https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... ent/374099
The comparision between entanglement and idea conception is interesting. — Enrique
The notion that physical entanglement implies a metaphysical holistic state appeals to me. But the technical details of how that might work are beyond my limited understanding. And a relationship between the entangled state and human perception of Qualia, sounds possible, but working out the details is not in my job description.
Maybe a sort of clock mechanism exists in the brain for making coherence fields more synchronized, analogous to a CPU — Enrique
There's definitely a biological clock in the brain that coordinates inner activity with the environment. And it may also serve as CPU timer to keep neural pulses from stepping on each other. But how that might relate to "coherence fields" is beyond me. What is a "coherence field"?
Biological Clock : https://www.sleepfoundation.org/article ... body-clock
Maybe the presence of a "clock mechanism" correlates with self-awareness? — Enrique
Interesting idea. Any thoughts on how that temporal correlation might produce self-awareness? Maybe by synchronizing information-processing feedback-loops?
Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
Re: Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
There is - in my opinion - no need to invoke some kind of supernatural agency, — Siti
Why then, did cosmologists feel the need to invoke a "supernatural agency" to explain the logically "prior" cause of the Big Bang? Scientists are now producing arguments in favor of the Multiverse Theory that resemble ancient theological arguments for the existence of God. My G*D theory is just an alternative speculation based on the duality/unity of Information, rather than the dogma of atomic Materialism.
Here's a brief selection of related topics from Google :
5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse
10 Reasons the Multiverse is a Real Possibility
This Is Why The Multiverse Must Exist
Scientific Theory And The Multiverse Madness
The Multiverse Idea Is Rotting Culture
Why the Multiverse Isn't Just Madness
Beyond the veil of observable physical reality, is there really a qualitatively different realm of disembodied "wizardry" that gives rise to the illusion of materiality? . . . . Physicality and mentality inextricably entwined. — Siti
Yes. But, the realm of Ideality, "beyond the veil", is actually made of the same essential stuff as Reality : mundane Information. The difference is that Ideality is unrealized Potential, while Reality is actualized. It's a statistical difference : an immaterial Possible state and a physical Actual state.
Yet, there is a continuity between the stuff on the inside of the physical world, and the stuff outside. However, the "outside" is not a different place in space & time, but merely the difference between the idea of a thing (coffee cup) and the actuality of the cup. There is one general definition of a cup, a container for liquids, but many different instances, "greatest Dad ever" cup; tin cup, cupped hands. G*D is the definer of Reality.
The difference between the inside (reality) and outside (ideality) is indeed qualitative, not quantitative; theoretical, not actual; ideal, not real, possible, not actual. When you begin to mold clay into a cup, you convert a "disembodied" mental image into an embodied physical object. Is that "wizardry"? Or, is it statistics : the distinction between Possible (0%) and Actual (100%)?
Information :
Claude Shannon quantified Information not as useful ideas, but as a mathematical ratio between meaningful order (1) and meaningless disorder (0); between knowledge (1) and ignorance (0). So, that meaningful mind-stuff exists in the limbo-land of statistics, producing effects on reality while having no sensory physical properties. We know it exists ideally, only by detecting its effects in the real world.
http://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page11.html
Opposing the Multiverse :
The very nature of the scientific enterprise is at stake in the multiverse debate. Its advocates propose weakening the nature of scientific proof in order to claim that the multiverse hypothesis provides a scientific explanation. This is a dangerous tactic. . . . . Despite this, many articles and books dogmatically proclaim that the multiverse is an established scientific fact.
https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/artic ... .33/246813
As long as it's just a hypothesis, serving to guide our search for understanding, there's no harm in imagining an unseen world beyond the veil of our local space-time. But, when G*D or Multiverse become dogma, they transcend the realm of Science, and enter the realm of Religion.
Why then, did cosmologists feel the need to invoke a "supernatural agency" to explain the logically "prior" cause of the Big Bang? Scientists are now producing arguments in favor of the Multiverse Theory that resemble ancient theological arguments for the existence of God. My G*D theory is just an alternative speculation based on the duality/unity of Information, rather than the dogma of atomic Materialism.
Here's a brief selection of related topics from Google :
5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse
10 Reasons the Multiverse is a Real Possibility
This Is Why The Multiverse Must Exist
Scientific Theory And The Multiverse Madness
The Multiverse Idea Is Rotting Culture
Why the Multiverse Isn't Just Madness
Beyond the veil of observable physical reality, is there really a qualitatively different realm of disembodied "wizardry" that gives rise to the illusion of materiality? . . . . Physicality and mentality inextricably entwined. — Siti
Yes. But, the realm of Ideality, "beyond the veil", is actually made of the same essential stuff as Reality : mundane Information. The difference is that Ideality is unrealized Potential, while Reality is actualized. It's a statistical difference : an immaterial Possible state and a physical Actual state.
Yet, there is a continuity between the stuff on the inside of the physical world, and the stuff outside. However, the "outside" is not a different place in space & time, but merely the difference between the idea of a thing (coffee cup) and the actuality of the cup. There is one general definition of a cup, a container for liquids, but many different instances, "greatest Dad ever" cup; tin cup, cupped hands. G*D is the definer of Reality.
The difference between the inside (reality) and outside (ideality) is indeed qualitative, not quantitative; theoretical, not actual; ideal, not real, possible, not actual. When you begin to mold clay into a cup, you convert a "disembodied" mental image into an embodied physical object. Is that "wizardry"? Or, is it statistics : the distinction between Possible (0%) and Actual (100%)?
Information :
Claude Shannon quantified Information not as useful ideas, but as a mathematical ratio between meaningful order (1) and meaningless disorder (0); between knowledge (1) and ignorance (0). So, that meaningful mind-stuff exists in the limbo-land of statistics, producing effects on reality while having no sensory physical properties. We know it exists ideally, only by detecting its effects in the real world.
http://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page11.html
Opposing the Multiverse :
The very nature of the scientific enterprise is at stake in the multiverse debate. Its advocates propose weakening the nature of scientific proof in order to claim that the multiverse hypothesis provides a scientific explanation. This is a dangerous tactic. . . . . Despite this, many articles and books dogmatically proclaim that the multiverse is an established scientific fact.
https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/artic ... .33/246813
As long as it's just a hypothesis, serving to guide our search for understanding, there's no harm in imagining an unseen world beyond the veil of our local space-time. But, when G*D or Multiverse become dogma, they transcend the realm of Science, and enter the realm of Religion.
Re: Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... tialism/p6
Why then, did cosmologists feel the need to invoke a "supernatural agency" to explain the logically "prior" cause of the Big Bang? — Gnomon
I suppose for the same reason that ancient cartographers used to write "here be dragons" at the edges of their maps. — Siti
I doubt you really believe they imagined a Multiverse to fill-in a scary blank in our knowledge by warning people away from the unexplored territory. My theory is that they created the Multiverse myth because it was necessary to indicate that there's nothing special about our world (Copernican Principle). Before the Big Bang discovery, atheists could feel confident (faith?) that the physical world was simply a brute fact, with no need for a First Cause or Creator. Then, the physical evidence upset that smugma (smug-dogma) by indicating mathematically that space-time had a beginning-point that begged for an explanation : either nothing-special randomness, or (heaven forbid!) special-creation.
