5-2b5 Theories precede data

1. 5-1b1a8c 決断 ≠ 判断 (the former precedes the latter — why you start out with some end-state of the world you’d like to achieve and live in)

2. 1-1a2e4 Cultures precede languages (10-2g1 Culture is an implicit theory for its members. It dictates what to look at and how they reason about the world.)

3. 4-1a5b Your problems precede any conversations

4. 5-2b4 Explanation (explicit or inexplicit) precedes both your options and choices

5. 10-2e7 The common-sense concept of cause and effect makes sense because ‘variants’ do exist somewhere in the multiverse. Nothing necessitates causes to precede their effects.

6. 1-2g2b3a Both Great Simulator and all-possible-computer-programs-are-running arguments are bad explanations because computation doesn’t precede physical world and its laws. (Contradiction with #5 is worth exploring because 12-1e Nothing is necessary = Everything is contingent)

7. 1-1a4b0b According to Peirce, mathematics precedes all other fields of study, and only studies imbued with a strong mathematical foundation were worthy of the label ‘science’. Mathematics cannot be derived from logic. (Remember: 12-1e Nothing is necessary = Everything is contingent)

   Put differently, having all the data doesn’t solve anything. First of all, we need interpretation. Second of all, the data is preceded by explanation, and this explanation cannot be backed by data. Because explanation dictates the data.