RE: Another Free-will poll, please bear with me!
May 27, 2015 at 11:02 am
(This post was last modified: May 27, 2015 at 11:06 am by bennyboy.)
(May 27, 2015 at 5:20 am)robvalue Wrote: Sure, when we see things as a whole, we notice different things about that whole. But does that make it real? Isn't that just us arbitrarily finding patterns and qualities by looking at things in certain ways? Just because we view something a certain way, does that make this configuration somehow "exist" any more than the sum of its parts? It may seem that way, but do we have any evidence that it does?Apparently, my computer really "exists" as more than the sum of its parts, because I have a lot of trouble watching video on QM particles, except when they are configured in computer-like patterns. At the least, that pattern exists, or where is all this Asian schoolgirl porn coming from?
Quote:I guess what I'm saying is that what you observe depends on what "zoom" level you are using. Why would every possible level of zooming exist independently and gain extra qualities above the sum of its parts? Because there may be even more zoom levels, and zoom levels in between... assuming something "extra" gets added each time seems to create a kind of crazy regression which doesn't sit right with me.It's not really an assumption. It's more a definition of "thingness." A thing is something which, by bringing parts into relation, takes on a property not found among any collection of its parts. Unless you are arguing that there are not things, then the only thing which is maximally coherent would have to be the entire universe. The universe must be greater than the sum of all its parts-- so what, exactly, is that "extra something" that goes beyond galaxies, stars, black holes, etc.? I would assume that it must be an expression of top-down reality, rather than bottom-up, since it consists of qualities which do not exist at the bottom.
Quote:I'm just brain storming. I don't know a whole lot about the details of this. I just wonder if our pattern spotting makes us attribute qualities that only exist in our minds. Are these "qualities" just themselves observations of convenience for dealing with things en masse?If stoplights aren't really red, and cars aren't really heavy, then I could be getting to work a lot faster than I have been.
