I try to test this on myself from time to time. For example, I just wrote "Four score and seven years ago" while singing Yesterday. I sang continuously. There were times when I stopped writing after one word or another, but I kept the song going, and started writing again.However, if you have ever taken a look at how this multitasking actually occurs, you'll see that there is constant switching of which act receives priority.
— Metaphysician Undercover
That is exactly what I am saying, attention is switched between events, first one, then the other. But not at the same time. — RussellA
Hmm .... I haven't been on the 'forum' for several years, but this is a good starting place for me to jump back in. :grin:
'Abstractions' are a huge can of worms, and their wriggling is very real. ... It's how biological creatures understand and apply them that can either be very useful or very dangerous (we're stepping into that danger now with AI haphazard hypostatic abstraction). ... When you understand thought as a system, you cannot possibly dismiss its very real 'existence'. — Mapping the Medium
I still cannot understand how a person can feel a pain and not feel a pain in their finger at the same time. — RussellA
That is exactly what I am saying, attention is switched between events, first one, then the other. But not at the same time. — RussellA
That's my position, where attention is directed towards one activity only. — RussellA
Even if it were impossible, as I think it is, to have a single thought about two contradictory events, this raise the question as whether it is possible to have a single thought about the relation between two contradictory events — RussellA
I totally agree that people have contradictory ideas within their memories, but not that they are thinking about two contradictory ideas at the same time. — RussellA
P1 - If Determinism is false, then my thoughts have not been determined
P2 - If Determinism is true, then my thoughts have been determined
P3 - I have the thought that I am writing this post
C1 - Therefore my thought may or may not have been determined
P1 - If Determinism is false, then my thoughts have not been determined,
P2 - I have the thought that I am writing this post
C1 - Therefore my thought has not been determined
P1 - If Determinism is true, then my thoughts have been determined
P2 - I have the thought that I am writing this post
C1 - Therefore my thought has been determined
Having a thought is not sufficient evidence for either Determinism or Free Will. — RussellA
Only the beings which are presenting themselves in visual and touchable physical or material forms exist. Nothing else exists. — Corvus
I'm often amazed beyond description by the speed and scale at which things happen. So I can't guarantee I don't switch back and forth every few microseconds. But it certainly doesn't seem that that's the case. — Patterner
So, as I said, if the person is just learning the word "pain", the person might have a feeling, and consider both thoughts at the same time, "this is pain", "this is not pain", not knowing whether it is pain or not pain, and trying to decide which it is. — Metaphysician Undercover
We were talking about having contradictory ideas, at the same time, concerning one event. I don't see why this is so hard for you to understand, It's called "indecision" — Metaphysician Undercover
Thinking about two contradictory ideas at the same time is commonly called "deliberation". — Metaphysician Undercover
Thinking is one type of act, and the question is whether having contradictory thoughts at the same time is evidence of free will or determinism. You fear that it is evidence against determinism, so you deny the obvious, that we have contradictory thoughts. — Metaphysician Undercover
Gravity, magnetism, entropy, thermodynamics,
... Do these not exist? ....... Only physical, touchable, material forms exist? I suppose so, that is if you only limit your perspective to Secondness. I do not. — Mapping the Medium
I did not try writing what I was speaking so that I would not be wondering that very thing. I also suggest both things be of longer duration than one word.I tried writing "four" whilst speaking "four". The problem was that it took me four times as long to write "four" as to speak "four", meaning that it was difficult to know whether I was thinking about writing the word at the same time as I was thinking about speaking the word. — RussellA
I did not try writing what I was speaking so that I would not be wondering that very thing. — Patterner
Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used synonymously with motor learning..................................... Muscle memory is found in many everyday activities, such as playing musical instruments.
But they don't exist like the physical bodies. — Corvus
There is no cause.
And like all scientific theories and concepts, they are known to us by education and information. But they are to be toppled, denied and replaced when newly discovered theories and concepts are more making sense. Hence all scientific laws, principles, and concepts are temporary information until the newer ones replaced them. So why bother? — Corvus
I'm sure at least some degree of muscle memory is involved in singing. Even with speaking. Neither as much as playing an instrument, though. Having played the piano for many years, I'm very familiar with it. An aspect of Mozart's extraordinary musical abilities was doubtless due to it. He is said to have composed pieces while performing other pieces. I would imagine that was possible because his muscle memory was so complete he wasn't thinking about the music he was performing at all. Which would free his mind for thinking about other music.The singing could have been employing a "muscle memory" rather than active thought, allowing you do carry out another task that did require an active thought. — RussellA
But they can never present themselves as existence i.e. they are not the presenting beings such as the bodily structures, or bodies in the physical world. — Corvus
I'm going to try doing some math while writing sentences. — Patterner
The Highway Code states that you must exercise proper control of your vehicle at all times. You are not allowed to use a hand-held mobile phone or similar when driving..............However, the main issue of using a mobile phone when driving is the issue of excessive cognitive load. Drivers simply can’t concentrate when driving and engaging in a detailed conversation!
