free will used to be a lot bigger topic than it is now... a lot of Chaucer's energy went into demonstrating that it existed, or didn't... i forget which... i have some beyond-the-pale opinions about that, too... for instance, i think that consciousness is an illusion created by the early activity of the nascent brain, using sensory input to program itself into establishing an artificial environment it could call "reality"... but i better not go into that either, or they'll put me away before i'm ready...
I have at least one book on the subject and am coming to the opinion that the 'I' is indeed a necessary evolutionary illusion. Not that it makes a huge difference to very much. I'm not entirely convinced that the entirety of existence isn't just a fairly sophisticated simulation being run on a super-computer somewhere...
that idea has been suggested in some sci fi contexts -don't know where exactly - but i absolutely wouldn't say it's impossible; i've always wished i had a mathematical ability - which i don't - so i could understand the quantum world better; the little i have gleaned certainly doesn't rule out the possibility... see "quantum entanglement"... for a mind bending version of "reality"...
Iain M Banks played with the idea a bit - the Simulated Universe that is.
I love QM. I find it bizarre, outrageous and honest funny to the point of hilarity. I get some very strange looks when people see me chuckling whilst reading books about Quantum Mechanics. It does feel so odd that it has to be real! [grin]
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free will used to be a lot bigger topic than it is now... a lot of Chaucer's energy went into demonstrating that it existed, or didn't... i forget which... i have some beyond-the-pale opinions about that, too... for instance, i think that consciousness is an illusion created by the early activity of the nascent brain, using sensory input to program itself into establishing an artificial environment it could call "reality"... but i better not go into that either, or they'll put me away before i'm ready...
astounding statue... is that in Russia?
I have at least one book on the subject and am coming to the opinion that the 'I' is indeed a necessary evolutionary illusion. Not that it makes a huge difference to very much. I'm not entirely convinced that the entirety of existence isn't just a fairly sophisticated simulation being run on a super-computer somewhere...
It's the Statue of Mother Russia - Volgograd.
that idea has been suggested in some sci fi contexts -don't know where exactly - but i absolutely wouldn't say it's impossible; i've always wished i had a mathematical ability - which i don't - so i could understand the quantum world better; the little i have gleaned certainly doesn't rule out the possibility... see "quantum entanglement"... for a mind bending version of "reality"...
Iain M Banks played with the idea a bit - the Simulated Universe that is.
I love QM. I find it bizarre, outrageous and honest funny to the point of hilarity. I get some very strange looks when people see me chuckling whilst reading books about Quantum Mechanics. It does feel so odd that it has to be real! [grin]
Beautiful statue. I assume this discussion of free will and consciousness doesn't have anything to do with the statue? ;-)
The Free Will thing started in the last post and jumped across to this one [grin].
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