For similar reasons, Atheists are confident (faith?) that we will soon find evidence of other inhabitable planets with alien life-forms out there in the vast cosmos, to prove once & for all that there's nothing special about humans. Yet again, the physical evidence, that we know at this moment, indicates that homo sapiens is the apogee of evolution. So, some imagine that, if not aliens, then at least dolphins will soon replace us as the singular moral agents in the world. This would prove what they already believe : that there's nothing special about humanity.
For all I know --- I'm agnostic --- there might be nothing special about our universe. My hypothetical axiomatic G*D is perfectly capable of creating billions of worlds. But this is the only one I have any experience with. Everything else is mere possibility. And you have nothing to fear from my feckless imaginary G*D. So no need to put warning signs at the frontier to keep adventurers and speculators away. You might as well say, "here be Unicorns".
There's no harm, but how does it help? — Siti
Just as the Multiverse hypothesis gives Cosmologists a possible explanation for everything physical in this world, my G*D hypothesis gives me a plausible explanation for everything metaphysical in this present world. But the materialistic dogma of modern Science leaves the most important features of this world, to humans, inaccessible.
Such mysteries as how Minds emerged from Matter may be clarified, if we assume the potential for Consciousness was already programmed into the primordial substance of the world : Energy & Laws that I refer to as EnFormAction. If Biochemists were to approach their work with that possibility in mind, they might discover some missing clues to the origin of Life & Mind. Their materialistic worldview has allowed no further progress since the Miller-Urey experiment. Darwinian evolution leaves the origin of Life as an unexplained miracle of chemistry, performed by some yet-to-be-discovered magic enzyme. But, my theory sees such mundane miracles everywhere in the world : phase changes, speciation, emergent properties, etc.
The "magic" is in the dual functions of Information : it's both energy & ideas, both matter & mind. And that notion didn't just spring full-blown from my layman's fervid imagination. I can link you to hundreds of books & articles, by credentialed scientists, who have come to the same conclusion : that immaterial information is the essence of reality.
Is Information Fundamental? :
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/i ... ndamental/
https://www.closertotruth.com/series/in ... undamental
Why then, did cosmologists feel the need to invoke a "supernatural agency" to explain the logically "prior" cause of the Big Bang? — Gnomon
I suppose for the same reason that ancient cartographers used to write "here be dragons" at the edges of their maps. — Siti
I doubt you really believe they imagined a Multiverse to fill-in a scary blank in our knowledge by warning people away from the unexplored territory. My theory is that they created the Multiverse myth because it was necessary to indicate that there's nothing special about our world (Copernican Principle). Before the Big Bang discovery, atheists could feel confident (faith?) that the physical world was simply a brute fact, with no need for a First Cause or Creator. Then, the physical evidence upset that smugma (smug-dogma) by indicating mathematically that space-time had a beginning-point that begged for an explanation : either nothing-special randomness, or (heaven forbid!) special-creation.
For similar reasons, Atheists are confident (faith?) that we will soon find evidence of other inhabitable planets with alien life-forms out there in the vast cosmos, to prove once & for all that there's nothing special about humans. Yet again, the physical evidence, that we know at this moment, indicates that homo sapiens is the apogee of evolution. So, some imagine that, if not aliens, then at least dolphins will soon replace us as the singular moral agents in the world. This would prove what they already believe : that there's nothing special about humanity.
For all I know --- I'm agnostic --- there might be nothing special about our universe. My hypothetical axiomatic G*D is perfectly capable of creating billions of worlds. But this is the only one I have any experience with. Everything else is mere possibility. And you have nothing to fear from my feckless imaginary G*D. So no need to put warning signs at the frontier to keep adventurers and speculators away. You might as well say, "here be Unicorns".
There's no harm, but how does it help? — Siti
Just as the Multiverse hypothesis gives Cosmologists a possible explanation for everything physical in this world, my G*D hypothesis gives me a plausible explanation for everything metaphysical in this present world. But the materialistic dogma of modern Science leaves the most important features of this world, to humans, inaccessible.
Such mysteries as how Minds emerged from Matter may be clarified, if we assume the potential for Consciousness was already programmed into the primordial substance of the world : Energy & Laws that I refer to as EnFormAction. If Biochemists were to approach their work with that possibility in mind, they might discover some missing clues to the origin of Life & Mind. Their materialistic worldview has allowed no further progress since the Miller-Urey experiment. Darwinian evolution leaves the origin of Life as an unexplained miracle of chemistry, performed by some yet-to-be-discovered magic enzyme. But, my theory sees such mundane miracles everywhere in the world : phase changes, speciation, emergent properties, etc.
The "magic" is in the dual functions of Information : it's both energy & ideas, both matter & mind. And that notion didn't just spring full-blown from my layman's fervid imagination. I can link you to hundreds of books & articles, by credentialed scientists, who have come to the same conclusion : that immaterial information is the essence of reality.
Is Information Fundamental? :
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/i ... ndamental/
https://www.closertotruth.com/series/in ... undamental
Re: Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
So I've got time, change and experience as fundamentals. — Siti
All of those essential elements are emergent properties of the more fundamental principle of my theory : EnFormAction. EFA can be imagined as a Program of Information, that creates (computes, reckons, realizes) Change (Energy), Duration (Time), and Experience (Mind). Information is meaningful relationships (A:B), mathematical ratios (X/Y), and values (A=B).
Time is not a thing itself, it's a mental construct to explain Change. Change is not a thing, but merely a mental construct to explain Difference. Experience is not a thing, just the mental concept of Things that Change over Time (i.e. Difference).
All of those boil down to Information, which is responsible for both Matter & Mind. To explain Things & Events is to know their relationships within the matrix of reality.
In terms of Physics, EFA is equivalent to Energy and the Laws that regulate change. In terms of Metaphysics, EFA is equivalent to Elan Vital (the organizing principle) that leads to Life & Mind. In terms of your post, you could call it "a panexperiential, evolutionary relational process of physical reality...all the way down".
That essential principle of reality works "all the way down" from Big Bang to today's lunch. And presumably, it works "all the way up" to the Mind that wrote the Program --- unless of course, you prefer an eternal random number generator.
Any questions?
Program : a set of related measures or activities with a particular long-term aim.
Information : "the difference (1) that makes a difference (2)"
Difference (1) is Change over time; difference (2) is Experience registered in a mind.
All of those essential elements are emergent properties of the more fundamental principle of my theory : EnFormAction. EFA can be imagined as a Program of Information, that creates (computes, reckons, realizes) Change (Energy), Duration (Time), and Experience (Mind). Information is meaningful relationships (A:B), mathematical ratios (X/Y), and values (A=B).
