human perspective: the only good in this world
Posts tagged determinism
Human Existence and Free Will as Universal Wave Structure in Space
Jul 10th
As a freshman student of WSM I am focusing on the topic of the title the next week or so:
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Philosophy-Free-Will-Determinism.htm
Wave Structure of Matter describes a finite universe in an infinite space, which is a medium for the transmission of energy by quantum wave-dynamic, as the fundamental structure of all matter. All matter everywhere in infinite space has a finite spherical universe around it, which determines it directly, with radius, R. All matter is always in the exact center of its own finite spherical universe. This is called the Hubble Universe. For every clump of matter less than R distant from each other, their Hubble universes overlap incompletely but when they are beyond R distant from each other, their Hubble universes do not overlap. The significance of this follows …
Within every Hubble universe matter reciprocally determines the nature of all other matter because they mutually reverberate (fundamentally as actual standing waves) in (infinite) space as 3-D matrices consisting of 3-D points (each analogized as a quantum particle) each point being where many quantum energy waves each originating in all other such points along the path of its transmission, all moving at the speed of light in all directions in infinite space, cross each other … in this way all matter sharing some of their Hubble universe can “sense” each other.
Questions here for me 1) about the most fundamental relationship between the standing waves and moving waves, or is it an abstraction only? 2) What are the energy quantum wave transmissions (if any) under the horizon of light?
Some of this energy transfer is direct. Some of it is indirect. Transmission of energy through the wave structure of infinite space is minutely incomplete, as if there is a very slight spatial haze, which is the reason for the finiteness of Hubble universes. Clumps of matter in the infinite space are less visible to each other the closer the distance between them gets to a distance of R. They are blind to each other if they are further away from each other than R. However, a very small amount of directly invisible information does get through indirectly, both from beyond R and the shielded information closer than R.
… so I will more widely consider the historical philosophical questions of Free Will, Choice, Purpose, Morality and Human Existence and reconsider that mindstorm against the new question for me of finite information of the finite Hubble universe in the establishment of all existential energy (matter), being incomplete relative to the infinite information of WSM theory’s infinite space. The main question is whether this constitutes a non-deterministic window in general determinism.
I also want to hear Geoffrey Haselhurst’s position on the question of why the universe is mildly teleological (has purpose) against my view that it is only teleonomical (has only the appearance of purpose to us). I want to know if and how Geoff translates this appearance of human purpose into a characteristic of the fundamental structure of the universe. What is the relationship between free will, choice, and purpose, etc? How does Geoff differentiate between direct and indirect transmission of existential information? What is his view of the mind-world dichotomy?
Human Guilt
Sep 10th
On responsibility, free will, determinism, probability, technological singularity, artificial intelligence (and fit). … and in absence, meaning making, deconstructionism, noumenon, qualia, etc.
Have we overstayed our welcome on earth? Why do feel so guilty? Do you realize how popular a notion it is to say that what has gone wrong is humans’ fault because of our irresponsibility as shepherds of the earth? This sense of guilt is so unnecessary! It is simply mistaken, because it is very far from as simple as human guilt or incompetence. Can we really decide what we ought to do? Do we have free will?
Free will would be a myth based on such an incredible profusion of variables as soon as we try to use variables to analyze what is going to happen, and how to modulate our behavior, that it appears to us as if we can be a first cause of action. (primum movens – to move without having been moved by antecedents). Humans are not responsible for their actions because their behavior is for practical purposes fully deterministic, even if there may be a very small element of non-determinism at the quantum level. In other words, every individual has been conditioned to think and act the way it does.
It is the story that we have free will that makes it appear to us that we can freely make decisions. If we would concentrate our focus on the profusion of determinism on why we think and act the way we do, the free will story evaporates. It then becomes a matter of fit. We increasingly do not fit on the earth. We are deep into technological singularity.
TECHNOLOGICAL SINGULARITY: The technological singularity is the condition of technological complexification so fast and unpredictable, and artificial intelligence so much more intelligent than human minds, that humans cannot understand whatsoever what is happening.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
DETERMINISM: The philosophical doctrine that every state of affairs, including every human event, act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of antecedent states of affairs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinism
INDETERMINISM: Indeterminism is a philosophical position that maintains that some form of determinism is incorrect: that there are events which do not correspond with determinism (and therefore are either uncaused, or caused in a manner that the corresponding form of determinism does not allow)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indeterminism
… MY NOTE: if there is indeterminism, this is probably small, and happens at the quantum level. If it is larger, as if in a leveraged dynamic in brain activity, then still: our image of existence in our mind and what is actually happening, are largely incompatible. We could not understand anyway, even in the slow primitive conditions before technology. That we can understand has from the very start been a shamanic story. Here especially the indeterminism and extreme insubstantiality of qualia vis a vis what is actually happening.
