Yes. I don't use that particular term in my Enformationism thesis, but it's the same basic idea. The "fundamental entity" of my theory is Generic Information, which I also call EnFormAction. It's based on the revelations of Quantum science that the ultimate "particles" of reality are actually cloud-like Fields of mathematical potential. And that Potential is not a material object, but the information (e.g. DNA) necessary to construct a particle. This is similar to Plato's notion of potential Forms that serve as recipes, or definitions, or blueprints of possible things. Information alone is not "intrinsically conscious", but it has the potential to cause Consciousness to emerge from evolutionary processes. :smile:Panprotopsychism, by contrast, does not require matter to be intrinsically conscious, only that it be comprised of features equaling consciousness when combined. — Enrique
Yes, I have reached that conclusion regarding the Enformationism thesis. But of course, I prefer my own custom terminology. And there are others out there who are proposing that the "seed" or "essence" or "potential" of Consciousness is a universal quality of the physical universe. I call that cosmic potential EnFormAction : the power to enform -- to create. :nerd:Is this a valid foundation for hypothesizing that panprotopsychism resolves the hard problem of consciousness, — Enrique
Maybe the unpronounceable polysyllabic term "Panprotopsychism" scared-off some posters. :joke:What core facets does modeling an intersection between the conscious mind and physical body entail? — Enrique
Yes. But I try to avoid religious or anthro-morphic preconceptions about the Psyche behind creative Causation (Evolution). That's why I prefer to use the more general term "Information" in place of "spirits". "ghosts", "souls", or even "consciousness". The First Cause Enformer necessarily has some characteristics of human consciousness, such as Intention, but from our narrow perspective inside the world-system, It's a metaphysical (immaterial) abstraction unbounded by space-time & natural laws. So, the hypothetical "Creator" may be beyond the reach of our real-world imagination. In that case, all we can do is make metaphorical & mythical allusions. Therefore, I don't know the "parameters of final causality" --- all I know is the spatial & temporal effects of that Cosmic Causation. Anything beyond that is an inference from evidence. :cool:So you think the parameters of final causality which are present while form is given to the world intrinsically arise as a product of mind, in essence psychical? — Enrique
The most complete, step by step, explanation of my understanding of Causal Information is in the Enformationism thesis. That exposition uses the Matrix movie, instead of ancient notions of Panpsychism, to illustrate the universal role of information in creating our world, both in Reality (Nature) and in Ideality (worldview). Unfortunately, few forum posters are interested enough to actually read it. So all they know of the thesis is a few isolated comments in specific contexts.What is your information exactly? — Enrique
The brain is an information processor, and its purpose or function is to extract meaningful information from the environment, and to use it for the interests of the body. From a design perspective, Consciousness is the intended reason for having a centralized brain rather than isolated sensors. From an anti-design worldview, Consciousness is a fortunate accidental product of a random tangle of neurons.What do you mean by saying that the metaphysical mind is the function or purpose of the physical brain? — Enrique
Since our world had a beginning, it's hard to deny the concept of creation — Gnomon
I wasn't there at the beginning, so I don't know from personal experience that our world suddenly began to exist about 14 billion years ago. But the best guess of modern science is that the physical universe -- the only one we have any experience with -- is not eternal, but emerged from an unknown background in a creation event that is usually referred to as the "Big Bang". What existed before that is anybody's guess. But whatever the time-before-time was, it was not a part of our current space-time world.How do you know an absolute beginning exists? Why couldn't substance be inanimately eternal, with all psychical phenomena an emergent property and no fundamental creation necessary? — Enrique
