Olivier5

A simpler version of the same experiment: Imagine a steel wedge on a table or floor, with a sharp hedge pointing upward ( like ^ ). Drop vertically a ...

Unfortunately, this claim is not testable, and thus determinism is not a scientific theory.

My thermodynamic courses are far too ancient for me to contribute meaningfully, but there is a whole family of concepts related to entropy, including,...

I believe the concept already exists and is called negentropy. Edit: sorry, I note that Pantagruel already mentioned it.

Okay, maybe my formulation is a bit simplistic, but to my defense I nuanced it with "as much or more than vice versa".

Excellent example! I totally subscribe to the idea that one can understand an element only by looking at how this element fits in the big picture. E.g...

I contend that hazard is no illusion, and that we all know this, intuitively. We often say things like"Shit happens", or "Nobody can know what the fut...

He makes the argument that classical physics are non derterministic in The Open Universe: An Argument for Indeterminism” (a compendium of articles wri...

The belief in determinism is not universal among philosophers. Ever read Karl Popper?

Russel's parafox is simply a proof by the absurd that sets cannot contain themselves.

Computers as we know them are not aware of the world around them, and that means they cannot realy understand anything, because they don't know that t...

A p-zombie is defined as a human without consciousness. If it is equal to a human with consciousness, then either consciousness is equal to nothing, o...

One possible conclusion from this equation is that p-zombies, as defined, cannot exist.

Indeed, desire is very the essence of man (Spinoza) and trying to get rid of it is illusion. But there is value in realizing that desire is never endi...

Considering how hard it is to understand what such things as "matter" or "energy" are, maybe we should just call it "stuff"...

It can worth living at a certain age or time, and worth ending at another, either because one is past one's prime and doesn't enjoy it anymore, or bec...

In mathematics, spaces are a certain form of sets, in which the elements can interact through operations. I believe the mind can be understood as a si...

The mind is a mental space, and a space is something.

You don't need a purpose to sing a song, but I find it helps going through life... :-)

Okay, I agree with you. I am also a materialist in a way, but a compatibilist.

Thanks for the advice. Personally I wouldn't trade my present condition with that of, say, a galaxy. I'm just finishing making some appricot jam, not ...

And that is exactly what I am saying: one cannot logically use reason to dismiss reason, but one can use it to explain how useful and beautiful it is.

All this talk about human lives being meaningless because of the vastness and indiference of the universe is just wrong footed in my opinion. I don't ...

What I am trying to say is: a scientific theory cannot contradict itself and still be worthy of the name "scientific".

But surely if it's irrational and illogical, it's not science either. That's one point of view. I go with Omar Khayyam instead: the stars and planets ...

What seems impressive to me is how any scientist would think that human rationality can be dismissed as mere noise or an "epiphenomenon", without dism...

Surely that must be false. Moral questions, for instance, are not scientific but still meaningfull.

Err. I wrote this, not Mwww, but thanks for the appreciation all the same. :-)

Of course it’s a tease. So what?

A stripper whom nobody stares at will soon feel uncomfortable.

Indeed, it's a fair transaction. But the point is that being an object of desire is sometimes a boost to one's agency, rather always necessarily under...

Meaning?

I actually did that once, in New York. With men rather than women. I had a conversation with a group of chipendales after I was invited to their show ...

Just trying to be friendly. :grin: The ship of Theseus is a good example of why the structural level is important. And by definition you cannot explai...

Exactly. In system thinking, any part of the structure is replaceable by a similar part, because what matters most is the structure. As long as Theseu...

You must know the paradox called the ship of Theseus. What's your solution for it? Interestingly, our body is a literal example of the ship of Theseus...

I would say it values synthesis and analysis equally, while reductionism uses only analysis.

The parts are typically replaceable, and the structure (or system) will still work. For instance, let's take a large mechanical clock, with wheels of ...

I think "The whole is MORE than the SUM of its parts" deserves better than a misquote and summary dismissal as a bumper sticker. It explains a lot, in...

You use the term differently than I do. To me, it's the idea that you can explain anything by looking at its parts, and that this will provide suffici...

Determinism is like all metaphysics; it's unprovable, counter-intuitive and pretty useless. It's also fundamentally depressing for an agent to think o...

Let me take another one. A visit to the Wikipedia entry on "Brain" would answer the first question. Yes, the brain is a very elaborate system of hormo...

Hey Harry, you ask a lot of questions. Can you prioritize a bit? To take a simple one: The meaning of words is only a matter of convenience and conven...

Let's take an example. Chemistry can explain how DNA is a relatively stable, potentially very long molecule, where variations in the use of some eleme...

I disagree: you can (in theory) explain reason in neuroscientific terms as long as you don't explain it away, as long as your explanation accounts for...

You can use reason to justify reason of course. What you cannot do logically is use reason to debase or disprove reason.

Wayfare is correct that one cannot use reason to disprove the efficacy of reason. The contradiction involved is obvious: IF reason is BS, THEN you can...

The brain is not an electric machine, for the most part it is an hormonal machine with a bit of electricity to speed it the signals.

In common language: there’s always some mental activity happening. In theory it can be done, but current ones can’t so by my definition they are not “...

If you use reason to prove that reason is not working, or useless or an epiphenomenon, then there is a contradiction, the same contradiction than “Thi...