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Gnomon

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Raul, you accused me of wanting to go backward to a primitive way of thinking about the world. But I'd like offer a different analysis of our contrast...
January 31, 2021 at 23:12
I don't find that term in a Google search. Is that your own private personal worldview? Apparently, you bow to the authority of the priests of Science...
January 31, 2021 at 18:58
Obviously, you have completely missed the point of the Enformationism thesis. It is exactly the opposite of what you claimed. I do explore the wisdom ...
January 31, 2021 at 18:32
What word would you suggest in place of "Materialism", as the opposite of "Spiritualism"? Are you a Materialist or Spiritualist or Other? I'm sorry th...
January 31, 2021 at 18:17
In John Horgan's interview with Koch, he summarized the IIT theory : "It depicts us as nodes in an infinite web of information, a cosmic consciousness...
January 31, 2021 at 18:04
Will you please explain to me how you interpreted that quote to mean that "You're basically dreaming on going back in history to the times when people...
January 31, 2021 at 17:13
I like that analogy, and I take it literally. I suspect that the reason scientists and philosophers find Consciousness to be the "Hard Problem" is tha...
January 30, 2021 at 19:11
I agree. That's why I base my cutting-edge philosophical thesis on cutting-edge science, both Empirical and Theoretical. But I try to avoid the dogmat...
January 30, 2021 at 18:06
Thanks for offering your "honest" opinion of my personal worldview. But, if you were interested enough to actually read the Enformationism thesis, you...
January 30, 2021 at 03:25
Many years ago, I lost faith in the Bible. But I still couldn't dispense with the logical necessity for what I later learned was the philosophical Fir...
January 30, 2021 at 03:02
No. The Enformationism thesis is not a Scientific Theory; it's a Philosophical Thesis. On the other hand, it is a sort of Theory of Everything, which ...
January 29, 2021 at 23:32
Actually, the notion of "Meta-Physics" in the Enformationism thesis was specifically intended to fit into a monistic view of the world. Notice all the...
January 29, 2021 at 18:55
What "missing implications" are you referring to? What do those cosmic constants have to do with the First Cause inference? In my thesis, I merely ass...
January 29, 2021 at 18:25
Enformationism is merely my coinage for the cutting-edge concept in Physics & Cosmology, that everything in the world is a form of Information : Energ...
January 29, 2021 at 01:52
Even Christof Koch, a major proponent of IIT, refers to it as a modern form of Panpsychism. I understand why they use that common-but-outdated term. Y...
January 29, 2021 at 01:46
Perhaps you interpret "metaphysics" as the study of unreality, or of the supernatural. But that's not what I'm saying. I have a unique definition of M...
January 29, 2021 at 01:25
I'm neither a mathematician, nor a coder. But, your question sounds like a version of the perennial provenance-of-Mathematics conundrum. Plato describ...
January 28, 2021 at 00:46
Yes. I was not trying to provide a complete analysis of the difference between visceral Emotions and mental Feelings. :smile: Feeling our Emotions : F...
January 27, 2021 at 23:18
Yes. Human consciousness has always been assumed to be awareness of the immediate present. But recent studies have shown that our awareness is always ...
January 27, 2021 at 22:43
Yes. Human emotions are hormonal effects that produce the feelings we crudely categorize as happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, and anger. Bu...
January 27, 2021 at 18:12
Cosmologists, looking at the universe as a whole system, conclude that it began in a hot & dense state, and is inexorably moving toward a cold & diffu...
January 27, 2021 at 17:53
Complexity Theory applies to isolated chaotic systems, which have a limited lifespan. But the Cosmos seems to be gradually organizing itself (self-org...
January 26, 2021 at 18:51
Originally, Black Holes were assumed to permanently remove Information (energy + matter) from circulation in the universe. Now, some physicists specul...
January 26, 2021 at 18:27
Then that would be an exception to the rule. In fact, even your example would require Maxwell's imaginary "demon" -- a spiritual entity -- to sort-out...
January 25, 2021 at 23:24
In what sense are those particles "self-organizing"? Don't they require pre-existing natural laws and energy to organize Potential Matter into specifi...