Personally, I'm not religious, but I am philosophical. And, unlike most people, I have a well-thought-out thesis to backup my personal belief system. So, based on a detailed & documented chain of reasoning, I do think that our world necessarily had an outside Cause of some sort. However, I've had had no personal "experience" of divinity. Hence, I am not "awe-inspired", and have no motivation to worship the abstract hypothetical First Cause of my worldview.(I should say that I'm not trying to be irreligious, because if you've experienced God this makes Him no less awe-inspiring, but seems to me we shouldn't base belief in God on fallacious ideas, so that's what motivates my challenge.) — Enrique
Personally, I'm not religious, but I am philosophical. And, unlike most people, I have a well-thought-out thesis to backup my personal belief system. So, based on a detailed & documented chain of reasoning, I do think that our world necessarily had an outside Cause of some sort. However, I've had no personal "experience" of divinity. Hence, I am not "awe-inspired", and have no motivation to worship the abstract hypothetical First Cause of my worldview. — Gnomon
Yes. I have been forced, by the philosophical implications of modern science, to accept "some form of Panpsychism", and the necessity for a creation act, which entails some form of Creator. However, I prefer to avoid that ancient term for Universal Consciousness, because I think Consciousness is only a late development from universal Information (basically mathematical relationships). So, my worldview is similar to Spinoza's, in that Information is the "universal substance", and that "God" is both immanent (the substance of the temporal world) and transcendent, because a Creator/Programmer must exist prior to the time-bound Creation/Program, perhaps eternally. Hence, since anything timeless & spaceless is unbounded, the Creator should be, by definition, Omnipotent (all-powerful).You seem to accept some form of panpsychism and consider God the creator, meaning I presume that He is an extremely powerful entity while permeating everything that exists. — Enrique
Since I have had no abnormal or unnatural experiences of G*D, I am "spiritual" only in the sense that I have a philosophical interest in Metaphysics, and in understanding the roots of "spiritual" feelings in other people. And no, since I was raised on dogma and book-chapter-verse arguments, I have no interest in circular doctrinal analysis. :halo:I have my own experiences and reasons, but don't want to get ultraspiritual and start analyzing this or that doctrine-laden idea unless you're into that. — Enrique
I have written many words on these topics in my thesis and blog. So, I can refer you to them, if you are interested in a non-traditional, and unconventional worldview. G*D is indeed preternatural, in the sense that the First Cause of Nature, must exist outside the chain of natural causation, like a pool-shooter. :chin:what this panpsychism actually consists in. In what sense do you regard God as preternatural or observable? — Enrique
The First Cause of our particular chain-of-events cannot be just anything. Instead, it must necessarily possess some characteristics that are expressed in the lawful & energetic Creation. So, while I don't have any direct personal knowledge of the Prime Cause, I can make logical inferences to dispel the mystery. We can know the Artist only by experiencing the Art. :cool:A first cause could be anything, but you call it God, so it can't be a complete mystery. — Enrique
Yes. In my thesis, based in-part on Information Theory, the "intrinsic force" of creative Evolution is what I call EnFormAction (the power to create novel forms). But, we can only know about that "force" by examining its "effects" in the real world. For example, the Big Bang is a sarcastic label for the initial creative act, which gave birth to the embryo that has become our adolescent universe. Scientists came to that conclusion by tracing cosmic events (effects) back to a point where space-time loses its meaning. :nerd:an intrinsic motivational force with palpable effects — Enrique
No. I have never had any "preternatural experiences" of my own. So, you have an advantage over my second-hand observations. But I have seen people who believed they were having supernatural experiences (such as speaking in tongues), yet to my eyes they were just play-acting (pretending). Of course, my opinion would make no difference to them, because it's a matter of subjective Faith & Feeling, not objective Study & Observation.So, I am not inclined to read-in preternatural interpretations of strange experiences. Instead, I use the insights of Science to enform my interpretations of natural phenomena, including mysterious mental anomalies like Schizophrenia. In my worldview, anything unnatural or preternatural would be an affront to the creator of Nature. :naughty:I've had preternatural experiences myself that could be fulfilling for me to consider in light of your point of view. — Enrique
