I'm not a computer programmer, but was introduced to digital coding on mainframes back in the 80s. Hippies & Hares were not much of a presence on my southern conservative college campus. Instead, my 2010 Enformationism thesis was inspired mainly by statistical Quantum Physics (energy) and digital Information Theory (entropy). Whitehead's Process Cosmology seemed to me to combine those radical scientific ways of understanding the world into a general philosophical worldview for the 20th century. Here's a review of Whitehead by The Information Philosopher. His criticism of Reductionism (in favor of Holism) and advocation of "purpose" in evolution, may instigate another of 's knee-jerk woo-woo attacks. :smile:The Hari-Krishna had a constant presence in Waikiki in 1971, where I was in the army doing computer programming at Fort Shafter, drafted out of my first year at IBM. — PoeticUniverse
Whitehead — Gnomon
Here's a review of Whitehead by The Information Philosopher — Gnomon
That may be a simpler interpretation of an arcane term that I didn't grasp 20 years ago, upon first attempting to read a technical philosophical work that was way over my untrained head. I'm using this thread to get a deeper understanding of Process Philosophy, as an adjunct to my own amateur worldview of Enformationism*1.His prehensions could be the qualia, which get stored in memory for future use. — PoeticUniverse
I'll have to take your word for that. But I suspect that thinking in terms of Eternalism might be like breathing under water. It doesn't come naturally, as does Presentism. I suppose philosophers, who dare to tread in transcendent terrain, must be somewhat amphibious. For hardline Immanentists, trying to imagine a static, non-processing, space-time-transcendent Block Universe might make them choke. :cool:Whitehead models his occasions of experience on the events in Einstein's Block Universe of General Relativity; however, he mixes and matches by using Presentism instead of Eternalism. — PoeticUniverse
More poetic prose from Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain :Whitehead models his occasions of experience on the events in Einstein's Block Universe of General Relativity; however, he mixes and matches by using Presentism instead of Eternalism. — PoeticUniverse
creative process — Gnomon
:cool: ... just as there is no edge to a sphere, no beginning of a circle (or Möbius loop) and no first random vacuum fluctuation.There was no “beginning” in the absolute sense. The universe is a creative advance into novelty. It has always been becoming. — PoeticUniverse
Again we ask, and again echo answers — Gnomon
# Creativity is an essential characteristic of a Deity. And also the most universal fact of our contingent (fortuitous) universe.Whitehead says the ultimate reality is Creativity, a principle:
“The universal of universals, characterizing ultimate matter of fact, is Creativity.”
Everything that exists is a process of creative becoming. Actual entities (also called “actual occasions”) arise by creatively prehending other entities, and in doing so, add something new to the universe.
So the universe is not made of stuff - but made of events; not governed solely by laws, but by relational creativity.
There was no “beginning” in the absolute sense. The universe is a creative advance into novelty. It has always been becoming. — PoeticUniverse
No. That's why I have pieced together my own philosophical theory of how the primal Energy (causation) and Laws (information) of the Big Bang could evolve into living and thinking beings. :smile:But it cannot explain the origin of existence of the Earth and life, can it? — Corvus
But for the purposes of Physics, even matter is made of "events" of causation : i.e. Energy or Force. Causation (Change) is always a before & after relationship between Cause & Effect ; Input & Output (relational creativity) — Gnomon
Yes. The quantum computer of Nature has a frame rate (frequency) of 400 - 700 teraHz. So it can simulate Reality with astonishing accuracy.Presentism is astounding: The frame rate is zillions of times per second or whatever is one second divided by the Planck time! The Poet Programmer must be coding on a natural quantum computer of the quantum fields, everything connected to everything via entanglement.
