A New Theory of the Universe

by BurnTheShips 57 Replies latest jw friends

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos

    Thank you BTS,

    An interesting read indeed, which leaves me with rather mixed feelings... perhaps due to my reading it very late last night, and being too sleepy to reply right away; perhaps also due to the author's loose - if not sloppy -- use of concepts leading to rather questionable inferences...

    Are we actually needing/missing a new theory of the universe (a particularly ill-chosen word imho) or a refinement/development of the old theories of knowledge(Kant etc.), taking seriously into account the "death" of Descartes' "God," the absence of any "Universal Observer," and the growing awareness that "knowledge" not only relies on, but is, an intersubjective network (biological, but also cultural and technical) productionof symbolism and imagination?

    Everything, I feel, will need to be thought again from this perspective (which btw is directly related to the very notion of prospettiva in Renaissance science and art): what is "observation"? what is "perception"? If the "unobserved" or the "unperceived" is actually "unknown," how can we deduce anything about it, including that it "does not exist"?

    Focusing on biology and questioning the borders between "human," "animal" and "vegetal" (why not also "chemical" and "physical," while we're at it?) seems like an excellent philosophical idea. But my intuition is that it can't be done without leaving at rest the very notion of a "universe" before it rises again in fresh terms (borrowing from an untranslatable Derrida's pun, la question se repose -- the question "rests" before it "is raised again").

  • catbert
    catbert

    Einstein came to an understanding of things that are not intuitive to most people.

    I think the minds that take things to new levels in the future will not be created in the usual way, humans procreating.

    Think of the rare occurance of individuals with savant abilities. Understanding how to tap into that potential through drugs and technology,
    that is a whole new area of research that needs to be explored. Imagine if you could recall absolutely everything you have ever been exposed to
    with extreme clarity, and actually think of 20 topics all at the same time, and mix the reults of all 20 thought experiments into a useful final
    answer.

    Tapping into the potential of the human mind. We are still in the infant stage of our thinking abilities. The question is whether natural evolution and
    education should be used to progress, or should a biological/technological modification be used to go to the next level.

  • Awakened07
    Awakened07

    *bump*

  • Rapunzel
    Rapunzel

    Zeno's "paradox," as interesting as it is, isn't really a true paradox at all because Zeno failed to take the physics of momentum and inertia into account. Once momentum and inertia are taken into consideration, Zeno's "paradox" is manifestly solved and is no longer a paradox. .

  • BurnTheShips
    BurnTheShips

    Awakened,

    Your post deserves deep thought. I am feeling a bit lazy right now.

    I will be back.

    Thanks.

    BTS

  • catbert
  • catbert
    catbert

    Awakened07,

    This reminds me of your avatar, and is relevent to this post I believe:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-jptjnFVYk

  • BurnTheShips
    BurnTheShips

    These are all valid criticisms Awakened, but....

    Ah, words.

    BTS

    BTW, if it takes an observer to collapse the wave function and there were no human observers in the past, God would fill the role nicely, so the Universe could stay big (well it has been expanding hasn't it). ;-)

  • Sirona
    Sirona

    Fantastic!

    Extremely interesting read.

    The behaviour of particles / waves over great distances (and when observed) is something which convinces me that some type of "communication" is also possible over great distances as "extra sensory" communication.

    Sirona

  • jgnat
    jgnat

    The book I read came to a less spectacular conclusion, but no less amazing. The author suggested that the mind is able to influence the structure of the brain through quantum observation, or attention. Mind influencing matter.

    I've seen this in real life. People who have spent their whole lives believing that the world is in hopeless decline, find plenty of evidence. Similarly, people with a perennially sunny disposition see more daisies.

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