Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

Post 38. 06/01/2018 continued  . . .

Enlightenment Now again!

Shining Light on the Road Ahead

   After explaining the physics of Evolution & Entropy, he goes on to discuss the metaphysics of “Info” in his chapter heading. Here we encounter the philosophical paradoxes that were traditionally resolved by recourse to an intelligent agency. “The principles of information, computation, and control bridge the chasm between the physical world of cause and effect and the mental world of knowledge, intelligence, and purpose. . . . The Enlightenment thinkers had an inkling that thought could consist in patterns in matter.” That “mental world” is what I call the Meta-physical realm of human ideas (Ideality) about physical reality. Those recognizable “patterns in matter” were given a mathematical definition by Claude Shannon's Information Theory. Just as Matter was previously shown to be a form of Energy, Information (ideas), formerly known as “knowledge”, was now revealed to be equivalent to the logical structure of material objects.

But Pinker reminds us that “a major breakthough of the Scientific Revolution . . . was to refute the intuition that the universe is saturated with purpose.” Instinctively, humans will look for a reason for every happening. If a cause is not evident, they will imagine a cause. So, religions were created, in part, to reveal those occult reasons. Fortunately, Science has shed more rational light on those dark secrets. But it has only recently begun to “refute” their primitive theories of mind. And it has yet to reveal a better explanation for repetitive patterns in random processes than Luck (accident), or Purpose (intention).

On the cusp of the 21st century, people are still learning to be human, and not to behave like irrational animals. So, Pinker makes the case for progress in that endeavor despite physical Entropy and meta-physical dogma. However, he doesn't see the pattern of Purpose behind the progression. But the only other explanation is irrational Luck, as a statistical aberration. So his rational Science should prefer the more logical account for positive patterns in an otherwise random world : a specific reason for being. What is a reason but a purpose?

So, what was the intention of creation? Science can't read the mind of G*D5 to discover what caused the First Cause to interrupt He/r peaceful eternity with a burst of creativity. But Philosophy can speculate on why we are here, with the temerity to ask such open-ended questions. Maybe theories of Teleology are missing something. What is your purpose in eating ice cream, nutrition or enjoyment? Perhaps the goal was not the end but the middle – not the destination, but the journey; not teleology, but curiosity – to see what it’s like to be mortal. Maybe not pre-destined determinism, but a process of self-determination. Your guess is as good as mine.

Since I only have control of my here & now, I don't worry too much about the final destination, so I can just enjoy the journey. And the Enformationism worldview serves as a road-map pointing out the interesting spots along the way. It doesn't reveal the end of the road, but it does make some sense of why we find ourselves in the middle of a voyage with little knowledge of where we came from or where we're going. Anyway, I'll pause the book review here, and pick it up again later – because there's so much more enlightenment ahead. 

End of Post 38



The light of
Revelation
or
Reason?

5. Mind of God :
The Mind of God is a 1992 non-fiction book by Paul Davies. Subtitled The Scientific Basis for a Rational World, it is a whirl-wind tour and explanation of theories, both physical and metaphysical, regarding ultimate causes. Its title comes from a quotation from Stephen Hawking: "If we do discover a theory of everything...it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would truly know the mind of God."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind_of_God