On Aug 2, 2010, at 5:29 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Do you suspect a sufficiently learned neurosurgeon could persuade you to > accept the answer: all error is the result of a failure of brain tissue (and > such failures have many different causes? As an answer there may (or may not) > be some truth to it, but it seems like a dull answer.
I'm specifically not asking that question, how does forgetfulness work? By atrophying tissue? By why does tissue atrophy? By a reduced presence or X or greater presence of Y? These are questions of instrumentality and material cause. We know--or believe--from science that the events of the material world are knowable and predictable. If a prediction does not come true, someone will investigate to discover which condition was different. The presumption in science is that material behavior will repeat itself exactly unless affected by some other material factor, and it will repeat itself exactly, in a "perfect world," or vacuum, with no uncontrolled forces, etc. All of science proceeds from two foundational tenets: behavior of material entities is perfectly predictable, and variations are caused by some kind of interference or effective agency; and these variations lead to diversity and complexity, which are nonetheless knowable and predictable to a high degree of confidence. I am interested in the first cause, not the material, efficient, or final cause: How does (or did) error come to occur? (It's the second part to the Adam & Eve story, in a way.) I ran it to ground with the Uncertainty Principle, but I'm speculating in a dark, foggy void. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Michael Brady
