NationStates Jolt Archive


Perfection, is there such a thing

Haddess
13-07-2005, 19:48
Many of you have heard my veiw now i want to hear yours. For those of you who don't know my veiw here it is. There is no such thing as perfection. All it is is a term saying that it is the best that they have seen. But there is alwayas something or will be something better.
Legless Pirates
13-07-2005, 19:50
"The key to perfection is imperfection" - Bicentennial Man
Holyawesomeness
13-07-2005, 20:04
Perfection can exist, the only problem is that it is difficult, perhaps even impossible for imperfect things to create perfect thing or even imagine what perfect is really like.
Willamena
13-07-2005, 20:12
There is no such thing as perfection in the physical world. There is, of course, in the mental world, though.
Willamena
13-07-2005, 20:13
"The key to perfection is imperfection" - Bicentennial Man
Is that, like, the perfect imperfection is the only perfection?
Colodia
13-07-2005, 20:35
The Perfect Storm ;)
Baby Harp Seals
13-07-2005, 20:37
I'm working on it! ;o)
Steel Butterfly
13-07-2005, 20:41
*looks around*

*sees mirror*

yeah...perfection exists
Piperia
13-07-2005, 20:57
Many of you have heard my veiw now i want to hear yours. For those of you who don't know my veiw here it is. There is no such thing as perfection. All it is is a term saying that it is the best that they have seen. But there is alwayas something or will be something better.

Perfect in what context? Getting every question right on a test is a “prefect” score. Bowling a 300 is “perfect.” Can a person be perfect at everything? No, of course not. But can a person be perfect at one thing…?
Romanore
13-07-2005, 21:30
What if what we viewed as perfect (i.e. God) was limitless? Meaning, if we could reach a certain view of what we think of he/she/it as perfect, h/s/i would always surpass that preconceived notion.

I do happen to believe in (the Christian) God, and do happen to find him perfect in an unlimited fashion. He is infathomable to our finite minds, so there is no way to tell if he has a cap on how far he can reach in perfection.
Syniks
13-07-2005, 21:34
Many of you have heard my veiw now i want to hear yours. For those of you who don't know my veiw here it is. There is no such thing as perfection. All it is is a term saying that it is the best that they have seen. But there is alwayas something or will be something better.
Peace is a purely theoretical state of affairs whose existence we deduce because there have been intervals between wars. Perfection is the same.
Willamena
13-07-2005, 21:44
Perfect in what context? Getting every question right on a test is a “prefect” score. Bowling a 300 is “perfect.” Can a person be perfect at everything? No, of course not. But can a person be perfect at one thing…?
Right. Abstract things, like values, can be perfect.
Willamena
13-07-2005, 21:45
I wonder if even existence is perfect? Physicists talk about the space between atoms...
New Watenho
14-07-2005, 03:09
No, there is no such thing, assuming space is absolute non-digital in nature and quantum theory is accurate. Only inside a digital/-istic system is there the possibility of perfection. Nothing in the Universe is physically perfect, therefore.

But the concept easily applies to various digital systems we use. In a mathematics exam it is possible to have a perfect score; this is not "the best the examiner has ever seen" but actually perfect. Any computer system is perfect (leaving out old calculators which sometimes produced different answers if you gave them the same question twice); even crashing is an application of perfection, because the rules are still being executed, but they've led to a circular conclusion/an unacceptable value etc. This is a fault to our eyes, but it is not intrasystemically.

At the same time one cannot have a perfect English exam, because here preference becomes a problem. In theory, the perfect paper would get 100% from every logically possible examiner, but this is unverifiable and so must be discounted.

Different kinds of perfection may also be said to exist. An informationally perfect copy of a document has every letter the same as the original, even if it's a photocopy and so the image quality cannot be said to be a perfect copy of the original.

In actual fact, we see here that perfection is a human construct, and applies (I believe) only to purely informational content; copying, rule-application and so forth.

Edit: Bah, sorry if I repeated anything. Didn't read fully; need sleep.
AkhPhasa
14-07-2005, 03:14
I think it entirely depends upon what realm you are discussing. Theoretical realms such as mathematics may contain lots of perfections. If you are talking about physical objects or something, well, perfect in what sense? I mean, all the subatomic particles are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing, all the forces are balancing each other off as they should. Is that not perfection? It could be argued that everything in creation is "perfect" as it is, at being "what it is". A perfect lopsided ellipse, a perfect dented fender, a perfect flat middle C, a perfect twit.
Celtlund
14-07-2005, 04:18
The only thing that exists that is perfect is God. If you do not believe in God, then nothing is perfect.
Czardas
14-07-2005, 04:43
Nothing is perfect, nothing ever was, and nothing will ever be. Except me. :)