From the evidence of the above quote, I say universeness actually refers to an information singularity. Do you think I'm misreading the quote? — ucarr
No, I merely missed the "information" and focused on the "technological" when I first read that line. Which is ironic in view of my information-centric worldview. However, unless I missed it, he didn't follow-up with a definition/description of an "information singularity". Kurzweil talks about the inevitable "techno singularity" and "machine intelligence" but not much about an "information explosion" from a pin-point. So, I don't know what Uni had in mind regarding the role of Information.
Post-quantum physics has equated Information (power to enform) with physical Energy. In which case the future unleashed-singularity could indeed be an explosion of Information. But, I can't imagine how that would play-out.
I will describe my statement as an historical conjecture: the information singularity at point of explosion pushes sentience across a threshold whereupon a "quantum leap" upward into a new, higher gestalt of cognition gets underway. This new level of understanding and conceptualizing could be expected to transform the phenomenal universe through the agency of sentients. — ucarr
Are you aware of something similar to an "information singularity" in recorded history (a la Gutenberg)? The transition from Theological Science to Empirical Science was a significant change of direction, but the Age of Enlightenment took centuries to take full effect. Hardly an explosion. Likewise, the Information Age that began in the early 20th century has rapidly expanded up to this point in the 21st century, making radical changes in socio-cultural phenomena. But I'm not aware of a bottle-neck that would simulate a Singularity "Bang" : something from nothing.
So, I can see why Kurzweil could imagine that information processing technology (especially AI) could result in something like a Big Bang, where humanity, and its mechanical extensions, rapidly expand their reach into the solar system & universe -- as imagined in countless sci-fi stories. I can conceive of something like a "quantum leap" of cognition, but I have no idea what that would mean -- what it would be like, compared to our current plodding cognition. Perhaps Kurzweil dismisses our present state of cognition as nothing, compared to what is yet to come. Ironically, that reminds me of Apostle Paul's confident prediction of the perfect world-to-come.
I was not postulating existence of a transcendent enformactional entity who causes the phenomenal universe. — ucarr
I didn't think you were. But that's where my dialogue with ↪universeness got hung-up. His worldview is basically Empirical (observation), while mine is fundamentally Philosophical (inference). He's OK with extrapolating from known current state toward a future unknown unverifiable possibility; but I was inferring from current knowledge back to unknown possible initial conditions, as many philosophers have done before. Unfortunately, his empirical stance labels questions of Origins as Religious, whereas I view such explorations as Philosophical. Unlike Plato, he draws the line at unverifiable Transcendence. As implicit in his dialogue with Athena, Uni seems to be Past Pessimistic, but Future Optimistic. Other than that Origins Taboo, our worldviews seem to be similar.
What you say is part and parcel of your theory of enformaction. . . . Does your enformaction theory, as I've been wondering, have Plato's Theory of (Ideal) Forms as an ancient forebear? — ucarr
Yes. When I traced the current Information state of the world back as far as possible -- following the pattern of Big Bang Cosmologists -- I came to an Information Singularity of my own, where space-time faded away into infinities. I assume that Plato followed a similar line of reasoning, and concluded that Reality is bounded by space-time. But then, whence space-time & energy-laws? So, he postulated a transcendent (eternal ; infinite) Source of Enforming power (Logos - in Ideality) as an answer to the Open Question of "why something instead of nothing". But that kind of pioneering reverse-reasoning (into the a priori unknown) is not allowed by Empirical doctrine (from known to knowable). Empirical Science takes space-time & matter-energy & natural logical laws for granted (on faith). But I don't. I view Open Questions as the reason for engaging in theoretical Philosophy.
TPF : Emergence, Physical vs Metaphysical
Re: TPF : Emergence, Physical vs Metaphysical
So, information, in this context, is physical and thus "the future unleashed-singularity" of information would likewise be a physical explosion? — ucarr
Probably not. Information is both physical (info=energy=matter) and metaphysical (meaning ; ideas ; math). EnFormAction is my coinage for the Generic Information responsible for the formation of every objective Thing and every subjective Form that evolved from the initial Singularity. The label "Big Bang" implies a physical explosion, but some scientists deny that popular image, and substitute "expansion". Yet the "expansion" of a universe from a pinpoint in micro-seconds sounds more like instant creation-from-scratch than even a mundane physical explosion. That Genesis implication is what caused Hoyle to mock the Cosmologist's theory, describing the ultimate event, as a "Big Bang".