Time is not a thing itself, it's a mental construct to explain Change. Change is not a thing, but merely a mental construct to explain Difference. Experience is not a thing, just the mental concept of Things that Change over Time (i.e. Difference).
All of those boil down to Information, which is responsible for both Matter & Mind. To explain Things & Events is to know their relationships within the matrix of reality.
In terms of Physics, EFA is equivalent to Energy and the Laws that regulate change. In terms of Metaphysics, EFA is equivalent to Elan Vital (the organizing principle) that leads to Life & Mind. In terms of your post, you could call it "a panexperiential, evolutionary relational process of physical reality...all the way down".
That essential principle of reality works "all the way down" from Big Bang to today's lunch. And presumably, it works "all the way up" to the Mind that wrote the Program --- unless of course, you prefer an eternal random number generator.
Any questions?
Program : a set of related measures or activities with a particular long-term aim.
Information : "the difference (1) that makes a difference (2)"
Difference (1) is Change over time; difference (2) is Experience registered in a mind.
Re: Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... tialism/p6
But wasn't elan vital abandoned by biologists — Siti
Yes. Because they were looking for a measurable physical force like gravity. But in 1907, Bergson only meant it metaphorically as a natural organizing principle, not "some mysterious and supernatural 'organizing principle'".
Elan Vital was similar to what I call Enformy, and to what physicists now refer to by the awkward term Negentropy. According to Claude Shannon, Information is measured in terms of Negentropy. The only thing "supernatural" about Information/Enformy is the postulated eternal Enformer. Do you think Negentropy existed prior to the Big Boom?
The potential for novelty is within the current reality - not without — Siti
In terms of physical evolution, yes. In terms of First Cause Creation, it's a miracle.
Only one: is 'experientiality' a real word? — Siti
Not in my vocabulary.
But, in my version of Process Theory, I call that inter-relatedness "Holism" or the BothAnd Principle.
Enformy : In the Enformationism theory, Enformy is a hypothetical, holistic, metaphysical, natural trend or force, that counteracts Entropy & Randomness to produce complexity & progress.
http://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page8.html
Negentropy : reverse entropy. It means things becoming more in order. By 'order' is meant organisation, structure and function: the opposite of randomness or chaos.
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negentropy
But wasn't elan vital abandoned by biologists — Siti
Yes. Because they were looking for a measurable physical force like gravity. But in 1907, Bergson only meant it metaphorically as a natural organizing principle, not "some mysterious and supernatural 'organizing principle'".
Elan Vital was similar to what I call Enformy, and to what physicists now refer to by the awkward term Negentropy. According to Claude Shannon, Information is measured in terms of Negentropy. The only thing "supernatural" about Information/Enformy is the postulated eternal Enformer. Do you think Negentropy existed prior to the Big Boom?
The potential for novelty is within the current reality - not without — Siti
In terms of physical evolution, yes. In terms of First Cause Creation, it's a miracle.
Only one: is 'experientiality' a real word? — Siti
Not in my vocabulary.
But, in my version of Process Theory, I call that inter-relatedness "Holism" or the BothAnd Principle.
Enformy : In the Enformationism theory, Enformy is a hypothetical, holistic, metaphysical, natural trend or force, that counteracts Entropy & Randomness to produce complexity & progress.
http://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page8.html
Negentropy : reverse entropy. It means things becoming more in order. By 'order' is meant organisation, structure and function: the opposite of randomness or chaos.
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negentropy
Re: Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... tialism/p6
"the singularity" that some people imagine was the origin of the universe must have been perfectly ordered - which is just another way of saying there was only one possible state — Siti
Those people are materialists, and imagine that all the stuff in the present universe was stuffed into the
Singularity. But that's physically impossible. So instead, I imagine that the singularity was a program of coded (numerical) instructions for creating a world from scratch (i.e. from nothing but creative Information/Energy/EnFormAction). Potential Energy, because it's not actual, takes-up no space, and requires no time. So it can easily be compressed into a spaceless/timeless mathematical Point. Metaphysical Information is dimensionless, and can be compressed infinitely. How much space does the number 1.314 . . . . occupy?
The notion is similar to a physical gene as a recipe for building a physical body. The adult body is a billion times larger than the gene, yet the information in the gene is not the amino acids, but the organization and interrelationships (the Code). Likewise, the information in the Singularity takes-up no space or time, so it began as a singular dimensionless state --- until the program was started by by the metaphorical act of pressing the "Run" button we call the Big Bang. That's when the fun began.
But then whence the increasing disorder. — Siti
Unlike the monistic Singularity, the space-time world is dualistic. Like a cell dividing, the first step in running the program is to make a difference (division), in which one thing becomes two. So evolution is a continuation of universal division and discrimination. And each phase transition is thermodynamic, in the sense that it divides Hot from Cold : Energy from Entropy. So, we now call that process of creative order positive Evolution, and the process of disorder is Entropy. In a space-time world of incessant change, disorder is inevitable. It's a by-product of all construction. You win some, you lose some.
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... tialism/p6
My guess is that the universe will be somewhere between chaos and order - always and forever. — Siti
Well, maybe not forever. Cosmologists now predict that the war between Chaos and Order (Entropy & Energy) will eventually self-destruct, by neutralizing each other in a "Big Sigh" of Entropy. The temperature at that point will be absolute Zero. No more Change.
My guess is that 'something' rather than 'nothing' banged. My guess is that that 'something' was neither perfectly ordered nor absolutely chaotic, but somewhere in between — Siti
Inserted note : that is the definition of information
That "something" is what I call the Program of Creation (the Singularity). In order to produce Change, it had to be polarized : to create both Energy & Entropy, Hot & Cold, Order & Disorder. When the program said "let there be light", the first vibration began as a distinction between On & Off, Up & Down. And that Difference (change) makes a Difference (meaning), which we now call "Enformation".
If that dimensionless point was literally Infinite, then was it unbounded space, or no space at all? But what difference does it make? If the Singularity preceded the emergence of space-time, was the "before" timeless or Eternal? Space & Time are meaningless without Matter & Energy. So the point of origin would have been either No-thing (no matter, no energy), or everything-in-Potential : the power to create matter & energy. That Omni-potential is what I call G*D. But you can call it Deus, if you prefer..
Big Bang Singularity : The universal origin story known as the Big Bang postulates that, 13.7 billion years ago, our universe emerged from a singularity — a point of infinite density and gravity — and that before this event, space and time did not exist (which means the Big Bang took place at no place and no time).Dec 5, 2017
https://www.space.com/38982-no-big-bang ... heory.html
"the singularity" that some people imagine was the origin of the universe must have been perfectly ordered - which is just another way of saying there was only one possible state — Siti
Those people are materialists, and imagine that all the stuff in the present universe was stuffed into the
Singularity. But that's physically impossible. So instead, I imagine that the singularity was a program of coded (numerical) instructions for creating a world from scratch (i.e. from nothing but creative Information/Energy/EnFormAction). Potential Energy, because it's not actual, takes-up no space, and requires no time. So it can easily be compressed into a spaceless/timeless mathematical Point. Metaphysical Information is dimensionless, and can be compressed infinitely. How much space does the number 1.314 . . . . occupy?
