parkinson’s (or stammering or depression) is like going metal detecting; you have no control over what you find but you have a choice of how painful or difficult the search will be. Even if you refuse to go the disease will drag you on the search anyway. Therefore, using a good detector makes it less painful and enables you to see more of the disease, which in turn allows you to see more of the space within the disease for you.

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