BTW, Uni & 180 like to label Enformationism as a religious notion, because I use the ancient term "metaphysics" to describe the non-physical (mental) aspects of the Real world. But I use that term primarily for its original meaning "adjunct to physics". Which is what Aristotle's second volume of his Physics discussed : not empirical objective descriptions of the physical world, but the variety of human subjective ideas about that world -- including its noumenal features, such as god-posits.
Are you aware of something similar to an "information singularity" in recorded history (a la Gutenberg)? — Gnomon
Is this a reference to early book printing? — ucarr
Yes.
Coping with Gutenberg :
The Information Explosion in Early Modern Europe
http://200.144.254.127:8080/english/jou ... losion.pdf
You count yourself a logician primarily? — ucarr
No. I'm just an amateur philosopher presenting a non-academic thesis, which is intended to be a logical expansion of a famous scientist's conjecture : "It From Bit" -- Material things emerged from immaterial causal information (the power to enform).
Quantum Physicist John A. Wheeler :
It from Bit symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom — at a very deep bottom, in most instances — an immaterial source and explanation; that what we call reality arises in the last analysis from the posing of yes-no questions
https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/09/ ... t-wheeler/
Information causality as a physical principle :
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08400
Perhaps some sort of richly complex and debatable premise can be spun out of this. — ucarr
Oh it has been debated extensively all right. The problem is that Uni & 180 begin with a premise of their own, which I reject : that ultimate speculations are inherently religiously motivated. Religious scholars adopted Plato & Aristotle centuries later, but in their own time they were non-conformists regarding the polytheism of their culture. They did propose abstract eternal principles (Logos ; Good) radically unlike the humanoid deities of the non-philosophical Greeks. Christian Theologians interpreted those abstractions in favor of the Jewish God, who has no physical Form that could be represented in idols. It's unlikely that P & A were aware of the Jewish god-concept. In any case, my own interpretations of their Eternal Principles are not connected to any religious practices. But if you feel the urge to worship a formless abstraction, its a free country.
Are you conceptualizing Information Singularity as a type of black hole compressing the universe down to a point-source? — ucarr
No. My Singularity is a meta-physical philosophical concept, not a scientific conjecture.
Your use of spacetime as a boundary flies in the face of conventional wisdom about the phenomenal universe such that it has no boundaries. — ucarr
The boundaries I referred to are Space & Time, which are not physical fences. Einstein described the universe as "finite, but unbounded". Which could be interpreted as an oxymoron. But it's assumed that he was talking about the physical shape of the universe as a sphere, not as extending into infinity.
Does The Universe Have Physical Boundaries? :
The universe (observable or otherwise) has no boundary in the physical sense.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017 ... 167c722b3c
I would expect you to contest any doctrine characterizing reverse-inference as a journey into the unknowable. — ucarr
I didn't say "unknowable" but "unknown". Philosophers and Scientists explore the "undiscovered territory". For example, the Big Bang theory was an exploration (via reverse inference) into the knowable-but-heretofore-unknown history of the universe, back to the beginning of space-time. Yet, imaginative thinkers can easily go beyond that non-physical boundary (trans-finite multiverse), "to infinity and beyond!", as Buzz Lightyear (animated movie) exclaimed.
Probably not. Information is both physical (info=energy=matter) and metaphysical (meaning ; ideas ; math). EnFormAction is my coinage for the Generic Information responsible for the formation of every objective Thing and every subjective Form that evolved from the initial Singularity. The label "Big Bang" implies a physical explosion, but some scientists deny that popular image, and substitute "expansion". Yet the "expansion" of a universe from a pinpoint in micro-seconds sounds more like instant creation-from-scratch than even a mundane physical explosion. That Genesis implication is what caused Hoyle to mock the Cosmologist's theory, describing the ultimate event, as a "Big Bang".
