On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 Craig Weinberg <whatsons...@gmail.com> wrote: >> If when X is changed there is ALWAYS a change in Y in the same >> direction, and when Y changes you can ALWAYS find a change in X that >> preceded it, then X causes Y. IT'S WHAT THE WORD "CAUSES" MEANS! >> > > > Two flowers bloom at sunrise every day without fail. Does one cause the > other to bloom? >
I don't know, I'd have to perform some experiment's to find out. > Do the flowers cause the sun to rise? > If when X happens Y always happens AND when X doesn't happen Y never happens then we can say with great confidence that X causes Y because that's what the word "causes" means. Thus if when the flower blooms the sun always comes up AND when the flower does not bloom (such as when the experimenter ties the bloom closed) the Earth changes its rotational speed and the sun never comes above the horizon then we can say with great confidence that the flower caused the sun to rise because that's what the word "causes means. We might not fully understand how or why botany and astronomy are related in this way but there would be no doubt that they are. However we DON'T get these experimental results in the real world so we say the flower does not cause the sun to rise. When the chemistry of the brain changes the conscious experience that the brain produces always changes, AND when the chemistry does not change the conscious experience never changes, thus we can say with great confidence that chemistry causes consciousness because that's what the word "causes" means. We might not fully understand how or why chemistry and consciousness are related in this way but there is no doubt that they are. We DO get these experimental results in the real world so we say that if matter is organized in certain ways it produces consciousness. > > Two unrelated systems can both be related to a third, >>> >> >> >> If they are both related to the same thing then they are not unrelated. >> > > > They can be unrelated except for their mutual relation to the third > thing though, obviously. > Besides that Mrs Lincoln how did you like the play? I am unrelated to my sister except for our mutual relation to our parents, obviously. John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