January 25, 2021 at 22:55
I doubt that you really believe that Artificial Intelligence computers require no programmers. Instead, I assume you are referring to their "self-lear...
January 25, 2021 at 22:34
Ironically, the world model of Physics seems to be primarily biased toward disorder (entropy), so like an explosion of fireworks, it's all downhill af...
January 25, 2021 at 19:18
FWIW, here's a quote from my blog post explaining the neologism of "EnFormAction". Attractor : EnFormAction is not a physical force, pushing objects a...
January 25, 2021 at 00:19
I suspect that what you call "emotional information" is what I'm calling "intention". Repeated signs of intention (directional ; goal-oriented ; teleo...
January 24, 2021 at 19:16
Sadly, Putin seems to be like tell'm-what-they-want-to-hear Trump, except with KGB spycraft. He seems to be popular with non-intellectuals, because he...
January 23, 2021 at 19:04
That is also how I view Evolution. Many scientists emphasize the "random element" to conclude that it has no direction, no teleology. But Natural Sele...
January 23, 2021 at 18:54
Again, we are using different terminology to describe the same phenomenon. What you call "Universal Bias", I call Enformy. It's a natural inclination ...
January 23, 2021 at 18:43
I think your concept of nature's ability to organize new systems from local interactions -- as the route to consciousness -- is on the right track. Bu...
January 23, 2021 at 03:44
Synergy does imply a direction, if not a specific goal, that a multi-part machine works toward. But it does not necessarily imply a self-conscious Pur...
January 22, 2021 at 19:10
In Giulio Tononi's Integrated Information Theory, phi (?) is a measure of the system's integrated information, its degree of wholeness. And "wholeness...
January 22, 2021 at 00:34
In the Enformationism thesis, side-notes are mostly quotes from the Bibliography listed under the "Information" tab. In the BothAnd Blog, many sidebar...
January 21, 2021 at 23:52
Self-organization, in the real world, is not a problem for me. We see it happen all around us. I once saw a time-lapse video -- to illustrate Rupert S...
January 20, 2021 at 19:28
Hold-on now. You were on a reasonable path. So don't go off on an irrational tangent. :joke: Self-organization is indeed a function of the ubiquity of...
January 19, 2021 at 23:22
This is a continuation of my comments on your essay : What is consciousness? : Q. "Everything external to consciousness can be reduced to information,...
January 19, 2021 at 01:46
Here are my comments (C.) on a "few" quotes (Q.) from your essay : What is consciousness?. I hope they will illustrate the many points on which we agr...
January 19, 2021 at 00:34
I have read the linked essay, and find that I agree with almost all of it. But I have a theory of my own, that is coming from a different direction to...
January 18, 2021 at 23:33
Yes. I suspect that Richard Dawkins would agree that "Money" is a meme, which replicates in human minds like a virus. Most viruses are innocuous for h...
January 16, 2021 at 23:02
Logic is the world of possibilities, not reality The title of this thread sounds like the common distinction made by empirical scientists from theoret...
January 14, 2021 at 00:51
That's what I was afraid of. So, couldn't resist some tongue-in-cheek repartee, in an effort to get us back on track with a philosophical appraisal of...
January 13, 2021 at 03:33
Do you interpret your dreams as a> meaningless garbled memories, or b> suggestive intuitions, or c> prophetic visions, or d> semiological memories of ...
January 12, 2021 at 23:15
Actually, the term "Glossolalia" is not a technical or dismissive scientific label. It is instead a Latin translation of the Greek phrase for "speakin...
January 11, 2021 at 23:26
What you are complaining about is the sad fact that humans, and human society, are often irrational. But that's exactly why the profession of Philosop...
January 11, 2021 at 19:17
Sorry. I couldn't locate the context of your truncated quote. So I may not understand what "this assumption" refers to. But I'll comment on your notio...
January 11, 2021 at 18:33
Yes. That is the typical dismissive attitude of materialists, and it is accurate up to a point. But my own interpretation of such psychological phenom...
January 11, 2021 at 01:23
I agree that most of your suggestions would improve the quality of this free-form forum. But it might also eliminate non-professional philosophers lik...
January 10, 2021 at 18:26