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

Spooky Science

 Post 51. September 22, 2018

    Special Metaphysics

   Immortality, Freewill, and Mind/Body problem

 Since I am not a professional philosopher, I don't attempt to deal with the all of the vast subject matter of General Meta-physics. Instead, in this blog, I focus mainly on the three sub-categories labeled Special Metaphysics. 1> Cosmology is Physics extended to understand the universe as a whole system, instead of its component parts. 2> Psychology is the study of our mental models of that cosmos, as represented in the inner sanctum of the brain & mind. 3> Natural Theology seeks to grasp the universal-of-all-universals, the category-of-all-categories — G*D — by means of direct observations of Nature and inferences of Common Reason, as opposed to Special Revelation4. Together, these abstruse areas of interest address questions that are not adequately covered by the overt physical sciences. Unfortunately, the inherent ambiguity of non-sensory knowledge leaves it open to far-out shots-in-the-dark, and self-fulfilling beliefs. So a healthy dose of pragmatic scientific skepticism is advisable, to avoid getting lost in the labyrinth of possible-but-not-plausible alternative realities.

Not only are they not included in most scientific studies, the sub-topics of Immortality, Freewill, and Mind/Body Dualism are often dismissed as fantasies, illusions, or mere speculation. But conjecture beyond current understanding is the job description for Philosophy . . . and for scientific hypotheses. “Immortality”, like “Infinity” & “Eternity”, is a convenient conjecture for thinking about the great-beyond, which is not available for empirical evidence5. Exploration of such thought experiments might even yeild some useful information about real life, to logical analysis and holistic synthesis. Freewill raises valid questions about causes & effects via forces other than physical energy. And the perpetual puzzle of physical Body & Brain with non-physical qualities of Life & Mind, continues to elude a satisfactory ex-planation for all parties. However, I think judicious applications of cutting-edge Information Theory to metaphysical questions may bring us closer to a pragmatic understanding, without resorting to Faith & Fantasy to fill the gaps.

This blog is a crude attempt to work-out my own beliefs and speculations on topics occupying the fringes of physical Science & social Religion, yet which fall squarely into the murky center of meta-physical Philosophy. My investigations into both overt and occult fields of knowledge have convinced me that categorical acceptance of one side and rejection of the other, leads to the Either/Or Fallacy and the False Dilemma. Hence, the curious-but-cautious BothAnd attitude toward the exciting possibilities of the world beyond the known limits. Orthodoxies in Religion & Science tend to result in unfounded fantasies and stagnation of imagination6. Enformationism is hardly radical, but it is on the cutting-edge of both Science and Religion, and deals with the metaphysical shadowlands in-between Spirit and Matter.

Whereas Physics deals with things that can be perceived via the common senses, Metaphysics is often associated with extra-sensory perception. But I think it actually involves the fifth sense of Reason, and the human talent for creating imaginary concepts. Imagination is a good thing, as long as it is grounded in reality, and regulated by Reason. Good sense allows us to explore beyond the bounds of physical reality, without getting lost in the realm of non-sense.   

End of Post 51

4. Special Revelation :
   Information gained by direct communication with divine beings has been a staple of religious doctrine since the beginning of human societies. Typically, such communication by-passes the five senses, and goes directly into the mind, hence “extra-sensory”.
   Channels for divine inspiration include dreams, trances, voices, waking visions, and so forth. Yet they are seldom delivered publicly, and unlike ordinary broadcast news, their content is expected to be accepted uncritically, on faith*.
   Like conspiracy theories and fake news, their “facts” tend to be viral, and spread rapidly, due to their inherent emotional content and important implications.
   Personally, I like to have the option to fact-check new information, via normal sensory channels, before adding it to my collection of plausible beliefs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasensory_perception

* Like Donald Trump’s tweets-from-the-top, believers in divine revel-ations sometimes dismiss mundane scientific sources as “fake news”.
  

5. Immortality :
   For now I don’t have enough reliable information about the various claims of life-beyond-death to form a plausible belief. Yet the Enformationism theory assumes that the abstract information (data) consti-tuting the Self, being immaterial & mathematical, could exist forever, or could be recycled into other selves.
   So far all communications from the afterlife have been special revelations, to be taken on faith. Until I get a personal revelation though, I’ll have to take the spooky existence of a ghost world, as a weak “maybe”.

6. Heterodoxy :
   Opinions that vary slightly from the official doctrine are discouraged as dangerous, while more radical ideas are punished as heresies, by religious organizations that claim to hold the keys to truth. Science, as a method, is by definition more open to new ideas, but humans trained in old paradigms tend to be slow to accept strange new ideas.
  A bit of heterodoxy helps us to discover new ways of looking at old facts. Some people are drawn to the romantic mysteries of the dark side of the world, but I prefer my truths laid out in broad daylight where possible. However, random patterns & obscure hints leave intriguing shadowy gaps that can be filled by vivid imagination. Paradigm-challenging hypotheses may lead to important discoveries, or to dangerous illusions.