I have been forced, by the philosophical implications of modern science, to accept "some form of Panpsychism", and the necessity for a creation act, which entails some form of Creator. — Gnomon
the best guess of modern science is that the physical universe -- the only one we have any experience with -- is not eternal, but emerged from an unknown background in a creation event that is usually referred to as the "Big Bang". — Gnomon
Yes. Just like UFO sightings, there are alternative natural explanations for all of the "preternatural" items on your list : Auras, Visions, Synchronicity, Spirits, God, Spells. These are all subjective, mental & imaginary phenomena, not objective, physical or actual. So the most reasonable explanation refers to inherent liabilities of the human mind : e.g. to jump to weird conclusions based on prior beliefs & assumptions. [see Hedonic Psychology below]Science might be able to assimilate this preternaturality as an expansion of our present mechanistic framework, describing it in terms of physics, chemistry, biology and psychology, if the quantumlike foundations of qualia and nonlocal causality are rationalized with theoretical modeling and rendered observable using technological instrumentation. What do you think? — Enrique
Yes. Most scientists avoid speculating on what preceded the Big Bang. And with good reason : that would go beyond the self-imposed limitations of the scientific method to empirical and falisfiable evidence. But that doesn't stop a few from making bold conjectures on the time-before-Time. I like to keep up on the latest imaginative leaps in Cosmology. But there are two basic necessities that they can't dispense with : Causal Energy and Limiting Laws. So that's what my thesis proposes in the concept of EnFormAction : the "eternal & infinite" creative power to enform (to give form to the formless). Together, these qualities can logically apply to an eternal & enigmatic intentional world-Creator, at least as well as to an unbounded & mysterious accidental world-Inflator.Scientists are usually careful not to claim that there's definitely nothing before the Big Bang, and the cutting edge theory of eternal inflation holds that the universe as a whole is, at the very least, much older (and MUCH bigger) than the part of it that stems from the Big Bang, quite plausibly eternal and infinite (though they're careful not to claim for sure that it's that either), with Big Bangs constantly happening all across space and time, each one being nothing more than a spontaneous local slow-down of the otherwise always-rapidly-inflating total universe. — Pfhorrest
But, so far, mainstream Science has not "assimilated" any of those metaphysical phenomena...my worldview is neither Spiritual nor Material, but a consilient combination of both. — Gnomon
Yes. That is the typical dismissive attitude of materialists, and it is accurate up to a point. But my own interpretation of such psychological phenomena as prostrating Worship (motivated by fear of god) and Glossolalia (motivated by felt need to communicate with god), are real human behaviors that should be understood, not simply ridiculed. I don't personally feel those hedonic urges, but I want to relate to those who do. Yet it's a tricky politically-correct juggling act, like referring to handicapped people as "differently-abled" in order to avoid being offensive. :gasp:Its interesting you brought in the hedonic psychology angle, because most such pleasure/pain theorists incline to assert that experiences of the preternatural phenomena I mentioned are delusions, induced by pleasurable autostimulation within the nervous system. — Enrique
Yes. The Enformationism thesis is an idiosyncratic personal worldview derived in part from a> Information Theory and partly from b> Quantum Theory. Since Shannon's terminology has sublimated the original meaning of "Information", and the QT is still shrouded in mystery, any discussion of them will have to be somewhat "peculiar" in order to dispel common "erroneous" interpretations of those subjects. It's a radical re-interpretation of Reality. That's why the quirky & complex concepts are hard to "grasp" from brief posts on a forum. It would be best understood by beginning at the beginning : the Enformationism Thesis itself. :joke:I gather that your Enformation thesis wants to translate the preternatural into an idiosyncratic conceptual framework that is compatible with both materialism and a sort of Platonic mathematical philosophy which I admit not fully grasping. — Enrique