The notion is similar to a physical gene as a recipe for building a physical body. The adult body is a billion times larger than the gene, yet the information in the gene is not the amino acids, but the organization and interrelationships (the Code). Likewise, the information in the Singularity takes-up no space or time, so it began as a singular dimensionless state --- until the program was started by by the metaphorical act of pressing the "Run" button we call the Big Bang. That's when the fun began.
But then whence the increasing disorder. — Siti
Unlike the monistic Singularity, the space-time world is dualistic. Like a cell dividing, the first step in running the program is to make a difference (division), in which one thing becomes two. So evolution is a continuation of universal division and discrimination. And each phase transition is thermodynamic, in the sense that it divides Hot from Cold : Energy from Entropy. So, we now call that process of creative order positive Evolution, and the process of disorder is Entropy. In a space-time world of incessant change, disorder is inevitable. It's a by-product of all construction. You win some, you lose some.
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... tialism/p6
My guess is that the universe will be somewhere between chaos and order - always and forever. — Siti
Well, maybe not forever. Cosmologists now predict that the war between Chaos and Order (Entropy & Energy) will eventually self-destruct, by neutralizing each other in a "Big Sigh" of Entropy. The temperature at that point will be absolute Zero. No more Change.
My guess is that 'something' rather than 'nothing' banged. My guess is that that 'something' was neither perfectly ordered nor absolutely chaotic, but somewhere in between — Siti
Inserted note : that is the definition of information
That "something" is what I call the Program of Creation (the Singularity). In order to produce Change, it had to be polarized : to create both Energy & Entropy, Hot & Cold, Order & Disorder. When the program said "let there be light", the first vibration began as a distinction between On & Off, Up & Down. And that Difference (change) makes a Difference (meaning), which we now call "Enformation".
If that dimensionless point was literally Infinite, then was it unbounded space, or no space at all? But what difference does it make? If the Singularity preceded the emergence of space-time, was the "before" timeless or Eternal? Space & Time are meaningless without Matter & Energy. So the point of origin would have been either No-thing (no matter, no energy), or everything-in-Potential : the power to create matter & energy. That Omni-potential is what I call G*D. But you can call it Deus, if you prefer..
Big Bang Singularity : The universal origin story known as the Big Bang postulates that, 13.7 billion years ago, our universe emerged from a singularity — a point of infinite density and gravity — and that before this event, space and time did not exist (which means the Big Bang took place at no place and no time).Dec 5, 2017
https://www.space.com/38982-no-big-bang ... heory.html
Re: Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... tialism/p6
But that would be the end of time - no time, no change, no anything...that can be the end, but it could not possibly be the beginning — Siti
Einstein described the universe enigmatically as "finite-but-unbounded". That literally means "finite-but-infinite". How can we make sense of such a contradiction? I think it's both. The finite aspect is physics, and the infinite aspect is metaphysics. They are not two different universes, but two sides of the same coin. Yet, it takes Einsteinian imagination to see beyond what's actual to what's possible.
If we imagine for a moment, that unlimited Eternity-Infinity is the base state, then Space-Time is contingent upon that non-physical fundament (equivalent to the absurd quantum state of superposition)*1. Likewise, Actual particles are contingent upon Virtual particles. When the full cycle of the space-time world has run its course, what will remain is what was "there" before the "beginning", which is all possibilities superimposed in a timeless-spaceless-unformed state. The notion of eternal nothingness is, of course, absurd to a materialist, even though they pretend to understand quantum queerness. But spiritualists have postulated such a timeless Ultimate Reality for millennia : e.g. Brahman. My Enformationism is an attempt to make sense of both ancient Spiritualism and modern Materialism. The bridge between those opposing views is the dual function of Information : it's both physical quantifiable (Shannon), and metaphysical qualifiable (Bayesian).
The New Age movement among young people in the 20th century, was a rejection of Western Materialism, which threw-out Qualia with the religious bathwater. So, they turned to Eastern religions, looking for what was missing in meaningless modern society. But, they became enchanted by the imaginary magical aspects of their new worldview, with visions of Transcendental Meditators "flying" in the lotus position, and the adolescent appeal of being able to "throw Chi" at their enemies, and the power of hallucinogenic drugs to allow ordinary people to leave their bodies and wander the world . Unlike Eternity/Infinity, those real-world possibilities are subject to empirical testing, and have been found to be BS.
So, my approach to the same missing Quality of Life problem was to combine the best ideas of the ancient world (Metaphysics) with the best ideas of the modern world (Physics). I found that Consilience in the definition of Information as the fundamental element of both physical reality (Quanta) and metaphysical ideality (Qualia). But I didn't just make that up. The notion was expressed repeatedly by the pioneers of Quantum Physics. Which unfortunately inspired the New Age notions of Quantum Mysticism. My position though is that the ancient sages were not idiots, but insightful philosophers, who interpreted the mysteries of the world in metaphorical terms. Unfortunately, the masses took their allegories literally, which led to the many errors of world religions. What they called "Spirit", invisible forces, we now call "Energy". But a rose by another name is still the power to cause change. It's the Act of En-Forming (information). Although Energy is invisible and intangible (metaphysical), we know it by its effects on matter (physics).
Logically, what is inherently impossible in Space-Time would be inevitable in Infinity-Eternity. Logically, if something exists, then the possibility of existence must be prior to the actuality of something. But why should we believe that such a counter-intuitive Ideality is more real than Reality? We shouldn't, unless we can understand how that Ideal stuff (metaphysics) relates to the Real stuff (Physics). And that is the long-range project of the Enformationism thesis.
The core problem is that the evolved human brain is designed to make the physical world predictable (science) in order to ensure survival. Ironically, that brain has also developed the ability to imagine "realities" that don't exist in the here & now. Which allows people to predict unlikely futures and to make them happen. For example, they imagine idealized Utopias in empty spaces, and then work to make them real. Ironically, that same imaginary power has allowed people to imagine invisible gods & demons interfering in the normal operations of the world. But we can laugh at those in Bible times who believed that diseases were caused by demons. Yet modern doctors expect us to believe that we are besieged by invisible bacteria and viruses. The difference is that medical doctors are slightly better than witch-doctors at curing the sick. And placebos work better than most drugs, even though the active ingredient is faith. The power of the mind (metaphysics), is far above the power of the body (physics).
If the clock of space-time was wound-up 14 billion years ago, and will run-down in a few billion more years, that would be the death of our world. Hence, it has a finite life-span. When a baby is born, where was it before it emerged in a Big Pop? When an old man dies, where does his Persona/Self go? We don't know the answers, but that doesn't stop us from imagining various scenarios. Some assume there was a pool of souls waiting to be born. while others try to imagine that something came from nothing. I don't know what will remain when Time stops ticking, but based on worldly experience, nothing comes from nothing. So, I must assume there was the Possibility of something, before there was the Actuality of something. Chaos before Cosmos*2. Does that make sense?
