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Gnomon

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Yes, Causation without Intent is what we call Accident. And the distinction is crucial in philosophy & science, but typically taken for granted. Unfor...
September 28, 2025 at 21:50
As I mentioned above, taken together, these characteristics of systems seem to add-up to a Creator God as the System-of-all-systems. Hence our space-t...
September 28, 2025 at 21:16
A. By "kind of system" I mean an organization*1 with a particular logical-or-physical, structure-or-function-or-purpose, that can be distinguished fro...
September 28, 2025 at 16:45
Speaking of the distinction between a Created vs Constructed world, Dan Brown's new mystery/thriller, Secret of Secrets --- I'm almost to the halfway ...
September 27, 2025 at 21:14
OK. Now we have narrowed-down the kind of Systems this thread is about. As far as we know, only physical biological beings*1 are capable of abstractin...
September 27, 2025 at 17:23
Now we're getting somewhere : a definition of "System" that may be relevant to the covert purpose of this thread. Example : A System is a collection o...
September 26, 2025 at 16:46
Unfortunately, what you are talking about may be clear in your own mind, but it's not clear to my simple mind. That's why I asked categorical question...
September 25, 2025 at 22:09
So, you agree that the seemingly haphazard stack of irregularly shaped rocks is a "system", in the sense that it was produced, not by Nature, nor by m...
September 25, 2025 at 17:56
As with many, if not most, disagreements on this forum, the controversy hinges on the definition of key terms. For example, Aristotle's Four Causes in...
September 25, 2025 at 17:29
Perhaps, to retain an air of mystery, you have avoided defining the key term in your thread*1. But you seem to have in mind a simplistic concept of a ...
September 25, 2025 at 00:36
OK, how would you describe "changes in energy", while avoiding the notion of Causation? Einstein noted that Energy can be mathematically transformed i...
September 24, 2025 at 17:14
Yes. For example, if a message-in-a-bottle is sent but never read, the information remains potential, not actual. This works just like Energy. If a bu...
September 23, 2025 at 16:39
Yes. That's why we debate various kinds of Causes on this forum. For example, the primary Cause for physical science is Energy. Which can be defined t...
September 22, 2025 at 21:50
Something like that. When Shannon produced his definition of Information as computer Data, I assume he had no idea that his novel equation of Informat...
September 22, 2025 at 21:24
Please note that, in the last paragraph, I referred to metaphysical*1 (-isms), that are not necessarily religions. For example, on this forum, we ofte...
September 22, 2025 at 17:09
Oh yes. Just like fossilized bones, ancient DNA can provide clues to modern forms. But the cavemen are still dead and dissipated. Whatever information...
September 22, 2025 at 16:26
Was that controversial key-word a Freudian slip, or intentional challenge, to keep this thread going in circles for 70 pages? :wink: Reality vs Ideali...
September 21, 2025 at 21:38
Yes. For philosophers "causality" is a metaphysical notion, whereas for physicists it's a practical principle, to aid in understanding how & why thing...
September 21, 2025 at 21:26
Those are good questions, in that they indicate ignorance of what Information is, essentially*1. Which could be a learning opportunity. Prior to Shann...
September 20, 2025 at 16:26
Yes, it's always Information, but it comes in different Forms. Just as Energy manifests as Chemical, Electrical, Kinetic, Thermal, Potential, etc. The...
September 19, 2025 at 22:00
Ha! I'm not that clever with computer technology, but I can copy & paste. :nerd: DNA is chemistry, and it is inert until it is read & implemented by a...
September 19, 2025 at 17:06
Is anyone on this forum capable of understanding your work? Have you found an "astute reader" elsewhere? If so, how do they answer your challenge : "w...
September 19, 2025 at 16:47
True. Information is a verb, not a noun, a process, not an object. It's what I like to call EnFormAction : the power to transform from Potential to Ac...
September 19, 2025 at 01:37
To describe cosmic reality with a "single system" might require omniscience. But that hasn't stopped ambitious philosophers from trying*1, including y...
September 19, 2025 at 01:18
Apparently, you didn't get a definition that suited your purposes. Perhaps, you should specify a philosophical problem or application to which you wan...