BTW, Uni & 180 like to label Enformationism as a religious notion, because I use the ancient term "metaphysics" to describe the non-physical (mental) aspects of the Real world. But I use that term primarily for its original meaning "adjunct to physics". Which is what Aristotle's second volume of his Physics discussed : not empirical objective descriptions of the physical world, but the variety of human subjective ideas about that world -- including its noumenal features, such as god-posits.
Are you aware of something similar to an "information singularity" in recorded history (a la Gutenberg)? — Gnomon
Is this a reference to early book printing? — ucarr
Yes.
Coping with Gutenberg :
The Information Explosion in Early Modern Europe
http://200.144.254.127:8080/english/jou ... losion.pdf
You count yourself a logician primarily? — ucarr
No. I'm just an amateur philosopher presenting a non-academic thesis, which is intended to be a logical expansion of a famous scientist's conjecture : "It From Bit" -- Material things emerged from immaterial causal information (the power to enform).
Quantum Physicist John A. Wheeler :
It from Bit symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom — at a very deep bottom, in most instances — an immaterial source and explanation; that what we call reality arises in the last analysis from the posing of yes-no questions
https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/09/ ... t-wheeler/
Information causality as a physical principle :
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08400
Perhaps some sort of richly complex and debatable premise can be spun out of this. — ucarr
Oh it has been debated extensively all right. The problem is that Uni & 180 begin with a premise of their own, which I reject : that ultimate speculations are inherently religiously motivated. Religious scholars adopted Plato & Aristotle centuries later, but in their own time they were non-conformists regarding the polytheism of their culture. They did propose abstract eternal principles (Logos ; Good) radically unlike the humanoid deities of the non-philosophical Greeks. Christian Theologians interpreted those abstractions in favor of the Jewish God, who has no physical Form that could be represented in idols. It's unlikely that P & A were aware of the Jewish god-concept. In any case, my own interpretations of their Eternal Principles are not connected to any religious practices. But if you feel the urge to worship a formless abstraction, its a free country.
Are you conceptualizing Information Singularity as a type of black hole compressing the universe down to a point-source? — ucarr
No. My Singularity is a meta-physical philosophical concept, not a scientific conjecture.
Your use of spacetime as a boundary flies in the face of conventional wisdom about the phenomenal universe such that it has no boundaries. — ucarr
The boundaries I referred to are Space & Time, which are not physical fences. Einstein described the universe as "finite, but unbounded". Which could be interpreted as an oxymoron. But it's assumed that he was talking about the physical shape of the universe as a sphere, not as extending into infinity.
Does The Universe Have Physical Boundaries? :
The universe (observable or otherwise) has no boundary in the physical sense.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017 ... 167c722b3c
I would expect you to contest any doctrine characterizing reverse-inference as a journey into the unknowable. — ucarr
I didn't say "unknowable" but "unknown". Philosophers and Scientists explore the "undiscovered territory". For example, the Big Bang theory was an exploration (via reverse inference) into the knowable-but-heretofore-unknown history of the universe, back to the beginning of space-time. Yet, imaginative thinkers can easily go beyond that non-physical boundary (trans-finite multiverse), "to infinity and beyond!", as Buzz Lightyear (animated movie) exclaimed.
Re: TPF : Emergence, Physical vs Metaphysical
I certainly DO NOT label the general question of the origin story of the universe as exclusively religious and I think you already know that. Cyclical universe, the multiverse, Mtheory etc, etc have no integrated god posits. Only posits like enformationism, have theism/deism at their root, as you as its author, have confirmed, in many of your posts. I broadly agree, with the remaining content of the above quote. — universeness
Sorry. I was referring to the anti-open-question stance of Logical Positivism*1, which I guessed influenced your negative attitude toward my non-religious non-theist pre-bang hypothesis. I apologize, if I misread your intentions, as you so often misread mine. Since I have no formal indoctrination in philosophical schools of thought, I don't quickly detect the doctrinal source of objections to my own ideas. But I'm learning.
BTW, the notion of Artificial Super Intelligence could be construed as a god-posit, except that it emerges from within Nature, instead of creating Nature. My information-based "god-posit" is conceptually similar except for the direction of emergence. ASI is a prediction (conjecture) based on the current trajectory of Information Technology. Sadly, confident projections of future events are subject to the randomizing effects of Entropy*2. Yet, history shows that inappropriately-named Negative Entropy*3 can counteract some of those negative effects -- by design. It converts gradual natural evolution into rapid technological advances.
