Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia; Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.
Post 107.March 08, 2020 continued . . .
The God Problem
Ambitious Willful Soul/Self
+ Apparently, the mind-like properties of the material universe cannot be easily explained with the empirical methods of reductive Science. So he resorts to metaphors, yet carefully avoids the most obvious metaphor of all : an intentional creative agent. “Why does the cosmos we inhabit appear to be persistent, manic, driven, motivated . . . With a primitive precursor of will?” Plagued by the signs pointing to intention or will, he is forced to consider the possibility of a designing First Cause. “Are we pushed ahead by the past or pulled ahead by the future? Is there more to this universe than causality? Is there also a hint of teleology?” I too, originally tried to find a better alternative to a purposeful Prime Mover, but I finally gave-in and coined a deliberately ambiguous term, “G*D”, alluding to whatever entity is responsible for the clear implications of mental motivation behind evolution.
In addition to entertaining the notion of premeditated tele-ology, Bloom also looks beyond the limitations of a purely materialistic worldview. “Something vital is missing from the 2350 year long collective project of science . . . Emergence.” At the turn of the 20th century, Herbert Spencer raised the moot question of how novelties emerge from the random mechanical operations of evolution. Ony now, in the 21st century, has a general theory of Emergence28 been proposed within Systems Theory29. But Bloom is still not satisfied with the assumption that Matter is fundamental. So he observes “We’ve been certain that we can understand the cosmos solely on material things. But we’ve missed the astonishing capacity of immaterial things.” And one of those newly important “immaterial things” is Information30, once limited to mental functions, but now found everywhere. Therefore some scientists have concluded that ethereal mind stuff is the true essence of reality.
Having made such a tentative step toward admitting the necessity for a deity, he even toys with the notion of an im-material Soul. “Yet, you remain as an identity . . . No, it is not an immortal soul. And yes, it will cease when you die.” His description of the soul’s properties sound similar to my own Soul/Self31 definition. He goes on, “Yet your ‘you’ has a coher-ence, a shape, and a way of going about things that is all its own. . . . Your ‘you’ is spirit without the religious connotations. It is the secular equivalent to soul. . . . We are patterns with ambition.” [My “Self-image” is the same kind of perceptual pattern that our minds interpret as Information]. Thus, Bloom is confident that he is getting closer to the true story of “how a cosmos without a bearded and bathrobed god creates”. In my own theory, the cosmos self-creates — with no need for inter-vention — via the adaptive program of emergent Evolution.
Since my artificial deity substitute necessarily existed prior to the Big Bang, S/he is beyond space & time. So I don’t know how long H/er beard is, or the color of H/er bathrobe. All I know is that S/he is a philosophical necessity. But due to H/er hands-off management style, my G*D is not required for an explanation of the physical operations of the world. Only when we turn our attention to Metaphysical Necessity32does the essential role of a First Cause become evident. Bloom’s anthro-morphic descriptions of evolutionary teleology may be as close as we can come to an image of the axiomatic Enformer33, the Programmer of the creative process of Evolution.
33. Enformer : AKA, the Creator. The presumed eternal source of all information, as encoded in the Big Bang Singularity. That ability to convert con-ceptual Forms into actual Things, to transform infinite possibilities into finite actualities, and to create space & time, matter & energy from essentially no-thing is called the power of EnFormAction. Due to our ignorance of anything beyond space-time though, the postulated enforming agent remains undefined. I simply label it "G*D". This is my answer to Bloom’s futile search for creativity without agency. He is very clear about the logical necessity of Agency, but is understandably reluctant to personify the mysterious Agent. Which is also why I describe my G*D as a logical Axiom rather than a physical person. http://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page8.html
29. Systems Theory : A scientific version of philosophical Holism. “A system is a cohesive conglomeration of inter-related and interdependent parts which can be natural or human-made. Every system is bounded by space and time, influenced by its environment, defined by its structure and purpose, and expressed through its functioning. A system may be more than the sum of its parts if it expresses synergy or emergent behavior.”
Although this book is a work of genius, I am left with the impression that Bloom never really found a satisfactory & definitive answer to his own “God Problem”. Instead, he seems to be playing a game of Whack-A-Mole. Every time he knocks down one mysterious aspect of the Creativity Without Creator dilemma, another pops up somewhere else. Although he never specifically says so, his godless worldview seems to portray the Cosmos itself as a self-existent-but-evolving GAIA-like* deity, within which we humans are like self-conscious cells. And, he doesn’t even mention the current scientific hypotheses of an eternally evolving bubbling stew of randomly multiplying Multiverses. That’s because those materialistic myths present no plausible explanation for the emergence of Mind & Consciousness from a mechanistic process. He seems to be certain that a “bearded bathrobed” deity did not create the world in six days 6000 years ago. But, like me, he can’t shake the feeling that some Force or Power is creating the cosmos over billions of eons via the amazingly effective process of Evolutionary Programming**. Ironically, “Self-Existent” and “Evolving” seem to be logically contradictory concepts. The former means existing independently of other beings or causes, while the latter is a string of causes with an implicit First Cause. Perhaps he should have subtitled his book : “How A Godless Cosmos Creates Itself”. That innate-creativity conundrum is also why I came to the conclusion that “self-existence” necessarily implies Timelessness, while “evolving” must unfold in Space & Time. So the step-by-step procedure must have been set in motion by something that doesn’t move : a Prime Mover. And, the cause & effect mechanism must have had a First Cause. Beyond that, I can’t think of a better anthro-metaphor for the unknown Kick-starter than the old philosophical notion of an eternal abstract Creator. But we sophisticated moderns, who measure our heavens in light-years, have advanced beyond such antique allegories as white-bearded & bath-robed kings ruling legions of angels in the clouds. Instead, our analogies should use imagery from 21st century Science. Since I don’t know anything specific about the Conceiver & Causer of our on-going sequence of logical operations, I suggest we call H/er “The Programmer”.
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