RE: Applicability of Maths to the Universe
June 14, 2020 at 9:40 am
(This post was last modified: June 14, 2020 at 11:00 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Something to ponder over -
The computers that we're using to have this discussion all have some limited ability to describe the objects in my metaphor. The task manager window can tell you, for example, what percentage of it's processing capacity is focused on a given task. We don't have anything like that.
There are external diagnostic tools and equipment that can provide even more information than whatever internal monitoring might be in place. This much is, thankfully, also true of us. We're not very good at it yet, but when we're loading up a brain with reactive dyes and watching it go off like fireworks, we are very much watching thoughts, which do exist in the way that any other thing exists as we use those terms, as objects.....and even further, as material objects.
The reason that dualists were so enamored of mind in the past boils down to our brains inability to communicate this information to us, and having absofuckinglutely no clue how brains worked, they decided that minds actually were just the incomplete description that is apprehend by our focused attention.
Building from the above, we can tackle Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is an object, that does exist, either on page or in memory. We may not actively apprehend the contents of that memory at all times, but it's still there, just as the video game I'm not playing right now is still on my pc. Sherlock isn't created when I access the file, and the file doesn't go away when I close the window. The active focus of attention has shifted to some other object, some other location.
If we burned those books and actively wiped those memories, sherlock would, indeed, disappear - in the reverse of the process by which he was created and maintained, because it does not..in reality, have any independent existence whatsoever. If you're starting to think to yourself, at this point, "do I exist in any way different from sherlock"...well, bingo. We're also stories that we tell ourselves
Aaaaaaall of that tedium finished, we can wonder whether or not this description of mind is true, and it may not be - but even if it were not true, it demonstrates that the semantics required to insist that thoughts are material objects do exist, and because of this, that the existence of thoughts doesn't actually pose any specific difficulty for materialism. If there is Other Stuff™, then we're going to need a better candidate for it than thoughts, or numbers, or characters from stories that we tell ourselves. We'll need a better candidate for it than anything in human experience.
The computers that we're using to have this discussion all have some limited ability to describe the objects in my metaphor. The task manager window can tell you, for example, what percentage of it's processing capacity is focused on a given task. We don't have anything like that.
There are external diagnostic tools and equipment that can provide even more information than whatever internal monitoring might be in place. This much is, thankfully, also true of us. We're not very good at it yet, but when we're loading up a brain with reactive dyes and watching it go off like fireworks, we are very much watching thoughts, which do exist in the way that any other thing exists as we use those terms, as objects.....and even further, as material objects.
The reason that dualists were so enamored of mind in the past boils down to our brains inability to communicate this information to us, and having absofuckinglutely no clue how brains worked, they decided that minds actually were just the incomplete description that is apprehend by our focused attention.
Building from the above, we can tackle Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is an object, that does exist, either on page or in memory. We may not actively apprehend the contents of that memory at all times, but it's still there, just as the video game I'm not playing right now is still on my pc. Sherlock isn't created when I access the file, and the file doesn't go away when I close the window. The active focus of attention has shifted to some other object, some other location.
If we burned those books and actively wiped those memories, sherlock would, indeed, disappear - in the reverse of the process by which he was created and maintained, because it does not..in reality, have any independent existence whatsoever. If you're starting to think to yourself, at this point, "do I exist in any way different from sherlock"...well, bingo. We're also stories that we tell ourselves
Aaaaaaall of that tedium finished, we can wonder whether or not this description of mind is true, and it may not be - but even if it were not true, it demonstrates that the semantics required to insist that thoughts are material objects do exist, and because of this, that the existence of thoughts doesn't actually pose any specific difficulty for materialism. If there is Other Stuff™, then we're going to need a better candidate for it than thoughts, or numbers, or characters from stories that we tell ourselves. We'll need a better candidate for it than anything in human experience.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