Apparently, you are not familiar with the history of Deism. It was a rejection of biblical Theism. Instead, it proposed rational acceptance of the logical necessity for a non-religious philosophical First Cause principle (Cause + Laws), with the Potential for manifesting all aspects of Nature, including Physical (material) & Metaphysical (mental).*4 To this day, scientists have found no reasonable alternative to explain how Mind could emerge from Matter.*5
*1. As described in Oxford professor of Philosophy Luciano Floridi's book, The Logic of Information. He discusses several objections to Open Questions, including those raised by Logical Positivists. Apparently for LPs, the creator-god-posit is a closed question, due to the absence of empirical evidence. Yet, the evidence for a Prime Mover is inherently beyond the scope of empirical investigation. But remains within range of rational conjecture.
Floridi defines "open questions" as "genuine requests for information", not as dogmatic interpretations of evidence. "Philosophical questions are questions not answerable empirically or mathematically, with observations or calculations.. . . . that remain in principle open to informed, rational, and honest disagreement."
*2. Niels Bohr, the Nobel laureate in Physics and father of the atomic model, is quoted as saying, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future!” This quote serves as a warning of the importance of testing a forecasting model out-of-sample.
https://blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/cbp/forec ... he-future/
Note -- how do you test an imaginary model of the future without time-traveling? Likewise, how could you empirically test a philosophical model of the pre-bang past? In such cases, the prognosticator's biases tend to be amplified in the model. Is ASI benevolent or malevolent? Are AI techs creating the seeds of our own destruction a la Skynet?
*3. Negative Entropy :
In my thesis, I call that positive natural force "Enformy", in order to relate it to the organizing effects of Enformation. The natural tendency toward order (evolution) has been amplified by human knowledge & intentions as the artificial force we call "Culture". It's an emergent organizing principle with a centralized reference point and a conceptual framework. So, if human culture could resolve its internal conflicts and focus its powers toward the assisted evolution of Artificial Intelligence, then destructive effects of Entropy could, in theory, be overcome. But be careful how you place your bets.
*4. "Cyclical universe, the multiverse, Mtheoryetc, etc have no integrated god posits"
The absence of god-posits is due to their intentional fabrication as alternatives to Theism. They all fill the god-gap with eternal Cause & Laws, just as my Information-based theory does. Which of those models do you find satisfactory explanations for the contingent existence of our world? The 21st century understanding of Information includes Energy (causation) & Organization (natural laws).
*5. How Could Mind Emerge From Mindless Matter? :
Complexity theory and emergence point the way to understanding consciousness.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... ess-matter
Note -- Ironically, both Complexity & Emergence theories must assume (without evidence) that Nature was innately pre-programmed with the Potential for Mental phenomena. However, viewed reductively, Complexity is just Chaotic and Emergence is just Change. But from a more inclusive perspective we can see that Life & Mind are emergent Whole Systems manifesting novel properties that are more than the sum of the parts.
Sorry. I was referring to the anti-open-question stance of Logical Positivism*1, which I guessed influenced your negative attitude toward my non-religious non-theist pre-bang hypothesis. I apologize, if I misread your intentions, as you so often misread mine. Since I have no formal indoctrination in philosophical schools of thought, I don't quickly detect the doctrinal source of objections to my own ideas. But I'm learning.
BTW, the notion of Artificial Super Intelligence could be construed as a god-posit, except that it emerges from within Nature, instead of creating Nature. My information-based "god-posit" is conceptually similar except for the direction of emergence. ASI is a prediction (conjecture) based on the current trajectory of Information Technology. Sadly, confident projections of future events are subject to the randomizing effects of Entropy*2. Yet, history shows that inappropriately-named Negative Entropy*3 can counteract some of those negative effects -- by design. It converts gradual natural evolution into rapid technological advances.
