Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia; Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.
Ghost Pool Shooter
Invisible Cause
Post 76.April 02, 2019 continued . . .
Power of Absence
Causation In Absentia
In order to establish the plausibility of metaphysical causality, Deacon had to weed-out unwarranted assumptions of both physicalism and materialism. So he includes chapters on Holism, Life & Mind, Teleology, Emergence, Constraint and so forth. All of these refer back to the notion that something important seems to be missing from current theories. For example, physics can’t account for how a Whole System (abstract & invisible), can emerge from a collection of Parts (concrete & tangible). The Mind cannot be found in brain probes. The Future is non-existent, but we think about it all the time. Emergence refers to something new that appears as-if from nowhere, and its proximate cause is not apparent. In Deacon’s terminology, Constraints are like invisible fences : “. . . what is not there but could have been.” In these cases, something present is a function4 of something absent.
Presence versus Absence is a foreground/background concept, which depends on mental focus & framing, and can be confusing to the literal-minded. Human minds are prone to figure/ground illusions, in which perception can only “see” one at a time, or “sees” what is not there. [Illustrations at right] As I see it, “Presence” is Real, Actual, Manifest & Physical, while “Absence” is Ideal, Potential, Un-manifest & Metaphysical. Yet, they are two sides of the same cosmic coin. Intuitively, we think that the macro world available to our senses is all there is. But scientists have been forced by the logic of their experiments to conclude that there is an invisible underlying reality on the quantum scale. Instead of classical Atoms stacking like oranges, they describe a mathematical field of dimensionless points and virtual particles. The counter-intuitive properties of the quantum realm remind some of us of the ancient notion of a ghostly spiritual realm5.
Deacon covers the topic of “Absence” like wall to wall carpet. So he doesn't leave much room for atheists to hide from implications of an ententional outside force (super-natural First Cause) which acts like a pool shooter, who initiates the mechanical (cause & effect) actions of bouncing balls. Yet the author leaves himself one small uncarpeted corner to avoid dealing with the significance of our Big Bang beginning, an absential Black Swan, swooping in from nowhere to kick-start the Cosmos. So, my thesis attempts to fill that momentous missing link : the eternal void in our understanding of what’s- what and what’s-not (Ontology).
Deacon's “incompleteness” (absence) at the heart of Nature is similar to my notion of the teleological entention of the Prime Programmer6. Although most scientists assert that Darwinian evolution is completely random, as a heuristic7 process, it shows signs of being attracted to some teleological end-point in the far future8. Pure randomness cannot increase complexity or produce novelty. For that you need criteria for “selection” from among options. And Natural Selection works like a Strange Attractor. The programmer specifies the goal, but not the path. He encodes his intended result, and then lets the program find the best solution. Although the evolutionary process may seem blindly random, it seems to be homing-in on a future state. Deism has been accused of positing an absentee deity in place of the meddlesome gods of traditional religions. But it makes more sense in terms of the creative power of Absence.
End of Post 75
4. Function : A mathematical function is a dependency relation that uniquely associates members of one set with members of another set. In some cases, the function is unknown (X) or not apparent until a calcu-lation derives it. In any case the relationship is like gravity, spooky action at a distance.
6. Prime Programmer : A hypothetical G*D, who instead of creating a perfect world instantly, programmed a process of gradual evolution from an initial state in accord-ance with encoded pre-set rules. [see Post 61]
7. Heuristic : An unguided trial & error searching procedure that narrows its search pattern by elimination of “unfit” options. Similar to Natural Selection. [See Post 73]
8. The Grand Goal : Anyone who says he knows the destiny of the universe, and why the divine destiner chose it, is blowing smoke. A common guess is that the gods need loyal servants to service their egos, in return for royal favors. Dogs might do, but without hands, they are limited to licking, and looking soulfully at their master. Robots would serve nicely, but without emotions, their service would be perfunctory and loveless. So, the gods created humans, and gave them just enough smarts & feelings to be willing and industrious slaves. But there are many other back-stories to choose from. And none is provable, except by blind dog-like faith.
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