Wayfarer

So I asked. So there you go. ChatGPT uses a calculator, just like the rest of us.

Well, sure, I wasn’t thinking about pure maths or advanced maths research. The comment was that as a large language model, ChatGPT isn’t helpful when ...

But the wave equation specifies a range of possibilities. The philosophical question is 'does the electron described by those possibilities exist' to ...

Fair enough, but I think still goes to the point that how things are seen relates to much more than any notion of their inherent existence.

+1 :up: And numbers are exceedingly effective habits. There's an anecdote I sometimes tell. Three blokes are looking at a green field. One is a cattle...

It's probably too busy, and besides, it costs money.

I think it's an intriguing ontological issue - what kind of existence possibilities have. ' Reality ought also be assigned to certain possibilities, o...

That's the philosophical question, and a deep question. I think the intuition is that at bottom, everything in nature is transient and perishable. I t...

And thanks for your well-considered reply. I will try and keep my response brief as possible. Not you, in particular, but our culture in general. Lloy...

Philosophy, of all subjects, is concerned with the meaning of existence. It is often commented that in the preamble to Aristotle's Metaphysics he ment...

It stands to reason that mathematical calculations are not really within scope for the way large language models work, but you do wonder why they don'...

And you know they're 'not true' because..... https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/rosalind-franklin-a-crucial-contribution-6538012/

Questioning is surely a major part of philosophy, but I don't know if you yourself realise how embedded you are in the materialist mindset. I'm not tr...

Makes me wonder what you think you have to contribute to a philosophy forum. Well, good luck with that, seems a worthy undertaking to me.

:up: Glad to hear. More fool me for believing Trump’s shtick, I guess. Although still wouldn’t be surprised if the case is tossed on appeal.

A description is not the thing described.

That would cause me to change my mind about many things, including my sanity. Chatbots are a different matter, though. I asked a chatbot. /uploads/res...

Those passages are surprisingly resonant for me. I have been making a very similar observation in another thread in respect of Descartes' Meditation #...

Totally agree with what you’re saying, but it seems to miss the point that it was intended to address, i.e. whether it makes any sense to say that ‘ro...

I have to say, I feel that the NY civil case against Trump Corp's valuation practises is on very shaky ground and will get tossed on appeal. As Trump ...

That's precisely the point of the long post above.

What is on my tombstone will probably only matter to someone else.

:up: At least you're seeing the problem, which I think few do! My argument is that it is because of the ability of the (rational) mind to grasp abstra...

Suggest you read the Science News article. They note the idea goes back to Aristotle, but I think it is one of the things that fell out of favour with...

That is not 'my position'. It is a fact. There is nothing like the ability of DNA to store and transmit in information outside the realm of organic li...

that's 'cause I deleted it. I try to avoid making sarcastic remarks. But what I was parodying, was the fact that your post misunderstands confuses the...

Not so - DNA encodes and conveys information. That was one of the major scientific discoveries of the 20th century. reference

Living organisms without brains exist, but they embody information in the form of DNA, which is what differentiates organism from inorganic matter.

What is 'interminable and pointless' is trying to explain it to others, but hey, it's a philosophy forum. :-)

Well, information archicture first manifests in extremely simple organisms, without brains. But leaving that aside, (1) the nature of meaning is not a...

I know, as soon as I hit enter on the above, that mine is a pretty perfect example of what many here will regard as 'affectation', so I'll leave off h...

It is indubitably the case that 'phenomenon' is from the Greek 'phainomenon' meaning 'what appears'. And I claim that a subject to whom it appears is ...

I'm a bit confused by this. I've often made the point that one can take an item of information - say a recipe, formula, or even an anecdote - and tran...

Nothing is wrong with it (although there are dubious religious ideologies.) The consensus view of secular culture (and on this forum) is, I think, tha...

I'll go back to this point: You didn't respond to this point, but it is the crux of the matter. You will remember that Einstein asked, ironically, 'do...

yet the following paragraphs seem far from cautious.

It is in a rather curious essay called Law Without Law which you can find here https://m.psychonautwiki.org/w/images/3/30/Wheeler_law_without_law.pdf ...

I’ve never said anything like that.

Well, I’ll bow out, then.

Mustn’t be forgotten that phenomena are what appears to a subject.

Yes, and also, don't believe everything you read on the Internet. /uploads/resized/files/xw/rsyk6a3iu3ak37g6.jpg More germane to the actual argument, ...

I’m vary wary of any attempt to *explain* reason. It seems obvious to most that ‘it evolved’, as above, but I see that as reductionist, in that it red...

Big ‘if’.

The quotes are because the term ‘create’ has connotations beyond what is intended in this context. There is no simple way to convey the gist. The basi...

No, not saying that. I’m saying that reason is dependent on the ability to abstract, which I don’t think is a controversial claim. The problem is, nat...

The problem there is that we wouldn’t recognise patterns, let alone have neuroscience, or any science, were it not for the ability to abstract, compar...

Of course. I mean, duh. But the philosophical question is: why do we exist? Now, evolutionary biology has a clear and unambiguous answer to that quest...

That which is tractable to objective measurement vs qualities of being ("qualia"), which are not. Your hardcore scientific materialists say on account...

Ask a hard question, why don't you. It is a notoriously contentious matter. If you haven't read Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel, it might be a useful ...

:ok: I can go along with most of that, except for If the 'empirical substrate' refers to simple cognition, other animals possess that (and as has been...