Tag: #Philosophy

Eye-beams are kind of a thing

May 29th, 2023

I can’t read Latin, but I’m pretty sure the top panel says, “Holy shit it’s a dragon!” (Correction: I was just informed by a Spanish speaker who should know, that the top panel says, “Sic quasi membranæ volitant similæra per auras quaque palet quocunque licet caniunda feruntur” which translates to: “(they are) like flying ethereal particles, which are allowed to float piercing through the air.”

The Ancients used to believe our eyes worked by projecting rays of energy outward (extromission). Now we know the light must come to us. Still I think they were onto something.

Consciousness is a projection we see on the inside. When you look at the world you put your stamp on it. Something non-material – your mind – projects itself onto what you see.

It decides what you notice and what you don’t, which patterns are meaningful and which ones are not. You have to rely on your mind’s interpretation. otherwise reality would be nothing but noise.

You never actually see, hear or touch reality. You perceive it. How you perceive it determines how you interact with it. and that in turn does affect the material world.

They are not beams of light that you can detect or measure, but something is leaving your body and returning. not literally but metaphorically.

“Spiritual but not religious” used to sound like such an oxymoron to me. But It makes sense now. You can be an atheist and be spiritual.

No one knows what human consciousness is. It has a real impact on the world. You can’t touch it, measure it or examine it through a microscope. But you know it exists. You explore it in your dreams. It has depth and a kind of architecture you can study.

I don’t know what to call that if not spiritual.
Why we can’t change who we are

May 16th, 2023

Vlad Vexler on why it’s so difficult for someone to let go of an identity they’ve created for themselves even when it no longer makes sense – it feels like death.

Why do people become so extreme and resistent to change? Why do they not say, “enough!” when their leaders and role models go rogue? In a word: identity.

An identity is very hard to let go. I’ve been through that process more than once, and each time it was as if somebody died. Because they kind of did. Or more accurately, they melted into the rest of me.

But it was traumatic and I grieved. Suddenly I didn’t know who I was anymore or who my friends were. Ultimately, those changes made me a better, more whole person, but it’s a scary prospect. Too scary for many.

As we became more isolated in the real world, people began looking to the internet for a sense of identity and belonging. Social media algorithms naturally promote the most extreme positions, because they get the most engagement.

If you’ve attached your sense of self to a group of people who become convinced to follow an extreme ideology, you’re likely to go along.

I can go on an on about how the West seems to have lost its ability to think critically, but Vlad nails it so succinctly in the above video. In case you think I’m talking about the MAGA phenomenon, I am, sort of. But it’s not just about Trump. It’s about everyone.

I’ve seen this dynamic affect the left wing as well. Witness the drama and infighting over the last few years among progressive YouTube creators. I respect a lot of them for their ideas, but I’ve learned not to let them or their communities decide who I am. That’s not up to them.

I can’t let myself get pinned down by groups that become dogmatic or that violate my principles, because then I can’t grow. There were times in my life when I thought I reached my final form, but that always turned out to be an illusion. I’m 58 years old, but I have not stopped growing, and I don’t intend to.
Coming to terms with the unknowable

April 17th, 2023

Ever think how lost you’d be if you really went inside one of these things? I can barely find my way out of a parking garage.

Just watched a cool documentary on Netflix, A Trip to Infinity, for a second time. I love it because it’s about my favorite subject: how little I know.

The more I learn, the more mysterious the world becomes. That thought gives me the same tingle I get when a song moves me or I really gazed into the sky?

Infinity is difficult for me to grasp – some infinities are bigger than others… Say what? I am attracted to the concept nevertheless. Rudy Rucker’s science fiction novel, White Light was a great exploration of the topic.

Rucker is mostly known for his Ware tetrology (which I loved), but if you’ve never read White Light, you’re missing out. It’s so fun.

White Light follows a man on a trip through infinity. Rucker is actually a mathematician, so he knows what he’s talking about. And I didn’t have to solve for X once.

They move me, those mysteries. And I get the suspicion that certain people touch it, just a little – poets, artists, astrophysicists, quantum physicists, mathematicians. When I think about these topics, feels like there’s a world beyond the world. It may be no more than a feeling, but it’s enough to give me that tingle.

As a young man I was extremely optimistic about what science could discover. I read a lot of sci fi and many of those crazy tales seemed truly possible – someday. Absolute Truth was out there and we’d find it eventually. I didn’t really think it through, I just kind of left it on the table.

Now I understand there are some things beyond the reach of science, where math fails, logic fails, and we’re left to guess, no way to verify. Some things are just unknowable and that’s that.

Conway’s Game of Life helped me to be OK with that. It’s a game with simple rules, that produce extremely complicated effects. If you want to experiment it, you can do it here: https://playgameoflife.com. (It works best on a PC or a laptop.)

You can do some pretty impressive stuff with it. There’s a whole community of hobbiests out there, exploring the possibilities. I’ve managed to create a few gliders by accident. I’ll never do anything on this level:

Hard as that was to grasp at first, the fact that some patterns that leave the screen could last infinitely while others may just last a very long time – but you cannot know.

I was in awe when it finally clicked. If some things are beyond scientists and mathematicians to solve – consciousness for example – there’s always room for a little spooky stuff.

I love pondering those spooky questions. Where is math located? Are there other dimensions of reality and if so can we touch them? Makes me wish I’d had better math teachers in 3rd grade.

That doesn’t mean I believe every tall tale I hear, or make up in my head. One of my most meaningful discoveries has been just how powerful and irrational the human mind can be. I suspect some pretty wild things, but I will never say I know.

However New Agey I might come across sometimes, I should mention that I don’t believe EVERYTHING is possible.

The ground exists, for us puny humans at least. I have to eat food and drink water. That’s why I’m very comfortable stating “I don’t know.”
Sing while you may

March 21st, 2023

The Legendary Pink Dots – Zero Zero.

We’re all like the people in that song if we’re honest. Human beings have been searching for answers for as long as we’ve been on earth. Sad, but beautiful.

That’s why I love The Legendary Pink Dots’ motto, “Sing While You May.” However ugly life may seem, there’s always something beautiful in it. Usually the part that’s most human.

My wife, finding her joy at the karaoke bar.

I’ve concluded that, conscious or not, existential dread is at the heart of all extremism. In fact, maybe it’s the basis for all human behavior. Adult behavior at any rate.

No one knows what it all means or what comes next, whatever they may tell you. If they seem very certain, they’re probably trying to convince themselves.

Arguments usually amount to, “I am important, you are worthless” and “I know you are, but what am I?”

No one has the answer to “what am I?” We breeze right past it. But it’s always there in the background.

Scrape the paint off a violent extremist and you will find a person who feels worthless to the core.

Someone who can think of no other way to stave off fear of the void than to push that feeling onto others.

What could give you meaning, when the tools you’ve been offered turned out to be worthless or forever out of reach?

What do you have left? You’re alive.

So sing. Whatever that means to you. Sing while you may.

Me, doing Pink Floyd at Karaoke. No idea who the girl was, but she had a lot of fun.

Earth Wind and Fire – Sing a Song