Since the making of the new 'now' utilizes all that came before, not just simply doing a single Planck time progression from the last 'now', the universe seems like to be of a growing block mode, in which the past is an amounting Eternalism and the present going forward is ever of Presentism. — PoeticUniverse
No. That's why I have pieced together my own philosophical theory of how the primal Energy (causation) and Laws (information) of the Big Bang could evolve into living and thinking beings. :smile: — Gnomon
That is indeed the question! My amateur philosophical thesis postulates that Life & Mind are highly-evolved forms of primitive Energy : the power to change form (a process, not a thing). The key to make sense of that conjecture is the 21st century discovery that Energy (negative entropy) is a form of Information (en-form-action), and vice-versa. The thesis and blog go into some detail to explain the Process of transformation from non-living to living & thinking. The link below gives a quick peek at how Whitehead's Process metaphysics compares to the Substance physics of Materialism. :smile:The primal Energy and Laws of the Big Bang is not living biological species, but it sounds like non-living force of some sort. How could the non-living evolve into the living? — Corvus
The Poet Programmer — Gnomon
The helical geometry of DNA is well-adapted to the reproductive functions of biological creatures. But the Organic Cosmos*1 itself may possess something similar to DNA, as encoded in its logical lawful structure*2 : its "own encrypted chain". From that perspective, the physical universe may be viewed as a Logical Creature. Physicist Max Tegmark has offered a unique way of thinking about the birth & maturation of our universe in terms of mathematical structure. He may even have borrowed some of his ideas from Whitehead's Process cosmology*3.The DNA of the Universe . . . .
The Universe's own encrypted chain — PoeticUniverse
:roll:If the universe was "born" in a Big Bang, don't you think it's reasonable to determine its paternity? — Gnomon
Planck scale pre-spacetime (vacuum) consists of random – a-causal – fluctuations (events), ergo no "first cause"; spacetimes (nonrandom event-patterns (e.g. universes)) do emerge rarely as it's reasonable to expect (re: law of very large numbers ... of random events), etc. A god-fairytale (e.g. "prime mover", "enformer / programmer", etc) is not needed and does not explain anything – even in principle; it just begs the question as a woo-of-the-gaps appeal to ignorance. — 180 Proof
's ironic fairy tale of acausal (random) fluctuations as the First Cause, would cause the world to dance like a maniac, and makes empirical Science sound like wizardry. It describes Chaos, not Cosmos ; Dissonance, not Harmony ; Noise, not Signal. Plato conjectured that Cosmos emerged from a primal state of Chaos --- what I call Eternal Potential --- via the actions of a Demiurge (workman). Today, we define Energy as the ability to do work. And my thesis refers to the artisan/craftsman as EnFormAction : energy + form + actual occasions.This holographic dance of Everything
Spins out reality like golden string;
Each quantum bit precisely placed in space
To make the cosmic harmonies all ring. — PoeticUniverse
And another strawman. :roll:↪180 Proof's ironic fairy tale of acausal (random) fluctuations as the First Cause ... — Gnomon
Planck scale pre-spacetime (vacuum) consists of random – a-causal – fluctuations (events), ergo NO 'first cause' — 180 Proof
... just as there is no edge to a sphere, no beginning of a circle (or Möbius loop) and NO 'first' random vacuum fluctuation. — 180 Proof
it just begs the question — 180 Proof
In my view, human Life & Mind did come about via evolution, without miraculous "help". And the only reason we look beyond ongoing physical evolution for a jump-start is the physical evidence that the natural process had a beginning and will have an end. That observed fact leaves an ellipsis before and after for human reasoning to explain. The traditional gap-filler has always been a humanoid god outside of space-time. But some modern thinkers imagine a hypothetical Multiverse (eternal evolution) as a mundane God substitute.I still wonder why it should be that a human life and mind is so impossible to come about without help but so easy for there to be a god or a deity there without help. — PoeticUniverse
:roll:So,↪180 Proof's2025 solution to the God problemseems to be to justignore the evidencefor Big Bang & Big Sigh (the standard model of cosmology), thenassumethat the natural world has been ticking right along for eternity. Hence, no gap to be filled, and no need for [non-explanation]super-natural "help".— Gnomon
If anything is omnipotent, it is Creativity; God is a creature of Creativity like every other. God is the poet of the world, “with tender patience leading it by his vision of truth, beauty, and goodness.” — Gnomon
Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.