Thanks for the ESR links! He writes "truth is what makes the future less surprising". He must define truth as a model of reality. So there can be multiple truths with varying degrees of truthfulness. I thought truth was reality itself, infinitely more complex than the human mind can hold, and something that makes the future more surprising.

The other essay says "The religiously inclined can believe in that perfect observer and identify it with God". Not sure what to make of that. I'm sure Thor can't predict what Odin will do. That God is all-knowing means you can't have secrets from God, not that God knows everything and can predict the future.

A spectacle's material presence consists of ink, sound waves or pixels. These are what you can sense. Yet when you listen to radio news, you do not think about the voice, but about the mental image that the spectacle projects. Most people are occupied by these images most of the time.

That struck me as I was sewing a red bag, per the Magic Monday FAQ. It's so unusual to to create a thing. We mostly buy commodities!