Category: Uncategorized
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An Essay on Causality
Determination is the enduring mystery for the human imagination. We have very exact languages for describing causality but none of them can see a bus coming. We have constantly tried to fill the void that is our knowledge of the future, first by imagining gods, then by attempting to understand evolutionary, physical and biological laws…
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Gravity
Gravity famously doesn’t respect the laws of quantum physics. The reason for this seems obvious if we look at it in terms of perception rather than science. If we think about an orchard of apples collectively, the question of which apple will fall, and when, and even if any will ever fall at all, is…
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If then else
Artificial intelligence is driven by algorithms. An article by Andrew Smith in the Guardian points out that there is nothing mysterious about these. An algorithm is the basic process by which a computer makes simple binary decisions. If a happens then do b, else do c. Computers can execute this process at unimaginable speed,…
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Religious science
It is often said that the principles of Buddhist philosophy are supported by the science of quantum physics, but I have never seen an explanation of why this is so. Here is one. The first principle of Bhuddist thinking usually encountered by Westerners is the idea that objects are not solid and concrete but are…
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Emotion
We all know what emotion is. We know what feelings we would normally define as emotions. But when it comes to defining and measuring emotion precisely, or even predicting it, we are less clear. What is it? How strong is it? Where does it come from? When does it come? Why does it pass? When…
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An essay on intelligence
We live in a strange world that is almost entirely imaginary. In order to reassure ourselves we call it ‘real’ or ‘material’ but it is no such thing. Objects are permanent and lasting only in our minds. There is nothing apparently material that does not age or decay, and this is the cause of much…
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Probability
Last week, while fog bound yet again in Guernsey Airport departures lounge, I was having the inevitable conversation with a friend about the amount of wasted time we spend sitting in airports. This led me to think, again, about the amount of time I spend simply traveling. Going from A to B is not, I…
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Actions before words
It is a good idea to read my post on Being Material before reading this post, though hopefully it still makes some sense if you don’t. My position on materialism is not ‘show me what is not material’, but ‘show me what is’. The validity of material objects and facts stands to be proven as such.…
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A Crazy Quantum Theory for Hamlet
Particles move in a wave pattern unless observed, at which points of observation our human imaginations are only capable of seeing tangents – creating the illusion that particles travel in straight lines, even though experiments clearly demonstrate that they don’t. The problem is not in the stars but in ourselves – the problem is not…
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Quantum Truth
Science and Maths have a lot to say about truth, but apparently little to say about care and compassion. Scientific truth has always had an unusually clear and unambiguous status in Western thought. Most current philosophical approaches recognise the existence of scientific truths. Some rationalists rely on the ultimate existence of scientific fact, even if the…
The Swiveller 