Sound and Nihilism
April 30, 2015 at 11:01 am
(This post was last modified: April 30, 2015 at 11:02 am by henryp.)
I was thinking about how as Atheists, we do not like things we can't prove or know exist. And then I compared that to our philosophical habits where we imagine all sorts of convenient bullshit. It dawned on me, that there is no need for it. We are physical beings analyzing a physical world. Everything that exists, exists within it.
Which brings us to sound. If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer is no. It creates vibrations. What makes sound is our eardrums converting the vibrations into whatever we hear in our head. I'm not sure of the physiological details, and I don't think they are important. The key being vibrations exist, and our noggins convert those vibrations into the sound we hear.
This relates to the 'long term nihilists' thread.
We talk meaning like it is an external immeasurable thing. But what is meaning tangibly? It is our brains assigning values to our perception of the world. It is a real thing happening in our noggins, just like sound. I'm sure with enough scientific understanding, we could literally pinpoint the little brainy things firing back and forth assigning meaning.
The point being, that 'meaning' is not some intangible concept, it is a physical thing that exists. It is a fact. Now, we can bicker semantics over the definition of meaning, but in the end, we can just look at the brain, and see if it is in there for whatever definition we pick. If it is, it's real. If it isn't, it's not.
And when we are all gone, does meaning still exist? No. Like soundwaves, objects and events will continue to bounce around the universe. But without the brain, there is nothing to convert them into sound/meaning.
But nobody would say that because those sound waves aren't being converted into sound when life ceases to exist, that I'm not 'hearing' the typing on my keyboard right now. That sound I'm hearing, the conversion of the waves into sound in my brain is real. Just like the brain takes a string of sounds that I find pleasing, and assigns meaning to it.
Which brings us to sound. If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer is no. It creates vibrations. What makes sound is our eardrums converting the vibrations into whatever we hear in our head. I'm not sure of the physiological details, and I don't think they are important. The key being vibrations exist, and our noggins convert those vibrations into the sound we hear.
This relates to the 'long term nihilists' thread.
We talk meaning like it is an external immeasurable thing. But what is meaning tangibly? It is our brains assigning values to our perception of the world. It is a real thing happening in our noggins, just like sound. I'm sure with enough scientific understanding, we could literally pinpoint the little brainy things firing back and forth assigning meaning.
The point being, that 'meaning' is not some intangible concept, it is a physical thing that exists. It is a fact. Now, we can bicker semantics over the definition of meaning, but in the end, we can just look at the brain, and see if it is in there for whatever definition we pick. If it is, it's real. If it isn't, it's not.
And when we are all gone, does meaning still exist? No. Like soundwaves, objects and events will continue to bounce around the universe. But without the brain, there is nothing to convert them into sound/meaning.
But nobody would say that because those sound waves aren't being converted into sound when life ceases to exist, that I'm not 'hearing' the typing on my keyboard right now. That sound I'm hearing, the conversion of the waves into sound in my brain is real. Just like the brain takes a string of sounds that I find pleasing, and assigns meaning to it.