*1 Superposition : all possible quantum states from 0 to 100% actual
*2 Chaos : In ancient Greek creation myths Chaos was the void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos. It literally means "emptiness", but can also refer to a random undefined unformed state that was changed into the orderly law-defined enformed Cosmos. In modern Cosmology, Chaos can represent the eternal/infinite state from which the Big Bang created space/time. In that sense of infinite Potential, it is an attribute of G*D, whose power of EnFormAction converts possibilities (Platonic Forms) into actualities (physical things).
What is the use of en-ergy if there is no time or space in which to erg en? — Siti
Time and Space are indeed necessary for Kinetic Energy to work. But my EnFormAction is a combination of Potential Energy and the Laws that limit its application in reality. Potential Energy is not actual, so it does not occupy space or time. It's essentially the idea of Change, not the effect. The Laws of Nature are not written on slabs of stone, but inscribed in the code of the Big Bang.
But that would be the end of time - no time, no change, no anything...that can be the end, but it could not possibly be the beginning — Siti
Einstein described the universe enigmatically as "finite-but-unbounded". That literally means "finite-but-infinite". How can we make sense of such a contradiction? I think it's both. The finite aspect is physics, and the infinite aspect is metaphysics. They are not two different universes, but two sides of the same coin. Yet, it takes Einsteinian imagination to see beyond what's actual to what's possible.
If we imagine for a moment, that unlimited Eternity-Infinity is the base state, then Space-Time is contingent upon that non-physical fundament (equivalent to the absurd quantum state of superposition)*1. Likewise, Actual particles are contingent upon Virtual particles. When the full cycle of the space-time world has run its course, what will remain is what was "there" before the "beginning", which is all possibilities superimposed in a timeless-spaceless-unformed state. The notion of eternal nothingness is, of course, absurd to a materialist, even though they pretend to understand quantum queerness. But spiritualists have postulated such a timeless Ultimate Reality for millennia : e.g. Brahman. My Enformationism is an attempt to make sense of both ancient Spiritualism and modern Materialism. The bridge between those opposing views is the dual function of Information : it's both physical quantifiable (Shannon), and metaphysical qualifiable (Bayesian).
The New Age movement among young people in the 20th century, was a rejection of Western Materialism, which threw-out Qualia with the religious bathwater. So, they turned to Eastern religions, looking for what was missing in meaningless modern society. But, they became enchanted by the imaginary magical aspects of their new worldview, with visions of Transcendental Meditators "flying" in the lotus position, and the adolescent appeal of being able to "throw Chi" at their enemies, and the power of hallucinogenic drugs to allow ordinary people to leave their bodies and wander the world . Unlike Eternity/Infinity, those real-world possibilities are subject to empirical testing, and have been found to be BS.
So, my approach to the same missing Quality of Life problem was to combine the best ideas of the ancient world (Metaphysics) with the best ideas of the modern world (Physics). I found that Consilience in the definition of Information as the fundamental element of both physical reality (Quanta) and metaphysical ideality (Qualia). But I didn't just make that up. The notion was expressed repeatedly by the pioneers of Quantum Physics. Which unfortunately inspired the New Age notions of Quantum Mysticism. My position though is that the ancient sages were not idiots, but insightful philosophers, who interpreted the mysteries of the world in metaphorical terms. Unfortunately, the masses took their allegories literally, which led to the many errors of world religions. What they called "Spirit", invisible forces, we now call "Energy". But a rose by another name is still the power to cause change. It's the Act of En-Forming (information). Although Energy is invisible and intangible (metaphysical), we know it by its effects on matter (physics).
Logically, what is inherently impossible in Space-Time would be inevitable in Infinity-Eternity. Logically, if something exists, then the possibility of existence must be prior to the actuality of something. But why should we believe that such a counter-intuitive Ideality is more real than Reality? We shouldn't, unless we can understand how that Ideal stuff (metaphysics) relates to the Real stuff (Physics). And that is the long-range project of the Enformationism thesis.
The core problem is that the evolved human brain is designed to make the physical world predictable (science) in order to ensure survival. Ironically, that brain has also developed the ability to imagine "realities" that don't exist in the here & now. Which allows people to predict unlikely futures and to make them happen. For example, they imagine idealized Utopias in empty spaces, and then work to make them real. Ironically, that same imaginary power has allowed people to imagine invisible gods & demons interfering in the normal operations of the world. But we can laugh at those in Bible times who believed that diseases were caused by demons. Yet modern doctors expect us to believe that we are besieged by invisible bacteria and viruses. The difference is that medical doctors are slightly better than witch-doctors at curing the sick. And placebos work better than most drugs, even though the active ingredient is faith. The power of the mind (metaphysics), is far above the power of the body (physics).
If the clock of space-time was wound-up 14 billion years ago, and will run-down in a few billion more years, that would be the death of our world. Hence, it has a finite life-span. When a baby is born, where was it before it emerged in a Big Pop? When an old man dies, where does his Persona/Self go? We don't know the answers, but that doesn't stop us from imagining various scenarios. Some assume there was a pool of souls waiting to be born. while others try to imagine that something came from nothing. I don't know what will remain when Time stops ticking, but based on worldly experience, nothing comes from nothing. So, I must assume there was the Possibility of something, before there was the Actuality of something. Chaos before Cosmos*2. Does that make sense?
*1 Superposition : all possible quantum states from 0 to 100% actual
*2 Chaos : In ancient Greek creation myths Chaos was the void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos. It literally means "emptiness", but can also refer to a random undefined unformed state that was changed into the orderly law-defined enformed Cosmos. In modern Cosmology, Chaos can represent the eternal/infinite state from which the Big Bang created space/time. In that sense of infinite Potential, it is an attribute of G*D, whose power of EnFormAction converts possibilities (Platonic Forms) into actualities (physical things).
What is the use of en-ergy if there is no time or space in which to erg en? — Siti
Time and Space are indeed necessary for Kinetic Energy to work. But my EnFormAction is a combination of Potential Energy and the Laws that limit its application in reality. Potential Energy is not actual, so it does not occupy space or time. It's essentially the idea of Change, not the effect. The Laws of Nature are not written on slabs of stone, but inscribed in the code of the Big Bang.
Re: Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
Oh c'mon Gnomon! You almost had me believing that you had a solid argument — Siti
Drat! My nefarious scheme to pull the wool over your eyes was foiled again, by your astute reasoning.
Are you suggesting that bacteria and viruses are not material realities? — Siti
No. That's not what I said. Your astute reasoning missed the point.Those infectious agents are invisible to the naked eye. So ancient people attributed diseases to demons. They are still invisible to the naked eye, but today we are assured by scientists that they are the cause of many diseases. So, from the perspective of the average person, they are just as real as the demons of the pre-scientific era. I've never seen a virus, except in photographs (ancients also had pictures of demons), but I take it on faith in scientists that they are both agents of disease, and tools for curing disease.
