Comments

  • What is Time?
    Yet everyone on the team anticipates the same moment in time.frank
    Each person in the team has access only to his or her psychological time. As I argued in the OP, we cannot experience subjective time since we don't have any sensory system for it.
  • What is Time?
    Time is a unit of measurement. Pretty much it.DifferentiatingEgg
    What does that ever mean, a unit of measurement?
  • What is Time?
    As you prepare for the next pull, which kind of time are you experiencing? Subject or objective?frank
    Neither. I experience psychological time only.
  • What is Time?
    Time is ordered succession.unenlightened
    That is a definition of a process, not time.

    If everything changes, there is nothing to tie one moment to another; time would fall apart if it was just one damn thing after another. Everything is tied together by order, and kept distinct by change, and this is the nature of space-time.unenlightened
    Quite oppositely, time is needed for any change, as I argued in the OP.
  • What is Time?
    Interesting post and well explained.Martijn
    Thank you very much for your interest and understanding.

    Maybe we, as humans, are simply overcomplicating something very fundamental. Time is inherent to reality, like space. We call it 'spacetime' for a reason. Time can be viewed as a 'dimension' but it is not a dimension like height, depth, or width. For example, we know that time slows down when you travel at extremely high speeds, or when the gravitational pull becomes supermassive.Martijn
    Correct, time slows down when we are close to a supermassive object. However, time does not slow down from your perspective, no matter how fast you move. Other clocks that move relative to you slow down depending on their speed.

    You are spot-on with your dissections of subjective and psychological time.Martijn
    Correct. That source of confusion for many philosophers and scientists. The confusion is how we could experience time if we don't have any sensory system for it!

    We still do have a 'sense' in this regard, we know how long we've slept (generally), but while asleep, we are not conscious, so we do not experience time. Yet, time always is. Time is just like space and life: it just is.Martijn
    I have to say that I don't understand the unconscious state now. How could a mind become unconscious and not experience anything at all? That is the subject of my current investigation.

    Sometimes, there is truth in simplicity.Martijn
    Very correct. I think that the truth is plain and simple.
  • Does anybody really support mind-independent reality?
    How can you be certain of that kind of existence when you have no access to an objective viewpoint?noAxioms
    I have an argument for the existence of my mind, which is based on the fact that experience exists and is coherent. You can find it here.

    There are even some interpretations of our universe (as opposed to objective) that say that 'you' are in superposition of being and not being, but mostly the latter.noAxioms
    I think the interpretation of Bohmian quantum mechanics is correct since it is anomaly-free.

    Same thing essentially.noAxioms
    Correct.
  • Does anybody really support mind-independent reality?
    Well those things exist by some definitions/interpretations of 'exists' and of 'I' and not by others.noAxioms
    By exist, I mean having objective reality or being. I already defined what I mean by "I".

    Your comment suggests a flirting with solipsism or BiV given the expressed questioning of 'other people'.noAxioms
    Yes, I can be a brain in a vat, or what I experience could be caused by a Demon. There is no argument to tell whether other people exist.
  • Does anybody really support mind-independent reality?

    I can for sure tell that I exist, by "I" I mean a mind with the ability to experience and cause (I have an argument for substance dualism). I can for sure tell that change exists. Some changes are due to me, and others are not. What causes other changes is subject to discussion; it could be a Demon or it could be real people. So, for sure, we can say that something exists beside me, but I think we cannot tell for sure what that thing is beside me!
  • The 'Hotel Manager' Indictment
    The argument is simple and emotionally powerful: if God is all-powerful and all-good, then why does He allow terrible suffering?Wayfarer
    Accepting that God exists, He could not be Good considering the existence of Evil in the world. Good and Evil are fundamental features of reality, and both are necessary. To my understanding, God must be neutral regarding Good and Evil, so all problems are resolved.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason

    I said that given an infinite world, whatever the laws of nature, life is possible in this world, so no design is involved.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    We need to take care to seperate logically possible worlds form physically possible worlds.Banno
    Correct. I am talking about physical worlds.

    There are finite possible worlds, logically speaking, if there is no contradiction in supposing a finite world.Banno
    Physical worlds could be finite or infinite.

    There seems no reason to supose that a finite world could not sustain life, and no logical contradiction in
    a finite world that contains life.
    Banno
    Correct. The finite world could sustain life.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    Since the laws of nature are not tautologies, they do not exist necessarily, and therefore do not exist in all possible worlds.A Christian Philosophy
    So what?

