On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 1:10 AM, Brent Meeker <meeke...@dslextreme.com> wrote:
> On 5/13/2010 9:27 PM, Rex Allen wrote:
>> Either the initial conditions were fine-tuned or the physical laws
>> were fine-tuned to produce reliable knowledge.
>>
>
> What happened to "...a wide variety of initial conditions will ultimately
> "converge" with the result that
> conscious entities have this knowledge." That's contrary to "fine-tuning".
Okay, in the discussion that follows: the algorithm is analogous to
the laws of physics; the unsorted input list is analogous to "initial
conditions"; and producing a correctly sorted list from this input is
analogous to arriving at "reliable knowledge".
1) Fine-tuned physical laws: The Quicksort algorithm can start with
any unsorted list and it will "converge" to a sorted version of that
list.
So regardless of the initial condition of the data, the result will
always be the same: a perfectly sorted list.
This happens because the Quicksort algorithm is very finely-tuned.
Unlike most other algorithms, this one is perfectly suited to produce
sorted lists from a "wide variety of initial conditions."
2) Fine-tuned initial conditions: Alternatively, you could have an
algorithm that will only produce a sorted list when provided with a
very specific "unsorted" initial input data. Freshman Computer
Science students sometimes produce this type of "sort algorithm." It
only correctly sorts when provided with one particular starting
list...which happens to be the list they tested with before turning in
their homework assignment. If you run their (supposed) sort algorithm
on any other unsorted input data, then the output will not be a
correctly sorted list.
So in this case, arriving at the correct solution ("reliable
knowledge") is entirely a function of the initial conditions. The
initial conditions must be very fine-tuned for that algorithm to give
correct results.
Right?
Note that the Randomized Quicksort can even be said to be
indeterministic. And yet it still reliably and efficiently produces
correctly sorted lists from any initial conditions.
>> Regardless, why is this kind of "reliable knowledge" more desirable
>> than the reliable knowledge of ephemeral thoughts? You seem to imply
>> that it is "better". Why?
>>
>
> There is no "knowledge of ephemeral thoughts". Knowledge, by definition is
> a kind of thought that refers, but emphemeral thoughts don't refer. So they
> cannot be knowledge.
Even assuming physicalism, I can have thoughts that refer only to
"ephemeral" things...including other thoughts (not explicitly to the
material substrate that instantiates the thoughts).
It would seem to me that one ephemeral thought could refer to another
ephemeral thought. And ephemeral thoughts could refer to perceptions,
impressions, emotions, "ideas", whatever...the same kinds of things
that "non-ephemeral" thoughts can refer to.
Again, I don't know that I am looking at a *real* book, but I
definitely know that I am having the experience of looking at book.
Another definition of knowledge is "a true, justified belief."
So how would I justify my belief that I am looking at a real book that
exists independently of my perceptions of it?
My belief that I am having the experience of looking at a book is
undeniably true and justified, as I have direct knowledge of my
experiences.
It is inconceivable to me that I could be wrong about what I experience.
>> So...you'd rather be a material cog in a (deterministic or
>> probabilistic) rule-driven physical machine than an insubstantial
>> entity composed entirely of ephemeral thoughts.
>>
>
> I'd rather be system that interacts with a universe of physical systems and
> thereby form thoughts correlated with the rest of the universe. I dont'
> think "physical" adds anything - it's just a word that indicates some
> external reality. Why do you find it preferable to be dreamer?
The coherence, scope, and simplicity of the idea is attractive.
And being correlated with something beyond my experiences isn't that
big an attraction.
Though, ultimately I think the two options are interchangeable in
terms of their "usefulness". I don't necessarily see that believing
one over the other would result in different decisions.
A rule-driven cog in a vast implacable machine.
OR, not even a dreamer, but rather just a dream.
In either case: Why are things this way? There is no reason. They just are.
>> I wonder why you have
>> that preference? What causes you to be that way?
>>
>
> The laws of physics and reality.
What are "the laws of physics", do you think? Are they real things,
which we approximate with our scientific theories? Or is there really
no necessity behind how events transpire?
What explains reality's consistency, predictability, and order? Does
anything explain it? Or is it just that way?
>> I don't see any significant difference in the two options.
>>
>>
> You don't see a theory can be useful?
I agree that a theory can *seem* useful. But again, beyond the
appearance, what is usefulness to a rule-driven cog? Or to a dream?
>> I incline towards the later because I know that my conscious
>> experiences exist, and I don't see how positing an
>> inferred-but-unexplained physical world which somehow causes my
>> experiences adds anything "useful".
>>
>
> So are your thoughts all miracles?
Only to the same extent that a physicalist considers to existence and
nature of the universe to be a miracle.
>>> Tangentially: isn't your claim that you are only interested in theory
>>> to the extent that it is "useful", essentially a skeptical position?
>>>
>>
>> That's not my only interest in theories, but it's one.
>>
>> What are your other interests with respect to theories?
>>
>
> Coherence, scope, simplicity.
I don't see my position as lacking in any of these categories when
compared to physicalism.
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