And "placebos work better than most drugs"? — Siti
Doctors don't like to admit it, but the placebo effect is a major weapon in their arsenal against disease --- just as it always has been for tribal shamen. I just read today, in Skeptical Inquirer magazine, about a doctor who kept Pink Pills in his office, to assuage the ambiguous ailments of those for whom he had nothing better to offer. Often, they would return, asking for more of those effective Pink Pills. He also gave some to his daughter as candy.
The Powerful Placebo : https://www.health.harvard.edu/newslett ... ul_placebo
...and you seem to be deliberately misapplying terms like "Potential Energy" - which is, of course, actual — Siti
Again, you have missed the point. Potential Energy is indeed a feature of the Real World. It's only the ultimate source of all energy, pre-Big Bang, that I refer to as "Ideal". Scientists cannot measure energy stored in material form, until it does something. They know the voltage of a chemical battery, because they have measured similar setups. But they can't actually measure the voltage until electric current is flowing. They know what energy does, but they only know what it is mathematically by imagining an invisible point in space relative to another point : it's a ratio or relationship (information), not a piece of matter.
Potential Energy : Potential energy is fundamentally energy due to position in a field.
https://www.quora.com/Does-potential-en ... ally-exist
And then you put the icing on your obfuscatory cake by redefining chaos as some kind of infinite "state" of unlimited potentiality — Siti
The Greeks had a primitive notion of what we now call Thermodynamics. Since they saw evidence that the order of the world was constantly declining (entropy), they wondered where the original organization came from. So, they imagined a default state of disorder or void or nothingness, and then reasoned that it took an input of creative energy to organize nothing into something. Modern cosmologists also assume that there was nothing prior to the Big Bang, except the potential for organization (chaos, scalar energy field). Both of those essences (inert energy + physical laws) are literally no-thing until actualized. But combine creative power with laws to regulate the application of power, and voila! you have Matter & Physics. When scientists imagine something essential prior to the beginning of space-time, who is obfuscating whom?
Order & Disorder : In thermodynamics, entropy is commonly associated with the amount of order, disorder, or chaos in a thermodynamic system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_( ... _disorder)
Chaos : In ancient Greek creation myths Chaos was the void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos. It literally means "emptiness", but can also refer to a random undefined unformed state that was changed into the orderly law-defined enformed Cosmos. In modern Cosmology, Chaos can represent the eternal/infinite state from which the Big Bang created space/time. In that sense of infinite Potential, it is an attribute of G*D, whose power of EnFormAction converts possibilities (Platonic Forms) into actualities (physical things).
http://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page12.html
In the modern scientific context chaos describes the inherent unpredictability of complex physical systems. — Siti
Just as they applied the ancient notion of "Atom", to a modern discovery that is not literally un-cuttable, scientists loosely applied the ancient notion of "primal disorder" to the modern discovery that there is potential order within a physically disordered system. In the real world, there is no absolute Chaos; there is only "apparent" chaos, with mysterious potential for order, once triggered by initial conditions. That's similar to the Big Bang Singularity containing the potential for a whole universe in a dimensionless mathematical point. Something triggered that potential into a Phase Change with both initial conditions, and the power to create matter.
Deterministic Chaos : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory
If not, then what possible (difference-making) meaning could those laws have in the absence of nature? In your proposed primordial ideality of unlimited potentiality, what possible meaning could those "laws" have had? — Siti
Again, you missed the point of EnFormAction : it's the concept plus the execution, law plus action. If you have the idea of something new in your mind, what difference could it make in the real world --- until the Idea is implemented by action? Nature is the implementation, the actualization, of the idea of a world. Besides, what possible meaning could abstract (immaterial) mathematics (ratios) have in nature, apart from implementations by humans, who saw invisible relations between things?
For example, Einstein used the abstruse math of Riemann to describe his novel notion of Space-Time, as one of zillions of possible n-dimensional manifolds (hyperspace). Even the relatively simple 4D version of that concept is meaningless to the majority of humans, but when applied by a few physicists, it can allow puny humans to project their influence into outer space. Information is the abstract Difference (ratio) that makes a meaningful Difference (relationship) to a receptive mind. When that information is applied to the real world, it makes a physical Difference.
Drat! My nefarious scheme to pull the wool over your eyes was foiled again, by your astute reasoning.
Are you suggesting that bacteria and viruses are not material realities? — Siti
No. That's not what I said. Your astute reasoning missed the point.Those infectious agents are invisible to the naked eye. So ancient people attributed diseases to demons. They are still invisible to the naked eye, but today we are assured by scientists that they are the cause of many diseases. So, from the perspective of the average person, they are just as real as the demons of the pre-scientific era. I've never seen a virus, except in photographs (ancients also had pictures of demons), but I take it on faith in scientists that they are both agents of disease, and tools for curing disease.
And "placebos work better than most drugs"? — Siti
Doctors don't like to admit it, but the placebo effect is a major weapon in their arsenal against disease --- just as it always has been for tribal shamen. I just read today, in Skeptical Inquirer magazine, about a doctor who kept Pink Pills in his office, to assuage the ambiguous ailments of those for whom he had nothing better to offer. Often, they would return, asking for more of those effective Pink Pills. He also gave some to his daughter as candy.
The Powerful Placebo : https://www.health.harvard.edu/newslett ... ul_placebo
...and you seem to be deliberately misapplying terms like "Potential Energy" - which is, of course, actual — Siti
Again, you have missed the point. Potential Energy is indeed a feature of the Real World. It's only the ultimate source of all energy, pre-Big Bang, that I refer to as "Ideal". Scientists cannot measure energy stored in material form, until it does something. They know the voltage of a chemical battery, because they have measured similar setups. But they can't actually measure the voltage until electric current is flowing. They know what energy does, but they only know what it is mathematically by imagining an invisible point in space relative to another point : it's a ratio or relationship (information), not a piece of matter.
Potential Energy : Potential energy is fundamentally energy due to position in a field.
https://www.quora.com/Does-potential-en ... ally-exist
And then you put the icing on your obfuscatory cake by redefining chaos as some kind of infinite "state" of unlimited potentiality — Siti
The Greeks had a primitive notion of what we now call Thermodynamics. Since they saw evidence that the order of the world was constantly declining (entropy), they wondered where the original organization came from. So, they imagined a default state of disorder or void or nothingness, and then reasoned that it took an input of creative energy to organize nothing into something. Modern cosmologists also assume that there was nothing prior to the Big Bang, except the potential for organization (chaos, scalar energy field). Both of those essences (inert energy + physical laws) are literally no-thing until actualized. But combine creative power with laws to regulate the application of power, and voila! you have Matter & Physics. When scientists imagine something essential prior to the beginning of space-time, who is obfuscating whom?