    That's fine. The conclusion is not based on the previous statement alone but from the discussion as a whole.A Christian Philosophy
    I am afraid that does not follow.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    Why? There are possible worlds in which there is no life. Why not possible worlds in which life is not possible?Banno
    I assume that all possible worlds are infinite in size. Of course, if a possible world is finite in size, then life may not be possible within the world.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    Even if that is true, it is also true that not all laws of nature exist in all possible worlds.A Christian Philosophy
    How do you know?

    So the laws of nature for a given possible world are designed.A Christian Philosophy
    That does not follow from the previous statement.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    Define, please. I believe you are tangled up in various meanings of this word.tim wood
    By experience, I mean a conscious event that contains information, such as percepts, feelings, thoughts, etc.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    but claim physics doesn't "experience" time... and does nto "know" time. what does that mean?Banno
    By experience, I mean a conscious event that contains information. By know, I mean being aware of through observation, inquiry, or information. Generally, the physical does not have the capacity to know. Even if we grant this capacity for the sake of argument, it cannot know the correct time that the causation is due to, since it does not experience time.

    And there is an odd jump from "the physical in the state of S1 cannot cause the physical in the state of S2" to "physical cannot be the cause of its own change". I don't understand what that phrase is trying to do.Banno
    Most people have difficulty seeing how P3 follows from P2. C follows from P3. By "physical cannot be the cause of its own change" I mean that the change in physical assuming that it is due to cause and effect cannot occur.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    As humans do.... Things that are not human are generally not expected to "experience" the way humans do.tim wood
    So you agree that the physical, a cup of tea for example, does not have subjective experience at all, including experiencing time.

    Are you suggesting that things are not, then, subject to the passage of time?tim wood
    I think that anything that is changing is subject to the passage of time.

    As to your thought experiment, you can believe what you like, but you have proved/demonstrated nothing. And that is the important point. You seem to think you have, and that's why I wonder if you can tell the difference between belief and fact.tim wood
    My thought experiment in fact is very demonstrative. Philosophers use examples all the time to demonstrate something that is difficult to grasp.
  • Information exist as substance-entity?
    By relational, I mean that information depends on engagement with the substance, otherwise the substance is not a vehicle of informing.NotAristotle
    We have two things here, information and getting informed. The object is a vehicle of information. Getting informed, however, requires an agent to conceive the information through perceiving the object.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    Unsupported claims, assumptions, hypothetical conditionals, false conclusions.tim wood
    The physical neither has a sensory system to experience time nor has a memory to estimate the passage of time through the accumulation of memory, as humans do. In fact, saying that the physical can experience time is absurd since the physical including us exists within each instant of time only and each instant of time is similar (please consider my thought experiment).
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    Your arguments are predicated on beliefs and assumptions and thus have no more force than your beliefs and assumptions provide. This a fatal flaw for proofs.tim wood
    I don't think that my argument is based on beliefs and assumptions. Here is my argument in syllogism form for further consideration:

    D1) Consider two states of a physical (consider an electron as an example of a physical), S1 to S2, in which the physical exists at time t1 first and t2 later respectively
    D2) Now consider a change by which I mean that physical moves from the state S1 at time t1 to the state of S2 at time t2
    A) Assume that the physical in the state of S1 has the causal power to cause the physical in the state of S2
    P1) Physical however does not experience time
    P2) If so, then the physical in the state of S1 cannot know the correct time, t2, to cause the physical in the state of S2
    P3) If so, then the physical in the state of S1 cannot cause the physical in the state of S2
    C) So, physical cannot be the cause of its own change
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason

    Sure I know the difference between facts and beliefs. What does this have to do with my argument?
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason

    An invalid argument is an argument that its premises are false. Could you point to a premise in my argument which is false?
  • Information exist as substance-entity?

    The beauty of sculpture is its intrinsic property. We are however informed about its beauty by looking at it and having a subjective experience of beautiful sculpture.
  • Information exist as substance-entity?

    Like the form of a sculpture.
  • Consciousness prove using nothingness and reencarnation
    Hi and welcome to the forum! What is your OP?
  • Information exist as substance-entity?
    For I understand information not as a substance but as the relationship.JuanZu
    I didn't say that information is a substance but information is a form of a substance.
  • Information exist as substance-entity?
    MoK, you want to say the information just is the form, right? That's fine, but if you go that route then you seem to be implying that the information just is the form and is contained therein. But if this is the case, information would not appear to be an act that requires engagement between interpreter and interpreted, as JuanZu has suggested it is.NotAristotle
    Yes, to me the information is a specific form of the object. We become aware of it only when we perceive the object.