Merry Christmas!!! — frank
Both indecision and deliberation require consecutive ideas. Perhaps I will stay, no, perhaps I will go. — RussellA
You are saying that a person can have two contradictory ideas at the same time. — RussellA
One would consider "should I go", and all the merits and reasons for going, independently from "should I stay", and all of its merits and reasons. But the two distinct groups of values could never be compared, or related to each other in any way, because that would require having both of the two contradictory thoughts united within the same thought. Of course this would completely incapacitate one's ability to choose, because a person could never have the two distinct, and incompatible sets of values within one's mind at the same time. To think of one the other would have to be completely relegated to memory, Therefore the two could never be compared. — Metaphysician Undercover
The simple judgement, that two distinct ideas (such as should I stay and should I go) are contradictory, is itself a relation established between the two distinct ideas. In order to make such a judgement truthful, or accurate, the two ideas must be compared (i.e. exist together in the mind at the same time) or else any such judgement would be arbitrary or random. Therefore if one contrary idea could only come into the mind after the other left, it would be impossible to even judge, in any way other than a random guess, that the two are contradictory. To judge them as contradictory requires that both actively coexist within the mind at the same time, to be able to decide that the two fulfill the criteria of "contradictory". — Metaphysician Undercover
I plead the 5th.Hopefully, not whilst driving.
Perhaps the law on the use of mobile phones whilst driving shows that even the Government accepts the difficulty in carrying out two acts both requiring different thoughts at the same time. — RussellA
Indeed. I'm sure it can be done to at least some degree, even if not to that which people generally assume. There's definitely a lot of jumping back and forth very quickly taking place.In practice, it seems that humans have great difficulty in having two different thoughts at (exactly) the same time. — RussellA
You make a strong argument. — RussellA
If Determinism is the case
1) It has already been determined at 12.50pm that I go at 1pm
2) This means that no decision needs to be made at 1pm whether to stay or to go, as the decision has already been made prior to 1pm.
3) This means that it is not necessary to choose between two contradictory ideas at 1pm. — RussellA
However, Determinism can also account for my going at 1pm without any necessity to fuse two contradictory ideas into a single idea. — RussellA
By Occams Razor, Determinism is the simplest explanation, as it doesn't require the metaphysical problem of how two contradictory ideas may be fused into a single idea. — RussellA
I'm sure it can be done to at least some degree, even if not to that which people generally assume. — Patterner
Why bother? ... Because of the necessity of being to becoming. That is the causality of semiosis. Thirdness in action. An open system is a living system. ... Take away Thirdness and all you have is static Secondness. The habits, laws, and momentum of Thirdness exists, and Thirdness is as real as any material object manifested in Secondness. I am speaking of manifestation in describing the word 'exist'. — Mapping the Medium
Manifested, presenting beings acting as catalysts within a grander narrative... and that narrative exists. Otherwise, there would be no manifestation (existence), of whichever category we are speaking (Firstness Secondness Thirdness).
"The one intelligible theory of the universe is that of objective idealism, that matter is effete mind, inveterate habits becoming physical laws." - Charles Sanders Peirce — Mapping the Medium
Well, all you say is certainly right. However, can you look at that paragraph of yours that I quoted and write it on paper, or type it, while doing fairly simple math? Something along the lines of 673x8. Or 435+62+787. It seems to me the things you are taking about are related ideas. One thing building on the other. But there's no connection between writing those sentences and sound math problems. Thinking entirely different types of thoughts is more difficult, and possibly impossible beyond a certain level of complexity.Having a multitude of different thoughts at exactly the same time, is exactly what a complex concept is. Consider a relatively simple complex concept, like "right angle triangle". That concept consists of "triangle", which is itself complex, and also "right angle" which is complex. So there's a number of different ideas tied up in understanding "right angle triangle". Now consider "Pythagorean theorem". This consists not only of "right angle triangle", but a bunch more ideas about the relationships between the lengths of the sides of that type of triangle. It appears that to adequately understand "Pythagorean theorem", a person must be able to have all these ideas in one's mind at the same time. — Metaphysician Undercover
heard of some narratives, and I know some narratives, I could tell you a narrative for something, but narratives exist? — Corvus
This is why any rational person will reject determinism. — Metaphysician Undercover
===============================================================================Determinism was developed by the Greek philosophers during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE by the Pre-socratic philosophers Heraclitus and Leucippus, later Aristotle, and mainly by the Stoics. Some of the main philosophers who have dealt with this issue are Marcus Aurelius, Omar Khayyam, Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, David Hume, Baron d'Holbach (Paul Heinrich Dietrich), Pierre-Simon Laplace, Arthur Schopenhauer, William James, Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Ralph Waldo Emerson and, more recently, John Searle, Ted Honderich, and Daniel Dennett.
Sure, but believing in determinism is by this description, a belief that choice is impossible. — Metaphysician Undercover
an irrational person (a person who believes that doing the impossible is possible) — Metaphysician Undercover
This would also mean that only an irrational person (a person who believes that doing the impossible is possible) would even attempt to make a choice if that person believed in determinism..................................Therefore the person who believes in determinism, in order to be consistent with one's believe, would not choose to do anything, would be overcome by forces, and would be dead very soon....................Therefore by Occam's Razor we should all believe in determinism, choose to do noting, be dead soon, and get it over with. — Metaphysician Undercover
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