Order & Disorder : In thermodynamics, entropy is commonly associated with the amount of order, disorder, or chaos in a thermodynamic system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_( ... _disorder)
Chaos : In ancient Greek creation myths Chaos was the void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos. It literally means "emptiness", but can also refer to a random undefined unformed state that was changed into the orderly law-defined enformed Cosmos. In modern Cosmology, Chaos can represent the eternal/infinite state from which the Big Bang created space/time. In that sense of infinite Potential, it is an attribute of G*D, whose power of EnFormAction converts possibilities (Platonic Forms) into actualities (physical things).
http://blog-glossary.enformationism.info/page12.html
In the modern scientific context chaos describes the inherent unpredictability of complex physical systems. — Siti
Just as they applied the ancient notion of "Atom", to a modern discovery that is not literally un-cuttable, scientists loosely applied the ancient notion of "primal disorder" to the modern discovery that there is potential order within a physically disordered system. In the real world, there is no absolute Chaos; there is only "apparent" chaos, with mysterious potential for order, once triggered by initial conditions. That's similar to the Big Bang Singularity containing the potential for a whole universe in a dimensionless mathematical point. Something triggered that potential into a Phase Change with both initial conditions, and the power to create matter.
Deterministic Chaos : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory
If not, then what possible (difference-making) meaning could those laws have in the absence of nature? In your proposed primordial ideality of unlimited potentiality, what possible meaning could those "laws" have had? — Siti
Again, you missed the point of EnFormAction : it's the concept plus the execution, law plus action. If you have the idea of something new in your mind, what difference could it make in the real world --- until the Idea is implemented by action? Nature is the implementation, the actualization, of the idea of a world. Besides, what possible meaning could abstract (immaterial) mathematics (ratios) have in nature, apart from implementations by humans, who saw invisible relations between things?
For example, Einstein used the abstruse math of Riemann to describe his novel notion of Space-Time, as one of zillions of possible n-dimensional manifolds (hyperspace). Even the relatively simple 4D version of that concept is meaningless to the majority of humans, but when applied by a few physicists, it can allow puny humans to project their influence into outer space. Information is the abstract Difference (ratio) that makes a meaningful Difference (relationship) to a receptive mind. When that information is applied to the real world, it makes a physical Difference.
Re: Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... tialism/p6
Now who's missing the point? Just because it itself is not a piece of matter doesn't mean it is does not belong to the material world. — Siti
I would agree except for your insistence on the primacy of the material world. To me, and many others, Matter is secondary to Mind. This flips the worldview of Materialism, to one where Qualia, Consciousness, and Mind are primary. But, despite similarities, it's not the same as Spiritualism. That's why I coined a new term : Enformationism.
Here's the dimensionless mathematical "point" where we disagree. You seem to assume the world is a substance monism : all matter all the way down. But Aristotle postulated two components of his single "substance" : Hylos (matter) and Morphos (form). Form is the idea, concept, structure, or design of a material thing, which is logically prior to the embodiment of the idea in matter. Where you think Mind is just a property of matter, I see Matter as a form of Mind/Energy (E=MC^2) : E = Information -- the power to enform. And lots of physicists are coming to that same conclusion (e.g. Paul Davies).
Mind you, we are not disagreeing with the concept of "no matter, no mind", in the space-time world. Instead, we are assuming, like Plato that there is a non-local, non-temporal realm, such as we find in Quantum Theory. That's not a supernatural heaven out-there in the great beyond, but right-here-right-now, everywhere, everywhen. I probably confuse you with my metaphorical references to the traditional notions of Eternity & Infinity. If "non-local" is meaningful to you, we can use that word.
So, I make a crucial distinction between the material (actual) world, and the mental (potential) world. Where in the world is the human mind --- in the brain, where in the brain? I acknowledge that Mind is a function of brain processing, yet it is not a material object, but a holistic quality. Until Quantum Physics upset the apple-cart, physics could ignore the mind of the observer, and had no variable for that non-stuff in its equations. I was surprised that many posters on a philosophy forum are still confused about the "hard problem" : the Subjective aspect of an Objective world.
Descartes attempted to set-aside the mysteries of the mind to make way for empirical Science, when he proposed a substance dualism : res extensa (material stuff with three dimensions) & res cogitans (meaningful stuff). But now Stuart Kaufman --- theoretical biologist, and complex systems researcher, and professor of bio-chemistry --- has updated that dichotomy with what he calls "res potentia", which includes both mental phenomena and such quantum features as observer dependence & non-locality. Classical Physics assumed that non-local cannot be causal, but Quantum queerness says otherwise. Res Potentia is the realm of Virtual Particles and Quantum Tunneling, and Entanglement. It was proposed by A, N. Whitehead, among others, to explain the reality of Consciousness as an agent in the world.
Res Potentia : https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2010/ ... ised-realm
PS__My upside-down worldview wouldn't sound so crazy, if you would read the thesis, which begins at the beginning, instead of the middle, like these posts.
http://enformationism.info/enformationism.info/
But energy is even harder to pin down than semi-solid matter. By definition, energy is inherently mercurial, unstable and transitory. Technically, a quantum of energy is not a physical object, but an "action potential". If "potential" sounds suspiciously like "probability", that's probably because both refer to future events, not to right-here-right-now, put-your-finger-on-it matter. So both matter and energy in the current paradigm of science have proven to be as fantastic as fairies.
Now who's missing the point? Just because it itself is not a piece of matter doesn't mean it is does not belong to the material world. — Siti
I would agree except for your insistence on the primacy of the material world. To me, and many others, Matter is secondary to Mind. This flips the worldview of Materialism, to one where Qualia, Consciousness, and Mind are primary. But, despite similarities, it's not the same as Spiritualism. That's why I coined a new term : Enformationism.
Here's the dimensionless mathematical "point" where we disagree. You seem to assume the world is a substance monism : all matter all the way down. But Aristotle postulated two components of his single "substance" : Hylos (matter) and Morphos (form). Form is the idea, concept, structure, or design of a material thing, which is logically prior to the embodiment of the idea in matter. Where you think Mind is just a property of matter, I see Matter as a form of Mind/Energy (E=MC^2) : E = Information -- the power to enform. And lots of physicists are coming to that same conclusion (e.g. Paul Davies).
Mind you, we are not disagreeing with the concept of "no matter, no mind", in the space-time world. Instead, we are assuming, like Plato that there is a non-local, non-temporal realm, such as we find in Quantum Theory. That's not a supernatural heaven out-there in the great beyond, but right-here-right-now, everywhere, everywhen. I probably confuse you with my metaphorical references to the traditional notions of Eternity & Infinity. If "non-local" is meaningful to you, we can use that word.
So, I make a crucial distinction between the material (actual) world, and the mental (potential) world. Where in the world is the human mind --- in the brain, where in the brain? I acknowledge that Mind is a function of brain processing, yet it is not a material object, but a holistic quality. Until Quantum Physics upset the apple-cart, physics could ignore the mind of the observer, and had no variable for that non-stuff in its equations. I was surprised that many posters on a philosophy forum are still confused about the "hard problem" : the Subjective aspect of an Objective world.
