speaking to skeptics

logical ramifications

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• philosophy
• skeptical
• relativism
• skepticism

[TheAist]

you have definitely improved my skepticism repeatedly. which has improved my life and conception of reality. Because of this, i will always be eternally grateful. And i mean that, because i have passed skepticism on to younger generations.

[pyrrho314]

thanks, it's nice to hear that... cheers.

[CPLains]

Well, that's a much more complicated position than you make it out to be; check my comments on your newest video.

[pyrrho314]

material == physical, it's simply one of the connotations of the word "material" as in "energy is material", as in "the material world" IS "the physical world". It may not be massive, except even energy has "equivalent mass".

[wonderist]

Form is just another word for structure, state, or information. Form is physical too. Information, form, process, are all under the purview of physics, namely information theory.

[CPLains]

You say a process is "physical". But if one process (idea) can be realized in different physical forms, then isn't the process itself, or the idea, the most fundamental thing? There is nothing outside or more fundamental to the process that can make out that it is that process. You can say, well, it has this function or other, and then say "whatever has this function is x". But this has nothing to do with the underlying physics. You're on the level of *form*.

[wonderist]

Nope, the brain has a basic architecture called the cortical column which is replicated in a sheet, like a honeycomb. The sheet is scrunched together to fit in our skulls. But there is no blueprint that says, "The 'car' concept goes here, the 'house' concept goes there." The column is a generic structure and can learn to be whatever happens to be needed. Thus, if you need to learn about cars, some column(s) in your brain will begin to encode knowledge of cars. The layout isn't predetermined.

[pyrrho314]

it is my impression our brains are built from a blue print, which itself evolved by growing and interacting with the senses. The fact that we can share ideas well enough is no doubt related to the fact that we share designs, so can see the "same" pattern.

[wonderist]

Our brains do not develop from a blue-print. They develop by growing and interacting with the senses. Ideas are generated and stored in memory depending on when and how you learned about the idea. Each person's brain is unique, but you must admit we share common ideas. We both speak English and use English words. My words are encoded in my brain in different parts than yours are in yours, but they both exist as encoded information in brains. The interactions between ideas make the meanings.

[wonderist]

They are able to make the same predictions we make, using our Newtonian equations. Our Newtonian physics and their Newtonian physics are *the same* physics, even though we have ours written on paper, and they have theirs written in blobs of jello.

It is the same with brains. My idea of a 'car' exists written in a particular cluster of neurons in my brain, and your idea of a 'car' exists written in a different cluster of neurons in your brain. But they are both ideas of 'car'.