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Gnomon

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Some forum posters have asserted that the Cause of our world must be more complex than the Effect : e.g. an infinite array of multiverses. And in some...
November 25, 2021 at 00:27
This description of the hypothetical First Cause of the Big Bang sounds like something I might write. It accurately outlines what I call : BEING ; Enf...
November 24, 2021 at 18:31
I agree that your logic is impeccable. Yet, intelligent people still disagree on the details of exactly what that essential "Something" is, Ontologica...
November 23, 2021 at 23:50
Yes. But I wasn't referring to the Effect, which is an empirical observation. It's the Cause that's uncanny. For example, both Newton and Einstein wer...
November 23, 2021 at 23:31
Perhaps, those complexities (uncertainties) don't really divide Consciousness neatly into Awareness & Nescience, but are merely a foggy phase in a con...
November 23, 2021 at 18:57
So, they're not even real enough to be virtual??? :joke:
November 23, 2021 at 18:39
Sounds like "spooky action at a distance". Like Gravity, Casimir "sucks". :joke: The Casimir effect: a force from nothing : https://physicsworld.com/a...
November 23, 2021 at 18:37
One answer to such existential ontological questions is that, if anything exists now, something must have always existed. For Realists that bottomless...
November 23, 2021 at 18:24
Yes. As a young Agnostic I had doubts, instead of convictions, about my childhood religion. But now, as an elderly Skeptic, I am open to new evidence,...
November 23, 2021 at 01:03
Quantum Field theory has been adopted as a metaphor for that which is not Real, but merely Potential, or logically Possible. The mathematical "points"...
November 23, 2021 at 00:52
OK. But who is doing the marketing : The Mad Men? Asian practitioners of Buddhism would be expected to evangelize their own "brand" of Buddhism. For e...
November 23, 2021 at 00:27
In general, that sounds like a description of an ineffable god : immaterial, eternal, infinite, omniscient, etc. And such reasoning is how I came to c...
November 22, 2021 at 23:57
Well, there's no empirical test for consciousness, although IIT was intended to be a step in that direction. So, we draw the line via philosophical in...
November 22, 2021 at 23:30
Yes. That's why I spend a lot of time on this forum denying that my Enformationism worldview is Mystical or Magical in it's implications. Everything i...
November 22, 2021 at 18:44
Me too. When I first started investigating the ubiquitous role of Information in the world, I tried to avoid using the "G" word to describe the logica...
November 22, 2021 at 18:19
Me too! But, instead of laughing or crying, I try to stay ahead of the curve leading to a civil war in Philosophy and Science. The shift has already b...
November 22, 2021 at 01:03
Here's a blog post to address the notion of "The God of Science", from the perspective of the Enformationism thesis. :smile: The G*D of Science : Eter...
November 22, 2021 at 00:07
The Measure of MInd Both. Mind is not an object, but a subject; not a thing, but a process. Specifically, processing Meaning. And Meaning is a relatio...
November 21, 2021 at 18:59
As I see it, the existential impact of 21st century Science is 1> to reopen the God-question, that was a closed book since the Enlightenment rejection...
November 21, 2021 at 04:10
Yes. Einstein initiated the new paradigm of Quantum Theory, but as a realist, he resisted its idealist implications for years. He also resisted the ne...
November 20, 2021 at 19:18
FWIW, Our two political parties are not simply polarized Black & White, or Red & Blue. This article illustrates that the "Great Divide" is much more c...
November 20, 2021 at 02:48
Of course! What I call "Meta-Physics" IS Psychology, among other things. But It refers to how we Conceive of the world, instead merely how we Perceive...
November 20, 2021 at 01:36
Yes. But even Einstein reluctantly (because of spooky "action at a distance" implications) used the term "aether" to describe the plastic properties o...
November 20, 2021 at 00:37
Yes. But space only exists where there is matter to occupy it, and to provide the curvature we call "Gravity". For example, classical Newtonian physic...
November 19, 2021 at 00:27
This thread seems to be arguing about different meanings of the label "Buddhism", as-if it is a homogenized belief & practice system. But, in fact, Bu...