Yes. Enformationism is necessarily Holistic, which results in some departure from typical Reductive interpretations of physical and metaphysical phenomena. It was not my original intention to bring "preternatural" topics into the thesis, but I was forced by the subject matter to accede to the general notion of divinity, which I ambiguously label "G*D". All of existence, in my worldview, includes any pre-existing Causes that might explain the controversial theory of a Big Bang beginning, as opposed to an Eternal physical world. Moreover, the world described by Quantum Theory is inherently metaphysical and preternatural. But I don't interpret those spooky implications in terms of ancient mythology, except as metaphors and anecdotes. :naughty:Your philosophy seems to be based around deriving a holistic language and structure encompassing all of existence, including the preternaturally quantumlike. — Enrique
The problem with most of those "better explanations" is that they tend to introduce Metaphysical concepts as evidence. But such Preternatural notions are outside the purview of empirical Science. And many posters on this forum are still trying to force Metaphysical Philosophy into the Physical Science mold. But my worldview still maintains a pertinent distinction between Pragmatic Science and Theoretical Philosophy. Philosophers can go where Scientists fear to tread. We need to learn from Science how the Real World works, but we can still explore the possibilities of the Ideal World. Unfortunately, one aspect of Reality is that too many people can't distinguish what's real and what's imaginary. Thats' why magic & gambling, for example, are so popular with the Hedonic crowd. :starstruck:It seems to me that in my conversations with you and additional posters at this site, the "better explanations" challenge itself has been met. — Enrique
Unfortunately, "We" are still a minority in modern philosophy, which has two main divisions : Empirical Analytics of Modernism, and Intuitive Deconstruction of Postmodernism. Neither of which will accept the other's solutions to metaphysical problems. My philosophy is neither of those, but contains elements of both. My philosophy is neither New Age, nor Archaic, but a synthesis of old & new ideas. :brow:We solved the mind/body problem, explained the compatibility of spiritualism with materialism, — Enrique
Panpsychism is taken seriously by some scientists, but they are currently a minority. And, even though my own (All is Mind) worldview has some commonalities with Universal Consciousness theories, I differ on the details. So we still have much to work-out. :cool:The consciousness theory currently being developed is beyond standard reductionism, more of a panpsychism-styled paradigm, but is anyone taking it seriously? — Enrique
But my own interpretation of such psychological phenomena as prostrating Worship (motivated by fear of god) and Glossolalia (motivated by felt need to communicate with god), are real human behaviors that should be understood, not simply ridiculed. I don't personally feel those hedonic urges, but I want to relate to those who do. — Gnomon
modern philosophy, which has two main divisions : Empirical Analytics of Modernism, and Intuitive Deconstruction of Postmodernism. Neither of which will accept the other's solutions to metaphysical problems. — Gnomon
Enformationism is necessarily Holistic, which results in some departure from typical Reductive interpretations of physical and metaphysical phenomena. — Gnomon
Actually, the term "Glossolalia" is not a technical or dismissive scientific label. It is instead a Latin translation of the Greek phrase for "speaking in tongues". What's really funny-odd is that so few Christians today show signs of biblical Holy Spirit possession.It's funny that science describes the desire to communicate with God using what almost seems like a medical term, as if a syndrome. . . . . You can tell that the stuff is in large measure humans confabulating myths and rationalizations for aesthetic purposes or in support of authority structures.. — Enrique
I too have heard God's "revelation" in thunder & lightening. But since I don't understand that divine language, it's literally "uncanny" : mysterious & ineffable or incredible & preternatural. So, I'm like ancient people who simply knew enough to run & hide, to avoid being "speared" by an angry weather/war god, like Yahweh, Baal, and Horus. What's the name of your Storm God? :pray:But I know from personal experience that once in awhile God reveals himself directly to humans: the wind starts whipping around, sometimes with lightning, and a voice speaks that is uncanny and powerful enough to inspire millennia of monument-building. — Enrique
I haven't heard of that new synthesis of worldviews. Does it have a common name yet? :brow:so I think any methodological clash between modernism and postmodernism has been resolved by a new genre of analytical historicity that is emerging, — Enrique