September 18, 2025 at 17:46
I don't have to believe in animated-clay Golems or Paranormal Activity, or Parapsychology, in order to enjoy Dan Brown's fiction. I read fiction, in p...
September 18, 2025 at 17:08
I was reaching the end & epilogue of Glattfelder's book on Postmodern Paranormal Phenomena, when I began reading Dan Brown's new novel. To my surprise...
September 17, 2025 at 17:04
If a "separate realm" is a physical place in space, then of course that's not where Ideas abide. But our materialistic minds find it easier to imagine...
September 16, 2025 at 21:56
I get the impression that, compared to the "beauties" of the hallucinogenic*1 Psychedelic version of "reality itself", Glattfelder finds the sober vie...
September 16, 2025 at 16:56
Me too! Glattfelder has a favorite term to describe the ambiguities & uncertainties of paranormal phenomena : Postmodern*1. He expresses some skeptici...
September 15, 2025 at 16:56
Shannon's work also does not equate Information with Meaning. He was a pragmatic engineer, not a philosopher or physicist. :smile: More "veneer" for y...
September 15, 2025 at 15:57
Yes. Made-up by professional scientists, per the (obviously un-read) links in previous post. The technical details equating Information & Energy are o...
September 14, 2025 at 22:09
My equation of Information with Energy was philosophical, not physical. Of course, meaningful Information is not measured in abstract joules. But ener...
September 14, 2025 at 17:32
If or when "recreational" Marijuana becomes legal in my area, I may give it a try, just to see what I'm missing. Most of the other "street drugs" seem...
September 13, 2025 at 17:10
I'm still reading the voluminous 2025 book by James Glattfelder : The Sapient Cosmos, What a modern-day synthesis of science and philosophy teaches us...
September 11, 2025 at 17:35
Sounds like you are talking about Language as Materialized Thought*1. Meta-physical*2 ideas in an intellectual mind can be Realized by exporting Ideal...
September 10, 2025 at 16:35
Philosophical Metaphors & Analogies : Berkeley solved the observer problem by reference to an omniscient onlooker, who sees everything everywhere all ...
September 09, 2025 at 21:55
Yes. In the worldviews of Materialism and Physicalism, subjective experience is indeed "strange" because scientists can't track an experience (feeling...
September 09, 2025 at 17:02
I think you misunderstood my usage of the term "substance"*1. I was not talking about malleable Matter, but about Causal Energy. For modern scientists...
September 08, 2025 at 17:03
Daniel Dennett, for one*1. *1. The idea that "consciousness is magic" can refer to different concepts: some see consciousness as a literal, wondrous p...
September 07, 2025 at 17:10
Yes. I agree that there is a fundamental "substance", in the Aristotelian sense, that eventually produced the Consciousness that we Sapiens take for g...
September 06, 2025 at 22:25
Yes, creative Ideas are considered to be emergent*1 in that they present a novel or unique perspective on an old problem that, presumably, no one has ...
September 06, 2025 at 16:46
This argument works from the perspective of Physics. But, in Aristotle's Meta-Physics, he introduces the non-physical notions of Potentiality & Actual...
September 05, 2025 at 17:07
I didn't misread the reference, I just focused on the parts that were pertinent to my post : Mensura = to measure ; Mens- = mind*1*2 A yardstick can p...
September 04, 2025 at 17:46
Someone raised the question above : "what is a measurement?" The English word "measure" comes from Latin "mensura', and mensura derives from the root ...
September 02, 2025 at 20:57
Jung seems to be saying that I personally create the reality I see. But I don't consciously or intentionally create my environment, I just passively (...
September 01, 2025 at 17:03
Modern Holistic thinking began in the 20th century along with Quantum physics : entanglement is holistic. But most scientists avoid the term "holism" ...
August 30, 2025 at 16:41
That double negative indicates non-dogmatic uncertainty and moderate skepticism. I too, am uncertain about The Hard Problem of Consciousness, because ...
August 29, 2025 at 21:34
If pressed, I don't label myself as Theist or Atheist, but as Deist*1. That's because I am uncertain & ambivalent about God, but convinced that some t...
August 29, 2025 at 17:15
Yes. From a Materialistic perspective, Hoffman is a heretical thinker, like Immanuel Kant, postulating a veiled noumenal reality (ding an sich) underl...
August 28, 2025 at 16:52