Terrapin StationApril 12, 2019 at 12:52#2758260 likes
My answers:
* Realist (alternatives seem ignorant and often quite childish to me)
* QM interp - other (I basically interpret it instrumentally, from what is very similar to a logical positivist perspective; I'm an antirealist on mathematics in general).
* Presentism (alternatives are incoherent in my view)
* Start of time - unsure (I think both answers are possible, I don't think there's really any way to know the answer)
* Infinity - a concept, and standardly, the concept is not a number (re my "concept" answer remember that I'm an antirealist on mathematics, mathematical objects, abstract objects in general). I do think it's possible that there could be an "actual infinity"--things that are endless, but obviously we can't really intuitively grasp that in the same way that we can grasp something like "1,000 truckloads of x"
* Something from nothing - I think it's possible
* I'm an atheist who thinks that religious beliefs and the idea of god in general are absurd/comically stupid (though I'm fine letting people have beliefs that I think are stupid, as long as they're not trying to control what I can choose to do where that's motivated by the beliefs in question).
180 ProofSeptember 12, 2019 at 09:03#3277560 likes
:yum:
• Other - Absurdist. (vide Zapffe, Beckett, et al)
• Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI > qubits!)
• Eternalism. (Re: MWI of QM à la modal realism(?) ... vide Spinoza.)
• Yes - there is a start of time (i.e. each now). Start, however, does not entail 'unique beginning'.
• I think infinity is (at minimum) a number. (vide Cantor, et al)
• Yes - something can comes from nothing. (After all, something is only a nothing we happen to be interested in at the moment. :joke: Also, 'virtual particles'.)
• Atheist. (Theism is false. :roll: Ontological randomness (i.e. incompleteness) e.g. virtual particles, radioactive decay, ... MWI)
PantagruelSeptember 12, 2019 at 09:22#3277600 likes
Kind of a biased selection with a lot of stuff wadded into "Other"....
TheMadFoolSeptember 12, 2019 at 09:23#3277610 likes
Reply to Devans99 A man who knows how to conduct a poll has an agenda. Out with it!
PossibilitySeptember 12, 2019 at 12:20#3278230 likes
Reply to Devans99 Can’t say that was very effective, with such lmited options. Reminds me of the ‘Dolly’ magazine surveys I used to do when I twelve. I didn’t appreciate the attempts to corral my data then, either.
Comments (12)
Basically put me down for “other” even for the questions that don’t have that option ;)
Massive oversight.
* Realist (alternatives seem ignorant and often quite childish to me)
* QM interp - other (I basically interpret it instrumentally, from what is very similar to a logical positivist perspective; I'm an antirealist on mathematics in general).
* Presentism (alternatives are incoherent in my view)
* Start of time - unsure (I think both answers are possible, I don't think there's really any way to know the answer)
* Infinity - a concept, and standardly, the concept is not a number (re my "concept" answer remember that I'm an antirealist on mathematics, mathematical objects, abstract objects in general). I do think it's possible that there could be an "actual infinity"--things that are endless, but obviously we can't really intuitively grasp that in the same way that we can grasp something like "1,000 truckloads of x"
* Something from nothing - I think it's possible
* I'm an atheist who thinks that religious beliefs and the idea of god in general are absurd/comically stupid (though I'm fine letting people have beliefs that I think are stupid, as long as they're not trying to control what I can choose to do where that's motivated by the beliefs in question).
• Other - Absurdist. (vide Zapffe, Beckett, et al)
• Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI > qubits!)
• Eternalism. (Re: MWI of QM à la modal realism(?) ... vide Spinoza.)
• Yes - there is a start of time (i.e. each now). Start, however, does not entail 'unique beginning'.
• I think infinity is (at minimum) a number. (vide Cantor, et al)
• Yes - something can comes from nothing. (After all, something is only a nothing we happen to be interested in at the moment. :joke: Also, 'virtual particles'.)
• Atheist. (Theism is false. :roll: Ontological randomness (i.e. incompleteness) e.g. virtual particles, radioactive decay, ... MWI)
What master do you serve?
Don’t fence me in...
I don't think he was wondering about that sense of "infinity." He seemed to be thinking of the mathematical sense.