Is that ultra-post-modernism also a religious or philosophical worldview? :scream:true postmodernism as opposed to ultramodernism — Enrique
That's why I have offered my own up-dated definition of "Meta-Physics", that seems to be more in-line with the original intent of Aristotle. :cool:I've read so much incisive critique of metaphysics that I don't really view the field as having more than historical significance. — Enrique
How could you tell the difference, scientifically or otherwise, between Angel tongue and dysarthria syndrome, or just plain babbling? How can an objective observer distinguish "Myths and Rationalizations" from sincere-but-private divine channels of communication? — Gnomon
What's the name of your Storm God? — Gnomon
I haven't heard of that new synthesis of worldviews. Does it have a common name yet? — Gnomon
Ultramodernism : "A primitive futurist scream for change . . . A movement seeking to provide an alternative to societies retrospective tendanices, especially in the fields of popular culture (art, music, fashion)" — Gnomon
Do you interpret your dreams as a> meaningless garbled memories, or b> suggestive intuitions, or c> prophetic visions, or d> semiological memories of Alien probes? Are you actually on a Vision Quest, searching for guidance from the Great Beyond? Are you enhancing your dreams with hallucinogenic substances? Have you recently had an emotional Peak or Valley? :chin:LOL I certainly have the vision quest end of the spectrum going on at the moment, my dreams are off the chain lately. — Enrique
Oh, another message from "he who shall remain nameless"?He hasn't said his name to me, but told folks "He has served me well" and that I'm an "incarnation" — Enrique
Interesting! And what is The Big Secret of Life? From what I've heard, it begins with : "First, arrange to be born . . . ."I don't believe the genre has a distinct name, but a good representative of the style I have in mind is Reading the Rocks: How Victorian Geologists Discovered the Secret of Life. — Enrique
Warning! Victorian era Utopias typically didn't end well for their starry-eyed dreamers. Even though some of them casually enjoyed some relaxing herbal smoke. :gasp:I think books like this could actually build a utopia if they were available for everyone to casually enjoy and discuss. — Enrique
Ah! Another sneaky semiotician, alluding to abstruse signs & symbols that can be interpreted in many obscure, but urbane, ways.I drew my use from the urbane John Deely, mentioned in the article you linked to, rather than the urban dictionary. — Enrique
Do you interpret your dreams... — Gnomon
And what is The Big Secret of Life? — Gnomon
But as has likely been mentioned in discussions of this type, this isn't an experiment that is liable to scientific research, and would have to be considered metaphysics, which I have nothing against, In fact, it's a fascinating topic. But the problem is, one has to recognize the limits of scientific enquiry, which certainly exist. — Manuel
If certain kinds of quantum entanglement between particles such as electrons, more aptly described as wavicles, have superposed properties with likeness to the visible light spectrum when arranged amongst molecules and additional corpuscles, mechanisms of superposition may be the basic material unit of qualitative experience. These qualia, as fragments of psychical imagery and feeling, may flit in and out of existence rapidly within the most inorganic conditions, so that components of perception exist on a fundamental level while commonly not giving rise to experience and motive. But when these superpositions are held in prolonged orientations amongst brain matter and in nature generally, consciousness of carbon-based, human and alternative richness can emerge.
So do we have a possible mechanism for qualitative experience and technical definition of qualia: superposition amongst entangled wavicles? Is this a valid foundation for hypothesizing that panprotopsychism resolves the hard problem of consciousness, the long-standing debate about mind/body duality, and perhaps may lay the groundwork for a scientific alliance between materialism and spiritualism? — Enrique
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 a topic that has long been shrouded in Occult Mysteries and Spiritualistic Fantasies. Some of those "traditional religious ideas" of Eastern & Western mysticism have been reinterpreted in terms of modern Science, resulting in a melange that is neither truly traditional, nor really scientific.I couldn't resist bringing a bit of spiritualism and talk of miracles to the panprotopsychism thread because I think the paradigm will verify some traditionally religious ideas, plus its entertaining to talk about the paranormal. — Enrique
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