    For JuanZu, information is relational, not intrinsic to any substantial form. You might respond that the creation of the sculpture is relational, and I think that is correct, but without the audience there would appear to be something, let's say "incomplete," about the information.NotAristotle
    What do you mean by relational here?

    Okay, now I think your trichotomy of object, audience, and artist is spot on and I also agree that the audience is the interpreter. Contrary to my initial thoughts, it is the interpreted who transcribes the substance into an informational content, that is, into a substantial form through which information can be had, that is, what I have called the communicative act.NotAristotle
    Do you mean interpreter (bold part)? If yes I agree with what you said.

    And since the communicative act of informing is a two way street, we may add that just as the artist communicates to the audience (but where such communication is itself obscure to the artist because he knows not what his art means to the audience), so does the audience communicate to the artist and leave an impression on him -- "what a beautiful sculpture" or "I don't really get it."NotAristotle
    Communication in the case of a work of art is a one-way street. The artist creates his work with his intention, what he wants to communicate. The audience perceives the work and gets the message that the artist wanted to communicate.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    In this context, what is directly designed are the laws of nature.A Christian Philosophy
    But life is possible whatever the laws of nature are! So my objection about the design is valid.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    The style of that OP is not one I could take seriously.Banno
    I already changed the OP in the syllogism form. You are welcome to read the new form of the argument and comment on it if you wish.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason

    Disregarding your insults, I didn't find anything valuable in your post so I won't comment on it further.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason

    I am afraid this is not a counterargument, so I cannot comment on it further.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason
    What twaddle. "Laws" of nature are just ways of talking about the way things are, ways that have been shown to work. They are not "enforced" - as if one were fined for braking the law of gravity... or sent to jail for creating a perpetuum mobile.Banno
    I have a thread on the topic that the physical cannot be the cause of its own change here. If we agree on this then it follows that there must be an entity, so-called the Mind, that is in charge of change in physical. Once, this is accepted then it follows that it is the Mind who is in charge of enforcing the laws of physics.
  • Demonstrating Intelligent Design from the Principle of Sufficient Reason

    I have a thread on the topic that the physical cannot be the cause of its own change here. If we agree on this then it follows that there must be an entity, so-called the Mind, that is in charge of change in physical. Once, this is accepted then it follows that it is the Mind who is in charge of enforcing the laws of physics.
  • Information exist as substance-entity?
    It is interesting because you said the substance informs the interpreter.NotAristotle
    Do you by interpreter mean the artist? I first consider it to be the audience that observes the work of art.

    Perhaps this is the right way of looking at it, but I would qualify this appraisal by affirming that the substance in itself is not doing any informing, and instead aver that the interpreter must first interpret, translate, transcribe the substance into a "form" that is understood by it as information. This I will call, tentatively, the communicative act.NotAristotle
    We have three things here, the artist, the audience, and the work of art/object. The artist gives the object a form that conveys a message to the audience. Once, the work of art is complete, then it is informative for the audience. To me, the information is the form of the work of art. I distinguish the information from Qualia that the audience conceives.
  • Information exist as substance-entity?
    I agree only if we take into account that the shape of the object is distinguished from the information that will be created later.JuanZu
    The type of Qualia that the subject conceives is due to the form of the object. To me, Qualia is not information so to me, the information is the form of the object.

    Since nothing is transmitted.JuanZu
    What do you mean?

    We simply have signs as causes in a work of art that provoke different things in us.JuanZu
    The signs I call information.

    But there must be a relationship between interpreter and interpreted, between the human and the work of art.JuanZu
    What do you mean by interpreter here?
  • Information exist as substance-entity?

    We have two things, namely the interpreter and the object. The object is a substance and has a specific form which informs the interpreter.
  • Information exist as substance-entity?
    I cannot say that information is the form in a substance.JuanZu
    Information is the form in a substance. Take a bulk of clay that does not have any specific form. An artist can give a shape to the bulk of clay to convey something meaningful to his/her audience.

    Information as I conceive it is the act of informing.JuanZu
    All things that you conceive, so-called Qualia, are forms of a substance namely the object.

    That is, to cause significant effects on an interpreter.JuanZu
    Of course, you need an interpreter to conceive the form and get informed from the information in the form of the object.
  • Information exist as substance-entity?

    A substance is something that exists and has a set of properties so in this sense the information is not a substance. The information exists in a form in a substance and the form is the result of the substance having specific properties.