November 18, 2021 at 18:14
Part of the difficulty in conceiving of Causality is that we only observe it indirectly in its effects on Matter. Therefore, we typically discuss the ...
November 18, 2021 at 00:31
CEMI seems to be an adjunct to IIT (Integrated Information Theory). And it's similar in some ways to my own informal theory of Consciousness. Whereas,...
November 17, 2021 at 01:41
Yes. Human nature is both Natural and Cultural. That's the basis of my personal BothAnd philosophy. It's a holistic view of Causation. That's because,...
November 17, 2021 at 01:09
Buddhism is just realism. Another book compares Buddhism with pragmatic Stoicism. In my review of Brian Morris' Buddhist Metaphysics, I noted that, "A...
November 17, 2021 at 01:00
I'm currently reading a novel that describes British politics prior to WWII. And it illustrates the internal divisions of the Left wing --- between A>...
November 17, 2021 at 00:31
Yes. I was using the notion of "Religion" loosely, to refer to the communal sense of us-versus-them, not to any particular god-model. For example, Hit...
November 16, 2021 at 19:03
In the current issue of Philosophy Now magazine, Raymond Tallis explores the notion he calls "post-tensed time". He's referring to our ability to addr...
November 16, 2021 at 18:54
Most animals probably don't have a problem with possibilities. Generally, they just accept the world as it is. But hungry predators have to look ahead...
November 16, 2021 at 00:58
I suspect that normally apolitical people become radically politicized when something they hold dear is threatened. That's when ordinary politics beco...
November 15, 2021 at 18:37
I suppose it's mostly tradition, derived from the British Parliament within a monarchy, where the debating room had only two opposing sides : Left and...
November 15, 2021 at 01:08
I distinguish between physical properties (measurable) and ontological essence (rational). Integrated Information Theory is an attempt to measure ment...
November 15, 2021 at 00:06
That's a practical way to think of Meta-Physics : as conjectures beyond current knowledge. And those projections from past evidence into unknown terri...
November 13, 2021 at 19:09
So, there's no such thing as Meta-Physical? Hence no need for philosophical terms like Qualia and Quanta? If so, why do we keep trying to split Nature...
November 13, 2021 at 01:16
On this forum, I've been struggling to separate "Metaphysics" from its "Supernatural" heritage in Western Religion. That's why I have suggested going ...
November 13, 2021 at 01:03
Yes. But such misunderstandings are the fodder for Philosophy. Only in Politics would it lead to retreat or attack. That's why I suggested that we swi...
November 12, 2021 at 23:30
Yes, but it's a mental something (subjective idea, not objective object). So such abstract universals as G*D or TAO don't fall under the category of p...
November 12, 2021 at 19:18
I'm sorry that you are frustrated by the lack of progress on this perennial philosophical stalemate. But, this topic is labeled "what is metaphysics. ...
November 12, 2021 at 18:53
I agree. That's why I went back (meta-), beyond medieval theologians, to see what Aristotle was talking about in his second volume. The first volume, ...
November 12, 2021 at 00:54
Sounds like the TAO, or LOGOS, to which I compare my G*D concept. However, like Energy, G*D is not a physical object, but a functional process or flow...
November 12, 2021 at 00:31
Of course, ideas & opinions have a physical substrate, but the neurons themselves are meaningless. So, my comment was directed at the subjective meani...
November 11, 2021 at 23:57
Those are examples of ideas & opinions, which are by definition : Meta-Physical. But are they "rules" or "laws" governing subjective reality? That's w...
November 11, 2021 at 18:22
Of course. That's the point of the Multiverse hypothesis. Instead of a First Cause, it's a more-of-the-same-forever infinite (no beginning or end) cha...
November 11, 2021 at 18:16
"why are we here? What should we do now that we are here? And how should we live?" ___Gnomon Cool video! So the answer is Be Here Now? Don't worry abo...
November 11, 2021 at 00:35
The leap-frogging turtle metaphor applies to the implicit infinite regress when an eternal buck-stopping agent is denied. In religious arguments it's ...
November 11, 2021 at 00:24
Yes, but . . . the problem with the Multiverse conjecture is the same old Eternal Regress that you find hard to accept in anthro-morphic god-models. A...
November 10, 2021 at 18:07