Recently, I came across a letter from Einstein to a grieving father, Dr Robert Marcus, who happened to be a rabbi and had written in desperation. The father’s letter seems to have come from a book by Naomi Levy, called Einstein and The Rabbi. The two predominant questions to Einstein were: Is there any consolation … Continue reading Death
Author: rom
Here is a summary of where I think I am. Subject to change. The Chat AI suggested the following "pithy" descriptions:1) Process Monism2) Naturalistic Realism3) Agnostic Pragmatic Realism4) Causal NaturalismI think I will go with Process Monism, as it "Emphasizes [my] belief that everything is part of an unfolding, interconnected causal process rather than discrete … Continue reading My Position
I have not posted in a while, so I thought I'd post this brief interaction with ChatGPT on the subject of consciousness as an epiphenomenon. The program, I have to say, is a smooth-talking bastard, but in a good way (a way that I like).Incidentally, the image is created by ChatGPT (DALL·E 3) I asked: … Continue reading Epiphenomenon
Came across this TED talk by Hughes today. The talk was neither strident nor unreasonable. The general premise is that our policies should be 'colourblind'. Meaning that the policies should be indifferent to race. And that policies should be based on class instead, where the target groups, black and Hispanic, are over represented in the … Continue reading Blindness
If the moon, in the act of completing its eternal way around the earth, were gifted with self-consciousness, it would feel thoroughly convinced that it was traveling its way of its own accord on the strength of a resolution taken once and for all. So would a Being, endowed with higher insight and more perfect … Continue reading Einstein
https://undark.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Robert-Wright-c-Barry-Munger-1-copy.jpg Just finished reading Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright. It's the third book by Wright that I have read the other two being The Moral Animal and The Evolution of God. Overall, enjoyed the book and I recommend it. Most of the book is based on how natural selection hasn't necessarily shaped us … Continue reading Buddhism (I)
We have several words that draw attention to the self or in the plural selves. For example, ourselves, selfless, selfish, selfhood, her/himself and the strangely tautological myself are just a few. What is a "self"? When we think of a self how does it seem to us? How do we describe ourselves? A scientific description … Continue reading Self
I have not written anything for a while; but ... My Internet is down, so instead of surfing the digital waves this is an opportunity not to surf and put finger to keyboard. I was talking to a friend about illegal immigration. My friend was complaining about immigrants by-passing the system and getting entry into … Continue reading My Atoms
DraftJust finished reading Just Deserts by Daniel Dennett and Gregg Caruso. Overall I liked the book. But this very brief review is a draft and subject to change. LikesThe best bit for was the interaction between Dennett and Caruso. So we did not have the typical book, where we have pages and pages of a … Continue reading Just Deserts
A quick interlude on our will. Will, as short words go has a host nuances. Take this short sentence: I have a (the) will to go for a walk … OK it is a bit stilted, but its meaning is clear. The word will could be replaced by any of these words: ambitionanimusaspirationclamoringcravingdesire dreamdrivefancyhankeringhopelonging mindneedobjectivepiningpurposethought … Continue reading Will
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