Apparently, you are not familiar with the history of Deism. It was a rejection of biblical Theism. Instead, it proposed rational acceptance of the logical necessity for a non-religious philosophical First Cause principle (Cause + Laws), with the Potential for manifesting all aspects of Nature, including Physical (material) & Metaphysical (mental).*4 To this day, scientists have found no reasonable alternative to explain how Mind could emerge from Matter.*5
*1. As described in Oxford professor of Philosophy Luciano Floridi's book, The Logic of Information. He discusses several objections to Open Questions, including those raised by Logical Positivists. Apparently for LPs, the creator-god-posit is a closed question, due to the absence of empirical evidence. Yet, the evidence for a Prime Mover is inherently beyond the scope of empirical investigation. But remains within range of rational conjecture.
Floridi defines "open questions" as "genuine requests for information", not as dogmatic interpretations of evidence. "Philosophical questions are questions not answerable empirically or mathematically, with observations or calculations.. . . . that remain in principle open to informed, rational, and honest disagreement."
*2. Niels Bohr, the Nobel laureate in Physics and father of the atomic model, is quoted as saying, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future!” This quote serves as a warning of the importance of testing a forecasting model out-of-sample.
https://blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/cbp/forec ... he-future/
Note -- how do you test an imaginary model of the future without time-traveling? Likewise, how could you empirically test a philosophical model of the pre-bang past? In such cases, the prognosticator's biases tend to be amplified in the model. Is ASI benevolent or malevolent? Are AI techs creating the seeds of our own destruction a la Skynet?
*3. Negative Entropy :
In my thesis, I call that positive natural force "Enformy", in order to relate it to the organizing effects of Enformation. The natural tendency toward order (evolution) has been amplified by human knowledge & intentions as the artificial force we call "Culture". It's an emergent organizing principle with a centralized reference point and a conceptual framework. So, if human culture could resolve its internal conflicts and focus its powers toward the assisted evolution of Artificial Intelligence, then destructive effects of Entropy could, in theory, be overcome. But be careful how you place your bets.
*4. "Cyclical universe, the multiverse, Mtheoryetc, etc have no integrated god posits"
The absence of god-posits is due to their intentional fabrication as alternatives to Theism. They all fill the god-gap with eternal Cause & Laws, just as my Information-based theory does. Which of those models do you find satisfactory explanations for the contingent existence of our world? The 21st century understanding of Information includes Energy (causation) & Organization (natural laws).
*5. How Could Mind Emerge From Mindless Matter? :
Complexity theory and emergence point the way to understanding consciousness.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... ess-matter
Note -- Ironically, both Complexity & Emergence theories must assume (without evidence) that Nature was innately pre-programmed with the Potential for Mental phenomena. However, viewed reductively, Complexity is just Chaotic and Emergence is just Change. But from a more inclusive perspective we can see that Life & Mind are emergent Whole Systems manifesting novel properties that are more than the sum of the parts.
Re: TPF : Emergence, Physical vs Metaphysical
So, attempting an analogy here, is it that enformaction is like computer code, and information is like the GUI we see on the computer screen? — ucarr
EnFormAction is envisioned somewhat like a computer program processing Information (matter & energy) in order to produce the phenomena that we interpret as Reality. Regarding the perceptive GUI analogy, I'll simply refer you to Donald Hoffman's counterintuitive notion of our mental interpretation of sensory inputs as, not Reality per se, but an "interface" for the underlying ding an sich.
In computing, an interface is a shared boundary across which two or more separate components of a computer system exchange information.
Reality is not what you see :
cognitive scientist Hoffman has produced an updated version of Kant’s controversial Occult Ontology
https://bothandblog6.enformationism.info/page21.html
So, from what I conjecture from your two above quotes, physicality extends all the way into the metaphysical ground of existence; this one can claim since both information and enformaction interface the physical_cognitive? Does this possibility suggest semi-metaphysicality instead of metaphysicality? — ucarr
As Kant argued, our physical senses detect abstract information (similar to dots & dashes of Morse code) which our minds interpret into the imaginary models that we accept intuitively as Reality. Deacon updated that physical/metaphysical distinction with a modern computer interface analogy. But the notion that our Ideal mental models are the only Reality we have access to, is anathema to Materialists & Realists. For them, any reference to "Metaphysics" betrays a religious commitment. And I suspect that various worldwide religious notions of a hidden or parallel reality (or spirit realm) may derive from a vague pre-scientific grasp of the fact that : what you see Physically ain't necessarily what-is Ontologically. If, by "semi-metaphysicality" you mean a blend of physical & metaphysical worldviews, I suppose that describes the Hylomorphism of Aristotle.