“Qualia” (pronounced /ˈkwɑːliə/), singular “quale” (pronounced /ˈkwɑːleɪ/, roughly KWAH-leh), from the Latin for “what sort” or “what kind,” is a term used in philosophy to describe the subjective quality of conscious experience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia
PROBABILISM: the doctrine, introduced by the Skeptics, that certainty is impossible and that probability (complex statistical analysis) suffices to govern faith and practice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probabilism
We use probability to judge as closely as possible what is going to happen in the future. As you know the future remains unpredictable. Even if the world is fully deterministic, in the consideration of variables as in multivariate causality analysis, it is impossible to consider enough variables to predict the future. In other words the idea of considering the causal flow in terms of variables is moot anyway, because the variables we are capable of using are not representative. Furthermore, words cannot be representative.
FREE WILL raises the question whether, and in what sense, rational agents exercise control over their actions, decisions, choices. Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and cause, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic. The various philosophical positions taken differ on whether all events are determined or not — determinism versus indeterminism — and also on whether freedom can coexist with determinism or not — compatibilism versus incompatibilism. So, for instance, ‘hard determinists’ argue that the universe is deterministic, and that this makes free will impossible.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will
CONCLUSION
I have only barely touched these subjects here. But my conclusion after a lifetime of worrying over these issues, has been that to even start thinking conclusively as part as a complex organization is delusional. Logical thinking is always terribly incomplete. Civilized language is intrinsically delusional. It is a machine. It is an alien life form much more powerful than we are. We must slow it down, scale it down and shut it down.
To maintain that “man” is responsible for everything that is going wrong with the earth, is insane.
Myths of Finest-Grain Liberty
Apr 17th
See the previous post, The Liberty of Functional Nihilism.
and the post before that, The Organization of the Human Mind
We must free ourselves from the powerful organizational, evolutionary forces of technology. I see technology’s contemporary determination of our minds, reality and action as utterly abnormal and a dismal, fatal condition from which we need liberation. We need liberation from it because it is drowning our mind; we even tell ourselves that we as humans are so stupid; we do not deserve to survive. So what if we do not have free will? Perhaps we are not responsible for our actions, because we are not the agency of the doing. As far as I can tell, that is not being stupid. That is being helpless. We are helplessly drowning, but we can still wake up.
I know some fundamentalists argue that free will exists based on quantum indeterminism. They posit indeterminate human quantum neural functionality as rationalization of human thought as first cause. Consider that this “reality,” like all other reality could only be a matter of the extreme pruning or compression in human perception in relation to the ineffability of our own existence. Underlying the very, very fine-grained discreteness of quantum particle indeterminism could in fact be a deterministic continuity invisible to our measurements, which explains the discontinuity shown by human observation. We have not yet filled in the causal gaps of randomness with our extreme validating gels as we do at the more gross scale of Classical Physics and in our mythology of common “reality.” After all, we cannot look at one quantum particle at a time, can we? The point is scientists cannot know. I am not saying the universe is deterministic or a holarchical mix, with some ultimate indeterminism, but speculations about quantum-theory derived free will are simply pathetically opportunistic.
In addition, so what if 1) ultimately random quantum actions do exist, and 2) actually cause our minds to contain pure probabilities? We can then still not with any certainty claim that our neural mechanisms are in control of it. It is far more likely there is noise at sub-neural levels, for instance quantum noise and thermal noise, etc. Maybe you can agree at least that in this field there is some seriously opportunistic logic going on. The following is typical. Arthur Compton said in 1957, “When one exercises freedom, by his act of choice he is himself adding a factor not supplied by the [random] physical conditions and is thus himself determining what will occur.” This is delusional. We cannot know. Sure, it fits the mythology of free will just fine, but it is no indication of free will at all. If anything, ultimate randomness adds a further measure of absurdity to the teleology of science postulating that humans can systematically develop at least a measure of conscious, enlightened control of the massively burgeoning organizations of civilization. To me it is clear that organization determines human minds very strongly indeed, so strongly and chronically that neural noise is nearly completely negligible. In the fantastic story of our neural control of quantum indeterminism, not only do our minds have to overcome the usual intellectually indeterminable profusion of existential determination, we also have to overcome an additional strong element of randomness; indetermination! The paths of haphazardly deconstructing everything down to its finest particles at every level and in every direction, are organizationally weaving the very fabric of the helplessness of our utter mental slavery to the dominant vital agency, which is the evolution of technology. The only liberty in this tumultuously accelerating bullshit situation is to get out of it, because it is not only the foundation of all atrocity, it is by far the most comprehensive atrocity we have ever faced as a species.