Descartes attempted to set-aside the mysteries of the mind to make way for empirical Science, when he proposed a substance dualism : res extensa (material stuff with three dimensions) & res cogitans (meaningful stuff). But now Stuart Kaufman --- theoretical biologist, and complex systems researcher, and professor of bio-chemistry --- has updated that dichotomy with what he calls "res potentia", which includes both mental phenomena and such quantum features as observer dependence & non-locality. Classical Physics assumed that non-local cannot be causal, but Quantum queerness says otherwise. Res Potentia is the realm of Virtual Particles and Quantum Tunneling, and Entanglement. It was proposed by A, N. Whitehead, among others, to explain the reality of Consciousness as an agent in the world.
Res Potentia : https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2010/ ... ised-realm
PS__My upside-down worldview wouldn't sound so crazy, if you would read the thesis, which begins at the beginning, instead of the middle, like these posts.
http://enformationism.info/enformationism.info/
But energy is even harder to pin down than semi-solid matter. By definition, energy is inherently mercurial, unstable and transitory. Technically, a quantum of energy is not a physical object, but an "action potential". If "potential" sounds suspiciously like "probability", that's probably because both refer to future events, not to right-here-right-now, put-your-finger-on-it matter. So both matter and energy in the current paradigm of science have proven to be as fantastic as fairies.
Re: Phil Forum : Human Nature : Essentialism
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... tialism/p6
I think you are missing the point again — Siti
Ha! The target is full of holes in all the wrong places. But, if we continue this machine-gun dialogue, the pattern of holes might just get closer to the bullseye.
The universe does not have to imagine an electron BEFORE it produces one...it just happens - the idea and the reality just pop into existence together at the same time. — Siti
That's the main difference between the Materialism worldview and the Enformationism worldview. In materialism, some important events "just happen" randomly, so any meaningful pattern of activity is astronomically unlikely (a miracle). In a world where Information is fundamental, nothing noticeable happens randomly. Any happening has a prior cause. And the unbroken chain of cause & effect (en-formation) in the space-time world has an origin : the First Cause. But, if so, we can always ask "what caused that cause". Some dubious answers are "a quantum fluctuation in eternal space-time", or a "collision between miniverses in eternal space-time". However, if we assume, as the Big Bang theorists did, that space-time itself emerged from the Singularity, that would entail a pre-existing infinite Hyper-Space with antecedents back into eternity, and "dimensions" invisible to the human mind. Yet, as the early Cosmologists realized, that assumption still sounded too much like the old Creation theories : where the deity "just happened" to exist forever for no apparent reason.
The "hard problem" vanishes with the bipolar panexperiential physicalism that I have suggested — Siti
I don't remember seeing that term before. And a quick Google search wasn't much help. But the idea seems to be related to Whitehead's "panexperiential" proposal, and to other attempts to explain Consciousness as a physical process. But I long-ago gave up on mechanistic processes as a dead-end, and turned to humanistic processes for an explanation of Consciousness. This flip was not motivated by religious impulses, but by the emerging notion among scientists that a "turning point" was near, and that a "paradigm shift" was necessary. The shift is from Reductionism to Holism, and from Mechanism to Organism. A holistic worldview can re-unite the Physics and Meta-Physics of Aristotle into a new paradigm. The atomistic & materialistic "physics" of ancient Greece is mostly obsolete, while the mental "metaphysics" is still debated by philosophers, yet has become the foundation of Psychology, Sociology, and History.
Turning Point : "The new concepts in physics have brought about a profound change in our world view; from the mechanistic conception of Descartes and Newton to a holistic and ecological view, a view which I have found to be similar to the views of mystics of all ages and traditions. . . . What we need, then, is a new 'paradigm' - a new vision of reality; a fundamental change in our thoughts, perceptions, and values "
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fritjof_Capra
Non-local does not either imply or entail non-temporal and that is not what we "find" in Quantum Theory — Siti
But it's a reasonable assumption, in light of Einstein's merging of space & time into a single concept. Both extension-in-space, and extension-in-time are human mental constructs. Time is imagined as a "space" for Change, but what is it really? Donald Hoffman, in The Case Against Reality, said regarding Model Dependent Reality : " there is an objective reality. But that reality is utterly unlike our perceptions of objects in space and time.”
I think you are missing the point again — Siti
Ha! The target is full of holes in all the wrong places. But, if we continue this machine-gun dialogue, the pattern of holes might just get closer to the bullseye.
The universe does not have to imagine an electron BEFORE it produces one...it just happens - the idea and the reality just pop into existence together at the same time. — Siti
That's the main difference between the Materialism worldview and the Enformationism worldview. In materialism, some important events "just happen" randomly, so any meaningful pattern of activity is astronomically unlikely (a miracle). In a world where Information is fundamental, nothing noticeable happens randomly. Any happening has a prior cause. And the unbroken chain of cause & effect (en-formation) in the space-time world has an origin : the First Cause. But, if so, we can always ask "what caused that cause". Some dubious answers are "a quantum fluctuation in eternal space-time", or a "collision between miniverses in eternal space-time". However, if we assume, as the Big Bang theorists did, that space-time itself emerged from the Singularity, that would entail a pre-existing infinite Hyper-Space with antecedents back into eternity, and "dimensions" invisible to the human mind. Yet, as the early Cosmologists realized, that assumption still sounded too much like the old Creation theories : where the deity "just happened" to exist forever for no apparent reason.
The "hard problem" vanishes with the bipolar panexperiential physicalism that I have suggested — Siti
I don't remember seeing that term before. And a quick Google search wasn't much help. But the idea seems to be related to Whitehead's "panexperiential" proposal, and to other attempts to explain Consciousness as a physical process. But I long-ago gave up on mechanistic processes as a dead-end, and turned to humanistic processes for an explanation of Consciousness. This flip was not motivated by religious impulses, but by the emerging notion among scientists that a "turning point" was near, and that a "paradigm shift" was necessary. The shift is from Reductionism to Holism, and from Mechanism to Organism. A holistic worldview can re-unite the Physics and Meta-Physics of Aristotle into a new paradigm. The atomistic & materialistic "physics" of ancient Greece is mostly obsolete, while the mental "metaphysics" is still debated by philosophers, yet has become the foundation of Psychology, Sociology, and History.
Turning Point : "The new concepts in physics have brought about a profound change in our world view; from the mechanistic conception of Descartes and Newton to a holistic and ecological view, a view which I have found to be similar to the views of mystics of all ages and traditions. . . . What we need, then, is a new 'paradigm' - a new vision of reality; a fundamental change in our thoughts, perceptions, and values "
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fritjof_Capra
Non-local does not either imply or entail non-temporal and that is not what we "find" in Quantum Theory — Siti
But it's a reasonable assumption, in light of Einstein's merging of space & time into a single concept. Both extension-in-space, and extension-in-time are human mental constructs. Time is imagined as a "space" for Change, but what is it really? Donald Hoffman, in The Case Against Reality, said regarding Model Dependent Reality : " there is an objective reality. But that reality is utterly unlike our perceptions of objects in space and time.”
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