Aristotle's hylomorphism is, roughly speaking, the idea that objects are compounds consisting of matter and form.
https://metaphysicsjournal.com/articles/10.5334/met.2
Note -- what he called "Form" (the idea or design or pattern of a thing) is what I call "Generic (non-specific) Information", which can be enformed into a material instance of the general concept.
Well, you say your worldview is fundamentally inferential so... your conclusions are not reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning? — ucarr
I don't remember saying that the worldview is "fundamentally inferential" in so many words, but I suppose that's true. But then, what is "reasoning" if not the practice of Inference? Maybe what you meant was "imaginary". If so, no. Although imagination is necessary to see anybody's mental model of the world.
An inference is an idea or conclusion that's drawn from evidence and reasoning. An inference is an educated guess. We learn about some things by experiencing them first-hand, but we gain other knowledge by inference — the process of inferring things based on what is already known.
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/inference
Is it correct to say the essence of your enformaction theorem is Wheeler's It-From-Bit idea? — ucarr
Yes, but I didn't realize the full meaning of that expression until years later, when I read an article on Quantum Physics in which the author exclaimed in reference to wave/particles, "it's all information, nothing but information" I suspect that Wheeler's postulate was ignored by pragmatic physicists, who gave-up trying to understand the meaning of quantum weirdness, and decided to just "shut-up and calculate". Similar unorthodox expressions by quantum pioneers (e.g. Bohr & Heisenberg), were ridiculed as Eastern religious beliefs. But what all those weird notions have in common is Holism, which was originally a scientific concept that was later adopted by New Agers.
Holism and FreeWill Versus Reductionism and Fatalism :
http://bothandblog7.enformationism.info/page24.html
Is it correct to say your Singularity has components both physical and cognitive? — ucarr
No, a dimensionless Singularity is a mathematical (cognitive) definition, not a physical object. If the Singularity was a physical container, it would have compressed all the matter in the universe into a dimensionless dot. An infinity-to-one compression ratio.
Spacetime within the context of Relativity is most assuredly physical. General relativity, being the geometric theory of gravitation -- including warpage of spacetime -- makes the case for this.
How can you justify your above claim in light of this? — ucarr
For Einstein, the curvature of non-physical space was a mathematical (geometrical) concept, not intended to be taken literally. Yet, it's now a stock gimmick of sci-fi stories. Likewise, the "fabric" of spacetime is a metaphorical analogy, not an invisible kind of cloth. Can you stick yourself on the point of a geometric triangle?
Spacetime Curving :
There is no evidence that there is any “actual” (as in real or physical) space-time, much less that there is any actual curvature thereof.
https://www.quora.com/Can-you-actually- ... space-time
I'm thinking the above statements contain a thicket of issues: a sphere, by definition, has boundaries (every point on its surface is equidistant from its center). More generally, a shape, by definition, has boundaries. Finally, if a physical object doesn't extend indefinitely, it has a shape. Do you think otherwise? — ucarr
No, according to Einstein, the universe, like a spherical surface (no innards), is unbounded. By contrast, a cube is bounded by edges.
As an example of an unbounded Universe, imagine a sphere in 3D space.
https://physics.stackexchange.com/quest ... verse-mean
EnFormAction is envisioned somewhat like a computer program processing Information (matter & energy) in order to produce the phenomena that we interpret as Reality. Regarding the perceptive GUI analogy, I'll simply refer you to Donald Hoffman's counterintuitive notion of our mental interpretation of sensory inputs as, not Reality per se, but an "interface" for the underlying ding an sich.
In computing, an interface is a shared boundary across which two or more separate components of a computer system exchange information.
Reality is not what you see :
cognitive scientist Hoffman has produced an updated version of Kant’s controversial Occult Ontology
https://bothandblog6.enformationism.info/page21.html
So, from what I conjecture from your two above quotes, physicality extends all the way into the metaphysical ground of existence; this one can claim since both information and enformaction interface the physical_cognitive? Does this possibility suggest semi-metaphysicality instead of metaphysicality? — ucarr
As Kant argued, our physical senses detect abstract information (similar to dots & dashes of Morse code) which our minds interpret into the imaginary models that we accept intuitively as Reality. Deacon updated that physical/metaphysical distinction with a modern computer interface analogy. But the notion that our Ideal mental models are the only Reality we have access to, is anathema to Materialists & Realists. For them, any reference to "Metaphysics" betrays a religious commitment. And I suspect that various worldwide religious notions of a hidden or parallel reality (or spirit realm) may derive from a vague pre-scientific grasp of the fact that : what you see Physically ain't necessarily what-is Ontologically. If, by "semi-metaphysicality" you mean a blend of physical & metaphysical worldviews, I suppose that describes the Hylomorphism of Aristotle.
Aristotle's hylomorphism is, roughly speaking, the idea that objects are compounds consisting of matter and form.
https://metaphysicsjournal.com/articles/10.5334/met.2
Note -- what he called "Form" (the idea or design or pattern of a thing) is what I call "Generic (non-specific) Information", which can be enformed into a material instance of the general concept.
Well, you say your worldview is fundamentally inferential so... your conclusions are not reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning? — ucarr
I don't remember saying that the worldview is "fundamentally inferential" in so many words, but I suppose that's true. But then, what is "reasoning" if not the practice of Inference? Maybe what you meant was "imaginary". If so, no. Although imagination is necessary to see anybody's mental model of the world.
An inference is an idea or conclusion that's drawn from evidence and reasoning. An inference is an educated guess. We learn about some things by experiencing them first-hand, but we gain other knowledge by inference — the process of inferring things based on what is already known.
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/inference
Is it correct to say the essence of your enformaction theorem is Wheeler's It-From-Bit idea? — ucarr
Yes, but I didn't realize the full meaning of that expression until years later, when I read an article on Quantum Physics in which the author exclaimed in reference to wave/particles, "it's all information, nothing but information" I suspect that Wheeler's postulate was ignored by pragmatic physicists, who gave-up trying to understand the meaning of quantum weirdness, and decided to just "shut-up and calculate". Similar unorthodox expressions by quantum pioneers (e.g. Bohr & Heisenberg), were ridiculed as Eastern religious beliefs. But what all those weird notions have in common is Holism, which was originally a scientific concept that was later adopted by New Agers.
Holism and FreeWill Versus Reductionism and Fatalism :
http://bothandblog7.enformationism.info/page24.html
Is it correct to say your Singularity has components both physical and cognitive? — ucarr
No, a dimensionless Singularity is a mathematical (cognitive) definition, not a physical object. If the Singularity was a physical container, it would have compressed all the matter in the universe into a dimensionless dot. An infinity-to-one compression ratio.
Spacetime within the context of Relativity is most assuredly physical. General relativity, being the geometric theory of gravitation -- including warpage of spacetime -- makes the case for this.
How can you justify your above claim in light of this? — ucarr
For Einstein, the curvature of non-physical space was a mathematical (geometrical) concept, not intended to be taken literally. Yet, it's now a stock gimmick of sci-fi stories. Likewise, the "fabric" of spacetime is a metaphorical analogy, not an invisible kind of cloth. Can you stick yourself on the point of a geometric triangle?
Spacetime Curving :
There is no evidence that there is any “actual” (as in real or physical) space-time, much less that there is any actual curvature thereof.
https://www.quora.com/Can-you-actually- ... space-time
I'm thinking the above statements contain a thicket of issues: a sphere, by definition, has boundaries (every point on its surface is equidistant from its center). More generally, a shape, by definition, has boundaries. Finally, if a physical object doesn't extend indefinitely, it has a shape. Do you think otherwise? — ucarr
No, according to Einstein, the universe, like a spherical surface (no innards), is unbounded. By contrast, a cube is bounded by edges.
As an example of an unbounded Universe, imagine a sphere in 3D space.
https://physics.stackexchange.com/quest ... verse-mean
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